#43 - Coveys Great Adventure – March 2018 – New Mexico to Florida

March 2018 – New Mexico to Florida

There is a little-known condition called “hitch-itch” that hits full-timer RV’ers that have been sitting in one place too long. By the time the 1st of March rolled around we both had the bug, badly. Our mail finally arrived and we quickly packed up, said our goodbyes and headed East.

One of the folks staying at the Co-op recommended visiting Caballo Lake State Park near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. We really wanted to see someplace new, so we made a 150 mile detour to spend a few nights there. Lynn was right, Caballo Lake was worth it. The lake is a man-made reservoir in the desert. The desert landscape extends right to the shoreline and contrasts starkly with the blue water of the lake. The dogs certainly were excited about all the new smells.

Crossing Texas is a chore rather than a pleasure for us, especially the section of I10 through El Paso.  We’ve been through the city three times in four years and large sections of the freeway are always under construction. I’m sure there are parts of the city that are very nice, but none of them are visible from the freeway. It was a long day from Caballo Lake to our overnight stop at Camp Wally World (Walmart parking lot) in Fort Stockton, but we made good time droning along I10.

I think I’ve mentioned before that neither of us like traveling on most interstate highways if there is a reasonable alternative. About 45 miles beyond Ft. Stockton, US 190 continues roughly due  east when I10 dips southeast toward San Antonio. A little study on Google Maps revealed that it continued all the way through Livingston, Texas, then across Louisiana and Alabama avoiding I10 altogether. Plan!

The first section of US 190 to our next overnight stop in Lampasas, Texas, was a pleasure to drive. The road was smooth (with 120 psi in the coach tires, smooth roads are really welcome). The scenery was interesting and the towns were many miles apart, allowing us to maintain decent speeds. Unlike the interstate, traffic was virtually nonexistent. I timed one stretch where we didn’t see another vehicle in either direction for 11 minutes!

This section of central Texas is pretty sparsely populated. There are some ranches and a few farms, but most of it seems pretty deserted. There are places we passed through where folks must have to drive 100 miles round trip for bread or fuel, and maybe a couple of hundred miles each way to Walmart or a hardware store. Interestingly, we never lost cell service. The towers were very, very tall.

Lampasas turned out to be a pretty town set in rolling green hills about 50 miles north of Austin. Camp Wally World had plenty of space for us, in fact we were the only RV in the lot. Like many Walmarts, this one is nicely landscaped. The dogs appreciate the grass and the trees after being cooped up all day in the coach. No OTA TV, but AT&T delivered Gray’s Anatomy and Doc Martin on Netflix. Add wine and it’s a fitting end to a nice day.

We decided to stop for a few days and made a reservation at Rainbow’s End, the Escapees park in Livingston. This park is the Escapees club HQ and where our mail accumulates until we ask for it to be sent to us. We had Amazon packages waiting, so pushed a little to be sure to arrive before the post office closed for the weekend. Site 86 is a large pull-through with full hookups shaded by a big tree, so we were set up for the weekend shortly after we arrived.

There are three sections at this campground. Two years ago we stayed in the newer one that borders route 146, a busy road that generates a lot of noise. This trip we asked for a site in the old section near the pool and clubhouse. The sites are larger but a little more rustic. There is much less road noise in that section and the dog walking is better, so everyone was happier.

Livingston is a pleasant small town without a lot to distinguish it from hundreds of others. We shopped, did laundry, walked the dogs and generally relaxed for a couple of days. We discovered La Casita, a good family-run Mexican restaurant for dinner one night. Kayeanne was pretty happy with her margarita, and the food was very good. Sunday afternoon we drove around the whole perimeter of Lake Livingston, which was pretty interesting.

Louisiana was our next stop. On our last trip we spent several days exploring New Orleans and promised ourselves that we would see more of the state. Poking around on Google Maps one night I stumbled across Intracoastal Waterway Park. It isn’t a great RV park, but we could park right on the edge of the canal, facing the water. The view through the windshield was outstanding.

Tight quarters

An endless procession of tugs and barges passed day and night less than 50 yards from the front seat. I like all forms of commercial shipping, so I had a great time. On occasion there were five 700’ long tows in sight.

While staying there we visited Lake Charles, a significant petrochemical production and distribution center that is also a pretty charming small city. The downtown area was small but easily accessible and well worth visiting. We enjoyed a terrific Cajun-style lunch at the Pujo Street Cafe, and walked and drove around much of the city.

Baton Rouge was our next stop. We couldn’t find an RV park near the city that we wanted to stay in. Lakeside RV Park in Livingston, LA, about 20 miles east of the city proved to be a great find. Large spaces and wide roads surrounded a pretty pond stocked with fish. Geese, ducks and a couple of resident swans certainly got Lucy and Schroeder’s attention on every walk.

