Wednesday, July 13, 2022  Oregon

Left Barnhouse campground.  It was a very serene spot with NO MOSQUITOS!!  Mailed our postcards today in Dayville, OR, a very pretety town.  Did laundry in Prairie City in a cute little blue laundromat, The Washing Well.  Found a campsite at Middle Fork Campground near Bates/Austin, Oregon.  Took a shower using our black shower bag.  Dave strapped it to a tree.  We heated water to put in it.  There was not another soul in that entire campground, so we had complete privacy.  I coughed so much all day long that I was unwell.  Took the codeine cough syrup and it knocked me out.  I felt feverish all night and did not sleep well.

Thursday, July 14, 2022  Oregon

Left Middle Fork Campground, drove through Baker City (got a chai latte there), drove around Pendleton and fueled there.  I felt unwell all day and slept as we drove.  We found a campground at the confluence of the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers.  Nice breeze there but a hot day.  Very obnoxious people at a neighboring campsite, whooping and laughing.  Reminded us of a B&B we stayed at in Ballyshannon, Ireland.  Young adults there having a wild weekend away from home.  There is a train track very close by.  We’ll see how many times we notice a train whistle tonight.  We chose this campground because it is NOT pine forest.  Seems I am sensitive to too many days among the pines.  I feel better this evening away from the pines, but the cough lingers.  

Friday, July 15, 2022  Leaving Oregon for Washington

Before leaving the Deschutes River Rec Area we filled up with water.  Drove to The Dalles and fueled, fought the wind as we drove along the Columbia River.  We crossed the Columbia on an exremely narrow toll bridge at Hood River.  Looking back at Oregon from the Washington side, we saw Mt Hood.  It was spectacular.  Then we turned away from the Columbia and headed north into Washington. Drove through Indian Heaven Wilderness towards the Mt. St. Helens volcano.  We drove around a little extra because the roads were poorly marked (translation:  we got lost),  The volcano was astonishingly large and snow-capped, standing out so obviously from everything else.  We had planned to stay at Iron Creek Campground down the road from the volcano, but the place had a very negative vibe.  It was really dark and gloomy with lots of heavy moss hanging off the trees.  We agreed we didn’t want to be there and moved on.  Went toward Mt. Ranier National Park.  Saw the mountain, but did not tour the park.  Seemed to be lots of visitors around.  We found Forest Road 46 and located an off-shoot dead end with a fire ring and a hand made table of a stump and a slab of concrete in front of a mossy dell of slim lodge-pole pine trees.  Spent the night here.  Very quiet spot.