June 12-18: Escapees Timber Valley Park

June 18, 2012

Sutherlin, Oregon

We continued our meandering through Southern Oregon with a week’s stay at the Timber Valley Park in Sutherlin, Oregon.  It was an easy drive up I-5 from our last stop.  


This park is a coop, owned by the lot holders and associated with the Escapees travel group.  As members of Escapees, we can stay for limited periods in these coop parks at really advantageous rates.  Very good for us retirees!

The sites are quite large by RV park standards and each has a small concrete pad and a storage shed (for use by the leaseholder, of course).  We were able to deploy the dog pen and our chairs for afternoon relaxation and wildlife viewing.  Yes, the wildlife actually comes to you!  There’s a small herd of deer that live on the property and wander through, usually in the mornings and evenings.  I think they have “special” lots that they visit, just to torture the occupants (there were several residents who seems to always be chasing the deer away, probably to protect their investment in vegetation).  There are also some rabbits that are especially large, almost as big as Merlin and Maya Lynn.

There wasn’t access to a walking trail here, but I was able to continue my 5-mile walk regimen by walking through the “downtown” area (using that term loosely, as it’s a pretty small town), down to the I-5 interchange, and back.  The weather’s remained mostly nice, although I did get sprinkled on a few times.  That’s what rain gear is for!

We didn’t “do” as much this past week, for a couple of reasons.  First, there’s not as much to do in this area but, second and probably more important, it’s nice to chill and catch up some times.  In this case, I caught up on finances, Geri caught up on laundry, and we had a few nice dinners, including another pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and a rack of lamb with mushroom risotto.  Yes, we eat well no matter where we are!

We did make one day trip, south to Roseburg and then east along OR-138 following the Umpqua River.  The Umpqua and Rogue rivers both have headwaters near Crater Lake toward the center of the state and flow to the Pacific.  The Rogue ends in Gold Beach and the Umpqua near Reedsport.  We’ll pass by/through both places on our way south in the fall.  In any event, we saw lots of rapids along the upper Umpqua but not really the waterfalls I was looking for.  No matter; we had a good day and the pups enjoyed the ride in the Rover.  

There are a few wineries in the Umpqua Valley and we did attempt a couple of stops on the way home.  One was having a huge event and was too crowded and the other apparently changed hands and, hence, names, and was impossible to find.  I figured that was life’s way of telling us “not today on the wine tasting, fella”, so we just continued on our way.  Maybe “next time”...