Living on the Edge ... of the Road.

Our last night on the road was in Umpqua (Roseburg) at the Holiday Inn Express. We heard this gentle rushing noise all night and in the  morning realised the source. It was the Umpqua River flooding! This photo is from our hotel room balcony. All of Oregon was in Flood Alert from heavy rains. We thought we would be in for a day of driving in the rain, not my favourite thing to do.

After filling the tank with tax free gas for the last time, we headed out and much to our delight we had sunshine. To make things interesting, I took to having my camera strung around my neck to take some action shots of the road. Here we are, following my least favourite kind of truck. They make me nervous, especially when the sticks start falling off. (We have real logs here in BC)  

The sun was short lived but the scenery was wonderful. Most of the trip is great to look at except for a long dismal part in mid California.

A bit more sun and then we were headed into a nasty bunch of rain clouds. Note the lack of traffic. It was light until Portland and then very heavy almost to Bellingham.

And then we drove into the wall of water. Was I Pharaoh heading into the sea after the Children of Israel? That was not fun and lasted for about 50 miles.

They say all good things must come to an end. Well, that applies to bad things too. And as the deluge stopped abruptly, there was a rainbow!

And just down the road, another one. We witnessed at least a half dozen rainbows driving through Oregon and southern Washington.

Driving and photographing at the same time is not for the faint of heart. One must compose and shoot very fast and expect to be deleting many photos. I made sure there was never a semi on either side of me as the car seems to wander a bit while I am peering through my view finder. It certainly is a great way to stay awake while driving. On the other hand, it is probably a way to die also. busylizzy was puzzling as to what she would put on the traffic report if something happened. It would probably make an episode of TV's "World's Worst Drivers". But then, I like living on the edge every so often.  

Oh look! There's a smokey parked in the median. Quick, put the camera in the back seat.