Sunday, August 7, 2016
My humans may have cut back on my food, but I still have
enough in me to morph into THUNDERPAWS!
King of the morning! I run, I
fly, I chase inanimate objects (only because there are no animate objects to
chase). I am THUNDERPAWS!
My morning walk took me around one of the homey
neighborhoods in Burns. Tidy houses on
large properties, each with their own personality. I pick a few apples from an apple tree, and
apricots from an apricot tree that is so laden with fruit, the branches almost
touch the ground. It is cool and breezy
but not uncomfortable.
We ready Hannah for her next journey. We turn north on 395 leaving the pretty hay
farms behind. We are surrounded by los
cerritos that are Nevada brown but there must be a creek running alongside as
the foliage is indicative of a riparian corridor. As we cross the sign denoting the Malheur
forest, like a light switch, we are in an Alpine canyon weaving on a gentle
mountain road. When we pass the sign
that we are leaving the Malheur forest, the Nevada brown switch goes back
on! Fortunately, the hay farms and
streams in the valley make for a nice ride.
Ooops! Back in the Malheur, now
out of it again. And so it goes!
We fuel up in the quaint town of John Day and turn east on 26. We follow the road to the town of Prairie
City and stop for a wee walk. It is a
tiny one block town where most of the businesses are closed for Sunday. We looked in a few windows and saw some
incredible pieces. We saw some gorgeous
wood lamps priced at under $150 that we know would sell up in Mammoth for over
$500. The artisanship was phenomenal,
but alas, the store was closed. They
were not my style but I certainly can appreciate the work that went into
them. Would have liked to have seen the
quilt store. Oh well...
We walked the town in about 10 minutes, then continued east
to route 7. We follow our GPS (Samantha)
instructions to a 10 space campground not far away. We go north for an eyelash, then we cut over
on another road. With the alpine
mountains and meadows, it makes for a scenic drive. We are always leery of small campgrounds as
they may not have a space for us to turn around, but we thought we would try
it. Wait! We pass the sign for the campground and
Samantha says we still have a half mile???
There must be another entrance, right?
You have reached your destination...
I am thinking that this bush is NOT our destination... Now, to turn around... ugh... we are slow, and you can see our tracks in
the brand new chip seal, but c'est le vie!
We turned around and went into the entrance we saw. Thanks Samantha...
Only one space was
occupied. There were a few sites that
were big enough for us, but what most people don't realize is you need a whole
lot of room up front to maneuver, so even if the site is right, we might not be
able to get into it. But we did after
several backs and fros! We are in the
Middle Fork Campground for all of $4. No
services, just an outhouse and firepits, but we are fully self contained so we
are good. We can only do this when it is
not blazing hot, and the weather has been very mild. At night, it has actually been cold, you
know, like cuddle weather.
Shhhh.... listen to that... it is the wind rustling through
the trees... Oh! look at the deer! Listen to the creek... This is nice!
And with the sketti that my bestie Vicky bestowed upon us when we left,
we hit the ultimate nirvana! Let's light
the campfire and enjoy the evening. No
phones, no internet, no clocks or microwave... just plain old dark! And yes, we volunteered for this!
We only drove about 100 miles today, and we quit early so we
can enjoy the perks of the area.
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