Reflections (7/5/2014)

Well, here I am, sitting in my “work” room back in Etowah, NC. It’s so hard to believe that the last time I was sitting at this desk was back on April 25^th! Since returning, I’ve shredded a stack of mail, waxed the top of the trailer and stowed it until the next trip, loaded up 7 bags of weeks from our butterfly garden, etc. Back when we planned out this trip, I felt that this was going to be our education on how to travel with a trailer. Boy did we learn a lot! So, how did we do?

·         Create the itinerary as we went – worked out well. Eliminated some places, and added many others.

·         Stay in State & National Campgrounds – only stayed in 1 commercial campground.

·         Keep average towed distance to 100 miles per day – 6798 miles in 62 days = 110/day

·         Expected fuel cost per day towing $25 – actual = $24.88

·         Expected fuel economy towing 11 mpg - actual = 15.5 mpg

·         Budgeted for campground fees $25/night – actual = $19

·         Enjoy each other’s company during the 10 week trip – we did great, sharing responsibilities, relaxing, taking up card games at night, deciding where to go next

·         Big bonus – spending 2 weeks in Texas with Kelly, Chuck & the 2 grandsons!

Trip surprises

·         Don’t believe “campground full” signs

·         Big difference between campers & “vacationers with tents” (This especially applied to holiday weekends)

·         Other than state & federal campgrounds there are city, county, Parish (LA for county), utility

·         Finding Laundromats & taking care of laundry was a challenge

·         Use all forms of technology available when planning on the road – Garmin Satellite GPS, iPhone Apps, DeLorme Mapping on Laptop, atlas, word of mouth, etc.

·         More campgrounds had cell service than expected

·         1 National Campground had Wi-Fi @ all sites (but no cell service)

·         How healthy a diet we could maintain with the trailer kitchen and smart shopping

·         How well we could do “off grid” (no electric hookups) as we camped ½ our nights without hookups

·         How scenic Utah & Colorado were (We could have spent a couple months at each)

So for now, the trailer is in storage. We have already made reservations for 2 weeks from now as well as for ringing in the New Year. I’ll shortly be uploading pictures and sending a link. The speed of Wi-Fi on the road was so slow, it wasn’t practical to upload onto this blog.

Last Day (7/1/2014)

This morning we discussed heading back home tomorrow. After having been on the road for 9-1/2 weeks and towing the trailer for 2 months we’ve decided that it makes sense. We’ll park the trailer in our driveway for a couple of nights and then bring it to the storage facility on July 4^th as planned. This will make it easier to unload, clean and reorganize for the next trip. The trip has been an adventure and has surpassed our expectations. After breakfast this morning, we decided to head over to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It was fun walking around a national park visitor center that we have visited many times in the past. We are very thankful that we can live so closely to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The campgrounds are immaculate with cool evening temperatures, the trails are spectacular and the places to visit are innumerable! We had an enjoyable day reminiscing about all the great places that we have visited on this trip. But, before we knew it, we started discussing the next places we will visit! We are so fortunate to have had the time to pick up and drag this new camper back home. Many of the buyers on the East Coast, are stuck paying the Escape driver to deliver the trailer to them. When we look back, we really haven’t spent any more than if we had had the trailer delivered, but we were able to create so many memories. This was also a fabulous way to transition between full time work and retirement. There was no time to feel “the loss” of work due to the energy spent figuring out where we would stay for the night and where we would go next! Barbara and I both feel that this time together was a great way to celebrate our 39 years of marriage – a second honeymoon with best friends!

Back to Deep Creek (6/30/14)

This morning (actually in the middle of the night) we woke to rain again. It has rained every day since we left the Keller’s days ago! When we were in the desert and mountains of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, rain wasn’t even a consideration. Since we were going to our friends for breakfast, we got up, I took a shower in the camper, dumped tanks and we were out of the campground by 7:30. We had a great time with Ron & Betty Lyman catching up and finally were back on the road (in the rain) by 9:30. Luckily we were heading north first, so did not have to deal with Chattanooga traffic. We picked up route 64 and continued heading east. We passed the Ocoee River and then we were back in North Carolina. This is the first time since we left on April 26^th. We decided to head over to Deep Creek in the Smoky Mountains as we hadn’t been there since the girls were in girl scouts! We found a site, set up and then headed into Bryson City to walk around. And while walking around – yes the rains came again! We spent some time walking around with our rain gear on, but eventually headed back to the campground and out of the rain. As we got close to the campground we realized that this is getting to be like Gatlinburg, but instead of all the “S” shops, the road is full of tube rentals. (and really gaudy!) Our campsite is in a very quiet loop – we are the only campers right now. After a good dinner, we decided to walk the rest of the campground. The loop above us and below us were quiet. Then we went down to the tent area. This was more like Coney Island than a NP campground. The place was packed and the tents were right on top of each other. We were glad to be set up where we were. So for now, we will sit back, relax and enjoy the quiet.

Almost Home (6/29/2014)

After an early breakfast and taking care of “RV business,” it was time to hit the road. In addition to a drive of 175 or so miles, we also had to add another hour for the time zone difference as we wanted to get to the campground by noon. Barbara drove and we arrived to check on campsites. When the attendant asked what we would be sleeping in and I told her a 19’ trailer, she said that should be easy. There were about 6 sites still available plus what they called the “overflow sites” which are just grass without tables or fire pits. The campground didn’t have any signs telling what sites were where, but we came across one that was listed as available and would work out fine for us. We went back, paid for the site and slipped the Escape into position. A quick lunch and then we drove over to Publix to resupply for the rest of the trip. Right before dinner time we were able to get in touch with our good friends Ron and Betty. They came over to check out the camper and then we hopped into Ron’s car to head over to a favorite Italian restaurant of theirs. Good food and good conversation with lots of laughs! Afterwards we stopped over their house and then back to the camper. Tomorrow, we will head over to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for our last 4 nights of this trip!

Exploring Lawrenceburg (6/28/2014)

This morning, we had another leisurely breakfast and then headed out to do some more exploring. We started off by stopping at a farmers market where we picked up some corn and tomatoes. Then we went over to the library to enjoy some free Wi-Fi. Finally, we drove into the historic part of Lawrenceburg and Barbara got to walk around some antique shops. (And I got to wait while Barbara walked around some antique shops!) While sitting outside one of the shops, I was able to listen to some live music and read some of the plaques. One of them described how this town was the location of the start of Southern Gospel Music. (At least that’s what the plaque said) After spending some time there, we decided to try to find the one Amish farm that had pecan pie for sale. Well, we drove down the road where it was supposed to be, but we never did find it. We did find a house that had some baked goods and bought a friendship bread. After squeezing past another truck on a road meant for just one car, we decided that it was time to head back to the campground. We got back to the campground and relaxed and read for a while. Tomorrow we will head over to Hixson which is a small town above Chattanooga where some friends of ours have settled. The campground ranger said we’d have a hard time getting a site, but usually we have had success on Sundays if we get there early as the weekend people will be heading home by then.

Quiet Day @ David Crockett SP (6/27/14)

This morning was a time of reflection for Barbara and I. We had a leisurely breakfast, a couple pots of coffee and thought about all we have done on this trip. After a year of planning, 9 weeks of travel 9200 miles driven, we are now about 400 miles and 1 week from returning to Etowah. We have had a fantastic time and loved all that we have gotten to see and do. The trip and the Escape trailer have exceeded our expectations. We have gone from total novices with the trailer to pretty skilled travelers. Getting set up and torn down is routine, towing is easy and we have gotten good at figuring out where to go next. After breakfast, Barbara went over to talk to the campground host to find out what there was to do in the area. It turns out that just one town over (Ethridge) is a large Amish Community. It’s called an old order Amish Community. We visited some shops, saw an Amish farmers market where they auction off their produce, and had lunch in a local (non-Amish) restaurant. When we got out of the restaurant, the skies opened up with a downpour, so we headed back to the campground. Barbara and I put together a meal in the slow cooker. After that, since the temperature was mild, I decided it was time to wax the trailer. That was a good workout, but the trailer doesn’t look like it has seen 6200 miles of road grime! After dinner, we sat out for a while (until we felt we had fed the local insects enough) and then headed inside. We’ll probably play some more Cribbage and then call it a night. As we are getting closer to home, it’s nice to be able to sleep with the AC off and the windows open.

