9-28 Home

Home again- Sat. a.m. saw we were just 350 miles from home. No reason to go halfway to a FL area where we've been many many times, so we took I-75 all the way home. only time on whole trip we took an interstate by choice. 10500 miles, 16 states, 3 months, 7 family visits, temps 38 to 108. Elevation 12500 to minus 250 ft. A good time.

9-27 update

Blog-delinquent, but to catch up:

9-13 mt nebo st park, Ark. Turned out to be a mountaintop 19th cent. summer resort spot. Extremely steep 2 mile road to top with 10 sharp switchbacks.
9-14 Took a short but difficult hije along the rim of the mountain. Trail dates from 1890.
9-15 to mtn view Ark. for week-long mountain dulcimer festival. Spent next  5 days learning, playing, and enjoying music. Thos. and Valerie (from the motorcycle rally) were there, too, and we became good friends.
9-21 leaves starting to turn in the Ozarks as we drove E. Saw our first cotton and kudzuo of the trip. To john kyle state park, MS, part of an immense Corps if Engineers rec area. Maybe 250 campsites, 6 occupied.
9-22 After church intended to go canoeing but too windy. Hiked a nature trail through a cypress swamp and uplands. Explored by car and stumbled on a bayou shanty settlement of maybe 20 bldgs.
9-23 to Lake Lurleen st pk AL near Tuscaloosa. Almost full of Univ of Ala fan RV's parked for football season. Beautiful lakeside campsite.
9-24nice canoeing on Lk. Lurleen.
9-25 to Columbus GA. Will visit Karter tomorrow.
9-26 picked up K from school and had fun with him rest of afternoon. Out to dinner with him.
9-27 took K to school and said goodbye. Drove to site of infamous Andersonville civil war POW prison where 13000 of 45000 prisoners died in just 14 months. They're buried there- natl cemetery.

9-12 Update

M starts work at 5 a.m., when kids start arriving at her day care ctr. Her charges are preschool and kindergarten age, so she goes with them on the school bus. Once they are discharged, she does paperwork and then goes home about 10:30 for a break. Her day ends at 5:30 p.m. when the kids are supposed to have all been picked up. A tough schedule, about which she does not complain.

Monday we packed up and then waited for her to come home on break before we hit the road. A short drive to Chickasaw Natl Recreation Area and a campsite beside a large reservoir. The park dates from the early 20th century when the land and its mineral springs were bought from the Chickasaw Indian tribe. The CCC did major construction and improvements in the 30's, and the park still has pavillions and buildings in the distinctive CCC architectural style.

Tuesday we tried canoeing in the reservoir, but the strong wind made it a short effort. We did visit the nature center and took a 1.2-mile hike to two beautiful springs.

Wednesday we slept late and then drove 5 hours to Queen Wilhelmina State park just over the border in Arkansas. It was interesting to watch the transition in the scenery from western prarie into eastern broadleaf and pine forest. The park, where we've stayed twice before, is on a high ridge in the Ozarks, with a good view and cooler temperatures plus a cooling breeze.

We learned that the campground will be the site of a motorcycle rally this weekend (BMW's and dirt bikes, not Harleys). We met Thomas and Valerie, our next-campsite neighbors, and immediately hit it off with them. A pretty good dinner out at the nearby lodge restaurant.

Wednesday night was finally cool enough to do without air conditioning. Got down to about 70 overnight.

Our larder was about empty, so after a late breakfast we drove 17 miles to Mena for grocery shopping. Too hot to ride the bike, so a lazy afternoon.

Thomas is from S. Louisiana, so he was drafted to cook gumbo for the early arrivers to the motorcycle rally. We were invited to partake, and I didn't want to mooch when the event is a charity fund-raiser, so we registered for the rally. Now we're real bikers. The  gumbo was excellent.

9-6 to Elk City, Okla.

Only 1/4 mile from the start today, I made a scary bonehead move, running right through a stop sign and crossing a major busy highway. No traffic; we're lucky to be alive. Later I thought about the tables being turned: all the roads which intersect our route and all the drivers who could just as easily make the same mistake I did. Life is fragile.

The route today was oil and gas country. The terrain changed from flat desert (except where irrigated) into rough broken ground, rolling hills, and low red mesas.

Stopping point is a nothing-special RV park in a nothing-special town. Getting lots of reading done, including all 3 books Daniel Mason has written- good writing but slow-moving. Tomorrow to daughter M's house.

9-5 Short drive, 4 states

Route today started in Colorado, cut the SW corner of Kansas, down thru the panhandle of Oklahoma, and into the Texas panhandle.

Of note: not much. A very very large wind farm in Oklahoma, just north of the Texas border.

We stopped at Perryton TX, at a mom-and-pop RV park. The dog which greeted us was a huge, ugly bull mastiff creature. Turns out, he had been a stray that adopted the park's owners. Despite his appearance, Brutus was a pussycat, and a sponge for affection. The RV park was well maintained,  the owners were friendly, and the bath/shower facility was clean and neat. Couldn't ask for more. And it was cheap.

9-4 Goodbye to the Mtns

Lots of lightning and thunder last night, finally rained for a couple of hours after midnight. Bright and sunny  in the morning, 45 deg.

Fine drive through sparsely settled area of varied mountains, canyons and open valleys as we descended from 10,000 to about 6000 feet. About 10 miles north of Canon City, bingo- flat desert. One we passed Pueblo the temperature quickly rose to 97 degrees.

I was able to buy the needed plumbing part in Pueblo, with good instructions, but I will wait until we get home to do the repair: Don't want to make a mistake and leave us without a working toilet.

Heading east across the high plains of eastern Colorado, at least the driving was easy and we made good time. But we do love the Rockies and will miss them.

Drove to John Martin Reservoir State Park about 40 mi. from the CO/KS border, with a campsite right on a nice lake. But too windy to consider canoeing. 220 campsites here, and about 5 occupied, including us. I guess the season really is over.

Update thru 9-3

We spent Labor Dayl weekend at Lakewood and Golden, Colo. visiting sons M and P and their families. They rolled out the red carpet for us even though we saw them just 2 months ago when they visited us in FL. We had a fine time.  Five of our (regular and step) grandchildren made the effort to see us, which was a special pleasure.

