Friday, August 3, 2007

Day 17






















Picture 1- One of the Hellcat Jet Boats. Picturte 2 - the OK Corral Lodge. Picture 3 Jeff Case and Betty. Picture 4 - Betty's son Roger Case on the right and his friend Larry. Picture 5 - Steve Case and Peggy. Picture 6 - The Case Coffee Shop which is owned by Steve's son Tim.
Yesterday was a milestone on my trip. My odometer turned over 4,000 miles since I left Michigan 16 days ago. Today I did not ride the motorcycle at all, but I still had a great day. Betty and I went to Grants Pass to ride the Hellcat Jet Boats on the Rogue River. This is a 36 mile trip all together with a break in the middle to enjoy a wonderful BBQ chicken dinner at the OK Corral. The lunch was great, the weather was perfect, and the ride was wonderful. The temperature today was right around 100 but it was a little cooler on the river and the antics of the jet boat pilot provided us with ample opportunities to spray us with water which helped to this a perfect day. The area we were on at the Rogue River is where two movies were filmed. One was “Rooster Cogburn” staring John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn, and the other was “The River Wild” with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. The canyon area, which is as far as we went on the river, was absolutely beautiful and this was the site where both movies were filmed.

The jet boats were 36 feet long and accommodated at least 50 people. There were 4 boats on the river while we were there. At times the boats would stop real fast which would make them nosedive into the water causing a big spray of water to shoot over the bow. At other times the boat would turn real sharply to the left or right causing it to do a 360 degree turn in the river and; this time causing water to wash up over the side of the boat. We did this about 7 or 8 times on the trip and it was great fun. I took quite a bit of video along the river on the ride, including during some of the 360 degree turns. We also saw quite a bit of wildlife along the way. We saw osprey, blue herons, turkey vultures, egrets, ducks, geese, deer, turtles, and more. All in all, it was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone if you are in the southwestern Oregon area.

That morning, I had the opportunity to meet Betty’s son Jeff, and later in the evening we went to visit a couple more of Betty’s kids. I was able to meet her son Roger and her other son Steve and his wife Peggy. At Steve’s we also met Steve’s son Tim and his wife Kati. Tim and Kati own a neat little coffee shop on Siskiyou Blvd. in Ashland right across from Southern Oregon State College. The store is called Case Coffee Shop.