The other side of Oregon

[pdedse]

I live near Portland...the great Northwet...drippy rain 7 months of the year with grey skies and green forests, mild temps...

On the other side of Oregon, east of the Cascades, it's another story.

Headed out yesterday morning at 10am to "avoid the heat" of Gresham. I had been with extended family the last 7 weeks straight, and it was time to get away...

Checked out Le Page park where the John Day River flows into the Columbia. Temps were in the low 90s by noon.



Headed east along I-84, hugging the Columbia River to Arlington, about two hours away.



Marina at Arlington


After lunch, it was time to head inland, following hiway 19 south.
Just south of Arlington, came across the aftermath of a brush fire caused by one of the wind turbines that burned over 2000 acres on August 2.

[url=http://www.kptv.com/story/38803146/wind-turbine-caught-on-fire-in-arlington]News report

[pdedse]

Lots of wheat being harvested. Dust from that and forest fire smoke plus hot temps changed a normally beautiful blue sky to a non-descript grey-ish white haze.

Maybe a future "photo of the month" idea: cb1100 in front of machinery with tires taller than the cb itself.


Mile after mile of golden wheat. I don't know how it all gets harvested.






Every so often a green, irrigated valley...




Made it to Condon, temps hit 100...lots of water breaks. I had thought I'd do one circle route and then head home, but with the heat, decided to ride just half an hour more to Fossil, Or, and looked for lodging.

[pdedse]

Fossil, Oregon... find someplace to stay: ok, one not very nice motel with a/c maybe not working at $55, or a BnB at $76, the Hyatt House. I chose the latter...


Chris is the owner and the house is immense. He said he and his wife moved to Fossil over three years ago, bought the house, renovated it and now as a B&B and his wife's part-time job they do good enough. I asked him if he missed Portland at all and he said not a bit.

If it were me I might miss having an open restaurant to go to. Maybe it was just bad luck, but all 3 restaurants the town has were closed for the day. Supermarket was open till 7pm so that and microwave made for dinner. But the Hyatt House was nice.


Comfy room with terrace overlooking the street.




Kind of warm, but once the sun went down, open the windows and with floor fan, it was nice. I love central Oregon, so different than the wet side.



This morning, had breakfast at the same time Chris and his wife were having theirs, a bit of conversation. Nice folks. Had it been me, I might have opted to start up a B&B in a bit more lively town, but I like what they did with the house.

Had to decide what to do for the day's ride. I wanted to see the Painted Desert which I passed by a few years back on another ride, but didn't have the time to take it in.

Headed south on 19 and right outside of town, ran into a flock of wild turkeys, about 15 altogether.



Temps were supposed to rise to 106 in this area and already at 9:30am the morning coolness had vanished.

[Cormanus]

As always, nice report and pictures, pdedse.

[emptysea]

Great report. Looks like my kind of ride.

[pdedse]

Thanks for the comments, Emptysea, Cormanus.

After the turkey encounter, my ride continued for a mere 10 miles before I had to stop. Some type of flying critters were nailing my helmet, jacket, gloves...about every 3-4 seconds. My mc jacket was open at the neck to let the air pass and a couple of the critters got in and down my shirt...and they bit, or stung...not sure which. Just before the trip on a short ride I had a bee smack me in the neck and he managed to sting me at the same time, now I got two more on the back and arm. Had to pull over, remove jacket and t-shirt and shake things out...which meant another photo opp:







The forest fire haze dulls the colors some. The above photos are south of Fossil on hiway 19 before the tiny town of Spray. The John Day River meanders about to the right of the road, providing water for the agricultural area.





It would be my dream to own a farm house out here, miles from any big city. So much good riding readily available. My wife...not so enamored with the idea. I don't think my answer of "wait for me to return" satisfied her question of "what am I supposed to do while you're out an' about on your motorscooter?" No, she does not ride; no she will not ride with me.




Hiway 19 continues winding its way south by southeast through Kimberly, and then straight south towards the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. At this point I turned back west on hiway 26 to head towards the Painted Desert area.



But if you're ever in this neck of the desert, be sure to head east on 26 towards the town of Dayville and all the way to the city of John Day itself. I rode that about 7 years ago and it's just an awesome ride with twistys, small canyons, gorgeous views:



From the turn on to hiway 26--my farthest away point--it was 35 some miles to Mitchell...out here, if I've already got 60-70 miles on a tank, it's time to fill up because it's easy to get caught on long stretches of road with no facilities in sight. Mitchell actually had two gas pumps--can't really call them stations.



Took an apple and water break at the city park...gas station attendant said it was already over 100 degrees and that the day before they hit 113, what's that, 45c? I thought it best to get going and see the Painted hills before they melted.

[tnelson99_imp]

One of my all time favorite roads out there is Hwy 218 from Antelope to Shaniko. I picked up the Butler MC Map for Oregon and there's about 10 of the best roads in Oregon are in that area. I love it out there.

[cooldrum_imp]

pdedse, thanks for posting those pics. I've only been as far as Bend and Madras. Now, I know what to look forward to in that direction.

[pdedse]

One of my all time favorite roads out there is Hwy 218 from Antelope to Shaniko. I picked up the Butler MC Map for Oregon and there's about 10 of the best roads in Oregon are in that area. I love it out there.

well, geewillikers...that was my other route possibility heading out of Fossil, and then after the Painted Desert, my time was dwindling a bit and so I chose to take 26 all the way back to Gresham. Next time, the 218 it is!

pdedse, thanks for posting those pics. I've only been as far as Bend and Madras. Now, I know what to look forward to in that direction.

East out of Bend on Hiway 20 towards is Burns is nice and lonely, you have to like your own company. I want to make out to the Snake River area some day, but probably on the KLR650 instead of the CB1100.

[use2b_imp]

Great photo's and read. and really special when you can enlarge them to see detail.
the old house or barn in the wheat field would be a fun hang out to stay the night and watch children of the corn .....