In tribute to longtime RV writer and friend Malia Lane, who passed on Feb. 11, 2019, I’ve reached back in the archives for this article on the Covered Bridges of Cottage Grove. It was first posted in December 2015 when Malia was visiting southern Oregon for a month near Jimmy and I at the Timber Valley SKP RV Park in Sutherlin.
I first met RV writer Malia Lane in 2005 when she was traveling in the Pacific Northwest and I was the RV reporter for the Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Wash.
At that time she had been on the road solo since 2001, supporting her lifestyle by taking temporary paralegal jobs in various locations around the country. I admired her courage and spunk from our first meeting at an RV Convention in Bend, Ore.
Over the years, our paths crossed frequently and our friendship deepened. In June 2018 she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and she wrote about her last journey on her Website, MaliasMiles (click here)
I remember that rainy winter afternoon in 2015 when Malia and I decided to grab lunch at the funky Jack Sprats Restaurant in Cottage Grove and take a tour of the nearby covered bridges. (The seven bridges are also accessible by an amazing paved Row River bicycle and hiking trail.)
Thank you dear Malia for softly brushing against my life, and so many others. You will not be forgotten.
To read more about Malia Lane in RV Wheel Life, click here.
More information on Covered Bridges
For more information about these bridges and to see more images go to a post I wrote for RV Short Stops.com.
Cottage Grove can be reached by taking Exit 174 off I-5 just a few miles south of Eugene in western Oregon.
Nearby RV parks:
Cottage Grove RV Village
77440 Highway 99S
Cottage Grove, Oregon 97424
541-767-0068
Pass Creek County Park
201 Curtin Park Road
Curtin, OR 97424
Village Green RV Park
725 Row River Rd.
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
541-942-2491
Timber Valley SKP RV Park
800 So. State St.
Sutherlin, Ore. 97479
541-459-4465
Exit 136 off I-5 in Sutherlin, Ore. No reservations. No tents. You must be an Escapees RV Club member to stay.
Photos: Top: Malia Lane reading about the history of the Chambers Railroad Bridge in Cottage Grove, Ore. Middle:Malia Lane at Mosby Creek Covered Bridge in December 2015. Next: Malia Lane & Julianne G. Crane on Thanksgiving 2015. Bottom: Selfie taken on the popular Dorena Bridge at the far end of Dorena Lake about six miles east of Cottage Grove. (Julianne G. Crane)
Love the pic of you on the bridge.