Pic-of-the-Month for September 2020

 Hello Friends,

Yes, we are still in Oregon, but as it starts to get cooler and damper, we're leaning to the south!  We plan to leave here (Bend-Sisters area) on October 6, traveling with our friends Mel & Katie.  When we get to Reno, we will be joined by friends Mike and Mary, who will help us drive down my new 2018 Ford Escape!  I managed to convince Ben that I need a "drive-around-town" car in Baja, and this is what we found!  Its peppy, 4x4 and a beautiful red color, which I am partial to.  If you come visit someday, I'll most likely pick you up at the airport in this beauty (if you don't have too much luggage!)  

This picture was taken east of Salem during the horrendous fires that happened in early September here in Oregon.  We were in Bend when they started, and had planned to go over to the Willamette Valley to visit friends again.  All of the mountain passes from Bend to Salem & Eugene were closed, except Highway 58 to the south, which we took.  Everywhere we went during that week and a half was extremely smoky and hazardous breathing.  Many people lost their homes and businesses to the fires, and there was also loss of life.  Our daughter pointed out the news articles about the 13 year of son of Chris Tofte, Wyatt, who died with his dog and grandmother trying to escape the flames.  Chris was Rebecca's classmate in school where she attended in Salem. Oregon forests will take years and years to recover as the fires were huge and intense, and still burning.  The picture below is typical of the atmosphere during that time.  This was between Salem and Portland on I-5.  

And this is a photo of the Lion's head fire near Mt. Jefferson, shortly after it started.  This is from Sisters.

We took a day trip with Ben's brother Ken and sister-in-law Bea to Hood River to the Western Antique Aeoroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM).  We were met by John Hirons, who flew in with his restored Piper Cub.  (Handy to have an airport next to this museum!)  They have many, many cars and airplanes.  We were impressed, and although we only spent a few hours, it's a place you could spend a LOT of time!  Well worth the visit.  The car below is a Martin Parry body on a Ford Model T chassis. (Ben has the newer version with a 1928 Martin Parry / Model A.  

We also took a trip to western Oregon in August, before all the fires.  We visited family and friends in Eugene, Salem, North Bend, Medford and Cathlamet, Washington.  While in Salem at friends George and Carolyn, Ben and George replaced awnings on both of our trailers, theirs and ours.  That was an interesting job, prefaced by watching YouTube how-to videos!  

At Ben's brother John and sister-in-law Sirkka's, we took a drive down the coast to Bandon and Port Orford.  Bandon has some really neat sculptures made out of "stuff" found on the beaches.  Amazingly, they turned out beautiful!  Here's one example.

There are more examples posted in our 2020-09-September album. 

John led us on a fun hike at Port Orford with beautiful views...at least in one direction.  The view to the south was fogged in!  But the view to the north was gorgeous.  

Next we traveled over to the Medford area to visit our friend Pat.  On the way there, we happened to visit 3 or four vineyards to sample some wines, and buy a few bottles of our favorites.  We stopped at three in the Roseburg area, and one near Jacksonville.  

We had a lovely time visiting with Pat (and sampling some of our new wine).  She took us shopping at Harry and David in Medford (evidently the only retail outlet open any more) so we could buy cheese and (more) wine and all kinds of goodies that they sell there.  Then we went to Central Point to the Rogue Creamery, which sells world famous Blue Cheese.  See -  https://roguecreamery.com/rogue-river-blue-2020/   I'm not a big fan of Blue Cheese, but this one is so good and creamy!  This is the building where it's made and sold.  Don't blink, you'll miss it! 

After we got back to Salem (where George and Carolyn had graciously kept our little trouble-maker doggies and let us park our trailer), we took off again sans trailer to visit Sandy and Debi on Puget Island in the Columbia River.  They have done extensive remodeling, and allowed our little doggies in.  We had some more great eating, boating, and exploring.  They are great hosts, but don't tell anybody...they were so busy with company this year they're probably looking forward to going back to their place in Baja for a forced vacation!  

This is the slew in front of their place...the Columbia River is just right over there!  You can see barges going by.  

I finished my quilt for our daughter Rebecca and got it sent off.

Then we took one final camping trip with friends John and Marilyn.  She had bought a used Tango trailer that is ultra light, and several years old.  They had made some modifications (improvements) to it, and wanted to go on a "shakedown" trip out of the smoke. (They live in Stayton, which was in the thick of it during the fires.  In fact, they were in an area that was "be ready" to evacuate).  Anyhow, we looked at the smoke map and decided that Lakeview was our best bet.  We spent two days with them first at Ana Reservoir (the north end of Summer Lake), because there was a wedding being held at our favorite Lakeview RV park that weekend!  When we drove into the park at Ana Reservoir, we noticed a red Minnie trailer.  Ben went over and knocked on the door and yes, it was our friends Gary and Debbie, escaping from the smoke in Bend!  So we spent Saturday exploring with them as well.  We went to Christmas Valley, Crack in the Ground, and Fort Rock!  (See the September photo album for more details).

Fort Rock

At the Fort Rock museum.  It wasn't open (closed after Labor Day), but we still got some good pics of the buildings.  

Here's a picture Marilyn took of our camp.  Our trailer is on the right, theirs is on the left, and Gary and Debbie's is the red one across the road.  We also spent 2 nights at the Juniper Reservoir RV park west of Lakeview and did some exploring in that area.

So, now we are again parked in brother Ken's driveway, packing up, waiting for our latest internet orders, and trying to get organized.  We hope to put the trailer away for the winter on October 3, then leave here October 6.  If we missed seeing you this year, we're sorry.  Covid-19 managed to put kinks in many plans, and we'll pray that next year will be better.  

We'd love to hear from you, and hope someday to see you at our casa in Baja!

Your soon to be traveling south amigos,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Month for August, 2020 (and July!)

 Hello friends,

I have a bit of time (all day!) to write and let you know what we've been doing this summer.  So far, we've enjoyed ourselves very much, although we're not visiting many restaurants this year, which is a favorite summertime activity we are missing.  However, we are saving a lot of money (and I'm getting dishwater hands!!)  

We have been to all our scheduled doctor appointments, and our doctors have announced that we are both in good health.  The dermatologist didn't need to do any carving this year, and that's always good news.  

In mid-July, after Ben's birthday celebration with some Central Oregon friends we joined our friends George and Carolyn S. to go to Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge.  If you've known us for any length of time, you already know it is one of our all-time favorite places to go in the summers.  We love it because of the wide open spaces and all the wild life (antelope and deer and cougars(!) and birds of prey).  Also, the hot springs there is a lovely addition.  We can at least be clean some of the time with all the dusty roads around!  We were able to camp for several days in our favorite site.  It was not too crowded there, but it seems like every evening, many folks would drive down that little dead end road looking for a camp site.  Ben said he even heard someone coming in around midnight one night!  

One of the neatest things this year is that we saw the Neowise Comet right from our campground!  George took a fantastic picture of it with his iPhone!  This picture was taken far from camp, because they didn't think it would be visible in our little canyon camp.  But it was!  Pretty cool.  This is a great example of bright skies in Central and Eastern Oregon at night. Star gazing is a treat!

 

  

The other neat thing is that we saw a Mama antelope with triplets!  They were right in the road in front of us.  Ben crept as close as he could in the truck; they were very curious!  

We spent one night on the way home at a horse camp near Hole in the Ground.  I'd never been there...Ben said he'd been there years and years ago.  It was indeed, a big hole in the ground.  No one is real sure how it was formed; volcano, meteor?  But it was very impressive coming up over a ridge to see it.  

Our next little excursion was west, to the valley, where we spent a couple weeks to visit friends and family.  I also picked up the quilt I'm making for my daughter from the lady in the Brownsville area who quilted it for me.  I'm slowly getting the binding sewn down on it.  Poco a poco!  

We returned to our Bend base for another doctor appointment and another camping trip in Eastern Oregon.  On the way to the doctor, with our trailer hooked up and ready to go, we got a notice on our truck that a tire had low pressure.  Rats!  We managed to get it into a Les Schwab after the doctor appointment, but it did delay the start of our trip a few hours.  We did make it all the way to Leslie Gulch, on the far east side of Oregon.  It is just north of Jordan Valley (if that tells you anything!) on the Owyhee River.  We haven't been there in quite a few years, and Katie and Mel have never been there.  They were duly impressed!  That gulch is amazingly beautiful.  Pictures really don't do it justice... you need to travel up and down it yourself!

I included Katie and Mel's camper in this picture to give you an idea of the size of the pillars.  Awe inspiring!  

It was dang hot there...in the 90's every day, and dry camping.  We did OK, but this is how Zoey got cool one day.  

She who hates water, took a drink, then decided it felt good enough to just lie down in it!  It was several inches deep there where she was.

Mel and Katie spent one day fishing (they took their camper right down to the riverside, sat in the shade, and set their poles up.)  They did just fine!  They caught some Catfish and a few other types of fish.  They do know how to fish!  

After a few hot days in Leslie Gulch, we headed back west to the Steens Mountains.  Katie and Mel had never been there, either!  We stopped at the Pete French Round Barn on our way, and Ben pointed out the two owls perched up high in the rafters.  

We camped at Steens Mountain Resort, and the next day took the Loop Drive.  The wild flowers were amazing!  This must be the earliest we've ever been there... all different kinds were blooming everywhere,  and made waves of color on the hillsides.

 

Of course, the Gorges, and the view from the top are always amazing.  

We took the south part of the loop drive to return to camp, and on the way, saw large herds of wild horses.  They were healthy looking and beautiful.  

The little colt was kind of homely, but he was frisky!  

We are currently back in the Bend/Sisters area for the week, and next week plan to go back to the Valley, then to the coast to visit brother John, and then to Medford to visit another friend.  That's all we've got planned so far.  The Pendleton Roundup was cancelled this year, along with every thing else, so we won't be going there.  

We hope you are all staying healthy and happy.  More pictures are in our July-August 2020 Album.  I'll probably be adding more throughout the month.  

By the way, our Chinese-American-Mexican granddaughter turns 2 tomorrow, August 12!  Hard to believe, but she is chattering in English and Chinese now.  Once in a while, we can figure out what she's saying!  Ryan says she is 93 centimeters tall (about 36"), so she's going to be tall!

Shoot us an email, or give us a call if you'd like to visit us this summer.  It's been a tough year socially for all of us, and my shopping trips have been cut severely.  But meeting with friends in a socially acceptable manner is great with us!    

Until the next time...

Your traveling Baja amigos,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Summer 2020 Purkey Migration North

Day #1:  We left our casa at about 8am during a gentle rain. It was cloudy until just before Ciudad Constitucion. Ben kept checking the thermometer reading in our truck....97, 99,100,103!!! Yes it is hot in Loreto, so we're enjoying our AC and a cold Margarita in our room.
Ben was the good Samaritan today. A Mexican man flagged us down because he had a flat tire and his wrench wasn't cutting it. Ben got out our star wrench and helped him get those tight bolts off. His spare was pretty low, and he took off like a bat out of Hades after thanking us. We passed him so we don't know if he made it to somewhere where he could ask for air for his tire. We were just going down into the gulch from Ciudad Insurgentes...some of you know that road...not a good place to be with your spare tire going flat. Anyhow, that's the excitement for day 1! Oh, I forgot! Ben's sandals fell apart by the time we got to San Bartolo (15 miles from home) so he had to go to another pair!! Lol! Fortunately he'd packed another pair!

