Summer 2014: road-tripping to date – August 30
Hallooo! Is anybody still out there in my blogland?
Hmmm. While I wait for answers, or a distant echo, I will try to explain my lengthy absence…in brief…no road trips of note since the Spring of 2013. That’s it!
“Why not?” you ask. Well, new year, new projects, and…time and financial budget priority changes. What does all that vagueness really describe? Why, a NEW WOODWORK SHOP, of course. And that is why we will turn around from our current travels and hasten home in a couple of weeks.
Back to road-tripping…
After a Saltspring Island rendezvous with Dave Roland and family on the first weekend in August, our annual one week beach trip to Skaha Lake followed with Doug, Paula and Hannah Lindsay joining us directly, and a whole host of my own family joining us independently at nearby sites. The week passed quickly and we only had one day of rain on the second last day. This was a timely occurrence to cool the local fire hazards!
A turn-around trip home to Nanaimo had us arriving in time to welcome our wonderful friends from Germany – Alex, Judi, Alyssa and Amanda Benz – and to celebrate Amanda’s birthday with her at Parksville’s mini-golf. After 3 days or so with them, we departed once again for an extended travel trip – this time for quick overnight visits with the Lindsay family in Walnut Grove, friends in Kamloops, an old University chum in Calgary, and on towards Whitefish, Montana after passing through Waterton Lakes and skirting the eastern edge of Glacier National Park. (At first we were dismayed that the rules for vehicle heights had changed, and since we now exceed 10 feet with kayaks on top, we were not allowed to go over Logan Pass. However, although I could have stuffed them inside the camper, we decided that we had seen the pass before, and that we should try the road around the east – a “new” one to me – in keeping with my usual travel planning. This resulted in us visiting the spectacular site of Two Medicine for one night.)
On to Whitefish, where we thoroughly enjoyed a 5 day visit with Bob and Alice, (and Alice’s sister Sue) Padgham (and Springer Spaniel, Ike) in their new home. Whitefish is one of those communities that, in my mind, has ‘done it right’ in planning recreational activities complete with an amazing network of hiking trails, a vital downtown, and facilities for the arts and fitness.
Today, we parted company, and headed south through Kalispell, and Helena to our current campsite just north of Butte. It’s a tad RUSTic, but has services. (The ‘rust’ part occurred when I attached the hose to our camper and turned on the pump for our water. Deep red-brown silt poured through our system! Luckily, it immediately drained out, but I am relieved that it never got into our hot water tank!)
Tomorrow we head east to Lewis & Clark Caverns, and then on to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, before we begin the trek west. We hope to have about a week more in this neck of the woods before thinking of returning.
Montana is a beautiful state, with friendly folks everywhere – except in downtown Helena where there were NO folks today as they were apparently out gallivanting for the Labour Day (or should I say “Labor Day”) weekend. However, just as a personal observation of many references around…”Lewis and Clark” have been given way too much prominence since they did little more than I am doing – passed through the State sight-seeing! Just a thought!
Greetings, love and best wishes to all who continue to subscribe to this blog – despite my long silence!
Tony
Road count:
Quilt shops – 3
Tool stores – 1
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.
Sequestered at Squaw Lake
Dear family and friends,
Within recent months I read a book by a young researcher who decided to visit the stopping points of the great sailor Captain Cook. During his travels Cook received and sent frequent letters home to his wife in England and also to Royal Society that was sponsoring his journeys. Messages took up to TWO YEARS to arrive! I give you this factoid for a reason – a comparison.
Last Monday we rolled out of our lovely spot at Rivers Edge RV in Winterhaven, and headed for propane refills and supplies for the more remote setting of Squaw Lake – desert camping in a parking lot on a lake. I was pleased with my purchase of a T-Mobile SIM card and one month plan for my iPhone. And…I had discovered at Rivers Edge that I could “pair” my iPhone with my iPad, and use the iPhone as a modem that would allow me to receive mail on the iPad – using wifi technology. Genius! For the first time, we would be able to get phone service and mail at Squaw Lake. So, we got our propane, and groceries and left for Squaw Lake. When we arrived, we were surprised to find the lower parking lot (usually for smaller rigs like ours) almost empty…and our favourite spot was vacant. As we cruised through the parking lot to our spot, a voice hollered at us, “No more Canadians!” It was our friends from two years ago – Barry and Erna from Maple Ridge.
After setting up, I checked my iPhone – “No Service”, or the alternative, ” Searching…”. Nothing. Nada! What a disappointment! Oh well…there is a fellow up on Hurricane Ridge in the desert who supplies a wifi service for $2 per day. It is a 10 minute bike ride away. It is my thinking is that I will take time off fishing to visit up there every 2 or 3 days to “pick up” my email and text messages that I am sure will be waiting for my immediate responses! Think of that dear grandchildren, nieces and nephews – NO TEXTING, AND NO E-MAIL FOR 3 DAYS! (Incomprehensible?? Surely, the end of civilization as we know it!) The communication saga gets even worse. A bike ride up to Brad’s wifi hot spot on March 21 (“Expecting some messages, were you, Tony?”) proved fruitless. Brad has given up trying to create a wifi hotspot this year. A signal is spotty at best, and only in the early morning, or late at night. Thinking of less than friendly after-dark critters – specifically, scorpions and rattlers on the warm roads at night, I decide to pass on those off hour times!
Also on March 21, I decided to try Onstar (you remember that ongoing saga don’t you, readers?) to contact my mother to express my gratitude that she shares that wondrous birthday experience with me. No luck! I decided to stop hassling Onstar as I will probably not renew my contract with them this year. So…end result…no communications for a week! Thank-you Captain Cook for putting this into perspective.
Oh…another small event of great import – I must have left the propane hose with the Coleman BBQ attachment somewhere last week, for it has disappeared. An obsessive search of Truck House (“It’s gotta be here!”), and a 5 hour search run into Yuma didn’t help as no stores carry Coleman parts, and no place where we might have left it had it. “Why didn’t you get email while you were there?” you ask. Well…just because we were pre-occupied and focused, I suppose. And, the search took place only a day after we had moved to Squaw Lake. So…no barbecue! What a waste of space! (Not me!…the barbecue!)
And speaking of Spring…wasn’t I? We are finally back in Yuma for replenishment of supplies, and I am sitting outside Starbucks where I have just downloaded all my email including many, many Happy Birthday wishes. Many thanks to all for thinking of me…and caring! At Squaw Lake, Erna and Barry invited us over to “campfire” sing (candle fire, actually) and share a birthday cake – WITH ICE CREAM! What a treat! About a dozen people joined us, and all, except two from Ohio, were from BC, and all of those, except Barry and Erna were from Vancouver Island. I guess that says more about the leisure time retired Islanders have than anything else.
Today, strong winds curtail kayaking and fly casting, so we are shopping, and looking for a new barbecue, or a part for the old one. We are glad to hear that our family members enjoyed their Spring Break in mid-Pacific, and look forward to seeing their pics.
Much love and best wishes to all!
Tony, the Quill – older, and perhaps wiser???? Yes, and NO, and Sandy – showing early signs of yearning for her quilting machines!
P.S. many congratulations to the parents, and welcome to the newcomers in our family circle – Jude Pinilla, and Anna Catherine (Whitmore) Morris in Duncan!
P.P.S. We will return to Squaw Lake for perhaps another week, before heading further east to Patagonia Lake, then Phoenix, and then towards home. If we are not at Squaw Lake, we should be in a zone of communication – we hope!
roadquill1 