Magnus goes (with luck) to Oregon, Day 12

Friday, September 11

Ed is skipping coffee this morning and he looks truly miserable. Being here is making me miserable too. It's not just the RV park, it's the city. It's a charming city and I wouldn’t mind living here. But being in Boise brings back all the memories of work and of contracting here and all the great people I knew and of doing software and I miss it so much!

What if I'd taken a job here? How would things have turned out?

How can I get rid of this aching misery? How can I ever feel happy again?
I don't know, but I'll start off by leaving this damn RV park!

I exploded my oatmeal. What a way to start a day. Then we dawdled as much as we could (so as not to be too early at the next place) but still left at 10:30.

During drive:
Mountains far ahead. I think. Nearing Oregon state line in the middle of the Snake River.
11:20 Oregon!
Big, sweeping slopes out here. No trees and mostly grass. I hope it's native and not cheatgrass.
The pacific time zone change did not correspond with the Oregon state line as I had expected. It was 20 or so miles further in.
The elevation here is really quite low--2400 feet or so. Of course the hills are much higher. I guess that's why the PCT hikers look forward to getting to Oregon. Where there's less snow.
Now we are at 3800 feet and there are real mountains in the distance.

Arrived at A-frame RV Park. If I review this I need to make note that the owners are magnificently nice. Starlink was challenged in most sites but I could have probably asked them about a satellite-friendly site when I made the reservation.
There are lots of fires in the area but no smoke here. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

The sites are gravel and close together but it’s a small place with a lot of open ground around it so it doesn't feel crowded. Pretty much full for the weekend.
Big open field out back where you can run dogs off leash. But there’s only barbed wire fencing, so it’s not safe for all dogs. But it's still nice.

After a quick lunch, we went to the Oregon trail museum. We derailed our journey through the very well-done and interesting exhibits by going back to watch a film—which was horrid.  It was okay in content and narration but the picture was ancient and dark and a little blurry. It was so un-eyecatching that halfway through, I leaned my head back on the edge of the seat and fell asleep. Wow.

So having lost an hour on a stupid film, we rushed through the exhibits and left to see the wagon wheel ruts. They weren't all that easy to spot amid the brush that had grown up in the 180 years since.  But awsome all the same. I would have loved to hike alongside them for the length of the park.

Trail ruts:

Then back. Molly got a pretty long walk around the field out back and around the pond. I saw two sandhill cranes and three ducks. Then we went to Arby's at the Love's where we'd gotten fuel. Ed ate a roast beef and potato cakes. I hope his intestines survive this.