BAKER CITY, OREGON

Well, we pulled into the Mountain View Trav l park about 1pm.  It is Mon. July 28th and we are scheduled to be here for two nights.  It was really turning out to be a hot day so we turned on the generator in order to cool the coach.  The ac ran for about 2 minutes and then stopped.  The generator kept working but it wasn't powering the coach.  On top of that our compressor in the engine part of the coach is not working so we had a hot 3 hours going down the road. 

When we got to the campground we plugged into the 50 amp power, but it would not power the coach.  Oh dear, what is wrong now.  A workamper and the owner of the park came over to check the power and even our inside breakers but could find nothing wrong.  Then they went off and brought back a room air conditioner and set it up on our kitchen table so that we would be cool.  The temp was about 90 by now.  By fiddling around with our electrical panel, we managed to get it working.

Then a fellow camper in front of our site, Ron and his wife Jan, he came over to ask if we needed any help and he is a whiz with electricity.  He said he would come over in the morning and check all our screws and wiring because something must be loose.  This campground has very high water pressure, over 100 psi which would bust pipes in our rig.  Well, we put on our water regulator to keep the pressure down.  However Ron forgot too.  At 4am his wife went to the bathroom and stepped into water, his whole coach was flooded, the pressure broke his ice maker line for the fridge and it all seeped in.  So he spent most of the morning mopping up and drying out his area rugs.  To get back to the electrical problem we had, then he came over, shut off the power and DID locate a loose wire in our breaker box, that came off when he touched it.  He tightened everything up and now we are good to go.  These folks we meet on our travels are so wonderful.

We decided to go the the Oregon Trail Interperative Center so we got in the car and it refused to start, what now.  One of the campers gave us a jump and we went to a tire and battery center up the road and it was discovered the battery was no good, so we got a new one.  So off we went to the Center.  It is high up in the mountains and tells the whole story of the Oregon Trail, I took lots of pictures.  If you take a 2 mile hike you can see the original wagon wheel ruts, but with the temps so high we decided not to do that.

Then we went food shopping and came back to the rig for our afternoon snack.  I also did two loads of laundry while we were here.  Not bad for only two nights.

This evening we went to a gorgeous historical hotel in town for dinner.  It is from the 1880's and was owned by a gold mine owner.  It is a beautiful place.   The dinner was wonderful, Joel had the ribeye steak and I had hazelnut encrusted tilapia with a lemon blanc sauce.  I loved it.  It is the first time I have ever eaten fish when we go out.  Now we are back to the rig and relaxing.  Joel is putting the car in the trailer for tomorrow we go about 2 hours up the road to Pendleton, Oregon to the Koa.  Enjoy the pics.  Joel also put in a water softener in the bay, what a difference!

 

The pic above is where the original trail was

 

 

 

 

All these pictures portray the hard hard

journey the pioneers had to go through.

So many lost children and parents on this trek

 

 

 

The pic below is after Joel finished the great

dinner we had, a well satisfied look

 

 

 

 

MERIDIAN, IDAHO

We pulled into the Boise-Meridian Koa rv park on July 23, for 4 nights.  This is a very nice Koa which is about 25 minutes from Boise, but alas we never went to Boise because on the second day we were here my back went out AGAIN.  A couple of days later I felt better and there happened to be a corvette and classic car show in the town we were in so we went and had a great time, wonderful people.  Speaking of wonderful people we had a great couple next to us, our age and just delightful.  Debbie and Vern live in Sonora Ca, in the sierra mountains and have a home there and horses and such.  They are on their summer trip in their new rv a Thor and have problems already with one of their slides.  It is a beautiful rig, great layout, I hope they straighten it all out.  They invited us for dinner Saturday night and we had bbq chicken and she made fresh potato salad, I made a garden salad and we had wine and rum and cokes.  We sat around and talked till 11:30 pm and then in the morning they left, we were sad to see them go but they will come and see us in the ca desert this winter.  We hung around all day Sunday while I tried to make reservations for the next week.  Where we wanted to go was completely booked up, so I changed our itinerary to bring us to the Oregon coast along I84.  It will work out ok.  I have the next 2 places booked and tomorrow morning we leave for Baker City, Oregon which will probably take us about 2 hrs. 

