“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

— Jack London

I might add that a receptive imagination can’t hurt in this life. Since childhood, in adventures big and small, I’ve succumbed to the temptation to try the closed door, open a closet and peek into vacant windows. That along with the naps — I’m convinced I’m part cat.

We’re fortunate to have a number of inspiring destinations close by. Within an hour or two in any direction there’s a good selection. Just an hour northwest of me sits one of three local historic stage stops — the Wolf Creek Inn just off Interstate 5. On Sunday, Lane and I drove through a gorgeous pre-autumn tease to lunch within its history-rich dining room.

I mentioned Wolf Creek Inn in a past column, but it’s a favorite destination and a different experience every time. The inn and grounds are a State Heritage Site. For 141 years (since 1883), and with periods of restoration, this charmer has provided rest, hearty meals and a chance to recoup from many a rough trail. The 3 acres it occupies are open to the public free of charge from dawn to dusk seven days a week.

It’s easy to imagine the ghosts of pioneering lodgers gazing from the windows, wondering who we are. Gnarled apple trees, some still producing, flank the nicely renovated building.

I tried ignoring the skeletal barkeep serving drinks to die for near our table. It was hard, though, because occasionally he would turn his face toward me and his eyes and the drink he poured would light up bright red. Though he is skeletal in form, he’s managed a fine handlebar mustache and full head of hair. Two imbibers had already succumbed, as their remains lay sprawled clinging to the bar. The staff has already begun decorating for Halloween. Our server told us the old inn will be heavily adorned, and they will display seven Christmas trees throughout the holidays.

As we enjoyed our lunch, I could imagine us with the other stage passengers at nearby tables, brushing trail dust from our clothes and finding this welcoming place with a satisfying, hot meal. Prior to the Oregon and California Railroad scaling the Siskiyous in 1887, this stage stop regularly served travelers between Roseburg and Redding. Clark Gable was a friend of the innkeeper in the 1930s. We know he enjoyed time off from a grueling filming schedule to fish various locations on the Rogue River.

The dining room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. No reservations are necessary. There are nine quaint rooms available to rent, each with a private bath, and yes, Jack London once rested his bones and literary mind in one of them.

London was of a pioneering spirit. His inspirational quotes made clear his intent not to waste away “watching his digestion,” but to “sing one wild song if he bursts his heart with it.” He died at 40, but packed a long life worth of experiences into his brief span. Unfortunately, he believed death was final. He didn’t anticipate the adventure beyond.

After a Wolf Creek wander, we drove through the woods near Coyote Creek to the ghost town of Golden, just two hops and a skipping jaunt from the inn. It was a bustling community of about 150 during the 1890s. Twenty years on, the riches were tapped out and all that was left were a few buildings and a ravaged creek bed, which are being restored. I like to wander into the historic schoolhouse and sit behind an old desk. I become a girl in the one-room edifice, gazing out the window. My grandma Goby taught school in a place like this in Nebraska.

The original church, built in the 1890s was rebuilt in 1950 and is available to rent for weddings. Other buildings aren’t necessarily entirely original, either, since the location was used for filming the TV show “Bonanza” and others, but it’s run by Oregon State Parks as a State Heritage Site and is definitely worth a visit to let your imagination out to play off-leash.

We wandered the grounds, and though the afternoon warmed, fall’s personality was present. Anticipation.