Back in Salem

Our trip back home to Salem was another great adventure. We had sun, clouds, rain, and even snow while en-route. Our worst nightmare was the wind. No matter where we were, we had wind, and most of it was a strong side wind. Driving a 40 foot coach and towing a Grand Cherokee puts us at about 65 feet long, and the coach being almost 12 feet tall just makes us one huge sail in the wind. The strong wind started just west of Phoenix and didn’t quit until we got into Oregon and over the Willamette Pass into Eugene.

We left Queen Valley, AZ on May 12 and our first stop was on Vicksburg Rd, at exit 45 on I-10. We pulled into the Zip fuel center to fuel up and upon leaving the fuel pumps, Ken turned too sharp and ran into one of the side guards protecting the fuel pumps (oops). He banged up our pass thru bay door and now has to get it fixed ($$$).

After the mishap, we continued on our way to the Avi Casino and RV Park at Fort Mohave south of Laughlin, NV. We stayed there for a few nights and geocached along Route 66 from Newberry Springs towards Needles. We ended up getting about 851 total caches in two days. From there, we took coach up north about an hour and stayed in Searchlight, NV at a quaint mobile home and RV Park called Crees Trailer/RV Park. We stayed there three nights and geocached in the hills north of Searchlight and even drove over to Primm on I-15 for more caches. We found about 75 caches while there.

After Searchlight, we drove on to Hawthorne, NV and stayed at Whiskey Flats RV Park for 3 nights. We were hoping to drive the Jeep up the back way into Yosemite National Monument via Tioga Pass Rd, but the road was closed due to a huge snow fall. They said the highway was in the process of being plowed, but with all the repair work to be done, it wouldn’t open till mid June. Since we couldn’t get into Yosemite, we took a drive around June lake and totally enjoyed the sights and, YES, we also geocached while there.  The first picture is of June Lake from above, and the rest are different views around June Lake Loop Road.  It really is a beautiful spot and we so understand why a couple of our friends like to spend their summer there.

This really is a real slot machine buried in cement with plaque explaining it's history!

After we left Hawthorne, NV, we drove coach on to Reno/Sparks, NV to spend some quality time visiting with our relatives there. We did not do any major caching while there, but did pick up a few caches near Sparks Marina RV Park (where we stayed). We had a great time showing our aunt & uncle what a geocache looked like. When we took them out to dinner a couple times, there just happened to be a geocache very close to where we ate, so had to show them what we do for fun (grin). We also had dinner at our cousins house one night and saw a geocache about 450 feet from their house…of course, we and the cousins had to go in search and find it.

We left Reno just as the weatherpeople were predicting a huge winter storm heading that way. Yep, we got caught in part of it while crossing over Sage Hen Pass between Susanville, and Alturas on hwy 395. Snow and rain mix were pretty heavy for a while, but again, the worst part was the wind. We ended up making it to Oregon and stopping at the KlaMoYa Indian Casino on Hwy 97 for one night. The temperature that night went down to 35 degrees (brrr). We got home on May 30 just in time to say a huge happy birthday to Leigh, our daughter, who turned '40 something.' She is a beautiful lady, mother, grandmother, and above all our special girl!!  We love her very much!!

Now as I sit here typing this blog, it is raining outside.  Bummer, all I see in the forecast for the next few days is rain! However, they say the temps will actually start to rise sometime next week and actually may get up in the high 70s (wow). This is the end of May, so hopefully, there will be lots of sun to come in June!!

It's that time again.

It’s that time again! We are getting ready to pull out of here on May 12 and slowly work our way back to Salem, Oregon.

April was a wonderfully slow and relaxed month since so many of the park’s activities were over and many residents left for their home states. We had more time to spend with great friends from Apache Junction & Florence by going out to dinner with them and even having some BBQs at their places. We will miss them a lot while we are gone!!

Ken & I did take the Wrangler out several times for some fun Jeeping & Caching adventures. We explored a lot of old roads that we hadn’t been on before and discovered a lot of great places. We only saw two Rattlesnakes and one Bull Snake this whole season, but we did get a very close up and personal shot of a Gila Monster on one of our last drives. He was not happy that we were invading his space, but did take the time to pose for us.

Because there wasn’t that much rain this year, the wild flowers didn’t pop out like they have in the past.  The majority of cacti were late in blooming, but the huge Saguaro's bloomed right on schedule mid April.  This arm was low enough that we were able to walk up to it and look right into the blooms.  Aren't they gorgeous?

April was a strange month for temperatures.  It hit 100 on the first (April fools) and by the 9th it was back to 55 and rain.  It only rained one day then it turned dry and started heating up again.  Thankfully, with the warm dry days, we had wonderfully cool evenings.  We did get back up in the high 90s, but mostly we were in the mid to high 80s.  Because of the varying temperatures, there was a lot of wind.  So much wind and high gusts that we couldn’t leave the awnings out.  That has all changed and now for May it’s turning hot!  Yesterday, May 4 it hit 100 and it looks like it’s going to stay in the triple digits today and thru the weekend.  We leave on the 12th and are hoping that the temps don’t get much higher…. Of course, Laughlin, Nevada is usually hotter than it is here in Queen Valley.  Thank God we have 2 heat pumps that work very well.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.  IF you go out this evening, please stay safe and drink sensibly!!