We’re all hooked up and ready to go, but first we wanted to take a walk around the park and down to the river. We got in too late last night to appreciate the park’s setting - right on a river with a sandy beach, walking distance to a very nicely restored downtown (and also to a large outlet mall). Of course there is the necessary train track, but here it crosses a bridge over the Sandy River and just adds to the ambience.We’re leaving too early to do any shopping or browsing, but enjoyed our walk in the most pristine park we have ever been in.
Our route today is the I-84, I-82, I-90 - all interstates, which sounds very boring, but surprisingly it was all scenic! We followed the Columbia River (the same one that the Revelstoke dam uses for power in BC) for a long way, It’s a large river, and we saw several barges being pushed by large tugboats making their way west. Along the way I spotted an 'historic road by-pass' sign showing a small loop - let's do it! No time to check the map, the turn was right there. So we annoyed 'Matilda' immensely and took what turned out to be historic, also narrow, twisty (that's an understatement - sharp hairpin curves would be more like it) for several miles until it joined the highway again. It was a lovely detour, and we were amazed at how many cyclists were going along this road). On the interstate for over 50 miles there is a stretch of wind mills - thousands of them - harnessing the gusts of wind the road signs warn us about. It is also a “chain-up” area. Huh? It’s where you put chains on your tires in the winter. I remember my Dad doing that when I was a kid, had forgotten about tire chains (winters south can do that).
We saw a couple more dams along the Columbia before turning further north from Oregon into Washington.
We are in the Cascade Mountains, and they look more or less like the suede hills of BC. Their covering, which should be lush green, is a sandy beige - all the hay/grass is extremely dry. In fact we heard on the weather that they were expecting thunderstorms in the afternoon around Mt. Hood and were concerned that the lightning might set off fires.
We didn’t see any rain - sunny and clear all the way - and hot! 95 degrees F.
Our destination tonight is the Spokane County Fairgrounds - apparently they have campsites. Well, they do, but we are the only ones here! But they have power (at 95 degrees we are putting on the air conditioning) and water and the price is good so we’re staying.
After another late supper we walked over to the horse ring and watched the end of a flag bearing practice - we’re definitely in horse country!
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