Traveling-U.S.A

Caching and Farming

2012-02-04T20:17:00.003-07:00

Donna met Toni & Dave when we were in Quartzsite and she did a power cache with Margie & Rhonda. When they went back to finish it they hit a huge flowerpot in the road and wrecked their car. Since they had no transportation in Yuma (they towed their car here) we offered to pick them up and we had a couple of days of caching with them.

We went out to the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range (had to get permits & notify them). We got 46 caches. Found all that we looked for.
One was in this wash.
It was shady, so we decided to have our picnic lunch there. No, we didn't drink that box of wine on the ground. It was our music and the first song was "our" song so we danced. We stopped at a restaurant on the way home and had a great day with them.

The SKP's at Kofa planned a tour near El Centro, CA. It was a tour of a research farm.A slide presentation told us a lot about vegetable growing. The Imperial Valley and Yuma area is the produce capitol. The vegetables you are eating tonight probably were grown here.

There was a cooking demo and sampling.
Entertainment.

We liked this cute wagon.

After the lecture we met at the patio for a huge salad luncheon

then it was off to the fields on trams.

We rode for a couple of hours to various plots and got off and picked vegetables. We were given huge bags to fill with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. radishes and lettuces.

Bob learned how to suction the hoses to irrigate the fields
along with a few others.

Party & Lot

2012-02-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

We are back at the VFW/BLM in Yuma and it is packed. More rigs here than at Christmas. Our first day was busy. We went to Ernie's birthday party along with a lot of our WIN friends.

The birthday boy wanted chocolate cake. He thought there was only the white cake. Boohoo. Then Wanda came with the chocolate one. Little did he know that both "cakes" were chocolate.

A couple of the gals wanted to have a spoon fight.

From there we high tailed it across town grabbed a couple of caches along the way and a book at the Goodwill before joining our Boomer "movie" friends at Mi Rancho for a delicious Mexican dinner. We had a lovely conversation at a noisy restaurant with Larry & Debbie Crutcher who own Starlight Solar. He & Bob had a lively conversation about solar, invertors etc, etc, etc. No one in the group took any pictures but there must have 20 of us there.

Back home we played pegs & joker's with Karen, Chuck, Diane and Sue. It was a busy day.

On Thursday, Feb 2 we became lessee's at the Escapee Kofa Resort. We had been on the list a little shy of 6 years. We have it in the rental pool and will go on it on the 14th. It has a shed we checked out and we can store our trailer in the storage lot for our summer travels.

Caching Fun

2012-02-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

We moved 15 miles to the northside of Quartzsite to join up with another group we belong to with the Escapees. This one is the Geocache BOF (Birds of a Feather). We had 60 rigs gathered and had games to meet people, happy hours, pot lucks, and we even sponsored an "Event" whereby cacher's who are not members of Escapees BOF can come.

There were classes for the "newbee's" and discussion groups for the old pro's. It was great to see old friends and we "mentored" Kay & Tom, old friends for a long time. We took them out caching to teach them how. They haven't even purchased a GPS yet but they are hooked. They both got quite good at find them.

And we also had the usual beautiful sunrises. Doesn't get boring with the sunrises & sunsets.

We got "THE PHONE CALL" that we have our lot at the Escapee coop park in Yuma. It's called the Kofa Koop. We are leaving a day early to get to Yuma so we can take care of the business end of it on Thursday.

Having a Boomer good time

2012-01-25T15:07:00.003-07:00

Boomerville, we are the first rig on the right. Tom our neighbor takes the pictures from his power kite.
Everyday there is a list of things to do. Walking, 4X4, Happy Hour, discussions groups for safety, dry camping, solar, hobbies, exercises, pancakes and pot lucks but the most famous and well attended has to be the Geraldine Contest. It started a number of years ago when the ladies had planned a luncheon in town and Jerry (a man) wanted to go. He showed up in drag and ever since then they have a beauty contest. The ahem (man) on the right won.

One day we went over to the WIN's gathering for their remembrance of all those who passed away this past year. Randy read a poem and other's shared their times with the dearly departed. It was nice to also see old friends who are still with us.

We play cards sometimes in the evening with different couples and that usually ends with a drink or two but who cares we are home and the others can walk home.

There has been a lot of wind this past week but hopefully we are getting warmer temperatures. It's not too much fun sitting outside bundled up in winter coats. But we have pretty sunrises.

The CARE auction was held and riotious bidding raised the total to over $2400. Bob got a bottle of Merlot with 4 glasses and an alarm thingy that didn't work.

We had a busy day on Thursday. Went to the Big Tent and bought lots of stuff. Then after a quick lunch we went to the WIN's ice cream social after visiting Dot Judge a geocacher parked near there. On to Bouse for our mail (got our checks from our financial man). Stopped at Bud & Nancy's with a gallon pail of ice cream from the social. On to the bank at Parker to deposit the checks at our bank. Then on to yet another memorial service for our another friend, Dottie Johnson.

Saw Curt, Celeste and Ed there.

On the way home a quick stop at Walmart for some shopping. It was after dark before we got home. The frig had been off for 9 hours on a warm day and was at 46 when we got home. Not bad as our propane one would often get to that temperature also.

Donna went geocaching on Saturday with two ladies, Margie & Rhonda, from the Geocache BOF we belong to. Bob didn't want to do a "power run". That's where every .1 mile there is a cache. Donna wanted the numbers and she got them 256 in one day. They titled themselves as SKP3 for signing purposes. One drove while the other two took turns jumping out of the car to sign the log. It took 7 hours with a couple of pottie breaks for the dogs and the ladies. They caught up with another car of cacher's the "Newmar". When we got to the last one it couldn't be found. The usual pile of rocks where there but the log was missing so we made a new one.

While Donna did that Bob went to a gold claim with the Boomer's and then to Silly Al's with them. They had the whole back room and had a good time.

Boomerville

2012-01-22T08:02:00.002-07:00

The Boomer's are a sub-chapter of the Escapees Club. It's really a BOF "Birds of a Feather" group as these subchapter's are called. We decided this year to park with them while they are at Quartzsite. We parked with them last year for one week but we are here for 2 weeks this year. Bob parked us in the same spot as last year. We are almost the first rig that is seen when entering into the area. It is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and we dry camp out in the desert. We have to move after 2 weeks. It's suppose to be 25 miles away but it really isn't enforced.

We have had some incredible sunrises and sunsets while here.

There was a chili cook-off. Donna entered her taco soup. There were 30 pots of chili's and the judges sure had to work hard to determine the top 3. Those that didn't bring chili brought the other "fixin's" and no one left hungry.

Bud & Nancy's daughter Diane came out for a couple of weeks to be with them. With Bud laid up from his broken heels we took her for a day trip. She had never been to California so over the border we went. She had a day of firsts. First to CA, geocache, wild burro's, driving over a dam,

the floating bar and then we took her to the Desert Bar.

Heading North a Little

2012-01-16T12:24:00.002-07:00

Before we left the Paradise Casino we had our generator serviced then packed up and drove to Martinez Lake where the WIN's had gathered. We spent two nights there. After we set-up we drove back down to Yuma for 2 Memorial Services for our friends Joey Shelton and Jerry Gertner. We then drove to the lot in the Foothills where Diane Boor was staying. She had a spell on New Year's Eve and the doctor told her no driving for 3 months. Donna drove her rig back to park with us at Martinez.

Had a beautiful sunrise.
Bob and I went geocaching on Dome Mine Road and got our exercise finding 35 that day. Back at the Lake we went to dinner. Some of the Win's were there dancing. We just danced one dance then it was back home.

On the 16th we drove to Quartzsite. Donna took Diane to the WIN's gathering on Plomosa Road while Bob took our's to Boomerville on the south side of Q. After setting up he came over and got her and we went for lunch then over to see Bud & Nancy in Bouse. Their daughter Diane had come for a couple of weeks visit. She & Donna's first two daughter's used to play together 40 years ago. It was nice to see her again.

Back at Boomerville we stopped at Terry & Vicky's rig. Shot the breeze and drank lots of wine. They helped us move into our motorhome 5 years ago.

Tuesday we went into town. Checked on where the restaurant was the SKP's breakfast would be. Decided to eat lunch there. On our way in we invited a couple to sit with us whom we have never met. We do that often. Dave & Mandy are staying in Yuma at an rv park and came up for the day. They were very interested in our boondocking lifestyle. They must have really enjoyed meeting us as they picked up our lunch tab. Thank you Dave & Mandy. On the way home we grabbed a couple of caches. Had a great Happy Hour with the Boomer's. Nice to see old friends. We played Peg's & Joker's with Shepard's.

Wednesday it was up early for breakfast with the SKP's then we drove to Bouse so Bob could check on the part he was repairing for Bud's transport chair. Stopped briefly to see what Win's were at their gathering and got a hug from Nelda. Came home and Bob made the adjustment to Bud's chair part and later Nancy & Diane came by for a brief visit and to pick up the part.

Thursday there was a discussion on boondocking (dry camping) at the fire pit. We attended and contributed our thoughts.
At 1 we went to the big SKP Happy Hour. Met some of our old friends and made some new friends. Listened to some great music. It was the good old Rock n Roll music but with Christian lyrics. Back at Boomerville we went to another Happy Hour. Deanne & Jerry moved there rig over and are our neighbors just like last year. In the evening we played P&J with them and our other neighbor Tom who flies his ultralight every morning.

Back to Yuma

2012-01-09T18:17:00.005-07:00

We spent Monday over in Yuma. Donna had a Boomer Ladies Luncheon while Bob ran errands and shopped for a refrigerator @ Lowes. Showed me them but they wouldn't deliver to the Casino. On the way home he helped Bill Gott redesign his solar adjusters.

We relocated on Tuesday to the Paradise Casino near oldtown Yuma. Off to the Home Depot to check out their refrigerators. The one we wanted wouldn't be delivered until the 18th. We then went to a huge Boomer gathering at Ron & Sharon's new place in the Foothills. Ron cooked hot dogs and we all brought dishes to share. Had a great time. On our way home we stopped at Sears and then an appliance store and found a refrigerator. It's a little smaller than the Lowe's & Home Depot but the price was right and the energy savings was the best we have seen. Called all the guys who said they would help and crashed.

Up early the next morning, breakfast at the casino and then dismantled the refrigerator,

took out the window and moved the old frig out

with John's & Phil's help

Bob revamped the box so the new frig would fit.

At 2 PM Ken & Bill came to help also. We visited until just before 3 when the deliver man showed up. The guys got it thru the window and installed into the box. Bob & Bill got it all hooked up.

John came back and with Phil's help they reinstalled the window. Everything was piled on the bed so we had to reassemble all of it before we could go to bed.
The valance and shade, the hide-a-bed, nicknacks oh and we also had to eat a quick dinner sometime. Thank goodness for leftover's.

After it cooled down Donna loaded the cooler foods into it. Wow. We have so much space it's calling for a Sam's Club run.

