kayaking – Page 6 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Who said planning is the fun part?

Clear warm evening in Rocky Point at 83 Degrees F

When I first imagined what RVing would be like many years ago, I pictured an idyllic ramble around the country, taking my time, staying wherever I felt like staying for as long as I wanted, and just picking up and leaving when I felt like it. That might work in the desert southwest now and then, but not so much for a three month sojourn through Texas and Florida and back, during prime season.

In the midst of all the other doings around here, I have been trying to get a handle on those plans. Usually I like this part, and open up the various apps that Nina discussed so well in a recent post, start up my old copy of “Streets and Trips 2011”, open up Google Maps and my Google Calendar, and start planning a route. Even for our trip to Alaska, this was a fairly straightforward process. We didn’t even make reservations for that entire summer on the road.

Florida in February is a completely different story, and as Sherry warned me, I should have started six months ago! I not only have to plan a route, I have to know EXACTLY when I plan to be in any particular place and make real honest to goodness reservations. Ack! How in the world can I be sure that I’ll be in Chiefland, Florida on a specific date when there are many months and thousands of miles between me and that date?

I have dreamed of a winter in Florida with my kayak in tow ever since I started visiting Bel in Ocala back in 2000. Mo and I got our boats to Florida on our cross country trip in 2007 for one magical float on the Silver River before we trundled on back west to buy the new motorhome in Texas and continue toward home. I have read the blogs avidly, ‘pinned’ campgrounds and rivers and events, and they created the beginning of my google map. The problems only begin when I try to link them all up, figure out the route and the miles and the DATES…and then make reservations. Only by now, I have been working on this for a few months, and I am too late for some of the places I wanted to go! Yup. Sherry was right. I should have started this six months ago, but somehow I was too busy TRAVELING then to be thinking about what I was going to be doing in 2014.

Before I go into the ‘plans’, I want to remember the fun things I have been doing NOW.

Would you eat dinner in this place? We did, and it was a fantastic experience. The Cowboy Dinner Tree used to be just that. It was a big old juniper tree out in the Oregon Outback near Silver Lake where they parked the chuck wagon for the cowboys. It has evolved a bit, and now people come from who knows where to fill this place up every weekend. Reservations required, two choices: chicken or sirloin. Dinner comes with salad, rolls, bean soup, potatoes, iced tea or lemonade (oops another choice) and dessert.

It isn’t cheap, and it takes two hours to get there. We rode with some local Rocky Point friends so the distance was irrelevant, and the experience was priceless. It is a “thing” and I am glad we took the time to do it. Although I brought the completely ridiculous steak home and made fajitas two nights in a row and then two more dinners from the chicken. Sheesh!

This week was bittersweet in a good way. I worked the very last time for soil survey. Sequestration and budget cuts and no federal budget all combined to end my contract career, so I retired for the second time. So I am really really retired now. Completely. It makes for some nice travel time, and is the reason I can manage to be off work long enough to take off next winter for three months instead of just a few weeks at a time. I’ll be poorer, but richer in time. I am pretty sure it is a good thing.

Another delight this week was a visit from Vermont friend Jeanne, (yes the famous adventure woman, Jeanne, that I have written about before). Only this time she brought along her sweetie, Alan, and he won Jeremy over in about two seconds and won me over about two seconds after that. Jeanne, you done good!! As did you, Alan. A pair made in heaven, or as all Jeanne’s friends say, a Danielle Steele novel. It is just romantic beyond imagination. He is a forester, she is a botanist, they both had basically given up on finding a soul mate, and they met in the woods at work! Isn’t that just incredibly perfect?!

We were on the water by 7 with beautiful partly overcast skies, perfect water, and lots of birds. Jeanne and Alan planned to see Crater Lake later in the day, but weren’t in too much of a hurry to miss out on pancakes and bacon for breakfast before they left.

After all the smoke that has been here, I was so glad to see perfectly clear skies by the time they got to Crater Lake, blue and smoke free and gorgeous. At least on the web cam. I had to keep checking to be sure that Alan’s first view of the lake would be wonderful. Jeanne wanted to show him all the cliffs she used to ski down when she lived here. Crazy woman.

Now back to the planning thing. Which is pretty much how that planning thing has been going. I work on it awhile, then something comes up and I get back to it later. Which is why I missed out on Myakka Springs and a couple of other places I wanted to see in Florida. Completely Booked!! We did manage to have a conversation with John and Carol from Our Trip Around the Sun who are going to be at Ding Darling Refuge on Sanibel Island and yes, I arranged a day, at 7 in the morning, when we will meet for a refuge trip that will hopefully turn up some spoonbills. Big on my bucket list. And yes, I have planned that specific day and specific hour from 3500 miles and six months away.

I know, I know. I have no right to complain. If you haven’t read Erin’s post about her plans for the next three months go check it out. That is planning on an Olympic scale! I think they have so many vacations nested in their vacation that it reminds me of those little Russian dolls. Ours will be just a bit simpler. We only have a simple vacation with a cruise vacation buried in the middle there somewhere.

We will amble through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and into Big Bend country in Texas, wander off to the coast at Port Aransas where I will get to walk the beach with Erin and watch her with that famous camera! We will continue east toward New Orleans, where we will take a 9 day break for a little cruise to the Western Caribbean, and after returning we will amble off to Florida for a month of kayaking and beaches. There is a saying about Florida, “I came for the beaches, but I stayed for the rivers”. Ahhhh. We will go as far as Key West, then amble back up the coast.

