The Pillars of Rome

[HMarc]

Rome, Oregon, that is...

In July of 2006 my friend Phil Kopp and I rode to Ely, Nevada to assist in putting on a long-distance motorcycle rally called "White Pine Fever". I started in the Spokane Valley, and Phil started from Seattle, WA. We met in Hermiston, OR and began our ride together from there, taking 2-lane roads towards central Nevada.

We planned our route down so as to be able to stop a the "Pillars of Rome", some unique geological features near Rome, OR in the southeast corner of the state. We were introduced to this interesting bit of geology, which is on private land and isn't a State Park (though maybe it should be), by a woman we met at the Hotel Diamond during another motorcycle trip we made a few months earlier.

My homage to GHOST RIDER, a book by Neil Peart which was recommended to me by Tim Keane. Neil started taking photos of his bike, sans rider, to reinforce the "ghost rider" theme of his story. I like it. Both the photographic trick and the book. Highly recommended.

This may be my favorite shot.

Or this one...

This is quite a remote part of Oregon. From the road at Rome, which is really just a couple gas pumps and a small cafe near the Owyhee river, west of Jordan Valley, there is no sign marking this attraction.

Just north of the Pillars of Rome the Owyhee river becomes a designated "Scenic Waterway". I once had a rafting trip scheduled through there with Row Adventures (when they were still called River Odysseys West). It's supposed to be one of the premier remote whitewater trips in the conterminous US.

[Black'n'White]

But this was also taken in Oregon:


Can you guess where?

Scot

[HMarc]

Too easy, Scot.

The Stonehenge Replica at Maryhill, WA. A memorial to the soldiers from that area who died in WW-I. Did you notice the birth and death dates on some of the pillars? A lot of those were kids, literally. A bunch were less than 20, one just 17.

Interesting fact: When Sam Hill had the the memorial built, it wasn't common knowledge that the original Stonehenge was a solar observatory and was carefully aligned to make it easy to recognize the solstices and equinoxes. So the replica isn't aligned properly, and can't be used for that purpose.

Nevertheless, the Bavarian Illuminati M/C holds solstice and equinox rituals there every year.

[Beemer]

Nice shots HMarc! I've also read the GHOST RIDER, by Neil Peart. Very good indeed. Also recommedable is the "Long Way Round" DVD by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman.