Month: August 2020

Even blighted by the haze of distant California fires, YS is still amazing.

We come into YS by the west entrance. This turns out to be the worst entrance to come in to. Big ole traffic jam backed up almost into town. We’re not in a hurry but it’s a bit annoying. I play a game looking at all the license plates. They’re from all over!

Once into the park I really enjoy wading in the YS river at Nez Perce ford. I feel whatever kinship a white lady who loves appaloosa horses can feel. Maybe what I see and experience here wading in the river is not that much different than what the fleeing Nez Perce saw and felt. It’s a bit of wishful thinking.

Our camp site is in Bridge Bay campground. Welcome to suburbia. Actually, I think suburbia is quieter. After 6 days at McCrae Bridge forest service campground this is a bit of a shock. It’s made better because as we enter we see two elk grazing like they own the place. Which they do.

Based on our experience so far of all the crowded roadways we posit that the best time to go anywhere to avoid the inevitable crowds is to get up really early or go really late.

So to test the theory that evening after dinner we head for West Thumb Hot Springs on the Lake. The theory is correct. Hardly anyone is there. Also, on the way there’s a big male elk right by the side of the road who bugles as we slowly drive by. Cool, you elk person, cool. Coming back from the Hot Springs we see his harem. Yellowstone is going to be good for wildlife. (silent yay!)

Sunday, August 23rd: We get up at 6 am. Campground is quiet. We head for Old Faithful but the road to OF is closed. What? We learn later there is a wildfire. Bummer! To get there now we’ll have to drive way out of our way and surely get stuck in crowds upon arrival. Change of plan! We go north to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. On the way more bison and Teddy awakes to the realization that these might be giant wild pigs and he must have them! He goes crazy barking from the safety of the back of the pickup. Oh, Teddy, you dog, you! Old faithful dog habits.

The upper and lower falls are absolutely amazing. I am so glad we got up early because almost no one is there. And in some places no one IS there! So nice to have beautiful places to ourselves.

After GC we head further north to Mammoth Hot Springs which is also incredible. Wish it was not so hazy! Darn that California. We’ve had enough of you! At lunch time we are starving but Mammoth is too crowded so we go to Gardiner, Montana at the north entrance. We get a breakfast sandwich at a roadside food vendor who is clearly from Russia.

Back “home” we have a Big Nice Afternoon Nap. Walking the dogs at dusk we see the most wonderful great horned owl in a tree at the edge of the forest.

Monday August 24^th 2020

Getting up early really does the trick. Up at 6 am again and everyone else is still asleep. The road is all ours again. It takes a while to get over to the geyser basin areas because of the long detour. The fire is not under control yet but we are assured it will be because it’s near Old Faithful. We stop at Middle Geyser Basin because I’ve been dying to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. The air is still quite nippy at this early hour and there is so much steam that it obscures the beautiful colors. I would not have thought of this but it’s still amazing in a different way. The tourists dilemma: go early and miss the crowds and get steam. Go late and get crowds and colors. Hmmmmm, I guess I’ll take steam. We are in the Time of Covid.

We move on to Old Faithful hoping beyond hope that it is not already crammed with tourists. But it isn’t and we get a front row seat to watch the show. Oh, Happy Day! Then we wait. And wait. And wait. We have not been able to research so we have no idea when “thar she blows!”. We overhear some people talking. They say they’ve been waiting an hour already so we figure it must be soon and, yes, pretty soon we see boiling water coming out of the vent. Then quiet. Then more bubbling. Quiet again. Finally, after many cycles of bubbling and quiet there it goes! Looks like it goes about 5 stories in the air but, there again, there’s so much steam because of the cold air it’s hard to see the plume.

Yet, as we walk away, I think of the Peggy Lee song “Is That All There Is?” OF is kind of a let down compared to other sights we have already seen.

