A Different Journey

Location: Collier State Memorial Park, Oregon

I headed out for my first solo road trip, without Ned. It was bittersweet knowing that I left my favorite travel buddy behind and it did tug at my heart to see him waving me off in the rearview mirror. (If you're reading this send lots of energy and prayers to Ned that he'll kick this thing and be back in the saddle again!) Ned was a sweetheart making sure I knew all the ins and outs of the Winniemobile, how to change a bike tire, hang up a hammock, etc. to the point that I got a couple of lessons on how to tie a bowline and half hitch knots. Looks like I'll just have to put up a hammock to prove to him that I can do it!
The trip thru Northern California was gorgeous, especially when I rounded the bend and saw Mt. Shasta, in all her glory, covered in snow. Very rarely have I seen the top of this mountain without clouds chopping off the upper half. What a treat! I passed the time listening to an audio book, "The Fruit of the Tree" by Edith Wharton. Yes, a definite guilty pleasure listening to some of my favorite classics. (I have several queued up for the trip including Tolstoy and Jane Austen. Ned I bet you aren't missing this so much now!) I also really enjoyed the drive up highway 97, thru the high desert meadow. Just for the heck of it I decided to take business 97 and do a tour thru Klamath Falls. It's been many years since I've seen this town and I forgot about all the low brick buildings, quiet streets and half deserted logging operations around the lake. After 6 hours on the road, I pulled into Collier Memorial State Park in Chiloquin, Oregon and called it home for tonight.
This State Park has one of the largest logging museums and I was really looking forward to checking it out. There is a nice bike path that leads from the campground to the logging site. It meanders along Spring Creek and the Williamson River. It is really very pretty. I included some pictures below. I spent a couple of hours hanging out at the logging museum. It's an outdoor museum where you can visit a logging camp and then see the progression of logging in the area, from the first immigrants clearing the forest by hand, to the history of the steam engine and then the later day equipment. It's free and quite interesting. I'd say if you are ever traveling on highway 97 it's definitely worth a stop. Ned and my Uncle Bud would just love seeing all the old equipment. Most of it has been fully restored and there are detailed write ups on everything.
I spent the rest of the afternoon riding my bike around the various paths in the state park and checking out the river. The campground is nicely wooded, with very few people camped here - perhaps half a dozen in my loop and a bit more in the loop for the big boy RV's. Tonight there is a 9pm show at the ampitheatre called "Logging on the Move." I'm thinking of sneaking some wine in my coffee cup and moseying on over to check it out.

Driving Up The Coast

We spent my birthday at Polly's house, playing with our great nephews, and then took a couple of days driving up the coast and camping at Big Sur. We were expecting it to be foggy and cool, but we were pleasantly surprised with the warm, sunny weather. We had a great time visiting artist studios and watching the elephant seals.

Location: Big Sur State Park

4 days of Family Reunion in Sequoia

We had 4 wonderful days getting together with Ned's family, including his 95 year old Aunt, his cousins and his sisters. All in all there were about 20 of us. We took over several campsites, but basically made Aunt Kay's site headquarters. Dang, does this family know how to do cookouts American style! We ate for 4 straight days, and them some. It's a good thing we are heading home because after our 5 week journey and then the week reunion I'm lucky to fit into the van! We had such a great time seeing the usual sights, such as the General Sherman Tree, and telling stories around the campfire, but the highlight was when the kids went on a hike and saw a bear. Or as 9 yr. old Wyatt likes to say, "survived a bear attack"' haha. Troung also ran nightly Blackjack tournaments, both 9 yr. olds came out the big winners. For years Ned has been telling me stories about his cousins and it was so much fun getting to know them better and hearing about their childhood shenanigans. Aunt Kay, a spritely 95, still rules the roost and had everyone towing the line. She had a hand in every meal preparation and made sure there was always a festive tablecloth adorning our camping meals. To all my Nevada City friends, yes, the entire Russell clan is just as nice and thoughtful as Ned. When we finally departed, Ned and I decided to take the long way out of the park and visit King's Canyon. I especially liked the tunnel tree, which I remember seeing with my family as a little kid. We are finishing up the final leg of the journey with Ned's sisters in Arroyo Grande. We kicked off Ned's 60th birthday celebration in style. Tonight we had a steak dinner at the outrageous and very pink Madonna Inn dining room in San Luis Obispo. Looking forward to playing with the great nephews tomorrow and I swear never, ever eating again...Pics from the reunion - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sequoia National Park

California Here We Come...

Right back where we started from. Okay, not quite, but we did cross back into the home state. We spent most of the day exploring the Southern Sierras. Our end destination was Lake Success in Porterville and we could have taken the interstate thru Bakersfield. Alas, that is not how we roll. Instead we took some very, very windy roads over several passes and were treated to a diversity of terrain. We drove through high desert, saw a couple of ghost towns, miles and miles of Joshua trees and then finally came upon the Sierras that we know and love. We rolled down the windows and made sure we enjoyed the aroma of the cedars. Ahh, almost made me homesick. Once on the other side of the mountains we dropped down into golden rolling hills with lots of Oak trees. We've been all over the US and there is nothing like the California hills. We loaded up on provisions at the coolest upscale Hispanic grocery store. Geez, what I'd do to have a store like this in Nevada City. The produce was abundant (papayas, mangoes, cherries, tomatillos, peppers, plantains, melons, cactus to just name a few) and piled higher than anything we've seen. There were more cuts and variety of meat than I even knew existed, and displayed so beautifully. The dulce pan section was colorful and vibrant. There was also a whole section devoted to just making tortillas. Maybe this is how they do it in the Valley, but it sure was new to me. We drove through acres and acres of Orange trees before settling down at Success Lake. We were going to swim, but opted instead for a Scrabble game. Tomorrow we head for Sequoia National Park where the Russell family is having a big reunion. I'm looking forward to hanging out in one place for 4 days with Ned's sisters, cousins and 95 year old Aunt. Let the partying begin! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Success Lake, Porterville, CA

