Walking in a winter wonderland...

Click the photo to see a slide show of the beauty of Champoeg State Park in December!

Although it is probably past "camping" season, well, I guess it is never really past RVing season. Jill and I decided we needed one more outing before Christmas, so last Sunday, we packed up our stuff and the dog and headed for Champoeg (pronounced "sham-poo-ee") State Park, one of our favorites.

The park is only about 35 miles from home, so the outing was not a strain from the driving perspective. The amazing thing is that, just like last year, the weather was completely cooperative. We had mostly sunny dry weather for the three days we stayed, but now, two days after our homecoming, we are expecting temperatures to drop into the 20s.

We got the coach set up and planned to settle in for the evening on Sunday. I tried to get the automatic satellite dish to find our satellite signals, but it failed. Fortunately, I carry a spare dish for those occasions when the one on the roof is blocked by trees or whatever. Unfortunately, it requires a technician who pays attention to get this dish aligned.

I "fussadoodled" with the dish for about an hour and failed to find a signal. I moved it to various locations, I tipped it this way and that...nothing. At dusk, I gave up. Jill, meanwhile, had prepared supper. We dined on turkey dinner leftovers from Thanksgiving and found ourselves quite satisfied. After dinner, we had a lovely conversation that went on and on. So, this is what people did before the boob tube took over the world!

On Monday morning we decided to take a walk, although the weather was overcast. There are so many places to walk at Champoeg, but our favorite is a paved path along the south bank of the Willamette (say "will-AM-ette") River. As you will see in the slide show, even in December on a cloudy day, the Oregon rain forest can be breathtakingly beautiful. Among the photos are a close up of some fern in full regalia, and a tree trunk full of woodpecker holes. The "mansion" is situated across the river from the park and is only one of several large (and presumably) posh homes along this stretch of the river. How these homeowners must suffer.

Tuesday morning we spent a couple of hours working on our Bible study, and then we took a walk on another path in the park. Unfortunately, we forgot to take our camera along. Pogo enjoyed her walk, as always, and Jill and I welcomed the exercise. The weather was sunny, but a chill wind came up and made things a bit brisk.

When we returned to the coach, I decided to have one more stab at finding a satellite signal. I installed the signal meter in line with the cable from the dish to the coach, just as I had before. That's when I realized my mistake from the previous attempt. I had installed the meter backwards! That is to say, the terminal that was supposed to be connected to the dish I connected to the receiver, and vice versa. I reversed the connections and had a signal in about five minutes. You may be able to fool some of the people all of the time, and you may be able to fool mother nature, but you can't fool my satellite signal meter. It knows when it is in backwards!

We watched a little TV after dinner. Just before retiring for the night, I took Pogo out for her late evening "hurry up" duty. The sky was absolutely cloudless; the moon was full, and the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seemed to twinkle with a crystalline delight. (Sorry, Mr. Poe. I got carried away!) In my inimitable pragmatism, I realized we were in for a cold night. Fortunately, the electric blanket was reliable as ever.

Wednesday morning, the sky remained clear. The sun shone, and the wind howled. We opted not to walk. We lounged in the coach over coffee and conversation. At 11:30, I went out and took care of dumping the holding tanks. We had lunch with Perry Mason, and as soon as we learned whodunit, I disconnected the power cord and the cable, put away the dish, and we headed for home.

The fun did not end in the driveway. Jill unloaded our gear, while I winterized the coach, which mainly amounts to draining the plumbing to prevent freeze damage. It was sad to think we will not be camping for a while, although we plan to bring Sadie home to serve as a guest cottage, when all the kids and grandkids are here for Christmas. Thursday we put her back in storage, just in time to miss the first frost of the season.

L. L. "Stub" Stewart State Park

Is it the last trip of the season? We hope not, but it is getting colder outside. We had to make one more trip, just to try out the furnace, you know. Well, it works just fine.

We headed out Friday with a little concern for the weather. Nevertheless, it was dry most of the way to "Stub" Stewart, one of our favorites among Oregon State Parks. It is also the newest park in the system. It is set up to cater to RVers who do not like a lot of inconvenience. Every RV site has 50 Amp electric service, water and sewer (full hook-up), and according to the OSP web site, this park has wi-fi. Apparently, it wasn't working this weekend, at least in the part of to park where we stayed.

The park is located about 35 miles west of Portland on Hwy 47, in the general vicinity of Vernonia. This area is in the Oregon Coast Range mountains, which, though not the tallest mountains in the state, are among the most beautiful. Covered with trees, laced with rivers and streams, the Coast Range is a little bit of heaven.

We arrived at the park, found our reserved site, parked Sadie and hooked up all systems. Anticipating both college football games and World Series action on Saturday, I started a search with our "automatic" satellite dish. Alas, as is usually the case of late, it did not find any satellites. As best I have been able to discover in my research of the problem, this failure is due to the fact that a new satellite has been put into orbit since our system was built, and its presence "confuses" the software, which is not expecting to find a satellite at that location.

Whatever the case, I got out my trusty DishPro 500 satellite dish and my trusty support, homemade from PVC pipe, and in a few minutes, we had TV. Having put that task to rest, we got on to the more pressing task of relaxing. The weather began to spit a bit so we holed up inside and just enjoyed each other's company.

Friday night, the wind howled, causing something to go clunk, clunk, clunk against the coach. I'd have got up to see what was going on, had it not been for the driving rain and the fact that the clunking sounded fairly innocuous. I later discovered that the cap for the sewer pipe, which had been removed in favor of the sewer drain hose, was hanging from its rubber tether and clunk, clunk, clunking against the sewer pipe.

Saturday dawned with lots of fog, but the wind had abated. As the day wore on, the fog gave way to rain...I mean serious rain at times. We were able to get out for a stroll around the campground, but later we were grateful to be inside enjoying football. The highlight of the day, of course, was watching the Oregon Ducks demolish the Trojans of USC 47-20. My Phillies didn't do as well against the Yankees in the World Series.

Sunday, the day we had to leave, arrived all sunny and blue-skyed. I am not sure why it is so often the case that the best weather happens, when we have to leave. Pogo got another walk, and I managed to get a picture of the campground and our dear Sadie.
The drive home was spectacular, punctuated by fall-colored leaves, sunshine, unseasonably warm temperatures, and the realization that the RVing season may not, after all, be over. Jill and I often remark about the fact that we are blessed with a wonderful home to return to. This final photo is of our vine maple tree in the back yard. The others Jill took along our way home.

Fire in the Hole!

After we returned from Hood Canal, I removed Sadie's furnace and began inspections. I cleaned up the fan, which wasn't that dirty. Then I checked the sail switch and found that it works fine.

At that point I was stumped. Then I got on the RV.net Forum, which is the source of 95% of my RV knowledge. (The other 5% is trial and error...oh, yeah...lots of error.) Someone sent me a link to a service manual for my furnace. Included was a diagnostic routine for a furnace that has a working blower but no flame.

My time has been somewhat monopolized recently, helping Pat and Katie get their new house cleaned and painted, plumbing up to date, locks changed, and sundry projects completed. They are moving in today. The point of all of this is that I hadn't a chance to work on the furnace until Tuesday, when I ran the diagnostics and found that the limit switch was bad.

Yesterday, I picked up a new switch, and today I installed it. That was the ticket. I reinstalled the furnace and turned on the thermostat, and voila, fire in the hole. It is kind of like having one of your children suddenly get well from an ailment, to have your coach "whole" again.

Now, Jill, where is the calendar. We gotta get campin' again.

The saddest tale we have to tell...

Click the photo for a slide show, including Tom polishing Sadie, and a lot of shots Jill took as compensation for the fact that we had to leave Potlatch today.


Today, our Hood Canal vacation came to an end, which is not to say that we didn't consider staying a few more days. I think the deciding factors were, 1) we get to see Pat and Katie's new house tomorrow, and 2) Saturday night temps in Hoodsport are forecast to be below freezing, and 3) the furnace is still not working. I think it is going to need to be removed and completely disassembled for cleaning.

