Wednesday, September 10, 2025 Meeting up with Homies After the Factory tour

 

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 Outdoor RV tour

Human… are you awake?  Can you hear my purr box?  Can I paw your muzzle?  Are you awake yet?

It was a quiet night outside of the Outdoor RV factory.  Rudy always likes looking out the front door, but there wasn’t much to see for him. My walk took me around the neighborhood.  On one side of the street is a whole lot of agriculture.  I am not sure what the crop is, maybe sugar beets.  The other side of the street is industry.  It is a rural road so it is good for walking.  It is cool and breezy. 

I finish my wandering then head back to Artie.  We headed for the factory tour.  No photos are allowed.  There are 3 other couples and they all own an Outdoor RV.  We are the only scofflaws, and since Arctic Fox is in the same family, we are still ok!

It was interesting walking through the assembly line.  From a blank chassis, to flooring, to cabinets, to walls and the roof and sliders.  You can see the quality and the craftsmanship throughout the rigs.  They really are made well.  The tour took a little more than 2 hours and left us totally impressed.  But… do we want one….  They already have modifications slated for the rig that we liked so if we go that route, it is going to be a long time off, and we might be done by then!

Afterwards, we got on the road.  Our friends Kathy and Brian will be near the town of John Day, and we will be heading right that way, so we figured we might as well meet up. 

We leave La Grande heading west on hwy. 244.  It is a mountain road, with rocky crags and lots of pines.  Of course, there are streams too.  Up and down, round and round.  It is about a 35-40 mph road. At times, the road opens up to beautiful agriculture, then the mountains creep in.  Then the road opens up to cattle ranches, then the mountains creep in.  When we get to hwy. 395, we turn south.  More scenic eye candy.  Nice rolling hills, lots of pines, and just plain pretty country.  It starts to rain for the last 10 miles.  Big, fat rain drops!  It rains!

At the John Day hwy (26), we turn west.  It is still a rural road with agriculture.  The rain subsides and we make our way to the Fish House Inn and RV park, where our homies are waiting.  Time to catch up…

It is raining, with lightening and thunder.  Love it!

We drove only about 125 miles, but it took nearly 3 hours.

We are in our 6^th week, and we haven’t killed each other!

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Replacing Artie?????

 

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Replacing Artie??? 

I like the grass here.  My humans let me roam just a little.  But there was a dog.  They have to ruin everything.

I woke early.  I hear a few cars in motion.  They are letting water out of the Oxbow dam so the fishermen are ready.  Our walk took us across the bridge to the Idaho side.  A fisherman had a couple of huge catfish in a bucket.  He was doing a happy dance!  We turned up a dirt road and followed the river towards the south.  If you live anywhere near this area, you know every little fishing hole and boondocking camp site.  In this direction, there are very few people.  For us, it is a nice walk along the river. 

After Spouse left me, I continued down the road till I came upon ranch fencing.  The road bends around the fencing, and it looks like it continues along the river, hugging the mountainside.  I felt a few raindrops… I wanted to continue, but thought better of it.  Drop… drop… I am about 1 ½ miles out, but the raindrops are few and far between.  As I get near camp and cross the bridge, the resident wild turkeys greet me, as much as wild turkeys greet anybody!

Back at Artie, we clean up and hit the road.  We are heading to La Grande to visit the Outdoor RV factory.  We have looked at downsizing, and Outdoor RV has a model that has a decent floor plan with good quality craftsmanship.  So, it is a thought.

The road out of Oxbow is rolling hills, some mountains, some farms.  As we near Richland, it is very arid and desert like.  Even the desert sage is dull.  We are following a river, and the foliage is dull.  Usually, there are trees and shrubs that line rivers, but here, it is pretty barren.  Eventually, life returns with more hills and farms.

When we get to the interstate, we have mountains to the left with trees, and to the right, the mountains are bare.  It is pretty though, all the way to La Grande.  We are boondocking at the factory on their invitation.

We then disconnected and headed to the town of Pendleton to actually look at finished Outdoor RVs.  It is a pretty drive, almost like going over the grapevine, except much more scenic.  At the dealer, we were able to really scrutinize and ask questions and open drawers and move this and that.  We came to the conclusion that we are not sure we want to downsize!  The model we liked has only begun production – there is only one and it is sold.  They will begin making them next month.  We are not keen on buying any first year models…  I have a feeling we will have Artie for quite a while…

By the way, Outdoor RV is a sister company to Arctic Fox (Artie), so we would be keeping things in the family if we were to switch, but at this point, we are leaning against the change, at least for now.

