Home Again

Well, we've come full circle.  We're back at the Ho Hum where we started this summer's road trip 2 1/2 months ago.  After Sedona, we did 3 days on the road spending just one night then moving on.  We overnighted in Grants, NM, Amarillo, TX, and Checotah, OK before arriving back in Little Rock for time with Laurie's family and a reunion with my old military buddies at Little Rock AFB, my first assignment.  On our way to the Gulf Coast, we stopped in Hattiesburg, MS and stayed at the Paul B. Johnson State Park.  Hattiesburg is a nice town and the park was beautiful, set on a lake.  We head back to MacDill for our 4th winter.  We think we are, anyway.  They're renovating the electrical power and are not yet ready for the influx of us snow birds.  We might have to stay somewhere else for a month until they finish, but regardless we're back in the Sunshine State just as they start to report the first snows of fall up north.

Lots of gray hairs on us, 30 years after most of us served together.

Sedona, AZ

We have not been "everywhere."  Even in a 30 year military career being stationed across the country, and 3 years full time doing nothing but sight seeing, we still haven't even come close to "seeing it all."  I was talking to a fellow RVer at our most recent stay, just outside Sedona, AZ.  She'd been RVing full time with her husband, also a military retiree, for 6 years.  I made a comment about not knowing when we'd ever grow tired of the lifestyle and come off the road.  She said she wasn't sure either, because there's so much to see.  She also mentioned talking to someone once that was trading in the gypsy lifestyle for the more conventional world.  That person claimed in 3 years of RVing, they'd "seen it all."  Poppycock.  Whatever you have to tell yourself, but I don't care who you are, please don't tell me you've seen everything this great country has to offer.

So, that leads me to this post.  We'd heard rave reviews of Sedona, and we missed seeing it the last time we were out west in 2013.  After Las Vegas, we made sure to drop south of I-40 just a bit so we could check out this much acclaimed destination.  We've seen a lot, so our bar is set pretty high.  I have to say that the area lived up to its reputation.  It's one of those gorgeous red rock areas we have out west, perhaps a place they would have declared a national park under other circumstances.  As it stands, it's a very conscientiously developed town in the middle of a natural paradise.  They did a great job making sure dwellings and buildings merged with the landscape.  We had a good time and intend to return so we can spend more time checking out the outlying communities.  Arizona is awesome.

One of the local Sedona residents

A typical view from Main Street Sedona.  The red rock formations are really spectacular.

Castle Rock, I think?  There were too many beautiful formations to remember.

Good Bye Charlie

Well, most of my blog entries are about nice places and pretty pictures.  This one is just about misery.  Our little buddy, constant companion and mascot was diagnosed with kidney disease earlier this year.  The only treatment they offered were surgeries like kidney transplants, or a "kidney friendly" diet.  He wouldn't eat the kidney friendly food.  Over the past few months his weight dropped, and his appetite and energy level slowly dropped to zero.  When he quit drinking water and showed no interest in his morning walk, we knew it was time to drop the denial and take him to the vet in Las Vegas.  I haven't cried that hard since my father died.  For a little dog, Charlie had a ton of personality.  Those of you who have had a shoe stolen by him know what I'm talking about.  We had him since 2007, but he was a daily fixture in our lives since I retired in 2012.  He was always there, always happy to see us, always coming up with some new neurotic behavior to make us laugh and shrug.  I held him tightly in my arms when the Vet put him down and I bawled like a baby.  We will really miss that dog.  Here are some pictures from his better days.

He was a little heart breaker as a puppy.  How can you not love this guy?

Awkward teenage years.  Yes, he'd help himself to whoever's bed he wanted to lay on.  

Our first summer in the RV.  

Happy as a clam hanging out by a stream in the mountains somewhere.  Anywhere.  Charlie in his prime.

I hope this video works.  Charlie was a huge licker, part of his...charm.

Las Vegas

Well, I would not advise driving all the way from Yosemite to Las Vegas, but I did it.  I must have been reading the map wrong, because I thought I was half way there by noon, but we didn't arrive until after 7pm.  Oh well, all's well that ends.  We stayed 3 nights at the RV park at Circus Circus Casino.  Didn't gamble a dime.  We did see 2 good shows though, and took advantage of the Nellis AFB commissary and ticket office.  We saw a La Reve - The Dream, which was one of those very well done Cirque du Soleil kind of shows.  Google it, too hard to explain.  We also saw a classic rock revival show featuring members of Heart, Survivor and a few other bands.  No pictures this stop, not too much scenery to shoot on The Strip.