Late Monday we received a call from the RV Park where the camper trailer was parked, reporting that they saw water pouring out the door of the the trailer so they turned off the water supply. Returning to the campsite later we found that the water valve on the toilet had ruptured (water pressure too high). The flood wasn't too bad and we called to arrange mobile RV service for Tuesday, when we had planned to leave.

Tuesday, Sept. 3: Checked out of the RV park and parked at P's house to await the RV service man, who came at 2 o'clock. He didn't have the part needed so he plugged the leaking hose and we were good to go: just need to flush the toilet from a jug of water. We'll get the needed part and do a permanent fix somewhere down the line.

We were reluctant to leave the mountains just yet, so we headed south for three hours on small roads, ending up at the "World's Highest KOA" campground, 10,000' at Cripple Creek, on an open mountainside with a great view to the west.  Of note: an elk grazing peaceably in the middle of the town of Evergreen, winding mountain roads through canyons and valleys, mostly wooded but with many mountains denuded by past fires. A chilly evening with a colorful sunset and also lightning in the distance to the north.

Summer is over: school buses on the road and businesses going on off-season schedules. Campgrounds should have lots of room. We'll head south to Pueblo then strike out across the plains, heading for Oklahoma.

Update thru 8-29

We spent the weekend 8-23 thru 8-25 at Ogden UT visiting brother T and V. They are negotiating to purchase the practice of another Dr., which would make them the only allergists in Ogden, but they have plans to staff up and actually work a bit less. We spent the weekend with them visiting their horses, taking a bike ride up in the mountains, and touring the area with them. A good visit.

8-26 Mon.: Drove to Starvation State Park, UT. Route 35 across Utah especially scenic, crosses a 9000' pass at Wolf Creek, and drove along a long ridge of beautiful overhanging cliffs. We've learned some geology on the trip so far, but wish we knew more.
Our campsite was right on the shore of a large reservoir with a sand beach. Would have enjoyed it more but the wind was blowing a full gale out of the west. It even broke the bracket for our little flagpole. No canoeing, for sure, or we'd gone directly the the dam downwind. We just hunkered down. Trailer shook overnight, as if we were on the boat.

8-27 Tues.: 38 degrees in a.m., wind abated. NE Utah is desert, mostly interesting rocks, but not like yesterday. Drove to Dinosaur Natl Monument on border of Utah and Colo. The source of many dinosaur bones on display in museums e.g. Smithsonian, Denver and N.Y. They dug out bones 1920 til about 1960, then dug just enough to expose the thousands of leftovers on a nearly vertical cliff and they built a building around them so we could see them in situ. Fascinating. Also visited a couple of sites with petroglyphs dating to about 1000 a.d., mostly human images, some animals and symbols. Underway again, passed two billboards 1/4 mile apart. 1st had a picture of a woman, "ONLY female OBGYN in the Basin", 2nd with pics of 3 men "Your first choice for women's health, delivering 70% of the babies in the Basin". Stopped at a State Park on the Yampa River in Colo.

8-28 Wed. Put canoe in the river in a.m. once it warmed up, but could only go a short distance upstream or down: too shallow. Drove across N. Colo. desert (saw a coyote) and crossed Rocky Mtn. Natl Park. 50 miles of extraordinary mountain scenery, topping at 12000'. Camped at RV park in Estes Park. A good dinner out.

8-29 Thurs.: Signed up for an all-day educational minibus tour of the Natl Park, and it turned out we were the only ones aboard. Our guide was a young naturalist who knew her stuff. Learned a lot about the plants, geology and history of the area, and saw deer, a marmot, pikas, and a herd of ;;200 elk. Stunning glaciar-carved mountains with many spots of permanent snowfields.

Thur. 8-22 to Pocatello

Unable to light the stove for coffee this morning. Discovered both propane tanks were empty. Had checked them a few days ago and had about 1/2 full on one tank and second tank was full. Clearly, I had a propane leak. Fortunately, the RV park had propane, and the owner found that one of our tanks had a bad valve, which allowed all the gas in both tanks to leak out. I bought a new tank from him and solved our problem quickly and cheaply. Most RV parks don't have propane, and those that do don't have tank exchanges, so we were lucky.

A short drive today, so we were disposed to stop for anything interesting. We stumbled on Experimental Breeder Reactor 1, the world's first nuclear power plant, built in 1951 two miles off the highway in the desert. Decomissioned in 1966 and maintained in pristine condition as a museum. It was built to test Enrico Fermi's theory that a reaction of uranium could produce plutonium, also a nuclear fuel, faster than the fuel was used to produce electricity. The experiment was a success, of course, and the facility produced electricity for its own use while research continued. Very very interesting, and we were the only visitors at the time.

A cloudy day in the desert, and we could see ribbons of rain falling from the clouds with only sparse drops reaching the ground. Kept the heat down, though.

Wed. 8-21 Craters of the Moon

Another day of desert weather: 40's in the morning, 90's in the afternoon.

We got ourselves up and out pretty early to drive 20 miles to Craters of the Moon Nat'l Monument. A huge area of lava flows from eruptions every 2000 years or so (about due). We did a ranger hike up a cinder cone volcano with a great 360-degree view at the top. S got out of breath once, but I think it was just the elevation. Later we took another ranger hike to a lava flow cave. Rough walking and climbing, but well worthwhile. If you have any questions about volcanos or lava minerals, ask now. What I forgot since Mt. Lassen in the Sierras I relearned today.

Apollo astronauts trained at Craters of the Moon, and the Mars Rover was tested there too.

Back at the campground we met some interesting people including a couple from NH on their way back from a 2-month-and-counting trip to Alaska with a cartop tent. They report AK had a warm summer and so many berries for the bears to eat that they(the bears) didn't bother catching salmon.

8- 20 Challis Hot Springs to Arco, Idaho

The campground is on a quiet paved road, so we did a bike ride this morning out to the main highway. Been a while since we've been on the bike, and we felt it, especially with the 6000' altitude and a few sharp hills, but fun ride anyway.

