My month in Oregon

My take on Oregon

where I went

That yellow marker doesn't show up very well at a distance, as you can see here.  But what this map says is that I missed about a third of the state, down in the southeast corner.  Oregon's the 9th largest state, and I just didn't have enough time to get around it. 

Oregon's land

A friend of mine did some college work in eastern Oregon and told me there was a lot of desert over there.  So that's what I expected to see and didn't.  And looking at this map, I think the reason I didn't was because I missed such a huge chunk of that section of the state.  The part of eastern Oregon I visited showed signs of desert land, but it was still close enough to the mountains and to the Columbia River that it still had riparian features.  I think if I'd gone down into that southeastern corner, I'd likely have found land more like the land in Nevada, which is immediately south of there.  Obviously something for another trip here.

The two-thirds of the state that I did see was beautiful.  Oregon certainly has its share of scenic wonders and many reasons for people to come enjoy a visit here.  It was unfortunate that I was here during several unexpected and unusual weather patterns, and they made my visit less pleasant than I'd expected.  

For instance, I guess snow in the Crater Lake area in mid-May isn't that unusual, but I got it in southern Oregon, right next to Nevada, in early May when it is unusual.  And the deluge of rain we kept getting in western Oregon throughout the month wasn't the usual west-of-the-rain-shadow rain but instead an unusual atmospheric river that doused the whole Pacific Northwest.  And though the usual amount of rain keeps the state its lovely green color, this unusual amount threatened flooding and landslides.  But at least it delayed the summer wildfire season, so there's a silver lining to every cloud.  (To coin a phrase.)

Oregon's people

I had 2 widely different experiences of the people here.  When I had face-to-face conversations with folks, I found them fairly friendly and interesting and forthcoming.  But any interactions I had that weren't face-to-face were unpleasant.  

I especially noticed this when I was driving, of course, which can often bring out the worst in people.  But this is the first state I have had horns blared at me for being a courteous driver.  It still makes no sense to me; if I'd refused to pull over after many miles of opportunities, I could maybe see the reason for honking, but not when I did pull over voluntarily.  As rude as the drivers are in some other states, no one has done this to me before.  Twice.  (And a third time on June 1st as I was heading out of the state for Washington.)

I've had friends who've lived here happily in the past, and I had positive expectations going into this month.  I'm sorry to say I now have such negative experiences to draw on that those pleasant exchanges I did have just aren't enough to counteract.

Driving in Oregon

Oregon has one standard license plate, which is what I saw on maybe half the vehicles.

But the other half - or at least 40% - had one of the specialty plates, though that has a slightly different meaning here than in other states.  Sure they have special plates for the universities and for veterans and so forth, but the ones I saw most of were specialty plates for Crater Lake and for Oregon's Wine Country (both with one-time fees of $30).  And I saw a surprising number of these:

The reason it's surprising is that these carried a one-time fee of $100, which seems a lot just for a license plate.  But I saw a lot of them.

Oregon's roads were in fairly good condition, even on some of the smaller back roads.  And in general the highway department does a good job of posting enough signs that I didn't get lost too often.  

A lot of the main roads were only 2-lane, and were essentially mountain roads so they were filled with s-curves and so forth.  I appreciated that there were a reasonable number of pull-outs on these roads, but I wished there were more signs telling me when to expect them so I wasn't trying to find a way to move over for faster traffic, only to find an official pull-out a mile or 2 farther down the road.

What I didn't see that I wanted to see

Lots of things, many of which I mentioned in my daily posts, but a lot more besides, including of course the entire southeastern part of the state.  In addition, the following is a sample of the variety of other things I missed.

I'd wanted to visit Herbert Hoover's boyhood home in Newberg.  I knew where it was and when it was open but just ran out of time to get there.  In McMinnville, a town I also missed, is the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum which includes the Spruce Goose.  And not far from there is the Erratic Rock State Natural Site.  In a smaller state I'd've been able to visit, but with Oregon's size I just couldn't get there.  It's a huge rock - with a weight from various sources of between 36 tons and 90 tons - that was floated to its present location inside an iceberg during an Ice Age flood.

Of course I wanted to see Multnomah Falls, but I also wanted to see Willamette Falls near Oregon City.  And oh no! I find I missed a carousel in Salem.  That was clearly a mistake.

There were lots of places along the coast I'd like to see - even just the aquarium in Newport, let alone some of the natural wonders I mentioned in my posts.  I didn't get as far south as Gold Beach, where the Cape Blanco Lighthouse still operates.  It's now 152 years old and holds 4 records for the lighthouses in the state: the oldest continuously operating light, the most westerly, the highest focal plane above the sea, and the first to have a female keeper (in 1903).

My conclusion

Oregon is a land of far greater contrasts than I'd expected.  Of course, there's the physical contrast - and here I'm assuming my friend is correct about there being desert in the eastern part of the state (which I missed).  But I did drive enough in the eastern and central sections of Oregon to see that the west is dominated by mountains and the east reminds me of western Wyoming and northern Utah, both of which I've visited.  I haven't yet had my month in Idaho, which forms the entire eastern border of Oregon, but since it also borders Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada, I'm guessing it's those influences I'd find in eastern OR.

Those physical influences are entirely missing west of the mountains.  There it's the wet side of the rain shadow and the nearby Pacific Ocean and the altitude of the Cascades themselves that form the very different environment.  

There's a similar contrast in people's belief systems.  Oregon is viewed by much of the country as a liberal state, because it consistently sends Democrats to national offices and because it's adopted liberal positions on issues such as the environment and assisted suicide.  But as far as I can tell, it's very nearly a swing state, with a 10-year-old Gallup poll showing an almost even split between moderate, conservative and liberal views.  Instead, it seems Oregon has a fairly typical dichotomy between rural and urban interests.  The vast majority of the state is rural/small town, but the population growth between 2010 and 2020 was greater in the urban areas than in the country (also fairly typical).  (I mean, let's face it, people in general aren't itching to become farmers these days.)

