On To Cascade Locks

I dinked around for some time this morning trying to get a decent picture of this Yellow-headed Blackbird!

He just did NOT want to have his picture taken!

This is the best snap I got. I guess if I'd crop it, it would be okay. It does show the bit of white on his wing coverts...

We woke up this morning well rested, and hooking up went easily and well. We were soon heading west again on Interstate 84 along the Columbia Gorge. The Gorge is known for its winds (think wind-surfing) and the windmill farms have taken full advantage of it.

The wind was enough that the Columbia River had white caps. Forry kept having to compensate for the crosswind gusts as he drove --

Unlike many of the river canyons we've seen as we traveled (think Salt River or Colorado River), you don't look down into the canyon at the river. The freeway (and the highway on the Washington side) is actually right alongside the river all the way through the Gorge. The Gorge is actually the passage the mighty Columbia has made through the Cascade Mountain Range.

As we were driving along these bluffs with their new spring grass, I spotted two Big Horn Sheep Rams on one of the rocks. They had huge spiral horns. I was so excited to see them, I scared Forry with my shriek of surprise. A few miles later, we both saw a group of ewes with their lambs grazing on one of the steep hillsides.

The Columbia is a busy transportation route. There are barges on the river, railroads between the freeway and the river, and lots of semis on the road.

This is John Day Dam, one of the many dams on the River that provide cheap electric power to the Northwest --

 

This one of the overpasses at Hood River that shows the salmon heading upstream --

One thing surprised me. I had thought that there was a pretty strong campaign going on to eradicate Scotch Broom (an "escaped" landscape plant that spreads widely and quickly -- and causes allergic reactions in many people). It doesn't look like it had been very successful!

We arrived at the KOA campground at Cascade Locks about three pm. The park is very shaded and between the trees and the mountains, there is NO satellite TV! With all the large conifers, it is also very dark. We had the lights on in Auntie Violet by four o'clock!

From Snowville to Mountain Home

It was already hot this morning when we got ourselves hooked up and ready to go. Once again, to our great relief, the living room slides behaved and came in properly.

We continued north on Interstate 84, crossing the road into Idaho. The freeway eventually merges with I-86 and then continues west along the Snake River.

There was lots of farming activity along the way. We saw this farmer cutting down the year's first cutting of alfalfa hay --

There's a reason it's called the "snake." We followed many of its winding bends --

As the road turned northwest towards Jerome and Glenns Ferry, we began to see more and more of these large potato storage sheds. It's a bit too early to plant potatoes, but we saw lots of fields tilled up and ready to go.

It was extremely hot when we arrived at the KOA in Mountain Home. I was so warm after hooking up the electricity and water that we decided it was definitely time to turn on the air conditioning. The wind was blowing as we walked over to to the office. It felt like a draft directly out of the oven. It is still 83 degrees outside at 9 PM.

Truckin' on Through Montana

You forget how far it is across Montana. It doesn't matter if you're going east to west or west to east, it takes forever!

We saw lots of stubble fields as we drove along I-94. It looks like harvest is pretty much finished in this part of the country. If you can judge by the thickness of the stubble, the crops were pretty good.

We're getting close enough to Spokane to start making doctor appointments and to look at getting in to get haircuts and maybe even a massage. I really like that Group Health lets you make appointments on-line. I was able to schedule our appointments, then send a secure email to our doc letting her know the date so that she could order lab work ahead of time. I also made appointments on-line for eye exams as well. I can hardly wait to get a new pair of glasses. Mine are really scratched up. I thought about doing it before we left last Fall, but didn't want to take the extra time.

I had to use the phone to call Forry's dermatology office and was quite surprised that I was able to get him in next week. Usually, appointments are two to three weeks out and we end up waiting around for them.

As we got closer to Big Timber, we noticed more and more haze in the sky. It really began to look smokey. It's hard to tell where the fires are as the smoke can travel for miles --

I'm sure glad we only made a reservation for one night at the Big Timber KOA.When you make a reservation on-line, the KOA web-site asks what kind of rig you have and what size it is, then shows you what sites are available for you. We had the choice of a 50 amp full hook-up pull through or a 20/30 amp pull-through site with water only. (The other sites they had listed all had red remarks saying they were not acceptable for us...) Since I knew we would be emptying tanks before we left Miles City and it was only going to be one night, I opted for the 30 amp site. The website also requires a deposit for the first night which we paid.

When we arrived here, the teenager in the office seemed skeptical about the 30 amp site and went for his manager. She insisted that the "fire marshal" did not allow them to rent 30  amp sites to big rigs that were designed for 50 amps... When I said we had been using 30 amp sites all across the United States, she made a rather sarcastic remark about "how they must not have fire marshals who know their jobs." She also remarked to the teenager that we should have known we wouldn't fit into the site we had requested...