Broke camp early afternoon and continued south. Left the Salmon River somewhere and passed through several very large valleys with high mountains all around, separated by rocky canyons. Cattle and hay country, large scale irrigated fields. Mountains are mostly treeless but many different colors as the sunlight shifted.

Short drive so no hurry, and we paid attention to the historical markers. One invited us to turn up a dirt road for 2 miles and promised an earthquake site. Highlight of the day- Turns out there was a major earthquake here in 1983 (7.5), which raised the mountains a foot and lowered the valley 7'. The dirt road ended where there was a 20' wide crack in the earth, now a deep ditch which extends 21 miles. Once we knew what it was we could clearly see it extending into the distance (can see the crack on Google satellite view, too). The earthquake cause many new springs to form in the valley (already known as the Valley of 1000 springs), and get this: 400 billion gallons of water suddenly gushed to the surface. Put your calculator to work: that's about 3 miles across and 100' deep.

Stopped at campground at Arco, a little town with a moment of fame: In 1955 Arco was the first town in the world ever electrified by nuclear power, in 1955. It was an experiment, using a research reactor off in the desert nearby. Many of the retail businesses here call themselves Atomic this and that.

8-19 N. Fork to Challis Hot Springs

A short drive along the Salmon River. Beautiful mountain scenery. A near-deer encounter: spotted a buck about 100 yards away running toward the highway from my left on a collision course. My instinct told me I had a better chance of passing ahead of him, so I sped up. He turned abruptly to his left just as he reached the road. Close call.

Stopped at Sacagawea Center in the town of Salmon. Good information about her life and the Lewis and Clark expedition, which passed here on the way west in 1805. Also info about her descendants to the present, and their tribe. Continuing south, finally left the Lewis and Clark route.

Reached our campground early afternoon. Site is right on the Salmon River. Several people told us it was OK for a canoe, but what we could see was too shallow and rough, so we passed on that. A warm afternoon reading in the shade of a cottonwood tree.

8-16 to 8-18 to N. Fork Idaho

Fri. 8-16 a beautiful winding climb along the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers. Mountains on both sides. Lewis and Clark sites everywhere. Not much has happened here since then. Crossed Lolo Pass into Montana, and stopped at a Lolo Creek, a Natl Forest Campground. Fine wooded site, no electricity or water, so quiet and dark.

Sat. 8-17 Chilly morning. Drove into town of Lolo to scout out a church and do some grocery shopping. Otherwise, relaxed in the woods and read. No phone signal so no internet. e-books from the St. Pete Beach Library aren't accessible unless the app is kept open continuously. Stayed chilly all day, and light rain fell at midday. First rain in a long while.

Sunday 8-18.  42 degrees in the morning. Broke camp and drove down to Lolo for Mass at a little mission church. Nearly everyone came over to meet us and find out our story. I don't think they get many visitors. After church drove N to Missoula in search of breakfast. Found a poor one. Drove S along Bitterroot Valley with high craggy mtns to our west, some with bits of snow still. Climbed to Chief Joseph Pass at 8700'. All the way from Portland to that point, we'd been on the route we cycled in 2013 on our way across the country. We turned back down into Idaho and descended for a few miles to a good campground on the N. Fork of the Salmon River. Afternoon temp near 80. Did laundry, and then I put the canoe in the river. Made some progress upstream, but it is shallow, rocky and fast here, so didn't get far. Was good to get it in the water, though.

Update through 8-15

Long time no blog. On Sunday, Aug. 3, we drove to Portland to visit son M and his family, and stayed until Monday, Aug. 12.

We spent the week greatly enjoying the company of M&K and their 9 and 7 -year-olds. We played our ukuleles, went camping in the forest for two days, visited the Portland Art Museum, went canoeing in the Columbia River, and saw Portland's women's professional soccer team win a tight game. We had a great visit with M&K, and their children 9 and 7. K home-schools the kids, and is doing a good job of it, using a lot of online resources and local afinity groups. The kids are smart, happy, and thriving. M is doing well in his job, but the kids are clearly the priority focus for them both. Too soon, we were leaving and starting to miss them once again. 

Leaving Portland, we drove east along the Columbia River. For the next few days we'll follow the route we rode on our bike tour across the U.S. in 2013. Even without the many familiar sights and happy memories, the spectacular Columbia Gorge is one of our favorite routes.

We camped Mon. and Tues. at Hat Rock, named by Lewis and Clark on their way down the river because it looked like a hat. And it does. On Tues. we did a short hike to the rock and a short canoe paddle in the River.

Wed, Aug. 14 we continued east into Washington, back to Oregon, and then into Idaho at Lewiston, the furthest inland seaport on the Columbia system. I looked at our old transamerica cycling blog, and when we passed this way six years ago it was June and all the immense wheatfields were green. Now they are golden brown, and mostly harvested. We camped on the shore of Clearwater River near Kamiah, Idaho.

Aug. 15. Will stay a second night here.This campground has the best showers ever: roomy and clean, with enough hooks and shelves. It's a holy day, so we drove a few minutes into town to a little church with an African priest. Couldn't understand more than a few words of what he said. Two women and their cute small children made up the choir. A good breakfast in town. Found my long-lost altimeter- we're at 2700'. Not yet in the mountains. In the afternoon we took a drive on a somewhat scary gravel road out of the river valley to Nezperce, a small town with several large grain elevators. The whole area is wheatfields, larger than I could have imagined. We'd intended to put the canoe in the river, but it was too hot, then too windy, then too tired, then too late. A mostly lazy day of reading.

We're at Long Camp, a historic site. On their way to the west coast, Lewis and Clark emerged from the mountains here and prepared to travel the rest of the way by river. They buried their supplies, built dugout canoes, and lent their horses to the Nez Perce Indians. On their way back the next year, they dug up what they'd cached and waited three weeks for snow to melt before setting off across the Bitterroot Mountains.

8-2 to Sisters, OR

We entered Oregon within the first few miles today.

Our route for the last week or so has been in eastern California, in the shadow of the Sierras and later the Cascades. We're glad we chose to come that way; cool weather, beautiful terrain and little traffic on the roads.

