Clyde Holliday State Park; Mt. Vernon, Oregon

Good morning, my friends. I'll admit I had my doubts about connectivity here in tiny Mt. Vernon, Oregon, but we have five bars on our cell phones and the signal is booming in. Today will be the last leg of our journey. When I write to you after today, we'll be home at the Three Cats Ranch.

When we left Winnemucca yesterday, it was more straight-as-an-arrow roadways. It makes sense when you consider the "Great Basin" encompasses the entire state of Nevada. It's a series of smaller basins with straight road from one ridge to the next.

We drove those straight roads for nearly 100 miles before we reached McDermott, Nevada, and crossed the state line. Good-bye, Nevada.

And hello, Oregon! Home, sweet home.

The landscape didn't change much in southern Oregon, although we saw more dry grass and less sage brush.

Oh look! A bend in the road!

This is ranching country, and so we saw plenty of old barns, old abandoned structures, ramshackle structures, and the like. Some of these are still in use.

This was an old store. I noted the sign at the front said "Closed," and I think it probably meant permanently.

These small buildings made of stone are probably root cellars.

There wasn't much change in the landscape until we started moving up into the higher hills in Oregon. There, we started seeing more trees and rocky cliffs.

And plenty of fall color.

The last time we passed through this area south of John Day, we found it a smoldering, smoking ruins. You can read my old blog post about that trip and see for yourself right here. Usually we camp at the fairgrounds in John Day when we pass this way. On that trip, we were camped next door to some folks in a motorhome who had just lost their house in the fire. Sadly, there isn't much recovery in these hills.

Passing through the towns of Canyon City and John Day, we drove another ten miles or so to this newly discovered state park. What a find!

Someone in one of the RV Facebook groups wrote about it, and so I reserved a spot for this trip. When we arrived, it was just lovely! Getting out of the truck, I noted that fall has arrived in Oregon.

The spaces are large and set far apart from one another. We have water and electricity, which is all we really care about on an overnight stop. This large grassy area is behind our rig.

Well. Smitty took one look at that and he knew he needed to have some of that Oregon grass. And let me just say, we walked all over that grass, nibbling as we went. He was very brave. We could hear a large woofie barking in the distance, but we ignored him. Cretin.

The John Day River runs behind us. While Smitty and I were walking, we found an opening in the surrounding shrubbery to find this:

Ew. The only other time I've seen something like this was in the swamps of Louisiana. It didn't smell, but it did provide a haven for mosquitos. We didn't have trouble with mosquitos until the end of the day, but still. I was surprised the water wasn't moving here. Keep reading and I'll tell you why.

As we walked around, I noticed skillions of wild rosehips. I think it must be pretty in the spring and summer when the wild roses bloom.

Looking back, that's our rig, and that's our campsite for the night. Pretty, huh?

Mike wanted to check out the dump station. He'll be winterizing our rig after we get home, and he was curious if he could flush our "black tank" while we're here. I know...boring man stuff. Anyway, it caused us to go out for a walk. We noted there were two tepees for rent here.

Behind the tepees was a river walk. This is the John Day River. Looking left, it looked like this.

Looking right, it looked like this:

And this was swiftly moving water, so then, I was even more confused about the green slimy stuff behind our site. Walking on, we came to this:

You can see the river on the left, and the green pond scum on the right. Apparently, it's just a low spot in the ground there, and it seems they're pushing off all the fallen leaves and other organic material into that spot.

Later in the evening, and after dinner, I noticed a flock of birds in the grassy area behind our site. It was too dark for me to take any pictures, but I found this one in the public domain. These were California quail. 

(Image credit:  "California quail" by malfet_ is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

There was a large flock...maybe 30 birds. They make the most delightful cooing sound, and they are just plain fun to watch. I just love their little topknots.

So...like I said...this place was a find. We come through here every several years, and this will be our new go-to overnight spot.

And that's all I have for your this morning. We have another 270 miles to drive before we're home. I always get the feeling the kitties know when we're nearing home. They seemed very excited to be here. I'm going to enjoy opening the RV door for them and letting them out. Sadie, especially, will enjoy the freedom.

From here, I'll probably take a few days off from blogging. I'll be unpacking and getting reorganized. When I feel I've reached a point of near normal, I'll be back to catch up. It should only be a few days before we meet again. Until then, thanks for traveling along with us. I've enjoyed your comments and suggestions. A road trip is always more fun with friends.