Author: areeb

July 12, 2021 and then July 16, 2021 and then July 19, 2021

Hello Everyone! (as you can see from the dates, I have been trying to get this done for a little while now….I started writing this in Lander, WY, and now am finishing while in Pinedale, WY. Both are in the Wind River Mountain range, Lander on the east side, Pinedale on the west side of the mountains).

We are currently in Lander, Wyoming, in the Wind River Mountain Range….well, we’re right at the edge of the mountains – what the marketing type folks like to call the “gateway” to the Wind River Mountains! We can see the mountains out our window at the RV park – at least we could when we first arrived. The days have been getting very hazy lately – not sure why. It hasn’t been all that hot – in the 80s, but the last few days have been very hazy. But here’s a picture of the view out our window from a couple of evenings ago:

I have a story to share with you! This might take a minute, so you may want to go get a cup of tea and come back!

I always make reservations ahead of time. We plan out our general route for the season, then I get to work figuring out exact routes, RV parks available, etc. We’re just too big to risk not having a reservation at an RV park that can fit us. I know that takes some of the spontaneity of RV travel, but, it’s a trade off we make for having a larger size 5th wheel with all the comforts of home. Yes, there’s a lot of no reservation, free, very nice national forest service campsites, BLM spots, etc. But typically, if you’re longer than 30 feet, 35 feet max (we’re 43 feet) you can’t fit into any of them. And, many are no hook ups meaning no electric, no water, no sewer. We have a generator, and big holding tanks for fresh water and sewer, so we are equipped to “dry camp”. But our size makes it unpredictable and hard to find appropriate sites. And the idea of not knowing where we’ll end up for the night is stressful to us and takes away from the relaxing enjoyment of our RV life. So, for the most part, other than a few Walmart parking lot nights, we like to have reservations laid out. That’s where this story begins…

We were scheduled into “Green Oasis” campground, in Greybull Wyoming, near the Big Horn mountain range in northern Wyoming. We had not been to that part of the state, and I had read about the Big Horn mountains and it looked beautiful and lots of hiking – our kind of place. I had made reservations in early spring, for a week long stay, and carefully asked about size of campsite and made sure our rig size was known – I always do this, I learned my lesson about that a long time ago on the road to Alaska. A couple of days before we were to leave Spearfish, South Dakota (our first destination after the wedding in Minnesota), Steve asked about where we were staying next. I pulled it up online and we noticed it was a very small campground, and the website was very ….. let’s say ….. undeveloped. Hmm, better call ahead and double check everything. I did, and had a long, very nice, chatty conversation with the lady and she confirmed our size was no problem. Good news! So off we go to Green Oasis in Greybull Wyoming. Beautiful drive through the Big Horn mountains on the way, we went over the “pass” and were excited to have a week of hiking in the area. Until – we start to pull into the campground, which was right on the main street in the very small town of Greybull, and stopped on the street, we couldn’t even pull into the campground without getting stuck. We have learned a few things these 4 years of RVing, and one of them is don’t turn into a place you can’t see a way out of.

Steve goes inside and they tell him, “yup – that one open spot you see back there is for you – it’s a pull through, no problem”. Well. We walked to the spot. It was a very short walk since their 8 campsites were actually in the backyard of their house. There was absolutely NO WAY we could fit in there. I would say the absolute, very biggest, still squeezing in, size rig that would fit there would be about 30 feet. Not our 43 feet. So we cancelled our reservation. They were not happy. We were not happy. It was Friday, July 2. A holiday weekend, 5:00 in the afternoon. And we were parked on the side of the street with no where to go. And trust me, there is not much around Greybull, Wyoming. No Walmart, no rest area, no highway. Just mountains and 2 lane roads. Oh dear.

I start calling every RV park I can find anywhere near. All full. I expand my radius to an hour out. Then 2 hours out. Finally, I found an RV park in Columbus, Montana, just over 2 hours away, with an open site for the night. Hooray! By now it was almost 6:00, I had been calling forever trying to find a place. We can get there before dark if we hurry. The catch – it’s an electric only site, with only 30 amp electric (we are 50 amp). No water or sewer hook up. No problem, they have a water station to fill your fresh water tank upon arrival. So off we go, glad to not be sleeping on the side of the road somewhere.

While I’m making all these phone calls I’m also kicking myself. We have a 100 gallon fresh water tank. We can carry a lot of water. And ours had exactly 0 gallons in it. None. I know better – we should always carry at least a quarter tank of water for emergencies. “What if we don’t find a place and have to stay on the side of the road somewhere and we have no water and can’t make coffee or flush the toilet???? I was sweating. Did I mention it was about 90 degrees still even at 6:00 pm? So the 30 amp electric only site that we can use their dirty hose at the water filling station to get some water was most welcome. I guess it’s all a matter of context, right?

So, just to top things off, after we get there, luckily right before the office closed, and we got our tank filled with the water-from-the-dirty-hose-used-to-also-spray-down-the-sewer-dumping-station (yikes!, but we have double water filters and we were desparate) – we asked the guy if he could help us back into our site (of course it was a very tight back in site – that was the kinda day we were having). Sure no problem he says. So he starts giving Steve directions like “turn your wheel to the right – no wait, I meant to the left – no wait – maybe it should be to the right”. I think his holiday weekend had started a little early and he was struggling – just what we needed! Then, thank goodness, a kind neighbor saw what was happening and took over giving directions and we managed to get into our spot. But wait, then fun is not over yet! Steve goes to hook up the electric, and our 50 to 30 amp converter is missing! Can’t find it, even though we know we have one and have used it on this trip! So off Steve goes to try to find one before everything in the very small town of Columbus, Montana closes. The 3rd place he went to had one and the day was saved. We can run one air conditioner (we have 2) on 30 amps, and we can also turn on lights and use the coffee maker. Much more than that we will blow the circuit. Air conditioning and coffee, who needs more than that???

