Heading South

We finally got on our way again this morning. We stopped in Jackson for propane and diesel at the Shell station and for groceries at Albertson's. Then we drove out of town on Hwy 191, following Hoback River through the canyon it has shaped. We criss-crossed the river on our way south. We stopped for lunch at a "Wildlife Viewing Area." It had a sign describing the Bighorn Sheep habitat, but we didn't see any of the critters on the opposite steep bluff. In fact we saw no wildlife at all, but the river made it a pleasant place to eat.

After we emerged from the canyon we drove through lots of "high cold desert," great habitat for antelopes, evidently, but not much variety, just miles and miles of sagebrush. We stopped at a Scenic Area north of Farson, WY, where we planned to spend the night. We walked around the area and were rather taken aback to find the dessicated corpses of several coyotes and parts of coyotes lying around the grassy edge.

We waited quite a while to see if a black vehicle would leave. It held several people who were walking around with orange flags, but we were unclear about what they might be doing. The area was large and smooth, but unlevel, so we would have had to unhitch. We finally decided to continue farther south toward Rock Springs. About nine miles north of Rock Springs we pulled off at a "Parking Area." It's level and has no signs prohibiting overnight parking, so that's our home for the night.

After dinner we had a brief shower, and then we were treated to the sight of another rainbow and sunset over the hills. We had been seeing patches of rain in the distance as we drove, and it's raining again now.

Jeff is in Korea--but he's also on Facebook. The timing works out for us to chat with him in the evenings when we're all online. Jeff says that yesterday they had a typhoon and today a tropical storm. I'm not sure of the difference, but I'm sure there's a lot of water involved. Isaac has been bringing lots of wind and water in New Orleans, where my cousin Shirley is visiting for the birth of her new granddaughter. They've been without power, but everyone is safe.

I called Shawn earlier to wish her a happy birthday. She said she was having a very nice day, including a movie and later dinner with a friend. She and Chris and Anara will celebrate tomorrow.

Chris called later. He's baking two chocolate cakes tonight, one for tomorrow's celebration and a second to take to the coast to celebrate Shawn's mom's birthday. It's tomorrow, and they always celebrate together over Labor Day weekend. Anara won't be going to the coast, because this is Kumoricon weekend as well as Labor Day weekend.

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Repairs

Troy of Troy’s Diesel and his helper Mark arrived at the campground just before noon with the parts that New Horizons had shipped to repair our brakes. They removed the two rear wheels on the passenger side. They were able to repair the middle one completely, but the rear one still needs a new rotor (only one of the two new rotors Tyler ordered was delivered). They also showed us that one of the wheels was deeply grooved and will need to be replaced.

The good news is that it is safe for us to drive to Kansas, although we need to be careful since we still have one bad rotor. We’ll leave in the morning and plan to arrive in Junction City next Wednesday, September 5.
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Taggart Lake Hike

We got up at 6:30 a.m. (very early for us) so we could make the 9:00 a.m. ranger-led hike to Taggart Lake. We had a group of about a dozen, led by Ranger Justin. We lucked out again. Justin was both knowledgeable and very entertaining. He started out as an electrical engineering major but quit and spent 5 ½ months hiking the Appalachian Trail. After that experience, he went back to school and got bachelor’s degrees in forestry and park management.

Working at Grand Teton National Park is clearly a good fit for him. He loves to ski and hike and climb mountains and fish and hunt. And he seems to take 40 below days in stride. He regaled us with tales of life in the wilderness. In the winter, he works at the National Elk Refuge, guiding sleigh rides.

Wow! We could see the mountains this morning.

Ranger Justin with his trusty bear spray

As we started out on the trail, some Sandhill Cranes flew overhead. Their calls sounded very unusual to our ears, quite different from the Canada Geese we've been hearing recently.

We hiked across a large glacial moraine, stopping for Justin to point out something interesting at each stop. He talked about the aspen groves, which are actually a single organism, all clones of a single male aspen. He pointed out the varying environments and how the plants differed from the sage flats to the mainly bare rock of the mountains. We saw boulders split by frost wedging. We saw trees with some of their bark stripped by hungry bears, which enjoy the sweet cambium. Justin pointed out the downed wood that had been ripped open by bears looking for insects. The bears stand and wait while ants swarm up their legs. Then they lick the ants off their fur.

Justin has had some hair raising encounters with bears. Like all the rangers here, he carries bear spray. He demonstrated how to spray towards the ground to create a wall of spray. If you spray at a bear’s head, your arm will be jerked back by the recoil, and you’ll end up spraying upward into the air. One time he was in the parking lot of the visitor center when a charging grizzly came around the corner and headed straight toward him. At the last minute, a mini-van drove between him and the bear. Justin jumped on to the front of the vehicle, grabbed the windshield, and hollered for the driver to gun it.

