SAGLE, IDAHO

Well here we are back in Sagle, Idaho at friends Larry and Linda's home.  As you can see from this 2017 photo, they have a nice, long, paved driveway for us to park in.  Their house is to the left in this picture.  This photo is from last year because so far this year we have been welcomed with a series of Thunder and Lightening storms and, at times, some heavy rain.  All the better to keep the fire danger down.  No complaint here.  But things got dirty on the way up here and I am waiting for better weather to start cleaning the outside of the coach.

The plan is that we will be here until September 1st at which time Larry and Linda will jump in their motor home and we will caravan down to West Yellowstone for a week.  After that they will return here to Sagle and we will continue to work our way south.  More on that as it unfolds.

The coach has been performing perfectly and passed all its routine preventive maintenance with flying colors.  I am always happy and grateful for that.  This year we hope to make an interior improvement by replacing the two recliners we bought three years ago at Tiffin which are now falling apart.  One of those "you get what you pay for" lessons.  We hope to replace them with a single, better recliner and a computer desk and drawers which will give us some additional storage space.  If successful it won't be as much fun for Arlyene because she loves nothing better than to whack me in the back with the refrigerator  door while I am using the current computer desk set up.  With the new one I will be too far away to hit plus she can take over my former space.  Win - Win. We are dealing with an Amish source in Indiana and hope to have both pieces in two to three weeks or whenever the freight company can get them here.

Wishing everyone an early happy 4th of July.  We will most likely not have much to report until then.  It will be our third July 4th staying here and it is always a lively an fun time with too much food.

Coeur d' Alene, Idaho

We are now in Coeur d'Alene where we have been since Saturday afternoon.  Since our last post we spent almost a week in McCall, Idaho and one night in Lewiston/Clarkston.  The RV park in McCall is putting in a n- ice new addition that was supposed to be done by the time we arrive - but it wasn't.  As a result the normally peaceful place was rumbling with construction equipment rolling past our site most of the day.  It is going to be very nice when it is done but not so restful while we were there.

After leaving McCall we continued north on highway 95 which is a good highway but mostly two lane road.  Still an enjoyable drive much of it along the Salmon River.  One night in Lewiston to break up the drive and then through the Palouse and up into Coeur d'Alene.  We will be here relaxing in mostly cloudy and cool weather, doing a Costco run and perhaps seeing a movie before we head out Wednesday evening to take the coach up to the Cummins facility on the west side of Spokane.  We will spend the night there so we have a nice cool engine for them to work on bright and early the next morning.  It is all supposed to be routine maintenance as the coach has been working perfectly along the way except for one or two very minor things I was able to take care of myself.  We should be out of Cummins by noon if all goes well and then on our way to friends Larry and Linda's house for an extended period.

So all is well and going according to plan so far.

Our site in McCall

Taken from behind the coach during the workday.

In spite of the construction we still had several visitors in the evenings after workers went home.

Taken at Ponderosa State outside McCall

CALDWELL, ID

After spending the night in a small RV Park in Wells, NV we headed for Caldwell this morning.  We knew that friends Bob and Charlene from the resort were also heading to Caldwell and we thought we might see them when we got here since we were both planning to stay in the same place.  To get to the RV park in Wells we had to jump on Interstate 80 and go down one exit, about a mile, to where the park was located.  This morning we backtracked to highway 93 where we could resume our northbound drive   As we waiting at the bottom of the off ramp to make our turn on 93 who should drive right in front of us but Bob and Charlene.  We ended up following them most of the way here.  When we arrived we found that the office had assigned us sites side by side.  In addition there is another couple from the resort who are here.  We have not seen them yet but it sounds like we will all be going out to dinner together later this evening.   Sometimes it is a small world.

CAMP SUCCESS - Almost....

Paved road from Ely KOA to Cave Lake State park and then lumpy unmaintained dirt road from there.  The red X is where we turned around.

Today our goal was to drive what is locally known as the Success Loop road.  Camp Success is a very remote campground reached by driving about 10 miles of unmaintained dirt road which feels like about 30 miles.  Equipped with insufficient documentation for the trip we eventually elected to turn around and go back out the way we came in.  On further investigation after we got back we found that we had apparently already done 99% of the roughest part of the road when we turned around.  The GPS in the Jeep was worthless just showing us in a blank space and maps on our phones were no help either.  So we now have a second item to do over next time we are here.  Today's drive was dirty but the scenery was just fine.  We did have to share the road from time to time with other 4 wheelers and that always required one of us to pull off the road.

Cave Lake State Park

Today was our last day in Ely.  Tomorrow we make a short trip to Wells, NV where there will probably be nothing to photograph or report unless the Burger King is something unusual.  Otherwise it is a truck stop for fuel and a small RV park for the night.

GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK

So we finally made it to Great Basin National Park and I have the new water bottle to prove it.  (I was tempted by the coffee cup but I already have enough of those.)  This map will give you a clue where GBNP is located.  Salt Lake City is in the upper right.  The town of Ely, circled in red on the left, is where we are currently staying.

As national parks go Great Basin is one of the smallest parks we have visited.  Perhaps the smallest as far as stuff to look at and photograph is concerned.  That's not counting the Lehman Caves.  We did not go into them.  Arlyene does not do caves. 

This park is smack in the middle of a state that is mostly kitty litter.  From that standpoint it is sort of out of place.  One cool thing is that you can drive to just over 10K feet and there is very little kitty litter at that altitude.  In fact, at that altitude all the trees are different than what we are used to from the Washington evergreen forests.  GBNP is also home to some of the oldest trees on earth, the Bristlecone Pines.  We started to hike the three miles up to the tree line where the Bristlecones reside however we did not take any water with us or anything to eat so I became concerned with possible low blood sugar issues.  Combined with the time of day we elected to turn back and the trees were another hour up the trail according to folks coming back down.  That just means we have to go back prepared for the hike.  I think we will.

Today the projected temp in Las Vegas was 105.  At 10K feet we enjoyed a cool 68 and a auroma of the trees was wonderful.  As National Parks go GB was not crowded at all.  There is not even a gate to go through to get in.  No fees.  What a bargain.  On the other hand it is really not on the way to much of anywhere unless you have already gone out of your way.

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

About as straight a route as can be taken from here.

The countdown to departure is on.  We leave Friday morning and we are almost ready.  Just a few more things to put away and some stuff to get out of storage.  We will take just about a month to get to our destination in Sagle where we will once again become Larry and Linda's next door neighbors for most of July and August.  We will be stopping in several places for multiple days including our first trip to Great Basin National Park.  We will also get some routine maintenance done on the coach in Spokane.  Of course we will make a side trip to Seattle in the Jeep  in August.  It is all planned out.

Other than GBNP our best options for photos will come on the return trip where we will be revisiting several places we have been before such as Yellowstone NP, Arches NP and Canyonlands.  It will also be our first time visiting Mesa Verde NP and the surrounding "Four Corners" area.  We are looking forward to that.  More on that in a future post.

We are on a different cell phone/data plan this year so not sure what to expect with data usage.  Posting good photos uses a lot of data so I will just see how that goes.  Hopefully I will have something interesting to post in the next few days.

SEVEN MAGIC MOUNTAINS

Seven Magic Mountains

Guess it is about time for me to see if I can remember how to post to our quiet, sleepy, blog.  Nothing here since last September after arriving back in Las Vegas.  We have spent the winter puttering  on our lot here at the resort, entertaining friends who have visited and doing family stuff.  We have attended a few shows but otherwise not done all that much.  It is about time to change that as our planned June 1st departure is approaching so let me tell you about about a minor adventure that, while mostly boring, did in fact get us way up in the hills out of cell phone range with not even a wild burro for company.

Red Arrow = Gravel section and 5000' unnamed pass.

Yesterday we made a Jeep trip 15 miles south on I-15 to a place called Jean which is basically an interchange with a casino and a Shell gas station.  It is soon also to be home to "The World's Largest Chevron Station".  Didn't get any photos but it is HUGE.  There are at least 60 fuel pumps and those appear to just be for cars.  Can only imagine what will be there for truckers.  After passing through Jean we went to a very small town called Goodsprings (pop 229).  Took maybe 5 minutes to drive through at 25 mph.  At the other end of town we picked up a gravel road that eventually took us up and over a 5000 foot unnamed pass where we dropped down into Sandy Valley (pop 2051) where we picked up a paved road back to Goodsprings and Jean.

Goodsprings, NV

Sandy Valley, NV

Most non Las Vegans don't know it but Las Vegas Blvd, a.k.a "The Strip" actually continues south all the way to Primm at the California/Nevada border, about 30 miles.  Jean is about the mid way point on that route so instead of traveling back on I-15 we drove Las Vegas Blvd and I can now state that "I drove down Las Vegas Blvd at 65 mph for 15 miles" and no one cared.   Along that route is an interesting "Art" exhibit.  It is called Seven Magic Mountains and it is in the middle of nowhere but just off the highway.  Arlyene refers to is as desert graffiti and says it is disgusting.  I still wanted to take a look up close so she stayed back with (the now very dirty) Jeep under protest while I walked in for a closer look.  Not much to comment on here.  Seven piles of rock painted different colors.  It really stands out from a long way off.  Arlyene is probably right.

With my curiosity satisfied we headed on home.