Champoeg – an Oregon Gem

  May 9, 2013 - 7:33 am | Camping, Day Trips, Road Trips
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Just south of Portland, Oregon, is a place where you can walk and bike on multi-use scenic trails along the Willamette River, visit the Pioneer Garden next to the Visitor Center, camp out in your tent or RV for a week or more, and get an ice cream bar at the historic Butteville Store, considered the oldest operating store in Oregon – these are just a few of the things you can do here whether you stay a day or a week. This place is called Champoeg State Heritage Area and includes a campground as well as a large day-use area.  Dinah and I spent a couple of days here, walking the paths, checking out the pioneer toys in the … Continue reading →

Break’s Over!

  May 8, 2013 - 11:35 am | Now What?
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Hi everybody!  I’m back! It’s taken far longer than I thought necessary to heal my body and get my mind back in working order.  Some nature time, some Dinah Dog time, some good food time, some meditation time, some good music time, some ocean and woods time (not necessarily in that order!) and I feel like I’m back in the land of the living! Living life as fully as possible sometimes means that I detour into some place that I didn’t expect to be – I call it traveling the scenic route – and that means more than just driving down the road in my car with Li’l Homey at my back.  Sometimes, it means slowing down mentally and physically … Continue reading →

Continuing the Discussion on Words

  March 15, 2013 - 12:38 pm | Health Trips, Now What?, Observations, Reflections
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A little rambly… but here goes. A week ago Wednesday morning, I woke up sick.  Or rather, when Wednesday morning dawned, I was sick.  Sometime during the night while I slept, my body became sick.  Very sick.  The next three days are lost to me in a dense fog of high fever and racking coughs.  I vaguely remember feeling feverish, my cheeks very hot to touch.  I don’t remember the intense coughing, but by Saturday morning, my ribs hurt desperately when I breathed, my diaphragm so bruised even turning over on my side in bed was painful, and my body was very weak and shaky when I stood up to fill my dog’s dish for breakfast.  But my brain was … Continue reading →

Words – Just What Do They Mean Anyway?

  March 5, 2013 - 5:38 pm | Now What?, Observations, Reflections
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Yesterday I wrote a post that included some words that made me flinch at the time I typed them, and again every time I went back over the post, editing and proofing, before hitting the “Publish” button. The words I wrote are these:  “… Being off the road is killing me.  Killing me slowly but killing me all the same.” I’m a fairly positive person, normally, and I don’t say things like “that’s killing me” because most of the time, it really isn’t killing me.  In fact, it isn’t even close.  I don’t even want to allude to something killing me because I believe words are self-fulling prophecies.  (More on that a little later.) But every time I read these … Continue reading →

Monday Rambling: Back on the Road Again

  March 4, 2013 - 5:23 pm | Home Sweet Home - Li'l Homey, It's All About the Trip, Now What?, Road Trips, Vegan Recipes
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I’ve started the countdown to getting back on the road.  I hate that I’m counting it down because I really don’t want to be “off the road.”  I want to stay on the road.  Being off the road is killing me. Killing me slowly but killing me all the same. I haven’t had a permanent living place since my house foreclosed about four years ago.  Since then, I’ve been roaming the west coast states, not usually staying in one place for longer than a couple of months before I’m off somewhere else.  I start getting crabby when I’m in one place too long.  Plus my feet begin to stink. So I’m counting days ’til I’m rolling down the road again.  … Continue reading →

Signs of Spring

  February 27, 2013 - 2:50 pm | Now What?
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Here in the Pacific Northwest, spring is just around the corner.  For this woman who grew up in Southern California where spring never really comes because it lasts all year long (more or less), it’s always a wonder to see the first signs that the flowers are going to bloom again and the trees will have leaves again. Today, as I followed Dinah Dog wandering around looking for fresh grass shoots to munch on, I noticed the first signs that spring is coming soon. Yes, I think spring is on its way… Tweet