Easter weekend, 1988—our car rolled across the flat, Central Oregon desert on Highway 97. Suddenly, the earth dropped out of sight. Why, I couldn’t tell. But, on the return trip, what I saw there stole my breath—a miniature Grand Canyon carved in the desert floor by the Crooked River.
I hadn’t a clue that after retirement my wife and I would spend a week each summer at Crooked River Ranch, that I would write novels, or that I was looking at the setting of my first political thriller.
Aren’t they all set in DC?
Crooked River Ranch is a place of incredible beauty, located near the confluence of the desert-born Crooked River and the Deschutes River, originating in the snow packs of the Cascades.
In 1967, Hollywood released a classic western set partly on the ranch. The Way West is a story about the first wagon train taking settlers to Oregon. The cast reads like a who’s who in Hollywood, circa 1967, including Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark. It was Sally Field’s first movie role.
The Old Hollywood Road, blasted out of the rock face of Crooked River Canyon, took the whole cast, equipment, wagons, and animals into the canyon. They lowered wagons down the cliff.
Wagons for Hollywood were lowered over the cliff here
The Old Hollywood Road is now just a trail, seen on the right.
But, 50 years later, the road is only a trail.
The canyon looks impressive from the head of the Hollywood Road. My thoughts on seeing it—what a great hiding place for two people running from a president who sends Special Forces to kill them.
A hiding place for bad guys…
Why did I set a story about an evil, would-be tyrant in such a beautiful place? Before I answer, please look at the location of the climactic battle, Steelhead Falls.
Site of the climactic battle …
I couldn’t resist the irony of contrasts—the beauty of God’s creation contrasted with the ugliness of man’s creation, war. And the Crooked River area certainly displays the beauty of God’s creation. Displaying the war was up to me.
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H. L. Wegley served as a USAF intelligence analyst and a weather officer. In civilian life, he worked as a meteorologist and a research scientist, then developed Boeing computing systems before retiring near Seattle. He is a multi-published author with a 4-book inspirational thriller series, 2 nonfiction books, and 4 more novels on the way.
Read the first 3 chapters of political thriller Voice in the Wilderness using Amazon’s “Look inside” feature: http://amzn.to/1EuEWnq
The entire 3-book series is displayed on his Facebook author page.
All photos copyright by H.L. Wegley, used by permission.