And that situation has resulted in the current governor, a Democrat, winning in 2018 despite carrying only 7 of the 36 counties in the state.  She and the supermajority that Democrats currently hold in the legislature passed a number of liberal bills and policies - such as allowing undocumented immigrants to hold driver's licenses.  But despite the apparent dominance of liberals vote-wise, it still looks to me like moderate positions by any candidate would still be winners in elections here.  Despite the number of Trump signs and Confederate flags (what part of the South do these folks think they're from?) I've seen here.

I was surprised by the extent of right-wing support here, and I was disappointed in the somewhat winter weather I encountered for much of the month, and I was dismayed by the rudeness I met with at times, but my biggest problem here was the almost complete lack of internet connection I kept finding.  I had this problem everywhere - rural, urban, near mountains and ocean and plains and everywhere.  I found it only in a very few campgrounds with their own healthy internet service.  It made my month here extremely uncomfortable.

I couldn't make advance reservations, I couldn't find driving instructions, I couldn't locate sights I wanted to see, I couldn't even find out what the weather forecast was.  I couldn't keep current on my blog, I couldn't check my email, I couldn't do anything useful - sometimes for days on end.  I can't even begin to explain the level of frustration this caused me, and the sense of isolation.  It made my month in Oregon a far more negative experience than anything else that happened - more than the weather or the drivers or the politics or anything.  Except for a few very specific campgrounds (not towns - campgrounds), I don't want to set foot in Oregon again because of this.  It may sound weird, but I spent a whole month with this problem and I got really tired of it.  

So that's my conclusion about Oregon.

Oregon - Day 31 - in the McIver state campground

Milo McIver State Park, Estacada

Tuesday, 31 May 2022

This was a small campground - my site #43 was the next to last of the sites on the only loop that had hookups, though there were other more isolated areas for tenters.  It had quite obviously rained a lot here before we came, and there was mud all over the place.  But our site was relatively dry and relatively level, so I counted us lucky.  Because the loop was so small, poor Dexter was bored because very few people/dogs went by us and there wasn't much for him to look at.

I would have been perfectly happy, except I had an internet connection far slower than dial-up used to be.  It was excruciating.

I couldn't make an appointment to get a 2nd Covid booster, I couldn't make a camping reservation beyond the one I already had for our first night in Washington, I couldn't look up any vets (Gracie needs a rabies shot) or groomers (the dogs need baths), I couldn't add any photos to my draft blog posts - let alone publish the posts.  Actually, I could do all those things, but the speed was much slower than a sloth (ever watched one of those move?).  Because Gracie is afraid of loud noises and angry people, I'm no longer able to yell when I'm frustrated.  So I had to just sit there and seethe, and I finally gave up at 3:40.  Just quit.

My friend Paula called and we talked so long my phone was down to only 2% power left, so I had to spend time waiting for it to re-charge before I could call to make appointments once I'd gotten phone numbers.  I'd intended to call her for days, because I was worried about how that enormous wildfire in New Mexico was affecting them.  Paula said it was close enough that the whole neighborhood was trying to figure out an evacuation plan.  Their problem is that there's only one road into the area (so only one road out), leaving them vulnerable depending on the direction the fire takes.  It was really good to talk with her and to hear that she and Bruce are doing well.

We leave tomorrow for our next state.

Oregon - Day 30 - back to the Portland area

Milo McIver State Park, Estacada

Monday, 30 May 2022

And today is Memorial Day, set aside for Americans to honor those who have been killed in service of our country.  I'm glad to honor their sacrifice and am sorry so few people remember what the day is supposed to be about.

today's route

Google said it would take nearly 4 hours for today's drive, which means a minimum of 6 for me, so we got on the road by 7:30.

When we stopped for a break at a rest area for the dogs to stretch their legs, I discovered that my driver's side headlight was out.  The parking light was still on, but not the headlight.  I guess I should be glad it's lasted this long, but now it's something I'll have to get somebody somewhere to fix.  Add that to my passenger-side taillight, also out, that would have been fixed a year ago except the screws are stripped, so it'll take work too.  As Rosanne Rosannadanna used to tell us, "It just goes to show you, it's always something - if it's not one thing, it's another."

It turned out to be lucky for me that we were going back over this same road I'd been on twice before, but this time from the opposite direction.  From this angle, I saw things I hadn't seen before.

But first, about 50 miles from Pendleton, we were back to the Columbia River, and kept it with us most of the way back to Portland.  The westbound side of the highway is much closer to the water, so I got a better view than I had eastbound.

I saw a tug pushing 2 barges upriver.  I saw the river really churned up, partly from the strong wind and partly from the dams (John Day, The Dalles) I passed again.

Not only was there a strong wind today, but there were also strong wind gusts, and I saw someone kite surfing again, despite the wind being really squirrely.

After driving for a couple of hours, I pulled off at Celilo Park, a Corps of Engineers product.  It was right on the river, with lots of nice grass and not too many other people walking their dogs, so we got a short walk out of it.

Columbia River

The Columbia is the 4th largest river by volume in the US and the largest by volume in North America to dump into the Pacific Ocean.  It's hard to describe how huge it is - you almost have to stand on the bank and see the vast quantity of water that's flowing by at a great rate.  It's seriously impressive, and I can only imagine the impression it must have made on the Lewis and Clark explorers when they found it.

Speaking of which, there was an exhibit about them here, similar to those I've seen elsewhere along their route.

This is the exhibit - detailed views below.

The leaders.  That last sentence reads:
"Although opposite in temperament, they worked
harmoniously throughout the two-year journey."

Their route, the second half.

Their route, the first half.

There were 2 other exhibits here, both explaining the tribe that lived in this area and used its resources for 10,000 years before white people started building dams.

The sign - details below.

The following are pieces of another sign explaining in more detail the basis for the continuing fishing rights of the tribes.

The current fishing rights the sign refers to are protected by access to the river that I saw as I drove into this park.  It was a road off to the side, protected by a chain-link fence with a chained gate and a warning sign saying it could be accessed only by members of specific tribes.

Note that that 3rd part of the sign has been edited.

Back on the road, I noticed that the white caps I'd seen in the river earlier had become actual breaking waves.  The wind was really strong.

