(items are in order, making the list first from the road logs...and later will expand)
Up about 7am, got ready for the day. Had tossed and turned all night. Got maybe 5-1/2 hours of sleep. It was pretty cold at night. My feet had felt like they were just freezing cold. Had tried bare feet sleeping...that sometimes helps, but socked was better. And not being able to stretch out didn't help either.
Got a Rockstar and some chicken jerky. Thanked the manager for letting me sleep behind her store.
744am - Off to see Stayton.
There it is again....Firearms and Ammo at Ace Hardware.
The Power Canal runs through Stayton downtown....pretty high...any higher and it would flood town. The house in the picture is known by townspeople as "The Castle".
Stayton isn't quite that run down as Amity was....but it is pretty close to zombie practice runs for a movie....at least in the early morning. It is kinda abandoned looking.
Lots of late 1800's homes....pretty well kept and some a bit rough. Homes likely built in the 80s 90s are around town....east and to the northwest. Quite the variety for such a small town. However, Sublimity (was there the night before) on the other side of the freeway is more up to date...but it's sterile, not particularly inviting....more a Stepford Wives kind of place.
Lots of big yards. Like that.
People living here probably work in Salem.
Seems like a very nice place to live. A get-to-know-your-neighbor kind of place. It's about 10 miles to Salem...and I suspect not far from the Cascades.
Looks to be two power canals running through town.
Jet Auto Repair....
The Brown House....victorian-style, detailed, hand carved trim, pure pride.
The Holm Building....business, attorneys, well-preserved, tall corner roofs multi-faceted with upper round windows. All white. Wrap around deck.
There's the Bird & Hat Inn....with that Amity scary kind of roof....tall steep triangular to one side slope down.
I like it here. The energy here is really good. Makes me want to stay....at least return. It's a sustainable town. It's a 'come walk with me and feel me' kind of place.
All the basics, Safeway, etc. A livable place.
Has a park and ride.
On to going east on 22 now.
Grass knoll rolling hills north along the freeway.....love that.
On my way to Mill City.
There are farms and vineyards here mixed in these foothills.
Came across two big power grid lines by Towers Road.
391 miles.
I do like this area along this east of Salem highway 22 as I had east into the Cascades.
It's a lot like Whatcom County toward Nugent's corner.
If you plan on throwing burning material about....about 8 miles before getting to Mill City....it'll cost you $500....which beats throwing out stuff that isn't burning that can cost you as high as $6250. So do the smart thing...if you gotta litter...set it on fire.
Really climbing up hill now.
Entered Santiam National Park now. The river here is quite wide....same one that runs down past Stayton. I bet it's good fly fishing here. It reminds me of the Nooksack River in Whatcom County up in northern Washington east of Bellingham.
842am - got to Mill City. Tiny stopping place....went to it's city center.
Here you find two bridges across the river....one at 12 o'clock, the other at 2 o'clock (this one is the historical RR bridge.....with sign: Save Our Bridge: ci.mill-city.or.us).
Nice gal who smiled at me at the Canyon Life Museum....she was working there outside moving stuff around...tall, earthy, Colorado like gal....the gal you hike with who loves the sunsets high in the mountains, wearing hiking boots, dark colors....I'd like to see her again.
Interesting place this Mill City. The school area....in front...it's closed off during the day of school. I like that. School here is k-12.
Quite a few living here.
It's a whole lot bigger than what you can see from 22.
Has a grocery store.
Took the 3.9 miles back road to Gates on Kingwood.
Sign: Low Flying Aircraft ...which is sort of hard to do with all these trees around.
Got to the Gates Bridge.
Back onto E22 about 903am
Chad's Green Houses on left side of road....'you will love it'...the sign says.
17 miles to Detroit, 78 to Sisters.
Stopped at the Maples Rest Area just a little east of Gates. I had originally planned to sleep here instead of ending up at Stayton....glad I didn't...too cold. Map sign here about westbound information....which is odd because the only way to get to this rest area is eastbound. Another Vern and Wilbur rest area maintenance event.
Must be about 45 degrees here....very cold...odd since that's not a temp that would be cold in Seattle.
You can get a Pepsi and a can of Pringles here ....there's a vending machine....."Wilbur...did you do this?"
Got to the lakes area further east. Big Cliff Lake (in the picture below) and later the dam. Must be about 100 feet across or so. Gorge kind of area...high cliffs on each side, wooded.
First snow zone sign showed up above the dam.
Above this area is the Detroit Dam and lake beyond that of the same name. Much higher...terraced water areas....Big Cliff Dam, then Big Cliff Lake, then Detroit Dam, then Detroit Lake.
