Penny Got To See Snow

Westwood California         High 80 Low 51

Last night, for me at least, it was cold. Cindy had the windows open and she said she slept good. It was only 53 degrees inside our fifth wheel this morning.

Today we drove through Lassen Volcanic National Park. The ranger at the entrance gate told us the road had only been opened for 2 weeks and that there were still snow drifts 21 feet high. We did see lots of snow but I'm not sure they were 21 feet high.

Cindy took Penny to a snow drift and let her inspect it. It didn't take her long to decide she didn't want to be on the snow.

We were at 8500 feet elevation at the highest spot on the road. There was still lots of snow on the hill side and Lassen Peak. It was melting and the streams had lots of water.

This is another volcano without snow.

This picture give an idea of how high the snow was.

We saw several small lakes with clear water. One had lots of flowers and green plants growing around it.

One lake we saw still had ice on it. Part of it was blue in color.

As we drove on we came to a place that had hot pots shooting steam and had mud boiling out of them. there was a sign telling that the area was originally built as hot steam baths and was open until the National Park system bought it.

Some of the wildlife we saw by one of the visitors center.

Cindy liked the small tree in front of a bolder that was blown off the volcano three miles away.

 One of the signs said a bolder weighing 300 tons was blown about 5 miles.

It was a good way to spend the day.

Tomorrow we continue on to the coast and the redwoods.

Thanks for visiting.

We Made It To California

Westwood, California          High 77 Low 50

This morning we left Winnemucca and headed to California. Cindy got a picture of the RV Park we were in which is a very nice Park. She also got a picture of Penny in her bed in the truck ready to go.

Nice wide and long sites.

We had another pleasant drive. It is a good thing the day wasn’t too warm a day because some of the grades got the truck engine and transmission a little on the warm side.

We are staying at the Lassen West Village and RV. Linda and I both got a little upset at the Park in that they are on Passport America and we got the message that we got the rate for 2 days but the lady said it was only for one night. We felt that the description should have said good for one night. We still decided to stay the 2 nights. The Park is OK but far from a resort. The sites are fairly level and most have tall pine trees by them. Our site is about as wide as 3 normal sites and very long. It looks like they are in the process of upgrading the Park because we can see where lots of leveling has bee done and some grading equipment is here.

This afternoon we drove into the small Town where there is a log carving of Paul Bunyan and his blue on Babe. The man that started this town moved here from Minnesota in 1913 and the Town was a company owned town until the lumber mills were sold in 1944 and ceased operations in 1956. He brought the idea that Paul Bunyan was actually from this part of the country and not Minnesota.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Lassen Volcanic National Park to the visitor center there. More on that later.

Thanks for visiting.

We Got Started

Winnemucca, Nevada

We have been loading the fifth wheel to get ready to leave for the past 2 days. Both Cindy and I noticed that Penny stayed very close to us whenever we went out to the fifth wheel.

Last night when we finished up loading and pulled in the slides, she headed for the front door of the truck and looked back at Cindy. She acted like she was afraid we were going to leave her.

This morning we got up early and started to leave and Penny was right there to get in the truck.

We left Riverton at about 6:45 this morning and headed toward Nevada. We were afraid of wind, but we had it calm all the way even though it was cloudy. This afternoon it finally got up to 80 degrees so it was a nice day to travel.

On the way to Wendover we started to see the Utah tree. It is located at milepost 25 in the salt flats. We could see it for miles before we got to it. Cindy got some nice pictures as we drove along.

Way out in the distance is the tree.

They used to let people stop and look around, but I guess they had problems, so you no longer can stop.

I don't remember how much it cost to build this concrete tree. Some artist decided a little scenery was needed on the way through the Salt Flats.

Linda is traveling in her motorhome with us, She doesn't have near the range in her motorhome that we do, so she had to gas up in Wells. I waited until Winnemucca to fuel up and really didn't need to, but to avoid the high fuel prices in California, I filled the truck. It took 35 gallons to travel 360 miles. I have had better mileage but that isn't too bad. I easily could make it 1300 miles with out filling.

Tomorrow we are headed to Westwood, California by Lassen Volcanic National Park. Then we will head on to the redwoods after staying there two nights.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy July Fourth

Riverton, Utah                High 81 Low 55

It was a little cooler today and we got thunder showers for a while this afternoon.

Today I got the fifth wheel ready for our trip which included lubing all the suspension, flushing the water system, and filling the water tank. I also turned on the water pump to make sure it still worked. Everything looks good and we are ready to go.

Last night there was a neighborhood fire works display. It was held about a block and a half from us and everyone was invited to bring chairs or blankets to watch. We sat about 100 yards from where they were set of which we found out was way too close. The noise was the most I ever remember hearing. I had to turn off my hearing aids and it was still noisy.

The display was almost as good as any we have watched in the city parks. I got a few pictures and they follow and please remember the noise.

These pictures give an idea of how close we were to where they were set off.

Thanks for visiting.

Getting Ready To Travel

Riverton, Utah                 High 90 Low 58

We have made reservations for most of the RV Parks we will be staying at for almost 3 weeks starting next Monday. Cindy's sister, Linda, will be taking her motorhome and almost insists on having reservations while I'm more inclined on winging it while most of the time we are not afraid of boon-docking. It is summer, so we want hook-ups most times but where we are going the forecast is for pleasant temperatures.

We did have one RV Park in Oregon call us both today and tell us that we would be dry camping for the three nights we were going to be there and so we cancelled that reservation with Coast to Coast and booked different places. I had to call one of them, Chinook Bend in Lincoln City, that gave Linda 2 nights and me only one. When I talked to him I told him who I was and that we had stayed with him several times and he told me if we wanted 2 nights with full hook-ups to come on in and he would take care of it with Coast to Coast. He has always treated us fairly.

The other Park is a larger membership Park and they probably have too many members because she told me that they had 14 of their members dry camping at the same time we wanted to go into their Park. I wanted to show Linda the other Park, but oh well.

Today I got the truck washed, filled with diesel, and all the tires aired up and ready to travel. We plan on leaving on Monday morning. We are headed west toward Winnemucca where we will stay the first night and then by Susanville California for two nights, then on to the coast by the Redwoods.

My sister, with leukemia, finally went home and my other sister says she is doing better. We are hoping every thing is good while we are gone.

Cindy's daughter and grand daughter and great grand son came to see us today. Guess what? I got a few pictures! Teesa is pregnant and due sometime in September with her second son.

 We gave this spin toy to Ryler and he didn't want to leave. Stephanie said she remembered playing on the toy and we decided it was time to give it away.

Teesa looks like a matador in the lower picture but I think the belly would get in the way. The quilt is one we gave her for the baby.

It is supposed to be a little cooler for the next few days then warm up again. The weather is one thing we have no control over so it will all be good.

Thanks for visiting