We're in Yuma. Got here last Friday. So I have some catching up to do, blog-wise, as we made five stops before we got here.
We are at the Desert Breeze RV Camp at the Yuma Proving Ground, about 25 miles north of downtown Yuma. Desert Breeze has 109 camping spots and you need to get here by Thanksgiving if you want to hunker down here for the winter, as many of the same folks come here year after year and stay five to six months. It's all first come/first served. It's also unlikely that you can drop by in January and find a vacant site.
This is our fourth partial winter at Desert Breeze. I doubt we'll be here all winter this year, either. But we're here for now and in our Yuma Proving Ground routine of going to the base's very nice gym every day. I've also started taking a stretching class and a walking/step class taught by fellow Rvers. The stretching class was tougher than I imagined it would be -- after all, it's just "Silver Sneakers" stuff, right? I could barely get off the couch afterwards, but was OK the next day.
We've been to our favorite downtown Yuma restaurant, the Pint House. We twice watched military parachute jumpers (YPG is home of a military free-fall school.) float to a very nearby park called Cox Field Since this is our first time here with two dogs, we've taken lots of walks, learned that the base has two good off-leash parks, and visited a great downtown Yuma off-leash park called the "Bark Park." We've searched Yuma to no avail for a "Hatchimal," this Christmas's hot toy, for our seven-year-old grand daughter.
And it's 70 degrees and sunny outside.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Burns to Ontario to Glenns Ferry to Snowville. Then home.
We're home in Salt Lake City. Actually we've been home a week as of yesterday. We've cleaned the rig and its contents, celebrated granddaughter Mia's 7th birthday, gone to a movie for the first time in months (Sully), went out to dinner with friends, hiked a local canyon and walked, walked, walked the dogs.
We were gone 30 days, drove 2000 miles, and made 16 stops -- many more than we normally make in 30 days. The longest we stayed anywhere was Yakima, where we parked four nights. We stayed three nights in Kennewick, WA; Beverly Beach, OR; Season's home in Stayton, OR; and Detroit Lake, OR. We spent two nights each in Baker City, OR; Bend; OR; and Glenn's Ferry, ID. And we made overnight stays in eight other places. We figure we averaged $27 a night for camping spots.
We talked about Bend, Oregon, in our last post. After Bend we drove to Burns, Oregon. Burns is the closest city to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge where armed militants seized the refuge for 41 days earlier this year. The trial for the militants is happening right now in Portland. If you are interested in the standoff that lead to their arrest, here is an informative link.
Campgrounds in those two small towns seemed pricey. We spent $37 for a night the the Burns RV Park and $39 for one night in Fruitland. Both RV park owners were beyond helpful. Both said "take some" about the fruit on display in their offices: plums in Burns and apples in Fruitland. Both offered site choices and said "go take a look and let me know" instead of just assigning one like the larger RV campgrounds do. But the campgrounds were basic (although Fruitland had fast wifi) and I don't think they'd be able to charge nearly $40 a night if there was competition.
After that it was two days at one of our new favorite public parks: Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. We spent one night there at the beginning of our trip and decided we'd stop on our way back if it worked out.
Three Island Crossing is one of two places where Oregon Trail pioneers crossed the Snake River. Before ferries were available, pioneers waded/swam/floated their horses/oxen/wagons across the Snake, going from island to island to get a breather. Between1840 to 1850, 50,000 pioneers crossed at the three islands.
And our last stop: Snowville, Utah, just seven miles across the Idaho border at the Earp and James RV Park. Then it was an easy drive home the next morning.
(Mom: Click on any of the photos to make them larger.)
Our spot at the Neat Retreat RV Park in Fruitville, Idaho, just two miles from Ontario, Oregon. Jim and I thought we'd never spent any time in Ontario. Then we drove into town and noticed a familiar looking restaurant. "Didn't we have dinner there once?" we asked each other. We went to the Red Apple grocery store and it looked familiar too. A trip down the memory lane of our minds and a blog search revealed that we'd previously been to Ontario in 2003 and 2014.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Bend, Oregon
After Beverly Beach, Oregon, we headed east and stopped at daughter Season's home for one night. Season made us a great meatloaf dinner, and we got to see SIL Lee and grandsons Owen and Connor one last time. And we used their laundry:)
Then we headed for Bend. We've been there before, but have always camped outside of town.This time we stayed at the Scandia RV Park just two and a half miles from downtown and it gave us a different perspective. We're already thinking about how could work a month-long stay in Bend into future plans.
We've got to consider our dogs when we travel and Bend has eight dog parks. I'm not aware of a another city that size (about 80,000) with so many dog parks -- most of them off leash and big.
Second, the Bend area has lots of potential kayaking. We didn't have time to kayak this go around. In fact, with the exception of one paddle Jim did at Detroit Lake, our boats have remained perched on our tow car. (At least it makes the car easy to find in a parking lot.) We'd love to get the boats in the water in Bend.
Third, Jim loves craft beer. Bend has 22 local breweries and there are another half dozen nearby. We went to just one this trip brew pub this trip.
Fourth, we like to hike. There is plenty of that near Bend, plus could get in a couple of miles just walking around the dog parks. Bend looks like it's going through growing pains. Three out of four Bend residents moved there within the last 25 years. With today's mobile world maybe that's not terribly unusual -- but traffic was heavy on the main streets, and I was told housing prices are high. Still -- we'd like to spend more time there to see if we can add Bend to our list of favorite cities. |
Jim at Silver Moon Brewery. Great beer, but boy was it noisy. The restaurant was busy but not packed, so it must be an acoustics issue.
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Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Beverly Beach, Oregon
We spent three very dog-centric days at Beverly Beach in Newport, Oregon. We did a lot of beach walking (one day we did ten miles) and briefly let the dogs off leash. Maddie chased a seagull right into the ocean. I thought we'd lost her when a wave crashed over her head, but she bounced out. After that, there was no more off-leash-on-the-beach dog walking.
We also walked the dogs on the long nature trail around the campground. We walked the dogs in downtown Newport. We took the dogs to two dog parks. We went to a pet store where Arlo escaped three times as Jim was trying to fit him with a new collar.
Without the dogs we went to the Rogue Ales Bayfront Public House for a beer. After all of the above, the humans needed drink.
We also walked the dogs on the long nature trail around the campground. We walked the dogs in downtown Newport. We took the dogs to two dog parks. We went to a pet store where Arlo escaped three times as Jim was trying to fit him with a new collar.
Without the dogs we went to the Rogue Ales Bayfront Public House for a beer. After all of the above, the humans needed drink.
Jim with the dogs near a Pacific Coast Highway bridge. We walked under the bridge -- which was near our campsite -- to get to the ocean. |
Jim, Arlo, and the Pacific Ocean at Beverly Beach. According to the park visitor's center, there are two theories for the park's name: 1) It was named after the niece of a local property owner; 2) It was named after the favorite doll of the daughter of another local property owner.
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After we left Beverly Beach: Our tow car and our (not pictured) rig in front of it, sandwiched between two semis at a rest stop near Salem. |
Monday, October 3, 2016
Camping where Jim's dad once worked
Jim’s dad was a heavy construction carpenter. He moved his family from Oregon to Washington, to North Dakota, to California, back to Oregon and then back to Washington as he helped build various dams across the western United States.The Detroit Lake Dam -- about 50 miles east of Salem and nearby to where we camped for three days at Detroit Lake State Recreation Area -- was one of those dams.
Jim was a toddler when he and his family lived in nearby tiny Mehama, Oregon, and has no memories of living there while his dad worked on the dam. Wish he did, but we can't share any good stories of that time 60 plus years ago.
The dam and lake are named for the small town of Detroit that was flooded when the dam was completed in the early 1950s. The town was moved east of its original location and today has about 200 year-round residents. According to the town web site, it was named for Detroit, Michigan, because many of its original residents were from Michigan.
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A hiking path circled the Detroit Lake State Recreation Area, where we camped for three nights. It's a clean, well-run campground with 300 sites and helpful camp hosts and staff. Highly recommended! |
What you are looking at here is a dock and boat slip that are currently nowhere near Detroit Lake. Every fall as water supply decreases, the lake recedes. By springtime most years, boaters will be using the dock/slips. One boat launch at nearby Mongold day use area is usable year round. If you squint (or click on the photo) you can see Jim at center right. |
Ghostly-looking tree trunks dot the shores of the Detroit Lake. They are remnants of trees cut down when the dam was built in the late 1940s early 1950s. Our grand kids thought they looked like spiders.
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Saturday, October 1, 2016
Season and family in Stayton, Oregon
Daughter Season and SIL Lee and their kids moved to Stayton, Oregon, from Tigard, Oregon, two summers ago. Last week we visited them at their new home for for the first time. We went out to dinner twice, took advantage of their laundry room, spent time with the sweet boys, walked our dogs in their forest, made a trip to Toys R Us for belated birthday presents, watched an Oregon State Beavers football game, went boating, had a great meatloaf dinner made by Season, and just generally had a nice visit. Thank you for your hospitality! Your home is lovely.
We parked in Season and Lee's side yard -- in front of their huge garden and in and around their boat and pop-up camper -- and hooked up to water and electricity. An RV dump site was just miles away at Fisherman's Bed Recreation Area. Season and Lee have a great piece of country property with a stream and a forest in their back yard and a big front yard with two out buildings.
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From top left clockwise: 1) Season and her boys. Owen is seven and Connor is four. 2)The boys on a ride at Toys R Us in Salem. 3) Connor and his collection of animals. 4) The ever-animated Owen pointing out something important to Grandpa.
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Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Four new tires
After a night at Memaloose State Park on Oregon’s Columbia Gorge, we spent nearly a week with daughter Season and SIL Lee who live in Stayton, Oregon, southeast of Salem. Three nights we parked on their lovely property, which includes a creek and a forest. Then we camped 30 miles east at Detroit Lake State Recreation Area.
We did a lot over those six days. But first we took care of some business, as we had an “incident” driving to Stayton. We were on Oregon 99E near Oregon City when the road narrowed and our tires brushed the curb. The passenger side of the rig even briefly went up on the curb -- which was more like a very rough sidewalk. We don’t think the tow car went up on the curb, but its passenger-side tires rubbed the jagged stones/cement.
We stopped to check for damage. Our tires looked scraped but OK, so we planned to find a tire store the next morning. By the time we wanted to leave for the tire store, our rear passenger side tire was flat.
After a visit from AAA, we took both the tow car and our rig to Les Schwab Tires where we bought four new tires for our all-wheel-drive tow car and replaced one of our rig tires with a spare.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Memaloose State Park, Mosier, Oregon
After we left Yakima we spent a night at Memaloose State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. It's tucked between the Columbia River and I-84 and next to a rest stop. No real hiking, no river access, not much to do except walk the dogs. But it had lots of trees, pretty views of the Columbia River, and was good place to spend the night (which is all we wanted) if freeway noise doesn't bother you.
We didn’t have reservations, so I called to check availability and left a message. We never heard back. But we’ve never had a problem at a state park on a Monday in the off season, so we made Memaloose our Plan A. When we arrived, a sign on the closed camp office said there were no full hookup (water/electric/sewer) sites, but lots of tent sites. By "tent" site, they just mean there's no electric or sewer. We wanted full hookups. And Jim didn't believe the sign. So we scoped out the campground, found a couple unreserved full hookup sites (despite the sign) and nabbed one.
The park was full of chubby ground squirrels and Maddie went crazy trying to get to them on our walks. Once inside, she stood on guard intently staring out a window until Jim finally pulled the shade.
Our campsite looks bucolic ... until you realize the white streak to the upper left of our rig is a semi tractor/trailer whizzing by on I-84. The tent (no electric or sewer) sites were big enough for RVs. Many of them were close to the river and had the best views.
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Sunday, September 25, 2016
She said she broke her wing
We spent four days in Yakima, Washington, and camped at Sportsman State Park close to Yakima's downtown. Like I said in our last post, part of the trip was to attend Jim's 50th high school reunion. We also wanted to spend time with Jim's high school friends, Pat and Cindy. And we did. But not as much time as we'd hoped because Cindy broke her arm just days before we arrived when she tripped on her flip flop sandal while taking a walk. Ouch.
Despite Cindy's badly broken arm and upcoming surgery to repair it, she and Pat hosted us at their place twice. What a super trooper Cindy is.
Mend fast, Cindy. And thanks to you and Pat for your hospitality.
A photo of Cindy, Jim and Pat taken on a previous trip to Yakima and to Bale Breaker Brewing Company. We had plans to go to Bale Breaker again. But instead there was an arm breaker. We'll make it there another time.
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Friday, September 23, 2016
Yakima and AC Davis High School 50th reunion
After Kennewick we drove 85 miles northwest to Yakima, Washington. Jim graduated from AC Davis High School in Yakima, and we attended his 50th high school reunion.
I remember going to my high school alumni meeting the year I graduated from high school and seeing the handful of folks celebrating their 50th graduation anniversary. I also remember wondering how they could even walk at that age.
Well -- here we are. We’re not only walking but feeling pretty good, as were the 100 plus people at Jim's reunion dinner.
The reunion committee planned a weekend of events including a golf game, happy hour, tour of the newer high school (the old AC Davis High was torn down in the late 1970s), and a dinner at the local Red Lion. We just went to the dinner. Both the food and the people were great. I didn’t know a soul and had a nice time. And Jim -- whose idea of a major social activity is taking a hike with his dog and meeting someone on the trail -- was a social butterfly.
We heard about long marriages, some shorter marriages, family, travel, kids and grand kids, people working as teachers, nurses (and many other jobs); military service, sports activities, health problems, and happy lives with some sad in there, too.
We heard about long marriages, some shorter marriages, family, travel, kids and grand kids, people working as teachers, nurses (and many other jobs); military service, sports activities, health problems, and happy lives with some sad in there, too.
Reunion attendees got into groups according to elementary school for photos. Above are those who went to McKinley Elementary School. That's Jim in the front second from left. Jim is talking to Patty, a neighbor who lived across the street. Patty's Mom is 99 and still lives in the same house. The woman in teal green Evelyn, Jim's next door neighbor back then. Evelyn's father was the principal of McKinley grade school. |
Jim's name tag. His legal name is Lance but no one who knows him calls him that, nor would most of his fellow graduates have remembered his legal name. So we made an edit. Jim graduated with about 400 kids. Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas was also an AC Davis graduate. From a previous class, of course. |
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Kennewick, Washington
Kennewick is on the banks of the Columbia River in southern Washington and just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima Rivers. We spent three days in Kennewick and did more than just get our RV plumbing problems resolved.
We were treated to lunch by Jim’s high school friends Buddy and Nancy (Thank you so much!) who both worked in local schools before retiring. And we spent time with Jim’s sister Cathy. First we watched Cathy’s granddaughter, Grace, play fast pitch softball. Grace got a solid hit and made a great play at shortstop. (Cathy also has three other grandkids: James, Chloe, and Emily, the kids of Cathy's daughter Megan and SIL James). We also visited with Cathy at her home and had dinner with her at an excellent restaurant in nearby Richland called Lulus.
One thing we did not have with us most of the time was a camera. So no new photos this time, but below are two photos taken on a previous trip.
Cathy and Jim. The sibs share a January 20th birthday.
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Monday, September 19, 2016
Plumbing problems
About the time we got to Baker City, Oregon, we felt like the Beverly Hillbillies before they got to Beverly Hills. Or maybe we felt like a family we once met who were traveling from Maine to California. They were in a small camper with two kids, a couple of dogs, a flock of chickens in a cage on top of their tow car -- and a broken water pump.
Because we had plumbing problems.
Our toilet wouldn’t flush, our hot water heater leaked, and even though the leaky hot water heater created hot water no hot water flowed from any faucet. Jim cleaned the spigot screens which helped the cold water flow, but still no hot water. I scrubbed the toilet flush holes with vinegar, which helped a little.
After research and sympathetic comments from fellow RVers, we decided there must be hard water build up in the pipes. So while in Kennewick, Oregon, we heated five gallons of white vinegar and twenty gallons of water on our stove, poured it in the fresh water tank, and ran the fresh water through the faucets and toilet.
That fixed the toilet problem and hot water heater leak. But hot water still didn't flow from our spigots.
RV park staff in Kennewick recommended we call Paul the Trusty Wrench RV Doctor, a mobile RV service. Paul pulled out a drawer at the bottom of our closet, reached in, and voila. Running hot water.
Our motor home has what's called a water heater bypass. When a motor home is prepared to be idle in colder climates -- like ours was when we stored it in Utah last winter -- a bypass valve is opened. When our rig was de-winterized, the bypass should have been closed. The RV place that winterized and de-winterized our rig -- Motor Sportsland RV Sales/Service in Murray, Utah -- didn’t close a valve. Most folks who know RVs and read this will say "We could have diagnosed that!" but we never thought to check. Motor Sportsland also didn’t reattach an anode rod that heats our rig’s water via electricity. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Our motor home has what's called a water heater bypass. When a motor home is prepared to be idle in colder climates -- like ours was when we stored it in Utah last winter -- a bypass valve is opened. When our rig was de-winterized, the bypass should have been closed. The RV place that winterized and de-winterized our rig -- Motor Sportsland RV Sales/Service in Murray, Utah -- didn’t close a valve. Most folks who know RVs and read this will say "We could have diagnosed that!" but we never thought to check. Motor Sportsland also didn’t reattach an anode rod that heats our rig’s water via electricity. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Anyway, Paul the RV Doctor knows RVs and he closed the water heater bypass valve. And now we feel like the Beverly Hillbillies admiring a fully functional cement pond.
Jim and the Trusty Wrench RV Doctor looking for the water heater bypass, which was inside our rig at the back of a closet drawer.
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Friday, September 16, 2016
A slow trek north
We’ve been on the road one week and two days, driving short distances and making short stops. This trip is a test to see if our two new dogs -- 18-month-old Arlo and 16-month-old Maddie -- can handle RV travel. Or maybe it’s to see if Jim and I can handle RV travel with two young dogs.
We left our home in Salt Lake City early afternoon September 7. We'd totally unpacked he RV when we got home last fall; it seemed like it took us forever to get repacked and moving. Once we got going, we drove just two hours to Snowville, Utah. The campground greeters were two goats who followed me into the office. Not just to the office, but into the office. The campground has a big grassy field, a half mile walking trail, and lots of wild critter holes, so with all that and the goats it was a hit with the dogs. So far so good.
Thursday we drove 165 miles to Three Island State Park in Glenns Ferry Idaho. Lovely state park with lots of kayaking opportunities we did not take advantage of, plus a short trail to a winery that we did take advantage of. Only thing better would have been a second walking path to a brew pub. We had dinner and a flight of wine at the Crossings Winery and walked, walked, walked the dogs. Glenns Ferry was a major stop on the Oregon trail. One of the most treacherous river crossings was at the Snake River near what is now the town of Glenns Ferry.
Day three we drove 200 miles to the Mountain View RV Park in Baker City. We’ve stayed there before and it’s clean, pretty, and well-run. Again, we walked the dogs (a great path along the tiny Powder River took us into town), explored downtown Baker City on foot (again with the dogs), and left the dogs in the car one evening while we had dinner at Barley Brown’s Brew Pub. The restaurant was very busy and we had to wait, but we give the food, service, and beer two thumbs up.
After two days in Baker City, we spent one night at the Pilot RV Park in Stanfield Oregon, northwest of Pendleton. It’s part of a Pilot Travel Plaza but the place was immaculate and the grass between the sites was lush. Amazing for an RV park in the high desert. And yes, we were close to dozens of idling semis, but the noise faded into a low buzz by the time we went to bed. And I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season at a very nearby McDonalds.
The dogs have been reasonably well behaved inside the motor home, but it was at Columbia Sun where Maddie bolted from the rig with Arlo in pursuit; they made a quarter mile dash to a field where Maddie had previously noticed birds. Jim followed, I brought up the rear with the leashes, and it seemed like most of the rest of the RV park residents watched and/or helped.
The Earp and James Campground in Snowville, Utah, just miles from the Utah/Idaho border. That's our rig in the middle. |
Jim wrangling the dogs in Baker City, Idaho. I'm taken way fewer photos this trip because it's hard to focus and hang on to a leashed dog at the same time. There's got to be a solution. |
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