Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire--but it was for a good cause

My last couple of blogs have had the wrong timeline. We stopped at all those places but a lot sooner than I said.

I decided to surprise my Mom for Mothers Day. We actually got home last Wed., May 6th. It was hard to lie to my folks but it was worth it. After we got home, I almost called her on my home phone. That would have certainly ruined the surprise. I even called her Sunday morning to wish her a Happy Mothers Day. I said we were in Oregon. We drove up and it was a complete surprise. The only people that knew were my brother and sister in law. I called them because I wanted to be sure that they hadn't invited the folks over to Whidbey Island for the day. It was nice that a lot of my relatives were also there. The lying was worth it to see their faces.

On Sat., we went to a Mothers Day get together at Darin and Heather's home., It was great to see them. The kids have sure grown up in the 5 months since we left.

The weather is a bit cold for us. We are used to 75-85 degree temps. Putting on shoes again seems strange. I have been living in flip flops.

I'm busy now unpacking and cleaning up the RV for the next trip. We accumulated a lot more on the trip than I thought. My biggest goal is to start losing the weight I gained. Groan! I didn't gain as much weight as I thought but enough that the clothes are a little tight. I hate exercise. Denny only gained 3 pounds. What's up with that? We ate the same things.

One more thing I want to mention about our trip is that we are so lucky in the NW with our water. Water everywhere isn't as good as ours, especially Az and Texas. It really is very, very hard on your hair and clothes. We bought drinking water but still had to use it for showers and laundry.

This will be my last blog until we start traveling again this fall/winter. My everyday life isn't exciting enough to write about. I'll put out an email when we start traveling again.

So long, it has been fun.

Goodbye to Arizona and California,

On the way down we spent a month in California and over 2 months in Az. Good winter places, but way to hot in the summer, especially Az.

Both Ca. and Az. are in very bad financial state. Worse than Wa. They have both closed most of the rest stops. Very hard on travelers who need a rest from driving or a restroom. All of the rest stops in New Mexico and Texas are open. We have it a little easier because we had the RV. Arizona has also closed 13 out of 17 State Parks. That is a real shame. Where do families go for a little recreation? And tourists? The state is trying to get some cities to take them over.

The desert has a beauty in itself, but it can never replace the mountains and green trees that we take for granted.

We will be very glad to get home to watch some local channels. We have Direct TV and for us to get ABC, NBC or CBS, we get an East Coast feed of New York City or West Coast feed of L.A. There is a Republican Primary going on and we are SO TIRED of the commercials for them. The race is getting very nasty. One nice thing about the East Coast feed is that we can watch some TV shows really early since we can't DVR anything.

It has been interesting to also see different newspapers around the country. Weird where they put some sections. Most areas are really big on obituaries, pages and pages of them. Much more than in Seattle.

Arizona has really fancy artwork on the sound walls that line the freeway. Very beautiful. Alot are in different colors. Certainly a alot fancier than anything we have seen in Wa.

We have really enjoyed our first trip as snowbirds. We plan on doing this every year. This time we tried to go to different places than we had been before. So many places to see in the U.S.

Wanted to mention one more thing about Texas. No Casino's. They don't allow them. The casino's right on the border of Oklahoma and Texas are filled with mostly Texans. Alot of the people think that the state is lossing alot of revenue by not allowing them.

Kudos to Denny

We left Lotus yesterday.

We really didn't want to back track to Sacramento so we headed out another way. Wrong move! Shortly after we took off, we got to a very steep, curvy road. Alot of up and down. At one time we were going downhill at a 8 1/2 % grade with switchback curves. For an RV that is very steep. Denny said it was the worst we had come across. He said it would have been easier to go to Sacramento and fight the traffic. After we got to the bottom, we started uphill again with more switchback curves. Did that for a full hour. Very stressful driving for Denny, but he did a great job. YEA! I had my brakes on the entire time. I don't think it helped Denny, but I felt better. Finally got to I-5 and started north. The Siskiyou's can be very iffy for good weather, but we hit it just right. It is quite a pull, but easy compared to what we just went thru.

We were planning to stop at Weed, Ca., but Denny felt good and it was a perfect day to travel the Siskiyou's, so went kept going. Ended up in Tri City, Or., about 100 miles north of the border. Had a long day of 425 miles. It is a beautiful little park in a small, mountainous town. Decided to stay another day. Heading to Chehalis tomorrow.

Certainly no trouble pulling a RV with this truck. The problem with a rig like this is that it is a little big to go sightseeing in. These people sure solved that problem. They have a 32' 5th wheel. Such a cute little thing.


This is Mount Shasta at Weed Ca. When we stayed there on the way down, there were clouds at the top. There is a lot less snow than we passed thru Dec. 13th

Getting closer to home!

