Day 4-7

Up early in the morning and off to Gold Hill.  Ron Danko and I work together to build Western Stage.  We both then moved into teaching Speech and then Ron moved to Oregon where he continues to teach speech and work in the Theater.  We have not seen each other for several years and Yvonne and I looked forward to some time with both he and Aurelie (his wife).  It took most of the day to drive from the Redwoods to Gold Hill.  We drove up along the coast an then through Crescent City and on into Oregon.  It was really clear that Crescent City is truly a crescent.  It was also amazing to see the high water marks along the road.  We then turned East through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods to see more amazing trees.   Then it was on to Oregon where I forgot and tried to pump my own gas.  The attendant was very nice but firm.  (It’s an Oregon law).  He would do the work for me.  

 We arrived at the KOA around 3 and set up.  Ron had suggested that we go down to Ashland and see a play (The Unfortunates).  While driving in we booked two tickets using our new Androids and we got two tickets.  It worked just great but we had not thought out the whole plan.  What do we do with Cassie?  Well we can leave her in the trailer and go see the show.  (now what is wrong with that picture?)  Finally, Yvonne stayed at the trailer with Cassie and practiced her harp and I went down to Ashland to see an incredible show.  No hope to describe the show as it is a musical that uses blues, rap, hip hop, and gospel to tell the story of prisoners in a German camp and what goes on in their head.  As weird as it sounds it was moving. 

We were up in the morning (Saturday) and down to Ron’s place for breakfast. He and his wife put on an  incredible spread during which we all showed pictures of our kids, talked about old times and where everyone was going or had been over the last several years.   Generally we caught up.  In all of the talking I did not take one picture.  We had a great time but Ron had a trick up his sleeve and we headed out on an adventure.  It turns out that Bob Butterbaugh and his wife Genie live just down the road and Bob has built the most amazing shop.  Basically a barn (three car garage with high ceilings), 220 to all tools, serious tools (drool), and storage for the lumber next to his home.  We got a tour, I got jealous and we spent more time catching up and hearing what the Butterbaugh’s were doing.  We were supposed to be back at the KOA by 12:00 to leave but it was closer to 2:00 before we got back. (Again no pictures)

We drove to Eugene and found our way to Dick and Ty Zeller’s house.  Set up the trailer and started talking again.  Dick and Ty were instrumental is helping us move to Eugene in 1985 and then moving to Resurrection Church, where for the year Yvonne was the Choir director.   They were a huge support for us in Eugene in so many ways.  We had a great meal (compared California and Oregon wines), lots of talking and then wandered their property and looked at their garden (more wine) and finally went to bed. 

The next morning (Sunday) we had a lazy morning and then off to Resurrection to sing with the choir and worship with a number of folks who were still in the parish from when we were there.  It brought back many wonderful memories.  Yvonne got to play their new organ   Dick and Ty had planned a dinner with folks from the church that remembered us and we remembered.  Two couples could come on Father’s Day Richard Heinzkill and his wife and Mike and Marin and again more stories and remembrances.  Also in attendance was Christine (Dick and Ty’s daughter) and her husband Bing and daughter Elizabeth Grace.  It was wonderful to talk with Christine.  She was about 7 when we left and now is a lawyer settling cases concerning radiation contamination of people working in the nuclear industry.

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Today (Monday) we were up and said heartfelt thanks and challenges to get together more often and then we were off to the Oregon coast.   As usual this time of year the fog is in but we stopped at the Heceta Lighthouse   This coast is so different from Northern California.   We also stopped at the Visitors Center at Cape Perpetua to look at another amazing view of the Oregon coast and read about history of the area.

and all of us walked up to the lighthouse covered in fog. The only decent picture was of the lighthouse keeper’s house.

We are now set up in our campsite in Nehalem Bay.  We slid in just before it began to seriously rain and were set up and having a glass of wine watching the water sluice off the roof of the trailer.  Tomorrow may be a tour of the Tillamook cheese factory and out to see the three capes if it continues to rain.  If it clears up we may go for a hike as Oregon will allow dogs on leash to be on the trails.  Who knows?  We will report to you what we did when we have an internet connection again.