Mount Shasta California (Lake Siskiyou), again

We arrived in Mt. Shasta on last Thursday, a day early for the rally, set up the rig and headed around the park to visit all our old friends and meet several new members. Before it was all over we had about 32 rigs with I don't know how many dogs.



On Friday night we all got together for meet and greet but before we started we did some other meet and greet with the local population. Roxanne was able to pet the deer as if it was just another one of the dogs.

Dave decided that they needed some more food so he was able to hand feed one of them. This is only one of about 12 that wandered around the camp.

We finally did all get together for one of several times. What a great group of people (and lots of great food!).

We had a one-day fishing derby and here is Ray and Bill with a good string of fish (in Ray's fold-a-boat). Not sure how many folks finally got out on the water, but they had lots of luck with bringing in quite a few fish. All the fish were prepared and we had a great fish fry that night (actually they were barbequed and were very tasty).

Another night we shared a great meal that was catered and shared with all. Here is the caterer barbequeing the chicken and beef. Delicious! One thing about the MOC rallys, no one is going to starve!

Robbie, Alice and the two of us drove up to Castle lake. The truck is parked at the far end of the lake, and we headed out on the trail trying to get around the lake. When we got into the snow we lost the trail and went just about as far as we could, then turned back. What a beautiful view from close to the top of the mountain.

Thanks Robbie for the picture. I am sure the kids will enjoy seeing another picture of the two of us, and wow, what a backdrop.

Just another view of the lake without all the people cluttering it up.

Back near the truck this is the view looking across the lake and up the mountain that we just hiked. Not a long hike but pretty steep and rough.

We then headed to another area where there was a geocache to find. Down the hill to another back road until we had to park and walk the last half mile. The cache was located near this waterfall and we hiked down and got some great pictures. It's hard to get a picture showing how large this really was, but this is the best we could do.

On this old back road we also found the remains of a resort that was build about 1889 near the location of a hot springs. I should say all we found was the remains of the retaining walls and the water system for the hot springs. Dry now with nothing but the smell of sulphur and cold water.

The last evening Dick went for a short hike and was able to get some pictures of the setting sun on the side of Mount Shasta. We will leave you with this picture and post more after the next stop on our rally trip.

To be continued...

Behind U.S. Government high security facility

Let's see, we had left Carson City Nevada and headed for Winters California. The object of all this travel is that we are heading for a Montana owners rally at Lake Siskiyou near Mt. Shasta California and then more of the same rally but moving into Oregon. Winters was just another stop in the process of getting there.

The RV park was a nice park and to make things even better our friend Steve (fellow MOCer) was there at the same time so we got to spend some time with him again. We backed up to the river set up and had a very enjoyable stay except for two things. It got up over 100 degrees for all the time we where there and our air conditioning quit working on the last day. It got real hot inside the rig and it only cooled down to the high 60s during the night. This could take some time to get fixed as the factory that makes and stores the parts we need burnt to the ground last month. Why us?

The campground was located about 11 miles west of Winters up in the hills and was at the base of a large dam with a huge lake behind it. A little freaky thinking about all that water just above where you are camping.

We drove around the area checking it all out and went to the top of the dam and shot this looking down. Check out the road on the other side of the river with the fence on both sides of it; more on this later.

Standing in the campground you can see how close the dam is to our camp.

We went for a hike one day up an old dirt road that went north out of the park. We never did reach the top before it was time to turn around. On the way back we decided to check out the secure area behind the gate that lead to the base of the dam. A narrow road with a high fence with barb wire on top at both sides. This is the area we looked at from above. Well there's no going down that road with this gate and fence there!

A look at the sign indicated that it was a good idea to stay on this side, don't want to mess with "property of the United States", or should we?

Hold it, what's this, another secret security type of lock, must be armed so don't touch it. Looks like a heavy duty lock. Oh, look if you squeeze that little purple thing the gate will unlock. I don't see anyone around so should we try it?

Jackie, what are you doing on that side of the fence, you could get into big trouble with the secret service. I am going to tell on you.

Okay I will walk down there, but only to see what's at the base of the dam and then we have to run like H__L to get the gate locked again.

Very interesting security.

The main road cuts right through the campground and from the bridge that crosses the river you can get a nice shot of Steve's and our rigs backed up to the water.

The day before we left we took a trip into town to visit this factory. So eat your hearts out, or should I say eat all the Jelly Belly's you want. The tour was interesting and fun and we got to see most of the factory with millions and millions of these little treats being made and packaged. We had to wear paper Jelly Belly hats so we didn't get hair into the candy making process. We picked up some extra hats for all the kids. And we know how much Deanna likes those little Jelly Bellys, so we got her a surprise. Our friend Steve is a real Jelly Belly nut -- he bought a whole case of Belly Flops (the rejects)!

