November 8 through 15, 2015

October has flown by with lots of kitchen renovation activity at the Dixons in Los Angeles. There has been demolition of cabinets, counter and floor; repair and tiling of the floor; repair of the walls and ceiling; new electric (Henk crawls under the house a few times - *shudder*) as well as moving of the gas line; cabinet assembly and placement; hauling and cleaning of fridge and freezer; and filling of the dumpster. Meanwhile Deirdre managed life from a camp kitchen and picnic table on the back patio and the children enjoyed having quite a bit less than the usual supervision. So the house seriously needs cleaning and we, the work crew, seriously need a little vacation. So we take off with the RV for a week in Death Valley NP.

Sunday Nov 8^th

We plan our “escape” via route 14 from Acton. Before we even reach Palmdale we decide on a really early lunch at Lupe's across from the Home Depot. We discovered this little place a few weeks ago. It's so tucked in a corner you can hardly find it. We circled the block twice before Opa Henk saw it. They have awesome food, everything home made, cooked and served by the abuelo and the two ladies in the cocina in the back. They cater too – we're wondering if tamales are suitable for Thanksgiving?

The fun starts when we're leaving the HD parking lot and we notice one of the basement doors is open. It turns out the lock is stuck in the closed position with the door in the open position. How? No idea! Good thing Henk has his tools... The lock cover comes off and after a good few tries he can get the pin pushed back. We're glad we stopped for food, otherwise this would have happened on the highway...

We continue north through Mojave to 395 until we're almost at Lone Pine, directly east of Sequoia N.P., behind the Sierra Nevada. Then we turn east on 190 to cross over the Argus mountains and to Furnace Creek campground down below in Death Valley. We checked beforehand in the Good Sam RV Atlas that this route was recommended for trucks and RVs, and yes, it showed the green shading, so we're good. We relax as we go and enjoy the Mohave desert landscape. Because Argus is a mountain range we're not surprised there is a pass involved, but it looks OK on the map – we don't see hairpins. High up, at 4000', we stop at a lookout stop to gaze into the valley ahead. Beautiful. And there we see the road, cheerfully switching back and forth down the ridge Hmmm... wait... there's another mountain range in between... Henk rides the low gears and the exhaust brake down and around the mountain side. There are little signs along the side of the road, one every 1000'. We go from 4000' down to 2000' into Paramint Valley; up to 5000' over the Paramint Range; and then later we'll finally get down into Death Valley. The mountains have a forbidding beauty. The road is plenty steep; on the uphill parts the RV, with the pedal to the metal, barely makes it to 30 MPH.

However, we don't make it to sea level and Furnace Creek. Once we're over the Towne Pass on the east side of the Paramint Range, we see an ominous sign: 17 miles downward at 6 to 8 %. The exhaust brake and the gears don't help enough and the front brakes are smoking about halfway. We stop at a pull-out for 45 minutes to let them cool off and thus miss our window to get to Furnace Creek before dark. So we stop at a tiny campground – tents only! - at Emigrant, a few miles further down. We're conspicuous. We apologize to the neighbors for the burned rubber smell after Henk tucks the 40-footer into a tent spot. This was definitely the wrong route! We feel stupid. But we checked before. We had no way to know:(

Mon Nov 9^th

We get back on the road for more miles of 6% descent after we wait a bit for most tenters to leave, and soon we come to Stovepipe Wells Campground. There is lots of room there for RVs. We decide to stay at this one, because, we can drive to the visitor center at Furnace Creek with the Honda all we want, and, we're still rattled from yesterday. It's quiet here with lots of Big Sky north to south and beautiful faraway mountains east and west. After getting settled we head to the Furnace Creek Vis.Ctr. for information on a little something to do. We notice there is cell phone reception, but only for messages; admire the huge relief map; listen to the ranger talk about the sun; and pick our afternoon activity, a drive to Zabriskie Point and Dante's View. The road swings to the east behind a smaller mountain range, the Black Range or something. First, at Zabriskie, we park and walk up the paved trail to the overlook. Lovely view but windy. A little further up we take a dirt road to Dante's View that rises gently with the terrain behind the Black Mountains, then steeply up the last piece, and end up on a cold and very windy parking lot at the top. We're over 5900' high, more than a mile up, and have a clear view of the Badwater section of Death Valley – the salt flats where the valley floor is at -282' – and of the Paramint Range across. It is AWEsome. And cold.

Tues Nov 10^th

A lady at the visitor center told us about Titus Canyon yesterday, and this is our plan for the morning. It's a one-way dirt road that starts in Nevada, beyond the east boundary of the park. We overshoot to visit the tiny town of Beatty, buy gas, don't find a grocery store, and stop at a parking lot because it turns out we have awesome cell phone reception! After checking email and Facebook ;) we head back to the turn-off for Titus. It starts as a bumpy and boring drive across the high desert, but then we dive into upper Titus Canyon. The road twists and turns and after every turn it's more awesome. The mountain walls are red, green, black, gold; the road is so narrow, so full of holes, and barely chiseled out of the side of the walls... We see (and stop to check) large hail pellets, they are soft-serve but definitely hail shaped, not snowflakes. There were gray clouds over this section this morning. Obviously something fell out of them :)

We pass a few old, and obviously abandoned, mines: first they mined copper, then lead, now it's a ghost town. We have lunch in front of one of them. A bit further down starts the last part of the canyon, a slot canyon, with its steep and high carved walls and narrow floor. We drive through the pebbles at the bottom where the flash floods rage when it rains. Those rain clouds this morning – we're sure it's OK because our dirt road wasn't closed, right? – but yet, we're kind of relieved when we suddenly break out of the canyon onto the sunny and warm valley floor. That was fun in a scary sort of way. Scary in a fun sort of way. Life is full of adventures!

From here we drive north towards Scotty's castle. This is normally a tourist attraction, but it's closed now since that enormous rain storm in mid October. It's in yet another canyon, and yes, it got buried in mud, stones, and debris. It will take months to clean and repair. We are however not on our way to Scotty's; rather, we're looking to add a volcano to our collection: the cindercone Ubehebe and Little Hebe craters. One is 2000 yrs old and the other 500. Hardly dead! There is a rim loop we can take around the both of them, so we crunch uphill through the cinders, an exhausting half mile to the rim of Ubehebe. Here we chicken out of the rim loop, because it is very, very cold and very, very, very windy. We cindersurf back down the half mile and duck into the sun-warmed car. 46 degrees outside, says the display. With the windchill, brrrr.

Wednesday 11/11

Today we plan a lot of short walks. First we head to Badwater, the farthest south, to venture out onto the salt flats. This we do early in the day, because it is where it gets the hottest. It may be chilly at higher elevations, but it's nice and warm down below. After the boardwalk and the first part of the flats where most people stroll on the salt, we go out a little further. Here we walk on damp salt with fuzzy looking mini-salt crystals. The rain from yesterday dissolved some salt and now it's crystallizing right back. Henk takes pictures of larger crystals growing in tiny pools. Amazing.

