Oakridge, OR to Last Chance, ID

Ok, so I need to catch up here....

This is a recap and updated to apx 7/1/2016, just before July 4th...
 (it's actually 6/27 Tuesday in writing this, but no internet connections to upload photos and blog.  Yes, I'm finding the routine on this blogging process, upload photos first and then upload the blog, transfer selected pics to the blog for your viewing, both of you, pleasure heheh)


Went from the Willamette SxS Rally

to Paulina Crater just up in the Hills from La Pine, OR.  Cinder Hill Campground, nice, not too many big places to park it and hard to get level.  Nothing right on the lake so views are limited.

Drove from Paulina Crater, light snow dusting last night,  through Central Oregon, which was a very nice drive through the canyons.  Recommend it if you have time...

Since I was running late, got lucky and was able to get into MaryHill SP, WA which is a nice one.

I've been here several times and learned to not take the front Columbia River sites if it's going to be windy at all.  They have the Maryhill Winery, heheh, yep, been there several times too, right up the hill along with the Hedgestone thing..  Park was showing as "FULL" but checked anyway and Ranger just had a move so I got lucky.

From there, made my way to Camano Island SP, WA to meet with some old Dive/Campout buddies, Barb & Wayne, and Rich & child (new dog, lab.  He's got his hands full with that one)  I didn't want to hit Seattle, WA and all that traffic, so went up to Hwy 2, Leavenworth and over into Everett, WA and up.

 One thing I keep forgetting on "Full Timing" is the days of the week and holidays. To me, it's just another day.  I came down Hwy 2 and it was a steady stream of traffic both ways.. more going out, but a lot going towards I-5.

Got to Camano Island SP and it was pretty much 33 1/3 (tent) full.  It's a nice place and if you happen to get one with the view, only about 3-4 sites if that, it's really nice. After driving around the various loops to find a site that was reasonably level, settle on one and made camp.

Saturday, just sat around the fire and renewed old diving trip times.  It was  good to see them all again.  I made some simple BBQ Zuchinni, camfire and all was good throughout the land.

From there to Whidbey Island, Penn Cove, to meet up with fellow "Camp Inn Tear Drop" campers.  They have a place they rotate from there to the Southern Calif and the place is very nice.

Good to see Michael and Susan again and Michael needs to find a new hobby, since they let the boat go....  Soaring, Michael, Soaring Gliders...  "Make it So" You'd be a natural at it, with your full time sailing experience.

I had some check outs at the VA in Seattle while "The Fox" was being upgraded with more solar and batteries and some minor fixes.  I now have 3 160w solar panels on top, 480w total, and 6 - 6vt batteries in pairs, so 3 sets of 3 pairs all hooked up together and ability to move, sigh, one-by-one off the truck onto the ground and hook up,  if I off load the camper.  A bit of a chore, but not going to happen that often.

(Another black box on the other side.  Inside is the "Quick Connect" to allow for offloading and hooking back up without being an Electrical Engineer)

The new batteries sit between the flat bed head board and the camper with quick connections on each battery and the cable to the camper.  Hopefully it'll all work out ok.

I also had "Le Droppe's" (Camp Inn Tear Drop) decals put on the Fox for old times sake and to remind me of the old days.  While most will look, put there hand over their forehead and turn away shaking their head, heheh, "C'est la Vive" (This/such is life" or something like that).  A few get a smile and chuckle on their face and a thumbs up, don't really matter, I like'em and haven't be kicked out of park yet.

Once I got everything "Done" in Seattle, I "done Boogies outta there" towards the PNW SxS Off Road Racing, sigh, but as a looky-loo, not a participant, talk about 'Money Pits"... heheh..

I stopped overnight at Beverly Sand Dunes, Beverly, WA for a cheap, no cost overnight.  Windy, but luckily all the dust has already been blown away.  Only one other camper there to ride the dunes.

I didn't off load as it's too much effort to unload/ride/onload and I didn't get there tll about 7pm.  Planning leaving in the morning so not worth it.  I"m not a "Dunner" (Sand Dune Rider) as much as a "Trailer" (Trail Rider).

While I like the dunes and will ride for Beer, but has to be fairly fresh as "Li'l Nel" can't take the "Whoops" (giant washboarding, 1-2-3' high washboarding  bumps) and the grooves from the big boy's toys... Li'l Nel's wheelbase is smaller and lower 'ground clearance, Clarence' (Movie Airplane, I just like saying it.) so the riding is rough, it' knock your teeth out.  Big boys can just speed over the tops.  I can too, until I hit the one that's out of synch and hit it about 3/4th of the way instead of the top.  Ouch... and possible breaking stuff which I can't afford to do.. so I'll ride dunes only if the sand is fresh.s

Onward to PNW Off Road Racing in Eddieville, WA (just in between  Goldendale,WA and the Columbia River).  Of course, got lost, wrong turn and with my "Nemesis" Garmin Nav?, sigh, a love/hate relationship, down a dirt/gravel road after setting, thanks Jason, to  "Avoid dirt roads"... or whatever it is on the settings,

Spent the weekend there, race was nice, hot, I was really there to see fellow racers and had fun.

