White Salmon, Washington: After being in one place for so long, and a place we have spent so much time, it was a little bitter-sweet leaving Eugene this morning. So many wonderful moments during the Olympic Trials. America is sending a very good team to Paris and we will have to wait one month (exactly, as the athletics portion of the Olympics begin 1 August) to see how our team will perform against the other world best. Our athletes have a month to fine-tune, and Terry & Dave have a month to play.
The morning started with me driving the rental car to the Eugene Airport, returning the car, and waiting a few minutes for My Driver to pick me up in front of the terminal in our RV. While waiting, I ran into our old friend, Jessica, who worked on the Olympic Trials with DT previously, and also spoke with Anna Cockrell, beaming, and carrying her silver-medal-winning flower bouquet from the 400m hurdle race last night.
The Hardest Team to Make.
Traffic was a little slow getting around Portland on the 205, due to I-5 being completely closed for construction near downtown Portland for several days. Once we look a right onto I-84 to drive east along the Columbia River, traffic cleared. Too many clouds to see Mt. Hood or St. Helen’s, but the day was warm. Views along the river were as spectacular as always, but it is now necessary to obtain a timed entry permit to see Multnomah Falls… so we saw it as a drive by. The waterfall wasn’t very full.
This photo was taken from Hood River, Oregon.
After reaching Hood River, Oregon, our afternoon took an interesting, expensive, yet luck-filled, twist. While backing up near a scenic area, our RV was attacked by a giant boulder! (Never mind we have a back-up camera!) The rock bit our bike rack, bent it, and left us with no choice but to replace our 20-year-old rack. The lucky portion to this stoopid-sad scenario is our bikes were not damaged, our RV has only one teeny ding (skunk is off the boat) and we were in Hood River. No matter how small this town may be, Hood River is home to bikers, kite boarders, wind surfers, skiers, hikers, and any other type of outdoor sport you can imagine. Not only did we find a replacement rack - wow, have bike racks improved in 20 years - they took our old mangled rack to recycle.
The only bummer to this ordeal is we are camping on the other side of the Mighty Columbia River from Hood River, in White Salmon, Washington and every time we cross the bridge over the river, we are dinged with an $8 toll. At least Oregon is sales tax-free, so the $24 toll was easier to absorb after purchasing the expensive bike rack?
Once we returned to our campsite with our fancy new rack, and DT loaded the bikes onto the back of the RV, it was way past cocktail time! Jeesh, the first day of our real "vacation" didn't exactly turn out as we had imagined. I made an appetizer plate for each of us, then put together the planned meal-o-the-day: Three Cup Chicken.
Until my next update, I remain, your "it could have been worse" correspondent.
Campground Information: Gorge Base Camp - We realized, upon arrival, we have stayed here before. The bridge across the river from Hood River is a bit tight, but if we did it in a 45-foot motorhome years ago, pretty much any RV will be fine. (The bridge has a toll, priced upon size/axles, etc.). We have a paved full hookup site. This campground has a bathhouse, laundry, free wifi, play ground. They are a member of Good Sam. This park is next to a train line. We paid $85.73 for an overnight site.
Yum! Your Three Cup Chicken has become a family favorite here.
Safe travels!