Full Circle

Location: Green Cove Springs, Florida
Position: N 29 59.091 W 081 38.894

After a great three months of visiting family and friends up and down the eastern US Wanda has finally delivered us back to Rachel. It's been a great summer filled with spending quality time with our grandkids, families and friends interspersed with sightseeing. 

Wanda has performed beautifully, carrying us and all our gear over 14,000 miles this summer with no breakdowns and no problems at all. What a great car she's been – we couldn't be happier with her!

 We watched Jeseph, Tigerlily and Baylen surfing, and we all had fun camping. We got to see Alex AND Emma play football and took them for an overnight sailing trip visiting at our old haunts on Claytor Lake. We enjoyed a nice long visit with Mark's mom and some of his New England family and hooked up with a high school buddy of Mark's who he had not seen for about 15 years. And we met up with some Canadian cruising friends in Niagara Falls.

We did a couple of house sitting stints, too. One in Blacksburg giving us chance to spiff up the garden at our house, and one in Floyd County near the Blue Ridge Parkway, where Mark used to live, giving us the chance to re-connect with old friends there too. When it was time to head south from Virginia we meandered our way back down to Florida taking 3 weeks and visiting Mark's brother & sister-in-law and numerous cruising friends along the way.

We were rather apprehensive about how Rachel would look after sitting in the yard in the hot, muggy Florida climate all summer. We're happy to report that she fared very well, looking only a bit scruffy and with only a bit of mildew down below. So now we're up to our ears in boat jobs getting her all spiffed up and ready for our next adventures. We're hoping to be finished with our below the waterline jobs by midweek - then we'll at least be back in the water to finish up. We won't bore you with our long list of jobs, a picture tells a thousand words.

Julie was on a scaffolding scrubbing and waxing Rachel the other day. A guy who was working on his boat next to us said to her “I wish my wife would work on our boat” Julie's reply “I wish she'd work on our boat too” . 

Flower Power

Location: West Hartford, CT
Position: N 41 47.08 W 072 45.66

One of the best parts of our travels this summer has been the profusion of wildflowers we've encountered. Spring in the Pacific Northwest lags a bit behind the Southeast, and we unwittingly managed to time our visit there for the height of wildflower season. Everywhere we went there were beautiful blooms. Some were familiar and some were new to us.

In our usual “always prepared” state, we managed to leave our wildflower books on Rachel. At a bit of a loss without them, we found ourselves taking a lot of photos to help us remember them and identify them later. Whenever we remembered to bring the camera, that is ....

We still haven't looked them all up, but we thought we'd go ahead and share them with you, anyway. We'll keep this short to spare you a lot of silly text and just let their beauty speak for itself.

Peace and love,

Mark & Julie

 

Camping

Location: Blacksburg, VA
Position: N 37 16.292 W 80 24.938

“Wake up! I hear something outside!”

“Huh? What? Gnrff...”

It's June 17^th, the morning of our first night of “dispersed camping” and just getting light outside. We drove miles up a forest service road in Dee, Oregon to get here and we aren't sure what to expect this far from civilization. There HAVE been a lot of signs around about being “bear aware”….

In the course of our travels we've discovered that there are several kinds of camping.

Campgrounds (whether private or public) usually have “RV” and “tent” sites. RV sites have a place to park an RV, a picnic table, and electrical, water, and often sewer hookups. Tent sites usually have a place to park, a picnic table, a fire grate, and a spot to pitch a tent. RV sites are understandably more expensive than tent sites, so we always take a tent site when given the choice. They usually cost between $10 and $30 a night.

We've found there to be very little privacy in most campgrounds. It can be pretty difficult getting dressed lying down in the back or sitting up in the front seat of our minivan. It's hard to stay in bed when there are kids playing around outside. The toilets can be occupied at inopportune moments.

The US Forest service adds two other types of free camping into the mix. “Dispersed camping” is defined as “camping anywhere in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground. Dispersed camping means there are no toilets, no picnic tables, no trash cans, no treated water, and no fire grates”.

And, finally, “primitive camping” is defined as "overnight camping where all equipment is transported in limited trips by non-motorized vehicle methods and where a motorized vehicle is not located near or part of the camping experience”.

So far, we've been staying in tent sites at forest service, state, and county campgrounds, but have been wanting to give dispersed camping a try.

“I hear it again! Wake up!”

“Snork. Okay, okay.”

