Off Road Trip

Today is Halloween! Hope you all have tons of little ghosts and goblins haunting your doorsteps. We won’t have any because we are a “senior” park (55 and older) and the main gates close early. Tonight we will celebrate by having a fireside BBQ pot luck. Should be lots of fun.

We have now been here two weeks and in that time period, only 4 days were below 90 degrees. The majority was 93 and higher. The 4 days below were 88 and 89. Very warm, but the evenings do cool off (some with a breeze) so we have been very comfortable.

We have taken the Jeep Wrangler out a few times, and it has performed fantastically. One drive we took was over Montana Mountain, which is listed as a moderate to very rough 4 wheel vehicle drive. The drive itself is a loop just over 30 miles long, but it takes 4 hours to complete. The first part was easy enough for a two wheel drive vehicle to make, but once we got to "Side Road 650" which veers off, up and over the mountain, then routes back down to the highway, that road became narrow, steep (with many switchbacks), and extremely rutted. We climbed to over 5,000 feet and had panoramic views of the desert and mountains.

It isn’t advisable to travel on those roads alone, so we were with four other people who were in a ’99 Grand Cherokee that is lifted 2 1/2 inchs and has 32” tires and is definitely not stock (our Wrangler IS stock). There wasn’t anything on the drive that caused any of us any problems, so once we were down and just about back to the main highway, we decided to take off on another side road and go after a geocache. The geocache we were after was ONLY a couple miles up that side road, but that side road (#2359) was more of an ATV path than a real road. It honestly is one of the roughest roads I have ever been on!! We traveled back up to another mountain ridge (about a mile) then followed that narrow ridge for another mile to the cache. Most of that drive was narrow with sharp turns and very loose rock, plus many steep climbs and descents. In some areas the driver of the Grand Cherokee had to do some very keen maneuvering but he managed it with just some minor pin striping (scratches from brush). As I said earlier, we are in a stock Jeep Wrangler, but it does have skid plates and 30 inch tires, so we had no problems other than bouncing up the rocks instead of "crawling" over them (grin). Most of the drive Ken had the Jeep in 4wheel low range, and kept the gears mostly in second and third….BUT, during the very steep climbs and descents, we were in first gear just for the sheer power needed to get up and over. Boy, were we ever impressed on how that Jeep performed!!

These are just a few pictures to let you see exactily what we encountered. The first shot is some of what we were climbing. The second shows some of the steepness.

This next shot is what we came up! This is the ridgeline. Very narrow and rough..... What a ride!!
After we got to the cache, we still had about 3 ½ miles to get back down and out to the main road. This side trip was also a loop drive, so we didn’t have to backtrack (which is always good). Again, the getting down was just as rough as what we traversed on the way up. We still had many ups and downs before we made it to the highway. All in all, that 4 hour drive turned into a 7 hour drive. Our treat after the drive was ice cream at Dairy Queen in the small town of Superior just to celebrate the trip and our surviving all in one piece (grin).

That adventure was a lot of fun, but the next time we go out, we won’t be stock!! Since the Wrangler is a 1993 and in its original condition (including original tires) Ken decided to order new tires (32” instead of the original 30”) and add a 3 1/2 inch lift kit. Along with the lift comes many changes which are too numerous to list here, but it is going to be fully loaded with what is needed on those "really ROUGH" trips. Once the tires and lift kit are installed, we will be able to go into some canyons where we have been wanting to go, but wouldn't because we didn't want to take our Grand Cherokee and get it all messed up. Basically, the Grand Cherokee is too long and too wide for many places we want to take the Wrangler.

Queen Valley

We have now been in Queen Valley for four full days (got here Thursday afternoon) and each day the temperatures have been in the high 90s with lows in the mid to high 60s, so not a whole lot is being done during the heat of the day. However, it is a dry heat and so much better than being in the wet 50s and 60s of back home.

After we settled the coach on Thursday and finished the essentials, we went out for pizza with friends Dave, Pat, Barbara and Glenn and celebrated Dave’s birthday. What fun being back here for the season and seeing our QV friends! So far, there aren't too many of our upper neighborhood residents back, but more and more will be arriving in the next month. Things are kinda quiet right now, but when everyone gets back it will be like a little ants nest with so many things going on that we won't be able to keep up.

I am not sure that I mentioned it in an earlier post, but last May when we were getting ready to leave QV for home, we came across a fantastic deal on a used (one owner) 1993 Jeep Wrangler. We didn’t have a lot of time to check it out, but we saw enough to know it was a once in a life time deal (for us anyhow). It's a 1993 "YJ" series Wrangler and has only 19,800 miles on it. It has a hard top with AC, Lockers, Wench, 30 inch tires, Air Shocks, CB, AM/FM Radio/CD Player, Tow Bar, and soooooo much more. Totally "off road" ready.

We were offered the deal on the last day of our stay here, so we didn't have any time to really enjoy it. We just managed to drive it around the block, then get it set-up to leave it here for the summer. Thankfully, we have some super friends (Paul & Sharon) who have a park model, and they graciously allowed us to park it in their carport for the summer. While in Oregon, we arranged for the temporary license plates so we could drive it to the Arizona DMV for the VIN inspection and fill out the paper work for Oregon to furnish our title and plates.

