Fun around Queen Valley

It's been three weeks since our return to Queen Valley after spending Christmas at home in Salem.

We were only gone for a little over three weeks, but during that time, the weather here went crazy. There were huge dust storms then heavy winds and rain that struck the area. Since there was so much dust in the air, the rain became what we call “mudding.” We were shocked to see how much mud and dust had accumulated all over the coach….we’ve never seen this coach sooooo dirty. The roof had a layer of dust and mud, and I could even look up through the shower dome at a huge layer of mud all around the base of the dome. Yes, the slides were in so the awning covers weren’t affected. Needless-to-say, after Ken recuperated from the long drive, he spent several days working on the coach to get it back in decent shape.

I wasn’t much help to Ken in cleaning the coach because after we got back to Queen Valley, I came down with a sore throat, cough, and sinus infection. I am still hoarse and coughing a lot, but I do feel better (three weeks now). Even though I didn’t have much stamina, I could get out and enjoy riding in the Wrangler, so after Ken was done with the coach, we drove out in the desert several times and even found 35 new geocaches.

We even went on a drive with the Axle Twisters to an area north of Roosevelt Lake called Thompson Mesa and around Dutch Woman Butte on the edge of Boyer Wilderness. We saw some pretty areas and found a deserted cabin on the edge of the wilderness area.  

This cabin is called John Boyer Cabin and I really don't know the history or anything about it.  We kinda stumbled on it and were surprised to see what great condition it was in.  It does look like hunters kinda use it as a camp base during hunting season.

It was a fun day with great folks, but Ken started complaining of a sore throat during that ride. That was on Friday the 8th, and by Saturday evening, he was down with the cough, stuffy nose, and sore throat. Since Ken needed to establish a doctor in this area, he made an appointment to be checked out. We went in on Thursday the 14th and we found out that “Yes” he has a cold (well, duh). Anyhow, the doctor gave Ken prescriptions for cough syrup and an antibiotic. It seems to be working because he is feeling better.

We took the Wrangler out on Friday the 15th with the Axle Twisters for a drive to an area near Tucson called SASCO and the Silver Bell Mine.  SASCO is just a few buildings now, but was once a thriving mining community with a huge smelter for the mines to process their ore.  We were surprised to see a cache in the area and had to go for it.  This area is where we found the cache and really don't know what the structure was used for.

This looked like a shaft, but wasn't very deep.

This is the old SASCO Rockland Hotel.  Not much of it left anymore.

I really don't know what these pilings were used for, but we think they were supports for the track that the train ran on to bring Silver Ore to the smelter.

This is a view from the air of the Silver Bell Mine area.  It was an open pit mine.  We couldn't get close to it because it is all on private property and it has no trespassing signs all around it.  we couldn't even get to the old town of Silver Bell because the road was fenced off.

It was a long day & drive, but thankfully Ken was feeling better.  We do enjoy Jeeping with the Axle Twisters and plan on going out with them as often as we can.

Sunday, Jan 17 was our day to host our eastside neighborhood pot luck party. We have a lot of fun planning the party, and Ken BBQes Salmon that we caught during our September fishing trip in Alaska.  The Salmon is a huge hit and Ken did an excellent job BBQing it.  Of course everyone brought much more great foods to go along with the Salmon and we were all stuffed after dinner!

This next week is going to be a quiet week for us because there are three storms heading our way.  This morning (Monday) we had some drizzle, but the onslaught of rain (snow in the high country) will be coming later this evening and everyday for the rest of the week.  It will be a great time to get caught up on a lot of needed reading and house work.  Ken, of course, will be spending at least three days of this week in the rock shop.  We have some craft shows coming up and are hoping he does well in showing and selling his jewelry.

Back in Queen Valley

I can’t believe how fast the last three weeks went. We arrived in Salem, Oregon on the evening of the 6th, and went out early on the 7th and cut down a fresh Christmas tree. Amazingly, we had it up and decorated by that night. From there on the rest of the time we were in Salem is just a blur. I did catch a bad head/chest cold, so for one week I really didn’t get much done. The rest of the time we shopped, visited with family, went out to dinner with friends a few times, and even managed to babysit our youngest great grand-daughter a couple times.

On Christmas Eve, we had two family gatherings and watched our three oldest great grandchildren go ape over all the presents Santa and family gave them. The two youngest (babies) let their parents open their gifts (much more civilized). Of course we managed to eat ourselves silly on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day where we gathered with our immediate family for a huge meal. Sadly our two sons live out of state, but we managed to spend some time with them on the phone.

Christmas Eve, Ken & I went to Midnight Mass to celebrate the true meaning of CHRISTmas. The congregation gathers one half hour before Mass to sing carols along with the choir. We were thrilled to hear our nephew, Brendan, playing his trumpet along with the choir. Our niece, Larysa, was also singing in the choir. It was a beautiful, meaningful Mass, and the choir were excellent!!

The day after Christmas, I had the tree down and all the decorations put away. We spent the rest of that day packing our Jeep for the trip back to Queen Valley, Arizona.

We left Salem at 6 am on December 27, and drove 743 miles to Tonapah, Nevada (one very long drive!) We hit snow on the road in Oakridge heading up over the Willamette Pass to highway 97.

Once we got on highway 97, the roads were in good shape. Yes, we did have a couple snow flurries along the way, but nothing to keep us from traveling the speed limit. We got to Tonapah at 6:30 (12 1/2 hours after leaving Salem) and it was 29 degrees. We didn’t even turn the TV on that night. Just grabbed a bite to eat and hit the sack in order to get up early the next morning.

