Idaho-June 29, 2007

8:30 a.m. - Temperature is already 79 degrees as we are pulling out of the KOA Camp in Mountain Home, Idaho, just east of Boise. We stopped and got gas at the Pilot station for $2.95 a gallon

9:45 a.m. - On this I-84 Interstate we have not seen any animals living or dead here. No birds, cattle,squirrels, nothing.

11:30 a.m. - We pulled into a parking lot to take a break and have a bite to eat.We are in a small town called Burley, Idaho which is just east of Twin Falls, and the weather is sun and warming up fast. The temperature is somewhere around 90 degrees.When I got on the Internet, it said this area would be very warm this weekend.We just got off of I-84 and it continues on as I-86 East to Pocatello, Idaho.

1:15 p.m. - We are now on I-15 North going to Idaho Falls. Nothing much on this road but potato fields and Lava Rocks, that is why there is not many pictures today. Everywhere you look for miles you see nothing but potato fields. It is very warm now, about 98 degrees and a little humid. We should be at our campsite in about 45 minutes.We are finally seeing some livestock like horses and cows. Guess there is not a helmet law here in Idaho, because all of the motorcycle drivers are bare headed, which looks pretty dangerous to me. There are a lot of lava rock laying around and it looks like big craters are in the middle of all the lava. Almost like a big UFO landing. It would be interesting to research this area to see how many volcano's actually were here.

2:00 p.m. - Pulled into the Snake River RV Park Seems like a nice park it has lots of trees and shade. We hooked up and then turned the air conditioner on, it was very warm. After a short rest, we went down to the pool and had a great time. The water was very pleasant and we met a couple from Oregon on their way to Sturgis, S.D. for a Harley Davidson Bike Rally that is held every year. He was from Kalamazoo, Michigan originally. Another couple came into the pool from Calgary, Alberta Canada and they are on their way to the Grand Canyon. We talked in the pool for at least 2 hours, we looked like prunes when we got out, but it was lots of fun and laughs, and the water was very refreshing. We finally came back to the RV and had some dinner and relaxed some more. Went for a walk after the sun went down and it was a little cooler. It is a nice park to stay in and had a good evening.

Drove 250 miles today

Saturday, July 28, 2007

8:10 a.m. - Woke up this morning and went and had coffee and another good visit with Laurie and Dave. We had a good nights sleep and now we are headed for Boise, Idaho. It is another beautiful morning with a temperature now about 69 degrees, with clear blue skies.
10:15 a.m. - We finally got to stop and stretch our legs. There has not been a place to even pull over on this road from Bend to Burns, OR. It is just high desert and brush and nothing else. This little place has only one store called, "Riley Store and Archery". I went in and looked around and they did not have much in there. They really didn't care if you were even there. The women working in the store were talking to each other about their families and the men were talking among themselves "men stuff".
12:00 p.m. - Stopped and had a bite to eat at a rest stop and now we are going over "Stinking Water Pass with an elevation of 4,848 ft. In a few minutes we will be going over another Pass called, "Drinking Water Pass', with an elevation of 4,213 ft. Weird names that's for sure. The temperature is a hot 95 degrees. Frank walked over to pet the horses and Abby just watched.
12:30 p.m. - We changed to Mountain Time now and it is now 1:30 p.m. We are driving along the Snake River now and it is very full and lovely. Still very warm.
2:20 p.m. - Crossed into Idaho and the temperature is 101!! We are on I-84 East towards Boise. This is probably the worse road we have had so far. It is so rough everything in the RV is rockin and rollin.
5:00 p.m. - Pulled into the Mountain Home KOA Park in Mountain Home, Idaho, which is about 40 miles east of Boise. The weather is 100 degrees and from what the manager says, they have had 13 days of 3 digit temps this month. Good thing we have a good air conditioner. We have noticed so far in the RV parks, that there seems to be less people camping and the manager says he thinks it is because of the gas prices and also the weather. Even up in the mountains, it is in the high 80's or low 90's. We relaxed a bit and then had a nice dinner of BBQ steaks, thanks to Frank.
This is the pilot speaking....all is well and my co-pilot is doing an excellent job...so far no cross words, reservations are made and the pilot brings the ship early. Its really nice to get an early start and pull in early. We appreciate your thoughts towards us and a safe journey. Sit back and enjoy the rest of the trip.... Pilot ..over and out..



