This blog is about the next chapter.... about love, about life and about adventure! It is for our family and friends to follow along... so they know where we are! Catch us if you can!
Travel Day! On our way to Premier RV of Salem---We drove past more homeless people than
I’ve ever seen. All over the parks, under the bridges, on the street corners
even one at the rest stop and she was holding a sign that said “Don’t Judge
me.” Hmmm…I will stop right there.
The RV park is pretty nice but not as nice
as the one in Caldwell, ID. Believe it or not, I forgot to take a photo of the campsite!
6.24.26
We decide to venture out to find the Costco and Max needed
some diesel. Found the Costco…crazy busy!!! There had to be thousands of people
in there, cart to cart. And the store was backwards like the Sun Prairie store
is.
Found a diesel station at Fred Meyer and when we pulled up, five
attendants came toward Al. We thought it was like at Costco where they say hello and
ask if you need help. I was thinking “What is going on??? Why are they watching
Al?” Al got his diesel pumping gloves on and here we didn’t see the sign but it
is a full-service station and Al just continued to pump his own. We had no idea
there wee still full-service stations anywhere. The last ones I saw were in
Sauk City in the early eighties…the 76 Station and the on the corner of Water
and Phillips Blvd, next to Langes and across the street from the Penguin. Can’t
remember the name of that one.
Anyway, we got everything back to Mona and Al went and
jumped in the hot tub for a bit.
6.25.26
We had a few repairs to make and went in search of a new bathroom faucet and a new CO detector. The RV parts store employee was so very helpful! He sold us what we needed and told us to go to Home Depot for the faucet and told us which one to buy. Al got it all installed.
We didn't do much else here...too much city, so we caught up on laundry, Al used the gym and we met the neighbors!
6.26.26
We met
Marcie and her boyfriend (both getting ready for retirement and working on the road) and visited a while. They were parked right next to
us and they were talkers! We got going and ended up on a very curvy road with
NO shoulders. The TPMS went off and we had to stop at a small pull over to
check things out. There was an old mattress and lots of garbage laying around.
Not impressed. We moved on… Got to Bay City RV Park and again not impressed.
Many long timers. We are parked and all is fine but it’s so damp and rainy
here! ICK!!! I haven’t found anything in Oregon that I like yet! We stopped at
an RV place and bought a new Valterra valve for Mona so she won’t leak poop.
Bay City RV
6.27.26
We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and Creamery. A fun little tour,
an underwhelming cheeseburger, tough cheese curds and very pricey gift shop. We
had a flight of ice cream…Marionberry pie, strawberry, and Tillamook mudslide.
Bought some vanilla and marionberry for later too.
The whole upper level was glass so you could look down into the factory.
Large dining area inside and out.
A Little
Tillamook History
Tillamook
Cheese was born out of rugged necessity in the 1850s. To solve the challenge of
getting surplus dairy over the coastal mountains to Portland, isolated
Tillamook farmers built their own schooner, the Morning Star.
1851:
European settlers arrived in the Tillamook Valley and discovered the lush
coastal climate was perfect for dairy cows.
1894:
Renowned cheesemaker Peter McIntosh helped the community introduce proper
cheddar-making methods, leading to over three dozen independent factories in
the area.
1904: A
local cheese won national recognition and took first prize at the World's Fair
in St. Louis.
1909: Ten
independent creameries banded together to establish a strict, uniform recipe
and founded the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA).
1949: The
TCDA built a large, state-of-the-art cheesemaking plant and visitor center,
which that is now a Highway 101 attraction.
My Oregon hair. I give up.
Rainy day so we watched movies all afternoon and had BBQ ribs and potato salad from Costco for supper. I will definitely buy those ribs again!!!
Going on a scenic drive tomorrow.
Al found another gravel road.
The Oregon Coast
We went for
a drive up HWY 101 up to Garibaldi and took some side roads to the Arch Rocks
Beach, a Cape Meares Lighthouse and an Octopus Tree!
The Pacific Ocean
Cape
Meares Lighthouse (Oceanside): At just 38 feet tall, this is the shortest lighthouse in
Oregon. Decommissioned in 1963, it still houses its original first-order
Fresnel lens. It is surrounded by trails where you can spot nesting seabirds
and migrating whales.
