Gibson on a roll: May 2008

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Smith Rock, Oregon

We drove through Sisters, Oregon and then to Smith Rock...so beautiful enjoy. If you want to see more go to the mac link. http://web.mac.com/gibsononaroll

We are still in Bend, Oregon. We are having some service work done on our RV. We are at the Bend Service Center and they have been terrific, helping us fine tune this beast before the big trip.

It has rained EVERY day since we arrived, so our activities have been restricted. Let's just be honest and say we have eaten our way through the last week. Bend has some great restaurants and bars.

Among our favorites, Blacksmiths ~ the lounge is great, the food ~ so so. High Tides, we went expecting greatness because we had been to Tital Waves, in Newport (same owners) and it was great, High Tides, only average. Zedego, really good food, great waitress.

Our favorite in town Typhoons. Great atmosphere, awesome food. Jeff had a clam chowder made with coconut milk and lemongrass, that was by far the best clam chowder we have ever had. We happened to meet the COO, Rick, who promised to try and get me a recipe from the owner Bo. She is writing a cookbook that I am looking forward to.

If the sun will peak out, we will get some pictures today at Smith Rock...

On another note, an article was published in the Orange County Register yesterday about our story. Thank you Keith and Jebb, nice job. The response has been a lot of fun and we look forward to your ideas and will respond to the emails as quickly as we can.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

New Plans

We have been in Bend for a few days. We have changed our original route a couple of times. This area has experienced the greatest snowfall in the last decade. Many roads are still closed. Many lakes are close to overflowing and the rivers are full. These conditions are preventing us from going into Yellowstone as we had planned. The weather continues to be rainy and the forecast looks the same.

The joy of no schedule and no plan is being able to adapt. So we are heading north. Central Washington looks warmer and drier. Then a visit with Kathy & Ben (Jeff's sister & her husband)in Snohomish. From Snohomish we will visit Victoria Island and then east in British Columbia to Banff. Our only schedule is to meet the Talberts on June 20th in Jasper.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Rogue River & Crater Lake

We drove up to Crater Lake, following the Rogue River. The river was amazing, we hiked to a natural bridge formed by lava where the river flows at 4 feet per second. Then there is Crater Lake...WOW...we were overwhelmed with its beauty, stillness and awe. It was breathtaking. It looked like a mirror, a piece of glass reflecting calm. I will put together a photo group for you, but for now here's a couple of shots. Nate, this one is for you.

Lake Tahoe to Medford

We left Lake Tahoe planning to go to Klammath Falls. In route, we decided to stop at Eagle Lake which is close to Susanville. Eagle lake is a large spring fed lake that has the famous "Eagle Lake Trout". These trout are exported throughout the U.S. as well as Europe because of their size and ability to adapt to different places.

On Sunday we left Eagle Lake for a 2 hour trip to Klammath Falls. We arrived at the park where we were planning to stay it was not what we were looking for, so we went to another one...really bad, we went to a third one...really bad. We decided to go look at the Running Y Resort to see another side of this town. Running Y area is beautiful, so if you go to Klammath Falls great place to visit., however nothing for RVs. We decided to drive across highway 66 to Medford. This road's distance is about 60 miles. We were about 40 miles into this drive, which was really tight with lots of hairpin turns, when we saw a sign that said no trucks over 50 feet. We are 40 feet plus a tow car. There was no place to turn around, or remove the tow, so we continued. We come very close to two headon collisions. This was so scary! We made it safely to Medford and found a beautiful park called the Rouge River State Park. After a vodka, we both collapsed. What a day! Jeff is a great driver and I know none of the Alaska highways will be as tough as Hwy 66 in Oregon.