June 25, 2010 - Repairs in Springfield & Eugene, OR

We spent last weekend in Springfield, OR, waiting for our June 21, 2010, 8:30 am., appointment at AM Solar.  We arrived too late on Friday afternoon to pick up a key to dry-camp at AM Solar, so were happy to find “lodging” at the Springfield Elks for just $15 a night--for water/electric. The club is about 3 to 4 miles away from AM Solar.

Usually I am armed with AAA maps of the areas we plan to explore, but I fell short with Springfield and Eugene, OR.   So, on Sunday we wandered around looking for little green-colored spaces on the GPS face—indicating a possible park.  We found the Willamette River and noticed the drift boat fisherman working the river.

At the boat ramp, I took a photo of this happy fisherman—notice the look of pride on his face for catching this steelhead:

Next, a local fellow told me we HAD to visit the Dorris Ranch and directed us to it.  It was a good thing, as I wouldn’t have found the ranch otherwise!  Next time, I will visit AAA first!

Larry wasn’t in a walking mood, but I wanted to see the Hazelnut orchards, so I hiked a bit into the park.

According to the plaque above, the trees are about 100 years old!  Without Larry for company on my hike, it was a bit creepy!  

Early Monday morning, we presented ourselves and our camper to AM Solar to have the solar panels re-attached and rewired.  Larry and Jack had originally installed the system about 12 years ago and it has worked great.  Larry had created fiber-glassed blocks of wood with a screw standing up and fiber glassed the block to the roof of the camper to avoid making holes in the roof.  Unfortunately, in the last year or so, the blocks started rotting. 

I was thrilled when AM Solar joined the Escapees commercial membership program—at last, a place outside of Arizona for summer solar system work!   I called before we left Livingston, TX, to verify AM Solar had a way to attach the panels without drilling  holes and made the appointment planning to come up I-5 in June.

We are very pleased with the quality of their work and their family-style set-up in Springfield, OR.  We should have plenty of solar power next January-February in Quartzsite, AZ.  They installed a better controller and used our two panels, as well as up-grading the wiring. 

It appears Greg and Deb are committed to helping make the would a better place to live.  Their building is set up to minimize its impact on the environment.  And, the tile driveway allows water to sink in to the soil instead of running off the the creek on the property.  Here is a photo of Deb’s electric car.  Isn’t it cute?

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While the camper was being fixed, I took our camper ladder across to Eugene, OR to Step-Up Products, who had built them about 11 years ago.  The original ladder/steps for the Big Foot camper were flimsy and bouncy.  Step-Up Products built us a much better and wider ladder and installed it in the same day.  After all these years, we needed to have the bottom rung replaced—definitely our fault!  Ted agreed to not only supply the replacement part, but re-attached the rung.  I had a great visit, including letting him know of the many compliments we have received on the ladder over the years.  I learned about some new innovative ladders he has designed recently for other campers.  Soon, he had fixed ours.  Thank you, Ted.  We are back in business!

 

The Step-Up ladder is wider and double-jointed for a more stable ladder.  Now, if he could just find a way to attach a hand-rail for Larry, we would be ordering a new set, smile!

We left Springfield and Eugene, OR, with smiles on our faces!

We accomplished two repairs, one major and one minor, and had outstanding service on both!  That is a red-letter day!

June 17, 2010 – Exploring Oregon Lava Lands.

I am going to do things a bit different this afternoon!  Instead of a lot of words, I am going to share some photos of this beautiful area.

We have had a great time in the La Pine, OR, area!  I would highly recommend it to all travelers.  Do you remember we visited the Fall River Fish Hatchery last Sunday?  On Tuesday, we drove up to the top of the Newberry Caldera—13 miles UP the road in the front of the campground—to Paulina and East Lakes.  These two scenic lakes reside in the inside of the collapsed top of Newberry Caldera.  I LOVE these two lakes and could spend all summer camped on the edge of either lake. 

However, it was my lucky day.  We had just finished eating our picnic lunch and a truck drove in.

The OR Wildlife staff member was delivering 20,000 Kokanee fingerlings to both Paulina and East Lakes.  Because it was a split delivery, he had to ‘fish” out the fingerlings at Paulina.

However, it seems the Kokanee aren’t the smartest fish on the food chain—as many tried to swim ashore!  He told me that never happened with the Rainbow or brown trout, just the Kokanee.

I spent about 30 min. swooshing the little fish back into the lake!  I was playing God, as in helping them live, it shorted the hungry birds waiting for an easy meal after their long winter!  When he left, no fish were left on the beach—but my fingers were frozen fingerlings!  I couldn’t stand by and watch those fingerlings from Fall River Hatchery perish, even if it was about 40 degrees with a cutting north wind!

Over at East Lake, he was able to place the fingerlings in the lake by using the hose to drain the fish tank.

And even then, a few tried to swim ashore, but I stood there scaring them back into the lake.  The fishermen will be so happy!

On the way down, we stopped at the Obsidian Flow area.  It was very striking, but most of the black obsidian area was still covered with snow.

