Thursday, August 18, 2016 Thank you Ben Franklin... I love electricity

Thursday, August 18, 2016

My humans took me for a long walk.  They let me go all over the place as long as I was on their leash.  I will take what I can get.  I hate to tell them, but they are stifling my ability to hunt.  But I do like the smells.  ME-OWT!

Rudy is on me.  He is trying to tell me something, but I continue to sleep.  I normally do not sleep real well... leave me alone... I sleep.  Spouse sleeps... We awake at 8:30!  I can't remember sleeping that late in the last 10 years at least!  Ouch!  We missed the fishing bite!  We will try anyway.

We walk over to the lake and cast our lines.  There are fish jumping, and they are laughing at us!  You slackers!  We were over there earlier now we are here and you can't get us!  Bwaaaaahhaaaa!  After about 20 minutes with only a nibble, we realized our attempt was futile and we went back to Hannah.

Spouse had a bit of a headache from hitting his head against Hannah.  (Hannah was ok, thank goodness).  So he didn't feel like walking.  We readied Hannah, and I left the man stuff to him to finish while I started walking out.  He would pick me up on the way out.  It was a beautiful walk through the forest.  Two other campers had come in this morning, so I was not too afraid of running into wildlife.  I made it all the way to the highway and started back when Spouse showed up.  Perfect timing.

We were less than 20 miles from Stanley.  It is evident that a wildfire had come through here recently.  We found out it was only last month, and that the highway we were on had been closed for weeks.  They had evacuated all the campgrounds up to where we were going.  That is devastating to a small town like Stanley. 

Our batteries are low, we need to recharge everything.  We stayed in the Elk Mountain RV park last year.  To me, it is like going home to Mayberry.  Is it the best rv park?  No.  The sites are woodsy which is nice.  They are not crazy close together, but not far apart either.  There is no fishing on the site.  But there is fishing all around.  But what makes it charming is the restaurant and the people.  Home cooking, friendly folks, and of course a real draw for the Spouse-meister - FREE coffee and FREE laundry!

We hook up Hannah and did every bit of laundry we could!  We decided to stay until Monday morning.  We are tired of moving every day, even though some days we go for just a few miles.  Time to stay put and regenerate.  I am reveling in the electricity!  And the internet!  You may have noticed I haven't posted for a while.  I do make a point of writing every day.  I usually do not post my blog on the same day that I write it as I always think of more to say.  But, I can look back 4 days and realize I already forgot so many details, so it is important to me to write every day.  I look back on blogs from previous years and am so thankful that I have done this, even if it is a pain sometimes.

So now with Hannah sparkling clean, let me get out the electric coffemaker.  Or I may just go inside and get coffee tomorrow morning.  Oh decisions, decisions...

Note to Spouse:  If you stop walking into things, your head might not hurt!

Another note to Spouse:  If you take it out of a cupboard, PUT IT BACK IN WHEN YOU ARE DONE!  Is this a guy thing?

Wednesday, August 17, 2016 Over the rainbow

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

 My humans move me from the big house that moves to the little house that moves, then back, then forth.  Don't they get it?  I don't want to be bothered.  I will fix them.  Next time they move me into the big house that moves, I will hide under the bed where they can't get me.  Ha!  They saw me and left!  I fixed them...  Wait, the big house is moving!  I don't think I like this!

What's that smell?  Could it be?  Fresh air?  The clouds are not orange!  The wind has shifted!  No forest fire here!  YAY!  The creek at our campsite is too rapid for fishing so we decided to hike back to the hot creek.  Spouse availed himself of the bathhouse, while I just hiked around.  Spouse totally enjoyed his soak.

We got back to Hannah and readied her.  It is only 40 miles to Stanley... if we make it that far.  From this point on, we know there are a whole lot of tiny campgrounds that have fishing holes.  We make it a grand total of maybe 20 miles before we turned into the Bull Trout Campground.  Down the dirt road for about 2 miles, there are small lakes along the way.  At the campground itself, there are a couple of lakes and we are the ONLY ones here.  We see that there are reservations on some of the sites for the weekend, so we know people really do come here,  but for now, we own the place and pick a huge site by a dock on the lake. 

