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October 11th to November 3rd, 2007 Triangle Lake Part I - Things we did in Triangle Lake

Thursday morning we moved from Ashland, Oregon to Triangle Lake, Oregon, about 40 minutes west of Eugene.  As we drove through the beautiful mountains between the two towns, Robert was playing some of his dad’s favorite “road trip” music, the Kingston Trio, Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash.  We could feel his dad’s spirit with us singing along to the songs and harassing Robert for getting some of the words wrong along the way.  The mountains were beautiful and it was a moment to remember.

Joss spent many childhood summers at Triangle Lake with her family visiting her Aunt and Uncle.  She has fond memories of playing on the church’s dock and playing at the near-by falls.  Joss’ parents had a pop-up tent camper and would park it behind Uncle Larry and Aunt Linda’s house for a few weeks during the summer break.  Joss remembers helping in the garden, taking long hikes in the forest, swimming in the lake, canoe rides and picking blackberries all over the place until her mouth was purple and her fingers red with pricks from the berry bushes.  Good times! 

Uncle Larry is Joss’ mom’s baby brother.  He’s always been the “cool” uncle because he was nine years younger than her mom and he was a hippie.  He has always been very laid back and fun.  Aunt Linda and Uncle Larry were vegetarians for years, although they eat some meat now, they still eat many of her vegetarian dishes and she made a few of them for us while we visited. Over the years Linda has gathered and created a lot of excellent vegetarian recipes, which she plans to make into a book.  We hope so because everything she made for us was delicious and the kids loved it too.  That is saying a lot! 

For many years Larry and Linda have run their leather business, Avery Studios.  They design and hand make the best quality leather purses, wallets, and belts.  A few years ago Larry went to work for his friend and founder of LRI, the developer of the world famous photon micro lights (www.photonlight.com).  (Robert never leaves home without one, or two, or three.) Since then, Linda has taken over the business 100% and now works it on her own. Uncle Larry left LRI and has been working at Jerry’s, which is a very large home improvement store (think Home Depot only larger and with WAY more customer service.)

We arrived in Triangle Lake late afternoon, Aunt Linda was working in her leather shop and Uncle Larry was on the roof of the house doing some work.  He climbed down to greet us and help get the RV situated into the camping spot down by the lake.  One-person stopping traffic, two guiding Robert driving and one chainsaw later, we were in.  We only had to cut a few branches off a tree or they would have taken the air conditioners off!  We had the most private and beautiful camping spot we’ve had so far.  The kids have a large window out their room and they had the best view of all, the lake and all it’s glory. We were grateful to have electricity and a porta-potty too.  We weren’t sure how long our holding tanks would last us but we would stay as long as they did.  We ended up working out a way to dump the black and the grey tanks by filling a 5-gallon plastic tote and carying them to a safe dumping spot, a potty.  This qualified as Robert’s least favorite job on the trip so far, but we were able to stay three whole weeks at Triangle Lake and that made it worth it.

We did so much in the three weeks that we are going to break it down into smaller sections to make it easier for us to write about and easier for you to read. 

So what did we do you ask? 

We started out first day with a delicious veggie lasagna dinner with Larry and Linda and their exchange student, John.  John is from a town south of Oslo, Norway and a junior at the local school.  He will stay the entire school year with Larry and Linda.  They started having exchange students many years ago when their son Bryan was young.  Even though Bryan’s grown and moved out they continue to do it almost every year.  They now have many “sons” and some “daughters” all over the world and they get to visit some of them on their travels. Taking in an exchange student also helps out the local school since it is very small.  

Our first full day there Robert and the kids helped Uncle Larry move firewood into the wood shed.  The kids had a blast doing this. Robert and Joss were amazed by how much they loved helping.  That night John was playing in a football game at the high school.  Robert and the kids went to the game with Aunt Linda.  The kids got to watch part of the game from the box where Uncle Larry was in charge of keeping score.  They had fun and felt like they were a part of the community.  It was their first football game ever.  Robert was questioning Aunt Linda asbout where he should meet her at the game. He had in mind the football games of his high school days where the bleachers would be filled with hundreds and hundreds of people. In Triangle Lake it was a little smaller and very easy to find just about everyone!

Afterward we all headed to the church where Aunt Linda helps create a “hang out” for the kids with pizza, soda and ice cream after all the home games.  They call it the Fifth Quarter. Triangle Lake is a small community and relatively far from anything else.  The closest restaurant is a 30-minute drive minimum so they have to improvise.  

We had planned to get to Oregon about a month sooner than we did.  So instead of being with them in the summer we made it in the fall.  It also meant we got there during Linda’s busy season.  She was working quite a bit in her leather shop.  We’d go up with the boys to see her and she’d show us what she was sewing at the time and some of the new purse ideas she was working on.  She is sewing stones into the front of the purses for decoration and it is really beautiful.  She gave the boys each some scrap leather to play with.  Joss remembers playing with the leather when she was a girl and how much fun it was to hang out in the shop with them.  Many nights when Linda was working extra hard she’d still make the effort to come down to the trailer and spend time with us.  We’d hang out and talk for a bit then she’d go back to work while we put the kids to bed. 

Baylee made leaps and bounds of progress on her making friend skills.  She escaped one night and we couldn’t get her quick enough before her and Larry’s dog got together.   She had tried to start a fight with their dog a day earlier so we were concerned (they're about the same size).  They sniffed a lot and there was some raised fur, but overall it went pretty well.  Baylee and their dog, Kuro (means black in Japanese) ended up being friends and gave us much hope for her future abilities to get along with her own species.

A couple of nights when Linda was gone working an art show Uncle Larry cooked for us.   We’d hike up the big hill to the house and hang out with him and John.  The kids loved playing with John.  He was very playful and tolerant of the boys’ antics.  They listened to him talk in his native language and tried to say some of the words.  Uncle Larry couldn’t believe how much energy our boys have on a daily basis.  We can’t either sometimes.  His son Bryan, was a much more quiet and calm boy.  Our boys are not calm or quiet (and we love them that way…most of the time!) 

