Christmas in Florida

We're down with extended family in Boca Raton for the holiday. ---Christmas Eve dinner with delicious specialties from Colombia, and presents at midnight. The picture is of David and Justine waiting for the clock to strike so that they could fulfill their duties as deliverers of the presents. Christmas day at the beach is kind of a surprise to our northern sensibilities, especially when most of the rest of the family is having a rare white Christmas. (and not too pleased about it)

Long Point Park, Florida

This inlet looks serene. Then a whole school of mullet will jump in the air, trying to escape larger fish, a dolphin fin will cut the surface, pelicans, osprey and fish hawk plummet into the water and emerge with catches. A huge white pelican bobs on the water, looking like a carved boat. Everywhere there are birds. Stalking along the ground, like the wood stork in the picture, ( They are supposed to be endangered, but here they are just moochers, waiting for their favorite fishermen to clean their fish and share. I have never seen them hunt.) wading along the shore, like this heron who thought he was hiding in the mangroves, -- sitting in trees dozing. We are used to life in the bays in the northwest, but here the shape of it is a little different. When you hear a huff of breath behind you, the whiskered face belongs to a manatee, placidly munching reeds. The bird that flies overhead might be an ibis. It's beautiful. We are so glad we came.

Ocean Pond, Florida

This is Ocean Pond, a perfectly round pond, about three times the size of Greenlake, in the middle of north Florida. Why they call it Ocean Pond is a mystery. It is gorgeous at sunset, and in the lazy afternoon when the clouds reflect on its tea-dark mirror surface. We paddled down the marshy bank, in and out of the cypress trunks, not a sound anywhere. Then off to the left, we saw two bumps in the water trailing a V of ripples toward us. Now, in the Northwest, this would mean a playful seal or sea otter had come to see what we were up to. But here, ---- We had heard that the way to tell the size of an alligator is to measure the distance from its nostrils to its eyes: every inch equals a foot of length. We decided not to paddle up and measure this fellow, and headed for home. Our next stop wll be on the inland waterway, where some people report being able to paddle with dolphin and manatee. Now that sounds like worth doing!

marching to Georgia

It was already after dark, and we had been traveling for nine hours. The vast parking lot in front of us fairly vibrated with humming trucks, parked on the back lot of the local Flying J. Dwarfed by the two trucks on either side, we slid into a space and put out the slides. The sound from a hundred idling trucks made the fillings in my teeth hum in sympathy. Over the next several hours trucks peeled away from the group and resumed their journeys while others entered the parking lot. When, at 3:30, a large cattle carrier came within inches of our slides, we, too, joined the stream of trucks on the highway. What a different life they lead from us--criss-crossing the nation with the goods we use, sleeping a few hours at a time in waysides before continuing their ways--off time spent in lounges that look like hospital waiting rooms, fried food buffets and rented DVD's for company. --All so that we can buy our imported TV's and clothes, our transported food, our sale items from Walmart and Target. We don't think often of the army of people who transport our goods and make possible the huge quantity and variety that we enjoy.

Study in Contrasts

After several days in Albuquerque to experience election night and visit with Robert, we headed south and east on our way to Thanksgiving in Dallas with Allan, Jamie, Brian, et. al. We walked down into the ground 750 feet to wonder at Carlsbad Caverns, and waited for the bats to fly (they didn't, the consensus was that they had headed out the night before and kept moving south.) and then drove into West Texas (where it wasn't so cold at night that our pipes might freeze) and discovered to our delight that we were near McDonald Astonomical Observatory, so we spent a day on their mountain top looking at the stars and listening to lectures on the research they are doing there. Lovely, all of it. As an added bonus, we are camped at Balmorhea, a humongous aretisian spring that pumps 20 million gallons of water a day out into a huge pool and adjacent wetlands. The water stays at 74 degrees all year long, and is a popular place for scuba divers to test their equipment and skills. The pool itself was built by the CCC and is more than 20 feet deep in spots with little fish and turtles swimming around in it.

Lake Cochiti

We stayed for ten days at a Corp of Engineers site above Lake Cochiti 25 miles from Santa Fe. We divided our days between hiking, kayaking, shopping in Santa Fe (dangerous!) and trying out our latest hobby. We've taken some of the abalone shells we gathered in California and shaped and polished to make zipper pulls, an amulet, and earring. (Yes, only one so far.) Judy shapes and polishes, Frank drills the holes, and we both have learned to loop the wire ties. Of course this necessitated buying new tools, silver wire--- The next thing we want to try is inlaying turquoise and abalone in wood pieces. Who says you need a workshop? A picnic table works just fine.

