Fall trip 2024 to Tucson, etc
Day 1 Wednesday Sept 4
Finished packing up and got out of the driveway a little after 10 am. We stopped at the casino gas station and filled up the motorhome with unleaded. The day was overcast and cool. No backup on Hwy 101 just before Steamboat Island road where they are putting in a fish friendly culvert and no one can see a stream. All was well heading south on I-5. The sun was coming out and the air was starting to heat. Only a short maybe 7 minute slowdown at the Lewis River bridge. Whew. Stopped for lunch at the next rest area and called Rufus RV park for a reservation. The lady said we would have an hour or more slowdown on I-205 but we breezed right through with one minor slowdown. The drive along the Columbia river was as beautiful as ever. Got to the Rufus RV park and got space 3.
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| View to the Columbia River |
The temperature was in the nineties and the motor home air conditioner worker overtime. Sheet pan supper brought from home. Yummy. We made reservations for an RV park in Baker city OR only 200 miles away.
Day 2 Thursday Sept 5
We left Rufus and drove along the Columbia R. in nice sunshine. Some haze apparently due to forest fires somewhere around here. We arrived in Baker City, OR and checked in at the Mt. View RV park space 109. Drove around town a bit then went to dinner in Haines OR about 10 miles NE of town where we had a steak dinner. Nice day.
Day 3 Friday Sept 6
After a leisurely breakfast, we headed off to the Heritage Oregon Trail Interpretation Center Baker City. Lots of displays and videos depicting life on the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. There is a part of the original trail at the site.
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| Oregon trail in the valley. |
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| Judy and I at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center |
When we got back we noticed we had a small leak under the motorhome. We called a repair man , Ken Follet (not the author) who put a new fitting where the water comes in from the park water supply.
Day 4 Saturday Sept 7
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We went to a store to buy some shoes but came out with a pair of shoes, pair of pants and hat for Judy. Then we headed to the Baker Heritage Museum. Fabulous place with local history of
the people, mining and logging industries.
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| Ore stamp mill. |
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Lots of old wagons. |
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| One of the many butterfly displays |
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| "Paint Your Wagon" mock-up set for movie shot nearby. |
The local rock club has a display donated by two sisters whose family settled in Baker City years ago. Beautiful specimens from local mines as well as beautiful ones from around the world. Went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant.
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| Lunch |
At 2:30 we took a tour of the historic Geizer Grand Hotel (pronounced geezer) built in 1888. It had fallen into disrepair and was about to be torn down but was restored in 1996. All the renovations were done to preserve its historical construction. Very interesting tour.
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| Original bar without spittoons or pissing trough. |
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| Marble desk with mirror brought by covered wagon. |
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| Dining room from balcony. |
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| Richard by one of the many statues lamps. |
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| Mostly original Skylight over dining room. Some panes had to be replaced in renovation. |
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| Dining room. |
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| Geizer Hotel remodeled. |
Day 5 Sunday Sept 8
We left the campground and headed East on I-84. We have a bad cable connector on our TV so the channels do not come in very well or just shut off. Stopped at a Walmart but they do not have 19 inch TV’s except on line. Camping world does not have TV except on-line. Very hot for us today, temp around a 100 degrees. Stopped for the night in Mountain Home, ID at the Gem State RV park taking spot 10. So tonight no TV and no wi-fi.
Day 6 Monday Sept 9
We left the RV park and headed East on I-84. After going a few miles the check engine light came on. Managed to pull over onto Exit 95 on ramp. The Ford repair shop was just next to us. So I called around to see who could get us in. The Ford dealer said Sept 26, two weeks away but could try to work me in, maybe. Called the Safeco tow service and they came and took us to the Ford dealer. The man at the desk came out and did a code read. He said it was the problem was with some environmental vapor recycle system. NO effect on engine performance or potential damage to the engine he said, so off we went. We spent the night at the Hitching Post RV park space 30. We like this little park and have stayed here before.
Day 7 Tuesday September 10
We left Hitching Post and headed south on I-84. Temp was around 65 degrees and felt good. Continued south on I-15 through Salt City. Freeway was very rough a lot of the way though the metro areas. Luckily the traffic was not too heavy. We stopped at a Love’s for lunch and gas at exit 260. Not a lot of room to park. As I was washing the motorhome windows, Judy pointed out one foot crack in the windshield. Hope it does not get too bad as it will be easier to get it repaired back home. We stopped for the night in Fillmore at Wagon’s West RV park space 16. Nice little parks with lots of trees. Some wind late in the day but not too bad. We have been very lucky with hardly any wind.
