Day 69...Sunday, September 21, 2008...McCall to Riggins...Going to "Hell"

I'm up early after a good night's sleep at AmericInn in McCall. After carefully repacking the top of the cargo carrier to make sure that my taillights are clearly visible, I set off for Riggins around 11:00AM.
It's a beautiful drive over winding roads through some forested areas. Soon, I find myself in "Hell" or, to be more precise, "Hell's Canyon"...this is the area where three rivers, including the Little Salmon and the Salmon, converge. It's pretty impressive...the mountains surround Riggins, and the sound of the river(s) is loud.
Still, I have to admit to a certain feeling of uneasiness...first, there was the traffic stop last night in McCall...11,500 miles of driving with no problems until here, in Idaho.
Then there's the little matter of the local "cult" up the road about three miles from my hotel. As I'm driving into Riggins, I notice the "Adopt A Road" sign (see photo). Gee, this stretch of road has been adopted by "Yahweh's 666 Warning Assembly"...what the Hell is that??? Later, at the hotel, I "google" that...big mistake...now I'm REALLY uneasy with that "bowl of walnuts" right down the road.
And, arriving at the Salmon River Lodge, I see that the parking lot is empty...not a single vehicle to be seen...not a good sign. I'm interested in booking a charter to fish the Salmon River for salmon and steelhead, so I pick up a couple of brochures and head over to the "Hook, Line and Sinker" tackle shop to get a three-day fishing license. It's there that I learn the "bad news"...timing is everything, and my timing here is bad. It's too late in the season for salmon and too early for steelhead...my fishing options are bass in the Salmon River or trout in the Little Salmon...that explains, in large part, why I seem to be the only "non-local" in Riggins.
I can fish for bass at home, so I opt for trout on the Little Salmon River. There are four or five public fishing sites up the road, so I head over to the first one. I'm using my "pack rod" from Bass Pro Shop, a Shimano "light" spinning reel with 4lb. test line and an assortment of 40 year-old lures from my late father's tackle box. I don't get a single bite, but the fishing spots are beautiful and the act of fishing itself is very relaxing.
Late in the afternoon, I head back to my hotel..for a few beers and some football...it is, after all, Sunday. My dining options are rather limited, but I head out for the "Rodeo Grill", about a 3/4 mile walk from my hotel. Along the way, a doe and her fawn walk across the road right in front of me...20 feet away, tops...they notice me, but they're not frightened away. I stop for a few minutes and watch them walking around someone's front lawn, munching on the occasional shrub...then they're gone. At the Rodeo, I have a pretty good steak (rib eye) as well as a few glasses of Cabernet from Idaho...it's not bad. Dessert is a lemon cram pie...very good...then it's time to head back to the hotel. I watch the late game, Dallas/Green Bay. Then it's time for bed...but not before locking and bolting my door...that uneasiness again.

Day 68...Saturday, September 20, 2008...Bend to Riggins, Idaho (Almost)...Bad Boy, Bad Boy, What Ya Gonna Do When They Come for You?