It is early afternoon, too early to fish, so we get the bikes and ride around.  There was a sign that said there was no turnaround for RVs so we thought we would check it out.  The road goes around more campsites that hug another lake.  It is absolutely beautiful.  We see one tent, but no people.  It is deserted here!  We tried to talk to the camp host.  Their site is all set up but there was nobody there.  TWILIGHT ZONE!

It is kind of cloudy, so I am thinking that the fish might think it is dusk.  So, I get my pole and proceed to totally entangle myself in fishing line.  Ok, let's try this again.  Got it... I am trying a lure.  Spouse readies a pole with bait and off we go.  I am on the dock, and Spouse is on the shore.  We cast, we cast, we cast.  Spouse lost his bait and figured he would fish later.  I kept on... until... I CAUGHT ONE!  A rainbow trout!  SPOUSE!!!!  Come get it!  Guess what I had for dinner...  Of course, Spouse cleaned it and he cooked it for me...  I am a bit wimpish...

I got a few more hits then it started to rain and I came back to Hannah.  Then the thunder started.  OOOOH, I love thunderstorms.  And it is raining!   

Then the oddest thing happened.  The people from the other campground - with their own lake - came over to fish OUR lake!  On OUR dock!  Really?  What is that all about?  Since they were catching fish with bait, I thought I would switch over.

Ok, so here it goes...  first tie the swivel on.  Wrap the line at least 7 times.  Yes, that tiny, thin, clear line... wrap it once, twice, thrice - get off my finger you mosquito!  You and your kind have been attacking me no end!  How many times did I wrap?  Again, again... is that enough?  Better do a few more, now pull.  Wow, that is tough.  Now tie the leader on, which is even thinner line...  Then the hook... oops, got my finger... oops, it is in my shirt!  I caught myself!  I think you get the picture.  An experienced angler I am not!  But I got the job done.    We both went back out.  I got a few hits, but didn't land them, and Spouse caught one.  I did catch a log.  It ate my hook.  Time to quit for the night.

The foreigners told us the reason why the campground is deserted is due to the wildfire.   I found it odd, as we lit a fire in the firepit, that we were overwhelmed with smoke on the way over here, and now we are intentionally lighting a fire so we can enjoy the smoke and smell and warmth.

 

 

Tuesday, August 16, 2016 Hot water soothes the savage beast

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Where is my maternal human going?  It is night time and we are supposed to go to bed together.  It is our special time.  Where is she going?  What about me?  I am here!  You can't leave me!  I will go sleep with my paternal human until she gets here.  What about me?

I slept outside last night.  I got out my banana chair, put my yoga mat on it and grabbed a sleeping bag.  It has been a long time since I have done this, but with the warm evening, and the safe environment, I thought I would give it a go.  The moon is almost full so the sky is bright but I can still see lots of stars.  This brings back so many fond memories of camping.  I drift off...  I am not sure how much I actually slept.  I kept waking and star watching.  I notice the moon was moving towards the mountains, and it was somewhat orange.  Ugh, that must be from the wildfire...  Tomorrow.  We will deal with that tomorrow.  It was daylight when I awoke.  I have no idea what time it was but based on morning events, I would wager to say it was about 5am.  The lake was calm (if I had a boat, I would be skiing by now!) and I could see smoke on the horizon.  It was cold, but I was comfy in my sleeping bag, not warm, but comfy.  I heard Spouse get up to go to the bathroom, so I gathered my stuff and went and crawled into bed with my two boys.  My feline furball was all over me.  We cuddled and when I got up again, it was all of 6 am.  It's the time change...

My old bug bites now have new bug bites to befriend.  Even some of my bug bites have their own bug bites.  You know when you find you have a bite and you scratch it... you know you shouldn't scratch it any more but it feels soooo good to scratch.  And you scratch, and scratch.  You dig, you go to the bone, you draw blood.  It looks like a crime scene but it feels so good to scratch... 

After some coffee and a walk, we readied Hannah.  Rudy really liked this place.  Spouse let him off the leash for some exploring.  He followed him closely and he stayed close by.  When he heard a noise, he ran to Hannah.

As we left, we drove past the golf course where we noticed they mowed the fairways!  ARGH!  A day too late!  And I see the ladies tees on the 4th hole now!  Oh well. 

