Highlights of our trip

We have returned to Victoria after 69 days having travelled 7,912 KM in 69 days (115/day average).  The trip has been longer than we might of planned because we do not get to move into our newly purchased townhouse until April 12^th. .

There have been many highlights and it has been especially interesting to me to become more familiar with the history of the development of the US West, visiting the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

We thank friends for suggestions that helped with our itinerary.

Some spectacular scenic routes have included: Through Death Valley (California), Lake Tahoe (Nevada) , the Willamette Valley (Oregon), Highway 99 (California – an alternate to I5), Emory Pass to Silver City (New Mexico).

Some favorite places visited: White Sands National Monument, City of Rocks State Park , Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Las Vegas and Tubac.

Special  Places for Lucy:  Many forest camp sites  and some hikes where she could be off lead and the sandy Pacific Beach at Fort Stevens National State Park in Oregon.

Best hiking: Catalina State Park (near Tucson) and the Romero Canyon Trail, Leasburg Dam state park, City of Rocks state park, the Grand Canyon, Cattails state park, Sabrina Canyon (near Tucson).

Best biking: Fort Stevens National State Park, Catalina State Park, City of Rocks state park, the Grand Canyon (you can put your bike on a bus for one way trip), Westgate Landing County Park.

Excellent Museums: Columbia River Maritime Museum (Astoria), The Hoover Dam, Willan Heritage Museum (Salem), Manzanar National Historic Site ( site of Japanese internment camp).

Favorite sights: The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lake Havaseau (old London Bridge), San Xavier Mission (Tucson), Mesilla (historic town near Las Cruces New Mexico), White Sands National Monument.  

Favorite Parks: Catalina State Park, Cattails State Park, City of Rocks State Park, Rockhound state park, Lone Pine County Park, Westgate landing regional park, Leasburg Dam state park, Schoolhouse campsite (Roosevelt lake), Hoon National Forest Park, Emigrant Lake Regional Park (Ashland).

Some cultural experiences: Verdi Requiem (Tuscon),  Broadway celebration (Las Vegas), Rigoletto (Live at the Met), My Fair Lady and the Taming of the Shrew (Ashland Shakespeare festival).

Of interest to some:  We kept a record of all expenditure for the 69 days. It cost us an average of $103 per day. Of this 28% was spent on gas, 28% on food, 23% on Parks, 4% in RV costs and 18% miscellaneous.

Day 69 Back in Victoria

We arrived back in Victoria on Monday 25th of April. A calm crossing in the COHO ferry from Port Angeles. We spent the last night in the parking lot of the ferry along with 6 rigs who were waiting for the 8.20 ferry.

Prior to this we enjoyed the Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon where there is about 10 miles of paved bicycle paths. We were able to embrace the Pacific Ocean on the nearby beach and Lucy had a great time with another Dachshund.

We went into Astoria and I visited the best maritime museum that I have ever been to - the Columbia River Maritime Museum. It has its own purpose built museum building  and includes not only a lot about crossing the Columbia Bar but also the history of exploration including Captain Vancouver's finding the entrance the the Columbia River.

We then headed for Shafer State Park that was east of Highway 101 and a park that had been established in 1922.  The campground was still closed for the winter months but the Park Ranger drove in while we were there and said we could park for the night (dry camping) in the day recreation area.

From there it was about a three hour drive to Port Angeles.

That was the end of our 2013 nomadic gypsy life!

Day 65 Harrisburg, Oregon

We are now at an RV site on the Willamette River at Harrisburg in Oregon.

We spent four nights at Ashland and grew to like the community. It has of course the Shakespeare festival which has performances for about nine months of the year.  It also has a university, interesting shops and restaurants - arty shops and it appeared a lot of alternate health services - yoga, herbal remedies etc.  There are great bike paths but the weather did not permit venturing on them for this visit.

The best camp site was the Emigrant Lake recreational area - overlooking a lake and one night we were the only campers. We had also one night at an RV park named Glenyan which was crowded and in need of maintenance. The last night we just parked on a quiet street we had scouted out that day. Since we did not get out of the play till 10.30 pm it did not make sense to go to a camp site. We just drove the RV from a parking lot to the quiet street.

"My Fair Lady" was superbly performed. The setting created was a stage within a stage with two pianos and the cast changing their costumes for the different scenes. The Ascot scene was particularly well done with the hats descending from the roof on wires. The audience loved Freddie singing and humorously performing  "I have often walked down this street before".  It is always interesting to see how the end is performed. George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion in 1912 and he always insisted that Eliza maintained her independence at the end where others wanted her to either marry Freddie or Higgins.

