Wandering in Awe

Good Morning Blog!  Sorry I've not been here, I've not had internet access since the last time I posted.  

I ended up driving north, through Yellowstone National Park.  I hit Madison Campground, inside the park, at about 3:30 and it was full.  I was able to have them secure me a spot in Bridge Bay Campground, some 58 miles away, so off I went.  Along the way I saw Bison, Elk, and lots and lots of tourists.  I was hoping I'd hit the park before the big rush of the season, but I was wrong.  

I drove over a couple 8000' passes, crossing the continental divide.  There is still quite a bit of snow on the side of the road, but the roads were fine.    I checked in to Bridge Bay, which filled up quickly. It is a big open area, with no power, so generators running, dogs barking and lots of people.   I woke at 5am to 32 degrees and decided to beat feet out of there before the masses hit the road, headed for Grand Teton National Park.

Shortly after leaving I came across a BIG HEALTHY Black Bear on the side of the road.  Didn't stop, but tried to take a photo as I drove by.  Can you find him/her?

I then saw a lovely fluffy fox right along the side of the road.    Back over the Continental Divide and into Grande Teton NP.   Just before I turned off the main hwy another healthy but smaller Black Bear ran across the road right in front of me.  I had to brake, to avoid hitting it!  Not all the campgrounds were open yet, but I got to Signal Mountain Campground before 8am and secured the best spot in the campground for the next 2 nights, because the folks in the spot were just leaving.   Here is the view from my site:

I took a little drive and came across this view!  OH MY....

I wanted to do some hiking, but clearly the bears were everywhere.  There were signs saying do not hike alone, carry bear spray, make lots of noise.   There were flashing temporary signs along the roads saying "Bear Crossing next 3 miles" and "Bears with cubs, next 2 miles".    I didn't have bear spray (I priced it in the Visitor's Center....$45. a can).  I started out on a short hike but felt very vulnerable even though I was singing at the top of my lungs (making noise you know).  So I cut the hike short and just did exploring by car.  Lots of stunning vistas.   The Tetons are amazing.

I visited a thing called "Kettles" or "Potholes".  These are small patches in the sage flats where ice calved off glaciers and melted, causing low spots and unique ecosystems. The tree patches in the photo below are the 'Kettles'.   I found lots of lovely wildflowers in the area too.

Yesterday I decided, after some bird watching and more exploring, to go to the Olaus and Mardy Murie Education Center.    I have read books by the Murie's about their time in the Alaska Brooks Range, but knew nothing of their work in this area.    I spent over an hour talking with Dan, the interpreter at the site, about their legacy and this place where they lived after 'retirement'.   Olaus was the first president of the Wilderness Society and meetings were held on the front porch and living room of this house.   It was the highlight of my visit to this park.   As I was talking with Dan, about my career with the Forest Service and everything else, he gave me a gift of the book 'A journey to the Far North', by Olaus about his early years in the Hudson's Bay area, Canada and Alaska.   WOW.

This morning it is time to move on.   I woke to overcast, 34 degrees and rain.   I have had spectacular blue sky and sunshine until now.    I drove over Teton Pass to Victor Idaho this morning, to visit a wonderful friend, the woman who drove with me to Alaska back in 1981 when I moved to Seward.   I hit some snow over the 8000' Pass.

I know I'm back tracking a bit... remember, this is Wandering with Waddles.   I will be spending the Memorial Day weekend in Victor, while my friend has time off work, and I can avoid fighting the holiday weekend crowds.  It worked out perfectly.   The only 'hard' date I have on this trip is Colorado Springs on June 3.

Onward

I had a lovely drive from La Grande to Craters of the Moon on Sunday.    I stopped in Boise for a visit with someone I'd not seen in 15 years!!!   It was a wonderful visit Mary Ann!  Thanks for lunch.

I arrived at Craters of the Moon at about 5pm, and found a lovely spot in the Campground.   With my Senior Access Pass, it cost me a total of $15. to enter the park and spend 2 nights at the campground. Can you find Waddles in the next photo?

I took a short hike around an interpretive trail and then settled in for the night.   There was a fair amount of interest in Waddles.

