The seventh of September brought about the Oregon Region CCCA annual “Mini Tour” an event that is much anticipated by all those that want to get out and explore and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts and their vintage cars.

This year the usual suspects, Howard Freedman, George Potter, Gene Bradshaw and Rodger Eddy had laid out a tour to an area of the state that the club had yet to explore and for that matter many in the club had ever seen, the area of southeastern Oregon and Steens Mountain.  It is an area that is very remote and far from the mad rush of traffic jams, cell phones and wi-fi, in fact about the only sounds are those of the wind and the occasional call of birds and other wild life.  When the sun goes down it is truly dark and the stars look like millions of diamonds spilled across a black sky.

 The journey started at our familiar jump off point of Lewis and Clark State Park where we met at 9:00am for a nine thirty departure.  Jan and Rodger Eddy, our tour leaders, were there with the traditional “breakfast of champions”, coffee, orange juice and doughnuts while Howard had the tour book, compiled by he and George Potter, with daily route instructions, destinations and maps for all of the participants.  Those on the tour this year were George and Sylvia Potter with their 1939 Cadillac V-16 90 Series Limousine, Howard and Evelyn Freedman as well as June Fezzler in the Freedman’s 1953 Packard Executive Sedan (NC), Robert and Frankie Douglas in their 1938 Packard Eight Sedan (NC) and in their modern cars Gene and Lois Bradshaw, Rodger and Jan Eddy and with the trouble and supply truck Bob and Lisa Earls while soon to join us in Prineville were Bill and Ruth George with their 1942 DeSoto Coupe (NC).

At the appointed hour of 9:30 the cars were rolling out of the parking lot heading southeast out the Sandy River on the Crown Point Highway heading for the Barlow Trail, Lolo Pass and eventually connecting on to Highway 26 to go over Mt. Hood.

By the time we got to Rhododendron the sun was breaking through the fog and clouds with a promise of sunshine and blue sky that were to stay with the tour for virtually the rest of the trip.  As we rolled east the vegetation and climate began to change with fir trees giving way to ponderosa pines and the pines giving way to juniper and the juniper giving way to sage brush and basalt table lands.  Instead of trees and greenery there was the stark and open beauty of the high desert, jewel blue sky and the ability to see vast distances.  Our first destination was Prineville and we arrived there in the afternoon and set about settling into our rooms and getting ready for dinner.  The next morning the cars were cleaned, buffed, fueled and ready for the next leg of the journey which would take us on the back roads through the towns of Post (the geographic center of Oregon) where we stopped to look at the one building in town, a combination Post Office and general store where many of us sent out post cards post marked “Post, Oregon”.  The next stop was Paulina for lunch and we met a large group of motorcycles that were on a road trip as well and while we were admiring their bikes they were over admiring our cars but no deals were struck to trade.  The next “towns” were Suplee and Izee and then into Burns for dinner and a nights rest.  There was a county fair going on that evening and many in the group ventured over to see what was going on and enjoyed looking at all of the traditional exhibits of livestock, home canning, baking and craft works and doing a bit of shopping!

 
The next morning we were off to a leisurely start at about ten but we had to make sure that we were full of gas as we were heading south to French Glen and gasoline would become a rare and infrequent commodity.  With the fuel mileage of many of the old cars there was a bit of careful calculation going on!  The journey south took us through the “Narrows” between Harney and Malheur Lakes which are on the north south migratory bird flyway and were filled with birds.  The next stop was the historic P Ranch that was part of the Peter French cattle empire.  We explored the old buildings one of which was a large stone icehouse with a sod roof where ice and snow were stored with hay for insulation to provide cold storage all summer.  There was also the original homestead cabin which was very small and the term drafty does not even begin to describe its’ shall we say lack of being weather tight, what a hard life.  We then went to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Center and looked at their excellent and informative display of indigenous wild life.  Then it was off to the Diamond Hotel in the town of Diamond, tucked up against a small butte it provided a small oasis of trees, green and water in the desert.  From there we went to the Round Barn, a fascinating structure that was built for Peter French, one of the earliest settlers in the area, as a place to feed and break horses to use on his huge ranch, at that time, one of the largest cattle ranches in the United States.  We had a picnic lunch at the visitor center at the Round Barn and then it was time to head to French Glen and our lodging for the next two nights.