So, we bit the bullet, packed up the coach, hooked up Daisy Mae and hit the road for home. It was a good day for traveling. The traffic was bearable; the weather was beautiful; and we have good things to anticipate after arriving at home. We stopped on the Skokomish reservation for gas, which is about 20 cents a gallon cheaper there than it is "on the economy." Sadie purred along and took all the hills in stride without a strain.

We stopped at Maytown rest area for lunch. Jill had made some ham and cheese sandwiches on rosemary/olive oil bread. Mmm, mm, mmm, mmm, mmmmm! Pogo got a short walk, so we were all happy. We hit the road again and arrived home about 3:30 pm. We will definitely return to Potlatch at the first opportunity. On the way home, the biggest question on our minds was, "Where can we go for our next trip?" When we got to the exit that leads to the Columbia Riverfront RV Resort, we talked about the idea of stopping there for another week. We were only half serious, but talking about it made us both think twice.

So, it is back to real life for the near term. Sadie needs her furnace fixed, and we need to do some maintenance around the homestead. So, look for further travels with Sadie...but not this week.

Trouble in paradise...but not very much...

Today began with a bit of a disappointment. I got up and turned on the furnace, which heated up the coach nicely. When it turned off and then cycled on again, no heat came out! This was, as Yogi Berra might say, de ja vu all over again. We had a similar problem two years ago this month. That time I disassembled the furnace and found about a cup of bees and other flying things in the combustion chamber. When they were removed, the furnace fired right up and has been working fine ever since.

This time the combustion chamber was clean, and the exhaust was clear, but still it wouldn't fire. I spent some time online looking for a solution. So far, I have not fixed the furnace, but I have gleaned enough information to conclude that there is a strong likelihood that the fan and/or the sail switch (a microswitch that is operated by adequate airflow produced by the fan, allowing the gas valve to open) may be dirty or defective. Tomorrow, I will look into the possibility of cleaning them.

The difference between today's mishap and that of two years ago is that, this time, we have a portable electric heater aboard. Last time, we got so cold we went home early. We also have an electric blanket on the bed, so we can stay warm one way or another. When the sun came up, the coach warmed up to the point that we had to open the windows to cool it off. So, our day was not spoiled in the least.

After we spent some really great time in our Bible study, we relaxed and then went to Hoodsport for some grocery items. We found more fresh oysters in the IGA store, so guess what we are having for dinner. We also took a drive up the west side of the Canal, but alas we forgot the camera. It was an absolutely beautiful day with clear blue skies, and autumn leaves reflected in glassy water. The wind was still, and the smells of saltwater and forest combined to complete a veritable feast for our senses.

Our day came to a close with a pink extravaganza reflected in the water.

A hike in the woods and oysters on the reservation...

View Larger Map

For those of you who may be geographers in the audience, I have included a map above showing the location of Hood Canal to Seattle and the Puget Sound. The route that is highlighted represents the trip we took today from Potlatch to Twanoh State Park. Twanoh is a beautiful park nestled in a gorge that comes down from the rain forest to the Canal. We hiked a couple of miles in the woods, which made Pogo very happy. Click the photo below for a slide show of the day's activities.


After our hike at Twanoh, we drove about 6 miles to Belfair, a town of some 3 or 4 thousand people, I imagine. There are a number of sizeable stores there, and our purpose was to find some new sun glasses for me, because, as usual, I had left mine home. On the way back, we stopped in Union (see map) and Jill took some outstanding pictures of the Olympic Mountains, which are behind us at our campsite and not very photographable from our vantage point.

We left Union and made a stop at a little farmer's market located on the Skokomish Indian Reservation. We got some sweet corn and fresh oysters in the shell. You will note in the slide show, that I opened the oysters and we will have them for dinner, shortly after I put this post to bed. Enjoy the post. I am going to cook some oysters.

Moon Over Bald Point

I just had to make one more post of the beautiful moonrise. Our site in the park looks directly across the water to Bald Point. As the moon came up tonight, it was awe inspiring; and though I recognize that photos can never capture the full beauty, they can give you a little idea of how blessed we are to be here at this time.

Winsome weather, walking wife, and new neighbors

Today dawned crystal clear, except for a slight layer of mist over parts of the canal. As the day progressed, the weather became more beautiful, if that is possible. It definitely felt like fall; nevertheless, it was warm enough that no jacket was required, which would not have been the case if the wind had been blowing.

As you can see in Jill's photos, the water was as smooth as glass. In my water-skiing days, I would have given anything for a day like today. Alas, I have neither a boat, nor water skis, nor the death wish that would be necessary to get me back on them. It is sometimes nice to relive the memories and appreciate God's creation just for the sheer beauty and not for the practical applications for which one might use it.

After we spent about an hour doing our current Bible study, we made a trip to Hoodsport, about 3 or 4 miles up Hwy 101, and "did the shops." There is a row of half a dozen or so touristy boutiques, although not all of them were open today. The used book store that we so enjoyed a year ago is now a tattoo parlor. Things change, and we like to see what small (I mean really small) town America is up to from time to time.

After lunch, I nodded off and then crawled into our bed for a "short" nap. I awakened about two hours later. Jill called to me, when she saw I was up, and said I needed to meet the new neighbors. They are from Tillamook, and they are Christians. We enjoyed chatting with them about many things, including the times we live in and how they fit in with Bible prophecies.

I learned that, while I was in the arms of Morpheus, Jill hiked around the RV park several laps to get her exercise. She said that the neighbors teased her some, but bless her heart, she walked for a half hour. I was not that motivated today.

On The Waterfront

Click on the photo for a slide show.


Once again we are on the waterfront with our Sadie. We decided to do one last RV vacation before we put the old girl away for the winter. Since we canceled our trip to Hood Canal in August, because Jill was in San Diego looking after our daughter, Laura, before our new grandson, Judah, was born, we decided we had to make it up.

We arose this morning in Clackamas to rain and heavy cloud cover and a temperature of about 49 degrees. We were a little concerned, but we pressed on with our plan. We headed off to church, and then came home and finished the packing of the coach. We hooked up Daisy Mae behind Sadie, loaded Pogo into her crate, and took off.

The first fly in our ointment was that there was a car that appeared to have slid off the road between our house and our favorite gas station. The police were in attendance, but the street was partially blocked, so we decided to just head for the highway.

The further north we traveled, the better the weather became. We finally stopped to top off the gas tank in Kelso, WA, about 50 miles north of Clackamas. The traffic was not awful today, which it can be on the stretch of I-5 that we traveled. Nevertheless, we stopped at the Scatter Creek rest stop for lunch. We discovered that the rest stop has been refurbished and now has room for many more trucks and RVs. They have even installed 6 (count 'em, 6) RV dump stations! Now, that is significant.

From Scatter Creek we continued on to Olympia, where we headed west to join US Hwy 101. The drive is beautiful at any time, but with the clear blue skies and sunshine today, it was spectacular. We arrived at Potlatch and our RV park, The Waterfront at Potlatch, just at 3:00 PM, as early as we could check in. For those few of you who don't know where Potlatch is, it is located between Skokomish and Hoodsport, on Hood Canal. Now that we have cleared that up, I will close by saying this has been a marvelous day, and as you can see from the photos, the scenery couldn't be more beautiful.

Yet another riverside park, yawn...

Click on the photo of the Clackamas River for a slide show.


Today we returned home from Barton county park, one of our favorite close-to-home destinations. It is, in fact, 8.5 miles from our driveway. Nevertheless, it is beautiful and restful. To be honest, our motivation for THIS trip was to pick blackberries. In years past, we have gleaned quarts and quarts of the sweet black jewels at Barton. In fact, I can recall one trip when we skipped dinner, because we had gorged ourselves on black berries.

This trip was not to provide such bounty. We were, I think, about three weeks late. What berries hadn't been picked had dried up on the vines, in part, no doubt, as the result of several days of summer temps over the century mark. It appeared, too, that the grounds crew had been trying to eliminate some of the vines. They didn't check with me, before they started on that quest!!

