Bend, Oregon and back at the LaPine State Park

We did errands in Bend, OR, and found out that somewhere in Portland or Newport, our rear driver’s side tire on our tow car picked up a 1 1/2 inch screw which caused a slow leak.  So we went to Les Schwab and in about 45 minutes and just over $12 were on our way to lunch at Bend's 10 Barrel Brewery (Jim texted SLC friend John for recommendations -- thanks John, it was good).  Then we drove around Bend (It reminds me of a bigger Park City without close by mountains), went to the grocery store, and looked for an air compressor so we can fill our tires at our leisure instead of at a gas station (the salesman at Home Depot told us about a Ryobi compressor where we get a weed whacker with the battery, but we just don't have the room nor the need for a weed whacker at the moment.)

Jim wants to get kayaks before we make another trip to the Pacific Northwest, so we  stopped at a kayak shop.  We also walked at Riverbend City Park on the Deschutes that is Bend’s version of the beach --it's very busy because it's very nice.

Jim and Cooper in front of part of the biggest Ponderosa 
pine ever recorded -- 191 feet high and 326 inches in 
circumference -- at Oregon’s LaPine State Park where 
we are staying.  Half of the crown was lost due to 
weather, so another tree is now taller, but it’s still 
biggest around in circumference. It was a seedling 
when Christopher Columbus discovered what he thought 
was the New World. 

A cool sculpture incorporating kayaks at Riverbend Park 
in Bend, Oregon.  You can see Jim to the left taking a 
photo from the other side.

The beach at Riverbend Park includes swimmers, 

floaters and dogs. 

Today we took a hike through the Ponderosa forests 

at LaPine State Park.  Later we met our next door 

neighbor who is retired Navy Reserves and fought 

fires for the BLM, so he and Jim had a lot in common.  

Then we saw what looked, to us, like a hugely tall 

class A rig, so we talked to the owners. The rig was 

13 feet high (big but not oversized in the class A 

world); it also looked brand new but was 20 years old.  

Both sets of campers have been to many more places 

than Jim and I, so we got good ideas.