We were aiming for Bend today, and having trouble arranging a campsite because we're heading into a summer weekend. But we finally did get a callback from an RV park north of Bend.

Although there were still low, round mountains around us, the valleys were very wide and more fertile than we've seen. Large scale truck farms.

We ended up north of Bend, near Sisters, named for the three prominent mountains nearby. The RV park is about twice as expensive as we're used to. But they have a pool and spa, the whole place is landscaped with flowers, they pick up trash at the curbside every morning, and they even have room service- if you want firewood, for example, just call the office and they'll bring it to you. Silly.

A rooster has been crowing since we arrived. I wonder if it will get any sleep tonight. Or if we will.

8-1 to Tulelake, CA

Not much to report today. We drove north to the only campground we could find at the right distance for the day. The route started in high mountains with small high valleys between them, and gradually gave way to low rounded mountains, larger valleys, pine forests, cattle, and occasional large scale hay operations, producing the huge 8' bales we learned before are made to fit into containers and ship across the Pacific.

The campground turned out to be part of a fairground currently hosting a firefighters camp, complete with catering tents, shower vans, etc. Our space is spare but grassy, and does have electricity and water hookups. OK for one night.

Tulelake is a dying town that shows no sign of ever having been very alive. Most of the stores on Main St. are closed, and no name-brand retailers have taken their place. The houses are small and dilapidated. Very depressing. But Tulelake is the horseradish capital of the world, growing over 1/3 of the world's production.

7-31 Lassen Volcanic National Park

We left the Casita at camp and drove about an hour to Lassen Volcanic National Park. There are numerous volcanos of all types there, including Lassen Peak, which erupted in 1915. The park's visitor center has excellent displays explaining it all. The 1915 eruption happened to be one of the first ever to be captured on film. We drove through the park, making many stops to see views and volcanic stuff. We should be jaded by now about mountain scenery, but this was hands down the best we've ever seen. The park road rises to about 8500' from the area base elevation of around 5000' Ask us any questions you have about lava and basalt, quick before we forget.

In the afternoon we did laundry, cooked ourselves a good dinner, and watched the sunset over the mountains across the lake. Life is good.

7-30 to Lake Almanor CA

a.m. temperature 41. A record for this trip. 107 is the record high.

We stopped at the Donner Memorial State Park on the site where the 90 or so people in the  Donner Party of emigrants were unable to cross the Sierras to California's Central Valley because of snow and were stranded in the winter of 1846. Half of them starved or froze, and some of the survivors famously resorted to cannibalism. An excellent museum, film, and memorial. For learning history, there is nothing better than feet on the ground.

A short day on the road, moving north through forests and mountains. Camp is on the shore of large Lake Almanor. We're at a lower elevation here, about 5000 feet, so it is warmer this evening (60's).

7-29 at Lake Tahoe

a.m. temperature 45.

We drove about 15 miles to the Squaw Valley ski area and took a tram to the top of their mountain, enjoyed the view, walked around a bit, and had lunch up there. A lot of people enjoying the heated pool at the mountaintop, but we were content to stay amply dressed in the cool weather.

Later in the afternoon we rode on the bike path along the lake for about an hour.

7-28 Bridgeport to Lake Tahoe, CA

Just north of Bridgeport is a wide, level valley with mountains all arouond. Cattle were grazing as far as we could see on both sides. We drove north over a series of low mountain passes and smaller valleys, passing into Nevada, and finally climbing steeply to a high pass before decending to Lake Tahoe. At South Lake Tahoe, jammed with traffic, we stopped for a noon Mass at a church we'd Googled. After a late breakfast at a cafe, we drove north along the west side of the lake, the California side. The lake is a beautiful blue, and we saw later that it is also very clear. Traffic thinned out, and most of the drive along the lake was through woods and past cabins. Our campground was a state park just off the lake, in a forest of BIG trees, including a giant sequoia at our site. No water or elec at the site, but we didn't really need either. Just after we set up camp, there was a ruckus at the second site over: a big, fat, cinnamon colored bear had found some leftover dog food and was chowing down. The man at the campsite yelled at the bear, to no effect. He resorted to throwing things at it, and when one piece of camping equipment hit its mark, the bear ambled into the woods. Later in the evening when S and I took a walk to the bathroom, we went armed with a billy club and a bayonet. No bear, but we did scare other campers.

7-27 Mono Lake to Bridgeport CA

Bright and sunny and cool. We broke camp and stopped at the nearby Forest Service office to get info about Mono Lake, down the hill from where we've been the last two days. Mono is 6x6 miles, with two large islands. It has streams feeding it but no outlet but evaporation, leaving minerals in the water. It's very salty and alkaline. A beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, but the notable feature is tufa, mineral spires formed underwater and now sticking up as much as 20' above it. We drove about 1/4 of the way around the lake to a spot where we could hike down to the shore and see abundant tufa formations. We launched the canoe and explored tufa spires offshore. That was great fun.

There are numerous small volcanos in the area, forming Mono Craters, the youngest mountain range in N. America. The most recent eruption was 600 years ago.

We drove an hour north, crossing a mountain pass along the way, to the sleepy small town of Bridgeport, where the parking on main street is back-in angle parking. Never seen that before. We set up camp at a friendly little private campground on a reservoir. Dinner in town at a good burger joint. An interesting day, and no long drives for once.

7-26 Day trip to Yosemite

Rain and cloudy in the morning, but we could see the very large Mono Lake across from the campground. We'll explore its shore tomorrow, but today we left the trailer at the campground, gassed up ($4.99/gal.!) and headed up the Sierras toward Yosemite National Park. Good thing we weren't towing; first 12 miles, to a 10,000' pass marking the beginning of the Park, would have given the Suburban a good workout.  We were quickly above the level of snow remnants and were treated to one stunning view after another. And the weather cleared up for us. The road into Yosemite valley is 60 miles (24 as the crow flies). We stopped for views and pictures a few times, but it took us three hours. No complaints, it was a spectacular drive. The road was busy but not crowded. We knew the Park is super popular and expected that the small Yosemite Valley would be crowded. We did not expect almost complete gridlock. No place to park and traffic moved only occasionally. Recognizing our mistake we turned tail, but it took 20 minutes to go the first mile of our escape. We did see the iconic Half Dome, El Capitan and the waterfalls, from the car. There are actually three campgrounds in the valley, booked up within seconds of the 6-month reservation window, but I don't know why anyone would want to be there. Once clear of the crowd, it was beautiful and fun again, retracing our route back to camp. A long day on the road, but well worth it.

