A Spring Is Sprung...

I remember an old song/poem from my childhood...

Spring has sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where
The flowers is?

While it is lovely and springlike in Eugene, Oregon, that isn't the kind of spring I'm dealing with so much right now. My mechanic, Gordy, did a tune-up and fixed the throttle problem yesterday. I'd asked him to look The Guppy over and let me know if he thought any repairs were indicated. He told me there's a suspension problem--a spring is flattened out on one side--and he recommended replacing both rear axle springs with heavier duty springs. He said this will help on making safe turns. So I said, okay, go ahead and replace them.

Now I'm probably going to get The Guppy back from Gordy no sooner than Wednesday, and it still has to go back to Eric the woodworker for a few final details. So, I will make it out of town by my February 14th drop-dead date, but it will be a tighter squeeze than I'd hoped. My hope had been to get The Guppy out on a test camping trip before I actually hit the road. But, oh, well...life is what happens when you have other plans. Wow, I'm full of quotes today!

Back to springs...so, yes, it is a lovely, warm, almost-like-spring day here today, and I decided that since my exodus from Eugene is delayed slightly again, I would get out and play today. I have three big boxes of stuff in the back of my car that need to be donated at a thrift store...but who says it has to be a thrift store in Eugene? So I took the beautiful back roads...Fox Hollow and the Lorane Highway...and ended up in Cottage Grove, where I'm enjoying coffee, an almond croissant, and free Internet at the Fleur De Lis Patisserie & Cafe (fleurdeliscafe.net).

Some of my readers know that I have become a regular at Sweet Life Patisserie (sweetlifedesserts.com) in my neighborhood in Eugene. Ever since I decided several months ago to become a full-time RVer, I've wondered about whether I should have some purpose in my travels. You know, some people write a book about their adventures, or make some sort of appearances along the way. I think perhaps my purpose could be the pursuit of the perfect almond croissant. Based on my experience here today in Cottage Grove, it seems like a good idea to stop at every place I see along my travels that calls itself a patisserie.

I'd like to take a photograph of today's croissant, but I already ate it. It was probably the most moist almond croissant I've ever had, with more of the yummy almond paste in it than most bakers use. It was also really flat--so flat that I did not recognize it as a croissant and thought it was some type of danish. So I'd say that today, taste and moistness made up for the weird presentation.

The Sweet Life almond croissant, by contrast, has a high, light, flaky pastry and less of the gooey filling. I think the perfect almond croissant probably falls somewhere between the flat-but-flavorful Fleur De Lis offering and the more sophisticated but less tasty Sweet Life pastry. I'd give them each a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5.

I thought of another possible purpose I could fulfill while on the road. In going through my possessions and getting rid of 90% of them, I ran across a nice little silver band that was my wedding ring from my first marriage. I've been wearing it on my pinky since I found it, and I'm thinking of wearing it until I find something to trade it for. Perhaps I can be like the guy who "traded up" from a paperclip all the way to owning a house. Not that I want a house, but I'd jump at the chance to own a late-model RoadTrek!

Well, I guess that all remains to be seen...in the meantime, I'm going to go find the local thrift shop and donate my stuff and head back to Eugene.