We stopped at a ranger station to see if there were any road closures, and sure enough, the road we wanted to take to Lowman was closed due to the fire.  She gave us an alternative route that involved going over 70 miles of a gravel road.  I heard Hannah scream at that!  The other alternative was to go down to Boise and up hwy 21; which is the one for which we opted.

We continued down 55 through some beautiful canyons with the rushing Payette River.  Miles upon miles of relentless rapids coursed along the road.  When we passed the road we wanted to take, we saw the closure sign.  Guess we will have to do what we can do to enjoy the detour.  Since we had to go through Boise, might as well stop and get a part at Camping World.  Might as well do some grocery shopping, and eat lunch.  Rudy is getting cranky.  When we put him in Hannah while we ran errands, he hid under the bed and wouldn't come out.  We left him there while we went a mile to our next stop.  He was ready to come out after that!  It is already after 2 and we start on the journey towards the Sawtooth Area.

We hop on 21 north.  It is 125 miles to Stanley, but it is a mountain road.  As we start up, we smell the smoke.  There are signs about the fire activity and reduced visibility.  We pass Idaho City and the smoke worsens.  We see charred forest all round us and visible hot spots right off the road.  As we pass Lowman, we see an entire ridge up in flames across the canyon.  All the side roads and campgrounds are closed for miles. 

 After we pass Lowman, we see an occasional campground that has not been closed.  As we were passing the Bonneville campground, we remembered a guy we met last year who helped engineer some hot springs there so we turned in.  We are THE only people in the campground.  As Spouse pulls from one spot to the other, a tree grabbed Hannah.  At this point, Spouse was tired and cranky, and now he had to do some tree trimming to minimize the damage to the roof.  The tree sort of ripped at the rubber coating on the roof.  It isn't bad, but frustrating nonetheless.

It was about a half mile trek to the hot creek.  The scalding water flows down a pretty waterfall into the cold creek below.  Rock pools have been formed to funnel cold water into the hot pools to moderate the temperature.  Depending on where you are in the pool, it can be very hot, or very cold.  Since there was only the two of us, off came the clothes (ok bugs, total exposure for your entertainment!) and we got the prime locations in our respective pools.  This seemed to soothe the savage beast Spouse had become after his long day of driving.  There is even a bath house someone fashioned in an enclosure, with a tub.  It has a plug to actually fill the bath and pipes with the hot and cold water coming in.  Quite ingenious.

We hiked back to Hannah.  I would love to sleep outside again, but with the bear warning sign posted right next to our site, I think not!  But we are right on a creek that might require us to fish in the morning...

We notice chipmunks!  These are the first chipmunks we have seen on this trip!  None in Oregon, none up to now.  No wonder Rudy has had feelings of depression...  He is awake and ready to go now!

Monday, August 15, 2016 Another round without a hole in one

Monday, August 15, 2016

WHAT is that canine doing so close to me, looking at me in MY house???  I will put back my ears, I will puff myself up and make myself big...  I will give him major stinkeye...  I am ready to howl at a moment's notice if it comes any closer...  Scared it, didn't I?

My morning walk took me along the deserted streets following the Salmon River.  It is shady on my side and sunny on the other side of the river.  It is really beautiful here, but far from anywhere.  We ready Hannah and start heading South.  Today, the thought is we will explore the McCall area.  The altitude is higher and we hear there is nice camping up there so off we go, heading south on 95. 

The road follows the Salmon River as it winds its way around Idaho.  At first, there are large farm expanses, then the valley narrows.  At some places, it is just the canyon walls, the river and the road.  Other times, there may be a sandy beach, a flat with pines or a rocky shore.  It opens up, and then narrows.  It is very picturesque as we head through the town of Riggins.  Then Samantha notifies us that there is a time change - we just lost a precious hour.  Then she notifies us again, and again, and again... SHUT UP!  We get the picture!  It's bad enough that we lose the hour, but does she have to harp on it?

We get to 55 then turn east through the pines to McCall.

Oh wait, it is crowded!  TOURISTS!  NOOOOO!  There are cars all over and a lake and cars and people.  We see a grocery store but don't even try to get in the parking lot.  There are shops, there are little malls, and this was supposed to be good for camping?  We were able to stop for fuel, and then we were able to actually park down the street so we could fill our propane tank and have lunch.  Then we headed out as fast as we could!  Yes it is beautiful with the lake and the pines, but this is just not our thing.