So where does the “happy” in this mess come in, I hear you asking? Lucky for us, our friends Don and Patty live about 45 minutes away, on a beautiful ranch that we love to visit. You will remember them from previous blog posts. They have welcomed us and our kids numerous times to their lovely home and it is those experiences years ago that inspired us to venture out to the great outdoors in an RV in the first place. We let them know we were unexpectedly in the area and they welcomed us (and Gerry!) to come for a visit. And, the campground was able to give us our spot for 5 nights, and I was able to get us into our next spot a couple days early, so the week was saved.

We found an absolutely perfect hike near Red Lodge, Montana that we loved. We spent a couple of days with our friends and Gerry had a blast on the ranch, hanging with their dogs and the horses and cows. We walked their property which is beautiful and we also hiked an all time favorite – the Sioux Charley. We like this area and had fun exploring it more. So it all worked out! And it is great being able to “go with the flow” and just enjoy where we are. After ensuring we have coffee and water to flush the toilets, of course!!!

Here’s pictures from our hike near Red Lodge – it was in the 90s when we started. Then a couple hours into the hike, we got rain, then hail! It created the most magical, surreal beauty! https://photos.app.goo.gl/SPP1RgrZ1efo84x4A

Here’s some pictures of our time with Don and Patty: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hWMrbWeByR85xt5W9

And here’s a round up of pictures from our time in Lander, Wyoming and Pinedale, Wyoming, in the Wind River Mountains. While here we celebrated our 34th (!) wedding anniversary, and my birthday. We really enjoyed both places and will put them on our list of “visit again” spots. We did a lot of hiking, and some touristy things too which was fun. We even got to do a few miles on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), which is always a highlight for me – the Green River Lakes trail (pictures are in link below) connected to a small portion of the CDT.

Long Lake Hike (Pinedale, WY): https://photos.app.goo.gl/pV57ZaekwunXpEoZ8

West Fork of Stough Creek (Lander, WY): https://photos.app.goo.gl/NXjVb6qbMeVfTUVL7

Pitchfork Fondue – my birthday dinner! (Pinedale, WY): https://photos.app.goo.gl/i5oNe7EAe9Vkmo256

Lander and Pinedale, WY: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JFBsV5LRWq3sZfvJ9

Green River Lakes Hike, Pinedale Wyoming: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8KwFV1PfuhMTvTo36

Tomorrow we’re off to the Idaho side of the Grand Tetons. We’ll be just about 40 miles from Jackson Hole, but hopefully out of the crowds by being on the Idaho side of the Tetons. A couple of years ago we visited the Grand Tetons from the Wyoming side. The National Park was busy then, and I’m sure it’s even more so now. We probably won’t go into the park again this time, rather we’ll explore the area all around the park. And, Steve has a big birthday coming up later this week (70!). We’re looking forward to spending it exploring a new place and being together in the mountains! Life Is Good!!

June 26, 2021

Well, it’s official…..Guy and Katelyn are married! Wow! It’s almost impossible to believe how good life can be sometimes. Katelyn is warm, kind, caring, beautiful and Guy is head over heals in love with her. They are a perfect match. The wedding was a beautiful event, small and intimate, with about 38 guests. They wanted a small wedding from the beginning, the idea of a big event with lots of people was overwhelming to them. So they planned a beautiful, very personal, ceremony and dinner celebration. It could not have been better.

We moved the RV to a new (to us) RV park – Lebanon Hills Regional Park – a county park, in a suburb on the southern side of the Twin Cities. We really enjoyed it, lots of grass, trails to walk Gerry and campfires allowed. And it was much closer to all the wedding activities than Crystal Springs. We’ll be back to this park again for sure, assuming we can get reservations. They go fast. I got lucky this spring and happened upon the website on the “opening day” of reservations. They were full within a couple of hours for the entire season!

Samantha flew in from Denver and stayed with us in the new RV and Gerry was delighted! Stephanie and Matt opted for a hotel for their get-away-with-no-children visit and Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Laura and Brooke also flew in and stayed at a hotel. Was great having family visit and to share some of our favorite spots around the Twin Cities with them. We rarely get to have all the kids together anymore, with all three of them living in different cities all over the country – what a joy it was to all be together again!

I find myself at a loss of words (I know! Who would think….?!!) about all the feelings and emotions watching Guy and Katelyn be married. Happy. Amazed at how perfect they are together. Tears of joy (there were lots!). Proud. Can’t wait to watch them grow together. Our hearts are full!

We left a couple of days after the wedding to begin our journey west. We stopped in Sioux Falls, SD to tend to a few residency matters. Yes! I forgot to mention in my last post – we are now residents of South Dakota! We are not in Ohio long enough to be required to claim it as our residence, and South Dakota makes it easy to become a resident. And, taxes are much better – so we changed our residency this spring! Until we decide where to live if/when we decide we’re done with the RV life, this works. I had read about many full time RVers making South Dakota their state of residency and did some research, and it turns out it was right for us too.

I’m writing this post in a very nice RV park in Spearfish, South Dakota – Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort. In the Black Hills region. We arrived yesterday, and plan to get our hiking legs under us with a couple of hikes, lots of naps (we are tired!) and generally relax. And soak in the wonder of life – which is very good, indeed.

