Tuesday October 1, 2024
The title is really not accurate but I thought it sounded good for a travel blog. It should say Heading To Parts Known But Not Yet Explored but I like the other title better.
The Boys Are Not Happy On Travel Days
We picked up what was left to be stowed in the motorhome, hooked up the Subaru, then took the dogs for a walk. I had picked up the water hose and sewer hose last night so only had the power cord to store. We returned from out walk and piled into the RV and made our way out of the hatchery. We had a good time and felt that we had done a good job of performing our duties as hosts. Mike and Sue also left this morning but much earlier than we.
We jump on I-84 eastbound and drive about five miles. A trucker pulls up next to us but I can’t understand his concern. He continues on. Another trucker pulls up beside us and honks his horn. I look over and the trucker is pointing down. Uh Oh! We pull over in a large truck parking area. I get out and walk to the back seeing nothing out of the ordinary. As I begin to walk up the drivers side I see the problem. Some dummy did not stow the power cord and had drug it for 5 miles! The end was pretty beat up so I’ll have to find a new male plug, cut the cord back to an unaffected area and mate a new plug to it. Now to find a plug.
The Dalles (15,922 souls) is the largest city besides Portland that is located on the Columbia River. Some store there is going to have the 50 amp male plug We inquire by phone at one place. Nope! Stop at another in The Dalles. Nope! Boy, things aren’t looking good. Jil says “Hey, there’s an Ace Hardware store”. I goes in and there on the wall in the RV section is the plug I need which is selling at 3 times more than it should. Wahoo! We continue on, stopping at a great municipal park on the Columbia in Boardman to stretch, then continue eastward on I-84. We’ll be spending the night at Emigrant Springs State Park, then continuing on to Wallowa Lake State Park, our first parts unknown, Wallowa Lake State Park. I’ll repair the power cord there.
Emigrant Springs is in pine country about 3800 feet in elevation. The campground is nicely shaded but the road and RV pads could be in better condition. I go out and figure mating 4 wire conductors to the new plug will take about 20 minutes. Well folks, due to a very poor design of the new male plug it takes me 3 times longer. Gads! Well at least we’ll have power again. I did have to cut off 9′ of shore cord due to extreme road rash.
Near the summit of the Blue Mountains, Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area preserves a site where first nation folks found the aprings a valuable source of clean water. The first fur trappers arrived in 1812, then other folks including emigrants on the Oregon Trail, have replenished water supplies since time immemorial. Now visitors find a refreshing place to camp in a mature forest between Pendleton and La Grande. The Heritage area sports a small campground with hookups, a horse camp, rentable cabins. Nearby Deadman’s Summit Rest Area has visible wagon tracks from the emigration era.
On Wednesday, October 2nd we head off to our “unknown” location. We head east on I-84 towards La Grande. The city is the largest in Union County with 13,842 souls and the Metro area is 16th largest metropolitan are is Oregon at 25,076. La Grande lies in the Grande Ronde Vallely- the only true valley in Oregon as it is surrounded by mountains.
We bypass La Grande in order to travel on Oregon Highway 82 towards our unknown to us destination. We pass through farmland passing through Imbler (306 souls). Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! Then comes Elgin (1711 souls). The town is famous for its Opera House and City Hall both in the same building.
From Elgin Oregon Route 82 leaves the valley and heads into the Wallowa Mountains. The road is good but it twists and turns, drops into a large deep canyon, then follows the Wallowa River. We come to the Wallowa (Wah-Low-Ah) Valley and the town of Wallowa. The Wallowa Valley is within the traditional lands of the Nez Perce. The town is literally dead when we dirve through. Not one business was open. The town gets busy during hunting season a little later in the year.
In the late 19th century, the Wallowa band was one of more than a dozen groups who lived across the inland Northwest as members of the Nez Perce tribe. The U.S. government sent the army to force them out after they refused to sign a treaty that would have removed them from their land. Chief Joseph led tribal members more than 1,000 miles to western Montana. They repeatedly battled with the army as they fled. The tribe finally gave up, accepted the “Steal Treaty” as it was known as by the tribe as they had to give up 90% of their land.
We pass tiny Lostine (218 souls) and arrive in Enterprise (1940 souls). It’s economy is based on 24,000 mother cows in permanent herds and 8000 other cattle grazing for the summer. 5000 sheep also summer in the county. Agriculture includes crops of whee, barley, hay along with livestock sales bring in $25 million dollars a year to the county. The town sports two foundries of which local artisans take advantage.
The folks in Joseph do not appreciate speeders. As a matter of fact every town w traveled through on Oregon Highway 82 had a 25 mile an hour speed limit so they must have a problem with speeding vehicles during the high season.
Joseph is the last town before we reach our destination. Betcha can’t guess who the town is named for. Joseph is quite a surprise to us. We are a long ways from nowhere and we find Joseph to be a boutique/artists town. And it’s mostly a fair weather town as it only has a small ski area Ferguson Ridge. It’s 8 runs have a drop of 640′ so I doubt if serious skiers would travel over nasty winter Oregon 82 just to ski down a 640′ hill.
We finally reach our destination- Wallowa Lake State Park. I’ll continue this adventure on the next blog. Yep, this lake and the whole area we’ve traveled to get here was our unknown Now it’s not!
Travel With Jil and Mike 