Frozen daiquiris spiked with Everclear ready at all times

A large Fudgsicle daiquiri to go, please

Customs and laws vary a lot as we travel, but we’ve never seen a drive-through bar. Crazy Dave’s is across the street from the RV park. Dave’s is a great place to have a drink and a snack, but it also has a drive-up bar window. Dave’s is well known locally for frozen daiquiris. They have 12 different flavors in machines that keep them blended and frozen, ready to go. They sell them in sizes from 12 ounces to a gallon (yes, really) to go. We discovered that Louisiana law says that the beverage is not “open” as long as the top is on the container and the straw is still in the paper sleeve! The daiquiris all contain Everclear, a 190 proof moonshine, just to be sure that no one complains about them being weak. We stopped at Dave’s every night. My favorite was Fudgsicle.

We enjoyed Baton Rouge. We walked around the downtown area, along the Mississippi River and toured the Old State Capital Building, which frankly told us more than we ever wanted to know about notorious governor Huey Long. Parrain’s Seafood Restaurant really lived up to its reviews; the shrimp Po-boy sandwich was outstanding.

Across the bay from the museum
a new Nay ship nears completion

Three years ago we passed straight through Mobile, Alabama, and promised ourselves a return visit. Shady Acres RV Park is the antithesis of Lakeside: it’s old, slightly seedy and close to downtown Mobile. And, yes, it is very shady.

We had fun in Mobile. The brand spanking new maritime museum was a little short on “museum” and a little too “interactive” for my taste, especially when several exhibits had software glitches. It did have a great view of the harbor, though. 

The locals claim, with good reason, that Mardi Gras originated in Mobile and they have the museum to prove it. The pictures don't show the scale of the outfits, or the detail and hand

work that went into them.

Downtown Mobile is small and easy to navigate; I think we saw most all of it a few times as we drove around. Lunch at The Spot of Tea was recommended by the lead docent at the museum and was great.

One day we took a ride south along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island, which really is the end of the road. There is a ferry to Port Morgan on the west side of the bay, but we passed on it this trip. Dauphin Island is a beach community that has few restaurants. We picked one without a line and should have known better: avoid Capt’n Snappers.

On the way back to Mobile we stopped at Bellingrath Gardens, a former family estate where development began about 90 years ago. It is now maintained by a trust. The extensive grounds reminded us of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. The sweeping views of the Fowl River must have been one of the main reasons the family chose the site.

Late one night before we left Benson, I was doing some route planning on Google and saw Sopchoppy, Florida. I decided that any place with a name like that merited a visit. The town park is along a river and has several RV sites, so we decided to visit. It turned out to be just fine. The sites were very narrow, but no one pulled in on our door side, giving us plenty of space. The sites along the river were nice, but too small for us. The price was certainly right, just $15 a night for full hookups. The only drawback was that one of the neighbors must have been raising dogs, because several barked all night.

Sopchoppy is on Florida’s “lost coast”, which stretches for a couple of hundred miles from Port St. Joe to Cedar Key. On our last trip we stayed right on the water in Carrabelle and really enjoyed the area, especially Apalachicola. We both looked forward to a return visit to that town. The baked oysters at Captain Jack’s were just as good as we remembered. I even enjoyed touring several of the shops as Kayeanne shopped. Be sure to stop at Millender and Sons Seafood in Carrabelle for delicious locally caught fish, shrimp and oysters. 

We are staying in a few places in Florida for a couple of weeks, then we start working our way north.

More soon,

Bob

#42 – Coveys Great Adventure – Feb 2018 – Arizona

Feb 2018 – SKP Saguaro Co-op, Benson, Queen Creek and Yuma AZ

I never get tired of the desert

Well, we got another call from the office. The owners of lot 9 decided to return early, so we had to move, again. Our friends think we are the park gypsies; they aren’t sure where we will pop up next. We were happy to learn that lot 280 would open up before our deadline to leave 9, and we were assured that we wouldn’t have to move again.

We spent two months in lot 280 last winter and liked it. It is across the driveway from the dry camping area where folks are rotating through all the time. It is handy to the shop where I made the drawers last year, and it is close to several access points to the desert trails for the dogs. About half the traffic in the park goes by 280, so the view through the windshield is constantly changing. That said, there is no view of the mountains, something Kayeanne really liked about #9. The sunsets on lot 9 were pretty spectacular, too. 

A howling gale broke out for about 30 minutes

One day it snowed. In the desert. On the cactus. For a few minutes we had blizzard conditions with snow, hail and a howling wind. Nothing stuck for long, but the mountains were very pretty the next morning. 

We love this place but it can certainly wear you out. There is so much to do and so many activities to get involved in. Kayeanne volunteers on the Bingo, club house and Helping Hands committees, and regularly goes to beading, yoga and polymer clay workshops. I volunteer on the landscape and facilities committees, and occasionally wash dishes after dinners in the clubhouse. We are taking dancing lessons, too. When you add the dinners every week, movie night, entertainment every Saturday night, and lunches and dinners and card games with friends the schedule can get a little hectic. Retirement is certainly not for the lazy.

Ugly old bald guy really scored!