I have mostly reserved everything along the way. I think we will be in Blue Springs on Monday morning, March 3, at 10:02 AM. Or something like that. I know, the best laid plans can be severely disrupted, and I am trying to accept that with equanimity. Still. Those reservations are all prepaid, for Pete’s Sake! When we leave Blue Springs a few days later, I have no plans except for going north and west. I have no reservations. I have lots of blog posts about COE campgrounds and great places to see along the way, but we are going to actually stay loose during this part of the trip. For the month of March, we will just move gradually west and north toward home, following whatever route the weather and our mood dictates. I’ll let you know how that goes as well.

It is so great to have Deborah here to house sit for us while we are gone. She wants to keep the home fires burning and I’ll leave my truck with her so she can get back and forth in the snow. We will be bringing Abby, but I have decided to let Jeremy stay with Deborah for the trip. At least for now that is what I have decided. I’ll let you know how THAT goes as well. Sigh.

Lots coming up. More to tell, but this post is entirely too long so I’ll save it for later.

Next: MoHo interior renovations and we are soon off to the far northeastern part of Oregon!

Six Days off the Grid

Waking early Wednesday morning, I looked out over Medicine Lake, smooth as silk, without a ripple anywhere.

The skies were clear and only a faint bit of smoke remained on the eastern horizon. Our days of doing nothing were about to begin with a meandering 3.5 mile loop around the perimeter of the lake.

Our campground site is at the upper mid right of the map above, the swimming beach is the far right marker, the best fishing hole is on the lower left on the lake and the Brownell Cabin in on the lower bottom left on the shore. The good bike trail goes to Little Medicine Lake on the upper left shore. Somehow slipping into a kayak in the early morning feels like nothing at all, no effort, just a silky glide across water so clear I can count fish and silence only broken by the cry of ospreys.

I don’t know how long we were out there that first morning, maybe a couple of hours, but by the time we returned to camp the wind had picked up a bit and the smoke was disappearing completely. The day began with french press coffee and tiny donuts before we went out on the water and waiting for a mid morning hearty brunch seems to work best for us on this kind of trip.

The day would have continued without much fanfare, but as we settled onto the beach for a bit of sunny doing more nothing, our neighbor approached us all full of conversation and questions. She wanted to know where we were from, where we got our kayaks, and if we wanted to join up with their kayaking group from the Medford area. Martha was a very gregarious, talkative, and friendly woman and by the time she left, we had exchanged emails and had plans to contact each other for a day on Recreation Creek.

Not long after that conversation, she and her friend pulled out of the site just next to us, number 43. Earlier, when we found out they were moving, I asked Mo if maybe we should relocate, and she said, “No Way!!” But after they left, and we walked over to the site, the very easy, not steep, and not rocky path directly to the beach from the camp spot changed her mind. Ok, let’s do it!

Within minutes we pulled in the slide and backed the MoHo down the 50 yards or so to the much bigger, much more level, much more private site even closer to the lake. The funniest part of all was later when I was reviewing my photos, I realized that we had camped in this site back in 2005. How could I forget?!? Rather than hooking up the trailer, we just rolled it down the hill by hand to the new site, and floated the kayaks over to their new beach..

So much for doing nothing! After getting all settled in again, I had to run around in a flurry trying to take photos of the new site to remember why we made the move. It was a great plan and for the next several days we said over and over how happy we were that we didn’t have to get up and down that rocky trail to the beach from 45. Funny, I think I remember saying yesterday that 45 was such a great site. Well, it is, but only if you can’t get into 43.

A bit later we were down on the beach again when another woman came up to us asking questions about the boats and our rig. Seems as though she and her husband were camping and were hoping to eventually retire and buy a small motorhome of some kind. Before long we discovered that her husband was the base commander at Kingsley Field back in Klamath Falls and she was some kind of retired air force officer who now had three kids. I swear this woman didn’t look a day over 35. I guess some people make all the right choices at the right moment. She talked about her travels in the world, her husband, being active duty parents, and all about how much they loved living in Klamath Falls. People in campgrounds are just so incredibly friendly.

It wasn’t long afterward that another couple moved into our vacated site 45, only they at least were camping with a tent. Next thing you know, they are coming down the trail asking about the kayaks. They were from San Francisco, at least that is what they said at first. When we responded with “Oh, where in San Francisco?” she said, “Pacifica”. Then when Mo said she had taught in Pacifica for 25 years, they started talking about driving Devils Slide and the new tunnel, and then it came out that they actually live in Montera, just a few blocks away from Mo’s ranch in Montera where she lived for that 25 years while teaching. We all laughed about how you just say “San Francisco” to folks you assume won’t have a clue where Montera actually is located. How does that happen anyway?

It turned out that Barbara and Ansel were a highly entertaining couple, with some crazy quirks and a LOT of stories that they liked to tell with gusto. They also had a brand new inflatable kayak and were fairly new kayakers and wanted some advice about where to go on the lake. By this time it was very windy and there was no way anyone was going out on that lake in a kayak. We knew there was a small window of quiet usually in the morning for silky boating and told them to be up and on the water by 7 if they wanted to take advantage of it.

We spent the rest of the day doing our usual nothing, which includes some reading, some sitting and watching the sky, throwing balls for Abby in the water, watching the lake, and eating. We used the Weber Q for our suppers and the days just seemed to run all together. I had taken the computer with me, thinking that I could at least write for the blog with the inverter or when the generator was on, but sure enough, I had forgotten the plug! I am having to remember all this several days later since writing with a pencil is something I just can’t seem to do any more at all. I didn’t even take photos for two entire days and the only way to remember what we did is to go back over the photos.

We kayaked every morning and some evenings, had a big campfire every night where I roasted marshmallows and filled them with little pieces of chocolate that would melt perfectly. We had great dinners, and wonderful big breakfasts that were closer to lunch and never bothered with lunches the entire time.

We went for short hikes up to the Glass Flow, rode our bikes up to Little Medicine Lake on the lovely bike trail. We tried to ride to Arnica Sink on the not so lovely bike trail that was deep sandy pumice mined with fat lava rocks. We turned around on that one and decided that riding on the road was much more fun.

