Today we headed out to explore Eugene. Wandered through the Nike museum & store (more store than museum, but it was cool to see a shoe worn by Pre himself. I didn't realize that the Nike company had its beginnings in a coach at U of Oregon (Pre's coach) who just wanted to make better shoes for his runners. He made the first Nike shoe bottoms by melting running-track rubber on his wife's waffle iron. Then he got smart and started using truck tire rubber (the running track rubber only bore a few minutes of wear).

Next, we drove south of Eugene to see some covered bridges. Apparently, Oregon has quite a few of them.

A highlight for Katie is that this campground has a nice little playground. We played frisbee and pushed her on the little merry-go-round (the playground kind, with benches, not the horsey kind). While exploring our campground, we met a couple from Santa Rosa (Jane and Bob) who travel in a 1974 VW camper. They are only the second owner of this beautiful little camper (see the pix in the Pictures section) and showed us around it. It's got 250,000 miles on it but the paint job looks original and everything is in amazing shape. It can sleep 4 if you put 2 people up in the pop-up. I think Mom owned an earlier version of one of these (a 1968 maybe). It looks like a lot of fun, if you don't mind having a coffee cup for a potty and a spray bottle for an A/C. Also you gotta know how to fix VWs, which, unfortunately, rules us out. But you can stay in any national park or state park. We are too long for most of the California state parks, unfortunately. But Jane told us that Oregon allows longer rigs, so we might try up along the coast somewhere.

September 9
Katie is sleeping in her BarcaLounger, as per usual, sprawled for maximum comfort, and we are driving north to Portland, along old Highway 99. I Love being on the old roads, you get to see the old farms, motels, and all the little towns. This is a particularly pretty stretch, with lots of old grey and red barns and small farms. Crosby, Stills & Nash is playing on the radio, and we're crossing a pale green steel bridge. very nice.

Our first dirt road (gravel) with the RV: we pulled down this one to get to a winery (Van Duzer) off Hwy 99. I was excited for the first half-mile, but then Mark noticed that he could not see the car behind us--it was obscured by an enormous dust cloud. He decided to unhook and drive the rest of the way in the Honda. Well, it was Great Wine! and very pretty labels to boot. We bought two bottles to give to friends, and went on our way through the little towns, toward Portland...

Here are the pix from Eugene, Oregon (September 7-9)

Katie tossing a coin in a Eugene fountain

Katie looking for the coin (she's her mother's daughter)

Dorena Bridge, the first of the covered bridges we saw

Me, Katie and Pig-Bear at Dorena Bridge

This bridge was missing its first plank, leaving a big hole that was easy to miss. Thank God Mark walked up to it before Katie ran over.

Katie playing with Pig-Bear.

Never see these fun merry-go-rounds in new parks anymore. Mark explains, "yeah, one swing could take yer head clean off--so you gotta ask yerself, 'do ya feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Katie felt lucky.

Jane and Bob's 1974 camper (it has a special German name that I forgot). It was bought in Germany by a woman who brought it back to the U.S. and kept it 20 years until selling it to Jane & Bob.