I can not say that today was exactly one of my favorite days on this trip. I set out from Bend, feeling slightly fuzzy-headed (hmm...how could that be?), around 11:00AM en route to Riggins, Idaho...a trip of 350 miles or so.
Not far out of Bend, I was back in the "high desert" again...and...if I asked for flat terrain, I certainly got it. The first three and a half hours or so, the terrain was as flat as possible. Normally, I'd make good time on that kind of road, but it started raining around 1:00PM and never stopped. What I expected to be a four hour or so drive took over eight hours. It's a pretty boring drive, but my satellite radio is coming in perfect...so I listen to a couple of football games...then end of OSU/Troy, the whole Notre Dame/MSU game (disappointing), and the first quarter of LSU/Auburn.
The people that collect the data for my Garmin GPS program have apparently never been in Riggins...I can't pull up an address for anything (fuel, lodging, dining, etc.) and the Garmin won't accept any of the Riggins addresses that I try to input. So...I'm pretty much flying blind over the last 100 miles or so. Those last 100 miles take me through more mountains...low ones, but lots of curves, hairpin turns, etc. that slow me down.
It's starting to get dark, but the Garmin is telling me that I'm close...unfortunately, the Garmin is wrong...when I get to where I expect Riggins to be, I'm still over 50 miles away. So...I decide to stay in the town of McCall, a small skiing community at the base of Mt. Brundage.
The local AmericInn looks nice, so I pull in there to book a room. And that's where the weird stuff starts...the clerk looks at my credit card and says, "Welcome back, Mr. Thee". I tell her that this is my first time in Idaho, so I could not have stayed there before. She rechecks her computer and tells me that another "William Thee" was a guest there just a few months ago.
Wow...another William Thee...I know that there is at least one other William Thee in the world...he's a labor lawyer in San Diego (no relation). So...maybe he was the guest...unless...there's a third William Thee...wouldn't THAT be something.
I'm hungry...all I've had to eat today was a half a bag of jalapeno chips and a candy bar. The desk clerk recommends the local steakhouse, The Mill, which I passed about a mile and a half up the road. So, I drive over there and, almost immediately, things are not going well. It's crowded (in retrospect, I wonder why), you can't eat at the bar, there's an hour wait for a table, and there's a guy playing a loud (very loud) piano. I do, however, have an option...I can go out of the restaurant and go in a separate entrance to the "Sports Bar" which serves the same menu as the restaurant. So, I opt for the Sports Bar. They don't have a guy on the piano, but they're playing "Top 40's" music at full volume...I can hardly hear myself think in there. I sit down at the bar and order their best white wine...Kendall-Jackson...a wine that they'd serve at McDonalds if McDonalds served wine...OK, I admit it, I'm spoiled and feeling a little wine "snobby" after all that great wine in Oregon. I order The Mill's "famous" Prime Rib...it's pretty disappointing...dry and overcooked...still, I'm hungry. With the beef, I have one glass of Cabernet (Kendall Jackson!).
Now I'm heading back to the AmericInn...I can see it right on the other side of the traffic light. I go through the light and, suddenly, there's an EMS vehicle or ambulance barreling up the road behind me. So...I pull over to let him pass. He pulls over behind me...ah...it's not an EMS vehicle, it's a local policeman.
OK, I have to tell you that, at this point, I'm a bit startled, but I'm not nervous at all. That's because I've only had two glasses of wine, so I KNOW that I'm well under the .08 limit...maybe I'm at around .02 or .03. As you can tell from my blog entries, I enjoy my wine (a lot), my beer, and the occasional Martini...BUT, I am scrupulously careful about alcohol if I'm driving.
The policeman comes up to my window and shines his flashlight at me. He tells me that he noticed that my vehicle was "riding pretty low" (no joke...I've got most of Oregon's 2006 wine production in there) and that my taillights are partially obscured by all of the stuff that I've got "bungeed down" on the cargo carrier.
He asks me where I'm from...where I've been, and I start telling him about my trip...I notice that his face softens a bit at this.
He asks for my license which I produce easily. Then he asks for my registration and insurance...the ones in the glove box between me and which sit several cases of wine.
He sees the same thing , and he tells me not to worry about it. He asks me where I've just been...The Mill...and he asks if I've had anything to drink...two glasses of wine with dinner, that's it. Still, he tells me that he needs to do a few "tests"...so now I'm following his finger with my eyes while he looks at them with his flashlight...I "pass". Then I have to count backward from the number 88...piece of cake...I've never been great at math, but this I can handle. My only worry is that he'll ask me some trick question like they used to do in those old WWII movies..."OK buddy, who plays third base for the Brooklyn Dodgers?" But I'm lucky...no trick question...and, just like that, I'm free to go...with the strong "suggestion" that I rearrange things on the cargo carrier before I take off tomorrow morning.
Nothing like a little "excitement" before bed.