And finally! I got a view of Mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood

I had to wait a lot of days, and it was still only a partial view, but I got to see it.  My first time, and worth the wait.  I actually got slightly better views than this, but I took this photo while I was driving at highway speed (slightly scary) and not far ahead of that semi the road goes into some s-curves, which put an end to picture-taking.

I passed the turn for the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center at The Dalles.  Of course I'd seen the gorge mentioned several times on signs and things, but I never saw anything that reminded me of a gorge and I still didn't know what they were talking about.  I already knew there was a similar center on the Washington side of the river and decided to wait for that one, since today's drive was already going to be so long.  I now know that was a mistake, and I say so to keep others from making that mistake.  This one at The Dalles is the official interpretive center for the gorge and is likely worth the visit.

I passed a second kite surfer, this one wading to shore while his kite was still aloft.

Up on a hill at Hood River I saw the Full Sail Brew Pub.  What I've since learned is that's the brewery that makes Full Sail Ale that's so popular.  There's really a lot more to see and do in Oregon than I've had time for.

Since I started getting closer to The Dalles, I noticed the traffic picking up, and it's continued as I've gone on towards Portland.

By Cascade Locks, I noticed I was being passed by cars and trucks loaded with muddy ATVs and muddy bicycles.  Apparently people were recreating where there's been a lot of rain (which seems to have been much of Oregon, based on what we saw in Pendleton).

The parking lot at Multnomah Falls was full again, despite the intermittent rain that I've found ever since The Dalles.

I turned off the highway at Fairview, "A Community of History and Vision."  I was heading for the Target, inside which is a CVS, which promised to have my next installment of blood pressure pills ready for me.  And they did.  

I walked the dogs around the parking lot a bit and then went back on the internet.  I hoped being so close to Portland I'd get a stronger internet signal, but sadly I found it was just as slow as it had been in Pendleton.  I'd hoped maybe I could at least get Day 20 loaded, but at that speed I didn't even try.  Instead we went on into rural Oregon toward our campground.

Over about 25 miles, we passed a series of small farms on both sides of the road - the kind you forget we still have in this country when you're driving through areas where the land seems to stretch out forever.  In this part of Oregon, it feels more like a little valley nestled protectedly into a lush green area.

We came to Estacada, pop. 5,014, they say.  The 2020 census said the town had 4,517 residents then, but it's also got a growth rate of 5.83%, so maybe the 5,014 is a current estimate.

We turned onto OR-211, part of the West Cascades Oregon Scenic Byway.  More attractive farmland.  And on to the campground, where we'll be for 2 nights.

Oregon - Day 29 - in the Pendleton campground

Pendleton KOA, Pendleton

Sunday, 29 May 2022

So it's a good thing I hadn't set my heart on finding unmitigated sunshine here in eastern Oregon, because that's nearly the last thing I found.  We didn't just have rain, we had pouring rain and a cold strong wind.  It was messy and uncomfortable. 

Likely as a result, I not only couldn't get internet through the KOA, I couldn't even find their network listed some of the time.  My hotspot said it was connected, but I could only rarely get results.  It was very frustrating both because I wanted to catch up on my blog and because I wanted driving directions to tomorrow's campground.

When I checked the weather a few days ago, the forecast for today said 50% chance of rain.  So maybe we'll get rain for 50% of the day?

And in fact, a little after noon the rain stopped but the wind was still blowing strong and chilly.

Because of the lousy internet connection, it took me all morning to get directions for only 2 days of travel, and by 1:00 it was still slow enough to make me ready to cry.  I've been compensating for the slow results by doing several tasks at once - doing research on Bing while I was uploading a photo to my blog on Google, for instance; editing my photos while I was waiting for directions to load.  But then either my computer or the signal wouldn't let me move from one source to the other, or to my email or anything else.  I was stuck with only the page I was staring at that seemed to be doing nothing.

In fact, I turned the computer off and waited (took the dogs for a walk), but then trying to access the basic blogger page again took me 15 or 20 minutes.  When I couldn't get any results from clicking on things with the cursor, I tried using my finger and all the icons pinned to the task bar disappeared entirely.

My level of frustration with the lack of wifi signal I've found throughout Oregon is now through the roof.  I started working on the post for Day 20 three days ago and still can't finish it because everything is taking so long.  By the time I finally got a decent signal, it was so late in the day I was way too tired to do any more work.

And all that took most of my time.  However, the dogs and I went for several walks (though Dext hates rain and almost had to be pulled out of the RV), and we found a nice grassy area next door to the campground that was a state office but closed for the holiday weekend.

In the campground I saw another one of those odd bulbous things I'd noticed when we were driving here yesterday and got a photo of it.

As you can tell, it was up on a tall tower.  It's got a little lightning-bolt symbol printed on it, but surely it's not an electrical conduit.  I'm still thinking an alarm of some kind.  If anybody knows, please post to the comments so we can all learn.

Also as a sort of compensation for the weather and wifi problems, I had a nice view from my campsite.  Actually, the campground bills the sites along this side as view sites, and when I first got here yesterday I thought that was a non-truth-in-advertising example.  But when the clouds started to lift, I could see that there was a view in an agricultural sort of way.

Two pieces of the view.  Those dark things that look (to me) like they might be cows are actually houses, and they're built in these 2 clumps beside those 2 yellow-topped buildings that I'm assuming are some sort of manufacturing plant, though I didn't drive down to look.  The rest of that land is agricultural, backed up by mountains in the distance.

It looked calm and peaceful from up here - perspective tends to do that.

Oregon - Day 28 - Salem, and on to Pendleton

Pendleton KOA, Pendleton

Saturday, 28 May 2022

It was drizzling again this morning, and I hoped for better weather on the other side of the Cascades this afternoon.  

I still had the firewood that nice couple at the Cascade Locks KOA donated to try to level my RV.  After I'd changed sites again, I unearthed the firewood from the mud, thinking it might become firewood again when it dried, or it might at least be useful in leveling me again in another campground.  I still had it stored in the basement compartment and knew I was unlikely to use it as firewood.  And I worried about taking it into Washington, because so many states are insistent that campers use only local wood for fires.  To stop the spread of some kind of pest, if I remember right.  I haven't seen any such notices on the west coast, but just in case Washington did, I decided to give the wood to some needy-looking camper in Oregon.