6.29.26Rain, rain, rain... did some laundry and got ready to move tomorrow.
Click the link below to watch a short video of the footage I took while here!
Travel Day! We arrived at the Rufus RV Park in Rufus Oregon. Oh no...when we first got there, we could hardly make the turn into the campground and Al took out a cone making that corner. The woman in the office wasn't overly friendly. We got to our site and hooked up. In the middle of the night, it started getting warm in there.
In the morning, Al went on the roof thinking something was wrong with the air conditioners, but both at the same time??? He cleaned the filters and checked everything. Couldn't find anything wrong. We got out fans and Al looked up trouble shooting on the RV tech class he took a few years back. He checked all that...nothing. He finally figured out that the power from the pedestal wasn't giving us enough juice. The solar was making up some difference but it was so hot!
SO SO Windy!!! We got to the Rufus Campground.
We drove up a high switchback road to a viewpoint of the Columbia River. Rowena
Crest State Park. The viewpoint looks down over the Columbia River Gorge. Found
a station to fill up Max and went back to Mona to settle in. It was so windy that Mona was rockin'...and nothing was going on in here!
Pretty windy up there!!!
The view from the overlook.
Saw this totem along the road and thought it was cool.
6.21.26
Father’s Day! We left
early to drive up Mount Hood
Mt. Hood Summit: 11,245 feet. Got to Timberline Lodge (6000 feet elevation) and it was already so soooo busy!!! Cars and people everywhere. People had camp chairs set up all over the parking lot and lounging like they owned the place. Hard to drive through. Finally, we just stopped in the parking lot and took some photos and moved on.
Timberline Lodge History
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt created several social and economic programs such as the Works
Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). These
programs provided relief through public employment and funded the majority of
Timberline’s construction.
“Completed in just 18 months during the Great Depression,
Timberline Lodge was built by more than 500 workers through the Works Progress
Administration. Using traditional handcrafting techniques, they shaped local
volcanic stone, massive timbers, and hand-forged iron into both the structure
and its furnishings—creating a rugged, artistic tribute to the spirit of
American craftsmanship.” ~Timberline website
Government Camp
We went to a town called Government Camp and went to a
museum (Government Camp: 4,000 feet). Walked through the town and ate our
picnic.
Why was the town named Government Camp? In 1849 a group of
US Cavalry mane came across the Oregon Trail. St the Dalles the majority of
them were transported down the Columbia River but some were ordered to proceed
to Oregon City via the Barlow Road. Winter was fast approaching and the
soldiers were forced to abandon there wagons and supplies I the area as they
became bogged down by snow and mud. They labeled the wagons “Government
Property” and that’s why the area became known as Government Camp.
Al went for a hike on Tamanawas Falls Trail. I didn’t.
Tamanawas Falls is a 109-foot waterfall located on
the eastern slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon. The trail follows the Cold Spring
Creek through the Mt. Hood National Forest. This out-and-back hike spans 3.5
miles round-trip with roughly 580 feet of elevation gain.
Al takes you along in his video! CLICK on the picture below and make sure your volume is up!
On the way back down the mountain we stopped at Packer
Orchards Farm Place and Bakery. It’s a fifth-generation orchard and they make
all kinds of things using pears for sweetener instead of sugar. We bought home
made jams, strawberry milk shakes, marionberry empanadas, Jalapeño Cheddar
bread, chicken strawberry wrap, a pint of black pearl cherries and Al got a free strawberry shortcake for Father’s
Day. Marionberries are like a blackberry hybrid, sweeter.
The jalapeño bread was home made and didn't have preservatives so what we didn't eat in the first could days, I made into French toast for supper one night along with marionberry pancake syrup...OMG...we were in heaven!
Sampled this and it was so good!
Sorry, we drank the shakes right away, Al ate his strawberry shortcake right away, the wrap for supper, the empanadas for breakfast with our coffee and I forgot to take photos of anything! All that's left is jam. Oops!
Check out my video below!
Next Stop...Salem, Oregon
Don't forget...Do something every day that makes you smile!
