RV Sabbatical Trip - Day 15 through Day 17

[ Previous Three Days | Picture Archive | Jamaica | Next Three Days ]

Day 15 - Explore Cave Junction, etc.

 Day 15's Pictures

On Monday, we were going to take off to go see Crater Lake, but we decided against it because it was about a 2.5 hour drive one way. Jennifer didn't get a very good night's sleep and so we just decided to stick around here locally. We went to the Kerby (Kerbyville) Museum and saw lots and lots of really old equipment, phones, spinning machines, logging machines, tractors, etc. It was really cool! Samuel kept touching things so he got in quite a bit of trouble with us over it. After that we went to a small craft shop where they do burl wood carvings. Way too expensive for us!

Then we went off to a place called Selmac Lake where we ate lunch, played on the swings, then went to go feed the ducks and geese. Everybody enjoyed it. Finally we went to a "swing bridge" (mini suspension walking bridge) over the Illinois River. The road was kind of windy but it was not too far. The bridge was pretty cool. We can't imagine hiking too far down in there though as it was pretty rough country.

Tomorrow we're going to be heading up the interstate towards Eugene, OR.

We'll stay at the KOA there and then head off towards Astoria. After having come up the Pacific Coast Highway in California we we quite sick of swirvy driving so instead of heading up the coast of Oregon we decided to just stick to some interstate driving for a while. Ah, the beauty of making travel plans "on the fly"!

We really enjoyed our stay in Cave Junction. The temperatures were pretty mild, the company and scenery were wonderful, and the food was great too. Samuel understands pretty well that he's at "Grandpa Brown's house" and was sad to leave the "tractor."

Day 16 - Travel to Eugene, OR

 Day 16's Pictures

Neither John nor Jennifer will ever forget "day 16" on their RV sabbatical trip. You see, day 16 also happened to be September 11, 2001. We woke up like every other morning, got the kids fed and all of us showered and headed into Grandpa Brown's house for some breakfast for ourselves. The instant we entered the door he rushed us in quickly to the TV in the front room and hastily tried to explain what had happened just a few minutes prior.

We could not believe what we were actually seeing! Was this real? It probably wasn't until several days later on in the trip until the full magnitude of the events actually hit both of us. It was an extremely unsettling thing to be out on the road when the terrorist attacks hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We really didn't feel scared but being so far from home was just very unnerving. There's no place like home. We are just glad that we were at least with family members while watching the events unfold before our eyes.

We stayed an extra couple of hours at Jennifer's Grandpa's house in Cave Junction watching the TV reports, etc. Then we drove the 2 hours up I-5 to Eugene, OR. Most of the way neither of us could get the images of the planes hitting the buildings out of our heads.

As if anything mattered that day, we didn't do much. We stopped at the Wal-mart in Grants Pass for some supplies and then we all went swimming in the pool here once we settled in. After dinner we called family members on the cell phone and stayed glued to the TV practically all night.

We had planned originally to go up into Canada into the Banff area and then up near Edmonton to see Jennifer's Grandma. However, we decided that given the circumstances that it would be best to stay in the country and so we decided to just head south into Yellowstone after seeing Jennifer's sister in Seattle, WA.

For us the event was a tragic thing to witness but neither John nor Jennifer lost family members in any of the attacks. We feel very fortunate in that respect. For those of our friends who did lose friends or loved ones, our hearts and prayers still go out to you to this day.

Day 17 - Travel to Astoria, OR

 Day 17's Pictures
On 12th we drove up to Astoria and found the KOA there. It was a pretty uneventful trip but we traveled through a lot of pretty country. The Oregon area certainly is the "Christmas tree capital of the world."

We took a swim in the pool and hot tub and then got cleaned up for dinner. The girl up front recommended a local seafood restaurant called "Bouy 9." Jennifer got some really good seafood Alfredo, I had fish and chips, and Samuel had a corn dog (go figure). Kaley had some of everything! Then we bedded down for the night.

[ Previous Three Days | Picture Archive | Jamaica | Next Three Days ]