East of the Great Divide

We are at the Skidway Campground in the Helena National Forest (map), just off US-12 east of Townsend, Montana. There are just 13 sites here, but once again we had the entire place to ourselves. Previous occupants had gathered a good deal of firewood, albeit not very high quality, and I was able to grill our steak over wood coals. It was warm enough to dine al fresco on the picnic table, and we had a great view of snow-capped mountains around us including Mt. Edith.

Our guides said this place was difficult to access for large rigs, so we parked at the bottom of the hill along US-12 and I scouted it on the scooter first, as it is two miles up a dirt road, and I did not want to discover there was no place to turn around. As it turned out, though, other than a fairly sharp uphill right-hander into the camping loop, the entire route and campground was easily accessible. Our guide also said there was water here, which we needed, but that turns out to be a hand-pump well, so we ended up pumping five gallons into our collapsible water jug and transferring it to the tank, to ensure we had enough for the night (we use about ten gallons a day aboard Odyssey). The guides had also said this campground was free, but, alas, it is now $10 per night.

Yesterday we traversed the Mullan Pass into Helena, passing through the western section of the Helena National Forest. We stopped at the brake check area on the Continental Divide to let everything cool down before the 8% descent, having lunch in the process. The retarder easily handled the downgrade, however, and we made it to Helena without ever touching the brakes. As state capitals go, Helena is a sleepy little place, and US-12 goes right through it.

Our directory had a couple of stopping options in Helena, but there was really nothing we wanted to see there, so we continued east to Townsend, where our guides listed a free campground near Canyon Ferry Lake, just north of town. The campground was, indeed, free, and had we felt the need to stay near a town it would have been a good option, but it was very nearly full and otherwise rather unappealing. We continued instead to the National Forest.

Our official Forest Service map listed a somewhat more convenient campground a few miles west of here called Deep Creek. Sometime in the decade since that map was published, however, that site has been redesignated as a picnic area for day use only, so we continued here. We're really glad we did, because the view is nice, we had our preferred solitude, and the temperature was pleasant at this elevation. This was also the quietest place we've stayed in recent memory, with no insect sounds at all after dark. The late afternoon and evening, however, were full of birdsong, including grouse thumping.

We've been ruminating about whether to drop south into Yellowstone or not. We had a wonderful visit there four years ago (June, 2008 archive), and we'd been thinking about returning some day, but we also remember the camping as being quite crowded inside the park. The park roads are also congested this time of year, and it's a long way off our route to South Dakota. As breathtaking as it is there, we're going to continue eastward. Although the actual decision point is somewhat east of here, on US-89 north of Ringling, and we've been known to change our minds at the last yawning instant.

Absent that, we should be continuing on US-12 east of Martinsdale until Lavina, where we will likely turn south on MT-3 to Billings. We could, alternatively, continue east on 12 all the way to Selby, SD -- both routes are about the same length and equally interesting, but at some point we will need water, fuel, and a new battery for the genny, so we need to swing through some part of civilization.

Lolo

We are at the Earl Tennant campground in the Lolo National Forest (map), between Lolo Hot Springs and Lolo, Montana. Earl was the first ranger here when this site became a ranger station early in the last century; the station closed in the sixties, and was used as a fire staging ground for several years thereafter. Two of the buildings are still here, abandoned and forlorn, and one of them is unlocked. It is a testament to how remote this area is that neither has been vandalized in four decades.

There are only a half dozen sites here, and still we had the entire place to ourselves. We took the only spot in a clearing large enough to get the satellite on-line, just grazing the trees at out current look elevation of just 28°. That was good, because there is no cell coverage here whatsoever. I did have to jiggle the bus around in the space a few times.

I'm guessing the camping at this site is fairly new, because it is neither marked on our official Lolo National Forest map, nor listed in our directory of National Forest campgrounds. That may account for why this place is empty, whereas the Lee Creek campground, which we visited on our way down the hill, was already pretty busy on a Friday afternoon, and I am guessing the Lolo Creek campground, which we will pass today, will also have some occupancy. We're glad we bypassed Lee Creek, as we much prefer an empty campground, and it was only $8 here vs. $10 there. The real reason we pressed on, though, was that I could not find enough of a gap in the trees there to shoot the bird.

We knew about this spot from our Days End directory, which has a spotty track record of late. That same directory said we could park overnight at the Lolo Pass visitor center at the very top of the pass, just on the Idaho side of the state line, but the staff there said it was not allowed and never has been. That's unusual; when the directory is wrong it is more often because the status of a particular spot has changed since the listing was added. That spot was not all that appealing anyway, because it was surrounded by parking lot lights, was very exposed, and was a good ten degrees colder than here at the lower elevations.

We had a lovely drive yesterday -- Lolo Pass is rather spectacular.  At one point in the drive, while still on the west side along the Lochsa River, I had to slow down for a bald eagle.  He was perched on something rather low to the ground, unusual for an eagle, on the left side of the road.  It is possible he had a fresh kill there.  In any case, when he saw us approach, he decided to take off and fly to a higher spot, but oddly he chose to do so right in front of us and in our lane, necessitating a quick response on the brakes.  So for a very brief moment, we were following him, his wingspan taking the whole lane, and the stark white of his tail plumage just a few dozen feet ahead of us.  It took him quite a while to get up above us, at which point he immediately turned to the right and landed on a tree a little ways above us.

As lovely as it is right here, we are feeling motivated to move along, and so in a short while we will continue on to Missoula, where I will put enough fuel in to get us across the state before continuing east to Helena. We should be somewhere between Drummond and Helena tonight.

Death Valley 2012

We are at the Sunset Campground in Death Valley National Park (map), at Furnace Creek. We've been in this campground before, just a few spaces away, and while it's better than not having a spot in Death Valley at all, it definitely leaves much to be desired. We are here, rather than at our preferred venue of Furnace Creek Campground, because this latter campground is actually closed right now for repairs.

The closure of Furnace Creek means that Sunset is actually pretty busy right now. Most of the tenters are up at Texas Springs, which has been restricted to tents only for the duration of the closure, but all the RVs are here at Sunset, and they even have one of the four large overflow areas open.

Sunset is, for all intents and purposes, a giant gravel parking lot. The spaces are separated by chalk lines and small concrete parking bumpers, and are about 20' wide. We were fortunate to snag one at the end of a row, so we'll have a little bit more breathing room when 16 or so of our biker friends show up later for a barbeque. Also, we'll have no neighbor on that side for the duration of our stay. The 45' class-A that was just a couple feet from us on the other side when we arrived pulled out this morning, so we have a nice view of the mountains out both sides at the moment.

Star Equipment had Ben and Karen's generator back together by 4ish Wednesday, and we got Odyssey ready to roll just before the first start-up. We all had a brief moment of panic when the set shut down soon after startup; it turned out that even the shop tech had trouble bleeding all the air out of this system. Once bled, it ran fine for quite a while, although the generator head was making a grinding noise under heavy load.

They had it all buttoned back up a little bit after closing time, and I gave Ben some parting advice, in particular that the grinding noise was probably the generator end-bearing going, and it should get replaced ASAP. I suggested he test-run the unit the next morning, as the symptom prior to the head replacement had been that we could get it to run fine after bleeding, but it would overheat on startup after sitting overnight. Ben texted me yesterday morning to say that the morning test run went fine.

It was nearly 5pm by the time we got underway, and we made a stop at the Bass Pro Shop in the Silverton Casino on our way out of town (we needed new binoculars, and I wanted to have them for Death Valley). So it was well past sunset and nearly dark when we rolled into Pahrump. We needed salad to go with our crock pot dinner, and had planned to spend the night at Walmart, but when we saw there was a Smith's grocery next door to the Nugget Casino we ended up there instead (map).