Yosemite

Huge, epic, awesome.  I run out of superlatives to describe the Yosemite valley.  After Bend, we made a fairly epic drive up CA120 west of the park.  We missed Yosemite in 2013 because of fires, but it was all clear this time.  After hours of boring driving on I-5 through the San Jauqine Valley, you climb up the Sierras.  I have ever increasing respect for Cummins and the engines they build.  This was way worse than any climb we've ever done on the interstate, and we've been over the continental divide dozens of times.  Lots of switchbacks and about 5000 later, we were safely tucked away at the closest park to the entrance.  The campgrounds in Yosemite National Park are a little small and even harder to get to, so we used the Chevy for touring.  The national park is enormous, maybe 50 times as big as the valley with El Capitan and Half Dome that you see all the pictures of.  We toured the valley, but we tried to see some other parts as well.  I think the hikers have the best of it.  With 800+ miles of trails, they get to see sights that you never experience sticking to the roads.  Overall, wonderful.

El Capitan.  There were climbers on the left hand side we could see through our binoculars.  The were tiny, invisible to the naked eye.  These pictures are great, but like most, it's just not like being there.

A panorama of the granite faces on the north side of Yellowstone Valley.

Half Dome.

One of the less explored areas of Yosemite National Park.  The Hetch Hetchy (that's right) Valley made a likely candidate for a dam and reservoir after the 1906 San Francisco fire.  Even though it was a National Park at the time and the naturalists fought it, they built the O'Shaughnessy Dam to form the Hetch Hetchy reservoir.  It provides 85% of San Francisco's drinking water.

Hetch Hetchy reservoir from the hiking trail.

Redding, CA

We left Harris Beach and turned inland, through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods and down to Redding, CA.  It's just south of Mount Shasta.  We only got one free day, thanks to an oil leak in the Chevy.  We must have kicked up a rock with the motorhome.  It was leaking pretty good when we got to Redding, so I spent the next day at the Chevy dealer getting a new oil pan.  Luckily, full coverage covered the repair and I only paid the deductable.  Ouch.  A set of tires and an oil pan in the same month.  Anyway, we spent our one free day seen a snow capped mountain outside of town, Lassen Peak.  It was a long day driving, but we drove the loop up and over and around before heading back to Redding.  We'll have to come back to see Mount Shasta.  The whole area was nice, worth a return trip.  Here's some pictures:

Lassen Peak.  It wasn't quite fall yet, pretty cool seeing that much snow in summer time.

One of many lakes up in the high country.  I thought the double image was pretty.

More snow

The ever present reminder that you're driving on a volcano.  There were a few hot mud pots and steam holes, just like Yellowstone.  These were right next to the road.

Coastal Oregon

During the summer of 2013, we got to see the northern 2/3 of the Oregon coast before we cut inland to camp at Crater Lake National Park.  It was spectacular.  Oregon does a fantastic job of keeping their coastline undeveloped, something Florida completely missed out on.  So this year, we rejoined Highway 101 where we left it and saw the remainder of the southern coast.  The trip from Silverton to Coos Bay was not without a little drama.  The road meanders a lot, following the course of the Umpqua river.  I pulled over on a gravel turn out to let some cars pass and when I pulled back on the road, the motorhome was rolling around like a wounded cow.  I pulled over immediately to find a complete flat tire on the Chevy we tow behind.  Dang.  30 minutes later we were on our way, but when we got to a tire shop I was shown that the tire was munched.  Oh well, I was going to need new tires soon anyway so I went ahead and go a new set.  If that blow out had happened at speed, in the mountains, I don't want to think about it.  So, we camped 2 nights in complete fog (all day, all night, no break, yikes) near Coos Bay, then headed south for 5 nights in paradise at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, OR.  The sea fog was much lighter and the local area was fantastic.  We got a really private hookup spot with cable TV, a real treat in a state park.  The best part was the view of the ocean out our windows.  I don't know what that view would cost if you could buy the land, millions.  Anyway, Brookings, OR definitely sealed our opinion of Oregon as the prettiest place in America.

Between Reedsport and Coos Bay there are some crazy huge dune areas running along the Pacific.  They've done a pretty good job of balancing preservation and access.  We saw a ton of dune buggies and motorcycles set up just for tearing up the sand.  There were also pristine areas where there weren't even footprints for miles.  Day hiking in sand is hard work.

Some sort of tree.  I just thought the red skin of bark over the older silver was cool looking.

The view from our living room window in Brookings.

Harris Beach, a short walk down the hill from our motorhome.

There is just no end of rugged, rocky beauty on this stretch of the coast.

Walking along the beach, I came across this rock with a split worn by the ocean.  It's probably not clear in the photo, but the split was about 30' high and the water pulsed in and out like it was alive.

We couldn't believe our luck.  An actual sunset on the Pacific.  It's almost always obscured by some kind of clouds or sea fog.  This was on our last night in Oregon too, sort of a "thanks for visiting, come back and see me" message.  We'll be back.

Salem, OR

After Bend, we stayed for a week in a little community called Silverton outside Salem, OR, the state capitol.  It was a nice park and a cool little town in the heart of the Willamette (rhymes with Spam It) Valley.  There weren't a whole lot of natural wonders to photograph, but we did a few waterfall hikes when we weren't hanging out relaxing.  The weather was awesome, cool moist mornings and warm afternoons.  Central Oregon continues to impress.  Here are some photos...

