On the road 2026–Home to the Eastern Sierra

Hello friends and family, we’re on our annual road trip to see what we can find out. We left early Sept. 21, driving down to Federal Way to celebrate the birthday of our friend Michelle, a woman of deep wisdom. Sharing our pain of not seeing our daughter Gillian the past two years, Michelle–who has experienced loss in her life–told us: “People who are ‘broken,’ are looked at with pity, or feel that people don’t want to be around them.” Regarding Gilli’s turning away from us she said, “Gilli feels like she’s a disappointment to you and doesn’t want to see that disappointment in your eyes.” I texted Gilli’s friend Thomas about our upcoming visit to Corvallis. He texted back saying she lived in Albany and had a job. I texted him that we’d be happy just to see her for 5 minutes.

With Michelle’s love to send us on our way, we arrived late that afternoon in Seaview WA, on the southern coast of our state. We camped at site #46. The Sou’wester Historic Lodge and vintage trailer resort is a gem of a place–just our style of creativity. We enjoyed the outdoor kitchen, the guests, the wood-paneled cozy shower/bathroom, and the beach that was home to a couple hundred Brown pelicans. We enjoyed talking with guests and owners. We really loved Meatball, a pit bull, and his friend Spaghetti a kitten.

The following morning we headed along the coast and stopped in the town of Manzanita for a delicious chicken enchilada lunch at the Wild Organic Grocery and Community Cafe. Great friendly folk who run the place.

We arrived in the afternoon at the Benton Oaks RV campground at the Benton County Event Center and Fairgrounds. Acorns were dropping from the nearby oaks, making random bangs on Marion’s roof, and we asked to be moved into the center row and away from the projectiles. No word from our Gilli.

We left early the next morning, driving toward Ashland with a sadness in our hearts at not connecting once again. We stopped in Roseberg OR for lunch at a wonderful farm stand called The Farm Stand by Lehne Farms. The produce and the cafe had wonderful foods to choose from. I bought fresh tomatoes and plums. Bill ordered a puff pastry cheese and tomato sandwich.

Arriving in Ashland late that afternoon, we stopped at the Ashland Food Co-op, where we met Helene, a friend of my niece Janelle’s from high school. We all went to a memorable U2 concert with my sister Heidi in 1992. We’ve stayed in touch since then. Helene and her husband Geoff are naturopathic practitioners and a lot of fun. We walked around Ashland a while with Helene. Toward evening we headed to camp at Emigrant Lake. The lake is so low that recreational boating has diminished. We camped in site 33, a handicap site right next to the restroom. Since the campground was not full, we did not have to give up our site. I was grateful for the proximity to the restrooms. Bird life is abundant with Acorn woodpecker, Canadian geese, Barred owl, Tufted titmouse, Flicker. The women’s restroom hosted a half dozen or more Daddy long legs spiders. I shared a stall with a Black widow. Rather than feeling appalled, I was curious about these arachnids who set up home in the women’s restroom.

Leaving early again, we drove from Oregon to California and our destination of Mt. Shasta’s KOA Holiday campground, where we always stay in site D, across from the restrooms. After shopping at the mind-blowing Soul Connections store downtown, we set up camp, then headed up to the slopes of Mt. Shasta to Panther Meadow. A steep hard climb begining at 7440 feet. The views were exhilarating. There is a power to this mountain that we’ve enjoyed since the mid 1970s. The water from here is also delicious.

After Mt. Shasta, we drove through previous wildfire burns toward western Nevada. The weather report listed a red flag warning, and we saw a small fire near Carson City that was extinguished soon after it started. We parked in the driveway of long-time friends Carolyn and Pat Lewis, who live in Gardnerville NV nearby his 101 year-old mom Alice. We love hearing her stories of growing up in the San Fernando Valley, and of her adventures in the High Sierra with her beloved late husband Jose. It was nice just to be with everyone, not having to do something. We enjoyed watching the 1967 movie, a true story, “The Happiest Millionaire,” with Fred MacMurray. Fun movie that Alice enjoyed, too. We hope to see her next year.

We left Sunday morning, after meeting the next door neighbor Coco, who can’t resist visiting Pat and Carolyn.  Stopping in Lee Vining, we visited the Mono Lake Committee Bookstore, where we found a number of books just up our alley. We visited the lake’s south shore tufa reserve, admiring the formations which had lived beneath the lake until 1941, when half the lake’s water began to be diverted to Los Angeles. The lake hosts incredible bird life, which feed on the brine shrimp and alkali brine flies. There is an ongoing battle with Los Angeles to recover more water to the lake so that its bird, shrimp and fly life can avoid becoming extinct.

We’re now camping in site 35 at East Fork NFS campground way up high in Rock Creek Canyon outside Tom’s Place.The next story will tell of our adventures in the Great Plains, including our beloved Eastern Sierra.

Adios for now! Love, Bajada Bill and Cactus Kate.