Olympic National Park

We had a great time last evening visiting and getting reacquainted with Jo's cousins.  The dinner was great and not overly crowded so we weren't pushed to leave and just sat around the table and talked for quite awhile.

This morning we headed into some of the entries into the Olympic National Park along this North side of the park.  The first drive went up into the mountains with a steady climb from a little over 400' here in Port Angeles to over 6000' at the top of the drive in 18 miles.  Jo thought that since we were up into the mountains that we would not see any wildlife but as we turned one corner there was a deer doe and her fawn.  They weren't in any hurry and allowed us several pictures as you can see in our album below.  They walked slowly across the road while we both grabbed for our cameras.  Tomorrow we plan to head to the West side and the rain forests and coastline.

Olympic National Park

We're Here, finally

Port Angeles, WA was our goal last July when our truck decided it didn't want to go any further while still in eastern WA.  Since it took a week to get us back on the road we canceled this part of that trip and headed back toward the Martin Manor.  Now with JoAnn's new truck we have finally made it.  We want to explore the Olympic National Park and this NW corner of the USA before heading back south and then east.

We have plans this evening to meet with Jo's cousin and her family for dinner, they live in this area and we made contact to hopefully have a little time to visit with them.

It was a beautiful drive up from Oregon today along the west side of the Puget sound.

Bonneville Dam fish ladder and fish hatchery

This morning we made a short drive to this lock and dam.  The fish hatchery was great with good views of trout ponds and sturgeon.  One sturgeon was huge about 60 years old and looked to be about 8-10 feet long.  The bad news is that I messed up the uploading of my pictures and only got one before clearing the memory card and losing all the others.  Fortunately Jo got a few fish pictures along with her shots of the rose gardens.

The visitor's center at the dam and fish ladder had underwater viewing windows of the fish moving through the ladder.  They also had people watching the passage through a narrow slot to count the fish as they passed through.

fish hatchery & ladder

Beautiful day

This morning we took a very nice drive along the Historic Columbia River Highway, old US Rte 30.  There were many great waterfalls visible from this route and many more that are reachable with some long hiking trails, too much for these old legs.  There were a couple of short hikes to get these pictures that were on the edge of "shouldn't have gone there" but glad that I did.

After a nice lunch we made a longer drive around the Mt. Hood Scenic Loop.

waterfalls & Mt. Hood

river to river

Last night we were on the banks of the beautiful Snake river and tonight we are within a stones throw of the beautiful Columbia river.  Both locations are well worth a return visit.  It was a great twisty drive through some beautiful scenic canyons and high prairies.  We are here for a couple of days to do the tourist thing and intend to find a bunch of waterfalls along the old route 30 that can't be seen from the Interstate, pictures hopefully will follow.

Oregon

This evening we are just a little bit out of Idaho into Oregon.  This morning it was a strong headwind from Pocatello to Boise so the fuel economy was not good.  There were no wildlife sightings today but we did see a few quite large wildfire burn areas.  There were miles of scorched earth areas and just glad that since they were right beside the highway area they were all cleared up and not a problem for our travel.

Pocatello

This morning Jo and I had to visit a grocery store for a few items and then Vena picked us up for a tour around the area.  The drive we took was to the east and south of Pocatello on the way toward Curt's house up into the surrounding mountains.  These pictures are only a sampling of the vistas that were ours to observe.

This is the view from Vena's apartment without the rainbow.

Great Visit

Our drive today was a bit longer than we normally like at 350 miles but other than being a little longer than our usual day the drive was good.  Wildlife sightings today included many, many antelope early this morning and then a little later Jo saw a coyote.

We had a great time this afternoon visiting with Vena, Curt, and Renee.  They put together a great meal of special (Renee's dad's) recipe BBQ ribs.  We were able to get caught up a little on family happenings and then enjoy dining outside on the deck.  After dinner we had a few minutes of music time with Curt on his guitar and me trying my luck on my mandolin.

coming up in this world

Yesterday we climbed from 1000' to 3200' and then today we rose up to 6600' here in Rawlins, WY.  The highest point on today's drive was a rest area that has a monument to Abe Lincoln in honor of the Lincoln Highway at elevation 8680'.

I-80 has been quite good except for a short stretch around Cheyenne that was quite rough.  Enough that it shook one of the fridge door shelves out of it's socket and we had to use all four hands to keep from putting some things on the floor at our lunch stop.  Those that know this route also know that it  takes very little steering wheel use.

Wildlife sightings today include prairie dogs, red tailed hawks, and antelope.

night two in NE

It shore is a fer piece cross this here corn-husker State.  We're 327 miles west of the Missouri River and have another 126 miles of Nebraska left before we enter Wyoming.  Some of the corn is being cut and the fodder baled for cattle feed and there are some corn fields still being irrigated.

We always have low fuel economy on this route because as I have said it is all up hill and there is usually a head wind, today was no exception.  When we entered Nebraska at the Iowa line the elevation is right at 1000 feet and here in Ogallala it is 3200 feet.  The trip looks like all flat land except that flat surface is on a tilt.

In the urban area around Lincoln we saw a flock of turkeys (8-10) along the right-of-way but that is the total of our wildlife sightings today.  In the past we have often seen deer along the Platte River.  There were a few showers today but not during our fuel-up or other stops.

Happy Anniversary to us

It's a little past 2:00 pm now and if my memory serves me correctly that is the time we stood in front of Rev. Vertz 54 years ago and said we do, and we still do.

We are now just barely into Nebraska having crossed the Missouri River and up the hill to Nebraska City.  Our trip through Iowa (ten miles) wasn't long enough to unfold a map.  John knows the route as this is on the way to the alpaca sale barn.  We usually go up through Macon and over 36 to St. Joe but today we altered that and took I-70 to KC in order to stop at the flying-J fuel station there.  We have a card for Pilot/flying-J that gives us 8 cents off cash price and still charge the purchase with no cut-off limit at the pump.

