Eugene OR

It was a beautiful drive to Eugene, passing through Bend and Sisters.  There was a rodeo as well as Art in the Park happening in Sisters.  I read about Art in the Park before we hit the road and would have enjoyed checking it out but it would take all day to see it.  Mark was willing to stop, thank you sweetheart, but I said no and we moved on through gorgeous country finally reaching the Springfield Moose lodge which is just southeast of Eugene. 20 amp service for $10 behind the lodge in the parking lot with lots of room for all of our stuff, sorry no picture.

The next day I went to see Sistah Julie and her new grand baby Finch.  She was 10 days old and just as cute as she could be with a full head of curly hair.

I haven't held a precious baby since my grand kids and it brought back good memories. The sistahood loves you Finch!

The next day we checked out our surroundings getting the lay of the land. 

We were told of a great brewery and just happened to find it while we were wandering around.  Thank you John from Eureka as it was great beer!  McMenamins Brewery takes up residence in old buildings, the one in Eureka was in an old house.

                       Eugene also has murals around the area; this one was close by the brewery.

Lane County was one of the most prolific bridge-building counties in Oregon, and today it has more covered bridges than any other county, sixteen of which are on the National Register of Historic Places.  We took a drive south of Eugene and visited 5 of them.

Why is a covered bridge covered? The house of a covered bridge was designed to protect the bridge timbers from weather thus extending its life.  Some of these bridges were construct back in the twenties and are still used today.

While touring the bridges we ended up in Dexter Lake and passed by the Dexter Lake Club.  This club was in the movie Animal House.

Eugene is known as a very friendly city for bike and walking paths.  The paths are everywhere and wide and paved.  They also have a great bus system.  Only a half a block from where we were staying was the bus route.  They are well maintained and welcoming

 We took the bus to downtown Springfield one evening for an Art Walk where local artists are given the opportunity to display their works.  I spotted this planter outside of a very artsy shop and thought of Sistah Karen, it would be perfect in her yard. 

When we did this we realized how close we were to the bike path along the McKenzie River so the next day we filled our water bottles, hopped on the bikes and took a delightful ride. 

Our friends from AZ Bob and Sharel Spears were in Eugene for their grand daughters graduation so we made plans to get together for dinner.  I remember people asking us if we would be lonely when we hit the road, well that is not the case.  As long as you venture out of your camper and meet people you will begin to develop a network of friends, I call them our extended family.

We celebrated Marks birthday in Mexican style at a great restaurant in Springfield, check out Memos on main street. 

Happy Birthday Mark.

Eugene is also known for having a wonderful market on Saturdays so we took the bus downtown and wandered through all the vendors’ booths. The weather was just perfect.  There was this talented young lady playing the violin while her father played the guitar, they were very entertaining. 

I seen lots of lovely things I would have been tempted to buy if I still had a house, since we don’t we just purchased some organic berries, half of which didn’t even make it home, so sweet and so delicious! 

We enjoyed our time in Eugene and would like to come back again, so much to see and do.  Next time we have to make it to the coast but as for now we are headed to Marysville WA.  Our friends Jimmie and John Francis who we met two winters ago in AZ live in Alaska and invited us to visit them this summer.  We accepted their offer and have made plans to leave the rig, trailer and Mark’s truck in Marysville, WA.  Richard Armstrong the owner of AxleCrutch has family there, a giant Thank You goes out to them all.

  We stopped in Centralia OR at the Moose Lodge for a couple of nights before reaching Marysville.  Again $10 a night for 30 amp service and water. 

                                   Thanks for following our adventures, next stop Alaska!!!

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