Friday, once we had the coach set up, we checked on the Wrangler. Amazingly, all was great! We put the battery back in, turned the key, and it started right up (YEA). We now have the temporary license in the rear window and had the VIN inspected on Monday. Once Oregon DMV gets the paper work approved, they will mail our new license plates back to us here in QV. Now, instead of taking the Grand Cherokee out on the “REALLY ROUGH” road, we have the Wrangler that will be able to go ANYWHERE!!

This is the Wrangler at our site….. Ken has finished cleaning and polishing it, so it really looks cool!

Yep, we have already taken it out on some rough road, and it handles superbly. We are looking forward to putting it to the test in two areas around here that we didn't want to take the Grand Cherokee (Box Canyon and Bull Dog Canyon).

Back to our park. Monday was our first coffee social with about 45 people showing up for the “free” donuts, coffee, and fun camaraderie. We are already signed up for a "Halloween" pot luck and fire side party, plus there are more socials in the works and lots of entertainment scheduled. The swimming pool has been re-tiled and the decking has been re-surfaced. The old deck chairs are repaired and now are like new. The rock shop isn't finished yet (adding a new room), so Ken and a few of the other members that are already here will be helping the maintenance guy (Travis) work on it next week. It is supposed to be cooler then (in the 80s)

Best of all, the locol coyotes are back and serenading us in the evening.....so nice being back to our "winter" home.

Arizona Bound

This evening we are in Laughlin, Nevada spending the night at Avi Casino RV Park. We left Salem at 10:30 Monday morning and drove south to Eugene where we merged onto hwy 58 going east across the mountains to hwy 97. All of the trees turning different colors of yellows and oranges made the trip so much nicer than staying on boring I-5. The highway was clear until we neared the summit where we ran into very wet, grimy, melting snow. Thankfully, it was melting and not icy. It was that way until we crossed the summit and headed down the east side. We were clean until then…..well, you can imagine what our Jeep looked like.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We crossed the OR/CA border about 3:30 and traveled through Alturas, CA to a small town called “Likely,” where we spent the night in the Fire Department’s parking lot. We weren’t the only ones to use that site. Another coach along with a semi hauling a long trailer also stopped there for the night. Surprisingly, it was very quiet because everyone going through the town had to slow to 25 mph.

After a good night’s rest and waking to a cool 34 degrees, we were once again on the road. Again, the day was sunny and clear with temperatures topping out in the high 60s. We crossed the CA/NV border about 10 am and drove south on hwy 395 to I-80 in Reno, then east on I-80 to Fernley where we fueled up for $3.56 a gallon (we took on 65 gallons--ouch). Once out of Fernley, we took hwys 50 and 95 south through Hawthorne and stopped at Miller’s Rest Stop (3 pm), which is about 5 miles south of Tonapah. Because of the nice weather, all the bugs were out and our windshield was a mess, so Ken washed it, then tackled the Jeep’s windshield. What a mess! The grime from Oregon was a mixture of dirt, gravel, and salt, along with the melted snow. The windows and the rest of the Jeep were like sandpaper. He couldn’t do anything about the Jeep itself, so had to wait until we got to Laughlin where we were able to find a car wash and get most of the grime off. It still needs more cleaning, but at least now, you can see the real color of it.

At the rest area, it turned out to be a beautiful evening. The sunset was awesome and watching the full moon rise in the east was even more beautiful. Even took a couple of pictures. These are just of the moon!



The temperature, which actually topped 72, quickly dropped and we closed everything up and called it a night. The rest area is strictly for cars and RVs, so no trucks were allowed to enter and we had a very nice quiet night along with the security of other RVers staying beside us.

This morning (Wednesday), we woke to 33 degrees, but everything was clear and bright. The Sun was out all the way south through Las Vegas and on to Laughlin. At Vegas, we were surprised to see that most of the freeway was finished and clear of workers. Traffic was even pretty light as we got to the north part of town (10:30 am). However, just as we got toward the southern end of the freeway, we encountered a traffic jam.



As it turned out, there had been a minor fender bender and the traffic cleared as soon as we got past it. Temperature was up in the 70s when we drove through Vegas, but as we got closer to Laughlin, it was getting warmer. When we got here, it was 88 (what a change from this morning).

We are now settled in for the night and will be pulling out early in the morning and hope to be in our site in Queen Valley sometime late afternoon.

Before, During, and After

The coach remodel work is done, and it looks great! Davis Cabinets in Junction City did the work while we parked in their lot behind the shop. Actually, we didn't stay the whole time with the coach because we did have to drive back to Salem a couple times to do some needed stuff at home. Yep, during the drive to and fro, we did manage to grab a few caches. We now have over 4,800 finds (grin).

The pictures below are of the Before, During, and After work.

This is the front TV and cabinets before the work was done. It doesn't really show up, but the TV in the center was a head "bonker" when someone would come inside:
Front end during tear out....look at all those wires. It is amazing they got it all back together correctly.
And this is what it looks like now that the new 37" LCD HDTV is installed. Now, it is no longer a head bonker! This picture was taken while coach was parked in our shelter at home (note, the slide is in, so you don't get the full view). The two different greens in the front window are of the front end of the shelter and our very green hedge.
The next pictures are of the bedroom tv. It really wasn't a problem like the tv in the front, but it is not digital and with the change coming in February, we decided to replace it with a new Samsung 22" LCD HDTV.

This is the before shot.
This is after the old was removed. Look at all the "new" room we will have.
This is the new Samsung and it is thin enough that it hangs on a swinging door. We now have added storage behind it.
Our next task is the coach's yearly checkup at Cummin's Coach Care. Once that is done, we will be almost ready to head for Arizona.