roadquill1

Well, here we are – back in Oregon again – just north of a town called “Lakeview” – one of the highest cities in the State. The roads to get here have been some of the most enjoyable that we have travelled in either north, or south directions. Part of this is surely because of the spectacular weather – from 20 C when we left Lake Havasu City and then steadily getting cooler as we rolled north through Nevada, and into Oregon this afternoon. The other reason is – no traffic!

So, for your “routofiles” (folks that love to hear which highways and byways you travel on) here goes:

We travelled up Highway 95 from Needles (“No stopping, Sandy…the name has nothing to do with quilting!”) north past Las Vegas and then continuing through the little gold-mining town of Goldfield, and then to Tonopah, Nevada. Diesel there cost $4.199 at a little private garage – a much better price that the bigger stations on the highway. We had originally planned on staying in Tonopah, but the only RV place was at the Casino, and so I opted to keep going for another couple of hours – to Austin, NV.

We had to backtrack a couple of miles, and then we headed due north on Highway 376 to Austin. This highway was surprisingly vacant, and just for fun, I began to check the times between passing vehicles. It was about 1 to 2 minutes on average. At 70 miles per hour, this means that usually, you can just barely see the oncoming lights of the next vehicle as one passes you on the long straight stretches.

Just before Austin, we were in some very high country and the road became very twisty for the last few miles into Austin. We stayed at the Austin RV Park – a tiny little place with no one around. The office seemed to be the Baptist Church, but I guess that we were too late for Good Friday services, so we put our money in the collection envelope and stuck it in the door. For other Roadies – the place was clean, but cold, and our sink drain line frosted up overnight. It was about -4 C when we headed out at 8:30 this morning.

The best was yet to come!

I, personally, LOVE new routes, and so far this trip had been wonderful with gorgeous scenery, and little traffic on two-lane roads. Today (Saturday) topped yesterday, however.

Just outside of Austin’s western edge, we turned north up 305. We had the gorgeous Toiyabe and Snoshone Mountains lit up behind us in the early morning sunshine, and beautiful ranges on either side as we roared up the valley in the middle towards Battle Mountain, NV.

Toiyabe and Shoshone Mountains to the south of Austin           The same – in the rear-view mirror!                                     Hwy 80 – heading towards Winnemucca

At Battle Mountain, we swung west on a 4-lane freeway 80 to Winnemucca, where we turned north on 95 until we hit 140.

                                                                                  Hwy 140

On this stretch to Lakeview, OR, we passed, on average, about one vehicle every 10 minutes for the first 3 hours or so. Try to imagine that on any highway in daylight hours. At 70 mph two vehicles meet every 10 minutes. (At -4 C you could have a very cold thumb if you were hitchhiking, since you might only see a vehicle every 20 minutes, or more!) This little calculation reminded me of a very long night in the Queen Charlotte Islands when I hitch-hiked from Port Clements towards Queen Charlotte City and only saw 2 vehicles in about 2 hours! I guess we can be grateful for a full tank of fuel, and no break-downs!

At a Rest Stop at noon we saw a bare-footed family (a young mother with 5 barefooted children) with 3 dogs in a cargo trailer – a rottweiler, a bull mastiff, and a husky pup. As we got out to stretch our legs, the youngest child came running over to me and reached up to be picked up. Thumpety, thump! That was a heart-warmer in the chilly afternoon wind! The mother quickly put the Mastiff on a chain – before it became too protective of the young toddler, I guess. Mother was pretty good at getting them rounded up for departure – “I will count to two!” (No messing around with a safer three count.)

  The Rest Stop on 140

After sandwiches and a snooze, we hit the empty road again. Very shortly thereafter, we saw several wild burro herds, wild horses, and antelopes, as well as two very large golden eagles. As we climbed the pass over Antelope Butte (you can see several antelope butts in the pictures) the roadside and surrounding areas were lightly snow-covered.

Antelope butts at Antelope Butte                                                   Antelope: pee before flee                                                                  Snow above Lakeview, OR

Lakeview, Oregon, turned out to be NOT the place we wanted to stay so we continued north on 395. Tomorrow, we will turn off at Hwy 31, and follow a new route to Bend, and then on to Salem and Portland. Sandy looked online today at the Quilt Shop…”An acre and a half of supplies…”. Guess we will camp there a while.

Getting closer to you – except for Nicki, in Australia, and the Benz’s in Germany! Best wishes and love to all.

The Quill and the Quilter