My friend Joan came down to Eugene today to take me out for lunch (which ended up being brunch). We’d met briefly at the Seattle RV show. We talked about our current projects. She is at the stage I was at in late spring of ’08, on the cusp of major life changes and not sure exactly what shape they will take. How exciting!

After eating, she took me out around Eugene so I could get a feel for what there is around the area where I’m staying. I’m in a rather industrial and lower income neighbourhood. A lot of the homes are brightly coloured and buildings housing former businesses have been repurposed. Another thing I noticed is the large number of RVs permanently parked on the side of the road. I don’t have all the details about Eugene’s policy about RV parking, but it seems laxer than in other communities.

There are tons of restaurants, cafés, and art galleries within walking distance. If the weather is good tomorrow morning I will go for a long walk. I was going to do that this morning, but I’d been given the wrong gate key and was locked into the RV compound. Oops!

One of the places Joan took me that I would need to drive to is Trader Joes. I have heard so much about this chain of stores and now I can’t wait to go back there and get some groceries! Lovely products, and at very reasonable prices. I wanted one of every kind of cheese they had!

I’m really grateful to be able to park in this location for the week until my appointment. I’m just waiting for one more puzzle piece to fall into place before I’ll feel comfortable talking about that.