So, we didn't have blackberries...alas, there will be no blackberry jam on the table this winter. On the other hand, we had a wonderful time strolling around the park and visiting the Clackamas River, which runs along the southern edge of the park. Yesterday, it was very hot, so we spent a good deal of time enjoying Sadie's air conditioner and new TV set! Most of all, we enjoyed time together to relax. We started a new Bible study and chatted about the lifestyle changes we are choosing to make, including joining an athletic club and minding our food choices better.

We were at Barton for three days and two nights, but as is usually the case in public parks, there was no internet connectivity, so I had to wait until we returned home to post this.

Gee, the traffic was terrific...

This is a belated post of the remainder of our stay at Columbia Riverfront RV park. It was delayed for a couple of reasons. First, we had a scare on Tuesday evening. After dinner, around 9:00 PM, Jill began complaining of pain in her chest. As time passed, she had nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, light-headedness, and she nearly fainted at one point. We began to fear the worst, so, I had her chew an aspirin tablet; we locked up the coach, jumped in the toad and headed for Kaiser Sunnyside hospital, about 30 miles away from where we were camped.

Jill felt pretty awful during the ride, and I think she was pretty frightened, too. I know I was. We arrived at the emergency room about 10:45. When we announced that Jill had chest pain, she got the royal treatment. They wheeled her into the ER and began doing tests and monitoring vital signs. To shorten this long story a bit, we stayed in the ER until about 4:30 AM, at which time Jill was discharged with a diagnosis of severe gastroenteritis, perhaps brought on by a virus. It was NOT her heart, thank God. We went home to our house and slept there until later in the morning, and then we returned to the RV park.

The second reason for the delay in posting, and more to the point, was that the same evening that Jill was ill, my computer died. That is to say, the battery ran down, and when I tried to recharge it, the charger would not do anything. I got out my volt meter and discovered that the AC adapter was producing about 19 volts. We found a computer repair shop in Woodland, but he had neither the time nor the parts to repair, what he diagnosed as a broken power jack on the computer where the charger plugs in. The repair would have to wait until we returned home.

So, now I have a wife who has had a stress test and was told that she has the heart of a 35 year old, and a repaired computer.

One of the joys of staying at CRRV park is the ship and boat traffic that passes by within clear view of the coach. I have included a slide show of some of the traffic that we saw. (Click on the photo.) It was a terrific show, the like of which I have not enjoyed since my days of plying the Columbia in various sailboats, the last one of which I sold in 1986.

The remainder of our trip was fun and restful. We drove up to Lake Merwin, which is a reservoir on the Lewis river, a tributary of the Columbia. It is a beautiful lake and very popular with boaters and campers.

On the way back from the lake, we stopped at a country store and bought some sweet corn and fresh mountain huckleberries. Well, we were just about in heaven. We had brought along some filet mignon for the grill, so I will just let your imagination take over here. (Hint: Jill made a huckleberry crisp.)

The rest of our activities comprised exploring Woodland and environs, walking on the beach, and watching the traffic go by. On Friday, our friends Pat and Kim, from Gig Harbor, WA, came down in their fifth wheel trailer and we had a great time sitting out in the evening air, watching the river, sharing a glass of wine, and catching up with each others' lives. Next morning we shared coffee and more chatting with our friends, before we had to pack up and go home. In all, we spent six days and four nights in Woodland (remember, we spent one night at home...and in the hospital.) This is a trip we will not soon forget.

Below is a small slide show of our beloved Sadie. Just click on the photo.

On the road again!

At long last we are having a chance to spend time with Sadie again. Five and a half weeks ago, we got a call from our daughter Laura. She was in the hospital with early labor. The doctors were able to get the contractions stopped, but they told Laura she needed to be on complete bed rest, and she would not be allowed to go home, unless someone was there to look after her and Josiah, her 4 year old son.

Jill hopped on a plane and was there in hours. She was nursemaid to Laura and nanny to Josiah, as well as housekeeper for the family, while Tim was at work. Laura's due date was some five weeks in the future from the time Jill flew to San Diego. Well, baby Judah could not wait that long, and he was born after Jill had been there for three weeks. (For some pictures of our beautiful grandsons, visit our blog, Pilgarlic Postings.)

As soon as I got the word that Judah had arrived, I hit the road and drove to San Diego. Jill and I then filled the role of looking after Josiah and entertaining him, while Tim and Laura got used to a new son. After a couple of weeks, they were settled in, and we came home.

So, what, you may ask, has all this to do with our Travels with Sadie? Well, after a five week hiatus in our usual routines and in our relationship, Jill and I decided it would be a good thing to take a vacation and relax and reconnect with each other. So, we are parked on the waterfront at Columbia Riverfront RV Park in Woodland, WA. The view from our coach is breathtaking; the park is quiet and well kept; and we have nothing to do for the next five days except relax and enjoy each other's company.

If you click on the photo at the top of this post, you will see a slide show of our little slice of heaven.

Click the photo for a slide show of our trip to Nehalem Bay State Park. Don't ask me why there are no pictures of Jill...(she has become the family photographer!)


It has been rather strange not to post on this blog for a month. Today I reached that landmark. We arrived home on June 5th and now it is July 5th, the traditional "first day of summer" in Portland. It has been hot for the past week, which seems unusual for the end of June/beginning of July. My sense is that it usually rains through the Independence Day holiday, and then summer begins.

We were able to get away to the Oregon coast for three days last week. We stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park, which is located next door to Manzanita, OR, one of our favorite towns. This is a large and wonderful park. There are lots of level, paved trails for walking or biking. We didn't take our bikes, but we wished we had.

The weather was pretty good. It was warm on the beach, and we had sun until the morning we left. In the afternoons it got very windy, which is pretty normal, given that the weather inland was so hot. But of a morning, the weather was perfect for walks on the beach, one of the prettiest on the Oregon coast.

On our second day, we walked to Manzanita, where we bought a bottle of wine and some crackers to enjoy in the afternoon. Jill and I agreed that having a glass of wine at the beach is somehow not only imperative but completely natural.

While we were in Manzanita, we went to the sweet shop and had ice cream cones. There we met a trio of young people in their 20s. It turns out they were two sisters and a brother who have been coming to Manzanita every summer for twenty years. They were delightful conversationalists, and we were glad to make their acquaintance.

Pogo was delighted to have numerous walks while we were at NBSP. In fact, her primary activity when we were not walking was sleeping to get rested up for the next walk. We also met a group from Vancouver, B.C. They were camping in three coaches across the road from us. They had been as far south as Florence, and they were quite taken with Sadie.

My only regret about the trip was that we had no internet connectivity, so I was unable to blog the trip while it was happening. Well, the other regret was that we had to leave and come home after only three days. We look forward to our next outing. Life with Sadie is always a joy.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

Jill loves the Columbia River Gorge. Click on the photo to see why. The two dams are The Dalles Dam and Bonneville Dam.


We are home! It is hard to believe that these past four weeks are gone, kaput, history. We got up this morning and realized that this was the final leg of our journey. The wicked weather of yesterday afternoon had abated, but it was still overcast and breezy.

I checked Weather Bonk to see what the wind forecasts for the gorge might be. The prediction was for 23 mph in The Dalles, 15 in Hood River and 10 in Troutdale. I decided we could tolerate such winds, although not without some trepidation.

We secured the coach. It occurred to me that there was no reason to make up the bed. That made me a little sad. Jill secured the inside of the coach, while I did my usual "pre-flight" inspection: checking tire pressures, checking oil and coolant levels, visually inspecting the coach and the toad, cleaning the windshield.

We hit the road about 8:35 AM, and although the winds were troublesome at times, we had no real difficulties. As the winds decreased, the weather became grayer and damper the closer to home we got. We finally arrived at our driveway at about 11:55 AM.

Reflecting on the trip, I have a few observations:

1) Sadie performed like a champ. She didn't give us one lick of trouble along the way. Every problem we had with Sadie was one I created; to wit, accidentally switching off the house power on the second day out, wearing out the light cord for the toad, because I neglected to check what "that noise" was all about when we bottomed out in Fillmore. Other than those two episodes, we did not have any problems with Sadie. She didn't even use a quart of oil in 3,000+ miles!

2) Towing a car is not as problem free as one might think. I am very glad we took Daisy Mae along, but after we blew out the right rear tire, I was less enthusiastic about towing. All things considered, having her along made the trip more enjoyable.

