Becky and I pulled the chocks from our 5th Wheel on June 1st, 2009. We made our way from Southern Texas to the mid coastal region of Maine and that is where this blog picks up....
I doubt very highly that you'll ever see a blog / travel channel host do a bit on Lolo Pass Road - East or West, Welches, OR. And so I will. This post is a good example of why Becky and I enjoy watching the grass grow for a while in the various locations we visit. We came to the Welches, OR, area, just as the majority of pre-snow visitors do, to view THEE main attraction - Mt. Hood. But unlike many who rush in, snap a thousand pictures of Hood, spend a night in a local lodge, and then speed off to the next wonder in this great country of ours, we have plenty of time to avoid the potholes just around the corner near the Dairy Queen. And so we discovered East Lolo Pass Road.
We pass these fellas all the time - today we decided to stop for a couple shots. Sasquach has a $3500 price tag.
So off we go and about a mile into the ride we came around a corner to this view - Mt Hood. Let me back up a minute. Uncharacteristically I spent some time researching the name of the mountain that the Lolo Pass Road traverses. I was sure that the name would be Lolo as is obvious but didn't see it in print. And here's a benefit of authoring a blog - ya get to make shit up... so herein, all these pictures were taken on LOLO MOUNTAIN!
In the close up ... stop the presses.... I was watching CNN's post-debate coverage just now and heard that the Secret Service has given Cain the code word "Cornbread" which is the name he chose for himself. I mean come-on!
Oh yeah, the close up, the "slide area" to the left is actually Oregon Glacier and the slide to the right is Zig Zag Glacier. Yes, Zig Zag faces a town just off US-26, Zig Zag. I'll be back to Hood directly but in the mean time, Lolo Pass parallels the Sandy River seen here about 100 feet below the road. Most all the rivers in this area are home to one species of Salmon or another, Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout, and winter run Steelhead. Right now there seems to be a lull between runs.
The fall colors here in Oregon just East of Portland are spotty at best. We simply haven't had overnight lows, low enough to give the trees the push they need. Still pretty, and with Hood in the background, well, you know the "worth a thousand words" saying.
Here's a better look at Oregon Glacier - and the tops of these 100' tall Lodge Pole Pines. Magnificent!
Another great thing about these blogs is... if you get tired of reading or looking at pictures (which by the way, really don't do nature justice) you can just click and away ya go. But don't miss the next picture.
The first few miles of Lolo Pass Road are "maintained year round by the city / state. Above that the road, although paved another 10 miles is not. The BPA (Bonneville Power Authority) has this major right of way for its power transmission. We spent some time "glassing" the ROW but didn't see any animals. Matter of fact, we have seen very, very few animals this whole summer up here in the NW.
Same day, same road, same mountains and valley, just slightly different atmospherics at play - my favorite picture and a good way to end this thing.
Well, I guess one more thing. We will be moving over and down the coast to Bandon by the Sea, OR for the winter. Bandon is on the coast and in the "Banana Belt". Where there are the occasional overnight lows in the 30's, it seldom gets much colder than that - but it does rain, A LOT. So we're going to give it a shot for the winter. Bandon is noted for basically two things, its Golf Courses and is the nation's Storm Watching Capital. Can't wait to snap some GRAY pictures!
Ninilchik is a Russian Settlement about half way down the Kenai Peninsula, equidistant between Soldotna and Homer. "A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem". Beck and I, along with friends Ron and Inge M. flew out of Seattle to Anchorage in June for a week or so of fishing and exploring. A bucket list item for Ron and I. It is incredible to think that, after months of planning, and careful cramming / packing suitcases that I would forget to pack my blankety blank CAMERA - now isn't it! Well... leave it to me. So the pics included in this post are from Inge's (who unlike me didn't forget) camera and or borrowed / cell phone gems, and from a guy we met along the way, David Berman (Kenai Fjords pics) - Thanks David.
There is a sign, posted at a pullout on the road to the Ninilchik Spit, which greets visitors in Russian, the original language of the village, and English. The sign says it all:
"Privet (Greetings). My name is Ninilchik Village. I was settled around the turn of the 19th century by creoles, Russians, Aleuts, and Indians. The names of my earlier children were Kvasnikoff, Oskolkoff, Kompkoff, and Astrogin. They were retired hunters and trappers that wanted to find a homeland of their own. Some of their great grandchildren still reside here to this day. My Russian Orthodox Church, on the hill, was built in the early 20th century. My river, and Cook Inlet are best known for their fish. My beaches are known for their clams. I ask that you please respect my people, their heritage, their culture, their property, and my river and beaches. Spasebo (Thank you)."
