More of Oregan

We found that Roseburg, being such a large centre, it was easier to book into our favorite town camp site, Wal-Mart although they had no overnight stay signs up, after asking permission we were given the ok. Probably one of the nicest car parks we have stayed in, lots of trees and greenery. Next morning more shopping, including buying gas, we bought this at Albertsons and got 20cents a gallon off, using our shopping card. Route 99 took us to the small town of Sutherlin. Another great find was another covered bridge on the 138 just out of Sutherlin called Rochester Bridge, and venturing further down the river we found a terrific spot to spend the night on BLM land. High up on a bank of the river while on the other side was a sheer mountain side and we were surrounded by trees, the only such area for many miles. The idyllic setting was soiled early next morning by a road worker setting out his warning flags for road works, once again, one up everyone up. Drove on though more fabulous scenery along the fast flowing river, stopped for breakfast at another river overlook. Had a leisurely three hour breakfast, however then it was time to move further upstream as the computer had run out of power. Absolutely stunning country. Our drive took us through Kellogg and Elkton, which has a terrific looking RV park on the river, the best we have seen! On to Drain for lunch where we found another covered bridge at the town park, it had water, and as a lot of local town parks have, and power points on most of the poles in the pavilion; the library also adjoined the park with wifi seemed like an ideal spot to spend the night. To the annoyance of a few of the local juveniles who seemed to want to make our stay uncomfortable, luckily the rain spoiled their fun We left next morning to drive to Scott and Jan’s home in Santa Clara, near Eugene. Another fabulous drive through heavily forested hills, very tropical looking in sections, and as usual avoiding the freeways as much as possible although we had to endure about five miles of it. Found a super Wal-Mart for breakfast, which turned out to be yet another tour of Wal-Mart as well! We then discovered the Beltline of Eugene, a road system which seems to loop around the city, we almost made it to Scott and Jan’s front door but the numbering system was a little hard to work out, they were hidden down the back of a cul-de-sac within a Cul-de-sac. We had to telephone them and Jan came to our rescue and directed us to their house. What a great couple, so much in common, Scott with his music collection of Brubeck to Baroque and more, DVD collection and the fastest internet that I have ever seen, also enjoyed great meals with them .My favorites was their special sweet containing the ingredients of Nutella and Marshmallows. Viewed Scott’s terrific audio visual of one of their canal boat trips in England. They took us on a tour of Eugene, which is the third largest city in Oregon and the home of the Oregon University. Most impressive is their library, three stories with rooms packed with not only books but computers, DVD’s music cds etc. We visited Hendricks Park with hundreds of rhododendrons on display, also the rose garden which was in full bloom, while downtown he took us to the Apple store and introduced me to the iPod touch, say no more! After three very busy days it was time to continue our adventures further afield. Once again the friendliness and hospitality of the Americans we have met has been overwhelming and we hope we can continue our friendship long after we leave and go home.
We decided to tour the Cascade area while we were in the vicinity, this took us along the McKenzie Valley following the McKenzie River. Visited a fish hatchery and saw the first of the Sturgeon fish, huge prehistoric looking fish although we were to see a larger one latter. Found another covered bridge, then detoured off to McKenzie Reservoir, this had a massive dam wall that we drove over. We then found a night spot in the national Forest.
Next we visited the Hoodoo ski area, most of which was closed for what looked like a car gymkhana, so continued towards the Big Lake, this was snowed out. Decided to have lunch there and took more photos of Mt Washington, snow capped with clouds resting on its peak, a great sight! Drove through Deschutes National Forest and called into a lake for afternoon tea, huge lake like we are used to seeing in the movies, pine tree lined and a resort built there, however still leaving enough space for public use, magic setting. Traffic was quite heavy both directions. Following Scotts suggestion we went and had a look at Minuet Springs (also called head of the river) water flows out of the ground, and within a few feet there is a large fast flowing river, amazing !!.From here you have a great view of the snow covered Mt Jefferson. Just out of Sisters we drove down a National Forrest developmental road and found yet another fantastic night spot amongst the pines. The following morning couldn’t sleep so got up about 6.30 and did some work on the newsletter. Drove on to Sisters, a well cared for town, with a western theme. While we were there, a full sized what looked like a bronze statue of a rearing horse on a trailer came down the main street, we watched it being installed at the eastern end of the town. Stayed overnight in the forest on the eastern side of the town. I plotted the GPS to take us directly to Safeway’s in Bend, this was the first time it failed to guide us correctly. (it has happened in the past but that had been our fault) I find addresses buy using the telephone number of where we want to go, then the GPS finds the address, unfortunately it directed us to a National Park, the other side of Bend, very nice, but not exactly where we wanted to be. We had lunch there and then made our way back, this time I searched by name and was directed correctly. While we were doing our shopping, it began to rain, by the time we returned to our van the rain had turned to hail, hail like we have never experienced, it was so hard and noisy on our metal roof. You would think that it was snow if not for the noise, it packed up on the surrounding roofs and slid off in great sheets, the locals said there was three inches in an hour. Cars were making furrows at least as deep as their tyres. The weather didn’t look as though it would improve in the near future, so we decided to stay the night in the car park. Starbucks was adjoining and we were able to watch some streaming TV episodes by using their WIFI, got to love this country!!!!

