I’m currently in Eugene, OR. I’m staying with another WarmShowers.org host, Rachel. She lives in a little funky community of homes that remind me of something you might see in Lord of the Rings. If Bilbo Baggins jumped out of the door, it wouldn’t surprise me.
The 43-mile ride today was hot and dry. There is no rain predicted for the next week, so my record is intact for now. Rumor has it that it “doesn’t rain on Dennis.”
I rode by miles and miles of blackberry bushes today. They are everywhere and delicious. I think I ate about 5 lbs (2 kg) of them. I also rode by endless fields of blueberries, but they were being commercially grown, eating them may have gotten me shot!
This state is one big breadbasket. All I see are vast fields of oats.
Of course, no discussion of Oregon is complete without mentioning the Redwood trees. Directly across the street from where I stayed last night there was a whole row of them. They were planted in 1932 and are now 200 feet (70 m) tall. They were planted too close together and will eventually kill each other off until the stronger ones win more room. I wouldn’t want to live across the street when that starts happening!
I’m planning on riding to McKenzie Bridge, OR, tomorrow. It is about 54 miles (87 km). I may camp there and get on the air with the ham radio. If I’m really up to it, there is a hot spring, known as Deer Creek, or Bigelow Springs, about ten miles further, and camping near it. That would be comforting after a long day’s ride.
Thus far on this journey. the drivers have been decent, but going a little too fast for my liking. Then again, this is the west and the roads are long and straight.
Rachel, my host this evening, was off to a birthday party. She asked me to put the chickens away for the night and do a head count to make certain they were all there…all eight were. They’ll have a lot of nice fresh eggs. Now that the chickens are in for the night, I am too!
Good night all.
Dennis, K1YPP
