planning – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Writer’s Block

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon: nice evening after a gorgeous day

I really didn’t want to fall into the trap of trying to explain why I haven’t written. Kind of like writing in your diary, “Dear Diary…sorry I haven’t written”. Diary doesn’t care, I am sure. Every one of us who write these open ended online journals run into writer’s block now and then. This time it hit me half way home from our last trip. If you don’t know me from elsewhere, you might think that we are still lost somewhere along the California coast. If I were to return to my blog a year from now, trying to figure out where we were in April, I might be rather disappointed to see that we possibly beamed ourselves, Star Trek Style, from Eureka to Rocky Point. Trinity Scenic Byway (2 of 36)

There is so much going on at the moment in our lives that travel memories have taken a bit of a back seat, but that is another story. Maybe I’ll get to it eventually, but not right now.

In actuality, the last two days of our short little vacation were spent ambling along at a snail’s pace. We decided that Highway 299 would be a good route back toward home, over the beautiful Trinity Mountains and following along the gorgeous Trinity River. Called the Trinity Scenic Byway, the route is the main road that connects the upper Sacramento Valley to the California coast.

When we left Eureka, the fog was still hanging in over Humboldt Bay, but by the time we reached Berry Summit the fog was just a wisp in the wind shrouding the mountain but not obscuring the beautiful views. The day was brilliant, the skies gorgeous, the traffic minimal. Redbuds were in bloom and the hills were Ireland green. That springtime green thing in the coast range can be so incredibly vivid. Like no other green I have ever seen anywhere.

We had a destination in mind, a mere 100 miles over the mountain to the little town of Weaverville, where I had scoped out a small RV park. We were in no hurry, and stopped along the river for photos and views. A few miles west of Weaverville, we found a forest service campground and pulled in to check it out.

Not a soul in sight, and the camp host site was empty, but there were no gates to keep us out and after walking around a bit, listening to the river, we said, “Why not?!” Our tanks were empty, we had plenty of water and no need for power so we pulled into the sweet little spot, opened up the door to the sunshine and the river and settled in for a lovely evening. Three bucks with our senior pass. Much better than that 35 bucks it would have cost in Weaverville.

The next morning we rose at our leisure and ambled on down the road to the sweet little gold rush town of Weaverville. It was charming in the way that California gold towns can be, with interesting store fronts and historical signs on the buildings.

We visited the Joss House museum visitor center, enjoying the well done displays of the Chinese culture that thrived in Weaverville during the gold rush. Neither of us felt like waiting around for a tour, so we skipped the inside of the Chinese Temple.

Once again, we were reminded of the great contribution made by the Chinese to the development of the American West.

With no desire to continue east to a boring interstate, we turned north on Highway 3, following the western shore of Trinity Lake. The road was narrow and steep in places, but not unmanageable. We stopped to view the nearly empty lake and read the non existent signs. Sign vandalism is just stupid. Although perhaps not as stupid as damming a river and backing up a lake over miles and miles of placer mine tailings.

Now that the California drought has exposed the land drowned by the reservoir, I wonder if people who are users of the millions of gallons delivered annually to the California water project are at all worried about the lead and mercury left in those tailings. I still can’t figure out the mindset of certain news pundits who say the California water problem is due to the environmentalists stopping the building of more reservoirs. The ones already there have no water in them! Talk about a waste of money! Let’s build more dams so we can have more empty reservoirs? This drought is long term, and not going to end next week.

We did see several warning signs stating that in 42 miles or so, the road would be unsuitable for trailers. No problem. We have driven those kinds of roads many times in the past. After passing the little community of Coffee Creek, where we found nothing at all, we continued north toward Scott Mountain Pass.

We ignored the sign that said no trailers once again, and within a mile knew that had been a mistake. Picture a hairpin turn with a 15 percent grade. MoHo groaned up the hill and we managed to find a turnout on the very narrow road to unhook the baby car. Next time we will pay attention. This is not an easy climb, and definitely not a place to be towing. And no, there are no photos of these few challenging moments.

Mo drove on ahead with the MoHo while I followed along in the Tracker, enjoying the gorgeous views and the beautiful wild landscape of the Trinities. Descending into the Scott Valley is a treat, with a landscape of ranching and river that is the heart of the old west.

