Hell's Canyon then onto Oregon

The day was spent driving through Hells Canyon. Was it worth it?
Well....sorta. I really can't say that I would recommend that you do
as I did and re-route your entire trip just to see it. It was
actually sort-of blah. The drive up the canyon was interesting and
there were tons of trees with fall coloring...

But...once you've seen one yellow pine tree, all the rest look the
same. I did get some great (well I think they are great) photos of
the frost in the morning...

Most certainly, the most interesting part of the trip was meeting Dick
and Charlene.

Yep...some ole' guy that I just happened upon while just wanting a
picture of the river. He was stoking his campfire and started up
conversation as soon as he saw me. Now, I hadn't seen any other
people so far on the drive up the canyon. For all I know this guy
could be the next chainsaw massacre'. Did that deter me? Hell NO!
He offered a warm fire, a fresh cup of coffee and some fascinating
conversation. I was told on arrival that the 'wife' was indoors and
would be out soon. I wondered if there really was a 'wife' for the
longest time until she finally made an appearance about 40 minutes
later.

What is so fascinating about an ole' guy in the canyon? Well, either
Mr. Dick is a jack-of-all-trades, a gleeman, or straight up
pathological liar. Whatever....it was a good hour and half spent
conversing, some good coffee and most importantly, a warm fire. Let's
see if I can remember everything. Dick lived in the canyon for 25
years, until they evicted him when the government took over management
of the canyon and made it into a National Park. He worked as a tour
guide in the canyon, was in the US Air Force, mined for gold, has a
degree in Hydrology, spent time in South America where he ended up in
prison for pissing off the South American President, and has hosted an
array of visitors and travelers from abroad. It was delightful
listening to him chatter about his past history (although I only
believed about a third of what he said). His wife did corroborate
most of his stories when she showed herself a little later.

So....I didn't get poisoned by the coffee, not thrown into the river
never to be seen again, and not hacked up into little tiny pieces and
fed to the bears.....A Good day! Who knew that there are good people
in the world?

The rest of the day was spent driving....and driving....and driving!

I did have perhaps the best blueberry muffin of my life in the small
town of Joseph (just outside of the park).

In Portland now with Mike and Kim. They are wonderful hosts! Kim
made me the greatest cocoon last night and I slept like a baby....or
is that a bear? Spent most of today working on paperwork for the CA
job as well as the Germany position. With the paperwork mostly in
order, I think tomorrow will be spent exploring downtown Portland.
Maybe the rain will let up for just a little while?

(check the photo gallery for more photos)

OH!! Aco was a trooper during the long day. She played with Dick and
Charlene's dog 'Blacky' and snooped in the trees during our stops.
Then slept most of the way to Mike and Kim's.