THE BUS STOPS HERE

We had a pretty nice month in Indio until it started heating up. When the temp hits the 90’s I turn into wimpy girl.

We were lucky to have a family visit. We took cousins Candice and Lennard on our favorite slot canyon hike.

They had a good time squeezing through the slots.

It’s always a thrill coming down this very tall ladder.

Our usual lunch stop at the dragonfly.

We had such a great time! There are plans for a repeat next winter.

We had a pleasant bike ride around Palm Springs and stopped to check out Marilyn. For once some one had bigger feet than me.

I wish I looked that good in heels.

We thought this car made a nice backdrop for our bike heads.

It was getting too toasty to do much around the neighborhood so we drove up a few thousand feet to snag a piece of the Pacific Crest Trail. There were quite a few through hikers on the trail.

We had to have a pic of this pup which looks very similar to my granddog Maya. These 2 dogs were better equipped than us. Talk about stylin’

I have a soft spot for pinecones, especially if they are nice and burly. I would have kept one but Dean refused to lug the very heavy, spiky, and sticky monster back for me.

As we leave Indio we start on our EPIC JOURNEY 2022. This year we both turn 70 and will have been together 50 years. Whaaaat!!! It only seems like a minute ago we looked like this,

and this

Actually our “legal marriage” fiftieth is next year, but since we lived together for the first year I am counting that. Especially since the 70-50 sounds so good in my head.

Here is the actual marriage at the ripe old age of 21. My good friend Rhonda loaned me the lovely wedding dress.

It sounded like a good time to bust out and splurge on a mega trip. Last winter we tossed the idea around of a visit to the Galapagos, or somewhere else exotic. But, with the COVID and travel uncertainty we eventually decided on driving back to Alaska and hit the highlights we missed in 2019. We had to leave early in 2019 because a lot of the state was on fire.

Our great friends, Leslie and Stuart are gonna travel with us so we will have a nice big convoy of 2 motorhomes with tow cars (10-4 good buddy). We have never traveled with another couple before so being joined at the hip will be interesting. Luckily we are all very compatible. Stuart and I are a little bit crazy and Leslie and Dean have the calming influence which keeps us on track. Sounds like fun time for all of us!

Our plan is to amble our way up the California coast, spend some time in Oregon (gotta see my nippers) before driving into the beautiful FRIENDLY country of Canada for a leisurely meander through British Columbia and Yukon before entering Alaska.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t get snowed, rained, smoked or other crazy weather patterned out. Also it would be very nice if our rigs didn’t conk out during the journey.

Monday 27th December 2021

2021 has been quite an eventful year. We have been vaxxed, boosted, trapped under a heat dome in Oregon and dodged wildfires in Washington. Life has calmed down since we arrived in Phoenix in November. We are staying busy playing plenty of Pickleball and hiking. Of course the Beast always needs pampering over the winter. After 12 faithful years the dishdrawer conked out. We installed a new one which thankfully slid right in the same hole.

We always enjoy a hike in the Superstition Mountains just up the road. The Saguaro with all the arms looks nice and healthy considering it’s at least a hundred years old.

This one is in its final death throes.

It’s always great to hike with good friends. Hope we get in a few more trips Jan and Tom.

I have been practicing the macro setting on my new phone.

It helps when it’s nippy in the morning and the butterflies are slow to get moving.

This guy was giving us a serious look as we slowly passed by. The whole area was open range.

Since it has been just the two of us this holiday season (Bah Humbug) we found a tiny 10 lb turkey and chopped it in half. We had this exact same meal at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I have a new flower garden to play with over the winter.

We have had some very nice sunsets lately.

Dean and I wish you all the very best in 2022. Stay healthy everyone.

Sunday 31st October 2021

The coast of Oregon is green (It must be all the rain and fog that reminds me of England). Eastern Oregon high desert is pretty barren and brown. (Probably because it hardly ever rains). Washington, Oregon, and California have such wonderfully diverse terrains and climates. From seasides to lush valleys and snowy mountains to high deserts. We had a nice stopover in the middle of nowhere. Lovely and quiet.

There’s not much traffic on highway 50 in Nevada. I guess that’s why it’s called the loneliest highway in America. That definitely suits us.

We had a quick stopover in Ely Nevada to have full hookups. That pesky cleaning and laundry has a way of catching up with us. Charcoal Ovens State Park still looks good. Nice to see nothing vandalized in such a remote park.

The smoky haze from so many recent wildfires had mostly gone by the time we arrived at Great Basin National Park. We love this park! It seems everyone else does too, as our usual first come first served campsites, are now all reservation only and booked solid. We did manage to find one spot after a trek on gravel roads, and squeezing the beast through a maze of undergrowth. We stayed 5 lovely sunny days. Since it is so isolated and at high elevation (7500-10,000 ft) this park is a great place to stargaze. We enjoyed looking at the Milky Way in a massive starry sky. There were quite a few satellites zipping by as well. My iPhone refused to give me a useable star pic but then again I am just a point and shoot pic taker.

It’s always a good feeling to hug a three thousand year old Bristlecone Pine Tree. I felt like a young nipper.

At over ten thousand feet elevation, the Bristlecone trees were pretty small on this exposed ridge. It’s hard to compete with the savage winters here. We had a lovely lunch spot next to these minis.

Dean just had to outdo me and snuggle up to a tree dated over three thousand five hundred years.

There are quite a few Aspen groves in the park, and many trees had already shed their leaves. This one had a cool looking trunk though.

I don’t know what this rock is made of, but it just looked good.

I appreciate a sit down now and then.

We did a hike at lower elevation and found a lovely Aspen grove to have our lunch and rest.

St. George in Southern Utah was our next stop. I really wanted a new walking stick and this is the perfect harvesting area for Utah Agave stalks.