Monday I had the day to explore the park.  I hiked a number of different trails.   First was up a volcanic cone for a 360 degree view.  Short but steep hike and worth every bit of effort.

It was quite the moon-scape!

Then I hiked the Tree Molds trail.  The Tree Molds were underwhelming, but the hike was lovely, with vistas of snow-capped mountains, and lots of wildflowers and birds.

Next was a short interpretive hike called Devil's Garden...

Last was a 4 mile hike, out and back, around North Crater.  This one took me up and down across lava flows and up high to look into craters.    It wore me out but was spectacular.  Here is a snippet of the hike for you.

Then I spent the afternoon resting and bird watching in the campground.  Lots of Rock Wrens! I got a bit sunburned, and enjoyed every minute.   The other campers were friendly, interesting and quiet!   I was a bit sorry to leave this morning.This was my view as the sun was setting last night...

 

Today I started out heading for Victor Idaho to visit another friend, but I may divert up to Yellowstone and back down the east side of the Tetons, and then go back to Victor at the end if the week when my friend doesn't have to be at work.   I'll let you know what I REALLY end up doing.

The weather has been perfect, Waddles has been perfect, so far I still love her!  I had to give a tour of her just now while getting gas!

Birds!

Last night I was treated to an inspiring La Grande sunset.

Today was all about birds.  I've been attending the Ladd Marsh Bird Festival for many many years, so it seemed like a great way to start my journey.   I lived in La Grande for quite a while and it was wonderful to come back and visit friends and the marsh.

I got up and onto the marsh by 6:30 this morning.  I was rewarded with Sandhill Cranes with beautiful fluffy cinnamon-colored babies, and an American Bittern that landed on the path right in front of me.

I forgot how much I loved this refuge.   When I lived here I spent a lot of time hiking, sitting and photographing in the marsh.  I won't bore you with a list of all the birds we saw today, but some of the highlights include BIG baby Great Horned Owls, 2 nests full of them.  Ruddy Ducks, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Common Yellow-Throat Warblers, and the always charming Marsh Wrens. Full disclosure, the following 3 photos were not taken today, but were taken on Ladd Marsh.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Canada Geese

Marsh Wren

Afternoon was spent with a good friend birding around the spectacular Grande Ronde Valley.  We found a Bunting, Eastern Kingbird and oh so much more.

The weather was perfect, the day was perfect and I am leaving early in the morning, heading east....

Short timer....

Less than 48 hours until I hit the road!   Today I took Waddles for a little spin... ran errands in town to get more comfortable driving in traffic and on city streets.  All went well.   Took some photos on the way home, although Mt Hood didn't completely cooperate.

One of the items I went to town for was a memory foam mattress cover.  I've been sleeping in Waddles for the last week, and the bed is not the most comfortable.   I put a smaller foam pad on it, but that wasn't doing it, and my back was starting to react.  So I sprung for a bad boy, 4" pad.    In order to put the foam in, I had to completely clear the bed of bedding, so took advantage and vacuumed and emptied the area under the bed platform (there is about a 3" deep space, good for storing extra things I don't need to get at every day). I stripped off the bedding and threw it in the laundry.   Replaced the things I had stashed under the bed, and added a few more things like extra towels and bedding (no sense is wasting empty space). Then replaced the mattress, put the foam on, and re-made the bed with FLANNEL sheets because the first part of my journey is going to be in Wyoming and Colorado where it is still QUITE cold.

While all this was going on I was testing the battery.  Waddles seems to have some phantom battery drains, so when I'm running nothing except the display on the radio/DVD player, the battery runs down pretty quickly.  I have unplugged the TV (which I may eventually take out), and turned the display brightness down to nothing on the radio.  Still draining.   So it was recommended to me (by the collective T@g on-line brain trust) that I remove the fuse from the battery when I'm not using it.  The phantom drain is normal it seems.  I monitored it all day, and that seems to fix the problem.   I've been charging with the solar panel, and that is working quite well.