Yesterday was stock-up day. After breakfast we walked right back to the Smith's, where I had spotted some nice bakery items and good wine bargain when I picked up the salad. Our next stop was the Rebel Oil station near the Walmart, for $800 worth of $3.699 diesel, the cheapest in the state. Walmart was next, for the remainder of the grocery list, one of our largest on account of the barbeque. And finally we rolled over to Pro-Flame Propane to fill up our empty cylinders on our way out of town. It was late afternoon by the time we rolled in to Furnace Creek, stopping at the water spigot before making our way to the campground (we carried only minimal water over the hill).

Our plan here for Death Valley was to join our friends for dinner tonight at the Wrangler Steakhouse, over where they are staying at Furnace Creek Ranch. Tomorrow was scheduled to be the annual cookout that we host at our camp site, and then Sunday evening we have a reservation for 18 (really) at the Furnace Creek Inn dining room. The weather, however, had other plans.

After realizing that there is a strong chance we will get rained on most of tomorrow and into the dinner hour, with a much lower chance of getting wet this evening, we suggested moving the cookout up to tonight. We emailed the whole gang this morning while most of them were still in Bakersfield, the traditional overnight stop on the way here from the bay area. Most of them have iPhones and we got lots of support for the idea right away, so we've been making preparations for dinner all day. It will also be ten degrees warmer tonight than tomorrow, so it's really the right move all the way around.

Before we had made that decision, I had started on some bus projects in what I thought would be a day of downtime. While wrapping up Ben's generator project Wednesday, we realized that the air cleaner on it had not been changed in a long time, and certainly before Burning Man. I can't tell you how much playa dust came out of the battery bay while I was working in there, so I could only imagine what that air cleaner looked like inside. Since I was at the Napa with Ben anyway to pick up new air and oil filters for his generator, I also picked up a fuel filter for my own genny, plus an air cleaner for our main engine -- an enormous affair that has to ride in the living room until it can be installed.

So this morning before we ran the generator for hot water, I went out and changed the fuel filter. The fuel line needed priming anyway, since the fuel level in the tank dropped below the pickup before we fueled in Pahrump, so it was the perfect time for a filter change. Already in my work clothes, I also changed the Detroit air filter, to get it out of the living room. While I had all the tools our and was still in my grubbies, I also fabricated some brackets for a new bed lift system, which I will share in a later post.

Louise got most of the dinner preparations done without me, and now we are mostly ready except for awaiting the guests. We've asked them to bring as many chairs and tables over from the hotel as they can -- Sunset does not even supply picnic tables at their sites. No wood or charcoal fires are permitted here, so we also asked some of the gang who are driving down in four-wheel vehicles to bring an extra LP cylinder, a portable LP grill, and whatever chairs they could scrounge. With any luck, most folks will have a place to sit. We put out the six chairs and two stools we carry with us, along with two folding end tables and a wobbly folding dining table.

Most of our motorcycling friends will be leaving Monday or Tuesday to head back to the bay area, where we will see them again in a few weeks. We, however, are staying right here in the park, because Louise's dad, stepmom, and brother are all heading here to celebrate her dad's 75th birthday. They'll be staying at the Inn Monday and Tuesday nights, and we'll celebrate with them before heading out ourselves on Wednesday.

Our plans upon departure are still a bit vague. I need to spend some time on line to see if there are any boats we should look at in southern California, which would send us in that direction. Our friend Alfred will also be in the area mid-week, and we've agreed to meet up with him, either en route to SoCal if that's the way we head, or else here in Death Valley, perhaps at a more primitive spot.

I'm still pretty sore from the great battery project, not to mention the ongoing issues I have been having with my right shoulder, and so I am going to try to book a massage at the Inn in the next few days. We'll also probably do a little sightseeing, perhaps with Martin and Stephanie, who are bringing their Range Rover. There are also two extra motorcycles coming with the group, courtesy of one very large pickup truck, so who knows, we might even get in a ride.

When fate says "Move along"

We spent the night at what might best be described as a rest area, right at the summit of Marias Pass on the Continental Divide (map). It is actually a Forest Service facility (as opposed to a state-operated rest area, where overnight stays are prohibited) with parking for cars and larger vehicles, a pair of vault toilets, and a 60' obelisk. The obelisk marks the great divide and is a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt; it once stood between the travel lanes of US-2. A few feet away is a statue of Frank Stevens, who "discovered" the pass for the Great Northern Railway, just across the highway from our parking spot.

Immediately adjacent to this rest area is actually a Forest Service campground, fittingly called "Summit." Our directory said it would be open from April onwards, but it was closed by locked gates when we arrived. There was no signage explaining why, but a document buried deep within the Forest's web site said it was closed until June 6th for replacement of the picnic tables. The tables look fine to us when we walked the loops later on.

We had previously stopped about ten miles west of the summit at another Forest Service campground, Devil's Creek, which was open, and empty save for the camp host. After circling the loop, we concluded we'd never get on line there, and the view was not particularly appealing, so we had opted to press on to Summit, not realizing it would be closed. (We'd likely have had trouble getting the dish on-line at the Summit campground, too, due to trees, but had no trouble from the rest area.)

After circling the rest area and reading every sign, none of which prohibited overnight parking, we reasoned we'd be safe just parking for the night. We did have company, with a big rig already there when we arrived (he pulled out at first light this morning), and a travel trailer and a pickup camper joining us later in the evening. We had a spectacular view of the mountains past the monuments and the train tracks.

It did get cold at the summit, and last night the winds picked up to 30kt or so, gusting higher. The NWS actually issued high wind warnings for the whole region which did not expire until just an hour ago. We were cozy in Odyssey, but after she went to bed Louise informed me that the extra 8" of rubber rain gutter molding we had left in place at Infinity was going to either keep us awake or drive us crazy. (The last time we replaced the molding, we cut it "just right," and it shrank over the next few weeks until it was 6" too short, so this time we left extra to account for it.) So I ended up clambering onto the roof in ~35kt winds, in the rain, in the dark, scissors in hand, to trim the rubber.

Yesterday after traversing a new-to-us section of US-2 between Columbia Falls and West Glacier, we turned north into the park to check out the Apgar campground, for a possible night in the park complete with dinner at one of the restaurants in Apgar. The town is just as we remembered it from five years ago, and the campground was open, mostly empty, and would easily accommodate Odyssey, notwithstanding dire warnings on the web site that only 25 (of nearly 200) spaces could fit a 40' rig. But the weather was terrible -- cold and raining -- and the park's main attraction, the Going to the Sun Road, is still closed for the season. Coupled with the fact that we'd never get on-line there and the amenities in Apgar are not National Park Grand Lodge caliber, we opted to continue east.

After our night on the summit we had been debating whether to proceed from there to the Two Medicine campground at the east edge of the park, so we could spend at least another day in the beauty of the mountains before heading to the plains. The forecast, however, is for highs in the mid-50s and lows in the mid-30s for the next several days, with rain on and off the whole time, as well as intermittent winds. In that sort of weather we're unlikely to even leave the bus, let alone take the scooters out and ride the 13 miles back to the Glacier Park Lodge for a nice dinner. At least we'd get on line there, and the lake is supposed to be lovely.

We decided instead to drive down the hill to East Glacier Park in time for a 1pm Red Cross conference call, since neither of our phones had a decent signal on the summit. We found a parking spot in front of an abandoned business here in town, across the tracks from the lodge (map). We deployed the dish and dialed in to our call, which ran over an hour, and then we walked the three blocks to what the road signage indicated would be an RV park, confirmed by a map I downloaded from the lodge.

