Month: July 2020

July 29, 2020

Hi folks! Ok…I told you in my last “quick update” post we were moving to a remote mountain RV park in the Oregon Cascade mountains. Well….we didn’t. We had a beautiful drive through the mountains to get to this RV park. We were getting really excited, it was looking like our kinda place, lots of hiking and beautiful, heavy green forests all around. And then, we pulled into the RV park. It was the only RV park around for miles, which we thought was part of the appeal. We like being out in the remote areas a lot of the time, closer to nature. Except this place had nothing appealing about it. In fact it was quite terrible. And small. There’s no way we would fit in any of their spots, in spite of being advertised as “big rig friendly” and my having provided our size info while making the reservation. Weeds everywhere, I don’t think a lawn mower had been used for at least a couple of years. “On the river with mountain views” was promised – the river banks were so overgrown you couldn’t tell there ever was a river there, and, unless the mountains moved recently, there never was a mountain view from there. Amazing what photo shop and some creative writing can do to make anything look good online. Anyhow, we pulled in, looked at each other and both said, “we’re not staying here!” So the owner (who was not very warm and fuzzy let’s just say) was nice enough to let us out of our 8 day reservation without charge. I said our plans had changed (that is true!) and I think he knew from looking at our rig we were never going to squeeze into a site anyhow. So we headed on down the road, with no cell signal available to find another spot. As it turns out, we were only about 50 miles from Salem, Oregon and that’s where we headed. And we found a very nice, in town, RV park we stayed at for 2 nights while I figured something else out. And today, we moved just 10 miles down the road, out of Salem, to a very nice RV park just outside a little town called Silverton, Oregon.

We’re right in the middle of the Willamette Valley. Produce growing region galore! Cherries, berries of all types, peaches, nectarines, plumbs, melons, and all kinds of veggies are grown all around here. We’re in hog heaven! We have been finding all kinds of great produce while in Oregon, and I think we just landed right in the middle of it all. Here’s a picture of the fruit we bought yesterday at a farm stand around the corner:

Really, we have been eating so much fruit, but who can resist when it’s grown right here and the real deal?? I have the freezer stocked full of bags of berries too! Silverton has a farmer’s market on Saturday, can’t wait to see what is there, I’m expecting it to be full of great produce. We explored Silverton today and had lunch in town – it’s a cute little western town and I think we’re going to enjoy it a lot.

So, yes, our Plan B is working out. And, why not take advantage of being mobile? It’s part of the fun and the journey, and it always works out just the way it should. ☺

Before we left our spot near Crater Lake National Park, we rented a pontoon boat for half a day. They allowed doggies, so Gerry came along which is great. It was called Odell Lake, located in the central Cascade mountains. We enjoyed the day on the water, but, the boat was not very nice! In fact, I think the last time this boat could have been referred to as “nice” or “cute” or “not ugly” was about 20 years ago. Yes, really. It was bad. But, it floated! I guess that is what is most important! So we’re getting the run down of how to operate the boat before we take it out, and the guy says, “don’t pay any attention to the gas gauge, it doesn’t work. In fact, the gas tank gave out awhile back, and we have it hooked up to an auxiliary gas tank.” Hmmm, we wondered, do we have enough gas?? He says, “yes, unless you’re going to do laps around the lake I think you’ll be okay.” Comforting. So we get going, and I discovered the “auxiliary gas tank”:

We didn’t run out of gas, and we ignored the broken seats and the gross carpet and enjoyed our day on the water! Some pictures here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7gr7GWofQ9c4G7aXA

Another highlight is our hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (the PCT). It’s the trail in the movie “Wild” with Reese Witherspoon. I know we talked a lot last year about hiking parts of the Continental Divide Trail, and talking to through hikers on it. I was eager to experience the PCT too. So we did a great day hike (about 9 – 10 miles) on the PCT, near the Odell Lake boat adventure. This section of the PCT went by 3 lakes, called the Rosary Lakes, and Pulpit Rock stood towering over the lakes. It was a great day, and we met some very nice folks who were camping for the night by one of the lakes and they shared all kinds of good info about places to go in Oregon. We also met 3 guys through hiking on the PCT. One from Michigan, one from South Carolina, and one from Australia (yes, he had a great accent!) The Australian was a former Rugby player, he and Steve swapped some Rugby talk. They had all started at the south end of the PCT (the Mexico border) in early March, and were in the last month or so of their hike which ends at the Canadian border. So impressive seeing these hikers with all their gear, hiking day after day, no matter the weather or how they’re feeling, they are on the trail.

