Saturday, April 24, 2010

More Bad Pictures

Here are some more pics from my trip to Oregon - apparently a shaky truck and low light aren't the best foundation for a camera phone. Who knew?



This is on I84 north of La Grande, OR, headed up "Cabbage Hill," aka "Deadman's Pass."



It got kinda foggy at the top.



This was supposed to show the vista of the valley below, containing Pendleton, OR. I could see it, anyways. We were headed downhill.



Headed home, south on I84 south of Baker City, OR. Winding roads with small elevation changes. Nothing like I70 west of Denver!

I84 in Idaho was a long stretches of road construction and roads that really need it. We never did see any spuds, but there were lots of dairies. We saw a lot of live bottom feed trucks, but oddly enough, no milk tankers. The Snake River had certainly carved out some valleys over the millenia.

Utah north of Ogden was a flat valley between some short mountains - it was certainly dry looking. Between Ogden and Rock Springs you'll find a few curves and mountainous climbs and drops, most notably the Three Sisters pass. It's really just one straight climb and then drop, repeated two more times. When we were coming back it was raining, but close to freezing. On the east slope of the first "sister," the temperature had dropped enough to make the road very slick, causing some cars to crash. We saw at least five, three eastbound and two westbound. It's easy enough to understand why that happens - you're comfortably hauling hiney at 75 mph, crest the top of the pass, and find yourself on a thin sheet of slick slush with high side winds - definitely a recipe for disaster. It pays to pay attention.

It was interesting to see some new country. I normally don't like being gone that long from home. I logged just over 2800 miles - which isn't all that many for a lot of truckers. For me? Yeah, that's a few. Rooster (my cat) certainly doesn't care for my extended absences - he likes to complain as soon as I step across the threshold. He likes to share his opinions, which are generally negative until he's firmly esconced in my lap. That is when his yowlings quiet and he turns to positive mutterings. Then I know I'm back.

3 comments:

threecollie said...

I think they are pretty cool pictures...interesting to see your view of the road in places far away.

Jinglebob said...

Great shots, especially from a phone!
Dang, just think of technology!

Lisa Paul said...

Great job with the camera phone pix. Even had me feeling carsick! You can't pay for that effect with even the most sophisticated lens.