That, too, turned out to still be closed for the season, not that it was at all appealing even if it had been open. But we'd do it if the price was right, just so we could take the short walk to the lodge for a nice dinner at the Great Northern restaurant. By this time we're thinking that someone is trying to tell us something. After a brief consult with the map, we decided we could have an early dinner here at the lodge, then drive the hour or so to Cut Bank, where there is an Elks lodge with parking. Sunset here is 9:30, so we'd still be making the drive in plenty of daylight.

So we walked over to the lodge to walk the grounds and to see about reservations, since I had not been able to get through on the phone all day. As it turns out, there is a good reason for that: the power went out in East Glacier Park just after 8am this morning, and it does not look good for having it restored before sundown. The lodge is cooking some kind of dinner on a propane grill for its guests; most of the other restaurants here in town simply have "closed due to power outage" on their doors.

We did enjoy very much walking around the hotel, taking in the majestic great room, with many guests huddled around the massive fireplace (with no power, the hotel has no heat). The gift shop was open, courtesy of some flashlights and one of those old-fashioned manual credit-card imprinters, and we bought a souvenir pin and a pair of chocolate-covered huckleberries. But with no reason to believe the dining room would be open for dinner, we've decided to just move along. In a few minutes we will stow the dish and continue to Cut Bank.

What a difference a day makes

We are at a Forest Service campground on McGregor Lake, off US2 just west of Kalispell, Montana (map). We are the only people here, not counting the camp hosts, whose site is actually over in the day use area.

When we arrived around 5pm yesterday, there were still two sites occupied, apparently by the same group, who were simply late in departing from their holiday outing. The hosts told us the place had been full, but uneventful, with only one ranger call-out. The ranger station is 70 miles away.

It's a lovely spot overlooking a clear blue lake, just a short distance east of the Thompson chain of lakes where we stayed five years ago. We thought we might go all the way to Kalispell yesterday, but stopped here just to check it out. While $12 for dry camping is normally a bit steep for us in such unpopulated territory, the spot was so idyllic we just had to stop. I've been marinating a nice tri-tip since we left the Wal-Mart, and the holiday crowd left so much firewood behind that I was able to grill it up over a nice bed of wood coals in short order.

In a few minutes we will head east to Kalispell, where our mail is due to arrive later today. I expect we will spend tonight there at the Elks lodge.

Forest solitude

We are parked in a clearing for a power line on the Okanogan National Forest (map), just off a paved Forest Service road and a short ways from Washington 20, at Loup-Loup pass. Across the street is a large "sno-park" lot (permit required), and there is a developed Forest Service campground just half a mile up the road.

Yesterday morning found us at the Colonial Creek campground in the North Cascades National Park (map). We were completely under the trees there, and so we could not get on line. Even DirecTV was out, driving me to the DVD collection; thankfully, we had finally picked up a Blu-Ray player. We got a great spot right next to the creek, but it rained pretty much the whole time we were there, so we could not really enjoy much of the park or the campground.

Most of Colonial Creek and all of Newhalem Creek, which we passed a dozen miles earlier, had just opened for the season. In fact, when we stopped at the visitors center in Newhalem, crews were madly scrambling to get the loops open in the campground. The ranger allowed that they hoped to have things open by 6pm, prompting us to continue on up the hill to the next campground. This section of the highway, following the Skagit River gorge, is stunningly beautiful and mostly untraveled. Some of the scenery rivals anything you might see in, say, Yosemite, but without the crowds. The gorge is dammed in several spots for power generation, forming turquoise-blue lakes.

Colonial Creek was a relatively early stop for us. While we knew there might be some good and possibly free spots on the other side of the park, we were out of water, and the Park Service campgrounds had spigots. Knowing we had two long grades ahead of us, topping out over 5,000', we opted to just put in a couple days' worth rather than haul a ton of water over the hill, so we will need to be looking for water again later today.



We had the place mostly to ourselves when we arrived, but several rigs pulled in later in the evening for the start of the holiday weekend. In the small world department, one truck camper with a young family had "Nordic Tugs" stenciled on the windshield in the corporate font; turns out he works at the factory. They had remembered seeing Odyssey in Mount Vernon as well. Even more campers were arriving as we rolled out at the noon checkout yesterday.

We had laundry to do, and there turned out to be a convenient and modern laundromat in the town of Twisp along our route, so we stopped there for a couple hours yesterday afternoon. The spot where I had to park the bus was rather tilty, and I used up all the suspension travel on both sides trying to get level. That put the door a good foot or so above the ground, so I set up our little folding step.

It was a pleasant enough stop, and we were glad to have the laundry done. As a bonus, the laundromat had WiFi, and we enjoyed zero-delay Internet from the comfort of our easy chairs for the time we were there. Once we had the laundry put away, I zeroed out the suspension and started to drive away. Of course, I had forgotten completely that the step was still outside the door.

Those steps are really durable, but the 12,000 pounds of the right drive wheels was just a bit more than they could take, and we promptly turned the step into an approximation of a potato chip. Oops. Long time readers know that I always do a walk-around inspection of the bus before we start out for the day. I check all the lights, make sure the dish is down, inspect all the tires, and make sure there are no fluids on the ground. This is also when I catch anything we've left outside, like the solar garden light, or the step.



Usually, however, I don't do such an inspection at intermediate stops during the day, such as at rest areas, visitor centers, grocery stores, and the like. We never put the step out at those kinds of stops, either. Laundry is one of the few times we actually level the bus at a mid-day stop, and we often deploy the satellite dish then, too. So really, I should be doing walk-arounds after laundry stops as well, and you can bet I won't omit it at such a stop again. Now we need to find ourselves a Camping World or similar store to get another step; we humans can get by without it, but the dog absolutely needs it.

Between the slow grades, the laundry stop, and the step fiasco, yesterday was another short day. Our directories said there were two Forest Service campgrounds near the top of this hill. We pulled into the first one, "JR," just a couple miles from here, to find it completely empty. Most of the half dozen spurs were too short for Odyssey, but we found one long level one that had a couple of gaps through the trees in the general direction of the satellite. After ten minutes of searching the sky, though, we gave up and continued on. One night without Internet access is fine, but a couple nights in a row can put us well behind on email.

We passed this spot on our way to the Loup-Loup campground. This very large campground was less than 10% full, but after driving the entire loop I did not see a single space where I thought we could get a shot at the satellite through the trees. Besides that, it was $12 for dry camping (the smaller JR had been only $8), and so we returned here, where it's free and I knew the clearing would let us get on-line.

It's tempting to spend another night here, to avoid having to battle holiday crowds for a spot somewhere else tonight, and to get a few things done, but we are again out of water, and so we will continue east and downhill from here. We will be east of the Cascades and officially on the "dry side" of the state from now on, and we're done with high passes until we cross the Rockies in Idaho and Montana.

Northern Cascades

We are at a Forest Service wayside on Washington 20, the Northern Cascades Highway, along the wild and scenic Skagit River (map). Our Days End directory said it was OK to park here, and there were no signs indicating otherwise. It's a beautiful spot, with a great view of the river from our windows, and hills all around us.

I wanted to make it an early night someplace with a good satellite view as well as good cell coverage -- something we can't count on as we head east. This spot fit the bill. We've been having satellite search problems ever since HughesNet moved us to a different transponder -- they lost the lease on the one we were on, which went back to Galaxy. We've been working with our HughesNet VAR, Mobil Satellite Technologies, to get this straightened out for a couple weeks now, and I really needed to spend some time on the phone with them well before the end of their support shift at 9pm ET, or 6pm here.

