Return to Salem

We are back in Salem and will be here until just after Christmas. Our trip back from Queen Valley took three long days, but we are now home again safe and sound. The coach is resting quietly in our site in QV with the best of the "best neighbors" keeping an eye on it.

We left Queen Valley the morning of November 10 and took hwy 60 (Grand Ave) north through Wickenburg to I-40 and on to Kingman. It must have taken us two hours just to get from I-10 to Surprise. I never saw soooo much traffic and stop lights. Once out of the Surprise city limits, we made good time to Kingman, then took hwy 68/163, which is a bit north of Bullhead City and Laughlin. From there, we took hwy 95 north to Searchlight, then west on hwy 164 to I-15 a few miles south of Las Vegas.

We did cache a little, but didn't take very long at it because we were in a hurry to get to Pahrump, Nevada. We were going to stay the night at the Best Western in Pahrump, but the only rooms they had available were smoking and with my allergies, I said no. The only other places to stay were at casinos, and we didn't want to stay at one of them because of all the stuff we would have had to leave in the car unprotected. So, we headed on out of Pahrump to hwy 95 and on to the small town of Beatty, which is known as the gateway to Death Valley. We found a very nice place there to spend the night, and it was much cheaper than what we were going to spend in Pahrump (go figure).

Early the next morning, we headed north on highway 95 and turned west on hwys 266 and 168, which is a scenic route through the mountains to a neat little town in California called Big Pine. What a beautiful drive that was! The road was surprisingly good and in much better condition than most roads we take the coach on. In fact, we probably could have taken the coach on all of 266 which makes a loop back to hwy 95, but after we turned on 168 going into California, the road narrowed and got really twisty going up and over the mountains. In fact, one spot going down the other side, the road narrowed to only one lane going through a very narrow slot canyon. Definitely the coach would never have made that road!

While in the mountains, the clouds were turning very dark with a few drops of rain landing on the windshield. When we got into Big Pine, we stopped at a small park to do a virtual cache, but the wind was blowing so hard we could hardly stand up. Not much rain yet, but the sky was getting darker and more menacing. After getting the answers needed to claim a find of the cache, we turned north on hwy 395 towards Carson City. The wind was gusting very hard on our side and front until we got back into the mountains. What rain we were getting soon turned into a dusting of snow, and as we got higher in elevation (eventually 8,100 feet) there was more snow all around us. The pictures below were shot at a small pull out area between Mammouth Lakes and June Lake. The trees were gorgeous with the dusting of snow!





As we headed further north and came down in elevation, the snow disappeared and it quit raining. When we arrived in Carson City (where we stopped for the night) it was cold, but very nice.

The morning of the 12th, we got up to ice on the windshield. Seems it was 26 degrees out that morning (brr). It did warm up to 45 as we headed north to Alturas, then west on hwy 139 to Klamath Falls in Oregon. Just south of Klamath Falls near Tule Lake, Ca, there is a Lava Beds National Monument, so we took a side trip to see what they were all about. We have passed this area many times, but never took the time to stop and see it. We are glad we did this time because it is a marvelous place for cavers. Most of the park is caves (lava tube caves) and you can actually go exploring in most of them. There are more than 300 caves that have been counted within the park. Many of them have trails laid out and ladders installed to make access easy. Of course, we didn't have the time to explore any, so we just drove through noting that someday we will be back. The pictures below are of one of several large lava flows within the park.





Also in this area is where the Army and the Modoc Indians had a huge war. Seems the Modoc didn't like losing their land and being forced on a reservation nearby with their mortal enemys, so many of them took up arms and fought the army until they were re-captured. Many lives were lost during the fight, and after they were captured, the leaders of the Modoc were hanged; the rest of the band were re-located to a reservation in Oklahoma.

After leaving Klamath Falls, the rain started again, and we had pouring rain all the way on hwy 97 and down a mountain road (hwy 58) into Eugene, where we stopped and had dinner. What a relief to finally get off that mountain and out of the car. Even though it hadn't quite turned dark by the time we stopped, the heavy rain/wind and traffic made the trip down that road horrid. It was so nice to finally stop and get a break.

Back on the road after dinner (dark by now) it had finally quit raining, and we had clear skies the rest of the way home. Found out later there were many power outages in the Portland and Salem area that day due to high winds and heavy rain.

Anyhow, we are now home until after the Christmas holiday. Ken is planning on decorating, so I will post more once that takes place.

Home in Arizona

All is well and it sure is great being back in Queen Valley!!

Prior to our leaving for QV, we were warned the tree on our lot was a little over grown and to bring pruning shears so we could get into our shed. Boy were they right! We have never seen this tree so bushy. Before we left for home last May, it was nothing but dead looking limbs. What a surprise to see it looking like this. Here is what the tree looked like when we pulled in on Sunday.



Ken quickly got busy and started trimming it way back. Here is Ken buried among the leaves. Sure hope there aren't any strange critters in there (several snakes have been seen in park lately).



Finally, back to normal!! Look, you can actually see the shed now.



These last few days have been fantastic! Temperatures are in the mid 90s every day with beautiful evenings. There has been no rain in Arizona for over 30 days and so far there is no sign of any in sight. It's supposed to remain warm for a few more days, then cool down to the mid 80s.