Santa Fe

What a place! We hiked through golden aspen in the mountains to the north, lucked into an art festival on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, talked with potters and painters everywhere,-- they are always so generous in sharing their techniques. Museum Hill is a delight, with four museums on Indian and Colonial art clustered together, and the docents know everything about Santa Fe history. We only wish we had lots of money to buy jewelry for everybody. We've been staying in a park close to town, and now will move to a lake a little further out to balance the budget, then over to Albuquerque to visit with Robert, and watch the election. We have been connected through the internet, but have missed the give and take of discussions with friends. The picture is of two musicians at the art festival who were playing in a courtyard in front of a gallery.

Grand Canyon and Flagstaff area

We had a wonderful time on the north rim, Judy went down the north Kaibob trail by mule, and we hiked around the rim on the Windforss trail, which is a ten in beauty and only a five in difficulty. Then we spent a memorable nght on the beach at Lake Powell, where we decided that camping parkin lot style is really not us, no matter how nice the water, and on to Flastaff, where we spent a week in town at an established park revelling in electricity and laundry facilities, and getting the truck serviced, and then out here to a US Forest site, where we are almost the only campers, look out on to a meadow and have miles of trails out the back door. Oh, yes. This is us. And we even have internet and phone coverage. The picture is from the entrance to Walnut Canyon, a beautiful little narrow canyon tucked into a bend on the Arizona Trail.

Bryce Canyon

We were smiling in this picture, but when we got back to camp we were really dragging. It was our most ambitious hike to date, 6.4 miles with 2325 feet of elevation gain, that's 2325 down and 2325 back up. The scenery is amazing. The erosion has carved out shapes and spires that stretch the imagination. Really a worthwhile day. Tomorrow we will be moving closer to the Grand Canyon, hoping we can find a place to camp. Indications are things are still very full.

zion

We were totally blown away by Zion. What a wonderful place. It has everything. Awe-inspiring sandstone cliffs, a narrow carved canyon accessible only by wading in the river carving it ever deeper, ferns growing from rock seeps that are releasing rain that fell on the area thousands of years ago. We walked with a ranger in the full moon and learned about the great horned owls. The two pictures show the Watchman and a view down the canyon from the emerald pools. We didn't take any pictures going up the stream unfortunately, because it was spectacular. We are at Bryce Canyon right now, taking a morning off and making bread. It is nice to have cooler weather here at 7000 feet.

Fort Bragg, California

Yes, we know. Five monthso into our trip and we still haven't left the west coast. But there's a reason for that. First it was too cold inland, and then it was too hot. We m ay have blown it, since it is 90 dgrees here at Clear Lake, but we want to get to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon beforeo snow flies. Fort Bragg was great. We pulled in at the beginning of their 69th Labor Day Paul Bunyan festival and cheered on he pole climbers, two man saws and chain saw competitions. That's Erica you see wielding a chain saw. The only woman to compete in all the competitions. Thereh was also a tour of local artists with some wonderful potters and jewelry artists. The teapot is Judy's favorite of Cliff Glover's work. Frank got to fulfill his dream of abalone hunting. Here you see them heading into the water. He got ono with a beautiful shell which we have polished. The abalone tasted great fried up with lemon and garlic. The strangest thing about Fort Bragg is glass beach. Yes, it is glass. Years ago, Fort Bragg used the ocean as its dumping ground, and the glass over the years has broken and then been polishd by wave action. Now it is a tourist mecca for those looking for white green and brown polished glass pieces for craft projects. The perfect solution for a dump. Get the tourists to carat it away. In a thousand years, will people wonder at the three colored sand grains on this beach?

the coast

Where has August gone? We left Fort Stevens and spent a lovely week at our favorite camp on the Elwha, doing all the things we wanted to do again and adding what we had missed--hikes up on Hurricane Ridge, kayaking the lakes, and then it was time to head down the California coast to meet with Brad and Janie and Sabrina at Anchor Bay for four days of beachcombing and sightseeing. Sabrina bagged a trophy kelp from Frank's kayak and got her picture taken at the fish station where all the fishermen go to show off their catches. (See the picture). The area is so lovely and there is so much to do that we have decided to stay on for a while. We are settled in Fort Bragg, where there is a Paul Bunyan festival this weekend, an open house of the local artists, including a potter Judy is really looking forward to meeting, and a number of excellent wood artisans. Fort Bragg is also home to a renowned fine woodworking school, with all the tools in the world. They offer short courses in June with basic tool building and joining techniques that we would both love. We lust after some of the tables and chairs that graduates have built. Anyway, there are rivers and sea caves to explore with our kayaks, the famous skunk train to ride, and this weekend log rolling championship and the fireman's ball. Judy has always wanted to go to a fireman's ball.

