Tuesday November 1st 2022

On our way south we had to stop and visit Hyder, Alaska. The population runs at about 40. It was a very rainy day so we could not see the beautiful mountain range.

We had hoped to see some bears snacking on salmon but no luck so we enjoyed the local scenery.

Stuart in Stewart. It’s always about Stuart!!!

At least we had a nice view of Salmon Glacier.

We started the long drive back to the lower 48 and found some good lunch spots.

You know you’re with good friends when your campers are close enough to shake hands through the window.

We stopped for a bit in Oregon to see our lads, have work done on our campers and catch up with old friends.

A highlight of our visit with the lads was a boat trip down the White Salmon River. Jay paddled his kayak and Dax did an awesome job of keeping the rest of us alive on the raft. There was only one hiccup on the trip. Leslie bounced out of the raft after we hit a rock in a set of rapids. Luckily Dax managed to lean out of the back of the raft and grab her lifejacket. He slung her up and into the raft with one hand while steering with other and yelling paddling orders to rest of us. That’s what I call multitasking!

We smoked most of the salmon we bought from Alaska. Jay was pretty thrilled to have a good stockpile left in his freezer. Enjoy dear boy.

We had a great visit lads and you managed to snag an extra Mom and Dad!

We stayed a few days at our lovely “Jordan RV Resort” in Calleen and Jons driveway. Thanks for a great time guys.

I spent ages watching several red headed woodpeckers pounding acorns in a couple of tree trunks In Calleens yard.

Every nook and cranny was stuffed to capacity. I think the local squirrels will enjoy the easy pickings this winter.

We managed pick up a hitchhiker from Jon and Calleens yard. I had a couple of nervous nights wondering where the interloper was hiding. Dean searched everywhere trying to find a nest but not much luck. We set the mouse traps and the giant rat traps in cupboards and the basement.

Peanut butter did the trick and that is the giant rat trap by the way snagging the massive rodent. After a good cleanup and a few adult beverages I finally quit being a fraidy-cat.

It was smashing to latch up again with Stuart and Leslie after a couple of weeks apart. The guys were so excited they had to head to the playground.

we had some nice hikes..

and bikes. This cool looking pedestrian bridge spans the Sacramento River in Redding. Time to part company again. See you guys back in Indio.

We decided to travel down California on 395 which is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. We were lucky enough to have a stretch of lovely sunny days which was nice since we were camping in the mountains. Dean and I had some lovely hiking in the high country around Yosemite. It was a quite a challenge to be hiking at 9,000 to over 11,000 feet after just coming up from sea level.

I liked this old cabin and thought it had a lot of potential as a fixer upper,

although the interior needed quite a bit of work.

Mono Lake has shrunk a huge amount over the last several years.

We canoed around these tufa formations when the lads were small! It seem like all the lakes out west are drying up due the continous drought.

It’s always a happy day when we see a John Muir trail to hike,

especially after visiting his birthplace in Scotland and reading about his efforts in helping create the National Park System here in the States. The John Muir Wilderness extends 90 miles along the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

At high elevation Aspens are giving up some lovely yellow and orange color.

Dean was trying to help these Aspens give a little quake.

What can I say. The sign says it all!

Here we are at the start off our epic journey in April. I think we look pretty happy and hopefully optimistic of the journey.

And now in November we are finally back in Indio. Over 9100 miles and nearly 60 stopovers and we still LOVE each other. Hopefully we will have many more adventures together.