Wednesday, May 30, through Sunday, June 3, 2012:  Five Days in Oregon:
We went an easy 153 miles to Lakeview, Oregon (a bustling city of 2,000) on Wednesday.  The scenery (mostly on US 395) was terrific.  We are staying at the Junipers Reservoir RV Resort, a small park on a huge (8,000 acres) working cattle ranch.  It's a magnificent setting.




After initially setting up completely, we had a little problem getting satellite reception, so we had to move the rig about 15 feet further away from an offending tree, and set up again.

Thursday, we made a diesel stop and a hardware store visit, and then had lunch at El Aguila Real, a local Mexican restaurant, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. 

The first part of Friday was spent on a 151-mile trip to Burns, Oregon, still on US 395.  It was perhaps the most boring drive ever.  There is absolutely no scenery in this part of the state.  It’s considered high desert, with the emphasis on desert. Burns, itself, is not so bad for a town with about 2,000 people.  Since this is just a one night stop, we didn’t really bond with the area. 

For excitement, we toured the local hardware store, got a propane tank refilled, and hit the Safeway.  It rained briefly in the middle of the night, but we woke to bright sunshine Saturday morning.  We are staying at the Burns RV Park, just on the edge of town.  Nice place; nice people.

We left Burns early Saturday morning because we had a 215-mile drive ahead of us---going to Hermiston, Oregon, near Pendleton, the home of the famous woolen mills.  By contrast with the previous day, this drive was terrific.  We went though two national forests, climbed a bunch of hills, and traversed some beautiful valley cattle ranches and farmland.  Gorgeous.

We are staying at the Pioneer RV Park, not far from the center of town.  We expect to be here for two days.  Saturday night we had dinner at the Farmer’s Kitchen restaurant, a funky (but not cheap) place with delicious food.  I had salmon and, surprise, Becky had a filet.  They even had live music.  The combo consisted of two guitars and a violin, played by some not-so-young-guys, one of whom also sang. 

Their repertoire was a vast collection of standards, bringing to mind some great memories.  (Who else remembers "The Nearness Of You" written by Hoagy Carmichael and recorded by almost everyone?)


We picked up two movies at the local Blockbuster kiosk.  Man On A Ledge was the first one.  Pretty good for a thriller, with the biggest star being only Ed Harris.  (No offense intended, Ed.)  The second was The Vow, which we watched on Sunday.  It starred the always-adorable Rachel McAdams.  It also starred the aging (and stiff) Jessica Lange and a new guy named Channing Tatum, who was very good and not one of the new breed of Hollywood pretty boys.  It had an unusual plot and was very engaging.  I highly recommend it.


Since it was a bit brisk out, we celebrated the break from the heat by having some of  Becky's chili for dinner on Sunday.  Yum.