Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Closing the Journal from September 2014
Well, it has been some months since my last entry – mostly because we don’t “road trip” in wintertime. However, I must apologize for leaving readers hanging in my last entry last Fall. For reasons of mostly laziness, I just never finished our journey – on paper. We really did enjoy the remainder of our trip to Yellowstone and return through Idaho, and out to the Oregon coast. Five highlights now stand out in my mind as I look back on our return trip from Yellowstone National Park:
1. Craters of the Moon in Idaho is truly spectacular bleakness of black pumice! We climbed a cinder cone and drove through the park on a brilliantly sunny day. The surprise was that this extensive devastation was volcanic activity that was barely 2000 years old!
2. Our road selection from looking at maps has become easy. I call it the “Accountant System of Travel”…Don’t go on the red – take only black! These roads, for the most part are 2-laned, travelling through beautiful countryside where you can get up close and personal with the scenery and locals. The pace is a little slower, but there is little traffic.
3. We fell in love with the downtown and Snake River frontage developments of Bend, Oregon! The City Fathers (and probably a few City Mothers!) have done a beautiful job of planning this and bringing the trail system to fruition. Nanaimo City should send a team there to research the potential!
4. As we headed west out of Bend, we (me, obviously) selected a “new” route to travel to Eugene – via a route that was marked “No RVs over 30 feet”. Since we measure only 22 feet with bikes hanging off the back – we were okay…I thought. It turns out that in addition to very tight turns, the road, though paved, was extremely narrow, and although most of the traffic that we passed consisted of motor bikes, the odd car, or worse…motor home, had us hugging a non-existent shoulder edge of a steep drop-off. Near the top, we were, once again, travelling through a very large lava bed of a long dead volcano, and, in trying to avoid a collision with another motor home on a banked curve to my right, I suddenly noticed that I had almost opened the side of the camper on a sharp protruding lava flow rock.
5. The rest of our trip continued in beautiful weather, and when we reached the Pacific, we located several beach campgrounds on the Oregon coast. At one of them, in the late afternoon, the beach in the sun was too hot to sit (95 F) so we stayed in the shade of our campsite.
The travel up through Aberdeen was fabulous, and traffic very light. We were able to squeeze onto a last minute arrival at Pt. Angeles ferry for the trip to Victoria. It was good to get home.
And that entry leads us to our newest travels. We are heading for Santa Fe, and the next 6 weeks will have entries covering our journey and thoughts!
Love and best wishes to all!
Tony (the Quill)
Routes and Revelations – Is Truckhouse an ‘Arvey, or not?
Our chosen campground on Sunday evening was a short distance out of Bozeman. “Martin”, the Manager, lead us in a furious downpour to our site. We had watched the ominous approach of those dark clouds for several hours after we left the Lewis and Clark Caverns. (Who would name their kid “Merryweather”, and then let him go out roaming the countryside? Somebody could have beaten him up!) By the way, those caverns were pretty spectacular, though the tour was quite long, and…well, chilling! – with bats, and temperatures down to 6 C. And also ‘by the way’… L & C NEVER saw those caverns. Perhaps Montana ran out of famous people to name places after.
Back to Bozeman…and our quiet RV park after the rain…the Sunrise RV Park sits right between the freeway, and the intercontinental train tracks. Trains are frequent, and very regular, and let us know they are passing (just in case we didn’t hear the rumble) with 4 boasts of their whistles. Nice night!
It rained off and on, but was finished by morning when we headed for the west entrance of Yellowstone, once again at the uniquely named place of West Yellowstone! We wandered through town and into another QUILTING shop. It turned out to be mostly beads and trinkets, so my partner declares that this doesn’t count. However, I need a show of hands…how many think that a shop that has the word “Quilt” in its name should be considered a quilting shop? (The I’s have it!)
On into the National Park. The sun shone, and we immediately grabbed a camping spot at Madison. This is a large camping area, and since the afternoon was ours, and the road east of Old Faithful would be closed after Labour Day, we decided to spend our afternoon there. It was truly a stunning experience for folks who had never visited Yellowstone! We arrived at the Old Faithful geyser just moments before it erupted, so were able to get that experience behind us.