Headed out on Monday to slowly make my way to Mackay, ID for the Lost Pines Rally, but it's not until 8th? so taking it slowly and checking out campsites along the way, which brings me Shelton County Park/Wayside, OR.

(Heheh, hopefully I'll get out BEFORE that tree falls)

Of course, no WiFi, Cell coverage which I hate nor DISH, heheh, which I really HATE!!.. heheh, and Yes, I'm a TV-holic & News Junkie... more for background noise than content quality, obviously lacking on the news front these days.

But it enabled me to watch the latest Star Wars DVD which I've been carrying around for the last month.

Not impressed, reminded me of the SW one with the Wookies, cutesy,  and the characters seemed to be  just reading the lines, mixed  the the "Hunger Games" generation...   I plan on watching it again, to night to try to follow it all, parts just didn't make sense and the situations didn't make sense either... as in, ..."ok, just leave or ???" a dangerous situation,  I dunno, I will try it again, but on a 1-10 scale, i'll give it a "5"... good, but sort of a "Yawh" and as fellow diver, John R, said, a remake... Hopefully the next ones will be better as in the orginal series.  And hopefully, just not a reversal from the old one, where the Light Side  was converted to the Dark Side and in this series the Dark Side is converted to the Light side... We'll see, looking forward to the Star Trek one coming out soon, and Independence Day... on Blu Ray of course...

(Having said all that, is this a Death Star Whammy?)

So, right now, as I'm typing this, I'm at Shelton and planning on meeting up for a day with old Neighborhood pals, Bill  and Ted L and friends..  (see Red Rock Canyon, CA) then not sure where I'll land but heading towards Mackay, ID for the Rally.  (Updated:  As it turned out, they broke an axle so couldn't make it, will catch up to them next time.)

This is my "Mapping Control Center" (MCC) and between several maps, remember no internet connection, and a beer or two to build up courage to take the "Off Beaten Roads", I, with yellow/orange/purple highlighter in hand,  mark them with careless abandonment.  "Turn here, oh, what's the skinny little road line, that looks interesting, swoosh goes the highliner marker... and that's the route.   Now the hardest part???  Trying to get my constant "Nemis", Garmin Nav, to accept it and actually go the particular route and not end up on some dirt road in Mexico...



I've been trying to use my USA map as sort of a log of trips/routes taken with dates.  I try to go a route that I haven't been on before.  Obviously I'll duplicate portions of the routes, but hopefully there are other "roads that lead to Rome" and will take them accordingly.  While they might be longer or a little more or a lot, out of the way, just need to do'em... so marking the various routes as I go. Sort of a history log book I can give to.... heheheh, well, I can take with me for the next life's trips...  and Next Life's book is filling up fast...

This should bring me up-to-date, as of today, whenever that is... heheh,  pre-4th of July but uploaded when I get the next internet connections.  Just waiting for Bil & Ted et. al. to arrive today, Wed, and then on the road tomorrow off the beaten paths to Mackay, ID.  I did see a train ride along the way, so might just take that.  One of those "Old Timers", I like trains... the old ones...
(didn't catch the train, only on weekends, next time)



Till the next one. and for all you "Mudder's" out there,
This "Mudder" is for you...
(MudSlides from scratch)

cheers

Links:
Willamette SxS Rally my pics
Paulina Crater - Cinder Cone Camp site
Maryhill SP, WA
Camano Island SP, WA
Beverly Sand Dunes, Beverly, WA

Middle Creek - Giant Redwoods - Carl G Washburne SP, OR - Apr 2016

El Mappo.... routing


Ft Bragg, was where I planned on starting up the coast.  MacKerricher SP Campsite.

but the good sites were all taken, and not into "Bush Camping" where you just sit and stare at some "Bushes"... no "Room with a View"



 So headed north, not really knowing what was going to lie ahead.  I just remembered seeing some camping "Icons" for NFS (National Forest Service) sites on the map.  Further up the coast there was a great place, right on the cliff.
Westport-Union Landing State Beach:



Very nice, perfect views and not busy or crowded.



No "dump n fill" stations and the water from faucet was looking pretty brown.  Ranger suggested boiling it.  Needless to say, I was pretty close be to being out of water and looking around for resources.  None...