We made a quick stop at Paulina Falls, the only outlet of Lake Paulina,  The snow is melting and the falls were striking!

The ride to the top of the Newberry Caldera is a must-do trip! 

The following day, we woke up to Frost on the Pumpkin!  Brrrr!  The weather has been in low 30s at night and high 70s during the days.

We drove north to the Newberry Lava Lands Visitor Center to explore the educational displays about the area and volcanoes.. The Lava Butte is next door to the visitor center.   Adventurous visitors can hike to the top of the 500 ft. high Lava Butte cinder cone.

We went up this way:

It is a round-about drive to visit the top.  From the parking lot, hike up to the former Fire Watch tower to see the wonderful view:

The depression inside the caldera is 150 ft. deep.

I didn’t take advantage of the hiking trail around the cone as I was noticing little white drops falling on my jacket.  So, we bundled up and headed over to the Lava River Tube to just “look” at it.  I don’t do dark confined places well!

This inviting trail leads you in through a part of the collapsed Lava tube and leads to:

And then it started snowing/soft hailing again!  I walked to the entrance to get out of the snow storm.

I walked down as far as the left corner of the photo and stopped to look further in.  When I looked up and saw all those rocks on the ceiling had cracks around them, I decided I didn’t need to go in and walk a mile in the dark!  “Enough,” my rational self said to my not-very-adventurous self!

Visiting the Newberry Volcanic National Monument was very interesting!  I am glad we came.  Next visit we will make time for the High Desert Museum just outside of Bend.  Tomorrow morning, we will take Hwy 58 over the Cascade Range to Eugene, OR.

We will meet my father in Eugene as he travels north to Mt. Vernon, WA on Saturday afternoon..  That is just one of the neat things about RVing—meeting up with family and friends along the route! 

June 14, 2010 -- Snow-Capped Mountains and Pine Trees

We are back in our idea of heaven—views of majestic snow-capped mountains in the distance and we are surrounded by tall-standing pine forests! 

 

Cascade Meadows RV Resort sits in a flat, grassy meadow just north of La Pine, OR. It is a member of the Coast to Coast membership system which allows us to stay in affiliated parks up to 7 days for $10 per night.  The resort also charges a small fee and taxes so our nightly fee is about $13.  The resort offers full hook-ups sites and two laundry/shower rooms, as well as an on-site upscale restaurant.  However, we come for the views! 

La Pine, OR is located in the Central Oregon volcanic region which includes Crater Lake National Park, Newberry Volcanic Crater National Monument, Mt. Bachelor, and Three Sisters National Forest area.  It also includes the towns of La Pine, Sunriver, and Bend, as well as picturesque Sisters, OR.  The area is blessed with high-mountain clear water lakes and inviting trout-fishing streams. 

Yesterday we wandered along the Fall River Highway and stumbled into some delightful spots.  The little Fall River NF campground offered more than just affordable camping sites, it includes views of the enticing Fall River.

Can you picture yourself in this setting?  Either fishing for an elusive big trout or enjoying the view sitting in a comfortable camp chair?  How about following the hiking trail across that bridge?  The Fall River emerges from an underground spring upriver, so the water is clear enough to read a paper on the river bottom.

Seeds on the fallen logs have sprouted and created miniature islands in the steam bed, including a small log-jam dam.  Notice the clarity of the water up-river from the dam. 

Further down the river,  we discovered the Fall River Fish Hatchery was open for visitors. In addition to a walking tour of the facilities, the fish hatchery area is also open to “hopeful” fly-fishermen.  I watched a lot of casting, but no catching!

 

There were a lot of fingerling trout growing in the long, narrow ponds.

No fishing allowed in the above pond.  The wire covering protects the fish from predators—including fisherman!  The fishermen had to try flinging and snapping their flies in river.  Notice the clarity of the water.  It looked about four feet deep in front of this hopeful fisherman.

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Today we will drive north to explore the highway between La Pine and Bend, OR, stopping at the Newberry Visitor Center.

There is so much to see in this beautiful area before we head down to Eugene, OR, on Friday.  It will be another road like Hwy 299, the route from Redding to Alturas, CA, we drove last week.  We enjoyed a four-day stay with our long-time friends, Arlene and Fred Cray at their cozy homestead outside of Alturas.  The weather was iffy, with gentle rain three of the four nights.

Arlene and I entertained ourselves by walking (and shopping) along Alturas’s Main street.  I couldn’t help myself.  I added two more pottery soup bowls from the local art shop to my camper.  Yes, I know that is redundant as I can make my own, but……..they were so pretty!  Larry said something has to go to make room for them, so I prepared a box of a few things for Arlene to ship to me when we start back to Texas.

Stay tuned for more Central Oregon photos!

June 5, 2010 - Roadside Miracles

Do you believe in miracles?  I do.  Want some proof of miracles?  Just look to the sides of Interstate 5 driving from Bakersfield to Redding, California.

Look out the car window to see enough different varieties of fruits and vegetables to feed a large portion of the U.S. population.  Bountiful citrus fruit tress line the freeway around Bakersfield eventually giving way to fruit trees, then grape vineyards and later corn fields as I-5 heads north.  Leaving Sacramento, the flat valley landscape turns to miles of rice production. 