Justin pointed out Lodgepole Pines, the main species of evergreen in the park. If you pluck one needle cluster and pull the needles apart, they form an “L” for Lodgepole. He showed us the flat needles of a fir and pointed out that when you grasp the branches, the needles seem soft and friendly. The mnemonic is “Flat, friendly fir.” Spruce, on the other hand, have square needles and seem spiky when you grasp the branches (“square, spiky spruce). He showed us some lichens, which help to disintegrate the rock into soil (Alice Algae and Freddy Fungus took a lichen to each other and got married, but since then they’ve been on the rocks.”)

The program concluded at the shore of Taggart Lake. Like Jenny Lake, it was formed by a glacier. Moving slowly, the glacier dug out the lake basin and deposited debris along lateral moraines and a terminal moraine.

Taggart Lake

After the guided portion of the hike ended, we walked part way toward Bradley Lake so that we could see up into Avalanche Canyon, which is where the original glacier that formed the lake flowed out of. We sat on the lake shore quietly before backtracking and taking the Bradley Creek route back to the parking lot.

It was 1:00 p.m., so we drove to Cottonwood Picnic Area to eat our lunch. When we got there, a busload of young people had taken over the picnic tables. None of the tables was in the shade, and it was quite hot. A couple of rangers had recommended a trip to see Menor’s Ferry. We drove there, where we found a large square solid wood bench to sit in the shade and eat our lunch. Then we went to Menor’s General Store, where Ken got a huckleberry soda. I took a couple of sips but was not impressed.

We waited for the 2:00 p.m. ranger-led tour of the historical buildings. The tour started in Menor’s homestead cabin, which he enlarged to house his general store. The ranger had a special affinity for the area, since he had grown up nearby. His parents both worked for the park. By the time the tour started, Ken was lightheaded and had to sit down. I got him some fresh water from the jug offered by the volunteer staffing the general store. I got some for myself too, but it was too late. Both of us were dehydrated. I continued on with the tour while Ken sat on a bench outside the store.

The tour went on to the Transportation Shed, not an original building, but put up to house the wagons and carriages of the type used in Jackson Hole in Menor’s time. Then we walked over to Maud Noble’s cabin, which was quite spacious and had several rooms. Its claim to fame is that Horace Albright met with some local leaders to discuss protection of Jackson Hole. They sat around the fireplace in Maud’s cabin and took the first steps towards making Jackson Hole part of the Grand Teton National Park.

At 3:00 p.m., the 45 minute tour was not over yet, and we hadn’t taken the ferry across the Snake River. I walked back and suggested to Ken that we move along. He was still lightheaded, so I drove. We went to the Discovery Center, hoping to sit in comfortable chairs in air conditioning to watch

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The Travel Day That Wasn’t

We made all our preparations to move on this morning, planning to go into Jackson to get fuel and propane and groceries and mouse traps and then go on to Farson, WY tonight. After our walk, we started out of the campsite when we heard a loud rubbing sound coming from the wheels. It sounded like a major brake problem. We called Ken Ullmer, service manager at New Horizons.

He said that he needed to know more about the issue, so he told us to find a level spot and raise the trailer wheels off the ground. Then we could spin each wheel and figure out where the problem was. We drove to the amphitheater and lifted the trailer on its leveling legs (Bigfoot).

We found two wheels that had serious problems. The passenger rear wheel was nearly frozen in place, and the one in front of it could be spun, but made loud scraping noises. We called Ken Ullmer back. He asked us to get down and look at the brakes, which we attempted to do. Unfortunately we didn’t really know what we were looking for, so we mainly got greasy and scraped up. Ullmer asked us to remove the wheels so we could look at the brakes. I didn’t think we could do that. We said that we’d find someone to come out and look at the problem and then call him back.

All of these conversations were on our cell phones. The Verizon service in the park is weak and spotty at best, so we couldn’t understand half of what we were saying to each other, and the calls were dropped a few times too. So I walked up to the office to see if they could recommend anyone in Jackson. They didn’t actually have any suggestions, one person got out the yellow pages looking for tire stores.

Meanwhile, Ken had managed to find and call two tire stores. As the office had thought, neither one would come out to the campground. However, one of them did give us a couple of referrals. The office staff graciously invited me to use their landline to make some calls. After several calls and waiting for callbacks, we found Troy’s Diesel in Jackson. They sent out Tyler.

Tyler set to work immediately removing the wheels and discovered that the inner caliper on one wheel and the outer caliper on the other had failed. The rear tire had no brake pad at all. It had been ground down to the bare metal. Both rotors needed replacement. Tyler called Ullmer and described the situation. Ullmer suggested that we should tow the trailer into Jackson, but Tyler said he wouldn’t feel safe towing with no trailer brakes.

The bottom line is that Tyler put the wheels back on so that we could move the trailer into a campsite (without hooking up the brakes). We were able to return to site #88 (after picking up some more fresh water) and paid for two more nights. Ullmer said that he would get the parts and have them shipped to Troy’s Diesel UPS overnight, so that we could expect them to arrive on Wednesday. Then Tyler would come back out and repair the brakes on site.