3) Living with your soul mate in a 240 square foot space is not only doable, but quite enjoyable. Jill and I never had a conflict during the trip. We were both sad when it was over, and we wonder what to do with all this space at home!!

4) This is a wonderful way to see the countryside. I think we both realized that we tried to cram a lot of sightseeing into a month. We agreed that we would like to make a trip to a destination, park Sadie for a week or two and just enjoy the serenity of a simple existence. Our trip to Hood Canal in August should be more like that.

5) Apparently, we spend more money at home than I thought we did. We actually did not withdraw any money from savings to cover our expenses on the road. It all came out of our day to day living money, even the fuel expenditures. I conclude that living this way, is pretty economical.

6) My wife is a magician when it comes to packing the coach, especially where food is concerned. We ate out of the food she stowed for most of the trip, only replenishing perishable items and some naughty little snacks. I can count the restaurant meals we ate on the fingers of one hand.

7) Would I do this again? I think we can be repacked by tomorrow afternoon!

Calm and rainy now

The wind is now dead calm. The rain is coming down steadily. It appears the front went through, bringing with it a spate of rainy weather. Tom and Jill have done it again. We had been looking forward to arriving home tomorrow to warm, dry weather, since we have had thunderstorms since we arrived in Flagstaff, two weeks ago. Now it appears that we have brought the bad weather home with us. Sorry folks.

I just checked the temperature and the barometer. The temperature has dropped about 25 degrees from the high before the front went through. The barometer had dropped quite low, too, but it is now rising again. I'm sure all of that means something earth-shaking to meteorologists. To me it means the we had a cold front come through, but now things are stabilizing.

Weather update

The anemometer on the top of the neighbors' coach has slowed to countable revolutions now, whereas it was a blur, when the front was going though. The rain has lessened, and we haven't heard any thunder in a while. The sky to the west does not look as threatening as it did.

Weather update

The wind has decreased a bit now, but the rain is coming down harder and harder. We now hear thunder, although we have not seen any lightning flashes, so we don't know how far away the strikes are.

Weather watch

Jill was just reading on the KPTV weather blog that a storm is due to pass through Oregon. The blog said that there is a thunderstorm powerful enough to spawn a tornado passing through the Detroit/Lyons/Silver Falls area of the state. A tornado watch has been posted and the people are being told to hide in a closet until the danger passes.

We have been parked on a hillside, overlooking the Columbia River at Rufus for about 3 hours. The weather has gone from hot (90s) and dead calm to a blow that is rocking the coach (even though we have the stabilizer jacks down) and huge rain drops pelting the weather side of the coach. The temperature has probably dropped about 15 degrees, although I don't have a reliable outdoor thermometer.

We had our awnings out on the sunny side of the coach, which is now the rainy and windy side of the coach. It took both of us and two neighbors to get the large awning rolled up.

I spoke to Patrick, our son, to wish him happy birthday. He said he heard on the radio that Portland could get quarter-sized hail today. Ooohhh, my poor plants at home! I will continue to post on the developments here in Rufus.

From conestogas to the mighty Columbia

Click the wagon to see our slide show for the day. The old timey buildings and such were at our RV Park in Baker City. There are several photos that Jill took along our way today.


This will be our last night on the road. We are currently parked in the Rufus (OR) RV Park. Now, if there was ever a fly-by-night operation... We pulled in and went to the office, only to learn that this is a do-it-yourself park. You pick out your campsite, put the money in an envelope and drop it in the slot provided. Having done that, we wondered how to get WiFi, so I could post yesterday's blog post. If you read the previous entry, you will know that I did not post yesterday, due to the inability to upload Jill's photos from the previous park.

Once we got settled here, I tried to log on to the WiFi network. I was able to get as far as the log on page, but then I needed password and user name. There was a phone number for the park host, so I called and got the necessary credentials and logged right on. So did Jill. This rather podunky-looking park has far superior WiFi to the park we stayed in last night. So, don't judge a book by it's cover, you know!!

We had a lovely drive today from Baker City. We climbed to 4,600 feet from the 4,000 foot elevation of Baker City and then descended to our current elevation of about 500 feet. Rufus is situated across I 84 from the Columbia River. If we crane our necks we have a view of the river from the campground, but not from our site.

The most interesting part of today's drive was crossing the Blue Mountains. The road is not as steep as the hills we found in the Rockies. That fact coupled with the lower elevation helped Sadie actually to pass several semis today, both going up and coming down from the summit. She just purred along. The climax of the Blue Mountain crossing was coming down the 6 mile 6% grade of Cabbage Hill, just east of Pendleton. That required downshifting and running on compression most of the way.

It seemed good to catch up with the Columbia River again at Boardman. It really is an impressive sight. We have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on every inch of this trip, but there is something pretty exciting about seeing familiar terrain. So, tomorrow, we will drive the Columbia River Gorge highway on into Portland and then home to Clackamas.

It's not over until it's over...

Click the sunset to see a slide show of our travels. The sunset photos are a series we took from our coach in the Jerome, ID KOA on the evening of June 2nd. There are several of the Snake River Valley and other sights along our travels from Jerome to Baker City, OR. The buildings at the end are, in order: the city hall; another government building that houses, among other things, the water authority; an old building refurbished for office space; the recently restored Geiser Grand Hotel; and the St. Francis Cathedral. This post was actually made a day late, because I couldn't get the photos to upload at last night's park, which was otherwise lovely.


We thought we were done with sightseeing and just heading home, but today (June 3rd) relieved us of that misapprehension. We left the KOA at about 8:20 AM, heading west. The weather was beautiful, and Jill got some more great landscape shots. Sadie cruised along, much happier to be at lower altitude than the Rocky Mountains.

We arrived at the Mtn. View RV Park in Baker City, OR about 1:30 PM. Yes, we are back in our home state. The only downside so far is no more pumping our own gas. There was a thunderstorm this afternoon, but it wasn't too near us.

Neither Jill nor I had ever seen the National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center that is run by the BLM. So, we unhitched Daisy Mae and drove over there. (This gave us one more chance to use my Golden Age Lifetime Pass.) The Center is quite interesting. There are several dioramas of the lives of the people who traveled the Oregon Trail as they migrated westward in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps, the most interesting part of the Center is the remaining ruts made by the wagon wheels of these intrepid pioneers.

On our way back to the campground, we made a tour through downtown Baker City. There are a number of architecturally very interesting buildings. The City Hall, another government bulding, several churches, and the Geiser Grand Hotel, which has been restored by the family that owns the building to its late 19th century grandeur. It is a working hotel, and it is quite charming. The restaurant serves meals that sound delicious for very reasonable prices. If we didn't have the motor home with us, we might have stayed there. We could even have brought Pogo with us!!

Back at the campground, I began trying to blog, but I could not get our photos to upload to Flickr. I will try again tomorrow or later this evening. I finally got so frustrated with that problem that I went outside and scrubbed the bugs off the front of Sadie. You gotta know I was frustrated to take on that job for the first time in a couple of weeks! Anyway, Sadie looks pretty nice for a coach that hasn't had a proper wash job for a month.

I can't say the same for Daisy Mae. She takes the brunt of everything that Sadie kicks up off the road. The LeBra nose protector that we installed before we left home has protected her from rock chips, but she is pretty dirty. Coupled with the naked wheel on the right rear as a result of the loss of the wheel cover when we had the blowout, the dirt makes Daisy Mae look pretty sad. She'll get a good wash and wax job and a new wheel cover, when we get home.

Tomorrow, we will head for Rufus and Friday we expect to make it home. Unfortunately, I have a "honey do" list (of my own making) about as long as my arm. So, as with all good things, our vacation must come to an end, but the memories of this trip we will treasure for a lifetime.

Escape from the blood suckers

The photo above was taken at Los Hermanos Mexican Restaurant in Provo. From right to left are Maughn, Tom, Jill and Carol. Please read the post and then click on the picture for a slide show of our travels today.

