I arrived in southwestern Oregon at the very end of July. After a brief stop at Prehistoric Gardens, featuring life- sized cement dinosaurs, we headed up the coast nearly to Coos Bay, then headed east to Crater Lake. Crater Lake is at the southern end of the Cascades, a volcanic mountain range which extends to northern California. Once upon a time, it was a 13,000' volcanic mountain, but it was reduced to 8,000' as a result of numerous eruptions. Lava sealed its crater, and it filled with rain and snowmelt. Now, amazingly, precipitation and evaporation are in balance, and the level of the lake at the interior of the crater varies no more than about 3' per year.

We headed northeast to Bend, where we lost our first alternator belt. This RV goes through alternator belts like most vehicles go through oil...the next day, the replacement belt failed and was replaced. After the repair, I headed east to Redmond and Prineville, just about the geographical center of the state, and headed east. I made the mistake of stopping at Sisters, a touristy little town nestled between a cluster of mountains known as the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor. I took a scenic highway over the Cascades and bore northwest to my favorite Oregon park, Silver Falls State Park. It's cool, green, large and rural, yet within 30 miles or so of Salem, Oregon's capitol.

Next we headed to the coast because east of the Cascades, Oregon's hot and dry, like California, and because I missed the coast. We hit the coast near Lincoln City, about 1/4 of the way south of the border, and hugged the coast until we reached Astoria, which is in the northwest corner of the state. It's at the tip of the Columbia, where the river meets the sea. It was there at Fort Clatsop that Lewis and Clark wintered in 1805-06 before returning to Washington, DC, to describe the breadth of the northwest territory to Thomas Jefferson. I was also aware that Woody Guthrie had traveled the Columbia during the Depression for the Bonneville Power Authority and had immortalized its beauty and power in songs like 'Roll On Columbia'

I followed the Columbia river from the Pacific east to old Umatilla rapids, 2/3 of the way east across the northern border. Then, I turned south, visited Pendleton and the great Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City. before heading for the Washington border.