No Data in Middle Earth
Hitting the road for a long drive up to Washington today. Of course the first business of the day is to see if I can acquire a live stream of the England game to listen to while driving. Sadly, it seems that much of Oregon and Washington are data deserts - that data eSIM seemed like such a good idea at the time! Still, it works fine in all the cities I am avoiding.
Of course there is one place in the States where you can always get free wifi. Queue an early lunch and streaming of the end of extra time and penalties courtesy of McWifi.
Today was a reminder of just how much of America there is. I’m not sure that there is anywhere in the UK where you can drive for an hour through the same forest. There is certainly nowhere where you can drive across prairie for 2 hours passing nothing but a few minor settlements and ghost towns. And through all of this Mount Hood and (I think Mount Jefferson) loomed majestically in the distance. Mount Hood looked particularly weird as the lower reaches were invisible in the haze, so all that could be seen was a floating snow capped peak.
The stopping off point to break up the journey was meant to be the Lava River Cave, which sounded pretty cool. Unfortunately it turns out that you have to book and it was full. It has to be said that the research on this trip is not up to the previous standard - I may have to outsource in future!
Of course there is no shortage of evidence of a volcanic past (and possible present and future?) in this part of the world, which is one of the reasons for visiting. And so I find myself trekking through lava fields in the blazing heat. It actually feels as though the lava is radiating heat … which on reflection it probably is!
It was a tad too warm to hang around outside, so I hit the road again to forge through to Maryhill, luxuriating in aircon.
Journey stats for today:
Distance: 280 miles
Best Average MPG: 22.9 ( I have actually had it up to 23.1 - the battle continues)
Highest Outside Temp: 102 F
It seems I also crossed the 45th parallel of which I was only aware because of the helpful sign pronouncing that I was now half way between the equator and the arctic circle. Not sure what I am meant to do with that information, but I suppose its good to know your place in the world.
The car was equally informative as I crossed the Columbia River and it welcomed me to Washington. Not creepy at all.
And at the end of a long drive, I am rewarded with the sight of this:
That’s right, a full size replica of Stonehenge. Because… America!
Now this, I conjecture, is what truly makes America great - the individual following a dream / obsession to create pointless weird shit for people like me to visit, punctuating the visits to spots of ridiculous natural beauty. To be fair this was actually created as a memorial for lives lost in the first world war, but the point stands.
In terms of the weird vs spectacular this is, in fact, a twofer as is nestled on the edge of the Columbia gorge overlooking this:
