Washington County

A day that started out on a low note has come to an end on a high note.

We had an uneventful drive on I-84. The best kind of drive. The temperature gauge read 88F outside ... but thanks to thick clouds overhead, we had relief from the heat most of the way.

I had scoped out three boondocking sites for tonight.

The first was at the Oregon Welcome Center in Ontario ... this was the minimum 188-mile spot I was hoping we could get to despite the late start to our drive today. When we arrived, Mui said he was OK to drive further.

So, we moved on another 20 miles to a boondocking spot overlooking the Snake River. It sounded lovely on paper. But we arrived to find one rig permanently moved in. That would have been OK ... except for all the junk and debris around the ancient RV. The ambiance didn’t sit well with us.

So, we moved on ... planning to drive another 20 miles or so. We didn’t get that far. A stop to fill up at a station just off I-84 in Huntington led us to Farewell Bend State Rec Area. We took a chance and drove the 1 mile to the park and lucked into a pull-through W/E site for $26.

As it turns out, we would have been miserable boondocking without electricity as it was a bit too hot to do without the A/C and we don’t like running the generator for long. Looks like the heat wave is breaking, though, I can hear the light litter-patter of rain on the roof ... and gusty winds are rustling the trees on either side of the Cruiser. We’re safely off the road, so we don’t mind one bit.

Tomorrow we continue our drive towards the Columbia Gorge.

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With a name like Farewell Bend, there had to be an interesting story to check out. We have 5G cell signal here with our T-Mobile plan, so I went surfing on the web. Apparently, and I quote from the park website, “After following the Snake River for 330 miles, Oregon Trail pioneers rested above the bend in the river here, then bid farewell to the Snake River and continued their trek.”Read more