Farewell Goose Lake

Small towns. You know, those ideal communities you've seen on television where everything seems way too good to be true. My first recollection of such small towns were Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show and of course Hooterville from Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Regardless of the story plots one thing rang true for all of the shows, people in the town cared and watched out for people in the town.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were involved in a nasty car accident that left us with no transportation and doctor appointments some distance away – the closest being 14 miles one way and the other just over one hundred. Enter two small towns: New Pine Creek (population 120) and Lakeview Oregon (2300 people). New Pine Creek, when all is said and done consists of the post office and an antique store across the street. The post master allowed us to use the general delivery address and she kept an eye out for our prescriptions and other incoming mail and we got the word we had mail. Sort of critical when we had to chase down transportation to get there (about 2 miles from the park).

Lakeview has a Safeway grocery store and we had been going there about once a week during the month of June so I guess we were “regulars” - at least the cashiers made us feel that way by always greeting us with a hello and a smile. A few days after the accident we were shopping and I can't count the number of people who asked after us and offered help in one form or another; not just store folks but fellow shoppers as well. Made us feel like we were back in the small town of Ucon Idaho (pop: 640) where we grew up and everyone knew everyone else.

Now here we are the end of July and our time at Goose Lake is coming to a close. Tomorrow morning we'll be heading to Klamath Falls for a post surgical evaluation on Chris' wrist and since we'll be in the “big” city, we'll of course pay the obligatory visit to Wally World to stock for our next journey – Hyrum Reservoir in Utah.

It has been a little hectic what with doctor appointments and a little painful discovering new bruises on an almost daily basis but despite the adversity a couple of facts remain. Our stay here was very rewarding, leaving us with a feeling of accomplishment and sure in the knowledge we have indeed made a difference. Further, we  have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. Our permanent ranger Rick and the seasonal ranger Lee and of course, our guardian angel and park aid Tina have made us feel right at home. Without their guidance, input, and support our time here could have been quite the opposite. Couple the environment these three fostered with our co-hosts Charlie and Becky and you know what? We were our own very small town.

Shoot, it certainly is not too much of a stretch to say... We're home.

Perhaps we’ll return next year.

Pizza Run!–NOT

I'll tell the tale about this a bit later in the blog but...

“Sun's up in ...”

So begins the early morning message from fellow RV'er Millie Duffin. She and her husband Dick have traveled around the country for years and each morning Millie will get up with the sunrise and post her news of the day, plans for the future, and sometimes, as she put it, “just ramblings of an old lady.” What I've found in the years I've been following her is these “ramblings” as she put it, are actually short, simple messages very much like the song birds she observes each day; pronouncements of simply the joy of life.

We met the Duffins very briefly on a hot, black parking lot just off the I-5 freeway in what used to be the Monaco motorhome factory in Coburg Oregon. This was the year after we had purchased our first class A diesel pusher and the parking lot which used to be known fondly as “Camp Monaco” had become the service center for a consortium of active and defunct motorhome brands called the Allied Recreation Group. I have always thought of it as the “ARG” (said in my most piratey pirate voice) – usually after seeing the invoice for the repairs.

There we were, a group of people as widely diverse as the our rigs, held hostage by the whims of the service managers. With only a truck stop and McDonalds within easy walking distance and not a heck of a lot to do except hang out in the customer lounge, I'm sure you can understand just how welcome any diversion can be.

Enter the Dillie Muffin party. As rookies Chris and I had yet to experience an RV'er potluck and being the kids of the group, honestly thought this would simply be a group of really old people sitting around eating soft food. Not so for we had not calculated on the tornado of energy, the monsoon of ideas, or the sheer force of will that is Millie. While folks will toot their horns under the direction of a band leader and fancy people will play in the orchestra following a conductor, true brilliance and awe inspiring audacity can only come from that rare individual bestowed with the title – maestro. In our little corner of the universe we have something better, we have Millie. Nuff said.

Years have passed since that one time parking lot gathering and the only contact has been via the almost daily “Sun's up” posting. That is, until this past week when Chris and I were privileged to host Dick and Millie at Goose Lake. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll be saying it again, one unique aspect of the RV lifestyle is though often separated by miles and years, friendships, even if those formed in a matter of minutes, can be picked up and continued as it was only a day.

Sure did miss them when they pulled out. Of course chances are always pretty good we'll run into each other (in a good way!) in the future.

Now, about that picture. Yes, that is our toad. Yes we were in an accident and yes we were injured. Chris got the worst of all yet truthfully it could have been much worse than her broken wrist. For those who follow some of our Facebook posts; no we did not get our pizza which was the reason we were traveling in the first place.

To make a short story even shorter, neither of us has recollection of what exactly happened other than the sudden appearance of another car as it smacked us or we smacked them. No matter; the end of the story is our car is totaled and Chris will be having some surgery to correct the break which was probably caused by the airbag going off. She has also been blessed with some really awesome purple bruises from the seat belt. I have been calling her stripes. She says I will pay for it.

Folks that saw the accident say we must have had angels watching over us. If they were, they have since handed the job off to the park aid here who stayed with us in the emergency room for the five hours while we were evaluated, drove us back to the park and then loaned us her vehicle to use. Tina, if you are reading this, words cannot express our gratitude.

So, we'll be staying at Goose Lake for a while longer to get some doctor appointments out of the way and the obligatory post surgery followups. I've already got a lead on a replacement toad so we can get around and as I write this, the soreness has lessened enough so we don't need help getting dressed.

What's the phrase? “It's nothing but a thang.” When all is said and done things can be replaced or fixed. And us? We survived.