Day8 Wednesday September 11
Left Fillmore around 9 am and continued south on I-84. We then took Utah 20 to US 89 south. Ate lunch in Kanab and then continued south on 89. Windy, mostly tail wind but sometimes on the side. Stopped for the night in Page at the Walmart parking lot. We did some shopping and then bought a pizza for dinner. Hot today here. Around 100 degrees. We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful red rocks again. Ahhhhh! Wanted to stay overnight in the Walmart parking lot but at 7pm it was still in the low 90’s. Drove a mile to the Page Lake Powel Campground and got space 32 for the night. Turned on the air as soon as we parked. Cool air, another ahhhhhh!!
Day 9 Thursday September 12
Left Page and continued south on US-89. Very windy with gusts today, head winds on 89, side winds on I-40 and 1-80 to St. Johns. We stopped at Cameron Trading post and looked around maybe the last time.
Some beautiful Indian made jewelry and pots plus a lot of fake native items made over seas. We watched a native lady weaving a rug. Stopped for the night and maybe a week at St Johns RV Resort and got
spot 109. The owners have put a lot of effort to make the place nicer. Still hot today, mid-90’s.
Day 10 Friday September 13
We slept in today and planned to just lounge around and that is what we did. The temp was in the high 80’s with and off and on again light breeze. We put the awning out and sat outside and read our books. I got a hair cut and we both had showers. Nice relaxing day.
Day 11 Saturday September 14
After breakfast we loaded Goldie and headed out to the property. Driving through town we noticed a brand new Maverick gas station/truck stop. One gas station on the other side of town was shut down. One of two motels was shut down as well as a lot of businesses. An historic cabin was gone. They were repaving the road out of town and we had to wait to get to the gravel 6040 road which goes to our place. Our property is 6 miles from town as the crow flies but 10 by road. The road to the property was recently bladed. No cow pies on the road or anywhere we looked. The grass in the fields was growing with new green growth but we did not see any cattle in their usual places. Our place was intact but the dirt roads on the property had a lot of new growth in them. We went to the lean-to shelter and set up.
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| One of the petrified logs. This one about 18 inches diameter. |
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| Two foot diameter petrified log. |
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| One of the red sandstone formations. |
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| One of four cacti on the propriety that we know. |
Judy read her book and I took a walk around the perimeter. No one had been taking any petrified wood. Got out the metal detector and gathered up more nails, screws, bullet casings and other junk. Left and drove back to town and went to the grocery store. It had been remodeled and looked very nice. Still had not got the air conditioning going yet. We had chicken/potato Mexican soup for dinner.
Day 12 Sunday September 15
We had breakfast, our normal feast of cereal, OJ, and coffee. We listened to the Seahawk game on our Sirius XM radio after spending a lot of time on the phone with them to get us set up. Hard to be a Seahawk fan, who again won in overtime, after scoring in the last few minutes to tie the game in regulatim time. Rained off and on last night with lightning and thunder and throughout the day. We spent the rest of the day reading and taking a nap.
Day 13 Monday September 16
I needed to get a prescription refilled and the drug store in St. John’s has shut down. I get mine at Walmart so we drove the 45 miles to Show Low. They had it ready in an hour. Judy and I went to the Panda Express for lunch while we waited for the prescription to be filled. We then went to Safeway to buy a few groceries. Cloudy and cool today. Temp in the low 70’s with lots of fluffy clouds. We were happy to see so much green in the fields and hills. But surprisingly very few cattle were seen compared to previous years. Show Low was very bustling with lots of cars and new businesses which makes St. John’s seem like a ghost town. It might be if it were not the county seat.
Day 14 Tuesday September 17
Rained again overnight and until 8 am or so. We decided to read for a while, have lunch here and then go to the property. After lunch, stopped in town to get some strapping tape and flat rate boxes for shipping rocks back home. At the property Judy was reading and I went around taking some pictures and picking up a few rocks.
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| Part of the road to the shelter. |
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| Some sandstone over Morrison formation. |
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| Three Ninja turtles. |
Very windy. We had planned to build a fire and cook dinner like we have in the past but not sure with the wind. A favorite thing for us to do. At about 5 the wind died down enough that we build a small fire and cooked our carrots and potatoes with onions which were wrapped in foil. We had steak cut in strips and marinated for half of the day then cooked them on skewers.
Yummy. Stayed until the sun went down and the moon came up.
Day 15 Wednesday September 18
We signed up to stay another night here in St. Johns. Did laundry in the morning. After lunch, Judy stayed home and read while I went to the property and filled up a medium flat rate box with rocks I had gathered. Saw a jackrabbit. When I got back I wrapped it tightly in strapping tape and sent it off to a friend to hold for me. Leisurely evening.
Day 16 Thursday Sept 19
We decided to go to Big Lake in the White mountains and eat our picnic lunch. On the way, in Eager we stopped by a real estate office and talked to a lady a lot about what to expect if we
were to sell our property in St. Johns. Not sure when we will sell it, maybe next year. It may be worth more than we thought if would. It is hunting season so lots of camps set up in the national forest, There were quite
a few people at Big Lake where we sat in a shelter and at our lunch.