Last night we really enjoyed our solitude. We had a nice, quiet dinner, played some cards, and went to bed early. It was quiet, there was no traffic, and we were warm for the first time in a week.

We slowly pull the curtain aside and see three deer grazing right outside Wanda. With our tinted windows, they don't know we're inside and we get a real closeup view. We stay in bed for about 30 minutes whispering, watching them wander around us, sometimes looking right at us. This dispersed camping thing isn't so bad....

Since then we've camped for free every chance we get. Most of the time this involves driving up a gravel forest service road until we find a place to pull off. Once we get Wanda as level as possible so we can get a good nights sleep, we pull out our card table, set up the galley, make dinner, do the dishes, re-stow everything, have a glass of wine, maybe play some cribbage, and then back inside Wanda to our comfy bed for the night. And the price fits right in with our budget .

We never know what we'll see – or won't see. Just outside Missoula, MT we found several huge, long-clawed grizzly bear tracks just outside the van in the morning – thank goodness we slept right through that visit!

Another time we stayed for free at a truck stop just outside Indianapolis, Indiana. Little Wanda held her own, shoehorned as she was in amongst big, manly trucks with names like “Peter Bilt”, ”Ken Worth”, and just plain “Mack”.

Dispersed and diggin' it,

Movin' along

Location: near Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Position: N 43 56.122 W 103 24 043

After 3 weeks, 3890 miles, 6 states, 4 National parks, 21 nights of camping and many scenic highways – we're heading back east.

 

It's been a great trip, not exactly what we'd planned but awesome all the same. Due to limited time to see our granddaughter, Tigerlily, and the cold weather we decided to forgo Canada and instead spent some quality time in the NW US exploring places we haven't been before.

We've had an amazing time and Wanda has performed fantastically. 

 

In our last khronicle we talked about being cold. We'd hoped that this would improve, but unfortunately it didn't. We worked our way up the spectacular California and Oregon coasts, we've never seen coastline quite like it. Huge rocks just sitting offshore, rivers flowing out to sea in competition with the incoming tides and currents cause enormous sand bars which the rivers wind through trying to make their way out into the ocean. 

We decided to head inland and spent the night near Crater Lake National Park. With morning temperatures below 30 degrees F we got up early and headed up to Crater Lake. Due to low clouds making it virtually impossible to see the lake down inside the volcanic crater, high snow banks and ice covered trees it didn't take us long to 'explore' the park. We were cold and definitely underdressed. A stop at a thrift shop in Bend, Oregon was in order where we purchased more warm clothes, socks and an additional blanket. Being in the van at night wasn't too bad but the evenings and mornings when we were cooking and eating outside we just weren't having a lot of fun. 

Good friends who used to live in the Mt Hood/ Columbia River area of Oregon had sent us a list of their favourite hikes, drives and stops. We spent 6 warmer days happily exploring. What a magical place, we see now why they love that area so much. The most spectacular hike took us up through dense forest, suddenly bursting out onto a very narrow path that skirted the slope of Bald mountain. Steep on both sides, one up, the other down, abounding with wildflowers. We rounded a bend and in front of us, so close we could almost touch it, was Mount Hood, shrouded in snow. Breathtaking.

The drive down from Mt Hood National Forest into the Columbia River Gorge took us quickly from dense forest to a lush valley filled with orchards and then we spilled out into the Columbia River. Our friends had said we should stop at every waterfall along the river. We're glad we did as they were all different. A lovely evening spent in Portland visiting with our friends family, they were so welcoming and we were treated to “Pacific Northwest fish and chips” consisting of grilled Columbia River salmon with baked sweet potato home fries – delicious!

Our next stop was Mt. Saint Helens in Washington to see the devastation and change caused by an eruption in 1980. The visitors centre looks right into the cone of the volcano and has a great film depicting the eruption and how the vegetation and wildlife have slowly recovered. We spent the night in a dispersed camping area nearby. Luckily there wasn't another eruption.

Next we took another scenic route past Mt Ranier, then down out of the mountains to the wheat filled high plains of east Washington state and into Idaho. We drove up the Lochsa river for 100 miles winding up through this amazing gorge, a favourite spot for white water rafting and kayaking. It's amazing how much water is transported down these rivers in the spring from the melting snow above. Over the top of the Lolo pass, 10,000 feet elevation into Montana. We certainly have a heart felt respect now for the pioneers who travelled through these mountains on wagons.

Other friends from Missoula, Montana had sent a list of places to visit there. Julie especially loved the carousel. 

