Off to Oregon

This will be a major trip. I'm experimenting with dictating my notes, so here's the first installment - my plans and routes:

I'm about to start a big trip to the northwest on day one, which will be Saturday July 5^th. On Day 1, I'll take primarily U.S., K-10 and US-24 to Hill City, Kansas, with stops en route at Lecompton, Cawker City, home of the world’s largest ball of sisal twine, and Nicodemus National Historic Site.

On the second day, I'm heading for Scott's Bluff, Nebraska, & Scott's Bluff National Monument. Among the day’s stops will be Chimney Rock.

On the third day, Monday, July 7^th, I'll head across into Wyoming. I'll stop at Fort Laramie, National Historic Site, take various roads, including US-26 and WY-220 and end up for the night at Lander.

July 8th is a major sightseeing day. I'm going to continue on US-26 to visit Jackson Hole in the Tetons. Eventually, I'll cross the Idaho line and spend the night at Idaho Falls.

The fifth day, July 9^th, takes me to a major stop: Craters of the Moon National Monument. I’ll spend some time wandering around and taking pictures, etc. Eventually, I'll end up in Ontario, Oregon,

On Thursday, July 10^th, I’ll continue on US-26 to John Day, and the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and visit a lot of the sites there, taking pictures. I’ll spend the night in at an independent hotel in Fossil. Friday, July 11^th, will take me to Maupin, OR to visit a Truman relative. En route, I’ll visit another portion of the fossil sites, and then take something called Bake Oven road to Maupin, Oregon, where I will spend three nights in visiting.

My 10 day return trip starts on the 14^th. I’ll head for Klamath Falls, with a possible possible visit to Crater Lake or Newberry Volcanic, depending on what roads remain to be cleared. That might also affect the next day, since I plan to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park, where some of the roads are still closed by snow; otherwise I intend to visit Lava Beds National Monument, then continue to Sparks, NV

On Wednesday, July 16^th, I'll take US-50, aka “The Loneliest Road in America,” across Nevada and spend that night at Ely. The next day, I'll visit Great Basin National Park and the Parowan petroglyphs in Utah, and end at Cedar City.

July 18^th, the fifth day of my return trip, I'll be wandering around some in rural Utah. I'll visit Cedar Breaks National Monument, and then go through Panguitch, take US-89 and various other roads. End up at Torrey, which is the gateway to Capitol Reef National Monument. And I hope to do some sightseeing that day.

The next day is going to be interesting. On the 19th Saturday, I'm going to Hanksville, with possibly some sightseeing in the area. UT-95, which is pretty lonely in itself leads to National Bridges National Monument. I’ll some time there and end up spending the night at Blanding. They do have an Edge of the Cedars Museum, so I might stop there.

The 20th is scheduled for looking at the countryside and ruins at Hovenweep National Monument, and visiting the Four Corners monument for the first time in dozens of trips to the southwest. I’ll spend a night in Cortez, where I've spent nights several times before.

On the eighth day, the 21^st, I'll go to Durango. Closer to Pagosa Springs, I hope to stop at Chimney Rock National Monument (there's two of those, you know). Then on through Alamosa, by way of Wolf Creek, pass over the Great Divide and spend the night in La Junta.

The 22nd is a travel day. I haven’t decided o which roads I’ll take – do I visit Ft. Larned, or possibly the Sand Creek Massacre site (to comment on the infamous ‘glorify America’ sign ). In any case, I’ll spend the night at McPherson. And finally, on Wednesday, July 23 I'm going to get home, with plenty of time and laundry to do.

I will post comments and pictures as I go.