Arrived in Pennsylvania

We've had a whirlwind of activity since we arrived Sunday in Pennsylvania. We left Seibert, CO, last Thursday headed for Salina, KS. Weather was clear but there was a strong northwest wind, not the best time to be driving an RV, as it feels like driving a billboard down the road. I wasn't looking forward to going through Kansas, as I thought it was just flat and treeless. We arrived in Salina and were beginning to see rolling hills with trees along the creeks and draws. The second, third, and fourth pictures were taken in Kansas. You can see they have had plenty of rain.

The RV park was quiet, pleasing, and neat, around a man-made lake, and we had a good night's rest. The first picture is this campground. Wifi worked great! We even drove into Salina and did some shopping at Wallyworld. We found very courteous, friendly folk in Salina.

We carefully watched the weather reports and saw that rain was headed toward Missouri, again. We checked the DOT website and, after seeing how many roads in Missouri were closed, decided to scrap plans for staying overnight in Missouri. So we took off early and just started driving. In Missouri, several of the frontage roads were under water! We were able to get through the rest of Kansas, through Missouri, and about 50 miles into Illinois with only a few sprinkles in Missouri. Check out the mighty Mississippi at St. Louis in the last picture--muddy, swirling water but we had no problem getting across the bridge into IL, thankfully.

Our RV park in Illinois was off the road and amidst some tall trees. We were happy to be off the road, resting, and noticed that we had dodged a bullet in MO, as they had more heavy rain and we would have been caught in it. But I digress. Back to the RV park. It was one of those weekend destinations for ?locals?, with built-in patios around most of the rvs, and LOTS of kiddos running around. Kids were driving golf carts all over the place. Our site overlooked a cornfield, and after the young lady had directed us to the site, she came over and smiled sweetly, saying that if we wanted to use Wifi we had to walk up to the office with our laptops! Was I ever steamed! They advertise Wifi and then you can't get it except at the office. So, we ate some dinner and then headed up to the office. We sat down on a swing at the porch and got online. We were immediately attacked by mosquitos, due to the fact that there were ponds, well, they called them "lakes", all around the park. After checking our email, we returned to the rv for a well-deserved night's rest.

Southern Illinois is not the most scenic area in the world, but we were once again reminded of the richness of our farmlands in the midwest, from eastern Colorado, to Kansas, not so much in Missouri, but lots of nice farms in Illinois. We took off the next day for Richmond, IN. Gary was still a bit tired but we knew we had to get on down the road. I should add that driving this motor home is a piece of cake compared to driving the truck and 5th wheel that we used to have, since the seats and padded and comfy, and the suspension is more forgiving than the one-ton truck we used to drive. HOWEVER, the roads in Illinois and Indiana were pretty rough and we had lots of potholes on the drive. You feel them, too!

We were headed for Grandpa's Farm outside Richmond, IN. We had stayed there many years ago and it was a lovely place. Well, not so this time. I was surprised to see an area that looked like an RV sales lot, it was so crowded. There were folks, kids, and dogs everywhere. Apparently it, too, was a weekend destination for locals. We were escorted to our site, after paying $30, and settled in...or tried to. The back of our MH was not 30 feet from a two-lane highway, and we immediately noticed the loudness of vehicles going by. It was like living beside a racetrack. To add to that, the next-door neighbors, about 10 feet away, lit up a smouldering campfire, which wafted over to our site. We went to bed and it had warmed up a bit, so I tried to open the window but their porch light and smoke made it difficult to get to sleep, not to mention the loud mufflers going by on the highway. So I closed the window, pulled down the shade, and Gary put on the thunderstorm CD for me. I was able to get to sleep but we were glad to get out of there! That's just one of the inconvenient parts of living our lifestyle.

Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, I have to admit. Spring is just beginning here, but dogwood and rhodendrons are blooming everywhere. We arrived at our destination in Pennsylvania about 3:30 in the afternoon last Sunday. We've been coming to this campground for years and know the campground owners. We were welcomed by the owner, who was out mowing grass. He's always working on something. Gary's brother and his wife came out on their motorcycle and we visited with them for a couple of hours. Then the folks next door came over and asked if we'd like to sit around their campfire, and they were going to have a jam session! So, I unpacked the banjo and headed over there. I should add that the sites here are very large, compared to most of the other rv parks we've stayed at, so the campfire smoke didn't wind up in our rig!

The campground owner's wife, Francine, plays mandolin and loves old-time bluegrass. They had invited a young fellow over who played banjo and fiddle. We were treated to some great music, until...I tried to play! I still have stage fright and fumble with my playing. I was embarrassed but they were very encouraging. It made me realize that I need more practice.

We visited Gary's mom, who lives about 10 miles north of us, and his second youngest brother. He has four of them! We still haven't seen the other two. Everyone has to work and we usually have to wait until the weekends to visit.

We've been looking at houses since we arrived, and saw one yesterday that we liked. Today we have an appointment with the realtor to look at the house. I get a little nervous about spending money but seems like a good time to buy a house. Unfortunately, there aren't many that we saw in our price range that we liked. I want something in a quiet area, near town, with a little acreage, CHEAP, easy to drive to. We aren't getting any younger and have to be careful about what we buy. So, we'll keep you posted!

Sitting in Seibert

We delayed our trek east by a day to wait out the storms that were supposed to hit central Kansas. As it turned out, we probably could have made it to Salina, KS, without any problem, but it's a gamble. We erred on the side of caution and stayed here in Colorado.
This is not a bad RV park. It's quiet, although now, at 9:30 pm, I did hear a train whistle. I don't think too many trains come down the tracks, located about 1/2 mile from here. We're probably 1/2 to 3/4 mile from the interstate here and I didn't hear any road noise at all last night. Milagros!
I was comforted when I found that there are tornado sirens in the town and a storm shelter in the basement underneath the owner's house. We've certainly been in situations in past years when we had no idea where the nearest storm shelter was, with tornadoes all around the area.
We met the folks in the 5th wheel next door, a very nice couple from Texas who are also Escapees. I guess I'd better explain! We are life members of the Escapees, mainly for their mail forwarding service. It's an organization of full-time RV'ers and wanna-be's, and they have a magazine and all sorts of benefits. Anyway, the folks next door are headed for Gunnison, CO, tomorrow. They're from Livingston and Houston area.
We decided to take our walk this morning, despite the fact that it was 42 degrees outside with an occasional very light mist. We wore our long-johns and were darn glad we did. We stayed out about 35 minutes and were glad to get back because not only was it cold, there was a north wind blowing. It's been cloudy and threatening rain all day. We are supposed to get snow showers tonight and are under a freeze warning, but the low's only going to be 31.
This is a very small town. There are several abandoned houses around town and several houses for sale. In the "business district", we noted mostly closed and boarded-up businesses. The grocery store was not bad for this little town. They had fresh produce, dairy products, etc. I didn't see any meat. I don't think there would be anything to hold young people here, as the only commerce is farm and ranch-type stuff. There is a feed mill and huge grain elevators beside the railroad tracks.
I'm glad to be moving on tomorrow. We are planning on getting to Salina, KS, as I said. Forecast is for clear to partly cloudy weather. I can handle that. We should be in Pennsylvania in two or three days.
So, nothing much is going on here, thankfully. We're just waiting to get on the road tomorrow!
Have a great one!

