#19 - Gullies, Gorges, Waterfalls and Home

September 19, 2018

The day after we visited Crater Lake, we went in search of waterfalls around Prospect. The guy in the  office of the RV park gave us maps and some "must sees" and off we went. What a day. There's not a lot to say about them except how fun they were to find, how you could hear them before you could see them and the beauty of each one. We also found two gorges that were absolutely  gorgeous. (Couldn't resist.) 😊

Our trip was finally coming to an end and we left for home the next day. It took us 7 days of driving through Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa before finally arriving in Wisconsin. We put a total of ~5300 miles on Shorty and another 2000 on the trike, so we sure didn't let any grass grow under our feet. We traversed twelve states, visited four national parks, various national scenic areas and forests and crossed the Great Salt Desert. It was truly a wonderful adventure for us and something that we will never ever forget. We cannot tell you how fun it was to have you along. We so appreciate you for sticking with us, writing your comments and "liking" our posts. It was kind of a long drawn out story this time but you hung in there with us and we got 'er done! Thank you, dear friends and family.

As always, we wish you...

Happy trails.

#18 - Crater Lake

September 17-19th

The last reservation we have on our trip before heading for home later this week, is Crater Lake RV Park in Prospect, Oregon. Prospect is about 20 miles south of Crater Lake National Park in a beautiful area that gives us a nice ride on the trike to get there. The weather is perfect with lots of sun in the 60s.

A few facts from the National Park Service:  Crater Lake used to be a 12,000 ft tall volcano called Mount Mazama. About 7700 years ago, there was a major eruption that may have been the largest in North America in the past 640,000 years. The volcano collapsed and created Crater Lake. It is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world. It is fed only by rain and snow, no rivers or streams. It is 4.5 - 6 miles wide, 1943 feet deep at it's deepest point and it gets about 43 feet of snowfall annually.

Anyway... I think I've found another "favorite  place to be" in the world. I literally gasped out loud when I first set eyes on Crater Lake and we spent the entire day there driving around the 33-mile rim road. There are lots of overlooks and you just never get tired of it. I'll let the pictures show you. Crater Lake gave us unbelievably...

Happy Trails.

#17 - The Beautiful Oregon Coast

September 10th - 16th

Our home for the next seven days was at Cape Perpetua Campground in the Suislaw National Forest. We were just south of Yachats (Ya hots) and north of Florence, Oregon. It's a beautiful area and we hoped to see it all and just soak it in. (Not literally, of course.) The forecast was for anywhere from 30-50% chance of rain everyday so we fully expected some sunshine and blue skies intermingled with clouds and mist and that is exactly what we got. Our campsite was pretty rustic. Literally, in the woods, surrounded by lots of trees and bushes with a  babbling mountain stream right behind us. It was a little dark and pretty wet. The best thing about it was that it was right across the road from some of the most beautiful areas along the Oregon coast. Devil's Churn, the Spouting Horn, Cook's Chasm are just a few of the names of the many stunning overlooks. Each day we picked a direction and rode the trike as far as we could go and still get home before dark. We loved it all. Watching the never ending, pounding sea against the rocks from the cliffs above is something I will never forget.

One of our favorite days was a trip to Florence and a place called Mo's. It is a restaurant known for its clam chowder and hands down, it was the best clam chowder I have ever had! Yum! While we ate, we watched people on the dock fishing for crabs. What an interesting process. Down goes the basket and literally a minute later it's pulled up with lots of crabs inside! They could only keep the males and they had to be a minimum of 7.5 inches long, so most of them were thrown back.  It was fun to watch.

Happy trails to you. 

#16 - On to Oregon!

September 8th & 9th

We're sure learning and experiencing the difference in Washington weather depending on which side of the Cascade Mountains you are on. From hot and dry to rain and a lot cooler. It's all pretty interesting.

The last two days of traveling around the peninsula in Washington are being spent outside a little town called Cosmopolis. Our clothes are still pretty wet from the rainy motorcycle ride yesterday so we're taking a day off of riding to try to dry things out and relax! That might not be easy as it's sprinkling as I write. We have a cute site in the woods that's kind of cozy, so we're good. The drive from Port Angeles was grey and rainy. We went through the town of Forks, which some of you may remember from the Twilight Saga. We were along the coast for a short time and enjoyed the views despite the weather.

After we leave here, we will spend the next 7 days in central Oregon along the coast. The forecast doesn't look good, but it can't rain all the time, right? We are hoping for...

Happy Trails.

