It's time to let you know what's up with us. It's been a while since my last post. Some of you have kept up with us on Facebook and even on that platform, the train's been missing from the station. Here is the condensed version of three weeks of our lives.
We left Gig Harbor, Washington, on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 19, and after a three-hour drive, we checked in at Pheasant Ridge RV Park in Wilsonville, Oregon (35 mi. south of Portland) around noon.
Saturday evening, we had dinner at PF Changs with Bob's son Randall and his friend Marissa. The visit was much appreciated. We don't see Randall nearly enough and it was fun to catch up with him and hear about Marissa's world travels.
They were supposed to meet us in southern Oregon on Sunday afternoon to hang out and swim at our favorite waterfall. When the kids were younger, we spent many weekends camping in that area, swimming in one swimming hole where we could slide down the waterfall into a big, circular pool. There were also many levels of rocks to jump and dive from. However, one of the big fires in Oregon burned that area to a crisp this summer.
Sunday morning, we had breakfast with my sister Jan and my son Michael at Elmer's Restaurant. It's a treat to spend more time with both of them.
Mom hasn't been able to have personal contact with anyone on the outside of the assisted living facility since our outdoor, separated-by-plexiglass visit on Sunday, August 23. No hugging or kissing back in August, but we could sit and talk to her in the courtyard.
On Sunday morning, Sept. 20, Bob and I took a bouquet of carnations to her. Once again, her facility was on lockdown because some surfaces in the facility tested positive for COVID-19, and a staff member on her floor had also tested positive. They have to have 14 days with no positives before they'll do the outside visits. We gave the flowers to the staff on the first floor to deliver to her room.
Back pain is haunting Mom again since she decided to do strenuous exercises in her room. It's very hard for her to stay inside and sit. She likes to get outside and walk around the neighborhood. It's three weeks after she injured herself and she still has bad back pain. They're monitoring her, but it looks like she will need to see the doctor again. She was doing beautifully for six months.
So Sunday, Like Romeo courting Juliet, we stood below her second-floor window and communicated back and forth. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear well and the yelling was ineffective. We called her on the phone, but her phone is tethered to the wall. She doesn't have a mobile handset so she couldn't see us while we talked. After our phone conversation, she came to the window and we blew kisses and sent hugs via hand and arm signals. It was obvious that her back hurt.
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Saying bye to Mom.
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After our heartbreaking, one-story-separated goodbyes, we went back to the RV park, hooked up our 5th wheel, and headed south for the winter. A fiery late summer in Oregon had us in smoke clouds as we traveled throughout the state. Air quality was hazardous (over 500 on the air quality index in places).
As Escapee (SKP) RV Club members, we are eligible to stay in SKP RV parks if there is room available. Timber Valley is the SKP Co-op park in Sutherlin, Oregon, and we stayed there for two nights. We applied for a lot and are now on their waiting list to become residents. They told us it takes about four to five years before a lot becomes available. When it does, we will pay a fee for our lot. Our plan is to spend part of the summer there. We will then rent out our lot to traveling Escapee members when we are traveling or in Texas for the winter.
Much to our delight, we saw jackrabbits, wild turkey, and deer in the RV park. On the downside, the jackrabbits and deer nibble and eat their way through potted plants and raised garden beds. We saw lots of high wire fences around potted plants and garden beds. Also on the downside, the fire came to within five miles of the park! Yikes.
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Wild turkeys.
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Jackrabbits.
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We went exploring around Sutherlin and found a beautiful covered bridge, a drive-in movie theater converted to an RV park (they show movies in summer and you can sit outside your RV to watch), and a lovely reservoir. We also made an eight-mile trip to K&R Drive-in in Rice Hill, an old family haunt, for Umpqua Ice Cream. We've stopped there for meals many times on our I-5 travels through southern Oregon.
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K&R Drive-in fun facts.
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This is the place off I-5.
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Rochester Bridge, 1933, Sutherlin, Oregon.
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Cooper Creek Reservoir,
Sutherlin, Oregon.
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K&R Drive-in, Rice Hill, Oregon.
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Mmm, Umpqua Ice Cream
at K&R Drive-in.
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Cooper Creek Reservoir,
West Day Use Area.