To Seibert, CO

I didn't take any pictures today because there was nothing impressive, to my way of thinking.
We took off this morning about 8:30 from the Terry Bison Ranch south of Cheyenne, WY. Within a couple of miles, we were in Colorado, headed toward Denver. Wow, some of the roads were cement and there was the regular bump...bump...bump...over the joints in the cement, which is experienced prior to the time of year when the cement expands. Man I hate that. I got nervous because the television is up above Gary's and my seat and it was certainly jiggling! I can just see it falling down and hitting us some day. Then, suddenly, we were on asphalt and the road was smooth. We experienced the rough roads several times.
There really wasn't much to see heading from Cheyenne to Denver. It is flat and there are many farms and ranches along the road. Turning east from Denver, we missed the hustle and bustle of downtown Denver. The land gradually became gently rolling hills with trees along the creeks. I think spring is just now getting to Colorado, because the trees were just barely budding out. We did see some pretty farms and ranches.
As we neared Limon, CO, the wind picked up and was blowing hard from the north. Skies were glowering and we figured we were heading into a thunderstorm; but the storm was moving off to the south, to our right.
We had determined that we should "hunker down" for a couple of days here in Seibert, which is 42 miles west of the Kansas border, in order to avoid the severe weather in Kansas. We had a little sprinkle after we got here, but the severe weather has been further to our east, although in the same county where we are located. We have the weather radio turned on and will keep it on all night.
Our RV campground has good wifi and we are finally getting some local programming on their cable network. Seibert is a very small town with a huge grain elevator. We drove around after we got here, and there was one supermarket, which was pretty good sized for this little town. We had to wonder what people here do for a living, and if the young people graduating from high school can even find work here. There's not much going on.
We'll stay here tomorrow and leave Wednesday morning for Kansas. Gary needs a little respite from driving every day. I'm hoping this park is going to be quiet and we won't be able to hear the highway noise. Last night we put on the thunderstorm CD and it was way too loud. We're about 1/2 mile off the interstate in this park.
I'll keep you posted on any new developments! Pray we don't get into a tornado tonight!

To Cheyenne, WY today

We had a good night's rest last night at Ft. Bridger, WY, and took off early this morning, headed for Cheyenne, WY. The weather was chilly, especially last night. I believe our water was beginning to freeze, because the water stopped flowing when I turned the faucet on, then when I turned on the faucet again, it started flowing. I was happy that we had no precipitation on the drive today.

The first picture was taken day before yesterday in Utah, heading toward Wyoming. There are beautiful mountains to the east of Salt Lake City, and, of course, the Great Salt Lake is to the west of it. We didn't get into the city very much, taking the interstate out of Ogden, UT, toward Wyoming.

After we got into Wyoming, the scenery was not very impressive. Most of it was flat, brown, and treeless. The second picture was taken in Green River, WY, and I hesitated to put it on this site because we'd been hitting lots of bugs and were having problems keeping the windshield clean! Well, some days you're the bug, and other days you are the windshield. There were places in Wyoming that reminded me of the Badlands in Montana, if you've ever been there. We did go over the Continental Divide twice (how'd we manage that?).

We made a quick stop at a rest stop after we took off this morning, and I noticed Gary coming back to the RV to get the camera. I looked outside to see little prairie dogs begging for food. He was trying to take a picture of one, and it was so close to him the camera wouldn't even work. He did take a few pictures. The prairie dogs were cavorting and chasing each other and were so cute. I know, it's bad for people to feed them, but I couldn't help watching them. Horse riders hate them, of course, because horses step in their prairie dog holes and have to be destroyed because of broken legs.

We knew we were in high elevations because our ears were popping. We came to a rest stop called "Wagonhound Trail", and got out to take some pictures. You can read about the area from the historical marker. Am I lazy or what. Elk Mountain was magnificent. It is 11,000+ feet high. We noticed that the snow was no longer on top of the mountains, but was at the level of the road in places. There was no snow on the roads, however.

We made it to Cheyenne today about 2:45 pm. We're staying at the Terry Bison Ranch RV Park, and were hoping to go to the restaurant on the grounds for a bison burger. However, since it's Mother's Day, they were having some kind of special buffet for $23 a pop, so we decided we'd pass on the bison burgers this time. We do have good wifi here, and are able to get some local stations with the antenna. Unfortunately, there's lots of road noise, so we'll probably listen to the Thunderstorm CD tonight. We went to the Sierra Outlet but didn't find anything of use to us, then over to a Walmart Supercenter for a few groceries. Cheyenne is a small town but they have a rodeo here (didn't catch the date), but many big-name country music stars are supposed to be there.