Meanwhile, we still had our mouse problem to deal with, so we decided to go to Jackson. We got two kinds of mousetraps and some mouse poison packets.

On the way back to camp, we noticed a really unusual cloud formations north of us. It looked like a cumulus cloud, but it seems to be much thicker than usual. Ken said it looked like the aftermath of an explosion of some kind, a fluffy mushroom cloud. Below that was a wispier, darker layer, which we thought might be smoke from the western forest fires.

Big bull moose resting along the Gros Ventre River
 

Sunset
 
When we got home, we put out the mousetraps first. We got two of the kind that are plastic and much easier to deal with than the standard mousetrap. Those we baited with peanut butter. Within a minute after the traps were put out, we heard one snap. Mouse One down. We had seen two mice, and of course we suspected there were more. We put out two sticky traps and some of the bait packets. To protect our food from hungry mice, I put some in the fridge and some in plastic containers to at least discourage the little critters.

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Lower Slide Lake

Today was our last day in Grand Teton National Park. We spent part of our time preparing for our move tomorrow. Ken aired up the tires and the air-lift on the truck. We looked over our route and decided where we’ll probably stay tomorrow night.

Our adventure for the day was a trip into the Bridger Teton National Forest. We drove east on Gros Ventre Road, past Kelly and past the sign that warned that the next 41 miles of road were narrow and rough. Good thing we didn’t have our Majestic with us. The road was full of potholes. It wound along above the Gros Ventre River.

After a while, we noticed that the bluff on the opposite side had some very large scars. They’re especially obvious because the rest of the terrain is covered with trees. We stopped at a pull-out with signs telling the story of the massive earth movement that occurred suddenly one day in 1925. The huge landslide formed a dam that blocked the Gros Ventre River and created Lower Slide Lake.

We hiked the interpretive trail along a boulder field to an overlook with a scenic view of the lake. Then we drove to Atherton Campground, one of three National Forest campgrounds along this stretch of road. We were surprised to see a really large motorhome camped at Atherton. Most of the sites are more suitable for smaller RVs and tents. There’s a boat ramp and a day use area too.

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Phelps Lake Hike

When we woke up this morning, it was quite chilly, so I turned on the furnaces. Then I turned on the burner under the tea pot and started the generator. The generator refused to start. Then the furnaces quit, and the flame under the tea pot decreased (though it did not stop). Ken went out to check the propane tanks.

The one we’ve been using showed 1/8 tank on the gauge. He flipped the switch and turned on the other propane tank. We have not been able to get that tank to function, so it was a long shot, but it worked. We were relieved that we didn’t have to wrangle a 40 lb. propane tank and take it to town for filling. (Evidently Ken’s removing and reinstalling the hose the other day actually did work—just not immediately.)

We’re still concerned about the propane. The tank that was empty this morning had been showing pretty much full. We ran the generator for a short time yesterday. It must take enormous amounts of propane.

After breakfast we packed up our laundry and drove to Jackson for the Saturday farmers’ market on the square. There were lots of vendors, but only a few were organic, and the prices were extremely high. Everything is more expensive in a resort town. We picked up a few things and then went to do our laundry at the Broadway Laundry, the same place we went last time we were in town. It seems to be the only laundromat in town.

We stopped at Jackson Whole Grocer, but didn’t buy much. They didn’t have the bulk items I was looking for, and their produce prices were quite high. We did most of our grocery shopping at Albertson’s. On the way back to camp, we stopped at the Exxon station to fill up with diesel. It’s a rather unusual service station. Instead of a convenience store, it appears to be affiliated with a pawn shop and a sporting goods store.

After a late lunch, we drove to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve. We stopped briefly at the Visitor Center. We spent some time here the last time we were in Grand Teton NP, but it’s well worth a repeat visit. Mr. Rockefeller had a vision of nature as potentially healing and spirit renewing. Part of the agreement when he donated the family land to the Park Service was that there be no commercial activity and that the number of visitors at any one time be limited. The center itself is a place of peace and connection with the multiple ecosystems that make up the park.

We took the Lake Creek Trail out to the shore of Phelps Lake and then another trail back to the Visitor Center. As we walked towards the lake, we encountered several people on the trail, but the numbers dwindled until we had the place almost to ourselves. Phelps Lake is a beautiful, pristine, unspoiled scene. We stopped for a while to quietly enjoy the lake before starting the return hike.

Along the trail we saw two caution signs indicating that a bear was frequenting the area. Both were dated August 7. We didn’t see any bears, but we did make sure to make noise, either talking or whistle blowing at intervals. When we returned to the parking lot, ours was the last vehicle to leave. We drove back along the Wilson-Moose highway, a very narrow, winding road. We were hoping to see moose. We did see a rather large beaver that was the focus of attention from a group of avid photographers. The beaver nonchalantly continued eating despite the nearby admirers.

