Back on the Road Again!

Summer 2018

Headed out for the summer. Planning on two months in Oregon, a month in Northern Illinois, two weeks in Denver and then back to Tucson in Mid-September. A bit late with the post as we were without WiFi for much of the last week. So here we go!

Tuesday May 29, 2018 Ehrenburg, AZ

Spent the last week getting the house ready to close up. Cacti are blooming everywhere, particularly the saguaros. Our neighbor’s mature trichocereus hybrids had beautiful blooms a week ago, too bad they only last for a day!

Several of our trichocereus are budding, huge buds. Opening to beautiful flowers the morning we left! We had one that is about 10 inches tall that produced a bud at least 4” tall! It was really close to opening one evening 

and the next morning it was gone! Probably eaten by a deer. I put cages around the others that had buds before we left.

Some of our other cactus flowers:

Those stone are 1/2” ground cover.

Spent Sunday and Monday loading the trailer, can only work early in the morning due to the heat. Had a nice cool morning Sunday morning and were able to get most of it done. Up around 100 every day now.

Monday morning we biked down to the little Memorial Day parade in Tucson Estates I. Bigger than we expected, but they really need a band.

On the road right at nine AM Tuesday. Went up Kinney Rd. through Tucson Mountain Park and then up Sandaro Rd. to Marana where we got onto I-10, avoiding the traffic around Tucson. Stopped in Eloy to fuel up, found a Cracker Barrel there (!) for lunch, then took I-8 west to avoid Phoenix, then north back onto I-10 and west to Arizona Oasis RV Park in Ehrenburg, on the Colorado river at the CA border. Uneventful except for a half hour stoppage for an accident 30 miles from our destination!  

Wednesday 5/30 Barstow, CA

Got an early start this morning, 8 AM and it was an uneventful day. Got to Shady Lane RV Park in Barstow a little after one. A bit slow going as the towing speed limit in CA is 55! 

Hot and very windy here. Hopefully we will get away from the heat as we head up into the mountains tomorrow. After hooking up and getting the AC running we ran back into town for lunch at Tom’s Burgers, OK but nothing to write home about. Did some grocery shopping and back to RV to relax.

Thursday 5/31 Mammoth Lakes, CA

Well after two uneventful days this one did not start off well. Forecast for Mammoth Lakes tonight was low 30’s (say what?!!) so I checked propane tanks last night and one had just gone empty. Host at Shady Lane told me of two places, so this morning we stopped at K&L Gas. Not open yet so we went on to a U-Haul store where the attendant looked at my tank and said it was out of date and needed to be re-certified! “You can get that done over at K&L.”

So, back to K&L - only a mile or so - and they were open. Very nice young man inspected and certified both tanks for $10. Filled the empty tank and then I realized that the air on the truck was bleeding down faster than it should. Nancy had been saying she could hear an air leak and it seemed to be getting worse. The man at K&L recommended American Towing on the other side of town. I called and they said they could check it out, so over there we went.

Guys at American Towing could not have been nicer. Checked it out right away, found a leaking cab air bag (air suspension), no new bag available in town so I had them cap off the line. Only charged us 60 bucks!

Called Volvo dealer in Sparks, NV and made appointment to get cab air bags replaced on Friday afternoon.

Got back on the road about 10:30! Not too bad for all that went on!

Headed North up US 395, we were surprised by how dry and desert-like the East side of the Sierra Nevada’s is. Lots of snow capped mountains though.

The truck did great on the climb up over 7,000 feet south of Bishop, held 55 in 9th gear all the way up. Nice drive on good road with very little traffic. Had lunch in the trailer at a rest area and arrived at McGee Creek RV Park at 4:30. What a pretty place! Right up against the mountains with a lovely creek running by and lots of trees. High 90’s in Tucson, Ehrenburg, and Barstow, but it was 63 degrees when we got here and it is supposed to drop into the low 30’s tonight! Perhaps because we are at 6,940 feet above sea level! The fresh cool air with a nice breeze felt great when we took a stroll around the park.

Here’s a pic of the fast flowing creek (sure could use some of that water in Tucson!) and a pic of the mountains taken from the same spot. Yes, that is snow up there!

