Month: November 2016

After the festivities and seeing all of the family members off, we made sure all was clean on the condo’s and took off the next day. Our drive to was over 800 miles and planned on arriving by Friday. We wanted to go through Bend OR so as to avoid sales tax and stock up on supplies before going into WA. We went up 395 on the CA side and needing to stop for the night, we found a campground just off 395.  I use the term campground loosely since I would say this is a primitive and Hunting Campground. We had to take Ramhorn road about 3 miles off the highway. Judge for yourself.

   

  

 

 

 

 

 

It was dark and we had no signal so it was a quite and early night. Our next stop was near or in Bend OR.

 

We saw some interesting landscape and there was a storm over a lake that was really awesome looking.

  

  

 

Then we went through a forest area that looks like it had seen some fire.

   

 

We stopped at Costco in Bend, but didn’t stock up as much as we thought we would. We went just a little north of there and parked with some trucks in a gravel lot next to Best Western. It was a peaceful night.

The next day we motored on and got to cross the Columbia River

into WA

near an area we went by back in June.

 

The bridge we had only looked at we were now going over.

 

 

 

There was another river and bridge to cross. We were entering into Grant County!

   

We actually arrived on Thursday since we were so close. 

 

 

 

Weddings were for a niece in Sedona AZ in April, a friend in La Jolla CA in July, a friend in West Covina CA in Sept, and now… someplace I enjoy the weather!!!  Lake Tahoe on Oct 22nd for another niece! The question is if it is too cold – see the actual wedding ceremony will be on a beach.

Back to how we got here. We left Mesa AZ and decided to go see a few sights.  We stopped in Railroad Pass which is just south of Vegas. Took a ride over and  to see the Hoover Damn.

   

   

Rode through the interesting town of Boulder City. Great views, 

interesting old town, and a very very low water level.  

    

and a few critters…

 

While in the area we went to one of the Blueberry Hill restaurants for breakfast with some old friends from CA. That was fun.  

We moved on from there to Death Valley. Just when I thought we left the heat behind… it found me again. We did a drive south and around through Parump.   

 

 

The altitude was nearly 200 below sea level.

 

 

Firsts for me all around.

 

 

 

We parked at Furnace Creek campground.

We wanted to go see the “Racetrack” that has the mysterious moving rocks, but it was a 26 mile off road adventure from the shorter way in. We didn’t feel like doing that in our explorer, so we opted to pass.

We did go to a great golf course – the devil’s!  

 

 

Some great views and sunrises.

     

We went slightly north to Beatty and parked for 2 nights so that we had time to visit with my cousin and her husband, Michele & Larry. They are now full time in their Tiffin RV also. It’s been about 2 years since we have seen each other. Seems our homes on wheels haven’t crossed paths. It was great to spend time together.

We drove out to Ryolite and observed some very interesting statues they call art.

 

  Look closely at the “rocks” in the ground.

 

We also saw what was left of the town. Some amazing structures.Glass house made from bottles.

 

 

 

On our way home we had to stop and buy some from the locals – beef jerky and honey – yum.

From there we started our way toward Reno & Tahoe. One thing we saw on the roads was a lot, and I mean a lot of RV’s going south. There must have been one RV for every 3 vehicles. We stopped at Whiskey Flats and found there was some bad weather brewing and it was causing everyone to jump ship. And here we are heading north! Rather than chance the weather in Reno we went to the RV park we had reserved for the week during the wedding.

We saw one point of interest – the Famous Clown Hotel!  

As we drove in we saw that we had to park our trailer separately in not a great lot. We were not happy with the options so I got on the phone and internet to find another option. I was able to secure us a space not far away. So off we went.

I have to say that the storms that hit were not fun. There were bad winds and lots of rain. The winds stirred up some fires just north of us. We stayed put in our RV! There were some nice views. The one day we had 5 rainbows.   

We had told our niece and her new husband back in April that we would be back so that the master carpenter could help complete the kitchen with new cabinets. They knew what they wanted and once we got there we would help them choose the right sizes and empty their wallets!  The grandparents decided to take a weekend trip over from Bullhead City to help out as well as deliver a few things that they were donating to the kids new home.

The men made quick work of the removal, finding some treasures the previous owner’s dogs had hidden so good no one found them until now.  There was also some evidence of other critters having had an entry point into the house. Once all cleaned up they began setting the top cabinets as well as how to mount the new microwave with it’s vent, imagine this novelty, actually going outside. The final setting actually worked out really great. Then it was time for the bottom cabinets. The stove was put back in place with a little modification so that it was back against the wall as much as possible because there was a little challenge. But even with that and opening the oven door, they still have a drawer that is not useable. Uh-oh.

Before…

  

 

 

 

 

After…

  

While everyone was busy working, Sadie had her work cut out for her also. There was a new addition to the family, Ruger. She was a puppy of 3 months old – shepherd husky lab mix. We let them meet outside the house in the fenced yard and Ruger did the normal puppy thing, wanting to lick Sadie and play yet Sadie was not happy with Ruger in her face. Some boundaries were set and they got to playing. Over the next few days they found a few holes to encourage in depth as well as doing some churning up of the ground on the slope.  They certainly wore each other out and learned to respect each other’s crate. I just hope Sadie didn’t teach Ruger too many bad habits or to play to roughly with other puppies in her upcoming classes.

Around and around they went

 

 

 

 

 

And Sadie chased around some flies teaching Ruger what to do.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until they passed out…