Fort Stevens

Our month here is almost over. We've kayaked from the landing Lewis and Clark used, walked on the beaches, climbed Saddleback mountain and Tillamook Head and hosted our neighbors from Seattle, Jackie and John, and Frank's son, Brian, all while working twenty hours a week. The weather has been constantly on our minds this month. These two pictures say it all. The first is from July 21st, the second from July 28th.

Frank and Judy

Well, we've been park volunteers for a week now, working the front kiosk, answering questions like "Where is the Iredale?" (which we now know is a famous wreck on the sand), and getting to know the park. Our favorite story so far concerns the wreck. The Peter Iredale ran aground in 1906, and is still visible as a rusting steel hulk today. Sometime in the mid 50's a man showed up at the park with a deed to the Iredale. It seems his grandfather had bought it for scrap shortly after the wreck, hadn't been able to do anything with it and had left the deed in his strongbox to be inherited by this man. He announced that he was suing the state of Oregon for failure to properly care for his property (it wa a total wreck) and he wanted compensation. The state's lawyers, after they got over the shock, put their heads together and came back with this counterproposal. At that time, the beach was a legal road in Oregon, and, as such, this man had left an abandoned vehicle on the road, for which the accumulated fines would be umptyump dollars and change. They agreed to mutually forget about suits and the ship is still there today. For anyone traveling the Oregon Coast, this is a nice camp. It has history, old battlements to climb around, a beach, wind for kites, miles and miles of safe bicycle trails, and is only 20 miles from Cannon Beach.

Heading to Fort Stevens

We apologize for the long absence from the blog. For the first time, we have had trouble getting internet connections fast enough to send pictures. We went down to Bodega Bay to surf (unsuccessfully) and fish and then up 101 through the Redwoods and visiting friends and family. Tomorrow we start our month as hosts at Fort Stevens. We hope to see some of you down there. Just look for the bright kayaks our in front of our site. As an aside, we have been distressed at the condition of the California State parks. The roads through the parks are old, potholed and narrow; the sites are short for today's RV culture, and the bathrooms are old and worn. Oregon, on the other hand, has dedicated its lottery dollars to their park system. They are updating their sites, the roads are newly paved and they have bought new land for parks. Washington falls somewhere in between, not as updated as Oregon, but not as bad as California. And they are the most expensive of the three.

Ocean Cove

We headed for the coast after leaving Alameda, since inland was 98 degrees and the coast was 70. At highway 1, Frank turned north instead of south, as we had intended, and on that road, it was a commitment. Those of you who have driven HWY 1 just imagine doing it in a truck pulling a 30 foot RV. It was intense, but no real problems. We started looking for campsites and found nothing that would take our length. Then we saw a camping sign, a little general store with people sitting out front and decided to stop. What a lucky break. It is a legendary spot among abalone hunters, and some people stay for the six months it is open. Judi and Judy took us in, led us to a spot on the bluff, Scott and Diane showed us how to catch and clean abalone and shared the take with us, Steve even shared his internet. In between, we hiked the hills around, paddled our kayaks in the bay, and explored the wineries near Healdsport. It was a wonderful several days. Now we are indeed at the end of that planned left turn, in Bodega Bay, where there are supposed to be beginner surfing waves and maybe a party boat fishing expedition. What a trip. Two weeks to go until we are expected at the northern border of Oregon for our hosting gig.

happy chances

One of the joys of this year is the happy accidents along the way. We left Washington, literally under a cloud, escaping from the cold, wet weather. We got off I-5 south of Mount Shasta at Dunsmuir, because we liked the sound of the name. It turned out to be a delightful small town, with friendly people who loved their town, a sparkling river and cliffs to climb. Then on to the Bay Area to visit Brad and Janie and Sabrina, with the discovery of a campground high above a lake where we could entertain Janie's parents , and with neighbors from England and a stimulating evening talking about the differences and similarities between the U.S. and Europe.

Surfing!

This is how we always imagined our new life. New experiences, fun people, beautiful surroundings. We signed up for surfing lessons from Kayak Adventures and spent a glorious day catching (and not catching) waves and learning some invaluable ways of handling the surf. Our new, little boats are perfect. Hop on, and paddle out. Then, tired and happy, it was back to camp for steak and salad. As we were touring the holiday campsites looking for deserving dogs to share our steak bones with, we came upon a musical family singing old country songs, and joined in. Perfect end to a perfect day. Today we are going to watch the surfing competitions at Neah Bay. Our instructor, Sean, from yesterday, is the Master's World Champion.