Robert was up with Baylee out on the dock looking at the scenery.  Larry came out to see what Robert was looking at.  Robert was watching a man on the next dock trying to pull something out of the water with a rope.  Larry said, “Oh wow, that’s Pastor Steve and that is his boat- SUNK!”  It had been raining a lot.  We got five inches in about four to five days.  (I think in Chino Hills last year we got about 6 inches total for the year!)   During the night’s storm Pastor Steve’s boat sunk and he was trying to figure out how to get it out.  Uncle Larry took off and Robert ran into the trailer saying “I have to help get Pastor Steve’s boat out of the Lake.  Be back in 15 minutes.”  Joss laughed and said “kids get dressed, let’s go watch.”  Two and a half hours later they got the boat floating again and bailed out.  It was two and a half hours of total excitement for the kids, Joss’ camera and the dogs.  They had a blast watching the different things the men would try and how they were hanging way over the dock holding onto the ropes.   Finally they used a four by four to get some leverage on the boat and wet/dry vac to pump some air into the boat to raise it far enough to turn over.  At one point or another all three men had to get into the extremely cold lake to help out.  It was quite the exciting morning for all.  Even Baylee and Kuro were exhausted from running around while watching their families do this strange activity.

On the Monday night before Halloween we all went up to the house to have dinner and carve pumpkins.  In Oregon it is legal in rural areas to burn your own paper trash and “slash” piles (basically tree branches, sticks, weeks, etc.).  Larry had a slash pile that needed burning.  Oh boy, was that a big deal!  Boys will be boys and boys love fire.  It was a good chance to teach the kids fire safety.  It was interesting that while this was happening my parents were preparing to possibly evacuate their house in the San Diego area due to the wild fires down there.  That’s what six inches of rain a year gets you versus Triangle Lake getting 140 inches a year.  Big difference!  The boys stayed outside for hours off and on watching the pile burn.  They couldn’t believe that they get to have their own fires right there in the yard.  They loved everything we leaned about country life.

Before dinner and during the fires we carved pumpkins.  This was John’s first experience carving pumpkins for Halloween.  He decided to copy a traditional face out of a book we had.  He didn’t like the mean faces so he picked a happier one.  Sawyer loves the mean faces but didn’t like the pumpkin mess from inside the pumpkin.  Robby chooses the more abstract art type of face front and back for his pumpkin.  Joss showed John how to use the pumpkin carving kits to make a really difficult face for the pumpkin.  We used to do all the pumpkins this way until we had kids.  Then we went back to the easy geometrical shaped faces.

Another “chore” the RVGypsies helped Larry with was picking apples from his tree.  Robby, ever the climber, went up the tree and tossed apples down to dad.  Sawyer climbed the ladder or was held up by dad to get the goods.  It would have been simpler to just shake the living daylights out of the tree and let the apples drop.  But that would have bruised them and they would rot quicker.  As it turns out, by hand picking them and storing them in the shed outside, they’ll last 2-3 months!  Try doing that in Southern California…where our fresh fruit rots in 7 to 10 days!

Our last night there was absolutely wonderful.  We all met at a friend’s house to press apples into cider.  We pulled up to their friend Phil’s house and the carport was filled with boxes and boxes of apples and they were gathering still more from their tree.  Evelyn was up in the tree tossing them down to the ground.  Every now and then she’d yell to the kids to get out of the way or they’d get hit on the head.  Joss looked up into the tree and couldn’t even see her she was hidden by the branches and leaves.  One tree produced all these apples.  About three years ago friends started getting together to press all the apples this one tree would give them.  They had Linda, Kitty, Tom and Evelyn cutting out the bad spots of the apples, Robert and Joss were working the apple crusher which would turn the apple into apple bits, Larry and Phil worked the juicer which squeezed the apple bits so much that the juice came flowing out.  Uncle Larry made the crusher himself.  Crystal caught the juice in a bucket and poured it through a strainer into the jugs.  She had to make sure the bucket didn’t over flow.  Precious juice could be lost!  The kids would come by now and then and throw some apples in the crusher to help out.  But, most of the time they were playing happily with the other kids that were there.  There were three girls and another boy all Robby’s age to play with.  They had a blast of their own. 

We all took a break to have some pizza and traditional Philippino dessert made from rice.  Evelyn and Kitty were both from the Philippines.  Joss sat and talked with a man named Tom.  He had lived in that area for many years and was a farmer.  However, the more we talked the more she learned about his life.  At age fifteen he traveled by himself by rail, bike, car, anyway he could.  He saw forty-four states all by himself and met amazing people along the way.  He told some of their stories.  He almost came to tears when he talked of his dad who had been a P.O.W. in the Japanese camps in WW II.  He talked about how his dad truly appreciated his freedom every day of his life after that experience.  He told of how he spent six years traveling through different parts of Asia including Japan and the Phillipeans on a bike.  He had lived with the people and really got to know them and their way of life.  He had studied Buddhism, Hinduism and Yoga as well as Christianity.  He considers himself always a Christian but with a very open and well educated mind.  He was an immensely interesting man.  Joss could have stayed all night talking with but there were still apples that needed pressing so we all got back to work.  In the end our group pressed about 47 gallons of apple juice [pix].  They said it would last pretty much the whole year.  We all got to take some home.  In our little fridge, our gallon lasted us about a week and a half.  Not bad. This night was definitely one of the highlights of our Triangle Lake stay.  A great way to end the visit.

We have many more Triangle Lake adventures to tell you about so tune in again.  Next time we’ll tell you how Robert met one of his most favorite singers, Cindy Alexander and got his photo with her.  Stay tuned...

Triangle Lake Part II -What we did in Eugene

While staying in Triangle Lake we spent some time driving into Eugene.  We did the basics like shopping, cell phone calls to friends and family, eating out at some of Eugene’s yummy organic healthy restaurants (and some not so healthy ones too!), parks, another science museum and doctors appointments for all including the truck.  Robert took the kids to Toys R Us one day so Robby could pick out the Razor scooter he’d been saving for.  It had taken him five months to save $50 for the scooter he wanted.  The scooter came to $49.99 and with no sales tax in Oregon, he had just the right amount.  He was so excited and learned tricks on it almost immediately.  Enough tricks to worry his mom.  Helmet please! 

