Day 1 - Monday 17th September

The 2012 NWOL officially started today. Today's drive starting at Bend, Oregon explored the high desert area of Oregon, finishing in Hood River. The route was planned by Chuck Goolsbee, who couldn't join us on this leg of the NWOL, but we hope that he will be with us later. The consensus was that Chuck designed a great route through some very rugged and dramatic country, which made for a very enjoyable day. The quality of the roads was excellent - the only thing lacking was somewhere to fill the cars with gas; more on that later....

Prineville Reservoir - OR27

The drive started with a photo op at Prineville Reservoir about 30 miles east of Bend. From there we drove north on OR27 through the canyon of the Crooked River to Prineville.

OR-27 Crooked River Highway

OR-7 Crooked River Highway

From Prineville the route headed north-east on OR-26, OR-207 and the John Day Highway (OR-19). The roads were deserted, very smoothly paved, and exhilarating to drive. The scenery was dramatic - unfortunately the driver was obliged to keep two hands on the wheel, and so there are no photos. Anyway, we want you to come with us next time, so we can't provide too much of the experience here....

We had settled on the tiny town of Fossil (population 470) as a suitable place for lunch, and the presence of 6 E-types certainly caused a stir. The community is located midway along the 217-mile Journey Through Time - Oregon's official cultural and heritage tour route, which celebrates pristine fossil and geological resources, Old West culture and charming small towns. We were made to feel very welcome, and had a good lunch at RJs. Even before we started the day we had anticipated that fuel stops would need to be a primary concern on this leg of the NWOL, and had identified that Fossil has a gas station. Unfortunately, it transpired that the company that owns the gas station - Fossil Fuel (yes really!!), only carries regular grade gas, and diesel. The helpful attendant was able to tell us that premium gas was not available at any of the communities on the next 100 miles of our route. We had little choice but to add a little regular gas; not too much; and hope that we had enough to get us to the next premium station.

While Rick, Chris, Greg and Dianne headed out to check out the fossils, the fossils (Jerry, Lloyd, Gary and David) set out on the next leg of the drive. The route mapped out by Chuck was designed to avoid trunk roads and provide an enjoyable driving experience. It did, however, prove a challenge to navigate, particularly with GPS systems always looking to find a quicker way. Fortunately, we were blessed with a number of talented navigators who kept us on track...

"Dollar" who navigated for David

OR-218 from Fossil to Shaniko was one of the highlights of the route with dramatic switchbacks, precipitous drops on either the side of the road, and spectacular scenery. It was hard to take everything in as we focused on the road, the ever-dropping fuel gauge, and the possible knocking noise coming from the engine... The GPS finally located a Chevron station on the route about 20 miles ahead just as the "low fuel" warning light came on. So, good planning again!

The last leg of the drive took us north on Or-26 and OR-35 past Mount Hood. A stoppage caused by roadwork on OR-35 fortunately gave us the opportunity to enjoy a spectacular view:

Mount Hood - 11,249 ft, Oregon's highest peak, "potentially active" volcano

This was a great start to NWOL - tomorrow we explore the Columbia River Gorge and then head for Clatskanie.