7-25 Death Valley

There were tracks of wild burros around our campsite this morning.

We visited a ghost town, Ryolite, which had over 10,000 people at its heyday as a mining center in 1900-1910. The hotel and casino is intact, but not much else.'

We crossed two mountain ranges divided by a valley, and then Death Valley opened up below us, with more mountains far on the other side.

It was uncharacteristically cloudy in the valley, and the temperature was 103 vs. 120 or more on a typical summer day; plenty hot enough. The bottom of the valley is a salt plain, 272' below sea level, lowest point in the Americas. Plants are scarce throughout the valley. "Desert" has a new meaning, with a high standard. It seldom rains because prevailing westerlies cross three major mountain ranges which suck off all the moisture before the air reaches Death Valley. Nevertheless, it rained today enough to need windshield wipers when we were at "Bad Water", the low point.

We climbed over two more mountain passes to reach a valley along the foot of the Sierra Nevadas, which still have snow on their peaks. As we drove north, the elevation gradually rose to 8000', getting more forested and cooler.

Along the way, we happened on Manzanar National Historical Site. Turns out, Manzanar was one of the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WW2. A Guard tower and barbed wire and a few buildings remain at the site, and the camp's high school auditorium is now the visitor center. A film with interviews of internees was very moving. It's well understood now that it was a mistake and simply wrong to intern people for no reason but their ethnicity. What I hadn't thought about was that it was directly contrary to the Constitution.

As we neared our campground in a high forest of Ponderosa Pine, it began to rain hard. And the temperature was only 53. But the camper is cozy warm with residual heat from earlier today.

Yosemite tomorrow, though the weather forecast is for more rain.

7-24 Across Nevada

Immediately out of St. George we dipped back into Arizona and then SW into Nevada. This was our longest stretch of interstate, about 100 miles. The only alternative route would have added 150 miles. We passed through the Virgin River Gorge, with very high steep mountains on each side, and then out into open desert. We started to see cactuses for the first time. Otherwise, a lot of nothing. We stopped for gas at "Cathouse Plaza" which as the name promised did include one of Nevada's famous legal brothels.

Passing close to Las Vegas, surprisingly there was enough rain falling to wet the road. After another 100 miles of desert highway we reached our planned stop at Beatty, Nev., near Death Valley, which we plan to cross tomorrow. They get no rain at all here for years at a time, but we did get a little rain late this afternoon. The RV park has a pool, which was remarkably cool despite 100-plus air temperature.

7-23 update Four Corners area

Sunday 7-21 Killed time until 11 o'clock, the only Mass time at Bloomfield's little church. After church we hit the road without knowing where we'd stop for the day. Had aimed for Page, at the Glen Canyon Dam, but sounds like no room at the 2 RV parks and no public parks with campgrounds. S was worried we'd end up with no place to stop, but I promised if we couldn't camp we'd find a motel.

The whole day was spend travelling through Navajo land (size of W. Va.) A lot of poverty and litter. Scenic but desolate terrain.

It turned out the worry about a stopping place was for nothing: we spotted a "brown sign" (some kind of park ahead) pointing to Navajo National Monument 9 miles to the right. A second sign referred to a campground there. At the end of the road we found a National Park Visitor Center with an adjacent campground: no electric but no need for air conditioning since we were at 7000' and it wasn't very hot. And the campsite was free! And our old $10 lifetime senior pass to National Parks exempted us from the entrance fee. What a deal. After we set up camp we walked about a half mile on a trail to a view of ancient (1300's AD)pueblo dwellings built into a depression in the cliff on the opposite side of a narrow gorge. Still in very good condition since it was sheltered from rain and most sun. After dinner we enjoyed a very clear starry and moonless sky. 3 satellites, one shooting star.

Monday, 7-22 Water heater working only intermittently, and it took the morning off today. Cold showers doesn't make it. Called ahead to St. George Utah to arrange an RV space and mobile RV service. More Navajo land this morning. Hoped to buy a Navajo blanket, and after a couple of inquiries were directed to a store a few miles off our route and did buy a very nice small blanket hand woven by an elderly Navajo woman. Dresses up our little camper but no current need.

We stopped at Pipe Spring National Historical Monument, an 1870's Morman fort built to defend against U.S. Government enforcers of the bigamy laws. The attack never came, and overgrazing turned the area into a desert. Our tour guide was a Paiute indian. Their numbers in the area were about 4000 until successive slavef raids by Spanish and Navajos. The local band is now only about 400 and they have a very small reservatio with no economy.

On to St. George. A good sized city, and enough Mormon stuff to make me feel like a minority. We've actually been at this RV park before. It was the gathering spot for a bike tour of the Utah parks in 2006. That was in the fall of the year; this time It was 103 when we arrived, and 100 as late as 7 p.m. Once again, thank God for air conditioning. Oh, and for not living here.

Tues. 7-23 at St. George, UT.  The RV service people arrived at 8:30 and quickly fixed the water heater: a bad thermostat. They also replaced a leaking water drain valve. No other camper issues now; we're good to go. Spent the rest of the day shopping, doing laundry, and avoiding the 107 degree heat.  Cooled off to 95 when a rain cloud blew over, but no rain fell.

We went out to dinner at a place the RV park recommended, called Red Pony. Had one of our best dinners anywhere ever. We split phillo baked brie, a rack of lamb with mustard crust, cornbread pudding, and creme brulee, and a glass each of wine. Great leap forward for morale, which wasn't bad to start with.

7-20 Day trip to Chaco Canyon

A rarity for this area: a few drops of rain at 6 a.m.