The photographer provided a few “sneak peak” photos – we can’t wait to see them all!

And in the link below are some photos we took at the wedding – enjoy! https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Xud8KPg11FrhXyw7

June 15, 2021

Hello, Hello, Hello!

It is so good to be sitting at my RV dining table writing another blog post! Seems like it has been a very long time since last doing this. We are at one of our favorite spots, Crystal Springs RV Resort in southern Minnesota. It’s a small RV park, on 40 acres with a beautiful lake and lots of walking paths. A perfect spot to relax and regroup after a very busy few weeks. Gerry is snoozing on the bed and Steve is off at the gym working out. Everyone is in their happy place!

So much to share, so let’s get started!

First things first – Guy and Katelyn are getting married (!!) in 6 days! It will be a small wedding in the Twin Cities area. We are so happy! I’ll give you a nice wedding update after, and I’m sure there will be a picture or two to share as well!

We bought a new RV! And a new Truck! We purchased the same brand, DRV Mobile Suites, but a different floor plan. Our new floor plan is called 41RKDB. The big difference is that it’s 2 feet longer (a big deal in RVs) and the kitchen is in the rear, instead of in the middle. We still have the full bath with 2 sinks (a must have in my opinion) and also a half bath. The living area is larger and it’s all done in a more modern style. We love it. Of course we’ve had a few issues with it and have spent the last few weeks dealing with that and we took it back to the dealership in Elkhart, IN a couple of weeks before we left Ohio and they completed our list of repairs. Mostly it’s a bunch of small things. The big thing was the paint and body work that needed to be done. Of course, there’s a story to that!

We picked up our shiny new RV the end of April in Elkhart, IN, at the dealer. We spent the night there, trying to use everything and identify our “punch list” of things needing to be tended to. We came up with a list of minor things. Then, we drove back to our storage unit in Ohio, to store it until we were ready to head out in early June. Well, Steve backed it into the storage unit like a pro, no problem! We stood there and looked at the 16 foot overhead garage door and said – “hmmm, is that going to clear? Looks like it might not clear – ” we double checked to be sure we were backed up all the way in the storage unit – yup, we were. We knew our previous RV was a tight fit, with little spare room. I had asked during the purchase/ordering process back in November, what the length of this new RV would be. It was a brand new floor plan, and I was told – “TBD, but should be same as your current model”. So….we close the overhead door and guess what? Our new RV is 22″ longer than our old one, we now know! And the overhead door scraped all the way down and then all the way back up again. So paint and bodywork got added to the “fix it” list!

Then there’s the new truck – and it’s a beautiful one I must say. But, we had not planned to purchase a new truck this year. The dealership we purchased the RV from called one day, making arrangements for our pick up date and closing of the purchase, and said they required documentation showing the towing capacity of our truck. No problem we say. We have a big truck – a RAM 3500 dually diesel with a super duty Cummins diesel engine. It took some figuring out, but we found out how to get your “official” towing capacity – you use your VIN at the RAM website. Ours was 18,400. WHAT? That cannot be right. We have been towing 24,000 pounds. It was right. We have been towing, with our very first truck and this second one, way under capacity of what we should have been. We Had No Idea. Towing capacity is not listed on the window sticker. It is not in your users manual. The only way to get it is with the VIN on the RAM website. Turns out there are a million things that effect your towing capacity – ratios, axles, tires, a bunch of stuff I’m not going to remember. So, for the first 2 trucks we had purchased, even though we sat with the sales guys and told them what we used it for and what towing capacity we needed, and were assured “this truck can tow anything”, and the RAM brochures list the MAX towing capacity that MAY be possible if everything was built just exactly to those specs, we now know we have been driving around for the last 4 years in 2 different trucks, way under sized.

I guess there’s 2 ways to look at it: maybe towing capacity is not that important, we pulled our RV through the mountains, for lots of miles, and didn’t have any problem or – OMG we are so lucky we didn’t blow out our transmission and haven’t been stranded on the side of some lonely mountain road or worse, blew the engine, lost control and killed ourselves and everyone around us. We were in the latter camp!

The dealership we bought the new RV from required documentation of sufficient towing capacity or else they would not sell you the RV. Can not drive off their lot with out proof of towing capacity. Makes sense to us. Makes us wonder why that conversation never happened when we purchased our first RV at a different dealership. We were thankful to learn this lesson this way, and not any of the the other possible, terrible ways it could be learned. And, we bought a new truck! And, we found out it is not easy to find one with the higher towing capacity. They don’t make that many of them. And, many of the truck sales people we talked to didn’t know how to find the actual towing capacity of the trucks they were selling. And, it was much more expensive. We thought our other 2 trucks were expensive. We didn’t know we were buying the “cheap” low towing capacity version. Now we do.

When I think about all the things we’ve learned these past 4 years about trucks, RVs, wheels, electrical systems, water systems, etc (if you have ready very many of these blog posts you know some of these stories!) it really is pretty amazing. And we keep on learning!

Since we had to have the repairs done to the RV before we left Ohio for our season of travel, we took the RV back to the dealership in Elkhart, IN 2 weeks before we were leaving Ohio. Then, we had movers come and put all our apartment stuff into storage, and we rented a U Haul to put all the RV stuff into and we drove our truck and the U Haul to Elkhart to get the RV when the repairs were done. So then, we had to move all our stuff from the U Haul into the new RV while at the dealership. And it was 93 and 1000% humidity that day. And then we hit the road! Except we hit rush hour traffic around Chicago – that was not fun. But alas, we made it to our spot at Crystal Springs RV Resort as planned.

