Oregon Bound!

 It has become painfully obvious (literally) why I am in constant pain. I have not one, but two people out there with voodoo dolls of me manically laughing as they poke needles into me. At least two that have come forward, there could be more. 

The first to come forward was none other than Dino, who claims himself as somewhat of an expert in the field. He claims that in order to have an effective voodoo doll one needs some sort of artifact, or better yet, DNA from the person they want to afflict. He then asked me if I remember when Lisa cut my hair last September. He went on to tell me that Lisa had kept some of my hair and given it to Dino for his nefarious acts.

The second person was our not so innocent and sometime wicked daughter in law, Somer who recently tried to blackmail me asking me to send a large sum of money in unmarked bills if I wanted to her stop her sorcery. If you recall, they stayed at our house for almost 9 months a year or so ago and could have easily taken something with them to be used for evil. 

But fear not, I will not give into to their demands. Instead, we fled South Dakota westward in an effort to put more distance between us and them. But before I get to that I would like you to meet Jade with whom I had a brief encounter with before we left. 

I was at the end of our road when out on the highway what do I see, but a dog standing on the centerline. I get out of the vehicle, and it runs up to me tail wagging like I was a long-lost friend. I have never seen this dog before in my life. I was on my way to town to run some errands and could not live with myself if something happened to it who I later learned was Jade if I did not do something. So, I opened the truck door and invited her into the truck. She jumped right in and sat in the passenger seat like she belonged there. Luckily, she had a collar on with her name and a phone number. I called the number. No answer, so I left a message and thought, "Now what?". She seemed content, so off to town we went!

I bit later I got a hold of the owner, and she asked where we were and she would come get Jade. I told her we were on a road trip of sorts and would be back in about 40 minutes. Judging from her condition, I am pretty sure she is an outside dog. A fact that Barb did not appreciate too much when she saw all the dirt and grime on the seat later in the day.  Jade was having the time of her life watching the world go by from the passenger seat. 

On our way back home, I called Jade's mom and got direction to their house and dropped her off after our playdate. The woman was thankful and apologetic for her getting the truck all dirty. Upon arriving home Dakota and Zoey were on me like I had a strange woman's perfume lingering on my clothing. Sniffing me as if asking, "What the hell have you been up to?". With a quick treat from the cupboard, all was forgiven and the day went on as though nothing had happened. 

And the next day we were off! Camper on the truck, everything packed, we headed into northwest into Wyoming, through Newcastle, Gillette, Buffalo, Sheridan and into Montana. Five hours later we landed for the night in Billings Montana at a new to us brewery. Canyon Creek Brewery. They were a Harvest Host that allowed partons to camp in their parking lot overnight. The only thing was though, when we got inside, Barb and I looked at each other and said, "We've been here before". Perhaps a sign that you have been to too many breweries when you cannot remember which ones you have been to!

They had a nice outdoor patio, so the girls joined us for a beer as well!

Regardless, after a couple of beers and some Nachos from the food truck, we settled in for the night. The next morning we were up with the sunrise and continued on west. Had we planned better, we would have scheduled a stop with some RV friends along our route but we were in too big of a hurry to see of the power of voodoo had a limit. Our next stop was in Missoula which was kind of a repeat from the day before (Big Sky Brewing), beer, Mexican food truck and bed.

One of the things we love about traveling is seeing the scenery along the way and wondering what it would be like to live there. Once in a while, one of us will turn to the other and say, "I could live here". Western Montana is one of those places. The mountains, hills, trees and just the overall feel are right up our alley. I think it is also one of the more expensive places in Montana to live so there is that as well. 

Continuing west, we crossed into Idaho, (equally as beautiful) for a total of 74 miles which is all it takes to get across the state on I90. By now we had filled up three times and were having sticker shock with the prices of diesel. 

I realized something else about this picture even more significant than the total price. Any of you observant enough to see what it is? The diesel fuel tank capacity of a 2022 Ram 3500 is 31 gallons; we were cutting it close! I sent this picture to a California friend of mine and he said something like, "That is cute, our diesel prices are $2 a gallon more than that well into the mid $7/gallon. I think we have seen $5+/gallon diesel prices 4 times in our lifetime, 2008, '14, 21 and now. What really shocked us though was when we crossed over into Washington where it was $1.20/gallon more less than 3 miles away! While we have seen prices over $7/gallon in some places, we have been able to fill up right around that $6 range. 

The other thing that shocked us was the contrast of eastern Washington to western Idaho where it went from mountainous with trees to flat desert just outside of Spokane. This is a new to us route, and did not know what to expect. We did not expect it to look like Wyoming, that was for sure. We spent the night at the fairground in Ritzville, Washington. $20 for the night with no hookups. Nice and quiet though!

As you can see from this picture, we have our trailer with us. An empty trailer. While we are in Oregon we are going to empty Forrest's storage unit in Klamth Falls and bring it back to South Dakota. How it is going to get from South Dakota to Tennessee has yet to be determined. I hate hauling the trailer across the country. We put new tires on it and greased the bearings but even so, I check the temperature of the hubs at every fuel stop. So far, so good. 

This terrain gave way to more hilly terrain the further west we went. We got into the cherry and apple growing territory and eventually into the mountainous terrain again outside of Yakima. Talk about some beautiful country! We took US12 between Yakima and I5 spending the night at a scenic overlook along the way. The views of Mount Rainier were incredible! This is someplace we could live!

There are really so many across the country where we have said that. We spent the next night at a campground in Fort Stevens State Park where we walked along the beach with the girls and saw the remnants of an old shipwreck from 1906. 

We made it down to the beach okay, but Dakota was struggling so we took a break on the beach and watched the waves roll in. 

On the way back, there was a time or two when we did not know if Dakota was going to make it, we lagged behind Barb and Zoey, but in the end we made it back where she laid beside her water bowl and caught her breath. 

So, we made it to Oregon, great trip so far. The first few days were all about putting on the miles. Now it is time to slow down and enjoy ourselves. That's enough for this post; we have moved on from Fort Stevens and carried on down south but that is a tale for another time!