For the next few hours we wandered the trails around that area as well as many of the off-highway “roads” between there and Madison Camp. Most of those roads were marked “No buses; no RVs”. So, the question arose…”Is Truckhouse an RV, or not?” We seem to be accepted as both, since we can happily park in RV sections at rest stops, but we can also fit into car parking spaces. Needless to say, we ignored the signs – with a bit of trepidation, and carried on down those one-way paths, seeing some glorious, yet sulfurously stinking pits, ponds, and bubbling holes. The fresh air at Madison was a welcome end to our day, as we listened to a rather lengthy, yet informative, talk on Yellowstone’s history at the amphitheatre’s “fireside” presentation. Final note: nights are getting very chilly – approaching 0C!
On Tuesday the amount of traffic on the highways indicated that, while the young folks were back in school here, the seniors were certainly out and about, so we headed north towards Mammoth Hot Springs, with a stop at Norris Geyser Basin where we embarked on a lengthy looping trail through the maze of sulfurous geysers and holes reminding us that we were treading on the crust of a dormant volcano. With this spectacle behind us, we headed on to Mammoth, where crowds jammed the parking lots and trails around the rather spectacular scenery. We added our bulk to the jam, and joined the throngs, until we were footsore, and ready to head to the next campground at Tower Fall. We stopped briefly to take a pic of a distant antelope, and another of a couple of sheep/goats/whatever, and then arrived at the turn-off to the campground, where a sign informed us – “FULL CAMPGROUND”. Oops!
With no other option, we began the long climb over the pass to our next possible campsite at Canyon. The climb had some spectacular vistas, but “You watch the road”! from my partner, as well as concern for space at the next site kept me hustling down (up, actually) the road. I passed thousands of slower RVs hoping to make it into the campground before the “FULL CAMPGROUND” sign went up at Canyon Campground but alas, even that exaggeration wouldn’t have helped. It, too, was FULL! So, with Yellowstone gradually shrinking ahead of us, and no intention of retracing our steps, we finally headed to Fishing Bridge RV Park – for ‘Arvys ONLY! That’s Truckhouse! And…there was room! (No soft-sided units because of bears, apparently.) And…it is the most expensive ‘Arvey Park we have ever stayed at.
With little left to see in Yellowstone, and even less desire to contend with the horde of sightseers who were fighting for camping spaces after at least one 400 site campground had closed after Labor Day, we gladly carried on south into Grand Teton National Park with the spectacular Teton Mountains rising straight out of the plains (no foothills) to the west. (I bet Kodak made a ton of money on that vista over the years!)
And so, we spent Wednesday evening at Colter Bay Campground on Jackson Lake. We got there just about noon, so we rode our bikes, lazed, read, and explored. We also went to a presentation on the Shoshoni people who inhabited this area in the summertime during past centuries. We learned the next day, at a second presentation, that the Shoshone were decimated in a slaughter at Bear River in Idaho in the 1870’s.
GT Park has done right by cyclists! Parallel to the road through the park – starting at Jenny Lake, there is a multi-use path, though both of us agreed that there sure weren’t enough camping spots available. On Thursday, after many stops to photograph the Tetons from different perspectives, we finally landed at Gros Ventres Campground just out of Moose. Just before arriving at the campground, we stopped at the Craig Thomas Visitor Centre near Moose Junction. There, we watched a very good National Geographic presentation video on Grand Teton Park. It was entertaining!
Again, after landing at Gros Ventres Campground, because it was early afternoon, we rode our bikes a couple of miles down a gravel road called Mormons Row – named after a historic settlement that managed to successfully farm the infertile soil. I planned on taking a great pic of one of the standing buildings, but alas…my battery was dead, and besides, it was a barn, for goodness sake! We then watched a coyote bound away through the grain fields – stopping to check on us every few bounces!
Today, we stopped to go through the National Museum of Wildlife Art, but after parking, and admiring the awesome building, we entered and were met by an officious lady who asked if we were “with the Rhodes Scholar group”. (“Glad you asked, but no…we are with the Senior Quilters and Woodworkers of Nanaimo”. ) We discovered that even seniors were being charged $10 each! We passed on the artistry, and found an exit!
Jackson Hole – a cute, but very touristy town. Apparently, “Hole” doesn’t describe the living conditions – it refers to being in a Valley. Thank goodness I paid attention to one of the information sessions! It provided groceries and a scare for us! After shopping at Albertsons, Sandy packed the groceries into Truckhouse. I went to warm up the truck, and found it unlocked. Another oops! But not the worst! When I checked my pockets, my keys were missing. Check pockets up to 5 times, and then admit loss to Sandy. Okay, that sends the daytime temperatures up a lot!