Detroit Dam has a power station below it. I walked on the dam....a wee bit scary. You can drive across it. Saw a heavy loaded low bed logging truck cross it while I was on the dam. Power station produces 100 megawatts enough for 100,000 homes the sign says. Walked across the dam to the middle of it. It has several of those circular gate openings. About all I could think of was hearing one of those old WWII planes coming to drop a ball bomb to bust the dam while I was on it. I did not drive over this dam...tho could have.
944am
As I drove toward Detroit - the town....not a lot of water in the lake. Disappointing because I came this way to see the boats in Detroit....and there weren't any because the docks were laying on the ground. It looked like there hadn't been water up here for a long, long time. Totally dry boat harbor. Google map has shown boats here...darn.
Stumps all over the place.
It's a bit sad really.
Detroit State Park - by the town - no water here except a trickle.
But near the dam....water and spitting out of the gates.
I did drive around the area of Detroit tho...nice cottage homes...actually quite the log homes here and no doubt an area that if it had boats was a great place to vacation and fish and water ski. Most places in town are closed up due to the lack of water in the lake.
A few places to eat here. Wood housing. A little Tahoe-ish on a very, very small scale.
Log cabins...the kind you'd rather live in full time rather than for a visit.
"An old rooster and a cute chick lives here" sign on a house also marked as "Camp Wood"....lots more funny signs on it. Loved it! You can get a free idiot test here for $5. Another sign: "I'm Not Bossy....I Just Have Better Ideas".
There is a market here, a sheriff, lots of electric car hookups.
I'm guessing the water here didn't disappear from drought, but is drained as a flood control measure. (I did find out later that was exactly the issue)
Ok, onward...
79 miles to Bend.
Along the way the river is really running.
Blow Out Road.
Boulder Creek at Idanha (town).
It's a clear day here, but cold chilly air.
434 miles
I'm at 2,000 feet and climbing.
Lots of camping areas here.
Straight Creek Road curves after the bridge.
1041am at the 3,000 foot level now.
I'm in the lava rock area. The roadway goes right through a wide path of it.
It took in a tree leaving an old growth relic....I think still growing. Big trunk.
And another picture of that same lava bed that headed into the forest.
Got the the 126/22 turnoff - one part goes back west to Eugene. 1058am
Stayed on 22 which turns into 20E at this juncture.
The terrain really changes. Very ponderosa chapperell dry area, dry lakebeds, dry barren trees looks like caused by a fire. Turns out later that's the case from back in mid-2000 I think it was. Metolius area. Like bones left of the trees standing or the whiskers, silver and grey, of old man earth.
Going up hill fast to a Santiam Pass (in the picture below it's the cliff there you drive up to and around)....I was behind a cow truck leaking poop I think....through an area that had road work going on so we were all just crawling up this steep road. You can imagine what I was thinking if that truck's back door opens up.
After the pass....I see ski lifts to the right. That would be the Hoodoo Ski Area says the sign. Alps like rock in the distance...rugged and jagged.
Crossed over a Pacific Crest Trail Access area.
The rock I saw....tall tall mountain is like a Matterhorn rock ....turned out it was Mt. Washington...as a sign came up saying so.
Here's a closeup of Mt. Washington from the same location as in the picture above.
Big lake here to the right and down a bit from the roadway....it's Suttle Lake....it's a caldera. I went to see. Saw some old ladies cruising about on mountain bicycles geared up. Thought that would be my mom doing that.
So it turns out it was a fire through the area in 2003/4 timeframe....I remember hearing about it on the news then. It was started by two lightening bolts that hit a bunch of thinned trees. It cost $38 million to fight it.
The caldrea Suttle Lake area is a camp on that lake.....United Methodist Suttle Lake Camp. I didn't go see.
Back to 20.
To the right from me is Mt. Jefferson....very pointy triangular shape.
Elks sign next 24 miles.
Black Butte Ranch.
Camp Sherman.
All flat tree'd area.
Powder Cone with lookout on left.
Left side at milepost 92.
Skipped Black Butte Ranch. I was at 10 miles to Sisters now.
Still a lot of dry area here.
Came across a sign that depicts a guy and girl in silhouette.
2,035 population Sisters .... 1151am.
Sign: Welcome to Sisters... The West at it's Best. (go figure...on the eastside of the Cascades....I suppose it's west of everything else eastward, but it did seem odd)
Sisters is like driving into a new old western town. I asked around....it's always been like this....just updated, but no change in the design or the era theme. The picture below I had actually taken later in the day:
Near a grocery store is a video place with bars on the windows. It's called: "Outlaw Station".
There is, of course, the "Experienced Furniture" store....not just used...not anymore. I wonder if I can get some expert furniture there.
Unfortunately, Sisters Inn & Suites looks like it would be the local storage or inmate release facility....no match to the design of the rest of the town.
From Sisters you can see the Lower Sister, Middle Sister and the Upper Sister....each over 10,000-ft high.
