THURSDAY, July 25

JUNKIN'

Bye bye Baker City and hello Pendleton, a historic small town in Oregon.  We spent a little time roaming the antique  junk shops.  The campground at Lake Easton was full,  but when we pleaded with the nice campground lady, she discovered she had just had a cancellation for a primitive site.  We took it for two nights so that we could spend Friday exploring Mt. Ranier.

Lesson learned:  Just because the sign says antique shop, it doesn't mean it is.

FRIDAY, July 26

MOUNT RANIER

What a beautiful, sunny day.  Perfect for viewing the mountain.  The majestic pines seemed to stretch from earth to sky,  hundreds of thousands of them.  Mt. Ranier itself surrounded the horizon, everywhere we looked.  Driving around the mountain was a massive undertaking and we didn't accomplish it,  but we saw such beauty from the viewing points, wild flowers everywhere and so many hikers.   For numerous reasons, we aren't able to hike very far, so we stuck to the beaten path.  Doing so meant we missed a number of waterfalls and scenic views.  But we saw so much that it really didn't matter.

Mount Ranier

Wildflowers everywhere!

Lesson learned:  Be grateful for and embrace what you can do, rather than regret what you can't

SATURDAY, July 27th

It was time to head North to Seattle.  I began searching for campgrounds within 30 or so miles of Seattle.  That was a real eye opener!  Several time I went to campground web pages and discovered that clothes are optional.  If you wished to wear clothing it would be ok, but they embraced a rather different lifestyle than we are accustomed to.   I am sure it will surprise you that we didn't check to see whether those sites had any vacancies or not.  The bottom line is that I was unable to find any campgrounds with vacancies.  We spotted a campground sign along the highway.  "Turn left".  We did.  After five miles down a crooked farmland road (tractors and all), we came to a campground with swimming pools, hot tub, shuffle boards... you name it, they had it.  And it had no vacancies.  We both looked at Cheryl (yes, we quickly learned her name) and asked if there was anything she could do.  Cheryl took pity on us and discovered there had "just" been a cancellation.

Lesson learned:  Be friendly, look tired and somewhat pitiful and people will take pity on you.

SUNDAY, July 28th

8:00 am Mass at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Duvall,  Built on a high hill overlooking the town, what a beautiful setting.  The entire wall behind the altar is glass with a view of a mountain on the Canadian border (we were told by a proud parishiober).

We spent the rest of our day walking around Seattle.  After a beer at Fisherman's  , we "toured" Seattle by way of the Seattle Great Wheel.  Talk about a birds eye view.  Then, of course, we had to see the Pikes Fish Market and the flying fish.  From there we headed to the must see Space Needle.  The crowds and lines were insane enough that we snapped a picture and said "good enough".  Seattle was a fun day but we were happy to get back to Cheryl at the turn left campground.

Enjoying a beer

Seattle from the Great Wheel

Lesson learned:  Don't go to Seattle on a Sunday if you want to see the Space Needle

MONDAY, July 29th

Oh Canada!

We spent an hour in line at the US/Canada customs, but breezed right through once we got to the check point.

US/Canada customs

From there we caught Hwy. 99 through Vancouver headed to Whistler.  But there is always a catch, isn't there...  First of all as Hwy. 99 enters Vancouver, it plays a game of hide and seek.  There are these cute little blue signs occasionally, with arrows pointing the way to Hwy. 99.  I swear they hid them just to keep things interesting (or to frustrate us).  Since our GPS isn't working in Canada (my mistake not making sure we had a GPS), we finally resorted to yelling out the car window "Do you know the way to Hwy. 99?"  Unfortunately, on one occasion we forgot to say Hwy. 99 North and one helpful young man sent us heading back to Washiington. We finally crossed the Lions Gate Bridge headed to our destination, Whistler.  What a relief!  Vancouver was noisy, driving lanes narrow, pedestrians impatient, and drivers even more impatient.  Bye bye Vancouver, and now for some fun!  

We though this  twisted building in Vancouver was in need of a chiropractor

Lion Gate Bridge - our ticket out of Vancouver

We found a camp site at Squamish, once again a primitive site.  We are getting mighty used to flashlights, candles and lanterns.  But they had a great shower and wifi if you stood on your head and held your tongue right, so we were happy campers.

Lesson learned:  Our customs experience could have been much worse.  The father/son biking due camping next to us were tagged for a very time consuming complete search.