WIN's @ Wellton, AZ

2012-01-08T08:29:00.001-07:00

Jan 3 after getting our motorhome waxed at the Win's Wash & Wax and Bob was finished with the repair on Diane's motorhome we headed to Wellton. It was getting dark when we arrived at the fuel station so Donna went in the car to check out where the Win's were parked. Came back and after doing the holding tanks led Bob into the area. We missed seeing any Win's that night.

The next morning Bob went on a 4 wheel trip to old mines on Dome Mountain Road.
They saw the "Eye in the Sky" Blimp on the ground and Thumb Butte.

Donna had to go back to Yuma for a doctor's appointment, killed time caching & visiting then we went out to dinner.

One of our events was to 4 wheel on the Barry Goldwater Range. We had to get a permit, call the authorities to let them know we would be on the range. Kurt led 4 other vehicles besides his for about 4 hours. To Raven's Butte. and interesting formations in the mountains.

When they headed back to camp, Bob & I dropped out and geocached on the way home. We got 50 caches in less than 2 hours.

Back at Circle just as the sun was setting.

Saturday was football day at Kurt's. We started out by eating breakfast at the VFW with Arlene & George, Bonnie & Doug too. Then after taking them back home we headed out to see another pyramid in AZ. Camp Horn. The east entrance to George Patton's training camp which extends into CA and up toward Las Vegas. There are 4 pyramids in AZ and we have seen two of them. This was easy to find when we programmed in the geocache that was nearby. Heading back to camp we took backroads, most of them dirt. Stopped at the town of Roll for ice cream and to see the Post Office inside the local store. Anything from groceries, toys, fishing equipment and licenses for fishing & hunting can be purchased there. We had a nice time talking with Kathy who worked there. She is interested in fulltiming someday. We filled her in. Afterwards we went caching, what else and achieved our 2000th find along the way. A great "Linner" at the Mexican restaurant followed. When we got home there was an alarm going off. Our refrigerator had shut down with the overheating safety sensor. Bob checked the internet on what to do while Donna was taking food to friends refrigerators that were semi-empty. He tried to bypass the sensor & got it running but it never cooled. We shut it off. The next morning we made "coolers" out of the freezer part and took all our frozen foods to Kurt's park model freezer.

Our last day with the Win's was another football day at Kurt's. At 4 o'clock halftime our group had a pot luck. Bob cooked the hot dogs and we all chowed down. Next was a birthday cake for "Evil Ann" made by "Nice Ann" of course.

The Last of 2011

2011-12-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

We led a small group of Win's on a geocache excursion into the desert between our camp and the Foothills. Started out with a plan to grab 21 caches and soon deviated as our GPS's showed others nearby. Bob had said to get them along a road but at times there was no road. Did it anyway. Stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant then continued back along another dirt road to home.

The group did a day trip to Algodones, Mx. While we were there we both got haircuts. $10 total with tip, then it was across the street to our dentist, Gabriella where we both got our teeth cleaned for $70. Didn't need to schedule any other work. Bob stopped to get his shoes shine for $2 while Donna, who was chilly as usual, went across the street to the Purple Pharmacy and sampled liqueurs to warm up. After about 5 of them she rejoined Bob and we went to the restaurant where the group was gathering. The service was lousy, the Margarita's, Corona's, music & company was great. We walked around thru all the vendors, had another drink at our favorite restaurant so we could say hi to Adrian, Donna's Mexican boyfriend. A quick stop to buy our 2 bottles of booze we are allowed and it was hit the border. The wait was about 1/2 hour.

There is a friend parked nearby and he has a blog. One day he featured us. Check it out. Just click on his name.
Jim's Blog

Bob was helping a lot of people repair things on their rigs and he was disposing of a lot of the items in the trailer that he doesn't need. Donna went geocaching with Ted our neighbor and they got 14 in one day.

On New Year's eve the group had a campfire and fingerfoods at 5:30. Then at 7 we all went to the VFW for more fingerfoods and dancing. Bob & I made it to about 10 o'clock then went home and watched TV before going to bed. Didn't see midnight. HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE.

Hugs in the morning was were you bed clothes. Since most of admitted to very wrinkled bedclothes we decided to show up in our bathrobes. Nelda sweetened the morning as usual. That lady must stay up all night & bake.

We went to the pot luck our "Boomer" friends were having at Mittrey Lake. It was good to see friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Another Yuma Christmas

2011-12-26T07:09:00.001-07:00

We left Quartzsite Tuesday afternoon and had a long drive of 63 miles to reach our next destination. We always go to the little patch of BLM land next to the VFW. After getting setup it was time for happy hour (circle) at Sherry's two doors down. It was great seeing so many of our friends. Hugs all around.

We met with Boomer's for the Wednesday movie and dinner. We saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It was great as we had read the books. Afterwards we went to Das Bratwurst Haus for a delicious German dinner with them.

Our first Hug's & Mug's with the Win's on Thursday morning.
Then the crew came to wash & wax the motorhome and wash the trailer and car. They did the outside windows but Donna had to do the inside of the windows. Wow! now we can again see the world. The BLM officer came by & kicked the crew out before we got the rig waxed.
Jim came by for a nice visit.

We had snacks on Christmas eve with the WIN's and sang Christmas Carols around the campfire. Christmas morning we had breakfast finger foods with the WIN's and then had a gift exchange, exchange, exchange. A persons playing card would be called. They got up selected a gift from the table & opened it or they could steal one that had been previously opened. After a gift had been exchanged 3 times it became unstealable. Donna got a box with 2 battery operated flameless candles and Bob ended up with a box of crackers and summer sausage. Then it was over to the VFW for Pot Luck and ham. Dancing followed but we were very full (of food) so didn't stay too long.

The next day the group took a tour of Cloud Museum.

Bob got his fill of seeing old rusty cars and a few that were restored.

Donna enjoyed the old 1930ish motorhome.

It was followed by a trip to the Date Gardens where we took a tour of the facility and found out everything one would want to know about dates besides the fact they taste good. In shakes too.

MM 99

2011-12-16T12:48:00.003-07:00

We moved to La Paz Valley Road south of Quartzsite where the WIN gathering was (to be). Only 6 rigs here. Had "Circle" at our motorhome and nothing, absolutely nothing was discussed about activities for this event. Guess we are on our own.

We had a beautiful sunrise the next morning. The clouds finally gave way to sun.

You won't believe this but Bob had to go to town to "BUY" a tool. With all those thingy ma jig's in the trailer he didn't have the right tool to repair the wind generator. Donna worked on next summer's potential travels to Fairbanks, Alaska and back.

On Dec. 17th we attended a ceremony that made the Hi Jolly monument in Quartzsite a National Historical Site.

We invited Jim & Barbara over to learn about the computer aspect of geocaching. Since they were going to do it with their Droid phone we also invited Jerry & Denise to come and teach them that part.

One day we loaded up our laundry and drove to Bouse to do it. It's extremely cheap there. Afterwards we went to Bud & Nancy's for happy hour. He is doing well after his surgery but a bit bored lying in bed. He has to be in bed with his feet elevated for a week or so then he can maybe get up and dangle them. No standing for 6-8 weeks. We are so sorry Bud.

A few Win's left & a few arrived but still nothing was done. Tuesday morning we went into the QIA for the first Greet & Meet for Geocacher's.
Over 50 people came and it was fun hearing where they were from, their handle and how many caches they have found. Afterwards we went back to find a cache that our new students found but we hadn't. It WAS there.

All Alone

2011-12-06T16:39:00.003-07:00

Bud & Nancy moved into Coyote Ridge Campground after Lee & Clay arrived. We helped Nancy pack things up then Bob drove their Jeep, Nancy drove the motorhome with Bud being the "back bed driver". Donna drove our Cheap Jeep and we got them settled in. On the way home we stopped and visited with Denise & Jerry. Their neighbor Tom came back with us to view the "garage". Then we were alone. It's so quiet out here. Almost too quiet. The little white spec in the distance is our motorhome.

We walked the road for exercise, watched the hummingbirds come to our feeder instead of Nancy's. Listened to the quiet and watched beautiful sunrises &
sunsets.

We went to Happy Hour at Bud & Nancy's one night then out to Joe's Cafe for dinner before going to Somewhere Arizona to dance & have a drink.

One day Bob set up sorting boxes and we worked on separating all the screws, nuts, bolts & other small parts into boxes. Still have a lot of work to do.

Went into town for coffee hour with Bud & Nancy after we stopped for breakfast. I think we must really miss them. Later saw on Facebook that Sharon Runyun, the WIN owner, was going to Silly Al's. We went to join her and before we got to Q spotted a couple of other Win's parked at Hi Jolly. Duane Child's joined us. Great pizza & conversation. Ended up not working all day.

A little rain must fall even on the desert but we had a beautiful rainbow. It kept us from working in the trailer so we went to Parker & got our grocery shopping out of the way, read and watched TV, played games on the computer and rested up for the fun times ahead.

We moved into Coyote Ridge our last night near Bouse. Time to fill and empty the tanks and we wanted to spend one more happy hour with Bud & Nancy, Lee & Clay. They were running back & forth all week to Lake Havasu. Bud has surgery on his heels on Thursday.

It's off to join the WIN's in Quartzsite & Yuma for the rest of the month.

A Little Work & A Little Play

2011-12-05T07:39:00.002-07:00

We just love it out here in the desert. Beautiful sunrises & sunsets. Good friends, piece and quiet. Can life get any better? Tioga George left us the day after Thanksgiving.

Bob & Bud continued to work on Bud's system. It was mostly trial & error as this hasn't been done before. Every morning we would have coffee and conversation at their motorhome for an hour and every afternoon an hour or more of Happy Hour.

It wasn't all work. Sometimes we would go and play. We went to to geocache with friends, Jim & Barbara from Alliance, OH that we had met at the Roadrunner's Rally. We were teaching them.

We ran across this interesting car load. To say it smelled is an understatement.

Then out to dinner with more friends. Curt was invited by us & Jerry & Deborah were Jim & Barb's friend. Afterwards we went to the Yacht Club for dancing and listening.

Another day we went to Vicksburg for lunch with the Escapees at the Kofa Cafe. We met Jim & Barbara and went 4 wheeling and caching thru some beautiful mountains south of Salome. One cache took us to a gravesite near an old mine. According to the research there are no records as to who these people were. It is believed they were the miners & family members.

Another took us to Indian petroglyph's near Salome.

The work continued on the solar most days. We had several days of cold & high wind which then they couldn't work. The last day on the project Bud fell off the ladder trying to carry too much up top. Nancy rushed him to the hospital in Parker and he had broken both heels. Bob finished the solar and when they came home he demonstrated that they went up & down. Then it was help Bud into the motorhome without using his feet. Not an easy chore.