It reminds on that in Britain it was not until 1918 that the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, enfranchising women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications. The Representation of the People Act 1928 extended the voting franchise to all women over the age of 21.(Thanks to Wikipedia)

The setting for "The taming of the shrew" was Padua, Italy and the dress 1960s.  Great acting but not as good as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor! It is often so difficult to keep up with all the dialog and plots and sub plots but always a pleasure to see a Shakespeare play written between 1590 and 1592.  Here is the Wikipedia link:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew

In listening to Kate's words it did not sound like the original Shakespeare but I found the text that I think was used.  I hope I provoke discussion by quoting this which is a realistic transliteration of the words that Shakespeare used in the 16th Century!  How things have changed for men and women since that time!

KATHERINE: Girls, girls! Wipe those frowns off your faces and stop rolling your eyes. This disrespectful stance toward the man who is your lord, your king, your governor tarnishes your beauty the way the frosts of winter blights the land. It mars your reputations as whirlwinds shake fair buds. And in no sense is it fitting or attractive. An angry woman is like an agitated fountain—muddy, unpleasant, lacking in beauty. And in this condition, no one—however dry or thirsty he may be—will stoop to sip or touch one drop of it. Your husband is your lord, your life, your keeper, your head, your sovereign, one who cares for you and who, for your ease and comfort, commits his body to harsh labor both on land and sea. Long, stormy nights at seas he stays awake, by day he endures cold while you lie safe and warm, secure in your beds at home. And in exchange he seeks no more from you but love, kind looks, and true obedience—too little payment for so great a debt. A woman owes her husband the same loyalty a subject owes his king. And when she is peevish and perverse, sullen, sour, and disobedient to his honest wishes, what is she but a loathsome, warlike rebel and an ungrateful traitor to her loving lord? I am ashamed that women are so foolish as to declare war when they should plead on their knees for peace, that they seek authority, supremacy, and power when they are under an obligation to serve, love, and obey.  Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, unfit for toil and trouble in the world, if not so that our soft qualities and our hearts should agree with our external parts? Come, come, you weak, ungovernable worms!My spirit has been as proud as each of yours, my courage as great, and my reason perhaps even better suited to bandy words back and forth and exchange frown for frown. But now I see our weapons are like straws, our strength like a straw’s weakness, and our weakness past comparison, so that we seem to be the thing we most are not. Humble your pride, then, since it’s useless, and place your hand beneath your husband’s foot. As a gesture of my loyalty, my hand is ready if he cares to use it. May it bring him comfort.

To-morrow we continue on further north and to-morrow evening we may spend two nights at Fort Stevens State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. On Sunday we will continue on to Port Angeles with the idea of getting the 8.30 ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria on Monday. We have booked into the West Bay Marina and RV Park for a month during which time we will be moving our household contents (which have been in storage) into the Townhouse we have bought on April 12th.

Yours in pursuit of great RVing.

Shaun (and Penny and Lucy).

Day 62 -Ashland Oregon

It is day 62 – Monday 18th March and we are at Ashland, Oregon

We have slowed down because we managed to get tickets for “My Fair Lady” and “The Taming of the Shrew” at the Ashland Shakespeare festival for to-morrow and Wednesday. 

Last evening after trying to find another Forest Service campsite near Mount Shasta without success (it was still snowed in) we moved on and camped at an excellent pubic RV site with full hookups beside a reservoir called the Emigrant recreational just six miles south of Ashland.

The day before thanks to a splendid map obtained from AAA called “Public Lands Campgrounds”, Northern California we found a campsite called Dusty beside Lake Britton just north of Burney, California. We could have stayed at a nearby California State Park. However California State Parks are surprisingly expensive to stay in (unlike Arizona and New Mexico) and this Dusty campsite seems to be free.  In addition there is no one here – it is like being at a remote anchorage!

After our last posting from Topaz Lake we stopped at Gardnerville before heading up to Lake Tahoe.  We did not expect that there is a 7,334 ft pass on the way! Lake Tahoe is remarkable for its history and for the clarity of the water – visibility down to 70 foot depth. We proceeded around the east side, stopping for a stroll down to the lake and then on to Truckee (in California) over another summit of 7,179 ft.  Truckee is an historic railroad town with a main street of tourist type of Boutique shops.