One Saturday turned out to be the annual Prom Night, complete with lavish decorations that Kayeanne helped design and install. Fancy dress-up and a good, loud band that played too much Motown and bebop, but did squeeze in some real R&R really made it a good time. Way too many old folks stayed up much too late trying to recapture what they really never had several decades ago. Everyone certainly seemed to have a good time, and we had a ball. I had a LOT more fun than I ever had at school proms! I was also amazed that the only suit I own and haven’t worn for five years actually fit, sort of. Kayeanne was a knockout in her skinny blue dress and designer shades.

Kayeanne flew to California to spend a few days with our very old friends, Karen Mohr and Patty Nash, in Kernville. All reports indicate a great time was had by all. The dogs and I managed to get along without her, but we were happy to see her come home.

Best RV park in Queen Creek

When we pulled into the Co-op a couple of months ago it seemed like we were there for a long stay. Time certainly flew by and on March 2^nd, we packed the coach, hitched up the car and drove north to Queen Creek near Phoenix to see close friends Cheryl and Chet Baffa. With their usual foresight and flair for timing, they just moved from Colorado to a lovely house in Queen Creek that has a side yard that easily fit the coach. For two days they overfed us while we caught up on almost two years since we last saw them. We stayed just two days and that wasn’t long enough. I hope this is the first of many visits.

Dental, optical and
limitless tourist junk

Sunday morning we found our way to I8 and headed west, back to Yuma to finish up some dental work begun in December. Once again, we camped out at the glamorous facilities in the  dirt parking lot of the Paradise Casino. Monday morning we crossed the border into Los Algodones, the mecca for snowbird dental, optical and plastic surgery. While there, we loaded up on inexpensive drugs and Kahlua. We hoped we would be finished on Tuesday, but had to return on Wednesday morning, too. We returned to the coach, loaded up and got on the road by 11:30. We rolled back into Benson just before the office closed. No sites were available so we moved into one of the dry camping spots; the next morning lot 191 opened up and we moved in and hooked up.

Monroe Crossing

We originally planned to spend just one night in Benson to rendezvous with important mail forwarded from the Escapees mail room in Texas, but the shipment didn’t occur as planned. Since the town post office is closed on Saturday, we had to delay departure until Monday. That wasn’t unwelcome news because we got to see Monroe Crossing, a great bluegrass group, and to spend more time with our friends who, sadly, we won't see until next year.

More soon,

Bob

#41 – Coveys Great Adventure – Jan. 2018 – SKP Saguaro Co-op, Benson AZ

Jan. 2018 – SKP Saguaro Co-op, Benson AZ

As we rolled down the long hill from the I10 freeway into Benson, it felt like we were returning home. The plan is to stay here for two months before heading east. We look forward to returning to the SKP Saguaro Co-op all year.

This is our fourth year here and everything is now familiar enough that we immediately notice the small differences as we pass through town. A couple restaurants have closed, a new car wash (lousy) has been built and the neon pricing sign at Benson Fuels is still broken. Maybe you really can come home? As we approach the park turn off the new electric sign really jumps out, especially because of all the brush and trees that I helped clear out along the road last year.

The Saguaro totems viewed thru the windshield at site 9

As the economy improves more people have taken up RV’ing, making it harder to get space in the best parks like Saguaro. Reservations are not accepted here, so I’ve been nervous about arriving after New Years and getting a vacant lot. As I feared, no lots were available when we pulled in on January 2nd, so we had to dry-camp until one opened up. Dry camping means we were assigned a space in a large parking area without any utility hookups. That isn’t an issue with our coach, so we set up, walked the dogs and, it being Tuesday, went to Bingo at the clubhouse.

Lucy and Schroeder clearly share our feelings about this place. They were up and alert as soon as we hit the driveway and couldn’t wait to get going on their walk after we set up. As I’ve described before, Saguaro is surrounded by desert that is crisscrossed with miles of trails that are used extensively by the park dogs and the native wildlife. Lucy and Schroeder wanted to sniff it all, and pee on most of it, right now!

We were pleasantly surprised when one of the office team knocked on the door

Lot 9: home, sweet home, we hope

the next morning to ask if we were ready to move onto a lot. You betcha!  An hour later we were set up on lot 298 and connected to water, power, sewer and cable TV, all the comforts of home. We were there about 10 days when the office staff again told us we had to move because 298 was going to be transferred to a new lessee. A couple of days later we settled into #9, one of the nicest lots in the park, with a terrific view of the mountains. I hope we can stay here until we leave on March 2. The lot holders have to give the park seven days notice if they plan to return, so we'll have a week to find another site if we have to move again.

Saguaro, like all the cooperative parks, owes its existence to volunteers. Volunteers conceived of the park, and designed and built most of it. 28 years later the park still thrives because volunteers continue to shoulder most of the tasks required to maintain the infrastructure and make improvements. There are only four paid staff, so volunteers put in thousands of hours every year. I work on the landscaping and facilities crews, and Kayeanne volunteers on the clubhouse and Bingo teams.

It is certainly nice to see so many familiar faces. After four years, it seems we are now  recognized as part of the community. That’s a good feeling. Weekly dinners, Bingo, movies, entertainment and lots of activities and nice people make us look forward to coming back every  year.

