Nearly three whole days of sunshine so far... so of course now I'm complaining about it being cold. What a whiner!
    I took off from Coos Bay yesterday morning and headed back north and then east to the town of Eugene. It was a spectacular drive as the highway wound out around all the bends of the Umpqua River as I headed up into the higher elevations of the coast range. I had never been up this highway before so it was a double treat for me as it was absolutely beautiful. The river was a surprise just in how large and wide it was, and how long and far that size carried east. I finally left it at a split in the highway and it turned slightly south of where I was headed. Even then the river was still more than big enough to boat on although I had been seeing more and more large sets of rapids that would of been a bit of a challenge in an open canoe.
    It was cold when I started up in the morning and I fully expected to see snow on the ground as the road went higher. But there wasn't any left on the ground, if it had ever been there, but there was this amazing amount of frost on the grass and tree tips. Very silvery.
    I pulled into my campground around 3:00 in the afternoon and found plenty of spaces to choose from. The campground is in 'Armitage County Park just north of Eugene. It is a beautiful little park right on the border with town, and it sits on one bank of the McKenzie River. I got the trailer set up with no problem, and then took a short walk around the park just to work the kinks out before heading inside for the evening. Once the sun went down it got really cold in a hurry. By the time I finally went too bed the outside temperature was down to 28 degrees. Later in the night, when I got up to turn the heaters onto a higher setting, I ended up going outside and turning the water off and disconnecting the hose, as it had already frozen pretty solid.
    I remained nice and warm and cozy in my little man cave however, but it was a real trial getting up this morning when the outside temperature was down at 24 degrees and the inside one was only 50. Brrr indeed!
    Needless to say, I haven't been doing a whole lot today. I've hung out inside and watched the news and read the comics and did a couple crosswords. I did manage to find a couple of RV parks down near Sacramento so I should be good to go when I arrive there.
    I also blew out all the water lines and turned the water heater on so it wouldn't freeze. Unfortunately there is no running water in the trailer at this time so I ended up going over to the campground shower house for one of those. That was not a bad deal either, as they are nearly brand new and, other than the cold concrete floor, where very nice single unit bathroom/showers. The park did put a timer on the shower to control how long you could be in, but at 9 minutes there was plenty of time to clean up well. Plus the water was steamy hot and the shower was big enough to actually turn around in.
    There is a contra dance scheduled for later on this evening. The Great Bear Trio will be playing while George Marshall will be doing the calling. I am sure there will be a couple of people here that I will at least recognize if not know outright. I have now danced enough times in Oregon that I have managed to dance with a lot of the regulars. Plus there are always those other dance gypsies that travel to other dance weekends. Either way I am sure it is going to be fun.
    The plan for tomorrow is to pack up and head south as soon as possible in the morning. I doubt I'll make it all the way into Sacramento tomorrow, but I will at least make it as far as Redding I would think. With any luck I'll be holed up in a rest area far south of here and much, much warmer.


brk*