Beyond Badwater the road is still closed since the same October storm. We turn back north – all our other stops are one after the other, spread out mind you, on our way back to the campground - and head for Golden Canyon. This is another slot canyon which has (you guessed) gold-colored walls. We spot veins of, borax? It's definitely not quartz, the structure is different.

Next we stop at the Furnace Creek VC and have lunch in the shade. There is music going on on the patio, where the ranger talk on lizards was going to be, so instead the ranger comes to us at the picnic tables. Her name is Naomi and she is quite a character. She tells us about the 007 lizards and the Beach Boy lizards – no, not their real names ;) - and mentions Rodney the resident roadrunner as well. She also explains why there is music: apparently there is a group of people (she rolls her eyes and hopes to die before becoming a member of them), calling themselves the 49ers, and the second week of November they get together in Death Valley to commemorate that, back in, yes, 1849, a group of golddiggers, on their way to California, stubbornly took the wrong route even though they were warned against it. Naomi doesn't think such folks, having brought their troubles upon themselves, deserve to be commemorated ;). They didn't even die or starve or anything;). Someone went for help and got back with extra food, so no big deal, says she ;). This, btw, explains the unexpectedly large number of RVs at the Furnace Creek campground. We're glad we're in Stovepipe Wells!

Next stop: the Harmony Borax Works, one of those you must see because of the Death Valley history, but otherwise, ehh. So on to the last place for a short walk: Salt Creek. A mile across the valley floor desert to an opening between two slight rises. Here is a long 'lollipop' board walk through a surprisingly green little mini-valley. The signs explain about pickleweed, that store excess salt in their leaves and simply start a new leaf when the salty one gets too salty; and pupfish, who can live in water four times saltier than the ocean. We hear water trickle under the board walk and see a tiny stream appear and disappear between the plants. It's a magical place... We see a cute little Virginia rail wading in the little creek, and where the boards cross over the water near the salt spring we try to see pupfish. No luck, but instead we see the footprints of a heron in the sand on the creek bottom. No wonder there are no fish to be seen ;)

After dinner we drive back to Beatty because Henk has a D.I. phone meeting. I plan to write and post a blogpost, but as usual I write way too much. Maybe Friday.

Thursday Nov 12

In the morning we hike up Mosaic Canyon, which is right next to our campground. It's another slot canyon, this one with wide mini-valleys between the narrows. It has fantastic, slick, polished breccia walls, with the pebbles and broken chunks in the sandstone cut and polished smooth with the surface of the wall. We enjoy the canyon while we hike through gravel in the lower section, clamber over slickrock, hike through more gravel, then we climb around a rock fall. Two more steep and narrow slickrock events later we wonder why, so we turn back and enjoy the canyon all over again on our way out. There are very few plants here, but the ones we see are tiny and stuck in silly tiny crevices.

In the afternoon we repair back to the visitor center, where Naomi leads a small group of us to the golf course (yes, there is a golf course) to see what birds we might spot. Three in the afternoon, she huffs, they gave me this time on the schedule, but what birds do you see at three in the afternoon? A white pigeon flies over as she speaks, then a small flock of starlings. We hear a northern flicker. Rodney the roadrunner strolls by, showing off his crest, hoping for a handout. At the viewing platform at the golf course pond there are horned larks, coots, a wood duck, pipits, marsh wrens, phoebes, and! a vermilion flycatcher! Super rare! Naomi and one of the birder guys bubble over with happiness. Across the pond we watch a coyote with a mind to have coot for dinner, but they spot him in time. We stay until the afternoon wanes. A cooper's hawk flies down the road when we leave, and he sits patiently in a little tree while we all take his picture.

Friday Nov 13

We're driving home today. There are even more 49ers at the Furnace Creek campground, which makes this a good time for us to leave ;) We take 190 east, then 127 south, so we're not going up and over Towne Pass and not over anything much else either. I of course worry about the brakes – it's Friday the thirteenth, after all...

Before we get to Baker on the I 15 a bicyclist flags us down. He's riding dirt roads to Death Valley (alone! aaak!) and wonders if he can buy any water from us? We fill all his containers, give him an extra gallon and a good long drink from one of our many other gallons, and refuse money. I find out later it's national kindness day. We don't need a special day.

On the 15 we stand still for an hour, no idea why, there is a helicopter in the sky, six police cars on the road, but only one car with its hood up at the side of the road. We had feared the worst but apparently it was not a fatal accident or something. Maybe an armed robber ;)

Tonight we are the only campers on a San Bernardino County park campground in Victorville. Tomorrow we're off with the car to Redlands for D.I., and afterwards north to Palmdale, via 138 which runs on the east side of the San Gabriel mountains. This avoids any kind of mountain driving so I can stop worrying about the brakes;) We'll make an appointment for the RV to have its annual service some time next week. Tomorrow we'll stay over at the Palmdale WalMart for one night, so when we get back to our favorite campground in Acton on Sunday we can take advantage of an extra good deal.

We didn't know anything much about Death Valley other than that it's a desert and it gets hot in the summer. We had no idea - we have seen more natural beauty this Fall than in multiple other years together! Well, yes, of course you're in the desert at Death Valley. Creosote brush, sage and coyotes. Not exciting. But! There were so many things to enjoy it's unbelievable! I'm using that word a lot lately but it's true. And it's November, which means it was not hot either. We need to come back maybe in the Spring or next Fall for more. It will take many visits to see it all... just like Yellowstone and Utah. Enough for years to come.

Life is good.

September 17 through 24, 2015

Sep 17

It’s still raining and only 37 degrees when we get up. Our plan is to stay in Yellowstone as long as weather permits, and we’re starting to wonder. We abandon a tiny walk at around 10 up a small hill across the road, with only 2 pics of the RV at the campground, and spend the rest of the day with the heater on, wrapped in cozy blankies. There is snow on the ridge behind the little hill. We relax and research the Grand Tetons and Bryce Canyon for next week.

Sep 18

Yeay! It’s dry! As the clouds in the distance lift, we can see beautiful snow on the mountain peaks across the valley. It’s melted already behind our little hill. I make lots of snow pics to catch the rising sun just right. The sky is blue again. All the same, we retrieve the foam inserts from the “basement” and put them into the roof vent openings. Because we’re leaving tomorrow we can use up the leftover fresh water so we do a load of laundry. In the afternoon we’re off to give the wolves one more chance. We bring a picnic dinner. We first check out the Tower, great rock formations, Henk makes more snow pictures. On our way to Lamar there is another traffic jam. Bisons again? No, a momma bear with a baby below the road, rangers directing traffic. How do you always know where the wild animals are, asks a bystander. From you, says the ranger, you all stop in the middle of the road ;). Further down we can’t go over Blacktail Plateau, that road is closed now. After another bison jam we pull up at a parking area in Lamar Valley and see two specks on the opposite side – grizzlies, according to the man with the enormous lens. We watch for a while, move to another parking area, eventually get bored and cold and decide to leave the wolves for a future visit. Henk does get a few more lovely snowy mountain shots.

