This was taken on Day 3, somewhere in Missouri. Darcy is driving our friend, Ea's, car to Dallas where Ea was in a VISTA training program.
February 17, 1975: The day had finally come and we set off for Oregon. The title I put on my notebook for planning the trip is labelled "Oregon Bound." I forget the reasons we picked the date. But we packed the car the day before and left in the early morning hours.
This was taken on Day 3, somewhere in Missouri. Darcy is driving
our friend, Ea's, car to Dallas where Ea was in a VISTA training
program.
Same spot. David leaning against "Sputzcat." We were
driving around 500 miles each day. After leaving Connecticut we
stayed in a camping ground in New Alexandria, Pennsylvania and
at Fox Ridge State park in Illinois. Both times we simply slept
in our cars since it had been too dark and too cold to set up
a tent. On Day 3 we made it to Oklahoma and spent a night in a
motel.
Two thousand miles and a week later we are in northern California.
Not too far from the Oregon boarder.
No pictures from our first days in Oregon, but here we are a couple
weeks later at the Oregon coast near Florence. My first view of
the Pacific.
We rented a room in a house and then rented this half of a duplex
in Springfield, OR. We had absolutely no furniture. Shortstop
had never been an outdoor cat, but she started to enjoy it a little
while we lived here and even caught a grass snake.
As I said; we had almost no furniture but an enornous livingroom.
I moved the couple small tables we did have and set up my camping
gear for this scene that I labeled "the Great Indoors."
Darcy at the Coburg hills. This area became one of our favorite
hiking spots
Most interesting thing about this picture is that I shaved off
my mustashe and almost immediately started growing it back. The
sheet in the background is something we made to hang on the bedroom
wall.
Crator lake, May 1975. There was close to 12 feet of snow in the
parking area. The reflection was magnificent.
At some point I decided we should get Oregon license plates. Here
I am carefully cleaning the new plates.
When it seemed that work was going to be impossible to find, I
signed up to be a Big Brother, thinking it might help me meet
people and lead to other opportunites. (What we now call "networking")
David and his little brother Randy Pacheko.
Canoeing on Fall Creek Resevoir June 1975. One of several resevoirs
that we frequented often. This is possibly the last pictures we
took in Oregon. Nathan arrived in July and within a week of his
arrival we decided it was time to go.
[ Next: Trekkin' to New Mexico ]