Klamath Falls to Portland

I drove north from Klamath Falls on US 97 all the way through Bend and Redmond to the turnoff for US 26 and Portland. Much of the morning drive was snowy, through pine forests. It would be monotonous on a summer day -- mile after mile of big fir trees. Today they were covered in snow, it was like driving through a Christmas card, and for two hours I saw only three colors -- green, white, and the color of the tree trunks.

Finally the road descended out of the forest and into the high desert, going through towns like Redmond and Madras. (Not the Redmond of Microsoft fame -- that's in Washington, this is Oregon.) Then 26 took me past Mount Hood, and then it was really snowy -- medium flakes falling, the road covered in snow, and for 90 minutes I was once again in a winter wonderland -- but this was so snowy that I actually got a bit concerned. For the first time in the trip I thought maybe I really should have put chains on -- not that I know the first thing about putting on tire chains, nor did I have any.

Finally we started coming down out of the snowy Mt. Hood forest, and the line of traffic I was in passed a sign that said "Chain Removal Area" -- and nobody was stopped there! So nobody had chains on that snowy road.

A few minutes later the highway opened up so much that I got a speeding ticket, darn it. Then poking through Portland -- the highway goes on city streets.

So I'm at my mother's house. Tomorrow I might get photos from the first half of the trip put on disc and posted to the web.