Sep 19 Saturday

Today we start on our way south towards Los Angeles. Our next stop is in the Grand Tetons, not very far, so we enjoy a leisurely breakfast and don’t get our act in gear until 9:30. There’s frost on the car, on the picnic table, and on the RV roof – I know this because I’m up there to get the solar panel down. I always do the roof barefoot, but today I think I’ll keep my socks on. It doesn’t help at all, my toesies get very cold. And wet. ;)

Apparently there’s a bicycle event today, and the bikes on both sides of the road without shoulders makes for tense driving. We try Grand Prismatic Spring again, but passenger cars are using all the RV/bus spots :( . On to the South Entrance and the Tetons. We see a few red fall colors, so far all there was was yellow aspen and barely yellow willows. We get to Colter bay campground by 1:30, we’re so lucky again, there are only two spots left. Except it’s for only one night instead of two, because they’re closing tomorrow morning for the winter. We grab a quick lunch and go off on their loop road right away to compress two visiting days into one.

We see the snow-covered Teton range already but it gets better and better as we drive on. Henk makes awesome pictures. A ranger at the south entrance gives us a nice souvenir map. It’s not a long loop so we can actually finish it comfortable before dinner at the Colter Bay Lodge. We don’t unpack the RV at all because we’re off again in the morning.

Sep 20 Sunday

It is freezing this morning – not freezing cold, but frost on the car and the picnic table. It’s lovely and crisp, and it warms up nicely by 9. We dump old and pump fresh water, then we leave Colter Bay. The first stop for pictures is almost right away, at Oxbow Bend, from where you can see the morning sun on the mountains reflected in the water. There are also Canada geese reflected in the water, swimming as well as tails up. We’ve never seen dabbling geese before.

Along route 26/89 towards Jackson Hole we notice long stretches of low, flimsy fences. Maybe still there from the past – and the bison on the ranches don’t seem to consider it necessary to stop at them ;) Henk takes a few more photos of breathtaking mountain views at Teton Point Turnout and then we squeeze the bus through Jackson. Here we choose between a few routes to Utah; whichever route we take, we have to follow the valleys between the mountains. I think I know which one Henk means, pick the wrong one, but no difference. It's a great drive. We follow route 26 south – southwest around the Grand Tetons, then northwest-west, between the Snake River Range and the Caribou Range. We feel lucky that it rained so much the last few days, because there wouldn't have been snow on the Grand Tetons otherwise :) When we crossed Wyoming before on route 80 we saw only a few mountains, and this doesn't the state any justice; the northwest part is gorgeous.

On route 26 we cross into Idaho near Alpine Junction. We notice right away on the roadside warning signs that what is “wildlife” to be watched for in Wyoming, is “game” in Idaho. Slighty different outlook... Not that we see any, we're back to cows in the river plains. After lunch at a pretty overlook we reach I 15 in Idaho Falls – the first highway since Rawlins, WY. It's not as enjoyable but it does go much faster. In Utah we pass a full hundred miles of billboards from Ogden to south of Salt Lake City. We find the WalMart in Payson by dinner time, get groceries, make dinner, and relax.

Sep 21

Today is a short ride. We drive through sagebrush country with yellow blooming rabbit brush along the road, a bit further south also junipers. No tumbleweed or cacti yet. Late morning we leave rte 25 again and hop onto state route 20 W ? 89 S, over a minor pass north of Markagunt Plateau. It's more mountainous, steep, and more decidious trees. We don't recognize them. When we get to route 12 we see the red rocks, go through a few red rock tunnels, and reach Bryce by 12:30. One of the only campsites left is severely precarious and we suffer a few heart attacks parking the RV enough off the path, close to the stone wall. After giving our blood pressure some time to come back down we go for a short hike down the Navajo Trail, 1 mile down and 1 mile up. This is a steep zigzag down between the hoodoos, around the buttress, and another steep zigzag back up a little further between other hoodoos. Awesome. Bryce is one of the most amazing places we have ever been to.

At the campground we meet our New Zealand neighbors, lament the absence of wine in this Mormon country, and Henk shares one of his last bottles with them after dinner. One of the best things about camping is meeting folks from all over!

Sep 22 Tuesday

There's a significant hike we want to do, so we should get started early; but it's real chilly, and this always makes me walk quite fast. That is no good on a significant hike, so we change plans and go on a car ride instead to Kodachrome State Park and/or a fairy waterfall miles down route 12. First we stop at the BLM visitor center. We didn't know this, but apparently the BLM administers the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The lady at the desk tells us about Willis Creek, a little stream that winds through five slot canyons, each next one deeper (taller?) than the one before. If those dark clouds over there rain uphill from you, she says, over Bryce Canyon, she says, you have no more than 40 minutes to get out of the slot canyons. You should have enough time, just keep an eye on the clouds, she says. Oh, and you need a vehicle that's high on its wheels to get to the trailhead. We do, it's not raining now, it's sunny and pleasant; so obviously we take off for Willis Creek. Find the dirt side road, check; 6 miles up and down and through other creeks that run across the red dirt, check; trailhead, check; and we're on one of the best hikes ever. We step or hop over or through the creek for almost 3 miles. I take to carrying a flat stone to help me ford the next wider bit of creek with my feet still dry. At numerous places we can touch both walls at the same time. The pebbles in the creek are every color of the rainbow, every color of the cliffs in the area: purple, dark red, pink, orangey red, orange speckled with red, yellow, white, green, blue, grey. I fill my pockets with little stones in every hue – and find out days later that of course you're not allowed to remove anything from the N.M.... oops... The slot canyon sections get deeper and deeper. The walls are mostly blackened with time, except where recently (geologically speaking) a giant chunk fell out. The chunk lies in the middle of the creek. The walls have those scalloped waves in them from eons of pebble-loaded water churning through the creek. We look up to see if it rains over Bryce – we don't want to be churned ourselves – and realize, no way can we see, we can only see a narrow piece of sky directly above. Geez. Good thing the sun is shining, that gives confidence. Eventually we turn back, hop and step and both get our feet wet, have lunch on a flat rock in a wider piece, and get back to the car with the sun still bright. It's not that far into the afternoon so we swing by Kodachrome. It's OK. If we had gone to see it first we would have thought it was neat with it's weird sandstone columns.

