RoadSchool

Medford, Oregon
October 1999

The reason we went to Medford, in southern Oregon, was to get an RV Tow Body on our new truck. The Ford F-450 and F-550 series is only sold without a pickup bed. The invoice states "incomplete truck"; (you'd think for the money you could get a "complete" truck). Here is a picture of our truck in Highway Products fabrication shop and our new tow body in the background. Mitch and Max enjoyed touring the facility.

We saw their computer controlled milling machine, a large aluminum shear that cuts quarter inch sheets of aluminum. We watched it break and bend the sheets, saw their welding operation and more.

Mitch and Max, as well as Mom and Dad, really like the side steps. We don't have to jump to get in and out of the truck anymore.

Harry and David - Mail Order Fruits and Gifts
a really fun (and delicious place to go)

We took a tour of the Harry and David processing plant. It was the best tour yet measured by how much we could see of the actual way the factory worked. There is a two story building and the tour goes right into the heart of the operation.

Do you know about Harry and David? They were very creative men that owned pear orchards. To survive the depression they found new, innovative ways to market their produce. They were the first to use mail order for food products.

Here the pears are traveling down the conveyor belt. They are weighed and then dropped into one of many shoots.

Here you can see the round bins that the weighed pears end up in. Next, the pears are put into molded holders. If a pear is not just the right shape to fit the holder it is rejected. This results in a box full of pears that are the same weight, size and shape. From here the boxes are decorated and wrapped.

Here they are hand-rolling a cinnamon roll and then it's off to the ovens.

Hey Tom, check out this bread operation.

And then there are the chocolate-covered raspberry truffles. We could smell the chocolate right through the glass viewing windows.

This is a great tour, a must-see if you are in the Medford Area

At the end of the tour were some delicious samples. Of course, the samples just got us warmed up before the factory's bus took us back to the Harry and David gift shop. We bought a box of Comice Pears; sweet, wonderful pears that are grown mainly in the Rogue Valley of Oregon. Max called these pears "canned pears" because they are so sweet and tasty that they taste like sweetened canned pears.

Now this is a Jack-O-Lantern.

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK, OREGON

Crater Lake is less than 100 miles from Medford, Oregon. The view here speaks for itself. This is the deepest lake in North America.

Driving back to Medford, we stopped to look at a place where the fast moving Rogue River goes into a lava tube, then under ground for many yards and then comes back in view at the end of the tube. Much of the river flows though old lava tubes but most of the tubes have collapsed and are no longer covered by the half-circle of rock on the top.

Here the river comes out of the tubes.

We also stopped to take a look at the leakiest water pipe we've ever seen. This is a three to four foot diameter wooden pipe that is held together by metal straps. Another spot we saw further down was spewing twice as much water as this spot. I was surprised that it didn't just burst open. While researching what this pipe is used for, we found out that it is an active water system for a very small near-by community.

Back at the trailer that evening we asked the boys what part of the day they liked the best and the leaky pipe was the unanimous winner.

We also stopped on the way home to watch the operations at a nearby veneer plant. The logging trucks were being unloaded, the logs were graded, and then the logs were stacked in some enormous piles. This loader was capable of lifting an entire truckload of logs with ease.

One morning I was sitting in the trailer going through some e-mail The sun was not quite up yet and I started to reply to a note from a dear friend. I decided to put it off until later so clicked the X in the upper right hand corner. I got quite a kick out of the next question I was asked.

As I sat looking out of the window of our trailer contemplating that "the meaning of life had been modified" and whether I should save the changes, I decided to send a description of my morning to my friend. Compared to my old desk job, I would have to click the yes button on this one. Here's the description of the morning that I wrote:

We are in southern Oregon this morning ten miles northeast of Medford.
We are in a large grove of small oak trees.
There are trees everywhere.
They are not large trees, six to eighteen inches in diameter
The mornings are crisp, the afternoons are warm
Some leaves have fallen so the fall colors blend from the sky to the ground.
The tree tops slice through the clear blue of the sky.
The trunks cut the colors of the surrounding hills.
Nothing dominates my view, just a total blend of color.
As the sun breaks over the hills, it brightens up the reds, oranges,
yellows and greens upon the sky blue above.
Then it blends to flatter colors mixed with the browns, grays and dark greens
of the tree trunks, mosses and fallen leaves below.
The trees slice the sun like a loaf of bread.
The long morning shadows add many pastel colors.
There are acorns everywhere, they fall breaking the silence of the morning.
Big gray squirrels hurry about rustling in the leave as they collect the acorns.
It is calm, fall is here.
The summertime tourists have returned to the cities.
The trees are patient, the long winter is coming.
A robin has just landed outside on my window
She hops along slowly, and turns her head to listen and look for worms.
The meaning of life has been modified. Would you want to save the changes?

Go to home page

Index

Previous Adventure (Oregon Coast)

Next Adventure (Halloween 1999)