We're in Oregon!

We got off to a very early start today (7:00 a.m.) & had our longest driving day yet (12+ hours), but the payoff to such craziness was that we finally reached Oregon! After a long & pretty boring trip across Idaho, where we saw no potatoes & not much else, we crossed into Ontario, Oregon (how's that for a coincidence?!) at 3:05 p.m. It started to rain the second we entered the state...no joke! But, the rain didn't last long & even if it had, it wouldn't have dampened our spirits. I stuck the camera out the window to snap a photo as we passed the "Welcome to Orgeon" sign & amazingly, the picture turned out.

The drive through the eastern part of Oregon was so pretty, especially after the boringness that is Idaho. John kept saying he had never seen anything like it. The hills & mountains we wound around were vibrant green & absolutely breathtaking. Everything looks like it has been draped in a huge emerald quilt, stitched down by immense evergreen trees. Beautiful. Now I know how Maria felt in "The Sound of Music"!

I was VERY tired & somewhat out of it for most of the drive today. I now have the sore throat that John's been fighting for the past few days, as well as an overall "I'm getting sick" feeling. For the first time on this trip, I actually slept in the truck when I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, so it was a pretty quiet day for conversation. I guess the past week is finally hitting me. I hope I feel ok tomorrow, otherwise, unpacking the truck is NOT going to be fun for John. I think a good night's sleep will do wonders.

Oh, the other highlight of today was that I finally solved a Sudoku puzzle!! The lowlight was that we found out that gas is pretty pricey out here. But, on the other hand, it's against the law to pump your own gas so all of the gas stations in Oregon are full serve. Nice when it's raining; not so nice if you're in a hurry & the station is busy.

In terms of timing, we could have made it all the way to Portland tonight, but in terms of me feeling crappy, by 7:30 p.m., I couldn't imagine going one more mile. So, we stopped for the night in a place called The Dalles, which is about 80 miles outside of Portland. We're staying at a Comfort Inn & there are roses everywhere around the parking lot; big, beautiful roses that I just had to stop & jam my nose into. It totally reminded me of "Alice in Wonderland" & the garden of the Queen of Hearts...except nobody was painting the roses red & no one was playing croquet with a flamingo mallet.

I'm going to try to sleep now, but it feels a little like Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for for the past 5 years!

Later,
PortlandGirl