When I was walking the dogs around the Albany campground this morning, I saw a young woman who was tent-camping and trying to get a fire going in the drizzle.  I asked how much longer she planned to stay (if she was leaving that morning then I'd look for someone else), and she said they'd figured on being there all holiday weekend.  So I took the wood to her and her young boyfriend, and they were very happy to have it.  So that's a good deed passed on to the next person.

today's route

On the road

Today's drive was almost exactly 300 miles.  It felt like we were driving from one side of the state to the other, but Albany's a bit of a distance from the ocean, and Pendleton's not at all at the eastern edge of the state, so it wasn't.  Still, a long drive for us.

I heard on the radio that Greater Idaho put measures on the Oregon ballot and had to go online to figure out how Idaho was able to meddle in the affairs of another state.  It's because it isn't the state of Idaho but a group called Greater Idaho.  They're aiming to get state legislatures in both Oregon and Idaho, followed by the US Congress, to agree to let a chunk of Republican-voting Oregon secede from Oregon and join Idaho instead.  These folks are complaining that the Democratic-led legislature in Salem doesn't give them the respect they deserve (in essence).

It's sort of the same thing with that State of Jefferson idea.  And with the idea in Illinois of kicking the city of Chicago out of the state.  And with similar movements in other states.  I haven't been in one place long enough to know the answers to these questions, but I've been wondering: are these aggrieved areas really being ignored or are they just not getting everything they ask for?  has one side been willing to compromise but the other side is saying we won you lost so we get to decide?  have either or both sides been taking extreme positions or is one side semi-sensible and the other not willing to budge?  You know, like those.

The fact is, these are issues I'm hearing echoed across the country as a whole, where the US's rural areas feel, rightly or wrongly, overwhelmed by the dominance of the urban areas.  And in the calls to remake the map of the US and either put all the Republican-voting folks into their own states and the Democratic-voting folks in other states, or to have one group secede entirely and form a new country.  Of course, the problem with that is that people change their minds.  Often.  And an idea (or candidate) that looks good at one point is shown later to have unexpected consequences that look terrible.  

Sure the country seems polarized now, but it's my belief that America has mood swings.  That's one advantage of living a long time - you can see trends more easily.  Just look at people's attitudes during the McCarthy era, and when the Bull Conner type reactions to the Civil Rights movement were shown on TV, and the difference in public attitudes toward soldiers being killed in the Korean War vs. those being killed in the Vietnam War (when they were shown on TV), and on and on.  Only certified Polyannas thought the country was really changing when Barack Obama was elected - twice - for president.  And sure enough, the pendulum swung all the way to the right afterwards.  I know I'm an optimist at heart, but I have faith in the fundamental goodness of the vast majority of Americans, and I firmly believe we'll swing back again and get back on a firm footing for the future.

Anyway, I have a lot of time to think when I'm driving.

I saw an Oregon license plate that read: XXI XII.  I'm sure it means something to the owner.

Salem, the state capital

I didn't want to pass Salem without swinging by to see the state capitol.

Oregon State Capitol
see detail enlarged at right

The capitol was built in 1938 (Depression era) with Vermont marble.  It was considered a landmark example of the Modernist Art Deco style.  The figure on top is of gilded bronze and is called Oregon Pioneer.  That large cylinder the statue stands on covers a dome inside over a central rotunda for the building.  Very unusual.

As I was driving through town, I stumbled on the train station and thought it was worth looking up.

Pretty, isn't it?  This is an internet photo (there was no blue sky when I was there) but it's what I saw.  It was built in 1918 by the Southern Pacific railroad and, with refurbishment, is still in use.

I stopped for gasoline and, when I went inside to pay, was enveloped by cinnamon.  A Cinnabon store was added to the convenience store, and they were baking.  I had a hard time getting out without buying a bunch of delicious calories.

Back on the road

I saw a billboard for a turf company: We Keep Rolling A "Lawn."  The quotation marks were in their display.

The small town of Wilsonville, pop. 25,779, had a Mercedes Benz dealership, so I couldn't help but wonder who lives there.

I detoured around Portland on I-205, hoping to avoid some of the city traffic.  Near Gresham, I saw a whole lot of tents - some homemade and some commercial products - strung singly or in groups all along the side of the highway.  I remember seeing an encampment near Gresham on I-84 when I was first heading east.  So either Gresham is pretty tolerant of homeless encampments, or this is how far out of the city center the homeless have been shoved.  There're a lot of them.

Back on I-84, I of course saw the same kinds of things I saw 3 weeks ago, such as the sign telling me I was "Entering Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area."  

We had intermittent rain all morning, and at one point a pickup splashed so much water on my windshield I was temporarily blinded.  That's scary when you're traveling on an interstate at highway speed.

I passed Cascade Locks, where I spent several days earlier in the month.  The Hood River Antique Auto and Aero Museum sounds interesting but will have to be saved for another trip.

I saw a couple of billboards touting Maryhill Winery, saying it had been named Winery of the Year.  I was curious who had given it that title and looked it up and found it was true.  In 2015 it was named Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year, and in 2014 it was named Winery of the Year (with no geographic limit) at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.  Sounds worth trying.

I remember both The Dalles Dam and John Day Dam from 3 weeks ago.  That latter one I could tell was coming up ahead, even before I could see it, because of the very visible spray from the released water.

My refrigerator took itself down into the 20s again.  There's something wrong with it, but I don't have the time or money to have somebody check it out.  It seems to have problems both when it's specifically set to electricity and when it's set on automatic (switches on its own to electric when I'm plugged in and to propane when I'm not), so I'll try it just on propane for a while and see if that makes a difference.

By the time I got to the small town of Arlington, I was noticing the vegetation in the area was looking more like desert - lots of grass and scrub bushes and plants.  No more of that lush greenery on the other side of the Cascades.