At the moose habitat turnout, we stopped, hoping to see moose there as we had on our last visit. It was twilight, and several other cars were stopped to look for moose also. We did see what we took to be another beaver swimming at a distance, but it could have been an otter.

A lady parked near to us told us that a moose had been seen regularly at the bridge near the Moose Visitor Center. When we were approaching the bridge, we saw that several cars were parked and people were looking at something. As we drove across the bridge to find a place to pull off, we saw a large dark animal moving below the bridge. We thought it was a bear, but it turned out to be a very large moose munching away near the shoreline. It was too dark to take good photos, but Ken got some decent ones.

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Inspiration Point

This morning started with Ken waking me saying, “It’s 7:10 a.m.!” We had set an alarm for 6:30 a.m. on my iPad, which evidently didn’t work. We sprang into action, dressed, ate, packed up, and jumped in the truck to head to Jenny Lake for a ranger led hike to Inspiration Point. The hike was limited to 25 participants, first come, first served. We planned to leave at 7:30 a.m. and be there by 8:00 a.m., hoping to pick up our tokens to participate.

We actually left at 7:38 a.m., and that turned out to be plenty early. In fact, the hike didn’t quite fill. We had an eclectic group, including some folks from Russia and a family with two younger boys. After a brief introduction, our ranger, Neil Stillman, led us to the boat dock, where we paid for shuttle service to the opposite side of the lake.

The hike up alternated between hurrying to keep up with the rather fast pace and stopping briefly to take in the view and listen to Neil’s presentations on the forces that shaped the geology of the park. Ken didn’t really have much time to take photos, so we figured we’d do that on the way back down.

At one stop by a large boulder field, we saw a little pika on the rocks. It darted out of sight for a moment, but then popped back up, to the delight of photographers and kids.

When we got to Inspiration Point and Neil concluded his presentation, he suggested that we might want to continue on into Cascade Canyon, at least a way. We decided to do that and were very glad we had. In the canyon, the mountain walls rose up on both sides of us very impressively.

We might have hiked further, but we hadn’t brought our lunch with us, so we turned back and hiked down the trail, stopping to take some more photos on the way. It was breezy, and that probably helped clear the air a bit in the morning, so we could actually see the peaks (even though they weren’t as crystal clear as usual). As the day wore on, the haze thickened. We were glad we’d been out early enough to appreciate the magnificent vistas.

 Hidden Falls

[more photos later]

Back at the Jenny Lake parking lot, we got our lunch out and ate at a picnic table by the Jenny Lake Store. Then we walked through part of the Jenny Lake Campground before deciding to walk along the lakeshore a bit. We took our blankets and books and found a nice bit of beach to rest on. Ken read, but I mainly napped and listened to the waves lapping on the shore.

About 4:00 p.m. we headed home, tired and happy.

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Colter Bay

Happy birthday to Dennis Johnson! We saw Dennis and Cheryl last when we visited St. George in May. They are at their house in San Juan Capistrano now and have been most of the time since June. It looks very much like they’ll be making the move back to Southern California. Dennis says they are hoping to have a new motorhome by next summer so they can do some traveling again (probably with their Rogues friends).

We drove to Colter Bay this afternoon, partly to check out the RV camping there. Signs said to expect delays of 30 minutes for road construction. We were delayed by ten minutes heading north and not at all on our way south, so we were lucky.

The RV campsites are in a heavily wooded area with narrow roads, definitely not something we’d want to try with our Majestic. We decided to take a hike to Swan Lake and Heron Pond, near Colter Bay (which is a bay on Lake Jackson).

As usual, hikers were advised to “Be bear aware.” Bears will generally move away from an area if they are aware of humans, so the real trick is to make the bears “human aware.” I carry a whistle, so I blew it at intervals, and we kept our eyes open. We didn’t encounter any bears—just squirrels and ducks. Someone did show us photos he had just taken of a doe and fawn, but we didn’t actually see them, although we were on the lookout.

Both Swan Lake and Heron Pond are largely covered with lily pads, so there really isn’t much open water. It was still a pleasant hike. We walked a little over three miles in an hour and a half. For part of the hike we were walking along a low bluff overlooking Lake Jackson. We saw some colorful kayaks and other boats.

[photos later]

We stopped at Jackson Lodge to look for elk in the Willow Flats, but it was probably the wrong time of day. We didn’t see any.

We also didn’t see the magnificent mountains that rise up beyond the flats—only their silhouettes through the haze. Unfortunately, even though the NOAA forecasts do not include smoke for the next few days, we were told by a ranger that it takes a good rain to clear the air enough to see the mountains. She didn’t expect that the view would clear substantially before the end of the season. Sigh. At least this isn’t our only trip to Grand Teton National Park, so we have some great memories of the peaks.

On the way home we had two animal viewing opportunities. First we saw a large beaver at the edge of the Snake River, eating a pine branch. Then on the Gros Ventre Road we again saw bison crossing the road. Today the group was much larger, and we saw two small calves with their mothers.

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Grand Teton National Park, Again!

