September 1, Medford, OR

We had to buy gas today and were lucky to get it for $3.96. We saw it as high as $4.23 for regular unleaded gas.

The first time we bought gas in Oregon a man came dashing toward the car and said he would pump it. We discovered later that there is a law in Oregon that there can be NO self-serve gas stations. The stations have to hire people who are on welfare to pump the gas. This way people on welfare have to work for their money. We have been discussing the merits of this for several days.

We didn't drive far today since this was our laundry day. That is done and we hope to have an early start tomorrow to drive up to Crater Lake for the day. This is as close to Crater Lake as we could find lodging on the holiday weekend.

We went to the Logging Museum in Coos County, Oregon and saw this. If any of you have watched many old B western movies, you should recognize this as a dynamite blasting machine. Attach the wire on one end to the dynamite and the other end to this. Then pull up the handle and push down quickly and run away before it explodes and buries the good guys!

This tree is the Oregon myrtle tree and is very old and large. All along the roads we have seen signs that say they sell myrtle objects. The wood is very beautiful and harder than black walnut we were told. It is not used in building though because it contracts and expands depending upon the humidity. We saw gorgeous carvings using this wood.

These are the leaves of the Oregon myrtle tree which we were told could be used in cooking in place of bay leaves. They are shaped very similar to the bay leaf. I didn't think to pull one off and smell or taste it. I will if I get close to another tree.