The Adventure Nears Its End

Eastern Oregon is a mixture of desert and farmland.  Actually it is about 90% desert and 10% farmland. We rode through an area called Vale, Oregon which appeared to have pioneer risings given the names of some of the streets and the age of the buildings. The variety of smells from the crops were wonderful, but the only crop I could identify was corn.  We spent most of the day riding in high desert. For someone with a overly active mind, the chill in the air,  the aggressive  landscape, and the unchanging scene, was soothing and restful. At one point George had to take a "break" in a barren treeless area. He saw what looked like a fairly private area and started to pull off the road only to spot a person sitting down and leaning against a sign.  Now, we had hardly seen another vehicle or lizard in the past few hours so this came as somewhat of a surprise. The person had a sleeping bag pulled over his/her self and was reading a book.

We did see more farm area, the homes appeared to be a mile or two from one another.  There were no stores or gas stations or schools for at least 50 miles and I wondered what people did for education. We stopped for lunch at the nearest small town and were lucky to find a cute cafe.  I just read Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, and in it she talks about how Subway is everywhere, and that is the truth.  There may be nothing else in the town, no library, or theatre, or clothing store, but there is always a Subway.

We saw a few more farming areas where the sagebrush and rocks had been removed and the land had been prepared for crops. What an undertaking that must have been.  Where does all the water come from?

When we arrived in Bend our first visit was to the Harley store.  Great store.  Lots of merchandise.  We finally pulled into our hotel, unpacked, and went for a walk by the Deschutes River. We love Bend.

Paddle Boarders on the Deschutes River, OR

We finished our evening in Bend with a wonderful dinner at Greg's Grille, a lovely restaurant located on the Deschutes River.  There appeared to be a class of paddle boarders and groups of people drifted by our table as we ate. Amazing.

George waiting for dinner.

Tomorrow we will be with our great friend Carol in Medford, Oregon.  YEAH!

Jenson