The Oregon Trail – More or Less

Despite my criticism of developers that extends equally to both software and hardware (ask me about our damn shampoo bottle that has obviously never been tried by the manufacturer when wet), I am thankful that the development of cell phones wasn’t trashed as a bad idea.  We all know our phones are mostly just cameras that fit in our pockets.  If it weren’t for the hundreds of pictures, time stamped and labeled by location, I might not be able to write much.  Maybe that would be good, but since I have them I will search the brain for a narrative that puts them into context and talk about a few.

I’ll start with this one: 

The subject is obvious to me, but in case it’s too mind blowing to understand, this is a closeup of pants while driving.  Apparently I’m trying to get this just right as it’s a common theme in my library.  Totally nailed it this time!

On our trip from Wyoming to Washington State, I realized we were probably driving over the footsteps of Lewis and Clark as they made their way Westward.  Many times throughout our journey I’ve reflected on how we take travel for granted now, and how difficult it was in the early years of our country.  A good friend of mine gave me a book about Alexander von Humboldt who began studying human impact on nature before anyone had a clue that there was such a thing.  This guy walked through parts of South America in the early 1800’s, climbing most of the mountains he came across, sometimes with no shoes because they were worn out!  It’s hard to compare this to our past year of driving major highways across the country in a pretty luxurious manor, and our shoes are still in good shape.  And I complain when we hit a bump.  Whereas I prefer our mode of travel, I think of these explorers with admiration and enjoy hearing their stories.

On to the trail … 

Rock Springs Wyoming

There isn’t a lot to tell about here in terms of the landscape.  It’s a town in the middle of nowhere but just happens to be a fairly central location in the US with a huge meeting facility that hosted the rally I spoke about.  For us, one of the highlights of the rally had nothing to do with motorhomes. It was a band called AbbaFab – an Abba tribute band that did a good job of bringing back those childhood memories, especially for Tami who used to go to the mall and watch Abba videos in the record store all day.  We also did learn some things about our motorhome and didn’t buy a new one. 

The roads to and from Rock Springs were more interesting though, at least the Utah parts.  From the time we left the greater Salt Lake City area heading East, we drove through picturesque canyons with a river along side.  We did part of this trip again this fall to avoid the traffic in Salt Lake City, and some of the hillsides were cloaked in red as leaves changed color.

Utah – Heber City / Park City

Southwest of Rock Springs is a little town called Heber City in Utah.  It’s surrounded by mountains and two large reservoirs that are popular to all kinds of watersports.  It gets pretty windy here too and kiteboarders were satisfying their need for speed.  (Still on my bucket list).  Just north of Heber City is Park City (not sure why they put the City on the end of the names here).  Like we used to live in Bellingham City, and now we’re moving to Fountain Hills City?  Then again, Park just sounds funny on it’s own. Anyway – Park City is a famous ski town with tons of shops to browse if you just want to do the touristy thing in the summer.  High West Distillery has an outlet there with a small still, and we stopped in for lunch and a craft cocktail.  We bought some local chocolate here as well, bourbon barrel aged at that, mixing our favorite bourbon and chocolate flavors in one mouthful.  

From the map, it looks like Lewis and Clark probably followed Highway 84 up through Idaho and at least the eastern corner of Oregon.  The road isn’t too bad and I think they should have just driven it, but it does get boring with all of the fields of green (and brown). So I suppose the pedestrian route was more interesting.

North of the Trail

In Washington State we parted ways with our early explorers. We traveled Highway 2 a couple times as we visited Bellingham, then took that quick trip to Missoula Montana to not buy a new motorhome.  On our first trip over the pass in June, waters were raging from snow melt in the Wenatchee River on the East and the Skykomish on the West side.  We’ve never seen those rivers so high!  On our next time over the pass in July, water levels were back to normal, and then unfortunately we didn’t get to take that route on our way out of WA because the pass was closed.  The Bolt Creek fire started a couple days before we were due to leave in September and has closed the pass most of the time since then.  The fire is still burning now and reports are saying that Steven’s Pass probably won’t be fully open until sometime this winter.

After our last time over though, I wasn’t anxious to take Highway 2 again anyway.  Murphy’s law was being applied in a tour de force to remind us that the rules of the universe hold the upper hand. By the time we were over the pass I thought we were lucky to be on the other side in one piece.  Every time we came to a narrow bridge or tunnel (one such tunnel isn’t much taller than our motorhome so I tend to stay away from the edge), another large vehicle was coming the other way.  On a small bridge, it was an oversized truck that we must have only barely skirted by. 

Then at one point someone had lost a large piece of metal in the road on the other side, just around a blind curve where people were doing 60+ mph.  Shortly after we saw the hazard there were ambulances heading up the pass so I think we can imagine the outcome.  I know we would not have been able to stop if it was in our lane and it could have been catastrophic, so we’re thankful and hope there weren’t serious injuries.

On the east side of Steven’s pass is a place we stayed several times over the summer.  Growing up in WA I’m a little embarrassed to say that I had never heard of it, but friends camp there each year and give it rave reviews so we decided to check it out.  Crescent Bar is a lovely little spit on the Columbia river, surrounded by high cliffs on both sides.  A steep, curvy little road descends down to the community that has developed on the bar, which includes the RV park with attached small golf course.  On one visit, friends motored us up the river ‘on the pontoon’. We stopped where a monument has been built with the few remaining pieces of a Whidbey Island military jet that crashed into the bank back in 1991.  I’d give Crescent Bar a 10 out of 10 on the campground scale, if it weren’t for the mosquitos. Especially for Tami, who apparently has a blood type that those little biters can’t resist, it becomes an itchy issue (3 x fast).

In September we left WA and roughly picked up the trail again with Lewis & Clark. I keep those early travelers in mind and think of their struggles – hard to imagine doing it without an engine!  It was an arduous journey, but the rewards of discovery kept them going I suppose.  Our country has some of the most amazing landscapes imaginable.  And whereas we love having the comforts of home along on our journey, I think the untamed wilderness had it’s advantages.  For one, those guys didn’t have to listen to the endless barrage of ridiculous election ads that convince nobody of anything.  Sometimes we long for the good ol’ days with warn out shoes …

-G & T