P.S. I see that I'm not the only person with a "bridge phobia"...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080921/ap_on_re_us/bridge_panic_1

Day 67...Friday, September 19, 2008...Farewell to Wine Country...Great Food/Great Times in Bend

With great reluctance, I've finally got to say goodbye to Wine Country and start heading eastward...homeward bound.
BUT...I could not leave the Willamite Valley without one final winery stop...Panther Creek Cellars. I had a bottle of their 2006 Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir with dinner last week at Bistro Maison, and it was just my type...dark, concentrated...lots of blackberry flavors. The winery is located right in downtown McMinnville, so it was only a short drive. The staff there was very friendly and proud that I was so enthusiastic about their wine. One gal (see photo) reminded me of my good friend and closest-I'll-ever-have-to-a-daughter, Jasmyn, and that made me a little homesick. But they were pouring all of the best that they had...the Shea Vineyard was as great as before, but it was the 2006 Freedom Hill Vineyard that just blew me away. It was every bit as good, if not better, than the wines that I bought at Domaine Serene (heretofore my "benchmark" for Pinot Noir). So...you KNOW what's coming...I bought a few bottles...well...maybe more than a few. I got three magnums of the Shea and a whole case of the Freedom Hill. By leaving behind both coolers, all of my clothes and most of my camping equipment, I was able to "squeeze" my latest purchase into the Escape. Only kidding...I didn't have to leave anything behind, but I did have to do some very creative repacking/repositioning.
Now an official member of the "Lowriders Club", I set off for my last stop...the Evergreen Aerospace Museum. It's big, it's made out of wood and it flies (well, it flew exactly once)...it's...the Spruce Goose...Howard Hughes' masterpiece of aeronautical engineering...and it's at the Evergreen Museum. This plane is so big that it fills virtually an entire hangar. As you can see from the photos, this made it difficult to get a really good shot. They had lots of other cool planes as well...WWII bombers, fighters, Migs...you name it. I spent almost two hours there and still didn't see everything.
Now it's on to Bend, Oregon...and yet another, albeit final, trip over the Cascade Mountain Range. A fun trip through the winding, hilly roads of Wine Country brought me to Salem where I picked up Oregon Route 22 for the drive to Bend. Getting over the Cascades was another challenging drive with a winding road and lots of steep dropoffs, but there were also stretches through big old-growth forests. About an hour after I got on Route 22, I went through an apparent "wormhole" and, for a few minutes, I was instantly transported to the Detroit area (see photo)...Wow...it's really changed since I left home! I think that's Lake Saint Clair in there. Then another "wormhole" swept me up and spat me back onto Route 22.
After a couple of hours through the mountains, I eventually broke out on the eastern side in the area of the Deshutes National Forest. At some point in the recent past, there was a huge forest fire here, and things were pretty burnt out.
I got to Bend around 6:00PM and checked into the local Days Inn. As soon as I got out of my car, I noticed a strange scent in the air that I couldn't identify. Then, I started thinking back to how I used to go camping with my late father in northern Ontario. We'd drive up through the U.P. and follow the same road each year as it was built a hundred miles or so at a time. We'd camp, fish, drink beer and have a lot of fun. One time, I mistakenly threw a pine log into our campfire and soon realized my mistake...that "kerosene" odor was unmistakable and very unpleasant. THAT was the scent that I was getting in Bend. Talking to people later in the evening, I learned that it was smoke from that forest fire way back in Crescent Lake, the beginnings of which I saw on the way out of Crater Lake. By the way, that fire is now "under control".
I have to tell you...I wasn't expecting much from Bend...a little farming/ranching community in the middle of the state, I thought. Boy, was I wrong! Bend is quite a sophisticated little community with a lot of top-notch restaurants, divey little local bars and very, very friendly people. I had planned to have dinner at a place called "Cork" that was supposed to have a great selection of wines by the glass. The hotel manager told me that it was within walking distance, so I set off on a one-mile walk through a newer section of Bend on the fringes of downtown...a very "hip" new section with loads of interesting restaurants, upscale boutiques, etc. I had some difficulty finding Cork, so I stopped at a place called Bo's for Pan-Asian cuisine...a great choice. The staff was very friendly (see photo of my bartender, Ashley), and the food was outstanding. I had Tuna Tartare, a Pressed Duck Spring Roll, and an order of Thai Air-Dried Crispy Beef...Wow...it was delicious. And, for dessert, they had my favorite...Coconut Ice Cream.
Full, happy, satisfied...I set off back to my hotel...but not before one last stop for a nightcap at the M&J Tavern...a fun local bar. I ordered a local beer, Session Lager, and sat back to relax. Soon, I struck up a conversation with a local guy, David...we talked about my trip and soon I was mentioning the very relaxed "substance-control" laws in the Yukon. I was both surprised, as well as skeptical, when David pointed out that Oregon's laws were very (VERY) similar to those in the Yukon. I, of course, wanted proof of this...so...we stepped outside for a minute, and it was there that I learned (in the fullest sense) that wine was not the number one cash crop of Oregon. David set off on a wobbly course on his bicycle home to his girlfriend while I, now thoroughly disoriented, returned to the M&J. M&J had an incredible selection of Tequila (see demonstration photo of Shanna), and I thought that maybe a quick shot would restore my senses of balance, direction, etc. I was wrong on that, but I did manage to retrace (in, perhaps, a slightly more circuitous way) my one-mile route back to the Days Inn...where I fell immediately to sleep