Walking on the PCT made me think about all the footsteps that had fallen on the same trail I was on. People from all over the world, from all walks of life, coming to hike. All the contemplation that has been had on that trail, all the self reflection. And all the beauty that has been soaked up, walking through the woods. We all walk through the woods and over the mountain for different reasons, but in the end, I believe, we all are better for the walk. I know I am. Here’s some pictures from our PCT hike: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hdbtxx5xbxbRkCar8

So that brings you up to date on everything going on here! Hope everyone is enjoying summer, all the daylight and sunshine, and I hope you are all able to find some local produce bounty too!

Hi! We have been enjoying the southern part of the central Oregon Cascade mountains for about a week now. We visited Crater Lake National Park, got in a couple really nice hikes (including doing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail – a real highlight for me!), and we enjoyed a day of boating on a nearby mountain lake.

We’re moving today to the northern part of the central Oregon Cascades, to a pretty remote RV park. Not sure if we’ll have good enough cell or internet service there to do a blog post, so I wanted to share this quick one. I’ll give you a full update when I can, I promise! In the meantime, here’s some pictures from our visits to Crater Lake National Park. We went twice, once with Gerry, and drove around the rim, stopping several times to take in the views. We went again, without Gerry (since he’s not allowed on any of the trails in national parks ) and hiked down the rim to the lake and enjoyed a day (it was Steve’s birthday!) with our feet in the water.

Crater Lake National Park: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tUvWNSvjFy8vrqHu5

Crater Lake National Park 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rp7TVGckHnCWwKrz7

Howdy! I know I say this all the time…but seriously….where does the time go? Seems like just a few days ago I posted an update, and now I realize it’s been quite awhile – Sorry!

We have been in Oregon for about 10 days now. First in LaGrande, and now in Bend. We’re going to be in Oregon until about mid-September, we are meandering our way all through the state. LaGrande is in the northeastern part of the state, not far from Idaho. We really enjoyed our time in LaGrande, nice small town with a good farmer’s market and a good restaurant we frequented more than usual for us. The RV park we stayed at (Grande Hot Springs RV Resort) was a few miles outside of the town, in a very nice setting with lots of acreage. They also had hot springs that fed two pools for soaking which we enjoyed. We got in a couple of hikes while there, and just hung out enjoying our views of the big sky and relaxing at the RV.

But, just to make things interesting….we got a flat tire on the truck! Luckily, we were not pulling the RV when it happened. We had just driven to a trailhead to hike. It was my birthday, and my request was a long beautiful hike. So we had one all picked out and while we were getting our backpacks on, Steve heard a Pssssssttttt. That’s a technical term for air leaking from the front tire on a truck. So Steve says, “hurry, get back in the truck, we’re going to drive as far down this mountain as we can before it gets completely flat!” And so we did, and we made it several miles back down the gravel forest service road we were on, to a forest service campground. We still didn’t have a signal on our cell phones but we were able to get off the road into the campground and had a good place to get to work changing the tire.