We plan to leave here in early March. After a short detour to Phoenix to visit old friends and a slight backtrack to Yuma for a couple of days, we will head to Florida to see Kayeanne’s brother and cousins.

More soon,

Bob

#40 – Coveys Great Adventure – Dec. 2017 to early Jan. 2018 – Jojoba Hills CA, Yuma, Organ Pipe and Benson AZ

Jojoba Hills CA, Yuma, Organ Pipe and Benson AZ

Dec. 2017 to early Jan. 2018 

We got lucky: Jojoba Hills SKP RV Resort near Temecula CA had a site opening up a few days after we arrived that we could stay in through Christmas. Like all of the sites at Jojoba, #317 was spacious, close to the shop and the laundry, with easy access to lots of places to walk the dogs. Lucy and Schroeder recognized the park as soon as we pulled in and seemed excited to be back. Unfortunately I got distracted while pulling into the site and cut a corner too close to a large bush. We now have 20 feet of scratches on the side of the coach that I need to try to buff out. If there is nothing to work on I’ll invent something. Damn it.

As much as we love staying at Jojoba the 50 mile round trips to Hemet to visit with the family and take part in all the Christmas events wore us out. Next year I think we’ll swallow hard and stay at a large commercial RV park in Hemet. It costs roughly twice as much as Jojoba but the reduced wear-and-tear will be worth it.

Liesa was able to get time off from work and flew into San Diego on the 23^rd.  Traffic was almost eerily light and her flight was actually on time, so we arrived in Hemet hours before we were expected. Christmas at Paul and Brenda’s was very nice, capped off by a terrific dinner. Liesa’s cousin, Ed Wiklund has recently returned to the LA area and we were all pleased to see him, again.

Anxious to get moving again, we packed up and pulled out of Jojoba on the 27^th to visit the dentist in Los Algodones, Mexico, just over the border from Yuma. 

Sunset at Organ Pipe

Organ Pipe Cacti

We originally intended to go directly from Yuma to the SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson AZ, our winter home for the past three years. On the spur of the moment we decided to spend a few days at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Why AZ, right on the Mexican border. We’ve wanted to see Organ Pipe since we met the head ranger at the Quartzsite RV show in 2014. He was recruiting camp hosts and spreading the word that the campground had reopened after a long closure.

Camping at Organ Pipe requires a little forethought. It is about 25 miles from anything resembling a town, so checking provisions and doing a little meal planning is a must. The campground

has no power, water or sewer hookups at the sites, but water is available and there is a dump station to empty tanks. Ordinarily we don’t think about power because we can run the generator to recharge the batteries, but OP restricts generator usage to two hours, twice a day. I didn’t realize that was a problem until the batteries were not fully charged when it was time to turn off the generator. We discovered that we use roughly 160 amps of battery power during the evening “quiet hours” from 6 PM to 8 AM. The problem is that we can only replenish 120 amps during the two hour generator period.

There is no way to recover this deficit, so it compounds. The math is irrefutable: we will kill the batteries in four days unless we significantly cut consumption. Luckily we planned to stay only three days, but I want to figure out the best way to eliminate that limitation on our independence.

The power issue aside, Organ Pipe was well worth the effort. The setting is one of the most unique desert landscapes in the world. The eponymous cacti are, to me anyway, pretty fascinating. We have been all over the deserts of the southwest and haven’t seen anything like it. The night sky is truly spectacular, maybe the best I’ve seen since our visit to Kodachrome State Park. There is no light pollution at all and the stars are impressive. The best time to visit the monument is supposed to be late February through mid-April when the wildflowers and cacti of all kinds bloom. The pictures at the visitor center are beautiful, so we want  to return one day.

No lots were available when we arrived at the SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson, but the staff assured us that one would open up soon. We pulled into the dry camping area and prepared to wait it out. The next morning just after breakfast we were pleasantly surprised to be told that a lot had opened up and we could move in as soon as we were ready. An hour later we were right at home on #298 where we plan to stay until early March. While Lucy and Schroeder seemed happy to return to Jojoba; they were clearly excited to be back at Saguaro.  And so are we.

I’ll update our plans in the February edition. By the time that comes out we should be crossing Texas, headed to Florida.

More soon.

#39 – Coveys Great Adventure – Nov. and early Dec. 2017 – Deer Creek, Moab, Thanksgiving, Simi, Anaheim and Jojoba Hills

#39 – Coveys Great Adventure – Nov. and early Dec. 2017 – Deer Creek, Moab, Thanksgiving, Simi, Anaheim and Jojoba Hills

Deer Creek campground

Near Sundance.
Look closely: gate says "Go Away"

After the pummeling that we took in Eugene, we were ready to reconnect with why we are living this life. Liesa seemed to be getting along fine without us so we decided to take a little “back to nature” time. The weather in Salt Lake was expected to be much colder than usual, into the low twenties and teens at night, so we looked around for somewhere a little warmer. We looked hard at eastern California south of Reno but that forecast included snow, something we are just not interested in. Looking to the south we discovered that Deer Creek State Park near Heber City and Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab were supposed to be considerably warmer than Salt Lake. Plan!

