We are staying a while in Prineville with our friend Shannon. We are old friends and her house was our base of operations when we came to Denver from Australia. Usually for months at a time. Really, she let us stay with her for months at a time. Great friend. Anyway, just prior to us coming the US on this trip, Shannon sold her house and decided to move to Oregon! I had to come out even earlier because my Mom unexpectedly passed away and Shannon as always just accepted us into her house. After the funeral, we (me) helped Shannon prep for moving and the actual move. She was off to Prineville OR. We, on the other hand, had a month and a half left before we go back to Australia and now have nowhere to go.
We need to have a plan! Kathy’s daughter just moved from Silicon Valley to Seiku WA. I didn’t really know where that was, but knew it was way out in the sticks. Shannon has moved to Oregon. My son, Bobby, lives in Salt Lake City. What if we drove the Tesla to see them all and just do some car camping on the way? We had heard of people who had camped in their Tesla before this and thought it might be a possibility. Not much or one, but we would try it. We honestly thought we would just be tent camping. So we set out on the road not knowing the what, when, or why, just 3 possible stops. Thus, this blog.
This is about our stay in Prineville OR.
On the first day, we meet Shannon at the Rock Show and drive over to her friend Becky’s house. They are gone for the weekend, so it will be nicer to stay at their house than the 1 room BnB.
Which is very nice, but we wanted a plug in, a bed, and a shower. Off to Becky’s place!
Plugged right into the 110v for some overnight juice! The next day we go into Bend OR to just see the ‘big’ city. I like Bend, very nice and sort of like Boulder CO without the college. We start by trying out one of the numerous Brew Pubs. Like Colorado, they likes the brew pub.
We walk into town and there is a street fair going on with bands, food, and other stuff on offer. I am on the lookout (everywhere) for local T-Shirts to bring home. I find one at the OreGrown stall I like. They have a spin the prize wheel, that I try and get 25% off any T-Shirt. Thanks Universe. Kathy gets some Aloe crème that she thinks is the best thing since sliced bread. We are easily amused.
Day 2. We are on a road trip! Not the same road trip, an new sub-road trip with Shannon up to a Volcano. We park the car in some shade (looking good I might add) while we are gone.
We drive up to the Volcano and there are two lakes in it. Time for lunch. Looks like a great place to stay for a weekend.
We do make it to the Volcano itself and it is basically surrounded by Obsidian (or Dragon Glass for you GOT fans). We were not worried about any Wight Walkers here.
But you do have to worry about your dogs and your feet. We were wearing Chinese safety boots (sandals), so this applied to us too. Hiking on glass shards, nice!
That night we meet Shannon’s Airbnb owners and have nice drink out on the patio. Very nice out, but Kathy becomes obsessed with the frogs in the pond next to us. Did I mention that we are easily amused?
Day 3. Kathy and I decide that we would like to try some fishing. We had to buy some Oregon licenses (ouch) first. We drive up the local canyon up to the dam and we will fish just below the dam, cause that’s where everyone said we should fish. You trust locals about this I have found.
Day 4. We pack up leave and for Crater Lake National park. The issues we thought we would have of crossing most of Oregon and going into the sticks, far, far, far away from Super Charger was basically nothing. We got here easily. We drove around town easily. In fact, driving into town from the Airbnb we actually ended up with more charge than we left with. This car is amazing. We are learning more and more about what range means, and what charging options really mean when on the road. Our confidence level is up many notches now with what we expect for range and flexibility. This was not expected but it is making for a nice, stress free vacation.