Continuing south on 55, we pass through beautiful prairie land with farms.  When we get to Cascade we decide to check out a smaller campground.  We wind our way around the beautiful lake then onto a gravel road... a crappy gravel road with washboard ruts.  I shudder to think what is going on inside Hannah!  We find the campground and it is cute and piney.  It promised fishing but unless we want to hike to the lake with our gear, it was NOT geared for fishing.  So back we go on the crappy road.  We had seen a state campground along the lake, but it did not have electric or sewer.  It is warm, but a bit breezy so maybe we can stay right on the lake and not overheat.  And it is right near a golf course, so maybe we hit the links.

We found a great spot, then packed up our clubs to play Cascade Lake golf course.  It is only 9 holes, 9 hilly holes.  Although there was plenty of grass, the fairway grass was pretty thick for fairway grass.  Often, it was like hitting out of the rough.  We could not always find the color tee on the tee box that we were playing.  Heck, next to the 4th hole, there was road construction so they moved the ladies tees.  Where?  Beats me, we never found them, and that was a LONG par 5!  Outside of that, it was like playing Pebble Beach!  Beautiful holes along the water, and greens that lie to your face.  They will break towards the water even if it means breaking uphill.  Even though the course was not in the greatest condition, it was a worthy venture.  We enjoyed the 10th hole (since we only played 9, we couldn't enjoy the 19th, so ...) overlooking the lake.   They had a TV on, something we haven't used so far.  The Olympics were on but instead of showing gymnastics or volleyball, they have stupid wrestling!  I get 30 minutes of Olympic time and this is what I get?

It was warm when we got back.  Rudy demanded his food - he heard Samantha tell us about the time change and he figured he needed to be fed hours ago. 

Did I mention that it was warm...  so we took a swim in the cool lake (with bathing suits).  Refreshing!  I might sleep outside tonite!

We see smoke on the horizon and were told that there is a major fire in the town of Lowman... right where we are headed tomorrow.   Guess we will worry about that tomorrow.

Sunday, August 14, 2016 Naked to the world

Sunday, August 14, 2016

My humans have me in a place that I like.  I see others of my kind.  I must keep them from my humans.  I will not share. 

We started the day by doing a little fishing in the Clearwater River right behind us.  After a few casts, I 'donated' my lure to the rock gods.  I guess I better go for my walk.  Not much of a walk to speak of, just down the road and back.  But I did see one of the many visitor sites they have throughout the state that have a few signs with historic bits of interest.  And I itch from my many bug bites.  Will I be a Zika victim?  Those beasties went through my clothing!  Argh...

We readied Hannah, and followed the GPS directions south.  I disagree with how she is taking us, but it will work.  Once again, we are on the back roads of a patch work farm quilt!  It is absolutely beautiful.  We then turn on to hwy. 95 south.

We head down the White Bird Grade and stop at another point of historical interest:  Let's just say we really screwed the Nez Perce Indians over!  The grade is 8 miles and supposedly is quite an engineering feat.  Lots of truck runaway brake ramps that go straight up mountains.  At the bottom, we see a sign for Hell's Canyon and the Pittsburg landing.  Alas, we are sidetracked again.  This was the first stop downriver from where we were at the Hells Canyon Dam several days ago. Here, rafters can pull out, or continue on.

Spouse had passed the turnoff  but he turned around and off we go.  We enter the town of White Bird, cross over the Snake River and start to follow the road.  It is clear the road will be a challenge for Hannah, so there is a camp area, and we disconnect her leaving Rudy to keep vigil.  It is warm, but we are sure he will be okay.

The road is 17 miles long (another 17 mile drive, yes?) and it is small, but it is big enough for two cars to pass as long as you are careful.  It starts out paved for about 2 miles, then it is a nicely graded gravel road.  And it climbs along the rolling hills.  And it climbs... More rolling hills with orchards.  And it climbs into the pine forest.  It hugs the hill and there are steep dropoffs.  It climbs.  Did I mention that the road climbs?  Eventually, we reach the top and can see the road snaking down the mountain.  Hairpin turn after hairpin turn.  We pass a truck towing a boat and it is cozy, but there is enough room. The mountain is brown on this side, and we can see the buttes across the river, although we cannot see the river yet.