#15 - Neah Bay and the Cape Flattery Trail

September 6 & 7, 2018

After leaving Silverlake and Mount St. Helen's, we chose to make a big circle around Olympic National Park and the large peninsula in northwest Washington. It was a beautiful ride to our first stop, Port Angeles, but the road was much  narrower and curvier than we expected. We wished we were on the trike rather than in Shorty! Port Angeles is located on the northern end of the peninsula on the Straight of Juan de Fuca, just south of Victoria on Vancouver Island. It was the first port many of our World War II soldiers saw upon returning from the Pacific.

We had a decision to make about where we wanted to ride and spend our one day in Port Angeles. One choice was doing some short rides into Olympic National Park and the other was a long 70-mile one-way ride to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery. It is about as far west as you can go in the lower 48 states. The weather was iffy that day so you can just guess our choice. You're right. Cape Flattery. Yikes. We were told that there was a 1/2-3/4 mile hiking trail to the ocean with amazing views and that it would be so worth it. We believe anybody so off we went.

It started raining just as we pulled into Neah Bay. There's a short drive from there to Cape Flattery and the trailhead. We had all our rain gear on, hiking boots, hiking poles, cell phones for pictures...we were set. Well, it rained our whole treacherous hike. Even Rick, who is a great hiker, thought it was one of his hardest hikes ever. Muddy paths, slippery rocks, slippery intermittent board walks, tree roots out to grab you, you name it. We met lots of people coming back and they all said, "keep going, keep going, it's worth it." Ya, ya, ya.

I must have been really motivated that day though. I hung in there, stayed upright and even helped Rick lift up a lady who had fallen in a bush and couldn't get up. I was so glad I had my poles! We took some great pictures and eventually got back to the trailhead safely. It's all good...or was it? We were cold and wet and had a 70-mile trip home on the trike. Oh oh. Won't go into detail but I don't think I've ever been so cold in my entire life. We eventually got back to Shorty safe and sound, got into warm, dry clothes and blankets and were fine. It is a day we will never ever forget. We wish you dry

Happy Trails. 🎵🎵

#14 - Silverlake and Mount St. Helens

Tuesday & Wednesday, Sept. 4 & 5, 2018

Oh, the joys of electricity! For the first time in nine days, we are plugged in and off water rationing. What a treat! Actually, it's kinda funny. Once you get used to using the least amount of water you need to get the job done, it wasn't that bad. As far as electricity, that was much easier than I thought it would be. We have a generator for essentials that we run for an hour/day, little lanterns that we use at night, I cook with propane and we use 12-volt house batteries for the rest. (What has happened to me? I can't believe I'm saying that stuff!) Haha. 

Anyway....we took the long way around to get to our next destination in Silverlake, WA. We wanted to avoid the same drive we took when we went to see Mount Rainier so we headed south to travel along the Columbia Gorge. What an absolutely beautiful area! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures but we sure have the memories. We chose Silverlake as our next stop as we really wanted to see Mount St. Helens and it looked like a great motorcycle ride between the two.

Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its major 1980 eruption, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed, nearly 7000 big game animals (deer, elk and bear), an estimated 12 million fish, 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. (Information taken from literature we picked up at the Visitor Center). It was so interesting seeing the mountain from a distance and then being able to drive up to see it so much closer. You are driving on the newer roads, crossing newer bridges and yet still seeing the destructive remnants of the eruption. It was quite a day and we're still wishing you...

Happy Trails.

#13 - The Ellensburg Rodeo and A Last Ride

Sunday, September 2nd

Those of you who know me well or were with us on our trip 5 years ago, know I have always loved rodeos. It's the little girl horse thing, I guess. Anything to do with horses. Well, it turns out, the Ellensburg Rodeo, held annually over the Labor Day weekend, is one of the top 10 rodeos in the country. Since we were "floaters" on Saturday, today was the day for the rodeo and the county fair. It was a warm one; sunny and 86°. We were lucky, though, and got seats in the shade. Bronco riding, calf roping, trick riding, bull riding... we had it all. After the rodeo, we walked around the small county fair and then to our favorite park so I could send my latest blog. Another delightful day, ending with a beautiful early evening ride home through the canyon.

Monday, Sept. 3rd

The neighborhood is emptying out quickly, the long weekend coming to an end. Jerry, Debbie & Kristen, our floater friends, headed out early this morning and we will be leaving here tomorrow. The only ride we haven't taken so far is directly east and in an attempt to avoid heavy holiday traffic, that is where we went today. The town was called Vantage and it really was just a recreation area with a gas station, RV park and a fun little restaurant. It was a nice quiet ride through rural Washington and very different from what we were used to seeing.
We tried to soak in everything on our last ride home through Yakima Canyon. We truly enjoyed our time here and will miss it, but tomorrow we move on to the other side of the Cascades. We wish you...

Happy trails. 🎵🎵