OVER THE MOUNTAIN

can you believe it is snowing

the name stands alone

caroline and i with the poo-pa's

here's todays saga..we got up and took tonhy and caroline out to breakfst ...we needed to treat caroline as she had cooked us lots of good food while we were there wnd thought she needed a treat...abd a good treat it was we ate in an old railroad car just like the old station used to be in itheac..

we got on the road by 9:45 and it was good travels till it started to rain and of course it was right after we left spokane had rain on and off all the way to the mountains... we had to go over a couple of mountain passes...the first one was a piece of cake...and at times the sun tried to come out hahahaha..never really made it...

tony had told larry about a cabela's in idaho right over the state border so of course we had to stop which we did..it must have been the quickest stop we ever made at a cabela's..in and out in a hald hour..lar bought a new pair of waders so i thought we ought to get out of here beftore he spends more ahhahaah..

back on the raod again after we dumped the black water tanks there oh no ont on the ground they have a dump station which we used...

then up and over the next pass called lookout pass and yes you need to look out...it is up over 5 miles and when we were about half way uop it started to snow yepo snow...it was really collecting on the road yet byt we saw all kinds of signs about putting chains on and we didn't have any..got to the top then statred down and it just seemed to go on and on going down..

so now we are in missoula, mt..tomorrow we are meeting up with an old friend of lar's from the western union days...he is driving down from kalispell, mt to mee us for breakfast. ..it wi be good seeing him again..the lst time was when we went to alaska and spent memorial day weekend with him and his mother...after we are then getting back on route 90 and heading east....

4/29/10

the hoff's and saulsgiver's again

falls in the city

the famous runners.....

today caroline and i went to her church to help prepare for a spaghetti dinner tomorrow a night and the boys were on a returning mission...a ccouple of things that werre bought yesterfday had to be taken back and they took a tour around the area...

then it was lunch time..

now for a tour on the city of spokane..we toured the campus of gonza (misp).saw washington state university campus anyway the spokane one..then into town and walk around the water front..saw where the worlds fair and expo was held several years ago in the 60/70 or 80 and some the the buildigs that are still there...there are statues in the city running as you can see the most amous ones...spokane has several wateralls in and around the city...

back home to finish up with projects...we are keeping track of the weather as tomorrow we p[lan on heading out (don't want to wear out our welcome)..as we need to go into idaho and monatna and have to travel over a couple mountain passes we need to know what the weather might be on the mountains...also [lan on spending a day visiting a good frined from a long timeago tom dalton before pushing on easterly again...

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LAZY DAY

today has just been a laid back day...lar and tony have been fixing thinkgs on the motor home...and caroline and i have just gone and done a wee bit of shopping then we all had to go out to buy some boy parts for tony's hot water heater...now they are planning on putting new gaskets on the air conditioners...oh no they don't need them today but it leaks in when it rains...

the pictures are of my hood and my st helens taken from along the highway...the difference in the mountains is that one has a peak and th other is flat on top...guess which one is which...as we look out the kitchen it is snowing hard on top of my spokane and we are in 50 degree temps...

GRAND COULIE DAM

looking down the side of the dam

the dam

the hoff's and saulsgiver's

yesterday we got up the rain and a hard rain it was but that didn't stop us from going on a adventure...we were headed to coulie dam and to see the sights of washington...there are parts of washington that are desert and we would have never believe that...it has to do with how the glaciers and the great flood deposited with stuff...miles and miles of wheat fields and they have to irrigate them in order to get any crops...i thought that there would be alot of rain here but not like on the other side of the mountains...the west side gets the rain not the east side...

anyway the trip found us at the dam...and by then it had stopped raining good just in time for lunch...first a quick tour of the visitors center lunch then a tour of the dam...we had to go thru security (we all passed) then into a van because the elevator was broken so the tours are run a wee bit different...we were taken to the bottom of the dam and saw all the turbines etc and told how much the dam electric makes per second and it is lots even more than hoover dam...but none of it comes east...but the most excitingthing especially for tony and caroline is that then we were driven across the dam and evden got out to look at it from the top...all the time we wer e followed by an armed guard...all because of 9/11....interesting

then back to tony and caroline and a great dinner met their daughter and grandchildren...a game of 10,000 then off to bed...

and a good day was had by all...