DAY 5 - Thursday, July 18th

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

A fun day touring Rocky Mountain National Park.  Many beautiful views.  We were amazed at the many bikers, and no I am not talking about Harley tough guys (or, as is more common, old guys).  These men and women were powering up the mountain ridges on their bicycles like they were easy rolling hills.  A few were riding along the edges with no guard rails.  The fierce wind was blowing me around like a rag doll.  They have my admiration, but I do believe they have to be more than a bit insane.  We've been eating most meals in the trailer, but decided to go out for pizza in Estes Park.  Found this dive called Bob & Tony's and experienced probably the best pizza we've ever eaten.  The place was loud with lots of young families playing the arcade and pool.  It was good to see families enjoying family time.

Lesson learned:  Parents/grandparents put those damn phones down.  I loved watching the parents laughing, teasing, playing with their kids.  Smiles all around.  Then there were the parents who had their nose in their phones, doling out money so the kids could run and play.  In reality the kids were arguing with each other and generally out of sorts.  Just put the phones down, please.

DAY 6 - Friday, July 19th

WHERE WE GO, NOBODY KNOWS...

On the road by 8:15, it seems we are getting better at this getting up and going thing.  The only problem is we aren't sure where we are going.  So the first stop is coffee and internet.  Coming down out of the mountains from our campsite was easier than we expected.  We finally settled on destination Laramie, WY.

Lesson learned:  Check your car license expiration date before leaving home.  Imagine our shock when we were enjoying an evening outside under the pines and Jim happened to glance at the car license and realized it expires the end of July.  THIS July.  Talk about a wrinkle in the ointment!

DAY 7 - Saturday, July 20th

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Stayed at a KOA last night.  Were very happy to find a place to stay.  Sing along with me.  On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again...  Went as far as Evanston, WY.  We pretty much breezed through Wyoming because we spent quite a bit of time there several years ago.

Lesson learned:  No matter how good camp ground wifi is, it will not work in a tin box.  McDonald's free wifi is my friend.

DAY 8 - Sunday, July 21st.

NOT NIAGRA, BUT IT IS A FALL

Left Evanston, heading for Utah.  We really enjoyed the Panoramic mountain views.  Made it as far as Twin Falls, Idaho.  Once we got settled, we checked out Shoshone Falls.  Years ago I said the first place I wanted to go once I retired was Niagara Falls.  I haven't made it there yet.  But the Shoshone Falls may have given me my Falls fix for now.  Talk about impressive, even though they were flowing at probably 1/2 power because the Snake River was at a lower level than at other times of the year.  Today was a day of extreme temperatures - up to 100 during the day and falling to the 60's at night.  Once again, great sleeping weather.

Lesson learned:  Not every Catholic community has the luxury of several weekend Masses to choose from.  Our plan was to go to church Saturday night or early Sunday morning.  Their only Mass this weekend was 2:00 pm.

DAY 9 - Monday, July 22nd

We spent the day messing around Twin Falls.  The big draw was the Perrine Bridge, best known as the location where Evil Knievel about died jumping the Snake River Canyon.  It was fascinating watching people base jumping off the bridge.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Lesson learned:  Thank God for our children.  Greg is watching the home place, especially watching the grass grow, so he can mow it if it gets too high.  I am hoping it has dried up.   Julie took Monday off to take care of our license issue.  She had to run to the house and find our personal property tax receipt, and license info, then to the insurance company to get a proof of insurance card, and then to the Department of Revenue where, of course, the lines were extremely long.  But she got it done.  Now to get an address where she can overnight them.

Free Base Jumper at Perrine Bridge (far right blue at the top of the bridge)

Shoshone Falls

Sunset at Shoshone Falls

DAY 10  and 11, Tuesday/Wednesday July 23rd & 24th

We settled on a two day stay at Baker City, Oregon, so the vehicle license could be overnighted to us there.  Mountain View RV Park (very nice and clean!).  The task of getting the license sent to us was handed off to Tessa.  She picked the package up from Julie's house and headed to the PO with the RV park address.  Easy, right?  Not so much.  It turned out that the RV park is so rural that the PO cannot overnight to them.  It's time to put our problem solving hats back on.  Between the Post Master, Tessa and the Atlas, we were able to find a PO somewhere between where we were and where we were headed to send the package, where they will hold it for us.  I'll let you know whether this worked or not.  We still don't have the car license, but I think we are closer!

