Olympic National Park

Chinook, WA - Copalis Beach, WA

5/29/24 - 5/30/24

Miles Traveled   101
Trip Total          4972
Travel Time       2:35

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR, Washington

Another rainy but uneventful drive. Leaving Chinook we continued to travel Highway 101 but we have left the coast of Washington and have been traveling along some of the bays.  With such a short drive we attempted to stop for breakfast along the route with no luck.  There were very few restaurants, and the ones we did pass barely hand room for cars, stopping with two RV's towing cars was out of the question.    We ended up arriving at the RV Park long before check-in time.  Sometimes when this happens we end up waiting before we can get into our sites.  This time our sites were empty and we were able to get in early.  Copalis Beach is the farthest NorthWest campground we will be staying on during our trip. We have traveled 5000 miles and as the crow flies we are over 2500 miles from where we started in Inverness FL.

Friday we started a new Shaka Guide audio tour around the western side of Olympic National Park.  The park covers almost one million acres, over seventy miles of coastline, and several distinctly different ecosystems.  From Copalis Beach we stuck with the western side of the park.  We explored two separate rain forest, and the beaches. To fully explore the entire park would take several days and several miles of hiking.  

We started the tour visiting the Quinault Lake Lodge and Visitor Center.  Normally we get very good information stopping at the Visitor Center, this time not so much.  The person at the counter barely wanted to give us a map of the area, never mind any information.  Walking along the lake front, we spoke with a young lady running the canoe rental, and she was more than willing to give us information.  The lady at the information desk could take some customer service lesson from her!     Lake Quinault is a glacier carved lake with over thirty miles of shoreline.  Between our limited time, and several miles of the shoreline road being a dirt road, we passed on driving the entire perimeter route.  We did drive as far as the paved road went, which took us to a short hike to the world's largest Sitka Spruce Tree with a circumference of 58'11".   While it is not as large as the Redwoods we have seen it was still very impressive.

After leaving the Sitka Spruce we hiked the Wrights Canyon Trailhead through the rainforest to a water fall.  The hike we took was listed as an "easy hike", we are all sure the person that did the listing was much younger and in much better shape LOL.  In reality the hikes are getting easier as we do them, but part of is we are back at sea level instead of 6000' above sea level.  As we climbed the hills we were surrounded by ferns and trees covered with moss, and as much as we wanted to see wildlife, there was none. 

Leaving the rainforest we headed to Kalaloch and the Tree Of Life.  The Tree Of Life is a tree that is suspended between two cliffs at the edge of the ocean.  The soil from under most of its roots has been washed away by a stream, yet the tree hangs on gripping onto each side of the cliff.  We arrived at low tide and beach stretched on for a couple of hundred yards, at high tide most of the beach will disappear.  

Our last stop for the day was Ruby Beach.  Ruby Beach is famous for it's abundance of driftwood and sea stacks.  Sea Stacks are large stacks of rocks in the ocean that look like tall stone towers.  There are signs on the walk to the beach warning you to be careful walking of the driftwood.  The driftwood can shift at anytime, especially if the tide comes in.  Most of the driftwood comes from trees that fall into the streams and rivers that flow down the mountains.  Leaving Ruby Beach I stopped to talk to two gentleman that were biking and stopped at the beach for a break.  Both bikes had front & rear saddle bags, and tablets mounted on the handle bars. They left from San Diego and were heading to Canada, then Maine and then down to Key West.  Over all the trip is going to be 15,000 miles, what an adventure.

Leaving Copalis Beach we are going to make our way to the other side of Olympic National Park.

Chinook, WA - State # 13

Lincoln, OR - Chinook, WA
5/28/24

Miles Traveled   107
Trip Total          4871
Travel Time       3:20

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, OR, Washington

For such a short drive it took forever.  It was a rainy dreary drive.  With the wet slick roads, I slowed down a little bit more than normal.  If the weather was not enough to slow us down, there was an accident that added 30 minutes to our drive.  The end of our drive was the Astoria-Megler Bridge between  over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington.  The approach to the bridge is a 1/2 mile long 360 degree turn rising 200 feet, and is the craziest bridge approach I have ever been on.  It was really fun driving the motorhome over it!

When we arrived at our campground, RV Park At The Bridge, we all had our doubts that we would fit in any of the sites.  When we book our sites they sent us directions and the most important one was "Pull off onto the shoulder of the road (Highway 101) and disconnect your car."  They were not kidding, there was absolutely no room in the park to unhook. Until we actually backed into our site I was not really sure we would fit but we did.  It was another RV Park that was mostly permanent residents with a few transient sites.  The other very big downside was our site was 8 feet from the highway.  Road noise the entire time we were there. Fortunately this is just a one night stop.  While the RV Park lacked a lot of things, one thing it did not lack was a view.  Yes we were 8 feet from the highway, but we were also only 100 feet from the Columbia River with our windshield facing it.

After getting the RV's setup we headed out to see the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  The museum explores the history and travel of the Columbia River from the days of dugout canoes, through the days of sailing vessels and upto modern travel.  It tells of the perils of crossing the Columbia River Bar, one of the most dangerous passages of the world.  The Columbia River Bar is formed and ever changing by the sand and silt carried by the river, and dumped at the mouth of the river.  The museum has an exhibit dedicated to the Coast Guard and the rescues the do on the river.  The Columbia River Bar is where the Coast Guard holds their National Motor Lifeboat School, training on the 47' lifeboats.  Swells average 18-20 feet and waves over 40 feet are not uncommon.  