Sep 23

The nights are pleasantly chilly here and we sleep well. It's our last day of vacation: tomorrow we drive to L.A. a see Deirdre, Jeff and the kids on Friday :) We eat a hearty breakfast and around 9 we start the hike we wanted to do yesterday: the Fairy Loop trail, a loop along the canyon rim, down to the bottom, up and down and around hoodoos and slickrock, past the Tower Bridge formation, and back up to the rim. We bring enough granola bars and dried mango but not enough water (never enough water), make many, many stops for pictures and to catch our breath. There are ridges, washes, and crumbling hillsides, beautiful reds and a deep blue sky. Awesome awesome awesome. 6 hours, 9 miles, declares the fitbit proudly, 139 stairs, 22k steps. We did good. We drink lots of water, shower, eat an early dinner, and then pack up for tomorrow. We want to leave super early, so we do whatever we can do to avoid diesel engine noise for the neighbors and even put the slides back in already, so all we have to do in the morning is eat breakfast and drive away. Henk left the wheels in the exact position that they were when he backed into the precarious spot so it's going to be much easier out than in ;)

Sep 24 Thursday

We're quietly sneaking out of the campground at 6:30. From Bryce to Kanab, route 12, 89 (we pass Angel Canyon and send our love to the animals in the sanctuary), then southwest to west , 389, 59, 9, through a corner of Arizona to get back to route 15, all this to avoid the minor but steep passes over the Markagunt ridge. The road takes us through the beautiful vermillion, white, pink, green-grey, black cliffs that shimmer in the morning sun. It's just like the mesas in New Mexico, the road is mostly flat and then there's a 6% drop through a cliff/mesa area, followed again by a flat stretch. There's even an 8% down near Hurricane. Yikes.

After were back on rte 15 we can tell we're in a different desert: yucca trees, creosote bushes, opuntias, no more rabbit brush and sage bush. Arizona and Nevada show their ruggedly beautiful cliffs with their ancient curved rock layers. Then we're in California where there are no rest stops. They say there are rest stops, but when you get there, they're closed and blocked off. Be aware. Nothing between Vegas and Barstow. We were hankering for lunch, so I eventually balanced my way through the bumpy bus to the fridge to make sandwiches, the bus lurched just when I opened it, a glass jar jumped out and broke. :( At least Henk spotted one of the three missing state number plates: Alabama! Now we only need Maryland and North Dakota to complete the set.

The Fall 2015 trip finished in Acton after we left I 15 in Victorville for rte 18, detoured away from and back to 18, 138, northward on the east side of the San G mountains to Palmdale, then west on 14 to the same campground as last winter. It's not looking improved much, minimally maintained, but we find a working 50W electric box so we're plenty happy.

september 10 through 16, 2015

(Photos will be added later)

Sep 10, 2015

Our first day in Yellowstone NP (YSNP). We drive the Honda in at the East entrance, 52 miles west from Cody, then another 27 miles to the nearest visitor center in Fishing Bridge. The main road through the park looks like a figure 8 and the East entrance has you come in halfway the lower circle, on the right side, if you know what I mean. From there we explore counter clockwise towards Canyon Village and pretty soon we get our first whiff of geothermal activity: sulphur! We stop at our first of many little parking areas at the side of the road and check out the Mud Volcano area – a roaring hot spring cave and a good few bubbling mud soups, small and large. Next we head further north (bison jam delay at Hayden Valley), west to Norris (tree cutting delays), and north again at the west side of the figure 8 to Mammoth Hot Springs (road and bridge construction delay). Your average speed goes way down here…

We wanted to check out the Norris campground, but somehow miss it in the construction zone. No matter, we check out the Mammoth Hot Springs campground instead after we pick up a few good maps at the nearest visitor center. The volunteers tell us that on the weekend there will be people leaving, and if we’re early, we should be able to get a spot. It will be much more affordable than some of the outside campgrounds we checked – as much as $67 per night! Not likely! The YSNP campgrounds are $20 or less, and with our senior NP pass we don’t only get in the park for free, but the camping fee is halved as well. They have plenty of roomy RV sites.

We don’t fancy passing the road repairs Saturday morning in the big machine. Via the north entrance is an extra 150 miles or so. Going the figure 8 top half counter clockwise is the Dunraven Pass. Hmm. We decide to try the northeast entrance as our route back to Cody to check it out. On the way we see bison, pronghorn, mule deer - all with babies! - , trumpeter swans, unusual ducks. The ducks could be cinnamon teal. The swans are a surprise; they are huge and beautiful, five of them, the most periled birds on the continent, and it turns out YSNP is one of the very few places they still live and breed. We didn’t know any of this but it says so on the information board at the parking spot ;) We only stopped because we’re catching on to the wildlife viewing method of choice: one stopped or parked car, look around; two or more cars, park alongside and ask what they’re seeing. Especially if one of them is a little old-fashioned tour bus ;).

We go see the upper and the lower falls in the Yellowstone River while we pass them – breathtaking beauty all around us, a deep canyon, awesome falls, the bluest sky you can imagine. We have lunch alongside the river further down and see grey jays. They see us too and come see if we’re sharing. We’re not.

When we have left the park we realize we’re in Montana. For a few miles at least. This route, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, is unbelievably awesome; there is a magnificent mountain range to our right, the south side of the valley/canyon we’re driving through. Aaand it turns out we have to cross over it! This goes via a pass full of switchbacks and long steep climbs. Henk frowns. If we take this route Saturday morning we’ll have to drive it in reverse. Not a good plan. It’s the Dead Indian Pass, over 10,000’. Almost equally impressive on the other side. Then the last umpteen miles to Cody are easy. At night we pour over the map to see what the better route is. Henk decides on Dunraven Pass, in the park. At least it’s fewer miles, and we want to be at the campground by, what, 8 AM? 8:30? To be among the few that will get in? So we’ll have to leave plenty early as it is…

Sep 11

First order of the day is, back to the grocery store to fill the fridge and the freezer; there are no normal grocery stores in the park, only convenience stores. Henk fills the clean water tank and empties the grey and black tanks. Today we move as close to the east entrance of YSNP as we can, which is a Shoshone National Forest campground called Eagle Creek. They charge $15 (we get half off) (*grin*) and it is the most peaceful place ever. We’re there by lunchtime. The park host advises a site along the Shoshone river with just the right amount of shade. A bald eagle flies over and a hawk perches on a treetop nearby, the river gurgles, I make sun tea in a canning jar, we relax, and neighbor Jim comes over for a chat. There are lots of animals here, he says. Bears, bison, elk, deer – there are plenty of rose hips for the bears on the campground. We don’t see any. After dinner we make sure we’re ready to leave reaaally early. Henk tosses and turns all night. He’s dreaming of crossing the Dunraven Pass.

Sep. 12

We get to Mammoth Hot Springs at 8:45, plenty in time to get a spot on the campground. For this we get up at 5:30, are on the road at 5:50, cross two passes – one minor one besides the Dunraven – before dawn - 3 hours of mountain roads, passes, and bison jams… We take it easy in the morning and after lunch we check out “downtown”. We drive and hike around the hot springs terraces. People are not allowed off the boardwalks, but there are elk tracks in the dust and there’s a snake slithering up the side between the shrubs. We’re puzzled there aren’t more animal casualties – maybe they’re not as stupid as humans…

After this afternoon’s entertainment we check out guided tours at the hotel (only a few left and all booked out) and wolf-related events from the Yellowstone Institute ($hundreds! Are they kidding?). We don’t care, we can drive to where we want to go and stop where the little yellow bus stops. We admire the herd of wild elk that is enjoying the green grass next to the visitor center and head back, and also admire the kestrel in the little tree next to the RV.