Tomorrow is a long day across Nebraska to Ogallala and having checked before it is up hill all the way.

Back in the Kingdom

The locals in this area refer to this county as the Kingdom of Callaway.  This part of Missouri was very much pro-South during the Civil war and is also called the heart of little Dixie.

Backed into our driveway a little past noon today and while we so much enjoyed our time with Phyllis it's always good to be back home.  The drive today wasn't bad with very few construction sites and mild traffic.

Now its time to restock the pantry, do the laundry, get the truck serviced, and be ready for our next outing which begins on September 6.

Sunday travel

Our original plan was to stay in Buckeye Lake until Monday and then head home but when Phyllis told us that she would be heading back to Baltimore on Sunday we changed our plans accordingly.  It's always nice to travel on a Sunday when the traffic is lighter especially through large cities such as Columbus, OH and Indianapolis, IN.

We made it through Columbus (AKA - Rabbit Trap, OH) by 9:30 am and through Indy a little after 1:00 pm with the through city traffic very light.  This will get us home a day earlier but that is okay as we will soon be getting everything ready for our longest trailer trip of this summer.

Phyllis gave Columbus its nickname or "Rabbit Trap" because on one of her first trips to Maryland driving the hand-me-down VW Rabbit she had car trouble in that area.  She can tell the whole story but as I recall she had some help from strangers to get her problem fixed and back on the road.  She eventually drove that Rabbit until it only had one gear and almost had to be pushed into the car lot for her trade in.  The odometer quit not long after she received it and there was no way of knowing how many miles she put on it.

basket case

How about a basket building?

Jo and Phyllis went this morning to the east side of Newark, OH to get this picture of the Longaberger basket headquarters building.  They had hoped for a visitors center with some baskets to view but it was not open on Saturday.

This afternoon the old folks are just resting while the younger one is back out searching for antique fleas, they seem to be common in this area.

Zanesville

This morning we headed to Zanesville for a pottery factory tour.  The town is known for its pottery history and even have some areas decorated with symbols like this.

One of them was missing so Phyllis is standing on that spot.

Unfortunately when we got to the factory right at the advertised tour time we found that this week is the county fair time and the person that gives the tours had a display at the fair so today's tour was canceled.  They still had a large display of their wares for sale and it was nice to wander around looking.  After the visit to the pottery factory we found a nice quaint spot for lunch with very good food and a nice local beer.  Then we found a storefront in town that had three floors of antique fleas which Phyllis and Jo enjoyed.

On the way back to the campground we took a detour and circled Buckeye Lake to a State park on the South shore where we finally got some pictures of water.

 

First day

The weather is sure cooperating with some nice temperatures.

We had a message come up on our (actually it's Jo's) truck's computer that said I needed to check the coolant additive so this morning I went to the local Ford Service department and had that taken care of.  Just needed to have some fluid added and all is well.  While I was gone, Jo and Phyllis took off for flea markets unknown.  They just now called to say that they were on their way back to the trailer for lunch and we will see what transpires from there.

When we bought this truck they put Jo's name on the title first so I tell her that it's hers. ;-)

Phyllis surprised us by showing up driving a new car, she now has a 2012 Mini Cooper.  It's a sweet looking car that will allow her to drive many miles before needing to refill the tank.

Ohio

Here we are in Buckeye Lake, Ohio.  We're just a few miles East of Columbus and actually 5 miles East of Baltimore (Ohio that is). ;-)  Phyllis got here about an hour ago and it was good to get a big hug from her.  Now we just have to find things to do for the next three days.  She will head back toward her home on Sunday and we will also head toward the Martin Manor that day.

next stop

We are now in Renfro Valley, KY.  We want to come back on another trip and enjoy the music here.  They have a music theater here with several shows weekly and the main event is a barn dance on Saturday night.  I want to plan a trip back to Kentucky with a "blue grass & bourbon" theme.  We have toured a few distilleries in the past but there is a "bourbon trail" in this area with several open for tours.  Only whiskey produced in Kentucky can be called bourbon.  Even though the process is similar I'm sure that the tours and spiel would be different.  Some are in dry counties with no samples but others have a sampling at the end of the tour.  Kentucky is also the home of Bill Monroe, the father of blue grass music and I will research the locations of shows that we can make a part of our trip.

On our way

Made it to our campsite in Lynnville, IN around 2:00 pm.  This city park with water and 50 amp electricity for $15 has been a great stop on most of our trips eastward.  It has easy access off of I-64 yet it is over a small hill from the interstate so there is no traffic noise.  I'm sure that with their small lake the summer weekends are busy but during the week when we are generally here there has never been a problem getting a site.

Almost ready to go

Our checklist is all marked off except for the last minute, after breakfast items.  With our last month's trip to Alaska being non-towing we are looking forward to getting back into the RV mode.

This will be a short nine day outing and has been modified from it's original intent.  It has always been our desire to get a visit with Phyllis on this trip but at first we had planned to stop in Ohio after a visit to White Pigeon, MI, the headquarters for our auto-leveling system.  We were going to have them update our system to the newest controller and then drop down to Buckeye Lake on our way back home.  In June, after the Martin Reunion, we drove to Chanute, KS and our trailer factory did the auto-leveling upgrade for us so there is no need now to make the trek to Michigan.  The straightest and quickest trip to Buckeye Lake, just East of Columbus, would be I-70 all the way but with time on our hands and our desire to not travel on the same route both ways we will head into a new area of Kentucky before ending up in Ohio.

Stay tuned.