I saw a sign that promised a rest area in x number of miles, and I was planning to stop there.  But when we got there, the highway department apparently wanted to keep it a secret because there was no sign saying turn here.  So I didn't turn there and realized as we passed it that it was too late.  By then I was really tired and needed a break badly, but fortunately we found a 2nd rest area about 20 miles farther along the road and stopped there.

I was disappointed in again missing a view of Mt. Hood when we passed it, but today there were just too many clouds and occasional rain to let it show itself.

I saw an Oregon license plate that said: CLWN BB.  BB the Clown?

And I saw an Idaho plate that said: WLD FLRZ.

This is completely treeless country.  Crops and grazing lands, hills, power lines, grain silos - that's it.  But the colors ranged from emerald green through dusty green, dusty yellow, camel-tan and beige.  It was pretty in an agricultural sort of way.

I saw a very large circular bulbous thing up on a pole and wondered if it was for tornado warnings.

A sign warned me: "CAUTION - Possible Solar Glare."  An odd sign until I saw the large solar field at the bottom of the hill I was driving down.  And that was the Welcome to Pendleton sign amidst solar panels I'd seen when I came this way before.

I'll be really glad to get out of Oregon with its dumb requirement of having an attendant pump my gas for me.  When I stopped for gas this morning, the attendant pulled the cord that attached the gas cap to the RV completely out, and then left it that way.  That would have been a big nuisance for me the next time I filled up, except I noticed it and reattached it.  And at a station this afternoon, the attendant (who walked away while it was pumping) came back after it had clicked off and started pumping again.  I reminded him I didn't want it topped off, and he said well, it stopped pumping after only 25 gallons so he was filling it up.  Idiot - he was so sure how many gallons I needed and that 25 weren't enough.  If I hadn't been paying attention (again), he'd've run it till gas poured out onto the ground, and then made me pay for the extra.  When I started the engine, I saw the needle point to completely full, so I knew I'd been right.

And most of the time they make me get out of the RV anyway to go inside to pay in cash, so this system is certainly no convenience or safety measure.  When I've looked online (turns out I'm not the first person to wonder about this system), the answer seems to be because this is the way they've always done it.  I thought maybe it was at least an employment program or something, but they don't even use that excuse.  Dumb idea.

In Pendleton, I stopped at what I thought was part of a park - grass, trees, bushes.  I saw the No Trespassing signs but thought they were for the adjacent railroad tracks.  But after the dogs and I had walked a ways, I decided the signs were for the grass, too, and had a hard time hustling the dogs back into the RV.  We all needed a real break.

While we were walking there, I saw 2 cars pass, and from the second car a guy was hanging out half his body yelling, "F___ you, N______, f___ you!" at the first car.  Fortunately, the driver of that 2nd car turned down a different direction from where the first car had gone.  But it was an ugly little scene.

And then on to the campground, where we'll be spending 2 nights.

Oregon - Days 26 & 27 - in the Albany campground

Albany/Corvallis KOA, Albany

Thursday, 26 and Friday, 27 May 2022

The wifi signal from both the campground and my hot spot were super slow at times, so getting anything done online was excruciating at times.  Despite this hurdle, I managed to get caught up in the blog to Day 19 - 6 posts worth.  

And I went online to renew the state vehicle inspection for the RV, and this time they did ask me to swear I wasn't in the state but would get the RV inspected as soon as I got back to the state (they didn't ask me that when I renewed it online 2 years ago). 

I did laundry and various chores like that.  But those chores were hampered by rain, which was steady at times, though I was lucky it held off until I got inside with my clean laundry.

On Friday the temperature in the frig got down into the 20s.  I didn't notice until I tried to slice off some chicken for a sandwich and found it was slightly frozen.  And once again I'm sorry I replaced my old frig, which worked just fine almost always, with this new one that is so erratic.  But it's done, and now I'm just trying to figure out how to live with it.

This campground was large enough for the dogs and me to find a small variety of ways to walk around it so we weren't constantly going over the same ground.  I ask them to put up with a lot and hate to make them bored any more than they already are.  They're both smart dogs (though sometimes I doubt that) and should have more opportunities to use their brains than they get.

When we got here on Wednesday, there weren't all that many folks here.  But as we got closer to the holiday weekend, I watched it fill up more and more.  The manager was more than 8 months pregnant (she told me she's due on Father's Day) and has been working hard with her staff to try to get everything ready for the deluge of campers this weekend.  They have every campsite reserved and are frantically trying to get the grass cut and repairs done before everyone gets here.  And they're having to sandwich those activities in between bouts of rain.  Glad it's not my job.

Oregon - Day 25 - Eugene, Albany's carousel, Corvallis

Albany/Corvallis KOA, Albany

Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Last night's campground was almost right on the interstate, so I was quite surprised to find how quiet it was.  Sure there were cars going back and forth, but the sound was so muted I barely noticed them.  But being so close, it was easy to get on the highway this morning to head north.

today's route

The nearby City of Rogue River has a beautiful Russian Orthodox Church, St. Innocent of Irkutsk.  (I thought Irkutsk was a made-up name for the game of Risk.)  The church is large and ornate, as most of the orthodox churches are, and quite beautiful with a lot of blue on it.  I tried to find a photo online but couldn't find one I could use.  I was a little surprised to find that denomination here in Oregon, but it has apparently been here since 1998 - more than 20 years.

The sides of the highway in that area were cleared of brush and covered with grass for a distance of about 30' or so from the road back to thick trees.  I saw a deer feeding under the trees right on the edge of the grass.  I've been seeing warnings about the problems the interstate has been causing deer that persist in trying to cross it.  The state's trying to figure out how to stop them, and in some places I've seen fences along the road.  But I still have a clear memory of that deer that was trying to get away from me - maybe that was South Dakota? - that kept trying to jump a fence between the road and a cropfield, but the fence was too high (I'm sure, on purpose) and the deer kept bouncing off it.  I doubt the highway department is thinking of fences that tall along the highway, so I doubt if they'll do the job intended.

I came again to Sunny Valley, which I'd seen earlier this month, and it was again sunny, though the surrounding area was still dark because the sun wasn't up high enough (we'd left the campground by 6:45 this morning).