It was almost harvest time in the Oregon wine country

South Falls in Silver Falls State Park.  177 feet high!  We did a 2 mile loop around/behind it and a couple other falls

Lower South Falls

North Falls

There's a really nice municipal garden in Silverton, called the Oregon Garden.  They had live acoustic music on the veranda one evening, very cool.  Ironically, all the water features are processed waste water from the city plant.  It was coming out too warm to go back into the Silver River, so they built this park and about 11 ponds to cool it.  The garden is allowed to use 10,000 gallons a day to irrigate, the rest cools and goes back in the river.  Great relationship.

I don't remember the name of the plant, but it had really cool blooms.

These bright red flowers were everywhere, but no signs to say what they are

This wooden sculpture was called Adam and Eve and was for sale for $2000.  Hmmm.

The Gordon House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was finished in '63, originally miles away on the Willamette River.  In 2001 it was going to be destroyed, so they dismantled it and moved to the Oregon Garden for preservation.

Another view of the Gordon House

Bend, OR

Wow, I think we might have found our favorite place in the whole country.  We stayed up in the hills above Bend at LaPine State Park.  It was very nice, spacious woodsy sites with full hookups at an affordable price.  Just hanging out at the site was sublime.  This are has just about everything for the outdoor enthusiast.  Skiing, mountain biking, river sports, hiking, etc etc.  Plus, it's high desert so you get trees without the rain.  They don't even get a whole lot of snow, except up on the peaks where you want it.  The mountain tops around Bend were still covered with snow in late August.  Very nice.  One thing we did that I couldn't capture on film was explore Lava River Cave.  This is one of those lava tubes that went hollow, but it's a mile long, totally underground, with no electrical lights.  You bring your own flashlights and hope they don't fail.  We took 6.  It was amazing, and since it was during the week and most of the kids have started back to school, we had it almost to ourselves.  On to the pictures:

Intrepid Travelers at Paulina Falls in Newberry volcano.

Benham Falls, LaPine State Park.  It's really a cascade of the Deschutes River, but when it's flowing like this, they're right to call it a waterfall.

Paulina Falls, Newberry volcano.

Big Obsidian Flow.  This was a relatively recent belch by the Newberry volcano.  This picture was taken from Paulina Peak, a couple thousand feet above the flow.  The picture below is us in the middle of it.

Intrepid travelers in the middle of Big Obsidian Flow.  There were chunks of pure, shiny black obsidian glass as big as cars.  Everywhere.

Our lunch view from East Lake, in the Newberry caldera.

Panoramic shot of Newberry Caldera, one of the biggest volcanoes in North America.  The two lakes and the obsidian flow are all contained within the caldera.  Luckily, it's been well behaved for a thousand years or so.

Mountain views from Paulina Peak.

A small cinder cone.  This place is highly volcanic.  Or at least it was...

Lava Butte.  A large cinder cone.  We took a shuttle bus to the top and hiked around the rim.  No private vehicles allowed.

The Deschutes River near our campsite.

Sunset over Bend.  Snow on the peaks in late August!

Idaho

When we came out west in 2013, we blasted through Idaho without stopping, on our way from Glacier National Park in Montana to the coast of Washington State.  This time, we dropped south from Missoula on US 93 to cross the Bitterroot Mountains and down into the Salmon River Valley.  Gorgeous, remote, rugged, sparsely populated, all the things we look for.  We stayed at a small park on the river just north of the town of Salmon and took in the local flavor.  The next day we continued south to Arco, ID to see Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It's a large lava flow area that I'd never heard of.  Very well named though, as the plants haven't been able to convert much of the lava to soil in the 2000 years since the eruption.  They only get 7 inches of rain a year out here.  From here, it's out to Oregon, so I'm glad we slowed down and spent a couple days in Idaho.  You could spend all summer in this state and not see everything, really beautiful.  On to the pictures.

Craters of the Moon.  Those are people walking up this cinder cone.  I saved my legs for the lava tube caves.

"Scenic" view.  This place has a rugged beauty all its own.

Coolest picture I was able to take.  There's a collapsed lava tube cave that goes on for about 800 feet.  In a couple places, the roof had caved in letting in just enough light to see.  That's Laurie in the foreground.  No trails through this thing, we were almost spelunking!

The Mighty Endeavor windshield to the Salmon River. 

Downstream from our campground.

Walking Charlie in the early AM, I looked up river and saw a large herd of elk moving across the river.  I was able to grab the Nikon in time to catch the end of the herd.  There were dozens of them.  The haze isn't early morning fog, it's smoke from all the fires.  It was clear when we got there, but the wind shifted out of the north and we got a lot of smoke late in the day.

Click on this to expand it.  Arco, ID (pop. 995) is one of those towns where apparently the school kids are proud enough to scale the cliff overlooking the town and paint the year of their graduation on the side.  Private land, so no laws were broken during the commission of these shenanigans.  Also, check out the clear skies.  The wind came up out of the southwest and pushed what little smoke we had out of the area.