It was cold this morning! According to weather.com the temperature was 47F (8.3 C). No wonder my hands felt like ice blocks while making coffee. I’m a warm weather person so 47F is down right ‘wintery’ for me ;-). By my standards that’s damn cold for July. Hmm. 6:30 and no one’s up. Dead quiet in the camping area. Oh well, time to make coffee :-D. I tried to keep the noise down to a minimum while getting set up. Alas, when it’s time to fire up the liquid gas stove, all bets are off. The stove sounds like a jet taking off so I’m sure our neighbors cursed our names – or at least mine :-). Actually, it’s not that bad 20 feet away, just standing right next to it having a conversation is a challenge. But, it works both ways, if I have to put in earplugs at night because they are up late hanging around the campfire than I have no shame getting an early start on the day ;-).
We headed east again on WA 14 along the Columbia river gorge, which is part of the Lewis and clark trail. Light traffic combined with a smooth road, long sweeping turns and gentle hills made for a relaxing and enjoyable 80 mile ride. We got on IH 82 and then 84 to head down to La Grande, OR which will be our starting point for the next leg back up north on our way to Missoula, MT.
The interstate goes through some very scenic terrain, leaving the lowlands of brown hills and water intensive farming to quickly ascend to the Wallow-Whitman National Forest. Speed limited turns(!) on the interstate, with long banked sweeping turns and three lanes to choose from. Excellent. Even Diane was able to keep up. 🙂 IH 84 goes through majestic pine forests and meadows before descending into La Grande.
After grocery shopping for tonight’s dinner and eating lunch yet again in the store 😉 we headed towards our campground. A very nice place, all RVs but unlike in Boise not a permanent community. We are the only tenters so we have the grassy area to ourselves. Immaculate restroom and showers as well as free WiFi. The nicest private campground so far (if it weren’t for the mosquitos), hands down.
Here’s todays route.
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground – Mosquito heaven, they attacked full force when the sun went down
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- La Grande, OR campground Mosquito heaven, they attacked full force when the sun went down
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground Mosquito heaven, they attacked full force when the sun went down
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- Mt. Rainier
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- Mt. Hood
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- John Day dam from WA 14
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- John Day dam
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- Columbia river gorge
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- WA 14
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- WA 14
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
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- La Grande, OR campground
Hi Oliver,
tell Diane about our campground in Yellowstone and the ice we had on the table in the mornings (maybe don’t tell her about the jogging pants and sweaters, which weren’t that sexy…)
The photos look great! must be a real pleasure to drive through this scenic area. So maybe you get warmed from inside;-)
Best wishes from T&I
Hallo Thomas,
Oh yes, I remember the ice on the table cloth in Yelllowstone. Though I had forgotten about the jogging pants – confirming that we a have a tendency to purge bad memories ;-). The temperature was alot more pleasant during the day and it didn’t get as cold during the night.
O.
Agreed that is cold for July.
Hmmm your camp stove burns everything up to AV fuel and its a bit noisy. Sounds like a good trade off.
Those pictures are amazing. Please keep them coming.
Um whats a speed limited turn? Means there is no speed limit until there is a turn? Hot dog! There may be no better riding. Um aside from possibly off road.
Rich
P.S. I found some 100% DEET for mosquitios at Walmart for my Vermont trip. Probably why I had headaches for the week following the trip but it kept the mosquitios away.
Um ok the party probably had a small part to do with the headaches 😉
Hi Rich,
We have the 100% DEET from REI, but haven’t used it yet. Too paranoid since DEET at that concentration level can melt plastic (i.e. stay clear of plastic body parts on the bike ;-)) Since we were ready to go to bed anyway it wasn’t too bad but if they had been out in force like that earlier you can bet we’d been spraying DEET all over ourselves … and wear the mosquito head nets.
O.