Back in Hesperia

We arrived home tonight about 7:15. We left David & Marcy's at 9:30. We had to stop a lot, we are real tired of the traveling.

Tim met us when we pulled in the driveway, and after unhooking the trailer we went and got Mexican food -- La Casita salsa. What a way to come home.

Tomorrow we start cleaning the trailer, fixing the yard and pool, reading the mail, paying the bills, and making up for being gone for 4 weeks.

Fires, Fields & Family

We are back in (cough, cough) California. We had heard about the fires for a couple of weeks, but when we drove by Mt. Shasta and couldn’t see it, we finally realized how bad the smoke was. We later learned that it is a lot better now. So it must have been bad.

And the drought is bad, too. Everything looks drier than usual, and I’ve never seen Shasta Lake so low. We could see the bottom in places that used to be wide lake 40 years ago. Sorry, we didn’t get pictures of either the hidden Mt. Shasta or the lake.

The rest of northern California was agricultural fields. The rice fields were the greenest. The white crane was so common in the rice fields of Taiwan and China, that to see them in California was interesting.

I think the bird is called Ibis.
(You have to look hard to see two of them)

We arrived at David & Marcy’s house on Wednesday night. We had lunch with Grant & Karrie on Thursday, and basically just stayed lazy all day.

Friday should be the last day of this trip. Who would ever think someone would be glad to see Hesperia!!


Oh, PS:
One more JACK: We have been using our Garmin GPS. We got tired of the naggy lady whose voice is standard. We switched to a male British voice that I called "Bernard." But he pronounced American words wrong. Cirque Dr. in Tacoma he called Cirque doctor. Shoshone St. was Show-Shown Saint. So I looked for more voices, and found an American male voice named: Jack.

Snow, Smoke & Secret Service

In June 1995 our family stopped to visit Crater Lake, Oregon on our way from Roseburg back home to Hesperia. We had about an hour to visit on a Sunday afternoon. As we approached the area, it started snowing. By the time we got to the lake the falling snow and the ground/lake fog made our visibility about 50 ft. We never saw the lake.

Last night we arrived at Diamond Lake with clear skies and the setting sun lighting up the snow covered peaks. We couldn’t wait to get our first view of Crater Lake.

When we woke up this morning we thought someone was burning something. Then when we went outside we saw the sky was hazy. Sure enough, a nearby wildfire was filling the sky with smoke. Our second chance at seeing Crater Lake was being jeopardized. But through the smoke we saw the lake.


The website said our first words would be, “Wow!” They were right. Without even thinking about it, we walked up to the over look, and I said, “Wow, look at that blue color!”

WOW! Look at that blue color!

We drove along many overlooks. At one there was a ranger and a fire officer and they had some parking blocked off. Then we noticed that one of the tourists talking to the ranger had an earpiece on like a secret service agent. Then we noticed a limousine parked by us. We had followed it into the park, and noticed that they didn’t pay. As we were getting ready to leave the overlook a few dozen motorcycles came up, followed by a Suburban motorcade, followed by park and police vehicles with their lights flashing. Several more earphone guys got out of the Suburbans, and several Middle Eastern looking people also go out. As we finally left I asked one of the rangers, “What’s going on?” He said, “Oh, just a dignitary.” We never knew who it was, but heard a rumor that it was the king of Jordan. And he didn’t get to see the lake either. So now we have something in common with the king of Jordan.

Secret Service Chipmunk


Diamond Lake - Our site is near the lake


Mt. Thielsen, one of the many old volcanoes in the area

We came back to our campsite and sat outside and read until the mosquitoes convinced us to go inside. Tomorrow it's on to David & Marcy’s. It will be a long, hot day!

I Do Know Jack

Over three weeks ago we left on this odyssey. But before we got out of the driveway I bent the stabilizer JACK because I didn't have it raised far enough. On the second day we blew a tire in the middle of nowhere, and I had to use the floor JACK I brought to raise the trailer to change the tire.

We finally got to Mike & Kallie's on the third day so we could finally meet our grandson, JACK. Over the next week we kinda got to know JACK. Though I'm sure he keeps changing every day, so we now don't know him as well as we used to. But while we were in Colorado, I had to use the floor JACK again, to raise the trailer to repair the plumbing that was tore up when the tire blew.

In Idaho I ruined my cordless drill installing the new stabilizer JACK that I bought in Utah. Then in Pt. Ludlow I had to use the floor JACK again to replace a brand new tire that had gone mysteriously flat.

This morning, as we were getting ready to leave Washington I needed to put on the new tire I bought to replace the mystery flat. I was going to use some stacking blocks as a rolling JACK, just roll the trailer forward and the good tire would go up on the blocks, while the back tire would go up in the air for changing. As I was raising the trailer to put it on the hitch, the tongue JACK broke, dropping the trailer. So I had to use the floor JACK again to get the trailer on the hitch so I could roll in forward on the rolling JACK.

On the way to Diamond Lake, Oregon we stopped at bought a new tongue JACK which I installed tonight. So after these three weeks of odyssey, you can’t tell me that I don’t know . . . .