Mississippi Rain (6/26/2014)

This morning we woke up to a torrential rainstorm! It was nice being “warm and dry” when it was very wet outside the camper. (And also in the car where I had left the windows open a crack) Fortunately, I had reconnected the towing mirrors and set the hitch up on the car before going to bed. When we were in the various states of the desert, rain was not in our vocabulary! After a leisurely breakfast, it was time to break camp. We dug out our Bean boot,s which hadn’t been used since we left Washington State, took out our rain jackets and hats and Kevin’s rain pants. You would think that we had been doing this for a long time with our preparations! Before leaving the campground, we drained our tanks and headed out in the rain. It was nice driving on the Natchez Trace with hardly any traffic rather than being on an interstate. We arrived at David Crockett State Park around noon and set up quickly before the rain caught up to us. There is another SP called Davey Crockett Birthplace near Johnson City, TN. We took advantage of being close to a town (Lawrenceburg) to take care of laundry and grocery shopping for the next few days. When you look around the campground and see the very short sights, you will understand that this campground was set up in 1959, long before campers were often 40+ feet long. Our 19’ camper fit very nicely into our sight. We even took advantage of the senior discount! (We’ll take ever discount offered!) We will spend the next couple days just chillin in place before we head east for the final leg.

Jackson to Tupelo (6/25/2014)

Today, we got an early start as we were heading up to a small National Forest Campground. Without rushing, we were hitched up and on the road by 7:15. After being on the road for 41 days of camping (not counting visits where we weren’t sleeping in the camper) we have gotten really efficient. This morning we got to walk around a small cypress swamp, walk on the original trace and read lots of the sign boards along the road. Still, after taking our time, we got to the next campground by 10:30, were set up and heading into Tupelo by 11:30. We found another neat restaurant in downtown Tupelo. The Trip Advisor hasn’t failed me once on this trip. I seem to have the ability to “read between the lines” to find the kind of restaurant that we both like. I had homemade pimento grilled on sourdough bread while Barbara had chicken salad. Some of the specials they had revolved around Elvis Pressley who was born in Tupelo. After a delicious lunch, we took a stroll down Main Street and into the same Hardware store where Elvis’ mother bought his first guitar. (He wanted a rifle, his mother wanted to get him a bicycle and they compromised on a guitar for about $7.00! And the rest is history) After that, we drove by the home he was born in and took a picture. (We weren’t willing to pay the admission!) Then we thought we were going to see a National Monument where the battle of Tupelo was fought. Turns out, it was just a field with some exhibits! Then, back to the campground for a leisurely evening. Tomorrow we’ll head to David Crockett State Park. If we can, we’ll probably stay 3 days so we avoid having to search out a campground over the weekend when the “working folk” take all the available sites! It’s kind of nice not being one of them!

Natchez to Jackson (6/24/2014)

Today, we began our slow meandering drive up the Natchez Trace. We were not covering more than 100 miles or so, and decided to take multiple pullouts to read the signs, walk the paths, etc. The trace reminds us of the Blue Ridge Parkway without hills and curves! I believe that the highest point in Mississippi is only 603 feet. Although I have heard about Natchez Trace for years, I didn’t know the history of it. Apparently, the road was mainly developed as a way to move mail between Nashville and Natchez between 1801 and 1820. It was also heavily used by boatmen that brought their cargo down the Mississippi River. Due to the current, they would sell their boats for the lumber when they got to the end and walked back up stream. When the steamboat came into existence around 1820, the need for the road diminished. Towards the end of our days drive, we came across the Mississippi Craft Center. Barbara was able to find a unique cream pitcher to add to her collection. We ended up camping in a utility owned campground on the Ross R Barnett Reservoir. This was a huge campground and almost full. Most of the campers seemed like they were there full time as the owners would commute to work in Jackson and either come back evenings or weekends. All we needed was a place to set up and relax, so the campground met our needs. (Also, with the high heat and humidity, we had electric to run the AC which made both of us happy!) 

Natchez, Mississippi (6/23/2014)

Today we drove to the start of the Natchez Trace, in Natchez Mississippi. The drive down was uneventful as the roads were flat and straight. It seems like such a contrast after the driving in all the states leading up to Texas! We arrived at the campground at 12:15 and the signs directed us to the campground office. When we got out of the car, we saw a sign stating: “be back at 1:30.” So, we drove back to the campground, around loop B and saw 1 site with a reserved sign on it but not a site with a camper. We decided to set up and have lunch. (It pays to have the camper and air conditioner) We had the trailer backed in, hooked up to electric and water in minutes and sat down to a leisurely lunch. At 1:30 we were back at the office by 1:30 waiting in the 88 degree heat for the office to open back up. By about 1:40, the ranger came and opened up. (The leisurely pace of the south!) We registered for the site that we had already occupied and then headed into town. We first went to Melrose, a National Historical Park. This is “A Cotton Kingdom Estate.” We learned this from the ranger who took us and 2 other couples for a tour of the house. It is called an Estate vs. a plantation since there wasn’t any crops being raised here. It was amazing that with people this wealthy, it was all about showing how rich they were! After that, we went to a plantation that has a restaurant and pub in what was the stables. We had drinks and appetizers that were delicious. Then we tried (and failed) to find the terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Well, I guess that we’ll be 9 miles shy of the southern part!

On the Road Again (5/22/2014)

Well, this morning we said our goodbyes to the Keller Family and were back on the road by 8AM. It was about a 5 hour drive to our campsite, but well worth it! Originally, I had considered staying at a commercial RV site, but eventually came across this Parish (county) owned & run campground. It was a short hop off the interstate, reasonably priced and they took a reservation over the phone. We got there and found everything that we needed. Most of the “lower” sites back up to where you are looking right over the lake. The sites have water, electric and sewer which allowed us to handle some “tank housekeeping.” When we left Kelly’s, it was raining and rained on and off for most of the drive. So, as Barbara got the inside of the camper back into shape, I went over the outside so that it still looks like new! We had a late lunch and relaxed during the afternoon. Barbara cooked up salmon burgers and risotto for dinner and of course we will have our usual dark chocolate for desert. Since we will be having short drives for the rest of the trip, we’ll try sleeping with the shades down to see if I can “sleep in” for a change.Plus, as you can see, they actually had Wi-Fi at the campsite!

5 in an Escape 19? (5/18 – 5/20)

We spent the last two nights camping in Eisenhower State Park about 1-1/2 hours north of Richardson with Kelly, Nate & Sam. We arrived early on Wednesday morning and had our pick of campsites. Kelly had already scoped out a really good site and we were able to secure that. It just took a few minutes to get backed in & unhitched. (Practice over the last 35 nights of RV’ing has made us pros!) Once situated, we took a walk/bike ride to check out the other campsites, fixed a light lunch, turned on the AC and put Sam down for his nap. All the buyers of Escapes in NW US and Canada don’t understand what it is like camping in Texas in June! Although it is still “only” in the 90’s, the air conditioner is very much appreciated! During the 2 days camping, we tended to do whatever “cool” things that we could – eat ice cream, swim, sit inside the air conditioned Escape, sit under the awning & rain tarp! Seems like in Texas, you spend your time “dealing” with the heat & bugs! By Friday morning, it was time to head back to Kelly’s. We got an early start despite a leisurely breakfast of grandpa’s famous “camp eggs” and were back by lunch time. Kelly’s greyhounds, Monte & Kit Kat were very glad to see Kelly back home! We will spend a couple more evenings here and then hit the road for the final leg. The plans call for driving to Lincoln Parish Park in LA on Sunday. Then, about a week meandering up the Natchez Trace Trail and finally, the last part of the trip will be spent close to home in the Smokey Mountains National Park. 

Time off the road (6/8 – 6/18)

For the past 9 days, we have been staying in Kelly & Chuck’s house in Richardson, TX while the Escape Trailer & Car sit in the street in front of their house. I am really glad that the width of the trailer is the same as that of the car. While the trailer looks bigger due to the height, the cars and trucks passing in front of the house have not had a problem with where we are parked. If anything, I would say that the trailer parked out front tends to be a “traffic calming device” like a traffic circle or speed bumps. Since arriving, we have been spending lots of time with Kelly, Chuck and “the boys.” (Nate & Sam) Due to the high temperatures here, we normally have the boys at the park by 8 AM every day. After that, you tend to really cook. We’ve gotten to go with Nate to his swimming lessons, and have made the normal Target, Sprouts, and IKEA runs. After 35 days living in the Escape on the move, it has been refreshing with no place that we had to be! We also got to celebrate Father’s Day, my birthday, Sam’s birthday (with a pool party). Also, time to catch up on events with access to Wi-Fi. One thing that has been hanging over me is the lack of a place to park the trailer when we get back to WNC. Well, that is now solved. We found a storage area in Mills River that has openings and is just off of Airport Road. That will be convenient as we will normally be passing right by going to and from the interstate. Another surprise was that we now have license plates on the trailer. The company that financed the trailer sent a check to North Carolina to cover the sales tax for the trailer once they had received the papers from Homeland Security showing the exportation of the trailer. Kind of a nice surprise that we don’t have to go to the tag office! I feel fortunate that we were never pulled over in the 5 weeks and 5,200 miles of towing without a plate. Between the fact that we were not speeding and also “looked like Canadians” with a Canadian Maple Leaf on the back of the trailer, I guess we weren’t a target. 

