Oregon, I, east to west

Thursday, August 21
It was supposed to rain overnight and maybe put out the fire. Dawn came with mostly white clouds and not a drop of rain. So we headed for Oregon. Our gas tank was near empty as we had not filled up since the 13th. We put in $100 - half a tank. Later in the day, we put in another $150. We stopped in Mountain Home to shop at Wal-Mart, our first visit this month. We then got on I84, our first interstate this month and drove just across the Idaho/Oregon border to a private CG near Huntington. It’s on the Snake River. It was late in the day, for us, when we arrived at 5PM. Dorothy cooked country fried steak and mashed potatoes. After dinner, she washed two loads of clothes while I watched the only TV station, PBS in HD. One of the shows was Idaho Outdoors. One of the featured locations was the Lolo Trail and specifically the trail to Sinque Hole, which we hiked. Another location was the Sawtooths, so we got to see them in aerial views in clear sky. Spectacular. I will have to come back in my next life and hike them before I get too old.

Friday, August 22
We went to a familiar place Baker City to see the fabulous rock and mineral collection again. We camped at a FS CG 20 miles from town. Paved pad with W&E for $13. Not bad.

The weather is perfect. Oregon is perfect. Life is good.

Saturday, August 23
We got a bonus in Baker City. The town park had over 100 collectable cars. Our favorite was a 1950 Jeep Overland. The rocks were as good as we recalled. It is the premier collection in the US housed in a back room of a museum in a town no one goes to.

Sunday, August 24
West bound on US26. Dorothy was not feeling well, so after only one and half hours we stopped at the Clyde Holiday SP near John Day. The park is garden like as they use intensive irrigation. We had cocktails with Dale and Terri from Walla-Walla.

Monday, August 25
We had a long day, 9 to almost 6. We wanted to get close to Eugene to be able to drive in early and get a third solar panel. We stopped at John Day and found we had an interest in fossils and the terrain is better than Artist Point in Death Valley. We spent a few hours, took a short hike and promised to come back and spend a week in the area.

At Sisters, I decided our GPS was routing us the long way, so we turned around and took 242, instead on continuing on 126. Big mistake, it’s one of the narrowest roads in the US with lave rocks extending into the road. The distance was shorter, but it took longer as 20 mph is a good speed for a MH on the road.

Anywho, we made it down the road and found Paradise CG, a FS facility on the McKenzie River. We were able to snare a campsite on the river and had cocktails on the riverbank and then listened to river babble all night.

Tuesday, August 26
Oregon is fantastic! We love everything about it.

We continued west on 126 to Springfield to AM Solar. Not having made an appointment we found they had two time consuming jobs ahead of us. So they let us stay in the “backyard” and will take us first thing Wednesday. We were able to do a lot of shopping and still get a nap.

Will try to watch HRC tonight. It should be hoot.