So – any one who knows us knows this is not something we know how to do. In fact, neither one of us has changed a tire on a vehicle. Ever. And so we knocked on the door of the campground host (they were in a RV) and asked for help. He came over and looked at it and said, “I have no idea how to fix that”. But, he did offer to call AAA for us – they had some sort of cell booster and could get a weak signal on their phone. So they called AAA for us who promised to send someone out in the next hour. Then AAA called back twice asking more questions, and the time estimate became 1.5 – 2 hours for arrival. So we got to work on it our selves and, we got it done! Took off the flat tire and put on the spare. It was a true team effort – me reading the instructions in the manual (I don’t think the people who write these things ever have to follow their own instructions!) and Steve doing all the heavy lifting. But we ran into a snag in the process: There was one lug nut that was different than all the others and it didn’t come off. And the wheel was clearly “locked” on, even after following all the instructions and taking off the other lug nuts. No mention in the instructions anywhere about this different lug nut. We checked the other tires – they all had one too. One of the questions the AAA people called back to ask was about a “tire lock and did we have one”?? What’s a tire lock? Never heard of it. Did we have one? Not that we knew of. But, yes we did as it turns out. While we were stuck, unable to get the wheel off, I started rummaging around in the truck hoping we had missed something, and I found an open package with one hexagon shaped “nut” kinda thing in it, down in the bottom of our center console. And 4 missing pieces in the packaging. Hmmm…no label on the package saying what it was, and no instructions in the packaging. But we tried the hexagon shaped nut kinda thing on the one different wheel lug and it was the magic unlocker thing we needed! How did we end up with wheel locks that we didn’t know we had??? Who put them on and then put the open, unlabeled, no instructions, magic unlocker thing into our truck console with out us knowing anything about it???? We’ve had tires changed on this truck before and no one ever said anything about wheel locks or the magical unlocker thing…those guys must all know about them and maybe there’s a master unlocker thing they all use. I don’t know. We’re guessing the dealership must have done it when we bought the truck. Probably an “upgrade” to add the wheel locks that we didn’t know about. Anyhow, we had never heard of a wheel lock before, and now we know we have them and how to unlock them. 😆

Took 3.5 hours. And AAA still had not arrived. We learned a lot – and I hope we never have to do it again, but if we do, we’ll know how to do it next time. We were safely off the road, we were not pulling the RV down the interstate when it happened, it wasn’t raining…all kinds of ways it could have been worse. There was a lovely creek running by and we had food and water with us. Gerry was bummed out being leashed to the picnic table all day instead of out hiking, but, he got a quick romp in the creek at least. And we did the hike the next day and it was perfect – a favorite so far.

Pictures of the tire adventure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4MKozW6S6y6CzRNT7 And pictures of the hike: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xzcb1t4Z5dXSg1KQA. And here’s pictures from another hike in the area as well: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QVcFzEEQmV8sFGiX9

Then it was on to Bend. We’re staying at an RV park right in town. It’s tucked away in a lot of trees and mostly you wouldn’t know you were right in town. It’s a very nice RV park – considered a “luxury” type park. The parking spots for the RVs are all pavers, the driveways are all paved (really cuts down on the dust and grit tracked in and blowing in the windows). They have a nice doggie area and the space between RVs is very generous. But I have to say, we really prefer being out more, away from town, more in nature. But, we had to get the truck serviced (new front tires and an oil change) and we needed to restock on groceries and of course the inevitable Walmart run. Here’s a picture of our current spot:

We’ve enjoyed exploring Bend, but it’s VERY busy. We’ve read it’s one of the fastest growing cities in the country. About 100,000 people now and growing by the minute it seems. Lots of construction, houses and roads. But the mountains are literally right next door. I can’t get used to looking up while driving down a city street and – boom – right in front of you are snow capped mountains. So close it seems you can reach out and touch them. These are the Cascade Mountains and they are beautiful. We will be staying in a few places all through the Cascade Mountains during the next few weeks and I’m sure we’re going to love it. We did a very nice hike yesterday just a short ways from Bend – it was beautiful. Here’s a picture from the drive to the hike – this is just a few miles out of town:

And here’s pictures from the hike we did just up the road from this picture: https://photos.app.goo.gl/iGhFzMZxQBoJttXv8

I feel like all our pictures must seem the same – hiking through the woods, reaching a view point, or a lake, streams or creeks along the way, Gerry having fun. But, this is what we love doing and the hikes don’t seem boring or the same to us at all. They all have unique challenges or something interesting and we just love being out there doing it. And of course, pictures never do justice to the real view. But we keep trying to capture the beauty and love sharing it with you!

