A Living Magazine - Day 26 - A Day in Klamath Falls

I woke up on the right side of the bed. By that, I mean giving me a king sized bed is the same thing as giving me a cot. I only use a space the size of my body. And, in this case it was the right side of the bed.

I was fairly prepared from the night before to just take off. I only needed to take another shower and put away my toiletries. I got a good amount of sleep. For some reason, when I sleep in a regular bed, I tend to get night sweats. I have no idea why this happens. Although I did get the sweats a couple nights before in the sleeping bag after that heavy meal at Carl Jr's, it is exceedingly rare for me when camping outside. Nonetheless, it wasn't too bad on this morning. I wonder sometimes if it is my dreams. I haven't remembered them lately, but I know they've been intense.

I showered and finished packing up. Online, I saw that there was a shuttle bus from Klamath Falls to Medford (one town north of Ashland), at 9:55 am. I thought I could make the bus, but I underestimated how far the ticket office was from the Townhouse Motel. I rushed until about 9:45, but was still 1.5 miles away. I realized I couldn't make it.

So, I slowed down and resigned myself to staying another day and night in Klamath Falls. This certainly was no punishment, as the town was so beautiful I had wanted to explore it anyway. I guessed that this was my chance. There were so many interesting aspects to it. Yes, there was the grandeur of the surrounding mountains, the lovely lake and a lot of historical sites to see. But, one unexpected pleasure was watching the fighter jets from Kingsley Field Air National Base. Two F-18 Super Hornets would take off every couple hours or so, and play around in the skies above the high plateau.

I spent a while at the very nice - somewhat older - library. No library cops in Klamath Falls. Southern Oregon has a very different feeling than Northern California. It is not as infantilizing. California laws and statutes, policies and procedures tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing at all times. There are signs there for everything; where to park, how to park, the fine for not parking correctly, 7-paragraph signs at parks and recreational areas about all the things not permitted, "No Loitering" signs, three part trash cans telling you to separate your straw papers from your plastic straws, etc... All have the actual law listed (with paragraph, section, subsection, blah, blah, blah) as a footnote for you to look up, should you ever question its authority to rule your life. Oregon? Yeah, ahh, not so much.

With that all in mind, Southern Oregon is a cleaner, happier, more genuine kind of atmosphere, with a general sense of freedom that I haven't seen yet in a state. The people are not aggressive like New Englanders, nor are they sticky surface-sweet like Northern Californians. They just let you be you, as long as you let them be them. I REALLY like that about what I've seen so far. As I always mention, this is only my subjective opinion, and based only on a few days being here.

After the library work, I took off to explore and photograph the town. It was a smashing success. I took about 40 photos, several videos, and was very proud of the way they came out. I thought that I'd lost them, but was able to recover them with Recuva (it's free and works great!)... Enjoy...

A sweet woman named Gina helped me at Murphy's Market (4317 S 6th St).

Snowy peak (not sure which mountain?).

This would be the car I'd want, given the opportunity.

Across Lake Ewauna.

Old stairway.

An old bridge to nowhere.

Blackberries coming into season.

Atop the bridge.

Every town has a Wall Street (or should!).

Utility Box Art 1.

Utility Box Art 2.

Wall Art 1.

Wall Art 2.

Utility Box Art 3.

Fountain donated by the Rotary Club.

Tractor ruins.

Late afternoon across the lake.

Another view of the Rotary Fountain.

Barking up the right tree.

Golden sunset.

An old engine.

Veteran's Memorial.

Red, white and blue sidewalk lights.

An interesting pine tree.

Gorgeous tree (don't look at this upside down kids or you will have naughty thoughts).

Sunset.

Big red clouds in the distance.

Street festival.

Great mural to celebrate the air base.

Among the local vendors, the chains get in there too.

Ragland Theater.

I'd already staked out my sleep spot, during my morning coffee walk. I retreated there after spending some time watching a few musicians and performers in the festival, that I affectionately named, "The Klam Festival." (Yarmouth, Maine people will understand.) When it was nice and dark I made my way there.

The Klamath Falls Nest

I fell asleep relatively quickly, but woke up around 2:00 am to an unfortunate man who was looking for his dog. Leashes aren't just to keep your dog from chasing kids around and running amok, they also help you keep your dog.

I also heard a large creature come out of the water and rustle up toward me, through the bushes. I did my scary growly noise and it splashed back into the water. I realized it wasn't the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but just a goose. After that, the rest was good.

Klamath Falls Sleeping Spot