Although Heber City is a nice town that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, it’s main attraction is that it is located about midway between two more famous places: Park City and Sundance. We do like Park City and would happily visit again, but had just been there a few weeks ago. We both wanted to see Sundance, home of Robert Redford’s world renown film festival, so that was high on our to-do list.

Sundance turned out to be much smaller and more rustic than we expected. The lodge isn’t huge and, at least in the off season, very approachable: just park and walk around. There are several modest studios, performance venues and cottages scattered in the trees around a picturesque pond, and a row of artisan workshops behind the lodge. We watched several guys blow glass cups, bowls, vases and knickknacks to be sold at the gift shop. As you would expect, the prices in the restaurants and shops were sobering, so we had some great soup at the snack bar and moved on to the murals that describe the history of the property going back to the early 1800’s. A very interesting place, and surprisingly not too tacky.

Old farts do trains

Our original plan was to spend three days at Deer Creek and then head down to Moab. Even in November Moab is very popular and we could only get a reservation for two nights at Dead Horse Point. We planned to fill in the time dry camping at one of the BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River north of Moab. But, then we decided to stay an extra day at Deer Creek to visit Provo, and then we added another day to explore Heber City. We discovered that the Heber Valley Railroad was still operating on Fridays, so we dropped another check in the park lockbox for yet another another night and took a train ride.

It was so beautiful and peaceful at Deer Creek that if we hadn’t had the reservation at Dead Horse we might have stayed even longer. We had the whole park almost to ourselves; I think one night there might have been just two other campers. Three nights turned into seven before we finally packed up and headed to Moab. 

Dead Horse Point

If you haven’t been to southern Utah, especially to Moab, you really do need to update your travel plans. Our camera and phones can’t do justice to the incredible sights in this area. Dead Horse Point State Park is about as spectacular as scenery gets, and it is surrounded by Canyonlands National Park, arguably one of the gems of the national park system. Note that we could only get a camping reservation for two days, in November! The campground is usually sold out six months in advance. They are tripling the size of the campground and I’ll bet it sells out, too.

We all loved Dead Horse Point campground

Talking to the rangers, we
discovered that they hold four campsites off of the reservation system for walk-in campers. One of those sites was big enough for Ripley and might become available the day we had to leave. I made sure I was first in line to move to that site when the current tenant pulled out, so we were able to stay all week.

View from the windshield at Dead Horse Point

Filling time in Moab is not a problem, finding time is. We spent a day each at Canyonlands NP, Arches NP and Dead Horse Point, and two days in Moab. We wanted to explore the areas along the Colorado and south of town, but just never managed to get to it. Distances out there are deceiving: it’s 45 minutes each way to Moab from Dead Horse for example, which really eats up the time that we are willing to leave the dogs in the coach. We spent hours in the car but it certainly was worth it.

Ranger in charge

And I missed the peak of it

Arches NP

Our original plan was to be away from Salt Lake for a week. We stretched into two, but it really was time we headed back to get ready for Thanksgiving. It’s an easy 250 mile drive back to Salt Lake. Returning to Pony Express RV Park is now like coming home. I had the usual number of coach repairs to attend to, but nothing noteworthy or too expensive.

Liesa is enjoying her new job and they seem to be happy with her, too. She is working full time which certainly helps her finances, but her dog is clearly unhappy about it. She was able to get time off at Xmas, and will be flying to San Diego to join us and most of the family (we’ll miss you, Linda and Grant) in Hemet.

Arches, too

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. I think this is the first time in over 50 years (good grief!) that I haven’t cooked something for dinner. We decided that it didn’t make sense to cook for just the three of us and going out to dinner was much too expensive. Lee’s Market offered a complete, ready-to-eat turkey dinner with all the fixings for $89. It wasn’t my turkey, stuffing and gravy (ahem), but it wasn’t bad at all. We had the all-important leftovers for several days, too. Might do it again next year.

Canyonland NP

Colorado River through Canyonlands NP

It was getting colder in Salt Lake, and only a matter of luck that it hadn’t snowed yet. We wanted no part of snow, so we packed up on the 26th and headed for southern California. After our marathon trip across the country in 2016, I decided to limit driving to roughly 300 miles a day. We spent the first night in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Cedar City, Utah, and the second night at the Gold Strike Casino lot in Jean, Nevada. We stopped at Speedco (Jiffylube for trucks) in Las Vegas on the way to Jean to get the annual service done on the coach and generator. There were a few other RVs at Home Depot keeping us company, but I counted over 40 trucks and a dozen RVs at Jean.

Home for the night

We pulled into Tapo Canyon County Park campground in SimiValley, California, on November 28^th. It was 75° and it felt great. The week we spend in Simi is the busiest time of our whole year. We were out visiting almost every day, catching up with close friends we only get to see once a year. It is pretty tiring, but we are already looking forward to seeing everyone next year.

It turned out that the service folks in Las Vegas screwed up the generator fuel filter. It took me a while to figure out exactly what they had done and what to do about it because the access is so poor. They managed to damage the flare fitting that seals one of the fuel lines to the filter body, causing a small but steady leak. Taking it to the pros would be very expensive and we haven’t had the best of luck with them, anyway. I finally figured that I had nothing to lose by trying to fix it myself. So far the solution I came up with seems to be working.

We had planned to leave Simi on December 6, but then the smoke from the Rye fire started to pour over the hills the morning of the 5th. We knew the fire was miles away, but it was straight upwind from us and the only way out of the campground was a narrow road running through Tapo Canyon, not a route with any options. We really didn't want to spend the night worrying about it, so we called our next stop, Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California. The site we had reserved for the 6^th was open and we immediately packed up and headed south. That turned out to be a good decision. Although the fire didn’t reach Simi (yet), the freeways we used to get to Orange were closed the next day due to fire and smoke.

We stayed in Orange for three nights visiting and catching up with Ted and Judy Anderson, our friends of over 35 years, Liesa’s godparents and brand new grandparents. Phones are great and email is useful, but nothing is as good as getting together with friends over wine and dinner.

Schroeder really likes Jojoba, too

On the 8^th we arrived at Jojoba Hills Escapee Park in Aguanga, California, hoping to be able to stay through Xmas. Jojoba is one of our favorite places to visit and we were very happy to be able to get a site. Liesa arrives on the 23^rd and we’ll join the rest of the Wiklund clan in Hemet for Xmas.

Folks have asked me to add a section about our plans, so here you go:

From Jojoba we will return to Saguaro Escapees Park in Benson, Arizona. We'll stay there through the end of February or early March, depending on the weather outlook to the east. From Benson we will travel to Florida following a southerly route to stay warm. We hope to arrive on the Gulf Coast by early April.

More soon.

#38 - Coveys Great Adventure - October 2017 - On the Road Again: Oregon, Idaho

October, 2017 - Oregon and Idaho

As Willie said, we’re “on the road again.” Gingerly. When we saw Liesa in the hospital the evening of her accident,  we were convinced that it would be several months before she could even think about resuming her life. We expected to be in Salt Lake City taking care of her through the end of the year. Eight weeks after the accident she moved back to her apartment, and on October 9th, she started a new job. Months of therapy still lie ahead, but she has recovered about 90% of her strength and function. Amazing.

We can’t say enough about the people we met in Salt Lake City. Without exception, everyone did whatever they could to help Liesa and us through this period. The University of Utah Hospital system always delivered everything she needed, and so much more. The staff at all levels really understand what patients and their families need to work through what has occurred to reach the best outcome possible. U of U has got to be a model for how healthcare should be delivered. 

As many of you know, Kayeanne has shared a beach house on Rockaway Beach, Oregon, with three very close friends from San Juan Island every year for the past twelve years. We were determined that she wouldn’t miss this year if there was any way to make it happen. Liesa moved back to her apartment on September 15. Two weeks later we took a collective deep breath and headed for the Oregon coast, 82 days after we got the call about the accident. We still jump a little when our phones ring, but we are slowly getting over that, too.

The US highways usually go through the places we want to see, rather than around them as the interstate highways often do. This time, though, we were on a schedule and I84 is clearly the fastest route. Surprisingly, we had never traveled more than a few miles on that highway on any of our trips between Utah and the Oregon coast. US 20 and US 26 had been our chosen routes up to now.

I84 was a pleasant surprise. The scenery was very interesting as we moved northwest from the arid plains of western Utah. Our first overnight stop was the Walmart parking lot in Caldwell, ID, just west of Boise. Walmart stores fall into three categories for RV’ers: no overnight camping, tolerated camping and really welcoming camping. Caldwell clearly fell into the latter group, and we all enjoyed our brief stay.

The next day we moved west through the plains of eastern Oregon and into the green canyon of the Columbia River. As the canyon narrows the highway and the railroad converge. That afternoon we pulled into Celilo Park, a Corp of Engineers campground just west of the John Day Dam. The view of the river and the surrounding gorge was terrific, just what we were looking for. Then the first freight train went by about 30 feet away and started blowing its horn for the road crossing into the park. We pulled out so fast that we had to wait for the end of the train to clear the park road.

Several miles later we tried again. Memaloose State Park turned out to be a winner. Also right on the river with great views from many sites, it is located above the railroad tracks and not near any crossings, so all you hear is a subdued rumble as the many trains pass by. The ranger assigned us the biggest space they had, unfortunately not on the river, but it was easy to get into. There was plenty of space and grass along the river, which the dogs really enjoyed after riding all day.

