About 8:30 I stopped at the Bickleton School and said good bye to Katie and Ric Palmer. Ric, the Superintendent/Principal was in jeans and T-shirt helping finish up a part of the school construction project. I'm starting to like this small school atmosphere where everyone just joins in to get the job done.
I managed to stay off the interstate highways today except for the last 60 miles. I had the time and was not in a hurry. Again today, I saw hundreds of windmills all along the Columbia River area. The river runs east-west, so it gets huge winds. I drove west out of Bickleton to Goldendale. There had been a recent forest fire in the Goldendale area and the sky was really smoky. At Goldendale I turned south on Rt. 97 which took me to and crossed the Columbia River.
I stayed on Rt. 97 and drove south into Oregon. More wheat country.
At Redmond, I took the McKenzie Pass Oregon Scenic Byway west toward Eugene. This is a narrow two lane highway that crosses over the Cascade Mountains. It is full of hairpin turns, and in fact, a portion of the road has a limitation on the length of vehicle that can drive on it, which is another plus for truck campers. As you gain elevation, the dry desert landscape gradually changes and becomes more forested.
The highway at the summit of the McKenzie Pass at 5,325 feet, crosses through a lava field from a volcanic eruption some 1500 years ago.
The drop down on the west side of the Cascades is even greater than the climb up on the east side. The elevation of Roseburg where Cory lives is about 460 feet. So I dropped almost 5,000 feet coming off the Cascade mountains. A slow, twisty but very pretty drive.
The McKenzie Highway led to Eugene and about an hour latter I pulled into Cory's about 5:30. Dave and Ann Wright showed up about two hours later. Ever the good son, Cory had steaks and cold beer ready for us.
The plan for Friday is laundry, followed by hitting a few Oregon wineries for some samplings. :-)))
No comments:
Post a Comment
We enjoy and appreciate feedback. Please feel free to add your name to make it more personal. Thank you for checking in.