On the Road: (Pacific Northwest, 2011): Reno to Bend, Oregon

I'm now having a late dinner (10:00PM) at a McMenamins brew pup in Bend, Oregon, having left Reno this morning. I have yet to find a hotel, but first things first. I took a quick drive around Reno before heading out. I see that there are some older, more interesting neighborhoods, but I took only a quick look. Nothing startlingly interesting--although I did happen to drive by an odd house (?) that looked like a Hawaii-themed campsite, if that makes sense. It looked like what might be called a "folk art environment." Hmmm.... No idea what it was, but it may warrant investigation next time I'm in that area.

Hit the road fairly early, heading first for a place called Honey Lake Wildlife Area, along the northeast shore of Honey Lake. I walked around a bit and saw some birds, notably, dozens of Nighthawks both flying around the way they do, looking for insects on the wing, but also perched in trees, which I've never seen before. Nighthawks are one of my favorite birds. I used to love to watch them at dusk in Ohio, behaving like bats. They don't live where I live now, so it was a lot of fun just to see them. There were many Western Kingbirds (very noisy), a couple of Kestrels, many Brewer's Blackbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds, including at least one that appeared to be a Tricolored Blackbird. There was a Yellow-headed Blackbird as well, and a solitary Spotted Sandpaper.

The rest of the day was mostly spent driving north on Hwy. 395 and then Hwy. 31 and Hwy. 97, to Bend--a long haul, but vastly more interesting than equivalent drives through Nevada or Kansas. At least the scenery was varied and interesting. It was rough and parched in some areas, with exposed rock seams pushing out from softer, eroded rock, looking like gigantic fossil bones. In other places there were lush-looking grasslands and wildflowers--many purple lupines--and always mountains in the distance. About half way along the route, I passed a second large lake, which appears to have been Lake Summer. As I approached Bend, a snow-capped volcanic cone appeared, which may have been Mt. Bachelor. In several places along the route I dodged thunderstorms like then one pictured above.