Day 15 - Eugene, Oregon

A sunny but cool day today. After a little French conversation over breakfast with some hotel guests amazed to find someone who could speak their language, I set off northwestwards along the very rural US-20 - it's 130 miles from Burns to Bend and scarcely anything between but sagebrush. I saw a small cougar bounding across the road, but I couldn't see what it was chasing. About half-an-hour down the road there were a couple of deer, but they skipped away before I could get a photo. I also saw a few hawks flying (but couldn't identify them), a yellow-headed blackbird, and an amazingly bright Steller's jay down by the Mackenzie River.

One last mountain - actually this is the Three Sisters, part of the Cascade range in Oregon. Then it was downhill all the way, following the course of the very beautiful Mackenzie River, listening to Elgar's Cello Concerto played by Jacqueline du Pré (who had the same music teacher as I did!) on KWAX, the University of Oregon classical radio station. Bliss!

A slightly easier day's driving today, only 260 miles, so I reached my destination at 4 pm - to find the folks in good form. We're now just settling down with a glass of wine before dinner!