So that’s my update for now, and the launch to a new season of RV travel and adventures. I’m happy we get to make it up as we go along! Steve is moving more and more into retirement and has made some big decisions related to work recently. And, he will be turning 70 in a few weeks (oh my!). I’m sure I’ll have lots to share about that as well.

Transitions, new beginnings, new chapters, new adventures. Life is Good.

November 11, 2020

Hello there and howdy! We are back in Columbus, I am sitting in the RV writing this post amidst the unpacking, move-out-of-the-RV mess. There’s just no way around it – living in the RV for half the year means moving everything in and then back out again…I’m not complaining! In fact, I am moving at a snail’s pace, managing to spread this task out over several days. I think it’s my way to extend the time I get to spend in the RV…. 😊

We are always happy to be back in Columbus to visit and catch up with everyone. And Steve has work to do. But, we are sorely missing our mountains and hiking! Since my last post, we spent time in Angel Fire, NM. A favorite spot, this was our third year there. And then it was on to the Denver area, for a visit with Samantha. Wonderful visit and love that our RV life allows us to go visit the kids so easily.

We had quite a bit of snow in Angel Fire. The campground is at 8,400 feet, and after a few days of beautiful fall weather, we had 2 days of snow. We think we got around 8 – 10″. We got out and hiked in the beautiful snowy landscape and loved it. And, we got lucky and woke up one morning to a herd of Elk in the meadow right outside our back window. Each year we’ve been to Angel Fire (this was 3rd year), we’ve had these Elk show up in the meadow. This year, one cold morning after the snow fall, there was a fog sitting over the meadow. As the fog lifted with the sunshine, there were 200-300 Elk in the meadow! They stayed until the next day, then they moved on. We never tired of watching them out the window. Here’s a couple of pictures out the window. They do not do it justice, as always:

We visited Taos several times, it is only about 30 minutes away, and it’s a beautiful drive through a canyon to get there. We love the quirky, earthy, unique vibe of Taos. As much as we love exploring new places, we also love going back to these favorites each year. It’s familiar and comforting going back to places we love like Taos.

Then it was on to Denver to visit Samantha! We had a great visit and love seeing her so happy with her life in Colorado. We had great weather there, very warm for late October-early November. We got in a couple hikes, but mostly hung out with Samantha and enjoyed time together. Gerry was so happy to have “sister” with us again! He knows the word “sister” and I had to be careful not to say it too soon. He immediately begins looking for Samantha and has run away before looking for her when I’ve made the mistake of saying it too soon!

Then it was time to head east to begin our drive back to Ohio. But, just to keep things interesting – after our first night on “the road back to Ohio”, when getting ready to leave our campsite somewhere in Kansas – Steve noticed our one tire on the RV looking extremely worn again. You’ll remember we have had ongoing problems with this wheel/tire on the RV. We had all new tires put on in May, before leaving Ohio, and, we had this one tire replaced during our trip already this summer. And now here it was again, excessively worn and we weren’t comfortable continuing to drive on it. So, I get on my phone and discover we are only a couple of miles from a big truck tire place, call them up and the nice guy says “come right over, we have what you need in stock we’ll do it right away”. So off we go to the tire place in the middle of Kansas. Super nice people, they have us on our way in about an hour.

Looking forward to catching up with family and friends this winter. Then it will be back on the road again in the spring!

October 24, 2020

Hello, Hello! Greetings from New Mexico! We arrived Angel Fire, NM a few days ago. One of our very favorite places to stay. But more on that later – right now I want to share with you our wonderful visit we had with Guy and Katelyn in Santa Fe.

They had never been to New Mexico before, and it was so fun sharing one of our favorite places with them. We had great weather (they have 325 days a year of sunshine there!) and a nice spot at the RV park we like to stay in there. So we had a perfect home base for our visit.

There is so much to do in Santa Fe – the museums, the historic Plaza with it’s shops and restaurants, hiking in the near by mountains, and our favorite – the Farmer’s Market! We did it all! We also love the adobe architecture of the area, it really feels like you’re in a different part of the world. And it fits the landscape perfectly. Santa Fe is just beautiful to look at and be in. We soaked up as much of it as we could!

We also visited with Steve’s high school friend, Chris, and her husband, Bob, again while there. It’s so nice to be able to visit with folks who we probably wouldn’t get to see if not living this RV life of ours. Chris gave us a very nice personal tour of the Museum of International Folk Art, where she works. We had visited it before, but we learned so much more when touring with her. It’s an amazing museum, and I highly recommend it if you visit Santa Fe.

We got outside and hiked twice with Guy and Katelyn, up in the mountains with some fall color still there. We missed the peak color, but we really enjoyed the golden aspens that were still there. I know I say this every year, but there is something magical about being in the golden light of the sun shining through the golden aspens. Guy and Katelyn loved them too, and we had picnic lunches on our hikes in the trees. My definition of heaven on earth – in the mountains, eating lunch in the golden aspens with our loved ones. Really – Life Is Good!