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great summer – do you believe it is already the middle of July?? Where does the time go? We have been enjoying mostly sunny, not too hot days and cool nights for the last couple of weeks. After leaving Missoula, Montana, we stayed at a nice RV park in St. Regis, Montana. St. Regis is along interstate 90, in the far western part of Montana, near the Idaho border. We enjoyed the area very much – nothing around but mountains and pine trees and plenty of hiking. The RV park was very nice, but crowded over the 4th of July. Not surprising I guess, but it was a little busier than we would have liked. But the weather there was great – needed the furnace in the early mornings, it was so cool. Then sunny and pleasant in the afternoons. We got in a few really nice hikes in the area, I have pictures and some short videos in the link here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/64zqoNqdqDsPrWiaA I hope the videos work, I’m never too sure about that!

After St. Regis, we moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the panhandle. We have never been to this part of the state before, and we’ve been enjoying exploring. Our RV park is average, not great but is waterfront, which is nice. Its a very large RV park (182 sites) and we are very far in the back, no water view for us. The Spokane River runs into Lake Coeur d’Alene, and our RV park is right where river and lake meet. Lake Coeur d’Alene is 50 square miles, very long and narrow. We rented a boat yesterday and toured around, admiring the very nice homes all along the shore. Unfortunately, the weather did not really cooperate – it was cold! We wore sweatshirts and pants, and had a blanket to wrap up in on board, but, I still needed more, so we stopped at a resort along the lake and I bought a sweater to add to my layers and some hot coffee. It is always surprising to me how different things look from the water – a total new perspective.

There’s not a lot of hiking near here, it’s about an hour drive in any direction to be in the mountains. We are enjoying being tourists in the area instead. We’ve sampled some local coffee shops and Gerry got to spend a day at a nice doggy day care while we went boating (he was not allowed on the boat, which was disappointing). We went to the Coeur d’Alene farmer’s market last evening and found tons of great produce and more strawberries and cherries. We have been eating so many strawberries and cherries, it is crazy, but they are soooo good! We love being in the produce growing region, and I think most of our trip will be full of wonderful, fresh, local fruits and veggies. There’s another farmer’s market tomorrow evening, in Spokane, Washington (just about 30 miles west of here) that we plan to go to also. Lots of cooking and baking with all our bounty!

I hear you asking….what about the RV repairs? And what about those stitches in my head??? Happy to report both worked out very well. The RV repairs went very smoothly in Missoula, the guy we found was very good. He adjusted the 2 electric cable slides (the other 2 slides are hydraulic). The cables had become somewhat slack and needed tightening. Kinda like a chain on a bicycle…we hadn’t had a problem yet, but didn’t want to worry about one developing, so he took out the 2 electric slides, they are both in our bedroom, and adjusted the cables. He also replaced the electric water heater element and fixed our living room window latch. So, at the risk of jinxing us by saying this….everything is working perfect in the RV and we feel great about all the maintenance we’ve had done, it is practically brand new again! We do have a running conversation about possibly getting new furniture and carpet put in someday. We’ll see. Right now we still love it and are very comfortable here. Here’s a picture I took just now of us all set up at our RV park in Coeur d’Alane:

And I had the stitches removed from my forehead when we arrived in Coeur d’Alene. They put some type of glue on it and is still covered for a couple more days. So I haven’t gotten a good look at the damage yet, but I’m sure it’s okay. But, to keep things interesting, while we were on our way to have the stitches taken out, a crown broke in half on one of my teeth! So I had to go to the dentist and have a new crown done… 😣 The good news is I really liked the dentist I went to, she was super nice and I was all fixed up in just a few hours. Hoping that’s it for me!!

Here’s some pictures of our time so far in Coeur d’Alene: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CTTKPhYa1Fw6C2Yw7

We leave here in a couple of days, headed to northern Oregon. Will have a report from there for you!

