Our 2010 Memorial Day in Sutherlin

We were in Sutherlin, Oregon on Memorial Day, May 31, 2010. We left Texas in February and made stops in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah on the way to the Oregon coast. When in Sutherlin we always stay at the Timber Valley RV Park. Timber Valley is an Escapees park and most of the spaces are owned by their occupants. When occupants go away on vacation they allow park management to sub-let their spaces. We always enjoy Timber Valley because of the abundance of deer, rabbits and turkeys in the area.

As you would expect, most of the Escapees are retired, so most of the park occupants are over sixty years old. This age group seems to be much more patriotic than the youth of today and you see many people displaying American flags on a daily basis. The flag displays always make Kathi and I feel good. I think we are patriots and certainly patriotic. Both our fathers were World War II vets. I will never forget my military service nor will we ever forget our son serving with the Marines in Iraq.

Labor Day was originally called Decoration Day and was established in 1868 to honor Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. The South also had Decorations Days at some locations, usually at a cemetery and on various different days honoring Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Decoration Day was changed to Memorial Day somewhere near the end of the 19^th century and became universal after WWII. Memorial Day is now held the last day of May each year to honor all Americans who died in the service of our country. At formal ceremonies, the flag is raised briskly to full staff and lowered slowly to half-staff where it stays until noon, then raised to the top of the staff again.

We woke to a rainy Monday morning on Memorial Day in Sutherlin in 2010. I noticed most of the golf carts in the park were flying American Flags. The rain cleared up in the afternoon so Kathi and I drove around town taking flag pictures. I know it sounds dorky, but it never feels that way to us. Below are some of the flag pictures we took in Sutherlin that day and a few days after.