Eclipse Path in Oregon

Took a 1300 mile road trip to see the Eclipse in Lebanon OR, which is near Corvallis and Albany. I visited Ashland for the first time to see some Shakespeare, visited my sisters in Portland, met sister Connie’s two newest grandchildren, and spent an interesting night in Redding on my way back.

Starting on Sunday morning, we took a leisurely trip up I-5, stopping in Oakland, Oregon, a quaint town a few miles away from the freeway. We had lunch at Tolly’s, where it took me three tries to get the hard-boiled egg for my Cobb Salad. So different from the solicitous restaurant service in Ashland! Sharon and I went shopping in the quaint town and visited their many antiques stores and unique museum while Steve, who had been doing the driving, took a nap after lunch. The Oakland Museum has

Rooms full of furniture typical of many early Oakland homes, a bank exhibit, post office, general store and more. There is a clothing display, toys, photographs, tools and stories of Oakland’s history.

Sharon at Tolly’s

Len Rummel, Joe Dunne, Linda Rummel

We arrived late in the afternoon on Sunday, and Steve and Sharon were thrilled to learn that the Rummel’s farm had a full hook-up for their trailer, complete with power, water and sewer. This was important because both Sharon and her son Joe were suffering from an intestinal bug that I was happy to have dodged. I met Steve and Sharon’s daughter Erin for the first time, when she arrived at Rummel’s farm with two of her friends who were on their way to a conference in the state of Washington. She had driven them to the beach earlier in the morning, then all the way back to Lebanon in the center of the state and in the zone of totality.

The Rummels were having their annual friends & family reunion so there was a big dinner Sunday night with barbecued hot dogs and lots of food at the long table seen in the background in the photo below. I contributed a package of award-winning hot dogs from Whole Foods, and some interesting grilling sausages from Trader Joe’s, plus a loaf from GoGuetteBread in Santa Rosa. I was pretty tired, though, so I skipped the group dinner and just had some bread and cheese in the trailer and called in an early night. The Big Day would start in the morning.

Viewing Eclipse at Rummel Farm

Engineer Len Rummel and educator Linda Rummel had plenty of eclipse glasses for viewing. My favorite part was the tour of the artworks in the house while we waited for the sun and the moon to do their dance. What an astonishing collection of art from all over the world, and Len’s tiny sculptures of insects, displayed on the vast terrain of his bedroom windowsill. Then, the treat of getting to chat with their remarkable range of friends.

Len and Linda’s children were born in Arabia where they lived for many years, Len working as an engineer and Linda as an educator. Their love for islamic art, textile and rugs is evident in their beautiful, comfortable home which has benefited from many update and upgrades since they purchased it more than twenty years ago.

I was interested to see how their animals would react to the eclipse, including their chickens. They usually have a large vegetable garden, but did not plant this year. Probably good, because there were so many fires this summer due to the heat that particulate matter in the air was high and air quality was poor.

Len and Hound

The image below comes closest to my experience of the eclipse. Most of the viewers had not seen totality before and I could not help but announce as it was commencing, “here it comes. Bailey’s beads!” I just sat in awe during totality, but there was something different time. At about the 5 o’clock position, there was a purple edged brightness that become more prominent as the moon’s passage continued, before everything exploded back into light. It was a solar flare.

I am writing this after the Santa Rosa wildfires and before I leave for the drive to Santa Barbara to start the Sierra Club boat trip to the Channel Islands. This road trip to Williams signifies when I took back my power to drive long distances alone through remote places. It has been 18 months and it was time to get back in my 23 year old Volvo and find the confidence that I could deal with a breakdown on a back road. Both the car and my failed marriage date back to 1994 and this was an important step to take back control of my life.

Back around 1985, I had driven up 101 from San Francisco to Portland in my Honda CVCC hatchback and swore I would never do it again. This time I took Route 5 because it would take me to Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare Festival. Two years earlier, Lake County had been devastated by wildfire and I finally had the nerve to drive over to look. I wanted to check out the way to Clear Lake only once and never to Lake Berryessa and wanted to learn more about the geography so that I could boat them when the opportunity arose.

Route 20 from Calistoga to Williams, CA passes near Clear Lake

I left before daybreak and managed to lost trying to find Mark West Springs Road. Google maps put me right, but by then I was being chased to morning commuters impatient with my tentative driving in the dark. Entering Calistoga, the trick is to turn left to Tubbs Rd. to get to Rt. 20 and Williams. I wound through the twisty road near Robert Louis Stevenson park which I have not yet visited although I have lived here since 2000. So many places I want to see. Went through the town of Lower Lake.

La Fortuna Bakers, Williams CA.

My goal was to have breakfast at La Fortuna bakery in Williams, which I had discovered on Yelp. I would have missed it without Google telling me where to take the right cut-off from Rt. 20 that goes to Williams. The voice navigation makes such a big difference to me, The Map Queen. I ordered an adobo sandwich and the coffee was so hot, it took 45 minutes to cool down enough to drink. By then I was back on the road, heading north on Interstate 5, past Redding, up to Oregon.

Mountain driving on two-lane roads with trucks is tricky. Mount Shasta was not as snowy as it has looked from a small plane, but the next big surprise was the spectacular appearance of Mount Lassen from the road. So glad I went.