Meandering In My RV: On the road in 2020, finally

Our original travel plans were wiped out by COVID-19. We hunkered down at home until we could sort out what felt safe to us and what didn’t. It also allowed campgrounds to sort things out and open up. We finally left home in late July. By then it’s pretty much hot everywhere except the northwest coast so we headed for the coast of Washington. We made a quick short-as-possible trip up, which is not at all normal for us, just to get out of the really hot weather. We had one planned sightseeing stop in northern California and that ended up not happening due to forest fires.

After spending about a month in Washington we figured we would start moving again. We headed to central Oregon to go to the John DayFossil Beds National Monument (JDFBNM). There is a huge area of Oregon where fossils have been found. A small amount of this is protected by the NPS as part of this National Monument. There are three units to JDFBNM and they are spread out. We spent the night in Moro, Oregon so that we could visit two of the units the next day on our way to our campground near the third one. We would then day-trip to the third unit while staying a few days.

Clarno Unit

We drove from Moro south on US 97 to OR 218 to visit the Clarno Unit of JDFBNM. This unit has a couple short trails to hike to see some plant fossils and read interpretive signs that tell their history. There is also a very nice picnic area in a scenic setting.

We continued east on 218, then south on 19, south on 207 and then a little east on US 26 to the Painted Hills Unit of JDFBNM. Photographs of this iconic location put this on my radar 20 years ago, we finally were able to see it in person. The unique geologic formations are beautiful and worth the drive to this remote location.

Painted Hills

From here we headed east on 26 to Dayville where we spent a few days and made a couple trips to the Sheep Rock Unit of JDFBNM. One day we went to the visitor center and did some hikes in the Foree Area. Unfortunately, the fossil displays in the visitor center were closed due to COVID-19 requirements for personal space. We’ll have to come back some day to see these. There have been a lot of animal fossils found in this unit over the years but the hikes are all about seeing the colored canyons. The two Blue Basin trails are pretty with the Blue Basin Overlook Trail going the high route with 800 feet elevation gain to look down into the basin.

Sheep Rock Unit view from Visitor Center

One last note, from the time we left US 97 south of Moro and spent the day working our way to Dayville, the drive was beautiful. It was very slow going, especially on 218 and 207, due to almost continuous slow turns and ups and downs. But my moto of “life is not a race” allowed us to just simply enjoy the drive. At the end of the day we agreed it was one of the most beautiful days of driving we’ve ever done.