We did avoid the warm inland temperatures while on the coast of Oregon . . . a bit too cool for my comfort. After our time on the coast, we headed back inland a bit where we had a nice weekend stay at the Corvalis, OR KOA (just south of Salem), catching up on routine household chores, as well as doing their review. Had a really nice visit with Mike & Priscilla Greig (owners). The KOA was built on the family farm that has been in the family for many generations. Seems that when Priscilla's great-grandmother was being courted by the young fellow that would become her great-grandfather . . . her dad required that the young man become a land-owner before he would consent to the marriage! So he bought this piece of land and built a home . . . and as they say, "the rest is history"! Mike & Priscilla still live in the home that her grandparents built after the original home burnt down in the early 1900's.
Onward and upward, stopping at Salem and then heading west to Pendleton. Our drive that day paralleled the Columbia River . . . and it was beautiful in spite of the intermittent rain showers. Although the temps were still very cool, we were not prepared to hear of 9" of snow in the mountains to the east of Pendleton when we stopped for gas before heading to the KOA. I was beginning to regret scheduling an extra day in the area, but it turns out it was for the best, because there was no way we could have made it 'over the mountains & through the woods' with the fresh snowfall. Guess I need to pay a bit more attention to the geography of the areas we are driving through! This Oklahoma gal didn't dream we would still be dodging snow in late April! All I saw was 'interstate' on the map, and thought "No problem!" Thankfully the sun popped out the next day and we had smooth sailing doiwn to Mountain Home, Idaho.
A pleasant one night stop there, loosing an hour as we crossed into Mountain Time. Had rain all the way into Brigham City and we were beginning to wonder just how we were going to accomplish this walk-about. I am always a bit nervous about doing a walk-about in the rain, after my disastrous slip & fall a couple of years ago (which resulted in a broken shoulder). The Lord must have heard my petitions, as the rain all but stopped shortly after we arrived at the park and got our home set up once again.
We completed the walk about and I was sitting at the computer working on the report, when Roger spied this beautiful rainbow out the window. This park sits at the base of Mt. Willard, and is one of the rare spots where you can see the snow covered mountains to the east and the Great Salt Lake to the west. Roger was a good sport (even though he had already taken his shoes off!) and grabbed the camera to get a shot of the rainbow. It's a bit blurry, for it was beginning to rain again. One must grab those moments when they happen, for in just a few minutes, it was only a memory.
The next day found us traveling west again, along the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake. One of my favorite views along this route, is the Morton Salt plant with the mountains of salt waiting to be processed. This is a very desolate 120 mile drive to West Wendover, NV. Another 'quirky' sight, is the miles of flat sand after you pass the lake. For miles and miles it is nothing but salty, sand flats. Motorists often stop - to break the monotony - and write their names in the sand. Why is it that we humans are never satisfied to leave something 'blank'!?! Of course, one has to ignore all the "No Trespassing" signs to do that . . . and it is obvious that many do!
More rain & gusty high winds upon arriving at the KOA. But the next morning, we were greeted with sunshine and the first warm weather we've had since Crescent City, CA. We headed out with our jackets to do the walk-about, but shed them within the first 5 minutes! It felt glorious to soak up the sunshine! Struggled during our stay with my internet connection; kept getting bumped off every few minutes and I was becoming very frustrated. When we went in the next morning to do the exit review, the office was also complaining about having trouble with their WiFi. As we were leaving the store, Roger spied the headlines of the local newspaper: "Military GPS Testing Foils Local Internet". Seems the base/testing grounds just across the border in Utah were training the troops for upcoming duty in Afghanistan. We learned that a lot of essential desert training takes place in this area, for the terrain is very similar to Afghanistan.
I've always said I didn't have any desire to travel overseas, for this great United States has a bit of it all.
Another 120 mile drive north, to the Ely, NV KOA. Their 'claim to fame' is being a 398 mile round trip to the nearest Wal Mart! The 'official' greeter here is Scooter, the cutest little Yorkshire Terrier we've ever come across! Sporting his very own yellow KOA kerchief, he hops on the golf cart with "Dad" to lead us to our site, which gave us a beautiful mountain view.
Since this park is 'in the middle of nowhere', owner Chuck Christensen stocks a huge inventory of RV parts. Roger always has to spend time 'inspecting' this area of the store to see if he can find anything he can't live without! :>)
As usual, Roger scheduled our exit review for 9:00 a.m. the next morning. When we arrived at the store, Patty said, "Oh, you're early!" Roger looked at his watch thinking . . . ok, maybe a minute or two. Then glanced at their clock to realize it was only 8:00 a.m. their time! We had completely forgotten that we had crossed back in to Pacific Time when we crossed back in to Nevada!
In our defense, it does get a bit confusing. Although we had been in West Wendover the night before, that town stays on Mountain Time, as it literally straddles the Utah/Nevada border. So it never dawned on us that Ely was a different time zone! As always, we all compromised a bit and made it work.
Finished with Ely, we headed back east, 190 mile trek over more mountains and much desert, to arrive at the Fillmore, Utah KOA - and back to Mountain Time! This one always feels a bit like home, for they have the same style log building that we built at the Oklahoma City KOA. Then it was south 50 miles to Beaver for a night, before landing in Cedar City for the weekend.
Ran in to old friends here, as Jack & Beverly Baker are here helping this park get up and running for the season. The Bakers owned the Moab, UT KOA back in the mid-90's when we had the OKC KOA. In fact, Russ & Randy took a couple months in the spring of '97, to come out and build kabins for the Bakers. Jack & Beverly really hit it off with the boys, and Russ & Randy still talk about what a great time they had 'off roading' with Jack! (I'm also happy to say those kabins are still at the Moab KOA and looking great!)
Mother's Day Weekend is considered a 'holiday' at KOAs nation-wide, as it is our big spring kick-off weekend charity fundraiser that we call "Come Camp & Care With Us Weekend". Campers stay Friday night (paid) and get Saturday night free. Lots of fund-raising activities are held to help support special camps for kids with cancer across the US. So, after a lunch break with the Bakers, we got the walk-about portion of our review done, and will take Saturday & Sunday 'off'!
Got to get the truck serviced, a hair cut for me, a Wal Mart run today . . . and then to kick back & relax.
Here's wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite moms out there! Have a GREAT day!