Over the last two days Ann and I have been driving down to California. This has kept us very busy and mostly out of service, so only a couple posts today.
Our first goal was to drive down the center of Oregon, something neither of us had done. So, on Wednesday we got up early and headed south. When we reached Pendleton, Oregon, we turned onto Highway 395 south and worked our way down to Burns. We didn’t stop during our drive or take any photos, mostly due to the driving rains that shadowed us through most of Oregon.
After Burns, we turned onto highway 205, which took us passed the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which isn’t well known for anything at this point other than the Bundy family’s odd decision to take it over in February of 2016. Again, due to the rain, we drove past the refuge.
I had hoped we would have a good view of the Steen Mountain in southern Oregon, but the rain didn’t let up for a good view of it. I am hoping to return sometime to do the mountain loop tour, which begins and ends on 205, but that will have to be saved for next summer.
Eventually, Highway 205 ended at US-95, which we followed into Winnemucca (with the rain still pouring down). After checking the weather, we decided to drive southwest to Fallon, hoping that we would leave the rain behind. That plan actually worked! So, we spent the night at Super-8 and Bonanza Casino, which also provided free drinks for the attached Bonanza casino.
We don’t gamble a whole lot, but we did spend about an hour playing 5-cent video poker. We ended up losing $10 total, but got three free drinks out of the deal. I can live with that!
Yesterday (Thursday) morning, we left for Tulare via US 95, which took us through Hawthorne, Nevada, home of the world’s largest ordnance depot, where they both manufacture and store ordnance (and I’m sure they do much more).
Our first stop in Hawthorne was at the local park, where they have several wind machines made out of bombs. Ann was thrilled!