Due to a quirk in how our health insurance works, we needed to go across the US from the Canada border to the Mexico border in 2 weeks.
We chose to go straight down, through Washington, Oregon, California and then into Baja. We went through Washington pretty quickly, but we did visit Diablo Lake, which was overshadowed by wildfire smoke from the Bolt Creek fire. Unfortunately, that seems to be becoming the norm in Washington, as we passed near the Goat Rocks fire when we entered Oregon.
Upon entering Oregon, we immediately jumped on the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway which was an amazing winding road showcasing the beauty of eastern Oregon. It was really fun for us to see because we had never visited eastern Oregon before.
We also visited the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds Monument.
And managed to get in a small moto ride :)
While there we went out riding again - gotta build up our iron butts before we get to Baja, haha. We rode the Santiam/McKenzie Pass which was simply spectacular - photos don't do it justice.
Our next stop was Crater Lake. We found a nearby campground so we could ride around the lake. Highly recommended.
From there we continued south into eastern California, where we found several amazing BLM campsites.
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| Silly puppy, that's your food dish, not a bed! |
We made it down to Joshua Tree for a night before we hit the border.
After one last night in El Centro, we put our van in storage since Mexico will only allow you to take one road-worthy vehicle per person. We opted to relive a little bit of our previous adventure through Latin America and took just our bikes. Next stop Baja!
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| An amazing last American sunrise. |
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| Goodbye for now, our wonderful van! Sorry we left you in such a mess, haha. |