After a few days of rationing, headed back down to Mackerricher to see what they had.  $8 for  a Dump N Fill.  Mentioned to the ranger there that the water at Westport was "ugly" next day they had someone out there taking a look-see and corrected it.  Basically just sediment, but...



Had to go into Ft Bragg for truck servicing, 15k oil light had been on for awhile.  Little did I know would be some $500 for oil, not synthetic, and fuel filters.

 Yikes, where was Jiffy Lube when you needed them.  Diesels are nice, but a little expensive to maintain.



Finished that, headed up to the Redwoods at Humboldt SP, Ave of the giants



And as everyone knows, driving thru there is really nice.  Lotsa Trees...  big trees...



Most State campsites were still winter closed, only one was open, right next to the visitor center and only a few spaces open.  Fewer more that were level and not all spots had water.  Remember, still out of water...  So pulled into a temp site, filled up and moved to the assigned site.



Lessons learned, always do a 'Dump N Fill' up before you go out.  You just don't know what's waiting or not waiting when you get there, so I now make it a point to do just that.  Second time I've been out of water and planned on it being available.  No more, thank you so nicely.



Redwoods were nice, but, Yawn, samo-samo, there's a big tree over there and another there and, OMG, look, a big tree there... heheh, so time to move on.  One night was enough.



From Humboldt to Southern Oregon, Brookings.  Nothing really exciting about there, again had trouble finding a spot, but figured it was just a one night stand, didn't really matter.

Stayed at Harris Beach SP, jammed, but found a spot. Up on a cliff, the Big Boys, coaches had all the view sites locked up, so back to the bushes.  Just had dinner, watched the news and hit the bed.  Exciting eh? heheh, not all the time.
From Harris Beach, up the coast.  As everyone knows, driving up the Oregon Coast is nice.

I started up the Coast thinking well there're plenty of State Parks along the route.  There were, but pretty much filled up with anything with a view.  Camping, Summer "BKT"s (Bugs - Kids - Traffic) had already started.

Finally found a First Come, First Served (FCFS) site at  Carl Washburn SP .



It's on the East side of the highway and an interesting walking  loop to the beach. Park it's self is " Bush Camping"  but very green and 'Forestie'.   I'm not sure why, there is no good reason that I can think of, but I didn't really like it here.

(Back door view)

 Maybe no "Room with a View"... dunno, but interesting Bush Cover trails, kinda kewl..



Beach is just a beach, sand to water.. nice to walk along, but nothing of interest.



Time to move on...



Onward and upward to South Beach, OR

Westport-Union  map

Redwoods  map

Carl Washburne  map


Gallery Pics here.

Red Rock to MIddle Creek, Upper Lake, CA

Nothing really exciting to report, more of a trip report from Red Rock Canyon, CA to  Reno, NV,  to Middle Creek, CA and up the coast to Oregon.



Left Red Rock Canyon SP, CA,



up Hwy 395, very nice drive, to Washoe SP (State Park).  Located between Carson City and Reno, NV.



Very nice park, like living in an Wildlife Reserve, which it is,   Quiet and peaceful and great views to the western snow capped mountains.



Had to pick up a Rx from the VA in Reno... what I figured would be 30 min at most, took 4+hrs...  I had to "Register" at that VA, they had to import all the records and military history before I had to have a consultation with a Doc/pharmacists who could "Re-prescribe" the Rx my Seattle VA PCP has already done.  Sigh, and I thought the system was improved, not so.

Left Reno, headed over to Upper Lake, CA and Middle Creek NFS (National Forest Service)  for awhile.  Rent is cheap, $4 night with the "Old Geezer's pass" as I call it...



Middle Creek, nice park,



but is a single track ORV (dirt bike trails) staging point and on the weekends can be or "IS" noisy...



I stayed there for a bit, Ran out of water and had to do  a "Dump N Fill" to a town apx 40 min away.  They had the Dump part, City Park, but no water.  Had to pay $5 to a local market/gas station to fill up with a garden hose.

I went up to another site in the area, Deer Valley as the ranger indicated I'd have phone and internet connections, top of a hill.  went up there, narrow dirt road, but like ice (mud) when wet.  Nice drive, green valley etc.  Just had to watch the overhangs at times.

Road wasn't bad except when it was. Had to use 4wd but got up there.  Pretty much isolated, no "connections" spent one night there and came back down.



Rain storm was forecasted and never would have made it down due to mud and drainage ditches.



It was time to move on.  Heading out to Ft Bragg, CA for Truck Servicing and starting up the coastal route.

Lesson's learned:

- Always do a Dump N Fill, when leaving a place for the next major stop.  You never know what's at the other end.

