My Trails

After five wonderful days at my brother Don’s home, I packed up and began my journey to AZ. I plan on going slow at first and then I may ease up a bit. I’m sorry, its just the way I travel.

I had a great time with Don and family, they made me feel like one of the…. well, you know! We went out for breakfast on Saturday, Thai food on Sunday, and Mexican on Monday. I actually liked most of the Thai food which even surprised me. We went to the movie Ender’s Game after breakfast on Saturday, then stopped afterwards to see Betty’s Daughter Jen at her new apartment. All of Betty’s daughters, Ann, Jen, and Michelle, are super cool young ladies and I was glad I got to see and spend time with each of them.

On Sunday Don took me out to where he works. Thinkom is a company that designs and manufacturers leading edge antennas. If you fly somewhere next year, there is a good possibility that the antenna on the roof of the airplane that allows you to connect to Wifi will be one of theirs. It was all pretty fascinating, and although much of the technology involved in antenna design was over my head, I actually learned quite a lot. It was very special day to spend together.

I just want to thank Don and Betty for their gracious hospitality. It was hard to say goodbye but good to realize that they will travel to Phoenix in December where we will see each other again.

On my last night in LA, after almost three years, I saw Julie Widener again. Don and I met Julie at a local yogurt shop and had a wonderful time catching up. I think we spent most of our conversation about our kids and new grandchildren, but in a way, that’s what it’s all about. It was great to see her again.

I remembered a nice campground in the San Bernardino NF, so when I drove by yesterday, I had to stop and see if it was still open. It was. I stopped. It is quite high up, about 8000′, and very cold at night, < 30 deg, so I will most likely pull out tomorrow. I will probably stay a couple of days in Quartzsite and be in Mesa shortly after.

Marshall Statue

It sometimes amazes me how addicted I am to technology. I will pass up a beautiful campsite in the forest for a parking lot where I can charge my battery and get on the internet. Even the bloggers I read, always preaching solitude and enjoying the quiet of nature, are lost without their data signal. I know a lot of them make money through their readers, but I’m sure their interactions with followers are therapeutic on lonely nights.

I guess we all strive for stimulation of some kind. For the adventurer like me it is the anticipation and satisfaction of seeing what’s over the next hill, relishing in the freedom to go where I want and do what I want. But when I’m parked late at night on a dark forest road, deep in the mountains, isolated miles from another human being, it wouldn’t hurt if I could pick up a couple of TV stations.

I have been camping at a beautiful little wilderness campsite, near the Silver Fork River, in the Eldorado National Forest. This is gold country so I have been doing a little gold panning. The water is too cold to keep my hands in for very long so my hobby only lasts about an hour a day. I have found a few flakes to add to my collection.

Last week I went to the James Marshall Gold Discovery State Park to see where it all happened in 1848. It was quite interesting to read and learn about the history of the famous California Gold Rush and see how they lived back then. They will let you pan in the American River where the first nugget was found but I thought that sounded silly – the area has been mined to death.

I need to head south soon. The days are still nice and warm and I have been riding my motorcycle exploring the roads, but the nights are chilly with occasional frost on the ground in the morning. It may be harder to find free camping as I get near the metropolitan areas south of here, but I may know someone that lives near LA where I can park for the night…

Oregon has a lot of log trucks. It seems like half the traffic in the National Forests is long, log-loaded semis, twisting down narrow, two-lane roads to some unforeseen destination in the valley. And get out of their way because they’re really rolling and they don’t want to get behind some camper-van that is strolling through the forest!

Day two in Oregon took me over the Cascade Mountains to Willamette NF. I drove farther than I normally do because I was leery of the weather in the mountains and didn’t want to get caught in some freakish snowstorm. I found a forest road that went by a closed campground and then opened up to a level spot by a bridge where I parked for the night. It rained all night and I didn’t see another soul. I woke very early in the morning and drove carefully in the dark, fearing a mudslide that would bury the road. The log truck drivers were not worried, however, as they sailed by me like I was standing still.

Day three took me south on I5 to Roseburg, OR where I turned east on 138 into the Umpqua NF (I love saying that name!). I couldn’t pass by Sutherlin, OR without stopping to take a look at the Escapee Park where Richard and Dianna have their name on a list for a permanent site. It is a beautiful spot, nestled in a valley and surrounded on three sides by trees. I’m sure they will have fun exploring all the back roads and coastal attractions.

In the Umpqua NF I pulled onto a forest road that followed the Umpqua River and in less than a quarter-mile came to a campground. There were several campers there already, and although it wasn’t a designated campground, had numbered sites and a vault toilet. I took the last site.

I walked over to the toilet and noticed a sign tacked to the door saying it was closed because of the shutdown, but the door was open and everyone there was using it. I’m not sure why they didn’t lock the door; maybe they didn’t want people pooping by the river, or maybe closed meant no toilet paper, or maybe the ranger was a good guy and left it open. I walked a way on the trail that follows the river through a stand of giant redwoods and on the way back stopped to talk with one of the campers.