Oregan

We finally made it in to Oregon, our entry was along the 199 highway, a very scenic drive through pine lined roads and lush green everywhere. Our first stop was Cave Junction, this gave us the opportunity to find a laundromat and catch up with the washing, a great laundromat which had free wifi!. Our overnight spot was on BLM land right on the Illinois River. It was such a beautiful spot we decided to stay two days. With so much water and fairly easy to get, we gave the van a wash and Michele did all her hand washing. The water in the buckets was so clear you would have thought that it had come from a city water supply. Grants Pass was our next destination, one the largest centres we had seen in a while, so did a bit of shopping then drove on the 238. This is one of the many scenic drives in Oregon and it took us through the Appleyard Valley, with an overnight stay at the Appleyard Dam. Fantastic setting with snow covered peaks as a background. We were woken early next morning by a school bus as the driver left his motor running, probably figured that if he was up, everyone else should be also. After breakfast on the drive back to the highway we came across our first Oregon covered Bridge. This one was built in 1917; there were more than 300 covered bridges in the 1930, now there are only about 50 of them left. They are very unique for us as we do not have these types of structures in Australia. Next we visited Jacksonville, a wonderfully preserved town in which most of the buildings were built in the 1850’s, old red brick, two storey structures. We were informed that they have used the town as it is, for a period movie sets, just bring in some soil to cover the roads, a really nice town. After lunch we drove along the 62(scenic road) to White City and then Prospect. This is a beautiful drive through mountains and pines and magnificent waterfalls along the way. For our morning constitutional we walked the trail between two waterfalls and the raging river connecting them. Crater Lake was an exceptional sight, although only one mile of the 32 mile rim drive was open, the views across the bluest of blue water with the snow on the mountains behind was magnificent. The snow that had been cleared around the resort buildings was at least 2 meters high in places. The snow through the pines on the drive in and out was also quite thick, it was a highlight of the drive through the alpine region; we stayed here all day until about 4.00, and then found a great place to park overnight in the National Forest on the way out.Next day we made our way from the 62 and onto the 230, many National Forest campsites along the way, we had morning tea at Rogue Gorge. I think the name says it all, complete with fabulous and continuous waterfalls. Lunch at Diamond Lake, a huge recreational lake with at least 30 boats on the water and with a 8363 foot snow covered mountain as a backdrop, made for another postcard setting. The drive continued with several waterfalls along the way including Clearwater, Whitehorse and Watsons Falls which involved a reasonable hike up the hill, but the reward was a spectacular 272 waterfall (one of the tallest in Oregon). We spent the night in the Toketee Falls campground, which was massive, and only had a couple of other people camped there. Up bright and early for an early start, left at 2.45 pm. We weren’t able to walk to these falls as the trail was damaged in 2006 and has not been repaired yet. Called in to many more campsites along the river to look at and watch the river race by, some of these campsites I think would be difficult to sleep at due to the noise of the wild river rushing down the gully which of course made a wonderful setting. We were lucky enough to come across another top place to park over night in the Forest before discovering the Fall Creek Falls the next morning. The walk to the falls was two miles return, it was a great walk through thick forests and along the river, at times fairly steep going, on the way you have to pass through a narrow slot of volcanic rock probably 100ft long. At the top a small fall drops into a larger fall. We had lunch at Colliding Rivers and watched the rivers merge at great speed. We then drove towards Peel to see another covered bridge. The signage leaves a bit to be desired, however we eventually found it and then made our way to Roseberg via Dixonville, we now had left the amazing country and entered suburbia.