Following are three pictures taken from Ninilichik Village - I don't know why they are so fuzzzy...
Becky told me that there was one grave that had a bag of "Skittles" propped up against the marker.
AFISHUNT (e-ffici-ent get it get it?) CHARTERS are the folks in Ninilchik that provided us the two Cook's Inlet Halibut Charter trips and the two Kasilof River King Salmon Drift Boat trips that we took. They also operate a RV Park and have fully furnished Park Model RV's that we rented. Sorry - no pics so just picture a couple log cabins on the Western Slope of a National Forest and that's where we stayed. Well OK, I definitely exaggerated there but what do you know! It's my blog so I'll lie as often as I want.
The picture above is not from one of our Halibut trips but we had similar results. Or if you prefer, that's me on the left, Ron on the right and we caught ALL of the Halibut.. Actually the state has a 2 fish per day limit. AFISHUNT also cleaned, vacuum packed, flash froze, and shipped our fish to us in the lower 48 a few days after we left.
What trip to Alaska would be complete without a picture of an eagle. In this case, Becky caught the female in the nest and the male flying off to get supper for Mom and the eaglets.
You can expect the weather on the Kenai in Alaska in June to be rather wet. In the ten days we were there, the ONLY rainy day was that day we had chartered a bush pilot for a two hour flight seeing tour of the three volcanoes on the Kenai - I remember Mt Redoubt as one of them. We had to scub the flight and didn't have time to reschedule. But, along with Eagles, you can't leave Alaska without snapping a picture of a float plane or two. Becky did a great job getting this one.
Probably the nicest (weather and sightseeing) day we had was the day we drove over to Seward and boarded a Kenai Fjords Sightseeing Ship for a 10 hour trip in the Fjords. I will definitely have to get some pictures another passenger shared with us because the scenery was breathtaking and way beyond any words I could come up with. We saw something like three different types of whales, all manner of birds and other aquatic life. The day was picture perfect.... and me without my camera but again, thanks to David Berman, here are a few shots from his Picasa Album. Click the magic Clicky if you want to see many more pics of the Fjords.
Given the opportunity to revisit and redo that trip - I'll raise my hand! Hopefully these pics will not be fuzzy once I publish - if the Fjords cruise pictures are not clear, just go to Davids Picasa Album by clicking the clicky above.
Gig Harbor, WA. This is definitely my favorite picture I've taken to date. Mt. Rainier is about 60 (as the crow flies) miles away from Gig Harbor. NO trick photographic techniques employed in this picture. The mountain just hangs there as if it were photographically added to the blue sky over Gig Harbor. Becky and I simply cannot get enough of looking at it. I am amazed that the view doesn't cause multiple car accidents every day.
Here's a shot of the harbor from the outside seating area of the Tides Tavern - one of the nicest places to eat in Bar Harbor. Their Margaritas' are especially good when consumed with a mid afternoon lunch.
We'll be leaving our site at the Gig Harbor RV Resort next week but there's no doubt - we'll be back. What a magnificent little city!
...Errr... make that ESCANABA, Michigan! The Freudian Slip in the title should provide some insight to the true nature of this account. Atypically for yours truly, there are absolutely no stretches of imagination, no embellishments, no outright lies herein - so help me. And where this author was not personally witness to the following goings-on of the youngsters in Anta Escanaba, I do hereby confirm the accuracy of all you are about to read.
The reasons for that certainty is pictured below - Becky and Jane. They look like "a couple of friends" - right? Well, as I said in the opening, they are..... but there's a bit of a story behind this particular friendship. I guess "You won't believe this but..." is as good an opening as any. And so....................
You won't believe this BUT..... Once upon a time, not so terribly long ago (not so long ago given that the planet Earth was born some 12 BILLION YEARS ago) these two Snow-cones met in kindergarten on one of those rare days when they survived the five mile uphill walk to school in waist high snow. And as you can see in the following picture, the sun sets very early during those winter days - but these two trudged on, uphill again, back home together at three in the afternoon. And there they are, Becky and Jane one, but typical dreary,winter afternoon in 1955. If you look closely you might see their frozen breath being lifted above them by the whipping 50mph winds.
