August 13, 2007: We are headed for Fish Lake on Steens Mountain in SW Oregon, Harney County, south of Burns. We fueled the Dodge at Flying J in Troutdale. The pumps at many service stations limit a single purchase to $75. That is not even a full tank on most automobiles so it makes no sense to me. Of course you can run the card a second time. The Dodge has a 100 gallon transfer tank so I might have to run the card four times to top off the tanks at those stations. At least Flying J has a $150 card limit. It cuts down on the hassle.
Going through Redmond and Bend on US 97 to connect with US 20 to Burns is a miserable and time consuming experience. We discovered a short cut that bypasses all that urban sprawl and associated traffic. Take US 26 to Prineville, turn southwest on SH 126 a few miles and find the George Millican highway near the Les Schwab warehouse facility. It’s paved highway and best of all traffic is nearly nonexistent. It joins US 20 near Millican.
We managed the 350 mile drive to Fish Lake in seven hours and ten minutes. That’s nearly 50 mph average… not bad.
We found our fishing buddy, Richard, in his boat out on the lake with his two grandchildren. They were catching trout and having a great time. We located a camp site next to them and set our tent planning a three night stay.
During the night, well after we went to bed, a rig pulled in at the site across the road from us and unloaded. If they got up earlier in the morning they wouldn’t have to drive half the night to get to where they are going.
tbc…