We left Idaho Falls at 9:30 a.m. and headed for Grand Teton National Park
As we drove into Jackson Hole, memories of our earlier visit in July 2010 flooded back. Our destination was Gros Ventre, the campground we stayed at on our first visit. It’s just north of Jackson, at the southeastern end of the park. We arrived before 1:00 p.m., and our first task was to fill the fresh water tank. For some reason this took a very long time, so it was almost 2:00 p.m. when we drove in to site #72 in Loop A.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to get into that site after much maneuvering. This campground, like most in the national parks, was built in the mid-twentieth century, when campers were much smaller. We moved on to site #88 and settled in finally at 4:00 p.m.

As we were pulling in, a man approached and commented on the Majestic. It turned out that he and his wife are fellow winter Texans who stay at Bentsen Palm Village—and on the same loop as we do. They had seen the show model when it was at Retama last January. Howard and his wife Karen are workkampers at Grand Teton N.P. Small world.

Somehow in the shuffle we missed lunch, so we decided on an early dinner. First we ate a salad and split a beer while checking out the literature we picked up at the office. We decided to go to the North Grille for dinner. It’s in the clubhouse of the golf course, and is the nearest restaurant to the campground. The dinner menu was a bit more formal than we anticipated, but the sesame crusted salmon with cappelini was delicious, and the views from the patio were lovely. The haze mostly obscured the mountains, but we’re hoping that the air will be clearer tomorrow.

[photos later]
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On to Idaho Falls

We walked over to the state park again this morning. Again we noticed lots of sprinklers operating to keep the park green. It's a good thing that the water can be pumped from the Snake River. Around here, if it's not watered, it's desert brown. It's easy to tell where the park boundary lies.

Our route today took us east on I-84 and I-86 and north on I-15 to Idaho Falls, where we are spending the night in the South Tourist Park, a city park that offers free overnight stays, but no hookups. It does have fresh water and a dump station available, as well as restrooms (although these are locked at night).

It also borders a biking/jogging path and has a boat ramp and floating docks. There's certainly plenty of room for big rigs like ours. We were surprised to find the site we chose was level enough that we could stay hitched up for the night.

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Another Good Day

The weather has definitely moderated. The high today was in the upper 80’s instead of the upper 90’s. After breakfast we walked in to town to drop off a card at the post office. We walked along the trail as we did yesterday, but we continued until we found Commercial St., which is the Main Street of Glenn’s Ferry.

Glenn’s Ferry is a very sleepy little town. There’s a thrift shop I would have liked to visit, but it wasn’t open. I dropped in to the credit union next door and asked when it would be open. The teller said that the thrift shop was short of volunteers and that’s why it wasn’t open today. The fitness center is a little storefront with a few machines. No one was there. A note on the door suggested that if people hadn’t paid their May and June dues, they had better do so soon or the combination for the lock on the door would need to be changed monthly.

This evening we went to the Carmela Vineyards restaurant and lounge across the street to have some of their hand-made pizza for dinner. When we checked into the campground, we got certificates for two glasses of wine free with dinner. I ordered a red blend (Merlot, Cabernet, and another kind) and Ken ordered Johannesburg Riesling. The server delivered the wine, and I tasted mine.

My first reaction was “this is awful!” Ken tasted his and reported the same thing. Both glasses of wine had a strong chemical odor and were undrinkable. We returned them and got beer instead. The pizzas were delicious, the beer was good, so the meal turned out to be a positive experience. Besides, the server was very nice about taking back the wine, and she was generally pleasant and attentive.

Rather unusual decor in the lounge

After dinner we biked over to the state park and then on down the road to the Glenn's Ferry Municipal Airport. There was no sign of activity, but there was one small plane visible.
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Stressful Day

The first challenge we faced this morning was getting our of our campsite and on our way. It looked like it should be simple, but we ended up having to trim trees on both sides. I finally got to use our new loppers, which we bought because we foresaw the possibility that we'd have to cut ourselves out of a bind.

We drove to Boise, to the Interagency Visitor Center, hoping to get information on the wildfires and where we might find campsites in the Boise National Forest that would fit us. Unfortunately, the visitor center was closed. Besides, it was pretty clear as we drove into Boise that it was smoky from the wildfires. The NOAA weather forecasts have been including an ominous prediction, one I don't recall ever having seen before:

 

We decided to move on explore somewhere else. It's very difficult to find a good place to stay in the Boise area. We moved on to Glenn's Ferry, ID. We're at the Carmela Winery RV Park for a couple of nights, hoping to rest up from our travels and get some chores done tomorrow.

When we pulled in to the campground, a sudden storm blew up, with high winds and driving sand, but it subsided quickly so we were able to set up, with friendly help from the manager, Stan.

We walked across the street to the winery and restaurant to pay for camping and to check out the restaurant. Unfortunately it's open only 10-3 for brunch on Sundays. Otherwise we might have stayed to eat.

