Charlestons on the Go: Visiting Bob's Relatives in John Day, OR

The other reason for traveling to Oregon was to go to John Day where Bob has some relatives that he wanted to look up. On our way there we had views of Mt. Hood. Beautiful.

Here are some of his distant cousins, Tad and Tyler. Rosella is Bob's mother's cousin. (see below) Tad is Rosella's son, and Tyler is Rosella's grandson. Tyler and Tad are some kind of cousins to Bob, and Tyler is also Nick's brother. Nick was the cousin we visited with in Cottonwood, AZ. Tad and his mother, Rosella, live up on a small mountain, and the road leading up to their house was a little tricky, with lots of ruts, holes, and it was very steep. We had to go up very cautiously, and I had to try not to scream. But it was worth it to drive up there to visit.

From left to right: Bob, Tad, Tyler

Notice the rocks sitting on the bench. There's gold in them there rocks.

There's gold in them there hills. When Bob was a youngster, his grandfather visited the relatives who owned these hills which had an operating gold mine. He brought back some rocks from the gold mine up in these hills and gave some to Bob. They actually had some small gold seams. Well some kids told Bob it was all "fool's gold." One of the kids had a flight suit that his older brother had used in the air force, and Bob thought that was really cool. So what did Bob do? He traded his rocks for the flight suit. Bob had fun bragging about having an "astronaut suit." Well today Bob has no "astronaut suit" and no rocks with real gold in them. Tad did say there is still gold up in their hills, but they don't mine it any more like their ancestors did before them. He does pick up rocks with little gold pieces in them, and he showed us some. We didn't get any souvenirs, but it was fun visiting everyone and getting to know everyone. And it was beautiful up there.

This is another one of Bob's cousins, Rosella, who lives in the house up in the hills. Rosella is Bob's mother's cousin. She was a very gracious host even though she has had a stoke and is limited in her activities. Tad, her son, does take her out for daily rides in the area. Next to her is her grandson's wife, Cherith. She was a very sweet young lady.

Here are Tyler and Cherith with their four boys along with Tad and Bob.

This is Tad and his beloved dog.

Here's a nice picture of Bob and Rosella.

On another day we went up another hill to visit another cousin, Doug, and his wife, Barbara. Doug is another cousin to Bob's mother. They had this visitor while we were there.

Here are Barbara and Doug. They had some interesting stories to share.

Of course, Bob had to share some magic tricks with them.

This is their log house.

Here are other relatives. Ron, who is Rosella's son in law, is on the right, and he runs a Christian radio station. Next to him is his daughter, Melissa. On the other side of the grill is his other daughter in the yellow and his granddaughter behind. They came up the hill to share a meal with us.