There's a Bi-Mart here.
It seems I had driven into a kind of entry into the town....so more to come.
Sort of desolate here....dry, hot, but not sticky hot. Still high elevation. Sparse vegetation. Tall trees with virtually no lower limbs. Dry ground everywhere.
Buildings, fencing....it's earthy and artsy here with a old western town flair.
I could get used to this.
A very pretty town...the kind that says 'let's stay here awhile'. Books, bicycles, artwork, antiques, furniture, Ace Hardware....and the metal rustic animals...and that guy and girl again....
1220pm noon....ate at Sister's Coffee Shop. Had a roast beef wrap...very good! Also a quinoa salad parsley vinagreet and a big chocolate chip cookie...yum! Worked on the blog here. Cashier said the business here is always good. Nice pine wood cabin two story....looks like guests can stay in rooms upstairs. Bear, fish, deer, buck on wall....tall ceiling in the eating area.
People dress casual here....jeans, denim everywhere, laid back, refined looks tho, relaxed, happier, very Lyons Colorado like here. Like it.
Feeling a bit tired from all the driving and looking around at EVERYTHING. Need a nap.
Must be in the 80s outside.
People here are older. Not a lot of gals....perhaps it's the day.
Finished up writing in my blog about 130pm...eating too.
When to the big grocery store just outside of town....the way I had come in...talked to a meat guy at the Ray's Grocery Store...says he's lived here over twenty years. Both argue a bit about the population in early 2000. He liked the pop better when it was just 971. Thank goodness they got it right ....I'd be standing there a long time waiting.
I asked what the snow was like here....and one of them said 'when it's a good snow....' ----- I had heard starting lines this a lot on this side of the mountain....so I asked what a good snow is....and was told 'it's about 3 feet'. I had mentioned that in Colorado it snows and then the next day it's as if it was never there. They agreed it was like that here. They love it here. One lives in Terrebonne....drives here every day. So I looked that up later....it's 25 miles each way....mostly out in the middle of absolutely nowhere....for miles.
These two guys at the grocery store love it here....says the town core is about the same as it was years ago.....that they have really big festivals here. I'm thinking....did they shoot Blazing Saddles here? Am I gonna need a nickel to get to Bend?
"No plastic bags" says the girl at the U-scan checker area at the store....says some store in Oregon doesn't use them either....she just wasn't sure if Ray's, where she works, does this all the time. She says they use paper here 'cause it's stronger'. I wonder what the weather guy is like here....'gonna be high winds today....'cause that's not as harsh as still air'.
There's an industrial park here of various trades....'Hey Vern....let's put a building over here....call it Sister's Rolling Mill' ....'Nah Wilbur....let's put it over here instead'. That's the kind of park it is. No organization at all. I was driving around all over the place. I should sell signs here....most places in this park don't have them.
321pm ...cooling down.
Older people here looked dried up. Maybe they sell mid-life apple dolls here.
Love the houses here....reminds me of Lake Tahoe. Not that all the houses look like this, but I really do love these little houses and seeing how creative the owners get with them.
Used the single person public restroom here by the amphitheater park in town to wash up....it's on Main Street. Very clean....was able to body wash in there...so cool. Felt much better afterwards. It's open 6am-10pm till November. Has a combination lock on the outside door knob. I'm was thinking if I go in here....am I gonna be able to get out. It's across from the Cascade 24/7 workout place and behind the Shell gas station....the city planner obviously really thought this out.
424pm
Ok let's jump to 441pm (the things I write down in my trip log...ok then)....so I'm on my way up 242 to get to the Dee's Wright Observatory before it gets dark....thinking I can make it and still get back before the deer play car dodge games in the dark.
It does look difficult to hike the Sisters mountains....no a whole lot of water if any around them.
Ground cover in Sisters....the town ....is a lot like Estes Park.
Did see two rather nice busty gals here. Love that.
Along 242 the trees are clearly been thinned...this helps with fighting forest fires.
When I got closer to all the lava up here I started to take some pics. It's like a sea of lava around here. Apparently, the last eruption was some 13,000 years ago from the smallest mountains up here known now as the Belknap Crater....and it did all this...amazing, really it is.
Mt Washington is clearly a Matterhorn like mountain....some 7,795-feet high. Lots of rock up high. Took pictures of it a Windy Point. The first picture below is looking northeast from Windy Point. The faint tho very high mountain in about center left side of the picture is the majestic 10,495-foot high Mt. Jefferson.
This next picture is looking toward Mt. Washington from Windy Point.
The lava flow .....looking at where it stops just turns into this bunch of giant pebble boulder rocks. The road up to the Dee Wright Observatory is cut through the paths of the lava flow.
Got to the Summit McKenzie Pass....5325-feet high.
