We have enjoyed a Saturday touring Eugene, OR, with cousin Bill and his partner Marily.  Emmy joined us for a Thai lunch at Bill’s hillside home in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright; we parked Cruiser at Marily’s home in town.  They gave us a tour of Eugene, the farmers market, and a salmon dinner with the local King Estate pinot nois.  We drove to the Salem Elks, parked Cruiser and toured Salem on Sunday.  Today, Memorial Day, we met Bill and Marily at The Gordon House, the only home in Oregon designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  After a cheese and salmon picnic lunch we hiked to the South Falls of Silver Falls State Park; Bill and Marily hiked to other falls, too, while Paul and Regina toured the lodge and watched the video; there are ten falls in this park.  It was a wonderful day.  Along the road to Silverton we saw thousands of “Christmas tree” farms and fields of grass going to seed (we figured that because we passed a “grass seed” building).  The countryside offered vistas at every curve in the road back to Salem; it is really beautiful.  Tomorrow we tour the capitol and museums in town.

I have tried several times to add to this page but have been unable.  We are safe and happy in our travels.  It’s been a busy week.  We managed to survive the unchanging views of desert along I-10 through Arizona and into CA.  Then we drove SR 111 to: Indio’s Coachella Valley Museum and Cultural Center where we learned about the misspelling of ‘conchella’ which means little shell, the Salton Sea, the 1905 Colorado River flood, the trains, the doctors, the schools, the date industry, the agriculture, the desert submarine (a metal building with burlap kept wet to keep it cool inside), and so much more; Shield’s Date Gardens, established in 1924, to see the video “Romance and Sex Life of the Date” and to sample dates and a WalMart SuperCenter for groceries; Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and the windmills at the San Gorgonia Pass, one of the windiest areas in the world, making it an ideal setting for wind turbines, hundreds then thousands of windmills - two blades, three blades, tall and not so tall, a variety of bases from the kind we saw in Iowa to oil rig metal stands; the turbines generate nearly 600 million kilowatt-hours every year, enough to meet the needs of nearly 250,000 persons.

 

We camped several nights at the Simi Valley Elks to rest, shop, and visit the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.  Dennis Miller had broadcast his radio show there from 7-10 a.m. and had also introduced the new two-book set of Reagan’s unabridged diaries; glad we didn’t get there right at 10.  The building is a Spanish Mission-style built around a courtyard; it is definitely on a hilltop. The obligatory Oval Office was there but not as much background on his youth as we would have liked; some information on Nancy Davis Reagan also; Air Force One used by seven Presidents was on display, courtesy of the Air Force  – which reminded us of the other planes we saw last summer in Dayton, OH, at the National Museum of the Air Force.  We saw a section of the Berlin Wall, Reagan’s gravesite, gardens, gifts, story of the Rancho de Cielo, and some movie memorabilia. 

 

If you pay attention to time please note that we are in the Pacific Time Zone, soon to be Alaska Time Zone but my webpage records the Eastern Time Zone:  I am not doing this at midnight...

Just want to say hi; finally some decent wifi.  We are in Redding, CA, to visit All Wheel Alignment and Brake, Paul's favorite.  The weather is warm and wonderful. 

Since leaving Tallahassee we have traveled 2750 miles, 871 of it through Florida and 897 of it across Texas; most of it on I-10.  We did make a few diversions along the Gulf Coast through Pascagoula, Gautier, Biloxi, and Gulfport then again along the Mexican border on SR 20 into El Paso; just wanted to see the new bridges and more than miles and miles of interstate.  Our elevation has gone from sea level to 4400 feet.  We’re glad that we stayed south, too, as the temperatures further north haven’t reached our tolerance level. We’ve seen many animals at our campgrounds each evening:  rabbits, lots of rabbits; mourning doves, lots of doves; robins, cardinals, hummingbirds, and others we can’t identify; roadrunners; and something we think were partridge.  We are also lathering up with lotion and chapstick; the humidity has gone from 90% to 9% and our bodies don’t like it one bit.  Time zones have changed; we’re now in Arizona, which doesn’t change so it’s the same as California Pacific Time.  We find that our 200-mile days take five to six hours because we stop every hour to stretch and also to have our big meal of the day.  Paul is doing most of the driving; Regina sits with the computer on a lap desk watching the DeLorme Street Atlas give us speed, elevation, heading, latitude, longitude, turns, etc; she also keeps the mileage/gas record, campground record, and a diary of sights, sounds, events:  all this as we drive down the road.  Cruiser is working out fine; everything is at our fingertips.  Tonight we are staying at the Elks Lodge in Tempe, AZ.

All is well with the Kelleys and Cruiser.  Our altitude has changed from -2' in Louisiana to 2900' in Midland, Texas.  Humidity has lowered as has the nightly temperature; 54 degrees after severe thunderstorms yesterday.  We had great seafood in Breaux Bridge, LA; great Mexican food with Donna and Bruce in Athens/Malakoff, TX.  We do know that 200 miles is the upper limit at our 55/60 mph travel day.  The terrain and flora has changed quite a bit, too.  We have seen several windmill farms along I-20 as well as the oil pumps one expects.  The bluebonnets, red Indian Paintbrush, and other wildflowers fill the medians of the highway.  Hope all is well with you.