Day 66...Thursday, September 18, 2008...Another Great Day of Wine Tasting

Having now compiled a list of "preferred" wineries, I set out this morning on a clearly defined mission...visit two more "pioneer" wineries (ones that date back to the 70's) and try to stop at as many "New World style" wineries as possible.
This is a day that requires the appropriate music, so I slip in a CD of music by the American composer, Aaron Copeland...suites from Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo. It's rousing music, full of American folk melodies...perfect as I'm rolling through the hills and open farmland.
My first stop was Willakenzie...one of the pioneers. Their winery has, perhaps, the most beautiful location in the Willamite Valley. Perched on the top of a high hill above the Chehalem Valley, Willakenzie's facility allows some really great views. They also have a "gravity-fed" facility which minimizes human intervention, including the use of mechanical pumps, to produce a more "natural" wine. Their "reserve" and "single vineyard" Pinot Noirs were all outstanding...so, naturally, I bought a few bottles.
Things were busy at this and all of the other wineries in the Valley...it's harvest time. Everybody had large plastic tubs out to begin sorting through and picking the ripest clusters of grapes. 2008 will be a good, but probably not great, vintage for Oregon. The weather has been cool and dry and, as a result, the wines won't necessarily have the concentration that you get in a hot year. Still...the grape clusters look pretty ripe...and pretty good.
Next, I was off to Erath Vineyards, yet another pioneer, formerly known as Knudsen Erath. Again, excellent reserve and single vineyard Pinot Noirs. The Tasting Room staff was both knowledgeable and helpful...and I learned a few new facts. They make one of the only "Roses" of Pinot Gris in the world. Since Pinot Gris is a white wine grape, I couldn't figure out how they could make a Rose, which requires a little contact with red grape skins to produce the Rose color. That's how I learned that Pinot Gris grapes have skin colors which range from yellow to dark red...very interesting. A skillful repositioning of cargo inside my Escape allowed me to squeeze in a few more bottles from Willakenzie.
The Four Graces was another winery that came highly recommended, so I stopped there next. Their Pinot Noir was a little too "Old World" for me, but their Pinot Gris was every bit as good as, if not better, than my favorite from Elk Cove. So...you guessed it...I bought a few bottles.
My trusty designated driver having returned home to Michigan, I decided to call it a day after one last stop...and what a worthwhile stop it was. Domaine Serene is a relatively new winery, but their wines are maybe the most sought-after in the whole Willamite Valley. Dark, inky, highly-extracted with tons of black fruit, these wines were, perhaps, the finest Pinot Noirs that I have ever tasted. I arrived a few minutes after the tasting room had closed but, once I stared picking out wines to buy, they were happy to pour as many tastes as I wanted. I ended up buying three magnums as well as a half dozen single bottles. I would have purchased more, but I could not balance any more wine on my lap for the trip back to the hotel!
Back at the hotel, I got in a two-hour nap and awoke hungry. So...off to dinner, this time at Nick's, a local "institution" and the best Italian restaurant in the Valley. Once again, I was not disappointed. I had their five-course "fixed-price" dinner...a soft-boiled egg atop wilted greens and farro grain, great minestrone, homemade wide pasta with a lamb ragu, a small salad of locally-grown greens, and a perfectly cooked hangar steak with a red wine sauce...plus, another great bottle of Pinot Noir. After all that, I was barely able to make it across the street to the local ice cream parlor for a large hot fudge sundae.
Back at the hotel, I had a glass or two of the wine from dinner before drifting off to a well-deserved sleep.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading east...towards home...finally. I'm heading for the town of Bend, but not before one final winery stop and a quick tour of the Evergreen Air Museum.