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On Tuesday, Sept. 22, we headed south on I-5 to Yreka, California. We could see the fire-blackened remains of homes and businesses next to the freeway in Phoenix and Talent, Oregon.
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| Awful fire damage. |
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Not much remains in this neighborhood.
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Terrible fire damage.
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We crossed the Siskiyou Mountains from Oregon into California; again, lots of smoke! |
Siskiyou Summit
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Fun fact: The Siskiyou Mountains are one of a few mountain ranges that run east-west. The Cascades, Sierra, Rockies, Appalachians, Smoky Mountains, all run north-south. |
Smoky Siskiyou Summit to Weed, CA.
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Cutting through the northeast
corner of California to Nevada. |
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| Yreka is our stop for tonight. |
Waiiaka RV Park next to the fairgrounds was our easy-off, easy-on stop from I-5 in Yreka, California. It's a basic, clean campground. Bob had to do his usual "let's drive around and see what's here" exploration of the city. We found a nice park and saw some old storefronts in the historic part of town.
Early Wednesday morning, we were up and on our way to Hawthorne, Nevada, via Mt. Shasta, McBurney Falls, Susanville, and Reno. A great benefit of being up early is seeing the sunrise behind Mt. Shasta in a smoky haze. Gorgeous!
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Smoke enhances sunrises!
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Mt. Shasta, California.
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Our route today took us through the burned areas of the Hogg Fire near Hamilton Mountain/Susanville on the east side of Mt. Lassen National Park. The fire was in July, but the area was still very smoky! I think they put this one out in late August. There are still other active fires in northern California contributing to the smoke in September.
One other stop was just north of Reno in a Walmart parking lot. Bob had to take a business call and I made sandwiches for lunch. We were there for an hour. The Walmart parking lot had an RV limit of three hours. While we were there, we saw a Walmart employee putting a note on the motorhome next to us. It seemed no one was there. They took down the license number of the motorhome. Uh, oh. Not good for other RVers if one of our fellow RVers isn't following the rules.
All the way south to Hawthorne, Nevada, we had heavy smoke (except Reno, NV). I can't imagine what it has been like to live in those areas for a couple of months with so much smoke.
We pulled into our campground in Hawthorne, Nevada about 4:30 p.m. and the smoke was terrible here as well. Below are views from our campsite at Whiskey Flats RV Park.
Ugh! Too much smoke.
Hawthorne, Nevada, is home to the largest munitions depot in the world, Hawthorne Army Depot. This is where old munitions are stored in as stable a condition as possible. Throughout the high desert south of Walker Lake, you can see the bunkers (2,247 bunkers to be exact), row upon row, of the storage facility. The depot covers 147,000 acres or 226 sq. miles.  |
A truly amazing amount of buildings.
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We left Hawthorne at dawn to get to Las Vegas by mid-afternoon. The high desert doesn't offer too much in the way of entertainment or scenery. I read my C. J. Box novel and Bob listened to his audiobook on the Pacific Ocean, which was quite fascinating. I put my book down to listen to his book.
This part of the drive is truly boring. Once again, Bob's refrain of "You have to drive through a lot of nothing to get to something" holds true.
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Entering Goldfield.
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The towns of Goldfield and Beatty were two of the more interesting places along U.S. 95 in this part of Nevada. Goldfield, as its name suggests, was a hot spot for gold mining. Here are history markers at a Visitor Center rest stop in Goldfield.
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Love it! Waldorf-Astoria, LOL.
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The next town that got our attention was Beatty. We found the burros of Beatty. That was a fun photo session.
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Our site at Las Vegas RV Resort.
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After we rested and freshened up, we headed over to Mom's house. She had made yummy brownies with chocolate chips in them, so we snacked on those. Mmm! Her two dogs were excited to see us and let us know it with barking, tail wagging, bringing out toys, and trying to sit in our laps.
Bob helped Mom with things that needed to be done inside and outside the house. She showed us the quilt she's working on which is lovely. Currently, it's hanging on the wall while she works on more of it. I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of it! Sheesh!
Dinner at Marie Callendar's was our restaurant of choice. We've always enjoyed the down-home food. Thank you, Mom, for treating us to dinner. That was very sweet of you. We chatted with Mom, ordered food for Laura (who had been teaching a dog obedience class), and headed back to Mom's house.
