Need pens.
Blogged about the trip all day till about 326pm....did mostly editing of photos I took the day before. Of course, later I started this rewrite. Next time tho....blogging about the trip is best during the trip.
Got pens at Staples and then went roaming around Medford.
They have ancient card readers here in Medford. At one place I had to type in my account number. Go figure.
Went to the city center of Medford.
Reptile Guyz.
You can give plasma at CSL Plasma....at the shopping area!
Lumpy Food & Brew.
In the city is The Office Gentlemen's Club.
At Kai Fish and Exotic Animals there are stuffed animals in the window.
A lot of older homes here....tho not quite of the 1800s styles. By comparison tho....Yreka has many of those tho it is kind of a dead town there. A lot of the homes in Medford are of the 60s and 70s styles of homes.
I found Ashland to be quite nice. I suspect many live there and travel for some major shopping in Medford. This was true when I lived in the 80s in Mt. Shasta....tho bit of a ride if you came from there.
Medford tho sure is flat with mountains around it. And it's a bit plain.
I took a look at the east side of I-5. The mountains on the west side are forested, but on the east side are more dead looking.
There's Continental Golf...a huge place. Must be a lot of golfers here.
Tho for all the driving around I did...not too impressed by Medford. That was also true when I came up here in the mid-80s from Mt. Shasta to look around.
430pm - headed up I-5 north to 238 to take the back way to Grants Pass by going through the Applegate Valley....which is the wine country.
Just to note: eastern Medford side is a bit better in terms of housing and space...more livable. There are more industrial parks out that way too. Tho Jacksonville is pretty awesome. Medford is more about what you can get there before returning home to a nicer area to live. I think of Medford as the working town...and people living in places like Ashland, Jacksonville and elsewhere.
Noted there are two table mountains (flat tops and what looks like basalt cliffs) north of Tolo and Central....both north of Medford....great for climbing and hiking. Will have to visit that area another time.
Alongside Hanley Road were the group of sticked to the ground halloween zombies group...the "Haunted Field Walk". This is at the Hanley Farm there and has a haunted house or something like it. Oregon proves again to be the best for Halloween setups. Here's a picture of the zombies:
Jacksonville is in the west foothills and quite quaint. Like it here. Love the trees, vegetation mix, artsy housing and other structures. I could get very used to this. Very impressed here. I want to visit here again. It's still that 1800's town. J. Orth building 1872 ! Here are a couple of pictures from Jacksonville....one of a church and the other of a downtown saloon....the cars just seem out of place tho maybe the big black car is the gang leaders new 'horse'...and should I be careful of a shootout....
503pm now.....
Pair of Dice Ranch Road.
Sterling and Poorman's Creek roads at the Jacksonville Summit.
Skeleton on a tractor at 2955/238 sign post.
Logtown Electric....next to the Logtown Cemetery. Given the poor guy on the tractor....do you really want to use this company's services....I mean maybe if you want to go early to the cemetery as a resident rather than a guest. Might think about not giving that review. But then again the skeleton with the tractor might be the undertaker.
Fiasco Winery in the Applegate Valley....with a list of wineries on the sign. And about ten miles down from there is the Open Range. I'll guess Fiasco (on the tall sign and in red on the short sign) has a Boney Logtown Merlot and the Hunter's Cabernet. Personally, a wine tasting might be best on Pair of Dice Ranch Road ....the pair of barrels to toss.
A bit of turkeys roaming around here.
Took a pic of the gorgeous all green metal bridge at Applegate River crossing. Love the colors of the trees here. And this bridge just rocks.....
Apparently, here too the deer run around on their hind legs and the elk on all four. Yea....well that's what the road signs here show.
Applegate Valley is trees on the south side of 238 and fewer of them on the north side.
Got up to Murphy to the Hidden Valley Market...and I'm still looking for it....small town area...shouldn't take much longer.
Lots of dead deer and skunks around here. Must be the Killer Trucks Crew coming through here a lot.
If you're a getaway type...there's a church here for ya in Murphy: The Getaway Church. Jesus Christ is the man, his dad the godfather and the holy spirit is the driver. YOU should be skilled in fighting and wearing bandages and tape and carrying bibles in a violin cases along with a baptismal supplies.
As I got closer to Grants Pass I saw housing getting more livable and and things all the way around looking better like more organized and desirable....well after being in the country.
6:05 - entered into the Grants Pass area.
And there are mountains on both sides like Medford tho closer in and with far more hills. It's a tighter valley here....love that.
Saw a sign for new houses starting at an amazing $224,000 and up located at Hubbard Road and Redwood Highway. More than affordable to live here.
626pm - went to the city center.
Pretty awesome two bridges going across the Rogue River ....the one that was on was SE 7th, but looking north was the three humps (arches) bridge. Go ahead look that up on the map in Google.
So far 1316 miles.
Downtown is older made up mostly of arts, antiques and not much else. It's a little run down in places. There is one of those over-the-roadway signs on the main drag (6th) saying "It's the Climate". There are dress stores, furniture stores suggestive this is a everything-you-need-is-here kind of town. The one hotel/suites place I loved was the Redwood Hyperion Suites....wooded, nicely landscaped, the lighting, the pool....the overall layout was inviting like I'd like to live there kind of place. Drove past the Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre....very cool.
Drove up into one of the neighborhoods in the northwest part of town where all the nice houses and slight rising hills are and there was this one older 40s like two story house with a full width of the house covered porch that had a big blow-up cat's head on the mid roof area....for Halloween....that looked like it was watching you....the head would turn left and right. It was at 701 A Street near Dimmick. Very nice. As with much of northern most end of California and most of Oregon I have found that these people know how to dress up their places for Halloween. Here's a picture of that house with the cat on it:
Stopped by this one older house that had lit-up crystal chandeliers hanging from branches of this big old tree in the front yard (717 NW 4th Street, Grants Pass, OR). I thought what a great idea. I stopped by to take pictures. It really felt like I had entered into a whole different world staring into this array of light.
The whole neighborhood around this house and where Washington and Evelyn cross....filled with great and beautiful old homes. Absolutely love this area.
729pm - back to I-5 to go off to another part of Grants Pass.
Found where the Walmart outdoor hotel is...off Redwood Hwy (199)....now I just need some food and a place to write.
Stopped at a McDonalds to eat and write. Left at 1135pm and crashed by midnight at the Walmart off to the east side of the store where all the truckers and others have crashed for the night. Decided that I really need a shower soon....chaffing a bit.
End of this day.
