East We Go.

Eastern Oregon and Beyond

 The meander went on a mission of mercy and hedonism.

 Our dear friend Jo had suffered a back injury,  since we had nowhere to be, and since Gwen is a nurse (RN) par excellence, we stayed in Springfield Or. for a few days to help Jo, and suffer the delights of the Eugene/Springfield area.

 Perfect weather and walks on the allyisian riverside parks were a delight.

 Incredible dinners and lots of laughter got Jo up quick, which was a good thing, because Jo and her hubby Jerry, were to take delivery of their first (RV) pop up camper in a few days.

 We needed to make a quick visit to the home port, Gold Beach, to reshuffle the rig (get rid of deadweight), so we all made plans to meet back at Belknap Springs for an inaugural camp-out (totally hedonistic style) 

  A great success, If you get the chance to go there, do it.

    From there, a true meander.

 East looked good, so we headed up into the eastern side of Oregon and inadvertently  got educated about Lewis and Clark. And someone who now stands as one of my favorite frontier heros.

 John Day

  If you get a road atlas of eastern Oregon, you will find a large area of the upper right hand side has a preponderance of places called "John Day this or that."

 There's  roads, towns, rivers, restaurants, even a National Park (Which oddly, gets the whole story right)

 John was a terrible scout, and his chief claim to fame was being robbed by Indians, (Natives), Stripped naked and left for rescue at what now is the mouth of the John Day River on the Columbia , but was then called "The river where we found John Day running around naked" He died insane.

 Needless to say, the name stuck

 It's a kind of country that makes you feel little, no big deal to park under a 200ft. tree here, common to have lots of free firewood handy and it's breathtakingly beautiful.

 The painted Desert WOW

 The Fossil bed exhibits are great, we had the pleasure of being attended to by a knowledgeable and enthusiastic ranger.

 I can't say enough good about all of the national park rangers, meandering would be so much poorer without them.

  Next, IDAHO DY YO!

 First stop, buy potatos potatoes potatoughs.