Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A Couple of Boring Days and Going to the Cabin.


Sunday:

I warned you that there were going to be some boring days ahead.
We did very little on Sunday, just unloaded some stuff out of the van.

Joanne and Dave H. Came by around 3:00 and we visited for a while. Around 5:30 we went to Mary’s Pizza Shack for supper.
Visited some more in the evening.

Monday:

I unloaded more stuff from the van and started getting stuff ready to go to the cabin.

Around noon Patti’s two daughters and our grandson Harvey came by for a visit.

Tuesday:

Went shopping for groceries to take to the cabin and continued gathering stuff to take up there.

Wednesday:

I am going to the cabin today, once I get everything loaded.
I will be up there for about seven days. So no blogs until I get back.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

The Long Road Home. Day. 14. Home.


Note;

You may be wondering why we took such a “long road home”. The biggest reason is that we don’t have AC in our van and the engine sits between the seats and produces an enormous amount of heat. We didn’t want to cross the Arizona or Nevada deserts with their triple digit temperatures.
The other reason was;
We had the time so why not? I am glad we did it that way, as we got to see a lot more of the rocky mountain states. It was a beautiful ride.


The Last Leg and it’s a Long One.


The Plan

The Plan for today was to go as far as the Bear River Casino in Fortuna, CA. We wanted to treat ourselves to one last night in a motel and a good supper.

Early Start.

I got up early and had my breakfast.
I checked to see if my hot spot would work and was surprised that it had a good strong signal. I published the latest post from there.
By 9:00 we were on 140 heading west.

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A Change of Plans.

We thought that we might stop and visit with Dennis and Becky at the Valley of the Rogue State Park, where they are working for the summer. When we got close Patti called Dennis. Unfortunately Dennis was working today and Becky was off on an errand so we decided to pass them by.

US 199.

After driving around Rogue River for a while we eventually found Highway 99 and followed it to Grants Pass, OR.  At Grants Pass we got on US 199 heading west.
At Cave Junction we stopped for fuel and lunch then continued west along the Smith River.

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It is a real pretty ride as the highway goes through Redwood forests.

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US 101.

Eventually we got to US 101 and followed it south along the coast.

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Bear River Casino.

Around 4:00 we arrived at the Bear River Casino.
We checked at the hotel and found that they were all booked up.
Okay so we can spend the night in the parking lot and still eat in the restaurant.
We found a spot at the far end of the parking lot and sat outside in the shad of the van.
I decided that I needed a nap so I climbed into my bunk for a snooze.

I Woke up Around 6:30.

By then the parking lot had filled up. There was a lot of activity all around us. With cars driving around and drunks arguing in the parking lot.
Just after I woke up Patti got a call from her daughter Dina. She said that the weather at home was extremely hot with temps over 100°.

I don’t like driving at night but I figured that it would take us about three hours to get home from here and it would be better to get home in the cool hours of the night than to get home during the heat of the day.
I was sufficiently rested up so we decided to head for home. We got gas at the casino gas station and hit the road.

It was a long drive, 14 hours from Klamath lake, but we were home by 11:00 pm, exhausted but home.

Taking it Easy.

I don’t plan to do anything much from the next few days so things will be kind of boring around here.

Stats.

Okay, here are a few stats on our trip.

Miles Traveled

From our front door to our front door we traveled 6,883 miles.

Fuel Burned.

At an average of 10 miles per gallon we used ~688+ gallons of gas.

Interstate Highways.

One of our criteria for this trip was to try and do the whole thing without driving on any Interstate Highways.
As it turned out, of the 6,883 miles, we drove only 217 miles on the Interstate’s.
Not bad!

States.

We drove through 9 states:
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.
We drove through six of them twice except for Montana, Washington and Nevada.

It was an exceptional adventure six weeks of driving , exploring and camping.
Even so, it is nice to be home. I don’t plan to drive any where for a couple of days.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

The Long Road Home. Day12 & 13. Camped west of Klamath Lake off SR 140.

Note:

I checked my internet hot spot this morning and realized that I had a good strong internet connection so I am publishing this from our camp spot west of Klamath Lake.


A Late Start.

I slept in this morning and after breakfast I finished the blog for Day 11 so it was 11:45 before we left our camp.

Down We Go. . .

Since we were camped at the summit there was no where to go but down into a nice green valley.

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We traveled along through the valley and eventually came to a crossroads.
There was an arrow shaped sign point to the left with with Silver City painted on it and another arrow shaped sign pointing to the right with the barely legible letters saying Jordan Valley.

Our present destination is Jordan Valley and highway 95 but we knew that we were very close to Silver City and decided to go check it out.

Silver City.

You enter Silver City on a vary narrow dirt road going up hill.

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At the top of the hill is a sign welcoming you to Silver City.

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It is a pretty neat town with some cool old buildings.

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I guess this is a Mason Hall.

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We just took a loop through the town enjoying the old buildings.