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Wonderful Day

We had a great day today. We left Farewell Bend State Park and drove to the little town of Fruitland, ID, where we are staying at the Exit 3 RV Park. It's behind the A&W All American Foods convenience store and Chevron service station. It has 25 gravel pull-thru spaces, but only one was occupied when we arrived, by a friendly guy in a pickup camper. He has a pet rooster, so we decided to camp further away from the crowing and chose site #21. It's near the interstate, but not as noisy as you might think. The park is down an embankment, which shields it from most of the traffic noise.

The bonus is that Fruitland Produce Barn is between the service station and the RV park, so of course I had to go check that out.

We planned to visit Snively Hot Spring, south of Fruitland along the Snake River, near Lake Owyhee. We've only been to one hot spring before, one that was commercially developed, so a trip to this wild BLM recreation area was a bit of an adventure. We found information and directions on the web and got ready to sightsee and go for a soak. While I was packing my large black bag, I noticed it had some sand in the bottom, so I emptied it out. Something still remained in an inner zipper compartment. Wonderful! It was our long lost truck key and Bigfoot remote!

When we returned from our Alaska cruise, we were unable to locate these items, although we had a memory of having stashed them somewhere. We were in a hurry when we moved the truck and trailer to the storage area at Lake Pleasant RV Park, because our shuttle driver was waiting to take us to the hotel in downtown Seattle. We searched everywhere, but found no sign of these two essential items.

Fortunately, we found that the Bigfoot remote, which very convenient, is not actually essential. The system can be operated by the controls mounted in a small compartment on the side of the trailer. We decided that we needed to replace the truck key, but we got one that did not have the remote controls for the door locks and panic button. It was "only" $79. The one with the remote controls would have been much more. Besides, I was confident that my original key would turn up soon.

Well, it took a month, but it finally did show up. Yay!!!

The drive out to the hot spring was fairly long, but scenic. We moved from main highways to side roads and finally to a narrow road through a canyon. We parked and started to explore. Near the road is the source of the spring, which has been enclosed in a concrete collar to direct the water down to the river.

Each year the soaking pool or pools must be reconstructed with a rock barrier to keep the cold river water from overwhelming the hot spring water and carrying it away. The pool this year is rather large and shallow. We hear that it is popular in the evenings with families and later with rowdy teens, but we were the only ones there when we arrived.

The water is hottest right near the outlet from the source--hot enough to be painful, but it mixes quickly with the colder water surrounding. It's a bit of an odd experience: the water is hot near the top and cold near the bottom. On a 100 degree day, even the cold water was welcome! We spent about an hour at the spring, enjoying the water and the scenery.

A couple of women stopped by to check the temperature of the water, but they left quickly. A man arrived on a little motor scooter just as we were getting ready to leave. He told us that he was born in Amsterdam. He and several of his siblings had moved to the U.S. in the 70's, to Southern California. His sister bought a dairy farm in Idaho, and he and a couple of his brothers moved to Idaho to work on the dairy farm.

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Another Hot Day

We took our walks today, but didn't venture out to do any of the chores we had planned. It was just too hot: 97 degrees and humid isn't my idea of great weather to work in. This evening we saw a bunny that held very still for a while and then decided that running away was a better strategy. As we walked past some trees and bushes on our way to the river, we flushed a covey of quail that had evidently bedded down for the night.

We spent a good bit of the day drawing up our punch list for our upcoming visit to New Horizons in September. We're planning on sending it to Ken Ullmer, the service manager, just so he'll be prepared. Wish we didn't have so many items that need attention. Some of them are minor, but several are serious issues that definitely need to be dealt with.
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Farewell Bend State Park

This morning we walked through the campground and the golf course. One oddity is that campers can stay in teepees if they don't bring their own tent or RV.

We decided that we’d take our time getting to Boise, plus make the final trip into town a short one. There’s not a lot near I-84 in the area we were looking at, but we found a really nice little Oregon State Park called Farewell Bend. It’s near the little town of Huntington, OR, which prides itself on its history. A stagecoach station was established there in 1870. Pioneers on Oregon Trail rested at the bend in the Snake River where the park is located before turning away from the river to continue their journey.

We didn't have reservations, and the booth was closed when we arrived. We read the instructions for self-registration. About that time a couple of rangers drove up and gave us some helpful advice. We ended up in site #74, a nice arc style pull-through. Wifi isn't great, but it is working.

[photos later]

Our first mission was to get cooled off. It's hot in Oregon just now. We turned on both air conditioners. Whew! So glad to have a/c. We ventured out after dinner when things had cooled down a bit and walked around the campground and the riverfront.

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OTRA (On the Road Again)

We left Sandy Riverfront this morning after a wonderful month in Portland visiting Chris and Shawn and Anara. We were sorry to say goodbye, but ready for more adventures. Unfortunately, one of the first things that happened was more in the way of a misadventure than an adventure. Our living room slide came in tilted and broke the ceiling fan, making a very alarming "crack!" in the process. We're beginning to wonder if we're jinxed.