Bakers City is on the Oregon Trail.  Very scenic, with a neat historic downtown.  We really enjoyed the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and the scenic drives.  Viewing the exhibits of the Oregon Trail hardships made me appreciate just how easy we have it today, and just how strong and stubborn and people of faith the pioneers were.

Lesson learned:  Best laid plans don't always work the way you expect, but where there is a will, there is a way.

So far, so good

DAY ONE - Sunday, July 14, 2019

Off to a rough start

We went to Church on Saturday night so that we could get on the road early Sunday morning, no later than 10:00.  My stomach had other plans and we left at 12:30 pm.  Fortunately, we didn’t run into any unforeseen problems with pulling the trailer.  Remember... this is our. Maiden voyage!  After being on the road for 6 hours, we began looking for a place to set up for the night.  I am using an. App call Allstays and it showed me a few places where we could spend the night - all of them which we had already passed.  So we pushed on.  Finally as we came close to Seneca, KS, a small RV park popped up on the App.  Really good ratings.  And as luck would have it, they had vacancies!  We pulled in at 7:00 pm and were shocked at what we saw.  This place was the absolute cleanest RV park we have ever stayed at, located on a small lake and Golf Course.  The owners were the sweetest couple.  The cost was only $35.  I wish we could have stayed there a few nights, but we had only covered 299 miles and needed to push on.

Lesson learned:  Don’ worry so much that you make yourself sick.

View from our camp site in Seneca, KS

DAY TWO - Monday, July 15th

We caught Hwy. 36 towards Colorado and stayed on it all the way through Kansas.  So many sights to see!  Corn, soybeans, hay bails, cattle lots, straw bails, silos, wind farms, abandoned farm houses, more silos, cattle lots, soybeans, corn, straw bails and... well you get the drift.  With Kansas being the Sunflower State, you would have thought we’d see at least one field of sunflowers, but that wasn’t meant to be.  Kansas, we won’t miss you.  Kansas always was the dreaded portion of the drive to Colorado and still is.  The only good thing I can say is Hwy. 36 is better than that 70 and the people were nice.

By 6:30 pm we were tired and couldn’t find any camp grounds, WalMarts, or Truck Stops within 70 miles.  As we were driving through Yuma, CO, I noticed a motel with an almost empty parking lot.  Nelson Inn.  We decided to turn around and see if they would let us park there overnight for a fee.  That is when we noticed that behind the motel were ten RV hookups.  I kid you n to.  They had RV hookups!  We “checked in”, again for $35.  The site came with their Quick Start breakfast.  We enjoyed the coffee.  It was a good thing we didn’t plan on doing anything but sleep because it was about the worst site we’ve ever camped in, but it did have electricity and we slept like babies.

Comments about the Cargo Trailer.  We really like it.  It pulls good.  We are slowly working through where everything fits best, the fact that the first thing that has to happen when we get up in the morning is to put the bed back into couch position, the bed sleeps pretty darn good, and the porta pot is working out great.  It isn’t a chore to empty at all (so Jim says... I will never be verifying that.  I promise).

Lesson learned:  Don’t despair and say a prayer.  It worked for me.

DAY THREE - Tuesday, July 16th

Time to head towards Rocky Mountain National Park.  I made reservations at Larimer County Hermit Park, about 10 miles from RMNP.  We were close, but needed a place to stay elsewhere for one additional night.  I found a place, Larimer County Flat Iron Reservoir, about 30 miles from where we had reservations.  It was a very pretty place on a reservoir (hence the name ha ha).  We were able to do a bit of sight seeing of the Upper Reservoir, Lake below, and the whole set up.  The reservoir was visible from our camp site and we walked to the rocky area quite a few times.  Across the water two Eagles sat watching us most of the afternoon and early evening.  They apparently had nothing better to do.

Lesson learned:  Time tends to stand still when you travel.  Check your dates often.  It turned out my reservations at Estes Park were for Day Three (Tuesday), Wednesday, and Thursday.  Not Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as I thought.  Oh well!

Sunset at the Reservoir

DAY FOUR - Wednesday, July 17th (Happy Birthday Julie!)

As I said above, time tends to stand still and dates become meaningless.  We missed wishing our youngest, Julie, Happy Birthday.  I do believe that is a first.  You were not forgotten dear child.  We have spent a lot of our road time talking about family and how lucky we are.