During one of our visits to the historic Plaza area, we stopped and talked to 2 Native Americans (turns out they were father and daughter, named Okhuwa P’ing and Khuu Ay, from the Santa Clara Pueblo) who were selling pottery they made. It is called “black on black” pottery for the style it is. They shared with us how it is made – they do not use a potter’s wheel – it is all hand shaped. Then it is fired outside in a wood fire, then smothered with horse manure to block the oxygen. Beautiful pieces, and we purchased a couple of items. During our conversation, Guy mentioned he and Katelyn were getting married next year. When we were leaving, Okhuwa P’ing called us back, and he gave Guy and Katelyn a beautiful, handmade Dream Catcher as a wedding gift. He spoke to them about the meaning of the Dream Catcher, and the 2 feathers on it. He gave them blessings for a long life together. It was incredibly personal and very meaningful. What a special person he is, and we are so fortunate for getting to spend time with him and his daughter. I don’t think any of us will forget the experience. Here’s a picture of Guy and Katelyn with their Dream Catcher:

We loved showing the kids the Farmer’s Market. They love farmer’s markets like we do, and go often back home in Minnesota. I know I’ve gushed on about the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market in posts from years past. But really! It is something special! It was a little smaller this year, and there were no performances going on like there usually are (dances, music). But it was still incredible and we of course bought so much fresh produce and food we could hardly fit it into our fridge and freezer!

You’ll notice we quickly adopted our New Mexico look again, with our hats…and we got Katelyn in on the look too! Still working on Guy….. 🙂

Of course, the time spent together went by way too fast. But we enjoyed every minute of it and are so glad they were able to come visit. We love our RV life and sharing it with loved ones makes it all the more special. Life Is Good, indeed. Here’s pictures of our visit – enjoy! https://photos.app.goo.gl/xxky18Z3j3GsNQZF8

October 12, 2020

Howdy folks! And happy fall! My favorite time of the year, especially when we are in Aspen country (and we are, now). We arrived Santa Fe today, our 3rd year in a row spending time here in October. But that will be for another post. Right now I’m going to update you on our past couple of weeks.

So you know we were supposed to go to the Redwoods National Park when my brother and his wife were visiting, and we had to change those plans. Well, we were also scheduled to go to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Both ended up closing due to fires in the area. So….we had to make a new plan. We’ve never been to either Yosemite or Sequoia. We hear Yosemite is a must see. We also know it is always crowded and you know how we already have a love/hate relationship with national parks. So we honestly we were not all that disappointed to change our plans. We’ll get there someday, I suppose. Meanwhile, we re-routed ourselves through Mt. Shasta, California (really liked it, will go back someday) and then on to the Lake Tahoe area (same – really liked it, will go back someday). So it all worked out. That really is one of the great things about traveling this way, we can be flexible and change plans when we need or want to.

So we still got to see some of northern California, and new places we had never been. And, it was SO GOOD getting back into the mountains. After several weeks on the Oregon coast, we really were anxious for some mountain hikes, and we found them! We had a little smoke in the skies while in California, but nothing terrible. You’ll see in some of the pictures the sky is a little hazy. And guess what?? The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) goes right through the Lake Tahoe area, so one of our hikes was on part of the PCT. You might remember we hiked part of the PCT while in Oregon too. I just love getting my feet onto these historic, cross country trails, even if it’s just for a few miles. All that good energy there to soak up!

Mt. Shasta was a very cute little mountain town. It has a reputation for having good energy (similar to Sedona), so I planned our stay there to be over the fall Equinox. They were just beginning to re-open the national forest areas while we were there, and several areas were closed still, but we were able to find a beautiful hike. It’s an area that we would like to spend more time in, and explore more.

The Lake Tahoe area was very beautiful too. We stayed right on the Nevada/California boarder. In fact, half the RV park was in Nevada, half was in California! And, the RV park was associated with a casino, and they had a building on the property that sold both Nevada and California lottery tickets. We kept seeing a lot of cars in the parking lot of this building and couldn’t figure out why – then someone told us it was a lottery sales place, and they had a line of tape down the middle – one side sold Nevada lottery tickets and the other side sold California lottery tickets!

We really enjoyed the whole area. We drove around the entire lake (about 75 miles). It has lots of little villages and towns all around, each with a different personality. We had fun being tourists some days, doing some shopping and going out to dinner a couple of times. There were so many hikes in the area it was almost overwhelming to pick a few out. We loved all the hikes we did – but we found an area (the Mt. Rose Wilderness), on the Nevada side of the lake, that had beautiful hikes around a couple of creeks, and with shade. Gerry just can’t handle the sun and needs a creek or stream to get into with the heat. So we spent a few days hiking that area. You’ll see lots of pictures in the link below.

Then we moved on to Sedona. We were there 2 years ago and loved it, and decided to route ourselves through there again, on our way to Santa Fe. Wow. We remembered we liked Sedona. We remembered it was beautiful. But wow – when you come around the bend in the road and see all those red rocks again….pictures and memories do not do it justice. We loved being there again, even for just a few days, and it was a good reminder of how much we like it – and we plan to spend more time there at some point.

I have to tell you a little story about one hike we did in Sedona – Boynton Canyon. It’s a lovely, 6 – 6.5 mile hike, all through a canyon (thus the name!). We had done the hike when we were in Sedona 2 years ago, and my sister, Laura visited. You long time readers of my blog will remember how there was a guy playing the flute on top of a big red rock back then…well guess what?! He was there this time too! When we arrived for our hike, in the morning, he wasn’t there, and we figured he wasn’t doing it any more. But, when we were almost back at the end of our hike, we could hear the flute playing in the distance – so we hurried down the side trail to where he was. He saw us coming, rushing up the trail, and I think he added a couple of songs to his play time to let us get up to the area to sit and listen. It was wonderful! And we were able to talk to him after, and he gave us each heart rocks he carves out of the red rocks again! We had received heart rocks last time also, and one of ours had broken (fell off the dresser in the RV while we were bouncing around on some road somewhere). He is a very inspirational guy, and it was very special to us to hear him play again. And we are thrilled to have the heart rocks! Here’s a short video of him playing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fcZYx9tq6iU9ptMC7 Really – does it get any better than that??