The season here is in full swing and lots of events are planned. We already have gone to an ice cream social that was held around the pool and celebrated wedding anniversaries with our next door neighbor (theirs and ours) by going out to a marvelous Mexican restaurant in Florence (a few miles south of us). Too bad we aren't going to stay here a bit longer because there are some really nice specials being offered on tours to Las Vegas and other places. Alas, we have to be back in Salem on the 14th, so we are leaving here on the 10th or 11th.

While here in the RV park, we have no cell service, so am having to use dial up for posts. It is very slow! Sure didn't realize how much I like my air card! There has been talk that a cell tower has been approved for the area and permits are being reviewed, but pretty sure it won't happen this year. Should you wish to call us, our land line here in the park is: 520-463-0198. Once we get out of the park and on the main highway, our cells do work, so leaving a message is good, but it may take several days before we get them.

More later! Love & Hugs to ALL!

.

Arizona

ARIZONA

After three days of traveling, we are in Arizona and have good cell tower reception. We left Salem on Thursday, November 1, and had good service until we left I-5 and headed through the mountains toward Klamath Falls. All the way from there until we got to I-10 near Quartzsite (167 miles west of Queen Valley) did we have decent cell/Internet reception. There were a lot of areas that were good for phone, but not decent enough to maintain good Internet reception for a long period of time.

Our trip south has been pretty good with great scenery and no real major mishaps. The only real problem we had was just after crossing the Oregon/California border on Thursday, we saw a Red Tail Hawk. He was near the side of the road, but as we got closer, he swooped down in front of us.....note, we were traveling around 60 mph.....anyhow, as he swooped down, then started rising, we thought he was going to miss us by flying over the top of us. Wrong! He hit the upper portion of our windshield just off the middle on the driver's side. We thought for sure he cracked the windshield, but couldn't stop right away to check it out. What I could see from the inside was just a smudge where he hit, and no crack. When we finally did get stopped, Ken checked it out from the outside and could see where the hawk hit, but no damage was done. Guess the good Lord was watching out for us that time. Later that afternoon, we stopped at a nice little town called Likely (likely name...lol). The fire station had a nice large lot where we pulled into, and Ken checked to see if it was ok to stay there. They said no problem as long as the fire trucks could get out (they could). The day was a beautiful sunny day and up to 57 degrees, but as the sun went down, it got cold. We settled in and closed everything up and kept it as warm as we could. We were boondocking, so the only power was from the inverter and generator.

The next morning (Friday) when we got up, it was 30 degrees and frost was everywhere. We turned furnace on and were warm and snug, but it took a while to defrost the windshield. The sun was up and once again, it turned out to be another beautiful sunny day. We took highway 395 to Reno, then I-80 to Fernly where we topped off the fuel tank at a $3.38 a gallon (ouch, but better than Oregon's prices). We then traveled south through Fallon and ended up at a nice little rest stop near Tonapah, Nevada (125 miles north of Las Vegas). Our high that day was 68, but with our elevation being about 5,500 feet, we knew it was going to be another cold night. It really didn't get cold until after 4 in the morning. When we got up, it was 35 degrees and no frost. Just a nice clear sunny morning.

Saturday was another uneventful drive as we went south through Las Vegas (just before noon) and on to Laughlin where we stopped at Avi Resort & Casino RV Park. What a difference in temperature as we got further south. Laughlin was 75 when we parked the coach and got settled in. The Avi is a few miles south of the town of Laughlin on the Mojave Indian Reservation and it is nice place to spend the night (or several days for that matter). They have a nice casino right on the river with a beautiful sandy beach. At about 9 pm, they have a fire works display that lasts for quite a while. They also have an extensive fireworks store where you can purchase a huge array of goodies (no we did not buy any).

After we had parked and got settled in our site, we found out from a friend that there had been a 100 car pile up near Fresno due to dense fog. Normally, we would have been on I-5 or even highway 99 near Fresno when the accident happened, but because Ken wanted to go a more scenic way, we weren't anywhere near the accident. Guess the good Lord was still watching over us.

Will post more once we get settled and have some pictures to show.

Haunted Cave

Here are a few pictures of Ken's Halloween Haunted Cave. He takes the front quarter of one side of our gargage and sets up a goulish display. With daylight, it doesn't look so scary, but the last picture is taken just after dark and looks better. The smoke/fog machine was in operation at the time of the pictures, so the figures don't look so goulish. But after the fog is flowing and all the creatures are moaning, screaming, and chattering, things get more thrilling. All the little (and big) visitors seem to enjoy it.

Arizona Bound

Hi everybody! We sure hope you all had as nice as a Halloween as we did. Ken goes all out for the event by taking one quarter of our double car garage and making it over into a "Haunted Cave." I took a couple of pictures, but will have to post those once I am able to upload them to computer. The evening turned out to be great with no rain and not as cold as in the past. Lots of "Creatures" showed up for a Snickers Bar and a special toy given out by the "Gorilla" who was actually "g'pa" in disguise. He had as much fun as the kids and adults who showed up did. I "lurked" in the background, but didn't get as involved with the distribution of thrills as he did.

This morning all of the decorations are down, but not necessarily put away. Even though things are in a bit of disarray in the living room (lots of animatronics sitting around) we finished packing the coach, hooked up the Jeep, and are now on our way to Arizona. The morning is foggy and cool (46 degrees) but the further south we get, it should be better. I will post more once we arrive at a parking spot, that is IF I have cell service there, and let you all know how things are going.