Heading to Texas (6/8/14)

Today, we were up and ready to start moving by 6 AM. I went down and decided that I needed some fresh coffee and wasn’t ready to tackle Dom’s coffee maker. I filled my water bottle with water, and then headed out to the camper to prepare a thermos of coffee! It’s always nice to travel with an extra kitchen! When I got back inside with my coffee, Joyce & Dom were up so we all had a leisurely breakfast together. Some more catching up, and then time to hit the road. This turned out to be our longest drive with the trailer – 377 miles. We’re not anxious to see Kelly, Chuck and the boys, are we? We decided to camp at a “city” campground that I found on one of my apps. We were a little nervous as we didn’t hit the campground until 4 PM. We suspected we would be alright since it was a Sunday and most “weekend” campers would be gone. Well, we drove in and took the best site (of 25) with no other campers! Retirement traveling definitely has its advantages! We set up quickly as the pad was perfectly level. Then, we decided that we needed to begin emptying the fridge, so I had a couple beers and Barbara finished a bottle of wine. We heated up leftover chili in the microwave and then explored the campground. We did find one other camper in a tent and also found the “bath house.” We were glad to have our own as this one was really in poor shape! We’ll spend the evening reading and playing cards and then be in bed early so we can be up at the crack of dawn and driving to Kelly’s!

Rio Rancho – Day 2 (6/7/14)

This morning, we awoke with the sun at 5 AM as has happened so often on this trip. We did manage to stay in bed until 6 and then got up and crept around trying not to wake Joyce & Dom. Eventually, we all had a light breakfast and then sat on their back patio enjoying the views and catching up on old times. In fact, we spent so much energy catching up, that Joyce had to make us a second breakfast (or brunch) of egg tortillas! After that, we headed out for more adventures. We first went to Petroglyph National Park. We spent some time in the visitor center checking out their exhibits, and then headed out to walk some of the trails. The number of petroglyphs out there was amazing. We couldn’t believe how close the housing developments come to the rocks that they have in the park. I guess that it’s hard to keep the builders from building where the views are spectacular! After that, we drove out to the foot of the mountains where there was a cave that we could climb to. I couldn’t believe that Barbara made it almost to the top. I can understand why she wouldn’t want to climb the “circular staircase” up to the cave as it was hanging over a sheer drop! Although the cave was interesting, it was disappointing that there was some much “trash” in the cave from the tourists visiting. When we got back to the house, we enjoyed some frozen Margaritas to “rehydrate” and finished off with Chili, garlic bread and some fresh fruit. Then it was time to share pictures. But again, this was hard work and we had to take a break to enjoy some cobbler & ice cream! Eventually, we tore ourselves away from the pictures to head up to bed.

Albuquerque – Day One (6/6/14)

Today, we left the reservoir and headed into Albuquerque to visit some good friends. We’ve known Joyce and Dom since we moved to Asheville in 1987 and they have remained good friends. Our daughters grew up together and remain good friends to this day, despite being spread apart. (Florida, Fletcher-NC, Houston, Dallas & Santa Fe) Joyce & Dom have been retired and living in Rio Rancho (outside Albuquerque) since 1987. They also have enjoyed traveling and purchased an RV when they started retirement. It was fun discussing tanks, hookups, leveling, charge level and all the other special terms related to RV’ing! After situating our Escape trailer in their drive way, we moved inside where we had a light lunch and caught up on old times. After hearing all the options for the evening, we decided to take the “Road Runner” train up to Santa Fe to check out the town and then have dinner with their daughter Susanne, son-in-law Hector & grand-son Santiago. The food was good and the company even better. What an enjoyable evening. After our meal, we all piled into their car to meet the train for the ride back to Rio Rancho. Kevin and Dom stayed up into the wee hours of the morning catching up. Then, finally off to bed where I crashed – my normally bed time is much earlier!

From Dam to Dam! (6/5/14)

This morning, we left Navaho Lake SP and headed down the road to Abiquiu Lake Campground. (Army Corp of Engineers) Both of these sit on lakes created by dams. I was glad that once we hit route 64, the road improved. Some of the back roads make you dizzy with all the bucking! One of the amazing things about today’s drive was the amount of oil and gas activity in New Mexico. You are constantly being passed by white pickup trucks with a couple flags sticking up. I believe that this is so they can more easily be seen when they are driving the back roads. As you drive, you are constantly passing working oil wells and what must also be gas wells. It seems like between wind, solar, oil, gas, coal and hydro, we could tell the Saudi Countries that we don’t need their oil. We arrived at Riana Campground on Abiquiu Lake at around lunch time. The campground was almost empty, but as we drove around, we saw that almost every site was reserved from tonight forward. After talking to the park supervisor, we found out that there were several available slots without electric. Since we have solar, we were ok with that and found a prime site overlooking the lake. We set up the trailer and awning and then had a bite to eat. After lunch, we were sitting outside when all of a sudden; it looked like waves flowing across the lake. Well, the waves were caused by wind! Needless to say, we put up the awning. We spent much of the afternoon inside the camper reading (and enjoying the breeze from our fan) while the camper was rocking and rolling from the gusts off the lake. Hopefully the winds will die down somewhat tonight and the temperature will drop from the 90’s to the 60’s. Tomorrow, we will head over to stay with some former neighbors right outside Albuquerque for a couple days. And then, off to Texas!

DURANGO, COLORADO June 4, 2014

It was 38 degrees in the Mesa Verde NP when we got up this morning. I turned the heat on for a little while to take the chill out of the trailer. We had a good breakfast and headed on down the road to Durango, CO. Neat town. We parked our car and trailer at the visitor center and walked a beautiful pathway along the Animas River, which is running very high and fast due to snow melt. We walked around the historic area and had lunch at The Diamond Belle Saloon in the Strater Hotel which was built in the 1880’s. The girls were all in dance hall girl costumes. It was a fun place with good food. As we walked back to our car along the river we were amazed by the kayakers playing in the waves.  We are now in New Mexico staying at a state campground on Navaho Lake. 

OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE June 3, 2014

Kevin thought it would be appropriate if I did the entry today, so here I am. Our plans were to tour some of the Cliff Dwellings in the park. Kevin did the Balcony House because it had tall ladders to climb and a tunnel to crawl through. Both were out of my comfort zone. He had a ball. The ranger who led the tour made it very interesting, so when Kev got done he was psyched to do the next tour which would be the Long House Cliff Dwelling. We had discussed this when we purchased our tickets. It sounded pretty easy so I said Yes, I would do it with him. We got to the meeting place early and as we were inquiring whether we were in the right place the ranger who was about to leave with a group told us to join them. Our tickets had a 1:00 time slot and it was just 12:00 I didn’t have time to prepare. Off we went. There were 17 of us in this group including a man who said he had one lung. The ranger leading our group is young and very knowledgeable and passionate about the area and the cultures. He explained that his mother is Pueblo and his father is Navaho. We start down the path and as we round a bend all I see is sky and a sheer drop into a canyon. At this point I am ready to turn around and head back, but Kev said “you can do this” so he took my arm and as I looked at my feet he lead me down some steep steps and a steep grade pathway, some more steep steps and another steep grade pathway till it leveled out and we were at the “Cliff Dwelling”. Now, all I can see is the sheer drop down into the canyon. I had to turn my back to that and concentrate on the dwelling. And then I see a ladder.  No Way…. Everyone else in the group climbed the ladder, even the man who said he had one lung. I stayed at the bottom and just listened to the interesting talk that the ranger was giving from there. All together our group was there for about 40 minutes, than we all started the ascent. Kev stayed on the sheer drop side as we made our way back up to the top. All I know is I would not have been a very good cliff dweller. This truly was an experience that was out of my comfort zone. We toured The Archeological Museum which was also very interesting. On our way back to the campground we saw a black bear which was not too far from where we were staying. I kept looking for him but never did see him again. Later that evening we went to the amphitheater for a star gazing talk. We actually got to see the International Space Station as it went by overhead. Beautiful sight. The evening got chilly so it felt good to get under the comforter. More adventures tomorrow…

San Juan Skyway (6/2/14)

Today, we drove over some of the most outrageous terrain ever! We left the Black Canyon of the Gunnison around 7:30. Just getting down to Montrose from there is an adventure – you keep the car in 1^st gear the whole way. After that, we started heading South on 550. We went as far as Ouray and then had to turn west as they have been clearing up a rock slide for the last few months. We went up, and then up some more. We eventually came out of the highest elevation and then down into Telluride. That was kind of a neat old town. Barbara picked up a wind chime for the trailer and a couple tee shirts for the boys. After a light lunch in our trailer (great place to find a bathroom and restaurant when you’re traveling!), we headed on to Mesa Verde – Colorado NP. That part of the drive was even more exciting. We hit 10,000 feet and saw mountains all around us that were 14,000 feet high and covered in snow. We followed rivers that were swollen with snow melt. Eventually we got to the park and checked in. We were amazed to find that the campground has Wi-Fi! I believe that other than the one commercial campground that we stayed at in California, this is the first. We signed up for a couple tours of different cliff dwellings tomorrow. Barbara and I had to separate from each other on the first as it includes multiple ladders and she doesn’t do ladders! Tonight, we will head over to a ranger program and then be up early for a full day tomorrow.