We have had absolutely beautiful weather for several weeks now. We’ve done as many hikes as we can fit in every where we’ve been, and I have lots of pictures for you. And, we are settling in to our digs in Santa Fe – we love it here! And…Guy and Katelyn arrive in a couple days for a visit (Yay!!) so I’m busy cooking and prepping for that. I’ll have lots to share after their visit, I’m sure.

So enjoy the pictures, and I hope you are able to get outside and enjoy some fall weather where ever you are!

Mt Shasta, California: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7nogdP2NVt51MYFr8

Lake Tahoe Area: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fea3M9KP1gzj8DuEA

Sedona, Arizona: https://photos.app.goo.gl/JfvxxZi9EMxd93zv6

October 4, 2020

Hello again everyone! Wow. Do you believe it is early October already??? It does not seem possible. The days and weeks are flying by in a blur. Grab a cup of tea and let’s get caught up….it’s been awhile!

I mentioned my brother Danny and my sister-in-law Christine were visiting us in Oregon, at Bay Point Landing, just outside Coos Bay, Oregon. They had a cabin at the RV resort, just a short walk from our RV, right on the water. Very nice. Then, the plan was to move after a week to Klamath, CA, near the Redwoods National Park. After much discussion and talking to the RV park in Klamath, we decided to cancel that part of the trip, and we all stayed another week at Bay Point Landing in Oregon. The fires were fairly close by Klamath, CA, and, all of the national forest lands were shut down due to fire threat, so no hiking in that area. And, the one road that went from Klamath to the airport they were scheduled to fly out of was closed due to a fire. So, it seemed prudent to not go there. We were all disappointed to not get to Redwoods National Park, but it will have to wait for another time. So we settled in where we were and had a lovely time. It is absolutely wonderful having them come visit again – you may remember they also visited us last summer in Colorado. We are so glad to spend this time together, the fun of exploring and experiencing new things is all the more special when shared.

We spent our time enjoying several of the beautiful beaches, and even took a side trip to the southern most part of the Oregon coast, and rented a cabin for a night near Port Orford, Oregon. The Oregon coast is stunning there – we found the southern coast the most beautiful and least crowded. Here’s pictures from our “side trip” to the southern coast: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRneeumzekbX2bAu7

One big adventure we did was renting ATVs and hitting the Oregon Dunes for a day. Wow – that was quite the experience! Oregon’s central coast has giant sand dunes that run for 42 miles along the coast. All kinds of ATV rental places around and basically you just go out and run around any part of the dunes you want. There’s no real roads or trails through the dunes. I was a little afraid at first, then I got over it and enjoyed it a lot! Steve drove our ATV, and Danny drove theirs. Here’s some pictures of that adventure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WyMExHvbYQSujGWA8

Don’t they look like professionals???!!!

The 2 weeks they were visiting just flew by. We loved just spending time together, cooking, watching the waves on the beaches, relaxing, talking. Really, there’s nothing better than just being together and sharing time in a beautiful place. Even though we had to change our plans up a bit, everything was perfect. Isn’t that what it’s all about, after all? And even though we “live on wheels” sometimes staying put is what is best. Taking time to enjoy right where we are.

Pictures are worth a thousand words….and pictures don’t begin to capture the fun and love shared. Here’s my attempt to sum it all up in pictures – enjoy! https://photos.app.goo.gl/TzzEUe7GN5q3KKKL7

September 10, 2020

Howdy everyone! First, let me apologize for my slightly grouchy last post! We had just gone through the long ordeal of squeezing into our too small RV site and I think the stress of that was still hanging around when I wrote the last post….SORRY!! And you know what? That spot ended up being one of our favorites! We really enjoyed the campground and the location was perfect. The campground was located on a bay, and there were seals out on a sandbar in the bay everyday. How can that be bad?? And, right before we left, we had a neighbor trying to get into the spot next door to us, and had the same problem we did – almost went into the culvert ditch. We noticed a few guys standing around outside, watching, but no one was helping this poor couple struggling to get into their spot. And they were blocking traffic on the road, just like we did. So – Steve went out and helped the guy out. He told the guy to go around the block like we did, and come in and back in, just like we had to, there’s just no way to pull through if you have a big rig in these spots. So they went around the block, and then were trying to back into the spot, but were having trouble. So Steve is giving directions about how to back up, which way to turn the wheel and he got him in! Yes, the same Steve who always is hoping someone will come help him when he has to back up, was able to help someone else do it! And, don’t you know, the very next day, when we moved to our new spot, which was a back in spot, our neighbor there came straight out and guided Steve in. He was a retired trucker – love those guys, they are always so helpful! What goes around comes around….. 😊

We have thoroughly enjoyed the central Oregon coast. It is magnificently beautiful! I was a little worried when we were on the northern part of the coast – it was pretty, but not as spectacular as I was expecting. But once we got to the central coast – WOW! We have been meandering our way south along the coast, moving 40 – 60 miles at a time. We love the dense forests, covered in ferns and moss, and the rocky coast. It’s great to just explore and be out in it!

Our current spot, just outside Coos Bay is very nice. We have a direct, right-on-the-water spot. Yes, a back in spot, and the nice campground host guy helped Steve back it in! Here’s a picture out our back window of our current spot in Coos Bay, Oregon:

And here’s a picture out our back window in another RV site we had a couple weeks ago:

Waldport, Oregon. McKinnley’s RV Park

A video of Seals we watched while having lunch a couple of weeks ago: (hope this link works!!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Uncsgsr2i9AbwhcAA They were so fun to watch, and loud!

