On The Meandering Road: August 12, 2016 - Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge to Klamath Falls, OR

Around 5:45 am Erwin woke Edith up before the 6:13 am sunrise. He thought she might want to go out and get sunrise pictures. Did she get out of the bed??? No, she did not! Too lazy and tired, she said.

It was 6:45 am when we got out of the bed. It was beautiful outside with the sky so blue and the sun was shining brightly.

We got ourselves ready at 7:35 am to hit the road. We continued driving on NV 140. We decided we were going to visit Klamath Falls, OR today.

At the beginning the road was long and straight, then became a twisty road for a short while. We started to see rocky cliffs. We spotted wild rabbits scurrying among sagebrushes and there were lots of small birds flying across the road.

We made it to OR State line at 8:15 am and pulled over to the shoulder for picture taking. OR State sign was not as pretty as NV’s.

"How much longer will you be out taking pictures?"

For 4 miles the road was 8˚downgrade and very twisty. Erwin could go only 25 mph most of the way.

https://youtu.be/I9SFj5T1i54

At the bottom after the twisty road the land was almost flat. Lots of sagebrushes. There was an old barn and rundown buildings, but there was no way for us to get there to get pictures.

That was the only building we saw while we meandered for miles and miles

We finally saw a hawk that was sitting on a rock by the side of the road, but it took off as soon as we got too close to it. There was only one cow grazing in the field. It was very isolated here.

Again, there was another steep downgrade at 7˚ for 4 miles, going through Blizzard Gap at over 6,000 feet. The Lil’ Home handled the downgrade very well.

We arrived at the town of Adel and there are now more farmlands and ranches, not as isolated or barren as we saw some miles ago. There was one lone deer grazing in the field. More trees appeared.

There was a cattle drive on 140 (probably over 15 miles), evidence of poops on the road. We had to stop when we arrived where the ranchers herded cattle into the pasture. The calf got separated from its family, walked across the road in front of us. The ranchers had to come to get the calf across.

We entered Fremont National Forest and went past Crane Creek Ranch, a very large ranch. There were lots of loose rocks along the shoulder where there are boulders.

Old barn at GPS N 42.26189˚ W120.34645˚
near Old Smokey Exit

We decided that we were going to take a break and have a late breakfast in Lakeview, OR. US 395 is part of Oregon Outback Scenic Byway. It begins at about 15 miles south of Lakeview and ends at LaPine. Such a beautiful drive.

Little House on wheels

Edith wanted to try Old Town Cafe & Bakery in Lakeview, OR. As Edith was walking to the cafe a couple greeted her by saying ‘Good Morning”. Then the lady started talking to her, but Edith let the lady know that she is deaf. The lady paused for a second, then pointed her finger at her lips and said “Can you lipread?”. It was ironic because Edith replied by shaking her hand “no” (but but she understood what the lady was saying). Anyway, the lady said “This joint is far better than the one around the corner”. The corner place was closed, anyway.

Erwin enjoying his coffee!

Edith had Classic Mini with one egg, 2 bacon slices and has browns. Erwin chose Special of the Day: 1 piece French Toast, 2 bacon slices and one egg and coffee. All was very good.

We debated if we should go back on 395 to see Old Perpetual, a man-made geyser at a hotel resort, which is about 4 miles away. This is the only geyser in the state of Oregon. The geyser will shoot a column of water every 90 seconds. After discussing pros/cons we decided not to go there and to continue meandering on Oregon Route 140 to Klamath Falls, OR.

Construction near Bonanza, OR. We were flagged down and waited for more than 10 minutes before the pilot truck came to guide us out. They were working on improving roads. It was a long one, maybe like 2-3 miles.

We arrived Klamath Falls, OR at 12:45 pm, turned right on 39 from Oregon Route 140 to get on Crater Lake Parkway. Too many traffic lights along the route! We got diesel fill-up at Pilot Travel Centers on Crater Lake Parkway. We have driven 6,500 miles since we left Jacksonville, FL on March 4, 2016.

We got on 97 North to go to Kla-Mo-Ya Casino in Chiloquin, OR. The view of Upper Klamath Lake was beautiful. The lake is Oregon's largest freshwater lake (133 square miles). While driving along the lake we could see remains of snow on the mountain peaks on the other side. We agreed that the drive along the lake was very pleasant.

We checked into RV Park at Kla-Mo-Ya Casino in Chiloquin, OR at 1:45 pm. There were few RVs already set up in the RV parking area. There is no fee to park there, but there are no hookups. It is about 37 miles from here to Crater Lake, OR.