Back In Oregon – just in time!!

Short post tonight because tonight we are back in Oregon.  We are at the Pear Tree RV Park in Medford, Or and we have cable TV.  In case you are not a football fan, tonight at 5:00 p.m. is the FIRST EVER Pac 12 Conference Championship game.  This is sports history in the making.  There will never be another FIRST Pac 12 championship game.  The game is being played at our home stadium, Autzen Stadium in the beautiful city of Eugene, OR.  The mighty Oregon Ducks take on the UCLA Bruins to decide the conference championship.  A trip to the Rose Bowl is on the line.  So since we can’t be at the game we are pretending by snuggling up in our stadium blankets, with our Duck pillow and accessories and we are settling in for a great game.  It’s 5:00 so I gotta go watch the game.  GO DUCKS!  (yeah, I’m a bit of a college football nut)  More on our trip tomorrow…it was a great travel day today.



An Old Memory:

Where in the World are Russ and Donna…

If you guessed the Black Bear Diner you are really smart.  If you guessed the Black Bear Diner in Yreka, CA I can only assume you are stalking us – SHOW YOURSELF!!

We started out this morning with …anyone, anyone  – you there, in the back with your hand up – yup you got it – RAIN RAIN RAIN.  Isn’t that all we get in the Pacific Northwest this year?



It rained from Oregon to California and then it kept raining as we continued south.  And guess what, as I sit here typing this, it is STILL RAINING!!  But I am sure tomorrow will be a better day.  Reno promises nothing but sunshine and blue skies…of course Reno is always trying to sell you blue sky so that’s nothing new.

We got tired about Yreka so decided this was our stop for the night.  There is a new hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, and right next door sits the Yreka RV Park…perfect.  Brian and Laila got settled in the hotel and we got parked and set-up in the RV park.  We paid just over $32. with the Escapees membership.  That is a 25% discount so I felt really good about that.  The park is gravel roads and pads with a small parcel of grass and a tree and table at each site.  This will be really nice in a few years when the trees mature.  The sites all have 20/30/50 amp hook-ups with cable TV and free Wi-Fi.  The Wi-Fi is not the fastest but it’s working anyway!  This is a great place for an overnight stop, right off the freeway (yea, there is some freeway noise, but not bad).  I would stay here again. 


Despite the weather we are still having fun.  It’s hard not to when you have your own personal Laurel and Hardy along for entertainment.  We had a good meal and some good laughs at the Black Bear Diner for dinner.
 
On our way back to the park and hotel, we made one last stop at the local Ray’s Market.  As we were checking out the manager made the mistake of asking Brian what the “O” on his jacket stood for (Brian and Laila both were wearing their U of O jackets).  When the manager just didn’t understand their hints it was inevitable that we all broke into a rowdy chorus of the Oregon fight song.  I mean, what could we do, he asked!  He assured us it was the most fun he had had all day and gave us a nice “Go Ducks” as we left.  I am still not sure if that was an affirmation or a request to leave.  Oh well, we had fun.
Night all.

A Whole New World

Last week, Nick of Gypsy Journal posted on his blog about a Magic Carpet Ride.  It was one of the best descriptions of the RV life style that I have read.  I read it several times and have not been able to get it out of my head.   I mentioned it in one of my posts already but it just keeps coming  back to me.  If you haven’t read this piece, you should do so.

Anyway, since I have so many grandchildren, I have seen about a million or so Disney movies over the years.  The fact of the matter is, I love Disney movies.  And after reading Nick’s blog, I couldn’t get one of the songs from ‘Aladdin’ out of my head either. 

Snatches of it replay in my mind and I am no longer standing at the sink washing dishes…I’m dreaming about the places I want to go in Therapy.  I’m dreaming of deep canyons and high plateaus, and rugged mountain ranges, and steep cascading waterfalls (that part is Rick’s fault!), and all the wonders of this beautiful world that I have never seen.  It renews my commitment to travel.  The words of this song make me want to go where I want to go and do what I want to do before it is too late.  It’s always hard to let go of those things that bind us to the more conventional life-style but we are getting closer all the time.

If you are not familiar with Disney cartoons, in this song Aladdin is taking Princess Jasmine for a ride on  his magic carpet.  And of course we all know you can’t take a girl on a magic carpet ride without singing to her!  Part of the lyrics say:

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

Now Russ is no Aladdin and I am certainly no princess, but I have been programmed to think with my head more so than my heart.  My heart tells me to get out there, my head reminds of all the things I SHOULD be doing instead.

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

This is going to be our new theme song I think.  We have our magic carpet and  she is ready for us to hop on and go for a ride.  The shorts hops we have taken have been fun but we are ready for more.  We’ve been dreaming about this day for a long time and we are still working through some of the practical matters.  But when I think of the opportunities out there, the chance to fulfill our dreams, I know we will be taking that Magic Carpet named Therapy on a LONG ride before the year is out.  A WHOLE NEW WORLD.

In case you are not familiar with the song here is the original Disney cartoon version.