Our evening destination, a mere 80 miles north of Weaverville, was the tiny community of Etna, California. Just 20 miles south of Eureka, Etna is charming and quiet, and boasts a great little RV park, Mountain Village. A Passport America park, there were level sites, full hookups, and grassy spaces between rigs. With the park nearly empty, we enjoyed the late afternoon thoroughly. For a mere $16.00, we spent our last night before returning to the cottage at Grants Pass the next day.

That leaning oak on the left will have to go when the house is built. That is where the western wall will extend It has been just over three weeks since that day. In that short time we spent a few days working at the cottage. Mo managed to get the 30 amp to the MoHo shed and we mowed the acre that is greening up and growing fast. My scheduled surgery required a few visits to Eugene and those overnight trips are always more delightful with the MoHo. The one time we stayed in a hotel we decided, never again. taking a break from electrical work in the RV shed

After Eugene, it was time to bring the MoHo back over the mountain to her berth in Grants Pass. We missed having her at home and with winter behind us, it was time. Of course, the only winter we had this year showed up on Easter Sunday with 1/2 an inch of snow and then again on April 14 with another half inch. Crazy.

old fort road middle In the last couple of months, we have made some big decisions about the future, moving toward a final goal of building a “forever” home on the cottage property. I also decided that it was time to sell the little house I bought in Klamath Falls back in 2002. Daughter Melody decided that as a now single mom, she needed a bit less house to manage. She has lived in the Klamath house since 2008.

Melody and my granddaughter Axel each now have an apartment at the small complex that Mo has on the edge of town in Klamath Falls. working at the apartments (10 of 12) Mo and I put some time in refurbishing those apartments, painting and cleaning, getting carpets and flooring installed so they are all nice and fresh. It was hard work but also a fun project, nice to see the apartments all pretty again. Renters are not often much fun, and don’t seem to care about how they live. I am glad that we no longer have to deal with crummy renters who trash the place.

With Melody out of the Klamath house, it was time to spruce it up for sale. I had renters in there during the time I lived in California for my final working years, and it needed fresh paint when Melody moved in back in 2008! Again, Mo and I have been busy painting, fixing, repairing and getting the house ready for market. I am really hoping that the time is right, and that she will sell quickly.

working on Painter (16 of 19) It is a great little historic bungalow in an historic neighborhood in a nice part of Klamath Falls.

finished13 Early on during this three week process, I got a phone call from the two surgeons who will be working on me, saying that the surgery had to be rescheduled from April 13 to May 4, so I gained an extra three weeks to actually get the Klamath Falls house project done. At least hopefully.

Mo and I feel like we are working again. We leave the house every morning to go to one town or another, work all day, and drive home late all tired and worn out. After surgery I am not supposed to lift anything over five pounds for 3 months! Crazy. So everything has to be done NOW or it won’t get done, at least not by me.

So, writer’s block? Yeah. I think I have a reasonable excuse.

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!

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!!

NoSnow Vacation

Now that Christmas is behind us, and all the romance of those gorgeous snowy days is a bit dim, we decided it was time to head over the mountain for a break. We wanted to check on the MoHo, make sure that the space heater Mo set up was working properly, see the new fancy chain drive that was installed on the shed roll up door, and just hang out for a couple of days in a place where snow is a rarity. We also thought it might be fun to see just how much the hole in the kitchen ceiling had grown.