SPOKANE, WA

we are now in spokane,wa visting tony and caroline....arrived yesterday after a long days trvel and guess what we had another flat tire..the night before i said to lar come look at this back tire it looks kinda funny to me he looked and said not a problem it can get us home..ahhaha...after dunbing he want around and did the travel check before leaving and said guess what that tire you tole me to look at is FLAT...so it delayed our stsart...he changed the tire then we got on our way...somehwere in our travels we ran over a NAIL so that was the problem...he didn't want to travel without a spare so as soon as we got to a big enough town we looked up a tire store who plugged it up in no time so on the road again....

what a beautiful drive along the columbia river whre lewis and clark took their trip out to the pacific..we drove alongthe orgeon side first there were high mountains on both then after awhile they shrunk down to smaller hills and finally desert looking land..caroline said if we stayed on the western side that would have been a whole lot different..but we wanted to stay out of the mountains due to weather... who knows when it just might snow again...

so we are here for a few days before heading east...

so all is still good

MT ST HELENS

mt st helens in the fog

bridge from astoria, or to washington

today we arrived at the campground around 1pm and the plan was to set up then head out to my st helens which was exactly what we did...

i thought that it was a national park which come to find out it isn't ..it is a washington park but i still got a stamp....(now if we could have gone right up to the mountain we could have gotten a national stamp but the roads were closed to it....)the museum jogged a few memories of what had happened when she blew...there sure was alot of damage...the mountain used to be over 9,000 feet and when she blew she is now just a wee bit over 8,000 feet...so she really lost a lot...

come to find out there were many days of earthquakes in the area and when she was really getting ready to blow the ground shook and the top of the mountwin grew in size...we spook to a man who saw it blow but never felt it nor heard it like lots of people in the surrounding area..it was just where he was at the time...he also said ash was all over his house and surrounding area..when they got up in the morning it was 8am and was dark they thought thAt maybe they had lost electric in the night for some reason but instead it was the ash all over...just one of those happenings in nature.....

one of the many interesting things that have happened in our life time

LEWIS AND CLARK

hope i can remember what we've been dooing since i last sent the last blog bu willtry..we went up the coast of oregon and celebrated by arriving in number 50..with a good rain storm...but i think i did write about that before...

we stopped and visited some friends that we met on our canadian maritime trip...we had a good visit and only spent one night but we could have been there longer..walked the beach talked and visited...they live right off route 101 in a gated community ..altof of their neighbors are only there in the sumer or weekends very few all year neighbors...nice quiet..and very easy to find..

then we move on to astoria, or because we wanted to do the lewis and clark fort a national park and i got 3 stamps..the total now is 20 with more to come..the interesting thing when we signed in we were told that it is national park week and so there fore NO charge..not a problem for us as we have the park pass so there isn't a chanrge for us anyway..but then the ranger asked us if we wanted to be junior rangers..so i was talked into it..i was given a book with questions to fill out about the park..so lar and i were on a mission...i filled out the book and did all the activities..because it was national park week i got a badge for that one for completeing the book and because we had visited more than one stop on the lewis and clark i also recieved a PRESIDENT badge...so now lar is the first man...(oh he always is anyway/...i also got a badge..so it was a good day...

we are now in washington on our way to mt st helens...

total now is 20

MAP IS FULL

WE FINALLY FOUND THE MISSING OREGON PIECE TO THE PUZZLE SO NOW THE MAP IS FULL....we searched the rig last night for a bit and again this morning but we didn't have enough time to really look...so now this afternoon after we got set up we went on another search and lar found it...so the map is complete...now to start over ahahhahaha

the travel today was less that greart..very foggy-rainy and hard at times-but we were thankful that the road was not very busy..curvy not awful steep and if we could see good the scenery wopuld have been beautiful along the coast..but we were lucky to see as far as you can see lumbering is one of the main occuptation around here..we have finalyy seen big log trucks heading to the mills--a couple of trucks had some really big logs on it and it looked like it might have just been one tree that filled up the truck...

tomorrow we are heading up the coast some more and the plan is to stop and visit some friends we met when we did the maritime trip....judy was raised in the area of NY where roy family is living and then moved to rochester...so it will be fun connecting up with them...after which we will be heading to washington...