Solar Panel Update

2011-11-28T19:03:00.003-07:00

I have 5 solar panels totaling 625 watts which work great in the summer but in the winter the sun is to low to get a full charge so you need to raise your panels to a 45 degree angle.
I have built a raised rack to elevate the panels to avoid shadows from the air conditioner and other

things on the roof so I put two 26" actuators with a 1000 pound lift to raise the panels and I have a 12 volt timer that is programable to raise and lower at dawn and dusk.

Another Solar Project

A friend of mine ask me if he could raise his panels with actuators. His is a flat mount on the roof not raised rack like mine so I did some thinking for a way to lift them. Not an easy chore to do as you have no room to put a lift under the panel with only 1 3/4" above the roof to work with. I started with a 8" stroke actuator and angle and a single drawer silde.

I set this up on a sheet of plywood to try it out. It worked so we attempted to apply it his roof
.

I came up with using drawer slides and pushing and pulling the panel up and down. This worked but we found that it was to much strain on the single drawer slide so the slide had to be on edge instead of flat the way I had it set up. So I'm changing the setup to use two drawer slides and have them both on edge. So the tork is pushing down on them the way the drawer slides are made to be used.

We have completed the set up and it works great, very smooth, no strain on the actuator or

the drawer slides.I added a video of Bud"s panel lift at I have added a video of Bud's panel install at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnUz3yrqoTQ

Back to Bouse and Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T07:13:00.001-07:00

We returned to the campsite where we were with Bud & Nancy. Donna left first and stopped along Plomosa Rd to lead our friend Tioga George back to our site.

Bob in the meantime helped finish the tear down of the tent with the Roadrunner's then went into Bouse for dump, water and propane. We will be out here for a month.

George needed his solar panel applied to metal instead of wood which kept rotting. He came all the way from San Diego for Bob's help.
I think he was impressed with Bob's work shop.

We all went into the Grubstake for the all you can eat fish fry to celebrate Nancy's birthday.
Bud always get's the BIG platter.

Bud and Bob both worked on George's solar on Saturday and Sunday. Social hour followed both days at Bud & Nancy's motorhome. RVer's sure love to talk. The hour soon was stretching a lot longer than an hour. Sunday afternoon we took George to the Desert Bar. Then he treated us to dinner at the "Floating Bar"

Nancy & Donna went to Parker for the Thanksgiving fixings. Filled the refrigerators so full we had to leave the bird in a cooler in the trailer. The day before Thanksgiving George put it in his refrigerator.

Thanksgiving Day arrived. We would not let the guys work today. But the girls sure did. George took the turkey to Nancy's at 7:45. Watched Nancy stuff it, then carried it to our motorhome and we cooked it in our oven as it was bigger. Donna made butternut squash & cranberry relish. Nancy had baked two loafs of bread, more dressing, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, gravy and a great pumpkin pie.
We were all stuffed. The girls divided everything between the two of us and then did the dishes.

The evening was topped off by this beautiful display of clouds & sunlight.

Roadrunner's Rally

2011-11-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

We left Bud and Nancy on Tuesday for a three day rally with our Escapee Chapter 7 Roadrunner Rally.
We drove 30 miles to La Paz Valley Road south of Quartzsite.
It was like coming home to our beginnings. Almost 6 years ago we met out here about 1/2 mile from this spot.

There were 48 people and about 21 rigs that attended. Most of them were from the Kofa Yuma Escapee park where we will soon be getting a lot.

There was a social hour every afternoon.

We were fed very good. The server's? The ?????
The bean soup maker's

There was a meeting of the Chapter

and a auction.

Minute to win it games.

One jelly bean at a time.

Get a cookie into your mouth from your forehead.

Crafts.

During the day we went caching. (Did you not expect us too!)
This was the largest Travelbug we've ever seen.
It was at a TB Launching Pad.

In the "Boonies"

2011-11-06T07:51:00.004-07:00

Nov. 4 Up early to a beautiful sunrise, paid the bill, got fuel, hooked up the trailer and left Freightliner at 8:20 am. We stopped near Bouse, got propane, mail, dumped & got water. Checked out with the car where Bud & Nancy were parked and brought the motorhome out 1.6 miles off Plomosa Road into the desert. All settled in by 12:30.

The winds came up in the afternoon. Bob had the wind gen up and we were getting lots of battery charging done. Happy Hour at Bud & Nancy's.

The next day Bob worked on the solar. He got an automatic lifter and is hard at work installing it. It even has a timer so it can go up at sunrise & down at sunset. Donna read on Facebook where a friend commented on the beautiful sunrise at Bouse. She called Dee Turner and told her where we were parked and shortly Dee came knocking on our door. In the evening we met Sherry Sheetz & Jerry Simpson at Silly Al's for pizza then off to the Yacht Club to test our dancing skills. Guess what? It all came back to us. Saw Millie, Margaret & Handlebar there in addtion to our favorite band "Hot Country".

We have had rain & winds off and on, so Bob hasn't been able to finish the solar. He & Bud work on projects for both rigs and we have happy hour everyday at 4. We have decided to stay here with them thru Thanksgiving. We will leave for 3 days for an Escapee rally south of Quartzsite then come back out for another month.

We all went into Parker one day. Nancy had a Dr appointment so we went visiting and caching. Saw Chuck Bothwell. Met Bud & Nancy at Coffee Ern's for dinner than major grocery shopping at Walmart before heading home. When we got back Janet & Doug were here for a couple of days in their new truck camper. They are taking it to Mexico this winter & to Alaska next summer. One afternoon Chuck, Deenie & Dee all came out for happy hour. Quite a crowd. I think if Bud & Nancy knew we would attract such a crowd they wouldn't have invited us to camp with them.

We met the Win's at Silly Al's & went dancing again at the Yacht Club. Getting into our winter groove?

The weather cleared & Bob got the solar lifter done. Now they are going to start doing it for Bud's rig. We all went into Bouse for Founder's Day. Had breakfast then went to the Book Sale at the library. Just what we need more books.

One thing we really love about the desert, besides the the peace & quiet are the beautiful sunrises & sunsets.

Big City Life

2011-10-28T09:15:00.001-06:00

We moved down the road to the southwest side of Phoenix. Goodyear to be exact. We parked at the Avondale Moose Lodge. It is Bob's home lodge. The WIN's used to come here and have mass inductions. We parked under "the" palm tree. The members are friendly, they all smoke which is a downer. Then trucks are allowed to park here also and that is annoying when trying to sleep. Why do they have to get on the road by 5am? I don't think we will be coming back here in the future. Once we no longer have the trailer we can stay at the Peoria lodge or Elk's lodges around the city.

Sunday we went out to TJ's for breakfast. As we were waiting for a table we chatted with another couple and had the host ask them to join us once we saw we had a table for 4. Leon & Jean live here now. Leon was born in Syracuse, NY. Donna's neck of the woods. Had a lovely visit with them. Then if was off caching. We picked up 14 west of here in Buckeye and beyond.

We were to meet Donna's cousin Ken and his wife Dee for dinner at Buca's at 6 pm. It is about 20 miles north of where we parked and didn't want to mess with rush hour traffic so we left around 2:30 and went to Fry's Electronics. The adult Toy store. It is huge and we strolled around for over an hour. All the staff were outfitted in Halloween costumes. Some were very creative. Wish we had taken pictures. Donna sat at the Cafe and had a Carmel mocha cappuccino. Then we found a few geocaches. The final one was on the back door of the restaurant. Ken & Dee arrived and we had a wonderful dinner.

The restaurant's decor is loaded with pictures & statues. The meals are huge and are served family style. A small entree serves 3 people. A large entree feeds 6. We ordered a small salad, all of us ate several helpings & finally we asked the waitress to remove what was left. We ordered 3 different pasta dishes. Ken and Dee ordered the Lobster Spaghetti, Bob ordered baked rigatoni and Donna the Linguine Frutti di Mare. Seafood. The place mats had ads on it and Donna spotted that on Monday's we could get a free Spaghetti Marinara with an entree purchase. So we ended up with 4 entrees that each served 3. Let's see that adds up to 12 meals. We took 3 to go boxes home and Ken & Dee 2 boxes. But we are not done pigging out yet. They have desserts that feed more than 4. We ordered the Colossal Brownie Sundae. It was huge. Since it was ice cream, brownies and whipped cream we couldn't take a to go box so we had to force ourselves to eat it all. Success. We did it. We don't go there often but when we do. WELL what can we say.

After a couple of days of doing nothing (except eating leftover pasta) we relocated to the Freightliner service facility. Had to check in before 4 the day before our appointment. Early the next morning they took the motorhome in for servicing. We went back to TJ's for breakfast then cached in the area. Went to a movie nearby then cached some more.

We called Ron & Barbara, WIN friends who live in Mesa and we went to their house in the afternoon and out to dinner with them. While we were visiting Bob got a call that they were going to work overtime and finish the motorhome so we wouldn't have to stay over a third night. The area is predicted to have a storm front come through and we didn't want to be sitting around waiting for the winds to die down.

Back Roads, More Red Rock, Rainbows and Cacheing

2011-10-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

We moved back out of Thousand Trails to the NF land. Different location but better view. More RV's out here now. Donna had her second shot & has gone back to Curves. No pain so she doesn't need the third injection.

We continued to go on drives out into the desert.
Went to hidden canyons and beautiful views. Interesting places. A Vortex hotel's totem poles.
Is this their migrating route.

Another cache lead us to Parson's Trail and we will go back & hike it. Probably next spring with the WIN's. Wouldn't have found it without our GPS cacheing.

We went to breakfast at TT on Sunday and met our friends Bobbie & Bob from our SI Singles group.

Another day we drove down I17 to Cordes Jct and cached in the Aqua Fria National Monument. We weren't too impressed with the park but we found several caches (got our 1800th).

Another took us to a "town" Cordes. They have this business that's only open on weekends. The sign out front says population 11.

Back home we met Bob, Bobbie and their friends Don & Dar at Hog Wild Barbeque. It was jammed but delicious.

Our followup went well with our NP and we are sprung to travel. Planned on leaving Wednesday and since we were having T-Storms we opted to stay put. Had some beautiful rainbows.

Notice the red rocks aglow on either side.

Becoming Cottonwood'its

2011-10-15T08:30:00.001-06:00

The weather has been a bit warmer this week. One day we decided to head for the hills. So over to Prescott again. The colors are just coming out.

Of course, caching along the way. Never know what we will find at a cache site.

Found 22 that day. After a cool drink we headed to the movies and the air conditioning. Saw Big Year. Not what we expected but still enjoyed it. Afterwards it was dinner, more caching and heading home.

When we weren't out doing day trips we would stay home and read. Sometimes in the shade outside and sometimes in the A/C inside.

We plan on coming to Cottonwood's Thousand Trails every spring & fall so we are really getting used to the area. One of the things we had to do was get a new medical provider since our nurse practitioner in Yuma upped & closed their office. So we found a new one and had our first appointment. We both really liked her. She gave us both a very thorough exam. Donna is still doing the pain management shots. After the initial shot the pain was 99% gone. The second week it was just an office visit as the insurance required that in between treatments.