The birds are always a highlight, and after a few mornings I actually recognized the two blue herons that flew from shore to shore. It is always a decision as to how close to get, with the rule being if the bird is uncomfortable and starts to look nervous, you are too close. I think I got too close to these herons. I felt guilty, and then would think, well maybe if I am really slow and still it would be ok, but it wasn’t, they flew away, and dang! I need a longer lens.

The lake is populated with at least a dozen ospreys, perched on snags on the east and west shorelines and always entertaining with the diving and fishing. We also saw one bald eagle on the west side one morning, and a couple of red tailed hawks and another hawk that I couldn’t identify.

I was surprised to see several vultures as well, as I don’t remember seeing them at this kind of high altitude before. There was one Great Egret in the meadow on the first morning, too far for a photo, and he wasn’t there again. Ducks were surprisingly few, with just a little group of young ones without a mother paddling along on the east side of the lake.

Mo and I don’t fish, but we had a great time searching for fish in the clear water, with some great success along the southwest shoreline where one of the springs comes up. Sometimes we could see six to ten trout, maybe 14 inches or so, swimming around beneath us. We also love paddling into the knotweed with the happy pink flowers standing up above the water and making for some great photos with my pink kayak.

On one of our days the winds blew so incredibly hard I decided to spend a large part of the day inside the rig knitting a luscious wrap that I have been working on for much too long. The sound of that wind was fabulous, and the clarity it brought to the sky was breathtaking. I loved it, even though it made it too wild on the lake to take out the kayaks or try to take a swim.

I completely finished reading a great book about cheese, and Spain, and slow food, and betrayal. It was written so well that I had to highlight phrase after phrase of beautiful words to remember. I highly recommend “The Telling Room”, by Michael Paternini. Reading that makes me feel like I have read something worthwhile is great. We even had time for watching a couple of movies in the evenings, with the inverter handling it just fine without having to run the generator. I laugh to remember that we had this rig for several years before we knew it would do that.

Finally on our second to the last day, the wind died down completely, and I managed to slip into that crystalline water for a great swim. Cold, but great. Barbara and Ansel came down the hill to join me, but neither one of them could manage to get all the way in. I probably wouldn’t have stayed in as long as I did if I hadn’t been trying to convince them to swim with me. The day heated up beautifully, but with the warmer temperatures and no winds, before long there was a bit of smoke in the air again. Nothing like Grants Pass a couple of weeks ago, but smoke nonetheless.

On our last morning kayak, we took our slow time meandering around the lake. While admiring the old historic cabin on the southwest shore, the owner came down to the shore to visit with us. I must say I haven’t had such a busy social life in a very long time! He regaled us with stories about the cabin, built in 1928 by his wife’s father who saved the life of the original owner of the property. When asked what he would like in return for saving his life, the man said, “If you ever sell the property, sell it to me”. Sure enough that is how he got it. Now there are three sisters who share the space with extended family who have memories of staying there as girls in the 1940’s. They live there 3 months out of the year and then return to Morro Bay in California.

He told us that the first trout were brought to the lake on mules in 1880 and by the 40’s there were huge browns in that lake that the girls remember catching. In the 60’s however, chubs were winning, and the Fish and Game decided to kill the lake and start over. Now the fish that are planted each spring are fairly well fished out of the lake with no big old boys left. The deepest hole in the lake is about 150 feet, but the rest of the lake is quite shallow. It was great to get local stories from the local folks. He even said we were welcome to hike up behind his place to Brownell Meadows but we will have to wait for the next trip to take him up on the offer. Besides, this was the camping trip for doing nothing and we were getting a bit carried away with all the somethings that we were doing.

When it was time to leave, once more the campground was very nearly empty, with only a few occupied sites even over in the busy Medicine Campground. Our Hogue camp was almost completely empty. How often can you find an empty campground on a lovely lake in the middle of August!?! We read on the campground sign that there was an RV dump nearby but turned the wrong direction and ended up going south on 49 instead of where we were supposed to go. As many times as we have been to Medicine Lake, I still needed to get out the map to be sure we were on the right road heading home.

Down from the Highlands, summer set in again, with temperatures rising ten degrees in as many miles and smoke thickening the air as we approached Klamath Falls. bummer. At least we got a nice break from it, and Rocky Point has enough thick forest to help oxygenate the air a bit. I just read that Janna and Mike tried to see Crater Lake this week. Such a bummer and bad timing. I an only imagine how disappointing it must be for folks who travel from all over the world to see the beautiful lake and its gorgeous blue. Ah well, Medicine Lake isn’t quite as blue, or as big, or as dramatic, but it was lovely and perfect and I am so glad that after five years we finally took our Medicine.

Camping in a Caldera

Monday July 16 at East Lake in the Newberry Caldera east of Lapine, southeast of Bend, Oregon

Temperature at 9am 66 degrees F, last night low T 55 degrees F, might get to 79 today, or not.

Something about being in the mountains by a beautiful reflective lake makes time completely irrelevant. I know that it is morning. There are a few high puffy clouds coming in from the west that hint that there may be a shift in the weather on the way, but I have no way to predict what could happen except my own personal weather savvy from looking at the sky and feeling the air.

We have been here at East Lake, the smaller and quieter of two lovely lakes at Newberry Crater for a few days now. Not sure how many, maybe three? I vaguely remember going to the Sisters Quilt Show last Saturday, but it has already become a bit of a memory filled in and muted by hours and hours of images of reflected water and sky. I’ll have to blog about the quilt show eventually, maybe when I get back home and get out of this lazy lake mode.