Yesterday was fun. We started with a load of laundry. Now, that sounds a little mundane, but bear with me. The laundry facility at the Lakeside RV Park was one of its better features, but the dryer was not the most powerful we have encountered on this trip. Jill had made contact with her cousin Carol, and we had a date for an early lunch with Carol and her husband Maughn. When the time arrived for us to leave the campground and drive to the restaurant, the laundry was not very dry, but we couldn't leave it in the dryer until we returned. So, we threw it in the back of the car and headed out.

If you are in Provo and looking for a fun place to eat with wonderful Mexican food, Los Hermanos at the corner of University Avenue and Center Street is the place. The food, the service and the atmosphere were all wonderful, but they couldn't match the company. We haven't seen Carol and Maughn since 2002, but we always have so much fun just chatting with them.

Somewhere along the way, mention was made of our damp laundry. After lunch, Carol said, "Why don't you come to our house and you can dry the laundry, while we continue our conversation." So, that is precisely what we did. Before we knew it, our 11:00 AM lunch had stetched out to 3:30 PM! At last we bade this dear couple good-bye and headed back to the coach.

Arriving in the late afternoon, we were overrun by a swarm of mosquitoes. I suspect none of them had eaten in several years by the ferocity of their attacks. We had been troubled by them since we arrived, but by yesterday afternoon they were either more numerous and ferocious, or our patience with them was wearing thin. We decided we would get ready to go last evening and head out as early as we practically could this morning.

We spent most of the evening tracking down and killing the several dozen mosquitoes that came in through the door when we made our entrances and exits during the evening. By the time we went to bed, all we could think of was getting away from mosquitoes. That, however, was not to be. We continued swatting at the little blood suckers, which had that nasty habit of going, "mememememe" in our ears.

To shorten the story, we were on the road by 7:05 this morning. After a fuel stop, during which I checked the oil and the tire pressure and air spring pressure, we were underway. Things went well, until we arrived at the exit from I15 to US 89. Actually, it was just as we passed our last opportunity to exit onto US 89. The traffic came to a standstill. We were not sure what was going on, since we had seen a sign saying that there was construction ahead.

Finally, I wised up and turned on the CB radio, adjusted the squelch and tuned to channel 19, the channel the truckers like to use. This was very enlightening. We learned that, in addition to construction, there was a roll-over accident, and a helicopter had landed on the freeway to evacuate the injured passengers. We also learned that we were in the wrong lane. As you can see from the slide show, changing lanes was no mean task.

I think we were in this mess for about 40 minutes, when I saw my chance to change into the right lane. Traffic began to move a little. Then we heard on the CB that they had cleared the wreck. Before long we passed the scene. There was a Lincoln Navigator on the back of a truck. It looked as if it had rolled over several times. We said a prayer for the occupants.

The rest of the trip was pretty easy. Sadie just purred all day. We arrived in Jerome, ID just before 2:00 and registered at the KOA campground, which is very nice. It also has reliable Wi-Fi, which accounts for this post, whereas I was unable to post from the Lakeside mosquito den, due to very iffy Wi-Fi service.

P.S. We re-Christened Veronica. In keeping with the Li'l Abner origin of Sadie Hawkins, we decided to rename Veronica "Daisy Mae." You old people will recognize that name as the name of Abner's true love.

For better or for worse

Click the photo for a slide show of today's travels. You will notice several things: 1) the changes in terrain, especially the colors of the rocks; 2) Jill's dad worked for the railroad, and our grandson, Josiah, is nuts about trains; 3) windmills are really big - compare the windmill vanes to the earthmover parked under the windmills!


Another successful travel day is under our belt. We left Moab Valley RV Park this morning with mixed emotions. We had a wonderful stay in Moab, and enjoyed ourselves. On the other hand, shortly after we arrived on Thursday, a travel trailer pulled in adjacent to us. When the doors of the Toyota Sequoia tow vehicle opened, people just kept pouring out of it. At the same time, another SUV pulled up to the cabin across the driveway pulling a trailer loaded with ATVs. More people piled out.

Joy, the matriarch of this clan, came over to greet us effusively and announce that more were coming the next day. When it was done there were 14 people involved - 7 adults and 7 children, ranging in age from about 1 to about 11 years of age. Guess where the hub of activity for this group was. That's right, at Grandma and Grandpa's trailer. I couldn't believe the amount of gear they unloaded.

The "shared" space between our two vehicles was about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long with a tree in the center and a picnic table on each end. Ostensibly, one end of the space was ours and the other end was theirs. Well, it wasn't long before tricycles and bicycles were whizzing past Sadie's door. There were children perched on "our" picnic table, presumably because "their" picnic table and an additional table that they had brought along were both covered with gear.

Now don't get me wrong. I like people, especially the ones I meet in campgrounds, and I adore children. But fourteen people in an area designed for about four is a bit of an overload. The clan was very friendly and not rowdy, but that many people just take up room and make a lot of noise. Consequently, we were not able to enjoy "our" yard, except when they were off "4-wheeling" or at the swimming pool. In retrospect, I think they did an amazing job of keeping the lid on things, but it would have been better if they had had an end space for their trailer, where they would not have had to "share" the yard.

We bid the park and the neighbors adieu and headed north on U.S. 191. We followed 191 all the way to I15, just south of Provo. At Provo, we exited and found the Lakeside RV Park, which is quite lovely. There are lots of trees (albeit cottonwoods, which are in the process of shedding their cotton!), and the lady who checked us in was sweet as could be. The trade off for the trees is that we are unable to get a clear view of the southern sky, so we can't get satellite TV reception. All things considered, that is a small price to pay.

Our trip today took us from 4,200 feet at Moab to 7,476 feet at the summit of Soldier Pass and back down to 4,500 feet at Provo. Sadie did amazingly well. Either I am getting used to driving her, or all this exercise is doing her some good. She purred along and took the hills in stride.

The terrain changed a great deal as you will discover in the slide show. Tomorrow, we will contact Jill's cousin Carol and see if we can get together with her and her husband. We haven't seen them for 5 years, so it will be fun to catch up with them.

Big rocks and small worlds

Click the picture for a slide show that should leave no doubt why it is called Arches National Park

We will spare you about 2/3 of the photos that we took at Arches National Park today. Some of them didn't turn out, but even among the ones that did turn out, there were too many to put them all in the slide show today. Jill has become an accomplished photographer, especially when it comes to making amazing photos while we are underway. We both were carried away by the beauty and the uniqueness of the rock formations we saw today. We have seen a lot of red rocks in the past three weeks, but these formations were so unusual we couldn't stop shooting.

At the first place we stopped to take pictures, there was another car parked, and a couple about our age was just about to get in it. Jill noticed that they had an Oregon license plate and asked them where they were from. The woman said they were from West Linn, and we told them that we were from Clackamas. Then the woman took off her sunglasses, and Jill realized she was a teacher who used to work in Jill's school. We had a lovely chat with them. They are on more or less the same loop we have been on, but they are going in the opposite direction, so we were able to make some recommendations for their sightseeing itinerary. What a small world.

We got up early so we could arrive at the park for its 7:30 AM opening. Our purpose was two-fold. First, we wanted to capture the early morning light. Second, we wanted to be ahead of the crowds, this being a Saturday. We scored on both counts. As I believe you will see in the photos, we got a lot of great shots that play up the shadows against the red rocks and the blue sky. We also found that, by the time we were about to complete our exploration of the park, there was a large influx of new visitors showing up.

I don't think there is a way for photos ever to capture the essence of a place like this. It is too grand, and as I remarked to Jill, the beauty of the desert can only be appreciated by both seeing it and experiencing it first hand. There is just an indescribable feeling about walking among these wonders and feeling the sand beneath your feet as you wander among unfamiliar plants and unfamiliar sights and odors. As one woman we met at a viewpoint said, "It would be hard not to believe in a Creator once you have seen this."

After we finished exploring Arches, we returned to Moab, where we found a farmers' market underway in the local park. It was a time capsule of the sixties. There were people selling all kinds of craft items, longhaired people in tie-dyed shirts, and a trio comprised of guitar, mandolin and harmonica playing and singing bluegrass music. I told Jill, this seems like "hippy central." Later we found the KaleidoScoops and had some ice cream.