Before we got to Triangle Lake, Robert got an email notice from one of his favorite singers, Cindy Alexander (www.cindyalexander.com)  Robert told Joss she was doing a tour in the Northwest.  Turns out she was going to be at a club in Eugene just a few days after we would be getting there.  Joss encouraged Robert to email our Cousin Bryan to see if he wanted to go.  Robert emailed him and sure enough it’s a club that Bryan knew well. 

Robert emailed Cindy at her website to let her know they’d be coming.  She actually emailed him back saying she was happy and a bit worried about this particular show because it was on a Monday night.  Robert and Bryan met for dinner and a beer before the show.  It was in a small club called John Henry's.  They got there early enough to get a table up front.  During the first act, Cindy was in the back talking with friends and Robert got to talk with her for a bit.  There were not more than 30 people in the club total so it was a pretty “intimate” setting.  Cindy had a new album coming out and was doing a short tour through the NW before getting into LA for a new release party. 

On one of the trips into Eugene, Robert and the boys went to a park along the Willamette River called RiverPlay.  It was the neatest outdoor play structure we’ve seen yet on our trip.   A new friend we met in Deadwood, Ray Robinson, did all of the decorative cement work for the park which included a huge sand area where the kids can make and dam rivers and dig for indigenous artifacts and beautiful basalt columns. 

 

The kids had really wanted to stay extra long so we could be with Larry and Linda for Halloween.  We decided as a family that was a good idea.  However, Triangle Lake is not well suited for door-to-door trick-or-treating!  Everyone lives on acres of land far away from each other.  Robby and Sawyer really had their hearts set on going door-to-door like we did back home.  Joss had caught a virus and decided it was best to stay home and rest while Robert took the kids into Eugene in search of a great trick-or-treating neighborhood.  First and foremost they had to go to Uncle Larry’s work to trick-or-treat him!  They headed to Jerry’s home improvement to see Uncle Larry and his costume.  He was going to be a Dutch boy, however, earlier in the day he had a wardrobe malfunction so they only got to see his wig and shoes .  Before they left the hot dog lady and the ladies at the cash registers wanted the kids to trick-or-treat them.  They got candy and chips and had a lot of fun.  While driving to kill time until it got dark, Robert and the kids spotted a Fall Festival at a church in Junction City.  It said “Public Welcome” so they went.  They had tons of games for the kids to win prizes and candy.  After the festival they headed into the neighborhood and returned to the truck two hours later loaded with candy, cold and exhausted (okay, Robert was exhausted, the boys were on an anticipatory sugar high!)

 

Triangle Lake Part III -What we did in Florence

While in Triangle Lake we drove out to the Oregon Coast five times.  We liked it a lot out there and just kept going back. 

Our first exploration was to a little town by the name of Yachats.  It was a very wet and cold day and Yachats was very overcast.  We drove through town just to get a feel for it and ended up driving right through and out the other side without realizing it.  It’s a small town but quaint. 

By then we were starving so we looked for a place to eat.  Joss and the kids really wanted an ocean view so that was the main priority.  Robert found a restaurant called “The Landmark” and the sign read “ocean view at every table.”  THAT was it.  The restaurant did have an awesome view of the ocean and a fantastic beach to look out on.  They also had great fish and chips! 

After eating the kids just wanted to go play on the beach.  Robert stayed in the truck and took a nap while Joss and the kids played on the beach.  At this beach the waves break far off shore and the water continues to roll in, blending with the river coming out to the ocean.  It was very cool.  Sawyer played in the sand with his sand toys the entire time.  Joss moved around the beach taking photos of anything and everything.  She had fun playing on and taking photos of the driftwood logs on the beach. Robby just moved constantly.  He was chasing birds, walking on logs, digging in the sand, jumping in puddles, running with the waves…constant, perpetual movement.   We love the beach whatever time of year it is and this beach was really beautiful.  It was hard getting the kids to leave the beach but there was a lot of coastline left to see.

Next we went to the Cape Perpetua Scenic area on the coast just south of Yachats in the Siuslaw National Forest.  It is a huge area including camping grounds and hiking trails.  Some of it was closed for the winter like their campsites and the 26 miles of hiking trails.  The trails lead you through old growth forests and down to the ocean.  But, we did get to go to two of the Cape Perpetua attractions.  First we hiked down to the Devils Churn.  Here, the water has pounded out an area of the cliff that creates a geyser effect as the water rushes in and hits the lava rocks.  It is very powerful and dangerous. I couldn’t believe we could walk right down to it and sit near the edge.  They have all sorts of signs warning you of the danger of “rogue” waves and such but I’m sure people still don’t pay attention, we didn’t!  Just kidding but if you look at the expression on Robby’s face, he’s keeping a keen eye on the water!  (Click on his face in the picture for a close up.) If you did fall in, the waves would just pound you against the hard, jagged lava rocks over and over.  Therefore, as a mom, Joss was a bit protective having her babies out on these rocks.  Sawyer is quite careful and approaches things much more slowly so we don’t worry about him as much.  Robby on the other hand has no fear at all and an Evel Knievel type of mentality.  He keeps us up at night sometimes, that one.  Although I do have to say, he seems to have a natural respect for Mother Nature and the grand and amazing power that she has.  He seemed to naturally understand that this was an extremely dangerous place and was very respectful of the place we were at.  For that, we are truly grateful.  We watched over and over as the waves came in and pounded up against the rocks.  We have spent so much time in nature on this trip.  That was one of our goals for going on this trip.  And many times we have been reminded that Nature survives no matter what.  Man builds a road and the plants grow up between the cracks.  She is amazing and we have continuously offered her our total respect and awe at her work.

After another hike we came to the tide pools.  This time Joss rested with Baylee while Robert took the kids to explore the tide pools and all that lives in them.  The tide was out so they had fun exploring them, although they didn’t really find any interesting sea life this time.

