Redwoods to Grapes: If you travel south from Oregon along the coast, you will first travel from the redwoods to grapes country. Starting in Eureka we travel south through the redwoods to Ukiah heading into the heart of Napa Valley and Calistoga known for grapes, wine, and spas. Eureka to Ukiah The distance between Eureka […]
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After spending three very nice days at Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, Oregon; we are continuing south on Highway 101. Brookings, Oregon and started seeing Redwoods. Brookings is just north of the California border and that’s where the GPS started notifying us of a detour. The detour was for the California agricultural checkpoint, but it
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Campsite Review: Humbug Mountain Campground along US Highway 101 right on the southern Oregon coast. It is a very nice place. Humbug Mountain is located about halfway between Coos Bay and Brookings Oregon. It is very rare to find a campground that is forested, has very nice facilities where you can walk to an almost
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The halfway point on the Oregon Coast is the Umpqua River. Everything north of the Umpqua River is considered the Oregon North Coast and everything south of the Umpqua river is considered the Oregon South Coast. We are staying at the Umpqua Dunes — Douglas County RV Park, just south of the Umpqua Dunes State
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Campsite Review: South Beach Campground is in South Beach State Park located two miles south of Newport, Oregon on the south side of Yaquina Bay. We love it. The campground is part of South Beach State Park just to the west of the highway, carved into the dense forest. South Beach State Park is very
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We are heading southbound on the Oregon Coast. The best description is that we are southbound on the north half of the Oregon coast. Much of our stay at Fort Stevens was in the rain. We did get a few breaks in the rain but it started up again earnestly when we broke camp and
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We are experiencing a true-life situation; similar to the Lewis and Clark Expedition at nearly the same location (of course, our living conditions are much more refined). The waves are high and the weather is stormy on the Oregon Coast. We are further west than where Lewis and Clark built Fort Clatsop and closer to
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Campsite Review: LL Stub Stewart Campground is 34 miles west of Portland on State Route 47 between Buxton and Vernonia. We love it. The campground is just to the east of the highway, carved into the dense forest. It is very private and secluded, but still close enough to small towns to make it very
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Boring – Oregon is really the name of the town and we love it. Mount Hood After you get to the west side of Mount Hood, as we anticipated everything is green. We are just north of the “official” end of the Oregon Trail, which we visited while we were here. The pioneers started fanning
I am very thankful we didn’t have to walk. The Oregon Trail ends in Oregon City and we are there Saturday. From our location, pioneers went south and homesteaded in Oregon. The Lewis and Clark Trail ends (which is a dumb thing to say because it is only the half-way point) at the Pacific Ocean
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Campsite Review: Lava Flow Campground is the only campground in Craters of the Moon National Monument in southwest Idaho. Craters of the Moon is a huge Lava flow so unique that it was made into a National Monument. To get to Craters of the Moon and the Lava Flow Campground get on US Highway 26
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Goodale’s Cutoff is not obvious. When we planned our trip from Idaho Falls to Boise, we didn’t know that the road followed the Goodale’s Cutoff the Oregon Trail. When we turned south towards Yellowstone, we departed the path Lewis and Clark took to the Pacific Ocean and then south of Yellowstone joined the Goodale’s Cutoff.
Campsite Review: Juniper Campground is south of U.S. Highway 26 four miles south of Ririe, Idaho. It is a very nice place. From U.S. Highway 26 turn south on Meadow Creek Road for one and a half miles, campground will be on the right. If the road turns to dirt, you have gone too far.
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By now you have the Hunting in Idaho theme figured out. It was hard to get a good shot on this one, if it wasn’t so amazing it may have not turned out as well. On this one had the typical sign, “falls” but on this one, it wasn’t obvious. We drove down the road
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It is hunting season in Idaho. Bow season is underway and rifle season starts tomorrow. We have joined in, not wanting to “buck” local traditions. Of course, bucks have seemed to disappear, as they always do at this time of year. Since we don’t have much storage in the RV, let alone much freezer space
Today Yellowstone gave us a one-hour traffic jam, all for one buffalo on the road. Cars were backed up for at least five miles. I assumed that a pack of wolves had a grizzly cornered and there was an epic battle. (maybe it was delirium based hope) One buffalo was the reason, probably was walking
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We can say that we loved Yellowstone and will be going back….soon. In fact, we are going back next week.