Most of the time when we drive over the snowy pass, we take our toad, the Tracker. It has studded tires and 4 wheel drive and could probably climb a tree if needed. But we wanted space and comfort and it was only a 2 hour drive, so we opted instead to take the Lexus. With something called ECT (a button!) and Overdrive OFF, she did just fine in spite of the dicey conditions on the pass.
Our Oregon State DOT wrote something up in the newspaper last summer about coming up with a name for our pass. I sure hope they do it soon. It is definitely a real pass, with a summit and lots of snow. For now, we just call it Highway 140, and say we are going “over the pass”. Sure would be nice to have a name. I am voting for Sky Lakes Pass since it travels just south of the Sky Lakes Wilderness. Hey, Jeanne, maybe Brown Mountain Pass, or Mt McLoughlin Pass, or Pelican Butte pass? The road doesn’t go over a single one of those big mountains, but ‘passes’ right in between all of them.
It isn’t much distance from home to Medford. We are near milepost 44 and the highway starts in Medford at 0. Probably 25 miles this side of Medford is out of the snow zone, so the pass itself is really only about 15 miles of actually winter pass driving. Medford and Grants Pass are in zone 7 on the agricultural scale, the same as the foothills of California. There is occasional snow, and a cold enough winter that tulips and lilacs will bloom, but most of the time there isn’t anything to shovel and the daytime temperatures are almost always above freezing. Within half an hour of leaving home, we were out of the snow and into the rain and fog that is common this time of year in the Rogue Valley.
Once we arrived at the cottage, we were happy to see the MoHo shed looking shiny and the MoHo all safe and cozy inside. Mo had a big roll up door installed, and they hadn’t put in the chain drive when we were here last. Both of us got a big kick out of how incredibly easy it was to open the big door with that fancy drive. Sure beats trying to push the thing up with a pole. It is Heavy!
Once we knew that the MoHo was all safe and sound and that the little space heater had kept things just toasty in there, we went inside the chilly damp cottage to see how things were faring. Funny how something like the hole in the kitchen ceiling just seems interesting instead of devastating when the cottage isn’t a full time proposition. I sure would hate to have this happen in my real house. Mo found a roofer in the area who seemed reasonably experienced and made an appointment for him to come and give us an estimate for a new or repaired roof.
This guy was interesting, to say the least, and he really likes to talk, especially in circles. Hopefully he knows what he is doing. He said there were at least 4 and maybe 5 layers on that old roof, and that he would take it down to the wood, replace anything that is rotted and start fresh. Mo decided on shingles instead of metal, since there isn’t any snow to slide off in Grants Pass to speak of anyway. He said that he would tarp the roof until he could get to it. Tarp??!! Blue Tarps??!! I have spent the last 40 years laughing at what my friends and I called “North Idaho Roofing Jobs”, blue tarps everywhere. Now I am going to have one? I hope maybe he uses something other than those awful blue tarps.
We spent the rest of our time enjoying the break from plowing and shoveling snow. The leaves from the oaks were wet and thick on the ground, but since we can’t seem to coordinate our visits with a legal burn day, Mo thought it was better to just let the leaves wait where they are instead of making a big wet pile of them somewhere else. I liked that idea a lot, since I am the major leaf raker, and while Mo did puttery house repairs (her favorite hobby), I sat in front of the big south facing window knitting.
We have a nice old fashioned and very good gas stove in the house that had it warmed up and cozy in no time. Dinner was leftover ham from Christmas on the first night but the second night after running some errands we decided it was time for real pizza. Living in Rocky Point most of the time, means it is a minimum 40 minutes on a dry good day from town to home. Hard to get a pizza back from the shop while still hot.
The cottage, however, is just 3 miles from town, and the Legendary Abby’s Pizza. I remember eating Abby’s pizzas when I lived in Medford back in 1969! The store was full but not overcrowded, with lots of happy folks eating pizza and enjoying the big fire in the center of the dining room. Our pizza was great, the half carafe of Burgundy wine was certainly not fancy, but obviously we had a good time.
Dang, that pizza was GOOD! Or was it the wine.
The best part was the ten minute drive back to the cottage! We really like this part about living near town. Grants Pass seems to have some nice stores and restaurants, and even though the population is technically smaller than Klamath Falls, the stores are all bigger, newer, and nicer for some reason. Home Depot is well stocked and probably 1/3 bigger than our shop in Klamath. Is it access to the interstate that makes the difference?
This morning we woke again to a foggy day and deer in the yard. The mama looked familiar, with what is probably last year’s yearling and this year’s fawn. The doe and the yearling get over the fence, but the fawn always seems to end up wandering along outside the fence. I suppose he will eventually get big enough to actually jump with the other two.
Both of us are getting a bit antsy to get the MoHo out of her pretty shed and on the road. Before mid month January we will be heading south to the desert via the old favorite, I-5. I really miss that hot springs pool at Catalina Spa in Desert Hot Springs. I think we owe a nice Palm Springs dinner to Rick and Paulette as well, and I even miss those silly windmills spinning away.
I also showed Mo some of the reviews that Nina wrote about San Diego, so we are going to give it a try this season after our 7 day Passport America stay at Catalina Spa. Looking forward to something a bit different that we haven’t done before. I haven’t been to the San Diego Zoo since I was a kid. Yippee!!

Finally!