We should have just kept going and found somewhere else to stay, but Forry was tired, so we paid them the additional $11 they wanted for their 50 amp site.

The teenager lead us to the site. The little grass there is is all dried out and there was quite a bit of trash on the site. I picked up several large pieces of paper and wrappers as I was guiding Forry in. The kid just sat on his golf cart and watched, didn't even offer take the garbage with him as he drove off. Then when I went to spray the water faucet with my bleach spray, I saw a pair of used surgical gloves laying there!

I don't know which disgusts me more, the idiot who carefully puts on gloves to empty his black water tank, then throws them on the ground for someone else to deal with, OR the campground operators who don't even walk their campsites after someone leaves to make sure they are clean!

Needless to say I will NOT be giving this campground a good review NOR will we ever stay here again!

It's too bad because we generally like staying at KOAs. Even the older ones have had very gracious, helpful and friendly staff and we've had clean campsites.

And Now Wisconsin!

Today we came to Wisconsin, the 47th state of our quest to travel in all of the Lower 48 states. We've been in Alaska twice (though not in the motorhome...!), so by the time we travel through North Dakota this week, the only state we'll not have been in will be Hawaii. Hmm...

The scenery during the first part of our trip wasn't too much different from where we have been -- lots of fields of corn and soybeans.

We did begin to see hillier country and actually saw some fields of corn planted in strips with alternating strips of either grass or soybeans for erosion control.

The country began to get even more rugged --

With some of the largest hills we've seen in a long time --

We ended our trip today at the Hixton/Alma Center KOA along Highway 95 in Wisconsin. We are in a newer portion of the park which has pull-throughs on a terraced hillside.

Each terrace has different flowers planted on the bank above it --

I absolutely love this great profusion of blooming zinnias! Zinnias are my favorite summer annual!

There's also one row of blooming cannas --

And another of castor bean plants --

I should probably take a picture of the view from Auntie Violet's front door. It looks down over the hill and the campground to the forest beyond.

We'll stay here tomorrow for a rest day, then head on west.

Iowa!

We had stayed at the small KOA near LaSalle, Indiana last night. It is a lovely little park that we would have stayed at for another night, but they did not have any space. It was kind of interesting to see that this morning almost everyone had left, but to know they will be completely full again by tonight!

As we left Indiana, we kept looking at the fields of corn, trying to see if we could detect the damage from the drought. Some of the fields look stunted with short stalks.

We drove all except the last few miles on Interstate 80 (fortunately no longer a toll road). After we crossed the Iowa state border (the Mississippi River), we stopped at their Welcome Center to pick up an Iowa map. I do like the signs at their rest area!

I was surprised to see this historical plaque at the rest area. I knew about the Mormon handcarts, but hadn't realized they had started this far east. The mid-eighteenth century migration of Mormon converts was the direct result of Mormon missionaries in Europe. To think they walked all the way from here to Salt Lake City pulling hand carts with all their belongings. The sign went on to tell of the success of the first three groups, but how the 4th and 5th groups started too late in the summer and lost many of their number to snow and cold in the mountains.

We drove as far as North Liberty, Iowa to Colony Country Campground. Isn't that a neat hex sign on their office building?

This is another very neat, very nice small campground with just 45 RV sites. We will only stay here the one night as we are looking forward to meeting up with our friends at Adventureland near Altoona tomorrow.

Cheers for Stuart's Service!

Auntie Violet has been feeling a bit cantankerous lately. She's let us know by pushing out the bedroom slide (slide #2) as we've traveled down the road. She doesn't push it very far, just about two inches. We stop after about an hour or so and push the button to put it back in, then she's usually pretty good about it until we get to our next location and by then it's out about two inches again...

Knowing she was having a bit of a problem, we deliberately scheduled a stop in Elkhart, Indiana so that we could visit STUART'S SERVICE, an authorized HWH repair shop. We had stopped there last October on our way through so that they could install some new hydraulic hoses for us.

We made an appointment for 10:30 this morning and headed to County Road 6 in the midst of scattered rain showers.

Chuck Stuart and his crew very quickly took Auntie Violet into the shop and found that she had a leaking valve. They very quickly adjusted it, then added more hydraulic fluid to replace what she had lost. They then kept her for a another 30 minutes to make sure that the valve would not leak again.

We cannot say enough positive about Stuart's Service. They know what they are doing and take care of things very professionally. We were charged for only one half hour of shop time plus the cost of the hydraulic fluid.

