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Sunday, 06/15/03; Portland, Oregon
Entering the Homestretch
We are definitely headed for home! The compass had a southern component all day long. The weather was beautiful – sky clear, light winds and the temperature in the low eighties. Our target for today was The Dalles, on the Columbia, but we were making such good time over smooth roads that had few grades, we decided to go all the way to Portland. Here we are in the eastern suburbs, near the airport. We plan two days to Sacramento and two days to Los Angles. This will get us home around or shortly after noon on Thursday! That will make this a 73-day tour. Certainly our longest!
Barge on the Columbia; The Columbia Gorge
Green rolling hills were on the scenic menu out of Spokane, but soon those gave way to brown hills in a more desolate setting until we approached Pasco, Washington, where green again was dominate. We sped southwestward toward the Columbia and crossed this mighty river at Umatilla, Oregon. From there we followed its winding course on the Oregon side to Portland. The land on both sides was brown and looked parched – a contrast with all the water flowing by. In a few instances there were irrigated fields on the Washington side, but for the most part there was little agriculture. We stopped west of Arlington, OR at a viewing point with picnic benches and had our lunch.
The Four picnic on the Columbia
Shortly after leaving our picnic spot, we dropped down into the gorge of the river and were treated to monstrous rock walls on our left and the river to our right. At The Dalles, the southern riverbank pulled back and gave more room for roads, railroads and people. Continuing west, the trees started to dominate the scene. They soon cover the hills on both sides that contain the river. If one focused on a single tree, it was so perfectly formed that it seemed artificial.
Again, our thoughts were of Lewis and Clark. What are we seeing today that he saw 200 years ago? It is more difficult to erase the incursion of man from this scene than it was when we were on the high plains. There is so much more of man here. He passed this way, down the river in the fall of the year, so he probably was wet and cold from rain and clouds. He would have noted the steepness of the southern bank and would have probably favored campsites on the northern shore, if it supported his need for game and firewood. The broad reaches of the river would have heartened him after so many months of fighting the narrow streams farther to the north and east. We cannot see the many rapids that he would have fought, as the river has been tamed by man with many dams and locks. What a debt this nation owes to this intrepid party of explorers. It is our loss that Captain Lewis died at an early age and before he had fully documented the story of this great adventure. Fortunately many of his records have survived, as have those of others of the party. However, only a few of the artifacts of this endeavor are known to remain as they were sold at auction on his return to St. Louis. It is a shame that even the many items he sent to President Jefferson have been lost over the last 200 years.
Returning to the 21st century, we are resting in a Days Inn and are looking forward to a pleasant evening at dinner and then early to bed for the run to Ashland, Oregon tomorrow. The weather promises to be kind to us. We logged a couple more “lasts” today – the last of the new states we will enter and Keith and Joann sorted and packaged their pills for the last time, this evening. Joann announced that the Smiths have done their last laundry, as the clean clothing we have will last until we get home. All symbolic that our great adventure is coming to a close.
The Homeward Bound Four
PS: We were wondering at dinner tonight, just how many people are following our adventure? If you would care to drop us a line and let us know that you have read this segment of our journey, please address your comments to Keith at: keithontheroad@socal.rr.com. If you think that we may not know who you are, let us know and tell us how you came to follow our grand tour. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about us as much as we have enjoyed the tour and writing about it. In a future letter, we will update the statistics of the trip with such things as the average price of gasoline, how many gallons we consumed, hours and miles traveled each day, miles per gallon, etc. These are some of the things that strangers come up to us on the road and ask, so we thought that you might be interested, too.
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