We took another long day trip. At the Sr. Cntr. a lady was telling us of some pretty roads. We went over to Camp Verde and headed north on I17. Took the Stoneman Lake exit. A few miles down the road it turned to dirt. (we like them)

Stoneman Lake without water.

We cached along the way, of course. One took us to a history lesson.

Another to an overlook of Mormon Lake.

Bob over there caching while I took pictures.

Mt Humphrey.

In addition to Stoneman & Mormon Lakes,

we saw Mary Lake.

We ended up back in Flagstaff and after dinner (linner) we headed down to Sedona via 89A. Better known as Oak Creek Canyon road. When we approached Sedona the sun was setting and the rocks were aglow.

More time at Verde Valley

2011-10-13T09:38:00.000-06:00

We spent our week out on the National Forest Land. We had beautiful views when it wasn't raining. It was cloudy all week and Bob put up the wind generator. It ran one night all night long. We had to bring the bedroom slide in as the wind was making the slide topper make a lot of noise.

While there we read a lot. Went into the Sr. Cntr. for our cheap dinner's.
One day we took a back road out of Jerome & headed up to Williams. This was some of the pretty red rock we drove thru.

Donna had her appointment with the Pain Management Dr. She has sciatica/bulging discs. She has to have a cortizone injection once a week for three weeks. Got the first one the day before we returned to the Thousand Trails park. We needed propane so we arrived early to get the propane at 11:30. After parking in our new site we went to the clubhouse where on Fridays they have lunch. Delicious chicken quasidilla for $4.

On Saturday we decided to try geocaching on 4 wheel drive roads to test out how comfortable Donna would be doing what we love to do. We were gone about 5-6 hours and she did have a few twinges but the Advil took care of that. We tried a new restaurant, the Hacienda and it is a definite return to one.

We both are getting hitch itch. The weather has modified. A bit cool in the morning (one day we had frost) but it has been sunny.

Another day we took a long drive. When we do long day's Donna's back acts up so we were testing the waters. Drove over a dirt road for over 20 miles, caching along the way, across the mountains thru Cherry to Dewey. There is a couple who own over 850 caches in this huge area from Prescott/Jerome/Cottonwood/Verde Valley. Just had to met them so emailed them our phone number & they called. We met "Jeananjoe" at one of their caches at the Maverick gas station. Then we all headed to Costco for lunch (they work there). After a nice visit we went into Prescott & hooked up with a Win friend. Bob Dwyer. Had a nice visit then it was head home thru Jerome and caching along the way at more Jeananjoe caches. A quick stop at Little Ceasar's for a $5 pizza ended the day.

Okay let's really give Donna's back the ultimate test. A long day & 4 wheeling. Off to Flagstaff via Schnebly Hill

road out of Sedona.

An awesome 4 wheel, scenic drive for 14 miles. Cached along the way but didn't find many.

On up the Interstate to Flag and Sunset Crater Nat. Mon.

A long drive thru the area & thru Indian ruins, back down to Flag and the Olive Garden for dinner. Donna then drove down the Interstate to home. Never needed a pain pill.

Catching up at Verde Valley

2011-09-22T08:32:00.043-06:00

We have been catching up on things we haven't been doing during the summer months. Donna's cleaning the inside and Bob's doing the outside. You know boring things like washing the motorhome, defrosting and cleaning the refrigerator, dusting, vacuuming. All those chores we just have been putting off. Since it gets hot here in the afternoon (yes, it's a dry heat) we have been doing the work in the morning. Then we take off for town and the $3.50 dinner at the Senior Center. After that we do a few errands, caching and head home to sit in the shade and read.

We always have beautiful sunsets.

Got an email from Boomer friend's, Ron & Sharon Mead, who said they were in the park also. We met Ron at breakfast at the clubhouse on our first Saturday. Touched base with them and played Pegs & a couple of times.

We cached so much we got our 1700th while here. Met some traveling single ladies and showed them the WIN information.

Went to the movies one day as it was HOT. Saw Abduction and went to dinner with Ron & Sharon at the El Rincon in Sedona.

Donna gave Sharon lessons on blogging.

Drove to Jerome one day, caching along the way then stopped for a cool one at the Asylum.

Donna's hip has gotten steadily worse all spring & summer. She went to an Orthopedic surgeron in Scottsdale and he took xrays. Said the hip was ok and ordered her an MRI. Discussed options, one of which is pain management. She made an appointment for the following day with a pain mgmt. doctor in Cottonwood. The MRI indicated sciatica and she will have injections into her spine.

We can stay in the Thousand Trails for 2 weeks and then have to leave for one week if we want to return to the same park. On Friday we moved to the national forest land just outside the park. We can come in everyday with just the car and use all the facilities then after the week out we come back in for 2 more weeks. Many people do this all season.

Before we left we discovered our friend Lloyd was at TT. He came up for happy hour and arrived just as it started to storm. We had a nice visit and were amazed at all the rain we had. Usually we get a few drops but this was a down pour for several hours.

Hurrying along.

2011-09-13T07:41:00.003-06:00

Our mail was due at Visilia and we pulled into the Elk's Lodge and went in search of it. The Main PO didn't have it. It had arrived at the PO first listed in the zip code list that Donna used. It would be shipped over from that one. Come back at 4:15. Still wasn't there.

Finally got it first thing the next morning and we headed out to Bakersfield. We needed a couple of thing at Camping World and we also knew we could overnight there. Bob spotted a sale table and we made a major purchase of a new GPS geared for RV's & trucks. It was over $150 off the manufactures price.

The Central Valley of California was HOT so we hurried our trip along with some mostly long days. Our next stop was 282 miles down the interstate. We watched the news before leaving to see if Tehachapi
pass was open. Wild fires had been consuming acres of the dry grassland. It was started by lightening. We did pass through the area and it was close to the highway. We also passed by the encampment where the men are housed in huge tents.

We arrived at the Elk's Lodge, parked and turned on the A/C. It was over 100 degrees but they had 50 amp and we cranked both A/C's. The lodge was having a meatloaf dinner before their meeting so we went up and enjoyed their lodge very much. We will return.

We both remarked how we felt like we were coming "home" when we could SEE the mountains. They weren't covered in trees. That night we had a beautiful sunset and woke to a beautiful sunrise. We crossed the Colorado River into AZ. Never recalled seeing that much water. Heading up & up to Kingman and then Flagstaff it got cooler. We kept going as we were anxious to get off the road and rest.

We pulled into the Verde Valley Thousand Trials 10 days ahead of our schedule on the 16th. It took us 4 tries to find a site we would fit in without blocking the next site. Instead of rows with parallel sites they have shared sites, most are pull thrus and thus at angles \ / and if we stick out too far the next rig wouldn't be able to swing in. Plus they aren't always level. The first one we tried the front end was so high Donna wouldn't be able to manage getting in & out with her hip problem. Of course, all the while we are doing this the neighbors are getting a good laugh. We did end up with a pretty view.

Modesto....

2011-09-10T16:09:00.000-06:00

Our move to the Modesto Elk's lodge occurred a day early as the Thousand Trails didn't like the fact that our trailer tires were 2 feet into the grass. We asked the bartender where a good restaurant was and off we went to downtown Modesto to Gervazoni's. The decor was awesome, unfortunately our pictures didn't turn out. The background music was to our liking and the food was incredible. We started out family style with a huge bowl of clam chowder followed by a caesar salad. Bob ordered spaghetti & sausage while Donna ordered prawns with an Alfredo sauce over spaghetti. We each took home a box for the next day.

We woke to antique cars coming in for a car show the next morning. The boy scouts had a huge breakfast in the lodge which we enjoyed. Eggs, sausage, biscuit & gravy, fresh fruit, coffee & juice for $7. We needed to walk all that off so we went geocaching. What else. We went downtown for a cache that took us across from the historic train station.

One of the most interest caches was near the Elk's. There was a short road that isn't used and has trash like mattresses & sofas dumped along it. Ground zero was on the sidewalk & neither the name or the hint made sense to us. Bob picked up an old headset & Donna was about to carry it off to the dumpster but why bother with all the other trash that was there. That evening after posting we couldn't find it we got an email from the owner of the cache who told us to call him for a hint. We did and the hint was check the headphones. Back we went. Bob opened it and couldn't spot anything but then we noticed the battery on the right looked a bit different. Sure enough...he had removed the innards of the battery & substituted the log.

On Monday we had made arrangements to go see Bob's cousin in San Jose. We didn't want to get involved with rush hour traffic so we went via a road that went thru the mountains between Patterson & San Jose. It was a very windy road andmany changes of terrain as we rose from the dry grasses on the east side to the higher elevations at Mt. Hamilton thru rain forest trees, past observatory's and back down to the dry grasses & smoggy side of the western mountain range. It was 93 miles and took us better than 4 hours with our "Butt Fluff" geocache stops.

Dixie & Jim were delighted to see us and Dixie fed us both lunch & dinner. We caught up on our lives and what we all were doing. Told them about geocaching and Bob took Jim out to find one in the neighborhood. They are hooked. Donna showed Dixie the website & she was awed by how many were just on the San Francisco peninsula. They were already checking on where to buy a GPS.

We left their house around 7 pm after rush hour traffic and got back home in less than 2 hours via the Interstate system.

Chico, Lassen & friends

2011-09-09T11:07:00.000-06:00

Continuing south we headed for Chico to the Elk's Lodge where they had electric at their sites. We were disappointed that it is so poor we couldn't run the air conditioner, refrigerator or hot water without blowing it. Turned on everything but the A/C using propane. We were able to watch TV & have a lot of fans running. Since it was over 95 when we arrived we went into the lodge. Donna took her computer in and used their internet. We stayed for several hours visiting with some other rver's and then the lodges RV club had their monthly meeting with a delicious chicken dinner.

The next day to avoid the almost 100 degree heat we headed up to Lassen Volcanic NP. Of course, we cached along the way for Donna's butt fluffs. At one we found these huge pinecones.

The scenery on the south side of the park is awesome.

Even the wildflowers were gorgious.
There had been a thunder storm the night before and a forest fire had started from the lightening.

And of course little boys must play in the snow.
His attempt for a snowman fell short.

As we were driving through the park we picked up a couple hitchhiking back to where they had left their car to go on a hike. They were limping as they had just hiked 7 miles and it was at least 10 miles to where their car was parked. Long enough to make friends with Jim & his wife from Waldport, OR. They own the Seadog Bakery & Cafe there.

We no sooner got them back but we picked up another hitchhiker. Alice who is traveling around between jobs. Her back is huge as she doesn't have a vehicle.

We didn't get to see Pat & Art as Pat broke (or sprained) her ankle the night we got here and was laid up all day. But we did get to meet some new friends. Jim & Georgia. Shared some tequila with them after we cooled down and some apple cinnamon pull apart for breakfast the next morning.