I could tell that he had been there a long time. He had several tarps strung up from trees and camping gear was scattered all over. When I got closer I saw that he had laid in a huge supply of firewood. Two cats ran around the camp like it was their back yard.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Most of the summer. About 2 ½ months, I guess.”

I tried to be diplomatic, “Don’t the rangers tell you you have move after a couple of weeks?”

“Naw! They changed that rule. You can stay in the forest in the same spot for as long as you want now!” He seemed convinced so I let it go.

I had intended to travel down the coast of Oregon but bad weather changed my mind. Every morning the sky was overcast and fog drifted through the trees. I didn’t want to drive along the ocean and not see anything so I left Umpqua NF and drove the interstate south to Grants Pass where I took 199 towards Crescent City, CA. Ten miles short of Crescent City, I pulled up a road in the Six Rivers NF. As the road climbed higher and higher into the mountains, I was sure I would be able to communicate with the outside world, but even when I was at the very top, with views in all directions, I got nothin’. It was a nice campsite though!

Where is this?

This morning I drove through Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. I may go back and stay one night in the campground even though it is expensive. The redwood trees take my breath away! They are so….. BIG! You feel so insignificant as you walk among them.

The Walmart in Crescent City has no signs that prohibit overnight parking. It will give me a chance to catch up on my blog, watch a little TV, and see how the debacle in congress is progressing. They must have settled this shutdown by now, right?

Camping Place

For the last few weeks I have been loosely following the Oregon Trail. Every few miles there are historic sites with information boards marking the early, westward route, and at all the roadside rest areas, billboards and literature describe the wild, wagon train adventure of families bound for Oregon and California in the mid1800’s.

I hiked a long way on the AT, but my adventure was nothing compared to the hardship these people endured. They were attacked by Indians, ravaged by disease, died by accident or drowning, and caught in snowstorms in the mountains. And they didn’t have a town to stop in every few days so it was necessary to carry many supplies.

The route I chose on my way to the west coast just happened to take me near the city of Boise, Idaho, home of the Holsingers. Robin texted me with an invite to stop in and see them on my way through, and I am so glad that I could stop and spend some time with them. They have a beautiful home in a great neighborhood and they made me feel like one of the family. I gave Steven a motorcycle ride and we had fun playing chess and geocashing. Megan is now in high school and spends a lot of time practicing ballet for her anual performance in the Nutcracker. On Saturday Robin invited me to watch her dance at the studio. She is a beautiful young lady and a very talented ballet dancer. Steven also has a part in the Nutcracker and Robin works at the studio designing and making costumes, so as you can imagine, they keep quite busy.

Ken has been working long hours at his company. They have a new software release coming out and it required him to work right through the weekend. I did get to visit his office, meet some of his staff, and see his amazing collection of cameras he keeps there.

I had a wonderful visit and I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity. Tonight I am in Oregon, camped in the Malheur National Forest. I was planning on driving further but this place is so neat I may stay a couple of days. The weatherman says rain for a while so I will wait a little before crossing the Cascades.

I had forgotten how bad the smell is when you drive by a feed lot in Colorado and Nebraska. You would think that I would be somewhat used to the odor after living on a farm for several years, but nothing can compare to the nastiness of those cow corals. My cows never smelled like that! And why is it that it is a hot, dry day with he wind always blowing towards the road? OK, enough ranting.

I am tonight in the Badlands of South Dakota. I now have a vehicle license and drivers license from this great state of cheapness. It was pretty easy to meet the requirements to obtain a drivers license – just a few documents to prove who I am, a nights stay in a motel or campground (to make it look like you live here), an eye test, and twenty bucks, produces the original, official, plastic document. I thought I would get a temporary license and be mailed the original.

The lady helping me at the DMV kept apologizing that it was taking so long. I was shocked because It had only been a few minutes. My last visit to the DMV in Mesa was a wait of 90 minutes.

It kept reminding me of the wedding chapels in Las Vegas: There was a big neon sign outside that flashed “Drivers Licenses”, and everyone knows that we are “full time rv’ers” there to take advantage of SD laws, even the girl at the motel where I stayed said that some people come in and pay for a room just to get the receipt to prove their one night in town. They don’t even stay there!

I will be here for a few days. I’m hoping for a more casual exploration on my motorcycle than I encountered in Rocky Mountain NP. With the kids back in school and no free entrance fee, there should be less traffic and tourism. I will ride out early tomorrow and get a jump on the weather. It is still about 10 or 15 degrees warmer than normal and thunderstorms are likely in the afternoon.

Oh, Donna… I stopped in and said “Hi” to Becky. She was flattered that I read her blog and enjoys meeting people who know her through her writing. She is very nice and I would have liked to talk with her more, but she was busy at work and I elected not to distract her from that.

After here it will be to Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills, and then ever so slowly west. I like to keep moving but this van likes to slurp up liquid gold!