For some reason, fishing has taken a higher priority than writing. We have gone to Yellowstone National Park for two days now. The first-day objective was to kayak Yellowstone Lake. From our campsite, Yellowstone Lake is much further than I expected, even though we left early (for us) and didn’t have any delays at the
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We spent two nights in Livingston, Montana, at Osen RV Park — a commercial campground for the weekend. We avoid commercial campgrounds, preferring the more rustic settings. Since we are living a lot more without reservations this year, and last weekend was the last weekend before school starts in this area, we got reservations for
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We survived the Rally. But we are still tired a week later. We departed Theodore Roosevelt National Park two days before our assigned arrival day at the rally, to stay in New Town, North Dakota, Marina & RV Park and for the first time ever, in almost two years of travel, we looked at our
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Badlands, it is a matter of perspective And for the first time, we crossed into Central Time Zone. Teddy Roosevelt National Park is broken into three areas. The south unit is most visited, the north unit comes in second and Elkhorn ranch (Roosevelt’s most loved ranch site) comes in a distant third. All are in the
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Belle Fourche The town Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foo-sh) is the geographic center of the United States. In 1959 statehood for Alaska shifted the title northwest, causing much distress in Kansas. Apparently all the water between California and Hawaii (also given statehood) was also discounted because then the center of the nation would be west of
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No bull — yes bull South Dakota, at least in western South Dakota, has several very nice state parks. Tatonka Some friends of ours last week had a close encounter with nature. A buffalo took exception to their car, and in true buffalo manner, challenged them to a head butting contest, which is their custom.
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Hidden Gem in Nebraska. Our trip to western Nebraska has been enlightening. We never knew! Scottsbluff / Agate Fossil Beds The road from Cheyenne to Scottsbluff was as expected, prairie and ranches. We stayed in the city park in Scottsbluff and made day trips to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and Scottsbluff National Monument. Both
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Once we got north of Denver, Colorado our focus turned to Wyoming. The sunset makes it look like the Colorado Rockies are on fire. Morning blue sky followed by afternoon thunderstorms has been the normal weather pattern, all the way through Colorado along the I-25 route. The last time we were cold was in Colorado
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We have been camping along I-25 on the Colorado Front Range since picking it up in Santa Fe New Mexico at the end of May. Our last stop was at the Air Force Academy where we had a mature tree-covered location just a little west of I-25. The star attraction not on the Academy was
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Bishop’s Castle is not to be missed. We have been at the Air Force Academy since last Sunday. It is a special place. Our campsite is in a mature Ponderosa Forest. Several lakes are waiting to be fished and we have all the convenience of Colorado Springs, just down the highway. Last week we camped
We had a good stay in New Mexico, crossing into Colorado on June 2nd. we crossed into Colorado and stayed at Lathrop State Park is between Trinidad and Pueblo. Hopefully, we will get close enough to see our stationery and mobile friends soon. I send these updates out so if we get close enough, we
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Snippet: We made the cover photo for Family RVing magazine for the June 2019 issue. Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) is a membership association of RVers. They publish a wonderful monthly magazine and they chose my cell phone picture for the cover photo magazine. San Onofre Beach No filters involved. We were at San Onofre
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Sugarite Canyon Attacked by hummingbirds. Have you ever tried to take a picture of a hummingbird? It is not easy. They are too fast. We moved from the valley between Santa Fe and Chama New Mexico and made an extra-long (for us) drive to Sugarite Canyon just to the east of Raton NM. Today we
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Between Albuquerque and Chama is the prettiest place in New Mexico that we have found. The picture is from Abiquiu Lake and has been featured in many paintings. Kasha – Katuwe Near Cochiti Lake we found a newer National Monument named Kasha – Katuwe Tent Rocks. The rocks are made of soft(er) pumice from a
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It seems the further north we go the more we like it. In the last two weeks, we went from a gravel parking lot in Albuquerque to Cochiti Lake. Then we went a little further north to Abiquiu Lake (pictures) for a very nice week except for the rainy days. We traded wind for rain
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Yes, we are still in New Mexico. We had enough fun in eastern New Mexico. Nice lakes but a constant spring wind made for wetter kayak rides unless we caught the wind just right. So we re-routed to Albuquerque. The first picture is chapel at Fort Stanton, the second picture is Heron Lake. Nothing special about
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Lakes in East New Mexico . I didn’t know there were lakes in east New Mexico until I started planning our route. As you may have noticed the route has been stopping near water whenever possible. Mostly we are following the Pecos River north. History of the area includes stories about Kit Carson, Pat Garrett
