Welcome to the Morgan River Ranch, Bellfountain, Oregon!

Interior of the 1879 Queen Anne Victorian

Outside and around the ranch

So, we did it.  Dale spent a year painstakingly replacing the wooden baseboards in our Ramona home with hand-cut travertine tile.  A month after he finished up, I declared it was "time".  We'd been looking in Oregon for almost 3 years by then, and at least had an area pinned down - the western Willamette Valley, around Corvallis and Eugene.  We had toured the state top to bottom west of I-5, but kept coming back to that area again and again.  What wasn't to like - two college towns, friendly people, little traffic, breathtaking views, easy drive to the coast, 1.5 hours to Portland International, great restaurants and of course, WINE and lots of it, all around the area.  Oregon Pinot Noir and Grigio wines are becoming well known to wine lovers, especially as the vineyards become more and more established and the winemakers more experienced in what works in the area.  Working via the 'Net with our Oregon realtor, Tanya of Windermere Corvallis, we started looking seriously in the area.

In mid April of 2006, Michelle of Realty World Ramona and a local Holly Oaks resident hammered a For Sale sign at the foot of the driveway.  We figured we had at least 60-90 days before we even saw an offer, so we continued to look at places in Oregon on the 'Net. 12 days later, we signed the acceptance of an offer on our place!  Now, the clock was seriously ticking - 30 days and counting to close of escrow.  Things started to move very, very fast.  We made a list of potential places to look at, and included places in Coos Bay, Roseburg and the Grants Pass area that caught our eyes, then started contacting realtors in those areas along with Tanya in our main target area to arrange visits.  I made a flying trip up there a few days later, rented a car at the airport and drove down to my "base of operations" in Corvallis.  The next morning I got up at 3 am to drive down almost to California and start with the Grants Pass area.  I did this for two days, then a day in the Roseburg/Lookingglass area and Coos Bay, moving right back up to Corvallis again to spend the last few days.  It was pretty disappointing to say the least - things that looked good on the 'Net were absolute nightmares in real life.  We had specific needs - plenty of acreage of the useable variety, meaning at least SOME flat; a large enough single story home to accommodate us and our stuff, of a newer vintage than the early 90's; privacy; paved roads (Vipers and choppers don't do well on dirt and gravel); good, solid barn; and most important, cell phone service and DSL or cable Internet so Dale could work from home.  What we were finding were bits and pieces of the puzzle - the land would be perfectly suited for us but the house was a wreck; the house was dazzling but the land suitable only for working mountain goats; the barn would be ready to fall at any minute or the fencing was a joke but most of the time, it was lack of Internet or cell service that was the biggest disappointment to us.  I flew back home to relieve Dale from packing so he could go up and view the few places I'd found that might be workable.  So Dale left and I commenced to packing.

Dale drove up in one day and had a look around.  He found, as I did, that the few places I'd come up with had serious shortcomings that just couldn't be worked around.  In the meantime, Tanya had come up with a few other places to look at, and one of them was near her former home in Brownsville, on the east side of I-5, a place that had possibilities.  It was  far from perfect; however, the price was right and with the savings, we could make it work.  Dale came back and I drove up this time to look at it and make the decision.  I too saw the possibilities and Dale and I decided to make an offer.  In the meantime, Tanya said there was another place I should look at, and since I was already here and it wasn't far, we should at least go take a look.  She told me it was an older home but in really great shape, on a good sized acreage, on the west side of I-5 between Corvallis and Eugene.  However, when she told me how much, I knew it was out of our reach and Dale would never agree to it.  Besides, I already had the Brownsville place remodeled in my mind, and populated with cattle and sheep.  So we made the offer.

