Yes there were tears when we bid farewell to our gorgeous hosts in Medford/Ashland. I certainly felt like I was a passenger on the modern day Underground Railroad as we met in a car park off the highway and were transported to another out of the way car park in the mountains. (There are a lot of mountains around here by the way.) The problem was we left gorgeous weather the day before and were met with driving rain. Not so auspicious.
A quick sally around Lake of the Woods – you guessed it a lake in the woods, and then we were taken to meet our new hosts in Klamath Falls, Oregon. There I met Jennifer, a bubbly, friendly banker who lives an hours’ drive away (back in Northern California) on a 26 mile ranch. Yes I said a 26 mile ranch.
The same day Melissa and I went on a tour of Klamath with two reporters from the Herald and News, Ryan and Ben. Not to make you wonderful Rotarians feel bad – but these guys were the youngest we’ve hung out with in a while, neither breaking thirty. I think I impressed Ryan by clocking that he was wearing a Green Lantern ring – yes comic geeks will find each other anywhere in the world.
The tour they gave us was great, including two non-profit theatres and the Klamath Art Association, a community art gallery where we met Ron Cope a retired Navy man. Again we were impressed by the volunteerism that keeps these institutions running, in the case of the Art Association Gallery for the past 60 + years.
I was not so impressed with the shots they took of me that appeared in the paper a few days later – or the footage that appeared on their online website. I can only attribute the double chin to the quantities of food that these Rotarians are forcing us to eat – it’s absolute torture!
Besides the unflattering pics of me, especially as compared to Melissa, who let’s face it is gorgeous (damn that Trini), we both did good – bigging up both Rotary and the Cultural aspects of our countries.
A Hawaiian dinner eaten at a Little League baseball game in Tule Lake, followed by the trek to the stunning ranch and Juniper log house built by my host and her husband ended my day. Their house is lovely, cosy and a real home with a Jack Russell, a Lab and two lovely and bright children Otto and Olivia. Otto even knew that the symbol on the Bajan flag I gave him was a trident, as he is studying Greek mythology.
By the way, Tule Lake is where the Japanese Americans were forcibly interred during the Second World War. It is a cold, dry and barren place which made me quite melancholy.
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