Monday, September 8, 2025 Hell's Canyon

 

Monday, September 8, 2025 Hell’s Canyon

My humans let me out to roam today.  They were right there so I couldn’t go too far.  It was fun sniffing things.  I caught some little flying thing.  I got to roll.  It was fun to hang out with my humans.

It was kind of warm last night. Fortunately, it did cool down overnight, enough so that I had to grab a light blanket.  Spouse got his fishing gear out, and went for some early angling.  I went for my walk. 

We are in the middle of nowhere.  But there is a post for a WI-Fi hot spot! As long as you are within 50 feet from the post!

I walked along the road, which follows the Snake River.  I was out for about an hour, and only two cars passed by.  Wild huckleberries lined the river side of the road.  Too bad they were all shriveled up.  A deer bounded across my path.  There were turkey vultures in a tree sunning themselves.  There were ospreys.  Oh!  There is another deer.  It was a beautiful walk, even though it was along the road.

There really is a deer in this picture!

Spouse caught 7 fish, so he was totally stoked!  He threw them all back.

Back at camp, we got to talking to our only neighbors, then got Artie ready to roll.  Artie rolled all of about 10 miles to the town of Oxbow.  We saw an RV park – with electricity!!  We decided to hookup and disconnect to go exploring.

Spouse wrestled with this decision, as he knew we would find a better RV spot (RV park or boondocking spot).  Free of Artie, we got on the Idaho side of the river and headed north.  Yes, there was another RV park, right on the river.  Spouse agonized, but the spaces were small, and there was a lot less shade.  We saw a couple of pullouts, but nothing that would have been suitable.  Then there was the sign that said ‘no oversized vehicles as there is no turnaround’.  That kind of sealed the deal…  Spouse was finally ok with where we are bunking! 

The road is small, and it hugs the mountainside, which follows the curve of the river.  The water is glassy… oh so glassy!  We stopped at one spot so Spouse could throw in a line.  No hits, not surprising as it is midday.  The road is 23 miles long, and ends at the Hell’s Canyon Dam Visitor Center.  There isn’t a whole lot of anything on the road.  A couple of barren campspots.  Crossing over the dam, the water is flowing freely.  There are rapids and boats that will take you down the river for adventure.  Except for today… and tomorrow… and probably this week.  We took a wee hike to a viewpoint.  There is hardly anybody here.  This will be changing as hunting season starts this weekend…

But, we enjoy our solitude.  We saw one other car on the way back to Artie.

Today, I measured the cracks in our windshield…  roughly 16 inches… I think they are growing, but slowly.  We should be able to make it home before we fix it… we hope!

Sunday, September 7, 2025 Scofflaw Spouse fishing at Hell's Canyon

Sunday, September 7, 2025 Hell’s Canyon

I saw one of my people running around.  He was way too close to us.  When my human went outside, I darted out and chased him away.  MRRROOOOWWWWW! 

When Spouse went outside this morning, Rudy darted out.  He was not wearing his collar (or his bling), and he got in a tussle with another black cat.  Spouse wasn’t sure which cat was Rudy until the other kitty darted under the fence, and Rudy ran back home.  Little devil…

Our morning walk took us around the ‘hood.  Not much to see.  This is a working class neighborhood.  I think the cars specialize in making themselves as noisy as possible.

After breakfast, we leave Caldwell heading west to hwy. 95.  We are headed to Hell’s Canyon.   The Snake River separates Idaho from Oregon, through a canyon.  It is a haven for fishing and camping.  We were here before, but we are coming from a different angle.  Hwy 95 is a rural road with some commerce.  Of course there is the competition between the Dollar Store and Dollar General stores.  As we move north, commerce declines, and agriculture takes over. 

At the town of Cambridge, we turn onto hwy 71 west.  It is a small road.  The speed limit is posted at 55 mph, but we did well to go 40, then 35, then 25 and 20.  It starts with ranches, then the road narrows as the mountains close in.  The usual pines and aspens escort us for a while.  Then the landscape, although mountainous gets quite arid and the color of straw. 