We decided yesterday to forgo visiting Canyonlands National Park. The activities that are available there seemed to be beyond what we could comfortably undertake in a day. Instead we rediscovered the joy of taking care of the mundane necessities of life: laundry, grocery shopping, exploring the town and just enjoying quiet time to read and relax.

Tomorrow will be a travel day. We have now completed the "planned sight-seeing" that we had set our hearts on for this trip. So, we look forward to the serendipitous discoveries that God undoubtedly has in store for us. Our next destination is Provo, UT, where we hope to connect with Jill's cousin Carol. Stand by for further developments.

Over hill, over dale

Click the photo for a slide show of our drive from Durango to Moab, UT.

We bade a fond farewell to Durango and Alpen Rose RV Park this morning. This was not without some trepidation, because we had driven the first forty miles of the road we had to travel yesterday on our way to Mesa Verde. Right out of Durango, there is a long uphill grade, about eight miles, if memory serves. As usual, though, Sadie behaved herself and there was no strain. All systems functioned as they are supposed to, even though we rose from 6,500 feet to 8,300 in a short time.

Once we cleared the mountain grades just about at Mesa Verde, we saw before us a vast sprawl of rolling hills, very lush and green. At Cortez, CO, we turned northwest on US 491. That took us into Utah, and at Monticello, we turned north on US 191 toward Moab. From Monticello, we lost nearly 3,000 feet of altitude coming into Moab. The terrain also changed from the lush green of Colorado to the red rock formations we were so familar with in southwestern Utah.

We are set up at the Moab Valley RV Park. Which is lovely. Our space has a nice shade tree and some lawn for Pogo. In fact as I write this we are sitting on the lawn. We have spurned the jeans and flannel is favor of shorts and sandals. Pogo got a bath, and she is outside with us drying off. The temperature is a balmy 85. We look forward to seeing two more national parks in the next two days.

More ancient history

Click the photo for a slide show. The first three are from our campground. There is one of Mesa Verde, and yes we drove all the way to the top of that mesa! Then we visited two sets of cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park. The first set is called the Cliff Palace. There are a few flower pictures in between and then a set of photos from Spruce Tree House, the best preserved (90% original) cliff dwelling in the U. S.

Just another crummy day in paradise! I took the dog out for a walk this morning and snapped a few photos from the 1 acre off leash dog park that is part of our campground. After breakfast, we packed up and headed for Mesa Verde National Park. From the gate it is a 15 mile drive to the visitor center, and it is ALL uphill! There are a number of ruins to see here, and we didn't have time to see them all, so we chose the most famous (Cliff Palace) and the best preserved (Spruce Tree House).

These areas were inhabited from c. 750 A.D. to c. 1300 A.D. The remaining structures were constructed during the last 100 years or so of that period. The Cliff Palace is thought to have been a gathering or ceremonial area, inhabited by some kind of leaders, government or religious or both. The Spruce Tree house was more like a residential area.

In the photos, you will notice a number of round structures that are dug into the ground and lined with stones. In their original state, these holes in the ground were covered over with a roof made of beams and sticks and covered over with mud. There are two pictures taken inside one of these "kivas" that is intact. You can get a little idea of the way they were constructed. In another photo taken at Spruce Tree House, you can see some holes in a flat area with ladders protruding out of the hole. These are kivas that have been covered over and their tops make a kind of patio for the kivas and other structures built on the next level.

The kivas were dwellings for extended families and were very cleverly designed. There was a fire pit in the center, just under the hole that the ladder protrudes through. Along the side of the wall was an air shaft that allowed fresh air in to provide air for the fire and the inhabitants. You will notice in the indoor picture a small wall behind the ladder. This was a "vane" to direct the air around the room. As you can imagine, even with this clever system of ventilation, the inhabitants breathed a lot of smoke. Many of them apparently died from emphysema.

The people who lived here farmed the land on the top of the mesa, growing corn and squash. Later they also grew beans, which filled in their dietary needs for protein. It seems that corn protein can't be processed by the human body in its native state. With the addition of beans to the diet, the corn amino acids can be processed and used by the body. Prior to the introduction of beans into the diet, many of these people were malnourished. They ate little or no meat.

Now, I haven't mentioned that both of these ruins are located about 100 feet below the top of the mesa. So, you guessed it, we walked down a hundred feet and then back up 100 feet. The exit from Cliff Palace is via a number of stone steps and three ladders. It is quite a climb! At 7,000 feet it is quite a challenge, too.

We ended our exploration of the cliff dwellings tired but happy. This was what I had in mind when we began planning this trip. We snapped a few shots from the mountainside on the way down. After a quick drive through historic downtown Durango on the way back, we returned to Alpen Rose RV Park, where Pogo was very glad to see us. She got a run in the off leash dog park!

You better stop, children. What's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down.

Click the picture to see a slide show of our trip from Santa Fe to Durango.

Jill: "Do you hear something?"
Tom: "Yes. What do you think that is?"
Jill: "I don't know. Do you think we should pull over?"
Tom: "Yeah. I think we'd better. I'll just pull in in front of this gas station."

Tom pulls the coach over on a large paved area in front of a gas station about 14 miles south of Chama, NM, which is about 14 miles from nowhere. He gets out and walks around the coach, looking under and up, trying to find something that would make a metallic sound. Nothing.

He continues back to walk around the toad. About this time, Jill comes out and asks, "Did you find anything?"
Tom: "Yeah. The right rear tire on the toad is gone."
Jill: "Gone?"
Tom: "Gone! It must have had a puncture and got low on air and just blown out."

Looking at the right rear wheel, we found a ring of rubber around the wheel, and the edges of the rim were scuffed up from rolling on pavement. There was a little damage to the fender liner, but it was very minor. Ironically, we had seen a pickup we were following have a blowout some miles back, and I told Jill, "That's why I check the tire pressure on Sadie every day before we hit the road."

I got the spare out and the jack. There was a weird looking part in with the jack tools, which of course, I had never looked at before, so I got out the owner's manual to see what it was. About that time a grandfather/father/son trio, who had stopped for gas, came over to offer help. The father said he had a floor jack and insisted on using it, instead of that "piece of junk they sell you with the car."

Before I knew it, he had the tire changed and the jack back in his truck. We thanked him profusely and wished him safe travels. He did the same, and we got back on the road. Our rescuer had told us that in Chama there is a Chevron station that sells tires. We drove around Chama for a few minutes, looking for the Chevron station, and then decided to go to the tourist information center that Jill had seen as we entered the town. As we approached it, we could see the Chevron station, so we bypassed the TIC.

The owner of the station could not have been nicer. He first said he was out of the size tire we needed, but then he came back and said his employee had found one. Inside of 15 minutes, the new tire was mounted, balanced and replaced on the car. We again thanked our second rescuer profusely and hit the road for Pagosa Springs, CO, some 47 miles distant. The worst of the damage was that we lost the wheel cover. Nevertheless, we felt blessed that the damage was not worse and that no one was hurt.

We crossed the state line into Colorado a little while later. The landscape had changed a great deal from our beloved Santa Fe. It was equally as beautiful, in a completely different way. We continued on to Durango, where we are parked in a beautiful grove of aspens, nestled in a valley. I will post some pix of the park tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the pix that Jill took along the way today. I think you will notice the gradual change in terrain.

Incidentally, Sadie did just fine, even though we changed altitude from 7,000 feet to 5,600 to 7,800 to 8,100 and finally settled in Durango at 6,500. Veronica, not so much.

Decisions, decisions.

Click the photo to go on a hike with us in William Hyde State Park, NM

Today the sun came out. (For a minute we thought we must be in Oregon, not New Mexico). I had a few little maintenance projects to do on the coach, which I was able to dispatch pretty quickly. Jill wanted to do a load of laundry, but someone beat her to the machines, so she put that on hold.

We were not sure what to do with our day. We saw most of the outdoor stuff in downtown Santa Fe yesterday, and we had planned to go to Museum Hill, which is home to four museums. But when I saw the cloudless sky, after so many rainy days, I said, "Let's find a park, where we can take Pogo for a walk." Jill was not enthusiastic, at first. She had her heart set on the museums.