Sep 13

Since we’re here for the week we can take it easy on the sightseeing. So after church in Gardner we cruise to Bozeman, MT. There is a small grizzly sanctuary there with 5 rescue bears. We see Bella, the 20 month old. I can understand people aren’t weary enough of bears, she really looks harmless and adorable. The employees give talks about safety and answer everybody’s questions. Next we go into Bozeman and have lunch on the terrace of the Garage Diner where the menus are glued between two number plates. Great place with awesome food! If you’re ever in Bozeman, they’re highly recommended. Then a stop at Walmart for bear spray and a few other necessities, and back to the sanctuary where they have Jack and Maggie in the outdoor play area. We enjoy watching them for a bit, then it’s time for their nap and Brutus comes out. In between bears the employees hide treats such as peanut butter and grapes. The local raven and magpie swoop down, but Brutus doesn’t mind sharing. He is huge, but raised in a home since he was a newborn, so he is really gentle. Or so they say.

When we get back to the campground the elk herd is coming through, and we visit with camp neighbors from Pasadena for cheese and wine. I bring my tea ;).

Sep 14

We were going to take Fr., eh, Andrew?, the visiting priest from Pakistan, to see Old Faithful, but he got distracted by somebody else, so maybe Wednesday. Instead we drive the Blacktail Deer Plateau one-way dirt road. No surprise that we see a mule deer family, and also 4 grouse. Grouses. We got a few good pictures and I can now tell you, bird book in hand, they were spruce grouse. Next we hike with the masses to the viewpoint for Wraith Falls, and without the masses we hike down to the river at the bottom of the canyon. There’s that certain smell around that tells you there’s a geothermal something nearby. All we can find is a pool of nasty green alongside the river a little ways upstream. Maybe a hot spring full of minerals. And sulphur.

We lunch at a picnic point (mule deer), drive into Slough Creek Valley (pronghorn, bison, a hawk) and watch the bison herd for a while. There is wallowing in the dirt going on, and the three big bulls are harrumphing around, posing for the girls, scaring the calves, and trying to impress each other. On the way back there is an especially large traffic jam, we stop, ask, and watch a mommy black bear sleep with her two cubs on a flat rock in the warm sun, a hundred yards or so up from the road. When we get back to Mammoth Hot Springs, “our” elk are lazing about the visitor center again.

Sep 15 Tuesday

We want to try and see the wolves in the Lamar Valley. It’s raining all night and pitch dark when we get up at 5:15. We forget the folding chairs and the bear spray when we leave at 6, but at least we remember our coffee ;) We only see an osprey. And bison. Herds of them. The people from the little yellow bus go for a short hike and we follow (in bear country, don’t hike with less than 3) (especially if you forget your brandnew canister of bear spray). When they pile back in and leave, we follow. When they stop at another parking, we pull in as well. It’s a potty break. Oh well, might as well… in between downpours…

The little yellow bus drives on and we follow after our own potty breaks; we see them a little further. We stop and ask, what? Mountain goats up against the cliff, two there, and two there. They are tiny specks of pure white, but even so, with the binocs I can just see their furry pantaloons. When we finally leave the little bus to its own devices and drive back past Blacktail Deer Plateau, there are two ?goats? up against the steep hillside, a mommy and a lamb. They’re not very big, soaked and look skinny. The momma has one broken horn and wears a collar. We saw a bison momma with a collar before, and we guess this is how the rangers/scientists/whoever track the herds.

Sep 16 Wednesday

It is raining icy cold rain and blowing icy cold wind this morning. We head for Gardner early to catch early Mass as well as Fr. Edward. We have breakfast first next to the Westin, and when Henk tries to pay the girl says, it’s free, on me, I have a coupon, don’t worry. We think she may be the deacon’s daughter and he may have put her up to it ;) Then we start the loop drive through YSNP to show Fr. Edward what we have already seen, plus a few extra things. Such as Old Faithful! On the way there we try to see a few springs – Grand Prismatic Spring for example – but it is only just above freezing, there is too much fog, it is too cold, too rainy. We share our umbrellas and fuzzy sweaters with Father. The only thing we really see well are the bison and elk that are crossing the road.

At the Old Faithful visitor center the video is just starting, and afterwards it is dry just long enough for us to see this magnificent geyser erupt, a really high one, the ranger is impressed. The rain, probably, he says. Next we mosey over to the lodge and have a delicious lunch. Continuing the loop we pass Fishing Bridge and stop at Mud Volcano. We’re lucky and it’s dry again for a few minutes, so we see the roaring dragon mouth hot spring and some bubbling mud pots. It makes me long for hot soup... The Loop Road goes through Hayden Valley here, where there is always some wildlife to be seen. Right now there is a grizzly bear digging up roots and/or rodents up on the left. Father is just as excited as we are. His camera’s battery is low though, so Henk promises him a copy of his photos. We see the swans (pics from the car window), Lower Falls, and a few deer. Over Dunraven Pass next, and lo, the road is open! Henk bravely starts up the steep and twisty road under the grey rainy clouds. It actually snows on the pass, it’s 32 degrees, but once we’re over the top: sun, clear skies, and a fantastic rainbow coming out of what looks like the “Grand Canyon” of the Yellowstone River. We have some lovely views before the rain closes in again near Mammoth Hot Springs. Henk drops me off so I can run the generator, and brings Father Edward back to Gardner. Once the generator runs well I wrap up and hike from the campground to the visitor center above, avoid the large papa elk, and go ask the rangers about those animals yesterday, with the collar and the broken horn. It turns out to be big horn sheep. Wow. We never thought we’d see those… the cold weather must be bringing them out of the mountain heights. Now we only still want to see the wolves…

Sep. 5 through 9, 2015

Before Sep. 5, 2015

This new travel story is going to be posted, probably, weeks after it happens. There was a problem with my computer back in August. Henk thinks I should get me a new one, and maybe I should, but we’re retired now and try to spread out buying big ticket items. So Henk cleans everything off and reinstalls. Keeps running into snags, and it takes more than a week L . Of course a lot of programs are missing now – for example, my favorite solitaire collection, but more urgently, Word and Excel are gone. We have the CD for them, says Henk, but we can’t find it anywhere. His naturalization papers are missing too, and we need those for him to apply for Social Security. They must be in the RV then, we think (whenever we can’t find something, that’s our fall-back position, and when we’re in the RV, we say, must be at home). And we’re leaving early this Fall for the West Coast because we want to visit Yellowstone N.P. So I wait a bit with the blog.