We approach the Brownlee Dam area, continuing into Oregon where we gain an hour.  Once past the dam, the Snake River courses along.  It is quite pretty.  We see a little area to pull out.  It actually has campsites, kind of.  The sites are not defined but there is a fee and you can camp.  This was too pretty to pass up, so we plopped ourselves down.  Spouse got out his fishing gear, which had, up until now, been resting comfortably in Artie’s garage.  There were a few people here, none of them with fishing licenses, so Spouse joined in.

On his second cast, he got a small mouth bass.  This was going to fun for him.  I got in my swimsuit and got myself wet.  The water is cool, but not cold.  A little too cool for soaking, but nice enough to get wet and cool off.  It isn’t hot, but it is warm in the sun.

We decided this will be as far as we get today.  I love not having plans!

Spouse did more fishing at dusk.  Lots of bluegill and lots of fun.  He said this single day was worth bringing all his fishing gear!  By the way, he threw all the fish back.

Saturday, September 6, 2025 Moving West

 

Saturday, September 6, 2025 Moving West

Ha ha!  I got out when my human wasn’t looking.  Now she is coming after me.  I run under a car.  Ha Ha!  Can’t catch me!  She follows me… I am under a big house that moves.  Ha Ha!  Can’t catch me!  Wait, who is that coming out of the big house that moves! Oh No!  I can run real fast to MY big house that moves!  Ok, human, you can catch me!

Our morning walk took us on the many hiking trails through the state park.  Soft trails through desert landscape.  Desert sage, bright happy yellow sunflowers and junipers laden with berries.  Enough juniper berries to open a gin brewery, that’s for sure.  There are a whole variety of waterfowl.  Geese, osprey, ducks, magpies, herons and more.  A coyote runs across our trail.  Rudy heard them baying earlier this morning, and his ears were totally perked up.  We follow the curve of the river.  This is truly a pretty park.

Getting Artie off all the blocks we put her on was artwork.  Back and forth, and we finally got her where we could move on. 

We continue west.  There are farms, many with crops, based on the smell, some cattle farms.  It is still hazy.  We were a bit happy when we got some raindrops as it helped clear it up some.

In Boise, we stopped for Thai food.  Ohhh it was so good.  Then we decided to stay at the elks in Caldwell.  It is warm and we want convenience.  This will work.  Many of the elks offer RV spots.  Some are pretty.  Some are utilitarian, as is the case for us.  It is warm, it is getting late, we want electricity…  This works just fine!

Friday, September 5, 2025 KOA stands for Kiss Our Ass

Friday, September 5, 2025 KOA stands for Kiss Our Ass

It is morning and my humans have not yet fed me.  When I crawl on them, I give them a little ‘mao’.  Not a full meow, nah.  A gentle ‘mao’ with an upward lilt at the end.  That makes it seem I am not demanding, even though I am.  A ‘mao’ and turning my purr box all the way up certainly gets their attention.

We are staying at a KOA Kampground.  We normally don’t use KOA’s as they are expensive and have amenities we don’t use.  But we wanted to do laundry, and according to Spouse, the price was right.  So we started our morning in the clean laundry room.  We decided to stay an extra day here to catch up on some things.  When Spouse went to pay, he was shocked when they told him it would be $40 more than last night.  Needless to say, he told them to KOA, if you know what I mean.  We finished our laundry and readied Artie for the road.  The tanks are all empty, we have fresh water…

I must make a correction…  The cracks in the windshield are not 6 or 7 inches.  They are more like 11 or 12 inches… F’n truck…

We stopped in town to do our morning walk.  Lava City is a small town, but it is cute.  The Pontneuf River runs behind the town.  There are a gazillion tubing options where they shuttle you up and down the river.  We thought about doing it but found out it is only about a quarter mile float down a couple of rapids.  Then they pick you up and you do it again.  We once did the Au Sable Chasm in New York (or Vermont, not sure).  We floated for miles through rocky canyons.  It was so much fun.  But this… a quarter mile?  Nah.  We found a nice sunken garden.  They had some grape sized plums that were sweet.  There were apples on the ground.  There were flowers and stone walkways and all things garden pretty.  Then, back to Artie.

 We are working our way to La Grande in Oregon.  There, Arctic Fox and Outdoor RV have their factories and we were thinking of touring them. 

We are always prepared to boondock.  As long as the temperature is not too hot, we keep boondocking as an option.  If it is too hot, we can use the generator to run the air conditioner, but probably not as long as we would like to.  So if it is hot, electricity is good.