Friday 6/1 Reno, NV

35 DEGREES THIS AM!! YIKES! Actually it was pretty good sleeping last night, we could just hear the water running in McGee Creek. Did need to turn our furnaces on this morning though.

Got a good start and made it to Reno just about Noon. Checked into Bordertown RV Resort, 15 miles north of Reno. Nice place, but tight sites and narrow roads. Paved roads, concrete pads, grass in between sites.

Had lunch in the restaurant here and then took the truck to TEC Volvo in Sparks to get the cab airbags replaced. Of course they said it would be late afternoon before they could start (in spite of what they implied yesterday) and it ‘might’ be done this evening. No problem though, just unloaded the smart and we spent the afternoon driving down to Lake Tahoe just to see the place. Not all that impressive, very touristy. Lots of pretty scenery on the way down and on a different route up through the mountains on the way back.

Back hime we picked up a pretty good pizza from the deli in the casino here. Waiting for the pizza neither of us could figure out how any of the slot machine games even work! No more just put a quarter in and pull the lever! Geezers are us!

Volvo dealer called about 8:15, truck is done. Will pick it up in the morning.

Saturday 6/2 Reno, NV

Took our time getting started this  morning. About 10:30 we went back into the city and picked up the truck and loaded the smart. Stopped at BJ’s Barbecue for lunch, pretty good pulled pork and brisket. Stopped for groceries, then back to RV park. Nancy cleaned tile floors, I shampooed some carpets & vacuumed, Nancy did some laundry.

Walked over to casino for free drink and Nancy gave them a few bucks in the slot machines while we waited for my pizza to be prepared.

Back to trailer and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday 6/3 Valley of the Rogue SP, OR

Got on the road about 8:30. No issue pulling lout of our spot in spite of the tight quarters. Good wether and good roads all the way to Valley of the Rogue State Park. Less than a mile from the RV park we crossed back into California. Mostly good two lane roads through pine forests from just past there state line all the way to I-5 near Mt Shasta. Speaking of Mt. Shasta, great views of the snow covered mountain for miles through the woods. Stopped in a pull-out along the way and had lunch of left-over pizza (the pizza in the deli at Bordertown Casino was great!) and PB&J mini-sandwiches from Trader Joe’s.

Arrived at Valley of the Rogue State Park just before 3 o’clock. Light traffic, good roads all the way, once again an uneventful trip.

Park is laid out a lot like Cherry Creek in Denver, just a bit smaller and tighter, but roads are fine for a big rig and no issues getting into our pull-through space that has more than enough room.

In spite of the trees our sat dish hooked up just fine. We were able to use the Sacramento spot beam from Dish Network for our three stops in California and Nevada. Switched to the Portland spot beam today which will cover us for the whole state. Used Dish chat to make the change each time and it worked fine.

Monday 6/4 Valley of the Rogue SP, OR

I realized this morning that I miss trees! We took a walk along the Rogue River at 6:30 this morning. A beautiful place with huge, mature trees all along the river - and all through the park. Lovely morning, 53 degrees with a clear blue sky.

Mid-morning we drove into the small town of Rogue River just a few miles from the park. Stopped in a visitor’s center there and picked up some info, then drove on into Grant’s Pass. After a spin around town we stopped at Wild River Brewing and met our friends from Desert Trails, Carol and Jack, for lunch.

After lunch they gave us a tour of Grant’s Pass and environs with a stop at their lovely home deep in the woods outside of town. Jack did most of the work on the house with an impressive display of cedar woodwork inside and out. Made a stop at an overlook over Hell’s Canyon on the Rogue, where we will be going on a boat trip tomorrow.

We stopped at a store of the Murphy Hemp Co. just to check it out. Nancy bought a jar of Topical CBD Salve after we tried samples. 

Back to the trailer about 4:30 for dinner and the playoff hockey game.

Tuesday 6/5 Valley of the Rogue SP, OR

Nice long walk on the path along the river this morning, about a mile and half, lots of birds with pretty songs around here. Nice morning, although it was 45 degrees when we got up. Waited until after brea

fast to take our morning walk. 

