Warning: Sharp curves ahead!

Sharp curves and steep hills were the order for today and yesterday.

Highway 12 in Washington









Yesterday I traveled I90 to I82 then turned off on Highway 12 almost to I5.  The interstate had lots of steep hills and 12 had hills and curves.  Good thing I was not in a hurry to get anywhere.

At the top of White Pass (4500) I saw a group of new Jaguars in different colors.  Looks like they were having a photo shoot.  Later the red and black ones went roaring past me going down the mountain.  I decided not to race them.

Today I took I5 south to Longview and took the bridge over the Columbia River to Highway 30 in Oregon.  Traveling west on 30 there were lots of hills and curves again.  When I turned on to Highway 101 down the coast, you guessed it, lots more hills and curves.

I am settled in here near Pacific City for a while so no more driving the RV for a while.  I will be making some trips with the car but that is no problem.  The coast is grey and cool which feels good after the constant sun and heat I have been in.

Two nights ago I stayed at the Crescent Bar Resort which was in a beautiful spot but the drive down off the cliffs to almost river level was not something I want to do again.  Curvy road and most of the time I seemed to be at the edge of the cliff about to go off.  Coming back out was easier since I didn't need to worry about braking for the curves and I was on the inside.  Here are some pictures from the Resort.

I drove down from the top of those cliffs.

A pretty view of the Columbia River.













I only had one bar when I fired up my Jetpack today so I whipped out my new Sleek 3G and hooked up the antenna getting me a nice 3 bars.  Life is good.

A walk in the woods

Yesterday I went for a walk from my campsite to check out the area.  A small path joins with an ATV trail that winds around in the woods.

Large boulders plopped down by themselves along the trail.

Lots of new growth.

A cute baby tree.

Lovely ferns below a tree stump.

I got up pretty high before the trail ended.

A small ground squirrel sitting on the tree stump.  Can you see it?

My handy Leki poles.  I don't take a hike without them.

Home.

I ended up hiking just over 4 miles which is perfect because that means I accomplished my daily goal of 10,000 steps per day.  I managed 10,770 total at the end of the day according to my Fitbit.

Took this picture out of my RV window.  There is a critter to the right of the large rock in the bottom left of the picture.  I think it may be a yellow-bellied marmot but I am not sure because it doesn't seem large enough.  There is a family of them and they live under a pile of rocks at the edge of my campsite.

It's Thursday already and I need to plan my trip for next week.  Monday I need to leave here and I think I will head to the Oregon coast area.  Probably will take a couple of days to do it.  Life is good.

Leaving Montana

I have left Montana behind.  It is a beautiful place and I would love to spend more time there.  Maybe next year.

Tonight I am back at a Thousand Trails Preserve.  I found a great site with hookups and 4G internet access with my Verizon Jetpack.  Life is good.  I have an RV across the road from me.  An older couple, no kids or dogs so it should be quiet here.  Otherwise, it is just woods around me.

This is the view from my door.  Just woods as far as I can see.

Another view of my front yard.

Looking toward the front.

Looking up the road.  No sites in sight!

Looking to the back.  There is an RV in the next site but I can barely see it.










My drivers side or hookup side is facing the road so my yard is not visible from the road giving me lots of privacy.  I may stay another week or two since this is such a great site and did I mention it's free?  If I stay 3 weeks I can keep my costs down as I will probably just stay here.  There are lots of trails for hiking and a lake in the preserve.

BLM camping and meeting RVSue

I decided not to stay at the campground near Bozeman more than one day.  The sites were really crammed in there.  I stepped out of my door and was about 1 foot from the sewer hookup of my neighbor!  So I looked around for campsites near there and remembered that RVSue was somewhere south of me.  I looked up where she was and decided to join her at the Red Mountain BLM Campground.  This was my first time camping without hookups (except for the Born Free rallys) and I was looking forward to how it would work out.  I just have 2 old batteries, no solar yet and no generator so I had to be careful with electrical usage.  It was only for 3 days though so I figured it would be a piece of cake!  It was.  The batteries were at 12.6 when I left.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with RVSue and wished the time had not gone by so fast.  Before I knew it, it was time to hit the road again.  The campsite was beautiful and I loved hearing the river flowing by.  RVSue has had a lot of experience camping without hookups so I picked her brain for some tips and tricks.

No campers crammed up beside me!

RVSue's BLT behind mine.  We had the two best sites in the campground!

Here is my front yard.








We had a couple of small showers, otherwise, the weather was great.   There was usually a steady stream of people floating down the Madison river on tubes and many other kinds of floatable devices.  Looked like fun on a hot summer day.

I had no internet connection so I was unable to keep current with mail or the blog.  It felt weird not being able to jump on the iPad and check the weather whenever I felt like it, but I survived.

