In February of 2026, Peggy Starr got off the train in Eugene. She had packed her bags in Wisconsin, tired of the snow and feeling trapped in her retirement community, and headed to the town she spent many years of her life in. After two days of travel, she deboarded and brought her bags to the Gordon Hotel to book a room.
“It was a heart’s calling, and when you follow your heart, good things happen,” Starr said. “Though I wouldn’t recommend getting on a train at 91 years old to anyone.”
Starr lived in Eugene from the 1980s to 2005. She remembers liking the town because it “wasn’t so big, and culturally, people were focused on simplicity.” She left Oregon for Wisconsin in the mid 2000s for family reasons and has been there ever since. This year, she decided it was time for a change and came back to Eugene, but was unprepared for the world that lay ahead of her…