Heading South

We’re off on another short road trip, this time to places south.  We set off down Interstate 5 through the Willamette Valley.  I always used to think this was an incredibly dull road.  It is flat and straight.  But it also goes through rich farmland framed by mountains to the east and west.  Maybe it’s only dull on a motorcycle.

Traffic kept building, with more and more cars and vans sporting green and yellow flags or chrome O’s.  The University of Oregon football game was more than five hours away, but people were getting ready.

The traffic miraculously disappeared north of Eugene.  When we stopped in Springfield to charge the car, we went to our favorite place to eat near there — Hop Valley Brewing.  The place was packed.  Andrea and I were two of the few not wearing green and yellow or Cal’s blue and gold.  We had to wait for our food, but it was worth it.

South of Eugene, the land becomes hilly.  We stopped near the town of Wolf Creek to see the Grave Creek covered bridge.

And then on to Grants Pass for the night.  We ate supper near downtown.  I lived here one summer and worked in the plywood mill.  The mill is gone now, and I don’t remember much about the town.  Andrea pointed out that that was 50 years ago.  I calculated it out, and actually it was 55 years ago.  That was a different time, I was a different person, and perhaps Grants Pass was a different place.  It makes me feel old.