Traveling to Pendleton,OR

Thursday, August 3, 2017

We left the heat of Yakima for the excessive heat in Pendleton.  As you saw in a previous blog, we had a nice shady RV site on grass at the Elks Lodge that overlooked the driving range of the golf course there.  The smoke we have experienced the past couple of days is still with us and it seems is heavier than previous days.  We heard there is a fire in Bend, OR as well as in Canada.

Today we venture southward down the scenic Highway 97 which we took most of the way through Oregon on our way northward.  This is a two lane highway that winds through mountains, etc. on its way through Oregon and Washington.  Today we continue to travel through mountains that remind us of the golden hills of California and the prairies of Idaho we saw last summer. 

We arrive at the Columbia River again 

and drive along it on I-84 for a long distance enjoying views of the very placid river with an occasional view of a barge traveling west down the river, a railroad bridge and the John Day Dam.   The only bad part of our trip is the very heavy smoke in the air obscuring our views.

We have a significant wait at the Pilot station just after crossing the River into Oregon.  It takes  us 45 minutes to get our fuel.  I think every trucker traveling Highway 97 and I-84 decided to stop for gas at this station.  Usually we don’t have to wait long as the pumps do go quite fast. 

Arriving in Pendleton, we find the temperature to be 100 degrees and our campsite in the open without any shade (of course) and unfortunately, only 30 amp service here.  For those not RVer’s that means we can only run one air conditioner rather than two.  I had no idea it was going to be this hot here and we are here for a week  Guess we will spend most of our time in the car or buildings rather than in the RV or sitting outside as we did in Yakima.  Not much chance of meeting other RVers when you are gone or in the RV.  I would guess that most of the RVers here at this campground will spend their time in the Casino since it is a Casino Resort.  We will probably venture inside tomorrow to check it out but not being gamblers, we have no intention of spending much time there. 

One of the things I really want to do here is tour the Pendleton Wool factory.  We will go to the Visitor Center tomorrow and see what there is to see here so stay tuned.