Escape Pod Rambles: Clyde Holliday State Park, Oregon

Clyde Holliday State Park, Oregon - Tuesday, May 28

Pulled in last night to one of our favorite spots in eastern Oregon, the beautifully situated and shaded Clyde Holliday alongside the John Day River. Arrived early enough, and with enough energy, to make a real dinner - I think our first since we got on the road (have no fear, we are still eating way too much, but it has been more along the lines of sandwiches or heat-and-eat).

Next morning we met fellow Sportsmobile campers Cindy and Mike who are traveling in their Ford 4x4 with an electric lift for the roof. We had camper envy - especially Cheryl. After making plans for a pot luck with our new friends, we drove to the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in the town of John Day. Chinese immigrants came to the US to do manual labor on the railroad and in gold mining, often coming as indentured servants. Unwelcome by the whites, they set up little Chinatowns just outside of the towns they were working near. After the booms the US instituted Chinese Exclusion laws and whipped up anti-Chinese sentiment, fomenting mobs to attack immigrants (any of this sound familiar)and burn down their towns. However, in this town there were two men who went into business together and gained the respect of the white townsfolk. Ing "Doc" Hay was a practitioner of "Chinese medicine", an herbalist and pulsologist. He had a good reputation for curing folks and whites soon began to come to him to cure their ailments. His partner, Lung On, ran the general store portion of the business and became a well respected, and successful, businessman in the area. Years later Lung died and Doc fell and broke his hip, prompting a nephew to lock the business and move Doc into rehab where he eventually died. The store/herbal pharmacy remained locked and untouched for 20 years. It is now a time capsule museum.