Technology aside: It’s been interesting not having cell or internet service. I say to Marty I might be getting too used to being irresponsible because I sort of don’t care. There are some bills we can’t let slide. Sigh. I would like to be totally irresponsible. But it puts a hamper on certain things because we can’t research stuff before we go. Can’t get driving distances. We have to get used to doing things the old fashioned way. Guess and gosh. Rule of thumb. SWAG. Be OK with not knowing everything. With not being a walking encyclopedia. Weather forecast? Who knows? Look at the sky. Prepare for any eventuality.

Tuesday August 25^th

This is our last full day. I want to check out Blacktail Plateau because that’s where the first wolves were released in 1995. I also want to check out Lamar Valley in the northwest corner of Yellowstone because word has it this is where the fewest tourists go and where the most wildlife is.

As we leave the area and are driving through Hayden Valley we see people congregating on the side of the road looking at something. We pull over and get out the binocs. Way off in the distance is… A LONE WOLF! Oh My God! Oh My God! Some guy standing near says oh, no, it’s a coyote. (wet blanket! crepe hanger!) But it’s not a coyote, dude. We’ve seen enough coyotes at the ranch to know the difference. Sure, and b’gosh, it has the distinctive characteristics of a gray wolf. The characteristic smooth trot. The rounded ears. The shorter snout and heavier body. It goes over the hill at a walk and we drive on. Do we even need to go to Blacktail now?

Because….

The Blacktail Plateau drive turns out to be a wasted hour on a one-way gravel road. Nothing there but my imagination. But no matter. Soon after we finish with that we are rewarded by big herds of buffalo and antelope in the Lamar Valley. Marty gets a great shot of a big bull buff right by the side of the road.

Now the question is shall we go back the way we came or continue on? Going back the way we came seems so boring. Going forward seems such a long way.  But the potential for adventure overcomes the need for ease. We decide to continue on as I start singing “We may never pass this way again”. And, boy, are we glad we kept going. Spectacular mountains and high jinks on the highway. There’s a lone cowgirl pushing a large herd of cattle right down the middle of the road. They seem to know where they’re going but, do they? We never find out. Further on we encounter the Clark’s Fork. Who knew these things existed?  When we stay on the beaten path we miss the most amazing things.

Further on we find that Cody, Wyoming is nothing to write home about but the tacos from the taco truck are fine and good and remind us of California.  South of Cody we follow the Buffalo Bill River and the Reservoir of the same name and everything changes. Here is some really bizarre scenery: The Holy City. It’s called the Holy City because some people think these rock formations resemble a silhouette of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Near Wapiti on U.S. Highway 14. So weird. So weird.

Now we are back in Yellowstone and getting into the mindset of leaving in the morning but YS isn’t done yet. As we drive into the camp we find two bull elks play fighting right next to our trailer! I pity the poor people who had their camp chairs ground to dust by elk who don’t give a rat’s arse what they do or where they go. Take that camp chair. We didn’t like you anyway.

Then it rains which puts to rest our worry that the stupid people next to us will play music until well past curfew again tonight. So, because of the nice rain, we get a good night’s sleep and in the morning it’s time to go. Goodbye Yellowstone. You were amazing!

 

We finally gave up on getting all the things that are malfunctioning on the trailer fixed. Irritating. Brand new 2020 trailer. The sensors that tell us how much grey, black and fresh water that is in the holding tanks don’t work. They indicate full when we just emptied them. The fridge door handle broke within 3 days. Toscano’s in Los Banos, where we bought it, wanted us to hold off our trip for 3 weeks so they could fix it. I don’t think so! Then when we got to Oregon the slide began sliding in and out cattywhompus.

Here you go. Here’s the truth of RVing. It’s like living in a house except you’re on wheels. There’s always something broke that needs to be fixed. Get used to it. It really bothered me at first because I wanted everything to work perfectly. I get really frustrated and annoyed when things don’t work. I am an inpatient person and when things don’t work I get mad. I learned this from my dad and I’ve been fighting it my whole life and I’m still fighting it. At this advanced age I’m starting to win the fight more than I lose it. So, these 3 things can wait until we get somewhere where we can stay a long time because in this time of covid not only does it take forever to get parts but every body is buying RVs and travelling so it take weeks to get a repair appt.