I came again to those 3 passes, all below 2,000', and again to those 3 6% grades.  I passed lots of farmland - cows and crops.

Along this part of the road, there was little traffic, and it was nearly empty southbound, though traffic increased substantially as I got to Eugene.

Near the airport at Myrtle Creek (a tiny affair), I saw someone kite gliding.

The radio said it was 2 years ago today that George Floyd was killed.  I think it was in an effort to deny and distract from that genuine ugliness (that, for once, nobody's tried to claim was a hoax) that far-right politicians and pundits have been talking in scathing terms about "wokeness."  I don't think I've heard this term defined but have gathered it means white people have become more aware of the injustices practiced against people of color, and that they've been going on all along but we just haven't been aware of it.  If that is the definition, then I can't see what's so wrong about it.  Why shouldn't we all be more sensitive to the realities of others and try to make things better for everyone?

I also heard on the radio that the governor of Oregon has ordered the state flag to be flown at half-staff for the rest of the week in memory of the ghastly deaths in Uvalde, TX.

A sign told me litter clean-up in that area was adopted by Friends of Mt. David.  But when I looked up the mountain, I found a Mt. David in Washington but a Mt. David Douglas in Oregon, named for the Scottish explorer David Douglas.  Maybe these "Friends" were really good friends and called the mountain by its first name?

At a highway rest area, I saw a jay without a crest, but after looking it up I'm not sure what kind it is.  I'd assumed it was a Pinyon Jay, but the bird book says they're barely in Oregon at all.  So of the choices of non-crested jays that do come here, I'm guessing it was a California Scrub Jay.

California Scrub Jay

The blue was very pretty.

I also saw a food-type truck dispensing coffee and tea, courtesy of a group called DivorceDad9.  Their sign said they're a non-profit organization for suicide prevention.  I couldn't quite see the connection, so I looked them up, and found 2 information sources.  This first one   https://www.oregonlive.com/whats-a-divorced-dad-to-do says it's presenting the problems imposed by Oregon child custody law.  And this second one   https://www.divorcedad9.com is for the group itself.  Interesting situation, though I don't know if their version of the facts is true.

At Eugene, I went off the highway to drive around the campus of the University of Oregon.  Google didn't want to route me that way, so I had to fight with it - and then fight with the Eugene traffic, but I could see it was an attractive place.  My stepson went to college here but it was so long ago I couldn't remember what I'd seen when I visited.

Farther along the road, a sign welcomed me to Linn County, "Grass Seed Capital of the World."

I started passing many very large fields thickly covered with something white.  I stopped counting at 7 fields.  Here's what I saw.

Obviously some kind of crop, but I have no idea which one.

I saw some other huge fields covered with yellow flowers.  Obviously another crop, not wildflowers, and I remember seeing that in North Dakota where they grow canola.  The internet tells me that Oregon too grows canola, but limits farmers to only 500 acres total in the state.  Apparently it was co-mingling with other crops and causing problems for nearby farmers.  But those 500 acres are in the Willamette Valley, which is where I was, so maybe that's what I was seeing.

And after the huge fields of white and yellow, I came across even huger fields of fruit orchards.  This valley is clearly where stuff grows well.

In Albany, I threaded my way through the streets to get to the historic carousel I'd seen online.  I was lucky to have arrived at a time when the carousel was open and operating, so I got a nice ride with dozens of little kids for $2.  A much better use of my money than 10 times that much for a museum, because the carousel makes me feel happy.

Here's the carousel itself:

Not one of the Looff carousels, but still gorgeous.

Here are closer views of some of the rides:

This little boy insisted on riding the giraffe,
even when his mom told him he wouldn't
go up and down.

And here are explanations for some of them:

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I stopped by.

I took the dogs for a short walk around the area and we started to thread our way back through the town and down the road to nearby Corvallis.

I took the detour to Corvallis to see the campus of Oregon State University.  Another attractive campus, and I saw a delivery service I'd heard about but don't remember seeing before.

Those little robots were running around all over the area and were sometimes hard to dodge.  I saw pedestrians dodging them too, so it wasn't just cars.  But they were clearly popular because I saw so many running around.  I found an article in the college's newspaper when the gizmos were first introduced.   https://today.oregonstate.edu/robots-provide-food-delivery-corvallis-campus

And in the food line, I also noticed a whole area with many Vietnamese restaurants.

From there I crossed the Willamette River, passed a billboard that read: "Romaine Calm and Carrot On," and came to tonight's campground.  Today's drive was only a little more than 200 miles, but I was pretty tired and glad to stop.

Oregon - Day 24 - along the Rogue River

Valley of the Rogue River State Park, Rogue River

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

today's route

I knew today's drive would be a short one - Google said it would take only 55 minutes - but I left early because I thought I'd have to make a detour to Medford to find a bank.  I didn't have an internet connection at last night's campground so couldn't look it up before I left.  But I assumed none of the tiny towns between here and Medford would be likely to have a branch of Chase Bank.  

From the campground, the road included a 6% grade for 2 miles, including s-curves, but it ran alongside Lost Creek Lake again, which was nice.

This morning was the 2nd time I've been honked at for pulling over to let cars go by - not honked at in a thank-you kind of way but in a you're-impeding-traffic-for-not-pulling-entirely-off-the-road-into-a-ditch-to-let-us-by kind of way.  Really.  There's a clear difference between the two types.  I don't think this has happened in any other state, and it's happened twice in Oregon.

