Will the circle be unbroken?

Keith stripped down his old pack before heading over to the airport, cutting back weight to avoid airline surcharges. Want some wool socks?

Airport shuttle run, breakfast, laundry, cleanup. Northbound, then west Into Oregon again at 11:30, 217072 miles on the odometer.

Sign on a pair of weathered silos "Vale or bust!" Vale was only four miles farther down the road, so hopefully they made it.

I stopped for an early lunch at a roadside cafe deep in the range of hills south of the Malheur Forest. It was refreshing, with friendly counter service, and large helpings -- but when I pulled out, I headed the wrong way. Again.

It was the potato salad that did me in

Corrected, refueled, back on track westbound toward Bend, Oregon.

Time's long churning of the earth's surface is very visible here. The mountains with their seabed layer caps driven up by a burst of volcanic activity as recently as a million years ago, are collapsing into rivers of gravel and dirt pouring over the harder rock layers. They almost look like one of the strange buildings Gaudi created in Barcelona. 

Below, the creeks cheerily drag it all toward the sea. Will the cycle ever end? A few decades ago, almost every scientist would have confidently said yes. Now, with theories once mistaken for facts in doubt, phrases like "dark matter" and "dark energy" stand in for the "aether" that 19th century physicists spoke of and the Renaissance cartograghers' "Here there be dragons" admission of old.


Actually, we're not sure, let us know what you find if -- er, when you get back.


Another sign. "Do Not Pass Snow Plows On The Right." Good advice, even in summertime. Also, coffee may be hot.

After visiting with friends and family in the Puget Sound area, I will take Black Ball ferry into Canada for a short exploration. Then, south to Grand Junction, west to Castro Valley, east to BeATrice, Nebraska, farther east to Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, and the finish line.

I just keep rolling.