We continue driving north; passing up the first campground option and glad we decided to keep going. It really IS too early to stop and camp in the sun, heat, and wind, especially in a Volkswagen camper! Our second campground option is at a higher elevation. At least we will be cooler and hopefully the wind will settle down.

In a Volkswagen bus, we are feeling the uphill pull which is ok–except we also have a head wind of 30+ mph! A head-on wind in a Volkswagen bus is slow going.  At times, it is difficult to get the bus to go more than 50 mph.  Once, while going downhill when we should have picked up a little speed, we can only manage to go 55mph! –quite the wind!

We stop for fuel in Baker City, and are pleased to be averaging 18.4 mpg even with the hills and the wind. We press on and arrive at our destination: Emigrant Springs Campground on the Oregon Trail between La Grande and Pendleton. Back up in elevation at 3600’, we appreciate the cooler air again but wonder how the night is going to be for sleeping.

This is an Oregon State Park.  It is beautiful– very green with lots of bushes and trees — tall, tall trees – and — a roaring Interstate Highway running right past!  The trees and dense growth are beautiful but don’t seem to mute the roar of the interstate. It is also different from our previous campground experiences by offering a variety of camping choices from cabins to tent sites. A gorgeous Teepee is set up and looks quite at home in this setting.

There are no campsites left with electrical hookups (one of the reasons we chose this campground) but it does have showers and that is what we want most, so here we are. The ranger helps out by letting us plug the computer in at her station until she leaves for the night.  We barely pull into a campsite when we are surrounded by friendly campers, all curious about the bus. One exceptionally friendly camper, quite enamored of our ’61 Westy, offers to let us use his electrical hook up to recharge our cell phones. He also invites us over to his campsite for more visiting and ‘Volkswagen’ reminiscing by his campfire.  We accept the offer to recharge the phones but decline the extended visit as we still need to get set up and have dinner! These people are drawn as if magnetized–or is it mesmerized?–by such a beautiful Volkswagen Bus.  Of course IT IS beautiful and we are proud of it; but we can hardly get set up or start dinner….oh well–bringing joy to folks….