Oregon - Day 20 - through eastern OR to John Day

Grant County Fairgrounds RV Park, John Day

Friday, 20 May 2022

For some reason I just couldn't get to sleep last night and ended up with less than 3½ hours.  That's no way to enjoy a drive, when I have to keep waking myself up, but there it is.

route map

The road quickly crossed the Blue Mountains summit at 4,192', and I saw a sign for Mt. Emily.  I noted it because I like the name, but I learned later that this was the site of an amazing piece of history: it's the only time the mainland US was actually bombed during WWII.

The short version is that a Japanese plane was launched from a submarine and dropped 2 bombs in the Siskiyou National Forest.  One of those was never found (which seems odd but it's a big forest), and the other went off and started a forest fire, which seems to have been the Japanese intent.  Sounds like a weird plan to me - were they thinking we'd have to pull so many guys off the front lines to fight fires that our forces would be weakened?  But that's what the Japanese did.  A guy whose job was to stand up in those fire towers that are scattered around forests to watch for fires didn't see the bomb but did see the smoke.  He called it in and was told to go put it out, while a 2nd tower guy was also sent out to help.  They worked all night, and by morning fire crews came to help and stopped the fire.  Which goes to show an unusual facet of the job of those fire lookouts.

Very strange incident and the aftermath is almost as strange.  Here's the Wikipedia page.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Lookout-Air-Raids

A sign told me I was entering the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, which I think stretches up into Washington.

The road started a steady descent - I guess from that Blue Mountains summit.  First a 6% grade, then a 5% grade, and a sign saying CAUTION - Sharp Curves Next 8 Miles.  Not reassuring.

Near LaGrande, I passed a sign for the Historic Arch Bridge.  I was curious and learned that it was built in 1924 by the same man who designed those long fancy ones I saw along the coast, like at Newport.  He got all around the state because he worked for the state.  I found this short but interesting article about both him and the bridge.   https://parkpreview.blog/upper-perry-arch-bridge-la-grande  And if you don't want to see the photos on that blog page, here's an internet photo of part of the bridge.

historic photo of Historic Arch Bridge near LaGrande

At LaGrande I stopped for gas and was actually allowed to pump it myself.  The road took me through the town's historic district, though it almost seemed like the town itself was a historic district: it looked just like the towns I saw in central Texas during the 1950s, a period that's so long ago it seems to qualify as historic these days.

I passed a whole herd of brown and white cows that were all lying flat on the ground.  For a split second I thought there'd been some terrible disease or massacre until a couple of them sat up and I realized they were just sunbathing.

I saw crop fields all across the valley with hills on the right side and snow-topped mountains on the left.  Then I got snow-topped mountains on the right as well.  Farther on, the road turned and I was heading directly for them.

I saw a large herd of dark brown cows that all looked about a year old.  Last year must have been a good year for calves.

For some reason it occurred to me that I hadn't seen many dead animals along the road for the last 2 or 3 states.  What do you suppose those states do differently than others where I saw lots of them?

I continued to see cows, crops and scattered farmhouses.

We stopped for a break in Haines, a tiny historic town, and I took a few photos at their tiny park.

I saw a Mountain Bluebird as I was leaving town, which seemed a nice touch.

They're much brighter blue in person.

And a sign just as I left told me I was now on the Elkhorn Oregon Scenic Byway.

I don't remember where I took this photo, though I think it was from a state scenic viewpoint, but it's a sample of the countryside I went through here.

Down the road I came to Baker City, clearly a farming town, where I found gas at a Sinclair station for $4.65, hands down the cheapest I've seen in weeks.  I was sorry I'd filled up earlier and couldn't take advantage of it. 

From Baker City I cut off the main road to an Oregon state highway, and a sign said I was on the Journey Through Time Oregon Scenic Byway.  They've got a lot of these scenic byways here, and you could probably spend a month just following them around the state.

I saw 6 all-dark calves lying down, all facing the same way, and nearby a cow sitting up with another calf between her legs, this one with a white face, and the cow was facing the calves.  Babysitter?

The road was very winding and very hilly, with evergreens all over.  I was having a hard time staying awake today, which made it hard to stay on the road.  Maybe I need to get checked for sleeping sickness.

I passed a pond of ducks, and the ones I could recognize were scaup.  The bird book told me they were probably Lesser Scaup, because Greater Scaup (which look nearly identical) aren't usually found in this area.

Lesser Scaup

I passed a large field of yellow wildflowers.  Very cheerful.

A sign said I'd reached the Malheur National Forest.  I'm assuming the forest was named for the river which, I learned when I looked it up, was named by French fur trappers.  They called it "Riviere au Malheur," or unfortunate river, because their furs and other property were stolen from their camp there.  Funny how things stick.

The Dixie Pass Summit was at 5,277', the highest elevation I've seen (for a road) in the whole state, I think.  Up this high, I was still seeing some bare branches, showing spring wasn't here yet.

I moved over to let 4 bikers pass me, and 2 of them waved to thank me, something I'm beginning to think is unusual in this state.

I crossed the John Day River - very full and high on its banks - and came to the town of John Day (didn't I say he was much fêted?).  With 1,735 residents, it's the Home of the Prospectors.  And in fact it was originally a gold mining town.

I was headed for a state historic site that sounded a little unusual: the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site.  I found a small, pleasant park where the dogs and I walked along a creek for a bit, and then I took a look at the historic stuff.

While I was looking at these, a small tour group came over with a guide who was explaining details of what the signs gave the basics of.  He planted himself in front of the main sign, and when I asked him if he could move a bit so I could take a photo, he seemed insulted.  I thought for a minute he wasn't going to move, and so did he, but he did.  And then we went on to our campground.

And that was when things really got weird.  I knew I had a reservation for a campsite in the North campground of the Grant County Fairgrounds RV Park, and I found the Grant County  Fairgrounds RV Park but no North campground.  I drove all over the whole area without being able to find it.  I found only a very small RV section that didn't include my site number.  The information kiosk in that section didn't mention the North section and didn't include my name on the list of those with reservations.

Luckily for me, at just that time the manager came back to his trailer and asked me to look at my confirming email.  I showed it to him and he pointed out the reservation was for Grant County in Washington, in Moses Lake.  Fortunately, they still had some vacant sites here for the night and he helped me get into one while he was on his way to his day job (so to speak).  Then I called Moses Lake, and they wouldn't give me a refund (after all, the reservation was for today) but they would move my due date to the middle of June.

I know for certain I specified Oregon when I made the Google search, but I also know lots of things can pop up in those searches that have nothing to do with the location I've specified, and I guess I just missed it.  But at least I wasn't stuck on the streets of John Day (OR) for the night.

The campground was nice enough, though it was right next to a parade ring where people were riding horses and mules (or donkeys).  Dext thought he was going to get excited, so we went off in a different direction until all the livestock left for the day.