Our next reminder of nature’s amazement and beauty came in the form of a most amazing sunset.  We drove up to the Cape Perpetua Scenic viewing area, 803 feet up to the Old Stone Shelter.  This area is the highest point along the Oregon Coast.  On a clear day (which it was) you can see a panoramic view of 150 miles up and down the coast and 40 miles out to sea.  The Conservation Corps had built this tiny stone structure during the depression right on the edge of a cliff for the best possible viewing of whales and the sunset.  Thank goodness they had rebuilt it within the last 20 years because the only step down was 803 feet to the Pacific Ocean.  The Coast Guard used the structure in World War II for spotting enemy submarines.  This place is a MUST SEE in our opinion.  The Oregon Coast is rough and wild and absolutely gorgeous in and of itself, but this viewing area is worth the short drive that it takes off the highway.  It was absolutely breathtaking. When Robby ran up ahead to look out the stone viewing area we saw him looking out over the ocean and it looked as if he was on the edge of the world.  It was beyond words.  The sky was a million different shades of blue and lit up by the sunset.  We were fortunate in our timing in that we got to stay up there by ourselves and take in the beauty of the sunset for quite a while.  It was so amazing the kids stayed and watched it too with very little distraction.  Amazing for kids at their ages.  THIS was one of Joss’ favorite places on the whole trip. 

We are so fortunate that all the RVGypsies thoroughly enjoy exploring nature.  When we get to a beautiful spot we spend hours hiking and checking out every nook and cranny of an area.  When we headed back to the Oregon Coast to explore again, a quick stop for lunch at the Heceta beach and Lighthouse area turned into a three-hour tour.  The boys didn’t even want to stop and eat.  They immediately ran to the beach and took off exploring the sea caves along the rocks.  We could see them the whole time from our picnic table and they enjoyed a bit of exploring freedom with a long leash from mom and dad.  They finally came back for some nourishment and then we all headed up to the Light House for a tour and to find a Geocache.  The Geocache took us to a part of the hill we hadn’t been to before and we spent more time exploring that area and again watching the massive waves pound against the rocks.  It is mesmerizing to sit there and watch the sheer power the waves have.  Their energy is massive and very impressive.  A reminder of how truly small and delicate we are in comparison.

At the top of the hill, Robert and the kids got to tour the Heceta Head lighthouse while Joss stayed with Baylee and rested on a bench outside.  Sorry, no dogs allowed here.  The kids loved it. The lens of the lighthouse is one of the few made in England.  Most are made in France due to the raw material being there.   In the old days, the “day crew” at the lighthouse had to haul kerosene up the steps to fill the smaller container that the night watchman would use to “keep the candle burning” all night long.  The night watchman had to refuel it every two hours.  The day crew had to do this because they didn’t want the “night guy” going into the kerosene storage buildings in the dark, using only a candle or fuel lamp for light!  This was before flashlights and they didn’t need any additional “lights” on the hill to confuse the poor captains at sea.  Due to the remoteness of the lighthouses, the inspector, who made his rounds every 3 months or so, would bring a wooden box filled with books and drop it off.  Then he’d take that lighthouse’s box and take it to the next stop.  This was an example of the first “bookmobile” in the country!

By the time we left the lighthouse we still had just enough time to visit the famous Sea Lion Caves.  Joss had been to many of these sights before but she never remembered going into the cave.  She just looked down at the Sea Lions from up above.  So this time she was determined to go down into the cave.  We all went.  Well, the Oregon Coast Sea Lion cave is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest sea cave in the world.  However, as we learned, do not go in October.  We discovered there are NO Sea Lions in the area in the month of October at all.  Bummer!  We saw the cave.  It’s cool and big.  But without the sea lions, it’s not really worth the price of admission.  Another travel lesson learned, ask before you pay (which we did but they only said “we can’t guarantee you’ll see any lions”)!

We pack a lunch for all our outings but they sometimes continue on so long into the evening that we end up going out for dinner.  Florence had some great restaurants, especially in “Old Town” part, where the river meets the ocean.  Our favorite restaurant that we tried (we heard about some more great ones later but didn’t get to try them) was the Fire House.  No it was not built in an old firehouse like many of the fire themed restaurants were.  But, the owner who originally built it was a retired firefighter from California.  The walls were covered in firehouse paraphernalia and hundreds of T-shirts from fire stations all over the country.  We spent a lot of time reading where all the shirts were from.  The best part of this restaurant was the food.  Joss had the best clam chowder she’s ever had.  Granted she hasn’t had nearly as many samples as her dad who is from Long Island NY, but this chowder was great in her opinion.  And, they won first prize three years in a row for best clam chowder on the Oregon coast.  They would have won four year in a row but it is now allowed so they were disqualified in 2006.   I say let them win honestly as often as they can.  Oh well.  Robert loved his meatloaf so much he ordered another one to go for dinner the next night!  And, after the dinner Robert gave it his ultimate seal of approval with a hearty “YUM A DUM DUM!”  The kids know when he says that, he REALLY likes it.

It helps that we ate at the Fire House after a very tiring day of hiking up and down Sweet Creek Falls near Mapleton.  We spent four hours hiking trails looking for Geocaches and just to see the beauty of the area.  Another great place to go!  We ran into some really nice college students from Eugene who were there to “jump rocks” but didn’t quite have the proper equipment considering all the extra water in the creek from the latest rainfall.  So, instead of jumping rocks they came along with us part way helping us look for the Caches.  However, due to GPS issues from the huge trees we didn’t get to produce a Cache for them. Joss felt bad because she was the one who invited them to come and treasure hunt with us.  They were interested in Geocaching and we couldn’t find if for them.  But, Scott, Tristin and Kimberly, in case you are checking our website, WE FOUND THEM, BOTH OF THEM!  Moments after they left Robert got the clues and used those to find them.  He was amazing to be able to find it without the coordinates.  We were all exhausted by then but what a great day we had had.  You’ll have to check the photo section to see how great of a day it was and check out the natural beauty of the area. 

Stay tuned for our next update on Triangle Lake when the RVGypsies all voted it our best family day on the road yet!  What could it be?  We’ll give you a hint… it involves railroad tracks, a gator, a chipmunk, Sammy and some mushrooms! 

Triangle Lake Part IV -The final update on some special days.

Our last installment of our Triangle Lake visit has a lot of examples of why we are doing this trip; getting back to nature, meeting amazing new people, touching the lives of people we never would have been able to meet if we weren’t doing this adventure.  Our time in Triangle Lake was nothing less than magical to us and we hope we’ve been able to convey even a little bit of that to you. 

