Not much to say today, folks. I’m a little worded out after yesterday’s outburst, and my travels weren’t especially interesting or notable. I’ll give it my best.
I cut through the heart of Oregon, passing Bend and La Pine and continuing into “the Oregon Outback” to the southeast. It turns out that deserts are everywhere in the States; they sneak up on you when you least expect it. This one is filled with stray pine forests, plenty of shrubs and sagebrush, and the occasional intermittent lake—which were, due to their intermittency, completely dry when I passed them. The bonkers EcoZone map I linked a while ago calls this the “Northern Basin and Range”. I would call it dusty.
Towns are the rarest commodity out here; in about three hours of desert driving, I probably drove through six small communities. The last of these was Lakewood, fifteen minutes from the border and half an hour from extinction. I searched for a decent place to have dinner, but even on a Saturday at six, every restaurant was closed. Except for Subway. Even on my debaucherous pleasure jaunt, I still have standards. A canned dinner for me tonight.
California announced itself with a large, pastel sign. The desert did not change until I drove three miles to the east, where the trees quickly thickened. I walked for half an hour in the ponderosa forest, which is so much more spacious than its Olympian cousin. The sunset was beautiful.
“Well, lots of folks back east they say
movin’ west most every day —
Beatin’ their hot old dusty way to the California land.
Across them desert sands they roll —
Cruisin’ out of that old dust bowl
They think they’re headed for a sugar bowl
But here’s what they find:
All the police at the port of entry say:
You’re number 14,000 for today!
Well, if you ain’t got the dough-re-me, boys —
If you ain’t got the dough-re-me,
Better go back to beautiful Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee!
California is a garden of Eden —
It’s a paradise to live in or to see —
But, believe it or not,
You won’t find it so hot
If you ain’t got that dough-re-me!” — Woody Guthrie
Modoc National Forest looks like a good place for a hike. I’m wondering if those are a lot of rocks in the picture foreground and if they are, if they are perhaps part of a lava bed. Glad you got a bit of a hike there and enjoyed it. The town of Lakewood sounds like it is more out in the boonies than our town of Lakeville. We at least have a couple of pizza places. When one is closed the other is usually open. I think you will find that when you get on the western side of the mountains that the scenery will be much greener. That has been my experience with CA. It was nice and green in Yosemite Valley and then we drove over to the eastern side of the mountains and it was all high desert. The rain just doesn’t get past the mountains going east. Such interesting geography everywhere in this country. Love, Grandma