So, there you have it. Cultivate patience and figure out workarounds. Duck tape the fridge door handle, guestimate what’s in the holding tanks, push on the slide with all your might to get it to slide out right.

******

We made it to Yellowstone! We’re not staying in the park just yet. We found a fantastic Forest Service campground and we’re staying there until our reservation is ready at Bridge Bay on Yellowstone Lake. This campground is near enough in proximity that we took a scouting expedition the other day. Yellowstone is crazy crowded! OMG. At one geyser cars were backed out into the highway waiting for parking spots. This dog don’t hunt! We hope that we can get up way early or visit the heavily visited spots very late at night to avoid crowds. Some people are wearing masks. Many people are not. The narrow walkways make it impossible to distance oneself.

***************

We found a potential new home area. Bozeman, Montana. The area is gorgeous. The people seem relaxed. The town is actually smaller than Madera but it has everything and more! Why didn’t Madera have anything? Was it because it was so close to Fresno? Was it because the population was, on the whole, poor? Anyway, Bozeman has everything and more. I would never be bored when getting takeout! Many, many great restaurants. Cute downtown! So much wide open space. Horses galore! We would probably live here in the summer. Winters are brutal.

Sidebar: I have to write a little about this river. In the Nez Perce Indian Wars Chief Joseph led a band of old men, women and children and 2,000 (two thousand!) horses through this area. They started in eastern Oregon and went through Idaho and Montana to escape being incarcerated onto a reservation by the U.S. Government who was sick of them resisting being moved. The government tried to make them go by force. The men defending them successfully ran interference for a long time making it possible for Chief Joseph’s group to make it almost all the way to Canada and freedom. They would have made it but they ran out of food and winter was setting in. Chief Joseph said, “I will fight no more forever.” Can you imagine 2,000 horses grazing nearby and drinking from this stream? I can.

The Snake River near Burley, Idaho

We had a terrible night’s sleep at a rest stop outside of Ontario, OR. Don’t camp at a freeway rest stop unless you’re a heavy sleeper or have industrial strength ear plugs. The one ton next to us hauling a giant RV kept his dad-blasted motor idling all night long! Marty said oh he looks like he’s getting ready to pull away but NO he was not ready to pull away at all. I was about to get out of my sleepless bed and egg his windshield at daybreak and then he ups and pulls way. Jerk! Miscreant! A-hole! Marty said that’s not good for his motor. I said did he fall asleep and forget to turn it off? In any case, suffering on our part, so word to the wise… don’t stay at a rest stop. Excuse me, restless stop!

******

The regions that we drove through between Ontario, OR and Jerome, ID grow a LOT of corn and onions! Holy smokes! As a matter of fact, I almost thought I was transported back to dear old Ioway for a minute because of the corn. Not so much the onions, of course, because in Iowa they grow soybeans and alfalfa in addition to the corn. In close proximity to the Snake River there are rolling green hills covered with corn (or onions) as far as the eye can see. The only difference is there is irrigation equipment in every field. Giant circular sprinklers. I wanted to jump out and run underneath them to cool off.

As we drove by I was inspired to cook something regional for dinner.

Idaho Camp-style Onion Burgers

For Two

Ingredients

½ large Walla Walla onion or any other sweet onion, diced

Avocado oil for the iron pan or any oil you prefer

½ lb hamburger seasoned with salt and pepper

Grandma Sycamore’s Homemade white bread* or any hamburger bun that you prefer

Slow saute diced onions in avocado oil until soft. They can brown a bit just try not to burn them. Fold the cooked onions into the raw hamburger until thoroughly mixed. Form into patties and grill until done the way you like it. Make your sandwich with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard, mayonnaise or any condiment you desire.