I've increasingly been feeling like I have no control over anything lately.  I'm not talking about perfectionism here, I'm just talking about ordinary life.  My knee has been hurting for weeks; I've known for several years I'll likely need to have it replaced when this trip is over, but this isn't the bone-on-bone pain I hear about but more like muscle pain, which doesn't make sense.  I've been running lower and lower on cash because gas is so expensive here, and now I'm down to a few $5s and about $30 in $1s.  I haven't had any internet connection in days, and I haven't had a solid connection in weeks, which means I'm still trying to post Days 11 and 12 with an excruciatingly slow access, making work on my blog very nearly impossible.  Because of most campgrounds being full over the extended Memorial Day weekend, I'll have to spend 3 of the next 7 days driving, so it's impossible for me to get caught up before I leave the state, even assuming I could finally get a decent signal somewhere.  I'm having a really hard time with daylight savings time, as usual, and am far enough north that sunset is more than an hour after my bedtime, let alone full darkness; I can, and do, block out the windows in the RV but I can't block the skylights, which is where the daylight is coming in, so I'm low on sleep.  Gracie's health isn't improving, and when she's sleeping soundly, I worry that she's died and I'll have to deal with her body, aside from the pain of losing her.  It's all just feeling like it's too much for me to handle.  But of course, I'll handle it.  What choice do I have.

When I got to Shady Cove, I parked "downtown" to get an internet signal so I could look up Chase Banks in Medford.  While I was waiting for the connection, I looked around town and noticed across the street a branch of Chase Bank.  I thought I was imagining it at first, but it was real.  It wouldn't open for a half hour, but I pulled into their parking lot to wait, walked the dogs around a bit, and tried to get my email.

They were very nice in the bank, gave me my money with less hassle than I usually get and talked about travel, and we got back on the road.  I stopped before I left town at a 76 Station because, despite the price being $5.29/gallon, I was so close to empty I had no choice.  While they were filling the tank, the nice young women there told me, when I asked, that the town had been growing recently.  They said it mostly seemed to be retirees who came for the fishing on the Rogue River.  On my way into town I'd passed an RV park right on the river that looked almost full.  I thought it might be risky because of flooding, but the young women said the river hadn't flooded since 1969 (a year that was obviously not in their lifetimes).  They said the risk was for fires, not floods, and they have to evacuate every year for forest fires during the dry summers.

I passed a huge field of solar panels in a very rural area and wondered how they got the power to somewhere that needed it because I didn't see any transmission equipment around.

I passed several wineries and vineyards.

At a crossroads with literally nothing else around, there was a gas station offering regular for $5.19, which isn't a bad price for this state.

I passed a large homemade sign that said:

   NO     1/2 Million Volt

              Power Station

   Sams Valley (that's the name of the place)

I couldn't find anything about a power station project in this area, but I did find an old article, I think by Oregon Public Broadcasting, about a controversial power transmission line between eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho.  I don't know if that's what the sign was about, but the transmission line clearly drew controversy from a variety of groups, from farmers to fans of the endangered Sage Grouse.   https://www.opb.org/controversial-oregon-transmission-line

I saw another homemade sign that said:

     Cars Have Bumpers

     Bikers Have Bones

     Please Be Aware

At Gold Hill, I passed the World Famous House of Mystery.  I kind of doubt the "world famous" part, though since it's been a roadside attraction since 1930, maybe it is.  It's supposed to be a gravitational hill where balls roll uphill and bubbles in levels demonstrate a magnetic abnormality.  Early in the 20th century, a British engineer/geologist came to the area and, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, "spent years researching the paranormal phenomena of the 165-foot magnet radius, which is said to bend light, defy gravity and alter mass."  But in 1988, a "reformed magician and illusionist" used photography and math to show the claims were optical illusions.  I didn't bother to stop because I don't much believe in such things.

I got to the campground by 10:30 and was lucky enough to be able to get to my spot right away (if anyone had it last night, they'd already left).  That meant I had enough time to cook the whole chicken I bought in Bend, which will provide lunches and dinners for days.

Oregon - Day 23 - Crater Lake

Joseph Stewart County Park, near Shady Cove

Monday, 23 May 2022

Before we left the park, I stopped at their off-leash dog park, which was probably the largest I've ever seen.  At least half the dogs I saw camping here could have run around at the same time and been able to stay away from each other (as if they would).  But we were there soon after 7:00 so nobody else showed up.

today's route

The Deschutes River ran through the park, and it looked like it was about 10' down.  Some serious drought going on in this part of the state.

Due to almost being empty, I was forced to stop at LaPine, where gas cost $5.19, and fill up despite the cost, because I knew I'd be traveling through mostly rural country today.

As I was pulling out onto the road, a seriously old pickup pulled out right in front of me and took a while to get up to speed.  I had to do some braking to keep from hitting him and wondered about the people who seem to think all RVs are super slow and can therefore be pulled in front of safely.  Weird and dangerous.

Mountain Bluebird

But on the lucky side, I was just early enough to avoid being caught in a detour for road construction - they put up the barricades right behind me.

A bluebird flew up onto a sign and sat there so I could see him.

I drove through the Gilchrist State Forest (there's a lot of trees in this part of Oregon) and came to the town of Gilchrist, which bills itself as "The Model Company Town."  It was the last lumber company town owned entirely by a family in Oregon.

Gilchrist seemed to be almost on top of the town of Crescent - their road signs came right after each other.

A sign informed me that "Legislators Want to Take Away Open Possession."

Another one urged me to "Join the State of Jefferson."  Since that doesn't exist, that might be a problem.

Near the town of Chemult, elev. 4,795', I stopped at a rest area for a little walk.  I was getting sleepy and it'd been a couple of hours since the dogs had gotten out.

On the radio, I heard someone from the Bend visitors bureau or some such urge people to Come To Bend - Where You Can Dry Out.  For some reason the radio person immediately assumed she was talking about alcohol treatment, while I (correctly) assumed she was talking about a lack of rain.

A semi thanked me after I pulled over for him.

There were lots of "Do Not Pass Snowplows On the Right," making it clear there are often snowplows up here.  Speaking of snow, all over the state I saw signs saying "Snow Zone" with a covered-over space under that, and they were usually followed by signs saying a chain-up area was ahead.  I suppose the covered-over space would have information about dates maybe?

I passed a sign saying there was a controlled burn ahead and do not report.  Quite a few miles further on I saw a large area of fire.  I assumed it was the controlled burn area but there was nothing to say so and it was a large area and there wasn't anyone around.  I would have thought with the drought and all that this might not be a good idea, but maybe they're trying to prevent a worse fire later in the summer.