We drove 359 miles today.

Friday, July 27, 2007

10:00 a.m. - Leaving this lovely place. It sure is nice staying at these "in the Pines" type of RV Parks. We had a good nights sleep and a good morning walk and breakfast. We are now on the road again, but we don't have to go very far, it will be a little more laid back and relaxing, I hope. Mount Shasta is called "The City of Pure Water." At least that is what the entrance sign to the city read. The temperature has gone from a pleasant 62 degrees this morning to about 75 degrees now, we have beautiful blue skies.

10:30 a.m. - The elevation here at the top of Grass Lake Summit is 5,101 ft. We are going North on Hwy. 97 and there is NO traffic. It is great, we can actually go as slow as we want and no one is behind us tailgating. We are leaving the Kalmath National Forest with lots of Pine trees here. This road is bringing back memories for Frank, because he used to come this way as a kid. His Dad had a ranch up here and they would come up here to do the hay and cattle. This is also potato and horseradish country. Most of the horseradish made comes from a town up here called Tulelake. They have "Snowmobile Parks" here also. We are about 411 miles from Williams, CA.

11:00 a.m. - In this little of Dorris, CA there are only 1,080 people here and the gas is $3.l79! This is the last town before the Oregon State Line, it is about 20 miles to Kalmath Falls. There is a 7% grade downhill that we are taking now.

11:15 a.m. - We just crossed into Oregon and the speed limit here is only 55 m.p;.h. so we are just cruising.

11:30 a.m. - Driving through the city of Kalmath Falls, with a population of 41,000. We stopped at a park and walked by Kalmath Lake to stretch our legs and now we are back on the road.

1:45 p.m. - Not much has changed on this road of Hwy. 97 since we got on it. Frank used to take this road from Tri-Cities, WA to visit his Mom and Dad in Williams. He says the road and seeing the small towns along the way haven't changed at all. Taking a break at probably the last rest stop before we get to Bend, OR. The weather has warmed up to about 95 degrees. We stopped in a small town of Chemult and got some gas for $2.85 gal.

2:15 p.m. - We pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot where we are going to meet up with Dave Weldon, our friend from Michigan, and he will lead us to his place. Dave took us all around the town and up a pass and vista that showed the whole area of Bend. Bend has the Cascade Mountains on one side and many other mountains around it. It was just beautiful. Laurie came hone from work about 7:30 p.m. an we had a nice visit with her. Their daughter Carrie has been there visiting, and will be flying back to Michigan on Wednesday. She still has one more year at Michigan Tech and then is thinking of moving out West to live. Dave and Laurie are very pleased at living here in the West and it was good visiting with them. We had a great evening. We drove 315 miles today.

Mt. Shasta KOA, Mt. Shasta, CA

We left Merced, CA at 10:00 a.m. on July 26, 2007 with 13,143 miles on 2006 Challenger RV. All systems were a go---tires ok--trailer lights working--oil ok----water ok---Frank ok---Ann ok---Abby 0k

10:15 a.m.--- We are in Atwater and just realized that we left the keys to the trailer, so we have to head back to Merced and get them. RV is driving good and all seems to be ok, except for forgetting the keys.

11:30 a.m.-- Just saw an Oregon Truck hauling 3 malibu boats pass us by! Also, on Hwy. 99-south, just before we turn to go towards I-5, there was a truck with a load of hay tipped over blocking all kinds of traffic. It must have happened about 1/2 hr. ago and traffic was blocked up for miles!

1:30 p.m.-- Stopped at a Pilot station in Dunigan which is just south of Williams. The temp is about 90 degrees. Traffic has been busy all the way up. Abby is not quite sure about her surroundings, it will take her a couple of days to adjust.