Day 2:. Loreto to Guerrero Negro, about 260 miles today. It was still hot in Loreto this morning...high 80's or low 90's at breakfast at 7:30! We took a leisurely drive, and even stopped at the Mission in Mulege, which we've never done all these years of travel. Arrived at our "budget" hotel in GN fairly early, cleaned the cucarachas off the floor and looked for a good restaurant close by, since the one at the hotel is closed today. Two military checkpoints were easy. They looked in the back of the truck at the one just north of Loreto, but the ill-reputed one at San Ignacio just waved us through. Phew! On to San Quintin mañana, the same distance as today. Looking forward to staying at beautiful El Jardines.

Day 3. Another nice short day..about six hours of driving for Ben and a stop at Cataviña for brunch. Plus I needed to drop off a room key I'd taken with me last October!! Oops!! Beautiful country and interesting colors. Roads in north Baja have lots of potholes and we did see some road crews out fixing them, but they have a long way to go!
In San Quintin tonight at El Jardine hotel. Love this place for the gorgeous gardens. Nice, nice place.
Then we went out for dinner at a place recommended by a friend who know the place well. Eucalipto was a fantastic restaurant with delicious seafood. Wow. Loved it, and we will be back.

Day #4. We started very early (5:30am) because the dogs were still on Mountain time and woke me up to take them for a walk at 4:30!!! Ugh! Anyhow, the traffic wasn't bad at that time, there was no delay on the Santo Thomas Mountain road construction (looks like all the cut and fill is done and they're just working on paving; no work happening when we went by. We got to the Tecate border at 10 and crossed about 10:45. Not bad!! We dropped off a suitcase for friends in Fallbrook, CA, cancelled our reservation for a hotel in San Bernardino, and traveled on to Ridgecrest which is 200 miles north of the border on Hwy 395. Got there at 6:30 pm. Long day, but not too bad. We're going to do the last 2 days in smaller chunks! We found a Thai Restaurant tonight so are stuffed and happy. It was a little hole in the wall, but very tasty food. Not much in the way of pictures today...lots of Southern California freeways!!

The new WALL between Mexico and US.  I like this one.  The old one was ugly, and you couldn't see through it.

Day #5. Would you believe it? Another fairly long day today, but tomorrow is going to be short and sweet... probably just over 3 hours. We left Ridgecrest about 7:30 and made it all the way to Lakeview, Oregon by 5:45, just for the chance to go to our favorite restaurant in town. When we got closer and checked, it was listed as "closed temporarily". Hopefully, they'll be opened again later this summer when we come through Lakeview on camping trips.
The scenery today from Hwy 395 through the Sierra Nevadas was beautiful. Not much snow left, but still gorgeous.
Our two dogs are pretty good travelers, but they were getting tired after 2 long days. We've noticed people are good about wearing masks. We have ours (although Ben lost one along the way). We listened to 1 1/2 audio books, lots of music when we have cell service or I can reach a CD, and enjoyed some blessed quietness. It's a long, but always interesting trip.
Thanks for coming on our journey with us.
On to Sisters mañana!!

Days 6 & 7. We left coolish Lakeview at about 7:30, grabbed a ☕ at a drive-through for Ben Purkey and headed to the Lodge at Summer Lake for breakfast. It was great as usual, and my 1/2 order of biscuits and gravy with 2 eggs was pure comfort food!! We got to Sisters just after noon, and unloaded Katie's paintings. She graciously let us spend the night and fed us very well. We also returned our friend Janet's 5 suitcases of clothing she showed at our fashion show last November. (She sold a bunch, and these were left.). Of course, I couldn't resist picking up a few items of clothes at her Gypsy Winds shop in Sisters...couldn't help myself!! After a good night's sleep, we got back in the truck and headed for Tygh Valley, where we store our trailer. Ben noticed one of the tires was very low, so he borrowed our friend's air compressor to get it up to pressure, then found a shop in the nearby little town of Tygh Valley that fixes flats! Well, we didn't just fix the flat, he sold Ben two new tires and balanced and mounted them! So, we're good to go! Except that mice got in the trailer again, and it's going to take a bunch of cleaning. Ugh. Those mothballs didn't do the trick this year. ☹️ At least I had stowed all the utensils and pots and pans so they don't need cleaning...just the drawers and lower cupboards.  We're ready for summer!  

