Life on the road is trouble-free;

not so last week when we prepared to leave Bothel, Washington. The sewage disposal at our site was clogged (yep, that was quite a mess) so we had to use the dump station. When we arrived at our next camp site, Hood Campground, on the Snake River in the Tri-Cities area,

Love the Corps of Engineer campgrounds!

our pick-up refused to start. (After a couple of good cleanings of the battery posts, the problem seems to be fixed.) ABN attempted to put water on to brew tea but the pilot light refused to ignite. Captain started investigating and found the propane valve in one of the outside compartments had been turned off; neither of us turned it off so that remains a mystery.

Catching up with friends…………well it makes the little problems along the way seem like a minor annoyance.

In the Tri-Cities (that would be Pasco, Richland and Kennewick in southeastern Washington) we visited Captain’s longtime friends, Linda and Chuck. On first glance at their lovely hillside home, ABN noticed beets and squash tucked into a beautifully landscaped front lawn; with Fiestaware and a KitchenAid in the kitchen, she knew she was meeting new friends and soul mates. While sitting on their deck, looking over the valley we were introduced to wonderful Copper River Salmon (so much more flavorful than the Atlantic farm grown salmon that we usually eat.)

With Chuck and Linda as our guide,

we explored a few of the Red Mountain Wineries and found some very good wine. Our favorite wines of the day (Linizio Blend, Walla Walla Cab Sauv  ) were found at Cooper Winery.

The best view at Terra Blanca

And it was Tuesday!

While in the Tri-Cities, Captain wanted to connect with friends and colleagues from the nuclear industry. (Local and industry friends, take a close look, you may know some of these folks.)

After getting an oil change and transmission tune-up for The Wanderer, we said good bye to our friends and Snake River,

and continued our search for good Pinot Nior in Oregon.

Driving along I-84, just before reaching Portland, we took a break to hike to the top of Multnomah Falls.

At the top. According to FitBit, over 10,000 steps and 88 flights of stairs.

Oregon Wine Country is truly beautiful with rolling hills covered in vineyards and flowers we can only dream about in our hot and humid climate. Our search for really good Pinot Noir took us through the beautiful Willamette Valley, a ferry across Willamette River and up gravel roads.

A couple of our favorite wineries were Redhawk with drinkable inexpensive wine and St. Innocent for a nice, full flavored Pinot Noir.

Our very favorite was Brooks Winery, not only for outstanding Pinot Noir but also a lovely tasting venue with a spectacular view.

Deck overlooking the vineyards and garden

What goes well with Pinot Noir? Cheese of course! Happening upon the Willamette Valley Cheese Company, we had to stop and do their tasting.

 All the cheeses are made with milk from the cows we could see in the field. 

(Aged Chive and Black Pepper, Aged Asiago and Cumin Gouda found their way into our cheese drawer.)

Guess what else we found in Willamette Valley? Another Aggie! (They are everywhere!)

Michelle and Lowell (Class of ’70) from Colorado Springs occupied the site next to us at Silver Spur RV Park. We had a most enjoyable couple of evenings sipping Pinot and sharing stories. (Lowell is a real “rocket scientist” having worked many years at the Johnson Space center.)

Our palates have been pleased with the taste of fine Pinot Noir and our souls have been refreshed with friends. We have had just enough taste of Washington and Oregon to whet our appetite. We hope this is not our last visit.

We can now hear the call of the Zin and we are on our way!

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from Sheridan to Eugene, OR

Friday we left Sheridan to start the next leg of our adventure which brought us to Eugene, Oregon.

A quick stop was made at Murdoch's (per Shirlee's suggestion) to purchase bear spray. Murdoch's is like a Rural King for ranchers.

After a very windy drive, we stopped for the night at a Walmart in Idaho Falls, Iowa.

One can meet the most interesting people in a Walmart parking lot. Amongst the dozen or so RVs at this particular one we met Amy and Wade from Nashville. With their two young sons, they are full timers and home schoolers. The road will be their home for a couple of years; with all the online educational material, it is working well for them. They told us they were part of a network of 1400 home school families traveling around the U. S. Their next destination was the Tetons for about a week.

Saturday we continued on toward Boise, taking a detour to visit EBR-1 Museum and National Historical Site (world's first nuclear power plant.)

(Captain owes ABN about 1 1/2 hour visit to an art museum. I have to say, the "Sheldon" type tour guide was a bit entertaining.)

Another stop at Craters of the Moon National Monument.

At this point we were off the interstate and the drive was a bit boring.

We found the "Aggie" in Boise.

Like, Captain, Dennis is from College Station, TX, a graduate of A&M Consolidated High School and the nuclear engineering program at Texas A & M. We had a most delightful dinner with he and his wife, Donna. If you are a fan of competitive jump roping, you may have heard of their son, Justin, who is a world champion.

After another night in a Walmart parking lot and a sometime interesting,

and sometime boring (like mind numbing) drive,

we landed at Deschutes County Fair and Expo RV park in Redmond, OR.

Parked next to us was a 1984 Airstream motor home.

We hope The Wanderer is around for another 20 years and will still be creating adventures.

The drive to Eugene was spectacular!

This is what brought us to Eugene, Oregon; increasing our solar panels from 1

to 4, we are now able to boondock for longer periods of time.

We had to leave The Wanderer in the care of the fine folks at AM Solar while we stayed overnight in a Hilton Garden Inn. This process took a couple of days, so what is one to do in Eugene, OR for a couple of days? Wine tasting, of course!

But first, it is important we eat before wine tasting (ask ABN about that.)

 

Funky spot near University of Oregon Campus with to die for waffles.

Knowing we are in a premiere area for pinot noir, we set out to find one we love. So far, we have not found one to rival our friends, Mike and Valerie Thompson’s 31Fifty Pinot Noir  out of Russian River in California. (But we are still looking.)

We had Tipsy Tuesday at the lovely Pfeiffer Winery in Junction City, OR.

        

In a funky, artsy area of Eugene we found Tacovore and the best tacos that we have ever eaten.

Our choices.

We returned for lunch the next day before leaving town.

As we travel throughout the country, we are acutely aware of its vastness and diversity. Some observations we have made in Oregon that differ from home in the southeast: one cannot pump their own gas, you must wait for an attendant (we paid $2.70 per gal in Bend); all the restrooms we visited (so far) in restaurants and bars were non gender; the last day of school was June 21; bags are not automatically given out when shopping, the clerk will ask if you need one; and we see more U.S. flags flying at homes and businesses.  The differences make traveling incredibly interesting.

So far we have found Oregon to be beautiful and friendly. We will be exploring more of this state in a few weeks.

We are now fully charged and headed to Glacier National Park. Cell and internet service will probably be sketchy so be not concerned if we do not respond to messages for the next week or two. 

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.