MET OUR GOAL

so now we can say we have been in all 50 states...a good feeling that we have obtained one of our goals which as you know was to visit every state...now we have to make another one either make the rounds again or do the canadian prodivences...which we only have a couple more to do and that is what i say will be next....

we did not go to the oregon caves as planned --due to the forecast and some of the roads closed..instead we decided to take a ride to oregon and ivist the information bureau as tomorrow we will be traveling back that same way but hauling the rig so it would be easier to get info today...we talkked to a pleasant lady who gave us all kinds of info..we asked about surf fishing-clamming-crabbing-all need license and for out of staters it is expecsive so i guess we won't be doing any of that...the state only started charging in the last couple of years...guess every state needs some money so they just stArt charging for stuff that was free..the lady said the she dosen't get a fishing lecense any more as it cost ...

after a long hike on the beach looking for treasures--oh we found some--but my guess is that they will be just treasures for us --we made our way into brookings to get gas (cheaper in oregon than calif) and a place for lunch... the gas we bought was 3.05 and wouldn't you just know that in town we found it for 2.86 but after we filled up at 3.05..at least it was cheaer than calif 3.25...now for lunch we found a fred meyer's store much like wegman's back hme...so we bought a few things and had lunch there..

all in all it was a good day and we made it to oregon...

SUNDAY

today we arrived about noon and laundry was the next thing on schedule to do...not that we have a schedule but it was time to do it --it got done so now we have a week of clean underwear ahhaha...

then it was time to go take a long walk on the beach..you'd almost think it was hawaii..lots of younger ones swimming and others surfing...most of those surfing had on wet suits..but the younger ones of course didn't..the sand is different..dark and hard not the sandy soil on most beaches..several had bon-fires going with some of the drift wood and there is lots of that...

HERE'S HOPING

ok we have moved and there seems to be good wi-fi so i'm trying to send some pictures of the last couple of days ..we only went 30 miles today as there is cave national mounment in oregon we want to see and this is about the only coinvient place for us to set up the rig...not too many roads gong any where in oregon...i see the pictures are here--so away they go..

TODAY'S ADVETURE

first don't look for pictures as we are in a low wi-fi place and it is poor connections...so i'm not even going to try..

started the day by visiting trees of mystery and went thru a native american museum and the price was right free...a very interesting museum and all the stuff was donated by one person so she sure must have been a real pack rat and didn't throw anything away...and there was lots of stuff-baskets-beads-arrowheads-animal skins etc...going thru it i noticed that some stuff had been donated so i guess she hadn't saved it all...

then we adventured up the side of a mountain and there was a park ranger there looking for whales..so we stayed there for some time saw at least 2 gray whales..several osprey-migrating pelicans which he was excited about knowing that they are now heading north..

then on to cresent city...more big trees along the way..went to the national park in c/city and the same ranger was there..he told us several places to go so we headed to the harbour to see some calif harbour seals and regular ones..just basking out on the pilings and docks..a life of leisure..we had also been told about a good place to eat seafood i glance up and saw it so we decided to dine an late lunch or early dinner it didn't matter...we both had fish and chips that you could die for..mmmmmm were they delicious...

then on the way home we stopped to pick up mitch as we wanted to hike to a WW2 radar site..but the interesting thing about it was it was built to fool the Japaneses...as the us had seen and also been attacked by the submarines so they built this place to look like a farm..they had animals and the houses looked like farm houses...but inside was a different story..we could go inside but just to look around was interesting...it is my understanding that it was never really used for the purpose that it was built...

then on our way back to the campground we pulled over to an overlook and saw more gray whalers playing/eating around..so today we saw maybe a dozen or more whales hard to really count but an interesting day none the less..

tomorrow we will be in oregon.....then we can start visiting the states all over again...so one goal will be met...