Tomorrow we're headed for Denver and points east, and will try to spend a few nights at a little town called Siebert, CO, to let the storms in Kansas pass on through before we head through there.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! There's no better title than being a mother. I do miss mine and Gary's children today! Love you all!

On the Road Again~~~~~~~~~~~~

We left my cousin's house on May 5, and I was really disappointed that we never got to see Mt. Rainier or Mt. St. Helens. I kept looking though, to no avail. We headed east from the Cinebar, WA, area toward Whites Pass. It was a pretty good road but got curvy and steep the further along we went. The first picture looks a little eerie and Mt. Rainier was off to the left somewhere. As we continued to climb, we once again saw snow. The second picture is a ski area at Whites Pass. It was only about 4500 feet elevation, but had lots of snow left. The third picture is another mountain that I thought was interesting.

As we descended, I noticed the vegetation changing. The fourth picture is on the eastern slopes of the Cascades, quite a change from the western. I remember learning in school that as the clouds come in and rise along the mountains, they drop their moisture, and by the time they start the downward slope, they are dry, hence the change in vegetation. We dropped down into a valley with many vineyards and apple orchards.

When we got to Yakima, WA, we had the satellite radio on pretty loud and the GPS told us to turn. However, the place we turned was 82 NORTH, and we needed to go south. So we were committed to the turn and continued down the road, winding up in a little place called Selah. We were finally able to get turned around and found our road.

We spent the night at Hermiston, OR, a small town but the RV park where we stayed seemed to be on a main thoroughfare. You know where I'm going with this, right? Lots of road noise. So Gary put in the "Thunderstorm" CD that his brother gave him and it played all night. It really helped. We left early in the morning and thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of northeast Oregon. We did some steep climbing and then came down, finally crossing over into Idaho. The last picture you see was typical of Idaho...flat country with snow-capped mountains to the south. I wondered how it would feel to wake up every morning and look at those mountains. We saw many dairy farms and farming operations in Idaho.

We stopped at Glenns Ferry, ID, to spend the night at a small RV park. It was well kept with arbor vitae planted along the edges of the park. I heard lots of road noise and it was next to a railroad track with several tracks. Trains kept coming through during daylight but we didn't hear any in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, we had to bring out the old thunderstorm CD for me.

We took off around 8 am, once again headed east. As we progressed east, the vegetation became more like desert plants. We crossed over into Utah, again amazed at the tall snow-capped mountains to our left.

The trip through the northeast corner of Utah was pretty, too, and as we progressed on toward Wyoming, the mountains were no longer snow-capped but were orange-red in color with lots of rock formations and green juniper trees on the sides of the mountains. It made a nice contrast with the bright blue sky...when you could see blue sky, that is. Skies have been mostly grey today but we were thankful there were no strong winds, rain, or severe weather while we traveled.

We drove a long time today and are staying at Ft. Bridger, WY, tonight. The RV park is a little pricey for us, so we're not going to stay another day, although Gary could use a rest. I will say this...it's quiet and the wifi is GREAT. For a change! We're anticipating driving all the way across WY tomorrow if all goes well.

Once again, thanks for reading my blog! More later.

Washington! The Great Northwest!

We arrived in the little town of Lafayette, OR, on Friday to find a small RV park which had many permanent residents living in little rusty travel trailers. It certainly wasn't my ideal park. I noticed a railroad track about 30 feet from our MH, and just figured it wasn't used any more. Was I ever wrong! A freight train came through and vibrated the whole RV. However, this was the only train that came through the whole weekend. Actually, the park was quiet at night, despite being located on a main road through the town.

We visited with my cousin Gary and his wife Mary, who live about 10 miles away in Newberg, and had a great time with them. He was just like I remembered him in 1961, except now he's bald and about 6'2". We shared many memories of good times we had when their family would come to Oklahoma to visit my family. (His mom and my mom were sisters). Somehow I find it comforting to talk to others who knew my family, because most of them are deceased now.

