QUARTZSITE THANKSGIVING

Arizona - finally.  

We are never in a hurry and we enjoy exploring new roads.  

Even so, we've been on the road for 31 days and driven 1800 miles.  Some people make it this far in 3 days (ugh!)

Also, we didn't pay real good attention to what the traffic might be on a Thanksgiving weekend.  We think there were more people heading to California than to Arizona.  And the Calif. Agricultural Checkpoint had many backed up.

Bet they all filled with fuel before entering California

We headed for Quartzsite.  Fueled up (with the masses) and stopped for the weekend at Hassler's RV Park.  Home of the massive 30 +/- foot fish pole over the dry wash.  

Little fish - big pole - dry wash                           Where did he get 10000 horseshoes?    

Must have run out of horseshoes - these are birds made of wrenches

Nice power pole - but the palms? Maybe some imbibing during construction?

We enjoyed our time there.  Fun to see the talent.  Quiet park at this time of the year.

LAZY DAYS WITH MY BROTHER

Laurie's brother Glen is on the march!  He's reached "the age" and he wants to travel.  He gave himself a year to get prepared.  Next spring he's off!

He found a beautiful lightly-used LAZY DAZE motorhome.  The exact model he wanted.  He's been checking all corners, all onboard systems, and adding more solar panels.  He's very happy with it and him and Shirley have been taking it out for "try out" sprees.  

Lucky for us, they met us at Rancho Jurupa County Park.  We got to appreciate all they've done to make it their own. 

Shirley is quite the seamstress.

Between the two of them they refurbished the furniture and

she sewed all the curtains.  Great job.  

And then to prove that all the kitchen appliances work, 

Shirley fed us all a great dinner 

including teriyaki chicken and apple pie! 

Happy Trails, you two, 

and Striper, the cat, too.

Plan to meet you along the way - Count on it!

PARADISE, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 8, 2023

You might remember the town of Paradise, CA.   

Five years ago today, the "Camp Fire" sparked at around 6:30 in the morning, and by nightfall, all of Paradise was gone.  The fire was active for 17 days and scorched more than 153,000 acres.  The town of Paradise held a moment of silence today for 85 seconds - one for each of the people who lost their lives that day--Nov 8, 2018

The town's population went from 26,000 residents to zero overnight. Five years later, Paradise has rebounded, becoming the fastest-growing town in California, with a population of 9,142.  It is now home to families relocating and returning residents.

Eighty-five people died, and more than 18,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. The comeback has been slow, but steady. Officials said 21% of the homes that were lost have been rebuilt, and about 1,000 more homes are currently under construction.

Today, we visited Paradise on the fifth anniversary of the fire.  As noted, several new homes have been built.  I can't say rebuilt -- there was nothing left to rebuild.  One returning resident showed a picture of his "house" when he began the rebuild in 2022. 

 As we drove through town, we saw many "driveways to nowhere", similar to those we saw in Redding, CA that same year.  (Different fire.) 

Note that most of the trees had to be cut down, as the fire killed them.  A few lots had relics of previous possessions still on site.   Insurance negotiations??? 

Yet, around a new home, the deer have returned to welcome folks home.  

Many of the 85 people killed could not escape because the town roads were very narrow, and became blocked by abandoned cars, causing following people to perish.  California has now built two four-lane roads into and out of Paradise.  When and if the next fire comes, folks will have a better chance to escape.

As we often do, we stayed at the Elks Lodge  --- in the old location, but brand new.  Ten thousand square feet!!.  With only 400 members, I wondered how they could maintain such a splendid new place, and offered a donation for the mortgage fund.  A former Exalted Ruler (serving as a bartender in the all-volunteer lodge) stated that insurance coverage had covered the entire rebuild --- the lodge had no mortgage.  He said the lodge, and thousands of others were awaiting settlement of claims against the power company which has been blamed for the start of the fire.  (He thought the lodge might get ten bucks, if anything, out of a future settlement.)