Laura met us there and we gave her her dinner. Her life is going well and she gets to work from home. It was great to see both of them.
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Laura, Bob, Louise in the back,
Sunny and Jolie in front.
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(In the photo above, Jolie is the black dog between Bob and Louise. You can barely see her.)
We said our goodbyes tonight because we're leaving early in the morning to go to Phoenix, Arizona to see Bob's Aunt Sally, and his cousins Charis and Mike.
On Friday morning, as we were heading out of Henderson, I happened to notice we had Mom's sunglasses in our console. We were at just the right spot on the freeway to take the exit to her house to drop them off. Luckily, the streets to her house are wide and we didn't have any trouble getting the 5th wheel there. We did have to walk a couple of houses down her dead-end street to put the sunglasses on her porch. We could not have turned our rig around at the end. I'm so happy we found them before we left town! (She was happy, too!)
We love the new freeway bypass around Boulder, Nevada. This was our second time driving on it. No more stoplights through Boulder!
Once again, the drive was light on excitement. Pretty areas included the mountains on the border of Nevada and California south of Hoover Dam, Joshua Tree Parkway, and the saguaros on the way to northern Phoenix. One funny mural was found at a Grasshopper Cafe or Bar, not sure which, north of Kingman, Arizona. It really looks more like an alien, being that we're not too far north from Area 51. (You know, little green men, and all.)
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| Grasshopper Cafe. |
Next stop, Cave Creek Regional Park in the northern Phoenix area. This is a handy place to camp to visit Bob's Aunt Sally in Carefree, Arizona. Our air quality had been fair since Wickenburg, Arizona, and we were delighted to be able to breathe without smoke filling our lungs and burning our eyes. As we drove to Cave Creek, we could see a big smoke plume in the direction of our campground. Oh, no!
We pulled into our site and the smoke was quite concerning. It looked like it was just over the ridge. However, it was farther away than that. It was, however, about ten miles north of his Aunt Sally's house. Thank goodness, the wind kept the smoke blowing toward the north, not the south!
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Our campsite at Cave Creek; note the smoke.
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After we got hooked up, Bob went to visit Aunt Sally. I stayed in the RV to relax and freshen up. I also had to give the cat his insulin before we headed out for the evening to visit our good friends Charlie and Debbie Smith who live in Sun City West.
Bob picked me up in time to go to their house. Dinner was a big green salad and chicken pot pie. It was yummy! Then we played pinochle for hours. The girls were smokin' hot for the first few games, but the guys doused the fire for a comeback in the last few games. We picked up a Dutch apple pie for dessert and had that about halfway through our marathon pinochle match.
It was 9:30 when we headed back to the 5th wheel. It was a little after 10:00 p.m. when we arrived back to find the gate to the regional park locked. At first, we panicked and thought we would have to walk about 1/2 mile in the pitch black back to our site. However, I remembered our email confirmation had a gate code on it for the nights we were there. I looked it up on my saved emails and found it. Yay! We got to drive instead of walk.
Saturday morning, Sally invited us to have an oatmeal breakfast. Our oatmeal was topped with brown sugar, blueberries, and bananas. We also had English muffins. After breakfast, we took a walk around the block in her neighborhood. I think we went about a mile. Then Bob helped Sally with some things she needed to have taken care of. It was such a nice visit with her. She is a wonderful hostess, so accommodating.
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| Curved-bill Thrasher. |
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| Female Gambel's quail. |
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Neighborhood roadside attraction.
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The smoke from the fire as seen
from Sally's neighborhood.
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Aunt Sally and Bob keeping
up a good pace.
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A politically painted BMW
in front of someone's house. |
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| They are espousing biodiesel fuel. |
Bob's cousin Charis invited us to their home for dinner and to swim in their pool. The timing was a little off for giving Sunnie his insulin, so Bob drove to their house with Sally and I took the pickup back to the 5th wheel. At the earliest possible time, I gave Sunnie his shot and then drove to Charis and Mike's home.