We left the next day, partially because we didn't like the looks of the RV park, and we also knew that Gary and Mary had lots of things to do that weekend. None of these pictures are from that area.

We headed for Gary's brother, Terry's, and his wife Amanda's home, in Cinebar, WA. Or near Cinebar, I should say. Amanda had to fly back east to take care of an ailing relative and we missed her so much. The house you see is Terry and Amanda's. It is made of concrete siding, and I think that's a great idea! Now, the view out the back of the house, which you see in the last picture, is looking toward Mt Rainier. It remained shrouded in clouds and fog as long as we were there. If you look to the left of the tall tree, I believe that's where it is. Now, if you look to the right of the back of the house, which you see in the 4th picture, you see Mt. St. Helens. Of course, we could never see it. We were there for four days. The weather was uncooperative, to say the least. The road you see is their driveway. It was steaming because the sun came out one day briefly and I snapped the picture.

We took a walk down the road with Terry one day, and walked about 1.5 miles. During the walk, we had sunshine, rain, and hail pellets. It started raining hard so we took shelter underneath some tall pines and then it started with the hail pellets. We stayed there until it let up a little, then walked back to the house. Talk about COLD!!! It was usually in the 40's, although some nights the temperature got down to 38. It was a WET cold, too. We stayed in the house with Terry because he only had 20 amp power for our MH, and no sewer. Not enough power to keep our MH warm.

Terry is quite the hunter and fisherman. We had elk sausage (absolutely delicious!), elk steaks, mmmm, smoked salmon, and steelhead trout. Now those of you who know me, know I DON'T like fish, but this fish was different. It was all so good. We had so much good food there! Terry's a pretty darn good cook, and he caught or killed almost everything we ate. He and I had a ball playing cribbage. He looks so much like his mother.

We drove up to Spanaway, WA, to visit another of my cousin Ann, daughter of another of my mother's sisters. Unfortunately, her mother just passed away about a month ago. Her two daughters came over to visit, and I had only seen one of them when she was very small. We had a wonderful time talking about the old days, too, and I really hated it when it came time to leave. I don't know when we'll ever get back to the west coast again.

We saw such beautiful sights on the way back and skirted Mt. Rainier, but again...no mountain in sight. It remained shrouded in clouds and fog. The steam engine you see in the picture was taken on the way back from Spanaway, in a little town called Elbe.

This morning, we left Terry's and headed for Hermiston, OR. We are spending the night here and will take off tomorrow for Idaho! I've never been to Idaho before. Should be interesting.

Well, more later...thanks for reading my blog!

Crater Lake

We piled into Wayne's truck the next day after we got there and headed for Crater Lake. Going through the Rogue River Valley and into the Rogue National Forest, we saw so many beautiful sights. As we climbed, we began to notice snow along the edges of the road, and the farther up the mountain we got, the more snow we saw. We almost got to the entrance of the park but we could see around the next curve that the snow completely covered the road. We turned around and came back down the mountain. The lake in the picture is formed by the Wild River, I believe.

We stopped in a little town called Jacksonville, OR, to eat lunch at a Jewish Deli. It was SO good. I only ate half of mine because I figured it was pretty high calorie food. What fickle weather! We had an episode of pea-sized hail while we were in the cafe eating. Up there, hail is a kind of large sleet pellet. There wasn't any thunder or lightning like we get in Texas.

After we ate, we went into some of the little "junk" stores (read tourist trap) stores and then drove around. Our hosts showed us a subdivision of new houses built to look like old houses. What a unique idea! The houses are a little too close for my taste, however. Wayne said one of them recently sold for $500K! It was a very pretty subdivision.

We returned home and enjoyed more visiting. The next morning, we took off for Lafayette, OR, to visit my cousin who I hadn't seen since 1961 or so.