There is a collection of hiking/biking trails just outside of town, called the Dale Ball trails. We thought they would be perfect for our purpose, and as the beautiful weather grew on Jill, she consented to the hike. We programmed Maggie (our Magellan Maestro GPS unit) and hit the road. Eventually, we arrived at the William Hyde State Park, named for a beloved scout master of Santa Fe.

As we puzzled over the map, the ranger approached us and asked if we needed any help. We explained that we were looking for the Dale Ball trails, and he told us that we had gone way past them, but that there were nice hiking trails in the state park, one of which leads to a waterfall. Well, that was all we needed to hear. We paid the $5 for a day pass; I threw on the back pack, and we headed up the trail.

If you have lived your whole life at sea level and then started hiking up a trail beginning at 8,400 feet elevation, you can understand that this was no mean undertaking. The beginning of the trail is quite steep, and it was not long before all three of us were winded. We stopped, had some water, caught our breath, and continued. Soon, we were wondering whether the altitude or the scenery was taking our breath away. I estimate we climbed to 9,000 feet.

This is a gorgeous park. After a number of rest breaks we arrived at the waterfall, which isn't large, but it is beautiful. Pogo had a drink from the stream, and Jill and I sat and drank in the beauty of it all. Finally, we decided that we needed to head back down.



Arriving back at the visitors' center, we explored the lodge, which sits back from the road. It is used primarily for gatherings. The ranger told us they have had two high school graduations there this year and a number of weddings. We hiked up behind the lodge and sat on a bench. From that perspective, it became clear that there is a run above the lodge that is used in the winter for sledding and tubing.

Reluctantly we packed up and left. There was still that pile of laundry awaiting us, and we needed to stop at the grocery store. We returned to Sadie very tired, but very happy. Jill acknowledged that she was glad we had not spent this day of glorious weather inside of a museum.

The town with the really long name...

Click on the photo for a slide show of Santa Fe.

In case you were wondering, I took a day off from blogging yesterday. It was a travel day, which means there is always lots to do. The weather has been cool (upper 60's to lower 70's for highs), ever since we got to Arizona and New Mexico. It has been gusty, rainy, and today we had hail.

Nevertheless, we have been having a wonderful time. The drive from Gallup to Santa Fe was pretty uneventful, except that it did involve some altitude changes again. Gallup is at 6,400 feet; Holbrook is at 5,000; Albuquerque is at 5,200; and then in the 55 miles from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, we had to rise to 7,000 feet. In fact that rise occured mostly in the last 1/3 of the drive from Albuquerque.

The drive was pretty easy, if you factor out the road construction and the downpours, but Sadie is not really fond of climbing steep grades when she starts above 5,000 feet. In spite of that, she did fine. It was the people behind us that suffered. (Yes, Charlie, I do remember when you chided me for buying an RV and being the guy you always get behind on a hill with no passing lane.) Fortunately, I25 from Albuquerque to Santa Fe is 4-6 lanes all the way. Jill got some nice landscape photos that begin our slide show for today.

Our sightseeing outing for today included going to the Rodeo Road Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they had published the wrong time for their worship service on their website, so we missed that. We found the Grace Community Church and went in, but they were in the middle of the sermon. So, we went to Tortilla Flats and had New Mexican food for breakfast. It was pretty wonderful, and Jill thinks she can duplicate it.

After breakfast we went back to the Trailer Ranch RV park where we are staying, changed our clothes and caught the bus for downtown Santa Fe. What a treat. (No, not the bus, although that was not bad.)

Santa Fe is a charming town that has remained true to its Spanish/Mexican heritage. It was founded in 1608 by Don Pedro de Peralta, on orders from his superiors in the Catholic Church in Mexico. The official name given to the town by Peralta was "La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís", or "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi." Santa Fe (I'll just use the short-hand name; I think you can follow which town we are talking about) became the capital of Neuvo Mexico in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in the U. S.

The Spanish, Indian and Catholic influences are all readily apparent in the architecture of many of the buildings in Santa Fe. As you look at the slide show, you will see the Basilica of St. Francis, the Loretto Chapel (more about that in a moment) and the Church of San Miguel. There are photos of a number of other buildings as well, but you will notice the architectural themes in everything from government buldings to hotels to shops and churches.

Loretto Chapel has an interesting history. It seems the chapel was built two stories tall, but the architect somehow forgot to include a stairway from the ground floor to the second floor. The nuns who were connected to the chapel prayed for a solution. Shortly thereafter, there came an itinerant carpenter, who made a spiral staircase which uses no center post and no nails. It is called the "Miracle Staircase."

San Miguel church, as you will see in one of the photos, was built in 1610 and is the oldest church building in the U. S. We were unable to go inside, because a wedding was in progress. The same was true at Loretto chapel. So, in spite of their age, and in contrast to the Mission church in Zuni, these churches are alive and being used.

Across the street in front of San Miguel church is an area called the Barrio Amolca (I think). It is said to be the oldest neighborhood in the U. S. Across the street beside the church is a house, made of adobe, which is said to be the oldest house in the U. S. I don't know if this means that it is the first house built or the oldest house that is still standing. At any rate it is a tribute to the durability of adobe construction, as are a number of other buildings made of adobe, including the Barrio and San Miguel church itself.

In the center of the town is a square, called "The Plaza" by the locals. It is very similar to the town square, called "Zocolo" in Oaxaca, Mexico, which I visited many years ago. Given the history of Santa Fe, I was not surprised to see this feature.

Today happened to be the opening day for the Museum of New Mexico History, a couple of blocks from the Plaza. That fact, coupled with the fact that this is a holiday weekend, probably account for the crush of people we found in the downtown area. There was a line about two blocks long of people waiting to get into the museum, which definitely accounts for the fact that Jill and I did NOT go in. As much as we love history and museums, we hate standing in lines.

We also walked by the State Capitol. It's the one in the pictures that shows part of the Seal of the Great State of New Mexico. The front of the building is hidden behind some beautiful trees. In spite of their beauty, I was not happy that they blocked my view of the capitol.

Having finished our self-guided walking tour, complete with rain squalls and hail storm, we headed back toward the bus stop. Along the way, we encountered a fun art show in an alley, and then we came back to the Plaza (which just seems like it ought to be the Zocolo).

We smelled a wonderful aroma wafting across the street, so we crossed over to the Plaza, and there we found a street vendor selling fajitas and such. It was too much for our resistance. Jill had a chicken fajita, and I had a chile relleno burrito. It was the perfect end to our day of exploring this beautiful city.

Galloping through Gallup (groan...)

Click on the mural for a slide show...

OK, so we have been in New Mexico for 24 hours and the rain just keeps on raining. For this weather, we could have stayed home! Nevertheless, we are enjoying our stay. Unfortunately, this has been an expensive stop, especially considering that we only chose to stay in Gallup because it is halfway between Flagstaff and Santa Fe.

This morning we piled in our little Nissan Versa, which I have temporarily dubbed "Veronica." We drove about 50 miles to the Zuni Pueblo, a living community that includes many artisans and other Indians who choose to stay on the reservation and live according to traditional Indian customs. We paid for a tour of the pueblo and one of the Old Mission of La Senora de Guadalupe.

The mission was built in 1729 by Spanish missionaries who used forced Zuni labor and then forced the Zuni to convert to Roman Catholicism on pain of torture or death. The mission was abandoned in the 19th century. It has been restored twice since then: once in 1966 and again in 2006. Nevertheless, the adobe building is sadly in need of repairs again.

After the 1966 restoration, a Zuni artist moved into the mission and took up residence. He guided tours of the mission, which today only consists of the church building and a fenced in cemetery. Apparently, he charged for the tours as a means of supporting himself. In the meantime, he painted huge murals of the Zuni Kachinas or gods on the interior walls . The practice of making images of the Kachinas is forbidden by the Zuni religion. Consequently, the artist has fallen into disrepute in the community.

The Zuni people want to restore the church building and in the process paint over the murals. The artist claims they are his private property and wants them saved before the building is restored. This controversy has held up the restoration for some years. The current tours, sponsored by the Zuni Pueblo government, are a means to pay for the restoration, when the issues have all been settled.