Today I got back on the road and continued my journey toward the great Pacific Northwest.  In my stop tonight I have internet and air conditioning!  Life is good.  I like a balance between out of the way places and modern conveniences.

Hail and other miscellaneous things

I forgot to mention the hail storm while I was in Box Elder, SD.  The last week I was there we had severe thunderstorms every day it seemed. On the last Saturday there was hail mixed in. Some were the size of golf balls. Fortunately it didn't last long, unfortunately, I had some damage to my vehicles. There are a few small dimples on the hood of my Honda and the valve covers on the side of my RV for the air bags were destroyed. That was all the damage I could find anyway. I replaced the valve covers so that was easily fixed. I am just going to ignore the Honda damage. I don't think it is worth getting the insurance company involved and having my premiums increased. They are not that easy to see unless you are looking for them. 

The two days of traveling have been in hot weather. I usually hit the road around 8 AM and get off the road around 1 PM. That way the first few hours I have little traffic to contend with and I am not traveling in the hottest part of the day. I have been staying in RV parks so I have electricity for air conditioning. 

I am in the hills near Bozeman, MT tonight and it is cooling down fast this evening. I went into Bozeman this afternoon and found a wonderful co-op grocery store on Main Street.  They had beautiful organic fruits and vegetables.  I bought lots and had a gigantic salad for dinner.   It has been a while since I have had fresh, organic food to eat.  Although, in the last RV park I was in (Peter D's in Sheridan,WY) they gave me zucchini and carrots fresh from their garden and they made a nice meal last night. 

Haven't decided what I am going to do tomorrow, I may head into the hills with my Honda and explore a bit. 

Escapade and beyond

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Escapade.  Lots of informative classes and interesting people.  My neighbors parked next to me were from England.  They have been traveling all over the world and this year they bought a big class A RV and are traveling around the US.  Met a lot of members of the Solo group and joined them for happy hour most evenings.  I did join the Solos group while there.  I also took classes explaining about the Ham radio group and the Geocaching group.  I may get back into Geocaching if I can find the time!

Here is my row at Escapade.  I am the 7th RV from the end but you can't see me because I am buried between two big class A's!  The end of my Honda is sticking out though.  We had a row of 3 CRV's there.

This is an interesting unit.  They all matched.










At the end of Escapade I went on two sightseeing trips.  One to Little Bighorn Battlefield

and one to Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

We walked around the trail at Rushmore and I was able to get some photos closer up.

The head is complete now on Crazy Horse.










It was nice riding the bus to these places so I was able to enjoy the scenery and not worry about driving or parking.

The day after Rushmore, I left Gillette, WY and headed back to Rapid City, SD to get my will redone in SD.  I had tried to get in touch with the lawyer when I was in Box Elder but they did not call me back before it was time to head to Escapade.  I stayed at Hart Ranch which is a very large resort that I can stay at cheaply through RPI.

While I waited for the appointment with the lawyer, I made a trip to Jewel Cave National Monument.  It is the third longest cave in the world with over 167 miles mapped.

It was hard for me to get good pictures in there.

 





After the cave tour I hiked a trail on top.  Here is an interesting rock face with lots of colors.

There was a forest fire that wiped out a lot of timber making for a depressing hike.










That pretty much brings me up to the current time.  I managed to get my will complete and signed on Monday and Tuesday I headed west to spend some time in the Pacific Northwest.  Made it to Sheridan, WY today.

Devils Tower

Got up early today and headed for Devils Tower. 

How did the tower come to be?  About 50 million years ago molten magma was forced into sedimentary rocks above it and cooled underground.  As it cooled it contracted and fractured into columns.  Over millions of years, erosion of the sedimentary rock exposed Devils Tower.  The tower rises 867 feet from its base and stands 1,267 feet above the river and 5,112 feet above sea level.

I hiked a total of 6.16 miles in the park for a total so far today of 17,784 steps per my Fitbit.  I hiked the Joyner Ridge loop and the Red Beds trail skipping the way too busy and noisy paved Tower Trail.  It was mostly sunny and warm with some cloudy periods.  Overall a great day for a hike.

Here are some pictures of the hike:

 From a distance.

Can you see the face?

The red beds.

 Lots of forest fire debris.

 Looking away from the tower.

Steep hillside.  Good thing I had my hiking poles.

 

The balancing rock.

Sent an email from here while on my lunch break.

 Beautiful.  The tower looks so different from various places along the trail.

 Needle and thread grass.

Reminds me a little of the trail at Devils Lake in Wisconsin.  Gets the old heart pumping.










Another beautiful day.  I am grateful every day that I am able to travel and hike trails like this.  I will remember always the beautiful views as well as the areas that had ticks and mosquitoes!  Fortunately the bad stuff was in a very small area.