We start off on hwy. 30 west, then I15 north to Pocatello.  There are mountains, but it is very arid, and we are back to the color of straw. 

We work our way to Pocatello, then head west on I86.  There has to be a fire somewhere as it is just too hazy.  But there are permanent signs on the freeway about reduced visibility.   Who knows… 

We weren’t on the road long when we saw a sign for Massacre Rocks State Park.  It is only 2:30 and we haven’t been on the road long as we got a late start.  But it is a Friday, and it could get busy, and State Parks rock.  It is a small park along the Snake River.  There is one site suitable for us and it is unlevel big time.  It took us 4 blocks to level off, and our stairs could be dangerous, they are so high.  But we have a beautiful view of the river.  We have electricity and water.  This will be nice.

Massacre Rocks was part of the Oregon Trail. It received its name from wagon party skirmishes with the Native Americans that occurred in the area.  There are many large rocks in the park that have some significance.  If we had a level spot, we would disconnect and check things our more thoroughly.  We know better than to disconnect being this unlevel.

We did take many of the walking trails through the area.  They offer spectacular views of the river.

Thursday, September 4, 2025 On to Lava City

 

Thursday, September 4, 2025 Lava City

I like sitting in the big house that moves.  I sit at the door and look out.  Sometimes, my humans think I want outside, but I know there are bad critters out there, and I am content to just sit and watch.

It was cold this morning.  We bundled up for our walk.  We saw what looks like a trail out of one of the group camps.  We followed it through the forest.  The floor is soft dirt with pine needles, very easy walking.  After less than ½ mile, we found ourselves at Jackson Lake.  We had no idea it was so close to our campsite.  The beach is littered with some incredible driftwood.  I would so love to drag some of it home for my orchids, but that wasn’t going to happen.  It is quiet, and all we hear is the water gently lapping up on shore.  It is quite pretty.  Once Spouse and I parted ways, I continued walking on some of the forested trails in the campground.  I prefer the Grand Tetons over Yellowstone.  But the skies have been quite hazy.  You can barely see the Tetons on the horizon.  The Oxbow bend scenic lookout is almost colorless.  Having been here before, I know how beautiful this scenery normally is, and I can live off of that!  Not sure what the haze is.  No fires that we know of.  Who knows.

Spouse had a little run in with the trailer hitch, but he ultimately got Artie hooked up.  We didn’t leave till almost 11 am.  We headed out of the park, and turned south towards Jackson.  My, it is hazy.  We pass the buffalo herd, continuing past the Elk Refuge (we did not see any elk), and enter the insanity that is Jackson.  We pick up hwy 26/89 south, which passes through the Targhee National Forest.  Rugged mountains loaded with pines and aspens tower above the Snake River.  Spectacular scenery.  At the town of Alpine, we become only hwy 89 south, as 26 turns north.   It is still rural, but lots of establishments spaced way far apart… a post office… a stone mason… etc.

We then turn onto hwy. 34 towards Wayan.  I must admit, I have been having some disputes with the GPS.  She wanted to take us way south to go north.  Naw, not when there is a road that will cut the mileage in half.  I always have a map on my lap.  Hwy 34 is a narrow road through rural farms.  You then get the scenic mountains, and the trees, and the streams.  We are starting to see more orange in the aspens.  Every now and then, we get the full pop of scarlet, but we know that is only a tease for the upcoming autumn.   It is 50 miles till we hit Soda Springs, and the road is stunning for about 40 of those miles.  Then the industry sucks the life out of the road!  Coal mining, processing plants, railroad cars.  It is a working town, and not pretty in the least.

We leave Soda Springs on hwy 30 and we get our eye candy back.  Spouse saw (on YOUTUBE) something on Lava Hot Springs, so we thought we would check it out.  We actually got an RV spot, with full hookups!  On our way here, a truck passed us going the other way, and was kind enough to fling something on to our windshield leaving two cracks about 6 or 7 inches.  Ouch…  hope we can make it home without having to repair it.

It is a short walk from the RV park to the hot springs.  The Pontneuf River runs along our walk, with a couple of little rapids here and there.

 At the springs, we gave it a soak, starting in the 102-104 degree pool, then the 105 pool, then the 106-110 pool. It all felt good. I was very thankful there were no mirrors in the dressing room.  The way I have been eating…  sheesh!