Sep. 5

On the road we have only the MiFi and it uses our limited data plan, so what I like to do is write my blogposts as word documents and then copy and paste them in, instead of having the blog open for the entire writing effort. So, until we get to the RV in Wyoming I make notes. It’s actually Sep. 14 today, and no, I’m not finally typing this on my computer, but on Henk’s. We can’t find the Office CD (or the naturalization papers) in the RV either… I don’t know if I can post to the blog from it – that would require me remembering the password ;)

We leave, on September 5^th, with the Honda on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. The car is packed, breakfast and lunch are in the fridge together with two days worth of ice coffee/decaf, we showered the night before, so all we have to do is get up, get dressed and go. Henk quickly connects trickle chargers to the cars that stay home and I wrap the frozen stuff and the pickle collection in layers and layers of insulation. Up at 5:30, and we’re on the road at 5:50. We take the route over Keene and through Vermont to Albany, NY: routes 103, 114, 9,279, and 7. Once we’re in New York we get to route 90 via 87. Gas prices haven’t been this cheap since 2004, and we grin every time we fuel up.

New Hampshire and Vermont are misty and mysterious, and it doesn’t really change to farm fields until we’re on US route 90. Nature isn’t showing Fall colors yet, and we see only crows, vultures, starlings, two ducks and 2 cormorants - so we amuse ourselves with number plate games as we cruise through upper PA, OH and IN into IL. When we check into a motel in Mokena/Chicago we have seen 26 different US plates plus 1 Canadian one. The first 950 miles are behind us. That isn’t so bad on the first day, we switch drivers every 2.5 hours, and we’re not stiff yet ;). It’s not even 9 PM, and we roll into bed soon after.

Sep. 6

We’re up and at’m at 6, on the road at 6:53 with a pint of tasty homebrewed ice coffee each. Route 90 all day. IL to IA to Gothenburg, NB by 5:45. We have time for a little walk before dinner. There are a lot of old farm machines around the restaurant parking lots. We find them super interesting, being born and raised city kids ;). And no surprise after a day of only highways.

Other interesting moments of the day were when we headed for the highway and drove through a flock of starlings that all turned at the same time like starlings do; and when we stupidly thought we could stop at a quilt store on the Iowa border (no, not on Labor Day Sunday before 10 A.M., silly). 40 state plates plus 2 Canadian. Goldenrods, sundrops, sunflowers, corn, tall grass prairie before the Mississippi and shorter grass after – this only in isolated pockets and the highway margins. 700 miles.

Sep. 7, Labor Day

Today we’re only going to Denver, Littleton to be exact; only 300+ miles, to visit with the Swansons – friends from Destination Imagination. We want to be there around noon. Up at 7, on the road at 7:37. I write these things down because I’m anal, not because this is useful information or anything ;). It rains a little but not enough. We leave route 90, dive into Colorado on 76, and immediately notice that the noxious monoculture of Nebraska changes to overgrazed and fenced high prairie. Then rte 25, corn, sugar beets. No new state plates today.

We arrive at the Swansons at 12:10 – we were in their street at 11:58 but couldn’t find the house number. We forgot to look for a house with a stone sculpture in front… *shaking my head, we KNOW Frank makes stone art*. We have an awesome visit, even got to tour Frank’s workshop and see the works in progress. Then we go out for dinner and eat food we never ate before: me, quails, and Henk, elk steak.

Sep. 8

We leave at 7:45 for Rawlins, WY, today’s end point and 380 miles. The morning is beautiful with hot air balloons west of rte 25, the Rockies as their backdrop. We see a lone bison just before the Wyoming border, probably from a ranch. Once we are on rte 80 we see our first really long train of the trip – 4 locs, 104 cars, plus 2 more locs in the back.

Rawlins is where the RV spent the summer. We left it there in April, on an unused site, and no, they didn’t need a key, what for? But halfway the summer they called, we Fedexed them a key, they put the RV behind a fence and expanded the campground. Obviously we’re curious about what we will find. We get to Rawlins around noon, and first have a bite to eat, then pull in at 12:30. Btw, still no new number plates.

More important though: setting the RV free! And she starts on the first try. Good girl! With a mere, oh, 5 or 6 times tacking back and forth Henk works her out from behind another two RV’s and out of the gate.  We get a fine spot and a free night. We spend a lovely afternoon unloading the car, settling ourselves in, getting groceries, and cooking ourselves dinner. Sir Duck, Elvis and the Pink Baron – our dashboard pals – move to the RV dash together with our pet plants. Henk checks campgrounds on the internet for tomorrow and I call a few. We settle on Cody, WY, about 50 miles east of the east entrance to Yellowstone NP.

Sep. 9

Today is Wednesday. I’m starting to forget what day of the week it is… We’re off to a leisurely start at 9:20 – well, that would have been earlier, but the awnings on the slide-outs didn’t close properly. Henk notices there’s bits of grass sticking out here and there, so I climb on top with the long pokey thing with the hook that’s for pulling down the small sun shades, lay on my belly, and pull out the bird’s nests… Henk gets the rest from the very top of the ladder. Eek. I hold on to the ladder with absolutely no hope I will be able to do anything helpful if it topples.

Today no highway at all – yeay! WY state route 287, 135, 789, and 120. We pass very large ranches and very small settlements until Riverton, where there’s a Social Security office. Oh, oops, only open on Monday and Friday. Hmm. We enjoy our lunch out front. Then off to Cody, the birthplace of Buffalo Bill. There are many pronghorns today, plus a few mule deer, cows and horses, swallows, bluebirds, sparrows and ravens, magpies, and a grouse. Can’t tell which kind – when I look in the bird book there turn out to be quite a few.

4/11-4/13

4/11 – 4/13

I tried to add photos to the blog post Saturday, but the hotel wi-fi wasn’t thrilled. I’ll try again with this post, we’re home now and have our own good connection.

Saturday 4/12, day 14, we spend the day enjoying the sunshine in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. We stayed on rte 80 almost the whole way, only just west of Chicago we changed to rte 55 northeast and local route 83 north. This got us to Mt. Prospect, northwest of the city, where we spent the night. It was a day of rivers – first the Platte, a wide and shallow river that waters arid Nebraska, and as we drove east it brought more and more trees into the landscape. Over the Missouri and into Iowa it was yet a  little less dry, and once we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois we were seeing what we think of as “normal” amounts of trees, streams, basins and farm ponds. Quite a difference with Los Angeles!

We were not long on the road, going east from Kearney, NE, when I noticed a flock of, were those geese? Overhead, flying in V-formation to the north. Larger wings, bodies more slender, graceful, light grey looking, but their necks stretched out, so not herons either? The bird book suggested sandhill cranes, and it IS migration time… Over the next few miles we saw enough others in the brown corn fields and in the air to be sure that’s what we had. It made our day. Sunday started equally well, soon after leaving the hotel in Chicago, with two sightings of wild mute swans.

Food is always a bit of a challenge when we’re driving long stretches in the car. In the RV we can make our own meals; we can decide to stop somewhere for food, but we don’t have to. In the car we of course have to rely on what’s available along the highway… So there have been McDonalds salads and burgers and there’s been instant hotel breakfast buffet. Eeh. Saturday night though, a quarter mile walk from the hotel, we enjoyed barbecue in a little local diner, and Sunday, at two typical toll highway service stops in Ohio where we stopped to change drivers, we had Starbucks coffee at the first stop, and an awesome - and huge - chef salad at the second one.

