Computers are few and far between!!

Sorry for the delay in blogging. We aren't coming across many computers that we can use. I'll try to catch things up now...

September 4, 2010

Jason tells me that his mother always says that he is slower than a 90 year old woman! And I do agree. We did finally begin our walk today...at about 5:00 PM!! Petunia draws lots of attention! We met lots of nice people on this first afternoon. We walked south on 101 for a few miles. We aren't walking very fast. Our packs are heavy, and Petunia's cart is, too. We will be mailing more things back to Angel as soon as we reach a post office! Not finding ANY camp grounds so far, we saw a church, Coos Bay Christian Fellowship. It's starting to get dark. So we walked up to the church, hoping to find someone there. No one answered the door. But there was a phone number on their sign. So we called it. Luckily Pastor Jim answered and gave us the OK to camp in the church yard, which was lovely. While we were setting up camp we met 2 chuch members, Terry and Chris and also got to meet Pastor Jim. We had a comfortable night's sleep after a peanut butter sandwich dinner...

September 5, 2010

We woke up and broke down our camp. We were invited to and attended the church service, while Petunia went to Sunday School with Terry! She was a big hit with all of the kids. And she got to eat some marionberry licorish. We met so many nice people after the service, including Bill and Sharon Meyers, who will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next April. Bill is an avid walker and has walked over 10,000 miles! We enjoyed visiting with them. We also got to meet Susan, pastor Jim's wife. She is delightful! We said our goodbyes and headed on down the 101. Our next stop will be Bandon. The 101 between Coos Bay and Bandon is hilly and there is no where to pull off of the highway to rest or camp. Luckily we made it Bandon as it was getting dark. I got to see my first glimpse of the ocean since starting the trip. Tonight, we are hoping to stay in a motel so that we can go though our stuff and lighten our pack (not to mention take a shower!). We went to one motel, who called themselves "pet friendly" but wouldn't take Petunia. Luckily, the next motel would take her. We got a warm pizza from a place across the street, took a hot shower, and hit the hay.

September 6, 2010

Happy Labor Day! It's a beautiful day in Bandon. We woke up refreshed and ready to start our day! We repacked our packs/cart and walked across the street to the Ray's Market for some food to eat and to pack for the day. We met so many nice people while we were hanging out outside. And, I got to have my picture taken with Santa Clause! Really! I'm not even joking! Now, I don't know what he usually does during the off season, but he had a black eye and was wearing a "Norwegian Beer Drinking Team" T-shirt!! He was a doll, and we had a nice visit! Luckily, I've been a very good girl this year! I really did get my picture made with him (how could I resist?) and as soon as I figure out how to put pictures on this blog, I will post it! So the day is beautiful and we are cruisin' down the 101 when disaster struck! One of the tires on Petunia's cart had a blow out! We made it to a Shell Station where Jason tried tirelessly (pun intended) to fix the darn thing. As soon as it seemed like that tire was all fixed, the other tire decided to start leaking air. The leak was right at the pin. We couldn't get it patched at that difficult spot. And it was again, starting to get late. So I started going to the motels/hotels that were within walking distance and all of them said "no pigs allowed!" Finally, I called a motel willing to take her, The Shining Star. And they said they would even waive the usual pet fee. Fantastic! Now...how the heck are we supposed to get our too-heavy-packs and broken down burley cart, not to mention the pot belly pig to the motel? That did present a problem for us. Luckily, one of the sweet gas attendants from the Shell Station had a pick up truck and was willing to give us a ride. (Thanks, Kevin!!) So we go into The Shining Star office and meet Karen, the manager. She is such a sweet woman and so excited to have Petunia there. She bent over backwards to give us the most convenient room for all of the stuff we're carrying! While we were checking in, we got to meet the owner, Shahab. He is so generous! He gave Petunia a whole plate of cantelope (which she did not share with us) and then gave her lots of yummy grapes. I think it's safe to say that she made some new friends today at The Shining Star! We settled into our room. Karen made a special trip to bring us the menus of all of the places that would deliver food to the motel. (so nice of her!) We left Petunia to hold down the fort and walked to the True Value to get a replacement tube for the leaky tire. We stopped by the grocery for some dinner supplies and made a nice big salad and risotto (boxed, of course) for dinner.