5/8/09 On The Road Again:
Hi guys;
Cortez, Colorado:
Just a quick update of our travels. We left Mesa last Friday (5/1/09) and didn't go too far for our first RV miles in 7 months. We stayed at a Coast-to-Coast park near Overgaard, AZ. As I was setting up the computer, I realized I didn't have the power cord . We looked at the time and realized we still could make a quick trip back to Mesa (135 miles) in the car to get the power cord. We got back about 8:30 pm.
The next day we visited a good cruising friend in Show Low (Irene Harlander--Hiafin). She recently lost her husband, Lou, and thought we should stop by and spend some time. We had a good visit and then went on to Sun Valley, AZ at the Root 66 RV park (Passport America). And yes, that's how they spell it!!! Since we got there late, we decided to spend two nights there and watch Tiger play his final round on Sunday. It was a time to finally get everything located and unpacked.
We took our time on Monday and headed up to Canyon de Chelly> in NE Arizona. We checked into their campground and made reservations to take the day-long trip down into the canyon. Believe me, it was a trip well worth the jerking and bumping ride, as they say in the canyon, these trips are called "shake & bake". Of
course Molly had to buy some of the beautiful <Navaho wares that were displayed at some of the stops.On Wednesday, it was another short day to Cortez, Colorado. We drove up into the Mesa Verde National Park> to make reservations
for a few of the tours to see the cliff dwellings. The tours were at the far end of the park so it was going to be about a 30 mile drive from our park in the morning. We left early Thursday morning and spent the entire day hiking in to some of the ruins and driving to see others. Got pictures--will share!The weather so far has been just great, in the mid 80's. It's in the low 100's back in Mesa, left just in time again.
Today we head off to Durango, CO (another very short trip) for another couple days so we can take the Durango to Silverton steam train ride again. We took it back in 2000, but decided it was so much fun and such a scenic ride, that we would do it again. This time we would take the train up the canyon, but take the bus back to make it a little shorter day.
Well, that's it for catching up. We will be going on through Colorado (Colorado Springs, Denver, etc.), then up through eastern Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington, where we will stop in Pasco and take a look at the "new" Desert Belle that will be heading to Saguaro Lake later this summer. And then we will head back down the Columbia to Portland and Salem where we will probably be staying at the Salem Elks again. We've been out of Mesa now for one week, and the time-line for the rest of the trip is negotiable, but will definitely be back by the first of June.
We had good signal for the internet, so thought we would catch you all up.
Thanks for reading,
Brent & Molly
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5/15/09 Update of travels home:
Hi again,
Just another update from the last spot in Cortez Colorado on our way home.
5/8/09 Cortez, CO to Durango:
As we left off with our last update, we were heading off for another
short trip to Durango, CO. It was in fact a very short trip of only 58 miles and just over an hour. We stayed in a real nice Coast-to-Coast park north of Durango on the Amimas River>. We were going to head back into town to get our steam train tickets to Silverton for the next day, but the park check-in person said she could arrange them for us. So we could just relaxed the rest of the day and read our books. We asked about nearby restaurants and she suggested a great steakhouse just down the road, but the "rare" prime ribs were over-done. But still a nice, unique restaurant.
Next day we headed into Durango very early to get our ticket confirmations at 7:30. We were in one of the nicer cars and got a "free" <Durango to Silverton RR mug. At first we were wondering if we should do this trip again since we did it nine years ago when
passing through Colorado. But were pleasantly surprised at the renewed experience. There was much more water in the river and much more snow in the mountains than the August 2000 trip. Anyway, took lots of pictures, had a great lunch in Silverton, bought Molly some more unique ear rings, and enjoyed the bus ride back> through the 13 and 14,000+ foot> mountains to Durango.We enjoyed the RV park so well, we decided to stay an extra day……just because we could! It allowed us to travel around the town of Durango, go to a local quilting shop for Molly to buy another project, and have dinner in town.
5/11/09 Durango to Blanca:
Yeah, who ever heard of Blanca, Colorado? To drive the 184 miles we had to climb over an 11,000 foot pass that was spectacular with snow all over along side the road. There was a Passport America park in Blanca, and it was just 20 miles from the newest <National Park called the Great Sand Dunes N.P. and Preserve. We drove
up and really enjoyed the site of enormous sand dunes (750’ high)> tucked up in the corner of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The prevailing winds blow the sand to the northeast where it is picked up by a stream that transports the sand back to the southwest, perpetual motion!In the morning after showing, I noticed water running out from beneath the RV. It was coming from the fresh water tank, which seemed to be overflowing, even though the "tank fill" lever was in the off position. Since we had another nearly 10,000 foot pass to go over, we drained most the fresh water tank and would examine the cause of the problem more closely later.
