Oregon - Coast to the Desert - Alis volat propriis - She flies with her own wings

Oregon Dunes, the coast road and Umpqua Lighthouse

We left Crescent City Sunday morning and headed north. It didn't take long to leave California behind us and enter the Beaver State. It's just a few short miles into Oregon from Smith river. It was another beautiful day, sunny and warm.

The Umpqua Lighthouse

 We put in a short day only going to the Umpqua Lighthouse Campground outside Reedsport. It's about 160 miles. Geezer miles, we set up the trailer and drove into Reedsport to get some laundry done. I've never seen a bigger rip-off laundromat than the one there. Their cheapest machines were $4.00 a load and their triple loaders were $5.35. We needed two of the triple loaders or almost doule what we had paid in Joshua California when we went to the laundry there. They had another little scam too. You could not put money into the machines. They had a machine where you would put you money to load up a reader card. The machine only took $1.00 $5.00 or $20.00 bills and it cost you .45 to buy the card. The was no refund so you had to figure out almost exactly what you needed to do you laundry. Plus they had odd amounts on the machines like $5.35 so if you had .65 left you just lost it. I hope we don't run into another one of those somewhere.
 The campground was nice and not terrible for expensive although the further north we go the more the campground cost on average. Also it gets harder and harder to book a night. They want reservations. Maybe after the 4th of July it will get better, at least I hope it does.
  We liked the beach area here. The sand dunes come down to the water and are tree covered in many places.

 Umpqua Lighthouse from the beach road

 Dunes

California Gull Larus californicus 

Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Inland to Veneta and Fern Ridge Lake

We only stayed two days at the Umpqua Lighthouse Campground before heading up the coast and then inland a ways to the area around Eugene. Years ago when we lived in Washington we would come to Eugene to see the yearly Grateful Dead concerts at Autzen Stadium. The area is beautiful, drier than Washington and hotter than the coast. Ideal conditions for concerts in the summer. 

 As we left the coast and crossed the first mountains the temps climbed nicely. It was 61' when we turned up from the coast. Ten miles up the road it had already gone up to 77'. 

 Denise had found a campground near the town of Veneta on the shore of Fern Ridge Lake. We had no reservation but it being mid-week we got in without issues. 

 We have an old dear friend who lives in the area so when we got setup I tried to give her a call. No service! So we drove back into Veneta to give Kitty a call. I had texted her a couple of days earlier and told her we would be in the area. I got a hold of Kitty and she said she would come out to see us at the campground. 

 The years melted away as we sat outside under the awning catching each other up on things we had done over the years. We reminisced about the past, it was a delightful time getting together. Her husband Tim came by after he got done with work and we got to meet him. We set up a meet for the next day at their place and they went back and we went to sleep.

 The next morning we went into Eugene to get a replacement tire for the trailer. When we had the blowouts at the beginning of the trip I had put the spare on. It was new so I didn't replace it when we got new ones for the rest of the rims. When we were in Umpqua Lighthouse campground I noticed that it was worn down to the cords on the back side. It was about to blow. Only 3000 miles about what the others had had when they blew out. Cheap tires that come with trailers. If I had known I would have insisted that they put good tires on before we purchased it. Never again. I had changed the tire before we left Umpqua so now we just needed a new tire mounted as a spare.

 After they got the tire mounted for us I threw it in the back of the truck and we went back to the campground to get Pata before heading over to Kitty and Tim's house. They live out in the country a few miles out out of the town of Blatchly. They have a little piece of paradise with nice gardens, a creek and they back up to BLM land that they have made hiking trails on. We took a walk in the woods behind the house. It was very soothing, the dogs came along too but I kept Pata on the leash. I don't quite trust her with other dogs. She clearly wanted to play with them but after Bonnie I just don't know. 

 We passed the afternoon talking and in the evening went to Deadwood to have dinner. After we returned it was time to head back to camp. I didn't want to drive the windy mountain roads after dark. 

 Kitty Stephens with Danny the donkey

   Tim  Stephens 

Over the Cascades and on to Hermistion

 The next morning we again packed up and headed out. The day before there had been thunderstorms east of us on the western slope of the Cascades. The day now was still overcast and cooler than it had been. We went west up the pass over the Cascades to Sisters Oregon at the foot of the mountains on the east side. We stopped long enough to take some photos of the mountains before heading on to our final stop for the night Hermiston Oregon.

 Mt. Washington from the viewpoint above Suttle Lake

 Northern Flicker

The three Sisters

The three Sisters close up and one by one.

 

This time as we climbed up and over Santiam Pass  a 4,817-foot pass the temperatures spiked up to 95'. The east side of the Cascades is hot and dry. The Great Basin is a huge heart-shaped area that covers parts of six western states. We had been on the western edge of it in California at Mono lake, we were now at the uppermost part of the largest desert in the United States. It's nice to look out at but I wouldn't want to live in this desert. It's mainly a shrub desert defined by the extent of characteristic plant species, predominantly sagebrush and western juniper. I prefer desert with cacti and yucca.

 The drive up Hwy 395 is easy except for the gusty winds that are prevalent in this environment. I had to get used to driving at the posted speed again. California requires trailer to not exceed 55 mph at any time. I generally don't go any faster than 65 but I had to readjust to this again.

 We had Hermiston as a destination in order to visit another friend. A friend we had never met except on Facebook. Denise and Guyla had connected through a support group and I became friend with her when Denise had her heart attack. Guyla was a rock who helped me get through the stress of the time. We stayed the night at a campground near the Columbia river called Hat Rock. It was a private RV park but was OK to stay in for a night. The lots were grassy and had trees alongside of them. They had bathrooms and showers and some very weak WIFI which I couldn't get to work at all until the morning. We had no phone service. We were only able to get a site for one night so the next day we hitched up the trailer and drove to Hermiston to see Guyla. We left the animals in the truck because we were parked on the curb in front of a house and didn't want to transfer them to the trailer. So we had a short but pleasant visit with Guyla. She was just the way I thought she was, a truly delightful person who was great to talk to. She came out to the truck to see the animals and then we left. Across the Columbia river and into Washington State.

Me, Guyla and Denise in the obligatory selfie. 

The time in Oregon was brief. It seemed like we just breezed through leaving too much unseen. I guess we will have to come back this way again.