(Written by Dave)

We’ve just finished two restful days in Ashland with Jan and Kathie.  Thanks for driving all the way down to spend time with us you two.

A highlight of our stay was seeing “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Ashland Shakespeare Theatre last night.  I was hoping to not fall asleep, or at least not be too bored.  But it turned out to be much better than I expected.  The play was a somewhat modern interpretation, making it much easier for non-Shakespeare dudes like me to follow.  It even included some music from the last couple of decades, which had people clapping along – I think everyone had a good time.  And judging from how few empty seats there were in the audience after intermission, I’d say the play was a pretty good showing.

We did a fair amount of wandering of Ashland streets – mostly getting to and from the play and central town area.  Seems like a pretty liveable small town.  They have several coffee roasters and a micro brewery so you won’t go thirsty morning or night.  There is a college here so there’s a bit of a lefty vibe, but that’s most of Oregon anyway.

Ashland street sign, needs haircut

Historic Ashland Hotel

Ashland tile – seems a nice thought given the chaos we are seeing in the news

Ashland mineral water – supposed to be good for you, but “not every day”

Today we made the trek to Jacksonville – an 1870s gold rush era town with many old building still standing.  It’s been gentrified but Main Street still has a good number of pubs.  I tried to get some interesting photos without too many cars and generally stay out trouble while the girls wandered through the shops.  I’m sure they had fun – though it did seem like a lot of time was spent in the first store – maybe that’s just me 🙂

Jacksonville scene

Jacksonville building and a cool old car

Jacksonville buildings

Jacksonville building

Husband’s retreat in Jacksonville

Tomorrow we ride out of town.  We are cheating for 15 miles as Kathie is hauling our bags to the top of the first pass in the car before we finally say goodbye to them (until the next visit somewhere down the road) and she and Jan turn around and head back to Portland.  Makes our day easier so who am I to argue?  (Thanks again Kathie)

Ashland hills at sunset

We have to ride a bit tomorrow on Interstate I5 as we head towards Yreka.  We aren’t thrilled about this but it’s the route laid out by Adventure Cycling and it appears to be legal.  We’ll be riding with new fancy “logos” on our rear flags – and I use the term logo very loosely.  We got a little silly with the Sharpie pen today.  We’ll see if anyone notices…

I’m sad to report that we will not be joined tomorrow by Pete and Inge.  They were supposed to join us for the next 8 days riding to Carson City, NV.  Unfortunately Inge has had some health issues forcing both of them to pull out.  We are still grateful of Pete’s route planning and we know that Inge will be on the mend soon.  Pete may ride south out of Carson City with us but for now we’ll just have to settle for using all the campgrounds and hotels that they booked along the route for the next 8 days.  Get better soon Inge and keep those positive comments coming on out blog pages.