Unfortunately, our equipment is now so old that none of it is still on the officially supported list. After nearly an hour on the phone, we concluded that we would have to upgrade the actual dish hardware before we could get anywhere with Hughes. That could get expensive quickly, with our VAR in Virginia shipping items to us cross-country at new prices, and where we left it with them was that I would try to acquire an entire used HughesNet system, with not only the proper outdoor bits (LNB and BUC), but also a newer modem. Specifically I want an HN7000 and the newer, naked "gray" outdoor pieces. I should be able to pick the whole thing up for a couple hundred bucks, which is what Mobil Satellite wants just for the modem.

Until then, we are stuck having to manually tweak the dish each time we need to get on-line. A pain in the butt, but not a show-stopper. And once I buy one of these setups, we'll need to figure out where it can be shipped to intercept our path. It is rather irksome that we need to continually buy upgraded equipment to keep this system running, but it is really the only way we can get on line many of the places we go.



Today we will continue northeast into the Northern Cascades National Park. I'm not sure if we will end up at one of the two Park Service campgrounds on our route, or all the way on the other side of the park tonight.

All together again

We are parked at a horse trailhead in the Crooked River National Grassland, a couple miles off US-97 between Redmond and Madras (map). It is an idyllic spot, with a view of hills in every direction, and overlooking the broad agricultural valley to our west. In addition to several posted trails leading from here, the Forest Service has also constructed livestock pens and a loading ramp here. They look to be mostly unused, and we definitely had the whole place to ourselves last night. A lone pickup truck towing a dirt bike trailer coming out of the forest has been the only vehicle we've seen since arriving yesterday afternoon.

It's such a lovely spot that we would stay more than just one night, except for the fact that we are out of water. I put in only two nights' worth back at the Bend Elks, knowing we would have to dump in the next couple days. The DPW dump station in Redmond had only a rinse hose, though, and I did not want to fill the fresh tank from a spigot so close to the sewer. Dumping there is now $2 (our guide said $1), and we had to scramble to find two singles to drop in the iron ranger.

The next town north is Madras, which has no Indian restaurants, as far as I can tell. The guide says it does have a city park, though, with free overnight parking and a water spigot, so we will tank up there. We might even spend the night, although it is only 20 miles from here. Our other option tonight is the casino in Warm Springs. I had originally planned to be in the Mount Hood National Forest tonight, but it is supposed to be snowing and near freezing there; Madras and the casino will be in the 50s.

Our beloved George is back with us, not much worse for the wear other than a shaved spot on her arm where the IV was. We have some fish-oil stuff we are supposed to squirt on their food now, and we have instructions to get another blood panel wherever we are in two weeks. We dropped another two CAT units, in addition to the CAT unit we left Monday. "CAT" stands for "Cough up Another Two-hundred," by the way, so one CAT unit = $200. She does seem more chipper after the hydration therapy, and we are very happy to have her back aboard.

Bend bound

We are in a dispersed camping area just off Oregon 31, in the Deschutes National Forest (map). A forest road leads off from here and we've seen a number of log and chip trucks heading into or out of the forest.

This is a well-used area, and it was listed in our Day's End guide, even though it technically does not meet the rules for dispersed camping, which normally require you to be at least ¼ mile from a paved road. There is room here for a good number of rigs, but we had the place to ourselves last night. It's a bit too accessible for our tastes, with the result being that there is plenty of trash strewn about, including a television set. But for an overnight stop we decided we could overlook that detail.

We had briefly contemplated spending more than a night here, and we walked half a mile down the dirt forest road to see if there was a better spot. But in the end we decided to just make it an overnight, which is a good thing because we have become increasingly worried about George, who has been a bit lethargic and not herself lately. This morning we decided to hightail it into Bend this afternoon, and we got her a 4:30 appointment with a vet there.

We need to do laundry, too, so we will clear out here in just a few minutes so we have time for the laundromat before the vet. Tonight we will most likely end up at the Bend Elks Lodge for $15, if we don't come across something free on the way. We'll also make a stop at the UPS store, since one of the slide projectors sold yesterday and we need to ship it.

Depending on how things go at the vet, I may try to get Odyssey's tires rotated while we are in town. The drivers are starting to look asymmetric and need to be flopped, and I'll have them flop the steers, too, if they will fit on their balance machine. There are three Les Schwab stores in town, and I would bet some other commercial tire shops as well.

We brought 475

We are at the Moccasin Gap Horse Camp, in the Ozark National Forest (map). There are no horses here, other than the mechanical ones we brought with us.

We left Aux Arc park yesterday right at the 2pm checkout time, and availed ourselves of one of the two dump stations (incredibly, there was no line). We had to loop back through to one of the hookup sites to take on water -- there was only the rinse spigot at the dump, and besides, it takes a long time to fill our tank, and two people had lined up behind us while we were dumping.

Space #3 was again vacant Sunday night, and our last night in the park was fairly serene and quiet, although the Shasta two spaces over was still running their genny, and their yipper dog got left outside and was still barking incessantly at 2am, presumably to be let in. I am guessing the occupants could not hear the dog over the din of their generator and air conditioners. They were far enough away, though, that the Fantastic fan in our bedroom pretty much drowned it out when I turned in.

With nothing really on the horizon disaster-wise, and temperatures having climbed back into a slightly uncomfortable range at the river (considering the humidity), we decided to get back on the road and once again head northeast, to get some relief. I plotted a course back to the Buffalo National River, but given the late start, we decided to make a shorter day of it. We had decided to take Arkansas 7, which the map shows as scenic and many web sites refer to as one of the most scenic roads in the US. Since that route would take us right through this stretch of forest, we pulled out the relevant USFS map. That map showed this campground, just off the highway, and our National Forest Campground guide indicated a max length of 99' (really).

When we arrived, however, the only sign out at the road said "Horse Trail" -- no indication there is camping here at all. You'd never know from driving by. As we rolled in to the campground/trailhead, a group of six or seven ATV's was gathering at the trail; the area gets day use not only from horsemen but also off road enthusiasts. They stared at us in disbelief as we rolled past.

It took a little maneuvering to make it around the short loop, due to a couple of low trees, but we found an ideal site with a clear view to the satellite, plenty of afternoon shade, and some nice grass for the pets.



The place claims to have 19 sites, although none is numbered, and there are probably that many spots, although not that many tables, fire rings, or lantern hangers. Most sites seem adorned with at least one of these items, and many have tether posts for the horses. However, there is little "evidence" of any recent equestrian use.

After the day use crowd left yesterday afternoon, we had the entire place to ourselves, a condition which persisted right up to about 1pm today, when a mini-class-C rolled in and set up across the large group-style pavilion from us. There is a single water spigot right in the middle of the loop, and after we paid for two nights (grand total: $6), we set up the hot tub and ran 100' of hose over to it to fill it up. We enjoyed a nice soak last night under the stars. (Well, OK, in our little screen tent -- it's a bit buggy here.) Today the water temperature is back down into the 80s, and now that it's quite warm outside, we are thinking about a cool plunge.

There's a burger joint a couple of miles back down the road that we passed on our way north, and we might take the scooters out and roll down there this evening. Otherwise, we are just enjoying the pleasant weather here, and the almost complete solitude, a marked contrast from Aux Arc on Labor Day.

At some point today or tomorrow, I will be tearing into the dashboard. While we were at the dump station yesterday, I had the ignition off but the marker lights on, and I noticed the fuel needle read 3/4 (it should read zero -- less, actually -- with the key off). Hmm. Turning off the lights caused the needle to return to its rest peg, and back on gave me 3/4 again. Turning the lights off and the ignition on gave me a reading of 7/8 or so, about what we actually have.

