We stayed overnight in Pendleton at the Red Lion Inn. There was a state trooper meeting of some sort and there were troopers in camouflage uniforms and sporting side arms. We felt quite safe. The room was a little unusual. There was a lamp but no plug near the computer desk. The coffee pot was in the armoire but again, no plug. No free breakfast, 4.95 for the buffet. Coffee was 2.50 each but the hostess was nice enough to give me 2 free cups since I pointed out that would be the price of a full buffet for one person with unlimited coffee. The other thing that irked me was Expedia booked the room for me at $119 but there was a big sign out front that the rooms started at $89. I paid $10 extra at Laramie because I booked through the hotel instead of using Travelocity, now I get hit for an extra $20 for NOT using the hotel. OK, I think I have this down now, call the hotel and get a price and compare to online booking. [Slow learner]
I'm glad we took that extra stop last night, the drive from Pendleton into Portland, although quite scenic, is somewhat nerve racking. You drop down the mountain, along the Columbia river to less than 100', first left then right, all the way down. The scenery goes from rocky and dry to huge cliffs with tall fir trees. Mount Hood is off in the distance, forever it seems, then suddenly you pass it. Every bend in the road brought new scenery and it was hard to keep the car on the road and look at the scenery at the same time. The pictures just don't do justice to the magnificent view. Lexington's elevation is about 1100 feet and we went as high as 8700 feet on I-80 in Wyoming. In Portland it's about 100 feet. I love my new Garmin GPS, it gives you all kinds of neat information. :-)
We saw a lot of wind farms through Wyoming, Utah and Oregon but Oregon had the most. The wind coming through the mountains was ferocious and added another layer of difficulty to the driving. The wind was blowing opposite the flow of the Columbia River. As the day went on the white caps got larger and larger.
We finally arrived at David's condo at 1:30 PST for a total of 2450 miles, unloaded and did a grocery run. David came home from work at 5:30 and we had burgers and bourbon on the back deck. Temperature was in the 90s yesterday but it's supposed to be only low 80s today. Night time temps are in the mid 50s; very pleasant. He has a very nice condo in a quiet neighborhood. Yvonne loves the area and is already starting up conversation about moving out here. I'm going to miss her.
I haven't been running since we started our trek but Yvonne ran several times; she's dedicated. I'm just too tired from driving and still trying to get used to the time change. We stay up late and I'm still waking up early. Tomorrow I'll don the running shorts and at least get a short one in to get me going.
My daughter Karen and the grand-kids Erin and Jamie are coming over tonight. They have out of town guests too so we're all getting together tonight. The little condo will be very crowded :-)
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