Apparently the town just completed restoring the old school house.

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A Slow Road.

After leaving Silver City we took the road to Jordan Valley.
The first several miles were very rough with the tops of granite boulders protruding from the road bed.

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I know it looks nice and smooth in the picture but believe me, it isn’t smooth, anymore than slick rock is slick.
We encountered a few large mud holes from last night’s rain but they weren’t any problem.

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De Lamar.

The road took us through another small Ghost Town called De Lamar.

It looks a little more abandoned than Silver City.

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Better Road.

The road starts improving once past De Lamar.

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We passed through a nice green valley with desert on each side.

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US 95 South.

After a few more miles on the dirt road we came to Jordan Valley and US 95. Our intention was to drive south on 95 about 30 miles south of Burns Junction, then take a dirt road south west to Denio Junction where we would catch SR 140 and take it north into Oregon and across Southern Oregon.

A Change of Plan

Two things occurred that changed our plans.
About half way to Burns Junction I realized that I hadn’t topped off the gas tank in Jordan Valley as I had planned. Now the gauge was reading a little more than half full. I won’t go into the desert on an unknown road without as full a gas tank as I can get.
I figured we might get lucky and find gas at Burns Junction.

Burns Junction is Closed for Business.

There is a large parking area at Burns Junction.
The Café, Gas station, RV park and Motel are all closed and look like they have been closed for a very long time and will probably not open anytime in the near future.

What Now?

We pulled over into the parking lot to check the map and decide what to do next.
The next place where there was a reasonable chance to get gas was Mc Dermitt, NV. We reasoned that every town on the Nevada border has a casino and a gas station. Mc Dermitt has a Casino/ Café and a gas station that is up for sale.
We headed for MC Dermitt, NV.

The other thing that made us change our plans was that; as we drove toward Mc Dermitt we looked for the road that would have taken us to Denio Jct. and it wasn’t there or we just missed it.

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SR 293.

We got to Mc Dermitt around 2:00 and filled the gas tank and had lunch at the café. After lunch we headed south on 95 looking for SR 293. On our map 293 goes west between 95 and 140. SR 293 started out as a very nice two lane paved road that goes across the desert and into the hills beyond.

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After about 30 miles the pavement ends and the road becomes a very nicely maintained gravel road. It drops down into King Valley and becomes King Valley Road. King Valley Road cuts straight west across the valley until it turns right and Nine Mile Road continues west
We got a bit confused at this point and wasted a lot of time wandering around until we asked at a ranch at the end of King Valley Rd. (The King Valley Ranch.)
We were told to go back and take Nine Mile Road; that it was a BLM road and went clear to SR 140.

Once we were back on track and after we had left King Valley behind we started looking for a good camp spot. We knew that we had to find something before we got to the highway. We drove for many miles and found no suitable camp site.
Eventually, we came to an intersection in the road and a sign.
1 mile to the left was SR 140, 3 miles to the right is Bilk Creek Reservoir.
We turned right and headed for Bilk Creek.
Along the way we stopped to talk with a coupe of guys who were coming out.
We asked them if there were any good camp spots at the res. They said that there were plenty of good spots around the lake. They told us that the spot that they left was good and told us how to find it.
Their spot was down below the dam in a nice grassy area and looked good from above. When we got down there however the place was trashed. They had thrown out a pile of food stuff and left a fresh skinned deer hide hanging on a bush. It smelled and there were tons of flies around the whole camp.

We didn’t stay long and went in search of a better spot.
We drove back over the dam and saw a likely looking area on the west side of the lake so we drove over there to check it out. We drove down a small road that went by a nice flat spot above the lake with a nice view.

We pulled onto the flat, turned off the engine, put out the chairs and spent the rest of the day in the shade of the van, watching the activity on the lake below us.
One fisherman and a bunch of ducks.

Here is our view of the lake. You can see the nice lush grassy area on the left and the green point that sticks out into the lake.

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The real show was to begin a little after sunset.
We were sitting there watching the lake and suddenly I see a deer come walking out of the brush and start grazing way out on that green point.

Unfortunately the light conditions are real bad and the deer are a ways off but I thought I should show a few pictures on her.

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Here is a nice group.

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We counted 12 deer in the field at one time.


Sunset.

While we were distracted by the deer we missed most of the sunset.

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After Sunset.

We sat out for a while after the sunset.

On the ridge to our right we could see a Jack Rabbit silhouetted against the dim background light.

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A little later a parade of deer walked up the ridge from the lake and past our camp.

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Okay that was day 12 of the long road home.

The Long Road Home. Day 13.


An Early Start.

We got an early start this morning and were on SR 140 heading north by 9:00.

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Just another lonely Nevada road, and it just goes on forever.

Nice Scenery.

Even on a lonely stretch of highway you still have some beautiful scenery.

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One More Border.

Eventually we crossed over into Oregon.

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Not to far after entering Oregon we went down very steep grade.

