One Leg Down, Two to Go

As expected, we got started a little later than we planned yesterday. By the time we left the space in Lincoln City it was 6:30 AM. Only about an hour late - not too bad. We are glad we changed the route from going through all the small towns to Portland to going to Salem to pick up I-5. There was enough work traffic in the small section of Salem we went through. Anyway, we drove a total of 455 miles and arrived at our campground at 3:30 - in time to relax a little before going to bed. We got a couple shots along the way. This first shot is of Mt Hood, taken before the I-84 turnoff in East Portland:

It was a bit hazy, but you can still see the mountain. The trip along the Columbia Gorge was beautiful. We had never been down this stretch of road before, and the contrasts were amazing. We started out with tall cliffs, covered with trees and lots of waterfalls and after about 100 miles, the scenery changed to dry and brown landscape with rolling hills. Below are a couple shots of this contrast. The first one is of the beginning of the road:

And finally, the western half of the drive looked like this:

The day was much longer than we plan to travel in any one day once we are totally retired and travelling without any deadlines. The campground in Cheney is excellent, and we are happy with the choice. Below is a shot of our space:

The space we were assigned is a pull through space and we were able to stay with the truck hitched to the fifth wheel because the space was so level. That makes for a faster start this morning. We plan to leave around 7:30 this morning and the trip for today is 100 % on I-90, so we should make great time. The target is Bozeman, MT, for tonight but we are remaining flexible depending on how the trip goes. A little breakfast, a little preparation and we're outa here...