This was an "Aha!" moment. You may recall I ran out of fuel (fortuitously, at a fuel station) a week or so ago, and I was scratching my head because I thought I had at least 30 (usable) gallons left. Apparently, there is a short between the dash illumination and the gauge input, and the extra juice from the lights is causing the gauge to read high. I wonder how long this has been going on. Usually, I have the engine running before I turn the lights on when I do my pre-trip inspections, so I had not noticed the problem.

Tomorrow morning we will decide whether to pay for another night or two here, or pack up and continue on to the Buffalo River. In part it will depend on whether we find milk someplace today -- we only have enough left for one more morning.

Unenchanted Forest

We are parked just off a dirt road, Forest 518, at the junction of two high-clearance roads, in the Coconino National Forest (map), just a few miles west of Flagstaff, Arizona.

We did not make it far yesterday. In a sort of comedy of errors, I carefully observed both new tires during my pre-drive walk-around, even thumping them with a hammer (yes, I know -- not a reliable indicator of proper inflation). No sooner had we gotten onto the Interstate, though, when the tire pressure monitor system reported the right tag to be 40+ psi low, at around 70 psi. We had noticed a couple psi drop while driving the day before, and were mildly concerned the tire might have a slow leak; this confirmed it.

We pulled off in Seligman to take care of it. I ended up parking in a lot by one of the kitschy Route-66 joints, hauled out the air hose, and plugged it in to our on-board Hitachi electric compressor. Usually, we have the compressor set on 85 psi or so, which is all we need to keep the suspension up, operate the air door, and flush the toilet. To fill a tire, I need to crank the regulator back up to the compressor's maximum output of 135 psi.

As I was turning the knob on the regulator, it popped off in my hand, hitting me in the chest and landing on the ground. It turns out the plastic housing had become brittle, and the increased tension on the regulator spring caused the top of the housing to break clean off, sending the knob flying under spring pressure. With no regulator spring tension, we could not get any air out of the compressor, even though there was 135 psi in the tanks.

By holding the spring in with the broken knob by hand, we were able to get the tire back up to 85 psi or so (it only requires 90 for the load on that wheel), and we then limped along to the Chevron truck stop at the east end of town, where they had an air hose that could finish the job (most auto-only gas stations have their air systems set too low to fill a heavy duty tire). It turned out that the leak is in the stem valve, and I've stopped it temporarily with a stout metal valve stem cap with a rubber insert; as soon as I can, I will replace the valve core.

Knowing that the very next thing we'd have to do is fix the compressor -- so many things require air, and we'd have to start up the main engine every hour or so without the electric compressor available -- we decided to stop in Flagstaff, in case we needed a store or a shop. As Flagstaff proper is RV-unfriendly, we ended up here, in the National Forest, at basically the first place we could park Odyssey for the night. Under normal circumstances, we would have driven further into the forest in search of a more scenic and relaxing spot, but I wanted the easiest access to town if I needed to run in on the scooter for something.

Now, it happens that I had an air pressure regulator lying around, almost identical to the one on the compressor, except it is a 5-100psi unit instead of 5-135. Unfortunately, it was broken -- it had been part of the air toilet installation (the toilet requires the air pressure to be regulated at precisely 60 psi), and it had failed only a about a year after we hit the road. Not wanting to fiddle with the regulator, we simply stopped at Grainger and picked up a (slightly different) new one for around $12. I set the old one aside because I figured it just needed a cleaning, or a new diaphragm.

So after we got settled in here, I pulled out the spare, disassembled it, and cleaned and lubed it with WD-40. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, I finally got it to stop leaking, then set to disassemblng the compressor to swap regulators. After several unkind thoughts about Hitachi's design engineers (the thing seems to have been optimized for appearance over maintenance, unforgiveable on what amounts to a contractor tool), I managed to get the spare regulator in place, and all is working again.

There are two problems with this regulator. One is that it only goes to 100 psi -- fine for our daily use, but it means we can't get our tires above that pressure if needed; probably not a big factor, since 100 psi is enough to get us to a proper shop, and we can use the engine-driven compressor to get up to 120 psi in a pinch. The other is that it is just enough different from the stock item that it will not fit into the cutout on the compressor's control panel.

For the time being, I have things jury-rigged around the front panel. Even if I buy a 135 psi regulator, though, I think it will have the same problem unless I order the exact replacement form Hitachi for double the price. I'll probably end up just enlarging the cutout on the panel, in which case we might as well just use this regulator until we find some reason to replace it.

So, not really needing anything from Flagstaff, we will head back onto the Interstate today. The closest Grainger, which is really the quickest place to get a regulator, turns out to be in Albuquerque anyway. We'll probably make a quick stop at the Wal-Mart here though, to pick up a few grocery items and a valve core remover, since I can't find the one I know I have someplace.

For anyone following along with the saga of my computer, I was able to identify a number of corrupted DLL's using Microsoft's WinDiff utility, and I can now boot into safe mode after replacing those DLLs. Still can't get the full monty to run, but I am making progress. It is now looking to me like the hard disk itself is failing, although many CHKDSK passes have found no problems. I think I need to get a better disk checking utility.

Tonight we should be somewhere in the vicinity of Gallup, New Mexico, barring any further tire issues.

Yosemite in high season

We are at the Lower Lee Vining Forest Service campground (map), along Lee Vining Creek, perhaps three miles west of the eponymous town at the junction of Tioga Pass Road and US-395.

Monday morning we got a fairly early start (for us, anyway), leaving the Oakhurst Elks by 9:30 or so. I wanted to make the ascent into the park in the cooler part of the day, and I also knew that just before noon would be the best time to try to score an unreservable camp site, as noon is the official checkout time.

As always, the drive through the park was wonderful and scenic. With outside temperatures in the 70s and the low park speed limit of 35, Odyssey had little trouble with the enormous climb, although we did heat things up enough to cook some more oil out of the exhaust -- I will sure be glad when it is finally all gone and we don't have to smell it any longer. I bet the folks driving behind us felt the same way.

We arrived at Crane Flat around 12:30, a bit later than planned due mostly to two stretches of park road under one-way traffic control for maintenance. One of those stops was so long we ate our lunch -- no big deal for us, but we detected a palpable sense of frustration among the other drivers in line with us as we approached the 20 minute mark. In any case, we arrived just in time to grab the last 35' (nominal) camp site (map), which accommodated us easily and was actually a lovely spot. As I expected, though, it was under the trees, so we were unable to deploy the satellite dish. As a side note, Crane Flat is 50% (of 166 spaces) first-come-first-served, yet it is not listed at all on the Camping Without a Reservation page; perhaps that's why there were still plenty of spaces left at 12:30.

We observed that Yosemite Valley was, unsurprisingly, a complete zoo as we rolled past on the way to Crane Flat. Nevertheless, we were able to get a 5:30 dinner reservation at the Ahwahnee Hotel, an old favorite of ours. We rode back down the hill on the scooters, roughly 20 miles to the hotel. We had left ourselves plenty of time, in case we got caught in the construction again, but this time the delay was just ten minutes. So we decided to ride around the valley a bit, and see what we were missing at the valley campgrounds (100% reservations-required).

I have to say, our digs at Crane Flat were much nicer. The Upper Pines campground was absolutely cheek-by-jowl, and the Lower Pines only a little bit less so. Many sites had four or five tents in them, and the six-person limit per site seems to be widely ignored. Had I managed to book a site in one of these camps (several sites popped up briefly as available during my search, but all would have been a gamble on fitting us), we would have had the advantage of free shuttles to valley destinations (including dinner), and swimming in the Merced River nearby, but we would have been miserable from the crowds.