I’m going to make this a short post…my brother Dan and my sister-in-law Christine are here visiting (yeah!! so happy they are here!!). But I wanted to get you some pictures of our exploring the central Oregon coast. I’ll have a nice long post of all the fun things we’re doing with them later, and will have lots of pictures to share, I’m sure. Just to keep things interesting, our laptop decided to crash about a week ago. I spent about 2 days trying to figure it out, getting help from friends back home, to no avail. So, luckily, we have a Staples close by, and we purchased a new laptop. They had a great Tech Support service and they were able to recover our data files from the old laptop and transfer to the new one. They also helped get the new laptop set up for me which was great, since I’m no good at that kinda stuff. Anyhow, I’m learning my new laptop while writing this post!

A quick update about the fires – we’ve received a lot of calls and inquiries about how the fires are affecting us…the quick answer is they are not impacting us very much, at least not yet. We had one day a couple of days ago, with a lot of smoke and ash, and it was dark as night outside by 6:00 in the evening. Very weird. But otherwise, we’ve only had a little smoke in the air, and it hasn’t stopped us from doing things we want. I’ve called ahead to our next spot, which will be in Klamath, California, right by the Redwoods National Park, and they are reporting some smoke in the area, but not a lot. Seems we should be able to move down there in a couple days as planned with no problem. I’ll keep you up to date as things progress!

Enjoy the pictures! (and there’s also one video in this album, trying to capture some of the crashing waves!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/FeZDvyuwXYVdXWYS9

August 19, 2020

Howdy everyone! Another update for you, grab a cup of tea and let’s catch up! Last time I wrote you we had moved to Silverton, Oregon, and we were enjoying all the produce of the region. We also did a couple small hikes in the area, there really wasn’t a lot of hiking around. We had to get a tire on the RV replaced before we left Silverton. Yes, our RV tires were just all replaced right before we left Ohio in early June. We are still getting excessive tire wear on the curb side (passenger side) front tire on the RV. We had the axles aligned before we left too. Our best guess is that the axles are out of alignment again, or something is defective with that axle to keep causing the tire wear. Anyhow, Steve noticed the tire was very worn and we didn’t want to keep driving with it that way. So we found a place that could replace it for us and we stopped there on our way out of Silverton. They didn’t have a waiting room, we just sat in the truck, they changed the tire with the RV hitched up. About an hour, then we were on our way!

Seems tires are our thing these days! Here’s some more pictures from the rest of our time in Silverton. We drove around through the orchards which were really interesting to see (and we got more fruit!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/UzfhyXgxPT7UoPHD8

We left Silverton and moved to Astoria, Oregon. Astoria is in the very northwest corner of Oregon, on the coast, where the Columbia River begins. We enjoyed several days in Astoria, then moved to Long Beach, Washington, which is just north, still on the coast. We were in Long Beach for 9 or 10 days, and arrived at our current spot, in Netarts, Oregon just yesterday. I’ll give you the run down of our last couple of weeks in Astoria and Long Beach.

Astoria was a nice little city…right on the coast, and some commercial fishing operations there. We also visited the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park there – the museum was closed, but they had a replica of Fort Clatsop there, and a few people dressed in period clothing, doing live demonstrations of what life was like back when Lewis and Clark were there. They built Fort Clatsop as their winter home during the expedition in 1805. It’s amazing what they did and was fun to learn more about how they lived off the land. Pictures of Fort Clatsop: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aNL3jgC9D6zCNwrj6

We went on one hike – there’s a state park not too far away – Ecola State Park – it has some very nice hiking trails, and is part of the Coastal Mountain range. But it was SUPER muddy! The forest was very dense and damp, even though it had not rained for several days, I think it is always wet in there. Made the hiking difficult with all the sinking into the mud. But the forest was beautiful, heavy with moss and ferns, and a few spots we could see through the trees to the Pacific ocean. Never a bad day when we’re out in the forest! Hike pictures here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cMMqwPwQHDh4LFTG6

We also spent an afternoon in Cannon Beach. Love it there!! Three years ago, when on our way home from Alaska, we stopped in Cannon Beach and loved it, which is the main reason we are here this summer, spending so much time in Oregon. We have been hoping to find more coastal towns like Cannon Beach. It is a cute little town (touristy, but in a good way), with beautiful coast views everywhere. Cannon Beach pictures here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZGKTxoP7dbP7zezo6

Otherwise, our time in Astoria was pretty uneventful – a good Farmer’s Market, some good grocery stores in the area, and there was tons of seafood available. Steve is eating his way through the state! I’m doing my fair share too, trust me – but he is the seafood lover! I love the fresh fish and we’ve had lots of it on our grill for dinner. But he’s eating his way through all the oysters, clams, crab, smoked fish, you name it. 🙂 Here’s some more pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zqUwGWzCZdALyHSX6

We moved from Astoria, across THE BRIDGE to Long Beach, Washington. It’s on a small peninsula on the very southern tip of Washington. In a word, our time in Long Beach was….disappointing. If you look at it on a map, you may think, as I did….ocean on one side, bay on the other….a little town on the peninsula called Oysterville….how can it be bad??? Well….it wasn’t really bad, it was just disappointing. First, I have to tell you the story of THE BRIDGE:

There’s this big bridge that connects Astoria, Oregon to the Long Beach, Washington peninsula. We saw this bridge 3 years ago when we made a couple of stops in Washington and Oregon on our way back from Alaska. Back then, we drove the 2 hours around to avoid using THE BRIDGE. Steve does not like heights, especially if he is driving and he can see over the edge. This bridge is very high for part of it, then it slopes down, near the water, for about half of it. All together, it’s 4.1 miles long. Here’s a picture of THE BRIDGE:

Here’s where the bridge then slopes down by the water

So, for the week we spent in Astoria, Steve kept looking at THE BRIDGE. We decided we would drive around and not do THE BRIDGE…we have plenty of time, why do that to ourselves, we asked? Then, when the moving day came, he decided he wanted to do it…and we did! He was really nervous, but all was good. In the end, we drove back and forth across THE BRIDGE several times during our stay. I don’t think he would say it is his favorite thing to do, but, he did it!