Yesterday early in the morning we kayaked east and found the hot springs that I knew were tucked in along the shoreline, small pools hand dug in the pumice sands to moderate the hottest temperatures coming from the bubbling springs. A mayfly hatch made for interesting reflections on the perfectly still water, frustrating all the fishermen with their various catch methods. Those big black-backed trout were very happy filling up on mayflies. Seems as though someone dumped chubs in this lake and instead of poisoning the lake with rotenone as was done on Diamond Lake, they imported some non native Canadian Black Backed trout, or maybe they are European. Supposedly they are strong predators of chubs and the native trout can recuperate. Reminds me a bit of rabbits in Australia.

I was glad that those bugs weren’t very interested in landing on me and didn’t seem to bite. We heard that they only hatched yesterday, but a few non biting mayflies are nothing compared to mosquitoes and gnats, neither of which seem to have found this perfect little lake in the mountains.

There are incredible geologic stories of the Newberry Caldera, recent volcanism, obsidian flows, there is even a nice visitor center not far from the entrance to the national whatever area that this is. I don’t know. I don’t have internet or even a cell signal to look up and research every little thing, I just have my memories and much like the weather, I can only share what is already tucked away in my mind. I am completely disconnected from the outside world. All I have is water, pumice sand beaches, blue blue skies, clean clear water, and yes, an absolutely to die for, perfect campsite right on the beach.

Roger and Nancy provided a couple of nights of easy camping in their driveway in Lapine with hookups and a great dinner of bbq chicken on one night and we all shared a yummy treat dinner at McMennimen’s in Bend the night of the quilt show. On Sunday we packed up the rigs and headed east just an hour or so to Paulina and East Lake in the Newberry Crater area. We thought that by Sunday afternoon the campgrounds should have quieted enough that we could get a campsite without much trouble.

Surprise! East Lake is a very popular little fishing lake for the locals, and we only managed to snag a good beach front site by walking the park, checking the exit dates on all the tags, and finally asking one camper when he planned to leave. He was very accommodating, and said if we paid now, we could take possession of his site when he pulled out in a couple of hours. I guess that is the way it is done here. We got here about two hours before the 2PM exit time, and it wasn’t a bit too early since other folks were checking tags after us and any later than we were wouldn’t have been so lucky.

Even on a Sunday night, all the front row water sites were taken, but by Monday the park did have a very few unoccupied sites toward the back row of the park. We are camped at East Lake Campground, the best one in our opinion because of its easy access to the water, although there are bigger campgrounds in the area, and this one only has 24 sites. There is a boat launch and a large parking area for boat trailers.

Seems as though fishing is the most popular pastime here, and the first night we saw a young family pull in with a nice big string of trout for dinner. After the mayfly hatch, however, the catch went way down. The lake has a 10 mph limit so that makes it wonderful for kayakers like us. I haven’t yet learned how to paddle at 10 mph.

I really have lost track of time, a nice thing. We have been out in the boats paddling in several directions, found little bays and inlets, and of course, the hot springs. We have cooked suppers to share at the picnic table, and in Roger’s rig when the evening winds were a bit too much. We have had campfires with the great juniper wood Mo loaded up from home, and learned to make S’mor’s with Less, a new favorite of mine. S’mores are just too dry for me, but if you slip a perfect little square of chocolate inside a perfectly done marshmallow, the chocolate melts and ohmy!! Even Roger who refuses to eat marshmallows decided it looked too good to pass up and he loved the one that he tried.

Last night brought a bit of a downer for us, though, when we decided to go for a walk and Nancy discovered they had locked themselves out of their rig. No spare key anywhere. She also thought their car was locked, and of course we don’t have a car with us either. There is no cell phone service here, so we walked down to the camp host who offered a hangar and if needed a ride over to Paulina Lake and his boss who had a land line. Nancy’s wallet, everything, was in the rig, so she didn’t even have phone numbers of Good Sam, or any information to try to call. It was already getting dark and Mo and I were thinking we might need to break out the sofa bed (not ever used) and picturing a night in our rig with 4 adults, 2 dogs, and an elderly cat was interesting.

Lo and behold, when Roger checked their Honda, it wasn’t locked! Still no wallet or rig keys, but at least one little Honda key in the glove box, something called a “valet key” that started the car. They decided the best option would be to drive back home (just an hour from here) where they could make the needed phone calls, have access to their information, and sleep in their own bed. We are hoping they will show up here sometime this morning with someone to open up the rig and all will be well.

Tuesday July 17 Sherry, this one is for you!

East Lake Hot Spring is a magical little spring that emerges right along the shoreline of the caldera lake bubbling up through the pumice sands. People have scooped out the sand into a couple of small pools, and edged them with rocks and logs to keep the hot water contained. The pumice is lightweight and a bit crunchy, but you can scoop it out deeper if you want a deeper pool, and the temperature can be controlled by sweeping more cool water from the lake into your little handmade pool of choice.

The momentary drama of last evening was solved easily when Roger and Nancy spent the night at home, calling first thing in the morning to the dealer where they bought their rig. It was a 2012 model, without electronic keys, so they got a replacement key for just $7.00, and before noon they were back here in the mountains with us, rig opened up, and everything just fine.

Nancy and I decided to kayak over to the springs while Mo and Roger took the spring hike trail up over the hill. They found us in the pools, from a high spot overlooking the spring, but certainly not any kind of path I would want to climb down to get there. Kayaks are the only way to go. Mo and I had boated over there earlier in the morning for a soak and there already were some kayakers there enjoying the lovely little spring, but they called out saying they would be leaving within ten minutes or so, and I waited my turn. I had the springs to myself for a long time while Mo paddled east to the East Lake Resort in the distance.

