On the Road: Eugene, Oregon to John Day, Oregon

I left Eugene late morning. Andree brought the kids to school and then ran. Steve was sleeping as he worked until 2 a.m. and I wanted to say goodbye before I left so I walked through Hendricks Park to the coffee shop.

Hendriks is a wonderful and large city park, about 75 acres, and 25% of it has hundreds of rhododendrons and an area of native plants; the remainder is native trees like Douglas Firs and Big-Leaf Maples. Some rhodies were already in full and glorious bloom and others had buds soon to open. I saw several Varied Thrushes working through some grass, just like Robins do. I spotted a RC Kinglet and even saw the tiny red slit on the head and then saw a chickadee which turned out to be a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, a bird I had never seen before! It was very windy and I think the presence of so many birds was partly a fall-out. Usually it is difficult to even see birds here because there is so much cover, and the trees are gigantic, but earlier I had seen Song Sparrows (darker and rustier than those I see in Michigan), many twitchy Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Black-capped Chickadees.

Small branches were littering the ground from the srong wind, which Steve said was not that common.

Andree called to say an oil truck had overturned four miles west of Oakridge and that major road across the Cascades was closed, but I hadn't planned on that route anyway. There isn't a whole lot of choice going east. Steve and I looked at a web cam of the McKenzie River route and I almost decided to just take the interstate to Portland and go along hte Columbia River as there was some snow at the higher elevaton near the pass. But, then I just decided to go for it since I really did not want to go north at that point.

Mostly, it was OK, although the roads definitely did get snow-covered and "chains or traction tires" were advised. I drove very conservatively and was glad to get to Sisters.

From there, I headed east-northeast through high desert country, much of it rugged and scenic, with a few widely-spaced small towns, ranches, massive rock formations, winding roads and national forests. The skies were grey and the wind continued blowing tumbleweeds across the road.

I got to the mid-Oregon town of John Day while it was still light and had horrid nachos in a restaurant across the street from the marginal motel. I only ate a bit of them, took the rest to the motel and left it there the next morning. There was only one other gentleman in the restaurant, also eating by himself. And no wine....