We stopped for lunch at a rest area that had been taken over by Army National Guard trucks and troops. We're lucky we got a spot to park. Several large trucks and RVs passed through while we were fixing and eating lunch, but they had to go on because there were no large truck/RV parking spaces available.

We thought we might stop in Arlington, OR, a fairly short trip, but decided to go on to Pendleton, where we are staying at Wildhorse Resort and Casino. It has a separate RV park. We're in site #36, a 30 amp site. They have a limited number of 50 amp sites. A note on the office door suggests that reservations are needed for the 50 amp sites (but they are clearly not required for the 30 amp sites, many of which are vacant).

[photos later]

Along the way we stopped at the Pilot Truck Stop in Stanfield to fill up with diesel and propane. Our outer propane tank was nearly empty. When the pump stopped, 6.86 gallons of propane had been pumped in, and the dial was not reading full, but that's all the pump would put in. There was probably a little remaining in the tank, but when empty, a 40 lb. propane tank should take a little over 9 gallons to fill. When we set up this evening, Ken turned on the propane, but we had no propane in the house. He had to switch to the inner tank to get propane to the stove. Now what???

It was hotter than heck today, but with 30 amp service, we could run only the living room a/c, so we closed off the bedroom. Fortunately it cooled off later and was quite pleasant for our evening walk. The casino complex also includes a golf course and a cultural center, all spread out, so we had plenty of places to walk around and explore. Of course we couldn't see much in the dark.
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Kites, Blackberrries, and Goodbyes

We all slept in this morning. It was a nice day (although it got very hot later), so we had breakfast at the picnic table. We drove over to Edgefield and parked in their large grassy lot used mainly for concert parking. We were the only ones there. Ken and Anara were there to fly the new kite, and my mission was to pick a bunch of blackberries.

Kite flying didn't turn out so well. There wasn't enough wind even for the little kite. Anara said they got it in the air several times, but after a few seconds, it dove to the ground. They decided to explore a bit and made a visit to the Glashaus.

Meanwhile I was in blackberry picking heaven, with loads of glistening ripe berries just waiting to be picked. Except for the darned thorns, everything was wonderful, and I picked several quarts of berries.

After lunch, Ken worked on checking and inflating the trailer tires while I went grocery shopping and started on supper. Anara enjoyed reading and playing games on her new iPad. About 6:00 p.m. Chris arrived. He said that Shawn would join us later for dinner but wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go on our planned Angel's Rest hike.

We drove out to the trailhead at exit 28, about ten miles. The round trip hike to Angel's Rest is about 4.8 miles, mainly uphill. We hiked only a bit more than half way up, but we got to enjoy some great vistas and two waterfalls (Coopey Falls and Upper Coopey Falls). Fortunately, most of the hike is shaded, and the running water also cools the air, so it wasn't blazing hot, which describes a lot of Portland weather recently.

 

Shawn beat us to the trailer so she was waiting for us when we arrived, tired and hungry. Ken had made a seven-layer salad earlier and just needed to add the dressing. After everyone oohed and ahhed, he tossed the salad. Meanwhile I made some mac and cheese for Anara. The rest of us had an Indian style dish, a green bean tagine with garbanzos over rice, topped with mozzarella and Asiago.

Shawn hugged everyone goodbye and went to dog sit. Chris washed the dishes (he is very quick and efficient at this!), Ken dried, and I put away the food. Then we got ready to watch a documentary on the making of the eighth grade play at Anara's school. Chris had it on his laptop and transferred it to Ken's flash drive. They inserted the flash drive in the TV and once they navigated to the correct USB port, the movie file opened and played. Now we know we really have a SmarTV!

Anara gave us a play by play commentary. She clearly enjoyed her part in the production. Guided by their teacher, Ms. Ferguson, the students were responsible for developing the ideas and creating the performance. They showed ingenuity and humor and demonstrated lots of talent in everything from play writing to lighting to singing and dancing and political satire. We especially appreciated Anara's parts in the production, of course!

While we watched, we enjoyed some vanilla yogurt topped with (what else?) blackberries and whipped cream.

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Golf With Friends and Rimsky-Korsakoffee House

We finally got a chance to see Charm, Tom and Donna's new Excel (well, new to us anyhow--they've had it for a year now). It has lovely hickory cabinets and wood flooring in the living area. Looks good and very practical too. The kitchen features a peninsula with stainless steel sinks and Corian counter tops. It's a great place to lay out snacks for a happy hour.

You can see that we were happy--very happy to visit with Tom and Donna. We last saw them in 2009 when we were in Portland and again in the RGV at Victoria Palms. Their winter home for the last couple of years has been in Hemet, CA.

We got a tour of Charm before sitting down to chat and play a game of golf (cards, that is). Then we played Sticks, a new card game for us. It's a rummy type game with a twist. Each player draws a stick with a specific requirement to be met. For example, one I got said "run with Q, K, A of hearts." Some are much harder than others. If you haven't fulfilled your stick in three hands, you turn it in and pick another.

