On To Chehalis

We continued our trip this morning on I-84 driving down the Columbia Gorge. It was a misty morning -- and our windshield is very dirty! -- but the springtime greens in the Gorge were beautiful.

I always get a kick out of these "haystack" rocks --

We eventually turned north on I-205 which led us to I-5. The drive north is always very pretty with lots of rivers and bridges to cross.

At Exit 71 we turned off to Chehalis RV Park, which is listed in our books as an Encore Park. I began to get suspicious when all of the signs started saying Thousand Trails. These are my very least favorite parks. They are generally quite large and sprawling and they DO NOT assign campsites! You have to drive around until you find an unoccupied one. Then you get yourself parked and then you let the gate people know your site number.

We wanted a pull-through site as we did not want to unhitch, plus we want an early start tomorrow. The gate guard showed me a couple of possible sites on the map. The roads are narrow and poorly marked, but we did find one way up at the far end of the park.

We had gotten a message from the Park Manager before we arrived, saying that he'd like to visit with us about membership... Sure enough, long about four o'clock this fellow showed up, knocking at the door, anxious to tell us about their "Zone" membership!

On To Cascade Locks

I dinked around for some time this morning trying to get a decent picture of this Yellow-headed Blackbird!

He just did NOT want to have his picture taken!

This is the best snap I got. I guess if I'd crop it, it would be okay. It does show the bit of white on his wing coverts...

We woke up this morning well rested, and hooking up went easily and well. We were soon heading west again on Interstate 84 along the Columbia Gorge. The Gorge is known for its winds (think wind-surfing) and the windmill farms have taken full advantage of it.

The wind was enough that the Columbia River had white caps. Forry kept having to compensate for the crosswind gusts as he drove --

Unlike many of the river canyons we've seen as we traveled (think Salt River or Colorado River), you don't look down into the canyon at the river. The freeway (and the highway on the Washington side) is actually right alongside the river all the way through the Gorge. The Gorge is actually the passage the mighty Columbia has made through the Cascade Mountain Range.

As we were driving along these bluffs with their new spring grass, I spotted two Big Horn Sheep Rams on one of the rocks. They had huge spiral horns. I was so excited to see them, I scared Forry with my shriek of surprise. A few miles later, we both saw a group of ewes with their lambs grazing on one of the steep hillsides.

The Columbia is a busy transportation route. There are barges on the river, railroads between the freeway and the river, and lots of semis on the road.

This is John Day Dam, one of the many dams on the River that provide cheap electric power to the Northwest --

 

This one of the overpasses at Hood River that shows the salmon heading upstream --

One thing surprised me. I had thought that there was a pretty strong campaign going on to eradicate Scotch Broom (an "escaped" landscape plant that spreads widely and quickly -- and causes allergic reactions in many people). It doesn't look like it had been very successful!

We arrived at the KOA campground at Cascade Locks about three pm. The park is very shaded and between the trees and the mountains, there is NO satellite TV! With all the large conifers, it is also very dark. We had the lights on in Auntie Violet by four o'clock!

A Long COLD Night!

Because we had so much yet to do yesterday, we got a rather late start. Because we were pretty tired, we decided not to try to make it the whole way, but to stop at a rest area for the night. We're not real fond of driving in the dark. It was dark by 4:30 and VERY dark by five, so about 6:30 we pulled into the Rest Area at Memaloosa State Park on Interstate 84 in Oregon. These are the views we saw when it began to get light this morning --

 

The truck parking area was full most of the night and there were trucks parked along the other side of the highway --

It was an absolutely miserable night. The cold front that has been sweeping down the West Coast didn't neglect the Columbia Gorge. Even running the generator off and on every hour or so all night, we couldn't keep the temperature in the coach up. I ended up bundled up in a heavy coat, scarf and blankets and still got thoroughly chilled. Forry's a bit more hot-blooded, but he even admitted to being awfully cold!

The Gorge was beautiful this morning when we commenced our journey west. The Columbia River at sunrise was spectacular --

The Gorge was formed by the Columbia River's cut through the Cascade Mountains. The huge cliffs appeared quite eerie in the early morning light --

Daughter Dawn's house is right across the street from 91 School. We generally need to use the parking lot to maneuver the motorcoach as we back into Dawn and Todd's driveway. After talking it over this morning, we decided that since today was a school day and there would be lots of cars in the way, we would wait until tomorrow to move in.

There is a nice RV Park not very far away in Woodburn where we decided to spend today and tonight.I hadn't got much sleep last night, so we got set up and parked and I crawled into bed! Everyone at Daughter Dawn's had activities at school or church tonight, so we will plan on seeing them all in the morning.