Eugene, Oregon – Hippy’s Paradise

Posted 3 years ago by Mike

On the road again, next stop Eugene Oregon. During our last visit a few years back, we did a 3 day cycling tour between Corvallis and Eugene. Our home for the next couple weeks is Richardson Park, a nice campground on the Fern Ridge Reservoir. Big, wooded sites provide alot of shade and privacy.

The day before moving day to Eugene, the 4Runner’s Check Engine light came on along with other warning lights indicating Traction Control systems had been disabled. Emi dropped it off at Midas and turned out to be something silly. The gasket on the original fuel cap had finally lost its seal and some gas fumes were leaking out of the tank. A sensor detects it and disables Traction Control. Seems strange, but ok. New fuel cap and our 2004 4Runner is good to go.

Moving days are no fun. Since we spend a good portion of the day driving to our next destination, once at the destination, we try to also do our grocery shopping and laundry. Makes for a long, tiring day, but it’s nice to knock out all the errands so we have more time for the leisure activities like hiking and cycling 🙂

Our good friend, Brian, lives in Eugene. We met up for ciders and great Thai food. We shared the news about our big changes but he trumped us with some great news of his own. We met his beautiful fiance, Amanda. They seem very happy together and that makes us feel really good and excited for them. And a new job too. Seems like the pandemic is bringing about life altering changes for alot of people. We had a great time catching up.

Cycling the Row River Trail Oregon Scenic Bikeway has been on my list for several years. Finally checked it off. It did not disappoint. All bike path, several historical covered bridges, excellent forest, mountain, river, lake scenery. Enjoyed every mile. And flat — Emi’s type of ride 🙂 Finished the ride with a stop at Covered Bridge Brewing. Perfect weather, perfect day.

The Hartzells camped with us on our last night. Great to see them and catch up.

We enjoyed our time in Eugene. Nice bike rides, hikes. The Eugene Market – so much local art and food. Handel’s Ice Cream – mmmm 🙂  Next stop — my mom’s house in Longbranch, Washington.