I added more pictures to our 2020 June Album!  Enjoy! 

Thanks for joining us on our journey!

Pic-of-the-Month for June 23, 2020

Hola Amigos,

This will be a short update to let you know our summer plans.  We are planning to leave our home here this next Saturday the 27th and travel up to Oregon, taking about 6 days to get there.  The hotels in Baja have opened up, so it is possible for us to get through the peninsula in relative comfort.  

We are doing well, staying healthy, and are finishing up minor projects in this last few days before we leave.  We have a house-sitter for the summer (Perla, our Mexican friend who has stayed here before), have promises from our gardener that he will be here before we leave, and Ben has the "Feeding the Hungry" program well in hand ready to hand it off to a friend who is here all summer.  I've finished my latest quilt project, and have it packed up and ready to go to Oregon to get quilted.  I will then put on the binding, and send it off to our daughter Rebecca.  (The pattern is called "Snails Tails).  I've made quilts for her kids, but never one for her, so I'm rectifying the situation!  

We will understand if you don't want us to visit you this summer.  We were a bit unsettled about traveling this summer, but we do have some doctor appointments scheduled for regular checkups (and that dermatologist visit is important!), so we will come and get settled in our little trailer and practice social distancing!  We will have our face masks with us, and if you would like to see us, please let us know.  Email or phone is fine.  

Since you haven't heard from us in a while, here are a few pictures of life in Baja.  Enjoy!

From my morning walk several days ago.  (It's getting hot for these walks at 7am!  80 has been the low temp the last week or so).  

New baby burro in the barrio.  So cute, and already friendly!  

I was fortunate enough to get into the Salon for a pedicure and haircut when they opened June 15th.  Of course, I had to wear a mask, as did the people working there.  How do you like my smile?  (I got a little creative with my mask-making!)  

Can't remember if I showed you a picture of our finished upstairs bathroom paint job.  We also added the mermaid picture our friend Katie gave to us.  I think it adds some real Baja character to the place!  

I've created a June 2020 album with a few more pics.  I'll probably add some travel pics as we go.  Enjoy!

Oh....and since it is officially summer, you may or may not hear from us for a couple months!  We'll see what we can do, but no promises!  

Your friends in Baja, soon to be in Oregon...

Harriet & Ben, Sam & Zoey (who are looking forward to nice cool green grass to walk in!)  

Pic-of-the-Month for May 13, 2020

Hola Amigos,
We hope this finds you all healthy, and staying healthy.  We can report that we, too, are still healthy, and still staying home.  Baja California Sur is in serious "lock down" mode.  Most every business is closed, including hotels and restaurants and no fishing boats are in the water.  Terminal 2 is closed at the airport, since few international flights are arriving. We do go out to get groceries, go to the bank, and once in a rare while, to the gas station!  We have seen a few friends, and appreciate the chance to visit; at the proper social distance!  We are enjoying having a meal brought in occasionally by a Mexican friend who runs her restaurant (take out only) in Los Barriles.  It's a real treat after all this cooking we've had to do for ourselves.  Today, just because I still have lots of flour and a few chocolate chips, I made cookies!  Now, since we can have no guests, I guess I'll just have to eat them!  Thanks, Katie, for the delicious old, tried and true recipe!

We can finally say that our house is all painted... and in only two colors!!  It looks really, really good, and we're very happy that job is done. 

This area was a real bear!  Our hired painters did a great job painting this section on the 2nd floor, but it was a 4 or 5 year old bucket of paint that just wasn't right.  So, we tackled it ourselves with the correct color.  I stood below and told Ben where to paint!  I also edged these things, and you really can't see what you're doing, except from below, or someone else holding a mirror. 