We race back into Albertsons, but Lost and Found doesn’t have them. Neither were they turned in at the Starbucks counter where I bought the coffee. Back outside, and a thorough retrace of my movements! Then, back inside the store, where the plan is to search all the aisles where I had wandered. Sandy starts at Starbucks, and immediately finds them under a rack where I had grabbed a bag of coffee! Okay, we can both breathe again, so we headed west again into Idaho, and maybe, I won’t count that West Yellowknife Quilt Shop after all!
Once again in beautiful weather, we wound our way over the passes into Idaho. It is harvest time, the leaves are beginning to turn, and farmers were busily combining the rolling hills creating quilting patterns with symmetrical cuts. (Sandy suggests “breadboard patterns”! I think we are in synch!) The scenery was beautiful. We finally landed at Idaho Falls at the Snake River RV Park…all services, and even a train track next door. Good news…the rail traffic is less than the Island Rail!
Forecast: chance of quilt shops, less possibility of tool/toy shops!
I am delighted that so many friends and family members are still linked to this blog. Best wishes, love, and good weather to you all!!
Tony, the Quill
And now…Sandy would like to add a word about her quilting intentions:
I know you are all feeling sorry for the poor Quill, loitering outside all those quilt shops, looking lost…….. Reality: I am looking for a specific piece of fabric to border a completed quilt top…not wandering, admiring, drooling, buying. First stop, he was outside enjoying Whitefish, laughing and joking with Bob (5 minutes max). Second stop, Bob suggested a shop in Kalispell that had thousands of bolts of fabric. I quickly ascertained that the needed fabric was not available, and then joined the boys in a Cabela-type store where they were admiring outdoor toys. The third stop DID have “Quilt” in the name, but it should not be classified that way since it only had a few bolts of wild-life fabric.
(Sandy’s comments have been edited, and by the way there is that synchronicity again – “bolts” in a quilting shop; “bolts” in a toy shop!)
Rules of the Road
Greetings dear family and friends! (This was written last night, but Internet wouldn’t let me send it.)
In a moment, I will tell you about today’s “theme title”, but first a bit of travel update…
This past week has gone by very quickly. After our extremely windy Monday in Show Low, we located a better site out of the wind and deeper into the woods for Monday night. On Tuesday, we awoke to 4 inches of snow and more falling. I was going to title this episode “Show Low Snow” as a sequel to the last blog note, but I figured, Show Low had already had enough “press coverage” for this year. The roads remained fairly clear but the weather deteriorated until after Payson (7700 ft. Elev.) when we began the drop down to Phoenix. (I joked in the last blog about Winslow, AZ, but perhaps I should have waited. The highway there had to be closed because of winds on Monday.)
Phoenix was cooler than normal for the first day, but warmed up for our poolside time on Tuesday at the gated community of Pueblo El Mirage where our cousins have a unit on one of the golf tee-offs. It was great to have our annual family visit in Phoenix with Judds and Hendersons.
On Thursday we departed from “Desert Aire RV”, a gravelly place to park, with a “character” caretaker – “RC”, trucks backing up in the morning (“beep, beep, beep”), and several passing night trains that blow the whistle 5 times – a confirmed count! The advantage is that it is quite close to our cousins’ place. RC wasn’t around when we left, so I hope that my cousins will claim the key deposit.
We headed northwest up the “Joshua Tree Highway” to Kingman, and then on to Boulder City, NV just across the new bridge at the Hoover Dam. We stopped for a short ogle of the dam, and then motored on to Pahrump to the newly named “Golden Pahrump Lakeside RV” (used to be “Terrible’s Lakeside”). ‘Tis a lovely spot, but I guarantee that a gambling addiction for a non-smoker could be cured here, otherwise, you have to hold your breath until the one-armed bandit stops dinging your winnings!
On Friday we did a leisurely loop through Death Valley, while once again being totally amazed at the pioneering types who crossed through here, or worked the mines. The highway through Stovepipe took us over the pass to Panamint Valley, and then another pass led to the beautiful Owens River Valley that has Hwy 395 running through it. We stopped briefly in Bishop, then camped at Brown’s Millpond RV park. It is rustic, with chickens and wild jackrabbits, (no ground squirrels this year), but the sites are decent, and back onto a grassy area with a creek.