Late morning we drove into the village of Rouge River and had a second breakfast at Bee Gee’s Diner, nice little place. Went on into Grant’s Pass and spent some time roaming around trying to find the Chase Bank branch. Eventually determined that I was looking for the address of a branch in a different city! After correcting that mistake we found the ATM we were looking for.

The we met Jack and Carol at Hell’s Canyon Jetboats. We took a two hour jet boat trip down the Rogue River, 18 miles to Hell’s Gate Canyon. A really interesting trio and great fun, although we could have gotten along fine without the requisite water splashing. Lots of wildlife along the way (including black tailed deer and a solitary muskrat swimming in the Rogue) and interesting information about the history of the area. From just below Grant;s Pass the Rogue is a designated “Wild River” all the way to the Pacific in Gold Beach, so it protected from development.

After the trip we were all pretty wet, so we came back home to change and then Nancy & I went back into Rogue River and had dinner at Terasco’s Mexican. Pretty good dinner.

Wednesday 6/6 Valley of the Rogue SP, OR

A bit warmer this morning, 54 degrees. The beautiful weather continues, we have had nothing but warm sunny days since we left home a week ago. 

After breakfast we walked along the river path again in the opposite direction. Really impressive big pine trees. Once again we did a mile and a half.

Yesterday I realized that my right hand, which has been bothering me ever since I injured it several years ago felt much better since I used that sample of Topical CBD Salve at the hemp store On Monday! Not sure if the soreness is from arthritis or inflammation (or both), but I have been treating it by squeezing a small ball in my hand and this ointment really made it feel better! 

So when we went back into Grant’s Pass we stopped at the Murphy Hemp Co. there (the one we stopped at on Monday was in Merlin) to get another jar of the salve. Nancy decided on the lotion with the same ingredients.

Then we went west of town to Rogue Creamery. The farm store there was closed when we went by on Monday and we wanted to try their cheese sandwiches. Also looked around their automated dairy. They have a large cattle barn with open walls and a translucent roof, does not look or smell like any cattle barn I have ever seen! The cows are allowed to set their own schedule for milking! They come into the barn whenever they want, eat grain there, water or sleep and when they “feel the urge” to be milked they head up one aisle to the robotic milking machines. As they enter the chute and FFID chip in their ear tag sends a signal and, if they are due to be milked, the gate opens, allowing them into the milking parlor. If they are not due for milking the gate directs them back into the barn! From there they enter one of two milking stands. Once they are in place the robotic arm washes their udder and the attaches the milking device! 

The system monitors the amount of milk from each cow, identified by the chip, and analyzes the product from each milking. If the milk deviates from the norm (temperature, chemical content) it immediately notifies the farm supervisor by text so the cow can be examined for health issues.

Cheese sandwiches were were great and we bought some cheese and cheese curds.

Made a stop at a huge Fred Meyer grocery store and them Walmart to get a laundry drying rack since we left ours at home.

Jack and Carol picked us up at 4:00 and we drove into Ashland. Walked through  nice shopping area, stopped in a really nice used book store, The Book Exchange (bought 5 books!) and had dinner at a brew pub. Then we went to the theatre of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for the opening night of Book of Will. Quite a good performance in a really nice facility. After 11 by the time we got back home.

Thursday 6/7 Valley of the Rogue SP, OR

Headed out a little after nine this morning on a day trip to Crater Lake. Took about two hours to get there, our senior park passes saved us $20 on park admission. Watched the video at the Visitors Center then drove a little ways along the East Rim Drive to a lookout area where we had a nice view of the lake, very blue and very pretty. 

Looks like maybe we could use a selfie stick!

Nice day in the 60’s although the roads around the rim are still closed due to snow and there was a fair bit of snow in the woods along the way. A pretty drive through pine forests most of the way. Stopped at an eating area just outside the park gate for lunch and then back home.

Loaded the car on the truck and got ready to head for La Pine State Park in the morning. 

Friday 6/8 La Pine SP, OR

Short walk in the morning, 49 degrees. Heading for La Pine Sate Park today, only 161 miles with the first 60 retracing our route from yesterday.