Goodbye Highway 101! (5/16/2014)

This morning we continued south on 101 and finally started heading east. We picked up 101 when we started driving the Olympic Peninsula on Sunday, May 4th just outside of Tacoma. We continued around the Peninsula, down the coasts of Washington, Oregon and then through the coast of California including the many Redwood Forests. In fact, we have towed the trailer for 1788 miles already and most of them on 101! Tonight we are camped in Clear Lake State Park with a large lake to the north and surrounded by vineyards and various fruit trees. I guess that it hit us today that there is an abundance of wine produced around here. Tomorrow we will be staying at Jessie’s Grove Winery just outside Lodi. So, if we over imbibe, we just have to make it over to our camper which will be staged on their property. Some people talk about “camping” in Walmart lots or Casino’s. For us, why not a vineyard? This is how we are taking part in an organization known as Harvest Hosts. For an annual fee, you can stay at wineries, vineyards, orchards, organic farms, etc. Barbara has been enjoying using her ipod and Audubon app that Steve gave her. (Acorn Woodpeckers, Cliff Swallows and we found an Osprey Nest) We are staying right on track with about 120 miles averaged per day of driving. We expect to be in Yosemite National Park by Sunday! And the adventure continues – stay tuned for more. (Sorry about the lack of pictures, but Wi-Fi has been scarce and extremely slow.

A Hike in the Yosemite Valley (5/19/2014)

This morning, we decided to make the “trek” back down into the valley. Although the trip is only 30 miles from our Stansilaus National Forest campsite to the valley, it is 1-1/2 hours each way due to the winding and steep roads. In addition to this, they are very proud of the gas burned in the park charging $5.00 per gallon! But when you are many miles from the nearest town, you gratefully pay it to keep the tank full. We left our by 7:15 in order to beat the crowds. What a pleasant drive it was! We were at the parking area early, hopped the free shuttle bus and got off for the Mirror Lake hike. It wasn’t long, but it was so pleasant to have the trail to ourselves. We did see a crew from the CCC (California Conservation Core) performing maintenance. Kind of ironic to see them removing rocks from the trail that have been there for over a century! After our hike, we stopped at the visitor center, had a light lunch, took care of some phone calls since the valley has cell coverage. We then headed back to our campsite. We took advantage of the afternoon sun shine to read for a while and then headed into the trailer. We decided to leave early the next morning so that we could tow through the park without traffic. Played some Cribbage and then hit the hay.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison (6/1/2014)

This morning, we left our last campsite in Utah and headed over to Colorado. Barbara took the wheel as she is paying me back for towing through the precarious mountain roads. A game we like to play when towing is to see how high we can get the MPG! I’m amazed that on the interstates we’ll be up over 15 towing. (We were down around 9 climbing into this park!) The other thing that amazes us is how the topography changes as you move from one state to another. As we entered Colorado, we started seeing snowcapped mountains – and it’s June 1^st! One of the interesting things on the drive was how swollen the Colorado river was. It was over its banks almost up to the interstate! I guess this is still spring snow melt. We were also amazed with how well the cell coverage is on the interstates. We caught up on phone calls and then stopped in the little town of Montrose. What a nice little town! We then headed the short distance out of town and climbed into the National Park. When you get to a campground and they ask if you need electric, it’s nice to say no! We were able to choose one of loops where the “campers” stay as opposed to the RV’ers. With a high temperature of 73 and a low overnight of 40, I’m really not sure why they have to have electric. Maybe to run their tv? We had a great site with a view over the canyon. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was just amazing. It drops 3000 feet from where we are looking down. Compared to the Grand Canyon, this is a little known park. It is every bit as astounding as the Grand Canyon without the crowds. As we walked around the campground, we came across many mule deer that were not afraid of the campers. You still have to keep your distance, but it is really neat seeing them!

Back to Original Purpose of Trip (5/31/14)

This morning we were able to have a leisurely breakfast and enjoy the campground before leaving since we had reserved our Saturday campsite. (I didn’t realize that ReserveAmerica had charged me $8 for that privilege!) While wandering around the campground and just taking it easy, we met a camper from Colorado. He literally talked our ears off telling us all the places that we “had to” go. After an hour of being talked at, I was literally reconsidering all the places that we “needed to” visit. I even got mad when I skipped a stop that two people had said we should go to. After getting to our campsite and setting up and looking over maps and talking to Joyce & Dom, we made some minor adjustments to our trip. And then, we sat down and discussed what our goal was for this cross country adventure.

1.       Use this trip as a “second honeymoon” in repeating the cross country drive of 1975

2.       Transition from work to retirement

3.       Use the $3400 that we would have had to pay for delivery of the trailer for our adventure

4.       Slow down, relax and chill!

So, tomorrow, we return to our original plan of driving 100 miles per day. Driving with our eyes open and the foot lightly pressed on the accelerator. If we see something we want to see, great. If not, that’s also great. Despite the above, the sights today were amazing. We are now camped next to a golf course, a wide river & a railroad. We are hooked up to electric and are enjoying the air conditioned air, I’m drinking a beer and Barbara is microwaving some popcorn! (This morning, we ran our blender on 110 volt without hookups!) So for now………..

The Early Bird gets the Campsite (5/30/14)

This morning we were up and out by 7:00 AM. We knew that we had about 120 miles of driving over mountainous terrain and wanted to get to the National Park early to get a camp site. So far, we have been on the road for 4 weeks and the days I’ve been most concerned with are Fridays and Saturdays as on those days we are competing with the “weekend working folks!” To put it mildly, the trip from Kodachrome Basin to Capital Reef NP was interesting. At one point, we were up about 9,000 feet on the ridge line of the mountain. The width was just enough to have two lanes of traffic with a drop off on each side. Barbara was leaning in towards my side of the car! Not only did we have outrageous climbs and descents, but we also came across some  outrageous run. We saw signs for runners in the road for over 100 miles! Once we started seeing them, they were running up 8 to 12 degree climbs! Well, we got close to the campground and saw a “campground full” sign but decided to keep going into the park and campground. Luckily, when we got here, there were still openings. We added freshwater to our tank, set up our camp site and had an early lunch. Within 1-1/4 hours of our arrival, the campground was full! Since we were at a national park, we went up to the visitor center, Barbara stamped her passport and we watched the park movie. (We do that at every National Park that has one) We wanted to walk the campground as there are bunches of historical exhibits, but the weather was threatening. Instead, we drove into the town of Torrey (about 11 miles away) where a restaurant had been recommended. We caught up on Wi-Fi and phone calls and had another fabulous meal. When we got back to the campground, we enjoyed some Jessie’s Grove Winery Wine and sat back and watched a thunderstorm move in. We can have a leisurely morning tomorrow as we have reservations for a State Park . So, for now, we sit back, relax and contemplate another great day on the road. We have now been in the camper for 4 weeks and have covered 3600 miles with it! No regrets!!!

Hoodoos and Petrified Wood (5/29/14)

This morning, we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park by 8 AM. A quick stop at the visitor center so Barbara could pick up a post card for the boys, a quick text message to the girls to let them know that we are “alive and well” off the grid and then out to the shuttle bus. We took the bus up to Bryce Point that is the “top” of the park @ 8,296 feet of elevation. Along the way we saw some pronghorn sheep. We were probably on the first bus us, so we didn’t have a crowd at the overlooks. Rather than take the bus to the next two viewpoints, we hiked the rim trail. Very unusual for a National Park – there were no railings at all. If you wandered off the trail, they would be scraping you up off the canyon floor! We hike about 2 miles and then took the shuttle to the Lodge. Out of the four designed by this architect, this is the only one that hasn’t had to be replaced yet. After that, we took the shuttle back to the visitor center and headed out of the park to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) visitor office to learn more about The Grand Staircase Escalante Parks. We decided to head over to Escalante to pick up some groceries and gas. After that, we went into Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. We started to hike the trail, but Barbara soon realized that the height would not work for her! I managed to get her back down and then did the hike without her. About 2 miles with some challenging elevation change (since we were up around 8000 feet) Got back to the car and drove back to Kodachrome for dinner and to prepare for moving on tomorrow. We walked the interpretive nature trail and wandered around the campground. Said goodbye to the other couple with the Escape and then called it a night. Tomorrow, we hope to get in a National Park Campground about 3 hours east of here.

Surprises around every corner (5/28/14)

The crooked road through Utah continues with spectacular scenery. Barbara started off towing this morning as we left Snow Canyon and followed Scenic Byway 12. (Utah’s first all-America road)  It was just a short hop over to I15 where the speed limit went from “just” 75 to 80! That is too fast for us, either with or without a trailer! We got off the interstate in Cedar City where we picked up 143 towards Panguitch. We were not expecting the outrageous climb up the mountain. As soon as we started climbing, I turned off the air and kept a close eye on the radiator temperature. Outside, the temperature started dropping from about 84 until it hit 59 at a surprise National Monument – Cedar Breaks. We had to stop and show them our senior pass to go through and I just happened to ask if they had the national park stamp. The ranger told me that they had it at the visitor center just up the path. I got Barbara and we walked up together and stepped into the visitor center. I just happened to walk to look out the back window and my mouth just dropped! The view was breath taking! It was like looking into the Grand Canyon. Google it as my pictures can’t do it justice! At this point, we had reached 10,380 feet in elevation. As we continued on, we kept passing snow along the road, in the peaks and other places. This is May 28^th! I was glad that the drive was “traffic free” as most who head over to Bryce Canyon National Park take the “easy & direct” route. Boy what they miss! Once we came out of the mountains, we continued on towards Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest. Again – more spectacular scenery! We drove past Bryce Canyon for a short ways to Kodachrome Basin State Park where we were fortunate to get a site for 2 nights. As usual, I am sweating out what we will find on Friday & Saturday as the parks fill up then. We will get an early start on Friday and hopefully will be okay. Tomorrow, we will head out early without the trailer and visit Bryce Canyon and Escalante National Monument and also Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. And in the “it’s a small world” category: Met a young lady in the campground whose husband grew up in Greenville SC and parents live on Lake Summit in Hendersonville. They go to WNC all the time and enjoy many of the same places as us. (West 1^st Pizza) Then, we went over to talk with a couple with an Escape 5^th wheel. They live in Portland, OR and have had the Escape for 4 years. Turns out that he grew up in East Meadow!

Zion National Park (5/27/14)

Last night was a pleasure sleeping in the air conditioned Escape. After reading the forum for a year and hearing owners complain about the Dometic Air Conditioner, we were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. Some complained about the noise. I can guarantee that they have never spent a day in the desert @ 99 degrees without electric! We got a “relatively early start” and were on the road to Zion by 7:45. The drive was about 1-1/4 hours and just getting there was spectacular. The red (Navaho Sandstone) mountains and hills were beautiful. But then, we drove through the gates to Zion! WOW!!! Since it was only 9 AM, we quickly found a parking spot near the visitor center and then went in and checked it out. Barbara wrote out a post card for the boys and mailed it off to them. Then, we struck out to the park shuttle bus. They have “free” shuttles that make a continuous loop of 8 different stops. At the stops, there are walks, photo ops, museums, rangers, and spectacular views. We stayed in the park visiting all 8 stops until about 1:30 when the temperature hit 100+ degrees. At that time, we decided to head home to the “air conditioned” camper. Throughout the drive home, we kept passing camper after camper heading into the park. I guess nobody told them that the park would be hot and crowded. They even had to park outside the park and take a shuttle. On the way home, we stopped at a Starbucks for a cool tea and free wi-fi. I got to upload 6 more editions of the blog, do some banking and download e-mail. At the campsite, Barbara cooked a great dinner of Salmon, broccoli, baked potato, Hershey’s dark chocolate and washed down with some wine from Jessie’s Grove Winery where we stayed a week ago. Another great day. The biggest challenge now is deciding what to do next over the 19 days before we get to Richardson.

Surprises keep coming (5/26/2014)

With the “threat” of heavy Memorial Day traffic and high temps, we decided to get an early start this morning. Luckily, the heat broke overnight and it was pleasant this morning. We were hitched up and on the road by 6:45 AM. We had a short drive (15 miles) to the Valley of Fire State Park. We hadn’t heard of this before this trip, but were glad that we did. It is about 10 miles of some of the most spectacular Navaho Sandstone formations we had ever seen. The scenery literally took your breath away. Since we were there so early, we had the park to ourselves. Once we reached the end of the park, we continued onto I15 out of Nevada, through a short stretch of Arizona and then into Utah. I’m not sure when I15 was completed through the mountains of Arizona, but what an engineering feat it was! It seemed like they had taken a can opener and spread the mountains apart to squeeze the road through. Once in Utah, we stopped at the visitor center to pick up some brochures and basic plans for what we would see. Then we headed over to our next campsite – Snow Canyon State Park. Again,  another park that sits in the middle of fabulous scenery. We hooked up, turned the air on, and sat down to lunch and to begin rerouting our trip. After a couple visits to talk to the ranger in the office, we had a really interesting route to take through Utah. We decided to stay camped @ Snow Canyon and spend tomorrow visiting Zion NP without the trailer. After spending time discussing options with the ranger, we have decided to replace SW Texas with Utah. We know we will be getting back to Texas to see all, but right now, we are sitting with about 3,000 miles to home. We are glad that we came into this trip with flexibility as every decision we make just seems to add to what we will do and see!

Out of Frying Pan, Into Fire (5/25/14)

Due to the way that the Boulder Beach Campground changed due to the influx of vacationers from campers, we decided to move to the other end of the park. We took our time moving out today and were on the road by about 9:45. The drive to the next campground (Echo Bay) was only about 60 miles, but 60 miles of spectacular desert. The scenery had to be some of the dramatic that I’ve ever seen. In many ways, it surpassed that of the Grand Canyon. As we drove, the temperature just kept climbing. We got to the campground and set up around lunch time. As we sat in the camper, the temperature just kept climbing and climbing, reaching a high of 99 degrees. We kept the new fan blowing on us and kept rehydrating and using bandannas to keep our skin moist. As the evening came on, I moved out door to find that the next part of the campground was into their music, just like last night! I stayed out and enjoyed the breezes while Barbara decided that she would rather stay in the camper with the 95 degree temperature. Hopefully, the temp will drop during the night and allow us to sleep. Tomorrow, we will be on the road early. We’ll pick up I15 north of Vegas, go through a small corner of Arizona and arrive in Utah. Hopefully the visitor center will be helpful in assisting us to get a plan of attack for seeing Utah. We are down to 20 days until we will be in Dallas and I’ll have to keep a close eye on mileages so we can get there in time. 

Antique Cars and Crazy Campground (5/24/2014)

Today was another quiet day. Our intention with staying here for 5 days was to slow down and also to avoid having to find campgrounds during the busy Memorial Day weekend. We took care of some chores today. Things like emptying the tanks, laundry, picking up some groceries, etc. While in town, we went over to see the car show. That’s always fun as people put a lot of time and money into these cars. We actually have a neighbor in the campground towing a vintage trailer with a ’57 Chevy. What a cool combination! We also went in a few more shops and picked up a fan to use in the trailer on these hot desert days! We returned to a full, busy, loud campground. You forget that to many, camping isn’t what we do, but for them is just a cheap way to vacation. People are loud and inconsiderate! We spent the early afternoon listening to others “music,” generators and family squabbles! After a loud evening, we have decided to move to one of the quieter Lake Mead campsites on Sunday. We’ll head up to Echo Bay which is about 40 miles up the lake from us and in the direction that we will be heading. Also, that is right up by Valley of Fire State Park that we wanted to check out. So for now……

Dam, Bridge & Boat (5/23/14)

The early sunrises in the desert are playing havoc with my attempts to sleep in! This morning, I was up and out of bed at 5 AM again. Rather than lay there tossing and turning, I got up, threw on my bathing suit and moved outdoors to spend 30 minutes of yoga. We took off from the campground around 9 to check out the Hoover Dam. When you stop at the overlooks and share them with a bus load of tourists from Japan, you realize how popular our National Parks are to tourists who travel great distances to see them. We moved from the Lake Mead overlook to the actual dam property. Due to Homeland Security, you actually go through check points before you get close to the dam. I guess that we didn’t look suspicious as they let us right in. We hiked up towards the new bridge, but before we stepped out to it, Barbara had hit her “altitude limit” and I left her. I walked across the bridge to the midpoint so that I could say that I was in Arizona. The views down on the dam were incredible! After leaving the dam, we went down to Las Vegas Marina on the lake so that we could take the 1-1/2 hour boat tour. It seemed like we were going to be the only ones on the boat until the buses started arriving from Vegas. The tour was fun and informative. We got back to the campground and decided to take it easy. Around midafternoon, the winds picked up and started really whipping the awning. We quickly took the awning down, along with our tarp. The winds finally died down, but we were glad we didn’t take a chance on losing our awning. 

Hot Day in Boulder City (5/22/14)

Today was a quiet day after a couple long days of driving. I did get up at the crack of dawn to do some yoga while watching and snapping pictures of the sun coming up over the lake. Since we were expecting warm (hot) temperatures (and no air) we decided to add another tarp on the other side of the trailer. This would give us shade in the PM when the sun was on the awning side of the trailer. We took a walk over to “RV City” which is the commercial side of the park. (a good Sam’s RV park) Where we are paying $5 per night for a lake view with the senior discount, they are paying about $48 per night. That does include “FREE” electric, water, sewer and Wi-Fi! At 9 AM we headed over to the visitor center to watch the park movie and get a plan of what to do over the next few days. We headed into Boulder City which was one of the first planned cities due to the building of the Hoover/Boulder Dam. Due to the managed growth, they did not see the massive housing bust  that was seen by Henderson & Las Vegas just down the road. The original houses are still in the city and you could tell the ones for the workers vs. the ones for the engineers and managers. We finally used up one of the gift cards that I got from Volvo for my retirement. I decided that we would use them strictly for meals out in unique places. Today it was Boulder Dam Brewing Company. Good food, good beer, good company – what could be better than that? We wandered in and out of the various shops, saw some art and history and then made it back to the campground. A day of 12 miles travel! We caught up on some reading, I washed the trailer and then took a dip in the lake. We enjoy walking the loops of the campground in the evening, and the sky over us is clear with stars, but in the distance the lights of Vegas shine brightly.

Good bye CA, Hello NV! (5/21/2014)

This morning we left Bakersfield with the goal of reaching Lake Mead, NV. Up until now, we have been averaging about 110 miles per day. Today would be almost 300 miles. Barbara drove the first leg to Barstow which is where I40 & I15 come together as well as Route 66. We saw the value of the Gas App on the iPhone. We passed a station selling regular for $4.699 and right behind it on the next street, we paid $3.939. I took over the driving towards Las Vegas. Throughout the day, we were driving in the Mojave Desert. The scenery was amazing with the mountains and hills always changing. We needed a break from driving and found the perfect oasis in the desert. (Baker) We found a DQ and enjoyed a wet and cold blizzard! YUM! We continued on and turned just short of Las Vegas to get to Lake Mead, right outside of Boulder City. We are camped in Boulder Beach in the non-RV section. (No hookups, and room between sites) We backed up into a site that overlooks the lake. So when we wake up and look out our window, we will see the sun rising over the lake. Since we are moving into the Memorial Day weekend, we decided to spend 5 nights here. With the solar charging the battery and a dump station in the campground, we will easily be able to handle the 5 nights. After dinner, we took a walk down to the lake and I found out that I will be able to swim in it. The temperature felt to be somewhere in the 70’s to me. Definitely much warmer than the Pacific Ocean that we spent so much time by over the last 2 weeks. So, until tomorrow…..

Storms and Snow in Yosemite (5/20/2014)

This morning, we were awakened about 3 AM with a severe thunderstorm moving in. We stayed in bed until 5 AM and then started our morning routines. Without hurrying, we were hitched and on our way by 6:15 AM. We were quite surprised when we left the campsite and started seeing snow! The hillsides were covered! We were really glad that we got an early start as it took us 3 hours to go from the north west entrance to the south east entrance. Due to the fact that we have seen a bunch of Redwoods on the coast and were unable to secure camping reservations, we decided to forego the drive into Sequoia National Park. Instead, we drove as far as Bakersfield and actually took a site in our first commercial campground. With our Good Sam’s discount, the charge was $30. The good things were: free dump station (after 3 days, the trailer was ready), free Wi-Fi, good cell coverage, near a great Mexican restaurant and also an Albertsons. Tomorrow will be another long day as we head over the Rocky Mountains towards  Lake Mead & the Grand Canyon. We find that the various camping Ape’s for the iPhone are great, but limited due to lack of cell coverage when you want to use them. I wish we could download all the information from them!

A Hike in the Yosemite Valley (5/19/2014)

This morning, we decided to make the “trek” back down into the valley. Although the trip is only 30 miles from our Stansilaus National Forest campsite to the valley, it is 1-1/2 hours each way due to the winding and steep roads. In addition to this, they are very proud of the gas burned in the park charging $5.00 per gallon! But when you are many miles from the nearest town, you gratefully pay it to keep the tank full. We left our by 7:15 in order to beat the crowds. What a pleasant drive it was! We were at the parking area early, hopped the free shuttle bus and got off for the Mirror Lake hike. It wasn’t long, but it was so pleasant to have the trail to ourselves. We did see a crew from the CCC (California Conservation Core) performing maintenance. Kind of ironic to see them removing rocks from the trail that have been there for over a century! After our hike, we stopped at the visitor center, had a light lunch, took care of some phone calls since the valley has cell coverage. We then headed back to our campsite. We took advantage of the afternoon sun shine to read for a while and then headed into the trailer. We decided to leave early the next morning so that we could tow through the park without traffic. Played some Cribbage and then hit the hay.

Yosemite – Back at Last (5/18/2014)

This morning we left our little private campsite in the middle of Jessie’s Grove Winery after a very quiet and relaxing evening. It was so enjoyable being treated like “old friends” instead of strangers at the winery. It was a great experience that we look forward to repeating in other places. The drive started out as a gentle trip down to Stockton and then east. Slowly the terrain changed from flat to rolling hills. We hit a beautiful little town with a supermarket, inexpensive (for California) fuel and a beautiful lake. From there, the terrain began to change. We started climbing and then climbing more and then it was “intense.” When I saw the sign stating to turn the air conditioning off for the next 5 miles, I knew that we were in for it! The road wound and climbed and wound around some more. Luckily, there were two “commercial” vehicles in front of us that were not real fast. We stayed behind them so that any complaints from drivers behind us were aimed at those two trucks instead of us for holding them up. Barbara was extremely happy that she hadn’t insisted on taking the first leg of the journey today. We eventually made it to the entrance of Yosemite National Park to a welcome sign stating “campgrounds full.” We flashed our Senior Pass to “avoid” the $20 fee and pulled over to the campground reservation kiosk. We were told that the waiting list was long, but we could easily get a site in the Stanislaus National Forest which was only 6 miles outside the park. We turned around, drove the 6 miles and arrived to another campground full sign. Luckily, this sign was just left over from the night before and were able to slip into a beautiful sight just above the river. We had a quick lunch and then drove 1-1/2 hours to Yosemite Village. We parked, went to the visitor center, picked up and mailed a postcard to the boys and then saw the park movie. After that, we took the park bus to Ahwahnee Hotel and walked around to check it out. It was beautiful with a fireplace like that in the Grove Park Inn. Barbara was able to find a neat little creamer that she purchased to add to her collection. We took the bus back, spent a long time trying to find our car and then drove the 1-1/2 hours back to our camper. We reheated dinner leftovers from last night, worked on laying out the next part of the journey and then cleaned up the dishes. (We did get to knock off a bottle of wine too) Tomorrow, we will spend in the Park and haven’t decided on whether to drive to the valley or not. As we’ve said before, we are making this trip as we go along!

Another New Experience (5/17/2014)

As we sit, writing this blog, we watching one of the most beautiful sunsets over the grape vines of Jessie’s Grove Vineyards. (Established in 1868!) As we left the lake country where we camped last night, the terrain became very mountainous, but the hills were covered in grape vines and various citreous trees. When you see the amount of grape vines, you realize how dependent we must be on migrant laborers. How can you get all the grapes picked when they cover so many acres? We eventually left the mountains, and hopped on I5 for a short run down past Sacramento to Lodi. Although we were driving on a Saturday, it reminded us that we enjoy living in the small towns of North Carolina instead of the congested cities. We arrived at Jessie’s Grove Vineyard around lunch time and were greeted by Marcella, the “future” tasting room manager. She and the rest of the staff of the tasting room were so friendly and welcoming. We felt like we were doing them a favor by staying here instead of them allowing us to set up on the beautiful property of this old and historic vineyard. We ran into town and did laundry and filled the car up with gas, but were anxious to get back and sample some of their wine. I think that since we were not having to drive, they were more generous with the samples than they would be otherwise. After about 7 or 8 samples, we ended up with 3 bottles to bring back to the trailer! YUM!!! After cooking dinner, we decided to wander the grounds of the vineyard. It is amazing to look at vines that are over 100 years old. In addition to the many acres of grape vines, there are pastures with horses, a goat named Jacks, various other farm animals, barns, old farm equipment, etc. We just had a blast wandering around the old homestead and pretty gardens. Everyone we met here, made us feel welcome to the property. We are looking forward to staying at another Harvest Host facility in the future. Tomorrow, we head over to Yosemite NP! Until then………..