By noon we were back on the road. We took Interstate 80/90 across the remainder of Indiana and on into Illinois. There were ten lanes of traffic! There were a few times when we were hemmed in by semi trucks on both sides and in front and back -- not the most pleasant driving!

We are re-tracing a bit of our route from last fall, but will veer off in order to visit Iowa and Wisconsin which are two of the four states we have not yet covered in the "lower 48."

We settled in at the LaSalle/Peru KOA for the night. This is a very pretty nice little park near Utica, Illinois. We'd like to have stayed for a couple of nights, but they are booked solid for the weekend. We'll head on to N. Liberty, Iowa tomorrow.

West Virginia, Here We Come

It never cooled off enough last night to even shut off the fans (it's usually cool enough about 5 AM when I make a trip to the bathroom, for me to shut them off...).  Knowing it was going to be a hot -- and humid -- day, I got up at 6:30 and started putting the lounge chairs in their carrying cases and putting them away in the car. By the time I got all the chairs and the little table put away, I was dripping wet and it was only a bit after seven! We finished up all of the putting away and cleaning up and draining tanks, etc. that it took since we had been at Rainbow Acres for a week and a day and were on the road a little after 11:30 AM.

Sally, our GPS unit voice, took us down a whole series of two-lane roads through the treed country-side --

Until we got to Interstate 95. It was only moderately busy as we merged into the traffic, but the closer we got to the Washington DC area, the busier it got until it was pretty much bumper to bumper. Except for one area of road construction, traffic mostly moved  along fairly rapidly.

As we drove through the north central portion of Virginia, the land seemed to be more open with lots of pastureland --

The hills beyond the valleys we were driving through were almost a smokey blue --

And in the distance you could see the Blue Ridge Mountains (actually just more hills...!) --

We went by a whole bunch of wineries and then actually saw a field of grapes (that I almost missed getting a picture of!) --

As we drove towards the confluence of the Potomac and Shanandoah Rivers where Harper's Ferry is located, we began seeing rocky cuts along the road that I think may be limestone?

And finally, a Welcome to West Virginia sign! Harper's Ferry is just across the border inside West Virginia. I understand the Harper's Ferry National Historic Park actually lies in three states, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland!

The Harper's Ferry Road is about six miles of narrow two-lane, very curvy, no-passing road with 35 to 40 mile an hour speed limits. Evidently one young punk got tired of following us (there were no passing lanes or even turn-outs). When we got to the corner of Campground Road where you turn into the KOA, they pulled up alongside and as they sped past, they threw a water balloon at the window. Of course, there was a loud splat. As I had no idea what it was they had thrown, it scared the you-know-what out of me! Fortunately there was no damage done...

After we had registered at the office and paid our bill, the KOA guide wanted us to ride in his golf cart to see the site we had been assigned (30 amp and H2O only as we're just staying three nights) before we moved Auntie Violet there. It was awfully narrow and we probably wouldn't have been able to put out all of our slides or the awning. He called the office and got us another site -- a much better one with 50 amp and sewer as well. And then he came back and said there would be no charge for the upgrade! Now, that's customer service!

Thunder was rumbling all around as we were setting up. It started to rain and just as we finished and went inside, it started to pour. Evidently, there are Severe Thunderstorm warnings all the way up to Philadelphia and New York. We had about a half hour of the storm before it moved on.

On to South Carolina

We made it all the way to the northern part of South Carolina today, ending up at the KOA Campground in Myrtle Beach. As Savannah is in the northern part of Georgia, we had barely crossed the bridge and we were in a new state.

It had rained during the night and it was still overcast, humid and showery when we left this morning. We took State Highway 17, which is a fairly narrow two-lane highway part of the way.

As we traveled north and east near the coastline (though we never saw it), we went by miles and miles of marsh lands.

There is just plain a lot of water. Marshes, creeks, lakes and rivers!

And road construction! According to the internet, these barrels sell for from thirty to one hundred dollars apiece, depending how heavy gauge they are! I'm sure the highway departments and construction companies get a discount, but still! Can you imagine how many dollars worth of barrels there are just in this stretch of highway alone?!

The very long and very beautiful bridge is north of Charleston --

It was like driving through a piece of modern sculpture!

Forry had underestimated our time on the road today, so he was really tired when we got in. I had to wake him up from his nap after I fixed stir fry for dinner... We actually drove from the northern border of Georgia almost to the northern border of South Carolina. We are splurging and staying at the KOA campground here for three nights, then will head on to spend some time in North Carolina looking for some of the graves of my paternal grandmother's family, the Blackwoods.