East Lake shoreline hot springs So my afternoon soak with Nancy was the second of the day for me. What an amazing treat! After paddling back to the campground, we all settled in on the beach with the dogs and balls, and Nancy and I even braved the chilly waters for some swimming. A bit later I thought it might be interesting to see how Jeremy was in the kayak and that turned out great. He did really well, but finally decided that he wanted to leap back to shore. It is said that Turkish Angora kitties love to swim and Jeremy may have not loved it, but he definitely was a great swimmer. He kept his head above water and just swam into shore. He may have been a bit indignant, and he was definitely a bag of bones with all that wet fur, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. I took him in a couple more times and he proved his swimming abilities quite well. Jeremy goes kayaking while the doge play

We were treated to a nice clean fluffy cat when he finished drying himself off. The sun was brilliant and the pumice sands were warm and he liked being there, at least I think he liked it. He at least didn’t run away. kitty swim

We all settled in on the beach and I kept looking at the dark cliffs on the opposite shore of the lake. The wind wasn’t too strong and I decided to jump in the boat one more time for an pre-supper paddle. It was only about a mile and a half across the lake, but I paddled hard for a good 45 minutes before I finally approached the cliffs. No matter how much I paddled, they always seemed as though they were close, but I kept paddling and they didn’t seem to get any closer. In the shadow of the cliffs, the water was calm, and I could hear it lapping inside the eroded rhyolite volcanic rock caves. The water was very deep and clear and the cliffs had much more complexity that it appeared from a distance. In fact, they were almost scary.

There was a deep spiritual silence there, and the closer I got to the rock, the more I felt as though I needed to ask permission to be there. I looked up and said a little prayer before I paddled close and touched those dark rocks. Yeah, it was spooky, for no reason I can name. A powerful spot. I turned away after a time and paddled straight back across the lake without much trouble. I had purposely left the camera behind so I wouldn’t have to worry about it, and as I was silently cruising around those rocks I thought it was properly fitting that I didn’t photograph the moment. rougher than it looks!

The next morning Mo and I woke to glassy waters and decided that it would be fun to cross the lake once again, returning by way of the springs. Within minutes of launching, a big lake wind came up making for a very rough crossing. This time I did have the camera, but the I took very few photos, since I was paddling hard against the wind and current. We reached the cliffs, which seemed less spooky and actually more dangerous with the rough water. I could see how a storm could bash you right up against those dark rocks. We didn’t linger, and decided that it would be safer and easier to skirt the shoreline along the northeast side of the lake along the Cinder Hill campground and around past the East Lake Resort to the hot springs.

By the time we reached the springs, we had been on the lake longer than planned so a dip wasn’t in the cards, but it was good to be there at least one more time. Roger and Nancy had already left early that morning and we needed to be in Lapine by mid afternoon. We packed up in a nice breeze but I was still sorry to leave that beautiful, warm and sunny beach.

On the way out I thought it would be good to stop at the visitor center, but the parking was extremely limited, with only 15 minutes on the south side of the road and no parking signs everywhere else. I figured it wasn’t worth it, but hopefully next time I go to East Lake I can stop in to read about the monument and the geology. The Newberry area is “hot”, and there is some controversy brewing about companies planning to inject water under high pressure deep into the fissures in the lava to generate steam power. Ahh, let’s mess with nature just a little bit more. But since I am still writing this without the benefit of the internet, you will just have to search it out yourself!

July Fourth

In Rocky Point, Oregon Sunny and Clear Current temperature 70F Hi today 86F Low today 59F

I know I must say this every year, but I LOVE the Fourth of July. No reason that makes any sense, I love my country, but I don’t get excited just because she is having a birthday. I just love the day. I have “issues” around it. If I am somewhere my family is not, I will get as weepy as a kid at Christmas without Santa. My kids know this about me and just shake their heads. Even truck driving daughter Deanna has managed to surprise me with a July Fourth visit now and then from half way across the country. My kids remember two things, I am sure. Potato salad and sack races. They all hated those dang silly yard games that I made them play when we all got together for the holiday picnic.

Grandpa Lance with Matthew and Steven on the 4th at Tubbs Hill in 1986

Back when they were younger, and we all lived in or near Coeur d’ Alene, we would pack a picnic and hike around Tubb’s Hill to watch the fireworks over the lake. There are family stories that have grown to mythic proportions about those hikes to the lake, and then the hikes back around in the dark to the car. Just a couple of miles, with flashlights, and lots of people. It was fun. I was insistent that we have a picnic, no matter the weather, and there were some very wet, very rainy picnics on a blanket under the big red wagon in Riverfront Park. Our favorite family story includes a rainy hike around the hill and a place we dubbed Guacamole Cave, named for our snack entertainment while we waited out the storm on the way to the lake. My husband Lance was alive, my two little grandsons were just 3, and now they are both 30 years old. It was a different world and a different life, but we still have potato salad!

Guacamole Cave on Tubb’s Hill (our own personal name of course)

In recent years, since I have been in Klamath Falls, we have trundled ourselves downtown to enjoy the local parade, and then waited for the very late fireworks over Lake Ewauna, with varying degrees of delight. Sometimes the midges are out, sometimes the wind blows too hard for the big booms to make it high enough over the trees. Sometimes it is hot. Sometimes it is wonderful. This year I didn’t care how wonderful it might be, I just decided that maybe the potato salad and family games on the cool green lawn in the cool Rocky Point shade would be enough. It was. In fact, it was very nearly perfect.

Mo and I were recuperating in the quiet house this morning and she said to me, “You know, I think this was the best Fourth of July ever”. I couldn’t agree more. Of course, there was an extra little treat that made it even more special. I got to have TWO daughters here instead of my loyal youngest who lives nearby. My eldest daughter Deborah has returned to Oregon, and was here for the holiday. In fact, she is now settled into the cottage for the time being, as she readjusts her life and leaves Texas behind. She loved some of Texas, in fact she loved most of Texas, but other parts of the situation weren’t acceptable, and she decided the best place to be was home near family. Mo and I never intended the cottage to be a place to live, but we still have been fixing it up so it was perfect for Deb. We now have a caretaker, and with the third interview in the works for a local Grants Pass job, Deb may just be settling in to an even better situation in the near future.