Sawing off the spiky base.

The seed pods are next to go.

SCORE!!!! Three good possibles. We will store these until we get to our long layover in Phoenix, and then hopefully, one of these stalks will be be magically transformed into a Rose hiking stick.

A great day out.

After a whopping 64 mile drive we stopped for a few days at Pipe Spring National Monument. There was a very nice and cheap campground on the Kaibab Tribal Lands next to the Monument. Full hookups and good wifi. Yeah baby!

The fortified ranch house at Pipe Spring was built by Mormon settlers in 1870. It enclosed a large spring which caused major problems for the local Kaibab Paiute Native Americans. Cut off from the water they suffered greatly for many years. The buildings and spring became a National Monument in 1923.

The bedrooms looked pretty comfy.

Dean was thinking about dinner.

The spring is still pumping out water.

We managed to squeeze in a nice easy slot canyon hike.

I found a cozy nook for a rest.

Of course Dean had to outdo me.

The remnants of this ladder were lodged about 20 feet above the canyon floor. Note to self, always check to make sure no recent rainfall in slot canyon areas we might think about hiking.

After another massive 87 mile drive it was time for a couple of days rest in Page, Arizona. Glen Canyon Dam always look impressive. The visitor center is still closed but we could at least walk on the bridge. The water level doesn’t look too bad here.

Lake Powell is drying up quite a bit though. It is down over 50 feet just this year. The water level should be a long way up this road. Forget about oil, the West coast needs a water pipeline coming from the East coast. Maybe we could have a reverse pipeline and send some of our nice dry air to offset the Eastern humidity.

Our usual free parking spot to hike to Horseshoe Bend is now paid parking with several pay booths. It’s a very popular area with a steady stream of tourists.

We decided to save the $10 parking fee (wine money), and hiked from town over slick rock terrain. We actually found a rock guide that helped navigate us several miles. The 9 mile roundtrip was really interesting with lots of great views. The wine tasted pretty good as well after the hike.

Dean cautiously wiggled up to the edge of the cliff.

He got a great pic of the Colorado River at the aptly named Horseshoe Bend.

It’s been a fun trip south. We will be in Mesa (suburb of Phoenix) for the next 3 months. Would love to meet up up if you might be coming this way over the winter.

Tuesday 13th July 2021

We rested up for a few days in a nice quiet campground in the high desert of Oregon after our busy time near Hood River.

It seems we have missed the wildflowers here too. Summer came early but the wild sagebrush sure smelled good.

We couldn’t figure out why this car was dumped in the middle nowhere. It had quite a few bullet holes.

We rode our nice comfy ebikes a few miles around Newberry Crater National Monument. It sure is great going up the hills with power assist. My croc knee thanks me every time. With the rear baskets we are able to haul chairs and cooler.

Little trees were hanging on for dear life to the exposed posts next to this bridge.

The temperatures started to soar into triple digits so an early morning hike around Smith Rock was in order. We love Smith Rock State Park and never get tired of hiking around it. Monkey face was getting a workout. Climbers were climbing and rappelling all over.

We saw several people sitting in his mouth.

This handy crutch station is about halfway up the trail. Thank goodness they were not being used.

The lads came for a quick visit and the river seemed the best place to be in the intense heat. I felt like a queen being paddled up and down the river. We only fell off once. Thanks Jay.

At least we stayed nice and cool.

A freak wind whipped through the campground. This trailer was just 2 spaces over from us. Bad things can happen when you take off for the day and leave your big awning out especially with a light weight camper.

Finally a nice elevation hike.

We even managed to snag some cherries before the season finished.

Back by Hood River for a raft trip.

We had a lovely afternoon paddling down the Lower White Salmon. Dax used to be a river guide back in the day so he was able to expertly aim the raft so we got maximum splash.

Jay had fun trying some water tricks.

The wind was blowing so hard we were getting blown back up river the last ¼ mile. Time to get Jay onboard and help paddle!

Dax was going to run a waterfall so we roped our way down to the river.

Yikes! It was a lot bigger than I thought.

We are now heading up to Washington for a few weeks. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a few wildflowers and no wild fires.

Monday 14th June, 2021

We stopped into see our friend of many years. We first met Pat in a campground in Arizona. Pat now lives in Salem and just celebrated her 95th birthday. Happy birthday dear friend.

Finally it was time to pick up our carpet. We thought it might fit in Jays house. He recently moved back to Oregon.

Thank you Paige and Rod for looking after our carpet for 17 years. It does not seem possible that we have been on the road for that many years.

Maya and I enjoyed a lay down.

We moved up to Portland for a week and it was fun to visit with the lads over Memorial Day weekend. A decent climbing rock was close to the campground and the lads got in some practice.

We dropped them off upriver and they paddle boarded to the campground.

I’m always a happy camper when Dax and Jay stop by.

Time to move on to Hood River. I was hoping to get some good wild flower hikes in but the Columbia Gorge was dried up. I fear the drought is all up the west coast. The views of the river are always nice though.

Another day we hiked at a much higher elevation and found more greenery. A doe with two tiny fawns crossed our path.

We couldn’t figure out why this gate was attached to a tree but had no fencing on either side.

Swallowtail butterflies were flitting all over the flowery bushes.

A couple of Admirals like Deans feet.

I even had one enjoying a rest on my foot.

Mount Hood peeped out from under the clouds for a few minutes.

A bike ride along the Deschutes river was fun.

The only wild life we came across was a very lazy slow moving rattler.

A fast flowing river enticed the lads up to Hood River. Jay is really enjoying kayaking again.

He seems to have got the hang of it pretty quick.

Dax likes to run waterfalls.

We are so happy our lads live close to each other again.

Now we heading to Bend area for a few weeks. Pickleball and hiking are on the menu.