We went to the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and it was well worth our time! I'm sure we've all heard about the Oregon Trail at one time or another. I've done a little research on this during my teaching years and have always been interested. The displays in the museum were life sized and there was so much information to ready and see that we just couldn't do it all. There was a woman demonstrating weaving while we were there. We stopped to watch and chat. We enjoyed this visit! Check out the photos even if you aren't into reading some of my research.
***Note that the quotes from emigrants are written as they were found so grammar and spelling may not be correct.
The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile overland wagon route
connecting the Missouri River to the fertile Willamette Valley in Oregon. From
the 1840s to the 1880s, hundreds of thousands of pioneers utilized it to seek
new land and a fresh start, driving western expansion.
The trip typically took 4 to 6 months. Emigrants averaged
only 10 to 20 miles a day, mostly walking alongside or behind their wagons.
The trail stretched from Independence, Missouri, through
present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho before descending into Oregon.
The path heavily relied on rivers for water (Platte, Snake, and Columbia) and
crossed the Continental Divide via the relatively easy South Pass in Wyoming.
The journey was incredibly grueling. Roughly 1 in 10
travelers died along the route. The majority of these casualties were not
due to conflicts, but rather outbreaks of disease, particularly cholera and
typhoid fever.
The trail was originally established by fur traders and
trappers. "Oregon Fever" truly took off in 1843 when the first large
wagon train of nearly 1,000 pioneers successfully completed the trek.
Emigration increased further after 1850 due to the Oregon Donation Land Act, which
granted land to settlers. While pioneers generally traded with Native American
tribes along the way, the massive influx of settlers devastated Indigenous
communities. Tribes were largely pushed off their ancestral lands to make way
for American expansion. The completion of
the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, which made traveling west far
faster and safer.
Who goes
and what goes:
The people who
traveled to Oregon were mostly young, white, American born men. They
outnumbered women six to one. Not many black people crossed overland to Oregon;
those that were free often lacked the money for such a long journey. Few
elderly people could survive the2000 mile journey either.
The trip
cost a lot of money, sometimes $500 or more per person for essentials such as
food, bedding, tents, tools, wagon, livestock, tack, and clothing. Anything
else was luxury.
"We had to load and unload our wagons, row the skiff
and then pay $4 per wagon and 50¢ a head for swimming cattle by the side of the
boat."
~Basil Longsworth, August 8, 1853.
The photo above shows where the trail is in the same photo I took below.
July 4, 1776 was a turning point in world history. In the 19th
century it was the nation’s most important holiday. Tens of thousands of Americans
went on a patriotic spree every Fourth of July. Even though emigrants were
hundreds of miles out on the trail, they still celebrated vigorously.
Independence Rock stood tall above them, a symbol of American resistance to
tyranny and commitment to democracy. Music, firing off guns, speeches, and a
round of drinks often marked observances of the “Glorious Fourth.”
“The day was ushered in with the booming of small arms,
the best we could do under the circumstances….” ~E.W. Conyers, July 4, 1852
Many emigrants couldn't swim a stroke, but even strong
swimmers risked drowning in the treacherous currents of the Snake. The river's
deep holes, surging water, and unexpected rises were perilous.
Somehow, everything and everybody had to get across, whether
by fording, floating or ferrying.
"What villainy is this!" Henry Allyn, 1853
In the picture below there was a small model wagon and different wooden "supplies" to fill it. What would you take? What would you leave behind? I had to leave behind the stove.
Enterprising Mormons. Indians, and fur company employees
offered ferry service - for a price. "This is the way to wring hard-earned
money from the starving poor," lamented Basil Longsworth. At anywhere from
$3 to $10 per wagon and 50¢ a head for cattle, the emigrants got soaked.
After waiting their turn at the ford for hours or even days,
the travelers would take the wheels off the wagons, caulk the wagon beds, lash
them together, load up hired canoes with goods, pull themselves across with a
rope stretched across the river, and pray. For a small fee (perhaps "a
shirt and some caps"), Indians would swim with the livestock, coaxing them
across.
Cattle frequently caused trouble: "Often after swimming
half way over the poor things will turn and come out again." Sometimes
they wouldn't budge, delaying the crossing for hours. "And sometimes the
cattle... would start swimming down stream, towing the wagon beds with them.