After stopping at 3 historic ranger stations and the fire jumpers museum we feel like we've expanded our knowledge and appreciation of forest fire fighters.

Next it was south and east to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the weather was finally warming up and we were much happier. Yellowstone was the first national park. Created in 1872 it covers 3,472 sq miles. We spent 4 days exploring and didn't even start to see everything. Of course we covered all the high spots Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, more “geothermal features” geysers (geysers including Old Faithful and many hot springs, mudpots, and sulphur springs) than you'd want to see in a lifetime. But we also managed to get off the beaten path and enjoyed hiking and wildlife spotting. The amazing part is that even though 3 million people visit the park each year as soon as you get off the main roads and the most popular tourist spots you can really be away from it all and enjoy the park as it is meant to be.

We left Yellowstone and spent another spectacular day driving over the scenic Beartooth Pass back into Montana. The 70 miles of switchbacks took us to an altitude of 11,000 ft, luckily the pass had just opened up the week before. We made many stops to fully appreciate the breathtaking and varied scenery.

Our last stop was Mt Rushmore, South Dakota. Not what you would call a natural beauty but we couldn't pass by without missing this American shrine.

So you can see we've driven a lot of miles, seen amazing and varied scenery and lots of sights. The best part is that we've spent almost 95% of our time on scenic highways, passing through small towns, stopping to see as many scenic views and points of interest, like the Teapot Dome Gas Station in Zillah, Washington, 

 

 

and the St. Ignatius Mission, Montana. 

 

We can't possibly tell you everything but we're posting lots of pictures on the blog for you to enjoy.

The varied scenery, the wildlife and the profuse spring wildflowers have both taken our breath away and filled our hearts with joy.

Land Cruising

Location: Near Eureka, CA

Position:  N 40 29.352 W 123 58.725

We've been visiting Julie's son Dan and his family in Redding, CA. Dan is a master mechanic and helped us find our new land yacht “Wanda The Honda".

“Wanda” is a 1997 Honda Odyssey van. The old kind with regular opening rear doors (not sliding like most minivans) and regular opening rear windows. This is important for ventilation if you're planning to sleep in the vehicle. She has a little 4 cylinder engine (based on the Accord) that all Dan's friends and all the reviews say is pretty much bulletproof. We don't think we could have found a better vehicle for our use (especially for the price we paid). Everything's a bit tight compared to Rachel, but we think we'll manage just fine.

Yesterday Dan spent an extra 3 hours after work while Mark helped him put on and balance two new tires, change the oil, change the radiator and heater hoses, install new front axles, and generally give Wanda a good going over to make sure she'll make it all the way across North America over the next month or so.

Mark built a raised platform in the back we can sleep on and stow our stuff under. It's in two pieces so we can remove the forward piece and still use the two middle seats for passengers if we need to. We have a cooler, a porta potty, two folding chairs, mosquito screens, rain covers, a galley (pots, bowls, plates, silverware, food, coffee, etc.) in a Rubbermaid container, and a single burner propane stove. Everything we need and we can still sleep in her with all of it stowed. So now we're ready to go.

It's not been all work and no play, however. We managed to make time to relax in Dan's pool, celebrate Mark's 61^st and Dan's 30^th birthdays, go wake boarding in Dan's boat with several friends, and just generally hang out.

We left Redding yesterday, Sunday, June 9, after celebrating Dan's 30^th birthday on the 8^th. Our first day on the road was great!! We drove 10 whole miles to Whiskytown State Park and walked up to Whiskeytown Falls in 110 degrees F (whew!). Then we were westbound over the mountains to the coast and Eureka, the town we've heard is the pot capital of the US. Coincidentally, it also happens to be on the shortest route to the West coast from Redding, so don't be getting any ideas as to our motivation for passing through here.

Our first night camping was spent a bit south of Eureka next to a big redwood. We had a great nights sleep and everything so far is working really well. A bit of reorganizing the galley and the stowage area addressed some early “access issues”. Over time we're confident we'll get all the packing and unpacking down to a science.  

The only problem we've had to date is that it is quite a bit colder here on the coast. We're all geared up for summer travel and only brought one pair of jeans and one fleece each. All this cool, damp weather is beginning to get to us. We may have to go clothes shopping.

Chilly but having a good time.

 
 
 
 
 Banana slugs are rampant here, apparently if you lick them your tongue goes numb - we didn't try it!!