Things happen for a reason.  We made a reasonable offer; however, the owners rejected it.  By then, Tanya had found out some things about the place that made it much less attractive, so to the surprise of the owners and their agent, we declined to counter and let it go.  Now, with less than 2 weeks to the close of our escrow, we were on the verge of being homeless. Tanya once again mentioned the place with the acreage on the west side; once again we said no.  Too old, too much acreage, too much money.  Back to the 'Net we went, now a bit more desperate.  Dale was plotting every place we found on his mapping programme, assigning numbers and putting a description to the number.   That way it was really easy to see where the place was and what the place was and how to get there.  On my last trip up I'd stopped by Premier RV Resorts in Coburg, just north of Eugene,  and scoped out the joint.  We'd be here for awhile, so I found one of their spaces in the very back of the park, up against the pond, with a big area for the dogs.  We called and reserved that spot for a few months, hoping we wouldn't need it that long.  And then we finished up the packing and the movers came and took our stuff to storage and then, on a fine late May morning, we hooked up the Wonder Wagon to the back of The Beast, said our tearful goodbyes to Bennie and Eric and Ramona and headed north.  Now the journey truly began.

We spent a few days in Porterville with Dale's dad, then headed north the rest of the way to Coburg.  We were quite a sight - The Beast, towing the Wonder Wagon with me in Big Red following behind.  The bikes and the Viper were in storage in Miramar.  We had all our furniture and such in storage with Mayflower down in Chula Vista; a storage unit with just stuff in Ramona and the vehicles in Miramar.  The trip was uneventful, and on May 21st we crossed into Oregon for the first time as residents (hopefully!).  We docked a few hours later in Coburg, got The Beast set up, the dogs pottied and just about an hour later, the wildest storm I've ever been in hit us.  The wind, rain, hail and more wind was incredible.  Dale and I looked at each other and said, "Welcome to Oregon"!  It would rain without stopping for the next 7 days.

So, we lived in The Beast with 4.5 dogs, one of which was a 5 month old puppy named Cricket who lived in her crate almost the entire time.  When we went house hunting in the Wonder Wagon, all the dogs were with us.  We found a great dog park just a few minutes from the RV park that became a regular part of the daily routine.  And we house hunted.  We'd find a group of potentials, Dale would do his magic with the mapping, and we'd be off for the day.  Day after disappointing day.  Tanya was searching hard for us as well, and not doing a lot better.  We got to know the entire area between Corvallis and Eugene/Coburg very well.  And still, nothing.  We were getting discouraged; Dale was back to talking about Idaho or Washington again.  Would we ever find our home?

We found a few possibles out near a little town named Monroe, almost halfway between Corvallis and Eugene on the main north-south road, Highway 99W.  Dale mapped them, and off we went.  Another discouraging day; the last place we looked at looked like a nice place; however, the banjo player from 'Deliverance' apparently lived next door on one side, and the Beverly Hillbillies on the other.  As we were leaving that place headed back towards 99W, we spotted a sign that said "48 acres and home for sale" and a phone number.  We didn't go up to see what that house might look like; we were tired and discouraged, so we jotted the number down and went back to Coburg.  I called Tanya and let her know we'd seen the sign and could she contact the realtor to find out more about the place?

The next day, we found out that this was the place Tanya had been trying to get us to go see.  At this point, in total desperation, we agreed to at least go see it, knowing there was no way it would be "the house".  We drove back out to the tiny "town" (one church, one tiny private school, the oldest park in Oregon and an intersection) of Bellfountain.  As we drove up the road, all we saw were huge, green trees and green grass pastures, gently rolling hills, more trees and off in the distance, a huge silver barn.  We didn't see the house until we turned into the driveway - the paved, asphalt driveway.  There stood a magnificent cream and mocha 2 story Queen Anne, surrounded by huge, ancient oaks, cedars, walnuts and maples and fronted by a thick stand of firs and madrones.  Rhododendrons and flowering crabapples were everywhere, and several ancient, giant lilacs graced the lawn.  An old, red barn stood next to the road with a long garage in front of it.  Another two car garage with a big shop stood opposite the house on the south side.  Everything was green and growing.  The back of the home had a huge deck with a covered portion and benches along three sides.  And in the old walnut tree in the backyard there was a big wooden swing suspended, looking east towards the Cascades and Bellfountain.  We walked across the front porch lined with rhodies to the front door, complete with wavy, bubbly glass and old brass hardware, including the old fashioned keyhole lockset with two keyholes.  When the owner opened the door and we stepped into the anteroom and then the library, we knew we were home.