This would have to be stopped or we would be in danger of
going over the falls -" ladies, goods, and all.” ~Basil Longsworth
There was a round up of different styles of wagons. The front wheels were smaller on all of them because they have a better turning radius and the back wheels were larger because they can travel farther and better over rough terrain.
We went to walk o the actual wagon ruts that are over 180 years old.
We had a visitor on our walk! A coyote!
“As far as the eye can reach either way lay handsome
rolling prairies. Not a stone, a tree, not a bush even nothing but grass and
flowers meet the eye until you reach the valley…which is as level as the house
floor.” Lydia Rudd, May 11, 1852
Walking on the Oregon Trail. I can not imagine walking 15-20 miles in these conditions with a heavy long dress and small boots on every day...and then cooking and doing laundry. I would have given up at the next town...or before.
After reading pioneer journal entries and walking on parts
of the Oregon Trail, we understand why our ancestors stopped in Wisconsin!
If you're interested in the diary entries, read on...if not, this is the end of today's blog. I had fun seeing and researching!
Don't forget...Do something every day that makes you smile!
A few Diary entries I found interesting below:
From the
Diary of Henry Allyn
July 25: John W. finds a human skull. Soon after we discover
a grave... that had been dug open and a number of human bones scattered around
it.
July 26: We collected all the bones we could find... and
whatever fragments of grave clothes were scattered around and the pillow which
was under the head of the corpse and put them into the grave and covered them
up as well as we could. We had nothing but a small fire shovel to work with.
There was a board at the head of the grave on which was carved, "In memory
of Ann Kiser..." After this we start on over a rocky road.
"There'll be apples on each branch in Oregon, There'll
be valleys filled with golden grain;
There'll be cattle on each ranch in Oregon, For there'll be
plenty of sun and rain.
"Down the Oregon Trail"
The Final Test
Emigrants camping in the Powder River Valley often met
traders from Willamette who walked through offering food and good news. They
told of the bountiful harvests, the fertile soil, and the gentle winters in
Oregon. The promised land seemed so close, but several enemies still barred the
way: weather, mountains, rivers, and lack of supplies.
Hailstorms and iced-over water buckets reminded the
travelers that winters come early in the mountains. Axing their way through
thick timber and hauling wagons up seemingly vertical inclines drained their
small stores of energy, patience and supplies.
Beyond the Blues, travelers heading for Willamette had to
decide between two unappealing routes: the Columbia River or the Barlow Road.
Whether they chose the river or the road, they risked losing
everything. Fortunately, moments of joy and relief flickered brightly as they
neared their goal; friendly Indians still provided fresh foods, and the land
itself more than fulfilled their hopes.
"We arrived at Grand Ronde. We had a feast from the
Cayuse Indians. We had some nice elk meat and boiled it with dried
huckleberries and plenty of flour. We had a royal meal as we thought."
John Burch McClane, 1843
"Rainy day. Making rafts. Women cooking and washing.
Children crying.
Elizabeth Dixon Smith, 1847.
The Dalles Decision
Arriving at The Dalles during the rainy fall season with
jaded livestock and crippled wagons did litle to raise the emigrants' spirits.
They were weary, hungry, footsore and sorely reduced financially. Ahead lay the
final challenges of the way west: should they take the river or the road or
just stay put?
Joel Palmer had this experience in 1845: "This day we
intended to make arrangements for our passage down the river, but we found...
that the two boats ...were engaged for at least ten days, and their charges
were exorbitant, and would probably absorb what little we had left to pay our
way to Oregon City. We then determined to make a trip over the mountains
..."
The Columbia River swirled ominously, hinting at the rapids
in the Gorge. The Barlow Road meant forests, snow, cold nights, and mud on Mt.
Hood.
Some emigrants decided to "winter over" at The
Dalles, but had to live with the nagging thought of others getting the best
lands west of the mountains.
All the options were costly - physically, emotionally, and
financially.
Trails End
For those who had risked all - life, limb, health, and
wealth - the banks of the Willamette symbolized the completion of a dream. They
had not truly arrived at the end of the trail; they still had lands to claim
and homes to build. But the river and the fragrant smell of cottonwoods
confirmed that the transit of the American West was complete. It was the greatest mass migration in
North American history.