Goodbye Highway 101! (5/16/2014)

This morning we continued south on 101 and finally started heading east. We picked up 101 when we started driving the Olympic Peninsula on Sunday, May 4th just outside of Tacoma. We continued around the Peninsula, down the coasts of Washington, Oregon and then through the coast of California including the many Redwood Forests. In fact, we have towed the trailer for 1788 miles already and most of them on 101! Tonight we are camped in Clear Lake State Park with a large lake to the north and surrounded by vineyards and various fruit trees. I guess that it hit us today that there is an abundance of wine produced around here. Tomorrow we will be staying at Jessie’s Grove Winery just outside Lodi. So, if we over imbibe, we just have to make it over to our camper which will be staged on their property. Some people talk about “camping” in Walmart lots or Casino’s. For us, why not a vineyard? This is how we are taking part in an organization known as Harvest Hosts. For an annual fee, you can stay at wineries, vineyards, orchards, organic farms, etc. Barbara has been enjoying using her ipod and Audubon app that Steve gave her. (Acorn Woodpeckers, Cliff Swallows and we found an Osprey Nest) We are staying right on track with about 120 miles averaged per day of driving. We expect to be in Yosemite National Park by Sunday! And the adventure continues – stay tuned for more. (Sorry about the lack of pictures, but Wi-Fi has been scarce and extremely slow.

Elk and Redwoods (5/15/2014)

This morning we were out of bed by 6 in hopes of seeing elk in the field right opposite the trailer. We were not disappointed! Barbara kept a sharp eye out until she saw movement. When she did, we grabbed the camera and binoculars and headed outside. There were about 5 bull elk and another 7 females just grazing and laying in the field. We enjoyed watching and photographing for about a half hour without another camper even aware of what they were missing! We had a leisurely breakfast and then I headed out for my first hike of the trip. I was on the hike by 8 and enjoyed a spectacular 7 mile hike throughout the groves of Redwoods. They were magnificent! I have always enjoyed hiking in the Smoky Mountains and enjoyed hiking here just as much. It felt so special hiking in an area where the trees can grow up to 385 feet tall and live to 2000 years. It felt almost useless trying to capture the scenes with a camera. How do you show the significance of a tree that has a diameter of 20+ feet? I have always enjoyed the “feeling” of hiking as opposed to the capturing of pictures. This was just that kind of experience. I only came across a few others on the trail, but that is not unusual as I like to hike early in the mornings and find the other “hikers” are usually closest to the trail head. I got back to the campground, took a shower and we were packed and on the road by 11:30 or so. We continued south on 101 and ended up in another state campground in a different part of the Redwood Park. (Humboldt Redwoods) We shoe horned our trailer into a site surrounded by tall trees and many stumps of the tremendous Redwoods. Just across the street were several shorter hikes that Barbara and I enjoyed walking together. We finished the day with a light dinner, played some RumiKube and hit the sack! What a great day!!!

Sea Stacks and Red Woods (5/14/2014)

Today, we left Bullards Beach SP and continued down the coast on the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway. This road follows the coast while looking down on some of the most fantastic visions of the Pacific Coast that we have ever seen. In addition to crashing waves and high cliffs, we also saw bunches of sea stacks. These are high rocks sticking out of the ocean that sea birds use for nesting. When the waves hit them, the water shoots straight up into the air. I finally had to take over driving as Barbara had a tough time keeping her eyes on the road. We would drive a few miles, and there would be another pull off with even more spectacular views than the one before! She was over dosing on the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, we reached Crescent City at the top of California. You immediately saw major differences in the growth along the road as we entered the Redwood National Park. The road became steep and narrow as it winded through the red woods while occasionally giving us a glimpse of the Pacific. We worked our way down the park until we located Prairie Creek Redwood National Park Campground. We got there and found that the main loop was empty and open to the sun right next to a large field. (We would later find there were two loops deep in the woods that were also open) After setting up, we watched a swarm of bees fly overhead – kind of an eerie feeling. We didn’t mind the openness as that would give our solar collector the opportunity to keep us fully charged. We set up, added water to the fresh water tank, lowered the awning and I sat back to enjoy a beer. We had a leisurely dinner, explored the campground loops and a nature trail around some of the spectacular redwoods. We played cards until dark and then enjoyed the quiet of the park for a good night’s sleep.

Chillin Out (5/13/2014)

Today was a day to keep the rig parked and take some down time. Bullards Beach SP is just beautiful, the temperature was in the 70’s and we decided that we wouldn’t move today! Not that we didn’t do anything, but driving was not a part of it. I had the opportunity to wash and wax the trailer – get some of that 10 days of road grime and bug splat off. Barbara got the inside brought up to her standards. We did a bit more organizing inside the car, using all the space inside the Escape to our advantage. Now, the second row of the car is empty except for the items that we need when we are moving. (rain jackets, camera, binoculars, etc.) We did take the time to visit the Coquille River Lighthouse. It wasn’t open for the season, but we were able to check it out on the outside. We also got some Wi-Fi tasks taken care of. I had to purchase a beer to get “free” Wi-Fi, but I took one for the team. Tomorrow, we will continue down the coast to California and Redwood National Park. Hopefully, the Park Rangers will be able to help us plan the next part of our trip. I know what I would like to see, but snow can still be an issue at some of the parks at higher elevation.

The Beaches of Oregon (5/12/2014)

Over dinner last night, we decided to head down the coast instead of inland Oregon. Whew we were with our friend from Portland, he was telling us about all the snow that the mountains have been receiving now. Hood mountain is still open for skiing with fresh powder almost every day. Crater Lake is beautiful if you don’t mind renting skis or snow shoes to get around. Although I love the mountains, we decided that for now, the sunny coast of Oregon is preferred. We had heard a lot about Bullards Beach State Park about 100 miles south. Since that is our daily mileage goal, it fit perfectly. Plus, we had chores to do that needed a nearby town so Bullards was perfect since it is right outside of Bandon. We took care of the car with an oil change & wash, did laundry, grocery shopping and finished off with a late lunch of fish & chips in a little restaurant on the pier of the Coquille River. When we arrived back to the campground, we took a drivel down to the Pacific Ocean. (About 1-1/2 miles each way) Barbara was in her glory! Since we have been making steady progress (1300 miles in the 11 days that we’ve been towing the Escape, we decided to spend another day at Bullards Beach tomorrow. We’ve decided to take a morning visit to the Coquille Light House. Until the next post…..

THE BEST MOTHER’S DAY EVER

I am giving Kevin a break and doing the blog this evening.  I hope all you Mother’s keeping track of our blog had a wonderful day. Mine was awesome. Before we left Champoeg State Park we decided to walk a bit. This park has wonderful paved paths that wander through meadows and along the Willamette River. We found the remnants of the original town of Champoeg from the 1840s. Very interesting history there.  Afterward we headed back to hook up the trailer and we headed to the coast. Walking on the beach at the Pacific Ocean has been on my bucket list for a long time. Well, today I made it. We drove to the South Beach State Park, got a campsite, set everything up and put on our walking shoes. The ocean is beautiful. It was quite windy, but the walk was exhilarating.  We watched some wind surfers and kite surfers fight the wind and waves and just totally enjoyed the experience.  And that, my friends, is what made my Mother’s day so awesome. Tomorrow we are heading south on the coast road again to look for the next beach. Stay tuned for more adventures…

Out of WASHington

I don’t think that I had every pondered where the state of Washington got its name before. After spending 8 & ½ days in Washington, I believe that it’s all about the amount of rain! We had one day of sun and one day of “not raining.” Regardless, the state was beautiful with majestic mountains, wind/rain swept beaches, towns rumored to be vampire occupied, and one of the most violently altered terrains in the world caused by the cataclysmic volcanic event of 1980. We spent an early morning heading up to view Mt. St. Helens. We left the campground (less the trailer) at about 7:30 to head up to the observation center at about 4200 feet. When we hit 3000 feet, the rain was turning to sleet and the fog was enveloping the road. Rather than take the chance of sliding off the road and then just looking at fog at the top we turned around and went back to the campsite. We hooked up the trailer, drove south (in the rain) to a little below Portland to Champoeg State Park. We drove up to another “campground full” sign. Barbara got out and tracked down a camp volunteer who told her there were actually 3 open sites. The campground and surroundings are beautiful. We are set up, have had our dinner and are waiting for an old friend from Long Island, Don Feltham, to pay us a visit. In addition to catching up on old times, we want to pick his brain on places to visit as we meander around the state of Oregon. We hope to one day upload these blogs that we have been writing and saving each day!

