July 1st thru July 5th

When I write my first novel it will be the story of a couple of retirees and a cat on the lam.  Why are they on the lam?  I don’t know yet but I know how they can safely avoid whoever is looking for them.

The couple will plan a road trip, create a blog and let anyone follow along wherever they travel.  They will buy a GPS Satellite tracking device, REI and other places have these, and allow friends and family to follow them on this device.  They will post informative and fun things with pictures about their travels to the blog but post about 5 days later than they happened.  Along the way they will make sure they camp sometimes for 4-5 days at one campground.  After about 2 months of traveling and posting they will find a campground where they will be off the grid, no cell coverage or internet, then post to the blog that they will be going to the Whatever National Forest for 5 or 6 days and they may be off the grid.  At the campground their GPS device will still be sending signals as to where they are to the satellite and people tracking them on the GPS device will see where they are camping.  Once at the campground they will pay for the 5-6 day campsite and immediately pitch their tent. After pitching their tent they will find a secluded area that is sunny most of the day and they will leave their GPS device in this sunny location along with a portable solar charger.  Then they get back in their vehicle and head off to Timbuktu, Canada or New Jersey and start a new life.  They should have at least a week before anybody figures out that something is fishy.

Hello from somewhere on the east coast of North America.  Just kidding!

Leaving Eugene we decided on a southerly route into the Willamette National Forest.  In particular we drove a little south from Eugene and took State Hwy 58 southeast toward Oakridge.  From Oakridge we traveled north on a paved scenic un-named road, to our knowledge, toward the Three Sisters Wilderness and Cougar Dam where there was numerous campgrounds.  The first part of the road followed the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River and after passing over a small ridge we were then following the South Fork of the McKenzie River.  This being a Sunday we figured some campers would be leaving and we could find a campsite at one of the campgrounds.  We ended up taking a campsite at French Pete Campgrounds in the Three Sisters Wilderness.  Our campsite butted up to the South Fork of the McKenzie River and was in a very nice grove of trees.  This being a National Forest we got the campsite for $9.00 per night which is half price due to the National Parks Senior Card.  We paid for 5 nights and purchased a bundle of firewood at $6.00 each for each night.  $15.00 per night including firewood totally fit our budget.

Little did we know driving up here that the road was closed about 12 miles north of French Pete Campground near Hwy 126.  We had planned on going that way, to Bend on Friday.  But the best part of the road being closed is that people from Bend and Eugene that would normally camp at French Pete over the 4^th of July week went somewhere else as our campground of 17 campsites was only 1/4 full, at the most, the whole time we were there.

On the 4^th of July we drove up the road about 3 ½ miles to the Terwilliger Hot Spring.  It cost us $7.00 per person to enter the trail.  It was less than a mile to the hot spring.  We shared the 4 pool hot spring with 5 other people the 2 hours we were there.  The host that took our fees told us that normally on the 4^th of July it would be packed in all 4 pools.  Thanks to the rock slide up the road we had a pool to ourselves the whole time.  The top pool was 112 degrees and each pool down was a little cooler.  We soaked/lounged in the 3^rd pool first than the 2^nd pool for as long as we could.  It was a beautiful site and kept very clean by the nearby campground host.  A fun way to celebrate the 4^th.  Back at the campsite we celebrated the 4^th with the traditional dinner, barbequed cultured bean curd (tofu).

Over the 5 days we spent a lot of time reading.  Diane finished her book, “The Time it Never Rained” by Elmer Kelton, and she said it was great and highly recommends it and began another, “Hey Ladies” by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss.  I finished “Pacific Vortex” by Clive Cussler and thought it was average and I started another, “The Innocent” by Harlen Coben.  Reviews next week.

I took a dip in the South Fork of the McKenzie River on our last full day at French Pete Campground.  I’m guessing the temperature was somewhere south of 50 degrees.  I didn’t stay in long.  Hahaha.

A little bit after my dip, due to not zipping the tent completely closed, Slinky snuck out and all she did was walk over to where Diane was working.  Slinky earned her Cat Scout Badge for staying in our campsite.  Way to go Slinkster.