*The bread merchandiser at WalMart in Jerome, ID told us that this is the #1 selling sandwich bread in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Tomorrow night we’ll be near Yellowstone.  McCrae Bridge Campground, as a matter of fact. Then Henry’s Lake and then the Big YS! All this preparation. All this planning. Money spent. Stress upon stress. I’m not sure I’ll believe it but I can tell you one thing: it will be a dream come true. The last time I was there I was 10 years old. All I can remember from that time were the bears snuffling past the tent at night and my dad throwing away the trout he caught in Yellowstone Lake. Liver flukes, he said. It will be whole new experience.

Sam gazes at the Blue Basin area in the John Day Fossil Beds near Mt. Vernon, OR.

Let me see now. We’ve been on the road for how long? I start the journey from the time we leave Oakhurst on the 30^th of July which makes it 14 days.

Only 2 weeks. It seems so much longer and I’m going to guess that’s because we’ve had so many changes. Time flies when you’re having fun? Nuh-uh. I know I’ve been giving the impression that it’s been more fun than a barrel of monkeys but that would not be true. Time to reveal the truth.

It’s been long periods of work punctuated by short periods of having fun. The biggest job was to buy a new pick up and sell the old one. This was actually premeditated from before we left California. Marty really felt that the ½ ton F150 was not going to make it all the way pulling the weight up steep inclines. We are going to Yellowstone which sits at 7,000 feet give or take after all.

But he didn’t want to pay California sales tax on the purchase price so he had this idea we would buy the new pick up in Oregon where they don’t charge sales tax. It became obvious that it was the right plan as we started to make even small elevation climbs. We chose to go to Oregon on 101 and I am so glad. We would have never made it over the 4,200 ft Siskiyou Pass at the border of California and Oregon.

But when we finally made it to Oregon there weren’t any pickups that were right. Luckily, just across the border from Portland in Woodland, Washington we found an ex-government pick up – I’m going to guess Fire Department because of the red color – and it’s been great. Comfy. Everything works. Pulls like a sunnuvabuck. The guy gave us a good price and a transit permit and didn’t charge us sales tax because we were from out of state. We will register it in Ontario, Oregon on Friday.

But we can’t sell the ½ ton. Why the heck not? Three quarters of the way up the coast Marty admits he forgot to bring the pink slip. It’s packed in the box truck back in Madera.

I can’t believe it.

*******

So what’s the plan now, Stan?

He says he’ll store it – and pay for it himself – and we will come back at some point later in time to get it. So, we store it in Prineville, Oregon on the way to Boise. See what I’m saying? Long periods of work punctuated by short periods of having fun.

*******

Truth be told it’s a challenge to figure out where to camp. The length and fragility of the trailer restricts us to certain places. A much smaller trailer would have worked better to navigate BLM or Forest Service gravel or even dirt roads to find free, off grid camping spots. The trailer functions best when it’s level and doesn’t go over bumps very well at all.

Also, we now have a longer pick up which adds to the difficulty in turning the whole rig around. We’re not proficient (yet) with turning in a tight radius. We don’t want to punch out a tail light. We’re also not proficient (yet) with backing in anything but a straight line. These two things impact where we camp.

I think one of the reasons it seems like we’ve been on the road for a longer time than 2 weeks is that we’ve been doing so much and staying in so many different places. I think, “Just like the emigrants.” What we’re they doing? About 5 miles an hour? Maybe 20 miles a day? Can you imagine taking that long to go cross country? I can’t.

 

This is probably going to happen over and over again but right now while we’re camping on the banks of the Columbia River near the Oregon Trail as well as the route that Lewis and Clark used while looking for the Northwest Passage I keep getting flashes of what being an emigrant might have been like.

Be prepared to eat less fresh food.

Be prepared to not have clean clothes all the time. And, as a corollary to that, be prepared to kind of stink because you, yourself, get dirty and don’t bathe as much as you would at home.