We had drinks and appetizers in their kitchen overlooking the mountains. They have a gorgeous home with an amazing view. Mike had a channel on TV that was playing travel scenery, so we could watch that too. Dinner was chicken enchiladas, rice, and salad. That was worthy of two helpings!
The sun was setting and their pool area transformed into a tropical oasis. It was the place to be. The evening was still quite warm which made the 80-degree pool feel chilly. How is that possible?
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Bob is ready to eat dinner.
We're right behind him.
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So pretty, and we have wine too.
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The sun is going down.
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Mike, Charis, Bob, Sally.
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We spent about 45 minutes in the pool.
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After such a pleasant evening, it was hard to drag ourselves away. We got back to the regional park at 9:50 p.m. and the gate was already locked. Oh, well, now we knew the code and it wasn't a big deal.
Sunday, September 27, we left early because we had a long driving day to Las Cruces, New Mexico. This was another long stretch of high desert without much to see.
We arrived in Las Cruces, set up our 5th wheel, and headed out to Mesilla, NM. This town gave us a refresher history lesson!
In 1846, President Polk declared war on Mexico. By 1848, the war had ended and most of the state of New Mexico was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo. But there was a border dispute. The treaty said the border should extend from El Paso, along the Rio Grande River, to the Gulf of Mexico. Because of an error, the United States had to purchase the area in dispute from Mexico. This was known as Gadsden's Purchase. Mesilla, New Mexico, is where the Gadsden Purchase was signed in 1854. This purchase of land from Mexico made the railroad's southern route possible.
Tonight, we chose to have dinner at La Posta de Mesilla Restaurante. The restaurant has been here for 81 years for a reason! Great choice! There are many rooms to explore here. Take a look around. Not only was the food outstanding, but the decor, history, piranha tanks, and aviary rounded out what was a very good decision. (Yes, I said "pirahna tanks".) After dinner, we walked around the historic Mesilla Plaza.
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Hacienda RV Resort.
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Our dinner awaits.
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Piranha tank.
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You wanna keep your hands?
Keep 'em outta da tank!
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Pretty decor in La Posta de Mesilla.
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The bar in La Posta de Mesilla.
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The church at Mesilla Plaza.
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Too bad the stores were closed!
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Well, maybe it's a good thing
the stores were closed. LOL.
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La Posta de Mesilla Restaurant is huge.
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On Monday morning, we left Las Cruces around 11:00 a.m. Today's drive to Fort Stockton, Texas, isn't nearly as long as the last few days' drives.
We have finally gotten smart about taking the "new" bypass around El Paso. It's a toll road, but the last two times we've been on it, they hadn't started collecting tolls yet. I can tell you that no matter what the toll is, we'll be taking the bypass to avoid El Paso traffic on I-10!!!
After a one-night stop in Fort Stockton, we were up before dawn to head back to San Antonio. It's a good thing we left early. Read on to find out why.
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Fort Stockton's roadrunner.
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We ride at dawn!
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Yours truly, broken down again. I was driving when I noticed smoke pouring out from the driver-side 5th wheel tire. Oh, no, not again! This is reminiscent of our problem in El Paso earlier in the year when our 5th wheel dropped down on our tires. |
Stuck on I-10 two hours from home!
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We broke down at 10:45 a.m. and Good Sam Roadside Assistance finally had someone on-site by 2:50 p.m. South Texas Mobile RV Repair was sent from south San Antonio to west of Kerrville to help us. That's two hours each way! Thankfully, the technician had talked to Bob on the phone about what our problem was. Bob sent him pictures of the broken link between the leaf spring and the equalizer. The tech came prepared with the correct parts and tools. It took him 45 minutes to make the repair. There was not much traffic on I-10 this afternoon, so not too many semi-trucks rumbling by. (However, Bob and the technician working under the 5th wheel might tell you otherwise!)
Good Sam Roadside Assistance told us they would pay for the mobile RV repair travel time; but in the end, they did NOT!
This put us driving home during San Antonio's rush hour. Truth be told, there wasn't much traffic and we were home by 6:00 p.m. What a day.
I know this blog title says it goes until today, but it's so long already I am going to sign off by saying it feels good to be home and to reunite with my BFF Susan Medlin.
My next blog will talk about what we've done since September 29, the date we returned home.
This WAS written on October 12, 2020, however!
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