AGAIN!! Oregon Curse or Banff Bust

Dee Wright Observatory at McKenzie Pass near Sisters, OR

Tuesday, June 27 - We have had two great days in Deschutes National Forest.  Sunday, we towed the Geo from Prineville to Sisters, OR with no problems and then proceeded to drive the Tracker up to MacKenzie Pass.  MacKenzie Pass is another vocanic lava field.  Ted rode over the pass on our cross-America trip but the road was closed to vehicle traffic at that time due to snow.   At the top of the pass the Civilian Conservation Corps built an observatory in 1935 with markers to identify the surrounding Cascade mountain peaks.  From here one can see North Sister, Little Sister, the Brother, the Husband, both calderas that formed the lava field, Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and, on a clear day, Mt Hood.

View thru one of the ports
in the observatory

Monday we took a 32 mile bike ride through the forest, into Sisters and then back to our RV. Tuesday morning started with a 17 mile bike ride, again on forest roads.  On both rides we saw bags and bags of pine cones along the forest roads.  Ever wonder where all those pine cones in Hobby Lobby, Michaels and other craft stores come from.   Pine cones are a booming (and backbreaking) business here in the Deschutes National Forest.  Beth stopped and talked with one of the guys bagging them as we left our camp site.  The first day we saw them being hauled away in a pickup with racks along the bed, but this guy had a semi-truck... he was thinking big!

Harvested pine cones... back breaking work

Then it was time to pack up and move on.  As we began the drive into Sisters, we rounded a curve and heard a "bump".  The rearview camera shows that the Geo was loose and weaving behind the RV.  Luckily a side road was just ahead and we could get off the highway.  The tow bar attaches in two places on the front of the car.  Somehow the bar on the driver's side's pin had shaken loose and that side of the tow bar had unhitched.  Because of this the angle at which the tow was now attached, made removing the other side very difficult.   In the process we actually broke the clevis (attachment from the towbar to the car).  Luckily neither vehicle was damaged.  After a short "what do we do now" conference, we decided to drive the RV and Tracker on to Memaloose State Park, just outside of Hood River.  We arrived with no further problems and luckily our campsite (reserved for Weds. - Tues.) was open for the night.

The Oregon Trail curse

Beth thinks this is an Oregon Trail Curse.  When we moved to Oregon in 1989, Beth hated living here because of the rain and short summers.  Now every time we are back in Oregon it seems something bad happens.  On the cross-America trip, Beth backed into a cement pillar in Redmond (on the Oregon trail) and ruining the rear tandem wheel.  Then the jeep burns up in John Day (on the Oregon trail) and now the tow bar is damaged in Sister (on the Oregon Trail).

Ted is blaming the Banff Bust.  This is the third time we have tried to make it to Banff.  The first two times had to be aborted for different reasons. But we are trying diligently to make it this time.

Broken clevis next to the new one

After setting up the RV at the campsite, Ted inspected the towbar and found the damage was more extensive than first thought.  The broken clevis would have to be replaced, but another critical aluminum part was also bent in the main part of the tow bar.  If the part was steel, Ted wouldn't be to worried, but aluminum can more easily fracture after being stressed. So to be safe, we were looking for a whole new towbar.

After consulting the all-knowing internet and ReadyBrake's web site (manufacturer of the towbar) we found a couple of dealers in Portland, but with some not so hot reviews.  However, we already know a great dealer back in Prineville, Daryn at High Desert RV.  So we called Daryn first thing in the morning, he had both the clevis and a whole towbar if needed.  He said he would take a look at the towbar as well and see if he thought we needed to replace it.  So we jumped in the Tracker for the 3 hour drive back to Prineville.  He concurred that to be safe we should replace the towbar.  If we had a few days, he could probably get the parts to fix the towbar, but again we wanted to be on our way, so Daryn sold us the towbar at cost and we were back in business yet again.

The view east from the Rowena view point -
Columbia river gorge 

We were back in Hood River with a little time to spare before picking up Nicholas at the Portland airport, so we loaded up laundry and headed to Jim's townhouse.  Jim came home from work and we had time to do some catching up with him before Ted headed to the airport... or so we thought.  We both misread Nick's arrival time as 6:30, when it was really 5:30 (old eyes), so Nick had to hang out at the airport while Ted made the 60 mile drive.

Jim gave us a great bike route for our Thursday morning ride.  So we watched Nicholas do laps around the campground on his daily run before loading up the bikes and driving 3 miles to Mosier to start the ride.  The ride took us up and over one of the many foothills of Mt Hood which is located to the south and back down to the western edge of The Dalles, then back along the old Highway 30 which leads to a fantastic overlook (with an accompanying climb) at Rowena.

Switchbacks on the climb to the Rowena overlook

Now you might wonder why we had to drive 3 miles to a bike ride when we would normally just ride there.  It is the unique location of the Memaloose State Park where we are staying.  Memaloose is pinned between the Columbia river and railroad tracks to the north, east and west and I-84 and a shear rock cliff to the south.  The ONLY entrance to the park is from the west bound lane of I-84 which is not exactly where we want to ride a bike.  Plus to return to the park from the west, you have to go 3 miles east of the park on east bound I-84 to Rowena, exit and then get on west bound I-84.  It is NOT what I would call easy access, but it is July 4th weekend and we didn't have a lot of options.