Northwest Passage: Final Curtain

Taking up where we left off in part 2... Another recommendation by Camper Jeff, Hurricane Ridge for some awesome views of the Olympic Mountains and an incredible shot of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. I can say that with a strait face, having faced the strait from 2 directions. On the way we passed a place that sold camping firewood. I was ready to do some serious damage to that wood, with my trusty Boy Scout hatchet. You think? The road to Hurricane Ridge climbed quickly, and the bicycle riders we passed seemed to be standing still as they gave it everything they had. I can only imagine the ride down. Good thing bikes have disc brakes these days!! These are some pictures of Mt. Olympus. Here are some views of Port Angeles in the foreground and Victoria BC in the back, as they zoom in and out.  Leaving Hurricane Ridge, the Dungeness Spit was on the menu next. I can't quite figure the name though. Was there a family of Dungeness that came here to...spit? I know spitting in public was at one time against the law. Maybe this was the place to do it? It's also against the law to whistle underwater in Oregon. Good thing to know, you whistlers out there. "What's that Dear?" Oh, Mrs. Whazoo says it's actually a spit of sand. Now I've never heard of sand called a spit, but she says it's a very common coastal landform that happens to be a linear accumulation of sediment that is attached to land at one end. And now you know why she's the brains of this outfit. This little finger of sand curves to the right and is actually 5 miles long. Now that's a long spit. Now that we've seen the spit, and indeed it was just a spit of sand, we were driving away from the coast, lickity spit. It was more than a little fun camping along ocean and we look forward to doing it again. The ocean and Redwoods have made this a special trip for us with a few stops yet to make. As we drove east heading up the Columbia River we were wanting to stop and take a picture. Every available stop was a state fee area! I feel we've already paid our dues on this trip and I am fee'd up with the cost of it all. Yet as we pulled up to Multnomah Falls, there was no fee! Cameras out, pictures were taken. That was a quick stop for pictures and we were back on the road again, doing light speed. We have friends to see in Bend, Oregon, where we used to live before moving to Arizona 18 years ago. Heading south on 197 from the Dalles on the Columbia River, we pass the "spit" of a town, Dufur. A very good friend of mine in Bend grew up here, so I drove through in homage. There is no stop sign or stop light there, and Main Street is basically short & dead. But in glorious signage in front of the high school are listed all the state champions to come out of Dufur. One thing we all have in common is pride, hope and determination. It's a great testament to America, as the large cities may be our heart, the small towns struggling to make ends meet are our backbone. My hat is off to them for enduring. And as my friend would say of the town motto, "Don't ask what you can do for Dufur, but what Dufur can Dufur you." Don't you love it? And with the Catholic Church alive and doing well in Dufur I have to ask, do they have a pancake breakfast? We're driving we're driving...on to Smith Rocks with the Crooked River just below. We used to climb these rocks, when I was a younger guy. Funny, the Smith Rocks haven't changed much in 20 years. But I could hold the arm up a little higher then. This makes me wonder, as time goes by and I become an old Whazoo, will it just be a hand tilted out, down by my waist? We did stop to see one friend, and was told he was hunting, this being the first weekend of deer season. And as we drove down our old street, Deer Trail Road, we see a whole head of deer. They're not dumb animals! This used to be our property, and we were feeling so very melancholy we could hardly stand it. After wiping a few tears we found our friends were not home, so we headed for the Deschutes Forest and a camp spot. Having lived in the Sonoran desert for so long we forget how fast the weather can change, and it did. Soon we were looking for a place to boondock in the middle of a howling snowstorm. Boy how we miss those changes in weather. Deciding to drive to the top of a hill we were hunting for a camp. And as we are hunters, we finally spot our quarry. And that's just what it is, an abandoned volcanic cinder quarry. Great place to hole up while this blows over. It should be gone in a flash, it was only the first of October.  Waking up the next morning to find I was wrong. You did not just read that... To think, we were driving across northern California in 107 degrees just last week. So much for global warming. At least momentarily. We drove back to town to meet our friends for breakfast. This is the same street from the evening before, Deer Trail Road. And it just kept snowing as we drove out of Bend, heading south. And this is how I used to go to work, with cardboard in front of the radiator so the heater would work. All you northern friends that still go through this, I salute you. Snow = work and challenging drives. However, summer in Phoenix working outside is no cup of tea either. And I still drive this truck, without air conditioning. I was a bit upset as we headed for Crater Lake. Will there be snow is no longer a question. But will we be able to get there is a new one. Making it to the fee station, oh no...more fees, we were told by Nick Danger the Forest Ranger that the lake is socked in and visibility was zero. This is my interpretation of "socked in." As we drove on around the lake, visibility got better...I could see the road, and my black rim. And as the elevation of the road dropped, there was a lake after all. The canoe looked a little out of place in the snow. But I figure it could double as a toboggan. Getting back home, a friend that lives in Sweden sent me this picture, knowing that we had been camping in some bear country. Mrs. Whazoo did not laugh... So this is the end of the trip. And the Whazoos bid you adieu. Thanks for reading Dave Rogers Post script, Several things to note. THE car of choice in the northwest is the Subaru Outback, hands down. A&W Rootbeer is alive and doing very well, especially on Vancouver Island, with the Mama, Papa and Baby Burger still filling stomachs. We traveled 4300 miles in 13 days and had 2 drives till 1 in the morning, trying to make up for lost time due to my breakdown, not that breakdown. It was a 3 donut box trip. Let's see, that's 8 donuts per box. 270 calories per donut that makes 6,480 calories of health food. No wonder my rear end needs a sway bar. Traffic on I-5 in lower Washington was pretty bad. And we couldn't figure where all the people were coming from because we couldn't see any houses for all the trees along the freeway. A case of people "coming out of the woodwork." And as much as this was a geographical trip for us, it was also a trip back in time to when we lived in Bend Oregon. Thanks again... Originally posted on rv.net 10/22/09