DAY 347 Friday 22nd August 2008

Ashland, Oregon (Miles to Date: 37336)


The rest our trip across country is a real rush as we want to get to Ashland in Oregon where are to finish our great adventure.

From Kansas we head up through Colorado, stopping just west of Denver. We then trek across Colorado into Utah – initially our plan was to stop in Salt Lake City. For one reason or another all roads for us seem to lead to Salt Lake, but we make good time in getting there and visit our favourite outdoor store, REI and grab some dinner. The decision is then to stay or head on and gain some more distance. We decide to make a run for it and head across the salt flats towards Wendover which is on the border between Utah and Nevada. The town actually straddles the border; the east side (in Utah) is relatively sedate but the part of the town in Nevada is a whole different kettle of fish, it is full of casinos. We had had some trouble in getting a room – in fact we had just about the last room in town. What we didn’t know was that it was the Bonneville Flats race week. People come from all over the country to race their cars and motorcycles across the salt flats. There are many categories of cars and bikes, ranging from standard production vehicles to custom classic cars. We had already some of these amazing vehicles parked at our hotel in Denver and now that we are actually in Wendover there is a stunning array of vehicles on display. Unfortunately we are in a hurry so we cannot get across to the races.

From Wendover we fly across to Winnemucca in Nevada and then head north into Oregon. We leave the main routes to travel on slower road through the Cascade Mountains passing through the towns of Lakeview and Klammath Falls en route. At Howard Prairie Lake we stop to retrieve our motor home which has been parked there for approaching 3 months. Amazingly we get it started up with few problems and travel through the mountains for the last few miles to Ashland.

Ashland is our final stop on our grand tour. We had visited Ashland previously on our way through Oregon and fell in love with the town. It is situated virtually on the border with California and is in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. The thing that drew us to Ashland was the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and we had a wonderful experience when we came to see “Midsummer Nights Dream”. We simply wanted more. So this is where we are going to plonk ourselves for the foreseeable future. This journey has been a wonderful experience for all of us, we have seen and learnt so much and met so many fantastic people on the way. Hopefully Jack and Emily will retain the memory of some of this trip for the rest of their lives as it has been a once in a lifetime experience. The travelling has been tiring and in many ways we are looking to establish ourselves at least for a while and get some stability back into our lives. On the other hand we are so sad to be ending our fabulous journey. Hopefully this is just an extended stop on our journey and that there is more exploring ahead for the Hobbs family.