Our RV park in Long Beach, WA was really not very nice. Super small sites, all crammed in, no landscaping or anything to try to look nice. We couldn’t put out our awnings without hitting the guy next door. The people on the other side of us had a fire one night in their fire pit, which was literally right under our window. I was afraid the paint was going to peel away on our RV from the heat! Not to mention we had to close our windows to keep the smoke out. Ugh. It happens sometimes, not all RV parks are nice, try as I do to find good ones. But, it was right on the ocean – we just walked through some sand dunes and were right on a big beach (it was 28 miles long, they say it is the longest beach in the US). We walked every day on the beach which was great. It was never super warm – always a jacket or sweatshirt for me, Steve managed a couple of times without a sweatshirt, but it was mostly around 69 or 70 degrees and windy. Actually perfect weather, with cool nights too. But, the weird thing about the beach – they allow cars to drive on it! We had never seen this before. There are several entrance points where cars, jeeps, trucks, you name it – enter the beach. Then they drive up and down instead of walking! We actually saw several cars driving, with their dog(s) running behind them, instead of walking their dogs. Yikes! So when you’re walking like we were, with Gerry, you have to constantly be on the lookout for cars and trucks coming from behind you and in front of you. And depending on the tide, it could be pretty narrow. This really made no sense to us and really took away from enjoying the beach. People would bring their vehicles, set up camp for the day next to their car. Others would just cruise up and down the beach. Here’s a couple pictures (not very good but you’ll get the idea):

Dodging cars on the beach!

So….”what about Oysterville”, I hear you asking. We read in a brochure that 1 in every 4 oysters eaten in the US is from Willabay (where Oysterville is located). Well…we went the first time, it was closed. Found out they were only open Friday-Sunday. Oysterville is about a dozen homes, and one seafood shop where you can buy oysters and sit on their deck to eat them. So we went back on Saturday. Guess what??? No Oysters in Oysterville!!! They had a sign up that said the water was too warm and harvest was not possible. So you could buy pre-made, packaged clam chowder (yuck) or some berry jams. That was it! It was a cute little place, and a nice location on the bay. But no oysters for Steve that day!

All in all, we made the most of our time there, walking the beach every day and enjoying the sunshine. We found a Farmer’s Market nearby too which helps. But we weren’t sad when moving day arrived! It’s all part of the grand adventure, and we always have fun and enjoy where we are one way or the other. And the less than great places are still wonderful because we’re out in our RV, enjoying life and exploring together. And that’s what really matters! Pictures here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6R5kasK3hBeJiPn86

So we’re getting settled into our new spot in Netarts Bay, Oregon. I’ll have an update for you from here, I’m sure. It is a very, very tight RV park (are you sensing a theme, here!). In fact, getting into our actual parking spot yesterday afternoon took over an hour. And the manager had to come help us. And we were blocking the street with our RV for awhile, while traffic backed up. Yes, loads of fun! And the drive through space we reserved turned out to only be drive-through-able if you were a small rig. Oh wait…I hear you asking…didn’t they know how big we were before they gave us that spot??? Yes! When I made the reservation, and again, one week before we arrived, when I called ahead to inquire again (based on what we have been experiencing with small, cramped campgrounds) – went over our size, length, etc with the nice lady on the phone – “oh yes, it’s a 45′ site” Wait – I say – our 5th wheel is 41′, not to mention our truck… “oh, it will be fine, and you can park your truck up at the office”. Well. It ended up not being possible to pull through the site. Long story, involving culverts, a drainage ditch and trees. Luckily I was out of the truck, watching and directing Steve and stopped him before our RV ended up in the ditch. That’s when we were blocking the road. The regular road, not inside the campground….they had you drive down the road and then (attempt) to turn into your campsite, over a culvert in a drainage ditch, to your site. Nope. Not us. Way too big to be able to make that turn. So I go back up to the office and ask for help. The manager comes and says “yeah, these sites don’t work for rigs your size. You’ll have to back out, go around the block, come back into the park, and back into your site”. What??? Now Steve is sweating. But we did, and the manager guy helped Steve maneuver until we shoe-horned ourselves into a way too small spot. Ugghhhh!

Our general impression of the Oregon coast RV campgrounds so far is that they are old (our current one was built in 1969), small, cramped and not very nice compared to what we have experienced in other places. It seems the thinking is the crowds come anyhow, so why invest in making the campgrounds nicer?? And by the completely full campgrounds we’ve been in, that seems to work. Our current location is on the bay, and I think it’s going to be pretty, with some of those rocky Oregon coast beaches we’ve been waiting for. And we’re not too far from the Coastal Range mountains, so there should be some hiking nearby.

So now you’re all caught up on our adventures. Hope you enjoy the pictures, and more adventures coming soon!

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!