From Klamath, CA to Williams, OR

Finally! Good wifi! I can upload pictures. Last week, we left Klamath, CA, heading for Oregon. We traveled to Crescent City, CA, then got on Highway 199 to go to visit our friends, Wayne and Becky, who live outside Grants Pass, OR. The house in the second picture is theirs. You will notice that our motor home is parked beside it. They have a full hook-up for an RV there. So nice! Sweet setup and a very nice, comfortable home. They have an RV and we have known them for several years at Georgetown, TX.

But I must tell you about the trip up there. We didn't have much choice but to go up Highway 199 to see them. It was either that or go many miles out of the way. We were told that several miles of the highway is very narrow and curvy. We started out climbing through beautiful redwood forests, and sure enough, we hit the curves. You can see, in the last picture which looks down on the Smith River, the guard rail. Sure seemed like a small guard rail! I was fascinated by the wild river with all its white-water runs. We continued with the curves, climbing, and soon the trees were flocked with snow. I spent my time looking down the steep precipice out my window going EEEK, and looking up at the mountains, trees, and snow, going WOW!

I am always fascinated by water, and there was an abundance of streams and rivulets flowing down the steep hills. I took a picture of a waterfall which ran down the hill above the road into a culvert and drained out below the road into the river.

After crossing over into Oregon, the road smoothed out a bit and we began to see evidence of some civilization. There was logging on the mountains and we were seeing some logging trucks, who, by the way, drive like a bat out of hell. Another EEEK situation.

We turned off onto the road to Wayne and Becky's, and arrived safely at their house about 1:30 pm. Their house is completely surrounded by trees, and they have about 5 acres. It was really nice, and they made us feel very welcome. Becky is also a nurse, and she and I had lots of fun talking about the old days and our experiences. Wayne had promised to take us to Crater Lake, so the next day, we took off. But that is another story. Stay tuned for more!

Helloooooo! Long time, no see!

We made it to Washington State, to my cousin Terry's house, outside Cinebar, WA. We've been here for about 4 days and haven't had computer access, so I'll let you know what's going on. We're in the shadow of Mt. Ranier and Mt. St. Helens, but haven't seen either of them because of RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!!! A couple of days ago, we went out walking with Terry and got rained on, hailed on, and the sun shone. How about that! Plus, it was cold and has been getting down to around 38 degrees at night. So we've been freezing. It doesn't seem as cold tonight as it has been.
Terry's been feeding us well: Smoked Salmon that he caught and smoked himself, Steelhead trout that he caught himself and baked in the oven covered with Mayo, lemon juice, and spices. You may or may not know that I don't like fish, but I had to confess that this was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!! Tonight we had elk steaks, (he shot the elk himself), and they were delicious. The only "fly in the ointment" is that Terry's wife Amanda, who I adore, had to fly back to Kentucky to take care of her aunt who is sick. I miss her very much and am so sorry that I didn't get to see her. We've been enjoying their beautiful house and surroundings.
We drove up to Spanaway, WA, to see my cousin Ann, who I haven't seen in probably 40 years. We had a great visit with her and her two lovely daughters, Anita and Karen. I really hated to leave her.
We're going to leave tomorrow and head out to PA. We'll stop at Hermiston, OR, for the night. There is wifi there and I surely hope to have better access because I have LOTS of beautiful pictures to share.
This is really pretty country. It's green and beautiful with lots of rivers and pine trees!
I can't wait to enter some pictures. Soon!

Lafayette, OR

We arrived in Lafayette, OR, yesterday after a wonderful visit with our friends, Wayne and Becky, who live outside Grants Pass, OR. Our campground here in Lafayette leaves much to be desired, but it does have Wifi, although it is incredibly slow, like 2 mb/s. I haven't put any pictures on because I think I could come back eight hours later and the computer would still be trying to upload the pictures.
I won't give any details about our trip because I'd rather wait and put pictures with the story. We've had a safe trip so far and have been enjoying the beauty of the Northwest. Today we are heading over to my cousin Gary's house. I have not seen him since I was in highschool, and we are looking forward to a nice visit with lots of catching up to do.
So, more later!