Leaving the Casita camper at the campsite, we drove 60 mi. south to Chaco Canyon, a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a complex of pueblos built and occupied between 800 and 1200 AD. They also built roads in five directions from the canyon as much as 100 mi. long, including one  which a modern highway follows. What remains at Chaco is extensive ruins of very large stone masonry pueblos. Pueblo Bonito was the largest building in North America until the 19th century 4 stories high and over 600 rooms. Parts of the buildings survive intact, even including some wooden posts, lintels and floors. One pueblo, Una Vida, hasn't been excavated, restored or otherwise disturbed at all. We had a great time exploring all the sites, and despite her bad back, S was able to walk 2-3 miles and enjoy it.

Getting to and from Chaco Canyon involved 15 miles of bone-shaking washboarded gravel roads each way. That and the remote location keeps the crowds down: only a handful of visitors there.

7-19 to Bloomfield NM

One of the best days for scenery ever, in northern New Mexico.

We were in wide open grassy prarie (saw two buffalo and two pronghorns) and then at Cimmaron we abruptly ran into the Rocky Mountains. A winding mountain road with pine forest until Moab, then a long stretch of plateau. Then more mountains, including the Continental Divide, then high desert (except for a few places with large scale irrigated farms. 

A cultural difference between Texas and New Mexico- no more southern accent.

A long day on the road, but a good one.

I do wish I could attach pictures to Blogger posts. Theoretically possible, but every way I try it doesn't work. I think I'll find a new blog host site.

update thru 7-18

Poor internet connections, so delay in update:

7-8
At Mountain View Ark in the evening I was able to join a weekly mountain dulcimer get together. A rare chance to play music with others of a similar odd like mind. Great fun; didn't do too bad.  I do know a lot of songs.

7-9 an easy day's drive to Kansas City to visit S's nieces Carol and Susan and their families.  We all got together for a good barbecue dinner. Susan and husband Tom are about to set off for Wisc. for Tom to try racing the go kart he's been restoring for the last year.  Good luck Tom!

7-10 Carol and Brian, with their grandchildren Kayden and Mason, took us to the fascinaating National WWI Museum. C and B are both retired, and staying 110% busy. A great visit.

7-11 one long day to Ft. Sill OK to see Melissa, Greg and Jasmine. Jazz's son Karter is spending some time with his father in Ga. so we missed him. But the 5 of us had a good dinner at a steakhouse.

7-12 They went to work while we watched the Tour de France and went on a bike ride. Could have ridden 100 miles and not left Ft. Sill. The base has everything a small city has, except concern for land- they have plenty. In the evening we went out to a German restaurant and watched baseball.

7-13 Watched Tour de France and baseball. Grilled steaks for dinner and then watched baseball.

7-14 S and I went off-post to Mass, then back for a lavish Sun. breakfast Melissa had prepared. We visited the Apache graveyard incl Geronimo's grave. Then Greg took us to the Wichita Natl Wildlife Refuge to see longhorns, bison at a distance, prarie dogs at zero distance.

7-15 Goodbye to Melissa and Greg. On to Palo Duro Canyon in Texas Panhandle. Spectacular scenery and heat (107). Nights were cool, though. 2nd largest canyon in US, behind only guess which.

7-16 Into town (Canyon) for gas and shopping. In the afternoon drove a loop in the canyon.  Too hot to ride the bike. In evening caught an outdoor musical "Texas" in 54th year. Singing, dancing, shooting, horses, Indians, cowboys, fireworks and a tribute to veterans. What's no to like?

7-17 Decamped early to start of a jeep ride. Wow! Started at a ranch on the rim of the canyon with 4 other adventurers. Guide/driver was a crusty old cowboy. We signed waivers without reading them. Route was very steep, very scary, very rough, very very scenic. We did not die. Great fun. We both came back with sore muscles from death grips. Then drove NW into New Mexico to Sugarite Canyon State Park.

7-18 In mountains now. Canoed in 7000' lake. a.m. temp 53. Later was 95. Into town of Raton for laundry and shopping, then explored ruins of an early-20th-century coal mining town. Would you believe the Swastika Mine?

7-3 thru 7-7 Fla-Ark

Finally got somewhere with wifi, so update:

Wed. 7-3 at Rocky Creek State Park
Launched the canoe and paddled to the head of the little bay and found a creek the ranger told us about. Fresh water, very clear, sand bottom, quick current and overhanging foliage. Perfect canoeing. We paddled about 1 1/2 miles upstream. There is an undefined border into Eglin AFB's ordinance disposal facility, and we did hear explosions. Also saw the remains of a WWII plane which had crashed there. A quicker paddle downstream and back to camp. Later we took a very short nature trail walk, but otherwise loafed in the AC.

Thur. 7-4 Happy Independence Day. Stopped at Mobile to tour the Battleship Alabama, which we'd seen from the highway several times over the years. Very interesting and impressive. Built in 1944, served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Teak deck. Hard to find a campsite on 4th of July but stayed at a simple RV park E of Jackson, Miss. Planned to seek out a fireworks display but none close by so we sat out in the cool of the evening under stars and a crescent moon, and listened to people's personal fireworks all around.

Fri. 7-5 still at Morton MS. Shopping and laundry. Sunny and hot.

Sat. 7-6 Happy Birthday Pete.
to Mtn. View, Ark, in the Ozarks, where we've been twice before. A mecca for people to  jam with country and folk music. I do have the dulcimer and ukulele with me. I noticed that once we crossed the Mississippi River, theew longleaf yellow pine trees were gone. They're everywhere in the SE. The fireworks here was rained out on the 4th (no rain where we were) so the Elks Lodge across the street had a good fireworks display for us this evening.

Sun. 7-7 Campground (Ozark RV Park) had gospel music and a church service. We enjoyed the singing and ducked out before the sermon to go to the small local Catholic Church. An excellent breakfast afterward at a cafe in town. We're ahead of schedule so called S's niece Carol and arranged to visit her and niece Susan on Tuesday. A group of about a dozen teenagers in the campground on a cross-country cycling tour. Hope they have as good a time as we did on our transamerica ride.

In the evening we went to the center of town and listened to some good mountain music.

7-2 to Panhandle FL

Don't know why they are considering extending the Suncoas Parkway from Brooksville to GA border. Rte. 19/98 is a beautiful road.