Sundown on Rockaway Beach OR

Kayeanne had a great time with the “island ladies,” and the dogs and I hung out in Tillamook working on the coach, doing a little cooking and revisiting one of their favorite places, Kilchis Point Reserve. We’ve stayed at Tillamook Bay City RV Park three times. The RV park leaves something to be desired, but we never get tired of Kilchis Point, which is just across the road. Well-behaved dogs are allowed off leash, an enlightened and welcome change from virtually every other place we’ve been. A couple of miles of trails carved through dense forest lead to the broad expanse of Tillamook Bay, a real treat especially at sunset.

Low tide at Kilchis Point on Tillamook Bay OR

Besides working on the coach (the !@%#&$ Aqua Hot died, again), we needed new tires for  the van and a visit to our favorite vet in Nehalem. We try to time purchases like tires to our visits in Oregon because no sales tax really saves money. Tillamook Tire is an anachronism in these days of name brands and franchises. Family owned for decades, it is dirty, friendly, fast and inexpensive. The tires were mounted, balanced and I was out the door in 20 minutes for $100 less than the name brand store down the street. I love it.

Traveling as we do exposes Lucy and Schroeder to all kinds of physical mayhem. From sprains and strains, to allergies and canine dysentery, we have visited vets from California to Maine and several points in between. We discovered Nehalem Animal Healing three years ago when one of the dogs got injured when we were camp hosting at Nehalem Bay State Park. The vet wore sandals, burned incense and had the best rapport with dogs we’ve ever seen. He also was spot-on with his diagnosis and treatment, and the cost was surprisingly reasonable, too. We were running out of the drugs we depend on and both of them were overdue for routine checkups, so we went to see Dr. Matt. Everyone got what they needed (a shot for Schroeder and antibiotics for Lucy), and prescriptions to restock our medicine cabinet. I think they actually like going to see him, too.

Our view waiting for parts in Kaiser's
parking lot for several days

While we were in western Oregon we planned to bring the coach to Paul and Carey at Kaiser Brake & Alignment in Eugene. Kaiser is our preferred shop for any chassis related issues. We had been hearing “a noise” in the drive line that we wanted checked out. Five minutes into the test drive, Paul turned Ripley around and headed back to the shop. Not a good sign: it turned out that the differential and the driveshaft were both shot, and we needed a lot of rear suspension work, too. We were lucky that we hadn’t had a catastrophic breakdown on the road. Yikes! $,$$$!

Kaiser is a busy place and they couldn’t get us into their schedule for a week, so we slowly headed back to Armitage County Park in Coburg to wait it out. We didn’t realize that Oregon Ducks football fans fill the campground during the season, especially on weekends, so we had to move sites a couple of times to piece out five days. There is no other campground within a distance that I was comfortable driving to given the drive line issues, so we headed into downtown Eugene to dry camp in the Valley River Center parking lot for one night.

In the foreground is "Earth"
'way off in the distance is
the Sun, to scale!

The city allows self-contained camping units to spend up to two nights in a row and up to four nights in a six month period in a distant corner of the lot that borders the Willamette River, for free. They even provide a security patrol that checks people in and comes by periodically throughout the night. It’s a great location for us, and for the dogs. 

Eugene has an extensive network of paved pathways throughout the city that run along both sides of the river and connect the parks and civic buildings. One of the paths passed right by our front door and we took full advantage of it.

To make a long story a little shorter, we spent two days in the shop. Wednesday morning with everything fixed but considerably poorer we set out for a meandering trip back to Salt Lake City. Nine miles down the road warning lights lit up the dashboard: the alternator had failed. We turned around and went back to Kaiser. Two hours later a new part was installed….but it didn’t fix the problem. Much head scratching ensued. 

The brighter side of being stuck in Eugene

After a few hours it was apparent that they were stumped, so I did what I usually do when a big problem comes up: I called Ed Woznicki. It didn’t take Ed long to pinpoint the problem: the alternator failure had also blown the battery isolator. Several calls later, it was clear that no one in Eugene had the part, so I ordered it from Amazon and we hooked up to the power connection in Kaiser’s parking lot to wait for it. Friday afternoon we paid another big bill and finally hit the road, about 10 days after we planned to. One thing this life teaches you is that you have to be flexible.

Despite Liesa’s constant reassurances that she was feeling fine, we were anxious to get back to see her. We had originally planned a leisurely return through Medford, Klamath Falls and other places we hadn’t yet visited, but since we were running almost two weeks behind schedule we decided to head directly for Salt Lake City. US 26 is one of our favorite ways to cross Oregon and it passes right by the Clyde Holliday State Park in John Day. Clyde Holliday is pretty close to the top of our list of great places we’ve stayed, lacking only an OTA TV signal to be perfect.

Three Island Crossing State Park is roughly 60 miles east of Boise, a mile or so off of I84 and about half way between John Day and Salt Lake City. We arrived without a reservation and lucked into a huge pull-through site that allowed us to leave the car hooked up, always a plus when we are just staying the night. This park is on the banks of the Snake River, making it a very popular destination for people living in Boise. The park covers several hundred acres, has two campgrounds and several picnic and day use areas. It is just gorgeous. I can see why reservations are needed every weekend, even in the winter, and are hard to get months out for the summer.