As we were leaving the museum, I glanced at a capstan in the lobby and noticed it said Delaware River.  Looking closely at it was made in Chester PA in 1870, and was recovered from a wreck in the Columbia River.  Another interesting artifact on display was a piece of the Exxon Valdez hull.   (At the time the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest oil spill in the USA)

Our next stop will be Copalis RV Park in the Olympic National Park.

LIncoln. OR

Coos Bay, Or - Lincoln, OR 
5/27/24

Miles Traveled    123
Trip Total           4764
Travel Time        3:15

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, Oregon

Another beautiful drive up Highway 101.  I do feel bad for the people behind us, the speed limit is 55MPH, but we average about 40MPH and there are very few areas when cars can pass us.  Between our slower speeds and frequent stops it takes us longer than the GPS plans for each trip.  The GPS told us today's trip would be about 2:30, in reality it took us over 4 hours.  Just stopping for fuel can add 30 minutes to a trip.  One advantage we have is when we stop for bathroom breaks or to stretch our legs, we can stop anywhere. 

Most of the time the 101 follows the coast line but occasionally it heads off into the mountains.  When it veers off into the mountains that's when the we start hitting the switch backs.  As we go along the coast, the steep drop offs are on the south bound side of the road, when we go through the switch backs, the drop offs can be on either side of the road.  There is a down side of the drop offs being on the opposite side of the road, instead of shear dop offs there are rock walls right up to the edge of the road.  As tough as the drive sounds, it really is not bad.  It did take some time to get use to it but now it is just another day. 

This trip never ceases to amaze us, as we were driving up 101we were buzzed by a pair of F16 fighter jets.  The town of Newport was having their Memorial Day celebration and the F16 must have been part of it and we timed it just right. 

Lincoln offered little more than a stop for the night.  We stayed at Devil's Lake RV Park.  Most of the campers are full time residence, or permanent sites.  They do have a several "transient sites as well.  Unlike most parks that are mostly full time, this park and all of the sites were very well maintained with very little outward appearance of full time living.  The sites were easy to get into and very long, but also very narrow.  There was enough room for the RV's with the slides out, but not much more than that.  We had to setup the grill and table in front of the RV.  Since it was Memorial Day, we had to grill burgers & hotdogs for dinner.  

After dinner it was time for Cornhole.  Angel & Karen were the proud winners of every game.  Obviously Mark & I need to practice a lot.  Devil's Lake RV Park also has several resident deer, that love to eat the flowers that are planted throughout the park.  The deer are very accustomed to people, and ignore us as they wander around.   

Lincoln is our last stop in Oregon, tomorrow we are heading for Washington.  

Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area

Prospect, OR - Coos Bay, OR
5/25/24 - 5/27/24

Miles Traveled   203
Trip Total          4641
Travel Time       4:11

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, Oregon

Leaving Crater Lake, we headed back to the coast.  We took the longer of a couple possible routes to avoid some of the steeper and winding roads.  Even taking the easier route there was still twist turns, and of course hills, hills and more hills.  Who am I kidding, they are not hills they are mountains!  

Our original plans were to stop at an Elks Lodge about 25 miles south east of Coos Bay.  When I was setting up our route in the GPS, I could not find the RV parking at the Elks, Then reading more of the reviews for that Elks it turns out they are not setup to handle anything much bigger than 25 feet long.  One of our other options was The Mill Casino and RV park, after a quick call they confirmed they had space for us.  We had planned to stay for one night, and planned on figuring out out next stop from there.   We also realized that we were heading into Memorial Day Weekend and open campsites might be hard to come by.  Between it being a holiday weekend, and the area looked like it had enough to entertain us for a couple of days, we extended our reservations until Monday. 

When we checked in at the RV park they gave a packet listing the area attractions.  Friday we headed out to check out a couple of places on the list.  The first place we checked out was Charleston, a fishing village just south of us.  Unless you like seafood, there not much to see or do in Charleston so we moved on.  Angel picked the next stop Simpson Reef Vista Point.  When we arrived there it looked very much like several other overlooks we have stopped at, only with a lot more people.  Wow were we wrong, not only did it have an incredible view, the rocks were covered with sea lions.  There was a conservatory group with very good spotting scopes setup to view the sea lions.  They also had one focused on island with eagles, and one pointing to a rock where a seal was lounging.   As far away as the sea lions were you could clearly hear them barking and bellowing.  Our last stop for the day was the Coos History Museum.  As far as museums is was ok, it filled a little time but that was about it.

Saturday Angel and I checked out  Oregon Coast Historical Railway Museum.  It was small and free, free being the best part of it.  It was cool that you could board the trains that they had with no restrictions.  Leaving the train museum, Angel found another gem for us to check out, Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area.  It was about 40 minutes away, but having nothing but time we headed for it.   It turned out out to be another cool find.  Even from the main road as we approached we could see dozens of elks.  Once we were parked, we could see even more elks.  We also timed it perfectly, after about 30 minutes the elks started heading further away from us and started laying down in the brush.  After viewing the elk, we met backup with Mark & Karen then headed to the casino for their Blues Brews & BBQ Festival.  The festival was one of the reasons we decided to stay for the weekend.

Sunday morning Angel & I took the RV to fuel up.   Chevron is running a special, that if you signup for their rewards program you get $1.00 of per gallon for your next three fill ups.  The only problem is we can not get the RV into the Chevron towing the car, so a quick run with just the RV saved ius $60 on out fillup.

Sunday afternoon was the highlight of Coos Bay.  This section of the coast is home to The Oregon Dunes and Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area.  This is a 40 mile stretch of sand dunes towering as high as 500 feet above the sea.  The best part is you can ride off road vehicles through most of it.  What was so great about it was we rented two CAN-AM Maverick Sport ATV's. It was AWESOME!!!!!!  Mark & I had a blast, the ladies did not think it was as fun.  We rented them for two hours, and after the first hour Karen & Angel decided they were done, Mark & I played far the last hour on our own.   I do not know how they can not think flying down the face of a 500' sand dune at 40MPH is not a blast!

Monday we are heading to Lincoln, OR.

Prospect, OR Crater Lale

Crescent City, CA - Prospect, OR
5/22/24 - 5/54/24

Miles Traveled  171
Trip Total         4438
Travel Time      4:11

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA, Oregon 

Leaving Crescent City, and California our plan was to make it to Oregon before we got fuel, as California's fuel prices have been the highest we have seen.  The average price in Crescent City was was $5.69 and we needed around sixty gallons. While exploring Crescent City we found a gas station adjacent to the Indian Casino where gas was only $4.50!  It was well worth going out of our way to fill up there.

The route to Prospect was up Highway 199, yet another mountain road.  This one was not anywhere near as bad as Highway 36, but than again no roads we drive on should be that bad. Overall it was a pleasant and beautiful drive.  The highway started out by taking us through Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and followed the Smith River to the Oregon border. Following the river gave the road several sharp turns and very steep cliffs dropping off to the river.  Once we passed the Oregon border the roads were very different, they were a little wider, a bigger shoulder, and more guardrails.

While we were checking in, the camp hoist gave us a map of local must see locations.  Several of them were right in Prospect.  Prospect is riddled with streams, rivers, gorges and waterfalls.   We spent Thursday afternoon exploring them.  

We started hiking to the closest falls, which also happened to be the smallest.  As we continued on to Pearsoney Falls a 12 foot waterfall.  At our second stop we had a choice between hikes, the first was to Boulder Field which was a "challenging hike" or the second was to Barr Falls and Mill Creek Falls which was a "moderate hike" 1.5 mile round trip hike..  I do not know who determined it "moderate hike" but they need to read a dictionary!!  You know the trail is steep when you come upon switchback after switchback.   Several of the switchbacks had shortcuts, that were even steeper than the main trail.   On the way down we took the shortcuts but there was no way we were taking them on the way out.  The 174 foot Mills Creek Falls was impressive and alone that would have been worth the hike, but shortly past that was the 240 foot Barr Falls.  Wow is all I can say.  Once again words and pictures can not begin to describe the falls and surrounding gorge.  Both falls feed the Rogue River.    The rivers and gorges were formed by the eruptions of Mount Mazama 7000 years ago.  On our hike out we came across a kayaker hiking down the trail. His plan was to kayak 3 miles down the Rogue River.   We are not sure how he gets to the water, but he said he does it all the time.

Our last stop of the day was the Rogue River Gorge overlook. Standing on the bridge you can look up and down the Gorge. Looking down in the Gorge there were two ladies doing ariel stunts with fabric ropes suspended from the bridge.  CRAZY!  The views of the gorge and river were just as impressive as the falls.

Thursday we drove up to Crater Lake.  Once again we were off season, While Memorial Day is the start of the summer season in New Jersey it is much later in Crater Lake.  There is a 33 mile Rim Route driver around the lake with overlooks where you can stop and view the lake, and one area where you can rent paddle boards and kayaks to explore the lake.  The only problem is the road does not open until late June or early July.  Crater Lake receives 44 feet of snow annually, and to takes them that long to clear the road.  They also had three of their snow blower trucks down for most of the season.  When we asked how much snow they received this year, we were told the snow season does not end until June so they have not released the total yet.   The administration building still had snow drifts up to the roof, and the restrooms had tunnel ways built out to the roadway, that were covered in snow.  

We were able to visit the South Road Visitor Center and Lodge, as well as one of the over looks.  This weekend is the season opening of the lodge, and even with most of the roads closed they were fully booked for the weekend.  As we walked around we saw several people with cross country skis heading out to explore.  

Crater Lake was form 7000 years ago when Mount Mazama erupted and blew the top of the mountain off, leaving a perfect crater in place of the mountain top.  Crater Lake is over 2000 feet deep, and has no rivers that flow in or out of the lake.  The water that evaporates out of the lake is replaced by snowfall and rain.  Because there is no "outside" influence in the lake, the lake water is 99.9% pure.

On our return trip to the campground we stopped at one more to view the Rogue River.  This section of the river flows through a collapsed lava tub.  At the narrowest section the river is less than 50 wide, and over 600,000 gallons of water rush through every minute.  This could fill an olympic sized swimming pool every minute.  It was only a quarter mile long section but the amount of water rushing through it was incredible.

After Crater Lake our next stop is going to be Coos Bay, Oregon.  We had planned to stop at an Elks Lodge for the night, but after looking at Google Earth, and reading the reviews we found out that they are really only setup for RV's less than 30 feet.  Our second choice stop is Mills Casino and RV Park so we headed there. 

Crescent City, CA

Trinidad, CA - Crescent City, CA
5/18/24 - 5/21/24

Miles Traveled     63
Trip Total          4267
Travel Time       2:00

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

The drive from Trinidad to Crescent City was the shortest drive so far in this trip, but it packed  a ton of scenery into that short drive. We also took a short detour on the scenic path.  One could question our sanity after the last "Scenic Route" we took, but this time we stopped by the visitor center to confirm that the route we choose was "RV Friendly".  We also found a couple of places along our route where there would be ample RV parking.

Highway 101 is a beautiful drive  along the coast and through some of the Redwood Park.  One minute you are looking a couple hundred feet down a cliff at the ocean, then you are fifty feet from the water, and before you know it you are drive side by side with giant Coastal Redwoods.  What a amazing experience!!!  It really brings meaning to the words of "This Land Is Your Land"  From the Redwood Forest to The Gulf Stream Waters!

One of the stops we made was Trillium Falls Trail where we hiked through an old-growth redwoods, ferns and hugh fir trees to the falls.  The falls were almost anti-climatic after seeing all the redwoods.  It is incredible how tall they are.  Some of the trees are over 300 feet tall and between 2000 and 3000 years old.  

After arriving at our campground, Ramblin' Redwoods Campground and setting up we headed right back out to explore.  Our first stop was Battery Point Lighthouse.  Battery Point is only accessible by foot, and then only at low tide.  The lighthouse first went into service in 1856 and remain an active lighthouse until 1965.  In 1964 the light keepers were stranded on the island during a tsunami watching waves wreaked havoc on the mainland.  After the lighthouse was shutdown in 1965, it was reactivated in 1982 as a museum and private aid to navigation.    Because we arrived later in the afternoon we could not take the tour of the lighthouse but we were able to tour the grounds.

Leaving the lighthouse we headed to the Anchor Weigh Pier to see watch the sea lions.  About 100 yards off the pier there are several floating docks where the sea lions hangout.  The are very entertaining to watch and listen to.  Most off them just layed there, but there were a few that would sit up and bark. One would bark and then a couple of docks down another one would bark back.   It was windy and cold out, but even over the wind you could clearly hear the barking.

On Sunday we headed went to Trees Of Mystery.  Trees of Mystery is 80 acres of redwood forest with over a mile of trails and a skywalk 100 feet off the ground through the canopy of the redwoods. As amazing as it is seeing the trees from the ground, it is even more amazing looking down the trees from the walkways as bridges suspended from the trees.  

Monday took the Howland Hill Road tour through the Jedidiah Smith Redwoods Park.  This is a ten mile dirt road through the redwood forest.  No RV's, trailers or vehicles over 8' or 24' long are allowed (they will not fit) on the road.  There are some parts where you can touch the redwoods from both sides of the car as you pass through.  We stopped along the road for another mile long hike where we able to stand inside a hollowed out redwood and see redwoods that had been struck by lightning and burned from the inside while leaving the shell of the tree still standing.

Our next stop will add another state to the trip as we head to Prospect Oregon to explore Crater Lake.

Trinidad, CA

Cottonwood, CA - Trinidad, CA
5/17/24

Miles Traveled   178
Trip Total          4204
Travel Time       5:52

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

What a day!  Todays drive from Cottonwood CA, to Trinidad CA has been they toughest drive yet.   When we made our reservations for Azalea Glen Campground they sent both Mark and I a confirmation email.  Neither of us read past the dates and check in time.  WHAT A MISTAKE. 

Leaving Cottonwood our GPS gave us the choice of two routes through the mountains.  Highway 229 or Highway 36.  Both Mark and I thought that Highway 36 would be a more scenic route as it would bring us lower on Highway 101, along the coast.  

Highway 36 is the road from hell.  The speed limit in the entire road is 55MPH. During the entire 88 miles I never made it above 40MPH, and spent lots of time under 20MPH.  The entire time we were either going uphill or downhill, as for guardrails I guess there was no  money in the budget for them, instead they spent the money on carving the roads out of the sides of cliffs. As the very narrow road twisted and turned through hairpin curves, the state was nice enough to add a couple of signs "Roadway Narrows".  What the hell, I could hardly fit between the white line and the yellow line as it was and then the road gets even more narrow.  Literally 10 inches from the white line, the hill just dropped away.    We have definitely done steeper hills and longer hills but these were crazy.  One trip we climbed 6000 feet, the highest elevation change we faced today was 4000 feet.   

About 2 hours into our trip we could smell the brakes heating up, and the Tire Pressure Monitoring System alerted me that my front tires we 148 degrees, normal temperature is 80 to 85.  Angel radioed Mark & Karen and told them we were pulling over the first place we could find.   Once we pulled over I was able to measure the disc brake temperature and they were over 250 degrees.  With what little cell service we had i found out that this was normal for the type of driving we were doing.  Apparently as long as the disc stay under 300 we are ok.  After everything cooled down we headed back up and down the mountains.  This time I kept the RV in 2nd gear, and that help slow us down.  The brakes still heated up but not as fast.  

After getting over the brakes heating up we started hitting construction zones.  The construction zone were both a blessing and a curse.  The blessing was it gave the brakes time to cool down between mountains.  The curse was the construction zones made the roads one lane, and we had to wait up to 15 minutes at each one.   They would shutdown traffic in both directions for a few minutes, then they would let each direction go, one at a time.   

The last construction zone was in the middle of the Redwood Forest, with giant redwoods on either side of the road.  After sitting for about 10 minutes they let the opposing traffic through, and one of the lumber trucks hit our side view mirror. After he hit our mirror we heard an even louder bang, and both Angel and I thought he sideswiped the entire RV.  The worst part is the driver never stopped.  After talking to the driver of the pickup truck behind us, it turns out the second bang was the truck hitting a redwood tree on the opposite side of the road.  

Looking at the sideview mirror, the mirror glass was knock out of the housing, and hanging by wires.  I was able to unplug the wires and save the glass.  Driving past the construction zone, we found a turnout where we pulled off.  Fortunately other than the glass falling out there was no damage. With Mark's help I was able to get the glass back in place, and other than a bunch of stress everything was fine. Using the video from the dash-cam, I was able to identify the truck, and get the trucking companies contact information. Since there was no damage to the RV we did not contact the trucking company, but it is nice to know that the camera does work.  

After pulling out of the turnout, the roads got much wider and the hills were not very steep, The last hour was much easier.

Now for the great part of the trip.   Before we even got out of Cottonwood Angel & I had to stop twice, for cows in the road.  The first one was just walking down the road with out a care in the world.  As we approached she started heading into our lane, as we got closer she got out of the road, but looked like she was coming back into the road at any second.   The second cow stopped in the middle of the road right in front of us, turn and looked at us, and was like what the hell are you driving in my pasture for!

While Highway 36 was the highway from hell, it was also a beautiful drive.  In a car it has be incredible.  The views and the scenery were unbeatable.  Sorry but we did not take any pictures while we were driving.  (Karen did get a couple of pictures of us going through one of the steepest turns.)  Then when we got close to the end we arrived in the Redwood Forest.  If Angel opened her window she could have reached out and touched the redwoods as we drove.  It is unbelievable how large and close to the road these trees are.

Leaving Highway 36 we turned onto Highway 101 which runs along the coast.  (This is the reason we took the route we did, just to spend more time on 101.)   I am not sure it was the right decision but as we crested a hill and saw the ocean in the distance it sure took  some of the suck out of the days drive.  As much as we have seen the Atlantic Ocean, in northern California the Pacific Ocean is an entirely different animal.   Instead of miles of sandy beaches the coast is lined with hills and rocks with small pockets of beaches.  

We arrived at Azalea Glen Campground much later and tired than we planned, when I mentioned to the host that Highway 36 was a long tough road, she exclaimed "Oh God, you did not take 36!" didn't you read our email.  Apparently in the bottom of the email there is a line:

9. We do not recommend Hwy 36. Use Hwy 299 if possible.

but it is one of many in a list, several of them highlighted, we wish that line had been highlighted!

Once we got the RV's setup, we headed to the beach and then a quick dinner.  Of course when we got to the beach I had to run in the water.  COLD, but I had to do it.  Six weeks from shore to shore.  The west coast is much different than the east coast.  First the sand is much different, it is grey and black instead of the white sand that we are use to.  Next the beaches are very rocky, and not little rocks, the mountains come right to the beaches, and the biggest difference is parking and the beaches are free. 

Leaving Trinidad we are heading up Highway 101 to Crescent City, CA. 

 

Cottonwood, CA Burnsini Vineyards

Reno NV - Cottonwood, CA
5/16/24

Miles Traveled   226
Trip Total          4026
Travel Time       5:20

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, California

Leaving Reno we headed to Burnsini Vineyards (Harvest Host) in Cottonwood, CA.  There was not a big hurry to get to the winery, it was just a stop on our way to the California coast.    

The winery was located in the back of a residential neighborhood and once again we found ourselves driving down several dirt roads to get there.  I do not understand why the western states do not like to pave their roads.   The directions the winery posted include "please keep your speed under 5mph to keep your dust down and our neighbors happy!)  The winery was easy to find and get to, except for their drivewave.  The driveway was very narrow with several turns and a couple of very low branches.  

The low branches and Class A motorhomes do not go together well.  After setting up, I saw there were several scrapes down the side of the RV.  After spending an hour waxing the scrapes off, it seems they did not scratch the paint, just marred the surface.  Good thing I planned to fully detail the RV when we get home. Between the dust, dirt bugs, and what not it already needs a good cleaning.   The down side of traveling is most RV parks do not let us wash the RV's.

One thing we did not realize was how hot is was going to be in Cottonwood.  Since the vineyard is a Harvest Host site we had no electric, which meant no AC unless we ran the generator.  Rather than run the generators we headed into the winery to enjoy their wine and air conditioning.  While enjoying the wine we also made our reservations for the next week or so.  

So far we have been very lucky and have not had any stops where we could not find sites available. Mark has been planning our route and which towns we stop in, and then we find a campground.  Because we are flexible it makes it a lot easier, if our "target" town does not have space available, or if we don't like the campgrounds we just head somewhere else.

A perfect example is Eureka, CA, leaving Cottonwood, Eureka was going to be our next stop.  None of the campgrounds had very good reviews and some reviews said absolutely do not stay.  Based on that we decided to go to Trinidad CA.  Also Elizabeth the hostess at the winery suggested we skip Eureka, and head to Trinidad.  She also gave us several other recommendations as we head towards Seattle, WA.

In the morning we head to the coast!!!

Reno, NV Lake Tahoe

Hawthorne NV - Reno NV
5/14/24 - 5/16/24

Miles Traveled    134
Trip Total           3800
Travel Time        2:45

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

The trip from Hawthorne to Reno started with a very scenic ride along Walker Lake.  As scenic as it was some there were a couple section that kept me on my toes.  There's nothing like a winding mountain highway, no guardrails, and a very steep drop off to start your morning.  We did pass a couple of campgrounds along Walker Lake that we had considered instead of the Elks.  Looking at the roads into those campgrounds, I am very glad we stayed at the Elks, they were steep narrow gravel roads not suited for our size motorhomes.

Enroute to Reno we stopped in Fallon NV for fuel, each stop the cost of fuel has been rapidly climbing, with Fallon being the most we have paid yet.  $4.56 a gallon, and the closer we get to California the higher it gets. We did see it for $6.99 a gallon in Death Valley, but we made sure we did not need fuel there.  I hate to see what it will cost when we get deep into California.  One of the things we noticed as we arrived at Fallon was water and greenery.  For the first time in a couple of weeks we are out of the desert.  Once again we see streams, green fields and trees taller than we are.

We arrived at Grand Sierra Resort, a casino with a RV campground.  Anything to bring in the gamblers!  The campground is nothing more than a large gravel parking lot, with full hookups.  Normally they sites we picked are $40 a night, but we found a discount code for 20% off.   So far this trip we have been able to keep our average cost for the campgrounds at $29 a night, well below our budget of $50 per night.

The first thing Angel & I did after we got set up was to head to the local Camping World store.  I wanted to get a sunscreen for the windshield.  In Death Valley we found out how much heat comes in from the windshield.  It was definitely the smallest Camping World I have been in.  I have seen WAWA's bigger than that store, but they had what I needed.  After that we spent the afternoon, running to a couple of stores.  The highlight of they day was when we headed to the casino for the night to donate some money.  I normally play roulette and Angel plays the slots.  This casino did not have any electronic roulette, so I stuck with the slots.  Normally I burn through my money very quickly when I play slots.  This was no different, until I got down to my last $20, when Angel hit for $200, and convinced me to play the max bet on my machine, four spins latter I hit for $560.  Not a bad night!

Wednesday I searched for things to do near me, and came across a self driven, audio tour of Lake Tahoe.  You down load the app, buy the tour ($15.99) and drive.  This tour gave us 4 choices where to start the tour, and once at the starting point, the "Guide" on the app directs you through your tour.  The app is GPS triggered, so as you reach waypoints along your trip it explains what there is to see, where to turn, right down to where to park.  It was the best money I have ever spent on an app.   The route was 72 miles, and with stops it took us around eight hours.   The same company (Shaka Guide) offers these audio tours for sites all over the country, including several of the National Parks we just visited.  I wish I found them sooner, but we will use it again.

Lake Tahoe is amazing, but once again we are here off season.  The ski season is over, and the summer season does not start until mid-June.  Several of the stops were "closed" but there was still plenty to see and do.   One advantage was not having to pay to get into the state parks, but the disadvantage was the museums and historical buildings were closed.   What was crazy to us, was even with the temperatures in the 60's and the water temperature around 56, people were laying on the beach and swimming.

One of the coolest parts of the tour was seeing Mark & Karen playing in the snow!  Yes there is still lots of snow, especially where the plows have piled it.   We also saw the biggest baddest snow blower I have ever seen. Tahoe gets an average of 24' of snow a year so they need some crazy equipment to keep the roads open.   The bottom two pictures are of Mark, Karen and Angel climbing a snow bank, and the snow piled up outside of the restroom.  The snow is over the top of the door.

Once again we found ourselves driving  along a steep winding mountain road with no guard rails, this time the road was even more narrow, and the hairpin curves were crazy. (At least we are in a car this time)   I can not imagine driving some of these roads in the snow. To add to the excitement we came across the a new wild animal crossing sign.  While on this trip we have seen all kinds of animal crossing signs, Mountain Goats, Elk, Sheep, Cattle, Horses, Tortoises and today we added Bear and Bear Cubs signs to the list. 

One of the last stops, actually a side trip of the tour, was Olympic Village.  There was not much to see there other than the original Olympic Torch from the 1960 Winter Olympics.   The torch is older than I am and it still burns at the roadway into the town.  

Our next stop is Redding Ca, a one night stop on our way to Eureka, CA.

Hawthorne, NV

Death Valley, CA - Hawthorne NV
5/13/24

Miles Traveled      230
Trip Total            3666
Travel Time         4:30

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA

Leaving Death Valley we took Day Light Pass where we climbed 5500 feet in a little under 10 miles.  When we started this trip that seemed like a very steep mountain to climb, at this point it seems very easy.  The RV seems to handle it very well.   Depending on the grade of the hill we may slow down to 25mph but we just keep chugging along.  Other than some of the towns we went through there was not much to see, even then some of the towns, were not much more than a couple of streets.

Hawthorne is on the route from Death Valley to Reno, and just about at the five hour max we like to drive in a day.  Our stop for the nights was the Hawthorne Elks Lodge. The Elks Lodge in Hawthorne has 3 RV parking spots with electric.   They don't really have RV sites,  just a gravel parking lot, with electric.  While it is not much, it is cheap and a great location.

When we picked Hawthorne we did not expect there would be anything to do, so we were surprised to find out there was a Munition Museum in town.  What we found out that Hawthorne is the home of the Hawthorne Army Depot, a 226 square mile Ammunition Storage Facility. It is the largest ammo storage facility in the world, storing every type of conventional ammo we have.  In addition to ammo storage troops come to Hawthorne for desert warfare training. One of the most notable training sites in Hawthorne is the mock up off the village for the raid to eliminate Osama Bin Laden. Most recently they have been shipping 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine.  

The Hawthorne Ordnance Museum was very interesting and informative.  Almost all of the (inert) ammunition on display came from the depot. The museum had every type of munitions imaginable missiles, battleship main gun rounds, torpedoes and mines.  The tour was self guided, but the staff was very knowledgeable. 

The museum was staffed by three wonderful ladies, The founders wife, her 98 year old mother, and her sons mother-in-law.  We spent some time talking with them about the Depot and the town.  One of them lived on the same street in town her entire life.  She grew up on the 100 block of F Street, her husband grew up 300 block on F Street, and now they live on the 700 block.  She said her next stop is at the end of F Street.  That is where the cemetery is. 

After the museum we returned to the Elks where over pizza and drinks, we learned more about Hawthorne and the Depot.  The Depot is the largest employer in town, and the town is a very proud military supporter.  The Elks lodge is the original freight train depot dating back to 1881 and was acquired by the Elks in 1946.  The elks heads on display in the meeting hall were shot by members of the lodge.  

Leaving Hawthorne we are heading to Reno NV for two nights. 

Death Valley, CA

Boulder City, NV - Death Valley, CA
5/11/24 -5/13/24

Miles Traveled    163
Trip Total          3436
Travel Time       3:25

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, California

Death Valley California - WOW is all I can say.  Death Valley was one of the milestone stops on this trip for me.  While I wasn't sure what there would be to do or see in Death Valley, I know I wanted to to see it.  

Knowing our next stop was in California, we decided to stop in Pahrump, NV for fuel.  We found a Maverick Travel Stop, which up until Pahrump has been a very RV friendly stop.  This one was not, Mark & Karen were able to get to a pump, but I could not get close enough to a pump.  After leaving that station, I had to back track a mile before I could find a place to turn around.  We ended up at a no name station, but the price was the same as Maverick.  At least it was easy to get in and out of.  So far the only stress on this trip has been getting in and out of gas stations!  As difficult as it was fueling up in Pahrump, $3.75 a gallon beats the $6.65 we saw in Death Valley.

Leaving Pahrump we passed through Death Valley Junction, the most desolate town I have ever seen.  What we saw of the town was only a couple of blocks, with a couple of cars, a theatre, and a shopping center.  The theater and shopping center look like they were from a old western movie ghost town.  

Leaving Death Valley Junction we headed into the Death Valley National Park.  As we descended into the valley the scenery quickly changed.   I wish I had the words to describe it. (Nothing new about that, every thing we have experienced in the last six weeks has been indescribable)  Our first stop in Death Valley was the Visitor Center.   Rather than try to figure out, what was best to see in our short time here, We decided to leave it to the experts (Park Rangers) to tell us what to see.   The Ranger was nice enough to map out sights to see on both days.  

One of the challenges of this trip is as we move through different regions the "prime" seasons change.  The prime season for Death Valley is September to April, with many of the campgrounds closing by May 1st.  Most of the campgrounds are rough or "dry camping" with no hookups. During the day the temperatures reach over 100 degrees, making it very unsafe to camp.  During the day it ranges from uncomfortable to dangerous for sight seeing, and out right dangerous to go hiking.  

After setting up the RV's at Stovepipe Wells Campground, we headed out.  Based on the Ranger's recommendation we started our tour at Ubehebe Crater.  The 600 foot deep, 1/2 mile wide crater was formed about 2000 years ago when lava reached the surface water.  In true national park fashion you can not only walk to the edge of the crater, but you can walk a trail to the bottom of the crater.  It is refreshing to be able to see and be part of these parks, with very few fences or barriers keeping you away.  We did not venture from from the top of the crater, as inviting as it looked, climbing back up the steep hill in 100 degree heat is not our idea of fun!

Leaving Ubehebe Crater we headed to Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes.   While we have been traveling through the desert for the last several weeks, this is the first time we have seen any sand.  The dunes were incredible.  We only hiked a little bit into the dunes, between the heat and walking in the soft sand we did not want to hike to far.  One of the cool facts about the sand dunes in Death Valley, it is where George Lucas shot the Start Wars scenes for the planet Tatooine.  

After the Sand Dunes, we called it a day and headed back to the RV's.  We planned an early day for Sunday to try and beat the heat as much as we could.   Returning back to the RV we found the inside temperature was 85 degrees, even with the AC set to 70.  While it was 103 degrees outside, the temperature on the side if the RV was 179 degrees.  It quickly became clear why most people visit during the winter.  

Saturday Night we watched the sunset, and then came out after dark to see the stars.   Even with the lights from the nearby park office it was unbelievable how truely dark it gets in Death Valley. It was very easy to see the headlights of the few cars traveling over 30 miles away.

Sunday we started fairly early to avoid the worst of the heat.  Our first stop was the Harmony Borax Works.  Borax was found in the valley around 1881 and mined until 1888, when it was no longer profitable.  After mining the borax was processed at either the Harmony Borax Works or one of three other plants in the valley.  After processing it was hauled out by the "20 Mule Team Trains" that logo for 20 Mule Borax that is still used today.

Our next stop was Zabriskie Point, one of the most spectacular views in the park.  It is also the starting point for many great hikes through the Valley. (No we did not do any hiking.)  We did take the 1/4 mile walk to the over look and saw several people walking through the valley.  If it was not so hot it would have been a great hike.

