Hi
We were here a few days ago, on our way from Tucson to Austin. A rare warm spring in the desert, a source of water for people and critters for thousands of years, now a protected pool for rare fish and a place to go scuba diving!
We woke the next morning to an inch of snow on the ground and flurries all the way to Austin!
Tim
Hi All,
We have been in arizona the last few days, visiting old friends – the Mighty Colorado at La Paz County Park, Mark & Jill Dohrmann (my old college roommate), Geoff Hurley (the drummer in my first band – and in the Beatlemania show we went to), Ron and Deb (old Deadheads), Lynn (a former co-worker of Nel’s), and later today, Joanie, another old friend of Nel’s.
All of this in the beautiful Arizona winter. Thanks everyone. On to Austin…
2/2/10 We had lunch with the BIG trees today on the Avenue of the Giants. We found a decomposing specimen of a raccoon (? ) with bones and fur intact. Nice science project. The fog is drifting through the trees to heaven.
We crossed the Eel River over and over and over and over. Always winding and green and murky….From Leggit, CA to Hwy 1.. over the mountains for 28 miles at about 30 mph to the Mendicino coastline. My hero Tim driving the curves and hills in a 24 footer as I lean towards him, holding my right butt cheek about as tight as possible any time there is clearing to see the ocean and scope of how high we were. ( this of course is to prevent me from falling off the road ! ) God, what a beautiful ride……high bluffs with ocean crashing below and then descending through eucalyptus groves with the trees hanging over the road… I could not get the camera out fast enough for that one…. did I mention it was rainy and foggy today ?
We landed at MacKerricher State Park, because we could not remember the name at first, we dubbed it Arnold Park…..you know, for the governator. The succulents along the bluffs were bright yellow, orange, green and red. We are staying in the trees back from the bluffs. I think we are the only people camped here, except the camp hosts Scott and Pam who we have yet to meet. We have the whole place to ourselves ! That’s winter time for ya…. man it is so beautiful here. The water and the bluffs and the sky…..
California parks seem to be in dire straights…chargin a lot of money and few rangers… but there are volunteers and we are fine with fewer “services”. We are learning about “dry camping”. That means no hook ups and we are good with that. It gives us more options with our little RV. We are using our solar power for lights and cell phone charging and water pump. And cooking with our propane, which also keeps our fridge going. I am learning to wash dishes with a bitty bit of water…..heating water on the stove because we can’t get the hot water heater to work w the propane…..Our “box turtle” is divine and we are living in style, with or without hot water !
2/3/10 We took a long bike ride on the Haul Road on the bluffs today. It is an old paved road they used to get the logs out of the forest….except for the places where it is washed away by the surf….. we road to Ft Bragg along the ocean….man I was lovin this… pelicans, harbor seals, oyster catchers with long orange beaks……. we took all of our rain gear for the ride, but needed none of it, because amazingly enough, it just didn’t rain on us. I did however, wear my shorts and flowered rain boots so i was damn cute ( not!)
We had lunch at a local pub and asked about the local economy….. Well, it used to be logging, then fishing…. now we are told we are in the emerald triangle ( major industry is growing pot ). Just when will we ever get out of the dark ages, I wonder and legalize and tax the crap out of the stuff. jobs for people and money for governments ? Oh woops, that makes too much sense…
Tim managed to ge the propane water heater working after emssing around a while, but we realize we don;t really need it unless we are going to to take a shower.
We celebrate our 6 th wedding anniversary ( which is tomorrow) with omelettes, fried potatoes and champagne ! We ate by the fire and toasted ourselves, then guess what ? It started to rain ! That’s OK we had a most lovely day.
Our garden taters were not stored properly, and are pretty shrivelly. I was so excited when we dug them last fall to have so many and planned to take them on this trip. They were so good fresh out of the ground….less so now, it seems. We need a root cellar… grandma, where are you ?
Tomorrow (2/4/10), we head to San Jose and a visit with Hannah and Jeremy. My entries are a little behind Tim’s pictures, so browse around. We have had little electricity access, and have to share the ‘puter.
We decided to stay an extra day here. We’re in a large RV park with shade trees and lots of river beach. From the window here I can see boaters plying the waves. Nel is reading a book by the shore. Life is hard.
I’m doing my best to get photos up here and it’s proving to be rather slow. There are some nice ones, though, of various places we’ve been.
