On the Road to Oregon: safe & sound in beautiful Bend!

[DemoTex]

I arrived last night after a brutal (but beautiful) drive from Elko to Winnemucca on I-40, then up US-95, O-78, and US-20 to Bend. I fought 40-knot crosswinds across then high desert (with beaucoup dust storms and tumbleweeds). Nick-Nick chased a tumbleweed during a gas stop in Orovada (kind of like the Flora-Bama or the Delmarva, eh Trof?) I learned to never pass a gas station without topping off in the high desert. I would drive for 30 minutes without seeing another vehicle in either direction. Cell phone, useless. CB was dead. Ham 2-meters, dead. I did stop at a snow chain pull off and put out a portable vertical and made a quick 20-meter contact on 14.28 mHz. That was reassuring! Love my HF SSB!

I slept in today. Goofed off in Bend. Got lunch at a good Thai restaurant. Goofed some more with Nick-Nick at the Deschutes river. Took a two hour nap. I'd post some pics, but my Nikon's battery is dead and the charger is deep in the back of my pickup truck.

My ranger boss says we might not get out to the lookout tomorrow (official start day is next Tuesday, but I want to clean and provision). He was out there today, but came back because of some wildfires. I'm hearing it is going to be a very bad fire season because of insect-killed lodgepole pines (extremely volatile fuel).

I'm loving the Peoples' Republic of Oregon! I know there are some wing-nutters here, but the lefties seem to keep them in check. I've seen lots of Obama stickers, but not one Bu$h/Cheney or McCain/Palin.

Some good DUer did warn me a couple of days ago about gas stations in Oregon. But I promptly forgot. I pulled into a Shell station in Burns, OR, and swipped my card in the pump's reader. I started pumping ethyl. Then a clean-cut guy with a spiffy Shell uniform ran up raising hell. Then I remembered. No self-service in Oregon! He was cool when he saw my South Carolina Vietnam Veteran tag. "It's a fucked-up law" he said, to my union-skewed mind's amasement. Hey, I wanted to say, "it's a job .. nothing fucked up about that!"

[Oregone]

1. Don't get too comfy...

Deschuttes and Crook are pretty red (not so much this last go around, but still red). :)


They probably just took off their bumper stickers out of shame.

[DemoTex]

4. I sense that you are correct ..

But, then again, I'm never comfy as a lone stranger in a strange land. But that is, and always has been, grist for the writers' mill. That's why I'm here.

[DemoTex]

5. Dupe ... deleted

[Alamuti Lotus]

7. That may be, but still an awesome place

The "red" areas in Oregon are a little over-hyped. While some backwoods areas of the valley are a little bit out of Deliverance (Sweet Home/Lebanon area), the eastside is fine. The farmers vote with and for their money, it is true, but that's the extent in my experience.
The Dalles & Bend are becoming stronger Democratic-supporting, part out of a reaction to Cheney's aggressive Big Government policies (they're old style conservatives if anything, not the new trendy fake ones, and then there's a few John Birch style dipshits scattered about for entertainment value), and part out of moderate Portland liberals escaping the metro.

Nice place, glad you're enjoying your stay in Oregon DemoTex!

[DemoTex]

9. I did notice Stars & Bars on US-20 outside of Bend .. gag!

[Mythsaje]

14. I grew up in that region...

There were a lot of old hippies settled there at the time--mid 70s.

[Stargazer09]

10. I'm still a legal resident of Bend

I vote in every election (by absentee ballot, obviously, since the military has us elsewhere). I do my best to cancel out some of the red votes.

Enjoy my home for me, okay? :hi:

[Trocadero]

15. a lot of libertarians

[Oregone]

18. And born-agains

Oregon is crowded with born-agains. The last decade, at least in the southern region, the churches have transformed their born-again, non-denominational fellowships into quite the political machine.

[roguevalley]

33. my beautiful Oregon. I adore it. my aunt lives in Lakeview, just down

from Bend. the high desert is awesome. SNIFFLE! I miss Oregon.

RV, from the great and awesome Rogue Valley

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Welcome to the best place!

Long haul from SC, but it's a trip I've made: my family's beach house is in Beaufort!

[Morning Dew]

3. One of the best named towns in the country... Bend, OR. nm

[cherokeeprogressive]

20. Don't count out "Weed", CA n/t

[stevedeshazer]

6. You came in through the empty quarter of Oregon.

The part in the Great Basin.

Most folks are surprised to learn that most of Oregon is desert or semi-arid.

Bet you saw some good wildlife. Lots of jackalopes.

[DemoTex]

8. "EMPTY" is the perfect term.

Actually, no wildlife. Few road-kills. Few power lines. Zero cops (55 mph in Oregon after 75 in Nevada .. WTF?). I did 65 .. comfy in my 4-cyl Tacoma (I would have bought the 6-cyl if I had known about this trip!).

[Alamuti Lotus]

11. the fire season has been bad the last few years

I was camping out in the Ollalie basin area last year as a serious lightning storm blew by, a least 40 minor fires were started within a 30 mile radius from the lightning over two days.

I missed the full backstory of what you have going on here, but welcome to the state and hope all goes well, looks like you're already having a blast.

[Suich]

12. Some backstory here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5159178

[sandnsea]

13. Welcome!

Glad you made it. I've never been on that route. You sure didn't get to see much of the prettier parts of the country. At least it's nicer around Bend there.

Yeah, the west in general isn't as wingnutty unless you run into militia types. Bend has really started trending more left since it's grown so much. You should find a lot of like-minded souls this summer.

Stay Safe!

[Trocadero]

17. Bend property values recently took quite a pounding

[rucky]

23. They overbuilt and overvalued.

They're probably back to where they should be.

