We left Spokane and headed west on Interstate 90. We turned off at Ritzville on to Highway 395 South and had a fuel stop at the town of Kennewick before branching on to Interstate 82 East and crossing over the Columbia River into the state of Oregon.
We rode west on Interstate 84 on a great road that overlooked the Columbia River. This route was the same taken by early explorers Lewis and Clark who left St Louis in the early 1800's and opened up what would become to be known as the 'Oregon Trail' for all the early settlers who would follow with their wagon trains.
After stopping for lunch at Boardman around noon we continued along the Columbia River Highway for another hour and a half. After rounding a bend just before our destination of the day (after a ride of 440kms) at the town of The Dalles we saw on the horizon the large mountain peak of Mount Hood, dwarfing the other peaks of the Cascade Mountains - very impressive.
The town of The Dalles (population 12,000) got it's name from french fur traders. 'Dalles' is french for 'sluice' and describes the effect the river had on carving out a path through the valley.
The next morning we decided to get on the road early due to an extreme weather warning for Oregon with temperatures predicted to be over 100f in places (about 38c). We set out on Highway 197 south and climbed through the foothills until we linked up with Highway 97 south. We had a view of the Cascade Mountains on our right and surrounding us were arid rolling hills of juniper and sagebrush, typical of the high desert country in eastern Oregon. In one place we saw a lot of squirrels foraging for food on the side of the road.
We stopped at a rest area where we met some other bikers who informed us that the HOG (Harley Owners Group) Rally of Oregon was on at the moment. Apparantly there is a group ride from Bend to Medford tomorrow via Crater Lake, so we may see a few bikes on the road!
Apart from this one stop we had a leisurely ride of only 220kms for the day. We stopped for lunch at our destination in the town of Bend (about 80,000 people) around noon just as the temperature was starting to soar. We checked in to a motel where the motel manager said that he had checked out two New Zealand motorcyclists that morning! I said; "Their names wouldn't happen to be Evan Fahey and Maurie Barrington by any chance?" The manager pulled out the check-in slip and confirmed it had been completed by Evan!
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