Be prepared to buy bottled drinking water because you can’t find a water vending machine much less a working one. They didn’t have LifeStraws way back when.

Realize how lucky you are to have the weather forecast for you. I can easily see how the Donner party got caught in their disastrous situation. We’ve been lucky to have great weather so far.

Be prepared to deal with wild animals such as bears and bison that don’t care about what you care about. They go where they want and do what they want. Don’t think you can dissuade them reliably. Definitely educate yourselves about how you should be around them and then don’t cross the line. And DON’T put your child in front of a bull Roosevelt elk and then tell them to say cheese. I saw someone do this on the Northern California coast. The child emerged unscathed but it might not have been so. The child might have been impaled or lobbed into the next county.

Be prepared to deal with less than sanitary conditions. This does not mean you have to live in squalor. But realize you may not get to a laundromat whenever you want. Hand washing your undies and hanging them on a bush to dry is not a big deal.

Postscript

Highway 30 aka the Lincoln Highway – all you Marshalltonians can get on Hwy 30 and come see me in Hood River.

I am remarkably comfortable with being unproductive.

If you want to get in a trailer with someone who is opposite of you (me neatnik vs. him clutter) be prepared to communicate and have patience.

Blueberry, Chia Breakfast Pudding

Like my Eggs in a Nest this recipe is good for camping but also for home. It’s kind of like oatmeal, but not, and it’s easy, too. I’m a lazy camper. I come out here to relax and whomping up a big gourmet meal that is not easy at home is really not easy out here so I don’t even try. Also, the fewer dishes dirtied the better. Water can be in short supply.

For 2

1 C full fat unsweetened coconut milk

1 t liquid stevia or sugar

1 t vanilla

½ c blueberries

¾ c chia seeds

Whole berries for fun (raspberry, more blueberries, whatever you wish)

In a blender process the coconut milk, sweetener and vanilla until it starts to thicken. Add the blueberries and process until mixed. Fold in the chia seeds. Divide the mixture between 2 cups, cover and keep cool over night or up to 3 days before serving.

We’re on a cliff at the Samuel Boardman State Recreation Area on the southern Oregon coast. Such a breathtaking area. We’re waiting for the sun to set. As we wait people in cars show up. They all stay a couple minutes and then get back in their cars and leave. What’s the big hurry, people? We will never pass this way again.

The guy from the white van says, with outstretched arms, if you stand here you can feel the warm air rising from the cliff. The people in the sports car don’t even get out of their car. A girl comes up from lower down on the cliff with a dog who looks up at her and wags his tail as they walk away. If you wait for it you get the sunset. Nobody waits for it. They’re apparently satisfied with a portion. This is the difference between the photographer and the person who take pictures. The photographer or, if you want to go that far, the artist has patience to wait for the Big Moment. To be there in case the Big Moment happens. Maybe the ordinary person has no faith that the Big Moment will come. Maybe the ordinary person is in too big of a hurry. Has too many commitments.

Who decides who waits for the Big Moment? Who decides if you are an artist or an ordinary person? Only you. No one else. Give yourself permission to wait for the Big Moment. To not hurry away before the Big Moment arrives. Stay and see if it comes.

Far below us the beach looks littered with whale bones. The surf is a faint and rhythmic rumble.

Eggs in a Nest

A Recipe for On the Road or Anytime

(ingredients are per person; add additional ingredients as needed

1 Egg per person

¼ cup shredded mozzarella

Handful of chopped fresh spinach

Tablespoon of parmesan cheese

¼ avocado chopped

Crack egg(s) into hot iron skillet seasoned with olive oil. Turn heat down to medium. Sprinkle mozzarella around egg to make a “nest”. Add chopped spinach and chopped avocado on top of nest. Sprinkle parmesan on the whole thing. Let mozzarella get crispy but not burnt around the edges. If you don’t want your eggs runny cover them with a lid and let steam for a couple minutes. Serve with Gochuchang sauce or hot sauce if you want or just enjoy as is.