Hello again everyone! So nice to chat again. I’ll bring you up to date on what we’ve been doing and share some pictures of our time here in Montana. We spent 12 days in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish Montana area, near Glacier National Park. We got in several hikes in the area, and also had our friends Don and Patty come visit us along with their two yellow labs, Hunter and Kody. We were so glad to have visitors, and Gerry could hardly contain himself, having two furry friends for a sleepover! The dogs quickly settled in and everyone was comfortable…. 🙂

Don and Patty have a beautiful place in southern Montana that we’ve had the pleasure of visiting several times, and they have taught us so much through the years about being outdoors, hiking and camping. In fact, it’s the time we spent with them, bringing the kids out on vacations and enjoying the Montana wilderness that was a big influence in our decision to experience the great outdoors so much, living in our RV for part of the year. We went on a couple of hikes while they were visiting, and one of them was one of our favorites yet – here’s a link to pictures of that day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aBStwg1Puim4UbpL8

After our friends left, we tried to spend an afternoon driving through Glacier National Park…we only made it 2 miles into the park and turned around and left. Half of the park is closed, so all visitors were crammed into the one half; they were limiting visitors to prevent overcrowding, and so they closed the roads going further into the park. It was a zoo! So many people, nowhere to go, so we left! Luckily, we’ve been there before and had seen most of what there is to see anyhow. So then it was off to our next stop, Missoula, Montana.

We’ve never been to this part of Montana before, so we’ve been excited to explore. Unfortunately, the weather has had other ideas. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, got a very nice hike in on Sunday, and just as we were returning to the RV on Sunday the rain started, and today is Tuesday and it’s still raining. Here’s the view out our window right now:

Has not stopped since Sunday….it’s 50 degrees, dreary and wet, and has been in the low 40s at night. Good sleeping weather, but that’s about it. So we’re catching up on some chores and grocery shopping and we have driven around Missoula a bit to see what there is to see. Here’s pictures from the one hike we have done here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrFpFLh5izJsKY92A

And then there’s the RV repairs….let me give you an update on that. I know I gave you some background in my last post. We scheduled an RV mobile repair for while we are in Missoula, to get the window latch repaired, and to replace the hot water heater electric element (we’ve been using the propane water heater since the electric heater element is burnt out). Well….I noticed yesterday the carpet in the dining area was very wet. The dining area is in a slide…so I went outside to investigate and figured out the slide seal that runs up and down along the slide is kinda bent, and it is letting water run into the underside of the slide room. And the subfloor of the slide room (dining area) is soaking up the water, and soaking up into the carpet. So that got added to the mobile repair list. But, that is not where it ended….I decided I should walk around the RV to look under the other side. So I walked under the “5th wheel” front end of the RV – where the hitch is that hooks into our truck bed. I do this all the time – you just duck under the hitch and don’t have to walk all the way around the RV – well, it was raining, and I had my rain coat on with the hood up, which was blocking part of my view. I couldn’t see the hitch very well, underestimated the amount of ducking to do, and wham! my forehead ran right into the hitch! It did not feel good, and ended up requiring 7 stitches at the nice Missoula urgent care Steve took me to. Yes I’m ok, just a nice bump on my forehead and some stitches that will come out in a few days. 🤕

So the mobile RV guy came out today, looked everything over and is going to repair the slide seal for us on Thursday. Thursday is our moving day, and our next spot is only a couple hours away, so we have a few extra hours and are taking the RV to his shop so it can get replaced. He’s also going to maintenance the cables that operate the 2 bedroom slides – we noticed some of the cables are looking loose and need tightened. And he’ll put in the electric water heater element then too. So much to learn about maintaining an RV, but it’s all good. The carpet will dry easy enough, and we’ll feel good about having the slides maintained. I always learn a lot spending time with these RV repair guys, and from friendly RV neighbors who are ready to help and pass along what they’ve learned.

So there you have it – a rather boring update, but sometimes it’s just every day life stuff out here too. Hoping for better weather as we meander our way west. We’re moving to St. Regis, Montana on Thursday, near the Idaho border. I’ll be sure to give you the report from there!