Washington Weekend -- Water, Water & Water

Friday we rented a canoe and kayaks where we are camped at American Lake here at Ft. Lewis. Holly's dog, Coda, went with us. We saw a couple of bald eagles. You will too if you look hard enough.





































Saturday we met up with our friends the Smiths for a picnic at Lake Sammamish. We went on their boat, then picnicked, then had pizza at their house.








































On the way home the setting sun was lighting up Mt. Rainer, but the picture doesn't do it justice.









Sunday after church Holly grilled some salmon, then we took Coda for a walk at a park along Puget Sound. The Olympic Mountains were in view today.

Boats, Blooms & Battle Beans

On Wednesday, Holly joined us for lunch at Anthony's on Puget Sound in Tacoma. It was great food and great views; not just of the boats, but also of Mount Rainer.
























Anthony's is located at Point Defiance park in Tacoma. They also have some great flower gardens, and an old Hudson Bay Co. fur trading fort. It was a beautiful park and way to spend the afternoon.









On Thursday, we all had lunch together at Ft. Lewis at a coffee and sandwich place called Battle Bean. Then we got a tour of one of Dan' Strykers. Well actually, it belongs to the Army, but it's assigned to Dan.









You can see Carolyn inside the Stryker holding a cup from Battle Bean.












We tried to go kayaking today, but there were no rental kayaks available. We'll try again tomorrow.

Otherwise these two days have just been lazy times with Holly & Dan and the dogs.

We found a tennis ball at the park yesterday, and Coda has had fun with it.

Captain Holly!

This morning we attended the ceremony for Holly to be pinned with her Captain's rank. We got to do the pinning. It was a nice, ceremony outside her work building. Col. Clark who was there when she became Lt was presiding.









Yesterday we attended the Tall Ships Festival in Tacoma. There were replicas of the HMS Bounty, the actual one used in the 1960s movie, and a replica of the Niña. Plus other large sailing ships.










The Niña.













Even Mt. Rainier came out for the show.













We are camped at Ft. Lewis' Travel Camp on American Lake. We haven't tried any lake adventures yet, but probably will.











We learned today that the flat tire we discovered on Sunday morning was caused by a piece of fireworks debris in the sidewall. Not repairable and not covered by the warranty. Bummer. $100 Bummer!

Oh, well, it's just part of the adventure!

Pictures to follow

Saturday we drove with Renata Riggs up into Olympic National Park, and on to Lake Crescent. It was beautiful scenery, even though it was cloudy/fog with a chance of cloudy drizzle. It was well worth the trip, even though we couldn't see the mountains that surrounded us.

We spent the evening in our trailer watching a DVD.

Today, Sunday, we arrived at Ft. Lewis. They have an RV park on post. It is a beautiful tree-surrounded spot.

We left Pt. Ludlow this morning, and just as we were hooking up the trailer, discovered that one of our new tires was flat. Ugh! So we lost a 1/2 hour putting on the spare.

Then we made two shuttle trips to the airport. First to pick up Dan at 2, and then Holly at 6.

So, we don't have time to post pictures now, will try to update that tomorrow.

Fourth of July

We made it to Port Ludlow last night, and we are parked in a very foresty place.

We spent today with our friends David & Renate Riggs. We spent most of the day on the deck overlooking the Hood Canal.


Tonight we watched fireworks from the deck.

For Sale -- Cheap

That should tell you everything you need to know about our trip today! Pulling a trailer is not my idea of vacation.






At the end of the day we finally reached Pendleton, Oregon. We did go to the Pendleton Woolen Mills store. It was too hot to buy a wool shirt, but it was also too expensive!! Even the stuff "up to" 50% off!







But we found a great little restaurant in the old part of town, and the waitress told us about a Riverwalk, so we spent about an hour walking along the river.

We are staying at an RV park that a review on the internet called "Walmart with hookups." It's just an asphalt area with striped lines and hookups. Weird! But we have the airconditioner on, and we aren't driving. So that's good.




Tomorrow on to Port Ludlow, WA to see the Riggs. Another 7-hour drive. Yuck! I wonder if someone would trade me two airline tickets for a truck and trailer?

Did Utah what I taw?

I tawt I taw a bunch of nuthin'










Below are all the interesting pictures that we took today. In fact, they are ALL the pictures that we took today. Utah is boring!!!

We drove a lot on two-lane roads through hours of nothing, except terrible construction zones. Then we had to drive through the Salt Lake City area. Give me LA traffic anytime. In one of the construction zones a big rig locked up his brakes in front of us, and we had to put ours on hard. It was a bit scary, but we made it. Those people are crazy. Speaking of crazy, we saw a Starbucks in the (Mormon) suburb of Sandy, Utah.

Once we got within an hour of Twin Falls, Idaho we finally saw some green. Lots of farms. Lots of huge new dairies. The ones that moved here from Chino.

So we are parked for the night. It was a long, exhausting day. Tomorrow we got to Pendleton, Oregon. I wonder if it will be too hot to buy a wool shirt.