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| Oregon Desert |
On July 5th we left Salem, Oregon and headed east over the Cascades. The ride was great, with wonderful views over the mountains, sparkling lakes and rivers, and plenty of pine trees. We stayed overnight in Bend, Oregon on the eastern side of the Cascades.
On July 6th as we continued to head east things changed rapidly. It started to get dry. Really dry. And hot. Really hot. The pine forests thinned out until all that was left was sagebrush. Central and eastern Oregon is a desert.
About half way across Oregon we came across John Day National Monument, a place known for its huge deposits of fossils of early mammals (about 20 million years ago). The museum was a welcome rest stop and had excellent fossil displays.
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| fossil imprints of leaves |
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| Mammal Fossils |
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| A farm in the desert thanks to irrigation |
The temperatures varied between 100 and 102 degrees F for the last 120 miles. We arrived at our hotel very hot, sweaty, and tired. We had traveled 330 miles from Bend to Ontario, Oregon. Ontario is home to 'Ore-Ida' Potatoes, right on the border between Oregon and Idaho!
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