It was while driving past the rice ponds, I realized the absolute miracle of life.  First I noticed the ponds covered with water.  Starting from tiny seeds dropped by airplanes into large flat ponds,  they find nourishment in the soil and water and grow into healthy plants.

The rice plants emerge from the water and grow up into the sunlight into sturdy plants and re-create themselves as tiny rice grains.

Farmers harvest the rice grains from the plants.  We cook and eat the rice grains, and they nourish us so we grow tall and strong.

This miracle is carried out millions of times in California in thousands of different food-product ways.  From the dirt at our feet, comes food that keeps us alive.  California feeds millions of people with the food grown in its flat, fertile fields with water from the snow that falls in the mountains months earlier.  Isn’t that a miracle?

Sometimes, a tree, an odd shaped tree at that, grows in unlikely places.  Have you noticed any odd or weird shaped trees growing in unlikely places and wondered how they got there?  This pine tree doesn’t fit the profile of the local trees in Antioch.  However, we know how it happened to “grow” in this spot!

We saw the birth of this tree.  This is how it grew in this spot starting as a tall trunk and weird attachments at the top:

 

Whoops, a naked tree!  We saw the spikes and looked for the rest of the little branches and found them along the road:

This odd tree was assembled just like our artificial Christmas tree, only they used a lift to reach the top.  Now, if this little odd tree would just help the Verizon signals out at Sugar Barge Resort, we would call that a REAL miracle too!!

We are in Redding, CA for a few days at the Elks Club RV Park.

Wonderful news is after several years of a California drought:  Lake Shasta is full!  So full, they are opening the dam to let water out to make room for the coming snow melt and warning of down-river possible flooding.  This is Lake Shasta last summer:

And to our delight, here is Lake Shasta today:

To see the lake finally back up to normal levels is another miracle!

We came to visit long-time friends, Jack and Nancy Reed.  We met on our honeymoon trip—camping at Lake Shasta, some time back in the last century.

Our middle-aged kids were just little spouts as were their three beautiful daughters, who now have teenagers of their own.  We have kept in touch over past 39 years.  They just bought a new-to-them condo in Redding and as always, Nancy has transformed it into a showcase with her decorating talents.”  We had a wonderful visit--catching up on family news.

We are heading up to Alturas, CA on Tuesday morning to visit with our extended-family members, Fred and Arlene Cray.  We will be driving Hwy 299 East which winds through the mountains.  It will be a slow trip with a few knuckle-biter moments! 

June 1, 2010 – “Feeling High” at Sugar Barge Resort!

We survived 2010 opening weekend on the Delta!  Sugar Barge RV Resort was filled with happy campers and boaters celebrating the Memorial Day Weekend!  For us retired RVers, holiday weekends are more a pain than pleasure.  State, National, and private campgrounds are usually filled with holiday revelers, forcing us to plan ahead.  We prefer the freedom to just stop where our fancy takes us.

However, some times, we just have to plan ahead!

Scenic Sugar Barge, located next to and on top of a Bethel Island, CA delta levee, is a premier RV resort combining camping with boating.  The resort also offers year-round storage for boats and RVs.   The “rally room” is available for rally groups for meeting and meals, and it seems to get a lot of use.The large pool attracts families with kids who enjoy the safe swimming area and sunbathers who enjoy the sun’s warm rays.

 

In April, when I realized we needed to be in Antioch over a holiday weekend, I made reservations here at Sugar Barge because the Antioch Fairground campground is closed for the County Fair.

A 9-day stay is allowing us time for Larry’s lab tests, keep a follow-up visit with his kidney doctor on Wednesday and a medical test on Thursday.  We laughingly refer to this as our medical campground, because medical issues caused us to settle in here for two months in 2008 and another month in 2009.

We are feeling “high” at Sugar Barge.  Larry’s latest blood work showed that his kidney function is holding steady.  In fact, things looked just a tad bit better than the past several months!  Yippee!

Holding on to our strict diet appears to be working for now.  We monitor sodium intake--keeping it close to 2000 mg. per day, potassium and phosphorus—balancing his meat, vegetable and baked goods intake as well as consistent level of  “greens” for the PT INR from the Coumadin.

We also have to insure adequate iron in his diet to fight the anemia caused by the lack of hormones produced in the kidneys—along with monthly Procrit shots.

We know we are a thread’s distance from having to start preparations for kidney dialysis—which is an excellent behavior modification therapy.  I eat what he can eat as we are a team, working together to prolong his kidney function.

In a later post,  I will show you how we are able to restrict his sodium intake to keep his body from accumulating extra fluid. Life is a balancing act! 

I enjoy the park because I can walk in the evenings.  There is only one hill—to get up on top of the levee to enjoy the water view. Here are two views of the slough and behind the reeds, the area knows as Frank’s Tract.

Are you ready to pack up and head for Sugar Barge Resort?

We will be back on the road on Saturday.  I think we are going to Redding, CA, or, maybe Reno, NV??