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It was pretty cool but I’m glad that there was no one behind me.

We crossed this wide valley and went through a narrow canyon where we saw this nice waterfall.

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Lakeview.

Eventually we came to Lakeview.
We stopped at the Burger Queen. That’s right “Burger Queen”.
The burgers were good.
After lunch we got gas and headed west.

On to Klamath.

After another couple hours driving and we passed the south end of Klamath Lake and entered a short section of national forest.
We knew that this area would be the last opportunity for camping for a long distance so we were keeping an eye out for side roads. We saw a sign for a campground on our right and turned onto the road. A short distance along this road we crossed a small dirt road. I turned right onto this road and drove a little ways and found a nice spot just off the road.

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OK , well I am caught up with the blog and it is about bed time for me.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Long Road Home. Day,11. Camped on New York Summit, 6,676 Feet.

Published from Mc Dermot NV.


On Our Way.

After breakfast, we said good bye to Jo Ann and Dave and headed out. We got on US 20 going toward Arco, ID. The weather was threatening rain and there was a haze in the air that looked like smoke.

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We followed 20 past the Craters of the Moon

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all the way to Mountain Home, ID.  At Mountain Home we got on Highway 67 to 167 to 78. We turned west on 78 and followed it to just east of Murphy where we turned south on Silver City Road.
Silver City Road is a dirt road that goes over 6,676 foot high New York Summit.
By the time we got to the summit I was ready to camp. We found a small road going along the side of the mountain with a turn out that was big enough for the van so we camped here, right on the summit.

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We sat outside enjoying the view until dark.

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Okay, that was day 11. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The Long Road Home. Day, 10. At Jo Ann and Dave’s.


Morning.

We got up early and went to The North Highway Café for breakfast.
After breakfast Patti and I shook the dust out of our blankets in the van and remade the bunks in the van with clean sheets as we will be leaving here in the morning.

A Ride.

Around 10:00 Dave and I went for a ride along a real pretty drive along the north shore of the Snake River.

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We saw several fishermen along the river; but never saw any of them catch anything.

IMGP1771There were also lots of drift boats and rafts floating down the river.

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Back at J&D’s

When Dave and I Got home Patti and Jo were out shopping so Dave and I sat in the recliners and quickly were overcome by sleep.

The ladies returned around 4:30 and Jo Ann began to cook supper.
She made pork chops in gravy, corn on the cob, mashed potato’s with cheese, green beans and biscuits with home made strawberry jam.
What a feast!!!
Thank you JO.

TV the rest of the evening.

Monday, August 21, 2017

The Long Road Home. Day, 7, 8, 9. Jo Ann and Dave’s Place and the Total Solar Eclipse .


Saturday, Day 7.

We left Montpelier, Idaho around 9:30 and continued our northward trek.

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We crossed into Wyoming on Highway 89, lots of beautiful country.

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Big Arch.

In Afton, Wyoming we passed under the worlds largest Elk antler arch.

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Paradise Reservoir .

We came to Paradise Reservoir.

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This water of the Snake River is impounded here by the Cascade Dam in Swan Valley, Idaho. The lake is enormous and Highway 26 follows it all the way.

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Kite–borders.

Near the dam we saw some Kite-boarders. I guess that is what they are called as they have a kite pulling them across the water on what looks like a surf board.

You can’t see the kite in this picture but it is the best picture we have.

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We did get a picture of a kite from below the dam.

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Here is the Snake River below the dam.

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We followed the river for a while  and eventually we’re driving alongside miles of grain and potato fields.

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Idaho Falls.

We arrived at Jo Ann and Dave’s around noon. It was nice to see them again.
We had intended to only be here until Monday and then hit the road again but apparently there is a full eclipse of the sun on Monday and  Idaho Falls is one of the good places to watch it.
We decided to stay here until Wednesday morning.

Sunday, Day 8.

Sunday morning we went to The North Highway Café for breakfast with Jim and Doris.

New Baby.

Around noon we went to Pocatello to meet Jo Ann and Dave’s new great grandchild, Ariya.

Of course she was cute as bug.

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Another Visit.

After an hour or so we left the baby and went to visit Linda and Dennis S. They live close to Jo Ann and Dvae’s great grandchild.
We visited with them for a while and then went out for lunch.

Another Baby.

We were home for about an hour when another Great Grandchild was brought by. This one is a little older than the last one and of course was also very cute.
Here is Maylie, with her proud Daddy.

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After the baby left we visited for a while and retired around 10:00.

Monday Day 9.

We went to breakfast again this morning.
After breakfast we stopped at a Maverick Gas station so Patti could get some protective glasses.

Once we got back to Jo Ann and Dave’s we sat in their back yard to watch the Eclipse.

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It was taking a long time for the moon to move across the sun so I am catching up on the blog. The eclipse is almost complete so I am going out side to watch.

The Eclipse.

Patti got this picture of the total eclipse.

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After that experience the rest of the day will be anticlimactic.