We did so much that we just can’t go into major details about everything (okay quit applauding!) Nonetheless those days were just as amazing like; canoe trips around the lake; dancing Reggae with the kids in the trailer; Robert and Joss each getting a massage done by cousin Bryan’s friend, Jason; Joss and Jason’s mom, Linda (also a Reiki master) making friends and talking “shop” for hours with so much in common, even knowing the same people in some cases.  While we’re trying to keep this as readable as possible, we get do get caught up in the excitement of the trip so we tend to “go long”. 

By having family live in the area we had some definite advantages to meeting people, like Jason our massage therapist.  We were also introduced to a teacher, Regina Ross, while helping out at the local church.  Aunt Linda had the idea of going to the local school to talk to the kids about what we’re doing.  She set it up for us to go to the Triangle Lake first grade class and tell them what it is like to live on the road.  While we were talking at the church about this, Mrs. Ross liked the idea too and invited us to come and talk to her combo second and third grade class.  We were thrilled.  We could spread the RVGypsies message of following your dream and Robby and Sawyer would get to play with kids their age.  It worked out beautifully. 

First we went to Mrs. Ross’ class at Mapleton Elementary School.  When we got there they were having an assembly.  We got to watch as the kids all took turns learning an African bird dance with an instructor and one man playing the drums. They were both dressed in beautiful African costumes.  After the dancing we were introduced to Mrs. Ross’ class and waited in the lunch line with them.  Robert and I ate cafeteria food right along with the class.  Boy, did that bring back some memories.  We had a choice of turkey in gravy over mashed potatoes (one of Robert’s favorites in school…who knew?), fish sandwich and mini corndogs.  Robby and Sawyer played recess with the kids in the room after we all ate.  One of the third grade boys, Scott, helped Sawyer to play on the computer.  All the kids were amazingly nice.  Then the class did a show and tell and WE were the show and tell.  They asked a lot of questions and we showed them some photos from our website.  They especially loved seeing the photo of our dog, Baylee.  Robby got to show them the scooter he’d just earned and Mrs. Ross even let him ride it and do tricks in the classroom.  She even had the kids move the desks so he could demonstrate.  She was a really cool teacher.  We then listened to their show and tell and then we said good-bye.  I think Robby and Sawyer had so much fun they wanted to stay and play but the class had to do some more schoolwork.

The following week we visited Triangle Lake Elementary school and their first grade class.  Like Robby’s class last year, they only had a few kids, six that day because a few were sick.  We again got to experience the lunch line and eating with all the kids in the cafeteria.  A bunch of the older kids at the other tables were whispering about Robby and Sawyer (fairly loudly) “who are the new kids?”  It’s a small town and everyone knew very quickly that we were “visiting,” even the lunch ladies.  After lunch the best thing that could have happened, did, Robby and Sawyer were invited to participate in their P.E. class.  They had so much fun running in the gym with them and then teaming up to play games.  They played a game where they were each vegetables and the teacher would call out a name of a vegetable and then they would try to run across without getting caught by the “cooks”.  Robby teamed up with a boy named Chris and they were great partners.  I think they were broccoli.  It was particularly good for Robby to meet some new kids and see how quickly and easily he can make friends.  We are confident both boys will be able to make friends wherever we end up after this trip is over.

This next section is about the synchronicities of meeting people who we feel an immediate connection with even though we’ve just met them.  Some people call it coincidence, fate, chance or kismet.  We believe it is all meant to be.  We meet exactly the people we are supposed to meet at exactly the time we are supposed to meet them! 

But this Triangle Lake story begins at the fish ladder, which then leads us to the day the RVGypsies voted “best day of the trip so far” by four out of five gypsies (Baylee didn’t get to come on this particular day). 

Saturday, October 13th (always a lucky day for us), one of the first things we did when we got to Triangle Lake was take the kids to the fish ladder and natural water slide made from rock.  We’d been there before prior to having kids.  We were eager to show it to the boys and hoped to see some salmon even though it was early in the year yet.  Robby found some soda cans along the way and wanted to pick them up.  He went way out of his way to get them. Then he found out from Robert that he would be able to get 5¢ for each can.  After that he turned into a seek-and-find missile for cans.  He is so motivated by money it constantly amazes us how well he manifests it.  Joss started to think cans were magically appearing everywhere we went after that just because Robby was so determined to find them. 

We spent hours climbing the rocks near the ladder and had a great time.  The kids found all sorts of trash to haul out too, including cans, and they found two crawdads.  Their first crawdads! 

We hiked back up to the parking lot and Robby was showing us all the trash he’d gotten when an older man and woman got out of the car next to us.  The man was a bit dressed up for hiking on rocks and had very nice matching silver pendants on his hat and sweater, enough that we noticed them to be unique.  He saw all the cans Robby had collected and started to talk to us.  He told us a story about how he was collecting trash on the side of the road just a few weeks before and he found a fifty-dollar bill!  He gave Robby a dollar bill, just to show him that looking out for nature really does “pay.”  Robert and Joss could sense very quickly that this was a man who had many interesting stories to tell.  His name was Izzy, and his name fit his character well.  He said he’d been at the railroad in Deadwood as the Master of Ceremonies for the golden spike celebration of the completion of the railroad there.  We didn’t really think much of it at the time; we’d seen railroad tracks around while driving back and forth to Florence so we didn’t ask much about it.  He also told us he lived in Eugene and used to be friends with Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.”  He talked about a bus they used to take trips on with Ken all over the country. 

While the kids were in quiet time later that day at home, Joss decided to look up this Kesey guy and sure enough he used to live in Eugene and was quite a character himself.  He was a famous hippie and drug user from the 60’s.  She never found Izzy on the websites but read up on the psychedelic painted bus Ken and his “Merry Pranksters,” as he called them, used to travel in.  They would take trips all over the country and write about it on their websites (in the later years).   The trips in the bus got a little tamer in their old age but the “Pranksters” kept taking the trips it seems almost up until Ken Kesey died in 2001.  Check out www.intrepidtrips.com or www.key-z.com to read more. 
Joss liked this quote by Ken:

"The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer-- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."

