John Day, OR

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Our day began in Crescent, Oregon at Big Pine RV Resort. Andi and Aden were surprised to find ice on the picnic table this morning as they worked to put away the RV hoses, grill, and Starlink satellite internet outside the camper. Nights have been a lot cooler in Central Oregon than they were along the coast because we’re at a higher elevation.

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Big PIne RV Resort, picking up suggestions from the owner about places to see along our driving route through central and eastern Oregon. Bruce recommended we stop at Newberry National Volcanic Monument on our way to Bend, Oregon to see the icredible landscape of a lava flow covering 1,200 square miles. There’s a scenic drive and several hikes near the caldera of the active volcano.

I’m sure I’m not the only who didn’t realize there was a volcano in Oregon! Newberry Volcano is one of the largest volcanoes in North America, resting between the Cascade Mountains to the west and the High Lava Plains to the east. The last eruption took place 1,300 years ago (fairly recent in geological times), and will happen again in the future — the question is when?

Unfortunatley for us, the Newberry Volcanic National Monument Visitor’s Center was closed today as many parks and campgrounds have transitioned to seasonal ‘winter’ hours starting in October, but we were still able to use the trails within the park. We settled on a walk called Trail of the Molten Land which meandered through one of the three main gutters of lava that flowed from Lava Butte.

We’ve visited another national monument in southern Idaho called Craters of the Moon which shares many geographical similarities with Newberry Volcano. The two are, in fact, both connected to the same volcanic rift zone. Both parks feel other-worldly to walk in the very same path lava once flowed from the crater.

One thing we weren’t expected on our walk was to be innodated by wildfire smoke. The owner of the campground warned us there are several controlled burns happening around the area, and said they’re nothing to be alarmed by. Still, the haze in the air burned our eyes and mouths. Andi couldn’t stop coughing as we walked, and I instantly had a headache. I can’t imagine living with this smoke in the air day after day.

The air quality was really bothering us, so we didn’t stick around Newberry Volcano for long. The four of us hopped back into the RV and drove 20 minutes to Bend, Oregon. Andi and I have heard lots of great thing about Bend, and were excited to see it for ourselves.

Bend is a small city of 100,000 people located near the Deschutes River in central Oregon. Its high-desert climate makes it an enjoyable place to live with warm summers, cool nights, and lots of snowfall in the wniter for ample outdoor recreation.

We parked near the Deschutes River which painted a goregous fall scene around us. We’re finally starting to see leaves change colors! Fall is here.

All four of us were struggling with headaches and coughing due to the wildfire smoke, so Andi and I thought sitting inside a restaurant to have lunch might help. He picked a place in downtown Bend called Blissful Spoon. The kids weren’t very happy when they saw the menu which featured healthier, high-end dishes and mostly brunch items. “Why wants to eat waffles for lunch?” Aden asked.

I suggested to Aden that we split the chicken tagine. Andi ordered the tagine as well, and Tory was able to order a simple grilled chicken breast and side of roasted potatoes. Andi also ordered a blueberry muffin and piece of chocolate cake to sweeten Tory and Aden’s attitudes about the restaurant.

When the tagine was served at the table in a traditional cooking pot, I knew our food was going to be good! It turns out, the owner of the restaurant is from Morocco, and also lived in Australia for a time, so his menu is a mixture of the two food cultures.

Nothing beats the authentic tagine we enjoyed during our visit to Morocco this year, but this meal was the closest thing we’ve tasted to it since then. Eating tagine had us all reminscing over lunch. Africa!

Next, we followed signs to the Bend Farmer’s Market. How lucky to stumble upon this happening today! It turns out, this was the last market of the season. Andi and I always say, you can tell a lot about a city by visiting the local farmer’s market. This was a fantastic one with so much fresh produce, honey, wild mushrooms, and more. The prices were pretty reasonable, too — except for the $100 gourd!

Fall vegetables like squash and carrots are harder to cook in the RV (we try to grill most foods), so we didn’t buy anything at the farmer’s market, but it was fun to walk through the stalls nonetheless. The four of us continued walking through the historic streets of the city, window shopping and browsing in clothing and gift stores.

Before we left downtown Bend, we spent some time walking along the beautiful Deschutes River. There’s a nice metal boardwalk that runs along the river, and we saw lots of locals utilizing the green space.

Afterwards, we walked back to the RV and drove to Wal-Mart on the south side of town to pickup our online order. Our RV can’t fit into one of the pickup lanes, obviously, so I stood in the parking lot and waited for the attendant to come outside with our groceries. The Wal-Mart employee was so friendly, chatting with me about our travels and telling me what it’s like to live in Bend while loading the groceries.

Andi and I considered camping in Bend for the night, but the wildfire smoke was unbearable. We decided to continue driving to eastern Oregon. Andi ended up driving almost three hours this evening along Highway 26. We couldn’t get over how different the eastern part of this state is from the western coast — it truly felt like an entirely different place! The landscape of forests, desert plains, and buttes made us feel like we were in Idaho, not Oregon.

The eastern side of Oregon is pretty rural, too. We passed through a few map-dot towns, but nothing was open for business at 7:00 o’clock in the evening. Fortunately, there was plenty of free camping available in the area on Forest Service Land. Andi used the iOverlander app to locate a camping spot near the town of John Day, Oregon. A long gravel road led to several spots we could park amongst the trees. Our Starlink was somewhat obstructed, but it worked well enough for the night.

As the weather cools, it’s time to start making our way back to Wisconsin. We’re 1,700 miles from home, and have the quite a distance yet to cover. From the next week, we’ll have some longer driving days mixed in with a few scenic stops as we travel through the states of Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Iowa. Our time in Oregon is nearing its end.