Pastoral beauty and stark reality

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We are in Lebanon, OR at Gill's Landing RV Park. The park itself is quite lovely, nestled on the shore of the South Santiam River. There are 21 RV sites, with full hookups, level concrete pads, 50 Amp electric service and restrooms that are cleaned three times a day. Currently there is one other RV in the park, not counting the park hosts, who have been serving here for over a year!

A railroad bridge and an auto bridge span the river at the north end of the park. It is very quiet here, although this morning I heard a distant train whistle. Nevertheless, we have seen only one train, consisting of locomotive and one flat car cross the railroad bridge. Later a truck on railroad running gear came across the river and slowly worked its way along the track. Otherwise, there has been no rail traffic.

We drove into Lebanon proper in Daisy Mae this morning. After a stop at Wally World (WalMart to those of you who are not RVers), we toured the city's residential areas, found the airport, and strolled downtown proper. This is a lovely little town, which has obviously fallen on very hard times. I would say that at least 1/3 of the store fronts on Main Street are vacant. There are several thrift shops still in business. The movie theater still operates, too, but given that the median income of Lebanon is considerably below the median for the state of Oregon, one wonders how long it will remain open.

I don't know what the primary industries are here, but it is obvious that the residents could use more industry to support the population. Gill's Landing is quite a beautiful park and is operated by the city, so some things are flourishing, but it made me a little heartsick to see the downtown businesses struggling so much.

The weather has been quite nice. It got up to 63 degrees today, and the sun has been shining through a high, very thin overcast. Tomorrow we intend to investigate the other side of the river and the rest of the city park, which is on the other side of the railroad and the highway. There is a path that runs under them from the RV park to the day use park. We are told there are a number of nice trails for hiking. Pogo will like that.