Prineville, OR and a funny little campground in Idaho

Our campground in Prineville was very neat and tidy - the only problem was that our destination to explore (John Day Fossil Beds & the Painted Hills) was almost 2 hours away.  I don't know what I was doing when I looked at this area, but that's way too far to go for a day trip so we hung around Prineville for the day instead.  I had to do a little work on the camper anyway - one of our roof vents refused to close, so I was able to find the part in town and had us fixed up in no time.  While I was doing that, Lisa & Maribeth got the kids ready for a bike ride to a local park where there was a pool.  Since it was 98 degrees out, it was a good call and the kids got their first pool time since Colorado Springs.  Only issue on the ride there was that Annalise couldn't take the heat or the angle to the side of the road so she walked her bike a lot.  Extreme heat and Annalise don't mix very well at all...

The high desert of Eastern Oregon

Once I was done with the roof vent, I rode to meet them but decided I needed to get a bike ride in.  I rode a little over 16 miles into what I could swear was Death Valley - the heat was pretty bad.  Prineville, OR is in an area know as the High Desert which extends across the eastern half of the state.  This high desert area was a surprise for all of us - we all pictured the beautiful coastline and tall pine forests when we thought of Oregon so to find sage brush and barren-ness was kinda weird...
Once I got back from my ride inside a hot blow dryer, we pulled the kids out of the pool and brought them to a little park with huge wooden playground.  Some teenagers were practicing their Parkour which was actually quite fun to watch.  Anyone that can run up the side of a tree and do a back flip is worth watching!

Tree climbers spotted in Prineville, OR.  A very rare species...

A beautiful sunset on our last night in Prineville

So our stay in Prineville was a comfortable one and we met a handful of very nice campers that shared their travels with us and listened to ours.  One of the nicest things about camping is the people you meet next to you - always helpful and fun to talk with.

Pulled off on the John Day Scenic By-way

So today we set off for Idaho!  Potatoes be damned, the Olsen's were coming to stay for a few days.  The next three days are actually "layover" days waiting for our stay in Yellowstone.  We got an earlier start today (which we vowed to continue for the rest of the trip) and were treated to a really scenic trip along the John Day River.

Green fields to the left - desert to the right

VIDEO - JOHN DAY SCENIC BY-WAY

This scenic by-way is a lesson on water.  Along Rt. 26 in Eastern Oregon, life clings to the river - venture more than a quarter mile from the river's edge (sometime less) and you are met with lifeless, dry earth that only seems to support sagebrush and the occasional stand of Western Juniper.

We arrived to camp a little after 5 pm which was great timing for dinner.  But sadly, this is one of those stops that we quickly shortened to one night once we got here....  Note to self - if you are greeted by a dude that is 3 times the size of a camper, keep driving.  This place is really an RV sales place that happens to have a campground right off of Interstate 84.

You could sit in this hand located next to the "pond"

So while it was easy to get to, it is quite frankly, a dump.  When I checked in, the owner must have said 5 times that EVERYONE in the camper must read the rules.  A full page of rules.  I then got to hear a short political rant (I didn't bite) which was clearly aimed at seeing where I stand.  Must have been the New York plates...  I think the New York plates also got us placed as close to the dump station as possible despite the fact that there are no other campers in our row of sites.  We're also staying indoors since I could swear that when I go outside I'm in one of the horse stalls at Scarlett's barn back home.  There has to be a lot of horses around here somewhere, but we haven't seen them and we're not going to look for them either.  And in the, "you can't make this stuff up" category, I had to get a picture of that big dude at the entrance so I walk up and this little terrier kind of dog comes shooting out at me from under a Toyota SUV, all stealthy like.  Weird thing is, he's barking, but no bark is coming out.  I've never seen anything like it, but Maribeth tells us that some people get the "bark" removed from their dogs.  Really?  How cruel is that?

An abandoned car in a camping site is never a good sign...

Right after that, the owner appears on a quad and goes off to monitor his campground that has all of 4 campers (including us) registered for the night and he has to stop and talk to me.  I try to keep it simple with the weather and everything is "A-OK at our site" (minus the horse manure stench) and he answers with, "And Obama's still in office" as if if the heat is actually the President's fault.  Why do these kind of people always want to have a conversation with ME?  So we're only giving this guy $24 for the night (we were supposed to be here for 3 nights) and Maribeth got us reserved for the next two nights at a KOA up next to Craters of the Moon.  We'll be leaving at 7:00 a.m.

Hopefully the kids won't cost us $250 before morning....

Almost forgot - we hit the 5,000 mile mark in Mountain Home, ID!