Ten days ago, as we completed our Southern swing, we reported on the Adventures of Huck Finn, and the companionship that this audio book provided for that leg of our journey. Since then, heading through the plains of Oklahoma and Texas we started a new book, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Lonesome Dove is a tale of the old West after the Civil War told through the eyes of two veteran Texas Rangers, Captain Woodrow Coll and Captain Augustus McCray. Coll and McCray assemble a crew of cowboys, Indian fighters, and the odd Irishman to take a herd of cattle from the Rio Grande to Montana. It recaptures that era when the West was being tamed, but there remained plenty of danger and lots of land barely civilized. McMurtry is something of a 'Mark Twain" of the West for adult readers. Adult readers because McMurtry paints vivid pictures of how rough, bawdy and cheap was the life on the plains. He captures the danger but also the beauty. He develops a set of characters who are mostly lovable but very quirky. The stories , as the herd moves north, are endlessly entertaining and just the tonic for road trip listening.
We are now making another transition in our trip, moving into a very civilized part of Oregon, mainly to spend four days on the southern Oregon coast to play Bandon Dunes, a legendary set of six golf courses, difficult to get to and harder to play. They have been on our list of not to miss experiences. From Bandon Dunes, we head north to rendezvous with our daughters and their families for some on the Olympic Peninsula.before turning back East. Somehow Lonesome Dove doesn't quite fit with this transition so we are putting it aside and will return to it when we get to Montana on our way home.
Meanwhile, before leaving Utah, we diverted off into the country to visit the Golden Spike National Historical Park in Promontary. where the spike that connected the Central Pacific Railroad from Sacremento, California and the Union Pacific from Omaha Nebraska met in May of 1869 to make the U.S.'s first transcontinental railroad. It was an extraordinary feat and revolutionized transportation in America. Below is a replica of the Jupiter, one of the engines in the original ceremony.
Leaving Utah, a state that impressed us in many ways, we have moved through some striking country, touching the southern Rockies near Durango and then moving through the stark expanse of southern Idaho. From there we moved to high desert in Oregon, spending last night in the small town of Burns, and tonight in the popular resort town of Bend. We discovered quite a contrast between Burns, in eastern Oregon and the Cascades mountain area where Bend is located.
Burns is a small town that prosperity seems to have passed by. The plains in eastern Oregon are pretty desolate with small cattle farms the norm. Burns's main street has many boarded up storefronts and a few below average motels. The better homes are modest. It appears to be a difficult place to make a good living. Two hours drive later, we were in Bend, as upscale as one could desire: lots of new home development, lots of hiking and recreational activity, lots of people. And a beautiful river, the Deschutes, running right through it.
We are happy to be here, but the contrast between here and eastern Oregon was discouraging.
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