New Toys

Meet the newest members of our RV family, Slick and Sleek. We stopped by a kayak store to drool yesterday, missing our Eddylines, and thinking of the paddling we could be doing, and----we saw these cute little fellows, all chubby and short, just fitting on our truck cab. Tammy, the owner, sensing lowered self-control, suggested a trial paddle on a nearby bay. Oh, my. They turn on a dime, they actually track, they are incredibly stable, and you can snorkel and fish from a sit-aboard. So now we have to make a run to Seattle for our paddles and pfd's. Tammy, bless her, is lending us gear for the next week to play around here. They will be especially fun when we host at Fort Stevens for the month of July.

Judy and Frank

on the Elwha

We are camped under old maples at a national park site on the Elwha river, outside of Port Angeles. This is our first long-term experience with no electricity, and Frank has rigged the inverter up so that it will power the computers off of the RV battery, so that we are always connected to the very fast broad band that is available. Snug in our apartment on wheels, it is a far cry from the first time we camped on the Elwha, 12 years ago. We had my family's old green tent, it was late fall and raining and cold. We survived by pitching the tent in the picnic pavilion under the roof, with the door facing the fireplace, and kept the fire going night and day. It was quite a debut to Northwest camping for Frank. This way is infinitely better.

Judy and Frank

Tillicum Beach at Sunset

Judy collected petrified wood and jasper at the Bandon Beach to Frank's amusement. But she totally lost control here in Tillicum. Everywhere you look there are agates, and each tide brings in new ones. We could tile a floor in agates at this point, and there are more beaches to the north. Just to prove that Judy isn't the only one collecting, she insisted on including this picture.

Frank and Judy

Oregon Coast in the Sun!

We finally have the site and the weather that all the other travelers talk about. Sunny and cool, a gorgeous view, and a beautiful beach. We'll sit by the fire and watch the sunset tonight with a glass of wine in our hands. Yes!

Judy and Frank

Crater Lake in the Snow

We are at Joseph Stewart State Park on the road to Crater Lake. The weather down here is beautiful, the grass is green and the wildflowers are out. A few thousand feet up, the weather is still warm, and the snow is higher than an elephant's eye. The lake is so different in the winter, and very beautiful. We are finally enjoying the camping life. Long evening fires, cooking with the Dutch oven and the fireplace. and hiking in shirtsleeves. We were going to just sit and relax up here, but we don't do that very well. We have hiked most of the trails that are free of snow, and done the bike rides that are fit for regular bikes. Must be time to head on. Weather's changing in a couple of days, too.

Frank and Judy

Southern Oregon, still hunting for warm weather

We hiked to a couple of the beautiful falls in the Multnomah country outside Portland, and then let the rain blow us south. The best weather in 500 miles was in the Rogue Valley near Medford, Oregon, and not until Wednesday, ---or Thursday. So we are here dodging the showers, and finding out about things to do here. Judy's Grandmother and Grandfather lived in Ashland and I spent memorable summer vacations here. Then it was a sleepy little town with a small Shakespeare Festival in the summer and a superb park. Now, the festival is huge with three stages and goes from February to November, with lots more than Shakespeare, and the town is almost painfully sanitized and ready for tourists. We walked and drove around the area and talked with people about things to do. Tomorrow when the weather has improved ,we are armed with bicycle rides, hikes and two tickets to a play. Should keep us happy for a while. We'll head for the coast next. To all of you in Seattle, hope your weather is taking a turn for the better too.

Judy and Frank

What's for lunch?

We're at Maryhill Museum on the Gorge. It's a fascinating place housed in a mansion built by Sam Hill (really. Is that where we get "What in the Sam Hill?") who was a flamboyant businessman around the turn of the century. He knew the Queen of Romania, and a famous dancer, and they convinced him to turn this place into a museum , and then got a lot of donations from all over. Marie, the queen of Romania, brought truck fulls of stuff from her country, he has some Rudin's and it is altogether delightful.--a little like the Frye, excepet in a better setting, and not free.--some of the best Indian basketry I've seen. One of the residents invited himself to lunch and startled Missy enough that she decided to retire under the bed. We're nearer Portland right now in whath has been promised as beautiful country. If it stops hailing, we'll find out.

Judy

Help! Where's the warm weather?