After a nice visit and card games, we said goodbye--until we meet again. Then we went to the duplex to visit Chris and Shawn and Anara. It was too hot to cook, so we walked to Sizzle Pie for pizza and salads. Later we went to Rimsky-Korsakoffee House for special desserts. On the way we saw this carving of an eagle. Chris says it just appeared there one day.

Chris had a hot fudge sunday, Ken and Anara had banana splits, and I had Rasputin's Vice (mocha ice cream, chocolate sauce, and raspberry sauce). Service was very slow, and we had to beg them to bring us water. It was still very hot, and we were thirsty. A guitarist played flamenco style, adding to the ambiance. The desserts were delish. A visit to Rimsky-Korsakoffee is always an experience!

Anara packed up all her things and came home with us to spend the night. We did a much quicker job of setting up the blow-up bed than last time.
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Games

Sunday 10-12

This morning on our bike ride we went over to Edgefield again. We explored some of the more remote parking lots and found some great blackberry picking. I picked only a quart or so, but I’m planning to go back soon.

Chris helped me with my new iPad. He showed me how to get my Google contacts to sync—yay! I’m still finding some of the interface a bit baffling, but it’s getting better.

I helped Chris repot their new little Japanese maple tree. That was quite a job. The tree wasn’t doing very well, so they bought some new potting media. On the bottom of the pot we put a layer of crushed pumice to provide drainage. The potting soil was special, and we mixed in sand to make the soil drain well. I hope the little tree perks up.

Chris, Anara, Ken, and I played a game of Carcassonne on Chris’s iPad. The digital play offers some benefits:. For example the board can expand indefinitely in any direction, rather than being limited by the edge of the table. Cleanup and putting away the game is a snap! Of course Chris won. I especially liked having the legal tile placements highlighted. However, an actual board and Meeples has some aesthetic appeal too. I don’t know if it was the digital format that caused it, but people tended to go off to do something and only come back when it was their turn.

Shawn made pasta for dinner. The sauce included artichoke hearts and olives and zucchini, in addition to a marinara sauce base. Anara had plain marinara sauce. The rest of us heartily enjoyed the enhanced version that Shawn created. After dinner we went for a walk through the neighborhood. Then Shawn left to spend the night at her friend’s house dogsitting.

The rest of us played Lord of the Rings with the Sauron expansion. Of course Anara played Sauron, as she always does. Chris and Ken and I played the Fellowship characters. We’ve played this before, and it seems that the odds are stacked against the hobbits: Anara enjoyed playing evil cards and finally beat us completely, despite our best efforts.

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Trek in the Park and Perseids

This morning we picked up Chris and Anara to go to the Apple Store at Pioneer Place in downtown Portland. Mission number one was picking out a cover for Anara's new iPad she got for her birthday. That was our present for her. She picked out a green Smart Cover.

While we were at the Apple Store, I finally succumbed and bought an iPad for myself too. I've been considering getting a tablet for a while now. Ken uses his Acer tablet a lot. Chris and Anare just recently got iPads, and Julie has one. Now there's a learning curve coming up. I haven't had an Apple product for some time.

Next we went to the John Street Cafe for lunch. Chris and Anara have been there for breakfast, but never for lunch. We especially enjoyed the roasted potatoes that came with our sandwiches.

Then we drove to the nearby Cathedral Park to stake out a place to watch Trek in the Park. Cathedral Park gets its name from the Gothic arches that support the bridge there. This is where Michael and Kathryn were married a few weeks ago. Today they biked to the park (10 miles one way). Kathryn was wearing her wedding dress, and they enlisted Chris to take additional "wedding photos" of them.

It was important to get to the park early to get a good spot to watch the show, although this venue is much larger and better laid out than the one used the first three years. When we arrived a little after 2:00 p.m., lots of folks were already there, but we found a good spot right next to Chris's friend Monica's cabana.

One benefit of getting there early is that we could watch the behind the scene preparation, including the application of Spock's makeup. We had planned to play games, but we forgot the games. Annie spent most of the waiting time asleep on the blankets, even though they were still in the sun at that point and it was very hot.

We did get a bit of shade later, and Shawn joined us shortly before the performance began at 5:00 p.m.

This year's episode is "Journey to Babel." The group, all volunteers, did a wonderful job of recreating the Star Trek magic--without benefit of video special effects. The stage was transformed into the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

After the performance, we all drove to Sandy Riverfront where we had a quick dinner and then drove to Rooster Rock State Park to try to view the Perseid meteor shower. We were surprised to find that seemingly half of Portland had also decided to do the very same thing. An uninterrupted line of vehicles pulled into the park, all of them flashing bright headlights, which made keeping your eyes dark adapted a real challenge.

We did see a few meteors, including a couple of impressive ones, but it was cold and late, and the meteors were taking their time about showing up, so we packed up and went home.
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