[cascadiance]

28. My next door neighbors in San Diego moved up to Bend a year before I moved to Portland in November..

They were really good people, and haven't had time yet, but still have meant to go down and visit them there in the future (which I will probably do once I get employed again - was recently laid off)...

They were pretty politically neutral or perhaps more left of center than I knew, since they knew me from my road signs as being pretty liberal. If you have neighbors like them, you'll do fine. They told me that their biggest transition item was to get Oregon plates as soon as possible to not be shown as a California "invader" in that part of the state.

I've been meaning to replace some of my bumper stickers and was wondering if putting on this one, which I find very fitting for me, would even be accepted well in Portland or not.



As far as the Dalles becoming "more liberal", I wonder if Google recently setting up shop with a big server center next to the dam in the Dalles might have something to do with that trend. Apparently some other businesses like Microsoft are following their example and setting up more sites up stream to take advantage of the more green hydro-electric power. I know that Yahoo just announced yesterday setting up shop in upstate New York also to take advantage of hydro-electric power there (I wonder if they were replacing my job with one of those moves! :) )

[Trocadero]

16. worth a visit - the lava butte park, a few minutes south of bend

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. Did you know that US 95 is called "The Loneliest Highway in America"?

Here's what you'll see about a hundred yards north of the Nevada/Oregon border in McDermitt...

That very sign used to say "Next Gas 58 Miles", but the gas station at "Burns Junction" closed. Notice the snow blowing in front of me, and what's blowing across the road...

[A HERETIC I AM]

22. That title is held by US Rte 50 across Nevada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_50_in_Nevada

[leftyclimber]

21. Welcome to Oregon!

I just got back from visiting my folks there, in the Willamette Valley. Didn't have a chance to head over the mountains to the high desert, my favorite part. Take a big, deep breath of sage and juniper for me, if you would.

Thanks for being a set of eyes watching for fire out there. The bark beetles have been horrible. Several years back I beat the B&B Complex fire going west across Highway 20 (they closed it the next day) and came back across the day they reopened it. Hotspots everywhere, sometimes feet from the road, and the Jefferson Wilderness glowing in the distance. The stench was overwhelming. But Mother Nature has to reset our well-meaning but incompetent old fire management policies, and she's doing a hell of a job.

Dunno if they get you your red card as part of this gig, but if a big one does come down and you're working fire outside the tower, keep an eye out for a dude named Don Palmer coming in from back east. He's an absolute gem. (And if you do run into him, make sure to ask him about the time he went for a jet boat ride in Idaho. He'll know what you're talking about, although he may wonder where you found out about it. :evilgrin:)

Here's to clear skies this summer. And don't forget to eat at the Deschutes Brewery. The food is fantastic.

[rucky]

24. Make a stop in Sisters, if you can.

Right in the middle of the McKenzie Pass. It's really nice.

[travelingtypist]

25. Welcome!

Poppy called Portland Little Beirut way back when.

And if you can, stream KPOJ 620, the first really successful and probably still most profitable. Air America/liberal radio station in the country.

I'm a little jealous that you get to be out in the wilds like that. It does sound dangerous, but still, the chance to live in the wild...

[LWolf]

26. Glad you're in town.

Relatively speaking; I'm 15 miles or so downriver. I hope it's not a bad fire season; the beetles have been killing the lodge poles for decades. I'm planning on a lot of summer hikes and trail rides on my horse in the Cascades.

Do you know where you'll be?

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Welcome to Oregon!

I love it here. Lane County I'm in, Eugene to be specific. Another lovely day today, enjoy!

[file83]

29. This summer, don't be surprised if you run across homeless "tent towns"

out in the China Hat wilderness area. They probably won't be as far SE as where you'll be, more towards Bend on the North slopes of Newberry Crater. They have to move every 2 weeks to avoid being ticketed.

[closeupready]

30. Get a coffee at Royal Blend!

I used to love that stuff - I'd order by mail, but stopped when they were bought out by someone and then they stopped doing mail order, IIRC.

[Aristus]

31. Glad you made it okay, Mac. Oregon is a pretty good state. Wing-nuts or not, I consider it

a beautiful blue state. Eugene is one of the bluest cities in the country. The full-serve gas situation in Oregon freaked me out at first, too, but I got used to it. There's a station near my house that offers we-pump or you-pump, and I always opt for we-pump. I got accustomed to it.

Oh, just one thing: You're not calling it "Orry-GONE" are you? Just remember, the locals call it "Oarragun", or even "Oarrag'n". B-)

:hi:

[DeschutesRiver]

32. Another welcome to Central Oregon!!

Don't freak about the red people! Yeah, they exist here, but I am a registered independant voter/Obama supporter out in what you'd think must be the reddest part of CO, Crook County:) And I can't tell you how shocked I've been by the amount of people, of the most unlikely backgrounds and livelihoods that repeatedly state that Obama is admirable, practical, handed a shitty hot mess but is handling it with common sense, etc. I can't put a percentage on it, but it has happened more than I'd have thought possible. Yeah, sadly, there are folks deeply saddened that Palin isn't our President - you can't fix everything, but it isn't completely bleak even in our ranching community. Bend is far better on this count, of course.

I gather you are doing fire patrol? Where is the lookout where you will be stationed? From our 5,000 mountain, I can see almost 360 degrees, and have spotted more fires over the years than I'd ever thought I'd be comfortable seeing, as the only thing I hate more than fire might be rattlesnakes (though we have none at our elevation for some reason). We even were present (thankfully, as it turned out) for our very own lightening strike and resulting fire on our small ranch, which we put out ourselves before the high winds picked up again in the evening (a couple of acres).

Don't worry about the gas thing - whenever I am in another state, I wait patiently in my car until someone comes to pump it for me, and look utterly stupid in the process:)