The photos below are what we saw.
Mark helped us debug
our window. The window failed in the down position
(which is great if it is hot and not raining). Removing
the cosmetic cover showed that the gears that raise the window
were slipping due to wear. I can't get too concerned as
Thor is a 1988 and some failures are to be expected.
Mark's
house is river-front property right on the Rogue. He has
an outdoor patio with tables and chairs for entertaining guests.
The
upper table had nice bark covering the river sand and a fire
pot.
Down below
he constructed a dock mechanism for his jet ski.
We left
Grant's Pass and headed upstream along the Rogue into the
mountains.
We
stopped at a river-side park and saw plenty of happy rafters.
The fires
in the area were burning hard generating lots and lots of acrid
smoke making visibility poor and breathing difficult.
The wall
of smoke lasted for 40 miles or so before it started to thin
out.
We passed tons of fire fighting equipment on the move. Above, the first truck has a 'dozer and the second one has a skidder destined for the fire lines.
The road
went through a clear patch allowing us a view of Diamond Peak in
the distance. Diamond Peak is volcanic and a testament to
the powerful forces that formed the Cascade Range.
In Bend,
OR we spotted these BNSF locomotives moving without a
load. They were rolling perhaps 30 mph on the tracks close
to the highway.
At Ben's
place outside of Sisters, OR we got to see his new shop.
This is a big shop with plenty of room for multiple projects.
Ben has
discovered a market for restored International Harvester
vehicles. Above is "Buttercup" a 1972 3/4 ton 2 wheel
drive pickup. This truck has over 350K miles and still
runs very well. In fact, we drove it to dinner.
Some other International products awaiting restoration.
An older
International work truck.
Ben told
us that Earth Cruiser's manufacturing facility is in Bend, so we
went to visit them and see their products. Very nice, but
very pricey. These rigs were quite a bit smaller than Thor
and it would take some "getting used to" to downsize from our
current footprint.
Ben's
son Nick.
While
looking out the window at dusk I spotted a herd of deer that
were walking past the shop.
When we
left Ben's place we traveled through Redmond and spotted this
odd kinetic sculpture next to the highway.
We
traveled east to Prineville and stopped at the overlook.
The valley is nice and the city is too, but the smoke from the
fires was distressing.
The
volcanic mesas were visible in the distance through the smoke.
We chose
a lunch stop in Mitchell, OR. The (only) cafe was rustic,
but had good food.
Ben told
us that we needed to check out the Painted Hills area that was
on our route, so we went as directed. The colors of the
clay were remarkable.
There
were many hills composed of layers of brightly colored clay
beds.
The
smoke from the fires provided an odd color cast to the light.
Thor
looked regal with the brightly colored clay hills in the background.
Each
bank of hills was different.
The red
stripes were profound and accented by the golden colors of the
dry grass.
I assume
the black stripes were coal or a carbon-based compound, but never
was able to confirm that premise. The outcroppings
produced a pattern like Morse code.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.