If you are a real fan of Jelly Belly's you can get just about anything you want with the logo on it. This is just one side of the gift store between tours.

A shot looking up in the gift area. (Of course they wouldn't let us take pictures on the tour - might give away trade secrets!)

We departed Winters and headed north again for one last stop before the rally. At Orland California we took the time to get the rig and truck all cleaned up so we could pull into the rally with a little pride. I think it only took an hour to get all the bugs off of the front.

Jackie found a little old man about 190 years old who had a large yard that he turned into a garden and was selling lots of fresh vegies right out of his yard. We got a bag of artichokes for a dollar, a bag of potatoes for a dollar and some onions for the same price.

We pulled out the next morning and made our way to Lake Siskiyou, set up the rig and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening conversing with old (and new) friends. A nice fire after dark and more to come over the next two + weeks. (We'll have some pictures of this on this next blog, but suffice it to say for now that the weather is perfect and we're having a ball!)


To be continued...

Happy anniversary Michelle and Jason

We have had a few moves since our last post. Lets see, our last post was from Page Springs Arizona and we are now in Winters California with stops in Pahrump Nevada, Tonopah Nevada and Carson City Nevada.

We left Carson City yesterday morning about 8:00 AM and headed straight up to over 7000 feet and then down to about 5000 and then back up again to over 7000 and back down and down down to about 500 feet here in Winters.

We set up next to Steve, a Montana owner friend, and then realized that we needed to post a happy anniversary blog for number 2 daughter and her husband Jason. Guess what, no telephone or Internet in the valley we are in. Our friend Steve was able to set up his satellite dish and we connected to it so we can get this blog off. Sorry Michelle but this is the only picture I have on our computer of the two of you and it's taken a few years after your wedding. I have a picture or two of your wedding but they are at Uncle Guy's back in Ephrata, sorry about that.

This Blog is for you and Jason, we just want to let you know that we miss you both and want to wish you a very happy anniversary even if it's a day late. We will give you a call when we get into cell phone coverage.


To be continued...

More old stuff

Before we departed Page Springs we realized that we had failed to check out one of the local monuments so we hit the road for a short day trip and headed for Tuzigoot National Monument.


Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400.

Why did they build it on the top of a hill and had to haul all their water up? This is the view as you come across the desert and look up at the site.

Jackie is looking down onto one small section of what remains of the lower section of the walls. All the access to the rooms was via a ladder up to the roof and then another from the roof down in the the living area.

Another view of remains of more rooms.

At the top was a reconstructed room that you could go out onto the roof and view the surrounding area. It was built the same way as the original was in very ancient times except it was rebuilt about 2' taller than the original.

When we left Page Springs, we went to Kingman, AZ. For a day trip we drove up to an old mining town called Chloride. Back in the 60's a hippie painted rocks above the town. We drove up the "road" to see the rocks. Luckily the "road" was only 1.3 miles long. It was a horrible 4x4 road, some of which you can see in the picture above.

Another view of the "road" and the painted rocks

When we left Kingman we drove to Pahrump, NV via the top of Hoover Dam. They are working on a new road, but until it is finished the traffic still goes across the top of the dam. Quite a site. Unfortunately we couldn't stop to take pictures because we were hauling the 5th wheel.

Here is a shot of the new road (bridge) from the moving truck.

At the RV Park in Pahrump we attended a happy hour followed by karoke. Here is a picture of Jackie with two other women trying to sing karoke--it was awful. Oh well, others were better and we had a good time. We even were able to dance to some of the songs.

Tomorrow (Tues., 5/12) we leave here for places north. Two or three more nights in Nevada and then west into the mountains of California,

To be continued...

Sedona Arizona

Here at Page Springs Arizona we are just about 15 minutes away from Sedona and it is such a beautiful place to visit; just ask Darin and Deanna. We have taken several trips into town and around the countryside.

This day we decided to park and walk the town and look at all the shops. So Dick could drool over all the turquoise men's jewelry. We stopped in a camera store and Dick picked up a "Cir-Polarizing" filter for his camera. Later we made a stop and had lunch on the back patio of a bar and now was the time to try out the new filter.

The first picture taken during lunch is with the filter turned to what he would call the off position. You can see the clouds, blue sky, green trees and a little of the color of the hills. Click on it to blow it up.

Now take a look at this one with the filter adjusted to make ALL the colors just pop out at you. After clicking on this one notice the big difference. What took him so long to get this new filter?

Again without the filter...

And with the filter..

Remember these are taken from our table at the bar. What a view this town has.