Lake Shastina

2011-09-05T08:49:00.001-06:00

We are still heading south and arrived in CA. At Weed there is a public lake with free camping. Our WIN group stayed here in June for a week or so. There were only 4 other campsites occupied while we were there. We parked down nearer the lake than them.

Across the lake there was this beautiful house on the hill. It's so large we thought it was a hotel.

And no lights on so they don't even stay there.

We drove to Mt. Shasta and took the 12 mile road to the 8000 ft level.

We spent some time there enjoying the 82 degree temps instead of the 97 down at the bottom. We found geocaches while up there also.

One was under one of these little pine trees

among the pretty flowers.

There are Gold in them thar Hills

2011-09-02T22:58:00.001-06:00

We are at the Moose Lodge in Gold Hill, OR. About 20 minutes south of Grant's Pass. When we pulled in we discovered our friend "Manic" Mike Isham here. We had a great visit with him and compared notes of what we have been doing. Of course, we already knew cause we keep up with each other on facebook.

Our first day here we took the Hell's Gate jet boat ride. We took their longest and wettest ride. Started out a little cool.
Went thru Hell's Gate. The narrowest part.

We stopped for lunch & Donna had to share her ice cream cone.

Our captain took it easy on us until after our lunch. Then it was hit the rapids, do 360's and sudden stops to get us cooled off and wet. There were two boats and we were splashing each other. Lots of rafts, fishing boats & kayaks to dodge.

Our seat mates on the boat were Doug & Tabitha. And they told us about heading back home on a different route. So we took it &

we cached & stopped for appetizers at a balcony Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville. It is a historic town from the 1850's.

Back home we dried out and went to the Lodge for a wet one.

Okay, I know we have been complaining about our cool summer but when it gets into the high 90's it's time to go find some cool. So, we drove the Redwood Highway (Rt 199) all the way to Crescent City, CA, where it was a balmy 63,

then drove along the cool foggy coast up to Gold Bar, OR and drove back home over 9000' mountain passes

and along the Rogue River we jet boated on the day before. Almost 260 miles but we stayed cool all day.

Visiting in Eugene

2011-09-01T15:42:00.002-06:00

August 30. On to Eugene. Just a short hop down I5. There is a huge mall along a river that allows RV parking. We have visited some friends here years ago but had never stayed. Now we can say we have. There is a biking, walking path that runs for 8.5 miles right beside where we are parked and also it's lined with blackberry bushes. Hmmmm. Donna picked some.

We left a message on George Dockstader's phone and an hour later he and Jan arrived for a short visit.

The next day we joined our friends Odel & Laurie for breakfast at Marie Callender's. They are in a city park campground and had to take their rig in for service. They called us & were parked in the parking lot but couldn't determine if we were ip. We hastily got dressed and joined them for a delightful hour of visiting both at the restaurant & at our rig.

We then drove out to the campground on Lost Lake where George camphosts. Along the way we cached and found one at this covered bridge.

Back home Bill Gott came by for a visit. I guess we have our visiting all done now.

So we may as well mosey south. We arrived in the boondock area of the SKP Park at Sutherlin, OR on Thursday. 9/1/11. Bob has never been here & Donna was here when 9/11 happened.

Another Salem?

2011-08-28T08:02:00.000-06:00

As you know from reading the above profile we are from Salem, Ohio. Now we are touring the Salem, Oregon area. We are staying at the Elk's Lodge where they have a campground and since we arrived to 90+ weather we are in a full hook-up 50 amp site.

We toured the capitol area
and saw the gold lumberjack

Bob took a picture of some beautiful flowers to give to me.

We then drove to Silverton where we saw another Frank Lloyd Wright designed home at the Oregon Gardens.  Donna's hip was hurting so we didn't get to tour the gardens. We drove to Silver Falls State Park but the hike was 5 miles to see the 10 falls but we did get to see one off in the distance from a view point.

Monday we met our Ohio friends Gary & Audrey at Oregon City. We took each others pictures at this hoaky thing but didn't take their picture.  Then we listened to Walt  tell about the importance of cedar trees in the lives of the native Indians. How they made tools, houses and even clothing from the trees.

We then jumped on the free trolley  were we toured the town. The driver even lets us get out to take pictures.
The waterfalls flows at a rate equal to Niagara Falls but isn't nearly as pretty.

The town is built on three layers and one of the most unique features is the elevator street.

Of course after the trolley tour we had to go back to it and take a ride down & then back up. Inside this part of the structure are pictures and as you walk by them they change. It was a little disconcerting to look at them as each panel changes 3 times. From the right, middle & left. Old pictures mixed with newer pictures.

Tillamook, OR

2011-08-25T20:10:00.002-06:00

We pulled into Tillamook & stopped at the Cheese Factory.

Went inside & took the tour. All the big blocks of cheese look so yellow....the windows are tinted. Tasted the various cheeses & made some purchases of cheese & ice cream.

We took the car out of the trailer & went down the coast to check on the Thousand Trails campground where we had reservations. It wasn't to our liking so cancelled them and headed back toward Tillamook. We stopped at the Elk's Park campground south of town. Back at the cheese factory we had lunch. ICE CREAM. What else.

Then headed to the campground.

The next morning we headed out to drive the Three Capes Loops.

It was a tad foggy but we hoped it would burn off.

Along the way we geocached & Bob found this little treasure.

The fog still wasn't clearing out so back in Tillamook we toured the Air Museum. Only one of the two huge blimp hangers still exists & it is huge.

Late afternoon it was clearing off so once again we attempted to see Cape Meares

& the lighthouse.

There is also the Octopus Tree. It is over 300 years and they don't know if it took shape naturally or if the Indians trained it when it was little.

The next morning we hiked to Munson Creek State Park where the highest waterfall in the Coast Range is located.

Then we headed inland. We want some warmer weather with less fog. Besides we had already done the southern coast. We arrived in Salem, OR. Found a full hookup site at the Elk's Lodge and turned on the air conditioners as it was over 90. After a great BBQ rib dinner in the lodge we came home, opened the windows and enjoying the WARM breeze.

Seaside, OR

2011-08-24T09:33:00.001-06:00

We are beginning to head south. We went all of 41 miles to a Thousand Trails park for 4 nights. We rested for 2 days as we had been on the go so much at Long Beach.

The afternoon of the second day we ventured into town. Did a little cacheing and went to dinner.
Saw the  Lewis & Clark salt works
and their statue.

Our third day we went to Astoria.
Our first stop was the Maritime Museum.
And the lightship.  A floating lighthouse.

The "Column" was next.

Bob climbed to the top for the views of Astoria.

After lunch it was the waterfront trolley ride.

They told us about the seals  so we had to go see them for ourselves up close. They are so heavy they sunk this dock.

We stopped for dessert.

Then it was south to Cannon Beach where we saw Haystack Rock & the needles surrounding it.

Our real purpose was to watch the sunset at Ecola State Park.
But first the views.

Strong winds  shaped this tree.

And a strong sentiment. "I dropped a tear into the ocean and when it's found, is when I will stop loving you." Donna first saw this the first year after she was widowed & cried. Now it has another meaning for her but she still had tears in her eyes.

Okay...here's the "sunset".

Our last day we toured Fort Clatsop. Where Lewis & Clark stayed the winter before heading back. Another statue of them in the visitor center.
We visited with this intrepretor.

Back at Seaside one more trip out to the Promanade turnaround. They are setting up the tents for the big race. (Mt) Hood to Ocean Relay Race. It's their 21st annual. A huge crowd is expected this weekend so glad we are moving on.

Kites, Cranberries & Sunsets

2011-08-20T18:46:00.000-06:00

We toured the Cranberry Museum

and the fields.

The harvest will be Sept/Nov.

Even the bees are kept happy.

The last day we went to the kite festival it was very windy and cold. Didn't stay long but saw this quilt kite.

Long Beach also has the world's largest frying pan.

And pretty sunsets.

Cape Disappointment

2011-08-18T12:35:00.000-06:00

Took a day trip to Cape Disappointment. Lewis & Clark were here and we saw a movie about it at the Interpretive Center.
Saw Fort Canby.

We also saw two lighthouses. The close up one was on the north side of the Columbia River and is called North Head Lighthouse. Pretty cove nearby.
Another pretty view.

At the Discovery Center we could look out at the Cape Disappointment lighthouse.

We drove on North Jetty Road & saw Waikiki Beach.

Took a wrong turn & turned around where Lewis & Clark had camped.

We continued down to the town of Ilwaco and found a cache there. Continued to the town of Chinook and while we didn't find a place for lunch we did find a couple more caches. Back to Seaview we stopped for lunch and made it back to camp in time for social hour.

On Goldie's Pond

2011-08-14T08:00:00.002-06:00

We moved to Long Beach, Wa to a private home. Parked with the Escapee's Boondocker's who are having a gathering for the Kite Festival. We parked right next to an inlet of the Loomis Lake. Our friend, Joan is clear out on the point. She backed her 5th wheel all the way back there without help, and it's not a straight shot. Shortly after we arrived Doug & Janet came. Already here was Win friend's Freddie & Dwayne.

We had a great social hour or two on Goldie's porch in the afternoon. The next morning we headed out for breakfast, stopped at a museum/gift shop that Nick Russell had recommended. Bob got real friendly with the help.

Donna found. Yuck. Made from poopoo.

We drove down to the beach & picked up a couple of caches along the way.
One was at the Ugly Mermaid.

Monday the festival began and we headed to town.

Walked under the famous sign, thru the vendors & to the beach.

We visited with the Knight family who come to fly kites. They have been coming for about 3 years. Even their sons will compete. Got lots of pictures of the various kites.

Arches.

Tubes.

Lots of animals.
And a string of fish.
Walked on the boardwalk & found a couple of caches even with all the mugglers (non-cachers) around. Then we headed to a vendor for a polish sausage which we split. Back up on the main street we stopped for a double ice cream. Back home we read/slept in our lawn chairs then headed to the fire ring for happy hour. 3 more rigs came in today.

We went with 2 other couples to Laurie's for breakfast. The portions are huge. A buttermilk biscuit is 6 inches square & 3 inches thick. Donna's fruit & yogurt plate had so much fruit on it she can eat for several days. Then off to the beach to watch the kite fights. About a dozen kites were launched and the last one flying wins. They get their lines tangles and try to bring the opponent down. Sometimes they cut the lines by sawing at them & the friction cuts them loose & they crash down or fly away. We then drove to the most northern part of the peninsula. Caching along the way. We met a nice couple & there daughter at their cache. Stopped at the Moose Lodge on the way home where Donna had stayed in '04.
Back home Trish & Carl arrived.

Ocean City, Wa

2011-08-11T09:53:00.003-06:00

We moved to the Thousand Trails Oceana park at Ocean City, WA. We had planned on going just about 50-60 miles but continued on. That darn jello shook again.

