Pic-of-the-Week for September 7, 2013

 The summer travels of the Purkeys continues……  Staying busy! ……

When we stopped in to visit with Jim and Pat in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho they told us that if we returned the weekend of August 31^st, that we could watch hydroplane races from their house.  They have a very nice house, on the edge of the lake that overlooks the lake.  As it turned out the start/finish line for the races was right in front of their house.  We spent 3 days partying with them and watching the races.  The fastest class of hydroplanes is jet powered and reach speeds of about 160 – 170 miles per hour on the oval track.

Jet boat turning the corner

For a video of the racers go here.

There were some people with hydroplanes that were staying in the same RV park that we stayed in so Sunday evening, after all the racing was finished, we were able to take pictures of the hydroplanes there.

It was a fun 3 day weekend with a lot of people and a lot of good eating.  Thank you Jim and Pat for including us!

Monday morning (Labor Day) we headed back to Bend, Oregon.  Tuesday was the start of a Model A Convention that I wanted to attend.  There were lots of people, and many Model A’s there.

Here are just a very few of the cars and trucks.

A Model A tow truck

You know I had to take a picture of a Woody.  We actually got to take a tour of downtown Bend in this beauty, and Zoey rode along too, ears flapping!

A nice delivery truck

One of the games.  The passenger needs to keep from spilling the drink while the driver drives over bumps.

A very nice, and rather rare Model A

A nice roadster

On Thursday afternoon there was a terrific hail storm that went right over where we were staying at my brother’s house.  The hail stones were as large as ¾ of an inch!  The hail broke both roof vents on our travel trailer.  Things got wet inside our trailer, but I was able to find some replacement vents in Bend and buy them and get them installed that evening!  I am very glad I did as it rained some more that night!  (The repair shop in Bend said they could fit it in their shop on September 23rd!!!  Yeah, right!  Good thing Ben is a good fix-it type of guy!)

Hail in the driveway.

One of the vents.  Completely destroyed.

  While here in Bend my brother Kenneth and I went to look at some old mines near Prineville.  I thought that the buildings were in very poor condition for being used as late as the early 1960’s.  These mines were mining cinnabar for making mercury.  The mercury was used mainly by the gold and silver mining industries to separate the gold and silver from the ore.

Mother Load Mine.  The ore processing plant.

I have no idea how all this worked!

The Blue Ridge Mine.  The ore was processed inside these buildings.

The best preserved building.  Looks like a hotel and dance hall to me, but a fellow giving a guided tour to some other people claimed that he lived there as a kid, and that it was their house.  Hummmm.

That is it for this time.  See you at the Pendleton Round Up next week.  

We've started a brand new album for September 2013, for more photos of the races and the hail storm, and gobs of Model A's.

Your "enjoying the warm days and cool nights of Oregon" friends,
Ben, Harriet, Sam (who is a bit gimpy now from squirrel chasing) & Zoey