Leaving Zabriskie Point we headed to Badwater, 
the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level.  On our way to Badwater we saw a small stream running along side the road. Finding a stream in the middle of the desert peak our interest.   We stopped to see if we could see where it started and after 1/2 mile we could not still could not find it.

Badwater, Death Valley was the highlight of Death Valley.  282 feet below sea level, and miles of salt flats.  Walking out onto the flats was incredible, flat white salt for as far as the eye could see. If you dug inches into the salt there was water.  Badwater got it's name from an early prospector that tried to get his mule to drink the water. When the mule would not drink the water, the prospector told people it was "Badwater" and the name has stuck ever since.

After Badwater we headed back to the campground.  Angel & I planned to go to the pool, but decided it was even to hot to go swimming.  To celebrate Mother's Day we took Karen & Angel to the best restaurant in town for dinner.   (Ok it was the only restaurant within 50 miles!)  Sorry Ladies we owe you a better Mother Day Dinner!

Monday we Death Valley and head back to Nevada. 

Boulder City, NV

Leeds UT - Boulder City, NV
5/7/24 - 5/11/24

Miles Traveled    160
Trip Total           3273
Travel Time        3:20

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, Nevada

UT OH - I did not do the blog for Boulder CIty.   I created the page as a place holder and told myself, I will do it tomorrow.   Well three weeks later I realized I never went back and did it.  So there is not a lot of detail here.

One of the special things to me about returning to the Las Vegas area by RV, is this is where the idea of buying an RV all started.  Before we left for our Great Loop adventure and being on a boat for a year, Angel wanted to take a "land" vacation.  We decided on Las Vegas.  While we were out and about exploring the area by car, we saw several RV's camping along the roadways (Boondocking).   Angel said to me that looks interesting, maybe when we are done with the Loop, we should buy an RV.  Well here we are!!!!!

First and update on Ken & Cheryl (Turn The Page).  Heading into Knab, they radioed us that they had problems and were pulling over.  They had their motorhome towed to a local repair shop.  It was quickly diagnosed as a total oil pump failure, that caused a seized engine.  Ken opted for a total engine replacement.  Cheryl already had a short trip home planned from Las Vegas.  Ken decided to join her while the RV is being repaired.  Once repaired they will rejoin us, most likely somewhere near Yellowstone.  

Even though both Angel & I have been to Hoover Dam we all decided to tour the dam again.  The tour we took, not only visited the power generating room, but took us deep into the dam walls where we were able to look out the inspection windows in the middle of the dam.  Very cool!!!!

We also took a couple of trips into Las Vegas.  We did limit the amount we donated to the one arm bandits but we did donate.  One stop we made this time was to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, home of the famous TV show Pawn Stars.  It is very over rated, and I think most of their income now comes from "souvenirs"  rather than from the pawn shop.  Yes I did buy a t-shirt.

Valley Of Fire

Leeds, UT

Kanab, UT - Leeds UT
5/6/24

Miles Traveled      80
Trip Total          3113
Travel Time       1:45

States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, Utah

Today was a very short drive, mainly as a filler day.  We have reservations in Boulder City from 5/7-5/11 and needed to fill in a date.   

We stayed the night at a Harvest Host - Zion Vineyards, a small boutique winery in Leeds Utah.  The drive there was uneventful, right up to the last mile.  Mark & Karen came in from a different exit than Angel and I, but we both ended up at Central Ave,  We were to turn left onto Central and Mark & Karen were to turn right.   As I looked to make the left turn, I hesitated because it looked like a small residential street, looking down the street I saw a sign saying no through traffic.  Knowing nothing good would come from making that turn, I pulled off the road and Mark and Karen did the same thing.  

While we were trying to figure out where we or the GPS went wrong, a women stopped and asked where we were trying to go.  Rather than give us directions, she said it was just as easy to have us follow her to the winery.     The winery was on the other side of I10 and at one point Central Ave did pass under it but the underpass was to small for our RV's and has been closed for years.  We were very grateful for the escort.  The other interesting tibbet on this trip, we hit our first roadway with a 80MPH speed limit.  It was weird going up a hill at 55MPH and needed to put our flasher's on because we were going so "slow".

After checking in at the winery we went to the Silver Reef Museum. Silver Reef is a was a small silver mining town in the late 1800's. The museum is located in the original Wells Fargo Stage Coach building.  The museum is small and has a lot of information from the towns short lived haydays. The silver mining days only lasted about 15 years.  The hills surrounding Silver Reef are like swiss cheese from the over mines that were drilled chasing the silver.  Unfortunately you can not get into any of the mines.  All the entrances have been closed off, either barricaded or blasted shut.  Around the museum are the stone walls of some of the structures from the town and a small section of one of the mills where the silver was extracted from the sandstone.  The only other complete structure that remains is the local jail.  It has been moved several times and had several other uses before being coming back to the museum.  The thought of being locked in the small barren building should have been enough to deter most people from any crimes.

After checking out the museum and having lunch at a very good local restaurant we returned to the winery for a wine tasting.  The idea of the Harvest Host program is to support the business that opens their parking to us.  Our plan was to buy a bottle of wine, and enjoy it in the winery.  Nevada Liquor Laws does not allow the winery to serve wine by the bottle or glass.  They are only allowed to do tastings, so we changed our plans to doing a tasting.  While I am sure many people liked their wine, neither Angel or I liked it very much.  What the wine lacked in taste, the location made up for in the view.

Tuesday morning we headed off to Boulder City, Nevada right on the outskirts of Las Vegas.