Sunday morning we hopped from Mt. Prospect right onto rte 90 and followed it through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and New York to Albany a day and a half later, with only a detour around and through Cleveland, OH ( 80, 480, and 71 back to 90). It has tolls over and over and we’re curious how much that will add up to – it takes our EZ Pass so we don’t really know the cost…

We saw Lake Michigan only very briefly on Sunday in Cleveland, too brief to tell, but Lake Erie was in view a little longer later on, and it was still full of ice. We drove parallel to Lake Ontario, but too far away to see it. The roadsides and fields are not really greening up yet. The day was uneventful and we pulled in at the motel in Seneca Falls around dinner time. We asked the counter girl for a good place to eat and she directed us to a bar, but “a gentlemen’s bar, it’s nice”. It was still a little noisy. But the food was great. And not instant. Yeay for local eateries!

Monday 4/13, day 16. The last day of our trip! And only a little more than half a day. Just before Albany, NY we finally left route 90, and via a little piece of 87 – the same 87 we drive when we go around New York City – we ended up on route 7. Here we left the interstate highway system. It’s swift and straight, but not as much fun as the smaller roads.  Route 7 brought us to the Vermont border, renamed itself route 9, and dove head-first into the Green Mountains. It was not cold, in the 60’s, but there were still plenty of snow blobs under the pine trees and ice blobs on the steep stone “walls” where the road is cut into the granite mountain. Like half-melted giant icicles, ready to crash down at the side of the road. The pre-spring Green Mountains were still white, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees while we climbed the ridge’s spine. It warmed back up on the other side and in no time we were in New Hampshire. We felt at home right away, because rte 9 takes you over Keene to Hillsboro to Henniker, a section we are so familiar with from visiting Niamh when she went to college, and more recently from  kayaking ventures and a visit to the Rhododendron State Park last July.

We had a bet going about what time we would get home. Henk thought 1 PM, I figured more 2 o’clock because he’s always rounding down, and besides, we were going to get groceries in Hillsborough. However, once the list was ready and I estimated we needed five grocery bags and looked around my feet where I would put them – no room in the back of the car, when we open any door stuff slides out – we decided not to get anything on the way in. So Henk won the bet.

Coming home was wonderful. But then you unpack the car, your darling husband immediately starts doing our taxes, you go to the closest grocery store in Warner, come home, and start clearing up the mess. Tuesday Henk steadily worked on reducing our tax burden while I went to renew my driver’s licence and passport. Oh well.

Now, onwards to getting the house better organized than the first efforts back in November. Plan the future yard. Make a bedroom and bathroom on the attic. The usual stuff for the Oolders…

winter-spring 2014-2015

One big blog entry today to finally catch you up on the past winter, four months after the fact. I have a few excuses for the delay, none of them particularly good: the trip west was fast and mostly boring, I don’t get many comments so I don’t know if anybody actually reads this blog; and, you know, I post stuff on Facebook. Then I forget the blog.

But Monday we visited with old friends, and he, Richard, said he reads it. Yeay! Hi Richard!

Well then. The trip west was fast and mostly boring. Yes. We had the RV in New Hampshire all summer because we were building our new home; and we left really, really late because the house wasn’t finished until Thanksgiving. All summer we said to the builder, When? What if? Oh, late September, yes, mid-October, well, no later than late October. That’s good because Henk has a business trip early November, and we don’t want Mary to have to move in by herself, right? So I moved in by myself (with help from the movers and from the carpenter guys) on November 12^th or so, when everything was ready except the deck and the shower glass. I showered for two weeks with lots of towels draped around the bathroom, no big deal. Henk got back from his trip just before Thanksgiving, and all East Coast kids came to the new house for dinner! We waited a few days until the shower glass guys were done, the Tuesday morning after, and escaped with the RV at 2 PM just before a sleet-and-ice-storm.

We took off northwest over Claremont, NH, at the Vermont border and rte 91; then we planned to go south and west over Scranton, PA; but once we were on 91 we drove straight south to Connecticut, where it was just a little milder and the sleet and ice came down as merely chilly rain. Bought long underwear and warm socks at WalMart in Norwalk, CT – the RV is very poor at keeping its people warm right behind that huge windshield… Slept in the WalMart parking lot, and left at 4:30 AM to get through/around New York before the morning rush. We drove via Gettysburg, PA (visited and had dinner with a cousin in Baltimore); Sweetwater, TN, where it was raining but not cold anymore; Monroe, LA (great dinner at Catfish Charlie in Shreveport); to Pecos, TX (dinner at the worst Denny’s in the world). Noteworthy on this route were that VW and Mercedes have their own exits in Tennessee, the rest stops in Alabama are beautiful, and Pecos is a town where one probably shouldn’t stop for anything other than fuel.

Here we detoured via the Carlsbad Caverns and stayed a day. We spent the entire day underground, Henk made a few hundred pics that all came out amazingly well. We want to go again because we only saw so little of it and it was so absolutely mind-bogglingly awesome!

Back on track the next day via the Guadalupe Mtns to Tucson, AZ; then to Havasu, AZ (dinner with a work-friend of Henk and his wife). The next day we arrived in Santa Clarita – 9 days, 19 states, 3400 miles or so. Our interstate highway pastime of checking off state number plates yielded only 24, and none of them Canadian, Mexican, or Indian Nations. Boring.

The winter in L.A. was lovely. There’s the weather, of course, as well as Destination Imagination with its kid-centered activities and the L.A. “board” now being dear friends; but mostly we had fun with Deirdre, Jeff and the kids. The big winter project was a pergola on the concrete slab out back, and we helped with some tiling there as well. We also helped plan their future kitchen renovation project – well, not really, but we had our opinions and shared them at every opportunity :)

In January we moved the RV from our usual RV park to an RV park in Acton in Soledad Canyon, about 15 miles east from Santa Clarita. It’s a nice change of scenery, since the former suffers from road construction, and we’re not allowed to hike in the dry riverbed anymore since somebody found a rare salamander. Acton is much quieter and roomier, with lots of opportunity for hikes in the raw beauty of the arid canyon. The Pacific Coast Trail crosses nearby – this is similar to the Appalachian Trail - and we hiked a few miles in both directions. We were very lucky with the weather – plenty of sun and mild temps, as well as enough rain for the desert to burst into bloom in early March. We saw lots of flowers that we never saw before on the canyon wall hiking paths as well as at Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

March 28, 2015, two weeks ago, we “worked” the Destination Imagination California State Tournament in Riverside, south of L.A. and it was awesome, as usual. The next morning we started our return voyage. A lot slower this time! And I’ll speak in complete sentences to underscore the leisurely pace!