After he finished painting, Ben decided all our outside doors needed refinishing.  This house has 8 wooden outside doors!!!  He said the main double front doors and maybe one other didn't need to be done, but has finished all of the others.  Of course, they have to come off the frame, and be moved to a nice shady work area in front of the garage.  Upstairs, downstairs, these doors go where they're needed!   Ben has done an amazing amount of work. 




Zoey and I continue to walk daily, although Zoey does seem to be lagging behind a bit these days.  We did manage to get up to the Flag Monument on my birthday, May 4, just to prove this old lady could still do it!  Here's the view from up top! 

And the Pitahaya cactus are blooming now.  The flowers on these ugly cactus are large and beautiful.  It's always a pleasure to see them, and I usually have to stop and get a picture if I can get close enough!








I'm also making face masks for the community.  I may give them to Chuy Castro for the folks in our Feeding the Hungry program, if they need them.  I've made several for each of us, plus have given some to friends.  I was given the elastic, so many will go back to the community program that distributes them. 

Our plans for this summer are still up in the air.  We did just hear there will be no large gatherings in Oregon through September, so that means no Pendleton Roundup (😒) or car shows or fairs or swap meets.  If we are able to easily visit friends and family when we go up, then we'll do it.  Otherwise, we might just stay here.  We do need some things in the States, though, so we're leaning towards going north the end of June as usual.  And we do have a few doctor appointments scheduled for early July.  We'll try to keep you posted. 

I've created an album for May.  You can see more flowers, grandkids, paint job, etc. here:  May 2020

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus Amigos de Baja,
Harriet & Ben, Sam & Zoey
Please see the following note from Ben regarding the Feeding the Hungry Program we are doing here in our little towns.


*** A Feeding the Hungry Update from Ben 

Wow!  Thanks!  Those are two words that sum up Harriet and my feelings quite well.  As many of you know, we are not good at fund raising.  Our thoughts are always, “yes, a few will give a little”, and then we can move on and get over it.

Well, we put out the word that our annual fashion show was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Virus, and the real losers would be the people that we normally help who are the poorest of the poor in our community. 

The church that we attend donates some basic food items to some of these people weekly, but we feel that every family is different and has different needs.  Young families with babies may need diapers, and/or special food.  Others may need medicine from time to time.  Others may have young kids in school that need items for lunches.  This is why we feel that the food vouchers are very important to the poor families that we help. 

Our Feeding the Hungry program has been, and will continue to be, an ongoing program.  We don’t expect to help all the families become self sufficient financially.  We will always have a few families that need help with enough finances to buy food and other necessities.  Between donations, and the fashion show that we put on each year, we hope to have enough money to buy the food vouchers through the entire year.

Since about the 1^st of April the government has really clamped down on individual and group activities and businesses that are not considered to be critical.  The beaches are closed, out-of-doors individual activities are curtailed, and some of the small towns have closed to everyone except the local area people and those people generally need to have a reason to gain entry to the town.

Many people are out of work because the government has closed so many businesses.  Restaurants, hotels, time shares, rental units, schools, massage centers, sports clubs, and all construction work!  Many families now have no income since they cannot work so there is no money coming in to feed the families. 

We are truly amazed how many people helped us financially with the Feeding the Hungry Program.  These people have been so generous.  This is where the “Wow”, and “Thank you” come in!!  To all our supporters, again we say “Wow”, and “Thank you”!  We have been very fortunate to have Chuy Castro involved with the Feeding the Hungry Program from the start 4 years ago.  His knowledge of needs of the people intimately has been key in the success of this program.

Who would have thought that the COVID-19 Virus would come and turn the whole world up side down!  For now, we are glad that we can help a few very needy families.  If you would like to continue helping, our PayPal site is available with no fees attached at PayPal.Me/BHPurkey .

To all our many contributors, again we say “Wow”, and “Thank you”!  💖

Ben & Harriet