Saturday found us climbing past Mono Lake and then down again to Carson City and Reno, which we bypassed, but paused for lunch on the north side of town. In search of a new route, as always, I opted for a continuation of 395 up through Alturas, and Tulelake to Klamath Falls, OR. En route we passed a herd of wild burros, and a white pelican! After a very cold night (-6C) at a KOA we followed 97 out of town. This passes Upper Klamath Lake where we saw hundreds of ground squirrels on the shoulders of the road, and crowds of eagles and hawks! At Chemult, we turned west and crossed on 58 to Eugene. After a stop at Fabric Depot in Portland, we finally parked at Columbia Riverfront RV in Woodlands, WA. Tomorrow, if the weather clears a bit, we may take a run up to see Mt. St. Helen, otherwise, we will head for the Lindsay Hotel in Walnut Grove.
Now, as to “rules”…it seems that rules determine all of our behaviours. I just finished a book called “The God Equation” – about Einstein’s equation that describes the rules of the behaviour of the universe! The math was way over my head, but I got it…there is a rule that describes how we behave molecularly, and gravitationally in the totality of the known universe. Wow! BUT, did you know that there are also rules for behaviour in the Truck House??? Einstein didn’t know this, and I didn’t either, but I have discovered over the years that THERE ARE!!! There is a rule for where and when you can wear shoes, there is one for closing cupboard doors, there is one for turning off the water pump, etc. etc. – all for 12 square feet of living space! And get this…I didn’t make up any of the rules! I asked the Quilter…”Who gets to make up the rules?” (Apparently that was a stupid question! Equally apparent is that I don’t!!!) A follow-up question, also inane, was, “Who gets to change the rules? (Same response + “You’re stupid!”) It is a very good thing that I love the rule maker!
And, much love and best wishes to you all! See you soon!
Tony, the Rule Follower, and Sandy, the Rule Maker.
P.s. I have had some trouble including pictures, so I will add them in from home where the Internet and software are more reliable.
P.p.s. We have successfully navigated Washington State’s I-5 traffic, and are safely “home” with our Walnut Grove family. Back to the Island on Thursday.
Show Low Blow
Hello dear family and friends!
Show Low! (That’s the answer to your question, “Where have you been?” Well, it is just the latest answer if you were wondering.) The more complete answer includes Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, Patagonia Lake, Roosevelt Lake State Park, and, most recently, Fool’s Hollow Recreation Area State Park near Show Low. We are told by Ranger Jim that the town got its name from a poker game that was for the land around here. The game was “Show your low card.” Apparently a deuce of clubs won, and that is the name of Main Street in town.
Not too far from here is the city of Winslow, Arizona, made famous in the Eagles’ tune, ‘Take It Easy’. One thing is for sure…the area is not noted for “wind slow”, nor for “winds low”! The winds this morning are raising whitecaps on our little lake (perhaps 50 m across where we are camped), and a forecast this morning suggested that nothing will get better for 48 hours with high winds “reaching 50 mph, with possible rain, mixed with snow”. We have been here since Saturday afternoon, and have paid until tomorrow, but today, we have totally packed up and will go into Show Low to paint the town – grey, of course, being seniors!
The day we left Yuma, temperatures, as always since we came down here, were predicted to be in the low 90’s (30+C). There was a bit of trepidation, as our plan was to travel to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, a desert park just south of Ajo on the Mexican border. However, the campsite had lots of room, and we enjoyed the beautiful desert scenery and fauna. The next day we drove around the 21 mile loop through the eastern portion of the park. The ruggedness was spectacular, but the going was slow on the rough road.
We carried on to Patagonia Lake in the afternoon on Tuesday, and arrived to find our favourite campsite available. Our plan is to be in Phoenix on Tuesday, April 9, so we decided to split our week of “lake” camping between Patagonia, and Roosevelt Lake which we have not seen. (A camper at Organ Pipe had suggested that Show Low had great lakeside camping, but it was a bit off our planned travel route.)
Murky waters at Patagonia Lake spelled out poor fishing, so plans shifted a touch…three nights at Patagonia Lake, and 4 at Roosevelt Lake. So, after some bird-watching, and kayaking, we headed north to Roosevelt Lake on Thursday to try to beat the weekend rush from Phoenix on Friday.
Our first approach took us to “Bermuda Beach” where it was totally “dry camping” – no facilities or services – camping in the dirt amid other people’s leavings, and a fish carcass in the water. “Yuck!” was our unanimous reaction, so we headed up to the more appropriate camping sites with facilities – a little further from the lake shores. After a false start or two, we found two lovely sites side by side with no one between us and the lake in the distance. Trails led down to the shore, so shore fishing was a possibility. And it was hot, so we were happy to have shady ramadas at our sites. Looked good for the 3 days that we paid for!