Along the way we had a blowout. Same position we had on Friday the 13th in May. A Fish & Wildlife police officer named Ernie stopped by & helped Bob. One of spares had leaked air. What's with these tires.

After settling in we took a walk to the beach for sunset.

This collection of flotsam & jetsam was along side the path going out. At the beach we discovered someone had lots of time on his hands and created this ship. Don't think it will float.

The next morning we loaded up the two tires and drove to Aberdeen where we went to the Les Schwab store. and for a grand total of $4.90 we got a new tire & one repaired. While waiting Donna went to Curves and we geocached the area.

Got our #1500 at this memorial for firefighters who had given their lives in the line of duty. Fitting, as Bob was a volunteer firefighter. We had a delicious dinner in town and cached on the way back home. A long day but we did find 15 caches & saw some pretty scenery.

Out siteseeing & caching. We went as far north as we could and saw these pretty cliffs along a beach.

Around Gray's Harbor south shore to Westport to see WA's highest lighthouse. It sure is short & we don't believe it is even workable as the trees & dunes surrounding it a ship would have a hard time seeing it.

We are always awed by what people see in driftwood & can create these works of art.
See the Eagle.
The whale and babies.
And a guitar.

South of where we are camped is a more of the peninsula. The town of Ocean Shores is there and we were amazed at how large it is. We stopped for an oil & lube. Around the corner was a Curves so Donna worked out.

We drove to the far end and cached our way back.

This statue of a family clamming was suppose to have a cache but we didn't find it. Got to see the statue though.

Out at the jetty was a cache and tons of goats heads that Bob had to pick out of his shoes.
We got an ice cream cone & drove to this spot to eat it.

Ho Rain Forest

2011-08-08T22:19:00.000-06:00

Our last day in Fork's was spent touring the Ho Rain Forest.

It is part of the Olympic National Park & Forest System.
The Ho River run's along side of it.

The first big tree we came to was huge.
Here are the stats for it.

The cones for these huge trees are small.

We took a walk on the Spruce Trail 1 1/4 mile loop.

There are ferns.

Fungus

Mosses.

When a tree dies and falls to the ground mosses and stuff grow on it. Then little trees start growing along it.

When their roots touch the ground and the nurse tree rots they are left in a row.

Here two giants fell side by side.

This one tried to eat Donna.

Cape Flattery

2011-08-07T21:03:00.001-06:00

We headed to the most northwest point on the lower 48. Cape Flattery near Neah Bay. Drove out the road only to discover that it is heavily treed and the hike to the actually spot was 1 mile long round trip. Donna's hip pain just didn't allow it and Bob wasn't all that anxious to go either.

We cached along the way.

Bob liked this lady fish.

Some were at pretty spots along the highway.

We spotted a car with SKP for a license plate and discovered the also are Escapees and were taking a day trip from Chimacum where we just had been parked. They remember seeing our rig. They also are Geocacher's and we got to talking about "the event" in Yuma.

Stopped for a bite to eat then head out to what we were told was the western most spot in the lower 48. There the hike was 3 miles one way. We watched some backpackers just arriving back at their cars. One man's pack had to weigh 100#'s. Donna tried to heft it and couldn't budge it.

There was a pretty lake
and a really big tree Donna had to hug.

And pretty flowers.

Twilight in Forks

2011-08-06T20:50:00.002-06:00

We moved to Forks, Wa to the Elk's Lodge and

deer played on our lawn.

We again have our internet dish up & running.

Along the way we passed by Cresent Lake in the Olympic National Park.

There is an auther who wrote a series of "Twilight" books and the whole town as gone nuts. People come from all over the world to see Fork's, the setting for the books.

We cached here also.

The first evening we went out to La Push to see the giant driftwood

and watch the sunset.

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Views

2011-08-06T12:30:00.002-06:00

We went back over to Whidbey Island for 2 nights. After getting off the ferry we toured South Whidbey.

Cached a little and saw some pretty views.

Went to Double Bluff then drove around the shoreline.

We went back to the Thousand Trails park we stayed at last week. We got a new tent that we can stand up in. Took along an electric cord & heater so we could be warm. (Forgot to take a picture).

We went to La Conner and met Boomer friends Jenny & Dan Sheppard. After dinner we cached a little. We tried out the I-Pad system of cacheing. Liked it.

A nice campfire ended the day.

Up early the next morning to met Ron Sawchenko & Patty Eckhart, WIN friends. Ron has a sailboat & invited us to go crabbing with them. We left the marina & 1 1/2 hours later we anchored off shore of Saddlebag Island. Bob & Ron went out in the inflatable to drop the traps.

Then all four of us went to shore.

Donna & Ron took a walk around part of the island & got great view of Mt. Baker.

The boat in the middle is Ron's.

Back out to the traps Ron hauled in the catch. We are allowed to keep 10 (5 each for the 2 of them). Back into the water went the girl crabs & undersize ones. Bob assisted Ron in killing & cleaning the keepers. Back on shore Ron fired up the kettle and we were quickly chowing down on a feast of fresh crabs.

Back at the marina we had a wonderful happy hour or two or three and more crab before heading back to camp.

The next morning we broke camp & headed home. We stopped for a cache at this beach & there were native american's there with the

longest canoe we have ever seen. 51 feet. Hey, WIN's want a group boat?

Back at the motorhome we quickly unloaded, cleaned up and headed to the clubhouse where our Boomer friends were gathering for a burn your own. We had a great evening visiting.

Olympic National Park

2011-08-02T22:19:00.001-06:00

Ahhhh, Back home to a warm home. Monday was busy. We extended our stay for 6 more nights. Ran out of propane so had to drive around the block at 1 PM to get it filled. 26 gallons. Bob thought we would be able to get our internet dish if we moved down a couple of spaces. That didn't work. Then it was off to the laundry room.

With the chores out of the way it was time to go play again. We took off on a long day trip. Drove to Sequim. Stopped at a Big 5 Sports store & bought a larger tent. This one we can stand up in and have enough room that we can get dressed without laying on the bed to do it. Hmmm, I wonder if we can get a chair in it. Then it was off to Walmart for a refill on Donna's medication.

On we went to Port Angles. The Olympic National Park awaits us. It was a 17 mile drive up, up, up thru a "green tunnel" to the visitor center. It was an awesome view at the top. Dozens of mountains were seen. Some with snow and even glaciers. Beautiful flowers.

And it was so fragrant we thought we were in a perfume shop. The meadows were covered with flowers and they in turn were covered with bees.

In the distance the Strait of Juan de Fuca could be seen & on the other side was Victoria, CN and Vancouver Island. The San Juan Islands could be seen and Puget sound. Mt. Baker was hidden by the haze.

We had a bit to eat & started to geocache on the way home. One took us to the shore & on the way back we went to see where the troll's live.

It was a "point of interest" on our GPS.

Another cache took us to a water garden.

We also saw this eagle catch a mouse.

Back home it was several hours spent at the clubhouse trying to catch up on the blogs. Maybe we shouldn't travel so much……but we are already planning two more nights away from the motorhome.

Southern Cascade

2011-07-31T10:13:00.001-06:00

We stopped for a big breakfast & free WiFi across the street from these wood carvings.

We headed along the south portion of the Cascade loop.

We climbed in elevation crossing Steven's Pass we were on the wet side of the mountains again. It got a little rainy.

We stopped at Deception waterfall. It was raging.

Since it was still cloudy we opted to head back home and not go onto Whidbey Island to see the southern portion.

After unpacking we went to the Chimicum Cafe for dinner. We chatted with the diner's nearby and told them about our lifestyle. Even became Facebook friends.

Cascade Loop/Methow Valley to Leavenworth

2011-07-30T23:03:00.001-06:00

Woke to 43 degree temperature and the inside of the tent was wet from our breathing. We drove into town and sat in the car drinking hot coffee, sharing a fritter & muffin and running the heater to get warm. Back at the state park the sun had dried out the tent & we broke camp.

We drove down the east side of the Cascades along the Methow River. The valley is beautiful with lots of farmland & orchards.

We stopped for a cache at the site of an Earthquake but didn't find anything except this interest point in history.

At the town of Pateros the river joins the Columbia River. We stopped for lunch and a couple of caches.

At Celan it was in the 90's and now we were too hot. Stopped at a thrift store for Donna to get a new outfit. Shorts & a tank top. We drove along this beautiful lake. It is park of the National Park. Very long.

We drove through Leavenworth. It was jammed with people and still hot. We opted to go to the Thousand Trails and tried to rent a cabin or trailer. The park was jammed so we again set up the campsite. Our neighbors camper was interesting. Never saw a two story tent before. We took long hot showers and headed back to Leavenworth.

Bob treated us to a horse & carriage ride to see the town. Found a place to eat some German food. It wasn't like mama used to make. But the ice cream cone was delicious and we sat and listened to music at the gazebo.

Cascade Loop/Skagit Power Boat Trip & Winthrop

2011-07-29T22:32:00.002-06:00

The Skagit River has a series of dams that provide part of the power to Seattle. Saw the Gorge dam first at Newhalem, where there was a cache.

We had a boat ride on a Skagit Power tour boat. After they had fed us a huge buffet lunch.Saw the Diablo dam that has arches & the light's were from Pioneer Square in Seattle so the early tourists would be reminded of where they were from.

The views of the mountains from the water were awesome.

The boat took us past waterfalls and pretty scenes. The water is emerald green from the sediment of the glaciers. At the far end was Ross Dam and we had to turn around.

The bridge at this waterfall is on route 20 and we crossed it later in the day.

A view point showed us Diablo Lake from above.

We later saw Ross Lake.

The mountains got the name of the "Cascade" as there are hundreds of little cascades of water in them.

And lots of mountain scenes.

The mountains got the name of the "Cascade" as there are hundreds of little cascades of water in them.

Pretty flowers too.

On the eastern side of the mountains it is drier. Less trees. More farm land. We made camp at Pearrygin State Park near the town of Winthrop. Watched several deer that night just behind our tent. Met a lovely couple from Vancouver, BC. Cheryl & Dale. We went into town for dinner then walked around. It has a western theme and wooden sidewalks.

Donna even made a friend.

Cascade Loop/Whidbey Island

2011-07-27T20:00:00.002-06:00

We left the motorhome at the SKP park in Chimacum, packed up our gear for 4 nights of tent camping & almost 600 miles of traveling on the scenic Cascade Loop.

Our first day we took the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island.
Landed at near by Fort Casey.

Saw the lighthouse there.

At Oak Harbor we recognized a rig belonging to our Boomer friends Odel & Laurie. She was home & we had a nice visit. Odel was out golfing.

We continued on to Deception Pass State Park.
Saw the bridge from below.

And from above.
The pass.

We continued on to Antacortis
where we drove thru Washington Park

and went down on the beach. Saw some interesting trees.

And the Madrona tree.

We checked into the Thousand Trails campground @ LaConner where our WIN friends, Ron & Patty were parked. They had a tent already set up so we used it. We had a lovely visit. Ron had cooked dinner and we had lots of wine. So much so Bob doesn't recall getting into bed.

