Canyonville, OR… Mike’s hometown

by Dez · October 16, 2021

We left Lebanon 7/27 and drove south to Canyonville.

Mike lived in Canyonville from age 9 to young adulthood. His father lived there until he passed seven years ago in September 2014. With Dick gone, we haven’t visited a lot since we moved out of Oregon, but we do enjoy getting back to see the area and especially to visit Mike’s BFF Mark. They’ve known each other since Mike moved there and I always enjoy hearing the many stories they have about growing up in Canyonville… some that make me wonder how they ever made it to adulthood. Ha!

We made the required stop at Rice Hill for some ice cream on our way down.

Then we tried to make our usual stop at Jersey Lilly for lunch in Roseburg (just north of Canyonville), but they were closed for the past few days… Ugh, we were hoping they weren’t going to end up permanently closed. They’ve been around a long time, and we love stopping for a burger and beer there before we get to Canyonville.

Once in Canyonville we set up camp at our usual campground, Stanton Park.

Mark graced us with his presence all three days we were there, which was so great. We had a lot of laughs and got caught up on life’s ups and downs. We love this guy!

Mark has three “kids” (they’re all grown up now), who we love a lot. We were able to visit with two of them. Sadly the third was out of town this weekend and not able to come by.

Hanging out with Mark and his son Bronson

Well, I wish I had taken more pix.. but I’m glad I got a few! Unfortunately, Markelle only was able to visit for a little bit and we didn’t take any pix together. As usual, I took pix of the dogs, but not enough of humans. What’s wrong with me? Bronson’s dog and Markelle’s dog both came by and of course we loved them!

Markelle’s baby and Vlade had a staring contest. Vlade was not sure what to think about the doggie visitors!

MIKE IS TAKING OVER TO TELL ABOUT A FEW PIX HE TOOK WHILE IN CANYONVILLE…

The fountain in the middle of this picture is located at the Canyonville Bible Academy. While attempting to elude local PD early one morning on a motorcycle I tried to cut through the courtyard and hit the fountain dead on. Spent the entire summer doing community service to pay for that dumbass stunt.

This picture is just for me. There’s a story here but I’m not telling it.

This is the “Hilltop” elementary school. These poles outside were where you were sent to reflect on your actions. It was actually a pretty enjoyable punishment.

DEZ HERE, I’M BACK…

Here are a few more pix from driving around in Cayonville and a stop at an area dive bar…

A kitty update… don’t read if you’re grossed out too easily, just skip down to “Back to our visit…” below.

First off, this was the beginning of a change for us. Patsy has had a tendency to vomit from time to time. This is something she’s had issue with her whole life. Sometimes, she just vomits for reasons unknown. Sometimes it is from motion sickness. But she doesn’t always get sick when we drive, only sometimes.

Well, our comforter in the motorhome has had to been washed about four times fairly recently due to her throwing up right on the bed. Ugh. Why do cats almost never do this on the floor? So, we made a couple changes. We bought a waterproof mattress pad for when this happens and leaks through. We also bought some Wee Wee Pads (these are meant for dogs who are not yet house-trained). (Sorry if you find this gross… we’re so used to it that it really doesn’t phase us. It’s just cat food…)

Patsy would be so mad if she knew I was telling her business. Please don’t tell her.

The wee wee pads cover and protect the bed while we are driving or worried about her vomiting. Below you can see that we covered the bed before leaving Canyonville and we stacked the pillows and comforter on the couch to prevent them from being affected. Washing the comforter every time we drive, or potentially even more often, is just not something we want to deal with. We’re hoping this option helps! We wish Patsy would just learn to find the floor when she feels sick, but the poor girl cannot help herself.

Note: She really has done this her whole life and it’s not so much you should be concerned. She’s okay! She’s getting older though, so I do worry about her getting enough calories and keeping them down, but I promise I’m on top of it and doing whatever I can to help her stay healthy!

BACK TO OUR VISIT…

And here are some final pictures of us cooling off in our new river floats on a hot day in Canyonville. We were having trouble finding river floats, so my nephew Joe let us buy two he had that they never got out of the box this year. And we got a portable air pump that’s for tires and floats, and it pumped them right up.

Our visits with Mark and fam, our float, a stop at the casino and a couple dive bars, and some delicious pizza from a friend’s pizza place, Pizza Palace, made for a fun weekend in Canyonville. But the trip is never complete without a visit to Mike’s mom and dad.