OREGON UPDATE

Where do Oregonians get all their fantastic food?!?

My stay in Ashland with a Peace Corps Ecuador amigo and his mom has been superb.  After leaving Bend and the great couchsurfers who hosted me after coming off the trail I hitched south (in the process getting to know Will, a fellow vagabond on the drift in this wild wild land as well as two guys who tossed me in the back of their truck for a frigid ride through snow before stopping to buy me some coffee, how nice) and met up with my tall and prone-to-fits-of-singing-showtunes friend.  We drove through the intermittent sun and snow to the hot waterlicious Umpqua Hot Springs to the Northwest of Crater Lake for an afternoon and evening of soaking and marvelling at the simplicity and functionality of a stove made with two soda cans and some hardware cloth.  The next day we were back in Ashland making plans for making gumbo (the FIFTH of the great western transect, as I think I may start calling this journey) and becoming culinarily engaged with the town.  Since I've been here I've helped build a garage shelf, worked in the beautiful garden surrounding the home, sipped teas and wines from around the planet, and done what I can to catch up on the calorie deficit I'd built up while hiking for six months.  The turkey sausage and chicken gumbo we made were a hit at the dinner party two nights ago, and I think I've counted every single Subaru in the city of Ashland.  There are approximately 1,464,702 Subarus here.  How in the hell?

Today we're heading for the hills to do some stuff at the new yurt built on a 60 acre spot of mountain not far from the Pacific Crest Trail.  Tomorrow I ride to Berkeley and the Bay Area to visit with a friend from the Georgetown days and then it appears I'll be heading for the hills again in the form of a visit to Yosemite before plummeting southwards once again for some desert exploratiuon East of Los Angeles and perhaps to attend a concert in L.A.  Arizona?  I don't know, we'll see where the wind blows me.  Eventually I'll be back in Bend however, as I've accepted a house-sitting job for a wonderful couple I stayed with while there before.  That'll be my temporary basecamp for most of December and some of January.  Anyone got an idea, an offer, a suggestion for after that?  Please send them my way.

This Mac laptop doesn't get along with my memory card reader so I'll have to wait a bit more to upload photos.  Until then, happy trails.