Question: What's big, made out of wood and flies?

Find out tomorrow!

Day 65...Wednesday, September 17, 2008...Shannon Heads for Home...Back to the Willamite Valley

I am suddenly filled with enormous fear. There's this huge map of wineries in the Willamite Valley and, examining it closely, I suddenly realize that I have missed visiting at least three wineries during my visit a few days ago. And the bees, thousands of bees...all that buzzing. No wait...it's not bees, it's the alarm clock...time to get up and get Shannon on the 4:00AM shuttle to the airport.
I was sorry to see Shannon go back home. She's been a great traveling companion...experienced camper, accomplished map reader and all-around navigator, dutiful "designated driver" in wine county. But, best of all, she encouraged me to take that different route, make that unscheduled stop, open my eyes and see a lot (a whole lot) of things that I would otherwise have missed. I miss her already.
Now back at the Clarion, I'm able to dash off a few blog entries and start planning the next few days.
On that first evening a Crater Lake, the moon was at it's fullest and a reddish color from all of the smoke in the air due to multiple forest fires. And, as I looked at the moon, a thought popped into my head..."Remember Bill, when the moon is big, head for home...M-O-O-N...that spells, time to start home. Well, maybe not right away...I've still got a few more wineries to visit.
Today is a "maintenance day"...a few mundane things before and after I head back down to McMinnville. On the way out of Portland, I stopped at a local Jiffy Lube for an oil change. I checked my Garmin for the total mileage so far on my trip...amazing...I've traveled 11,608 miles!! Wow...that's more than most people drive in a whole year.
I'm back at the Red Lion Hotel in McMinnville. Until this trip, I had never heard of the Red Lion chain, but they're pretty nice...I've probably stayed at nine or ten different ones along the way. This one has a laundry...so...I'm doing four or five loads which should give me enough clean clothes for the trip home.
On the way into town, I was able to stop at two wineries...Rex Hill and Sokol-Blosser...they're both good, so I bought a couple of bottles.
I decide to have an early dinner...after only two hours or so of sleep, I'm tired. So I head into McMinnville for dinner at La Rambla...a Spanish tapas restaurant. It's excellent...erasing the memory of that wretched place in Victoria. I go with a few "classics"...gambas al ajillo, tortilla Espagnol and the charcuterie plate (Manchego cheese, Serrano ham, Chorizo, olives)...they're all really, really good. A glass of Pinot Gris with the shrimp and a bottle of Panther Creek Pinot Noir with the eggs and charcuterie plate. The Pinot Noir is excellent...big, grapey, lots of "black fruit" flavors. The bartender at La Rambla really knows his wines, so I start asking him who produces the "New-World" style Pinot Noirs that I like. Just like that, I've got a whole list of places to visit tomorrow.
Oregon lets you take any unfinished wine with you, so my nearly-full bottle of Panther Creek is heading back with me to the Red Lion...a few glasses before bed.

Day 64...Tuesday, September 16, 2008...Spectacular Views of Crater Lake

7,700 years ago, a volcano, now called Mount Mazama, erupted with a force 150 times that of Mount St. Helens. The ash released was enough to cover the entire state of Oregon with a layer six inches deep. After the eruption, the cone of Mount Mazama collapsed, leaving a 4000 foot deep crater, or "caldera". Fed by rain and melting snow, the caldera filled with water, creating what is now known as Crater Lake...the deepest (1,932 feet) lake in the United States.
With that bit of history in mind, we set off early in the morning to drive the rim of Crater Lake. The National Park Service, apparently mindful that some visitors might have a fear of heights, posted a reassuring sign (see photo) at the beginning of the rim drive. Unlike other "mountain roads" which may have a step drop off on one side, the rim drive of Crater Lake has steep drop offs on

