Our Southern Migration. October 19-27, 2011

Like all good things, our time in the North West is ending and now we migrate to the South West for new adventures. Our first night out of Washington was in Eugene, Oregon. Driving I-5 made the trip go by pretty quickly and the further south we went the lighter the skies became. We took alternate Route 205 to bypass the Portland traffic and it turned out to be a lovely route, lined with trees in several areas. It rejoins I-5 south of Tualaltin. We were doing so well we decided to continue beyond Salem arriving at the Eugene Elk's Lodge late afternoon. A bargain at $10 a night with full hookups, had dinner at a great Texas style BBQ spot nearby and got a few supplies at our friendly Fred Meyers.

One of our main reasons for a stop in Eugene was to visit with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Anne.  We had a wonderful visit at their home on Thursday morning, catching up on their life and sharing memories. My Uncle is 87 years old and looks fantastic. It was great to have the morning together.

It was a beautiful fall day and we left before noon to visit one of our NARM Museums on the campus of University of Oregon. A beautiful campus with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art right in the center. Three AMAZING exhibits to view: Birds and Flowers,  East/West; Visually Speaking and our favorite:  Amplified Moments by contemporary Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie.  The paintings were of decaying books and newspapers referencing cultural and historical moments in China, very emotion provoking. Another fantastic museum which we might never have visited had it not been for our membership in the North American Reciprocal Museum association. I'm so excited to be introduced to such wonderful artists as we travel.

From the university we set out to find the Riverfront Bike Path. The paved pathway runs both sides of the Willamette River with ped/bike bridges to use. Another lovely afternoon ride with beautiful fall color

We went back for dinner at our motorhome before an evening with the Eugene Symphony in the beautful Hult Center for Performing arts. What a perfect day!

Friday morning we met Alison and Bill and little Muir for breakfast at the yummy Off The Waffle...serving both sweet and savory waffles. Definitely a place to return to again. We met Alison and Bill through our niece Mandy several years ago and it was so fun to meet darling 6 month old Muir.

The further south we drove we started dropping out of the higher mountain passes.  We took an exit to see the Museum for the Applegate Wagon Trail. A great stop!  The museum is beautifully done and conveys the journey traveled by the wagon trains that tried an alternate southern route to the Oregon Trail named after the 2 Applegate brothers who suggested and led the families through these valleys.

With our new experience of living in our motorhome full time, we looked at the covered wagons once used to travel west with a new awareness of early pioneer life and hardships. Not sure I could have done this early RV model...but sure loving our own!

We were the only visitors and had a wonderful introduction by one of the contributors to the museum's collections. From the museum we also walked down to see the covered bridge nearby.

Our next destination was Medford to visit with my Mom.

After gettiing settled at one of our favorite Elk's Parks about 15 min east of Medford, we spent the early evening with Mom and then enjoyed a dinner with my brother and sister in law, Harry and Mary. They were leaving early the next morning for Harry's 50th High School reunion in Stockton, amazing that 50 years could go by so quickly! Saturday and Sunday were sunny and very warm so Mom and I sat outside in the sun just chatting and enjoying the beautiful day.

Like a couple of lizards soaking up the heat.

Mom will be 89 years old this year on 11-11-11, love that combo! She looks so pretty and still has her happy sweet nature.
Its always hard to leave knowing we won't be back near Medford in the winter. I had fun making dinner in Mary's kitchen Sunday evening before they got back and we laughed at all the memories Harry told about his weekend. We said good bye and left Medford mid day Monday, Paul in the motor home and me driving behind in the SAAB since we had the Siskiyou Pass to climb getting into California.


Top down, sunny skies and my music playing I had a wonderful 3 hours driving to Redding. Had to stop and take pictures of the beautiful Mt. Shasta, what a spectacular view as you go south!

But sad that my sister, Emily and Steve weren't nearby in Weed as so many times in the past. Lots of fun memories of their home on that beautiful property but she and I seem to make life changes near the same time. We both did it 10 years ago and now this year again! But the good thing is we have a new area to visit now in Tampa, Florida!


Once we came down from the mountains the temp rose to 75 degrees! Wonderful to be so warm again. The Redding Elk's Lodge is right along the river and another bike and walking path. A tri tip dinner at the lodge for $5 per person was excellent and we met and talked the traveling life we another couple. We are learning so many things about life in a motorhome from people we meet along the way...a real BIG one is that we must have brakes on our tow dolly!!!! yikes, how come we never heard or read about that anywhere? Yes, it's true we must have a dolly with brakes when towing our car behind the RV which will make me so much more comfortable going over and down these mountain passes. So while we were driving towards Sacrmento I got on the ipad and started a Craig's List hunt for a new dolly. Found 2 in Sacramento, so that's our next focus. I'm having troubles again with accessing some photos I've taken, so I'll add more on our next posting.  That's it for now...


































through our niece Mandy.