That night we dry camped again at Boca Lake (a reservoir) – at about 5,500 ft. There was ice on the RV in the morning. It was another isolated campsite with only one other camper nearby – the sort of place we really enjoy.  An added advantage of these type of sites is that Lucy can be let free to run whereas commercial and state parks have all sorts of restrictive pet rules such as being on the lead all the time.

From Boca Lake we took Interstate 80 and passed through Reno and onto Highway 395 heading north again.

At Susanville it was time for another RV park, shopping and laundry but the WiFi (usually another reason for stopping at an RV park) was intermittent.

We  had two days travelling the “National Scenic Byway” through Lassen Forest. Very little traffic, excellent road surface, and much more enjoyable than most of the Interstate highways.  It is clearly a managed forest with selective logging having been carried out regularly, from the appearance of the tree stumps.

That evening we found a National Forest Service campsite called Hoon just south of Hat Creek. We were beside the gurgling creek and were the only campers in the site. Very pleasant and relaxing!

Day 56 - Topaz Lake, Nevada

We came back into Nevada from California to-day partly because the price of gas is so much less here!

After Las Vegas we headed north along highway 95 (mostly flat desert – a prison and an airforce base along the way) as far as Beattie, where we turned left down 374 into Death Valley in California.

We firstly climbed to Daylight Pass at 4,316 feet then descended through desolate but spectacular hills to Stovepipe Wells Village which is 5 feet above sea level and just before it we passed a sign that said sea level!

From there we climbed again to Towne Pass at 4956 ft. From here it was a steady descent to Lone Pine at 3727 ft where we found a very pleasant rural campsite for “dry camping” and only three other vehicles in the site.  Lone Pine has an excellent interagency information center.

We then headed north along highway 395 – the eastern Sierra Nevada Scenic Route.  A special surprise was finding Manzanar – a National Historic site - where 11,070 Japanese Americans were relocated to, from the California Coast between 1942 and 1945. Superb photographs and descriptions of the life in this camp.  This was just before Independence where we had lunch at “Jenny’s Café”.

I was greeted there by a senior public health nurse who said “I used to work with you”. I had known her between 1984 and 1989 in the Vancouver Health Department. She was visiting relatives in Independence.  We spent a short time, but not long enough, reminiscing!

We proceeded to Bishop where there was an excellent bookstore. I got a little carried away and bought “Civilization” by Niall Ferguson (2011) whose book “The Ascent of Money – a financial history of the world” I had previously enjoyed.  I also bought “Pakistan on the Brink – the future of America, Pakistan, and Afganistan” by Ahmed Rashid (2011).  He has written a book “Taliban” in 2000 which I had read.

Seven miles beyond Bishop we found another “dry” campsite – Pleasant Valley County Campground. It was hot – up to 81F at 6pm before the sun went down. Unfortunately there were a few biting mosquitos. We were beside a stream.

What is of special interest is that we were passing through the Owen’s valley. This valley from 1908 onwards became part of the Los Angeles water system by the acquiring of land and water rights that enabled the development of the Los Angeles Region. To-day the residents of the valley are very resentful of the effect it has had on farming and particularly when the water authority started pumping ground water as well as using the surface water. For more details see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct

To-day we proceeded North in the Inyo National Forest Area. Continued fine weather and spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada snow capped mountains to the west and Sierra California mountains to the east.  We passed through Sherwin summit pass at 7000 feet, Deadman summit at 8041 ft, Conway summit at 8143 ft and Devil’s gate summit at 7519 ft.  The Ford 6.8 L , 10 cylinder engine had no problems (apart from gas consumption!).

Shaun, Penny and Lucy

 

Day 53 - Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

We stopped at the Hoover Dam.  The plans for this Dam were developed in 1922 and an agreement was completed between the states served by the river (mainly California, Arizona and Nevada) for the water rights. In 1928 Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act authorizing the construction of the Dam, which was completed in 1935.  Lake Mead was created which is America’s largest man-made reservoir.  We had a very informative tour. What interested me is that the lake level is very low. We were told that the legal agreements are that the dam has to supply so much water to the states involved and some to Mexico. So, in spite of the 12 year drought (low levels of snowmelt feeding the Colorado river) the water must be released. The other interesting fact is that the operation and maintenance of the facility is fully funded by revenues from power sales. The dam generates over 2000 megawatts of power – enough to serve about 1.5 Million people.    

