A selfie in front of the nation’s largest gold dredger. It is huge!

Remember when I said we would head west from Clyde Holliday yesterday? Forget that idea. We chose to head east this morning. BTW: Normal posts will resume Thursday.

Below is the updated map:

We didn’t get going too quickly this morning, as I was still smarting from the beating at cards my wife gave me last night. For us, a round of rummy ends at 500 points. She’s won 8 of 10 rounds this trip! Her luck has to end at some point . . .

From Clyde Holliday, we drove west until we reached Prairie City. To my surprise, it is one of Ann’s favorite places on earth. It turns out her great uncle once owned a huge chunk of land starting from one mountain, extending through the valley into the hills on the opposite side, making him at one time the largest landowner in Oregon. She shared fond memories of exploring the area.

Prairie City sits next to the large valley shown in this photo.

This schooner like photo op sits a few miles east of Prairie City. The overlook had all kinds of outstanding views of the mountains and valleys.

After Prairie City, we took scenic and lonely Highway 7 through the mountains toward Baker City. We were enjoying the beautiful drive when I spotted an Oregon Parks sign for the city of Sumpter. Curious, we turned and headed toward the former mining city.

Not much happening in the small town of Sumpter.

Once in Sumpter, we stumbled upon the largest gold dredger in the United States (now retired) at Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area. Trolling the nearby river for several decades, the dredger unearthed more than $4 million in gold. It was retired and neglected for several decades. In 1993, restoration began on it. Now it’s a state tourist attraction. You can walk on and inside it. We had it all to ourselves and it was cool and spooky at the same time. Only later did we learn there has been some paranormal activity that was captured by the crew of the Ghost Mine series (never seen the show). A nearby visitors center was small, yet had several neat mining displays and a wide range of mining related books, one of which I bought.

After our tour of the dredge, we decided to head for Catherine Creek State Park, but we could see that gathering storm clouds were going to make our stay there wet. So, we opted to head north to Immigrant Springs State Park, just off of I-84, to spend the night.

Immigrant Springs is a real nice campground, but it’s proximity to the interstate is not great. Fortunately, hanging out inside the camper isn’t too noisy.

Ann and Zollie along John Day River Near Clyde Holliday State Park.

Sunday afternoon, despite gusty winds, we took off for a short adventure to Clyde Holliday State Park. Driving south on I-82, mother nature toyed with us, rocking and pushing the motor home as we drove towards Oregon. Fortunately, the winds only lasted until we crossed the Columbia into Oregon. After that, it was a pretty calm drive.

I *think* this is how our trip will go. But, with us you never know. So far, we’ve made it from Pasco south to Clyde Holliday.

Well, calm until I asked my navigator to tell me where to turn at one point; but, she was enjoying the drive and wasn’t watching the map closely. So, we added an extra 20 miles to the trip 🙂

Me smiling for my navigator while I turn around :-)

With gray clouds and darkening skies, there wasn’t a lot to see. However, on a lonely road we drove past an even lonelier farm where we spotted two jeeps, one a wagon and a second an MB with a plow setup. Sitting there, it appeared all ready for another winter of plowing. Now, I have to apologize for the poor photos, as I broke Ann’s zoom lens and we have yet to get it fixed.

As darkness settled Sunday night, we still hadn’t reached the state park. We were climbing over one more mountain pass when we nearly hit a deer that casually walked out on the road and kept on approaching as I desperately prayed for the motorhome to stop. Finally, we stopped and the deer stopped at the same time. It looked at us with an air of disgust, then turned around and left. Poor Zollie the dog, he’d been sleeping between us, but the hard stop sent him tumbling to my feet. Like our hearts, his heart was beating pretty quickly. He was done sleeping for the rest of the drive.

Not long after we nearly hit the dear.

As you can see in the pics, fall is definitely here. The leaves are dropping, as is the temperature. But, the state park is still beautiful and quiet. And, there’s plenty of wifi, so working in between walking, naps, and vicious card games is possible. We plan to stay through Monday night and then trying out the Shelton wayside near Fossil … or not.

The view across John Day River to the mountains if you get out of the motor home.

My view as I complete this post from inside the motorhome.

PartCatalog.com’s Clint Henderson recently surveyed over 1,100 off road clubs and off road enthusiasts across the country.   His goal was to create a resource for weekend off-roaders showcasing the very best off roading destinations within and near their home state.  He asked two simple questions…

Where do you live?
What are the Top 5 Off Road destinations in your area?

You can see the answers here: http://www.partcatalog.com/blog/2014-top-off-road-trails-in-america/