5/12/09 Blanca to Denver:
This was our longest day of travel so far at 220 miles, still not long by our standards, but on this trip we have just been taking it easy. In fact we were going to stop at the Colorado Spring Elks lodge for the night, but we were there by 11:30 and decided another hour or two to the Westminster Elks just north of Denver would be ok. It would still be an easy day and we would be beyond down town Denver to avoid the morning traffic for the next days travel. Another camper at Colorado Springs Elks recommended this lodge. Upon getting to Westminster, we enjoyed another fine prime rib dinner at the lodge and retired for the evening.
5/14/09 Denver to Casper, WY:
We thought we would finally put on some miles today and head for Kaycee, WY (340 mi), but the strong winds today (up to 35 mph) made it a difficult drive and very tiring. Our next option was Casper (only 280 mi) at a Passport America park. The only bright spot today was filling up with fuel. The needle was only on ½ tank, but we had gone 534 miles on that amount giving us 11.0 miles/gal at a price of only $2.18/gal for the diesel.
5/15/09 Casper to Billings, MT:
We were up early today and stopped for breakfast before we even hit the freeway, and were on the road again by 8:20. We thought we would make some miles before the wind started begin. It did, and started raining too, our first rainy day. Probably getting us used to typical Oregon weather again. There just seems to a lot of nothing in Eastern Wyoming, just miles and miles of miles and miles.
We did, however, stop for a short re-visit of the <Little Bighorn Battlefield (Montana). We watched a video and took some pictures in the rain, and then headed up to Billings for an over-night at the local Wal Mart. Today was still a long day making 286 miles and putting up with some head winds. More Montana tomorrow!Thanks for reading. Keep in touch. More later!
Brent
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5/20/09 Kennewick—On the Road Home:
Hi everybody;
This will probably be the last update of our travels home. We are presently in Kennewick and heading home tomorrow. Here is a run-down of the past several days.
5/16/09 Billings to Deer Lodge, MT (262 mi):
Yeah, I know, where the hell is Deer Lodge Montana? Well it’s about 40 miles north of Butte and has a Coast-to-Coast Good Neighbor Park here. All freeway today and a beautiful valley drive up the Yellowstone River and the Clarks Fork of the Flathead River. We can’t get over how everything is so GREEN! The snow is still heavy in the adjacent mountains and the rivers are full. We started wondering about the road conditions going over Lolo Pass (5233’) between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID, our planned route. But after calling the road condition line, we found it would be clear over the pass. And when we went over the continental divide today at 6453’ it was clear with the snow level several thousand feet higher.
We have seen considerable wildlife on our trip so far. Through Wyoming we saw Pronghorn Antelope around every turn. Today we saw a Turkey along side the freeway shoulder and a moose eating shrubs along side the Yellowstone River as we crossed it. We have seen several herds of mule deer and keep our eyes open to identify the birds as we pass. Today we saw several flocks of White Pelicans, Osprey, and of course Red-tailed Hawks.
5/17/09 Deer Lodge to Kamiah, ID (229 mi)
Today was just a nice drive down the Clark Fork of the Flathead River to Missoula and then a fairly quick trip to the top of Lolo Pass> going into Idaho. This is the same pass that Lewis and Clark traveled over during their journey to and from the Pacific and that Chief Joseph passed over while trying to elude the Calvary on his way to Canada, before he was stopped. There was still snow on the pass, but the road was clear.
The next leg of the trip was down a very curvy road on the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers. We eventually got to our Coast to Coast park in Kamiah, Idaho and relaxed for the rest of the day and the next. It was a very pleasant little community.
5/19/09 Kamiah to Kennewick, WA (204 mi)
Today we got up early, had breakfast at the park restaurant and hit the road. Last night it thundered, lightninged, and poured down rain. This morning it was fresh and green with some higher fog and a little sprinkle here and there. It was a beautiful trip down the Clearwater to Lewiston, but the wind just kept increasing until it was at least 35 mph. And after we left Lewiston, it was on our side making it a very jerky ride trying to stay in our lane.
Still blowing in Kennewick, we found the Elks lodge where we set up our dry camp in the parking lot and then tried to find the Columbia Voyager (aka the new Desert Belle). After considerable driving around and asking questions we located it in Richland, WA and called Dick Bonney (the other Desert Belle captain) to let him know where it was located. We were going to meet the existing captain and owner tomorrow and go for a test drive. We met Dick and his crewman, Gary, along with their wives, for dinner and to discuss the trip tomorrow.5/20/09 Kennewick, WA
Today we slept late, then went out to breakfast and met everybody at the dock to discuss the working systems on the boat and take it out for a spin. WOW! What a pleasure. The 150 passenger boat handled great and will be a great asset for Saguaro Lake with dinner and entertainment cruises. We spent three hours going over the boat and took it out for some maneuvering practice in the basin and on the Columbia. We encouraged the captain to visit the boat after they moved it to Saguaro Lake and got it all put back together, and he said he would.
Tomorrow, it’s just a quick trip on down the Columbia to Gresham to get our mail at Jeanette’s and then over to Vancouver to spend a day or two with Tom and Sue at their place to catch up. Then it will be on to the Salem Elks again where we will be hanging it up for the summer.
Keep in touch!
Brent
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