A Change in Landscape on Moving Day

Location: Deschutes County RV Park (El 3,000 ft); Redmond, Oregon

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 Cell Phone)

One of the good things about traveling around like I do, is that I can dramatically change the scenery and landscape in just a few hours. I did that yesterday when I moved to a new campground. For the last several weeks, I've been camped in different campgrounds, but they all had one thing in common. That thing was lots of trees that blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the ground thereby causing most things to stay in a constant state of dampness. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just stating a fact. Yesterday was a time for change.

This was the campground at Ainsworth with all the trees.

There was an elderly Asian couple that camped in this car every night while I was here. They were well dressed and would leave the campground about 9:00 am each morning and get back just after dark. I never had the opportunity to get their story, but I'm sure it would have been an interesting one.

Moving day was about 160 miles with only one missed turn on my part. I thought it was to be an easy trip, so I didn't use the GPS. They need to make bigger signs. The first 50 miles or so was along the Columbia River which is one of the best rivers I've seen. Most of the rivers in the eastern part of the U.S. are muddy due to receiving runoff from farmland and lowlands. The Columbia however starts in mountains and even though there are adjacent farmlands in places, there aren't enough to significantly change the quality of the water in the river.

The beautiful Columbia River :)

I turned south on U.S. 197 and there was an immediate change in landscape. It had gone from the shear cliffs of the Cascades to the rolling hills at the beginning of the high desert of the central Oregon. Oregon can basically be carved up in 5 areas that run north and south. The first is the coastal area, next is the coastal mountains, next is a valley where I-5 connects the major cities of the state including it's capital, next is the snow capped Cascade Mountains, next is where I'm at now which is the high desert with an elevation of 3,000+ feet. This was the dramatic change I was looking for; from heavy trees to high desert. 

Some of the rolling hills looked like fertile farmland but latter on it turned more to cattle country.

There was very little traffic on the highway for most of the way. Notice the road curving in the distance

The mountains in the distance looked good in contrast to the roadsides, but they were too far to make a decent picture through the windshield.

One of many snow capped mountains.

It is a big wide open area.

I thought this was interesting. It is what we would call a "pull post" for the fence. They make a circle of the fence then fill it with rocks to create a gravity anchor point. Neat.

Another snow capped mountain. 

A few more snow capped mountains. Now that I'm to the east of them, I'm hoping to catch a nice setting sun over the mountains.

Campsite with no trees and concrete slab. :)

I'm not sure what I will be seeing around here, but am thinking about driving to see the John Day Fossil Beds at Painted Hills. There is a public golf course next to the campground and I may even play a round if things work out. The city of Redmond is pretty good sized with a wide assortment of restaurants to chose from, including the fine dining experience of Taco Bell. I chose this campground for it openness as well as the concrete pads. I need to get under Liberty to do some lubrication maintenance on the main slide and laying on concrete is always better than laying in mud. The cost of the campground is higher than some other places, but it has it's advantages and worth the difference for me at this time. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.