We could have stayed longer. It was 80 degrees and sunny in Las Vegas. But I don’t care for that town and I was eager to leave. I watched the weather reports and I should have heeded the fronts coming in off the Pacific. However, the winds were calmed in the north Nevada desert so we took to the road. The front from the Pacific was sure to be rain in Oregon and Washington since it was almost April. Wrong.
The road into Idaho was fine. As we crossed the border into Oregon the skies clouded, then snow began to fall. The winds began to swirl around us then the I-84 DOT sign near Le Grande informed us that the pass was closed to motorhomes and trucks unless we chained up. We have chains. They are in Puyallup. We weren’t going to do any winter driving on this trip. I guess we are not. We will probably be here two days.
So we are sitting at Hot Lake RV Park and the nearby resort building that was once called the “Mayo Clinic of the West”. The railroad stopped here in the 1880’s and people traveled here “for expert medical attention and the benefits of the hot artesian water”. The Mayo brothers did spend some time here and the 186 degree water, rich in sulfur was considered valuable for the treatment of arthritis, tuberculosis, rheumatism and similar ailments. It is closed, however, so I will not be able to experience the possibilities. This large RV camp, busy from late spring to early fall, has just a few RV’s sitting here tonight. All of us hope the snow stops and the temperatures increase, allowing us to leave a semi-closed resort to complete our trip home.
So we sit, warm and comfortable, watch the snow fall, watch TV, access the internet and reminisce back to that camp site on the water in Key West. It is so far away. So far away.
The road into Idaho was fine. As we crossed the border into Oregon the skies clouded, then snow began to fall. The winds began to swirl around us then the I-84 DOT sign near Le Grande informed us that the pass was closed to motorhomes and trucks unless we chained up. We have chains. They are in Puyallup. We weren’t going to do any winter driving on this trip. I guess we are not. We will probably be here two days.
So we are sitting at Hot Lake RV Park and the nearby resort building that was once called the “Mayo Clinic of the West”. The railroad stopped here in the 1880’s and people traveled here “for expert medical attention and the benefits of the hot artesian water”. The Mayo brothers did spend some time here and the 186 degree water, rich in sulfur was considered valuable for the treatment of arthritis, tuberculosis, rheumatism and similar ailments. It is closed, however, so I will not be able to experience the possibilities. This large RV camp, busy from late spring to early fall, has just a few RV’s sitting here tonight. All of us hope the snow stops and the temperatures increase, allowing us to leave a semi-closed resort to complete our trip home.
So we sit, warm and comfortable, watch the snow fall, watch TV, access the internet and reminisce back to that camp site on the water in Key West. It is so far away. So far away.
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