FRIDAY

today finds us in the middle of the redwood national park...we only traveled about 2 hrs to get here from where we had been..but then we knew that when we started out this morning...the redwoods are sure some huge tall trees..not as big as the sequioa redwoods but still something to see...we traveled along the coast and saw the pacific ocean really good for the first time..we had been near and had been on bays but not the ocean...noticed that there were some crazy people who had been surfing...stopped along the way to walk on the beach and the sand was different..gray-course-just different than what we've been used too...

i nthe fields coming up the coast we saw lots of what is called ROOSVELT ELK not what is the difference from regular elk we sure don't know except they have the name roosvelt aling with elk...

we are camped along the klamath river and there is a huge field for mitch to run around tomorrow morning and the man who checked us in said it was ok to let your dog run free in the field...so mitch will be happy tomorrow..

tomorrow more redwood trees things to do..we probally will go to the trees of mystery and we've been told that there is a good native american museum there that we will also take in...sure don't want to miss anything...never know when we might be back in this area...too many other places to go and things to see

RAIN-RAIN-RAIN

we decided to sleep in this morning till 6:45 am hahaha and go out to breakfast as we were out of milk and bread..so it was a very leisurly morning we finally got our acts together after a phone call to lar's brother bill to check in on his mother we finally were ready to have some breakfast..so off we went to an old loggers place callen somoa cookhouse a very interesting place..they serve family style and there is NO menu...you just have what they want to serve..so today it was bisquits-gravy-pancakes-sausage links-scrambled eggs-coffee-juice-and as much as you wanted...you sit at tables with who ever comes in to sit with you..we sat with some young ones weho have been backpacking in the area-some students in the area and another couple who ate there about 35 yrs agok and thought it might be fun to return...it was fun..

so it was still raining so we toured around to the old town of eureka..had wanted to get out and walk around but it was just pouring and thought why get wet and cold..so off to a mall just to walk the halls...

after that it was time to go buy some milk and bread..we were told about astore called win-co and it was a good place for deals...yep we saw lots of good deals and if there was one bsack home i think it is where i would shop...good produce-good looking meats (but we didn't need any still have vension)...but the best of all was boxes of wine red for 8.00$$ and for white 7.50$ so of course we couldn't pass that deal ..on sale for 2.00 off.....lar thought maybe we could fill the black water tank and have enough...i must say i said NO to the suggestion ahhaha...but we did buy several boxes at that price..back home it is at least 12.00$$...then to check out our bill rang up to around 90.00$$ so i swiped the credit card and it didn't work..so the cashier said it is credit or debit..credit i said..she said we don't take credit cards --i asked about acheck and she said only local (i guess NY isn't to local)..we didn't have enough cask on us so we thought we 'd have to put the groceries back not thinking at the good old atm machine which they happen to have..so we got us some green cash..paid for the groceries and away we went...lots of laughs both with the cashier and us...silly us not to think that not everyone accepts credit cards.....it just added to the adventure...tomorrow on the the redwoods forest and try to find robin hood.....

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EUREKA

yesterday found us driving thru some of the big trees and we aren't even in the national park yet...but the redwoods are all over..we talked to the campground host who used to be a logger in his younger days and told us when he first started it would take 1 tree to fill a truck and now it takes 15-20 to fill one of those log trucks..there also used to be 20 lumber companies here in the area now there is only 4...so the conservation dept sure regulates the logging industry...

yesterday we drove thru some heavy rain and even hail..one of the roads we had thought about and recieved an e-mail form a friend (bev) who did a trip simuliar to ours a couple of years ago suggested we NOT take that road and good thing we didn't as the camp ground host told us that the road was closed due to snow and we would have needed chains which we don't have so we are glad we took the roads we did..i even got to drive today as the road didn't go up and doiwn and up and down across tops of mountains..pretty much on low ground....

we did not stop at the the the wood place NO place to park bokth the rig and truck..we we just drove by...today another story...first we are of to breakfast at the samoa cookhouse an old logging camp with a museum...lots to see here in eureka--found that out when we got here..

