We are in love with Oregon. Originally a state that we planned to just pass through
en route to somewhere more exciting, we ended up staying in place for much longer than we ever thought we could stay in one place ... and we're still here.
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| Wouldn't you stay here, too, if you had a choice? |
After Canada, we headed back to Klamath Falls for the next installment of
The Great American RV Repair Challenge (unfortunately, there's no million-dollar prize at the end, just an RV that works as advertised). Since we had to drive through Bend to get there, we decided to stay there a few days since we loved it so much the first time.
It just so happened that we were there during the Bend Brewfest, so of course, we went.
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| That right there is a man on a mission! |
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| No crowds, beautiful weather, and beer made us smile! |
I was only able to get one small hike in, and it was really more of a recon of the MTB trails in Redmond. I was hoping to get the MTBs out for our first singletrack of this adventure, but it just wasn't in the cards for me. After the walk, I ended up in bed for a few days (same old post-chemo ickiness - nothing major), so the MTBs stayed tucked away in the back of the RV. 😭
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| Sigh ... this would have been such a good MTB trail. |
We did manage to go on a short MC ride to a fantastic farmer's market and two new
breweries, so all was not lost.
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| Garden at Smith Rock Brewing Co. |
Once the RV repair shop assured us they had received all the parts they needed to fix our slide, we drove back down to Klamath Falls, rented a house on Airbnb (because when your house-on-wheels is in the shop, you are effectively homeless), and left our homestead in the repair shop's hands. The good news is that we rented an awesome house, with a dock on the Sprague River and lots of space for the punks to run around.
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| Sunrise over the river in a very smoky sky (from several area forest fires). |
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| Mornings were so chilly, Sunday actually welcomed Mookie snuggles! |
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| Four days of belly flops made for a very water logged pup. |
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Mookie enjoyed her bird's eye view of the birds.
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I managed to go for one substantial hike with Sunday in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, which was beautiful, albeit very smoky. More about that adventure
here.
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| Smoky views in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. |
The bad news (you knew that was coming, right?): the RV repair shop actually didn't have all the parts they needed, so the slide is still stuck in. But, a little glitch like that wasn't going to keep us from adventuring!! We shook off the bad news, packed up the RV and headed west to Medford, OR (or, as the Boston in me keeps calling it, "Medfed").
It took us less than a day to fall in love with this area! Mountains, trails, tall pine trees, and more blackberries than you could eat in an entire lifetime. And did I mention it was wine country? I never thought of Southern Oregon as a wine region (Willamette gets all the attention) but good god, the
Applegate Valley is amazing! Lots of small little vineyards, where the winemaker him/herself sits down and talks you through the tasting; lush perennial gardens to explore; friendly vineyard dogs announcing your arrival, and none of the tacky commercialism that keeps me away from most wineries. More on the specific vineyards on our
brewery reviews page (hey, we're equal opportunity drinkers), but here are a few photos:
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| Gardens at Schmidt Family Vineyards |
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| Gardens at Troon Vineyard |
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| Doug makes friends with the winery dog at Plaisance Ranch. |
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| I was very relaxed. 😀 |
I loved all the farmstands in the area, too. Most advertised "no sprays" (because obtaining a "USDA Organic" label is just too expensive for little family farms); some were just little tables at the end of people's driveways (reminding me of growing up in the Catskills); and none of them were overpriced like you find at city farmer's markets. Just good old fashioned vegetables and fruit, grown sustainably, and incredibly delicious. I think I ate my weight in corn, tomatoes, and blackberries this week!
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Blackberries I picked myself from the bushes outside our RV.
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| Farmstands and vineyards make for a very full motorcycle trunk! |
Of course, there were
breweries, too. And a small
hike for the pups and me.
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| Looking into the Applegate Valley from the Hart Trail. |
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| There's a reason why Oregon is famous for its logging industry! |
But the really big news from our Oregon Adventures, Part II is that Doug got himself a new motorcycle!!! We are fully embracing this "we might be dead tomorrow" thing, and who the heck wants to die with a big clunky GoldWing? He's been dreaming of a BMW 1200RT since the late 90s, and considering the amount of time we spend riding these days, it seemed like the right time to bite the bullet.
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| We upgraded from the GoldWing (a/k/a "The Beast" or "The Cadillac") to..... |
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| .... this sleek machine. |
In the first week of ownership, he rode over 800 miles!!! I had to give up my "Princess Seat" (the sofa that doubles as a passenger seat on a GoldWing), but who needs such lavish comfort when you have your own bike? There is much to be said for German engineering - my first ride as a passenger, I kept asking him why he was only doing 45 m.p.h. in a 60 m.p.h. zone. He informed me he was doing 65. The BMW just hugs the corners and shifts like buttah. Oh, and its about 300 lbs lighter than the GoldWing, which is
really good news for our RV. On another note, if you know anyone looking for a slightly used 2016 GoldWing, ours is for sale at
Automania in Grants Pass, Oregon and can be shipped anywhere in the US.
Oh, and I got myself a new haircut. No more silly Army requirements for my hair to be "conservative" or "age appropriate". (I did resist the stylist's suggestion that I dye it purple, however ... there are limits to my wild side).
All in all, it was an eventful couple of weeks in Medford. Tomorrow, we're off to Portland!