Finally, got to the Observatory. Pretty neat. Dome made of the lava here. Walked up the stairs to get to it. Took pics for a lady - for her and her husband - up there who also took a few pics of me with Mt. Washington in the background (which later I think I didn't keep - was with my camera, but didn't really look so good of me).
This is the Observatory there in top...made of the very lava rocks in that area. Each window is placed such that you can look at a specific mountain.
I'll say it again...really incredible the number of square miles of this lava flow up here. I've never seen anything like it. So worth it to have planned to come up here to see it.
Talked to a couple who took the long, long hike to Mt Belknap....that's where all this lava came from. I think they said it's like a nine mile hike.
Standing outside of the Observatory looking south are the North Sister (first mountain you see here) and beyond that the South Sister mountain. And that black car in the parking lot is my Scion xB.
A closer look at these two mountains.....
Talk to a guy and his girlfriend, who was visiting the Observatory, from Oklahoma on a 10-day trek. They had been on the Oregon Coast at Seaside and loved how beautiful it was. I mentioned that the whole of the west coast has got to be throwing him for a loop compared to Oklahoma to which he said he agree...not much in Oklahoma.
The Pacific Cress Trail runs right through this area. I gotta believe it would be hard to follow in all this lava rock.
603pm - left the Observatory and started back to Sisters.
Looks to be a lot of hiking trails right close to Sisters.
Got down to Sisters by 630pm before it got too dark. So a bit of light left.
There's a Les Schwab Tires here.
Town was pretty dead this time of the eve....so definitely a daytime town.
It's cooler, but not cold.
Melvin's Market Specialty Foods is here. Wasn't he on the David Letterman Show?
My plantar faciitus hurt a bit today in my left heel there under my foot. I think maybe too much sodium. It had been fine most of the way to Sisters.
Very nice blond with her guy...awesome green shirts and jeans.
Cowgirls and Indians Resale .....if you need one.
"The Place" is here.
646pm....going to Bend. Still some light left...but darkening. Thinking George Carlin ...'dark tonight with scattered light early in the morning.'
On 20 now.....21 miles to Bend. Driving out of Sisters....lots of farm land and nothing for miles. So a long drive.
Five Pine Lodge looks nice.
Saw some of those metal horses out in the fields.
Lots of FLAT here. It's kinda reminds me of the I-80 area of northeast of Sacramento, Calfornia or parts of very FLAT Colorado when I drove from the eastside into the Denver area back in my 2010 cross country trip from Roanoke, Virginia to Seattle, WA....dry, sparse trees, flat and desolate looking.
Some hills in the Tumalo area....so that's nice....just after Gerking Market Rd.
708pm....much darker now so not as much to see. Made it to Bend. Mileage to this point from Kenmore, WA is 537-miles.
Washed my windshield and back window....were they ever so dirty.
Apparently there is a downtown Mt. Bachelor. Check that out later.
B & D Glass is here. Break and Destroy? Bondage and Discipline?
Going to downtown area of Bend.
Apparently a movie "Eat Drink Man Woman" is showing here in Bend.
Now downtown....this looks fun....has a bit of nightlife here. I like it. The energy here is quite good for the evening. Ok, I really like it. Feels good here.
SE 3rd...drove that for a bit. Lots of stuff on this street....stores, eats, Fred Meyer, and more.
Stopped by a Chinese all you can eat place....got in a bit before closing, but it was decent. In fact, loved it.
Didn't find anywhere at Safeway to do some writing...no power and couldn't connect here.
Radio Shack and Blockbuster stores here.....I guess they didn't close all of them.
Laughing Planet Cafe is here.....where the fat lady just glares at you and then starts laughing. Beats singing.
Stopped at a McD's....the net is up here so stuck around here to write. For whatever reason my SD card reader won't recognize my SD card. So might have to buy a card reader to USB on Wednesday. I figure I must have taken the SD card out at Sister's Coffee in Sisters without doing the official unmount process. And I gotta be able to read an SD card since my pictures from my camera are on it. Did a powerwash to reset my Chromebook. Still can't read the SD card. Cleaned the pins inside with my tweezers and on the SD card...this worked. And I was able to use the unmount process. So it's cool...works now.
Drove through the Old Mill District....outdoor mall area....all pretty new. Certainly, was not here when I was here in '78 on the SJSU ski trip.
It was 1151pm...nothing open tho. At this time...most of Bend is vacant. These guys sleep early!
Wrote too at Shari's .....had a bit of dinner there. Waitress there says that Sisters and Bend are more retirement communities. At night is like Life After People around here....population ZERO.
Just a note - no pics for Monday October 12....mainly because I had been writing most of the day in McMinnville, had driven afterwards to Salem and then to Stayton at night.
End of this day's trip. Slept at a Walmart parking lot. Had crashed about 130am.
