Lewis and Clark State Park (Dayton, WA)(Leaving)
I drove for 4 and a half hours in the hot dismal high desert of Eastern Oregon. They should move Eastern Oregon to South Dakota. It would fit there better. I wondered how the Oregon Territory got split up the way it did. In hindsight I wonder if Oregon and Washington would have preferred to have their states go from the Ocean to the Cascades and have another state in between the Cascades and Idaho. the ride was especially hot since Oregon still will not raise its speed lime it to anything over 55 mph on non-interstate freeways and nothing over 65 mph for the interstates. Not that the four other cars I saw in 6 hours were going that slow.
I stopped at the Taco Time in Prineville. I liked Prineville. I liked the Exxon/ grocery store/ taco time I stopped at. I longed for the simple life of the employee that had to man the islands since Oregon will not let car owners pump their own gas.
It was a hot day. I stopped at the library in Redmond to check my email. All the computers were empty, but I did buy 3 used books from their friends of thhe library gift shop. They only cost $1.25 total, but I gave them $2 and told them to keep the change. I guess I am assured of going to heaven now.
I started down highway 126 towards somee dark thunderstorm clouds. By the time I reached Sisters there was a full downpour. I had planned to take 126 over the cascades, but at the last minute turned down 242. This highway is much more of a straight shot but is closed during the river. It is also very narrow and goes through an area called the black crater. I believe it is filled with volcanic rock. Black rock was piled 6 feet high and higher right up to the road with no shoulder. It was a tight squeeze but I made it OK. there were also some great views of at least one of the three sister mountains through the clouds.
By 6pm I turned into the first campground I came to. It was called Limberlost and was on 242 about 1/2 mile from the junction with 126. There were only 8 sites, three of which were filled. It had tall old growth timber and the sites were right a long a loud rushing stream. Although it had rained the tall trees had kept the area underneath dry. I had found a place to stay.