both

sides for most of it's 32-mile length.
There are plenty of "pull-outs" that allow views of the lake from every side and angle. As I mentioned yesterday, it's an awe-inspiring sight with large peaks, steep cliffs and the sapphire blue water of the lake itself...my photos do not do it justice.
The rim drive took about two and one half "white-knuckle" hours. Once the drive was completed, I decided that a glass of wine or two was clearly in order. We had a nice lunch at the Crater Lake Lodge and met two nice ladies from Michigan who planned to take the rim drive after lunch.
Afer lunch, we headed out of the Park, bound for Portland. As I mentioned yesterday, the most direct route, 138, was blocked because of the forest fire. So, we opted to take Route 62 south to Route 97, then 97 north to Route 58 which runs northwest to I-5. This was another beautiful drive through mountains and more old-growth forests.
Approaching the town of Crescent Lake, we saw the beginnings of yet another forest fire. We were fortunate because Route 58 was closed later in the day as the fire sprad to 1000 acres.
When we reached I-5 at Eugene, we were able to pick up the speed a little for the remaining 100 mile drive to Portland. We got to the Clarion Inn at the airport around 7:00PM...just in time for their complimentary cocktail hour. We lucked out on a restaurant, as the popular downtown Portland steakhouse, Ringside, had a branch only a few miles from the Clarion. Although their service was a bit slow, the prime rib was excellent, as was a nice Cab from Washington.
Back at the Clarion, we unloaded Shannon's stuff from the Escape so that she could pack for her morning flight. We finally got to sleep close to 1:00AM...with a 3:30AM "wake up" call looming.

Day 63...Monday, September 15, 2008...On to Crater Lake...BUT...Mother Nature Forces a Change of Plans

We set out early from Reedsport to get to Crater Lake National Park as soon as possible...get in as much of the "view" as possible.
Heading into the town of Roseburg, we were excited to discover...surprise...more wineries! The Willamite is not the only wine-producing "valley" in Oregon...the Umpqua Valley has a few of it's own. So...we took a brief detour to Abacela Winery just outside of Roseburg. They specialize in one of my favorite gapes, the Spanish variety, Tempranillo. A taste of their "Reserve" Tempranillo was all the incentive that I needed to purchase a few bottles.
At the winery, the tasting room folks mentioned a forest fire along Oregon Route 138, our planned route to Crater Lake. But, never fear, a quick look at the U.S. Forestry Service Website, followed by a confirming telephone conversation, confirmed with "certainty" that 138 was open despite the fire. Thus reassured, we proceeded confidently east on Route 138, we drove forty miles or so to Steamboat, where we had a great lunch at the historic Steamboat Inn. It was there that we discovered that the U.S. Forestry Service, while dedicated, was, in this case, clueless. Apparently, the fire had "jumped" across Route 138 and ignited a long hillside parallel to the road. Once the fire burned away the supporting brush, a rain of rocks, boulders, burning logs, etc. took out a ten-mile stretch of Route 138.
So...back forty miles to Roseburg, and then down I-5 to Canyonville and Routes 227 and 62 heading toward the "East" entrance of Crater Lake.
No fire problems, but the "detour" ate up most of the day. We arrived at the Crater Lake Lodge at 6:30PM or so. It was there that we learned that, because the Crater Lake Lodge is the most popular National Park lodge in the Northwest, reservations are advised at least one year in advance. Since I wasn't even thinking about this trip a year ago, we were "out of luck" as they say. We did, however, get a few nice photos as the sun set over the rim of the crater.
After sixty-three days on the road, I have seen some spectacular works of nature, but I wasn't prepared for that first look at Crater Lake. Like millions who came before me, I was "awe-struck" by the beauty of this incredible place. More on this tomorrow.
The closest "alternate" accommodations were over twenty miles south of the Park in Fort Klamath. We managed to get a "suite" at Jo's Lodge at a reasonable price. Once checked in, we headed off for a late dinner. Like Reedsport, Fort Klamath is not exactly the "culinary capitol" of Oregon. Nonetheless, we were able to get a decent burger and a few beers at Melita's about a fifteen mile drive from Fort Klamath.
Now we have a little bit of a "race against the clock...see all of Crater Lake and still get to Portland early enough to get a room near the airport and grab some sleep before Shannon's 6:00AM flight home.