I left Eugene late morning and drove over the mountains in gloomy, dismal, rainy weather. I took the Scenic Byway which had been closed three weeks earlier when I was heading west. Long vehicles are prohibited as the road is narrow with 200 curves. The nearly overwhelming flora dripped until I came into openness in the lava fields near the summit. There is also an observatory at the top although I have never stopped there.
The weather slowly cleared throughout the afternoon. I went through Sisters and Redmond and headed north to Maupin on the Deschutes river, so wishing the hawk I had seen last summer on a fence post just south of that little river town would be hanging around since, if it were, it would be a nice addition to my life list. This is my current nemesis bird - a ferruginous hawk - which I have been half-heartedly chasing for a year. It wasn't there but whateVer.
I took a new route north of Maupin, sometimes following the Deschutes and came upon an area of rushing white water with those fishing platforms, used by Native Americans, that look rickety and lean out over the falls. I then got on another precipitous road climbing out of the river valley. By the time I realize I'm going to have to traverse 5 to 10 miles of road with minimal shoulders and steep drop-offs, it's far too late to figure out alternatives. And, really, these roads aren't THAT bad and do have some protection in the form of intermittent guardrails but still are daunting to me. It doesn't happen often on the relatively main roads, but it was the second time on this particular trip that I hung onto the steering wheel and wondering how the locals who drive these roads all the time do it. Like in winter....with ice and snow.
As I neared the Columbia there were hundreds, if not thousands, of windmills, to the north and south, on both sides of the river. Every time I drive anywhere, but especially out west, I see more of these. Visually, for me, they have a silvery, spare beauty on the prairies and the high ridges along the river.
I got to the Columbia River late afternoon and the sun was out. I crossed at Biggs and drove on US14 (the road along the north side) to the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Richland and Pasco) and then northweast to Ritzville. There is a Best Western on the edge of this little town with rooms on the west look over the land which is treeless here, quite flat, with distant horizons. Treeless on a clear summer evening means a long lingering daylight, twilight and nightfall. My first room had a window looking directly (10 feet away) into a wall of the motel so I immediately asked to be switched and then had a fine view while I worked for several hours with the windows open. The sound of traffic on I94 was not intrusive...
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