| Trippin' With DaveRoadtrip 2000 Trip Log Part 2 |
8/16/2000 - Here's how things ended up: I spent about ten days in the Portland area seeing and doing as much as possible. The Portland Food Bank put on The Portland Bluesfest. It started on Friday and ran through Tuesday, the Fourth of July. It was a great time. We (Mark, Kathy, Craig, and friends) made it to most of the fest days and took in some great rockin’ blues. Dr. John, The Paladins, Shannon Curfman and many more were there. Jonny Lang, who was one of the headliners and a favorite of mine, really tore it up, leaving no one disappointed. While in Portland I was treated to a great lunch at Mainstreet Diner in Vancouver, WA by owners Mark and Kathy Mosler. (Thanks again to them for also putting me up while in town.) Mark, being a food and beer expert, was the ideal host and tour guide for the Portland restaurant and pub circuit. The local brewpubs were the treat of a lifetime for a homebrewer like myself. I would have a hard time imagining any better selection or quality of beer than Portland and Oregon has to offer. The Bridgeport Brewery was the oldest brewpub in town and my favorite. I had the opportunity to see Mount St. Helens which was quite interesting. It was hard to see the mountain for the low cloud cover but the lava runs were impressive. Everywhere I went the diverse geology of our continent never ceased to amaze me. I drove south to California along the coast where I photographed many of Oregon's lighthouses. Just south of Portland my speedometer which had been acting crazy broke its cable. Not serious, but now I had no cruise control, "bummer!" Along the way I camped along the Alsea River west of Eugene. It was some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip. The Alsea is a pristine trout stream complete with covered bridges and nice parks. I tried my hand at fly fishing to no avail, so to see some fish, I made a stop at the Alsea Trout and Salmon Hatchery which you can see in the pics. The redwoods of California were something I have always wanted to see as long as I can remember and have now finally done. The coast is a place I could have spent my entire vacation and would have enjoyed immensely, but that will have to be another trip. After my dip down the coast I tried to make it to the famed 'Oregon Country Fair' but it was further than I'd expected and was closing up for the day by the time I got there. :( It’s tough calculating ETAs when you can’t count miles on your odometer. Oh well, there is always next year. I went back to the Portland area for a couple more days and enjoyed taking in a movie, playing Frisbee golf, and picnicking with a friend. The weather while I was in Oregon was perfect, no rain and 70-75 degrees. I headed east towards Boise. I stopped by The World Center for Birds of Prey. They have been protecting and breeding endangered birds of prey for almost twenty years. Their work reestablished the Peregrine Falcon population to current non-endangered status. They have also bred and released twenty of the forty California Condors in existence. I saw the impressive condor and other birds while there. It is nice to see successful programs making a difference in our world. In Idaho, The Craters of the Moon NP was another example of our rich geological diversity in the U.S. It seems quite strange to see huge lava beds running for eighty miles. I’ll bet the first settlers that ran across it thought "what the *#%* is this ?!!!" You sure couldn't drive a wagon or ride a horse over it, anyway.... I drove on to Wyoming's Jackson Hole, the Tetons and surrounding area. It was prime tourist season with some of the more congested conditions of my trip but I really enjoyed it and see why that is such a popular place. I camped, canoed and fished a couple days before going on the Yellowstone. In Yellowstone I observed the devastation of the past forest fires which is very evident there. This year’s fires will be a great loss to our forests, habitat, and, natural resources. It may be a natural event, but it sure hurts to look at it. Old Faithful was still blowing his spout like clockwork. They even filmed an episode of Star Trek at the pot and geyser area depicting Spock’s home planet Vulcan. I can see why; its quite unusual and very smelly. I went on eastward finding Wyoming somewhat desolate but very beautiful. I went to Medicine Lodge St. Archaeological Site (Painted Rock) at the base of the Big Horn mountains. It was a beautiful and fascinating place where native Americans lived for eight hundred years leaving behind petroglyphs and hieroglyphs as reminders. I had planned to meet up with my sister Marj and bro-in-law Denny in the Black Hills of South Dakota. They and some friends were there trail riding on horse back for a week. I arrived to be greeted with a cold beer and great camp food but the worst was yet to come. The next day they put me on a rogue horse who tried to buck me off in the first five minutes, (nobody told me I'd signed on for a rodeo!!! ) but I stayed on! We were riding to Mount Rushmore fifty some miles away (seemed like it. ) It took five hours to get there in the rain and three to get back. The ponies wanted to trot all the way back, I suspect they were tired of this too and wanted to get back to camp. No wonder cowboys all walk funny and drink a lot. I don't even like whiskey but a couple of shots would have been good. Bring on the ibuprofen! All in all now that the pain is gone is was a blast. Thanks to Jim for letting me ride his horse. What was her name "Sister Of Satan"? Oh right, it was Candy. Actually Candy was a great horse and she took good care of me. My next invention... a soft saddle with shock absorbers. After a couple days at horse camp, I had the urge to fish since it been over a week since I had pole in hand. I plotted my course for Lake Oahe at Pierre, SD via the Bad Lands NP. I entered the Bad Lands off highway 44 at Scenic taking the gravel back entrance. It was a beautiful and at times breathtaking park. I saw the most impressive buffalo herd of the entire trip. I arrived at Lake Oahe late, so I camped and got to fishing first thing in the morning. I caught a northern, some small mouth and a bunch of white bass. I packed them on ice and hit the road. I made it to my friends, Bill and Kris Morrison's house near Ames, Iowa just about sundown. I stayed and visited there a couple days where we had a fish fry and got to see Bill’s band ' The Sofa Kings' practice. I then went to my sister Laurie and bro-in-law Doug's home in Waukee, Iowa where I had the opportunity to see my niece play in the regional HS softball tourney. They won and went on to win their second straight State Title. My niece Christa is now off to college at ISU. Congratulations Christa! This brings me to the very last leg of the journey. I made it back to Arkansas on the 21st of July just in time to go floating in the beautiful Ozarks with my buddy Jeff. |