We woke up at 6 am the next morning. The family lodge was closed. We were cold so we loaded up the car and headed for COFFEE. Did I mention Bob had a hangover. I was driving and along the way the car kept losing power & stalling. After coffee & breakfast @ McD's we headed to see what was wrong with the car. The first place checked the battery & said it was bad. 2 blocks later we were @ a Napa store & the replaced it free. Phew. We drove around town, seeing sites & caching to be sure that it had been the battery. Decided to skip the ferry to the San Juan's until a later time and headed east on rte. 20. We arrived at the TT in Concrete. Set up the tent. Recharged all our electronic things & Bob took a nap.

Chimacum

2011-07-26T11:21:00.003-06:00

We moved to Chimacum SKP park on Monday. Encountered rain along the way.

We took a drive into Port Townsend in the afternoon. Asked at the American Legion for a good restaurant & was directed to T's.

The view was fantastic while we waited.

There were a lot of seagulls hanging around the restaurants in the area.

T's opened in 15 minutes and we got to talking with 2 couples who have sail boats in the marina nearby. As usual we invited ourselves to share a table with them. Paul, Betsy, Jan & Bruce were delightful to talk to.
The tab was a bit pricy. The most we've paid since Disneyland.

After dinner we drove to Fort Warden. This is where the movie "An Officer & A Gentleman was filmed.
There is a lighthouse here also.

We loved the Victorian houses in town.
And the lighthouse.

We walked around the downtown. After 6 so we weren't tempted to shop as the stores were closed. Except for one place. Nifty-fifties ice cream parlor where we had a delicious chocolate sundae.

Seattle/Tacoma

2011-07-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

We were headed for the Bremerton Elk's & stopped by the Tacoma Elk's & decided to stay here and see Seattle from here before heading north on the Olympic Peninsula. Our first priority was a major pantry refill. Off to Sam's Club $387 and then to Walmart $195. Now we can say our cupboards aren't bare. When we got back Mel Wick a WIN friend was waiting for us & helped us unload the car. After a nice visit with him we all went to his favorite watering hole for dinner. Yum. The special was Lasagna and we enjoyed it.

The next day we headed out to see Seattle. First the Needle. Hard to believe that it's 50 yrs old next year. It cost us a wopping $36 to ride to the top.
While up there we had a chocolate mocha.

We sat with this nice lady, Ann Ritchy and told her our traveling adventure. She wants to do it now.

We then walked down the hill to the waterfront & caught the free bus. Stopped at Pike Market to see the fish being thrown. Didn't get a picture. Back on the bus to Pioneer Square and Bob did the Underground Tour. Donna had already done it on a previous trip so she road the bus back to the Needle, picked up the car and circled around the area to pick up Bob. Did we mention the sun was shining. Got warm enough to even take our light jackets off.

Of course the next day was drizzly so we decided to do museums in Tacoma.
We toured the Glass Museum first.
Watched a guest glass maker & his team.
Saw glass sculptures kids designed.

We walked on the Bridge that has the Chihuly's pieces. on the ceiling of the bridge
and on the side.

On to the Washington State Historical Museum.
Like this tree made out of wooden items.

Then to Gig Harbor where we visited with Mel

& he showed us his bus conversion in progress. This is the view of the new Narrow's Bridge.

The sun came out so we toured the Museum of Flight. A huge museum & it's being added to.

We then went to Brier & visited with Vicky & Terri Webb who helped us move into our motorhome.

Wow, on our way back we saw Mt. Rainier off in the distance so the next day we drove up to the Sunrise Visitor's Center. Lots of snow.
Had to laugh when I saw a lady having a picnic and she is wearing a tank top.

Decided to go see Snoqualmie Falls on our way home.
There was construction on the power part of it which spoiled the view but by editing that out the pics came out pretty good.

Bob worked while I rested our last day. In the evening we took the 5 miles drive thru Fort Defiance Park nearby. Saw a view of the Narrows & bridge.
And the fort from outside.

Chehalis Part II

2011-07-19T08:08:00.001-06:00

We attempted to see Mt. St. Helen's one day. We were cacheing along the way and found this neat jail.

And the 3 rocks.

It started to rain so we headed back down and saw
some wood sculptures.
Bigfoot had been wood until MSH blew. Now it's made of concrete.

Stopped at the Visitor's Center near Castle Rock and while Bob watched the film, Donna cached as she had seen it before.

We had arranged to meet Sherry Geddes & Ted Lehmann at the Red Lobster and we had a wonderful meal & visit.

More gloom....stayed home, read, watched movies, did laundry. Boring. So we went into town for a movie. Saw Larry Crowne. Good flick.

We went to the ice cream social at the clubhouse on Sunday. There was music. Don on the right and his wife on the left were former WIN's and had real low numbers. They haven't been WIN's for a long time.

We stayed over one more day as the weather was predicting a day of sunshine and we could attempt to see Mt. St. Helen's. AND WE DID.

Saw beautiful flowers.

We cached along the way. And found this interesting one.

There was a rope inside the bird house and the cache had to be lowered by a rope/pulley system. You can see it on the far right coming down.

Stopped at a restaurant and invited Ron & Irene to join us at our table

overlooking the river. Found out they too are staying at TT and are very close to our site. They are thinking about becoming Fulltimer's or at least extended timers.

We cached on our way home and found out a little history along the way.

A Spring.

log trough and a slug.

A log cabin that was built by a man who came over the Oregon Trail. He held every position from postmaster to sheriff and his house was WA first Court House.

Back home we had a visitor.

Chehalis

2011-07-12T11:50:00.002-06:00

Parked at the Chehalis Thousand Trails park. We had to disconnect the trailer and leave it at the Adult Lodge parking lot. Took the car & scouted for sites. It is a huge park, mostly under very big trees. We found a couple of spots but one Donna wanted as it was more in the rv section & not the camper section. There is a difference. Anyway before setting up Bob tried to get the internet. Looked doubtful but after a foot or foot and half move we got it. Still amazes him.

After dinner we went down the road to get fuel and along the way stopped at a WIN's house. We had not met Jerry Armstrong before but had a lovely visit.

The next day we took off for Randle. Donna wanted to show Bob Windy Ridge overlooking Mt. St. Helen's crater. Signs in town said it was closed but we tried anyway. We crossed the Cowlitz River.
Passed by a major slide area.
It WAS closed due to snow on July 11th. Washington DC says NO PLOWING. Back in town we got a bite to eat, checked with the forest ranger and got fuel then headed to Mt. Rainier.

It was opened.

Took lots of pictures.

Waterfalls.

Mt. Rainer.

Deep Gorges.
180 feet down to water level.
Tunnels

Lots of snow.

Pretty lakes.

Retreating glaciers.

And lots of flowers.

We drove past this wonderful sculpture park. Did a quick u-turn and strolled through lots of rusty stuff.

his tribute to 911

and drift wood sculptures.
Future works.

Downtown Portland and a visit

2011-07-10T10:36:00.000-06:00

A few blocks away from the Elk's is the Gateway TriMet station. We walked to it, bought our $4.75 all day ticket and hit the mass transit system. It is above ground train into and around the city. We wanted to go to the city center but the information board never told us we were there and we ended up at Washington Park. That was OK because we wanted to go there eventually.

We board city buses (on our same ticket) and it took us to the Rose Garden. And we saw roses.
Lots of them

and all sizes.

Richard had told us about the Forest Discovery Center and we had fun with the interactive displays and learned a lot. Bob even cut a tree down with the simulator. Not easy as the guy before him crashed the machine.

Reboarded the train and went downtown for lunch. Ate at a fancy restaurant.

Why is it the more you pay the less you get?

We strolled around. Saw Pioneer Square.

Walked to the waterfront park along the Willamette River
Saw these fountains along the way.

Then stopped at Ben & Jerry's for ice cream as we were still hungry from the "lite" lunch. This young man was really enjoying his.

Back on the transit train and we were soon home.

The next day we drove toward Mt. Hood to see Audrey & Gary at the Mt. Hood Villages RV park where they are working for the summer.

After a wonderful visit and a big lunch out we headed home along a different road through lots of forest, rivers and parks.

Back in Portland we went to the Grotto that a friend had recommended. There is an upper level with gardens and a view but we were tired and went home.

Portland visit

2011-07-08T10:52:00.000-06:00

The Gateway Elk's was our new home for a few days. WIN friends Doreen & Richard Sturtz were parked here. Curt Pyatt & Celeste Vaughter's also WIN's came by and we had a wonderful social hour. We adjourned to the club for dinner with Curt & Celeste.

The next morning Richard & Doreen picked us up and we drove the Historic Rt 30 that heads east toward Cascade Locks.
Along the way we stopped at a viewpoint,
at the Vista House
and several waterfalls.
Once at Cascade Locks we went to the marina park and had lunch on the patio.

We then crossed the Bridge of the Gods and came back west to Portland on WA 14. Back at the Elk's some people we had met at the Rufus camping area were also here.

It was a lovely day.

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-04T22:28:00.001-06:00

Bob says this is the first time fireworks came to us. The little town of Rufus puts on quite an event, even if it wasn't on the Fourth. Saturday, more & more people arrived. First the rv's then the cars. The area was jammed. The fireworks were shot off just a little ways away from us and the wind was blowing toward us. We were real nervous about embers coming down on our rv. Donna felt something hit her shoulder and some of the embers actually didn't extinguish until they hit the river just off shore from our site.

We had plenty of company while here. Two or 3 families came & parked right behind us. They are kite boarders so we really got up close with the kites. That is our motorhome behind him.

He's launched
There were 17 out on the river at one time in just about 1/2 mile stretch.

Met Doug who teaches kite boarding and told us all about it, even if we don't want to try it. Visited with his parents who travel in a Casita and have a home in Freeport, ME near Bob's son.

Met a nice lady, Connie who parked next to us.

There is a paddleboat that cruises the river for a week clear up to the ID border. Saw it going both ways.

Hood River

2011-07-01T11:22:00.000-06:00

When we went to Mt. Hood we discovered this museum in Hood River but it was 15 minutes before closing. So we went back. Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum.

Aeroplanes.

Cars

and motorcycles.

On our way to the Dalles we took historic Rt 30 and stopped at Rowena Crest Overlook.

Then stopped at the for Donna's Birthday dinner.

We both had the "Triple Chocolate Decadent Dessert" & it WAS.

After dinner we went to the Discovery Center. Tells about life in the gorge from the mammoths to Lewis & Clark's voyage.

And there was a wood carving of a sturgeon.

Mt. Hood

2011-06-29T12:34:00.002-06:00

It was real windy in the gorge. We brought in the slides on the driver's side and did a day trip. Our home & garage can been seen off I84.
Stopped at a rest area to stretch. The island was bigger before the dams & was used as an Indian burial place. Lewis & Clark named it Secular as they saw 13 canoe coffins.