On the road about 9:30, uneventful drive to La Pine SP with is way back in the piney woods. About 13 miles into the closest town - La Pine - and 27 miles into Bend.

Pretty spot, pull through with fun hookup. We will be going without sewers for the a while after we leave here and our shower tank seems to be filling up too quickly and the tank monitor is only showing half full. Will try to sus-out what is happening while we are here.

Before dinner we took a walk along the bank of the Deschutes River which wraps around the campground, really pretty spot.

This evening I decided to see what was going on with the gray tanks. Earlier I had put some tank treatment in to try to clean the sensors, but I decided to dump that tankful. Then I took a 6-1/2 gallon water jug and refilled the shower tank - 50 gallons. Did not seem enough as we are supposed to have 87 gallons of gray water storage. 

Then I drained the kitchen tank then refilled it using two one gallon jugs to measure. To our surprise it took 41 gallons! So the shower tank is filling up completely. Apparently we (particularly me!) have been using more water than usual during our showers. Will have be more conscientious while we are without full hook ups over the next few weeks.

Saturday 6/9 La Pine SP, OR

43 degrees this morning and light rain, rained on and off most of the night. The pavement in the park (and elsewhere as it turned out) had streaks of yellow material that ran in the rain. Later we found out is was ponderosa pine pollen!

Took our time getting started, watched F1 practice and then headed for Bend. Stopped at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument visitor’s center in the Deschutes National Forest. Quite an interesting place, the geography, and geology, of the entire area has been shaped by volcanic activity.

Then on into Bend where we found a laundromat that also had good WiFi! After doing the wash and catching up on our e-mail (our phones barely work in the state park and the Verizon hot spots are virtually useless) we had a good lunch at the Pour House restaurant.

A stop at the Albertson’s for groceries and then 22 miles back home to watch F1 qualifying. Still cold, never got much above 50 today. Supposed to be low 30’s tonight, of course we are at 4,100 feet here!

Sunday 6/10 La Pine SP, OR

33 degrees this morning! Glad I disconnected out water hose last evening and switched to our fresh tank. After breakfast and CBS Sunday morning we headed north to the Oregon High Desert Museum. Quite an interesting place, a nice museum with sections on Native Americans and early settlers. Also an outdoor portion with a neat display of otters in their natural habitat. 

Spent several hours in the museum and then went on into Bend and had lunch at the same place we did yesterday and stopped at Walmart before heading back to the campground. On the way in to the campground we detoured down a side road to see “The Big Tree”, which is the largest Ponderosa Pine ever recorded. It was pretty big, 162 feet high and 28 feet in diameter.

Back home for pizza and to watch the Formula One race from Montreal. Oddly enough ESPN choose to run it on a delayed broadcast so they could show NCAA Baseball tournament. So race in Europe and elsewhere are shown live in the middle of the night or early  morning, while a race that is in North America at mid-day is tape delayed! The new owners of F! who supposedly want to develop the market in the US are doing their best to drive the audience away before they can get their act together. 

Turns out the F1 race was not on when the Dish Network guide said it was! May have been on during the day while we were away. Fortunately they are rerunning it let tonight - supposedly.

After we arrived home I checked tires and wanted to ad air to one, when I fired up the truck and opened the brake balance valve to get my air hose going I found a pretty good air leak, confirming the hissing Nancy heard when she was helping me back in. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

Monday 6/11 Charleston Harbor RV Park, Charleston, OR

On the road about 9:30, 44 degrees and spitting rain. Really scenic drive across the Cascades to the coast. The air compressor was holding it’s own against the air leak, so far so good.

Arrived at Sunset Bay SP to find a really (I mean REALLY) tight campground. Our site was big enough for us but that was no way to back our trailer in there as it was at right angles to a very narrow rod with trees right up to the pavement. Gave it a try, but it could not be done. Drove down the road and were fortunate to find Charleston Harbor RV Park which had a site large enough.

Got parked and checked in. Walked across the street to Portside Restaurant for an excellent dinner, short walk and then home to watch F1.