Plans written in Jello melted

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Location: Goose Lake State Recreation Area off US 395 south of Lakeview, Oregon, Campsites 3 and 4, $20 per night, W,E,S (water, electric, showers). Nice campground on Goose Lake. Restrooms usable, shower not tempting.

Thursday evening while preparing to leave Friday morning heading east, our plans changed and we will be heading south to help Pebbles settle into her new home before heading east.

We had to stop in at the Ontario, Oregon, Grocery Outlet to fill up on sweet treats and a couple of other items before heading west on 20/26 toward Burns, Oregon. The scenery is slightly less than spectacular out that direction.

In Burns, we refueled the cave mobiles, and then stopped at a rest area on the west side of Burns to have a sandwich lunch. It was quite windy and a little bit cool in the shaded shelter, but we got back on the road feeling refreshed.  We needed to feel refreshed for a few minutes, because the desolation we were driving through sure couldn’t do it!  Miles and miles and more miles of pure nothing but sagebrush!  Okay, there was a small river we followed for a while, but it was pretty much the same color as the rest of the landscape.

We did see a couple of cattle roundups along the way, and this cowpoke waiting to cross the highway. Probably really just a rancher out riding his land.

Turning south on US395, there were several lakes to spark our interest, except there were only dust swirls on them, no waves because no water. Then lo and behold there was water in Lake Abert but you could still see the dust swirls along the dry edges.

The cave mobiles again were refueled as we came into the town of Lakeview. That was a pretty area after so much nothing. About 15 miles south of Lakeview, we crossed into California, but had to go back because the park we were looking for is in Oregon. So we are settled in for the night at Goose Lake State Recreation Area. It is a small park on the edge of the lake, and their brochure says visitors are thrilled by the overwhelming bird life inhabiting the Goose Lake valley.

Wilma was up early this morning and meandered down to the lake. There was a little bird that wanted to attack her as she went to read some signs. Turns out it was a Killdeer. Later Fred and Wilma went back out with the binocs and camera. The Killdeer again did his injured wing trick, and really yelled at us for being too near the nest. We also saw a couple of egrets out in the lake. Those things are huge! And Wilma had seen 9 mule deer earlier.  This is a very nice little remote campground.

We’ll have a late breakfast this morning and then go down the road a few more miles today. Have a great day. We will also.