Of course, with family coming, all the little places we have around for people to stay needed a bit of sprucing up. We spent several days over at the cottage working on details. Mo fixed doorknobs, made sure the plumbing was all working properly, made drawings of which plugs were on which circuits, and I raked. I discovered that those beautiful madrones, evergreen leathery leaves, drop big batches of old yellow leaves as the new leaves emerge, meaning I get to rake that acre in June as well as in the fall! Oh, wait….Deb is there now!

We also have the little cabin here at Rocky Point, next to the house, and it is a great place for Melody’s family to stay when they visit. It even has its very own composting toilet, a nice little kitchen and refrigerator, and hot water heater. We love having people stay there, and it is nice to open it up and freshen the air, and dust the cobwebs away.

Gardening has taken a big priority this time of year as well, and the flowers are just now coming into full bloom. The incredibly hot weather we had last week has dissipated and now we are back to cool nights and mornings and days in the low 80’s with bluebird skies. Ahh….perfect. Of course, with all these projects going on, quilting has taken a very back back seat in the list of priorities.

Melody came with her family the night before the 4th and we celebrated the beginning of the holiday morning with a big pancake breakfast. Even though the heat has lessened a bit, it was still a good idea to get out on the lake before the sun was high and hot, and we were on the water in the 4 kayaks before 9. It was a perfect morning paddle with me, Melody, Xavier, and Axel while Mo waited back at home for Deb to arrive.

We paddled south into Pelican Bay from the Rocky Point launch with a plan to continue into the Harriman Spring run and then back out through the marsh into Klamath Lake.

The spring run was gorgeous, and we saw pelicans, cormorants, lots of common terns, several great egrets, a few blue herons, Canada geese, and a beautiful osprey who posed nicely, and a beaver who was too fast for me.

Xavier has only paddled once before but by the time we finished our 2.5 hour trip he was leading the pack.

We couldn’t find our way to the lake through the vegetation, even though the water was high enough, but the wocus and rushes and tules were just too thick to paddle through easily so we backtracked to Harriman Spring.

When we returned, Deb was relaxed in the living room, and after putting the final finishes on the potato salad I went out for another 2 hour paddle with a different group. Melody and I went out with Mo and Deb and went the opposite direction, south into Pelican Bay and through the marsh back to Harriman Spring.

This time we made it through, but it was interesting to see just how different the trip can be depending on the time of day. The morning was still and full of reflections and the afternoon had fewer birds and a lot more wind. Both trips were wonderful and by the time we all got back to the house we were ready to fire up the bbq for burgers and POTATO SALAD! Yum.

On the previous evening we pulled out the Bocci Ball set and played some good games with Melody and the kids, so we were ready to redeem ourselves again with another round on the grass. Bocci is so much fun, very little equipment needed, just those balls and a place to throw them. By the time we finished the last game and Melody and her family departed for Klamath Falls, we all felt perfectly satisfied with our family fourth.

I didn’t hear a sound out here. Fireworks aren’t allowed in the forest, and even on the private land I think most folks care about the fire danger and don’t want to jeopardize our beautiful forest home. I love fireworks, but I surely didn’t miss waiting around until 10:30 at night for them to start, fighting the traffic, and then driving home around the lake near midnight. Deb spent the night here before going home. I can’t say just how much I missed her. Even though we were as close as the phone and email, Texas is still a very long distance and knowing she is just over the mountain is soul satisfying in a deep way. Two out of four kids close by is a pretty good ratio, I think, in this day of dispersed families.

We are now planning for a short trip next week when I will finally get to visit the famous Sisters quilt show. Roger and Nancy (Mo’s brother and SIL) will be sharing that with us, and after the show we will all go up into the Newberry Crater east of Bend for a couple of days camping at East Paulina Lake. Excited about that one. I remember the last time I was there it was raining, but I had a magical kayak trip one evening with fish jumping all around me and practically jumping into my boat. I also know now where the lakeside hot springs are located and plan to check them out.

I am still making progress on our plans for next winter, and with the help of some blogger friends have managed to get plans and reservations firmed up as far as the end of January and South Padre Island. The planning process, especially so far out in time, seems a bit daunting to me, especially with the necessity to know where we will be in February in Florida so I can make reservations there. We traveled all of Alaska for almost two months without reservations, but I don’t think that would be very smart in Florida that time of year. Of course, the Military Fam Camp in Key West, our most distant destination, doesn’t take reservations anyway, but I still need to have a general idea of when we will be there.

A couple of weeks ago I was incredibly stressed, going through all sorts of stuff with kids and such, and a friend listened to me saying, “I know it sounds trite, but it will pass”. You were so right, dear friend, it has passed. It all worked itself through, the daughter is here, the kids are fine, and I am back to enjoying my lovely little stress free life of retirement! Good advice!!

Let there be light

Rocky Point Oregon clear and 59 degrees F Today’s low 42 high 75

It is mid June already. Solstice is less than a week away and the skies are still light late into the evening. I know there is rhythm to the patterns of the seasons, but it always seems to me that the longest day of the year should come in mid summer and not while I am still trying to feel summer is coming. Even in our forest, where sunrises and sunsets are obscured by the huge firs that surround us, the light lingers. I remember my days living in North Idaho, when the skies would be light after ten pm and I would rise with the sun and the birds at 4:30 in the morning. Sometimes I miss that, those incredibly long days, but I really don’t miss the winter dark at all.