IDAHO FALLS

Idaho Falls, Snake River Rv Park.  We arrive on July 21st.  It is very wooded and we get a very long pull-thru.  We manage to get our satellite signal by maneuvering the rig between the trees.  The placed looks like it used to be a koa.  It is in the middle of an industrial area, but a real nice campground. 

Today the 22nd we go to a small zoo in town and then an attraction called Bearworld.  It is a real nice little zoo.  We saw camels, lions, kangaroos, penguins, otters, and a beautiful monkey house.  Then we drive to Bearworld which is a drive thru safari animal park.  Saw moose, elk, loads of bears.  Then we went into the petting zoo and I had my fun.  I got to play with deer, a baby fawn, goats and adorable guinea hens.  See pics.  Then went back to our neighborhood and had Mexican food at "Jalisco's".  Wonderful homemade Mexican food.  I had the arroz con pollo, and Joel had the steak fajitas, chips, salsa and bean dip.  We drank water with lemon.  It is amazing, the water in the west is delicious. 

Well, it is Wednesday, the 23rd, our last day here.  We were planning on going to the Museum of Idaho but alas my back went our and I have to sit straight , rest up and use ice and heating pad, my back goes out more than I do, ha ha. 

 

Isn't this the cutest thing

 

 

 

They were so friendly

 

 

 

 

Before we left the park we met the nicest couple who came in the night before.  They are Kathleen and Dean Solcher from Houston Texas.  We will keep in touch.

 

 

 

DILLON, MONTANA

We arrived in Dillon, Montana on July 10, 2014, just intending to spend about 3 nights but when we say the events coming up on the following week, we decided to stay till the 20th.  Dillon is a beautiful small town, and I mean small, less than 5,000 people.  It has a small amount of restaurants, and supermarkets and NO WALMART. 

We are at the Dillon Koa.  I must say this is a nice campground, run by a very nice man named Bob, who will bend over backwards to help you out.  There is only 1 50 amp spot and of course it was taken so we got a full hookup 30 amp spot.  Now 30 amp is ok and you can run your air conditioning, but don't try to use the microwave at the same time, that's right, 30 amps can't do that.  Believe it or not because of all the big gorgeous trees here, we are fully shaded and didn't need to use it but for a couple of days.  At night the temps go down into the 60's and that's good.  Tomorrow is our anniversary, 21 years and decide to celebrate and go to the only steakhouse in town and have a nice dinner.  We had the prime rib special.  Salad and potato and bread were great but meat was a little tough, atmosphere ok, it is in the basement so there is some ambiance.  Oh, we can't get our satellite dish to work in our spot but the koa has great 61 channel cable and it comes in great, so we are grateful for small favors. 

On Sat. we go to the town event called "Sizzlin Days" and walk around and play some games like shooting for hoops and dunk tank and have some fun, it is all for charity.  Then we decided to go to "Sparky's Garage" for lunch.  It is a cute diner made out of an old gas station and they give you your eating utensils in an oil rag (it is clean of course).  I have the brisket sandwich and mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch and it is great. 

A  couple of days later we take a ride way up in the mountains to the towns of Wisdom, Jackson, and Wise.  On the way we went through the town and saw about 6  corvettes parked on the street.  Well, we had to stop and we went inside the only hotels and saw the owners.  They were all on a road trip from North Dakota and very friendly.  We talked for a little while.  Then we went across the street to have lunch at a place called "Rosas Cantina) just like the Marty Robbins Song "El Paso".  Literally on this street there is only a hat shop, this eatery and the hotel, now that's tiny.  I had a patti melt with a salad and Joel had fish and chips and salad.  It was ok.  By a neighboring table was a huge basset hound.  Dogs are welcome everywhere in Montana.  We lazed around the rest of the week. 

Then on Saturday Night was the Demolition Derby.  I haven't seen one since I was little and I could hardly wait to go.  It was in the fairgrounds where they hold the rodeo and was only about a mile from the koa.  We got there at 5 and didn't leave till 9.  It was still light out.  We had hot dogs and pop and had a great time.  One car rolled on its side and another had a bad crash and the emt's had to come and rip the roof off to get the guy out and take him to the hospital.  Then we saw some kids on motorbikes doing barrel racing and then the atv drivers did it too.  Then it was time for the powder puff event when the ladies do the driving.  They turned out to be more aggressive than the men.  Great nite.