The pioneers crossed nearly 2,000 miles of wilderness to
chart a new destiny on the Pacific Slope. The experience marked their lives
forever. Their journey became a badge they wore until death. They knew they had
made history.
"Friday, October 27, Arrived at Oregon City at the falls of the Willamette.
Saturday, October 28: Went to work." ~James Nesmith, 1843
"Four miles brought us to the city of Oregon....
Its population is about fourteen hundred, nine stores, two
churches, two saw-mills, two grist mills, two groceries, and two boarding
houses."
William J. Watson, September 13, 1849
We landed this morning at our destined place..." Henry
Allyn, 1853.
From the Diary of CECELIA
MCMILLEN ADAMS, 1852
Twin sisters
Cecelia and Parthenia McMillen were born in New York in 1829. Cecelia married a
doctor, William Adams in Illinois in 1849, and her sister Parthenia married
Stephen Blank, a carpenter, in Illinois in 1850.
In 1852,
when the sisters were 23 years old, they traveled with their husbands and
father Joseph McMillen to Oregon, where their older brother James had already
established himself.
excerpted
from:
"Twin
Sisters on the Oregon Trail"
in Best of
Covered Wagon Women, ed. Kenneth Holmes (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma
Press, 2008), 149-194.
July 2
Friday
Had a very
hard wind last night The sick man is dead this morning We stop to see him
burried They wraped him in bed clothes and layed him in the ground without any
coffin We sung a hymn a had prayer O! it is so hard to leave friends in this
wilderness
Some of the
bluffs look like old castles.
Are in sight
of chimney rock, can see it fifty miles off. Passed 8 graves. Follow on the
Platte, very poor grass, quite warm, travel slowly. Made 16 miles.
In 1856 the
twins' father Joseph returned to Illinois via Panama to retrieve his wife Ruth
and three other children, crossing the Oregon Trail a second time with them.
Cecelia and
her husband settled in Hillsboro, Oregon while Parthenia and Stephen settled in
neighboring Forest Grove.
Neither
sister bore any children, but Parthenia and her husband adopted and raised ten
orphans. Cecelia passed away at her sister's home in 1867, at age 38. Parthenia
lived on to age 86, passing away in 1915.
“I do not
think I ever shall forget the sight of so many dead animals see along the
trail. It is like something out of Dante’s Inferno, this barren waste of lava
peopled with the skeletons of animals.” ~Esther McMillan Hanna, August 6, 1852
“Traveled
fifteen miles today over the most treacherous road I ever could have imagined!
Nothing but rock after rock…. nothing but sage…” ~Esther McMillan Hanna, 1852
The
emigrants traded primarily with the Shoshone and Bannock tribes, “we could hear
nothing in camp but the Indians in broken English say, “How swap! How swap!
Salmon! Shirt!” noted Loren Hastings in 1847. The emigrants wanted fresh fish;
the Indians wanted needles, thread, tools and clothing. “We bought enough salmon
for a fish hook to make us wish never to see any more.” ~Harriet Talcott
Buckingham, 1851.
Rough roads
and wagons without springs made for a very bumpy ride, and wagons were filled
with supplies which left little room for passengers. Travelers only rode in the
wagons when they were too ill or tired to walk, and slept most nights in tents or bedrolls outside the
wagon.
“People from
the Deep South had deep roots and took little interest in trading their established
lives for the great Western unknown. By 1850, only 37 people in Oregon claimed
a Gulf state as their home.”
“When John
and Cordelia Sharp gave up their farm in Ohio, they couldn’t even afford
steamboat fare. They built a flatboat and traveled 900 miles down the Ohio
Rover with seven children. They made it to Independence, but had to work four
years there before they had enough money to travel to Oregon.”
“Yesterday a
number of our cattle and one wagon loaded with provisions and several women aboard
escaped going over the falls just by the skin of their teeth.” ~E.W. Conyers,
August 10, 1852.
"We arrived at Grand Ronde. We had a feast from the Cayuse Indians. We had some nice elk meat and boiled wit with huckleberries and plenty of flour. We had a royal meal as we thought." ~John Burch McClane, 1843