After this day, time marched on and we quickly moved onto other adventures.  We had put the meeting with Izzy behind us until one day we were at Aunt Linda’s for dinner.  Joss saw a photo on the top of the piano.  It was a large group of people with a beautiful woman in a gorgeous red dress up in the front, all at a park like setting.  Joss asked about the photo and Linda said “Oh, that was Leo’s wedding.  The woman in red is the bride.  It was taken out at the railroad near Deadwood.”  Joss and Robert looked at each other and both asked “What railroad?”  Aunt Linda told us the story about this guy who built his own railroad in his backyard and he lets people come and ride on it.  Cousin Bryan’s life long friend Leo, had had his wedding there recently.  Robert and Joss both knew this was enough signs; they had to go find this railroad.  But, no one knew how to get a hold of the guy who had the railroad! 

One day we were on our way to Sweet Creek Falls for a hike and some Geocaching and we had to pass through Deadwood.  We decided to stop and investigate this mysterious railroad.  We found out it's a private railroad, on someone's property so you can visit it by invitation only.  We did find one nice lady who took pity on us and gave us a phone number.  We felt like it was top secret and we were finally getting a clue.  Thank goodness for cell phones, Robert got on the phone right away and called the number.  He left a message saying we were interested in seeing the railroad.  That was a Saturday.  We found out they only run it on Sundays.  Since we were leaving the next Wednesday, we only had one chance to see it.  Luckily, later that day we got a call back.  We were in!!!  They invited us to come the next day and have a picnic on their property and ride the railroad.  We were so excited and we didn’t even know exactly what it was but we sensed that it was very special.  There was no way we were going to miss this and we were definitely going early for the picnic.

We packed up quickly the next day and followed the directions.  While we’ll never give the location away,  let’s just say it’s a ways off the beaten path.  Very private and quite beautiful.  The first sign you see as you enter the property is a sign that was left there by the previous owners and it says “No Bear Dogs Allowed”. A bear dog, we found out, is a dog that will tree a bear.  (“Duh!” as Sawyer would say.)  Then you see a huge rock greeting you with the face of Alfred E. Newman on it smiling at you.  Then we drove into a mystical valley with train crossing signs everywhere and old growth trees on either side of it.  It was really beautiful.  We pulled up to the house and introduced ourselves to Ray Robinson, owner of the Lake Kathleen and Meadows Railroad.  We talked a bit and his wife, Kathleen, showed us where the picnic spot was.  Ray asked if he could join us.  We sat and talked with him while we ate our lunch.  He was impressed with the trip we were taking and told us how he had taken similar trips in his life.  We certainly felt a connection with him right away because we all had the sense of adventure.  Robert and Ray hit it off quickly and felt that sense of “knowing” each other right away.  Ray said he liked us and asked us to stay after the train ride for a special adventure.  We are always up for special adventures so we excitedly agreed!

There was another group of people coming that day and after they arrived, we started the tour.  They have 41 Acres of land in a beautiful valley with huge old growth trees surrounding it.  They have elk, deer, black bears, spotted owls and cougars regularly on the land and more we're probably forgetting.  He has wind chimes in his apple tree so when the chimes go off he can stand on his balcony and watch the black bears in his tree eating the apples.  It took them twelve years with donations and volunteers to complete the railroad.  Also during that time, they had to rebuild the house and the barn, which were in shambles when they bought the property. 

After the tour we all got to ride on the train.   It was amazing and beautiful to ride this miniature train all around his property, over streams where salmon spawn, on huge railroad trestles that were built by Ray and his volunteers and by Lake Kathleen packed with trout.  The second time around Ray stopped the train at the tunnel and let us get out and explore.  He’d made the tunnel completely out of the cement rock and cinderblock that he does for his landscaping business.  He makes “fake” rock for a living; waterfalls, ponds, basalt columns…that kind of rock.  (See our photo section for some of his work.)  He asked the group what the thing hanging in front of the tunnel was.  Robby raised his hand and said it was “to warn the men on top of the train that a tunnel was coming and they’d better duck down.”  We were all quite impressed that Robby knew that, another proud parental moment.  Ray said it’s called a “tattle tale” and is a relic of the days when trains had brakemen on the roofs. Then we loaded in the train cars again and he stopped the train on the top of the trestles.  They are pretty high up when you are sitting in a tiny little car with no doors.  We tried not to look down.  We took photos up there and then continued on to the lake.  He doesn’t allow any fishing or hunting on his land so there are plenty of trout in his lake.  We stopped to feed the fish and Sawyer got to help.  Sawyer was also lucky enough to ride both times around with Sammy, Ray’s golden retriever.  Apparently Sammy loves to ride on the train and especially with kids.  This made the ride extra fun for Sawyer and Joss who got to sit right behind them.  The track is a mile around and brought us right back to the barn.  We all helped Ray put the train back in the barn and walked the track a bit to see the golden spike.  The golden spike had been driven that Saturday, October 13th, the day we’d met Izzy.  While we wished we could have been there for the ceremony, we know we wouldn’t have got to spend much time with Ray or Kathleen so we’re grateful it worked out the way it did! 

After the others left, Ray loaded us up in his Gator and took us way up into the hills behind his house.  The gator can go anywhere and the kids were loving the adventurous ride through the forest.  When we got to the spot Ray was looking for we all got out.  He was taking us hunting for Chanterelle mushrooms.  Chanterelle mushrooms are a delicacy and sometimes go for as much as $18 per pound. We kept seeing a sign in town saying “Mushroom Lady” and now we know why.  She collects mushrooms from pickers, washes them and sells them in bulk to the stores.  Then the stores charge ridiculous prices to the public!  Ahh capitalism at it’s finest.

Ray taught us what they looked like, a special way to cut them (not pull) and what size to take.  Then he gave us a bag and a knife and we were on our way.  The kids explored the forest and helped us now and then by holding the bag or cutting the mushrooms.  They grow in bunches so once you find a group of them you just start cutting.  But, they are hard to find and like to grow under stuff so we really had to look.  Joss and Robert

liked learning how to collect food from the wild; us folks from suburbia don’t know how to do that too well.  It was a gift for Ray to teach us how to do it.  It reminded us of a saying Joss’ parents have hanging in their home that says “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll buy a funny hat” (it doesn't really say that but Robert thinks it's funnier that way).  Ray had taught us how to “fish” for mushrooms.  We all worked very hard on the slopes of the forest hunting for mushrooms but had a ball doing it.  It was getting dark so we all loaded into the Gator and headed home.  In the end we collected almost three pounds of mushrooms; pretty good for beginners.  We posed with Kathleen and Sammy in front of the Gator for a photo with our mushroom haul.  Ray taught us how to cook them and we ate them on toast and with eggs and still have some in the freezer.  What a treat that was.  There are so many amazing things they have at their railroad you’ll just have to check the photo section to see some of them.  Or, if you are ever in the area, contact them through their website at: http://www.peak.org/~kmr3/M&LKRailroad/

Now, the story doesn’t end there.  Sorry, there’s more.  Robert wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Ray and Ray wasn’t ready to say good by either so he invited us to come visit him at his work.  So, we did!  That Tuesday we happened to be in Eugene and we went to the park where Ray was working.  He was building a sand/water play area for a new city  park.  Robby and Sawyer can’t wait to

go back and play there when it is open.  He was doing the cement work surrounding the sand pit area.  Then he told us about some basalt columns he’d done and another sand/water play area at another park in town so we headed over there for the kids to play and see some more of his work. 