Well, its Sunday and we get an early start to go to Bannack State Park for Bannack Days.  Bannack was the first territorial capital of Montana.  Gold was discovered there and few years later when the gold ran out, so did all the people.  Today the original ghost town still stands, preserved by the people of Montana.  It was wonderful to see and walk through all the original buildings.  We saw candle-making, soap making, blacksmithing, logs being hewed for a cabin, gospel musicians, honky tonk piano in the saloon and I got up and sang about 7 songs for the folks and got some really nice applause.  A lot of folks were dressed old style for the event.  We saw a cavalry camp, and old schoolhouse, suffragates debates touting womens right to vote.  I panned for garnets and got about 10 tiny ones.  All the things to do were for no extra charge.  We had lunch.  Joel a smoked turkey leg and me a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw.  The place was so reasonable, water and sodas were only $1.00.  I even had fresh raspberry cobbler made fresh in a dutch oven for $1.00.  Had a great time and spoke with nice folks from neighboring counties and some on vacation.  We bought a book about "Women Homesteaders", which tells of their day to day living. 

Oh, I forgot, earlier in the week we took a ride to Nevada City and Virgina City, two old ghost towns and took some nice photos.  Well, in a couple of days we will be off to Idaho Falls, Idaho, enjoy the pics. 

 

This is our huge site at the koa

 

 

Nevada City schoolroom

 

 

 

All buildings are kept preserved

 

 

 

Below is "Rosas Cantina"

 

 

 

Lots of pics of demolition derby

 

 

 

Gunfight at Bannack Days

 

 

Sheriff tell folks not to let women get the vote

 

 

Wonderful gospel music

 

 

 

 

Me in the saloon belting out the oldies

 

 

 

Yoked long haired steers for heavy work, each weighs about 1700 lbs

 

 

Joel saying goodbye to the old great ghost town

 

MISSOULA, MONTANA

We pull into Missoula, Montana and head for Jim and Mary's rv park.  We are staying from July 7th till the 9th.  The rv park is very pretty with lots of green lush grass and beautiful flowers all around.  It does not have a pool or hot tub or playground for that matter.  I had to do wash there and the machines were  $2 each and the driers weren't hot enough.  We did some sightseeing in Missoula, we were pretty close to town, so we went to the Fort Missoula Museum, and Elk Foundation.  We bought a couple of t-shirts at the elk place and I took a few photos. 

The next day we took a ride about 45 minutes away to the Bison National Park and had a great time.  We took the loop going through the park and saw so many bison.  And loads of babies, one mama was crossing the road and the baby decided to nurse.  We couldn't pass her, so we waiting about 10 minutes and the traffic was piling up behind us but who cared.  Then we left the park and stopped at a cute outdoor café right outside the park.  We had wonderful chicken sandwiches and fries and when we pulled in I noticed a corvette just like ours, only blue.  It is very unusual to see corvettes up here with all the dirt roads and such.  The man sitting at the picnic table smiled at me and it was his corvette and he had seen us pull in.  To make a long story short, they are Jerry and Valerie Murphy from Missoula and we joined them for lunch and conversation and had a wonderful time.  We went back to the park to spritz off the car and windshield of the rv because we were going to leave in the morning.  I went to do the laundry and came back to a hullaballou.  Most rv parks have a rule that you can't wash  your car or rv in their park.  Well Joel just spritzed the car to put in in the trailer  clean from all that dust, and then he spritzed the windshield and rubbed it down with a mitt and bucket.  Well, one of the workcampers next to us came out screaming at Joel, "you can't wash your car", and to quote "If I was a cop, I would cuff you".  Joel tried to explain but he wasn't having any of it and then called the manager of the park and she came by as I was getting back with the laundry.  She wouldn't listen either and said that she could evict us by the way we were breaking the rules.  I think they are all nuts, there.  I would never recommend this park to anyone, I would rather stay at Walmart, nuff said.  I am so glad we only took a couple of nites there.  Here are some pics  of where we went. 

 

This is the elk foundation

 

 

 

All these are of the beautiful bison

 

 

Above baby following mama

Below, baby nursing

 

 

Giant bunch of elk antlers