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Campsite Review: Valley of Fires Campground on an unburned island in the middle of a lava field in south-central New Mexico. The campground is operated by the Bureau of Land Management. About 5000 years ago Little Black Peak (to the north) erupted it combined with lava forced up through a rift flooded the Tularosa Basin
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We have been to a few more remote places, but none harder to get to than this. Trinity Site in New Mexico is hard to reach. Yesterday, we drove through 50 miles of unoccupied sagebrush, save for a few cows, then even the sage gave out to 20 miles of alkaline grass. The location was
From our perch on a ridge top at Valley of Fires BLM Campground surrounded by lava fields only 5000 years old, we again are going to have a windy day. I point out that the Lava is only 5000 years old, because, with the exception of active volcanos, 5000 years old is very recent. There
We spent the week near Roswell, at Bottomless Lakes State Park, and are now moving west back towards White Sands Missile Range. Bottomless Lakes was named because even after tying several ropes together, the cowboys at the time were never able to measure the depth. The lakes we’re caused by several caverns that roof caved
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Campsite Review: Chosa Campground is on a converted oil well fracking pond south of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. That is right I said fracking pond. It is my choice location to visit both Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This campground, if you can call it that is a square of
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First, on our trip northbound through New Mexico we stayed at Guadalupe National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Brantley Lake State Park. These amazing places are all close to each other. We pushed north back into New Mexico staying at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Brantley Lake State Park. Two days were spent in
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We have added Texas to our map. After spending three days in El Paso we pushed east to a huge rock-climbing location called Hueco Tanks Texas. Seems that it used to be a free-for-all and now the Texas State Park system has cracked down, cutting visitors to 70 a day, plus guided operations. Normal campers
Guadalupe Pass – Bad Roads for RVs is located on US Highway 62/180 east of El Paso Texas, south of Carlsbad New Mexico. This road is steep but the steep section is short, about three miles long. US Highway 62/180 in the steep area is a divided four-lane, with two lanes in each direction. There are
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Campsite Review: Pine Springs Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, this is RV is camping in a parking lot. Not my style of camping. Guadalupe Mountains NP is not an RV destination. It is a hiking destination and backcountry camping destination but it is not an RVing destination. We didn’t visit Dog Canyon Campground because the
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Campsite Review: White Sands Missile Range (Volunteer Park Travel Campground) is a military-only campground located on White Sands Missile Range Army Post. It is a very nice, very quiet place. While traveling on U.S. Highway 70 east of Las Cruces New Mexico turn south on Owens Road (NMSR – 213) to enter the main gate
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We are in full turtle mode at White Sands Missile Range….in the worst weather I have experienced other than a full-on blizzard in Colorado (Including hurricanes & typhoons). Turtle mode means that like a turtle we have pulled in the slides and are camping without our typical comfort. Our location is east of Las Cruces
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RV Solar Series: Which first solar or lithium? My install could have been done, either way. There are good reasons to put in better batteries first and there are good reasons to install solar panels before upgrading the batteries. I learned lots of things that I wouldn’t know had I done both at the same
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Portable solar panels are very popular with RVers. Do they work? How well do they work? When to use them and how best to use them? Did I need a portable solar panel? That is an interesting question. I have friends with portable panels and my brother uses a portable every time he camps. I
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Inverter/charger or Inverter & Charger each has some benefits. Separate also has some benefits. Which is better? Which would I choose? Inverters and chargers are actually two different items. Some manufacturers have built chargers into inverters and these units, depending on their design have some advantages over separate units. However, some inverter/charger combinations are not
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RV Solar Series: 12 volts or 24 volts is a question the doesn’t get asked very often. The fact is that there are advantages to both configurations. Before we consider the advantages of each, we need some understanding of how multiple batteries work with each other. Volts and Amps math Battery banks can be assembled
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RV Solar Series: Inverters change Direct Current (battery power) to Alternating Current (house power) so that you can use house appliances inside your RV. Some RVs don’t have any inverters and some RVs have huge inverters. Some, (usually older) RVs don’t even have a battery (this is very rare). My RV has a small inverter,
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