Day 5: Arlington to Condon From a town of 500 people to another one of 500 people. I guess the road from Arlington to Condon doesn't get much coverage from traffic reporters on the morning news

shows. We were warned that the grain carrying semis were ubiquitous and wreckless, but they didn't turn out to be a problem either. Our first sight, other than miles and miles of high desert, farms, and ranches, was a monument to The Oregon Trail. Apparently it came right across what is now Highway 19. At this point in the trail, people had to decide whether to brave the rapids of the Columbia River or take the long trek around Mt. Hood, in the snow, to get to Portland. Neither alternative seemed that good to us. Being on bicycles on Highway 19 was much more pleasant.

Not a bit of traffic along this road - of course the occasional semi hauling grain to Arlington, but the drivers were all very competent and courteous and there really were very few of them. We had one long uphill stretch that never seemed to end. Each time you'd round a bend and think you were at the top it just kept going up. But the weather was nice, the scenery beautiful, and the roads quiet and well-paved like all the route through east central Oregon - so we were having fun. And then, like an oasis in the endless fields of grain, appeared the little town of Condon. The town of Condon isn't really an oasis, except for the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere. It consists of one main street about two

blocks long with mostly old buildings, only half of which seem to be occupied. A small grocery store, a few offices, a cafe, a tavern, and the crown jewel of Condon, the 100 year old Hotel Condon. And the Hotel Condon truly is an oasis in any context. Beautifully restored, elegant yet comfortable, and a staff that was as sophisticated as any you'd find in a first-class, big city hotel. All this in the middle of acre after acre of wheat - and nothing else. I can't really do justice to this place, so click on the underlined link to see the Hotel Condon's website. All I'll say is we had a great lunch in the restaurant and a wonderful dinner with microbrewery beer in the beautiful woodpaneled bar. And just basked in the luxury.

Across the street from the hotel was a cafe and gift shop where we went to have some coffee after wandering through the residential neighborhoods where half the houses were empty and/or for sale. The owner of the cafe was also the head of the Condon Chamber of Commerce and was really anxious to tell us all about the town and gave us some photocopied newpaper articles to read about the hotel restoration. The entire population of Gilliam County is only 1,900. Each year they lose more and more people and there's a real effort to do something about it and not let these towns die out.

(There are already a number of bonafide ghost towns in the county.) The hotel restoration was one such project run by a private cooperative of locals with some state funding. Thanks to some featured articles in the Portland newspapers, business is not too bad. But whether that's enough to halt the population exodus seems hard to tell. We saw another old 3-story brick building on main street that was for sale. It had a crudely hand-lettered for sale sign advertising the price of $100K. It must have been 5000 square feet at least and not too, too terribly run down. But what the hell would you do with it? This is the typical scenery for many, many miles around Condon. You can see why the town and its wonderful hotel are like an oasis.