- Internet & Phone coverages are important for full timers. It's ok if you're just camping for a weekend and come back to "home", but the Camper is your "Home" and things popup where you need the coverages.  Also, to post a blog, heheh

- Garmin Nav, I hava "Luv-Hate" relationship going on here, I now always carry a map and have learned to study the routes more closely as you'll see in the next leg.

All Gallery Pics Here:

Red Rock Canyon SP, CA  and Website
Washoe SP, NV and Website
Middle Creek Park CG, CA and Website
Deer Valley Park GG, CA Website (no photo gallery, not much to photo)

Red Rock Canyon Mar 2016

(just north or Mojave, CA)


This was a fun trip to meet up with the "Boys in da Hood" that I grew up with.  I haven't seen Bill for about some 20+ years and time before that in '67 SEA where the before photo was taken, so it was good to catch up on  everyone including the "Goon Squad" which was our High School days nickname for the group.  Funny to note, that it appears that many "found Gawd"... hmmm... might say something about our teen years.. dunno, don't care... whatever works...

Before:  Bien Hoa, VN (SEA) cira: 1967-68?



After:  Red Rock Canyon, CA Mar 2016

(I don't really notice any difference at all..  button down shirts vs T-shirts... about the only difference I see.. hehe Gawd, sigh getting old sucks big time)

Bill and Ted L have those VW Busses, but they have the special 4x4 "Syncro" ones and unfortunately to me that simply means they pretty much go anywhere off road.



We were originally going to meet at the Jumbo Rocks in Twentynine Palms.  As I was driving out of Las Vegas, a phone call changed it all to Red Rock Canyon dud to the 'Spring Breakers' taking up space, aka packed... Damn Students anyway.  It was an annual group ride and for the VW class busses and apx 12-15 showed up.
 
I've often driven by Red Rock Canyon but never really stopped to check it out.  Great cliff formations made out of something, clueless on what, looks like clay, tastes like clay too... so if it looks like a duck.......?

 

Camping, leveling was a little hard to do at their location so, chose a site right be low.  It was "Dry Camping" and Calif sure "Loves" there spots at $25 a night for dry.  Sorry, I hate Calif... heheh.



The game plan was just to explore the area and do  a campout.  While Bill and Ted were the only ones I saw that went out on the trails, the rest had a good time just 'Putzing' around, Tortoise Racing, seminar and  a hike to the top of the cliffs...  Apparently a few movies have been filmed at the canyon.  I can see why with the cliff formations.



It also has an extensive ORV area, sigh Ole Nellie/Nel , trail system and a free camping spot, Dove Springs? Whatever,  where you see the pics  of the VWs going up the sand banks.  Free camping, it would have been my choice, but with it goes the ORV crowd which isn't known for peace and quiet, so mixed benefits.




Dinners and then a campfire were the schedule for afternoons.  It was just nice sitting out in the warm arr, clear skies and catching up.

I was able to go along on several, aka the 'Only rides', and the 2nd one was to the top of some mountain, along with the Pacific Crest Hiking Trail.  I had always wanted to do PCT, but couldn't find any "reliable'" shipping sources to mail the 2 week supply packages.  It's always been on the list... heheh, and the fact that most started on Apr 1st is not missed on this 'Phool'... Coincidence? Perhaps... Maybe... but??? just say'n...heheh..



All in all, the trip was a good one and especially good to meet up with member's of the "Goon Squad" again and catch up on all the others.  The riding was fun, but as we all know... driving it is  "Mo'Funner"...  It would have been fun in "Li'l Nel"



Next stop is on the way to the coast.  heading towards Reno, NV for a stop at the VA there for Meds and then on to the Coast to start working my way up the coast.  I miss my Trees & Ocean.
One day at a time eh??
cheers..

 

Gallery Pics Here.

Valley Of Fire, NV Mar 2016

While on my way from NM, Ice Cave enroute to Jumbo Rock, Twentynine Palms, CA, I figure I will stay here until everyone meets up.



It was a surprise as out in the middle of No-Mann's land, these Red Rocks appear.



Immediate first thought was Wheeeerrrrssss Freddy and Wilma... and kept looking for Dino? (heheh, I sorta missed the whole Fred Flinstone dealy).



It was a great stop, looking at the rocks.  The wind kept following me around and caught up to me here.



Since no Buggy to get around and explore, I was able to just walk the local area.


Campsites back in the rocks are kinda kewl, would be a fun place for a small group.



No hook ups at this site, 1 of 2, but the other one did have hook ups,but not quite as nice and for $10+ a night, so passed.  No cell/Wifi connections, seems to be the norm now.  You can walk across the road a bit for a maybe? 1-bar connection



Anyway, nice place to stop for a a day or three, but wouldn't want to live there.



Onward and upward to Jumbo Rocks, but..... plans changed midway... Just outside of Las Vegas.

Gallery Pics Here..