Check out the link on the right (in the facebook section – coming soon…) to see the most recent shots.
Thursday we will be in Phoenix visiting my old Neenah High School buddy and bandmate (breifly). A drummer professionally since 1967, we will get to see his “Beatlemania” show – something I’ve wanted to do for years!! We will also see Mark Dohrman, a college roomate I haven’t seen since 1971. God. How old am I?
Red Rock Canyon, Stovepipe Wells, Sunset Campground at Furnace Creek, and Delight Hot Spring Resort in Tecopa have all been part of our Death Valley experience. We’ve seen cyotes, ravens, and lizards on this arid, rocky and dramatically beautiful landscape. With no cell phone service or wifi (till today), we were forced to live in the present here and now. Pretty darn fun, leaving all you world behind for a few days.
The rocks are so amazing, the colors huge, the canyons and vistas breathtaking, the sky so starry. Pictures will be coming as soon as I get a better connection. You’re gonna love ‘em.
Tim
It’s 2/1/10, and our first day on the road. Tim took a lot of pictures of the yard, which he has already shared. I got a nice hug from Carley, our neighbor and a puny meow from Stellar, the shadow cat. It’s 47 degrees and raining like a sun of a gun. We are almost to Florence and will soon turn south for the first few days. I guess we will be in rain for awhile.
Ganesh, our protector, is riding well in his special spot by the door. If he flies off while we are driving, he will hit me in the back of the head and cause damage ! Supposedly, that will keep me from doing something that could actually harm me ! He is a gift from Erin and much beloved.
We are driving along the Siuslaw River; as always, it makes me think of Kesey and Paul Newman. ( Read the book, “Sometimes a Great Notion” if you don’t know why. )
The fields and meadows in February, are of course, green and lush in western Oregon. The hills are alive with…..clouds and rain, our liquid sunshine.
In the sage words my dear sister Betsy ( on traveling through Nevada in the middle of the night on the two lanes in Greta the VW van, circa 2001 ?) “don’t swerve to miss those rabbits, ya just gotta go ahead and hit them. ”
Traveling south on 101, in and out of tsunami hazard zones, we see some of our coastline alive with Douglas fir…soon we’ll leave them behind. The scotch broom is already blooming ! We also are looking at scarred hills that are harvested bare of trees. Landslides can be the result of this denuding ( Tim word) And that makes me think about how we can use less stuff, recycle and reuse more. We have a little recycling station in the Nav ( read… bucket). I think we will be able to find places to recycle most things. I want to be able to deposit our food compost along the way with our family and friends who keep a compost pile. Please let me know if you are accepting coffee grounds and veggie peels and will happily save them up for you.
We stopped for clam chowder in Bandon. It was cold and we needed to walk and get some air. We met a pelican on the dock who watched us as carefully as we watched him/her. We ended up with 2 styrofoam cups, 2 plastic lids, 2 paper napkins, 2 plastic spoons and 2 paper bags. Geez…gotta watch that stuff.
We named our Andy puppet, Benzi. He has a good lookout spot above the table and can help us watch out for stuff, coz I think he can see things we cannot ! He’s a little gourd headed, and just seems amazed at everything.
Ha ha. We just turned into Prairie Creek State Park in California for the night. Gypsy ( our GPS), clearly told us twice that we were in Pennsylvania. Remember, just use your GPS as a guideline, not a rule !
Our first night out was so cozy, oh my. We took a walk at dusk and watched the elk. We are officially in elk land now. We are visitors in their habitat. Tim played lovely, wonderful music and sang while I cooked dinner and attempted some harmonizing on his lyrics.
Who says you can’t have a great time in the rain ?
All the prep and the plans and frustrating moments trying to get ready to leave seem to drift away as we lay listening to the froggies singing into the night. What peace and thankfulness I feel. Ho.
It’s been 6 days now and Nel and I are hanging out at daughter Hannah’s place in San Jose, CA. It’s our first time seeing Hannah and Jeremy’s new townhouse – it’s wonderful, with a spare room for us. Neeto.
Last night we went to San Fran for a delicious fresh seafood dinner and a night at the Orpheus Theater to see “Wicked”. Thanks. It was fun!
You should see pictures (go to Facebook photos/Wall) from our first few days on the road, from home to the CA coast through the giant redwoods.
Wish you were here!
Tim