Windy but not so much blustery

I took this video this morning for my friend Tory. I thought I would try to add it to the blog just to see if I could. It seems to be loading ok.... good news for my tech support guy ;~}

I can't get used to the idea that even when it's grey and windy, it can still be warm. It got into the mid 70's at one point this afternoon. I opened all the windows and the door and baked pumpkin pies for Thursday. We are 'potlucking' with some other folks here in the 'dog corner' of the park.

A Little Bit of Work

This is a picture taken last week... California gets wildfires and we get beautiful sunsets.... it's not a fair trade but we do apprecitate them!

Just in case you think it's all motorcycle riding, fiber spinning and cocktail hour, I'm posting these pictures of Dave and Scott working. They are re-landscaping the front of our lot here in Arizona. Keep in mind that the weather here has been warmer than normal for this time of year.... about 85-87 degrees for the past few days. It took a couple of days to complete the project but they got the day off yesterday cuz it was my birthday. They re-used alot of the materials that they took out except for the lava rock that went to the neighbors place. I did my part to stimulate the economy by purchasing lights to decorate the new space

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Two Weeks In

The weather has been warm and dry, very much as we like it. Our friend Scott and I have made a couple of motorcycle rides and Paige has connected with her fiber friends so we are off to a good start.

The Long Way Around

Our arrival in Apache Junction completes our 2008 road trip just short of 11,500 miles. It has been an amazing ride and has only fueled our desire to see more of our country. Nearly every where we stopped we would like to revisit.

Apache Junction and nearly in one piece

We arrived nearly on time, just four minutes later than I had estimated. Crossed Hoover Dam and drove south via US-93/I-40/US-93/US-60/I-101/I-10 and US-60 again. We were bumped by a passing car trailer on the on ramp from US-93 to I-40 with minimal damage to the right front corner of the MH. The truck didn't stop and may not have known his trailer clipped us when the changed lanes. The AZ State Patrolmen we contacted had a witness who got the number of the pickup truck and trailer; made a statement describing the incident and we're following up with an investigation.

Boulder City

We made the long-haul (for us) from Hawthorne NV to BC today in what was good weather for traveling. Temps here are in the 60s which feels very good after four days below freezing. Traffic through Las Vegas was nuts even on a Sunday afternoon with narrow lanes and posted 65mph limits the bulk of the traffic was moving 15-20mph faster. Had a great visit with my Aunt who lives in Henderson this evening too. In the morning we will make the final run for Apache Junction AZ for some RNR.
Gypsy was REALLY glad to see the sun! She doesn't normally ride on the dash but had to get as close as she could to the heat. Once we headed out of the sun, she was down looking for the next hot spot. Tomorrow morning we get to cross Hoover Dam. In spite of the inspection, it is an awesome sight.

Reno to Hawthorne

A short trip but the weather was in question and there just wasn't much south of Hawthorne until Vegas. Pictures are from Reno this morning, the ride south and from the front window here at Whiskey Flats RV Park in Hawthorne NV.

Still Reno

Weather forecast was for snow flurries and wind warnings so we have decided to stay here until tomorrow and change our route south a bit to the east. It will save us a day and get us into warmer weather sooner. Pictures from this morning are a far cry from the previous two days. Looking close for the icicles. Much like Bryce Canyon last year; our water hose was frozen this morning.

CA SR-49

Scott and I rode the northern 100 miles of SR-49 today. It started off as a brisk clear day and remained so to the end. Bear in mind, we rode both directions including the 15+ miles from Reno to SR-49 for a total of 235 miles; over one pass of 6100 ft and two or three over 5000 ft each way. Wonderful road with better than average California pavement.

Reno, almost

A good day, not much wind and plenty of sun. We took separate paths as it were, when Scott followed us out of the RV park and went right on 97 instead of left on BUS 97. So we went east of Mt. Shasta and he went around it to the west, an extra 100 miles. We arrived here near Reno about 30 min apart.

Next Step

Windy today made driving difficult but it should be better tomorrow. Passed a shoe tree today. Picture says more. Spending the night near Klamath Falls then on to Reno NV in the morning.