I found myself back on the Volcanic Legacy Oregon Scenic Byway, that I'd taken for part of the drive from Klamath Falls around to Medford and Ashland.  The only entrance open to Crater Lake National Park was the south entrance, so I was glad I hadn't tried to book a campsite at the KOA on the north side of the park, because it would have been miles out of the way.

I began to see a lot of snow on the ground, which means there's likely a great deal more snow at the north side of the park - another reason to be glad I didn't go there. 

I took this photo at the park's south entrance.
(Reminder: this is the 2nd half of May.)

The drive to the visitor center at the crater's rim is about 6 miles, and part way along a sign told me I was in an "Avalanche Zone - No Stopping Next ½ Mile."  Not a reassuring thought, but we made it with no problems.  We were even early enough to find a parking place, though the parking area filled up quickly after that.

Before I get to the remarkable beauty of the lake, I'm going to explain where it came from, which I hadn't known before I got here, so maybe you don't either.

Crater Lake isn't technically a crater but instead the caldera of Mount Mazama, one of the line of volcanoes that runs from Lassen Peak and Mt. Shasta in California up into British Columbia.  Mt. Mazama was originally 12,000' tall and, over a period of 400,000 years, erupted repeatedly.  Then, a mere 7,700 years ago, a chamber beneath the mountain worked up enough pressure to release gas inside it, and that gas expanded and caused a huge column of pumice and ash to erupt from a vent just off the summit.

As the peak began to sink after losing all that interior matter, new vents formed, speeding up the process of emptying the interior magma chamber.  And as the chamber emptied, the mountain top collapsed under its own weight and formed a caldera.

Over centuries, rain and snow filled the caldera.  The water was unusually pure because it didn't include sediment from streams, since it wasn't fed by any streams.  It is this clarity that brings the unusual color and beauty to the lake.  It's 1,943' deep and is the deepest lake in the US.  It ranks #9 in the world for maximum depth and #3 for average depth.

The Park Service handout included an interesting angle on nature: the midge fly lays its eggs on the surface of Crater Lake.  The eggs sink to the bottom of this very deep lake, hatch, feed and mature.  The pupae swim and float all the way back to the surface, become adults and start the cycle over again.  What an odd adaptation.

Now, on to scenic beauty.  I've wanted to see Crater Lake for years, and the dogs have wanted to take a walk for an hour, so we combined activities.  It involved asking for directions from other tourists, because there weren't any signs telling me where I could get to the rim.  Then it involved trekking through several feet of snow, which Dexter didn't want to do, and climbing a small hill, which Gracie didn't want to do.  But here was my reward.

Crater Lake

I stood for a few minutes, being amazed and moved to tears at the extraordinary beauty, and then decided to try another video.  I got partway through when both of my dogs discovered a Rottweiler walking very nearby and both decided to go meet it.  I was standing somewhat precariously on a hillside of snow and my brain was split between trying to protect my camera, trying to keep from slipping and falling in the snow, and trying to keep the dogs from the other dog.  Here's the video that resulted.

The other people didn't think much of either me or my dogs, who were actually fairly well-behaved, at least as long as it took me to grab their leashes again, and I couldn't see that I deserved condemnation under the circumstances.  But it all worked out okay.  Dext was fine with it, Gracie started growling for some reason, and the other dog didn't react too badly to being double-teamed.

In the parking area, I saw a bird I haven't been able to identify.  I thought I had a good look at it - there were 2 of them and they came pretty close to where we were and sat still for a bit.  What I saw was a bird about the size of a jay with a dark head and a dark body and a white shawl around its neck.  And there's nothing that looks like that in the bird book, and I can't find anything online.  The closest I or any website could find was the Eastern Kingbird, which is all white underneath and the bird I saw was dark, and the Loggerhead Shrike, which ditto.  Very frustrating.

Eastern Kingbird

Loggerhead Shrike

As we were driving back out of the park from the rim, I saw a marmot stick his head out of a hole in the snow.  And I saw a Steller's Jay fly across the road, looking very blue against that white snow.

The road seemed different going downhill, where the s-curves seemed tighter and the slope seemed steeper.  Lots of switchbacks I hadn't particularly noticed going up.  The rim is at 7,100' and the entrance is at 6,000' so I was losing a lot of altitude in a short distance.

By 10 miles back on the road after leaving the park, all the snow had vanished.  What a change.

A bear cub ran across the road in front of me, and when I stopped to take a look, it climbed a tree and poked its head around the trunk to keep an eye on me.  I was lucky because, as I'd been coming close to where it was, I thought I saw something big and dark moving in the trees near the road, so I was already slowing down and alert.  And it's that that may have saved that cub's life.  I'm guessing I saw its momma in the trees, though I didn't see her when I stopped.  It's the little hits of nature I've been lucky enough to see on this trip that are making it a special experience for me.

The road continued to descend and I found I was back by the Rogue River.  When I saw a sign for the Rogue River Gorge Viewpoint, I decided to stop and take a look.  It turned out to be more interesting than I'd expected.  The dogs and I walked around the parking area, and then I went alone to the gorge.

Here's how nature formed the river:

  

This is the sign - details enlarged below.

   

An illustration of what I saw - see videos below.

Looking downriver, some rapids in the gorge.

I shot 2 videos of the Rogue River going through the gorge.  The first one is from the bridge looking upstream, and the second is looking downstream.

As a side note, the trees in this area have unusual root systems:

the explanation

the reality

And I saw this memorial near the entrance.  

Back on the road, a sign told me I was now on the Rogue Umpqua Oregon Scenic Byway.

I actually got 2 thank yous from other drivers today.  A spirit uplifter.

I drove by, then crossed on a very high bridge, then continued to drive by a huge blue-green body of water called Lost Creek Lake.  Very long and very wide reservoir created by damming the Rogue River.

Tonight's campground was a little unusual.  I found when I was doing a campground search that up until recently, it was a state park.  But now the county has assumed control.  A very large and well-maintained campground, including an off-leash dog park.  It was a sunny and warm day, and we got here early enough to enjoy it.  There were 4 camping loops, and none of them seemed to have many campers - our loop had only about 10% of the sites being used.  So that was nice.