June 9 - Jeff Again

Shoutout to Becky VH, celebrating her 19^th birthday today.  She had the luxury of having her papa bear singing her happy BD over the phone from Oregon.

Day 2 began with an unexpected hill out of the campground.  As that great philosopher, Ken Shields, the former coach at NKU once said, “inch by inch, life’s a cinch.  Mile by mile, it takes a while.”    I know everyone thinks Mt. Sinai is not in the US, but when we got to the top, we saw a guy who looked like Moses holding 2 tablets.  It was quite a hill to start the day.  But as Jack says, it is better not to know ahead of time.

Stopped at a coffee shop.  I got reprimanded for drinking my cup of Joe too slowly.  It was one of our last stops with a view of the Pacific before we started going east.  Next road was a back road where we saw one car.  We all agreed that if we left today, the trip would have been worth it.  Saw a school where Jack thinks they may need an AP Calculus teacher.  Saw a llama in a backyard.  And of course there was a hill.  After this road, things changed.  We got on Route 18 where traffic was a nightmare.  It was very tense.  We could not figure out where everybody was going.  Route 22 was next.  We thought it had to be better, and it was a little.  But still a lot of traffic.

We had lunch on Route 18 at a roadside trailer. Today, Jack was the one who got the hotdog with everything on it.  Jerry got an espresso shake.  We are living large. We got to sit in the front yard and eat.  Jerry and Jack in chairs.  Jeff sitting on a rock.  Always the bridesmaid.

Route 22 provided views, a golf course, 2 vineyards.  Sue passed us on the route and went ahead to look for evening accommodations which were slim pickins.  We ended up at a fairgrounds in Polk County which is not officially a campground but they consented to let us camp anyway.  We were originally going to be next to the sheep barn, but they put us in a different spot.  Showers and restrooms.  God bless America.  They were holding a gun show at the fairgrounds today.  One of the guys doing security gave us a lead on a wine tasting.  He said just tell them that Kevin sent us.  It was the Eola Wine Cellars.  They treated us great and would recommend them to anyone going to Oregon.  Mare, you would have loved it.

Back to the campground for a pasta meal that Jerry predicts is to die for and then probably an early to bed.  Planning on doing 100 miles tomorrow.  Eighty today.