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| Big Lake in the White Mountains |
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| These are some flowers we found along the way. |
Took a different way home. We made hamburgers for dinner. Then did some work getting ready to leave in the morning.
Day 17 Friday September 20
Left St. John’s and drove to Show Low and then to Globe. The route took us through the Salt river canyon which is very impressive. Ate lunch at DQ in Globe. From Globe we took hwy 77 South to Tucson. We went to Prince of Tucson RV park, space 161. Hot today here in Tucson. We went to our friends Craig and Wanda.
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| Wanda |
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| Craig |
They took us to dinner at TutTut Thai. It was a very good food. Stayed at their house visiting until around 10 and went home.
Day 18 Saturday September 21
We slept in late. Went to Craig and Wanda’s for barbeque. Dan and Laurie, also old friends, came from Green Valley. We had ribs, special squash, and a nummy salad and Tillamuck Peaches and Cream ice cream for a snack.
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| Judy and Laurie |
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| Dan |
Sat around and talked for a long time and then went home.
Day 19 Sunday September 22
We went to Craig and Wanda’s and we headed to the Empire Ranch Historic park which is southeast of Tucson. The ranch started in 1878 and was active under various owners until the early 2000’s. We went there to see some pronghorns but did not see any. The ranch buildings are now a museum and open to the public. Each room has part of the history of the ranch. Amazingly cool in the living quarters. Fun to see all the old stuff in the rooms.
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| Nice grass land all around the ranch. |
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| The ranch. |
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| Judy had a sink just like this at her farm. |
Then we headed to Patagonia to the Paton humming bird preserve. We had been there before. Lots of birds of all kinds. Hard to get good pictures of humming birds.
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| Welcome poster. |
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| What bird is that? |
Ate our lunch
watching the birds. We then went to Dan and Laurie’s in Green Valley. They have a very nice house with a back yard with birds and critters. Went back to Tucson and had dinner at Mariscos seafood restaraunt and then
to Craig and Wanda’s for ice cream. We stopped at Safeway to get a few groceries on the way home.
Day 20 Monday September 23
We went with Craig and Wanda to the Friends of the Library to drop off a box of books and picked up 3 empties. Craig wanted to show us their new digs at the Fountain
where they will be renting a cassita starting in November. (like a small townhouse)
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| Craig and Wanda if front of their cassita. |
When we got there the door was open so we went in. It was a very nice 900 sq. ft. place with one bedroom and a “den”. The kitchen and front room were open concept. It appeared to have been recently refreshed. They are deciding what furniture they will be able to bring from home. We do not envy them having to make the difficult decision on what to take. Some day, so will we. We then went to a Vietnamese restaurant just up the road and had sandwiches. Very tasty. Hope the food in Vietnam is as good.
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| Vietnamese Restaurant |
Day 21 Tuesday September 24
We left Tucson and took I-10 west, then to I-8 west. At Gila Bend we took 85 north to I-10 again by-passing Phoenix. We continued west on I-10 and stopped for the night at Quartzite. Checked in at Park Place RV park, space 23. Very hot today, well over 100 degrees. Whew.
Day 22 Wednesday September 25
After our usual breakfast of cereal, OJ, and coffee we headed out west again on I-10. In Blyth, California, we went north on US 95 to Needles. Very bleak area except where the road was close to the Colorado River. We then got onto I-40 and headed west. Stopped for the night in Barstow, CA at the Shady Lane RV, spot 3. Very hot again today. Tomorrow we head north and hope it will be cooler.
Day 23 Thursday September 26
Left Barstow and continued west to hwy 395 north at Kramer Junction. Drove through beautiful scenery on the east side of the Sierra mountain range. However, there was one 10 mile stretch of very steep grade and the old motor home had a real workout. Drove through Bishop, a fairly big town on this road so far. We went another 50 miles to June Lake were we stayed in Grant Lake RV park and marina, space 19. The spot overlooked the lake and it was beautiful.
Day 24 Friday September 27
Left beautiful Grant Lake and headed north on 395. When we got close to Bridgeville, CA, which is near the Nevada border, a small black angus steer (yearling?) was in our lane when we came around a curve. We hit it and it went flying across the road and was deceased. The motor home suffered severe front end damage and was not drive able.
A CHP came and assisted us in getting a tow truck. He said we were lucky it was not a full grown steer. Spent a lot of time with insurance co. The motor home got towed to Nevada. It will stay here until the insurance company decides what to do. We may have to come down some time to get it. We rented a small trailer and took all our stuff out of the motor home just in case the insurance company decides to total it. We rented a motel for the night and hope to get a good nights sleep.