American River

We are in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Lotus, Ca. It is about 50 miles east of Sacramento. It is a beautiful area. Lots of green rolling hills to get here. We are right on the South Fork of the American River.

It is nice to be in campgrounds again where there are trees. In Arizona, Texas and Southern Ca., most of the campgrounds have no trees, just rows of RV's. Most of those areas are high desert.

This is at the beach, just a short walk from our site.

This is certainly a different kayak than we have seen before. Just after we left the area, 2 rafts went by filled with lots of people.

We have never seen this type of trailer before. The top is smaller than than the bottom. You can't tell from the picture, but even the slides are smaller on the top than the bottom. Not sure what the advantage of that would be.

We are getting closer to home. All depends on the Siskiyou mountains. Right now they have chains required. That is the pass from Ca. to Oregon.

Visiting Yosemite--A Mistake

Yesterday we went to Yosemite National Park. I think it is a little early in the year to do it. When we left, it was a little cloudy and chilly. We had to dress warmer than we had in months. I had to put on socks and closed toed shoes. Yuck! It was between 32 and 38 degrees. By the time we got up to the main area, parked and walked to the Visitors Center, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It started raining, sleeting and snowing . We spent a couple of hours there looking at stuff. The clouds were down to almost ground level. Just about the time we left, it started seriously snowing. It was sticking to the roads. It is a very curvy, steep downhill drive. I was a little nervous. We were on the outside with no guardrails. YIKES! Denny put it in 4 wheel drive. I was so glad we got down out of the snow. By the time we got home, it was raining very hard. It hasn't stopped. Hope it stops by the time we leave tomorrow morning.

This was taken on the way up before it got too cloudy

This is Bridalveil Falls. The most famous is Yosemite Falls, but we couldn't see it. It is the tallest falls in the U.S. Also couldn't see El Capitan ( 7569 ft) and Half Dome (8836 ft) . Those 2 mountains are very popular with rock climbers.

Yosemite is very beautiful and we really want to go again but at another time of the year.

Greetings from Yosemite

We are in a campground just outside of Yosemite National Park. We are in the Sierra Mountains. It feels like a park we would find at home. It was a beautiful drive up here from Fresno. First the rolling hills of farmland and grapes. Then we started climbing up into the mountains. Very curvy, but good paved road. Today we relaxed and didn't even leave the RV. We were tired. Yesterday we had a very long driving day. Night before last we were in Needles, Ca. We left early to cross the Mojave Desert before the high heat of the day. Because we left so early, we got to our designated goal of Bakersfield by 12:30 PM. That was too early to stop so Denny decided to keep going. It was a good driving day, no wind and not too hot, around 70 degrees. We drove 433 miles in 8 and 1/2 hours. That is our longest day so far. Glad to stop for a bit. Tomorrow we will go to see Yosemite National Park.

The view from our campsite. Sometimes there are 3 ducks paddling around by the log that juts out into the river.

This view is at the back of the park. Below this view is a swimming hole and beach.

It is such a beautiful park that we would stay longer, but this spot is reserved for Friday by someone else.

We were both surprised at the Mojave Desert. It wasn't at all what we expected. When I think of the Mojave, I think of flat, dry, and very little plant life. WRONG! The desert was very hilly. We would go UP and UP then down then Up again. There were some long pulls. Denny had to really watch the transmission and engine heat. It was a lot greener than we imagined. A lot of green scrub brush and wildflowers. Very little brown, mostly green.

Paper Delivery-just like home

We are in Cottonwood, Az., in the Sedona/Red Rocks area above Phoenix. Decided to stop here for a few days and totally relax. Traveling so many days in a row is hard on the older folk. The area is beautiful and has lots to see but we saw most of it several years ago so we are just being lazy. We are in a very nice Thousand Trails Park.

We like to sit, drink coffee and read the paper in the morning. That has become our ritual. Most of the time, one of us has to go to the clubhouse or security shack to get the paper out of a stand, but here they deliver it to your RV. Seems just like home. Certainly saves having to have quarters all the time. Sometimes the machines don't work. We feel lost if we don't get a paper. I know that a lot of people get it on the Internet now, but not us. We are from the older generation. I like to sit and have something in my hand. While we are reading, Denny and I discuss what we have read. A good way to start the morning.

As we left Holbrook traveling west to Flagstaff, we saw our first snow capped mountains since we left. Felt like we were really coming home. It was nice to see and there was even snow on the sides of the freeway. Seemed odd after all the hot weather we have been in.

When we leave here Sat, we are heading to Yosemite National Park. We have never been there. When we went thru in Dec. it was much too cold and had snow. Yosemite has to be seen in the spring or summer. We will be there for a few days and then head straight home-no more sightseeing. We think we will be home by the 2nd week of May at the latest, maybe earlier.