After several weeks on the Olympic Peninsula and coastline we have moved 300 miles inland to LaPine, Oregon and we are actually wearing shorts again! We've been in jeans and sweatshirts and still had the flannel sheets and blankets on the bed as the nights were so cool. I have to admit I enjoyed the cooler weather because I can always add more layers but concern for the general public prohibits me from removing most of them.
We used U.S. and state routes to reach LaPine and it was a very scenic drive. Detroit Lake was absolutely gorgeous with its blue-green water and the rivers running along the roadway brought back memories of traveling in North Carolina. Six hours of driving is a long time for us, though, and we were glad to finally arrive and get the rig and the satellite dishes up with minimal fuss and bother. A quick cocktail of bitter lemon and vodka to cool us down and then we jumped back in the truck to find a pizza joint for a major junk food fix. We discovered the Pondersosa Pizza Parlor on Highway 97 about 3 miles south of our campground where they served a really good pizza and some terrific chicken wings. They have broasted chicken and this was our first experience with it and we like it inspite of the fact we prefer Buffalo wings for their heat. We ended up giving our huge platter of fried sliced potatoes (we didn't realize they came with the wings) to a table with three teenage boys who were thrilled. They looked like fried eggplant actually, as they had some type of breading on them so I was glad to pass them up. I have to admit an occasional craving for a french fry but those things didn't appeal to me in the least. So a word to the wise on the wings; they give you the whole wing so when you order ten wings, you actually have the equivalent of twenty pieces and they serve a whole pile of potatoes with them. Needless to say, we had leftovers for another meal.
As we approached LaPine we saw lots of signs for "lava this, caldera that" so I'm going to have to find a tourist information center to see what is available for sightseeing. I spotted a living musuem on the way down with a parking lot that was packed, so I think we'll have to check that out. And of course, Crater Lake is about an hour and a half to the south so we'll day trip down there at least once. There will be a trip north to Bend for an obligatory trip to Wal*Mart and to find a Ford dealer as the new transmission is making a funny squeal when we first accelerate from a stop or near-stop.
Diesel prices are sky high but we'll have to bite the bullet if we want to do any sightseeing while in this area since it's our first time in Oregon (other than our trips to Astoria to have the transmission worked on). As we pulled out of Long Beach this morning, diesel had reached $2.99-can you imagine? It doesn't seem so long ago that we refused to fill up at $1.06 a gallon. I think the oil companies are doing a happy dance about now, don't you?
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