Soon after we were back from Jonesborough, we started having company. All planned, fortunately. First our daughter's friend (and ours, too, actually), Butch Gemin, arrived on Thursday, 10/10. He spent much of the summer in Alaska with his dog Chico and his camping trailer. Later Thursday our friends Madeline and John Budway, from Key Biscayne, FL arrived. It had been some years since we saw them - they were in Rio di Janeiro for more than three years (and we didn't go see them!). Friday evening Hailey and her friends Aaron Smith and Kim Pollard-Smith, all from Sebastopol, CA, arrived. We had a great time. On Friday we took in a few sights in Ashland with the Budways, including this spectacular tree in Lithia Park. We also took a hike along Bear Creek. To put faces to these names, here are the Budways and Frankes on the trail. Leaving no one out, here is a picture of the others, Butch, Aaron, Hailey, Kim, and Chico on our deck. The Budways had to leave on Saturday evening, and of the rest, all but Butch and Chico took off on Monday. Butch and Chico deserted us on Tuesday. We've been lonely for a week now.
Backing up just a little, in the midst of all that, we also participated in the Southern Oregon Learning in Retirement (SOLIR) fall hike on Sunday. (Amelia is the Social Chair for SOLIR.) This hike was on the upper Rogue River, between Prospect and Union Creek. Around 40 members of SOLIR participated, and the colors were fantastic. Afterward, we had a picnic at Richard and Ina Dickenson's deck overlooking a creek, near Prospect. Here we see some of the happy hikers enjoying the rushing stream, food and drink, and fellowship.
I've picked out some of the better pictures I later took along the trail we walked and present them here. Probably could have eliminated more of the similar ones, but they are just so spectacular I couldn't choose. For my convenience, I'll simply call them 1, 2, 3, etc., so to see them, click on the numbers until tired. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Finally, thinking you might be tired of all that color, I give you a tree that will be showing no more color. This was a great fall color hike! Thanks, Dickensons, and Amelia.
Richard Franke
