9/17 Drive from Oregon to Northcentral Washington

I have not posted in the last couple of weeks for several reasons.  First, I had to drive from Napa, CA, all the way to Eugene, OR, where I had a couple of doctor's appointments. Second, in Eugene, I also rented a car for a couple of days and ran some errands and stocked up on groceries.  That kept me busy.  And third, I had to turn in grades for my summer online class and get the fall class ready for opening the syllabus on September 11.  (Would you believe I have to open the syllabus one day before I turn in grades??)

Once I opened the syllabus, students started sending me emails with questions about the textbooks and exams in this class.  And because I have moved some things around to balance the class, I have also been very busy making my online class match the syllabus.  I am still only about halfway done with that, but at least I am good for the first four weeks!  And Week 1 begins on next Monday, so will really be getting busy then.  

Anyway, I am now in a place called Beebee Bridge RV Park and will write about it later this week.  It is a nice, quiet place with good satellite and excellent Verizon access, which is how I get my internet access.  So for the past few days here and in Prineville last weekend, I have been a hermit, barely going outside at all.  The good news is that tomorrow I take an all-day boat ride on Lake Chelan.  I am looking forward to it, even it means getting up at 7:00 am tomorrow morning!  (I am NOT a morning person, so this is a real challenge.) 

Anyway, I'm going to combine what was really two short days of driving from Prineville Reservoir (sorry no photos) to the Lake Chelan area of northcentral Washington state.  There were several campground recommended to me a couple of years ago, and I finally had some free time to visit them.  

The drive was interesting in a lot of ways, but boring in some others.  This area is really plains, but it is a very hilly plains area.  It is mostly dry because we are east of the rain-catching Cascade Mountains, but my drive took me onto the edge and slightly into the Cascades at a couple of points, so there was forest, as well as grassy plains.  

Mostly, this is dry grasslands and wheat farms.  

We are headed downhill to cross the Columbia River near Maryhill.  

No photos crossing the Columbia, as I was busy driving, however, the north side of the river looks a lot like the south side of the river, except there are more wind farms! 

Even though this area is normally dry, you can see that it has been raining a lot in the past week or so, and is obviously continuing to rain up ahead.  This is very good for both Oregon and Washington, as it means the fire season is over with.  

At times, the road headed west and into the edge of the Cascades.  All along my drive, there was very little traffic and very good roads, so not a bad drive at all, although it was pretty curvy. 

Finally, the Columbia River again!  


What happens is that while the main part of the navigable river heads east upstream from the Pacific Ocean, dividing the two states, when it reaches a point to the far east near Kennewick in Washington, it cuts sharply north to its birthplace in Canada. 

• The green arrow shows where I crossed into Washington. 
• The blue arrow shows Beebee Bridge Park
• And, the orange arrow shows Lake Chelan.

I'll post on the boat trip tomorrow night.