The Chetco ahead...

Triple digits have crept into the valley and while we are barely cracking the 100 mark, areas of the southwest are in the 108-110 range, the mere thought makes me wilt. Its fortunate we cool down at night here and the saving grace is a window fan and closing up the house in the day, the brick house is also a bonus, keeping the place cool through the late afternoon when during these heatwaves around 5, I have to breakdown and hit the AC button.
Finally got paid from last months issue and starting the August Young at Heart today.
Today Julie lands back in Oregon, for a friends wedding. We haven't seen her since she left in 2001 and it was at a farewell dinner at her house that Dave and I met. We are looking forward to meeting her and Dwight at the coast in a few days. They have rented a cabin at Loebs for two nights and we are pitching a tent on the Chetco, just down the road. Oh boy, sun and fun ahead.
This past week, a too short visit and BBQ with Paul and Jamie and friends, Ruthie returned from a week in San Francisco and today we headed to Jacksonville, one of the sweetest towns in the area, to lunch and afterwards connect with a line sitter for a Britt concert on Thursday night. We took a drive up on Sterling Creek Road, one of my favorite roads with sweeping vistas (see photo above) and suprisingly, we ended up in Ruch, completely the opposite direction I expected to pop out in. Following a garage sale sign we landed at the home of Misty Stone were we spent at least an hour chatting and delightfully discovering she is an amazing illustrator. She showed us their private swimming hole on the Applegate River, and invited us back anytime to swim. Incredibly beautiful, Ruthie took this picture with her iPhone.
We all exchanged cards and hope to connect with her artistically in the near future. All in all a delightful day, and now I better start pulling out the camping gear, I'm so excited about meeting up with old friends and sharing a special place.