Day 64, Tuesday June 5, 2018 Visit friends in Sweet Home, OR.

That took the day  to accomplish as the trip to Sweet Home ,Oregon  is a two and a half hour trip, along the coast south to Newport from Lincoln City and then across the state to the east about 100 miles where we met our friends at a mid point. They drove from Bend ,OR and met us at the Point Restaurant there at noon.

The easterly road (US 20) from Newport on the Coast goes through what is called the Coast Range or the Oregon Coast Range... here you go! "The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, and located in the west-central portion of the state of Oregon, roughly between the Salmon River and the Umpqua River and the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean. This approximately 90-mile long mountain range contains mountains as high as 4,097 feet for Marys Peak. Portions of the range are inside the Siuslaw National Forest and three wilderness areas exist as well: Drift Creek Wilderness, Cummins Creek Wilderness and Rock Creek Wilderness."

Some of the terrain on US 20 east of Corvallis. Timber country.

A good stand of Scot's Broom is the yellow flowering shrub.

It is easy to see the edges of the forested and the regrowth lines.

 The designation of US 20 is the LONGEST US HIGHWAY IN THE COUNTRY. It starts (ends) in Newport, Oregon and ends (begins) in Boston MAssechusetts. That is a 3,365 miles.  It roughly is the highway that I-90 follows  from east to west.  It has two breaches (breaks)  in its course.




Our portion of the road only reaches 790 feet above sea level, but the pass that Richard and Pat drove over is slightly over 4, 800 feet.  It includes a stretch of geology called "Three Fingered Jack". It is a glaciated, volcano of the Pleistocene era.

The day was sunny and at the Coast with an average 63 F, while inland it was about 12 degrees warmer as it often si, (75 F).  Pat and Richard arrived just as we did and even though we have been correspondents since I left Alaska, we had met only once since then and that was back in 1995 when she was home for the summer. Pat was born in Coffeyville, KS the home of the "bad guys" and headed for Alaska  a few years after college graduation and was in the same village all those years until retirement. (I hope that is close, Pat).

Ruth, Pat and Richard

All of us in front of the goldpanner and the lumberjack.

Foster Lake across from the restaurant.

A good study of the clear cuts and logging designs.

We are on the right road!

IT was good reminiscing and talking about where former students are located today, and how our gardens grow. Pat and Richard have a good summer garden with asparagus almost all year  long.

A question still to be answered is what are these pipes function on the sides of the hill along US 20?  We bought fresh strawberries in Corvallis and they were fresh and delicious. They didn't last long.

These pipes are coming out of the talus/riprack on the slope. ??? They have shut off valves as well. I am puzzled.

 

A portion of US 101 that was wiped out by the rains this last year . They merely moved the road over a few feet. (Taken from the car on US 101) In CA.  CA #1  is still not open at Mud Creek.

The strawberries from Corvallis were Deeee-licious.

Tomorrow we head north agan to Lopngview WA for two days before leaving the statesfor awhile.