Before I continue, hit the clicky below and just let the song run in the background as you read the rest of this true story. Matter of fact, the story line only goes to substantiate these accounts.
Very, very few of you might be saying to yourself - "well it's about time he (that's me) posted this thing!". The fact is that I had this "put to bed" as they say in the publishing business a month ago and then for whatever the technical reasons - after doing a spell check (thank you Jesus) 75% of it disappeared. And after rewriting most of it back in I had to save it unpublished for a while. When I came back to put the dot on top of the eye - it vanished again. So here I am, another month shot trying to recollect my ramblings and to make matters worse, even though I took impeccable notes during Dennis and Jane's visit, those scribblings aren't quite as "peccable" as I thought. And so I will truncate this summary to a single subject - winter! ANYWAY....
Those treks back and forth to school took its toll on Jane and Becky seen below at the 3 mile mark.
On most days when the girls finally made it home, they would have to climb the temporary stairs to the attic window to get into the house - think I'm kidding? A picture is worth a thousand words..... Yeah I know what you're thinking.. not really their house - right? Well.... duhhhhh OK, ya got me. And to make matters worse, I pirate these pics off the internet without so much as a howdy-do. So sue me.
This particular picture depicts quite accurately the girl's accounting of those days on the UP. This one reminds me of yet another story of their survival. On those days fit for neither man nor beast, the kids had a great way to get to school. Tunnels! Yes that's right, no kidding, tunnels in the snow that make the Holland Tunnel look like a gopher hole.
The picture above is taken from inside the central tunnel - a massive cylindrical excavation that connects each individual home tunnel to the underground corridor that goes to the street in front of the school. From there the girls, and many other students from this part of town exit the subterranean system and make a mad dash up the front steps of the school.
The tunnel system had its good - and had its bad points. The good of course is that travelling underground (or is that undersnow?) eliminated the effects of the whipping wind chill which on a day with ambient temperatures of -30 degrees, could be as low as -50 or so. And, there were no mosquitoes in the tunnel system. Apparently Escanaba mosquitoes don't die off in sub zero temperatures like other non resident mosquitoes do. I don't mean to go off subject here, but it seems that nothing in Escanaba is typical. What the heck... while off subject I'll also mention that most all homes, buildings there are heated with coal furnaces. The good news there is that the United States has a nearly limitless supply of coal. The bad news is that one of the combustion byproducts is soot. There's the other good point about the tunnels - no soot! Who'd a thunk it! One of the benefits of travelling the sub-snow transit system was - no soot! On the negative side however, since all kids in Escanaba had a tunnel from their home to the central corridor, they never got to enjoy a "snow day" off from school.
Now then... we have all heard of little boys sticking their tongue to the aluminum flagpole right? Well, in Escanaba it was quite common to see one of those stupid boys with his tongue stuck to the chain link fence located just a few feet from the tunnel exit in front of the school. Dares, Double Dog Dares, and even those ominous Triple Dog Dares could be heard throughout the entire tunnel systems as the kids made their way to school.
Dennis and I sat there during that visit, me taking notes as furiously as I could, and he.... well, we really didn't get a word in edgewise but he did manage to get a point in towards the end of the visit, something about finding something... but I'll be darned if I can remember - find what? And .... I can't read my notes - find WHAT? I'll probably never know unless Dennis can remember.
POST SCRIPT.......
In the opening statements I referred to the friendship of Jane and Becky and then got lost in the telling of the snow storm, whipping winds, and extremes of temperatures on the UP. And in those ramblings I never did explain why this is such a great friendship. As I understand it, they met in OR before kindergarten and spend the next 6 years or so growing up in Escanaba. Becky's family moved to California and at age 12, the two kids had to part ways. Fast forward maybe 15 years and the two got together for a day or so while Jane was on vacation (I am guessing) in California. Fast forward through the next 30 years more or less with the rare telephone call, occasional letter, season greeting's card, and emails most recently. Please raise your hand if you can say that you and your kindergarten buddy have maintained your friendship over some 50 years. Pretty special huh?
Sometimes I sits and thinks.. sometimes I jes sits! Great way to start a "catch up" posting - by stealing a phrase penned by someone else. And I can't even give proper credit for it - again. Now that we have established the fact that I am a crook, I'll get on with this thing....