Waddles does not have a heater, so I have a very small electric heater that plugs into the wall for when I am somewhere with 'shore power'.   For the times I'm not, I have a 'Heater Buddy' propane heater.  I've been trying both of these and they are working perfectly.   I always have the vent open when I'm in Waddles and she came with not only a smoke detecter but a CO2 detector.   I DO NOT go to sleep with the heater running.  Just use it to take the chill off before going to sleep, and in the morning.

I also have decided to not use the battery powered cooler/refrigerator because when I'm not plugged into shore power it seriously sucks the battery.   Instead I'm just going to use it like an ice chest.  I'm not going to be that far from civilization for any length of time that I can't just buy fresh fruits and veggies when I need them.   Because the cooler doesn't have a drain hole (it is not designed to put ice in), I now have a syphon hose to suck the water out of the bottom.  The cooler has a motor in it, so lifting it out of its spot, with water in it, would be really heavy.   Hoping this works!  I'll let you know.

I am doing the final car packing.   I think I'll have lots of room.  I'm trying to not store things in the sleeping space of Waddles, but in the car.  And I'm trying to keep the things I don't need every day stashed in the middle and have easy access to the daily use stuff.  I imagine I'll be moving things around a lot as my journey progresses.  It won't be this messy when I'm done... this was mid packing! Blue bin is kitchen stuff, black case in the middle is the solar panel.  Striped bag is the electric cords, yellow box has bungie cords and tie-downs.  Sleeping bag is for extra warmth if I need it.  Red thing on the bottom is the wheel lock.   Black bag next to the striped bag is all the trailer security and parking gear.   There is a small folding table, a bag of tools, lawn chair, a door mat (because that is important!) and oh so much more!

Oil is changed in the car.  New windshield wipers installed.  Propane is full, battery is charged.  Tires are good. I replaced a bunch of the trailer locking things (tongue lock, hitch socket lock) and now ALL 5 keys for the trailer and it's associated security locks are different.  Before I had a terrible time telling them apart.   Small things make me happy!

So tomorrow is my final day to prepare!   I'll be planting tomatoes in the garden and hoping it doesn't freeze, doing final laundry, packing and loading of the car.   I have to go into town to buy cat food so they don't run out while I'm away.    I think I'm just about ready!~

Final Tweeking

Today my trailer guru and I took Waddles up to a local campground and drove around to get comfortable manuvering.  Then we found a large, empty, gravel parking lot and he confirmed his suspicion that the car would hit the spare tire if I made a tight turn😳.   So the spare has been put back under the trailer tongue where is was from the factory...and unfortunately that cool purple cover had to go away.  So sad.   I practiced backing in the parking lot and when we got home I backed the trailer all the way from the road to the garage.  If you've seen my driveway, you know that is a pretty good distance and there are a few things to manuver around.   I did it very slowly, and in fits and starts, but I didn't hit anything, didn't drive off the driveway, and Waddles is now in the garage.

I've been sleeping in her, and tomorrow I'm going to cook breakfast using only things I'll have on the trip with me.

And the new blog header photo was taken on today's outing.  Nine days and counting😍
One of my band mates gave me this for my birthday😍.  

Obsessive knitting?

OK, be honest here... have I gone too far?

And look what I got for my birthday from my favorite sister!

I spent today shopping in Portland with my brother for a new, proper-height trailer stinger, a battery gauge, a propane gauge, a surge protector/outlet tester, trailer hitch lock, and a few other things.  These were the last big things to check off my list!   Less than 2 weeks before our adventure begins.

Still getting to know her.

Counting down to my road trip I am working on getting familiar with all the things I'll be using.   Today I pulled Waddles out of the garage by hand!   It was frighteningly easy.

Then I set up my new table.  It's a bit tricky, but it works.  Then I set up my new stove, filled it with fuel and fired it up.  It works! Then I set up the solar panel.  It works.

I plan to sleep and cook in it for the next few days, and see what I need to survive.   I'll be testing to see what runs the battery down, what I can run off the battery, how well the solar panel charges the battery.  Things like that.  It should be interesting.

Less than 3 weeks to get this all figured out.😳

I also mowed the lawn for the first time this season.   Seems like warp speed from 3-feet of snow to mowing!