This morning Eric and Ashley packed up early and left for a conference and some R&R at Sun Valley in central Oregon. I was on the internet early, figuring out the bus system in Beaverton and Portland, to get Tabasco and me to Union Station, where we would hop on a Greyhound bus to go south. We both scrambled with last minute internet work on our respective websites and at 10:50am walked out of the house, through the neighborhood, and up to the bus stop. Back into the PCT we would go! The bus was on time and we made it to Union Station by noon.
We bought our tickets to Medford, then found a local downtown eatery for a cheap “meat and two” lunch. At 1pm we got on the bus for the six hour ride to southern Oregon. After calling Mom to wish her Happy 70th Birthday, I began catching up on days of journaling. It’s now 4:30pm and I finally caught up! Hooray! More on the rest of today’s adventure as it unfolds. I think I’ll take a much needed nap now.
The rest of our bus ride was uneventful. We got to Medford’s Greyhound terminal just before 7pm and it was nearly dark…we didn’t have any organized plan to get to Ashland or to Callahan’s, other than to hitch or otherwise receive a gift from some trail angel. A trail angel came through for us. Rhonda, the gal sitting behind me on the bus ride, knew we were trying to get to Ashland tonight. We had been friendly with Rhonda during the ride, but she had not made any offers to try to get us to Ashland, though she was going there herself.
While we were still in the bus station trying to get ourselves organized, Rhonda left the station, then returned a few minutes later and offered us a ride! We piled in with Rhonda in the backseat; her friends, Josh and Mike were in the front. Mike was from Long Island and had just moved to Ashland. He had on loud and enjoyable Paul Simon music, and we listened and talked during the 15 mile drive. All three of our new friends had just quit their jobs, so there were five unemployed travelers in the car. We gave Mike some money for gas, then Tabasco and I discussed the value of paying Mike to get us all the way to Callahan’s Lodge, next to the trail. We asked if he would be willing to take us for some extra cash. He agreed to take us tonight, making our life so much easier than having to hitch several miles tomorrow morning in the forecasted rain.
We stopped a few minutes at Mike’s new apartment, where he gave us a free loaf of organic hemp sourdough bread, an organic vegetable stew he had made, and some sushi, which I quickly devoured. Then all five of us piled back in the car and a few minutes later, Tabasco and I were dropped off by our trail angels at Callahan’s. We checked in, then hurried to the restaurant/lounge to get some food before the 9pm close. Our bartender, an elderly gentleman, treated us to a free beer each, then I returned to the room to call Debi. Tabasco remained at the bar and was treated to additional free beers by members of Callahan’s staff. He returned to the room about an hour later and the travel day back to the southern border of Oregon was complete. We were so blessed to have, yet again, trail angels appear to help us when we needed it. Thank you to Rhonda, Mike and Josh. Back on trail tomorrow if the rain doesn’t keep us inside one more day, and we can stay away from college football on television.