We work our way down to a small landing area, around the size of Lee's Ferry in Arizona.  Not much there but a nice boat launch ramp, a bathroom, and a kiosk with picnic tables.  And of course, parking.  Spouse has to talk to the rafters that just came down.  The water is cool and it feels good on my feet.  It is about 90 degrees outside and the water is about 68 degrees. 

As we are leaving, we see a sign for an upper landing.  What else do we have to do so we follow the road  around to a tiny parking area.  From there, we walk a hundred feet or so to the beach.  Way yonder we see some boaters on the side, other than that, we are alone.  It is hot... so off come the clothes and into the water we go.  There are some rules of being naked in public... You either have to know somebody REALLY well, or not know them at all.  This fit the bill for us.  My only concern was if the boaters had a harpoon ready for the two white whales in the water!  It is quite chilly - as measure by the 'shrinkage' factor -but very refreshing.  As I am trying to dry naturally, since I had no towel, I hear the sound...  the sound of a big tour boat... I am able to put on a bit of clothing, as does Spouse, but there we are, somewhat exposed to the world when the tour boat full of people cruise by.  I did what any normal person would do when you are not fully clothed... I waved to them!  I am sure they won't recognize me if I run into them in a supermarket!

You can now say you saw me naked!

The ride back was uneventful.  Spouse did stop to pick some of the fruit hanging over a fence.  We thought they were cherries, but they were small, delicious plums.  He can't pass up a freebie...

We got back and hooked up Hannah.  Note to Spouse:  Do NOT put Rudy down thinking he will follow you.  He won't!  Got him.  Let's go.

We decided to stay a few minutes down the road in White Bird at the Swiftwater RV park.  It is right on the Salmon River, but we hear the fishing is not that good.  I am suspecting we need to head over to the other side of the Bitterroot Mountains...  Too hot to stay off the grid... Need air conditioning... Hannah made it about 50 miles today.  Progress...

Darned friggin' bites...  And Spouse, will you CLOSE THE CABINET DOOR??????

Saturday, August 13, 2016 AWOOOOOOO!

Saturday, August 13, 2016

I can fool my humans.  I can turn into THUNDERPAWS at night!  I run, I fly, I chase inanimate objects even when the sun goes down!

This morning's walk took us out of the campground.  We saw a sign about a wolf center, so we started up the gravel road for about a mile.  We are surrounded by a pretty pine forest and there is nobody out.  We get to the wolf center at 8 and it isn't open till 9, so we head back to Hannah to ready her, and we figure we will come back.  No really great place to park her, but we can keep her on the side enough where it could work.

When we get there, we can barely turn around, but we do it and hike up the road.  It is supposedly RV friendly, but that was laughable to us.  It is a small center that currently only houses two she wolves that were rescued from a private party.  They originally had part of a captive pack that they used for study purposes for about 15 years.  After all that pack died off, they took in these rescues, which numbered 5 at the time, but only 2 remain.  We hiked across the beautiful meadow up the trails to the viewing area hoping to see them.  We waited... As Elmer Fudd would say 'Be vewy vewy qwiet'... 

We hear the cawing of a raven.  Other birds are making their own unique sounds.  I hear the buzzing of the bugs...  The bugs are eating me.  I feel proboscis after proboscis penetrating my flesh.  I try not to move, lest I scare the wolves.  Finally, after being eaten alive, I flail like a girl walking through a spider web!  Let's go to the other viewing area and maybe it will be better.  It was, but we never saw the wolves. After about a half hour, we left them behind.  The wolves have a 2 acre pen with a whole lot of trees and a stream, so there is lots of cover for them.  For being in a pen, they live a good life!  A huge red tailed hawk followed us back to Hannah.

We bid are farewell then tried to get my fishing license again.  It is amazing what a good night's rest will do for a computer.  We then headed south on 95, then east on 62.  This is a small two lane highway weaving through gentle hills with various farms.  Lots of wheat and lots of colors, once again, a live patchwork quilt.  On to 162 into the town of Kamiah.  We heard it is pretty here, and it is.  Our idea is that we would start hunting for the type of campgrounds we found last year; off the grid, low density, few people.  We find a decent RV park, right on the Clearwater River, which feeds the Snake river.  We set up Hannah, figuring it might be better to explore without her, and were we right! 

