Turning East - On The Oregon Trail

After making a stop at the local Safeway store to get some groceries and firewood, I headed over to Curtis Trailer to get the camper/trailer.  Wheel bearings were repacked and the brakes were fine (over 75% they said) so, I headed for I-84E and through the Columbia River Gorge on my way to western Colorado where I planned to visit cousin Don in Delta, CO and cousin Richard in Canon City, CO.  Since I had a week before the end of June, it seemed I could do these visits before heading into Denver where my brother, his wife and their son and daughter were.  Aunt Alta and cousin Gene there too - Aunt Alta being the most important since she would be turning 99 in August and winter not far away.

"Multnomah Falls"

The drive through the gorge was scenic and the Columbia River was impressive in its size and flow (miles across in places) -- made me think of the huge quantities of Salmon that each year had to run up this river and the Snake River further to the east -- wishing I could catch but one of these monsters to feed me for the rest of my trip to Colorado.  There were a few dams and power plants along the river and large wind farms on the Washington State side of the gorge.  At the eastern end of the gorge, the road peeled away to the southeast and into the high desert of eastern Oregon, southwest Idaho and Utah.

One brief stop - stunning too.

Had hoped to come across a vista of Mt. Hood somewhere along the gorge but, nothing came into view and time was getting a bit more compressed now -- not a problem but still would have been nice to get a closer glimpse of this peak to my south.  Did later see signs for the road to the mountain but, this would have put me on some smaller state roads through the mountains and the steepness of some I had passed made me think to stick to the interstate.

Well, I nearly made it out of Oregon but, after another day of driving, decided to stop in the town of Ontario, OR just at the border of Idaho -- short hop into Utah from there.  Stayed in a Colonial Inn and while checking in, the clerk was distracted by a young man who apparently had arrived out front earlier after catching a ride with an 18 wheeler.  Now, he was trying to consolidate his belongings into overloaded trash bags (clerk may have provided the bags) and he came seeking directions/cost to the local bus station -- ultimately he hoped to get to Walla Walla, WA.

The motel had some typical long spaces for 18 wheelers so, I left the trailer hitched to the Jeep and parked in one of those spaces and hauled some things to my room on the opposite side of the motel.  Then, I walked across the street to a "Country Kitchen" hoping for some home-style cooked food -- a tasty and satisfying meal after some time on The Oregon Trail.  The motel was a bit rustic and appeared to be under renovation in some sections but, under $50 for the night seemed like a good deal -- indoor pool near my room was appealling to some, though not to me.  Time to plot out the next days drive to Grand Junction, CO.