Day 1, Sunday, we left nice and early and drove north through the high desert of Antelope Valley, picked up route 5, then went around San Francisco on rte 580, the worst bumpy road ever. So bumpy that my Fitbit registered my day in the passenger seat of the RV as almost 3500 steps ;) Then on to Cloverdale, which is northwest of Napa Valley, a nice little town in the hills with forests and a cute little river. Here we met up with Deirdre, Jeff, and the kids at the campground. They left a day earlier and enjoyed San Francisco while we were at the tournament. They put up their tent for 2 nights next to the RV. Day 2, Monday, after a leisurely breakfast by Opa and Deirdre, we cruised around and visited a local little place with petrified redwood trees. We saw petrified trees before; these were greyer but much, much larger than the ones in Arizona. Apparently they were buried in volcanic ash (which explains the grey color). We had more plans, but instead we went back to relax, and the kids played in the campground river. Brrr. They didn’t mind though, getting wet is their favorite pastime :).

Day 3, Tuesday, next on the agenda was Eureka in Northern California via Humboldt Redwoods SP, a half day drive. We spent the afternoon walking among the giant trees. Henk took a few hundred pictures, including of the 370’ behemoth that toppled over in 1991, 1900 years old, people thought there was a train crash when it went down. The kids and Jeff found another river, and guess what, the kids played in that one as well. We did find between us enough dry clothes of various sizes to drape on them until after we did laundry… ;)

We camped one night in Eureka. It was a chilly night, so this was our “everyone in the RV, let’s see if we sleep” night, and sure enough, we did. The four grown-ups sat in the RV bedroom after the kids went to sleep in the living area, and made plans for the next few days – Henk and I were nature oriented and heading further north, they picked a morning at the beach and then inland to see volcanic tubes and such on their way back to L.A.

So on Day 4, Wednesday April 1st, Henk and I reported to the wildlife reserve in Eureka. First Wednesday of the month, 9 AM, there’s a guided walk with the local bird expert – we’re such lucky ducks! Spring migration was in full swing. A harrier, lots of ducks we hadn’t seen before, same with the geese and little songbirds, as well as a few new flowers to note in our bird- and flower books. Meanwhile the younger folk explored tide pools at the beach. We met again at lunch time, and went each our own direction after a volley of goodbye hugs.

A little lonely with the two of us, we drove north on rte 101, along the coast into Oregon, stopped to see a famous lighthouse, continued to the Oregon Dunes near Florence, and settled in for an extra day. Btw, Henk doesn't recommend 101 north of SF with a 40-foot bus. There are too many narrow sections, lots of curves, steep up-and-downs, and giant trees right alongside the road that make for slow, tense and tiring driving. A car, yes; a big rig, maybe not so…

Thursday 4/2, we checked out the dunes, the beach, and the jetties of Florence. There was a stiff breeze and the waves were fantastic, and there were seals frolicking in the surf. Otherwise it was nice but not mind-blowing. First, we expected a lot more birds, but apparently we got ahead of the migration, so there were hardly any in the dune marshes; also, we were both born and raised in a dune city in the Netherlands and don’t appreciate enough what we’re familiar with. Anyway, we didn’t feel that we were missing anything when we moved on the next morning.

Friday 4/3: over the coastal range via Salem, OR (lunch with old work-buddy) to Silverton (old friends from Maine, Bob and Gail and their two kids, now all grown up). We arrived mid afternoon, Henk parked the RV next to the barn, and we were comfortable in no time between the 2 dogs, 4 cats, 2 pet llamas and countless angora bunnies. Oh yes, and the people. We stayed with them through Easter and had a grand time.  Somehow we missed the Easter angle up to a few days before, but we found a church in Silverton. A small one, it reminded us of Windham NH, the pastor came over to welcome us personally, obviously he knows each parishioner. We felt very welcome.

Monday 4/6 saw us back on the road. We drove north past Portland on good old rte 5, then east on 84 through gorgeous Columbia River Gorge. This is another section of road Henk advises only with a regular car, this time because it’s hard to find a place to park the RV to go sightseeing or take pictures, or go on a little hike up to one of the many beautiful waterfalls that come splashing down from the side of the gorge. After the gorge we were more or less on the old Oregon Trail route and drove on until Baker City in the southeastern part of the state. In the process we saw the lushness of coastal Oregon dwindle back to arid sage brush country. Tuesday morning we spent two hours at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and saw their really, really good video. The images of the people on the Oregon Trail with their covered wagons came back to us regularly the next few days. Unfortunately I also saw one of the resident great horned owls fly head-on into one of their picture windows L. She was sitting dazed on the ground below with a wing out weird. Thank goodness, one of the employees went to check, and she flew off a few minutes later.

Oregon was a new state for us. With our day at the coast, weekend in the middle, tour along the north and visit to a historic site in the southeast, we can truly claim Oregon as “been there and did something”!

Around lunch time we left Baker City and drove, still on rte 84, into Idaho to Boise (dinner at old friends from NH). Noteworthy on this section: fresh snow on the mountains and sections of highway with room to put the chains on your tires… hmmm… The next morning, Wednesday 4/8, we left early for the first long drive of the trip to the East. We drove more or less along the southern border of Idaho, saw our first little herd of pronghorns, switched to rte 80, then ducked into northeastern Utah for a little bit to get to Wyoming. Idaho counts because we stayed overnight and we visited people, and we have by now seen many parts of Utah. Wyoming counts because we stayed an extra day to pack up the RV and load the car. Utah and Wyoming also count on the list of bad winter weather! Wednesday was a sad and stressful day with cold rain, mountains with fresh snow, a poor dead barn owl alongside the highway; and east of Ogden, UT, when we had to get over those same mountains, yes, snow, snow, more cold rain, more snow, poor visibility. Yuck.

Yesterday: Friday 4/10. It took us a few hours to get the RV into storage and winterized. Yes. Because it was in the low 20’s, so the pipes will freeze. Spring is still a ways off in Wyoming on the Great Divide Basin Plateau… and we’re leaving the RV in Rawlins because that’s the perfect place to start off from in the Fall, when we want to visit Yellowstone Park and the Grand Tetons. No need to burn a gallon of diesel every 8 miles back and forth from NH. So, we were off around 10:30 on our way to Kearney, NE, the goal of the day. Dry and sunny all day, yeay. We saw our second herd of pronghorns, so pretty. We also noticed lots and lots of snow fence alongside and diagonal to the highway, with still pretty thick blobs of dirty snow on their east side. They also have large gates on the highway and signs that say that if the light blinks, get off at the exit, because they’re closing the road. With the gates. And signs that you may not park on the highway to wait it out. Apparently they don’t bother with plowing, they just wait until the strong sun melts it. Snow on the prairie is not the same as snow in New Hampshire…

We pulled in at a motel in Kearney, Nebraska, around dinnertime. Peculiarly it was full with groups of happy kids under the guidance of one or two adults, and a few U-Haul trailers in the parking lot. This came into focus this morning when we came downstairs: all of them already having breakfast, many with funny hats and Destination Imagination t-shirts. They’re having their state tournament today. We wished them a wonderful day and left for Chicago. 

I'll write one more entry to cover today through Monday, when we expect to get home. Check on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll also try again to include photos, they're not downloading right now.