Day 6: Centrel Oregon
It was overcast when we left Burns at 7 am. We drove west on hiway 20 and then
turned south at Riley which was highway 395. Riley was just a Post Office and
gas station. We drove thru Wagontire and took a picture of the sign which showed
a population of 2. We assumed these two people ran the cafe/city hall/ RV park.
There was another sign warning of cattle for the next 60 miles. The highway
followed the eastern shore of Lake Abert, a large lake. We saw lots of basalt
rocks with a red moss or lichen growing on the north side of the rocks. At the
highway 31 junction we turned north. Paisley was a small community with a few
businesses, restaurants and homes. We drove along the western shore of another
large lake called Summer Lake and just north of the lake there was also a town
with the same name.
At
Silver Lake we turned northeast toward Christmas Valley. This was a small, spread
out community with a business, church, Chevron, barbershop every few miles.
We drove out to Lava Butte past the landfill, on a sandy road thru the desert.
There are lots of buttes out here and this was one of the largers. On our way
back I broke off the footstep on my side of the truck when he went past a rock
on the side of the road.
It
started to sprinkle and from here we were going towards Fort Rock State Park.
I found a gravel road off of the hiway through the Deschutes National Forest.
The vegetation in this part of the forest was almost entirely sagebrush and
pine trees. We found the Hole-in-the-Ground which was a large crater the Kingdome
would have fit in if it was turned upside down. There was a road we took that
went all the way around it. It appeared to be perfectly round and had kind of
an eerie feeling to it. I thought there were tire tracks going down it and thought
about it but didn't want to have to explain to AAA why we couldn't get out.
Cindy thought there was only a walking path. We will come back agian some time
and make it down to the bottom
(CHECK FOR REVERSE ORDER).
We drove into Lakeview arond 11:30, which was the first real town we had seen since Klamath Falls. This is a town that reminds you of farming and the old west. As you drive in there is a sculpture of a cowboy tipping his hat to you. The town is clean and friendly as we walked around the two main strees that had businesses. We also stopped off at Safeway for snacks and wine. There was a gravel road going thru Bullard Canyon that turned left from the middle of town. There was a sign that directed us towards hang gliding area that went up a hill overlooking the valley. I decided to take it as far as I could which was a couple miles until I hit snow again and decided to turn around. This is a popular place fo hanggliding in teh summer. They had the US paragliding championship here back in '98.
We continued on highway 140 and turned off on NFD road 3715 to drive toward the Lofton Recreational Area. We were only able to drive for 1/2 mile as we reached snow real fast. As we were driving back on Highway 140 we saw 5-6 deer that ran across the highway about thirty yards in front of us as we came around a corner. We went about five more miles and then turned left on Cottonwood to go to the reservior. We weren't able to go any further than the reservior becasue it once again changed into a National forest raod (NFR) which was covered with snow. We did stop at a picnic site to rest and I took a picture of a tree that was half under water.
Being
inside this cafe was fun as there were a couple generations of men from their
twenties to their seventies sitting at one table. They were ranchers and farmers
talking about things ranchers and farmers talk about; the weather, repairing
vehicles, the market and also remember old time stories. At one point they started
discussing talking a local persomn who nobody cared for but would stick arond
because he would offer the beer to just visit him. The youngest of the group,
who was about 22 seemed to be quiet and at the bottom of the pecking order.
Whenever there was a question they would look to the oldest in the group and
ask for his advice. This person was about 80 years old and didn't say much unless
asked. An interest breakfast conversation that you don't see in urabn areas.
After leaving Bonanza and back on highway 140 we started going over the Bly Mountain pass. This is going north from Bonanza going thru the Freemont National Forest. We hit more fog up on the pass but no snow. The next town we would go thru is Beatty. There is a store and a motel that had five rooms here and not much else. It is also located real close to the Sprague River. Bly is the next town east on 140 with 500 people hw living here. There was a Post Office, liquor store, a theatre that looked like it had been for sale for quite some time, an antique store, Chevron and the Gearhart Cafe. We decided to eat breakfast here.
as it was blue sky and looked like it would also be a warm day. We discovered that there was another older part of town and that it was spread out. There were ranches on the outskirts of town with some nice houses. On highway 140 going east we hit fog along Lost River. We drove thru Dairy and it was so small that we didn't even realize we were going thru a town. There was a cutoff to highway 70 going east and that took us into the town of Bonanza which is a small farming town. This is very flat land arounn here as you either see irrigated grass land or unirrigated low bush land.
Wegot into Klamath Falls around 9:00 I found a nice room at the Econo Lodge for $38 and was happy with it. I ate dinner at Sergios which was the best Mexican restaurant I had been to since Baja last year. Their food was authentic as I had Beef, Chicken & Shrimp Fajitas with beans, rice and spicy meatball soup for $13. I was not able to finish all of the food and I will eat here when I'm in town again. There is the Favell Museum in town with displays of early western history including Indian artifacts and paintings from the old west. There is also a Klamath Indian Reservation that is just east of Crater Lake and many artifacts have been found from this area and also parts of Northern California by Mt Shasta. I didn't get a chance to see the museum but would like to someday when I have more time.
The folowing is a continuation of this trip as I came back a month later to drive south down the coast and then drive up north on I5 and stop at the small towns near the highway. I would leave Portland start driving west on highway 30. I reached the little town of Old St Helens around 5:00 as would get off the highway and go to the old part of town. You will find a marina, park museum and many little small shops here. There were also restrooms that had showers near the marina here as I sat in the park and ate a subsandwich for dinner. 
There are many small communities along the Columbia river going west. I woudl drive past Columbia City and Prescott which are both next tothe river. As you pass Prescott there is also a nuclear plant near the columbia river. You will next pass thru Rainier which I suggest the you don't go over the town speed limit as they were pulling cars over within the town jureddiction for going 10 miles over the limit. I eventually come to another town called Clatskaine where they were having a Bluegrass festival with a small set of rides in town for the kids. The audience looked like retired people who had brought their mobile homes for the weekend . Everybody was having a good time as a quintet played on a flatbed of a trailier truck stayed for about thirty minutes before continuing on. The locals in town seemed to know everybody just by listening to conversations on the street as people passed by each other.
I drove for another half hour on highway 30 before crossing the John Day River that also had some houseboats on itoming into Astoria. 
It looked like a nice settingas they wer not real close together and some also had fishing boats next to the house boats. I then drove for about five minutes before reaching Astoria right at sundown. The sunsets are fantastic here as you see the sun go over the horizon with a pink/orange color to it tonight. Astoria is an old town as it is situated right on the inlet of the Columbia river going into the Pacific ocean. Lewis and Clark arrived here in 1805 from the Columbia River. We have been here before during the day and taken the kids to interesting museums and Forts in the town. It is agood p;ace to go foa a family outing. After sunset I needed to find somthing to do for the evening. I finally decided to go to the Merrytime bar and watch the Seahawk football game as there was not much to do in town. After the game I drove out towards the water and finally parked out near Ft. St Johns park in a parking lot near the ocean around 12:00..
550 miles today
2600 miles Total in 6 days