And Away We Go!

As usual, we are without photos. We took a few today, we just can't get them to translate to our blog. We will add them as they can be found, they eventually work their way to the portal.

We left the Willamette Valley this morning around 11:00 in a light rain. We were so eager to get to the other side of the mountains where it is much dryer. We have been anticipating higher temperatures and blue skies. Alas, it was not to be. True, there were somewhat bluer skies, but it was still stormy and rainy here in the high desert.

We headed up hwy 22, past Detroit and Sisters, on our way to Utah. Not much traffic, and I couldn't help the grin on my face as we reached Santiam Pass. This is my favorite place in all the world! The forest is filled with huge pines with sparse vegetation throughout and the ground is sandy, and it has the most wonderful pine smell when the sun hits the trees.

Eventually we made it past Bend, and then it was on to new territory for us. I don't think I have ever been past Bend. The scenery changed from pines to sagebrush and grasses. We could look out as far as we could see, and it was pretty flat until it hit the mountains on all sides. The high desert has its beauty, but it can be monotonous driving through.

Now we are in Burns, Oregon where the temperature is supposed to get into the high 30's tonight. We did see some ice in the rain today. We were going to continue onto Winnemucca, Nevada today, until Mark looked at the map, and realized we had another 220 miles to go, with nothing in between but wide open spaces. We would have been cruising in there at 9:00 tonight, so we turned back to Burns and are going to wait for the morning to continue on.

No hiking today, but we did have fun with the drive.

Still driving east!