If we had, in fact, managed a site in the valley, we might have spent more than one night. But that was plenty for us, Yosemite veterans as we are, and we broke camp yesterday morning to head over the pass. Again, cool temperatures and a fairly low speed limit meant the climb from 6,200' at Crane Flat to 9,600' at Tioga Pass was fairly uneventful, and I only had to turn out a handful of times. We stopped briefly near Tenaya Lake for lunch, and again at Tuolumne Meadows for a bathroom break and to stamp our passport, which had somehow escaped it thus far.

The back side of the pass always makes for exciting driving, and even though we did not burn a single drop of fuel on the downhill run, I still had to pull over once to cool down, just from the retarder shedding that much heat into the engine coolant. I still had to stab at the brakes a few times even with the retarder engaged, but we made it down without heating either up excessively.

The drive over the hill is physically tiring, and we decided to stop at one of the half dozen Forest Service campgrounds on the eastern slope. This is actually the last one in the eastbound direction, and it turns out to be a lovely spot. We are in a lush grove of aspens, with wide separation from other campers (unlike in the park, where we opted to turn the air compressor off overnight to avoid disturbing the tenters). If we intended to stay a few days, we could choose a spot next to the river and set up the hot tub; since we are just passing through, we opted for a more isolated space closer to the entrance. There are nearly 60 sites here, but you wouldn't know it from the entrance or where we are parked.

Today we will make a quick stop in Lee Vining for some groceries, then continue east on 120 to the state line. We call this section of 120 the "whoop-dee-doo" road, because it traverses a set of rolling hills that give the road a roller-coaster aspect; when we've done it on motorcycles we've even gotten "air" on some of the hills. We will endeavor to keep Odyssey firmly on the pavement. That will connect with US-6, which will take us all the way to Tonopah, Nevada, where we will need fuel. From there we have a choice of three directions, and we will pick one tomorrow morning based on the weather outlook.

An oasis of cool

We are at a dispersed camp site in the Sitgreaves National Forest, off Arizona 260 (map). We are right on the Mogollon Rim, at about 7,600', and it was a downright chilly 65° when we arrived yesterday around 5:30. We slept with most of the windows closed last night for the first time in weeks.

I had expected that we would stay on US-60 after Show Low, descending rapidly to Globe and spending the night somewhere in the Tonto National Forest. That was the route recommended by Street Atlas on my computer, and since we are now under a little time pressure, I was just going with the "fastest route" recommendation.

When we plugged Westworld into the Garmin GPS, however, it recommended we divert in Show Low onto Arizona 260, which will connect in Payson to Arizona 87 and bring us in from the north. In addition to being some 20 miles shorter, this route keeps us at much higher elevations for more of the distance, and so we were able to spend the night at this wonderfully cool spot.

There are quite a few forest roads off AZ-260, and we might have chosen any of them, but our Days End guide talked about this one specifically. I suppose the fact that it is well-enough known to be in the guide should have told us it is a popular spot -- we can see seven other rigs from our spot here, and a little exploration yesterday evening reveals that there are dozens of rigs, and even numerous tent campers here. We, clearly, are not the only ones escaping the heat. I can only imagine it will get even more crowded this evening, with the onset of the weekend.

We actually selected one of the closest sites to the highway, since we are just passing through. If we were going to spend a week or two (which would be lovely right now), we'd make our way another couple miles deeper into the forest, where I would expect the camper density to be much lower. Where we are sitting right now is much more like a free campground than the true dispersed camping we love so much.

Our niece's first performance is this afternoon, so as pleasant and cool as it is here, we nevertheless must get underway no later than noon, so as to be settled in quarters at Westworld in plenty of time to get the scooters out and head over to the rink. The forecast says it will be 103° when we arrive, climbing to 106° tomorrow, 110° on Sunday, and 112° on Monday should we elect to stay until then -- likely, since we have scheduled some follow-up work on the turbocharger in Mesa. We'll see how we feel on Sunday after our nieces leave -- we might come right back up here to the cooler elevations.

No matter what, we will be at Westworld until at least mid-day on Sunday. If we stay in the Phoenix region beyond that, we will move over to one of the Elks lodges, where power is a bit less expensive. Today I expect we will have a lovely drive down through the forest. Yesterday's drive through the high country was magnificent as well; US-60 is lightly traveled and the landscape is naturally beautiful and mostly devoid of civilization.



Opal, not looking much like an oasis of "cool."



"Yo! Cats are way cooler than dogs."

One more night in the cooler elevations

We are at the Jemez Falls Forest Service campground (map), just off NM-4 on Jemez Falls Road in the mountains west of Los Alamos. We are at 8,000' elevation here -- it was in the 80s when we arrived, as it is now, and was refreshingly cool overnight. There are few mosquitoes here in the ponderosa forest, so we dined al fresco and I am sitting outside while typing this.

Wednesday morning we decided to visit Bandelier National Monument on the scooters, leaving the bus at the Los Alamos Elks lodge, with the A/C on to keep the pets comfortable. It was a beautiful ride, through coniferous forest with occasional glimpses of nearby mesas, and the Rio Grande valley off in the distance. We came into the park from the West, so we had the labs on our left ("warning: unexploded ordnance") and Bandelier on the right.

We took a quick loop through the Juniper campground, just to check it out, and we found quite a number of sites that would easily fit Odyssey. It was pleasant enough, but at a lower elevation than Los Alamos, and, with temperatures well into the 90's, we made the right decision to leave the bus behind. Dry camping here is $12.

The entrance road descends further into Frijoles Canyon, where the only "developed" section of the park resides. The CCC-built 30's-era visitor center sits next to what used to be a rustic lodge, both done in adobe style. The lodge closed in 1976 and is now staff housing, administration, and a concessionaire-run gift shop and snack bar. We had packed a lunch, and so ate at the picnic area across the creek. The visitor center is scheduled to close next month for restoration and renovation, so we counted ourselves lucky to have seen the historic building.

We both walked out to the main ruins, the Tyuonyi pueblo, a roughly circular structure on the valley floor. I continued along the 1.2-mile "main loop" trail and was able to ascend by ladder into a number of the "cavate" cliff dwellings, consisting of natural caves in the volcanic tuff enlarged by the ancient puebloans. Some of these can be found on the DoE grounds as well, and were pointed out to us on our tour.


Tyuonyi, as seen from a cavate.

We returned to Los Alamos via the eastern half of the loop, which meant we had to climb the grade (on the truck route) on our scooters, which did so just about as fast as the bus would. We pulled onto the shoulder a number of times to let traffic pass. It was late enough in the afternoon when we returned that we decided to just spend another night, and I went into the lodge to pay.

We decided to try the Japanese restaurant, Origami, that Georgia had recommended on the tour, just a couple of blocks from the lodge. Louise again had sushi, which was fresh and beautifully presented. I mostly pondered the irony of sushi and a good-sized Japanese-American population in Los Alamos.

Yesterday we packed up and decided to head towards Albuquerque on the western route -- west on 4 through Jemez Springs to San Ysidro, joining US-550 south to Bernalillo -- mostly because we've never been this way, whereas we'd been to Santa Fe. The two routes involved the same distance, to within a mile.

This route, however, did involve another considerable grade, which we would have avoided going the other way. After clearing through the Los Alamos National Laboratories gate, where we had a pretty thorough inspection (by contrast, on the scooters we had just been waved through), which allowed us to drive through the labs without heading down and back up the mesas, we turned west on NM-4 and immediately onto a 9%-10% grade, with several switchbacks, to ascend to the rim of the ancient volcano.