AZ Bound

Slipped our mooring this morning and found our way to Moro OR for the night. Western Washington's weather has turned to typical fall so it was a good time to go. We have met our friend Scott here and will travel/caravan from here to Apache Junction AZ. The picture typifies what we are tyring to escape.

Pretty Quiet On The Western Front

We have been busy playing 'catch up'. Catch up with friends and family and catch up with the dentist, the eye doctor.... you get the idea. Unfortunately, the dreadful Northwest Summer to Fall cold caught both of us. Me first and then Dave. It has kind of slowed down on the visiting because we don't want to share. Besides, we are using enough Kleenex between the two of us to keep the company in the black for several years!!!
Dave has recovered enough to visit with the 'Garage Gang' here at Forrest's. I have been doing a little visiting at my favorite local yarn shop and having a blast dyeing fiber and yarn out at Tory's house. This weekend she and Connie and I are going to do a 'hit and run' to Canby, Oregon for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival..... I am mostly going for the 'friend time' which I just can't get enough of - I have to bank it for the winter you know!!
We've also been able to spend a little time with our daughter Katie and her friend Jon... finally got to meet his family last night- what a great, nice group of people! I am looking forward to getting to know them better, if not this trip then next summer when we will be in the area for most of the season.
There are still a few friends I haven't seen yet and hope to before we head south. The grey wet weather has encouraged Dave to make a plan for the route, and I must admit I am not fond of the cold weather either. It will be a little easier to go when I know we will be back in a few months...

Back Back in the Great Northwest

We arrived in Bremerton on Sunday the 7th to warm and sunny weather after two nice days in Moses Lake WA. Looks like this weather will hold for some time to come, which will be a real treat. We have set up camp in a very exclusive RV park, which for security reasons should remain unnamed. Looking forward to seeing family and friends while we are here.

Always good to be going the right way

We had a 350 mile day today as we wind down on the long ride home (to Kitsap County). We were 23 miles short of tossing out the anchor and pouring cocktails when we came to a halt. CB chatter said there was some kind of a toxic spill ahead. We crawled onward. Anytime you come to a slow down but are still moving even a little, it's a good thing. We get the word that whatever has happend is at mile marker 129 and we are just passing 131 (we're going west on I-90, the numbers are getting smaller). Pretty soon we notice there is no east bound traffic. We speculate that whatever has happened is probably in the eastbound lane and we are caught in the 'lookie-loo' backwash. Next we see 'Road Work Ahead' signs and then 'Left Lane closed ahead' signs. Folks were pretty well behaved, starting right away to migrate to the right lane where we already were. It helped that a couple of BIG TRUCKS a little way back were blocking those who want to run up to the front of the line and then just jam themselves into the front of the line cuz they are way more important than anyone else! Then we could see eastbound traffic starting to dribble our way... then flashing lights in the median.... then the remains of someones' trailer......

the truck had already been towed off. We didn't hear if there were injuries, I hope not. Once past the mess in the median we moved quickly to our destination. The poor folks in the east bound land were backed up for about 7 miles. One car with small kids in it had all the windows open and a really smart mom had broken out the bubbles which were flying out of every window! Some people chose not to wait and crossed the median and returned west...

Any way, we are safe and sound in Missoula, Montana for the night. The train track runs about a half mile or less in front of the rig, Dave can lay on the couch and watch it... he's a happy boy. Tomorrow we cross into Pacific Daylight time and land in Moses Lake for two nights.

Farewell Fireflies

Hello prairie dogs and bison and long horned cattle. And of course, many many many signs for Wall Drug. If you have never been and you are in the neighborhood, you should stop once. You have never seen such a collection of STUFF. I was just over whelmed. We didn't stop this time. We spent the day bouncing and buffeting (it's really windy) across the state on I-90. We've seen acres of grassland, jumbo rolls of hay littered about the fields, miles of sunflowers with their heads tipped over nearly ready for harvest. Lots of Harley riders headed home from Milwaukee; in fact quite a bit of traffic.... diesel was down to $4.01 a gallon this morning-heck, they're nearly giving it away right?