We found out that Ray drives by our trailer everyday on his way into Eugene. He offered to pick Robert up and take him to work with him one day.  That Thursday he stopped by and off they went.  Robert spent the morning with Ray as he finished up the job at the park.  Then Ray drove him around town to see some of the other jobs he’d done.  Robert said it was really beautiful work and hard to tell what was “Ray-made” versus “nature-made”!

That night we went to dinner at their house and for our last Gator ride before having to say good-bye for a much longer time this time.  Ray took us on a moonlit Gator ride out to an old hundred-year-old homestead out even farther than his place.  It was spooky, thrilling and cold all at the same time and the kids loved it.  They want a Gator for Christmas now.  He showed us his stained glass work area in the barn.  On the really rainy days he makes beautiful stained glass windows.  He’s even made a dozen for Clint Eastwood's ranch.  He is a man of many talents.  It was hard to leave but we finally did.  We are truly grateful for our time with Ray and Kathleen and even more grateful that they take the time to follow our website and email us regularly.  We know friends like this are here to stay no matter how far away we go. 

Truly an amazing week for the RVGypsies!  Thanks Ray for sharing your railroad with so many other people.  We are grateful that you do it and that you LOVE IT!

Ashland Oregon Update - October 3rd to October 11th, 2007

We crossed the state line into Oregon.  Yeah!  We had a family celebration and played our RV Gypsies theme song “Taking the Long Way,” by the Dixie Chicks.  Every time we hit the road for a new location we play this song and usually the rest of the album too. The song talks about taking an extended road trip in a pink RV with stars on the ceiling.  Other than the pink color, they’re talking about us! 

When we arrive in a new town we usually take the first day off to set up house, get the lay of the land and rest.  It takes a lot of effort (mostly on Robert’s part) to move your house every week.  We usually clean the trailer really well the day before we move so it is neat and tidy when we arrive in a new place.  There is a fair amount of outside preparation that has to be done also (like finding where the kids have put things around the campsite). So we usually take a day or two to rest and get acclimated when we arrive at our new home. 

We check out the local “what to do in our area” paper to find out what’s around like farmers markets, great restaurants, festivals, etc.  This time we got lucky.  We found out they have a Kid’s Science Museum, a great old town with wonderful restaurants and the 4th annual Salmon Festival was coming up on Saturday.  We like to attend local events to get to know the feel of the community.  The Salmon Festival was just that kind of event. 

Robert took the boys to Ashland's ScienceWorks Museum on Friday. The photo section shows a lot of the fun they had. They had so much fun in fact, that it was hard to get them to go to the Salmon Festival the next day.  They thought, compared to the museum, the “festival” would be boring.  NOT!  We all had a blast.  We dressed up in costumes made from parachute material, had faces painted, watched how the local Indians smoked salmon in a fire pit, saw live salmon in a huge tank that the Fish & Game Dept. brought out on a trailer, painted salmon flags and more.  Sawyer loved painting the rubber salmon and then putting it on cloth so much that he made three of them.  They just let him stay as long as he wanted so he just kept painting!  We got to eat the fresh cooked salmon with a delicious organic green salad and the best bread we’ve had in a long time.  It was fresh, healthy and very tasty.  Lucky for us the kids LOVE salmon!  At the festival they also had a spotted owl, a bald eagle and a hawk for the kids to look at and learn about.  They were beautiful and really neat to see so close up.  I don’t think any of us had ever seen those birds from two feet away before. 

Robby’s favorite activities were the fishing game where they got to practice with real poles and catch plastic fish.  He was so proud that he reeled in two fish at one time.  The woman who had been helping the kids learn how to use the poles said she had recently caught a 52 pound salmon that was 53 inches long. (Click here to see the picture). Robby was pretty excited to hear that she had caught a fish almost the same size as him.  Robby’s second favorite activity was a plastic box that had a water pump in it with sand, plastic trees, animals, fish, birds, bulldozers, trucks and houses.  The kids were able to manipulate the “river” and sand all over the place to make an eco system within the pretend forest.  Some of them were bulldozing to build houses and others were playing with the animals.  The ladies attending the activity were really good about educating the kids about the river and animals without the kids knowing they were learning.  They would ask really good questions that were fun for the kids to try to figure out.   Tricky, but effective.  We closed the place down and then went Geocaching.  We made it as far as a park and stayed there to play.  Dinner out at the “Standing Stone Brewery in Downtown Ashland and back home.  It was a very full and fun day.

Our RV Park (Holiday) was a stones throw from the new bike bath between Medford and Ashland.  It runs along Bear Creek and it so nice to ride on.  Bike riding, as we’ve mentioned, is the kids’ favorite thing to do.  Robert and the kids explored the trails, Geocached and found a great park to play at.  On recommendation from one of the local moms Robert met while Geocaching, we all went to check out Ashland’s Lithia Park.  It is amazing, a lot like the parks in Mt. Shasta.  They did a fantastic job of making the park part of the landscape and the creek that was already there.  The park has a playground, walking and biking trails, a wading area for little kids and a reservoir area for older kids and adults. And all focused around the beautiful Ashland Creek that feeds Ashland.  As soon as we entered the playground I heard a mom calling “Sawyer!”  I did a double take.  I asked her “Is your son’s name Sawyer?”  Sure enough, he just turned four, like our little guy and his name is Sawyer too.  We often run into other Robbys but this is our first SAWYER.  We were all excited but the two Sawyer’s didn’t seem to care, they were too busy playing.  Sawyer’s mom, Kerry, and I got to talking and found out we had a lot in common.  She has an older son, Logan, born one day before our Robby.  Kerry loved what we are doing and wants to keep in touch.  We told her we’d be at the ScienceWorks Museum on Wednesday if she wanted to meet us there and sure enough she did.  Robert and I talked with a lot of moms about Ashland as a place to raise kids and have officially put it on our list of places to live.  We loved the feel of the place, the people, the healthy vibe of the town, access to alternative medicine, organic foods (the Co-Op was very cool) and the attitudes towards education.  They have a college there and the Shakespeare Festival every year.  It has a lot of the things we are looking for. 