Speaking of light, we have honored the solstice month of June with light. As mentioned before, we live in the forest, and in addition, the house has long wide porches. I love the porches, but they do limit the light coming into the house. We started the project last year, ordering special heavy snow load, no leak skylights, but by the time they were delivered, the weather had turned and our contractor thought better of opening up the roof to the skies during winter. I was getting impatient with the wait. Somehow as spring progresses and the sun moves higher into the sky, we get even less light in the house than in winter when it is low on the horizon. In winter, we also get reflection from the snow that makes the house brighter. As spring progressed, everything just seemed to get darker and darker.

Until finally, Peter showed up with the windows and his happy crew to install our skylights. Peter is one crazy guy. I know contractors can be an eccentric bunch, but Peter was especially so. Still, he did a great job, got it done on time, and kept us entertained in the process. He was the proud poppa of a new baby and wasn’t getting much sleep. The nice thing about Peter was that he actually worked right alongside his crew throughout the project. It is wonderful to have light in the house, somehow it just changes everything. Jeremy loves to sleep on the carpet in the brilliant beams. That warm sunlight is good for his achy old bones, I am sure.

Of course, with all that gorgeous light, it became obvious that we needed a good carpet cleaning. I called some company called Blue Heron in Klamath that uses a dry cleaning method involving organic materials made from corncobs. He did a great job, with barely any dampness to the carpet at all, so now everything feels really fresh and nice.

We were looking around today and talking about just how incredibly busy we have been. I guess June is always like that, and if you throw in a second house to think about, it just gets a little bit crazy. We spent some time at the cottage, after Mo had an arborist take down the two most dangerous trees that were hanging over the roof. I am sure some of those oaks must be at least 100 years old. The madrones are probably not as old, but they seem to lose their tops with age, so I suppose more tree work is in our future. I counted more than 20 trees on that .89 acre Grants Pass property. Love that shade, though.

Right after we got back from our camping excursion, Dan and Chere (Mo’s brother and his wife) brought their motor home to the cottage for a long weekend visit. Mo and Dan spent the entire time working with wiring, eliminating some of the most glaring problems, and figuring out what was what with the breakers. It IS an old house, and for some reason almost everything was hooked up to just one circuit. Dan and Mo are a great working team, and Chere and I spent a lot of time watching them run back and forth with a mission. Then part of the time Chere and I just went to town to check out the Old Town section of Grants Pass, buy goodies at the Saturday Farmer’s Market, and do a little shopping. I found a pair of Oofos, and after reading Sherry’s rave about them, decided to get a pair. What luxury. It is kind of like falling into one of those Memory Foam beds, only for your feet. Luscious.

After all the hard work, we went to dinner at the wonderful Taprock Grill and watched the beautiful Rogue River sliding by on what felt like a very summery evening. Of course, we had picnic lunches out under the trees, and big breakfasts to share. It was a nice time spent with family and we got a lot done. I spent a long time dealing with a weed in the field that is on the noxious weed list for Oregon. We will see how that goes. I took some hand quilting and knitting with me, but I haven’t had my sewing machine out for more than six weeks now. Mo thinks summer isn’t quilting time.

Gardening has been big on the list as well, at both places. After being in Grants Pass with our limited water, I love so much coming home to Rocky Point and our deep, cold, fabulous well with unlimited water. Here I can hose down driveways and run sprinklers as long as I want to. Funny though, I keep catching myself thinking I need to turn off the hose. Oops, nope, I am not in Grants Pass where I have to make sure the hose trickles at 2.0 gallons per minute. I test it with a bucket, and that way I can run the hose all day to water the fruit trees and shrubs without running the well dry.

Then of course, there is kayaking. I am sad to say that today was the first time we have had our boats out this year. But oh what a perfect day it was. We were on the water by 9am, early enough that it was still cool and the birds were out in force. We decided to go south into Pelican Bay, and then back north through the marsh on Crystal Creek, crossing the Wocus Cut back to Recreation Creek and back south to the Rocky Point boat launch. Crystal Creek was thick with birds today, especially the terns, which must have been breeding with the black tipped orange bills and all the ruckus they made as we passed. It was fun to watch them dive for fish.

I saw a beautiful great egret, a couple of blue herons, American white pelicans, some kind of hawk, and even a turkey buzzard, a bird I don’t often see soaring over the lake. Red wing blackbirds were everywhere, and I am pretty sure I saw a tri-color blackbird as well. The surprise was a night heron flying right in front of my boat, low over the water to disappear in the tules. The weather was perfect, and the stiff breeze coming from the south made paddling against the current in Crystal Creek a bit easier, and wasn’t hard enough to slow us down when we were traveling with the current on Recreation Creek.

Crossing the Wocus Cut is always beautiful, and this time of year the water was deep enough to make the crossing easy. There are canoe trail signs to mark the route, because it is easy to get lost in the refuge when the tules are high. On the northern horizon are the peaks of the Crater Lake Rim, to the west is Mt McLoughlin, to the east, the expanse of Klamath Lake, and to the south the beautiful, still snow covered Mountain Lakes Wilderness.

We have been just so busy this spring, and when the weather would break, it seems we were always doing something else. Out there on the water I was reminded of why I should just drop whatever I am doing and get out in the boat more often. What a treasure we have right here in our back yard. Of course, I took my camera with me. I do have a Pelican waterproof case, but I usually hang the camera around my neck while paddling so I can get photos of the birds. I also had my cell phone with me so I could play with the MotionGPS app that tracks our route. Coming into the landing, I decided to put the camera back in the case and took off my life vest (where the cell phone was located) before exiting the kayak.

Does anyone remember my little video from last year about how easy it is to exit a kayak? Well I am glad I wasn’t taking a video today, and I am especially glad that I had taken off my vest and stowed the camera. Today I managed to dump myself right into the lake as I was trying to get out of the kayak. The very cold lake! Luckily we live less than a mile from the launch, and when we got home I dumped my very shivering self right into the hot tub in the bright afternoon sunshine! I was warmed up in no time!