Having a blast at Mt. St. Helens (5/9/2014)

When we woke up this morning, it wasn’t raining (yet). We took advantage of the short time without rain to check out the beach. The coast here is very different from that on the east coast. It is very flat as opposed to where the eastern shore slopes down to the water. After taking care of our morning duties (packing up, hitching up, and emptying the tanks) Barbara decided to take on a second leg of towing the Escape. Despite the rain and tendency to want to check out the coast, she did very well. Her knuckles weren’t turning white and she didn’t exude the look of a deer in the headlights! Due to the constant rain, we decided to head over to the Mt. St. Helens State Visitor Center. The movie was good (but expensive) and we found out that the National Volcanic Monument won’t be open until tomorrow. We decided to camp across the street at another State Park and visit the Monument in the AM less the trailer. We made a short trip down to Longview to pick up some bins for the trailer and groceries to hold us for a few more days. When we got back to the campground, we found that there are 3 of us in this loop, all fiberglass campers. (1 Bigfoot, 1 Scamp and ours) We keep telling ourselves that one day on this trip, we will look back and say, remember when 2 out of every 3 days, it rained! We try to enjoy each day as it comes, and remind ourselves that the area wouldn’t be as plush without all this rain. (and we don’t live here!!!) I know that there is a lag between writing the blogs and posting the blogs, but we have decided to camp in woods instead of in metropolitan cities. (More trees, less Wi-Fi and cell towers)

It’s Raining Again (5/8/2014)

It is lush, beautiful, but I could not live in an area that rains like this. We are in the Pacific North West Rain Forest that sees 150” to 180” of rain per year. Today, we were fortunate to get hitched and on our way before the rain started, but it has not let up for a minute. We drove through it, ate our lunch in the camper at Ruby Beach, but did not want to walk the beach due to the constant downpour. After lunch, we continued on to Grayland State Park where we found a campsite and set up. When we went to pay, we found out that we had picked one of the sites that was reserved. So, we re-hitched, moved over two sites, and unhitched again! And the rain continues! No pictures today since I didn’t want to ruin the camera. No blog uploaded today as the campground has no wi-fi nor cell service. What they do have is a high camping fee. We paid $35 here and $6 in the National Park the night before! Also for all my family who are Twilight fans, just wanted to let you know we drove through Forks, but we did not see any vampires at all. I really did try very hard to find Edward… 

All things natural (5/7/2014)

This morning we woke up to clear skies with a view of the snowcapped Olympic Mountain Range peeking out over the bay. For the second day in a row, the sky was blue instead of rainy. We had a leisurely breakfast and were on our way by 9AM. Our first stop today was the Lavender Farm, but they were not open for the season. We got ourselves turned around (more difficult than you may think when you are followed by a 19’ trailer) We then headed over to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. We learned that this whole area was formed by glaciers. The upper section of the preserve is noted for abundant bird life (along with many deer). The lower part of the preserve is the longest natural sand spit in the United States. It is created by rough sea waves and is growing by about 13’ per year. The spit creates a quiet bay and harbor which is rich in marine life. (Salmon & steelhead, nesting for seals and sea lions, and shore birds) We also learned that this spit accumulated many truckloads of debris from the Japan Tsunami. While we were walking on the beach, I noticed a wrapper and was disappointed, until I noticed that the writing was Japanese! We continued over to the Olympic National Park Visitor Center and camped @ Heart O’ the Hills Campground – just $6 night with my Senior Pass! This was our second night dry camping and we are very comfortable doing this with how we have the camper outfitted. The high peaks around us are still heavily covered in snow but the wild life and wild flowers are abundant. Today, we continue around the peninsula. 

Sunshine and Beaches (5/6/2014)

Today, we finally woke up to clear skies! We now understand why people in the rainy northwest drop what they are doing and head outside when the rain stops. We tried an experiment with the camper last night – since we were “boon docking” (camping without hookups) we decided to leave the heat off over night. When we woke up, we turned the heat on before getting out of bed. The advantage was that we never heard the heat cycling on and off and had one of our best nights of sleep yet. The view from the camper when we woke up was spectacular – the view over Hood Canal without rain. We had a leisurely breakfast and then took a short drive in the car (less trailer) to visit a waterfall. We got back to the campground, hooked up the trailer and headed up to Port Townsend – a historic town on the water. We parked the trailer in a visitor lot and took the bus downtown where we wandered around, bought some souvenirs, had a lunch in Fin’s Restaurant and headed out to our next campground. We drove a short distance to Fort Flagler where we were able to camp with a gorgeous view of the bay. While sitting out in the sun, we saw the Whidbey Ferry going back and forth and we even saw a cruise ship coming in! While sitting under the awning, we had little rufous hummingbirds buzzing us. We took a walk before sunset to check out the fort (which was interesting as it was completely covered with grass on top for camouflage).  On the way back, we found out that not only does the vegetation grow well with all the rain, but so do the mosquitoes! By dark, we were back in the camper getting ready to call it a day until tomorrow!

And the rain continues! (5/5/2014)

Well, we finally found out today why it has been raining so much. According to the Forest Service Park Ranger that we met, the rainy season out here starts on January 1^st and ends around December 31^st. Next time we’ll need to plan better. But still, we are having a great time. We broke camp and were on the road before 9 AM and didn’t have any issues with securing the inside of the camper and hooking up to the TV. (Tow Vehicle) We decided to head over to the Olympic Peninsula today and will meander around it in a counter clockwise direction. Today, we figured it was time to “dry camp” to try out some more of the trailer. (Fresh water tank, longevity of battery since the solar panel hasn’t yet seen the sun, water pump, refrigerator running on propane, etc.) So far, we haven’t had an issue with anything in the trailer – it all works as designed. According to the raised relieve map that we saw in the Forest Service Visitor Center, the center of the peninsula is full of tall mountains. We haven’t seen any evidence of this due to the heavy cloud (rain) cover. Maybe tomorrow! After setting up camp, we headed into the nearest “town” for lunch. The waitress and customer next to us couldn’t say enough about how great the Hood Canal oysters were. Obviously, Barbara and I both ordered the broiled oysters. The waitress came back shortly later to explain that they were sold out! Well, I ordered the prawns and Barbara had Codfish and they were also good. Tonight I decided it was time to start cleaning off some of the grime from all the rain & road spray and cleaned and waxed about ½ of the trailer. (Excluding top) Then, it was time for one more walk around the campground. If you look below, you will see the highlight of our wildlife viewing so far – a beautiful bald eagle. (Obviously, we are also quite pleased with the new camera) Tomorrow, we will continue north to Port Angeles and other points of interest.

On the move again (5/4/14)

Today was our first opportunity to “break camp” and see how well we learned from our orientation. We had a great breakfast of French toast using some great multigrain bread, coffee & OJ. We tried to get the car packed between showers and stepping around the multiple puddles and deepening mud. Barbara did a great job preparing the inside of the trailer for travel while I spent most of my time preparing the outside for hooking up and moving out. Hitching up the trailer for the first time by ourselves went well. Just a few minor hiccups, but nothing that was critical and we feel confident that this will get easier each time. On the way out of the campground we had the pleasure of “emptying tanks” for the first time. Another procedure that went well and again will be easier the more we do it. We decided to not bother going to the Northern Cascade loop due to the fact that they are still clearing snow and also that the elevation gains and losses might be challenging to us novice towers. Better to be safe than to overextend our skills. Instead, we took advantage of the fact that today was Sunday and we could get through Seattle with “light” traffic. The tow down went well (despite more rain) and Barbara even tried her hand towing for a while! She did great and will increase her towing distances as time goes by.  We arrived at Dash Point State Park in Takoma at about 1 PM and found the entrance office empty with a sign stating that the campground was full. Luckily, we were patient and tracked down the campground host who told us that the campground had emptied out during the morning. I guess that the campground was full during the weekend and no one had gotten around to changing the sign. We found our site, backed in and set up. And then the rains began again. (On and off and on and off and you get the picture) Enjoyed a good meal, started planning tomorrow’s trip, played some games and then, ready for bed.

Touring the Islands (4/3/14)

This morning we woke in our beautiful new Escape Trailer @ Deception Pass State Campground on Whidbey Island. Despite having about 300 camp sites, the site that we had was very secluded. Looking out from our “bedroom” windows, we couldn’t see another camper despite being surrounded by them. The woods were lush and green (due to the massive amounts of precipitation). The wildflowers were plentiful and the green foliage constantly dripped from all that rain!!! Having not yet shopped for groceries since leaving home 1 week ago, breakfast was sparse. At least I had some good coffee! After spending some time organizing the trailer and the car, we decided to head onto Fidalgo Island for groceries and tourism. A quick visit to a Safeway allowed us to purchase some groceries which included some fresh caught sockeye salmon – it was delicious! From there, we did a walking tour of historic downtown Anacortes. We also drove to some bluffs looking down on the town and then headed to the other side of the island where we did a 2-1/2 mile walk in Washington State Park. We could actually see across the bay to where we hope to camp on Monday night! We got back to the campground where we continued to organize, took some walks around the campground, played some cribbage and listened to the rain hit our roof. Dinner was great, the bed was comfortable and warm and we are still having a blast! Until next time…..