The last original post was back around the first of February. It was actually January 21 but "around the first of February doesn't sound nearly as long ago as January. Beck and I had just landed in Southern California (Lake Elsinore) about a month before and were settled in for a four month stay. We only stayed there for two months and moved to another SoCal town (Hemet) for a couple months. For whatever the reasons my blog faded from memory and here it is, May 22 and we've been in Reno, NV for almost a month now. The original plan had us headed to the Oregon Coast direct from SoCal but a closer look at the weather history showed plenty of rain during the month of May up there. So here in Reno, we met up with some long time friends of ours who are also full timing. Ron and Inge M will caravan (RVavan?) with us up to the Oregon Coast for a couple months stay before Beck and I continue our trek Northward to the Seattle, WA area to visit with our Son Al and some Northwest Territory explorations for a few months.
Here in Reno we are staying at The Grand Sierra Resort. The GSR is the largest casino / hotel / convention center / shopping and fun center in the area. They own and operate a fairly large RV Park right on the casino (etc) grounds. The park is very well designed and even with RVs occupying every single site, we still have a remarkable view of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range - right from the "living room and dining room" in our trailer. I'm not going to even try to describe the majesty of those snow covered mountain peaks and this picture sure as hell isn't very convincing of it.
That's Donner's Summit to the left and the famous Donner's Pass associated with it. On one of our rare "commercial pay to see" excursions, the four of us headed over the mountain to Lake Tahoe and went out on the MS Dixie II pictured below - and by the way, the weather was fantastic, the lake surface almost like a mirror, and the lunch on board was excellent. There's something about being on the water that makes me hungry.
Did I mention that the MS Dixie II is a Stearn wheeler? Pretty cool vessel, 3 decks, twin diesels, 4 screws and bow thrusters. The paddle wheel actually only provides about one third the total thrust but it is impressive and when viewed from the poop deck three stories up, its colorful revolutions and the rhythmic sounds it makes cutting into the water are quite hypnotic.
The two hour trip begins at the boat's home port in Zephyr Cove and traverses the lake to the Western shore and into Emerald Cove. If the lake were a circle which it's not, then Zephyr Cove and Emerald Cove would approximate the ends of an East to West diameter. Raise your hand if you have never heard of Emerald Cove on Lake Tahoe! If your hand is raised I herein command you to visit Lake Tahoe, rent a boat, take a guided tour, or drive Hwy 89 which will give you a birds eye view of Emerald Cove.
I have to tell ya, I have been to dozens of countries, have been on every continent except the Anti Arctic, and have logged thousands of hours looking out airplane windows - Emerald Cove on a crystal clear Spring day should be on every one's "bucket list"! This is where I usually insert a comment regarding the quality of my camera, the lack of clarity and lack of depth of field of my pictures, or if the shoe fits (as it does in this case) - the inexperience of the photographer. In all cases however, taking, and including them helps me weave whatever story it is I try to tell.
And if you have been reading my posts, you'll agree that I am not trying to make this blog some sort of historical or educational chronicle but having said that, I do insert a couple of facts every so often without claiming any relation to accuracy - so here goes my version of a few facts about the lake. Lake Tahoe is the second largest alpine lake in the world - second only to Lake Titicaca (however it's spelled). No rivers flow into the lake. There are a handful of streams that empty into the lake but most of the water comes from snow melt off the mountains that surround it. The water is alpine clear and is some 1800 feet deep. Since no appreciable amount of water enters, as would the waters into a lake fed by rivers, there is very little sediment to discolor the water.
Before leaving the area we took a drive down to South Lake Tahoe, CA to witness just how much the town had grown up since Beck and I were married there some 27 years ago - my my how time flies etc etc. And it has grown in those decades. But the good ole "Chapel of the Bells" remains as it was.
Well... that's all I've got to say about the MS Dixie II, Lake Tahoe, and Emerald Cove. Stay tuned for my NORTH TO ALASKA post coming to computer screen (s) soon.
I thought I'd let those of you that comment on my posts know that I do read, and appreciate your comments. However.... the comment system has always presented challenges - in the past I have received email notices that a comment was added here or there. And in the past, I have, with persistence been able to add a comment back. NOW-a-days the system is not allowing me to post comments at all. And so... this post!. Keep those cards and letters coming in - thanks.
