Picto Diary - 15 July 2020 - Remembering Bob Peterson (cause no one else will).
Above: Bob Peterson Cap. Oaktree Restaurant, Ashland, OR. 15 July 2020.
Escaping the Insanity Tour
Out and about in the Duc
Bob Peterson's cap, displayed at Oak Tree Restaurant, Ashland, Oregon.
Bob, a solitary regular for twenty years, through 2016, at the breakfast counter of Oak Tree Restaurant, died in 2016 at age 92.
During my annual (sometimes twice yearly, to see Aunt Joyce and Shakespeare) motorcycle trips from Park City to Ashland from the beginning of the 'aughts, I loved my Oak Tree breakfast chats with Bob, a native of Ashland, who was here long before Shakespeare came to town.
...a boy, driving his Mom in a buckboard, behind two horses, along the dirt road from Ashland to Medford.
...as a teen laying rail for the Southern Pacific up over the Siskiyou Pass.
....as a US Army Engineer, WWII, assigned to a small, outlying unit in Iran.
....post war, as a career long, construction engineer for the Southern Pacific Railway.
...as a geezer living with his dutiful son, who picked up "parental duties" in the years of Bob's decline.
Today's Ashland, is now suffused with unemployed tattooed actors and restaurant workers, homeless, aging hippies, coffee houses, struggling foodie restaurants, and resident California retiree, Obama acolyte, soi disant oenophiles.
The old Southern Pacific rail line is there, but its little used, and is now more a decaying symbol of another time...Bob's time...a time of pioneering, hard scrabble farming, sacrifice and nation building.
Today's arty Ashland has little time to remember its anonymous progenitors like Bob Peterson. But, for those who knew him, Bob Peterson's cap, hanging at the Oak Tree Restaurant, is a timely reminder of how Ashland progenitors struggled and sacrificed to lay the foundations of the cushy world that Ashland's current "progressive" population takes for granted today. If things keep going south (economically) in Ashland, today's Ashlanders (sic) may find themselves wanting for Bob Peterson's hard scrabble attributes.
Bob Peterson's cap also causes me to reflect: It was good living at the apex.
NOTE: Today's post Coronavirus Ashland, with what few people there are walking along near traffic free streets, reminds more of an eerie Stephen King post apocalyptic movie scene than it does the prosperous, tourist town full of theater goers it was just a year ago. I wonder, as I walk down Ashland's Main Street, when are The Walking Mask People going to race around the corner of a building to attack me en masse? Oh wait! That's already happening today in America's major cities! Soon coming to a resort town near you?
Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has new management, both artistic and administrative. 70% of Ashland's pre Coronavirus revenues were derived from OSF. Rebuilding 2020 cancelled OSF will be a challenge, as a majority of its customer base are high spending, I-5 coastal geezers who will likely take their time returning to the theater.
Go into the woods to lose sight and memory of the crimes of your contemporaries. Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Above: Lesser Goldfinches. Medford, OR. 15 July 2020.
Escaping the Insanity Tour
Out and about on the Duc.
Lesser Goldfinches. These birds, plus grebes and an acorn woodpecker, are birds photographed by Mwah (sic) for the first time on this trip.
Bird feeder located at the home of Bob and Linda S. in Medford.
Above: Linda and Bob S. Medford, OR. 15 July 2020.
Escaping the Insanity Tour.
Out and about on the Duc.
Bob/Linda and TIMDT/Mwah (sic) had crossed paths in our Citibank careers in Tokyo and New York City during the '80's.
Over a great chicken salad, socially separated outdoors, on Bob/Linda's sunny deck, we caught up.
Bob/Linda moved to Medford from New Canaan, CT three years ago to join two of their three sons and their families. Linda's sister followed suit a year later, also moving to Medford from the east coast. Bob/Linda's oldest son, an anesthesiologist, lives with his family in New Hampshire.
Per Bob (Dartmouth), mutual Tokyo friends Keith and Juliana K. had recently driven from their FL home to their second home in Sisters, OR. Juliana is ailing with something not explained.
Bob noted that Fairfield County, CT residential real estate is hot at present due to large numbers of NYC city dwellers seeking to escape NYC's deteriorating law and order conditions.
Linda, a retired RN, works as the medical advisor for her homeowners association's committee to prepare for the expected "big one (9 Richter scale).
Bob/Linda looked hale and hardy. In normal times, they walk a lot, engage in volunteer work, and spend time with their grandchildren. They are looking to re up in 2021 for the National Geographic Explorer Alaska cruise, to have included grandkids, that was cancelled this year due to Coronavirus.
Good to see Bob/Linda. They are today as I knew them thirty years ago: solid, successful, happy contributors to the advancement of Western Civilization.
"Go into the woods to lose sight and memory of the crimes of your contemporaries." Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Above: Seven Devils Brewing Company. Coos Bay, OR. 15 July 2020.
Escaping the Insanity Tour
Out and about on the Duc.
Clam chowder and IPA, late... about 8:45 PM, after a late starting "short" 165 mile ride on the Duc to Coos Bay from Medford. I had hoped to return to an Oregon Coast favorite, Brookings, but it was booked out. It appears things are very busy here along the Oregon coast if the number of RV's traveling up and down the road is any indicator.
"Go into the woods to lose sight and memory of the crimes of your contemporaries." Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Addendum:
Nice, Steve! So glad you have so many happy memories of your trip to OR!
Linda,
Medford, OR
minor corrections:
Munkh Od, age six, is ready for first grade not 5th and is not on any medicines.
Coco is Russian and Mongolian spelling where C is pronounced S but that is the spelling for her Facebook and (mostly) You Tube adverts, which are in Mongolian--they are working on adding subtitles for English and other languages.
Mike's Beverly Hills business was not limos but valet parking for restaurants and clubs.
Perfesser (sic),
Ashland, OR
Perfesser (sic). Very much enjoyed visiting/eating with you and your outstanding family. I look forward to following Mike, Coco and the boys' progress!