YOSEMITE

california ground squirrel

our adventure yesterday was a trip to yosemite to see what was different from the others..let me tell you it is different...yep it has big trees some redwoods and sequioa's but one of the most interesting thihgs is all the waterfalls...there is a puicrure of the tallest falls in north america...called yosemite falls (go figure )...there is bridal falls and the list goes on and on...also we are glad we are here this time of year as you can just imagine what the crowds would be like in the middle of the summer..of course we are missing some great hikes as they are closed due to snow but we are still doing some shorter ones....each day we drive way over 6,000 feet up and we both notice the height a wee bit...a slight headacke and waves of nausea but not enough for us to not go up to see what there is to see...

right now we are in coarsegold, calif at an escapees park and it is one if closer we could see ourselves spending several months at...there seems to be plenty to do and see around...also the park is busy with different activities..as a matter we just finished enjoying a sunday afternoon ice cream social...i guess that it was lunch...

tomorrow we are starting to head to the redwoods not sure how far we will get but at least we kinda know what directtion we want to go in hahaha...

we also decided to stay here another day as we really didn't like th forecast ..snow-rain-wind so why not hang out another day...

IS IT FRIDAY???

just some of the sights of yesterday adventure up to sequoia..first at the campground there probally over 200 cedar waxwings drinking water from one of the mud puddles and not from rain for from watering the grass...

then we went from one eco-system to another in a short time...the one poicture is of the road we had to drive to get up to the top of the mountain...ugh...lar was driving as he knows that it is not my cup of tea to drive up mountains then have to drive back down...he did good...snow up high on the tops of the mountains..

tomorrow it is off to yosemite and more than likely we will not be able to cross the top as therre is still plenty of snow there...it sure would be interesting to come back when the snow is all gone and it is a different season...

still lots to see and do --will we do it all I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!

MOUNTAINS

AGAIN YESTERDAY WE oops left the dry desert area for he mountains ..those in sequoia and the park...we drove aver 6500 feet UP and i mean UP back and wiorth across the mountain we went...i didn't look down just out..we went from dry desert to snow on the mountains and the gaint trees again...it is just a marvel to us at all the huge trees and that they weren't cut donw many years ago...glad someone thought enough to say we had better stop cutting them down and leave them for others to enjoy...we can just imagine what it is like during the top tourist season as it is plenty busy now..but then we have been going from place to place as some are enjying spring break...

today we are heading north again towards yosemite to see what the marvels of it are...

still way too much to see and do and we wil hardly touch the tip of the iceburg of all that is out there to enjoy..

life is good...

SNOW

yesterday found us leavingthe desert and headingto the high country...we are now in kingsbury.calif...we are in a campground where it is 80 and no snow but we can drive an hr and there is plenty of the white stuff...spent the day going to kings canyon national park where the GIANT SEQUOIA are..and i mean they are big trees..most interesting..first we drove thru acreas and acres of orange groves-peaches trees-grapes..and we thought we had big orchards in ney york but these just don't compare to ours...as far as you can see and mile after mile of trees..so you just know that the biggest employeer here has to do with farming of one sort or another...

today we are on our way to sequioa national park the south entrance..but first a stop at mcdonalds for some wi-fi...the campfround dosen't have any but there is a near by mcdonalds..so if any one of you are traveling and you need wi-fi just find onoe of these and you'll be all set...lar is drinking more coffee this way but he dosen't seem to mind...

tomorrow we head for yosemite so hope fully there will be available wi-fi and the next campground...

enjoy your day we will enjoy ours...

MONDAY

today we left indio, calif around 9 am.. but first i must mention that yesterday i was giving lar a hair cut that he neede badly and all of a suddeen things started to mave around ..firtst we thought maybe it was the swind but i looked ataour jacks on the rig and they were moving and the one next ti us was also moving more that wind...then we both looked at each other and said it is an earthquake...and sure enough it was...it is something that for me was kinda scary especially when it was all over and we could think of it...now why didn't we move away fro the rig just in s=casre it just tobble over...i don't know why we just didn't...it seemed to lost a very long time but on the news it lasted only about 35-45-seconds less than a minute but it felt that it was much longer than that....we sure can understand why those who ex[perience an earthquake that cause mcuh damage why they run when the grounds starts to shake...something i be aware of for us..something we really don't have to think about back hiome...just "BLIZZARDS'...

today finds us in bakersfield, calif on our way to yosemite but getting here was a different story..very windy and i mean very windy..lar handled it well but it was a very trying day...just not your average driving day....he did all the driving thinking that it was too much for me and he was probally right...we had rain-snow very near by us-and high winds...anyway we were glad when we decided to stop at 4pm...also we wanted to watch tonight basketball game and hope that butler wins...we like the underdogs...so go BUTLER....