After cresting the volcano we found ourselves driving along the Valles Caldera, once a private ranch and now operated as a National Preserve. The preserve is essentially surrounded by a combination of the Santa Fe National Forest and Bandelier National Monument, and the superintendents of those entities sit on the preserve's managing board. I was amused to then find the caldera featured last night on a National Geographic program I watched on geology in the west.

While I had calculated only three hours to Bernalillo, ascending the grade was a lengthy affair. 10% at altitude and in 95° heat is very hard on the cooling system, and I found we had to slow down so much that the transmission came out of lock-up. That's a catch-22: with the torque converter operating, it's dumping even more heat into the cooling system, and the best we could manage was 15-20 mph, with three stops to cool down from ~212 to ~190 -- one of those stops was right smack in the traffic lane when the Check Engine light came on.

So it was that barely 20 miles of progress had taken nearly two hours, including the cool down stops and a brief stop at the Caldera to take in the panorama and read the information signs. Plus, we were now above 8,000', where the temperature had come down into the upper 80s. Remembering that it was pushing the century mark down in Albuquerque, we decided to stop for the night up here in the cooler elevations, and we turned off at what our map said was a dirt road.

The road turned out to be paved all the way to the campground, and beyond to a parking area for a ¼ mile trail to Jemez Falls. The campground is large -- four loops -- and popular; I am guessing this is about the coolest place to come for the weekend from Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Nevertheless we found a nice site in enough of a clearing to get the dish on-line.

I hiked down to the falls in the afternoon, which were lovely from the overlook, and refreshing when I waded out into the upper pool. Unfortunately, we had gotten some bad trail directions from the campground, and I ended up on pretty much a 4-5 mile hike, in my river shoes, after two wrong turns. Should have just stuck to the road, which was a direct shot. Today my feet are a little sore.

From here we will continue south through Jemez Springs and into Albuquerque, where we will be tonight. Most likely at the Elks lodge, since I expect we will need air conditoning full time, and our guide says they have 30-amp power. While in town we will make some much-needed stops at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Camping World. We are watching Investigation Area 97; if it appears that will develop into a tropical cyclone, we may turn east onto I-40 from Albuquerque, otherwise, we are thinking about heading southwest to Phoenix where our niece has a skating competition in a week. In either case, we will be in the heat from here on out.

Ahhh... boondocking in the cool forest

We are parked in a clearing off a dirt road in the Carson National Forest (map), half a mile or so from US-84, just south of Cebolla. Again, we are at the green arrow, not the red balloon -- I'm still annoyed with Google for changing their map format. Darned free services -- you can't complain to anyone about them.

Yesterday we had a nice scenic drive through the northwestern strip of the Carson, followed by the Jicarilla Apache Nation (at whose casino, down on 550 east of Counselors, we once stayed), across the continental divide, and into Chama, where we stopped at the visitor center.

Chama is the western terminus of the Cumbres & Toltec narrow-gauge, steam-powered scenic railroad, and we got some information about it at the visitor center. I'd heard about this trip before, and we decided to make the drive a mile north into town to check it out. We inquired about parlor car seats for today's trip, and, had they been available, we would likely have spent two nights at the RV park in town so we could enjoy a ride over to Antonito, Colorado (with return by bus). Unfortunately, the parlor car was sold out, and we did not relish a four hour ride in an open coach, so we decided to skip it. The train from Antonito pulled in just as we walked out of the historic station, so we at least got to see it. We high-tailed it out of the parking lot before the train unloaded -- the train was full, and we could see getting stuck there until the lot emptied out.

After driving through the touristy little downtown (the train is the only thing keeping Chama alive -- all the businesses we saw on the outskirts were boarded up), and stopping for supplies at the lone grocery store, we continued south through Tierra Amarilla to here. Our guides showed several stopping options further south, but this seemed to be our highest elevation opportunity, at 7,700'. Between the elevation and the partial tree cover, it has been relatively cool since we arrived, topping out in the mid-80s.

This is a great spot. Clearly well used, with three or four fire rings scattered around, and someone even built a privy of sorts a couple hundred feet from here. Yet there is only a modest amount of trash, and only a dozen or so vehicles have passed on the dirt road since we arrived. We are well back from the road, obscured by trees, so we have a great deal of privacy. It would make a great group site, as well, with room for maybe half a dozen rigs scattered around. To our north is a view out over the agricultural valley below.

There is an abundance of firewood here, and I grilled lamb last night and steak tonight over an open fire. Other than some lingering projects around the bus, we've had a relaxing day, and we will be here at least two nights. Tomorrow we will decide if we want to move on, or spend a third night in this lovely spot.

This morning we had a visit from reader Kate of Cholula Red fame. They are camp hosting at Ghost Ranch, about 20 miles south of here, and when she saw we were in the neighborhood, inquired about getting together. No pets allowed at Ghost Ranch, though, so I suggested she come up here. We had a nice visit.

From here, whenever we decide to leave, we will continue south toward Santa Fe. We might stop somewhere in between -- there is a Corps of Engineers site at Abiquiu Lake, and several more Forest Service opportunities on either side of it.

The horsey set

We are at the Bradfield Recreation Site campground, on the Dolores River (map), east of Cahone, Colorado. At an elevation of 6,500', it is remarkably cool here in the riparian zone, a marked contrast from the arid desert at 4,900' that we left mid-day yesterday.

There are a couple dozen sites here with picnic tables and fire rings. There are also a handful of vault toilets, and water is available from hand-pumps scattered around. The fee is only $8, and it looks to be only very lightly used. We made our check out to the BLM, who manages recreation along this stretch of the Dolores, but apparently the Forest Service once claimed this campground, and has a better write-up (we are at the edge of the San Juan National Forest). The Bradfields were ranchers who lived on this land at the turn of last century -- remains of their homestead can be seen across the river, and the remains of a horse-powered hay hoist are a short walk from our site.

We chose the single site furthest from the rest of the campground, with direct river access. The upside was that it was a short walk to the river yesterday afternoon for a refreshing swim, where by "refreshing" I mean colder than the Colorado. Still I was able to get in all the way in a section that was perhaps 4' deep, just upstream of the riffle across from our site where it is possible to walk across the river in just ankle-deep water.

We were also able to put our chairs in the water there and enjoy a pleasant glass of wine with our feet in the river. The only sound we heard last night was the water running over the rocks, and there are no lights here.

The downside to this spot is that the river access here is also for day use, and both yesterday and today a number of pickups have come by to collect tubers from the river, who likely put in upstream at the Bradfield bridge. Also, there are equestrian trails across the river, and the horse outfitters park across from us, unload the animals, and cross the river at the aforementioned riffle. Great to watch, but one annoying bunch rolled in this morning and took over our picnic table, even parking a car in our site. The outfitters said nothing to their charges -- I had to go out and ask the offender to move his car.



Yes, that's our picnic table.

Now that we've had a full day at this elevation to cool down, we feel ready to move on south, where we know it will only get hotter. We'll roll through Cortez on our way to the Ute Mountain reservation, where there is a casino with RV hookups -- we need to dump and fill, and I expect the power will come in handy to run the A/C's. They also have a laundry, of which we have need.

Oregon Caves

We are parked in a turn off on National Forest Road 4611 (map), in the Siskiyou National Forest, not far from Oregon Caves National Monument.

As long as we were driving by on 199, we really wanted to make the diversion over to the caves for the tour. The monument's web site recommends against bringing RVs further up the road than the Grayback Forest Service campground, but we tend to disbelieve these dire warnings (more on this in just a moment). As I wrote in my last post, we learned that Grayback was not yet open for the season.

