I drove over Mt Hood, and down Hwy 26 through Warm Springs and Madras. It was a very hot day!
It was HOT in Madras
It was threatening thunderstorms, but they missed us.
It is a beautiful area and I've never driven in from the north on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. It is lovely, and takes you around the north and west sides of Bachelor Butte. It is appropriately named, as there are many many lakes, large and small, along the drive.
Little Lava Lake is actually quite large, but Lava Lake, just to the north, is larger with a much larger campground and a little store (walking distance from Little Lava for those important ice-cream runs).
It was a small group this year, and unfortunately one member crashed on his mountain bike just before I got there, and wrecked his knee, so wisely left the next morning to take care of himself.
We had kayaks, so were able to make a couple treks out onto the lake, which was lovely and cool, with a good breeze blowing.
South Sister from Little Lava Lake
Sunrise
Theresa's new boat (she built it!)
Scott and Theresa's matching boats.
We also did a hike up to Lucky Lake, a round trip of about 7 miles.
Lucky Lake
Afternoon kayak on Little Lava Lake
Waddles was outfitted with her side tent, which provided respite from the bugs that came out at sunset.
The campground is not too big, has running water and pit toilets. As with most Forest Service campgrounds it has no power, which was fine. The sun was shining and my solar panel worked great.
Three nights there and I was dusty and happy, but had to come home.
One of my neighbors
Interesting hydrology!
Lots of ducks with big babies on the lake.
So after this many outings with Waddles I'm noticing a few things are not working the way I'd like them to.
Door Locks:
Before the trip I'd been having an issue with the side door locks. There are two locks on each door (not sure why), but it seems that on each door, one of the locks no longer locks the door. On the T@g forum I follow, I've heard of others with this same issue.
Yellow bin on the tongue:
After my last trip I noticed that the yellow bin on the tongue, which houses the battery and the propane tank, moved around. On closer inspection it is not attached, and is only being held there by the weight of those 2 items. I checked in with the T@g forum and learned it should be held in place by a couple of rivets which clearly I've lost.
Power Converter:
On the previous trip, where I had shore power, the converter (which converts shore power to 12-volt) was making noises like it was not happy. Winding up and down. When I plugged my phone in to charge it, the phone indicated it was charging, then not charging, then charging, then not charging in rapid order. So I unplugged the phone from the trailer.
Power:
On this trip I was just running off the battery and the phone charged just fine.
Refrigerator:
I've always been a bit skeptical about the refrigerator which is electric and runs off the battery. I decided to test it this trip. I have a battery charge meter plugged in where I can see it at all times, and with the solar panel going the battery was plenty charged yet the fridge fluctuated between 38 degrees and 58 degrees. This is obviously NOT a good thing. It is beyond me why they don't put propane fridges in these trailers. It would make so much more sense. The fridge does work fine when plugged in to shore power.
Don't get me wrong, I am still completely smitten with Waddles, and none of these things are fatal, although the tongue bin could be a serious safety issue if I ever rolled the trailer. I do plan to give the company a call and see what my options are for fixing them.
The dust has been cleaned out of both the car and the trailer, dishes and linens have been washed and after some fixes, I'm ready for the next trip, which hopefully will be to Red Lodge Montana over the Beartooth Highway.
What have you been up to?