We moved in, or rather, moved The Beast to, our new home on July 31st 2006.  A rather auspicious beginning; The Beast didn't quite clear one of the wooden fenceposts lining the driveway.  A bit of minor damage, some backing and filling by Dale, and The Beast eased into his new digs.  The dogs, released from months of limited playtime, suddenly had 48 pristine, gently rolling acres to romp over, and they took full advantage of it.  At least until our neighbour down the road, Mark, moved 20 cow-calf pairs and a bull in to graze down the overgrown pastures for us.  You can see Mark's spread at www.greatgrassbeef.com.  They uncovered a treasure trove of farm implements and piles of wooden posts that were hidden in the lush grass.  The cows also did a wonderful job pruning the neglected and overgrown giant, ancient Gravenstein apple trees and the pear trees in the orchard.  In the meantime, we had 10 days before our furniture arrived to get the house ready.  And there was a LOT to do!  Painting, cleaning, hauling out stuff, more painting and cleaning, replacing the carpet in the three upstairs rooms, more cleaning, papering shelves (I am the queen of shelf paper), getting the electrical nightmares sorted out, and yet more cleaning and painting.  It was a huge job, but by the morning the semi truck arrived, we were finally ready, REALLY ready, to have our own bed to sleep in.

The rest is lots of mundane moments punctuated by interesting semi disasters and discoveries that continue to this day.  The majority of the home was built in 1879; a newer addition was added in 2000 and throughout the years updating, some good, some disastrous, have come and gone.  At times, we wondered if the updaters owned either a level or a measuring tape.  Some things were done with meticulous attention to detail; others, as if they got it kinda close and called it good enough.  Dale, being an engineer and generally a perfectionist, gets driven crazy by the way some things were done, and has either fixed them correctly or has them on his never-ending "to do" list.  But the original beadboard ceilings, roughsawn wood paneled walls and exquisite crown mouldings and shelving remain.  We are slowly making progress getting things working right and replacing stuff.  We discovered a wonderful shop called Rejuvenation in Portland (www.rejuvenation.com) that specializes in custom made period authentic reproduction lighting and hardware that has given us much information about the period our home was built and how to bring back that look.  It's a project that will probably never be quite finished, but after all, it's the journey, not the end of the journey, that fills the days.  And it will be a wonderful journey, this old house.

A few nights ago, a rare power outage had us lounging in the den by the fireplace for warmth, with candles glowing all around.  I cast my mind back to the late 1800's, when our home was a boardinghouse for the local schoolmarms.  This is much what it would have looked like; perhaps a gentleman caller perched near the hearth, waiting for one of the young schoolmarms to descend the staircase to sit and chat with under the watchful eye of the matron of the house.  It was peaceful, with all the dogs snoozing around us, only the crackling of the burning logs sounding in the warm glow of the candles.  The old days weren't necessarily all that good, mostly hard work dawn to dusk and little time or money to spend on frivolous things, but they sure were a lot less complicated and peaceful.

A Special Note for Potential Oregonians

I know I've painted a picture of a potential paradise, but like most paradises, there's some downside.  First off, and especially for my SoCal buds - the weather.  If you ever wondered why our two college teams are called the Ducks and the Beavers, there is certainly a solid reason.  If you don't like mud, stay to the east of the Cascades.  I know Bend is quite popular with SoCal defectors, for good reason.  It's like SoCal, but with some snow in the winter and less traffic.  Dry and hot in the summer, not usually enough rain or snow in the winter to make a mess.  Around our part of the lovely Willamette Valley, October thru the end of May means mud, and usually the sticky clay type.  In the lowlands, the water may not drain for months.  Buying property on a waterway sound romantic?  Until it invades your home, maybe so.  We finally gave up that idea, deciding we would much rather slog thru the mud out by the barn and not in our home.  Used to seeing the sun non-stop thru the winter months?  When we see sun during the winter months, it's cause for celebration because it just doesn't happen that much, October thru the end of May.  If you move near the coast in the summer, you'll find out the meaning of the words "horizontal rain" during the winter.  Winds over 100mph are not unusual on the coastline during the winter months.

Drivers from other places will find out that driving here means rewiring your brain.  People actually use that little lever by the steering wheel; it's called a signal indicator and it's polite to use it to let people know your intentions.  The only people who tailgate are usually out of staters.  When there's roadwork ahead and the sign says "left lane closed ahead" drivers immediately move to the right lane.  The only morons racing up the left lane to the first cone are usually out of staters.  Speeders are rare, even on I-5, especially I-5 thru Coburg.  When you merge onto a road, people politely back off or move over to let you in.  And you don't see a whole lot of Suburban Assault Vehicles with tiny blondes yakking on their cellphones 2 inches off your bumper while applying mascara and pantyhose with a car full of kids late for soccer practice.  They also know better than to speed in the rain or snow, and if it's foggy, almost everyone remembers to turn their lights on and slow down.  The one thing they haven't yet figured out is how to stay on their side of the road on a curve; you can bet the farm on a two lane road that the driver on the outside of the curve will be in your lane, either wholly  or partly.  Not so bad if it's a little car; not so good if it's a log truck.  How there aren't more head on accidents is beyond me.

Oregon has a bad rep as one of the top meth states and unfortunately, that's pretty true.  That and marijuana.  Most violent crime almost always involves either a meth user, pusher or cooker, sometimes all three.  And marijuana growers are known to set booby traps around their plantations in the forests.

Housing prices - if you think you're going to sell your refrigerator box in San Francisco for $900K and buy a lot of land with trees, a river and a small replica of Bill Gates' mansion, forget it.  Prices are rising fast, and good buys at least in this area are rare.  For primo properties, you will pay a premium price.  There are still some bargains, but they are in the less desirable areas.  However, you'll find property taxes to be less than half of California's.  Get a rural piece of property with an Exclusive Farm Use deferral, and you'll pay less than half of non-rural taxes.  Energy costs are about half or even less than we were paying in San Diego; our home here is totally electric - water heater, wall heaters, stove, big pump on the well, etc, and our first electric bill was $57.  In San Diego, I celebrated whenever our bill was less than $300!  And that wasn't counting city water and propane gas bills.  And, up here you get to choose to go green with your utilities - everything from wind and water power to methane gas power.  It's all part of the utility company, all you do is select which one you want.  Usually adds about $2 a month to your bill to do that.  And did I mention no sales tax?  Income tax rates are about on par with California's, but your deductions are very limited.  And, registering a vehicle here can bring tears to your eyes if you're used to California.  As an example, The Beast, our 2003 Holiday Rambler RV, was going to pull $900 out of our wallets for one year's registration in California.  In Oregon, TWO year registration was $405.  Custom plates for my truck, Dale's Viper and the Wonder Wagon all together cost less for two years for each than just the Viper was going to cost in California for one year.  Gas prices are about comparable with San Diego, maybe a tad less, and they pump your gas for you.  A gallon of milk at Safeway here is $1.98.  And for fresh fruit and produce, there are myriad family farmstands all over the Willamette Valley to browse; one local place was selling corn straight out of the field behind the stand, 12 ears for $1, and it was hands down the best, sweetest fresh corn I've ever eaten.  However, eating out will cost you a bit more than most places.  But, for the most part, the food tends to be better.  On the coastline, fresh seafood is everywhere and it's out of this world (I'm not a huge seafood fan, but during the crab season, Dale gets glassy eyed just trying to decide how to have his crab over in Newport).

And for my dog buddies, you won't find a more dog friendly state than Oregon except maybe Washington.  I think there is a state law that requires a drive thru coffee kiosk every 100 yards.  We patronize several favourites, all locally owned and operated, and they always have treats for the dogs.  Ditto the bank drive thrus, the fast food drive thrus, the gas stations (did I mention that you don't pump your own gas in Oregon?  Against the law.) and anywhere else that you drive your car to.  Most restaurants that have outdoor seating allow dogs in that area.  In Eugene alone there are 7 dogs parks and I'm not talking a tiny corner of a park; we're talking acres here, with picnic tables and shade trees and kiddie pools.