At Hood River we got on Rt 35, the Fruit Loop,
on up to Mt. Hood.

Timberline Lodge was built during the depression in only 15 months. Theodore Roosevelt dedicated it. We decided the only one that was really warm had to have been the blacksmith. The fireplace was tire chains for the screen & railroad rails for the andirons. This was the door handle on the main door.

The snow covered these windows last month.

This doodad protects the picture window from flexing & breaking in the 120 mph winds.

The stoneworkers made this massive fireplace that was 3 stories tall.

6 of these columns were made out of tree trunks by the carpenter's in two weeks and they got paid $25 for each.

Carver's depicted history.

The Oregon Trail.

Wild life

The stairs were from telephone poles that cost they $2 each and the newel posts were birds & animals.

While dining we watched the snowboarders & skiers out the window.

The elevator even had a button for earthquake emergency.

After leaving we went to Government Camp to see what it was like.

On rt. 35 there were these pretty lava flows.

Back at Hood River our GPS's POI told us about these sculptures. at Mikey's Muffler's.

The Gorge

2011-06-25T09:09:00.004-06:00

We parked at Rufus at the COE property. It is really just a gravel/sand bar right on the river but it's free for 14 days.

When we pulled in we were surprised to find a WIN friend parked here. Gail Upton and her granddaughter Jen. Had a lovely social hour or two while watching the kite surfer's perform their acrobatics a few hundred feet away. There were 8 of them.
We also are in awe of the barges & tugs.

The next day was a beautiful relaxing day. Said our goodbye's to Gail, got the chairs out riverside and read. Our friends from our hometown, Audrey & Gary drove over 100 miles one way to come and visit with us. They are work campers near Sandy, WA and wanted to see this area. Our neighbors went fishing and boating and got all these big bass.

Out exploring. We gathered geocaches along the way.
Saw Stonehenge. A memorial to WW1 casualties from Maryhill
with a view of Mt. Hood. There was a cache there.

Went to Maryhill Museum of Art. A mansion that was never used as a home overlooking the gorge.

Donna seeing if the throne fits.

Sculptures in the garden.

Took the WA side west to The Dalles. Saw a sign that said locomotive and we went to investigate. Of course, it helped there was a cache there also. The locomotive was huge. 102' long. weighed 365,600# height 15'3" Made in 1923 retired in 1957.

At the Dalles we went to the Historic Baldwin Saloon for lunch. It was built in 1876. The bar back was awesome but the food was fantastic.

On the way home we cached some more.
Stopped at a state park along the Deschutes River. Just as we approached the bench where the cache was a gentleman sat down. We started to visit as they are camped nearby and we told him & his wife all about cacheing. I know he is "a muggler" but we like to spread the word and I think he is going for it.

We've decided to explore one day & rest the next so that's what we are doing. Life doesn't get better when you have the river and beautiful cliffs around.

La Pine, New Friends and New Sites

2011-06-25T08:08:00.001-06:00

The day we visited Fort Rock, Bob picked up a newspaper for the area and spotted an ad where a lady was asking help to learn how to use her Garmin GPS. We called an arranged for her to met us. Gael & Tom arrived in the morning and Bob helped them. We thought they were wanting to learn to geocache but they have no time to cache but love to hike & wanted to use it for hiking. We visited for awhile. We talked about restaurants in the area and at 4 o'clock they came back for us and we went to Tumalo to the Tumalo Feed Co. for a delicious steak dinner. I guess we all think alike because except for the temperature of the steak we all ordered the same meal.

We toured the High Desert Museum one day. It came highly recommended and it was. We spent 3 hours there looking a exhibits both inside & out. An early mobile home?

A sleepy links.

A more stationary house.

A barbed wire horse would be hard to ride.

A homestead. 160 acres.

A sawmill ordered from Sears.

We drove to Sister's for an early dinner.

There are statues here too.

And beautiful mountains.

Holes, Rocks and Cracks

2011-06-21T22:46:00.000-06:00

We moved 30 miles up the road to the Deshutes Nat. Forest where there is lots of parking in the pine trees at the summit of the hill. It took us awhile to locate the best possible place for a clear shot at the satellite and for sun to reach our solar panels. We then took a run into LaPine 30 miles up the road to check out the Thousand Trails. We visited with Greg & Jan who are staying there. We weren't impressed as it has too many trees and they said there were lots of mosquitos. We stopped and checked out the American Legion & Moose Lodge which are right next door to each other right in LaPine. The people were very friendly at the American Legion and said we were welcome to come there and dry camp free even though they have campsites as does the Moose at $10 a night. We will give them a donation and participate in their meals & social hours.

The afternoon was spent looking at holes. There are two craters nearby. Hole-In-The-Ground was real impressive as there are no trees (very few) inside the crater. We drove about 1/4 around it and decided not to go down into it. We were alone there.

We then went to Big Hole. It was hard to visualize as it is filled with trees but looking in the other direction was impressive. We could see clear back to Christmas Valley on the left and over by the mountain on the right you can just see Table Rock where we had spent the previous night. Couldn't see the crack.

We caught a few geocaches. One was just 436' from the front of our rv. Couldn't find it and made a comment to the owner and he gave us a hint.

The next day we visited Fort Rock. The front side isn't there because of wave action.

Bob liked the lichen. While Donna liked the wildflower's.

We then drove cross country on roads we shouldn't have been on but it was fun. Even saw 5 pronghorn. We were heading to the Crack In The Ground that we had seen a couple of days ago to go hike through it.

We met the McDonald Family (Jeff & Patty and their son's Cole & Chance) who where there to recreate the picture they took 18 years ago when the boys where small.

Bob was the photographer
then they took our picture and we followed them thru the crack.

On the way home we went to the tower on top of Green Mt. What a view. That dark blob in the center is Fort Rock.
The day ended with us moving to the American Legion in La Pine. Another 32 mile day.

Disappearing Lakes & Cracks in the Ground

2011-06-20T07:14:00.001-06:00

We read in Day's End about a kiosk area that had room to park rv's. It was near Silver Lake so decided to go there in order to do a side trip to Christmas Valley to see the Crack in the Ground. The first thing we noticed was NO lake even though our GPS clearly shows it. But there is a Table rock we can see out the other side of the motorhome.

What is the Crack in the Ground you ask? Check the link out. We hiked to it and went down and took our own pictures but didn't go too far even though it is two miles long.

We took pictures of each other at the same time when we arrived.

Hot Springs & Loud Music

2011-06-19T09:32:00.003-06:00

Summer Lake Hot Springs. About an hour out we saw it on the map, called to see if there was room and told they were having the Coyote Music Festival on Friday & Saturday. Most people arrived in tents or little rv's, some slept in their cars. All ages here, hippie, yuppies, and very interesting people to talk to. There were two outside pools that were HOT

and one huge indoor swimming pool that was so-so. Lots of children present.

And VERY LOUD MUSIC. We stayed in the motorhome with the windows shut and could still listen and we were about 400 yards away from the stage.

Donna's hip seemed to be feeling better with the hot soaks. We went geocaching near the little town of Paisley. In the description of the cache it was noted that Paisley is home of the Mosquito Festival. We found some of them. Mosquito's that is.

Saturday there was storms. First started with wind. Summer Lake is a dry lake bed with just a little water off in the distance. The winds kicked up the dust and at one point we couldn't see 50 yards. Then the rain came and settled the dust, then there was a fog, sunshine and even a rainbow. All during that the music was still being played.

Onward & Upward

2011-06-17T15:01:00.001-06:00

Donna was released from physical therapy with a set of exercises to do. A quick phone call to Bob and he had the rig ready to roll by the time she got home. An hour later we were in California. We saw some"more red rocks" and pretty Honey Lake.

We stopped our first night at Old Station. The National Forest campgrounds, while lovely, do not have sites to accommodate rv's of any size but a little class C, pop-up campers or tents. So we found a business that was closed and parked there.

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast @ J & J's Cafe and met the owner who camps in the desert near Bouse in the winter. Their wheat toast was at least 1 1/2" thick and hmmm, hmmm good. We asked if we could remain parked there and drove to see Lassen National Park. Only 10 miles of the road have been open from the winter snows but it still was beautiful. Lassen Peak could be seen from a long way off.

Bob got to check out the "hot rock"

and we decided not to picnic here.

Manzanita Lake was pretty near the north gate.

We moved on to Burney 28 miles up the road and found the empty lot behind the Rite-Aide where the Win's had parked. Took out the car and drove 10 miles to see McArthur-Burney Falls State Park. Donna had been here before and Bob needed to see it. There was a .3 mi trail to the pool at the base and it was a lovely stroll with many picture ops along the way. The most interesting feature is the water that comes out of the cracks. There seems to be much more water flowing into the pool than what flows out. We then drove up to Britton Lake where the water goes.

Bob did a POI (points of interest) on our car GPS and we ended up at these sculptures.

We then decide to geocache on the way home. Picked up 1/2 doz or more but really enjoyed the container for this one.

Left Burney and headed for Alturas for an overnight but kept going, going, going. It was suppose to be 90 miles and we continued for 195 miles. The scenery was beautiful along the way. Here is the Lassen NP range.

Mount Shasta off in the distance.

Goose Lake on the CA/OR border.
Pretty flowers.
and the Abert Rim

We ended up at Summer Lake Hot Springs and there is a Coyote Festival that I will tell you about in the next blog.

Carson City

2011-06-13T19:34:00.001-06:00

We arrived at the Eagles Aerie in Carson City just a few blocks from the state capitol. Janet & Doug came also as our guests as they aren't Eagle members.

Donna had a doctor's appointment on Friday for the bursitis in her left hip. A cortisone injection and physical therapy should help.

This weekend there was a Mountain Man Rendezvous & Civil War Reenactment at the park nearby.

We first walked to the Capitol and toured it.
Met Chris who is a wannabe RVer.

Sunday was a long drive over to Lake Tahoe and the drive around the lake.

We also took the beautiful Mt. Rose drive over the mountain to Reno.

Can just see Reno down in the valley.

We met our friend Paul at the downtown Nugget restaurant. There was a car show and the streets were blocked off.

We strolled along the riverfront and were memorized by the kayaker's flipping around in the river. Paul said the city blocked off the river and cemented the area where the kayaker's are doing their stunts.

After PT for Donna on Monday we drove to Pyramid Lake. It is named for the pyramid island that can be seen on the opposite shore. It is the lake formed by the Truckee River that flows out of Lake Tahoe.

At the end where the river comes in where thousands of swans & white pelicans.

Back in Sparks we stopped at Scheel's, a sports store similar to Cabela's.
Even has a ferris wheel.
Donna wanted this outfit.
Had lunch at the Nugget and saw this solid gold rooster. It's worth over $300,000 and had been in jail twice, confiscated by the US treasury. A trial was held and it was free to be displayed once again.

Grabbed a geocache on the way home.
There was an interesting painted dog rock we passed.