The Long Drive Over

March 19th:

Drove back to Salem with the Monster.  She loves road trips.  Actually, she loves sitting in the car whether the car is moving or not!!!

This trip was much less stressful than the same drive I made in the reverse direction in January.  This time the roads were dry - no snow, no ice, no rain until the last bit, temps 20+F warmer; and the car was a lot happier too - no oil leaks, water leaks, etc.  And, there were 3 more hours of daylight to the day vs 2 months ago.



Brown hills a little greener this time of year



Oncoming truck faaaar away



Pretty rock formation

A train - this must be near Baker
The graffiti on the train cars were very artistic



Another pic of beautiful mountains












 


I didn't do many detours and scenic routes this time - just one detour to get closer to a herd of cattle - but still couldn't get as close as I wanted to.




I took a detour to get pics of this herd of cattle - there were many babies





















La Grande, Oregon






Nothing much as far as the eye can see...  I love the vast openness

 

The Columbia River

The trip was uneventful, which is always nice.  It started raining by about Hood River, and rained the rest of the way.  I stopped over at Beaverton for a couple of hours, dropped the monster off, and headed off to Salem.  Was in Salem before 8pm.




Irish green hillsides - at least for now!



Barge on the Columbia



Seems like I was following the same truck for a while  :)



Another train along the river - no beginning, no end, very long



More of that Irish green

The Columbia river - again



... and again



Columbia Gorge - still raining



Batu's street - Cherry blossoms - beautiful