Las Vegas is a short distance from the Hoover Dam and we booked into Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall RV site.  I wanted Penny to see the Las Vegas Boulevard (also known as the Strip). We had coffee and a waffle at Caesar’s Palace and went to a show “Broadway Celebration” at New York, New York Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The show, in a fairly small theatre, was impressive – slick and good fun.  We then walked down the “Strip” in the dark to get the free shuttle back to our RV Park.  The crowds, the extraordinary numbers of Casinos, the glitz is something one may want to view once in ones life. I went to a conference here about 20 years ago but Penny had not seen it before.

We will head onwards north to-morrow into California again and through part of Death Valley.

Shaun, Penny and Lucy. 

The Grand Canyon

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Days 47, 48 and 49 – the Grand Canyon.

After the Roosevelt lake campsite we visited the Roosevelt Dam. The first dam was completed in 1911 as part of the Reclamation Act and was known as the Salt River Project. The original dam was funded by the landowners and resulted in the development of the Phoenix area. President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the dam on March 18^th 1911.  In 1996 the dam was raised by 77 feet to increase flood storage.  At this time a spectacular  bridge was built to bypass the road over the original dam and many recreational sites were created around the edge of the new lake level. Currently the lake is only 47% full and it seems that there has been a drought for the last 15 or so years so the extra height of the dam may not have been needed.

The next night we dry camped in Clear Creek campground - a National Forest campground at Cape Verde.  We were surrounded by large plain trees. There was a well worn trail beside the creek.

The following day we made our way up the scenic highway through Sedona, which has spectacular red rock vista surrounding it, to Flagstaff which is at 7000 ft. Here we needed a night in an RV site with hookups, Wi Fi and laundry nearby.

There are three ways up to the Grand Canyon Village. We chose highway 89 then 64 so that we could enter from the east and see the Desert Viewpoint and the Watchtower (built in 1932).  Also on the road into the village is an interesting Tusayan Museum and ruins giving the history of a settlement that existed in about  1185 AD.

On our second day we took the free bus (it is included in the $25 per vehicle you pay to enter the park) – about 8 miles to the west along the canyon rim.  The bus runs every fifteen minutes and carries bicycles so I was able to bike back while Penny rode the bus. There are many stopping points where one can view this spectacular colorful canyon, for me much larger than I had imagined, and you can see the Colorado River and rapids 3000 feet below.

We were fortunate to make friends with Dick and Nicky from Vancouver, Washington. On the third day Dick and Shaun hiked 2040 ft down about three quarters of the way into the bottom of the canyon and then up again. It took four and a quarter hours and was 6 miles (9.6km). It was a great sunny day and the temperature quite moderate. Penny and Nicky  and Lucy walked around the Grand Canyon village at the canyon rim on some excellent trials for 3 ½ hrs.  Hiking down into the Canyon it was interesting to meet different parties who were hiking and camping for a week, four days, two days and one day. We also encountered mule trains which is how some people travel to the base of the canyon which is about 3000 ft down.

We enjoyed our three days at the Grand Canyon and are now at Kingman, Arizona. From there we will visit the Hoover Dam and then plan to spend a night or two in Las Vegas.

Day 45 - a special camp site

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Last evening we found ourselves in a campsite, named “Schoolhouse” on the shore of Roosevelt Lake in the Tonto National Forest. 

We had come up highway 70 from New Mexico – a route that takes one through varied desert scenery including valleys with productive farming. The irrigation is by controlled ditches and either is ground water or comes from nearby mountains.

There is an interesting system of registering in these campsites (which have no hookups) so it is “dry” camping. You pick up a sort of scratch and win type of card from a local store for $6 then scratch out the date and time and display it in the windscreen.

We arrived at this campsite to find it completely deserted – no other campers. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. (Like being at a remote anchorage!).  We sat out in the sun – it was about 70F and we were greeted by a bright red male Northern Cardinal bird who played around the campsite. Meanwhile Lucy was off lead (which is not possible in most camp sites) and she had a great time exploring. 

The weather has been clear blue sky for several days now. When the sun went down (about 6pm) we went inside for supper. There was no wind.

Then when it was completely dark, before the moon appeared, we experienced a superb view of the night sky, the milky way and many stars of which we were able to identify a small number.

We were about 100 miles north east of Phoenix.

We have found the Audubon field guide to Southwestern states a great help for bird identification and it even has star maps.

Yours in pursuit of enjoyable wilderness camping.

Shaun, Penny and Lucy.