April 27, 2007: Jacksonville, OR: The day started badly. I couldn’t find the keys to the pickup. Marvin and I were planning a trip to southern Oregon and the keys were nowhere to be found. I checked all the usual places… bedside stand, pants pockets, washing machine, console to my other vehicle… no trace. The last I remembered doing something with keys was in Eugene last week when I emptied my pockets at the motel… maybe I left them there.
Fortunately I have a backup key… but, on the way to Jacksonville we stopped at the motel in Eugene and checked with lost and found… no keys belonging to me.
We intended to find Fritillaria gentnerii at Jacksonville. Last weekend they had their fritillaria festival in Britt Park and we hoped to find a few flowers still in bloom. Marvin remembered seeing some on a previous trip but the site location was a bit hazy. We tried several directions but nothing looked familiar to him. As a last resort we stopped at the information kiosk. The hostess was very helpful and reminded us to watch for poison oak. (It is more than abundant.)
We found several fritillary plants with blooms and managed to stay out of the poison oak. Leaves of three, let it be. The leaves are colorful at this time of year but eventually turn green and look like all the other shrubs. Beware.
I saw a “big” gopher snake. It startled me… it had similar coloration to a rattlesnake but didn’t have the telltale rattles. I’m told gopher snakes eat rattlesnakes for breakfast… it certainly looked big enough.
We ended the day by driving to Cave Junction to spend the night. I called home to check in with Chris… he found my keys outside by the back door. Somehow I must have dropped them after opening the lock on the door to the house.
byLarry
