by Pa Rock
Road Warrior
My summer roadtrip hit the halfway mark late this afternoon when I arrived in Salem, the capital of Oregon. Right now my plan is to turn around on Tuesday morning at begin a considerably shorter route back to Kansas and Missouri.
No road problems today. I began the morning early in Sandpoint in the Idaho Panhandle, drove south to Couer d'Alene, an extremist encampment posing as a civilized little city, and then headed west into Washington where I sliced across the southeast corner of the state before finally reaching and crossing the Columbia River and entering Oregon near the eastern edge of the state. I drove Interstate 84 across the top of Oregon to Portland, one of my favorite drives. It runs next to the Columbia River most of the way, and for about the last third of that passage there are some stunning views of Mt. Hood.
Woody Guthrie said it best: "Roll on, Columbia, roll on!"
The Kia Soul and I arrived in Portland about three in the afternoon where I was not expecting Saturday traffic to be heavy, but it was - from Portland all the way down to Salem. I don't believe in making hotel reservations - figuring that places should keep an empty room for me just in case I show up - so the hotel where I always stay in Salem was full, and I drove down the road and found a better one.
My daughter and her family, whom I came here to see, were in Missouri visiting other relatives when I left on Monday, and I thought they would be here on Friday, or Saturday at the latest. It turns out that when I arrived in Salem earlier today, they were at the airport in Oklahoma getting ready to fly home. So they will be in late tonight and I will interrupt their unpacking sometime tomorrow afternoon.
"Let me in, let me in! I'm bearing gifts!"
For those who know my Cousin Joyce, or know of her, she and I had a very nice visit in Sandpoint, Idaho, yesterday afternoon. That was my third visit to the beautiful tourist town in the Idaho Panhandle that offers everything from snow skiing in the mountains to boating and recreating on one of the most beautiful lakes in North America, and Cousin Joyce always goes out of her way to make the visits interesting. Yesterday afternoon we sat on the patio of a restaurant on Lake Pend Orielle watching the boaters enjoy a warm afternoon on the water - and also had a nice meal - loaded baked potatoes - while we were there. I'm sure that Dan and Siss Sreaves of Seneca, Missouri, would have been pleased to know that their grandchildren are staying in touch with one another. Thanks, Joyce. It was so good to see you!
I think that I will visit Yellowstone Park on the way home and make sure that Old Faithful is still working! I've heard a rumor that Big Orange might turn the national park into a golf course and exclusive club if he gets a second term - and that might involve the Army Corps of Engineers having to come in and cap off Old Faithful. Saved the geysers! Vote Blue! (Driving through Couer d'Alene this morning got me politically agitated!)
More later.
1 comment:
Looks like Yellowstone doesn't have an entrance reservation system like some other parks. You're in luck.
In 1959, we were headed to Yellowstone and stopped outside of Yellowstone NP at a Forest Service picnic area and campground for lunch. Dad said that it was so beautiful that we should camp there for the night. Mom objected because the canyon was so deep and the sides so steep that she was uneasy. We went on and camped at the Old Faithful campground (no longer there). I slept in a pup tent on an air mattress. During the night I had a dream that I was being bounced up and down violently. At daybreak Dad woke us kids up and told us there had been an earthquake and we had to leave. My dream had been real. We later found out that Mom's intuition about the campground in the canyon was good. The canyon wall on the opposite side of the river collapsed due to the earthquake and dammed up the river and covered some of the campsites we had considered with tons of rock. As the water level of the recently dammed river rose, surviving campers had to scramble to higher ground to avoid drowning in the newly created Earthquake Lake. We would have been there if not for Mom's intuition. Bob
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