Wandering Around In Oregon

When you last joined us, we were heading out of Grants Pass and aimed northward to a series of RV rallies associated with Family Motor Coach Association.  Our first stop was Canyonville at the deluxe Seven Feathers RV Resort for the Full Timers Chapter rally.  We got to enjoy the company of some of our old RVing chums and to make some new friends, do some serious eating, check out the cluster of small nearby towns and just enjoy the magnificent setting.  As soon as the rally concluded, we saddled up for the long hard drive five miles up the road to Myrtle Creek where we continued to prowl the antique and thrift shops for whatever little baubles caught our fancy.  The trolling resulted in several more eggcups for the collection.

The highlight of our trip thus far was an 8-day stay with our make-believe relatives, Gail and Ruthee.  Their little slice of Oregon is blessed with a bucolic beauty, big hills, big open fields, big trees, big sky and a whole lot of peace and quiet.  Very quiet – except for a lumber truck or two that swarm past with a big whoosh.  Ruthee, being an enthusiast of word games, informed us that this flock/herd/covey of wild turkeys is known as a “rafter”.  This rafter consists of mom and last year’s crop of chicks, all boys.  They hang around quite often, hoping the horse will spill some her oats and they can nab a quick snack.

In the evening we were visited by this young doe.  She was eyeballing us with no small amount of suspicion as Howie leaned out the coach window to take this photo.  Earlier she and Ruthee had come eyeball to eyeball, barely three feet apart.  Obviously someone has been hand feeding her because she never did bolt away but rather sauntered off.  We hope her tameness and curiosity don’t result in a bad end for her.

Most of our stay with Gail and Ruthee was pretty laid back, consisting of hearty lunches (Gail’s an old farm boy and likes his big meal at noon) and an almost-as-hearty happy hour.  Net result?  Five more pounds.  We made treks to Albany and Salem to hit the stores and do some recreational shopping but our big outing was to Silverton for a tour of Oregon Gardens.  Open since 2001, this botanical display garden sprawls over 80 acres and includes a system to recycle Silverton’s waste water.  While there were plenty of plants in bloom, it was the conifer garden which most intrigued me.  The collection is extensive with heavy emphasis on dwarfs and weeping varieties.  And the place just plain smelled nice!

Upon first arriving at the garden, we took the 25-minute narrated tram ride around the entire garden and then set off afoot to explore the areas which most interested us.  And that saved our knees and tootsies for a stroll through downtown Silverton and its plenitude of antique shops.  Graced with enormous hanging baskets of petunias, Silverton is one sweet-smelling city.  The city also proudly displays  a number of very attractive murals on the walls of its downtown buildings, including a depiction of Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms”.   And the antique shops yielded up a number of eggcups.  The collection had already taken a major step forward with gifts from Gail and Ruthee and a bonanza at J&J’s Antiques.  I’d tell you where it’s located but I have no idea…all I recall is that we went down a bunch of back country roads to get there and it’s an endless string of barns and barn rooms filled (and I do mean filled) with interesting stuff.

Although most days were clear and sunny, from time to time the air became hazy and there was a faint hint of smoke in the air.  Linn County is the Grass Seed Capital of the World and after harvest the remaining stubble is burned off to eliminate any weed seeds which might have invaded during the growing period.  These burn-offs, technically referred to as “thermal sanitation”, are heavily regulated and very precisely administered.  Billows of smoke such as this leave behind blackened fields with well-defined perimeters, often within just a few feet of dwellings. 

After eight days of dry camping, we had to stop at a full service RV park before heading off to yet another round of semi-boondocking.  Then we headed east via U.S. 20 which follows the Santiam River over hill and dale, around sharp bends through seemingly endless fir forests.  As we neared Sisters, we came upon a long stretch of forest badly burned, the remaining trunks black with silvered branches in stark contrast to the charred trunks.  We had ample time to observe the burned area, being slowed down by some heavy-duty road construction. 

The FMCA convention was being held at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond.  This was our second rally at this site.  We expected to spend a night in the holding area and were surprised to be escorted right to our site.  The electric service wasn’t turned on until the actual first day of the rally so we did a bit of sweltering that first night.  Then a cold front came through and cooled things off to the point that we actually had to run the furnace a few mornings just to get warm enough to feel our toes.  The rally boasted the usual displays of motorized palaces, informative seminars and vendors selling things both useful and not.  We always fall for the “not usefuls”, things which look downright miraculous in the show booth and turn out to be the modern day equivalent of snake oil.  Once again we own a lifetime supply of a product designed to clean everything but we lack the time and energy to use it.  What we really need is a haz-mat team to come in and do the cleaning for us.

Among the new coaches were some retro-style Winnebagos that took us back to our first rig in the late ‘70s.  With their simplicity they really stood out amidst the full-body-paint motorized palaces with their glitzy (might I say gaudy) interiors.  Remind me again why two people need four television sets when they are “camping out”.  And then there was this fine example of the restorer’s art…a funky little cottage that harkens back to the good old days.

When the big rally wrapped up, we had one more quick small chapter rally to attend, this time in Prineville which is only about 20 miles east of Redmond.  After two days of marathon eating, the rally broke up and everyone hit the road, headed every which way.  We stayed behind to poke around Prineville and explore the A.R. Bowman Memorial Museum.  Housed in a block building which first served as a bank then as Mr. Bowman’s insurance office, the museum is nicely laid out with coherent displays of the area’s history.  Mining featured heavily in Prineville’s past with gold and cinnabar, from whence comes mercury, taken from them thar hills.  Water sports seem to occupy weekends for a lot of folks.  Dams on both Crooked River and Ochoco Creek have created reservoirs, used primarily for irrigation but providing boating and fishing opportunities as well. 

Our main reason for staying a few extra days was to visit our friend Betty.  It was great seeing  her again and we had a nice visit, capped off with a quick trip northward to visit a friend of hers who collects antique cars.  He kindly gave us a tour of his garage and took us on  a whirlwind ride in a bright red Model A.  My legs wouldn’t bend enough to get into the rumble seat so I got to ride up front while Howie and Betty struggled to get themselves into the back for a fresh air ride.  One wishes film existed of that little effort.  There aren’t even snapshots.  Lawsuits would likely ensue.  But there were belly laughs galore and a good time was had by all.

We’ll be hanging around Oregon for a few more weeks and will be making additional reports should time allow.