And speaking of coffee, the Northwest runs on caffeine.  However, finding a Starbucks in our part of Oregon isn't that easy; there just aren't many.  I can think of 4 between Corvallis and Eugene.  But there are hundreds of local drive thrus and cafes for your morning espresso or latte.  Everyone has their faves, and our local newspaper profiles them in groups of ten from time to time. Many have been in the same location and/or owned by the same family for generations.  And, a big caramel latte with extra syrup and a triple shot (my personal fave) will cost you about $3 at most places, maybe up to $3.50 in a few.  We have a visor clip in the Wonder Wagon to hold all our punch cards.

And lastly, there's the folk.  Oregon has a rep as a liberal, tree hugging state, but it is just not true for the most part.  You'll find a lot of liberal thinking going on in the university towns and Portland; but the small town and rural folks are staunch conservatives who enjoy hunting and fishing.  I see far more American made vehicles than foreign on the roads, and people tend to drive the wheels off their rides, not trade them in every few years on a new model just because. And you don't see a lot of gas guzzling SUV's on the road either.  Most of the big pickup trucks are used for their intended purposes, not as a commuter vehicle. Oregonians care about their environment and their state and work hard at keeping Oregon clean and green, but you won't find a lot of chapters of various environmental groups around.  Oregonians know what's right for the environment and their state and just do the right thing without destroying private property or other juvenile acts of destruction some think necessary to get the point across.  And Oregonians are just plain nice, polite and friendly people.  Strangers smile and exchange pleasantries.  If you're in line at the grocery and chatting with the clerk, chances are the person in line behind you may well join in, not make rude noises because you're holding them up.  People aren't much in a hurry around here.  Oma, a waitress in one of our favourite restaurants, calls us "Hon" and knows exactly what we want when we come in.  The young folks we've encountered for the most part were polite, respectful and just refreshing to be around.  When Dale was in San Diego during a recent spate of bad weather and I had a pretty major problem at home, all the neighbour's pitched in in whatever way they could to help out, and two workmen who didn't know me at all busted their butts to put things right for me.  And, when repairmen do work for you, don't expect when the job's done they'll be standing there with their hand out.  You'll eventually get a bill in the mail.  Out here, a man's word is good enough.

If you're ready to slow down and enjoy the scenery, and don't mind said scenery being somewhat mud-splattered at times, then come up and spend some time here.  You might find you can't slow down enough, or there's too much mud, or you really do miss the sun, drought, dust blowing on the Santa Ana winds, gridlock traffic most of the day on every road and rude people.  Right now, at the beginning of March, the roadsides are dotted with yellow daffodils; we have them everywhere, even out in the pastures.  People notice them; the other day an elderly lady parked her car alongside the road and got out to admire a large patch of them near Harrisburg.  She stood in the rain, smiling at them, then got back in her car and drove off.  The rhododendrons are only a few weeks away from bursting into bloom all over.  Tulips and hyacinths are popping out of the ground.  The buds on the lilacs are turning pink and swelling.  The pieris and sweetbox are blooming already.  The groundswell of spring bloom is starting to build.  The Northwest is poised to reap the harvest sown by the grey, rainy and snowy winter, the reason people up here find the strength to make it thru yet another 8 solid days of pounding rain, a record setting month of 15" of rain, early snowfalls and days on end without a glimpse of the sun and cars so muddy you can't tell what colour they are.  The promise of the riot of colour that means spring has once again arrived, and soon you will be able to dig a post hole without it filling up with water, put away the rubber boot trays, clean up the mudroom for the last time, put the houseplants back outside, plant the hanging baskets and sit on the porch after dark and enjoy a glass of wine with friends without gloves, hat and scarf.  If this isn't for you, it's probably better that you stay where you are and enjoy the 360 days of sunshine and 2 seasons, warm/dry and hot/dry.  But if you think that 4 seasons are cool, and you can handle a lot of mud for several months, and you like a riot of colour for your spring, summer and fall, then explore Oregon.  You just might find your own version of paradise here.  We did.