Driving in Eugene is not like driving through our sheltered little “Pleasantville” town roadways in the Woodlands.   There, I only had to worry about old people driving down the wrong side of the street or harried mom’s chatting on their cell phones while driving through stop signs.  Lord knows that social calendar is more important than life itself for those airheads.  I was going to call them Woodlands Rich Bitches, but some of them are, some of them don’t qualify.  And with both of those scenarios it would be their fault, not mine.   One honk usually brings them back to reality and most managed to stop before doing any harm.   Here, it is the law that you stop for both pedestrians and bike riders that are actually in, or even approaching, the cross walks.  It even applies to bikes in the bike paths, denoted boisterously by the green sparkly fluorescent paint that is on, and even in, the middle of most roads.  And they know that you have to stop because they don’t bother looking either direction or pause in the least.  This includes the multitude of homeless who tunnel vision off the edge of the sidewalk and into the street, continuing their conversations with buddies, human and canine, dragging their entire life’s holdings behind them in bike trailers.  I almost hit one when I was making a right turn today.  Green for me, I waited until he had crossed half way, then slowly proceeded.  He doubled back quickly to pick up a dropped cigarette butt.  I slammed on my breaks and smiled when he quickly stepped back in front of me not giving me a glance.   Ha, Ha…I’m on to them now!

It’s been one of those days and I don’t want to repeat this level of aggravation more than a few times in my lifetime. We have been out of our LilyPad for 30 days total so far.  We arrived at the RV repair shop and they forgot to take out the back piece of bedroom carpet.  The carpet on the wood engine deck was soaked from the leak and needed to be removed.  John and I both reminded them but there it was, still in place.   Their reason?  It’s glued down so it’s hard to remove the carpet from the wood.   And I care because?  It has mold and is damaged…take it up!

Our original reason for stopping by was to talk with the mold remediation guy and check to see if all the mold was gone.  Another surprise…he isn’t a professional certified mold remediation specialist.  Probably louder than necessary, I stated that we expect an expert to tell us the mold is gone.  Since no one is here from the insurance company to do it for them, we are assuming the responsibility of watching how the solar companies insurance money is being spent.  At our insistence, Monday an expert will come out to test.  Geez…what does it take to get someone to do it right the first time!

Today was the Rain or Shine Farmers Market downtown.  Stopped in for a late breakfast at a local hippie joint, Keystone Cafe.   The rain didn’t break until early afternoon but the skies were still dark and cloudy when we took a gamble, drove over and got out to stretch our legs.  It was a hippie fair like I hadn’t seen since the 1970’s.  Dozens of white square tents all shoulder to shoulder, individualized with brightly colored sheets as backdrops and table tops.  Each one packed with the vendors assortment of scented soaps, metal sculptures, tie dyed t-shirts, goat cheese and spreads, jewelry, incense, pottery, woodwork, flowers, vegetables, baked goods and more, wrapping around several city blocks.  The center held multiple food stands and the whiffs drifted together making the individual fares indistinguishable. As we walked towards the beat of the drums the rain came, first dripping off the trees then pelting us with hail.  People scurried for cover and we headed towards two gigantic Redwood trees.  A thin wisp of a girl dressed in gypsy garb began to chitchat with me excitedly about the beauty of the hail.  Her eyes were huge with wonder but her lips and fingernails were blue from the cold.  Her dad was packing up his guitar and paraphernalia and they left together.  We stood melding with the large tree trunk waiting for the rain to cease.   As it wasn’t slowing and we were already drenched, we headed to the parking lot.

We passed by Voodoo Doughnuts www.voodoodoughnut.com but were to wet to stop so we vowed to return after drying off and having dinner. They are open 24 hours so we had considerable time.

Back in the car and severely soaked, it was time to call Mom.  We were treated to another of her entertaining situations, due in part to her strong antibiotics medication.  She calmly told John that she could only talk for a short time as she had to be back in court at 1:30.   She had received the death penalty, for what she could not say, and had to return to court.  She wasn’t upset or worried about it so neither was John and she chatted on until, in her mind, she had to leave.  Tomorrow she will be exhausted and sleep most of the day but return to her normal 100 year old self the next.

Headed home but after reaching the Inn, we were too soggy and exhausted to go out again.  Walking dogs, TV and sleep go well after a long sopping saturation and chapped kit and caboodle.

Sunday morning breakfast at The Original Pancake House then a drive downtown to check out the Persian rug store, some downtown art and Voodoo Doughnut shop.  Can’t fully explain why this place is so appealing because I’m not a doughnut fan but their doughnuts are said to have a taste “to die for”.   Got pictures of the most famous…Voodoo Doll, Tex Ass Glazed and Cock and Balls.  Use your imagination to guess what they are filled with!  I took pictures, bought a less ominous one…the Portland Cream representing the vision of the great city…ate half before realizing how rich it was and YES, they are that good!  Will float on a sugar high for hours after eating those few yummy bites.

Stopped for an early dinner at another locally famous hole in the wall, Cornucopia.  On the wall outside was a drawing of a toad floating along the Willamette River on top of his Lily Pad.  Fitting, don’t ya think?  Great hamburgers and excellent sweet potato fries went superbly with a large cold refreshing tangerine wheat microbrew.  Dinner was outstanding.