After we arrived back in Queen Valley from Texas, we immediately got to work getting our site back in order for our winter stay. We spent the next 3 1/2 weeks enjoying beautiful sunny days with cool evenings and watching our neighbors arrive back for the winter. The only regular park activity going on during that time was our Monday morning coffee social, so it was nice not having to worry about attending or missing anything. We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our park residents and way too much to eat. We also took some time to do a little geocaching & Jeeping in the desert, plus we enjoyed visiting with more friends from Apache Junction.
Incredibly, November was gone, and it was December already. It seemed like we had just arrived in Queen Valley, but we had earlier made plans to go home (Salem) for Christmas, so we had to pack stuff into the Jeep and make sure the coach was once again secure for a month.
We left Queen Valley on December 2 with plans to spend a few extra days on the road to do some geocaching in an area known as area 51 along the Extra Terrestarial Highway in Nevada. This highway is really highways 375 & 6 heading west out of Ash Springs to Tonapah, and a very long 100 plus miles of nothing but open range and strange sights---dum-de-duh-duh (grin).
In June a group of cachers got together and hid 1,021 caches every 500/600 feet for over 100 miles along the two highways, plus another 51 were placed in the shape of an alien head in one huge field.
We arrived in Alamo, Nevada at 3 pm on the 2nd and found a comfortable (inexpensive) place called The Alamo Inn to spend a couple nights at. After checking into our room, we decided to drive another 20 miles down hwy 93 to the junction of hwys 375 & 93, to the start of the E.T. series (E.T. 001) just see what we were in for. We stopped at a couple caches in Alamo and Ash Springs and found another 15 of the actual E.T. series before heading back to a wonderful place in Alamo called “Windmill Ridge” for a wonderful dinner (and dessert). The Windmill Ridge does have rooms for rent, but the room we had at the Alamo Inn was much cheaper and just as good.
The morning of the 4th, we were up early and had Jeep packed & fueled before daylight. After an hour plus of driving down hwys 93 & 375, we were at the place we had quit the day before. We started caching at 7 am and finished number 1,000 just after Noon!! Originally the caches placed were 1000 in total, so we stopped at the original point of finish and had our pictures taken by some other cachers we met along the way.
We then headed on down the highway for the final 21 newer caches then drove on into Tonapah where we had a late lunch. Incredibly we completed the run, found 13 of the Alien Head, and even managed to find another 8 that weren’t even part of the “Alien” theme for a total of 1,042 finds in less than 17 hours (WOW). Since it was still early (2 pm), we continued driving and made it all the way to Susanville, CA where we spent the night
We were up and on the road (hwy 395) early Dec 5 and made our way north to Alturas, CA where we began to see snow along the roadside. We actually had snow along the road all the way to Klamath Falls, Oregon. By the time we got through K Fall and into to Chemult on highway 97, we were seeing more snow and some was building up on the road. Once on highway 58 and heading through Willamette Pass, we were really into the snow. It was gorgeous! Since there really wasn’t much traffic on the road, we had no problems getting through the pass and down & out of the snow. Of course with a Jeep, we weren't that worried!! That day was a wonderful drive and we made it to Salem (and home) by 2 pm.
Since we have been home, we have accomplished a lot. Our Christmas tree is up and decorated, and Ken even put up a few lights outside (not like in the past). Also, we have finished our Christmas shopping for the wee ones (great grandkids), and everything is wrapped and under the tree. Hooray, we have never finished this early before. We are sooooo looking forward to watching the 5 great grandkids open their presents on Christmas and of course the huge meal on Christmas Day.
I think our biggest thrill is seeing our grandson, Justin, back in Salem for Christmas. Justin is not going to be going into the Air Force Special Ops as originally planned because he injured both legs in CCT (Combat Controller Training). He has been on light duty since his injury and is now reclassified and heading off to Southern California after the first of the year for Vehicle Ops Training. Mechanics was his second choice if he couldn’t make Combat Controller, so he is excited. He will be in California for 6-8 weeks, then we don’t know where he will be going. Hopefully, close to Salem. Time will tell and all our love and prayers are with him!!!