Whether you are a RVer or not, at least in my warped opinion, you will find the following very funny. But first just to make sure you know what a "dump site" is....
OK, not the prettiest picture in the albumn but that's it! Perhaps on the lighter side.......
I think you get the picture. And actually the cartoon depicts a very accurate portrayal of the story line.
OK, on to the story...
This was a post over on the Airstream Forum and it's very funny so I wanted to share it! I continue to try to find the author of what follows but so far am unable to do so.....
"We have a small RV dump station in our town built by the municipality near a boat launch. Every day I walk my dog by the river and go past the RV dump. So... not too long ago I was amazed to see a couple in a brand new 5th wheel dumping onto the ground rather than into the dump opening and yelling at each other at the top of their lungs.
The dump is well designed and has well sloped sides leading to the 'hole' but they had covered the hole with a screen. Why?
Turns out that one of them had dropped a dental bridge into the toilet (never, ever multitask in the morning) and they figured it would flush out at the dump station. I got to watch the entire hilarious project.
First they dumped and watched the screen for the bridge. This didn't go very well. The screen diameter was pretty small and kept clogging. It was the screen from one of their windows. Sweeping it with their brand new collapsible broom helped keep it clear.
Screen replacement parts: $5.00
Broom: $ 8.95
After dumping the entire (very full) tank and finding no bridge, they decided that the device must have settled to the bottom of the black tank and not been evacuated. So... they got our their water hose and a water thief and hooked up to the dump station water stub to fill their black tank via the toilet.
New (unpolluted) hose: $15.00
New water thief: $4.00
Once they had hooked all this up, they apparently shoved the hose into the toilet, keeping the valve open and turned on the water. Then they pulled the dump valve again. No teeth.
After some (loud) discussion they decided that the teeth must be stuck or jammed and that they needed to agitate the tank to dislodge them. At this point 2 more rigs have pulled up to dump and are waiting in line. One is towing a boat with a sunburnt and somewhat drunk crew. The fisherfolk are getting out cans of cold refreshment and one has a lawn chair. Another one has a plan....
How to agitate a black tank (while it's still attached to trailer) method 1: Get 4 cans of beer and some buddies. Refill tank with water. Open cans of beer and position buddies on each corner of trailer. On que, rock trailer back and forth. Position one person in bathroom with toilet valve open to listen for sloshing. Do not drop beer. When good sloshing sounds can be heard in tank, pull the dump valve and wait for teeth.
Unfortunately, the teeth didn't appear and by this time the helpers were thirsty again. The owner with no lower teeth offered them more refreshments. They were thrilled because he had high end beer (they were drinking the cheap) stuff.
4 bottles of redhook: $6.00
3 more rigs are now in line at the dump station and one woman (with 2 teens) has a camera out. Her kid has a cellphone held up high in the video capture position.
How to agitate a black tank method 2: Add water and then start tow vehicle up. Make sure the water is really flowing and tank is full to get a good dump. Go forward and back in rapid succession to really get things stirred up. So.....
They leave the hose filling the toilet attached and station one person in front of trailer to keep an eye on the hitch. Another will be the driver and several more will stand and watch for teeth. The wind has picked up and the screen is on the verge of blowing away. One person holds it down with foot. Wife will pull dump handle.
The driver decides to set the emergency brake and then does the forward/back thing. The engine starts, the water is flowing, the spotters are ready, wife is in place, and the forward/back thing starts. You can smell the transmission and hear the clunks and he sifts back and forth. The crowd is cheering and offering advice. Then the dump handle is pulled. Whoosh! Lots of water - no teeth. The foot holding the screen gets soaked and the owner of the foot steps back, sticking foot into open dump hole, twisting ankle and crying out in pain. The proceedings stop and the crowd gathers around the fallen helper to offer aid (and a beer). After a time water begins to run out the trailer door.
Another redhook: $1.50
Remember the hose stuck in the toilet? It had dislodged during the forward/reverse process and was filling the trailer, flopping around and covering the walls.
Trailer rehab: $1000.00
The volunteer who had been watching the hitch runs inside to trap the hose. A couple of minutes later he comes out and says hey buddy - is this what your looking for? He is holding teeth and new fresh beer. "I found 'em in the fridge"
