I was awake before anyone else, so I grabbed a cup of coffee to watch Spokane wake up. It was very peaceful sitting on Keith's deck watching the sky begin to get light.
Soon enough, we had to pack up and head out after a quick breakfast. It was great to meet Keith and also great to be back on the road on another cool morning.
We started out on the Interstate for a while. Traffic wasn't too bad, especially once we got a short way away from Spokane. Traveling south, the area was quite pretty. We got off on US395, which I thought was going to be a 2-lane road, but it ended up being another four lane divided highway. This was fine as we were able to make great time. Four years ago when we went through Washington, I remember verdant valleys filled with crops. This part of Washington was bone dry, with what appeared to be only wheat and hay crops when the arid landscape wasn't sagebrush and rocks. Early on, there were some picturesque lakes though.
We got to the Columbia River at the Oregon/Washington border. The GPS wanted to put us on I-84, but I chose WA14 north of the river instead. This was a good choice as there was almost no traffic and the speeds were comparable. The scenery early on was flat and barren, as the road followed loosely along the Columbia River.
There were patches of what looked fruit trees and grape vines and occasional signs for vineyards. These contrasted to the overall dry landscape. I was surprised there wasn't more in the way of towns since the area was picturesque, with a good water source.
Farther on down WA14, the elevation rose as the Columbia River Gorge began to take shape. Here, WA14 hugged the river.
I-84 could be seen south of the river in spots. Likely the scenery was pretty there too, but there was definitely more traffic south of the river.
We saw a sign for "Stone Henge" and pulled in to have a look. It was a concrete recreation of the actual Stone Henge, originally constructed as a memorial to WWI. I'm really not sure why the choice was made to make a Stone Henge replica as a WWI memorial, but I'll assume there was some kind of logic behind it.
From Stone Henge, the US97 bridge over the Columbia River could be seen.
In the background, Mount Hood loomed over everything.
Back on the road, the intersection of I-84 and US97 was a zoo. And they were doing chip seal construction at the same time. I started to head south on US97, only to see a very scary sign.
I might have been able to make it, maybe, possibly... But I chose to commit the cardinal sin of turning around in a construction zone to go back to the zoo and get gas. Farther down US97, there were gas pumps, but it was definitely ambiguous if they were still active.
Headed back south again, the chip seal was the loosest, gooiest I've ever seen. I was afraid that we'd end up in a long convoy of slow vehicles once out of the active construction zone, but the mayhem straightened itself out soon enough.
We made good time heading south; there wasn't much there. This part of Oregon is mostly desert, with only a few small towns. We tried to stop to get something to eat in one of the towns, but there wasn't anything there.
We ended up stopping in Madras for lunch. Madras sounds Indian (subcontinent), but we ate 'merican at the Black Bear Diner. Lunch was winding down so we were almost alone there. The food was quite good.
From Madras down to Bend was bonkers with traffic. After Bend, things got a little better, but US97 is quite obviously a main north south thoroughfare in this area.
We got down to Chemult and decided to stop for the day. This is a close as we can get to Crater Lake, and we'd rather do that first thing in the morning when it is quieter.
Dinner was just down the road from the hotel - it was adequate at best. The Zingers back in the hotel room were a good way to end the day.
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