This is an interesting situation. For some reason, the Zuni want to restore the building, and yet only 5% of the population are practicing Catholics. The church walls are adorned with the Zuni Kachina murals above (which are not allowed to be photographed for religious reasons) and the 12 stations of the Cross below. Religious services are not held in the building, but only members of the Zuni religion can be buried in the church cemetary. It is taboo to set foot in the cemetary, except for a funeral and burial, so the grounds of the cemetary have gone to weeds and the occasional candy wrapper or beer can that has apparently blown in with the wind. Once you have trod the sacred ground in the cemetary, you must burn your shoes.

Our guide said that her father is the head of the religious arm of the Zuni Pueblo community and he is a medicine man. These functions account for about 3/4 of his time, so he is only able to work at gainful employment about one quarter time. There are many taboos about disturbing anything that has to do with ancestors; so, many buildings are abandoned after people die. About 92% of the population of the pueblo are active in the pursuit of the Zuni religion. Zuni language is taught in all grades: one hour daily in elementary school, three hours in middle school, and four hours in high school. There are also Zuni language courses available through the University of New Mexico for college credit. It appears to me that the apparent poverty among these people is in large part due to their religious and cultural beliefs and choices. That was a revelation for me, because American Indians are obviously as capable of learning, working, crafting, farming, and any other pursuit as any other Americans. So, it appears that their poverty is something they have chosen to accept as the price for maintaining their culture and religion.

Our tour also included a walk around a neighborhood of homes constructed of either adobe bricks or sandstone blocks. (There is a picture in the slide show of adobe bricks on the left next to a pile of sandstone blocks.) The poverty is evident. Every home has a Zuni oven. In the slide show there is a picture of a row of these ovens. They look like bee hives. The ovens are constructed of sandstone blocks and covered with adobe mud mixed with straw. A fire is built in the center, and then pots of food are placed around the perimeter and cooked overnight, as in a slow cooker. Alternatively, the center is cleared and sourdough bread is baked with the fire around the perimeter, like a pizza oven. Much of the cooking done in these ovens is for ceremonial purposes.

I took very few photos on this tour, in spite of paying the $10 "photo permit" fee. One is not allowed to take pictures of certain things in the community, and people can only be photographed with their permission. The tour took about 45 minutes, and at $15 a head didn't seem like a good value. Perhaps, I am just spoiled because I was not able to use my National Parks senior pass here.

On our way back to "camp," we stopped in Gallup and visited a "Trader" shop. Most of the business in Gallup seems to revolve around selling Indian wares. I must say, the artisans who create these items are very talented and creative. We saw everything from jewelry to pottery to bows and arrows to figurines (called fetishes) of animals. Some of the items are really gorgeous, and the prices attest to that fact. We bought a modest piece of pottery and a pair of earrings for Jill.

After our shopping spree, we had lunch at a little place called Camille's Sidewalk Cafe. The weather didn't permit sidewalk dining today, but the food was wonderful. It is served fast food style: order here, leave your name, pick up over there when your name is called. It was great fun.

Lunch was followed by a short, self-guided walking tour of Gallup's downtown area. We took photos of some of the architecture and several murals painted on the various buildings. One mural depicts Native American heroes from a Marine brigade in WWII.

We are staying at the USA RV Park, which I surmise is owned by a Viet Nam veteran. It is a very patriotic theme, as you can see in the slide show. There is a reference to POW/MIAs on the plaque in front of the statue of liberty. It was our patriotism and the location on the historic Route 66 that swayed our decision to stay here.

So, for a stopover for which we had no expectations, our stay in Gallup has been quite satisfying, educational, and enjoyable, even if it has been the most costly stop along our way!!

Stormy weather, but Sadie liked it

Today was another travel day. We drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Gallup, NM, knowing virtually nothing about Gallup, except that it is about halfway between Flagstaff and Santa Fe, NM, which we really want to see.

It turns out that Gallup has its own charm. The architecture is really wonderful. I hope tomorrow it will be better weather for strolling the city. That brings me to the title of today's post. The weather was good and bad. It was good because we had a tail wind, but it was bad because we had some pretty exciting rain squalls, complete with lightning and thunder! The closer we got to Gallup, the worse the weather got.

It is our considered opinion that this is unusual weather for Gallup. First, the water doesn't seem to drain off the streets, suggesting that the streets are not designed to accommodate heavy rainfall. Second, Jill, who is a very curious soul, looked up statistics about Gallup on the internet. She learned that average rainfall in Gallup in May is 1/2"...for the whole month. I'm sure we got that much today!

Now, the other half of the title of this post refers to the fact that Sadie just purred all the way today. I attribute this fact to two things. First, the temperature was much cooler than Tuesday, when we came to Flagstaff from Kanab; about 20 degrees cooler, to be exact. Second, although we lost 2,000 feet of altitude as we drove from Flagstaff to Holbrook, AZ and gained back 1,400 feet between Holbrook and Gallup, the slopes were gentle and Sadie rarely had to work hard to make the grades. It seems the farther we drive, the better she runs. I think she has been needing exercise.

Along the way today, we saw some beautiful scenery, but then when have we not? Jill got a few pictures from the coach today, but the rain and the dark gray skies made for poor conditions for making photos. The slide show above includes one shot of the desert terrain, one of a big coal-fired power plant near Holbrook, a couple of the painted cliffs, outside of Gallup, and one of a remarkable monolith, also near Gallup.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit the Zuni pueblo, which is a living community, and, we are told, represents a little slice of American Indian life. The pueblo is home to an Indian community of artisans. But more about that tomorrow. For now, I will end by saying that today was different, but really satisfying.

Ancient ruins and aged highways

Click on the photo for a tour of Walnut Canyon National Monument...

The weather has changed. We arose to mostly sunny skies, but at the morning wore on, the clouds began to thicken. We decided today we would explore the Walnut Canyon National Monument cliff dwellings. The park is just a few miles east of Flagstaff, AZ, an easy drive.

The tour is a bit strenuous. There are 247 steps to descend and ascend again on the tour of the cliff dwellings. Descending was pretty easy, but at 7,000 feet altitude the ascent was a bit of a challenge! We made it, and we were glad we had made the effort.

This canyon is 400 feet deep, carved by Walnut Creek eroding the limestone and sandstone. The result, as you can see in the pictures is a stratification of the walls, which produced a series of rock ledges, one overhanging the next. When a local volcano erupted in about 1070 AD, the local Indian populations were scattered from the surrounding land.

Some of them moved into Walnut Canyon, so named for the black walnut trees that grow in parts of the canyon. They found the niches between the rock layers easy to enclose by building front walls of local rocks and mud for mortar. There was once a thriving community of about 300 cliffside homes in this canyon.

As you can see from the slide show, there is a variety of plant life here, and in fact, there are different ecosystems within the canyon itself. On the sunny, south-facing walls, yucca, prickly pear and other plants native to dry climates thrive. On the shady north-facing walls, Douglas fir and other species native to cooler, wetter climates abound. So, the residents of the canyon could change their climate, just by choosing a different rock niche a few dozen yards from their current home to build a new domicile.

On the plateau above the canyon, the residents pursued agriculture, including the cultivation of corn and various kinds of beans. They also hunted the native animals: deer, sheep, rabbits, and so on. The last two photos in the slide show are of reconstructions of buildings on the plateau. One was partially underground, the other was a two room pueblo built on the surface. Both were likely used as dwellings, but at different times in history.

Following our visit to the cliff dwellings, we drove into downtown Flagstaff to look around and shop for a few necessary items. It is an attractive town of about 58,000 population. We drove into town on the fabled US Route 66. The locals get a lot of mileage out of the historic significance of this old highway, once the main road from Chicago to Los Angeles. It has now been replaced by Interstate Route 40 for practical purposes, but Route 66 lives on in the hearts of the people who remember its heyday.

We returned to the J&H RV Park just as a thunder shower was beginning. So, we are enjoying the afternoon relaxing with Sadie, and nursing Pogo through her fear of the thunder.