After leaving Fort Bragg (California) we drove along more of the Pacific Highway, a long and winding road which hugs the coast and is very picturesque. Much cooler here especially with some sea mist floating in and out. We stopped at Eureka, another town of contrasts - the historic and the unappealing. Drove on through yet more giant Redwoods and into Oregon to Grants Pass, which appears to be an agricultural area. Oregon has an odd law which does not allow self-service at "Gas" stations!
Crater Lake, Oregon, has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth (IourHO), it was peaceful and from some angles the water looked like ice. The air is crystal clear, the lake is over 6000 feet deep and there was snow on the high tops of the surrounding mountains.
Mount Hood (Oregon's highest peak) was next. Another scenic drive, stopping to buy fruit at a roadside stall, we found that they had all gone to a local "soccer" match, leaving a note to say take what you want and leave the money in an old ammunition box - so trusting (threatening?)! During our drive we crossed the 45th Parallel which is the mid-way point between the Equator and the North Pole. Oregon is a lovely place - a land of trees, horses, friendly people and beautiful mountains.
Thursday was all about driving!! 727 miles to be exact (yes, we realise we may well be insane! It's Land's End to John O'Groats minus 150 miles. ) in order to get from Pendleton, Oregon to Billings, Montana. There wasn't anything on our list that we wanted to see on the way so we just kept on crossing out the hundreds until we reached our destination. Four states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana: home on the range!
Yellowstone was everything we could have wanted, although we didn't see any bears. There were lots of almost tame chipmunks when we stopped just over half way up Bear Tooth Pass - very cute, apparently very hungry. Grumpy-looking buffalo and several elk in the park. Old Faithful didn't perform for us and as it can take anything up to two hours to do so, we moved on and looked at some of the other steamy (and quite smelly) places, such as Sulphur Cauldron and Mammoth Hot Springs, beautiful and interesting.
Peter: driving in the US. (All that follows is from the UK point of view.) Big roads - two-lane motorways and four-lane dual-carriageways. Mostly empty. Topologically impossible road junction layouts. 70mph speed limits on country lanes. A huge number of road works where mostly nothing seems to happen. Mile-long trains (with 3 or 4 locomotives) running alongside many roads. Ambiguous and - to us - confusing road signs, especially in towns. Internationally named identical towns laid out in a gridiron pattern wherever you go.
An inch on a map is NOT 20 miles, more likely 150...
BUT a great way to move fast and far without a lot of fatigue (as we saw on Thursday). Half-price petrol. Wonderfully varied scenery - land of contrasts. Thank you Satnav, thank you cruise control - gliding along in an armchair for 6661 miles to date.
What an adventure!
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