On our way in to Cave Junction, we found a visitor center for the monument across the street from a Forest Service ranger station. We checked in at the visitor center first, who informed us that there was a private RV park just a mile or two shy of Grayback, and that became our backup plan. They knew nothing about the forest, so we went across the street to inquire about dispersed camping and look at the maps.

As is not uncommon, the person staffing the counter didn't really know much about dispersed camping, but we at least got the skinny on a couple of the paved roads, and found out what gates were still locked. We figured we could find a spot to camp if we proceeded carefully, so off we went down OR-46, the Caves Highway.

At Grayback I pulled off the road in front of the locked gate, and Louise took her scooter out to scope out the parking options. I stayed with Odyssey, in case anyone needed to get through the Grayback gate -- clearly, the volunteer camp host was already in quarters there for the season. We knew to stay off the main highway, so Louise made a quick run up this road. It's a single lane, with periodic turnouts for passing, and this enormous turn-around just before the road crosses into a single section of private land. Nevertheless, it had good overhead clearance, no inflections, and reasonable turn radii.

She did identify one unpaved spur that was clearly usable (and well used) for dispersed camping, but it was rather steep and had a section of soft gravel. We did make a brief effort to squeeze Odyssey into it, but gave it up as having too much potential to get stuck at the inflection. Instead, we continued here to the paved turn-around, reasoning that we are far enough off the road to be out of the way. There is also a small clearing just east of here that would be a good spot, except that it has been used as an illegal dump, with several houshold appliances and other miscellaneous trash, and it appears from our map to be on private land (although unposted).

We only saw perhaps half a dozen cars all evening, and the spot was dark and silent all night. We are surrounded by lovely coniferous forest, and can hear nearby Grayback Creek. It was a great spot, and, of course, free, whereas Grayback campground would have been $15, had it even been open.

This morning we took the scooters up to the caves, arriving around 11:30. Of course, as soon as we pulled in to the lot we saw a pair of 40' tour buses, an MCI and a Van Hool, and so it would have been no problem to simply drive Odyssey up to the monument -- we were, of course, reminded of a similar discovery at Chisos Basin in Big Bend after even more dire warnings posted there, considerably lowering the Park Service's credibility on this issue.



There were even a number of parking spaces marked "RV," at least a couple of which were 40' long. That's OK, though, because the road to the park was really fun to ride on the scooters, and we were able to park right next to the cave entrance.

We got on to a 12:00 cave tour, which consisted only of us and one other couple, so we had a much more pleasant tour than the typical 10-15 people. The tour was 90 minutes long, and ranger Brian was very pleasant and knowledgable about the cave. Afterwards, we stopped in to the historic Oregon Caves Chateau on the property for lunch.

Unfortunately, this early in the season, the coffee shop was closed, and we had to settle for buffalo chili (homemade, though) in the gift shop. At least we got to see the historic building. On our way back down the hill, we checked out a couple of other forest service roads, and attempted to look at the closer campground, also still closed for the season.

In a few minutes, we will load up the scooters and head out, with Grants Pass in our sights for tonight.

Under the trees at Panther Flat

We are at the Panther Flat campground (map), along US-199 in the Smith River National Recreation Area, part of the Six Rivers National Forest. The entire campground is under a dense canopy of conifers, so we are off-line, and I am typing this for upload later.

We had actually hoped to be a little further into the forest last night, but we found out that none of the campgrounds east of here has opened yet for the season. Continuing on to Cave Junction had also been an option, but the Forest Service campgrounds there are also still closed.

When we arrived here, we were somewhat surprised to find the temperature in the mid 70s, as it had been much cooler in Crescent City. Between the pleasant temperatures, the fact that the place was empty save for the camp host, and the emerald beauty of the river, we decided to stay, despite the inevitable jonesing for internet access.

Our solitude was short-lived. A pair of cars arrived later in the day with tent campers, who each chose, out of an entirely empty campground, to set up in spaces not far from us. Still, it was very quiet here last night.

It's much cooler today, but we will remain here at least through the morning. Then we need to move along -- not that we're internet junkies (we are), but we have a package here from our fire sale that needs to ship today, and we either need to get on-line to print the postage, or find a post office (there is none in the nearby town of Gasquet).

We should be in Cave Junction this afternoon, and we will hunt around for a place to stay. We'd like to go see the Oregon Caves, but with Grayback campground still closed for the season, it's not clear we will be able to park Odyssey within reasonable scooter distance of the monument.

Postscript: As I upload this, we are parked for lunch at the Patrick Creek Lodge (map), across from the Patrick Creek campground built by the CCC. The campground is not yet open for the season, but it is only a short walk on a lit trail along the creek, and it looks like it would fit us just fine, despite the guidebook indicating 35'.

Lunch was tasty, although the server was rather rude. Nevertheless, we would consider staying at the campground some time when it is open, and walking over here for dinner. The lodge itself was built in 1925 and has that CCC look about it as well.

My steering workout for the month

We are at Kirk Creek campground, on the Pacific Ocean in Los Padres National Forest (map).

This is one of our very favorite spots on the entire California coastline, at the western terminus of the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road, which starts on the other side of the forest in Fort Hunter-Liggett. We've stayed here many times on our motorcycles, either coming down highway 1 or across the forest, and this is the third time we've been here in Odyssey.

Naturally, the first person we encountered here was the camp host, running out to stop us because "you won't fit." Harumph. We informed him that we'd been here before and that we, not him, would decide whether or not we fit. The Forest Service's own web site even lists the "average" spur here as 44' long.

Of course we had no problem fitting into a space once we found one available -- almost the entire campground is now on the reservation system, and it is no longer possible to just snag a primo waterfront site by driving in without one, such as the space we had three years ago. No matter; the campground is arranged on a hillside, and we have an unobstructed view of the ocean over the tops of the other camp sites and even the restrooms.

The fee is now all the way up to $22 per night here, in part to pay for the services of the private concessionaire that now runs it. We liked the place better back when it was strictly first-come, first-served and the Forest Service ran it themselves. Still, it is very beautiful here, and serene.

We paid for two nights when we arrived, and today I've been getting some more projects done around the house. We also walked down to the "beach" (really a jumble of rocks), and just generally enjoyed hanging out in camp. We had a great drive up from Oceano yesterday, albeit slow once we hit the length-restricted part of the road.

It's easy to see why vehicles longer than 40' are prohibited on this stretch of highway. At just 39.5', we still had to stick across the center line on several of the switchbacks, one of the consequences of doing the route in the northbound direction. Many folks prefer this direction, because the shoulder fronts a rock wall rather than a multiple-hundreds feet drop-off, but the reality is that it is harder to drive. The rock wall means you can never extend past the right edge of the lane, forcing you over the center line in several spots, wherease southbound I know I can swing wide as long as the wheels are left of the fog line. Also, visibility is more restricted on the rock side in right-handers.

We found enough turn-outs to mostly keep to the legal number of cars behind us (California law requires you to turn out when there are five or more vehicles behind you), and the ~25 mph average speed was no problem for us. (Another reason why southbound is an easier drive -- turnouts on that side of the road, many of which are scenic overlooks, outnumber the northbound side by at least ten to one.)

We squeaked out of the 5-Cities Elks Lodge just before the Easter Egg Hunt started; they sprinkled the eggs throughout the campground, and I had visions of having to gingerly slalom Odyssey through gaggles of egg-seeking tots. Apparently, we also just missed reader Lloyd, who was looking for us there right after we left.

Tomorrow we will leave here mid-day and continue north, through Big Sur and into Monterey. There is just one more really tight stretch norh of here. Tomorrow night, we will either be at the Monterey Elks, or Laguna Seca.

Photo by hrtmnstrfr
(no, that's not Sean)