Day 39 - July 23 - LaPine -  Burns OR

After another good and restful night's sleep, we awoke to a day full of promises. The weather was cool, but promised to get really warm. The sky was clear and promised to say that way all day. Aunt Margaret needed help with a few things, and we promised to help her.

First, Keith de-installed and installed a full length mirror from Margaret's 5th-wheel to her bedroom door in the house. No big deal, except the mirror was old and insisted on falling apart. With a bit of ingenuity, we jury-rigged it together and got it on the door before it came apart again.

Then Aunt Margaret mentioned how she bought some "tapes" from a TV info-mercial, but had second thoughts a couple days later, tried to cancel the order and was told she could not do that. The order arrived and she had no idea what a CD is or how to play them. We worked with her and the customer service rep and got the CD's returned with all charges (except S&H) credited. Allowing for her age (93), we made no judgments, but cautioned her about buying stuff off the TV. She said, lessoned learned, and promised not to do that again.

After returning the CD's via the post office, she took us out to lunch and then fed us ice cream and cookies at home. We were then on our way, about 2:30 PM, going back through Bend and then east on Route 20. 

No sooner did we leave Bend than the landscape changed. We went from high desert, scrub pines, sagebrush, and sand, to no trees, only sagebrush, sand, flat land or rolling hills with mountains surrounding the horizon. We love the desert, and this was certainly a lovely one. I'd never expected to find eastern OR to have such a magnificently large desert. There was some agriculture - mostly raising hay and cattle. And, to Keith's delight, leisurely eating the hay were small herds of antelope. 

With Keith's permission I repeat two faux-pas he made today. Both occurred at the same rest stop. In great need of personal relief, we alighted from the car and dashed to the appropriate facilities. As I was finishing up my phone rang; it was Keith calling from his "necessary" and he was without TP paper. I rolled out a sufficient amount and delivered it to him. He appeared shortly thereafter, mildly embarrassed, and we returned to Einstein and back out onto the highway. I admit, the navigator didn't pay attention to his entry onto the highway, and about five minutes into the trip I said, we're going in the wrong direction. I knew this because the sun had been to our back, and now it was shining through the front window. We checked the mileage markers, and sure enough, in his embarrassment over the first faux-pas he had dashed out going west instead of east. (This is not the first time in our married life that he's performed this trick. The most memorable was when we were very young. I'd been driving; we changed places and I laid down to sleep in the back seat. He drove off in the wrong direction for 30 minutes before he discovered it. There are others, but I will save them for another occasion.)

Tonight we are are Burns' RV Park in Burns OR. We've another 1/2 days ride before we venture into Idaho, sometime tomorrow. The sunset is spectacular over the desert tonight. Harbinger of another hot day tomorrow.