We headed up Rt. 12 along the river.  Mountains on the left meet the mountains on the right and join at a beautiful wide, but shallow river.  What's not to like about that!  A few houses line the road with huge properties, but they are not ostentatious at all.  About 30 miles up, around the town of Lowell, we see our prey... a campground.  Hmm, nothing over 30 feet recommended.  Since we don't have Hannah, we check it out...  We stumbled upon the Wal-mart client base!  The sites are small, although there are a few trailers crammed in.  How they got in their spots is beyond us.  There are lots of people (it is a Saturday in summer after all),  and everybody is of the larger size.  Could this be Appalachia and we don't know it?

So far, the western side of the mountain range is not panning out like we planned.  The weather is warmer.  For fishing, you are more apt to catch bass rather than trout.  We have one more area to explore, and if that lets us down, we are heading east to where we were last year.  It isn't that this area isn't drop dead gorgeous, because it is.  But it is a bit more travelled.  The jury is still out...

One more thing, we had to tighten Rudy's collar today.  We are not sure if he lost an ounce on his diet, or if he stretched it out hanging on the door handle...

Friday, August 12, 2016 FORE!

Friday, August 12, 2016

I must position myself in the geographical center of the bed, even if it means making my humans move.  Move him this way, and her that way... got it.  Purrrrr.

My morning walk was 9 holes of golf with Jake and Lynn at the Alpine Meadows golf course in Enterprise, about 6 miles away.  Jake and Lynn need to head home (Phoenix) afterwards, and we need to get Hannah out of her spot by noon.  They open at 8, and we were there, ready to tee off.

It is a decent course, regulation size but only 9 holes.  They have different tee boxes so if you play 18, you play from a different set of tees on your second round.  There were some challenging holes and some evil greens.  We all walked with their pull carts.  My handle kept coming off... Note to Spouse:  I will be using my own cart on future trips...  The mountains offer stunning views.  Deer watch us as we play, as do quail, herons and what looks to be a grouse.  We hear a moo moo here, and whinney whinney there, and even a baa baa out there.  It starts out chilly, but soon I am switching to sandals, and shortening my capris to shorts level.  It was a very nice round even though I did NOT get a hole in one, and my score kind of sucked, thanks to the last hole.

We said our goodbyes and got back to Hannah and readied her and ourselves for our next journey.  We headed the few miles west on 82, then turned north on 3 passing through expanses of hayfields that have been harvested.  The grooves of the harvest coincide with the topography forming a patchwork quilt effect on the landscape.  Pine trees start appearing, then we are in a pine forest.  The next thing we know, we are on top of a ridge overlooking Chief Joseph Canyon.  What a view!  Who knew this neck of the woods was so amazingly beautiful!

As we continued north, we were amazed at how quickly the topography would change from a lush, piney forest, to a rugged, brown brushy mountain.  We descend a very steep grade for several miles crossing into Washington.  After we pass the Grande Ronde River, we begin the steep ascent up the grade.  Forest, then brown.  Forest then brown.  At the top of the grade, more hay farms with the mountains on the horizon.  All in all, it was a very pretty ride, albeit pretty slow.  It took us nearly 2 hours to go about 75 miles.  After one more steep descent, we arrive in Lewiston, Idaho.

We have the GPS set for some town somewhere just to get in the area we want, but she takes us some weird way through the airport, through the town, and on some pretty back roads.  Sometimes I just don't trust her.

We decided to settle in Winchester for the night at the state park.  Not really our style.  It is pretty, piney and has electricity and water, should be great, right?  Little too close for me, although we did get a decent site.

But we stopped to get fishing licenses...  We both had one last year so it should be easy, right?  Spouse got his, no problem.  She puts my driver's license in and the machine pukes.  So, we add my stuff manually.  It says my SSN is already in the system.  Wait, you couldn't find it to pull my stuff, yet it is already there?  How can that be?  I HATE technology sometimes!  We are tired, we are hungry... this will have to wait till tomorrow!