Heading South

We started talking about our next RV trip before we had even finished the first one last spring. So here we are, on the next adventure south.

Our first stop was in Sisters, OR to visit some old and very dear friends, Jim and Sue Anderson.  Lori met Jim and Sue when they all worked for OMSI  at the Hancock Field Station near Fossil, OR in 1987, and their youngest daughter, Miriam, was about 9 months old. Their sons Ruben and Caleb about 6 and 2 respectively.  Jim used to put Caleb in the front of the pack of people he would be taking for hikes around the fossil beds and other trails, and Caleb would find the most interesting things, many of which he would see before anyone else would.  All three of those kids are married with children of their own now, and doing very well.

Jim has been studying raptors in Central Oregon for the last 50 years.  They gather their extended family every May to band Eagles. Sue has been studying and monitoring butterflies in the region nearly as long, and so the grandkids do help out with that as well.  All the grandchildren are learning to appreciate and study natural history from their grandparents.  How cool.

From Sisters, we drove over McKenzie Pass in the Willamette National Forest.  Stopping at the Dee Wright Observatory at the summit, the clouds obscured the stunning view of several peaks in the Cascade Mountain Range.  It was drizzling rain when we left, but started pouring down on the west side. Go figure.  We proceeded south to Roseburg where we met up with most of the members of what George calls the Pirate A Cappella group, people he has been singing with since April.

One of the members of the group is getting married today at the Mildred Kanipe State park in Oakland, near Roseburg in Southern Oregon.  And, the group, along with the groom will be singing during the reception.  A very sweet song, “All I Want to do is Grow Old with You,” sung by the groom to the bride, with back up by the group, will make people cry.

So we are parked here at the Campground next to the park, and will get up tomorrow and cross the Cascades, yet again on our way to Crater Lake over the Toketee Pass.  We’ll stop to admire the view and have some lunch, then make our way south and camp along the Upper Klamath Lake near Chiloquin.  This will be new territory for us.  But that is the point of RVing, no?