A Day of Many States

And I mean the title both literally and figuratively. We crossed in and out of States seven times today, mainly going back and forth between Utah and Arizona before finally settling down at an RV Park in Las Vegas. We drove thru some really remote areas, including doing a drive thru Colorado City, known as the home of the polygamist FLDS sect. We arrived there at about 2:30 in the afternoon and all the streets were completely vacant and the town was eerily quiet. We eventually drove by the church where there were hundreds and hundreds of vans and pick-up trucks lined up. Ned wanted me to take a pic, but by this time we were being watched and followed from two different pickups so we thought it best not. The town has absolutely no facilities for visitors, no gas stations, restaurants, etc. They do have enormous houses with high compound fences surrounding them. We made several other stops along our rather long day in the car including a visit to the Glen Canyon Dam and Visitors center. It's situated on Lake Powell and is one of the system of dams regulating the Colorado River. Quite impressive. We also stumbled upon Pipe Spring National Monument, an infamous spring where the clash of several cultures over many years occurred. This would be the Paiute Indians, early Mormon Settlers and US Gov't. The nearby town of Moccasin, still in existence, houses the descendants of the original Mormon Settlers. We also decided to do a drive thru there. Needless to say it was our day for polygamy and I told Ned not to get any ideas. (He says not to worry one of me is plenty enough!). We didn't want to stay at another rather barren state park so we decided to head for Vegas. Thus, the other end of the spectrum. Instead of early pioneer culture we are now immersed in Sin City. This RV park is not the usual way we roll, but we are embracing our inner Vegas. We enjoyed the rather ostentatious pools, including the sand beach and water falls. Poor Winnie is lined up in a sea of behemoth RVs. We are still really proud of the ol' girl as she has taken us across the country and back.Today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Oasis RV Resort, Las Vegas, NV

A Monumental Day

Before we left the park we decided to partake in the all you can eat pancake breakfast offered at the park's outdoor cafe. We usually plan one breakfast out on our road trips and this was it. The Indian woman who made our pancakes was very sweet and told Ned that the reason they were so good was because they were made with lots of love. awww. We decided to take a small detour and see the 4 corners. Yep, all 4 states; Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico do meet up. We got the obligatory shot of us straddling the states, but I must admit that the Indians hawking all their wares at the marketplace was much more interesting. I even picked up a pretty necklace, thanks Ned. The drive between Mesa Verde and Monument Valley was jaw dropping. We drove along the San Juan River and were awed by view after view of different rock formations. Part of the time the sky was hazy from the nearby Arizona wildfires, but by the time we reached Monument Valley Tribal Park it had cleared up. We are camped at Goulding's, a private campground, hotel, park, dining, tour guide, and trading post. Their big claim to fame is that John Wayne made 4 movies here, along with a bunch of other movie stars. We both felt a little old and a little sad when a young boy, seeing all the John Wayne posters and memorabilia asked his mom, "So who IS John Wayne." sigh. The campground plays a John Wayne movie every night, tonight is "Stagecoach", we passed on the opportunity. Instead we opted for dinner at The View, the restaurant at the tribal park. We decided to go native and eat two of their Navajo specialties. Ned had pork green chili stew and I opted for the pozole. Both were accompanied by the biggest pieces of blue corn Indian fry bread and tortillas known to man. Dinner was so so, but maybe I'm just dying a slow death of carbs today. Seriously...The sunset view after dinner was pretty remarkable. It's definitely a bucket list item. As we watched the light slowly change the color of the rocks we tried to count all the different languages passing by. It's now dusk at the campground, and we have a gorgeous view through a canyon of the rocks turning purple. today's pics Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Monumennt Valley, Az

Exploring Mesa Verde National Park

Ned here again. We made a casual departure from Lathrop State Park this morning, heading for Mesa Verde National Park. This is one of those locations that neither of us had ever been to, so it seemed appropriate to finally get it on our schedule. The drive over the San Juan Mountains, the southern tip of the Rockies, was spectacular. It was fun to see snow covered mountains again for the first time in a month. The lush green of the aspens, mixed with darker green of pines which lines the mountainsides is really beautiful as we drove over the highest pass today of 10,500 feet. We stopped at a mountain village for lunch and sat outside on a deck overlooking the river. It was fun watching the kayakers and paddle rafters make their way past as we ate. Soon we arrived at Mesa Verde and we were both blown away with how amazing this place is. Somehow we had imagined we would drive up into an arid little canyon and look up at some cliff dwellings from below. Instead we drove up to the top of a very impressive green mesa with unbelievable views in all directions. Our favorite view was from the highest point in the park looking down across the Mesa with the snow covered Rockies in the distance. We also had a great time walking down the trail at the Spruce Tree House, as the sun sunk low in the sky, exploring an amazing 800 year old stone cliff house of the Anasazis. When we returned to our campsite and started making dinner, the sun was beginning to drop behind the hills. We checked the van thermometer and saw that it was 62 degrees. We both ran around and got on sweat shirts as fast as we could, because it felt really COLD to us. We are amazed that after a month of staying in places where the overnight low is in the low 80's, our bodies now consider 62 degrees to be a veritable cold snap! We're off to snuggle down in our sleeping bag, and expect to sleep well tonight.see today's pics - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mesa Verde National Park, CO