The Carey Adventures

Welcome to Plush, Oregon!

Continued from Day 1

Ahhhh….a bright, cheery morning.  So much nicer than the weather in Puget Sound as of late.  And it’s flag day to boot!  Now tell me that’s not an award winning combination.

Sabrina and I had a slow start but a quick finish to the morning.  After realizing the time (sleeping in was a treat), we boggied on down to find some biodiesel.  And we got lost.  Not really lost per se.  But not where we wanted to be.  So we made the best of it, got some cash and wandered back towards the main strip.  I did find one of the stations only to find it had turned into a Pacific Pride with no biodiesel.  Then, in a looping grand arching fashion, we made our way to the second station….which is card lock only.    When I had fueled up here before there was someone there to take my money, but no dice today.  Oh well.

Sabrina helping with dishes

We got Todd on the phone and made a number of wrong turns, not being familiar with Bend.  Eventually we found the group hanging out at a Safeway complete with gas, flip flops I desperately needed and a WaMu ATM.  An oasis at the beginning of our trip.  We met with Todd, Noah, Davis, Michelle and Tony.  Zooming out of town we eventually reached scenic Christmas Valley, decending on the one gas station/everything store like hungry mosquitoes to supple, warm flesh.  Or something.  I know because we saw a LOT of mosquitoes this trip.

Next stop: Plush, Oregon and the Hart Mountain Store.  Here is where we met with Mike and his son Ian as well as our local guide Norm and Cowboy Poet Leon.   Sabrina and I also started a new tradition here, it’s called “buy ice cream whenever they sell it”.   Yum.  More fuel to top the tanks and away we go to Hart Lake.  On the far side of the lake, down a slightly bumpy double track trail, there are a number of petroglyphs amongst the rocks.  Really cool.  We also spotted a large Bull Elk (Leon spotted it) and some deer (Sabrina spotted those cus we were last in line).  But the bugs were pretty bad so we moved out.

The day was getting late so we headed straight to the camping spot.  While it was an actual campground, it was very spread out.  About 10 tables/spot in all with a good pit toilet.  The sites were each about 30′ apart and after getting set up, most people kept to their own site, more or less.  There wasn’t a single rallying point for a campfire so we all settled in and eat dinner.  Sabrina and I hung with Noah and Todd for a good portion of the evening.  Sabrina loved the Miso Noodles with seaweed in them.  Have to remember those for next time.  A good breeze, while not too cold, kept the mosquitoes away for the evening.

The sunset at 8:30 (gotta get used to the lower latitude and earlier sunset)was spectacular.  Such color and stratification in the clouds once the sun was beyond the distant hills (no picture of that part, I was busy enjoying it).  The rose just before that while it got ready to make a ‘full’ appearance later in the week.  Sabrina and I crashed around 10:30 with a fun day behind us and much adventure ahead.

On to Day 3!