We finally arrived back in Salt Lake on October 23. We will stay a week, travel somewhere for a couple of weeks and return for Thanksgiving with Liesa. Then it’s on to SoCal for the holidays and then back to Benson, Arizona for the winter.

More soon.

Bob

#37 - Coveys Great Adventure - July 2017 - Oregon, Washington, Idaho

July 2017 - Oregon, Washington, Idaho

We wrapped up three months as camp hosts at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park and hit the road for 30 days much anticipated R&R before our next host gig in August. If you want a reservation in an Oregon state park over July 4th, you had better make it in February.

Boiler Point near Lincoln City

We needed someplace to stay to avoid the hordes that descend on the coast starting in July, but reservations were hard to find, especially because we procrastinated for months about making plans. Whapiti RV Park in nearby Lincoln City had one space left and we grabbed it. The park had everything we needed but nothing more, so we spent time in Florence and Lincoln City, mostly just driving around taking in the sites and avoiding the bumper-to-bumper traffic on US 101 as much as we could. The coach got cleaned and the car and the dogs got washed, and we enjoyed the first consecutive warm, sunny days that we had seen in quite a while.

One day we needed a Mexican food fix. Traffic through Lincoln City was awful,so we headed south to the Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant on the waterfront in Depoe Bay. Having picked it for its convenience we didn't expect much, but to our surprise we had the best Mexican seafood either of us could remember. We will definitely return. On another outing we took the dogs to Drift Creek Park and hiked in to see the popular waterfall.

With a month to travel until we were due to report to Collier State Park, we intended to see parts of the Northwest that we hadn't seen before. We planned a big loop through central Oregon, on to northeast Washington, then to northern Idaho and back to the Klammath Falls area. The next stop was Umatilla Marina RV Park on the shores of the Columbia River. The park is owned by the not-so-thriving town of Umatilla. We got a site with a great river view and set out to explore what the area had to offer.



The Umatilla Dam turned out to be much more interesting than we expected. The Corp of Engineers has incorporated a small museum devoted to the salmon runs that pass through the Columbia River dams every year, and the steps that the COE has taken to assist these migrations.

Yikes! Yes, that is a Suzuki powerplant

That afternoon we stumbled onto a  street fair just up the road in Hermiston. The big event was lawnmower drag racing. Before you yawn, think riding lawnmowers powered by 1,000 cc, 200 HP motorcycle engines. We didn't stay for the races, it was just too hot to hang around for a few hours. Check it out on YouTube.


We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Columbia Crest Winery was just across the river in Washington. We really like their wines and got to taste several that don't make it to the places we usually shop. That proved to be a little expensive, because we couldn't leave without a few bottles that we have stashed away for special occasions.

Curlew River

We were both looking forward to our first visit to eastern Washington. As often as we have been to the coastal areas, we have never explored 90% of the state. Curlew Lake State Park in Republic, WA is about 50 miles northwest of Spokane and roughly 20 miles south of the Canadian border. It's a fairly small, lovely park right on the lake shore. The whole area is very scenic, and we spent a couple of days just following local roads to see where they led.


Republic is an old mining town that is worth exploring. It is also the main shopping area for miles around. One day we dug out our passports and headed up to Grand Forks, Canada for lunch and a look around. We enjoyed both, especially lunch at the Wooden Spoon Bistro a local institution. We were both struck by how clean the town was. We didn't see a spec of litter anywhere. I couldn't get a smile from either the US or Canadian border guards, though. I need to work on my delivery, I guess.

We have been looking forward to visiting Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for some time. Affordable camp sites were not available near the city, so we found one about 40 miles east at Bumblebee Campground in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. We really like National Forest Service campgrounds, despite the problems we have getting a rig our size into most of them. Bumblebee was no exception. These campgrounds were built long before 43' motorhomes were invented. We had to trim our way in and out of the campsite and we picked up a few more scratches from branches we didn't notice, but it was worth it.

Downtown Coeur d'Alene waterfront park

Coeur d'Alene is an small, attractive city on the shore of a beautiful lake. The lake would make a dump look scenic. The city has a great vibe to it. Northern Idaho College is located right downtown along the lake and clearly gives the city a vibrancy and upbeat tone that I didn't expect. We both wanted to stay longer but needed to keep moving to make our schedule work.

I've been through Salmon, Idaho a couple of times on motorcycle trips and had good memories of it, so we decided to spend a few nights at the Century 2 RV Park and explore the area. A little rustic, the park had all the services and was right on the banks of the Salmon River. After settling in we headed into town to get our bearings and to walk the dogs in the town dog park.

Salmon has changed little in the ten years since I was last through it. It's primarily a tourist town focused on fishing and river sports. I was disappointed to discover that the small family-run Chinese restaurant that I enjoyed on my last visit had closed recently. After looking around a little more, we went back to the coach and settled in for the night.

About 3:30 the next morning the phone rang. It was the hospital in Salt Lake notifying us of Liesa's accident. By 7:30 we were packed up and on the road. We spent the next two-and-a-half months in Salt Lake helping her recover.