BEND OREGON

yeah... Bent in Bend.

Left the El Dorado Motel in Baker City on the eastern edge of the state around 11:30, after the perfunctory late checkout and greasy, diner breakfast. Chose Route 7 heading south then over to Route 20 west across the state... and, like so many states before, Oregon is looong. The map said 375 miles to Eugene, so I sent a message to my friends/hosts over there, saying that I'd take an extra night so's not to show up late at night burnt like a glazed potato. Overnight it in Bend.

Heading east in Oregon it got hotter... but I'd chosen a scenic route through the middle of  rather the state rather than big Highway... which turned out to be a great choice. But yeah, hot. Not nearly as bad as the South Dakota, with its 110-degree, Betty-Crocker Bake-Off, blast-furnace temperatures... but a steady 100 degrees nonetheless, enough to wilt yer lily.

Not much to report in terms of action or plot... stopped a few places for gas and water and the people were really honest and kindly... what I'd expected and have been experiencing out west. There seems to be much more timne for civility; if you walk past a stranger in a supermarket you should be prepared to get a smile and a curteous howdy-do. Nice. Takes a little more effort than out east, but nice.

Went past a lot of geological scenery... including three national parks. Here's the photos... do it yourself. I'm tired.

Now finally in Bend... found a cheapo motel.. a real Classic called the Cascade Motel...1950's traveler kitsch...Dad, Mom, and the Plymnouth Wagon pulling a Fred & Lucy trailer. Big pines overlooking a C-shaped, flat motel with a proper old-fashioned, concrete swimming pool in the middle, which I plopped right in and soaked for an hour. Then went out for bad Chinese food and drank $3 Pabst tall-boys in a little bar with a garage band that was short on talent but long on enthusiasm. Crosby Stills & Nash...Creedence.. etc.

I'm just waiting for my shadow to catch-up with me.... it's kind of difficult to know where I am with all this geographical change going past me... but good, good, good.

That's it; now I'm finally caught up.Hopefully this will get more literary as I progress... but I doubt it.
Goodbye.