Drove W from Tally along FL Rte 20 through endless pine forests. Hurricane Michael damage evident: not many buildings along the rural route and what there were were almost all damaged or destroyed. Miles and miles of pine trees bent 45 degrees or snapped off. And this was 20 mi. inland and 8 months after the storm. The coast must be much worse.

Camped at Rocky Bayou State Park on Chocktawhatchee Bay near Destin. Waterfront site.

Afternoon temp near 100 inland, more like 90 here. Thunder but no rain to cool it off. Thank goodness for AC in our little home.

6-30-19 On the road again

Heading cross country with our camper trailer for maybe 3 mos. First stop Manatee Springs State Park FL.  We were here almost exactly 50 years ago on the day of the Apollo 11 moon launch. A lot of water under the bridge since then.

7-1 Bike ride to Chiefland and canoeing anoe on the spring run and the Suwanee river. A cooling swim in the crystal clear spring. Many deer wandering the campground incl. 2 fawns, all completely fearless.

April 14 to Home

It's a long sail from Sarasota to home, but the weather forecast is for a strong southerly wind today, which would be downwind. If we go only part way, we would be slogging home Monday against an equally strong northwest wind. Easy choice. We stirred our bones early and cast off for home.

We had 15-20 kts behind us on Sarasota Bay. Sailing with reefed main alone at hull speed. A couple of gusts overcame the autopilot and we broached, but no harm done.  Near the north end of Sarasota Bay we seemed to be moving slowly even though the wind hadn't let up, as if we were dragging an anchor. In fact, we were. The lanyard which secures the anchor had either come loose or been left loose when we took in dock lines. I hauled up the anchor with no damage and a check mark on my lifetime bonehead bucket list.

Crossing Tampa Bay with a good chop and strong following wind had us rolling uncomfortably but enjoying the fast ride. We crossed the bay from the Anna Maria Bridge to inside Pass a Grille in 2 hrs. 57 min. A passage not soon to be bettered by Carina.

Home without further incident. A long to-do list of improvement ideas and a few minor repairs to be done.

We especially enjoyed ourselves on this cruise. A normal supply of challenges but plenty of good sailing, good eating, comfortable sleeping, not too hot, mostly, and unflagging morale. We're getting better and better at this.

April 13, 2019 to Sarasota

With a decent southerly wind and an engine that works and stays cool, we had a choice of sailing from Venice in the Gulf or inside in the waterway. For no other reason than that we'd done this stretch outside on the way south, we chose the waterway. Probably a good choice, as he wind increased steadily all day. Sailing downwind we made good time and put in at Marina Jack, where we stopped on the way down. They cater to many more yachty boats than Carina, but it was the right distance for the day and the marina is conveniently right downtown. After a sloppy docking, thanks to the marina hand not doing what she was told, we relaxed for a while before assembling the bike. We rode a short distance to church for a Saturday vigil Mass, then to a Greek cafe for dinner. Back to the boat just at dark, put the bike away, and settled down contentedly for the rest of the evening. A good day, but the afternoon was hot. We need to start our spring cruises in March; we don't swim much anyway, and it's easier to stay warm than cool.

April 12, 2019 at Venice

We'd arranged for the mechanic to come late afternoon, so we assembled the tandem bike and went shopping. A power cord had given both of us a shock in the last two days, so we headed to West Marine for a proper shore power cord. While we were there the mechanic called; at the boat. I told him where to find to key so he could get to work. By the time we got back, he'd found and fixed the problem. There was a clog in the gose between the seawater inlet and the engine's water pump, so there was very little water getting through. I sort of should have found that, but didn't know the signs.

We spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, reading, napping, staying out of the sun, and doing laundry. An excellent late dinner ashore at the Crow's Nest by the dock.

All fixed, provisioned, and ready to move on tomorrow.

Apr. 11 to Venice

Wind too light to sail, and engine overheating problem precluded powering, so we tied the dinghy alongside and towed Carina with the dinghy's 3 1/2 hp. motor. Didn't do badly at all; made 2 kts with the motor at half speed. Wouldn't want to try it in rough weather or against any kind of wind, but did OK in these conditions. Reached Venice early afternoon. Initially couldn''t find dockage, so investigated a city park with a boat ramp and a small non-overnight dock. would have served us fine, as there's an anchorage nearby. But did find dockage near Venice Inlet and settled down to await mechanic serice tomorrow. Docked next to a couple we met in 2017, Mike and Lou Denny from Safety Harbor, on an Island Packet 27. Mike had ideas about the source of the cooling problem, and we tried a couple of things, but no joy. Dinner aboard and a quiet night, once the boat traffic settled down.

Apr. 10 still at Engelwood.

The engine overheated shortly after we got underway. I did what I could but unable to fix it myself. The wind has come around to the W too much to sail up the waterway to look for svc so we sailed back down to the marina we'd just left. Plenty of sympathy here but unable to find diesel service locally. Forecast is a fair wind tomorrow so we can sail N. Finally contacted a mechanic who can meet us Friday at Venice, 10 mi. N. So we'll sail there tomorrow, Thur. Marina lady here gave us a 5 gal gas can which I filled with gas for possible use in the dinghy to give us a boost if needed. We're not under time pressure to get home and can even sail the whole way  if necessary. Meanwhile, we have good weather and plenty of food, water, gin and rum. Life is good.

Apr.9 to Engelwood

Strong S wind, so we took the Inland Waterway route rather than out in the Gulf.  Sailed mostly under job alone. Made good time, covered about 25 miles, and stopped at Royal Palm Marina in Lemon Bay by early afternoon.

Dinner at restaurant ashore- kareoke night, but they were having so much fun we couldn't help enjoying it.

Mon.Apr./ 8 to Pelican Bay

keyboard/ problems./ / 32/ mi./ lplanned/ for/ the/ day/ so/ up/ and/ away/ early./ Instead/ of/ following/ tehe/ ship/ channel/ 2/ mi./ out/ we/ snuck/ around/ Pt./ Ybel/ at/ S/ end/ of/ Sanibel./ Local/ kknowledge/ advd/ we/ would/ have/ enough/ water,/ and/ we/ did./ Min/ 5'.\
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Wind/ S./ about/ 10/ kts./ so/ a/ good/ downwind/ sail../ / But/ later/ the/ wind/ increased/ and/ we/ were/ rolling/ alarmingly/ wing-and-wing./ Tried/ various/ sail/ changes,/ eventually/ did/ better/ with/ reefed/ main/ alone./ we/ covered/ the/ 32/ mi/ in/ 7/ 1/ 2/ hrds./ / Pretty/ good/ for/ Carina./ Anchroed/ in/ Pelican/ Bay inside/ Cayo/ Costa./ Excellent/ naturaly/ protected/ anchorage./ Slelpt/ comfortably but rain started 4 a.m. as forecast.

Sun. Apr. 7 at Sanibel

Church and shopping by bike, did laundry, good seafood dinner at marina's restaurant. Otherwise, took it easy.

Sat., Apr. 6, 2019 to Sanibel

Red sky at dawn. Good breakfast ashore. While pulling away from dock noticed we left the dinghy. One more check mark on my bonehead bucket list.  Now writing underway with S on watch. Still a SE wind. Motorsailed a bit, but mostly power. Just watch- the wind will be from the N when we head home, whenever that is.

Later... now at Sanibel Marina. Years ago they tore down the old bridge from Punta Rassa to Sanibel, which had an opening near the Sanibel side, and replaced it with a fixed bridge 3 miles east. So to reach the south end of Sanibel requires an extra 7 miles of sailing.  No problem for the hundreds of power boats out today (Saturday) but made for a long 23 miles 99% under power for us.  But- the weather was fine and we were in beautiful Pine Island Sound. So who's complaining?

Checking the old blog posts, this is the third time we've been at this little marina, which specializes in powerboat brokerage and sees few sailing boats because of shallow water. But we know they do toss a newspaper and hot sweet rolls in the cockpit at dawn. We plan to spend two nights here. Then I swear we'll sail downwind, wherever that takes us.

Apr, 5, 2019 to Cabbage Key

Again a beautiful day but contrary wind. 20 miles under power (we burn only a qt. of diesel per hr). Arrived at our well-loved stop of Cabbage Key in time for some reading in the shade and cocktails before dinner ashore- treated ourselves to stone crabs. At bedtime we had a trifecta: hot, mosquitos and noisy slapping of boats. But we were tired after a long day on the water, and with the help of Off and a fan we slept pretty well.

Apr. 4, 2019 Venice to Englewood Beach

A nice day but SE wind and we're going SE, so power only.  4 hrs. to a favorite anchorage, just inside Stump Pass, on a narrow inlet. We anchored fore and aft, so were secure even though the tidal current was strong both ways. I explored by dinghy to see if the pass itself is navigable for Carina. It is, at least for now; shallowest spot 5' of water. The pass was dredged in 2017. May shoal in the future. Back at the boat, we began to get rain- radar shows only this tiny spot of rain on the whole Gulf coast.
Grilled a steak in the rain and enjoyed it with mushrooms and onions. Slept well, and rain quit so we could open up the cabin.

4-3-19 Sarasota to Venice

Took good a picture this morning of Carina docked alongside a megayacht, but Blogspot couldn't publish the post. I've had a lot of trouble with Blogspot, especially with pictures; I may change to a different blog host site.

I had asked about the condition of Big Sarasota Pass, which would give us access to the Gulf and a stretch of outside sailing, but had been warned that the shoals constantly shift and only locals use the Pass. But this morning one of the marina staff came by; he had taken the trouble to research local knowledge of the Pass and gave me good instructions. So when we got underway we carefully followed his tips and got out into the Gulf without a hitch.

We sailed south on a close reach with a fresh easterly breeze and a reef in the main. Carina was in her element. It was a beautiful sail down the coast to Venice Inlet, which we reached earlier than I'd estimated. We motored a couple of miles to our favorite Venice stop, the Fisherman's Wharf Marina. Venice is a big boating town, but there's no place to anchor because of shoal water, and only a couple of places with dockage. We were lucky to get a slip at our old haunt.

We put the bike together and rode a few miles to do some shopping: new boat shoes for S and a few grocery and hardware items. After cocktails we walked across the bridge to dinner at a spot we found last October when we were here for the Southern Tandem Rally.

The day started chilly but quickly warmed, and good weather is forecast for the rest of the week.

A good day.

4-2-19 Cortez to Sarasota

Rain and calm forecast for this morning, so we'll not cast off until later.
...
The line of rain following the cold front came through quickly and was gone by noon.  We cast off under clearing skies, temperature about 70, and little wind.  But by the time we reached Sarasota Bay the breeze was coming up, from the north, and we had a good downwind sail across the bay to Sarasota.  We docked at Marina Jack among other luxury yachts. I'll try to get a Mutt-and-Jeff picture before we leave.  We walked a couple of blocks into downtown Sarasota and enjoyed a very good dinner. Back to the boat for the last of the season's Florida strawberries, and we settled down to listen to the Rays game on the radio. A cool wind is blowing, from the west, but we are snug.

Cruising south 4-1-19

We're off on another cruise on Carina, heading south toward Charlotte Harbor and wherever we get. Left home at 9-15. Cloudy sky, temp about 70. Not enough wind to sail. Easy motorsail across lumpy Tampa Bay, and then- April Fool- I aimed us for the wrong channel and directed us up Little Manatee River instead of the correct Intrcoastal Waterway channel. Been down here many times, so it's hard to believe I got it wrong. Blame my reliance on the phone app with NOAA charts, and looking too closely zoomed in. Cost just an hour, no harm, and saw an good spot for an overnight anchorage an easy sail from home sometime. By that time we could see on radar that it was raining back at home. A cold front is approaching. The east wind picked up so we got in a couple of hours of good sailing, along with light rain. Docked at Cortez at the Seafood Shack. A new dockmaster and a new policy- first night dockage free! But they got dinner business from us and we watched the Rays beat the Rockies. Rays are 4 and 1 now- a lot better than last year's start. A relaxing, easy day on the water, followed by a quiet first night sleeping. Quiet except the dinghy bumping. I have a plan for that, but will need to buy a long piece of light line.