Tuesday, September 5, 2017 Departure Day

Our goal today is to start heading East and South. Planned to get up early - Kinda got delayed because Zoey (Poopsie) got me up at 4:45 AM - I let her out and came back in - she wouldn't settle down, so I let her out some more but she wanted to chase bugs. Back in and out one more time. I finally put her in the wire crate and shut the pocket door to our bedroom in the RV. I got back to sleep about 6:30 or 7:00 - we got up about 9:00. We walked the dogs and put away things , including utilities, slides and jacket. Then we hooked up the pickup and were on our way. If we are not in a pull thru site we always have to figure out where to hook the pickup on at. You have to be careful and not block traffic, etc. We stopped at Seaside to get gas- Here in Oregon there is no self-serve. An attendant fills up your vehicle.

If you remember, we have been without TV for about 7 days or more. So I found out through google and twitter that there was a big fire near I-84 - the Eagle Creek fire and I found out part of the interstate was closed. We had noticed the smoky skies though. I asked the guy at the gas station but he didn't have much helpful information. This is why it is good to have an atlas and a paper map of the state - so you can find alternate routes. Because my first plan was to just hit I-84 and move quickly along. We would have taken a small road to Portland then joined I-84 there. They had electronic signs in Portland that gave the routes. Portland, OR

This is where the access to Interstate 84 was blocked off.

So we went south on Highway 101, then SE on US 26 then North on US 197 to meet I-84. This would have been a beautiful drive if it had not been covered in smoke! Gresham, OR

Government Camp, OR - Notice Mount Hood in the background.

This is a beautiful tourist area of Oregon, Mount Hood, where people come from miles around to camp, hike, bike and ski in wintertime. We probably would have stayed a night extra here if the fire was not happening. The Dalles, OR, another highly popular tourist area in Oregon.

Arlington, OR

Once we got on I-84 we went pretty much due east to Boardman, OR. It was slow going about 35 - 45 mph most of the way on the road until we arrived at I-84. The roads were curvy, uphill, downhill and narrow in lots of places. Plus we were meeting a lot of semis and also had to pull out if cars or other vehicles started piling up behind us. It was a nerve-racking mess of a driving day. Steve did great! Anyway we made 315 miles and it took us over 7 hours to do that with only 2 or 3 short stops to walk the dogs and us. It was smoky and still smoky. The smoke was not clearing out. We were so thankful to be safe though. We stayed one night at Driftwood RV Park in Boardman OR. We got Dish, had LTE signal, FHU, and a pull thru. We did not unhook the pickup. This was a very plain, humdrum RV park. And after driving 315 miles - it was still smoky!