One day we drove into Grants Pass to take a tour at the Wildlife Images Animal Rescue Park.  They take in injured and found wild animals and work to put them back into the wild.  Some have been pets that have been rescued from domestic situations and are too “friendly” so they live at the facility for the rest of their lives.  Some of the animal’s injuries are so bad that they will not survive in the wild so they too live at the compound indefinitely.  We took a lot of pictures of these beautiful animals close up!  We saw Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Owls, Hawks, Raccoons, Foxes, Bobcats, Cougars, Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Wolves, Badgers and more.  We had about a dozen people in our tour but no other kids.  Most of the people on the tour were retired.  Robby and Sawyer were so interested in the animals and well behaved, that we had comments from three different people on how well behaved they were.  We were so proud of them!  They definitely have their tough days, you know, being kids and all, but days like today make us very proud of the little people they’re growing up to be.

After the animals, lunch, some duck feeding and lots of picture taking by Robby, we headed to our next stop, the Oregon Vortex & Mystery House.  I can’t really explain what this place is.  You can Google “Vortex” and read about them.  They have a whole bunch of them in Sedona that we can’t wait to visit.  But this one has an old Miners cabin that slid down the hill in a mud slide and came to rest very crooked upon a tree.  It is all discombobulated.  There are 300 or more copies of this cabin all over the world.  Knott’s Berry Farm use to have one too.  This is the one and only REAL fallen, discombobulated miners cabin in a REAL vortex.  Within a vortex all science that we think we know to be true, isn’t true.  Even Einstein couldn’t figure out why the vortex does what it does.  It was a great science lesson for all of us.  They loved the golf ball that rolls uphill and the broom that stands up on it’s own.  Joss loved the saying on the wall there.   It seemed to sum up the place, and life, pretty well.

Our last day in Ashland, Joss took the kids back to the ScienceWorks Museum.  We had promised she’d take them back but it was closed Monday and Tuesday.  We actually stayed two extra days to go back to this museum, it’s that good!  They showed mom everything they had done on Friday with dad and then did it all again, and again, and again.  Joss bought a pass to the Museum because she found out it is good for hundreds of museums all over the country.  WOW!  Not only do we get in free from now on but we have a list of kid’s learning museums all over the country.  We know how we’ll be picking our locations from now on! 

The best part of the whole day came after the museum closed.  They have a beautiful garden outside the front doors.  The kids were playing in the garden just “killing” time as kids do, running about from path to path.  While standing there watching them run around Joss met another mom, Cynthia, with her two kids.  Joss had met the boy inside earlier.  She asked his name and he told her matter-of-factly “my name is Mr. Conductor TR,” (the TR was for train she found out later).  She was not surprised since he was wearing striped overalls.  He had lots of personality and we all know Joss is drawn to kids with LOTS of personality.  Upon meeting his mom, Joss told her the story about his name and she laughed because apparently he has many names by which he introduces himself.  It turns out his real name is ROBBY!  Then, Kerry, the mom we’d met at Lithia Park with Sawyer and Logan, showed up and her kids joined in the running around with all the other kids.  Turns out Kerry and Cynthia knew each other a little bit already.  They stayed there for two hours talking and watching the kids have a ball together.  Even when it started raining no one wanted to leave.  They were all having such a good time, they just stood there in the rain talking.  For Joss it was great to talk with other moms again.  She really clicked with these moms and felt a connection with them right away.  Joss took some photos of the kids goofing off and then Kerry had to head home.  Cynthia , Joss and the kids went out to dinner together and had such a great time that Cynthia invited Joss and the kids to come back to their house to see Robby’s trains.  She and her husband, Vinnie, have eight acres in a town near Ashland.  Joss and the kids jumped at the idea and followed Cynthia, Robby and little sister Cara to their house.  It is way up in the hills and they saw a deer on the way there.  They have a beautiful plot of land with a workshop and RV parking!  Just what we need!  The kids played with Robby’s HO gauge trains.  Cynthia and Joss got to talk a bit more.  Her Robby, who is five and a half showed us how he taught himself how to play computer chess.  He wins a lot too.  We were all sad when it was past nine o’clock and we had to get the kids home and to bed.  One of the hardest parts of traveling full time is the great people you meet along the way.  You start getting to know them and then it’s time to move on again!  Cynthia and Joss are emailing and hopefully can build a long distance friendship.  Who knows, maybe we’ll end up in Ashland.  It is definitely on the list. 

The next day we got up and headed out for Triangle Lake, Oregon, our next stop on the adventure.  Joss spent many of her summers in Triangle Lake so she feels very at home and happy there.  It brings back many memories that she keeps pestering Robert and the kids with. We can’t wait to spend some time there. 

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 ------- See below for the Mt. Shasta Update -------

We're getting a little behind as you can tell, sorry about that, we'll do better (hopefully)! We just added the Mt. Shasta pictures to the gallery and we added a new button to the home page. This "New" graphic will send you to a new page that lists what's been changed/updated on the site. Sometimes we change multiple things but if you just go to the "where are we" page...you'll miss them! Now we've got a central place to keep things organized (scary huh?).

Saturday, October 6, 2007

FINALLY a new Photo section!!! We still have to update our stay in Mt. Shasta both here and on the photo page but we've now got a slideshow enabled photo section with a hundred or more pictures!

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

WE HAVE LEFT THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA!!!

We have lots to tell of our stay in Mt. Shasta but you'll have to wait for the briefing! The new photo pages are getting REALLY close to going live. We took some AMAZING pictures in Mt. Shasta and had a good time!