On Saturday, with no fish, our bike routes limited, and very warm temperatures, we decided to blow off this site, and try the suggestion of “Fools Hollow Lake at Show Low”, about 2 hours northeast of where we were. (We had paid for 3 nights, but since each night was only $6 we didn’t mind the cost of abandonment.)
The highway on Saturday through the Salt Canyon (Hwy 60) was gorgeous, and we climbed to an elevation of 6300 feet. The registration at Fool’s Hollow provided us with the only two shore accessible sites, and we settled in to our warm, sunny sites with a cooling wind, and great beauty in a Ponderosa pine-juniper forest. Ranger Jim warned us that the area was still subject to lower night-time temperatures, and that snow had appeared as late as May 24.
On Sunday, we paddled the length of the lake, tried for fish and eventually settled back at our camp with our books. This morning, Monday, we awoke to a shaking Truck House, and howling winds. The radio tell us that winds are in the vicinity of 75 kmh. Temperatures “show low” so we packed up our rigs, and headed into the town of the same name for Macdonald food and wifi. We will returning to our $30 sites tonight, and then head for Phoenix for 3 days before pointing the rigs north.
Much love and best wishes to all!
Tony, the Tilleyman, and Sandy, the Quiltless
2013-03-31 Hooked on Squaw Lake, Re-tired in Yuma
Hello again, dear family and friends!
Wow – Easter Sunday already! And…a glorious Easter it is too – both here in the SW (Yuma), and, by the reports from my weather apps – at home on the BC coast also.
We are relaxing in the shade at our Rivers Edge RV site in Yuma until the afternoon heat sends us poolside to cool off. This has been a remarkably warm March here. Thank heavens for a “fantastic fan” to provide cooler air flow at night.
And what has transpired since my note of March 23?
Well, our Squaw Lake maintenance husband and wife team of Donald and Bobbi have provided us with some interesting information:
1) two sidewinder rattlers had to be removed from the washrooms up at the desert site “Little Mesa” across the dam from us. “Please don’t leave the washroom doors open at night!”… “Not to worry…we may never go to the washrooms again!”
2) apparently Donald catches fish on the other side of the dam at Senators Wash. Well, we will see about that! After a couple of tries, the truth is apparent…Donald caught all of them!
So, back to fishing at Squaw – late on Monday afternoon, Mike Harris and I were fly casting in a secluded pond. I was having no luck, so it was time to try one of the new lures that Mike gave me for my birthday. After a few tries, I completed all of the loops, and was pulling the knot tight with my teeth, when the line slipped, and the hook embedded itself past the barb into my left index finger. Now that SMARTS, but all I could think of was “You’re STUPID!”
I couldn’t remember if I had broken off the barb, or not, and the hook didn’t seem to want to pull out the way it went in, so I pulled out my knife and began to draw a line to cut the hook out. Fortunately, the blade wasn’t quite up to the task, and I wisely decided to get some help from Mike, so I began to paddle his way, fighting off a VVR [vaso-vagal reaction…ie. a “faint”]! Mike pulled out his pliers, and I pinpointed a place on the shaft of the hook that could cut with the wire- cutters. Mike then had a hard time pushing the hook through the end of my finger but he eventually worked up through the guitar callous, after which it was easy to pull out. I wasn’t happy with the experience, but lesson learned! I AM older and wisened! (Not “wizened” dear Grandchildren!)
With one day of recovery, I was able to again able to play the C chord on my guitar, so the music goes on! And, one evening, 3 folks from San Diego asked if they could bring their chairs over to listen. Nice! The man, not so musically knowledgable, apparently, suggested that he would vote for me “on American Idol”. Perhaps he meant American idle!
Also on Monday, a Nanaimo couple, Ieuan and Shiela visited us for a couple of hours on their way through to Tucson. And, on Tuesday, our friends Erna and Barry packed up and headed north for home.
On Thursday, Sandy noticed that water was not sitting level in our sink, so she inspected our Truck House attitude, which she didn’t like! Sure enough – we had a soft, but not quite flat left front tire. Donald, the maintenance guy, used his pump to inflate the tire to 60 psi, and that was good enough to get us to Big O tire in Yuma on Good Friday, where a screw was removed and tired sealed for $21.
Our two weeks in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) was almost up (as of today) but we left a couple of days early as the Easter crowd built up at the camp ground. Tomorrow, our wanderings will take us further East.
Much love, best wishes, and a Happy Easter to all!
Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter.
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