2:30 p.m.-- Had a nice visit with Elaine and then went over to Morningstar Packing where Lyle is working and said our good byes to him. We sure are glad we had a chance to see them one more time. One of these days, we are hoping the four of us can make a trip like this together.

4:24 p.m.-- We are 13 miles from Redding and we can see just the tip of Mt. Shasta Mountain in front of us, and Mt. Lasson on the right of us. It is very hot now, temp in 100 degrees!!!

We are about 60 miles from Mt. Shasta City.

5:00 p.m.-- Stopped at a rest area at the 1200 ft. level. It felt good to stretch our legs and give Abby a run. We have crossed the Sacramento River a couple of times on this stretch of highway and Frank says that the snow thaw from Mt. Shasta starts the Sacramento River. Right now, because of so little snow, the rivers and lakes are very low. The temp has dropped now to about 90 degrees as we start to climb higher. You are driving along this winding mountain road and all of a sudden, up pops this huge Mountain in front of you amongst the trees! It is so amazing and beautiful, words cannot describe.

6:00 p.m.--Just pulled into the KOA Campground here in Mt. Shasta after a lovely ride with beautiful scenery. Mt. Shasta is a very cute little town, lots of little shops to take your money. Driving into this KOA was a beautiful site to see with it's tall redwoods and pines. The elevation here is 3642 and good clean air. They are showing a movie here called "RV" with Robin Williams and also will be serving root beer floats. We took awalk around the park and it has all kinds of walking and bike paths that go through the redwoods. A nice place to stay for a week at least.

We called Dave Weldon, our friend from Michigan that has moved to Bend, OR and verified that we would be at his place tomorrow around 3:30 p.m. or so. We had a lovely dinner and sat outside for a while enjoying the cool 75 degrees clear night. Frank is very relaxed and likes this place.

July 17, 2007

Well we finally got a call from the RV place in Roseville on July 8 saying our rig was ready to pick up. They fixed the jacks and also fixed the skylight in the bathroom that has some cracks around it also washed it. It looked so good that we decided we should take it for a "trial run" to see if everything was working before we took it 3,000 miles away. So we left Merced about noon on July 12 to go to Roseville and see what damage we could do. So after picking up the RV we decided to go to Cisco Grove Campground, in Soda Springs, CA. between Auburn and Truckee. The campground is on the Yuba River. It is about 1 hour and 15 minutes north of Roseville on Interstate 80 towards Tahoe. At 5:30 p.m. we pulled into the Campground and it is just beautiful, all among the pines! Since we did not really plan this overnighter, we did not have much in the RV refrigerator to eat, so we did some shopping at the RV Park store. What prices they had!!! But we bought some cheese and crackers and peanut butter, bacon, bread, etc and made it through the night and had a good breakfast of bacon and peanut butter toast in the morning. hahahahaha

After our "dinner" we decided to take a walk in the woods. What a beautiful site and lovely area. Lots of hiking and quad trails to take. Abby's sniffer was going a mile a minute and we saw some good places we might like to visit when and if we come back here to camp. It would be fun to be here for about 4 days, especially midweek, because there are not as many people. At dark, we went outside and sat and watched the stars and just enjoyed the beautiful smell of the Pines and quietness of the woods. We are about 5,600 ft up and the nights get very cool. The campsite across from us even had a nice fire going, which we enjoyed watching.
Friday-7/13/07--- We are just pulling out of the campsite headed back to Merced after a beautiful night and drive. The motorhome is driving just great and I have not seen Frank so happy and relaxed in awhile. It was good for him to take this trip. Abby and him went for a long walk all around the perimeter early in the a.m. and both were very refreshed when they got back. A good trip and well worth the time and effort.

Here it is July 3, 2007 and we are getting things ready for our trip back to Michigan. We have been having trouble with the electrical system with the jacks on the motorhome. It has been an ongoing problem since we bought the rig. On Friday, we will be taking it to Village RV in Rosevill, CA on Interstate 80 to drop it off and have them look at it next week. Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem.