Geeks on Tour Blog

Greetings from Rainy Oregon We're back on the coast. The only picture you're going to get is taken thru the window ... cuz I'm not going outside in this! We're actually very happy to see the rain, as I'm sure all Oregonians are, because the fires were raging a couple days ago. Oregon is supposed to have a lot of rain. When it gets dry, it burns! I remember the first time I came to Oregon - 1978. I was living in California and we were very accustomed to brown ... errr ... I mean *golden* ... hills during the summer. I swear that, just as I crossed the state line it turned green. Like Dorothy when she entered the brilliantly colored Land of Oz after the gray Kansas. I thought Oregon was wonderful because it was so green. Then, I learned why it was so green. It rained for the next 10 days! The drive here from Redmond was so pretty. First the Cascade mountains. In case you've never been here, the Cascades aren't like other mountain ranges. Each individual mountain is so pronounced, not like the elevated mass that is the Rockies. This is a volcanic range. It is so very obvious! Here's Mt. Jefferson (I think) just to the north travelling west from Redmond. Looking south from the same road, here's the 3 Sisters. This is the area where our friends Lynne and John used to live before they became full-time RVers. I can see why they liked it. Apparently, they're not the only ones! We hear that the Redmond area has the highest property taxes in the state - perhaps the country. Ahhhh, but there's no sales tax! Although the vistas are spectacular, I think the scenery of the lush forest is just as beautiful. Thanx to the rain, most of the dirt and dust has been rinsed off the outside of the motorhome. Now it's time to spend a day cleaning the inside after that week parked in a gravel parking lot in a dust storm! By the way, I hope you take a look at Tioga and George's blog today because he's at Crater Lake and he posted a spectacular photo. Crater Lake is where one of the volcanic mountains in the Cascades let it's caldera get filled up with water. It's quite unique. And, it doesn't look like our travels are going to take us by there this time around.