Another day it was time for another hike. It was a hard 4WD road to get to the trailhead at Devils Bridge. The little hill in the background had to be climbed to about the tree line to get to the bridge.

We are off up the trail that just kept getting steeper and steeper.

We had to stop and look at the unique flower that was starting out of the center cactus. Wish we could come back and see what it was going to do. But we had a destination in mind and we are off again after a picture or two of the plant.

This just gives you a view of how steep it really got. What can we say but it was straight up the rocks and then to a flat where we had to continue up the just about shear face. Wow what a trooper Jackie is to tackle this very difficult area. Not sure if we would have tackled it if we knew in advance how the trail was.

Because we are posting this blog you can be assured that we both made it up and down.

Still not at the bridge but had to stop and get a picture of Dick standing on the edge. Now that we have the picture please step away from the edge.

We finally made it and yes it was worth the long hard hike.

Another view looking down at a slightly different angle.

On the way back down we had to take a side trail to view the bridge from the bottom. This young lady walked onto the bridge and waved at us just as I was getting the picture. We talked to her later and she indicated she was not comfortable on the top at all but just went out so her friend could get a picture and then hurried off.

It was time to head home but not before looking back and getting one more shot of this beautiful area.

To be continued...

It's our 1 year anniversary

Yesterday was a big big day for us; we have now been on the road for exactly one full year and we must say are still loving it. You can’t get off easy without some statistics before scrolling down for the pictures of what we have been doing.

365 are the number of days now on the road, as of April 30.
24,980 are the number of miles we have traveled total, consisting of:
7,468 miles pulling the 5th wheel, and
17,512 miles playing tourist without the 5th wheel trailing behind.
110 are the average number of miles traveled between parks.
68 are the number of times we have hooked up and moved.
730 are the number of time Dick has told Jackie how much he loves her, or it could be more.
5.4 are the average number of days we have stayed at each stop.
ON EDIT:
105 are the number of Blog posting made or
3.5 are the average number of days between postings.
5652 are the number of hits on our blog or
15.5 are the average number of hits per day.

If you want more statistics let us know otherwise please continue with the weekly update.

What a better place be at for our 1year anniversary than Page Springs Arizona. The town is this RV Park, one closed out-of-business restaurant, and that’s it. But this little park is an Oasis to be enjoyed. This is the view out our back window with a rushing stream that runs through the park in two places and also is bordered by a larger creek.

What a joy to sit out in the morning and evening next to the creek under the trees and enjoy time with good friends.

Last Saturday we took our friends Robbie and Alice back to Camp Verde, had dinner and then snuck in the back door of the park to listen to a great family music group. And of course we just had to dance. Thanks Robbie for the pictures.

Dick was made to stand and take a special birthday song from the cook and his wife at the park. As you can see Jackie is getting a good laugh out of it.

For Dick’s birthday Alice and Robbie took both of us hiking on a short trail. Well it was short until we got close to the end and decided that it was far enough for us as the round trip was about 5.8 miles.

Off we go ready for a fun day. No, the paved trial was only a short distance and not all the way to the end.

Jackie has now graduated to a super hiker; she crosses the rivers and climbs the rocky slopes like a real pro. Wow is Dick proud of her. This is one of several forges we had to make as we worked our way up the canyon.

Just a shot of Jackie and Alice up ahead of us but what a view of the mountains and the creek. Hard to keep up with these two. (Dick and Robbie were both taking pictures--Jackie and Alice got tired of waiting around every curve!)

Just a typical eroded rock in the creek. Gives you an idea of how deep it can get during the rainy season. The trees and bushes are all greening up and it sure is beautiful.

The rocks just tower above and around you with every turn of the trail. We would be broke by now if we were still shooting print film.

Jackie climbed the rock along the creek bed so Dick could get a better picture of her and the surrounding area. What a beauty, Jackie that is, not the rock. (Guess who is writing this blog?)

One of the things Alice planned was to find a geocache on the way up the trail. About 2 miles in we all looked and looked but could not find it. On the way back, we started before Robbie and Alice, and we decided to try again to find it. After analyzing the hints we decided where it should be. Dick took off across the creek, up the side of the mountain and in 5 minutes had found it. If you blow up the picture you can see Dick at the top where it was located but don't tell anyone. Ask us some time to show you the pictures of what it took for him to get down off the top of this rock pile.

We were both sore for two days after this one (actually it was Dick and Robbie who were sore), but thanks Alice for picking this one; it was a great day and we are glad you shared your time with us. And thanks again for the birthday dinner.

This is just a pretty picture that Dick likes of the Sedona area. We will show some more next time and also from another hike we did and the results of the new filter for his camera.

To be continued...