On the Road Autumn 2024—Langley to Gardnerville NV

We left home on Sept. 21 in the hands of our friends, Tom and Megan who used to live across the street. It was a clear morning and the sun was just rising at 7AM in a clear sky just coming up at 7 o’clock and 51° outside. Looking across Saratoga Passage we admired  a wreath of clouds at the foot of the Cascade mountains.

Meeting up with our friend Michelle at Steele Lake Park in Federal Way, we caught up on her recent trip to Los Angeles to celebrate her daughter’s birthday, and all the dramas experienced while visiting there, which Michelle related in a compelling, sometimes humorous way. We appreciated Michelle’s true moral compass in the face of heartache she’s experienced, and appreciated her right on advice regarding  a family issue, which I had been seeking an answer to. As we hugged her goodbye, she left her fresh scent with us. I complemented her on her bright yellow nail polish.

As we approached Portland Oregon, the temperature began rising to the 80’s. I turned the fan on, noticing the A/C letters on our Toyota’s button. Oh no! No cool air was coming out! We thought there was a problem and booked a service call at the Corvallis Toyota dealer for Sept. 23 to have it checked out. Meanwhile, Bill pushed the A/C button, which lit up. Voila! The air was cooling! We had forgotten how to use it since the last time last November. Our mantra: “Just push the button.”

Our daughter Gilli left her work as a mechanic/tire specialist at Les Schwab to pursue a life that cultivates another of her talents: print-making. She and her housemates/friends Rob and Lilly, along with some artist friends were invited to host a booth at the first Cap & Stem Festival Northwest in Albany. Gilli thought, as did we, that it would be a small-town craft show.

The event was packed. Gilli and her friends’ booth was swarmed with shoppers eager to buy fairy houses, mushroom magnets, bags and T-shirts with Gilli’s logo and other images of her screened art.

We bought fresh tamales for Gilli from a food booth, Sabor, which regularly sells at the Corvallis Farmers Market. A friend, Judy, who we met while visiting in Corvallis last June, suggested Sabor. Gilli ate between busily serving customers and printing shirts. Judy suggested meeting up with her later at a Universalist Unitarian plant-food-based potluck. On the way back to Corvallis from the mushroom festival, we stopped at Midway Farms to buy fresh tomatoes, basil and lettuce. The tomatoes were perfectly ripe, juicy, sweet and acidic—delicious with salt, basil and fresh mozzarella. I made a salad with the veggies for the potluck.

The UU Fellowship in Corvallis is a beautiful campus with a circular chapel, whose wood ceiling frames a skylight. Really great quilts adorned the walls, including one made in the New York Beauty Pattern, a sunburst pattern popular in the 1930s.

We camped at the Albany KOA, which lies along the busy and roaring Oregon Route 34 highway. Enjoyed a breakfast with Gilli the following morning at the First Alternative Co-op Southtown in Corvallis. Their chile relaño eggs are the best. We miss being with our children and this catch up with Gilli—we hadn’t seen her since June—was good for our heart.

Heading south along I-5 we picnicked at the Douglas County Fairgrounds just outside of Roseburg, OR. Its picnic tables are shaded under a tall canopy, and the clean restrooms make for a welcome stop. Our lunch? Midway Farms tomatoes, basil, ham and mayo! Heaven.

Next stop was nearby exit 99 at the Seven Feathers truck stop/casino, owned by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. Good gas prices, clean restrooms and good stop for healthy snacks and drinks.

We pulled into our campsite at the Ashland Creekside Campground and RV Park, just outside Ashland. Once a sweet place to camp, it has devolved into a shantytown with many trailers whose yards are piled with trash along side sparkling big rigs. A few short-term campsites are available.

After stopping at the Ashland Food Co-op for some groceries, we stopped at Helene and Jeff’s. Helene is a high school friend of my niece Janelle’s. Our memory with her began at a U2 concert in November 1992 when Janelle and Helene were teens and I was way pregnant with our son Raymo. During the concert—where Janelle scored seats close to the stage—I stood on a folding chair with my big belly and danced with my sister Heidi, Janelle and Helene. A fun evening at the San Diego Padre’s stadium.

We’ve stayed in touch with Helene now and then. When Helene texted us about visiting on Whidbey and learned we’d be out of town on this road trip, we made plans to visit at her home instead. Married just over a year to Jeff, a naturopath, Helene—now a medical massage practitioner who runs a wellness business with six staff, and a talented artist and outdoors professional—has found just the right partner in Jeff.

This couple is fun! Check out these photos of their home and their life style. They enjoy building ice caves with friends at nearby Mt. McLoughlin during the winter. Painting their creation with food coloring to depict fairyland scenes, they turn the caves into lit dance caves complete with music.

Their 114-year-old home features lava lamps, gnomes, mushrooms, robots, a jetpack, interesting nooks and crannies and altars to their fun lifestyle.

After a delicious steelhead and roast veggie dinner made by Jeff, we drove back to camp. The women’s restrooms were occupied. 15 minutes later, after brushing my teeth and putting on my PJs, the restrooms were still occupied. I knocked on the door. A young woman emerged from one, leaving a cloud of cigarette smoke in her wake. The rules state no smoking in the restrooms, but are currently ignored, as are the rules for keeping tidy campsites. I did not sleep well at all that night.

We arrived at Mt. Shasta and checked in to the blessedly clean KOA campground there. We’ve been going there for years and have always found it a friendly and clean place. Plus there’s the bonus of mother mountain Mt. Shasta rising above. We swam in the refreshing Lake Siskiyou nearby. After dinner, we drove up toward the base of Mt. Shasta, whose bare flanks turned peach colored in the setting sun. Bill hiked while I took a cat nap. We listened to a syndicated musicologist show, and slept well on this night.

The following morning on Sept. 25, heading along Highway 89 towards Susanville the following morning, we noticed the devastation of the trees from the 2021 Dixie fire, which burned nearly a million acres. The proliferation of manzanita and rabbit brush gave a sense of hope to a landscape of blackened forest.

Arriving in Susanville we stopped in at the Golden Poppy and I ordered a breakfast of eggs, tomatoes and cheese, served by the friendly owner Spencer Brown, dressed in Victorian garb. There’s a real sense of place in uptown Susanville. Bill ordered brisket from the Pioneer Cafe & Bar next door.

Nature called us to pull in at Hallelujah Junction, where a log cabin gas station, store and restrooms stood in the empty high desert. Hallelujah indeed!

Stopping at Whole Foods in Reno, I noticed our silverware drawer had fallen out. We usually bungee it closed, but forgot after eating at the trailer table in Susanville. Good thing this happened, because the black liners beneath our silverware had fallen out, revealing a noticeable amount of mouse droppings. I wiped the drawers with hydrogen peroxide as well as the silverware. I’ve heard dryer sheets keep mice out.

After swimming outdoors at the Carson Valley Aquatic Center, we pulled into our Gardnerville friends’ Carolyn and Pat Lewis’s beautiful high desert home. After a pasta dinner we sat outside on the front porch looking toward the Sierra Nevada range. We slept well. The next morning, Carolyn fixed quiche—much appreciated by Bill—and handed me dryer sheets for Marion’s storage spaces—hope this keeps the mice out.

I’m now at the Douglas County Library, typing this story. Want to get it filed in the next 36 minutes, so I’ll sign off. Adios from Cactus Kate and Bajada Bill.