On a happier note, we found just outside of town, "Lookout Point", an overview of the valley, with a long walkway and a chain-link fence.  A tradition has developed for couples to attach a lock to the fence to signify their love for each other.  A lot of locks.  A quarter mile or so of locks.     

I hope all the loves and locks last forever.   

STOP HEADING EAST TOWARD THE SNOW - HEAD SOUTH FOR BETTER WEATHER, THEY SAY

So nobody has ever said that we follow a straight line or even if we know where we are going from day to day.  

Like this year's trek down south:

We left two weeks earlier than last year as we hadn't made it to son Jeff's before the snow.....still didn't make it.

Our first day 135 miles to Cle Elum - the town of tin roofs.

 

We met with friends at Cle Elum Dru Bru Brewery where for just the price of a "brew" we had a free camping night in their parking lot.  And there was even a pizza food truck at the entrance.  Nice visit - nice food.

Next day we made it 90 miles to Moses Lake.  Where Dean had to, of course, visit the airport (that's in a previous blog)  Another dinner out, too.  Mexican - great!  El Rodeo.  So far so good, I haven't had to cook.

Third day.  Harrumph: we woke up to freezing temps and snow forecasts.  And in Idaho, where we were headed it was 18 degrees and also snow forecasted.  Ah, heck with it.  Changed travel plans and headed south.  

By the time we were traveling through Pasco, Washington, you would never have known of the below freezing temps in Moses Lake.  

 

We even made it into Oregon after checking the weather for the next week.  No snow and clear weather.  Wonderful.  103 miles to Umatilla Marina and RV park.  Nice.

That night we developed a "plan" to drive down through Oregon on US395 which we'd never traveled before.  Also US395 is quoted as being the "most likely Oregon's loneliest federal highway".  The morning forecast through Oregon was still clear.  Hooray!

Off we went.  Hmm - that looks like snow.  Surely we aren't heading that direction.

Ah, we won't be going there.  But it looks like it's at the same level as us....

Well, yes we are.  This may be the loneliest highway in Oregon,

 but the snowplows kept it clear and clean.  

No towns for a long time - no parks to tuck in for the night - 151 miles and over 4 or 5 snowy but clear passes above 4100'.  Never saw any wildlife and we were looking!

We alit at a beautiful Oregon State Park "Clyde Holliday" just out of the small town of John Day,  Since bypassing Idaho, we really are ahead of schedule.  Two nights there with temps in the 20's both nights.  Sunny days.  No snow.

US395 was looking even more remote.  So upon consulting the atlas, we turned west and traveled on US26 toward Redmond.  We passed the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  I had always wanted to visit but we'd never been here before....but at 25 degrees we decided to bypass.  Very pretty scenery along the John Day River.

What's our saying: "we like traveling 50 miles a day" - so far we haven't.  So onward to Bend on US97.  Where we stayed at the Elks campground AND had dinner out again.  Phew!  Too many road miles to cook, she says. 142 today.  

18 degrees when we woke up that morning so didn't leave until noon.  High 49 degrees.  Not bad.  Spent much time driving above 4000',  Great highway.  Many more semis than north of Bend.  Miles upon miles of 8-10' deer fence and we finally saw a deer.  This was day 7 we landed just north of Klamath Falls.

Played again with the atlas and found a road that kept us off of US395 passes in Nevada and California, bypassed the I5 Siskiyou Pass, and less remote.  AND it was another road we hadn't ever traveled.  Off we went SW on US97.

US97 was a neat drive.  We entered California.  Went up a few hills, past many areas of burnt forest.  In Dorris, we saw the tallest flag pole in California

Let's give them credit!!

We saw Mt Shasta and old lumber mills.

Sawdust Burner, Mt Shasta, Black Butte

Finally our destination!  WEED, California.  

We had picked the Trailer Lane RV Park and found it to be the worst paved road we've ever traveled.  (Hmm - we could have probably parked in one of the cannabis shops in the town of Weed for the night ... for a purchase, ya think?).

For this year, we are done avoiding I5.