We've just about finished at Brian's and we're looking for the next place to go. So much for spring. Everywhere we look within a thousand miles is cold or cold and rainy. Anybody know of a nice spot to land? Please email us at fhpickering@gmail.com, or judithhrhodes@gmail.com

Judy and Frank

camping out, urban style

We looked dubiously at Brians' driveway. It had seemed much longer when we were here with our car last year. (We're in Pullman, with Brian, Frank's son. ) When we arrived, toward dusk, with a hint of sleet in the air, we measured. Yep. 27 feet. The Cruiser is 30 feet. Hmm, and cars were parked right across the street. Brian hastily looked up a city RV park, and we refugeed in there for a night while the snow fell. The next day we went back and took another look. We could camp on the street without the slides like those homeless guys in Ballard, (but with much better equipment), or we could try the driveway and hang out over the sidewalk. I had visions of a jogger running along , blissed out on his iPod , and running full tilt into the front of the RV, but I was told I was being ridiculously City. No one uses the sidewalk here. So here we are, hooked into power, on Brian's fast network. Hey, it works. We're slowly learning to live in the Cruiser. We still have organizing to do, but we're getting there.
Judy

We Did It !! We're Off !!

Calendars are deceiving, so organized, so clean and crisp, each day a square waiting to be filled.. We pulled out our calendar and looked at the first week of April. “We can do this”, we thought. “Look, hardly any problem at all.” We wrote “Outdoor Work” in the Thursday square, and “Move Furniture” in Friday’s, followed by “Clean and Wax floors” on Saturday. –a little longer, but still fitting nicely into the square on the calendar. Elegant, simple, each day clearly delineated. Surely we could finish the tasks with time to spare. But reality is messy and full of little surprises and thousands of details. The bamboo had escaped and was making a break underground for the house. A 1000sq. foot house looks infinitely larger when seen from hands and knees with a wax pad in hand. Who knew the kitchen had so many drawers and cupboards, all needing to be loaded into boxes and scrubbed. But here we are on the last square we filled in, “Load truck and drive to Pullman.” It’s not perfect, there are still boxes and bins waiting to be sorted. Frank worked amazing feats of packing to get everything into the truck for the drive to the RV, and we made it with nothing blowing off, the cat screaming the whole way. When we got to the RV she found a hole under the bed and crawled in to be safe, and then couldn’t get out and had to be rescued by taking the base of the bed apart. But she is now asleep, blessedly quiet, the bed is made, the site along the Columbia is gorgeous and we are about to begin.

Learning to use the RV

Learning about the RV systems operation

For 2 days this week, we got to enjoy our new 5th wheel and learn to use all its systems and enjoy camping again - even as it rained sometimes. There is a lot to learn about how much electricity is available from the batteries and the Honda 2000 watt generator. Since one of the main types of camping we are looking at will not have any electricity, water or sewer hookups, we will need to know how to work all the built in systems work. With the generator running (even our "quiet" Honda makes noticeable noise) we have full 110 volt AC. Without the generator running, we have only 12 volt DC for lights, water pump. The refrigerator runs on either AC, if available, or propane if not. The stove is propane. The water heater is propane with AC boost if available. The furnace needs both 12 volt and propane, but uses up battery power quickly if run.

We now have to figure out ways to charge all our battery operated computers and tools and the RV battery system. We don't want to run the generator long enough to charge everything up. There may be a way to hook up the inverter Janie and Brad gave us for Christmas and wire up charging circuits, but we may be limited by the ability for the built in electrical controller to charge up the 12 volt battery system. Lots to work out but thanks to many RV forums and many knowledgeable RV'ers are glad to share their experience through the internet we will find good solutions.

We were very impressed with our Sprint broadband EVDO system with the cellular router we bought with advice from 3Gstore.com. Though speeds varied considerably during the day and even the best speed will not compare with our current cable internet connection, we were quite functionally connected to the net. However, there was no T-Mobile connection at all, so we will be looking into Verizon when contract time runs out in August.

The 2 days were so much fun that we can't wait for the house to lease and we can get going.

Frank

Cooking on the campfire with the new grill rack I built:




Here's the whole rig:

first day out

Well, we've done backing and filling 101, and learned that the batteries don't last as long as we thought, but we came through everything unscathed and we woke up this morning to THIS. Isn't it beautiful? This is going to be so much fun.

Judy

The Time is Near

As the weather gets warmer and we finish up our work for King County Elections, we get itchy to get going.

Now the equipment we need is starting to arrive - all ordered over the Net, of course. Our new Honda 2000 watt generator arrived this morning. The new router, EVDO card (with data service by Sprint) and booster antenna was ordered today. A Webber "Baby Q" gas grill will arrive tomorrow.

On Tuesday, March 18th, we will take possession of our RV and camp out at Deception Pass State park for 2 days to try it and all of our new toys out.