Our reservations were for a primitive site in the mountains, Larimer county Hermit Park, Bobcat Campground.  Even the toilets were primitive.  No running water.  But I have never experienced cleaner out houses.  They had no foul smell to them at all.  How is that possible?  It is a mystery.  We are here for two nights (it would have been three if I hadn’t messed up).  So we are making the best of the time we have.  The camp site is nice, nestled among Aspen and pine trees.  The flies are mean little devils.  They bite like I am the first piece of flesh they have seen in forever.  We used our Coleman Stove and Lantern that Gregg and Alicia gave us, for the first time.  We were able to spend a few hours driving through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  The temperatures dropped to the 60’s at night.  Talk about awesome sleeping weather.

Lesson learned:  Take time to appreciate the sights, sounds, and all around beauty everywhere around you.  I’ll never forget the sounds of the Aspens as the wind whispered through them.  We were surrounded by wild flowers and beautiful sights every time we turned around

Are Ravens bad luck?

What could possibly go wrong? Right?

We begin our journey tomorrow morning.  Sunday.
What we thought would be a simple cargo trailer conversion has been anything but.  Getting to this point has been full of good news/bad news.
❌The manufacturer was 7 weeks late on the delivery and apparently interpreted our very specific design plans as suggestions.
❌We are embarking on this trip a month later than planned because of the delay
❌The 36 inch back door that we requested so we could easily get bikes or other toys in and out of the trailer turned into a 32 inch door
✅Because the smaller door was put in, we now had room for a nice cabinet that can be rolled out onto the deck for cooking, etc.
❌The 12 inch overhead cabinets we ordered were almost installed as 18 inch head knockers
✅ We caught the wrong cabinets before they were installed
❌The outside outlet was installed inside
✅ We got an extra outlet when they fixed their mistake
❌The salesman promised the generator could be installed outside on the tongue of the trailer; the installers said it was too heavy and they would have to build an insulated (sound proof) slide out box on the inside.  That wasn’t possible because of the size of the trailer.
✅ We went from a 14 ft. To a 16 ft. to accommodate the slide out box for very little additional cost.The additional room is very welcome!
❌The wrong generator was installed.
❌The right generator was installed in such a way that we were sure to die the first time we used it; plus it was extremely loud (they didn’t sound proof the box, as promised) and too heavy to move.
✅We replaced the loud generator with two smaller, very quiet, generators that are light weight enough that even I can move them away from the trailer (Anybody in the market for a powerful, but loud, 8000 BTU Generac generator?)
❌Overhead lights were supposed to be on two separate switches so we could choose which lights to have on.  That didn’t happen....
❌The salesman promised clear glass windows on the doors; the installers educated us that they aren’t available in clear glass.
✅We find we like the frosted glass after all.
The list of things that we had not thought of, or we thought they would have done differently, was extensive.  Fortunately our neighbor, Matthew, is an extremely talented man who understands everything mechanical and was willing to spend quite a few evenings helping Jim sort through the mess, and get things like the brake controller, wiring for the inverters, and on and on, done right.  We owe him big time.
The good news is we are loading up miscellaneous stuff and clothing today and heading out tomorrow morning, as planned!

In case you are wondering, hidden in the rolling cabinet and lockers is an oven, instant pot, and an induction cook top.  We also have a Coleman stove.  Our plan is to cook a lot of our meals.

View from front to rear door leading out onto the deck.  Plywood walls are ready to be painted.  The box on the right houses the generator.

Indoor/Outdoor carpeting on the rear deck.

Cabinet on the left houses the inverters and pull out slide with the bottle that captures the gray sink water in the back and trash can in the front.  The refrigerator is behind the door on the right.

View from front to rear.  Drop down table on the left, futon with inner-spring mattress on right, back left is a cabinet on rollers with a butcher top.  It can be rolled out onto the deck for outside cooking.  The curtains are black out curtains so we can get some shuteye during the Alaskan 24/7 daylight.  I’m not a big fan and will be making new ones when we return.  

Lockers on the left provide much needed storage.  The porta pot is in the bottom of the back one.  There is a shower curtain that pulls from the lockers to the v-nose area.  Sponge baths only in this trailer.  Park showers or YMCA will be used as available.  (Lord help me!) 

The metal strips along the wall are e-tracks that will be used to secure everything during travel.

I’m not going to complain that we are tired, but I did happen to slip on a pair of black and white checked capris with a black and white striped top to go to church tonight.  Fortunately, I looked in the mirror before I headed out the door.  Will post more as I can!