When I first thought about retiring, I knew that traveling would be one of my priorities. Years ago, traveling with my kids meant making a big bed in the back of the Volkswagen van and driving all night while they slept, completely unrestrained of course. Later it involved car camping trips and sleeping in tents and sleeping bags on the ground. We managed a trip to Disneyland once, a bit of cross country car camping as migrant workers in the 70’s, and once my life settled down a bit I did manage to take a kid or two to San Francisco for a big city visit. We lived in rural Idaho at the time, and “the city” was an exciting destination.

As years passed and I managed to grow from eking out a meager living as a waitress to actually making a real living as a soil scientist, my travel time grew as well. However, by then, my kids were all grown and in the process of eking out their own modest livings and raising their kids. We managed a few local family reunions here and there, and in 2006 when Melody got married, we shared a family cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

My big goal was to manage at least one “big” trip for each of my children. I know that some folks do the big thing with the entire family, paying airfare and hotel for offspring and their spouses and kids and extended families. I don’t think I could even manage a second mortgage for that much money, so my dreams were a bit more modest. No spouses, no kids, just me and one child at a time going to the place of their choice, almost anywhere in the world that they would choose to go. Well, Australia was out since that was just beyond affordable to me, but most other destinations were up for grabs.

Almost two years ago my oldest daughter claimed her trip and we shared a charter Legendary Blues Cruise to the southern Caribbean. Which brings me to today. My youngest daughter was the one who chose to go next and eighteen months ago I paid for this trip to Eastern Europe, and Melody and I have been planning and dreaming about it ever since. It is Melody’s first trip off the continent. It is mother/daughter time at its best, with no distractions of friends, spouses, children, responsibilities. To say we are excited is an understatement.

My first trip to Europe was with Mo, a seasoned traveler who has been to more than 36 countries. I was as giddy and excited on that trip as I expect Melody will be on this one. I have traveled with Mo on several cruises, to Thailand, to Turkey, to Malta, across the US and Canada, and as tough and smart as I think I am, I know how much I depend on Mo’s travel skills and take-charge abilities. I realize that on this trip I will be the experienced one. I won’t have Mo to fall back on…Melody will expect to be able to fall back on me. After all, I am ‘Mom”. I managed a complex life for nearly 60 years before I met Mo so I am sure I should manage just fine!

I have followed Kevin and Ruth across eastern Europe lately, marveling at their resourcefulness, their willingness to search out destinations on their own, to couch-surf and use public transportation, seeing the countries in ways that aren’t limited to the views most tourists get. I, on the other hand, have chosen the tourist route, decidedly and willingly! After traveling with Mo using Grand Circle Tours and Go Ahead Tours, I learned my old ideas about tour travel were just plain silly. It is GREAT not having to worry about all the details. It is GREAT having my luggage show up at my hotel, getting a quickie tour of the city and then having a couple of days on my own to go back to the places I want to explore more deeply. goahead trip

I decided on GoAhead Tours, mainly because they seem to cater to a younger clientele. I would have loved to do an OAT “(Overseas Adventure Travel) tour, but they are a lot more expensive and I decided against it. Go Ahead does a great job for the price, not fancy, but not cut rate either.

I could easily go to Turkey or Thailand again on my own, once I have been there, but for a first time trip to just about anywhere, I really like having the luxury of a tour. Especially with limited time available, because of course my daughter is still working, I want no hassles. I want to give my daughter the opportunity to see a different part of the world, to expand her horizons, but to do it with just a bit more safety factor than I would feel out there loose on my own.

The photos on the right and below are of the hike to Vernal Falls in Yosemite that I made with my kids back in the 70’s. Melody was 4 and as you can see, most of the hike she was on my back. Hopefully on this trip she will be the one I can lean on instead of the other way around.

Today Melody and I both woke up at 3:30 am, at 4:00 am, all packed and ready with nowhere to go. We sent each other text messages and emails, and laughed about how silly it was. We are driving north to Albany today so that we have an easy commute to Portland tomorrow for our 1:30 departure from PDX for the ten hour flight to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we will take a short flight to Budapest, spending three days there before traveling the 150 miles to Vienna. Three days in Vienna, with another day to drive to Prague for three more days and the quick 11 day trip will be over.

My knee is functioning rather well, and the brace and trekking poles should help with cobblestone streets and lots of stairs that I expect to climb in these beautiful old world cities. The trekking poles are in checked luggage, in spite of the encouragement of the doctor and the travel agent, too many websites said they could be a problem on the airlines. I decided not to take the chance and will simply lean on my daughter if i need to!

My little girl and I are off to see the world!