Speaking of back yard, we are planning some summer camping trips to take advantage of our choice to stay around home this season. After the fourth of July we will go camping at our favorite little lake just south of the state line, Medicine Lake. I think the last time we were there was in 2009 before I moved back here from California. A short trip to Lapine and the famous Sisters quilt show will be extended by camping up at East Paulina Lake south of Bend. In August we hope to get back over to the beautiful Oregon Coast and try out a new campground that we always drive past and never actually camp. Harris Beach is so wonderful, but it is time to give some of the other coastal campgrounds a try. Then right after Labor Day when the heat dissipates a bit, we will head for John Day country, Joseph, and Wallowa Lake.

I spent some time fiddling around with the blog, attempting to use a new template. It seems that my old template (borrowed from Laurie of Semi-True Tales) is out of date and won’t allow me to add the Google plus buttons at the bottom of a post. I thought it would be nice to have that, since I do use Google Plus, but some long time honored readers didn’t think much of my new plan. No one else said much, but if one person was disturbed, I suppose others might have been as well. Besides, it was really bugging me that I no longer had that nifty “stretch” feature I inherited from Laurie, and that I couldn’t get the header photo to be in the center of the page. I backed up the old blog template before changing, and it was a simple matter to just reload the old template. So no Google plus buttons.

I also tried to shift to the new Google plus comments, but that was a fiasco as well, since anyone who isn’t a member of Google plus could no longer comment. Like Erin, I dumped that one as well. Hopefully with all the Google changes, everything will still work. I do really enjoy reading Rick’s updates on what Google is doing, and how to deal with the little stuff that comes up now and then. Every single time I have asked Rick a question, he has responded almost immediately and unselfishly with help and advice. They charge big bucks for that, you know, and Rick just pops in and answers detailed complicated questions for so many of us.

In my spare time, (yeah right!) I decided to get down to the real planning for our winter trip. As usual, after Christmas this year, we will travel south to our favorite little desert haunts, Joshua Tree, Desert Hot Springs, and Anza Borrego. This time, however, we are just going to keep going and travel east and south for at least three months. I am having to plan a bit more in advance than I might like because we will be in Florida in February, busiest time for some of the places we want to go. It is hard to try to figure out exactly where we will be on an exact date in order to make some kind of reservations. But I am trying. I have been pinning and saving all sorts of campground, kayaking, and sightseeing information from some of my favorite southern bloggers including Sherry and David, Karen and Al, Randy and Pam, TravelBug Susan, and lots of other blogs.

No, we didn’t start in the middle of the creek, that is just when I turned on the MotionGPX app.

We hope to be in Big Bend National Park in Texas by mid January. Although I read several blogs that talked about visiting Big Bend, I didn’t keep track of who was there when. If you happen to read this blog, and you happened to have posted about your visit to Big Bend, could you drop a note or comment and let me know where to look for those posts on your blog? I have tons of stuff of everything from South Padre Island east to Key West and back north into Georgia. We have traveled south to Tucson and Bisbee and east to Las Cruces, so those are knowns. I even traveled across I-10 with my daughter last year, and Mo and I looked longingly south toward Big Bend on our very first trip in the MoHo after we bought her in New Braunfels. But Big Bend? Nada. You know who you are, send me a note, please?

Oh yeah, in the midst of lying around eating bonbons, I decided that I needed to refinish my dining table. I am just doing the top, thank goodness, because the rest is fine. Sometimes I can be really stupid, and last year when learning to quilt, I used some spray fabric adhesive without protecting the table properly. Wouldn’t you know it, it took the finish right off! Ugly and yes, very stupid. So I bought a can of Formby’s, some steel wool, some oak stain, and some polyurethane and tackled that project this week. By the time company arrives on the 24th, I’ll have a very smooth, very shiny, very new looking table top. It is actually kind of fun seeing the transformation, and so far it is looking really good.

Stuff comes in threes, and my third stupid move for the week was freaking out with Jeremy. Now Jeremy is very old, 17 years, and he has been a perfect cat for all those years. Until recently. Now sometimes he gets confused and forgets where his box is. Gah. Thank goodness at least he doesn’t spray or urinate. But still, I saw him in a familiar pose on the newly cleaned carpet and picked him up and put him out on the porch. Jeremy is an indoor cat, and he is also very arthritic. Within minutes he was gone like a shot, and we had no clue where he was hiding. I felt really bad, and Mo and I walked the area for a couple of hours calling him.

Finally, just as it was getting dark, he came up to the porch. He was pretty quiet and very slow, and was completely saturated with dark brown heavy dirt. Who knows what hole he found to hide in. The rest of the evening he was quiet and stayed under the bed. I woke up at 5 this morning thinking I had probably killed my cat and was scared to look under the bed for him since he never came up to sleep with me as usual. But no, my very dirty cat was in the living room waiting for Mo to build a fire. The mornings are still cold enough for a fire here, and once the hearth was heated I dunked Jeremy in a warm bath and tried to get the worst of the dirt out of his fur.

My gorgeous, sleek, 13 pound perfect cat has become a very skinny crippled up 7 pound old man. He can still see and still hear, although not as well as before, but his life most of the time seems good. Most of the time he is happy, but sometimes when he gets quiet and sleeps all day and doesn’t move around a lot, and when I see him stumble when his back end doesn’t work properly my heart knows that he won’t be around for long. Like so many of us, I may have to make that choice someday if I see he is hurting too much, or if his eyes tell me it is time. I certainly don’t want him to disappear into the forest and get eaten by a coyote because I have put him out on the porch in a fit of frustration! Geez!