Union Creek CG, Phillips Reservoir, OR
You are no doubt wondering what this miscreant did to be incarcerated for a night in the Naches City Jail, which was in the building you see to the right. And I had an acomplice!
The building you see to the right was, in 1960, the town hall, fire department, police station, and jail. However, we weren't caught stealing apples. Rather, the differential on my '54 Ford locked up when I stopped going up White Pass to pull it out of overdrive.
We had to be towed back to the nearest town, Naches, and the all-everything fellow who wore many hats, including that of dog-catcher, was a friend of the mechanic who was going to replace the innards of the differential. So he offered to let Bill Topogna and me, ROTC cadets from San Jose State, spend the night in the slammer, the door of which you see to the right.
The next morning we drove to Western Union to pick up the $75 which my father had wired to repair his car. Then the mechanic and his friend drove past the outskirts of town where a wrecked Ford with Fordomatic allegedly had the same rear end. (As it turned out, that was not true, but my brother David, who was a bit of a hot-rodder, was happy to have more power because of the higher-speed rear end; of course, gas was cheap in those days so the lower gas mileage was not a problem.)
Sometime after 1960 the City of Naches added a brick extention to the back of the building, as you can see to the right.
But I remember the jail as being white. To the right was the drying tower which the fire department used then to dry their fire hoses after either a trial run or the real thing. By the end of the day we headed up White Pass again and successfully reported for ROTC Summer Camp the next day.
And that's the story of my life behind bars.
This year I was headed the opposite direction when I returned to Naches. But rather than use I-82 to travel to the Tri-Cities [Richland, Pasco, & Kennewick] Area, I elected to follow US22 so that I could see the farmland of the Yakima Valley.
This photo of Mt Ranier was taken from the Legends Casino parking lot of the Yakima Indian Reservation near Toppenish. [Heard an NPR profile of an Indian comedian with a surname of Hill who liked to tell audiences, "White men used to get Indians drunk and take there money; now, with Indian casinos...." He rarely had to complete the statement. A real role reversal!]
The Yakima Valley has volcanic soil and plenty of water in a climate which is much warmer than the flanks of the mountain in the distance. Not only did I see apple orchards and cold storage buildings but also vineyards, onion plots, herbs, alfalfa, wheat....in other words, just about any crop not requiring a Mediterranean climate.
Zooming in on Mount Ranier....
As I got further south along US22, Mount Ranier seemed less dominant.
Panning to the right there's another snow-capped peak in the distance. Also, I couldn't identify the crop being grown other than that it seemed like some sort of herb.
Don't believe the striped area is a dam; rather it may be a farmer's method of maintaining his farm. The Yakima River is in the right center of the photo.
Another view of the Yakima River after I walked back to where I parked my rig.
Looking to the south-east note the absence of any hills or mountains. Why? That's the Tri-Cities area where the Yakima River joins the Columbia River not too far from the confluence with the Snake River.
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Links:
- Wikipedia article on the Yakima, WA
- HistoryLink.Org history of Yakima County
Th 21 Jun Actual Route: Island City Walmart - La Grande VA Clinic- LDS Fmy History Center - Baker
F 22 Jun Actual Route: Baker Lib - Baker Shell Truck Stop
Sa 23 Jun Actual Route: Baker Shell Truck Stop - Baker Lib - Lake Phillips -Union CG
Su 24 Jun Actual Route: Union CG
M 25 Jun Actual Route: Union CG - Sumpter - John Day - Grant County Fairgrounds RV Park
T 26 Jun Route: Grant County Fairgrounds RV Park - John Day - Idlewild USFS CG
Finding Campgrounds:
- RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
- Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com
- Free campsites website
- Info on finding BLM Campgrounds