The hotel in French Glen is a wonderful place, yes the rooms are small and the bath is down the hall but it is a great old place and the meals (which are delicious) are prepared from scratch right there and served family style.  You get to meet and talk with your fellow travelers and there is no television, no phone and no computer, it is wonderful!  There is a screen porch out front and the lobby/dining room has tables, couches and chairs for reading and conversation, now that is a destination!

 
The next day we wanted to take the drive up to the summit of Steens Mountain so Howard talked to the proprietor and in the morning he and his wife prepared a picnic lunch for all of us that was then stowed in the cooler in the trouble truck.  On the advice of the proprietor we decided to car pool up the mountain in the modern cars as he said the road was not in good enough shape for the old cars and boy was he right, the washboard had our collective eye balls moving independently!  However, the view from all of the viewpoints and the view from the summit were more than worth the trip!

Steens Mountain is a fault block mountain that was pushed up on the eastern side so when you are driving up the west side it is “smooth” and it seems as though some one just tipped up the parking lot.  Though if you look back to the west you do see that you are climbing quite a bit but you keep asking yourself, “is this a mountain?”  However, when you arrive at the summit (9,773feet) and look to the east it is a totally different story.  It is virtually a mile high cliff almost thirty miles long looking down on the Alvord Desert and it is then that you realize that this is an amazing mountain!  After looking around the summit for a while it was time to head back down the mountain a short way to Fish Lake and our delicious picnic lunch.

On the way both up and down the mountain there were a lot of wildlife sightings, deer, antelope, evidence of beaver at the lake, rabbits and there were flocks of sheep herded by the Basque shepherds and their dogs that have grazed this area for over a hundred years.  In fact one of the deer jumped out right in front of Bob and Lisa in the trouble truck, thankfully we were traveling slowly and there was no disaster!!  That evening at the cocktail party and dinner there was a lot of talk about our journey up the mountain!

When we returned from the mountain we had a car washing party and removed the considerable dust from the modern cars as well as the dust that was on the old cars from the previous days travel.  Then it was time to get some gas at the one fuel pump in town, open from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon, usually.  The next morning we left at about nine thirty heading south along the base of Catlow Rim and past Roaring Springs Ranch, through Long Hollow on the Catlow Valley Road, the pass between Steens Mountain and the Pueblo Mountains to the south and into Fields and on to Denio Junction, Nevada, our lunch stop.  When we arrived in Fields, Oregon boy were we glad that there were gas pumps!  We topped up on gas and had to try one of their famous milkshakes for a mid morning snack, very good by all reports and the smiles seemed to confirm the reports!

The young man that was running the gas station said that the station not only put gas in cars and trucks but that from time to time small planes will land on the highway, taxi over and fill up, now that is big and remote country, when even planes land to get fuel!  From there we headed south down the Pueblo Valley between the rugged Pueblo and Trout Creek Mountains, stark and beautiful but not a place to run out of gas.  We arrived at Denio Junction for lunch and then it was time to head west on Highway 140 across the open desert and on to Lakeview for the night.  On the way over the desert we saw several herds of wild donkeys and burros running through and rolling in the sagebrush and herds of antelope as well as one rattlesnake crossing the road!  The highway took our band of travelers over Antelope Butte and down its’ steep western face, across the flats and through the canyons that pierced both the Fish Creek and Abert Rims, through the town of Adel and finally into Lakeview for our nights lodging and dinner.

The next day was a more leisurely trip from Lakeview over to Paisley on a paved forest road through the Freemont National Forest, trees, shade and streams, what a treat!  We had lunch in Paisley, spent some time looking around the town and enjoyed looking at some art work being done by some local residents over at the community center as well as historic photos of the area that were on display, then it was time to leave for our nights accommodation at Summer Lake Lodge.  Again an older place but fun with great food prepared by the owners with much of the food coming from their garden!  There was a several acre pond between the lodge and the base of the mountains.  The grass between the lodge and the lake was in the shade of several willow trees and there were several Adirondack chairs where people read books and took naps.  Bill George went out to the DeSoto, brought back his fishing pole, tried his luck and landed one small fish. 

The highlight of the evening however was the entertainment; it was a privilege to talk with and hear author and cowboy poet Leon Flick whose book “A Cow’s Tail for a Compass” was Cowboy Poetry Book of the Year in 2001.  His work was humorous and yet sometimes touching but it all had the ring of truth.  After reciting several of his stories (from memory) he joined us for dinner.  After desert he told a few more humorous tales much to the delight of everyone.