September 19...En Route to Detroit Lake State Rec Area

(Kim's Perspective)
We saw a dozen elk (including the bull) in the campground this morning while walking the dogs.

Then, as we were hitching up, this guy came over to ask me for a snack.

Sorry dude, but unlike the lady next door, I’m not going to enable you to be a nuisance deer. You are sooo getting bonked on the head by some “hunter”.

We took 101 to 26 to 405 to 86/30 to 224 (a scenic byway).






Somewhere in the middle of Mt. Hood National Forest, we were waved down by a young couple in a Jetta that hit a rock in the road and tore a hole in their oil pan. Bad news. No cell service – couldn’t give them a ride since we don’t have all the seats in the back of the truck so we took their insurance info and called roadside assistance as soon as we had signal. Or tried to anyway. The call was dropped twice, but I was able to give them their approximate location. I recorded our GPS coordinates but Progressive is not equipped to use this information. Humpf. Way easier than saying “they’re about 20 miles NE of Detroit, Oregon on scenic byway 224 – which your computer system doesn’t list”.

We arrived at Detroit Lake State Park (where the speed limit is not 10, not 15, but ELEVEN miles per hour)around 6pm and finished setting up as it began to rain – again.


We unhitched, leveled, put the stabilizers down, the slide out, attached the electric and water hookups, put the awning out, laid the hideous “green grass” outdoor carpet down (it’s muddy here) and were inside with lights on and computer hooked up in under 15 minutes. Humpf. We’ve gotten pretty good at this. ;)

I wanted to do some Google mapping so we could take a look at where we are in relation to where we want to be. As we are largely flying by the seat of our pants (or driving as it were), we pick a direction and go. This morning, we thought we were going in the direction of Crater Lake. Halfway to our stopping point (here – Detroit Lake SP), I thought we should head over to Hells Canyon while we’re still in the northern part of Oregon. Bill has been great where humoring my abrupt change of plans is concerned. He drives, I navigate. I don’t tell him how to drive, and he doesn’t tell me how to navigate. This arrangement has worked out incredibly well. :)

We ate pasta for dinner and then sat down for a bit with our books waiting for the rain to let up. We read awhile, watched two episodes of SG1, then took the Boys for a walk...in the rain...around the campground. We went to bed at BKEA standard time - sometime between midnight and 1am.