The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed for Arizona. Even though there was a smattering of snow in the mountains, we didn’t have any on the roads. In fact, we had mostly sun until we got through Boulder City and across the Hoover Dam. Once we got into Arizona, the skies became cloudier the closer we got to Phoenix.

We had left Tonapah at 6:30 the morning of the 28th (18 degrees) and arrived in Queen Valley (550 miles later) at 5:45. Of course we had the hour time zone change, so we actually drove 9 plus hours. When we got out of the Jeep, neither of us was feeling very limber. We vowed never to do that trip that fast again. 1300 miles in two days is insane!! Yes, we did change drivers, but only stopped long enough to get fuel and hit the restrooms.

Anyhow, we are back to being settled in the coach, and unfortunately I am back down with a sore throat and a terrible cough. I hear there are several folks in the park that are also sick. Not a fun time, but I am on meds and hope to get over this crud soon. No, I am not going out this evening to bring in the New Year. Instead, I will be taking my meds and heading to bed very soon.

I hope you all have a healthy, prosperous new year!!

Home for Christmas

We are home in Salem, Oregon for the Christmas Holiday. We got here on December 6 after a very long 3 day drive from Queen Valley, Arizona.

Before we left Arizona, the night temperatures had been dropping into the low 40s. Well when we left on the 4th of December, it was actually 37 degrees at 5 am, and it didn’t get any warmer the further north we went. Our route out of Arizona was north through Kingman where we caught highway 93 towards Las Vegas. Before Vegas, we crossed the Hoover Dam and had a good look at the new bridge they are building. We could see a lot of progress since we crossed it last year.

Currently large busses and trucks are not allowed to cross the dam and are forced to bypass via highway 95. We did find out that RVs are allowed to cross the bridge, but they are subject to a thorough search before crossing. Since we were in the Jeep, they just took one look at us and waved us through. Guess we didn’t look too threatening.

Once we got through Las Vegas, we took I-15 north to highway 93 and headed west to Ely, Nevada. We were in a hurry to get to this point, so didn’t do any geocaching beforehand which would have slowed us down. On the road to Ely, we stopped to find 10 caches, but it was way too cold (high 20s) to do more than that. We made it to Ely about 4 pm and got a nice room at the La Quinta for the night. It was 17 degrees when we checked in!

The next morning, we woke to see the temperature outside was 4 degrees. We quickly got our bags in the Jeep and went for breakfast then headed out of town on highway 50 towards Fallon (one long very lonely road). There is nothing along that road but flat valleys, and some mountain passes. I think we crossed three or 4 mountain passes and only two mining towns, Eureka and Austin. I would not want to have any problems along there because there were only a few spots that we had cell service. That would not have been fun to break down out there!!

We did happen to spot some wild life at one point! There were actually two, a Doe and last year’s fawn. This is the yearling that wanted to cross road to be with mom, but didn’t like our Jeep, so stayed up on the hill. Not a good picture, but it didn’t give us a lot of time to take its picture.

We did geocache along hwy 50, but it was way too cold (10-20 degrees) to really do much, so only stopped for a few that were right on the side of the road and really quick. As we got closer to Fallon, we could see clouds building and thought we were going to get some snow.

But, we were lucky and didn’t get anything but a couple flakes in the higher spots.  We got to Fallon about 3 then Reno at 4 where we went to Ken’s aunt and uncles’ place to visit and spend the night.

We were really hoping to spend a couple nights with them, but there was a severe winter weather alert in effect for most of Northern Nevada, so we decided to stay just one night and leave Reno before the storm hit. We did have a very nice visit with Francis and Velma, but sadly missed seeing some of the cousins we were hoping to see. Hopefully, when we head back to Arizona, we can stop by again.

Sunday morning, we woke to an outside temperature of 11 degrees (brrr). After having some wonderful waffles that Velma made for breakfast, we left Reno at 8:30 and took highway 395 north through Alturas and Klamath Falls towards Salem.

As we passed Border Town west of Reno, we could see the snow clouds building.

The snow hit shortly after crossing the CA/NV border.

From there all the way to Alturas we were in and out of snow flurries. The temps were in the low teens all the way so the snow was very dry and powdery. It was kind’a mesmerizing as we watched it swirl around on the road. The only time it really was dangerous was when we were being passed by trucks or larger cars which would swirl the snow up in front of us and cause zero visibility. We just made sure we didn’t have anyone close in front of us, so we didn’t have problems.

This picture is of where we like to park for the night when we are heading south to Arizona in the motorhome.  It is the volunteer fire station's parking lot in Likely, CA and normally, there is no snow there.....but this is what it looked like when we passed on the 6th.

I didn’t get any pictures of it, but as we went through Klamath Falls, the lake was totally white. The lake was frozen and the snow on top of it caused an eerie effect. We did stop in Klamath Falls and have a late lunch early dinner so we wouldn’t have to stop again until we were home.

When we got to the highway 97/58 junction, we took highway 58 west to Willamette Pass.  Of course, there was snow, but not as bad as we thought it was going to be.

Once we got beyond the pass, the snow disappeared and we were happy to see the temperature warming up in the 30s.  Actually hit 35 when we got to Eugene, Oregon.

We got home at 6 pm on Dec 6 to a nice warm house. Thanks go out to LeighAnn and Tim for turning our thermostat up!!

It stayed very cold until December 11 when the temps finally went above freezing. We were supposed to be having rain for the next week or so, but so far, it is sunny and in the high 30s. Hooray, sure hope it stays this way for a while.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!