Panther Creek

We have been busy but generally out of cell and internet touch so haven’t been able to post here as much as I would like. After we left the McKenzie we drove over a Forest Service road that cuts over from the McKenzie to the Willamette starting at Finn Rock and ending at Fall Creek. It was a very good road with mostly asphalt underlayment with gravel on top. Slow going but a beautiful drive.

We set up the motorhome at my nephew’s wedding at Clark Creek Group Camp on Fall Creek. We cooked dinner for 15 or so on the Fourth and breakfast for 10 on the fifth, the day of the wedding. The location is a wonder, hard to find but worth it and a lot of folks made the effort to get there. We had a great time, or at least I did. Those kinds of crowds hovering around the motorhome and camp make Von a little testy but after a few days of decompression she is back to enjoying our time.

The night of the wedding was quite something. All the twenty-somethings drank into the wee hours and decided to fire up the bongo drums around the campfire. Until 3 am. We didn’t get much sleep but the kids had fun.

Aaron made it to the party and it was great to spend a few days with him. He is already back in Iraq now but his contract is up in October and we hope he will be back for good in mid October. The new GI Bill is going to be a big aid to him and he is planning to go back to college. Yay!

We left the camp on Sunday the 6th and got only to Eugene and an RV park off I-5. Then up to Salem to get our mail then on to the Columbia River Gorge. We are camped in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on Panther Creek in a great dispersed camping site right on the Creek. It turns out one of my cousins, Robbie, who is a dual citizen of the U.S and Australia, is living in a small trailer in Carson, 12 miles from where we are camped. He is staying here to help care for my Uncle Bob who is suffering with Altzheimers to the point where he doesn’t always recognize his own two sons. He lives in nearby Stevenson, WA. It is sad. We went to see him and he did not know who I was. He was important in my life and I told him a loved him. He seemed puzzled and said, “That’s good.” He and my aunt (my mother’s fraternal twin) took us in rather than let the four of us kids be split up into foster homes when Mom was seriously ill and could not care for us. He was a special man.

We will be hanging out here for another week or ten days then will head south. My 40th high school reunion is in August in Klamath Falls so we will take the motorhome there but will probably go via my all time favorite campsite, Hamaker, on the upper reaches of the Rogue River near Diamond Lake and Crater Lake. A couple of weeks there will be very nice. Then General Council for SEIU 503 where Von will be a page and I will be an observer and commentator I’m sure. Then we will head for Texas to establish our residency and save on Oregon’s income tax on our pension. We plan to leave from Klamath Falls via Winnemucca, NV and Salt Lake City, then the Utah Canyon country and the Grand Canyon. I expect it will take a month or more to get there (Texas).