Day 39: Event in Burns, OR

The day we’ve known was coming finally arrived: Our last #connectingus20 event. As I mentioned yesterday, this was a bittersweet time for us as we prepped for our guests. No dread or other bad thoughts, just a little sadness that our great adventure was coming to an end.

We had 8 guests for the event in Burns. For this event several of our guests brought books they had written. One of our initial goals was to have authors adorn their own books and we had 3 guests that did just that. Their amazing talents were evidenced in the beauty they created around their books. Before Burns, we had only had 2 authors who adorned their own books. Yesterday we had 3 authors attend and adorn their books. It was fun to talk with the authors about their books and learn a bit about their process.

Many thanks to our host Claire and the Harney County Public Library for promoting our event. The support of folks like Claire is instrumental in the success of the events. We couldn’t do this without their help in gaining local visibility.

It was hot and beginning to sprinkle as we loaded up the car after our event. By the time we were 30 miles out of Burns we were in a dust storm. 30 miles further and we were in yet another thunderstorm, our 3rd hard rain/high wind storm in 7 days. We finally drove thru the storm and when we came out the other side it was 20 degrees cooler than when we left Burns. Felt a bit like stepping back into early Spring weather after 2 days of summer.

The drive to Eugene was still a beautiful one. We’ve driven this route many times before and it never fails to impress with great scenery, highlighted by the views of the mountains near Bend.

We’re off to KLCC in a bit for an interview about our US 20 adventure. Sal and I are looking forward to passing some of what we learned to KLCCs listeners.

Afterward, we’ll drive the final stretch of US 20 into Newport and complete our drive of the 3,365-mile route. We’re hoping to see many of our friends and supporters in Newport as we complete the journey and dip our toes in the Pacific to complete the coast-to-coast drive. Party time!

---