Yesterday we were in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops and it was about 90. Today we are in long pants, shoes, sweatshirts and the mountain time zone. Sort of metaphorically driving into autumn hu?

Frog Strangler...Iowa Style

About 3 this morning, the skies over Iowa opened up with a CRACK!!!! and off and on until about 6:30, there was more thunder and lightening than I ever remember. Once or twice, the thunder was so loud right over our heads that it caused me to actually exclaim!! I won't say here what I said..... those of you who know me well can probably guess. Dave was out of bed several times watching the lightening and checking the weather page on the computer. The attached picture is from the end of the storm. The good news is, the dogs have learned what rain on the roof sounds like. They HATE to go out in the rain. They can wait hours if it's raining. When things finally settled down, we all got about an hour of sleep before it was dog time. Dave had to pull up his pant legs and carry one dog at a time and wade to a more or less dry spot. Our door mat was beginning to float away. One of the campground guys brought us a couple of wooden pallets to use as a front porch until the water subsided. It's mostly gone in our space now. The sun is trying to come out. It's about 85 and really really really humid out there.

Harley-Davidson Museum

Harley-Davidson has opened, just this summer, a museum in Milwaukee WI. Since the inception of the company they had the fore thought to retain one of everything so after 104+ years they have put some of it on display. After several hours in the museum I stopped by the corporate headquarter on Juneau Ave. To most this is of little significance but Harley-Davidson is an icon in American Industry, neither General Motors or Ford have performed longer. I had a couple of questions while at the museum about duplicating the 1933 tank art on my motorcycle and the staff was extremely helpful; in the end I met the Curatorial Director who said he would help after the 105th celebration, which is underway this weekend. I never expected to get that kind of help.

WI State Fairgrounds RV Park

First note the RV Park's web page has no pictures; and it is fair to say it is clean but compared to the previous park which was a happy accident this one will do for a couple of days, but just. There are several large gravel lots they are also renting out to RVers but we got into the primary (high rent) portion of the park with all the amenities including 100% pavment. Just south of the park on the actual fairgrounds there is a motor raceway and this afternoon there has been a race car testing on the track, kind of like trains in the distance only not so much. My primary purpose for being here (Paige is humoring me) is to visit the New Harley-Davidson Museum tomorrow and as it happens this coming weekend HD is hosting it's 105th anniversary party. So we have to be out and down the road Wednesday morning to make room for the party goers who booked this site way before we did. The area is teeming with motorcycle enthusiasts already; come the weekend it will be crazy.

Silver Springs Campsites, Rio, WI

Silver Springs Campsite near Rio WI is unique in our Rving experience. First the staff could not be nicer or more helpful. The sites and I use the term loosely are arranged around the placement of the power outlets/water connections all placed in grassy settings. There are paved internal roads but no defined site driveways or site boundaries. In some cases there are four sites clustered around a common power/water station. We reserved a place but upon our arrival it was plain they were not expecting our setup, being nearly 65 ft. long all up. We arrived with our waste tanks nearly full as the previous park did not have full hook ups and we forgot that this park also did not have full hook ups. After checking in we circled the park to get back to the dump station and circled the park again to reach our newly assigned site. On our way here (Saturday midday) we saw no signs of camping activity but upon turning into the park found a near county fair atmosphere with hundreds of people camping, swimming, recreating, etc. We must be something of an oddity in these parts as I have fielded numerous questions from passers-bye about various aspects of our rig, set-up and lifestyle. The staff assured me once I was parked that when we leave on Monday there will be no problem because nearly everyone else will have left by Sunday evening so we’ll have all the room we need to pull off the site. We are settled in for two days before we head into Milwaukee for two days.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

As part of our journey north to see Lake Superior we took a side trip to Tahquamenon Falls State Park (with the dogs). Considering how badly behaved the dogs can be they were angles. We walked them along a busy boardwalk path through the forest for 1/4 mile to the lower falls view points and back without an outburst. All in all it was a very pleasant experience.