Airstream wonderers

For our 40th anniversary we decided to drive to Florida and stay at the Fortwilderness Campground at Walt Disney. So, we finished our week as cooks at outdoor school and away we went.

We left outdoor school, drove home to get shibo, then we drove as far as the Dalles and stayed at the rest stop. Infact, we drove for 7 days and slept in 6 rest areas. We had a flat tire outside of Laramie Wy so spent some time there while it was being repaired.

Rest areas aren’t so bad when you live in an airstream. Below are pictures of blades of a windmill that were traveling down the road along with us and spent the night in the same swanky rest stop we did. These things are huge. Zoom in and take a look

When we got to Hannibal, Missouri, we stayed a couple days and toured Sam Clemens, Mark Twain, house and neighborhood. That was fun.

Then shibo, Don and I went for a bike ride along the Mississippi river

The next day Don and I took an adventurous ride along the river. We had permission from the railroad crew to trespass, but it was still fun!

LOVE YOU DAD AND WILL TELL YOU ABOUT NEBRASKA AND KENTUCKY TOMORROW. can’t believe I skipped Nebrask, Runza, and Abe Lincoln

This was a great time on the river. Edith, Jef and Collin joined us to celebrate Father’s day. And, of course, to fish. This was a day of firsts.

Fist time camping (day camp). First day for Edith in her new backpack.

First time fishing with dad

First chese taco!

And my first hike with Edith. She slept most of the way.

Edith is pointing at her dad in the river.

First nectarine.

And a picnic with Bert.

The last two pictures I threw in for you dad because I don’t think you have seen many.

After all the excitement of the dat we went to Suttle Lake and spent some evening time on the boards

We rode our mt bike on the lake creek trail from Camp Sherman to Suttle Lake. 4 miles up and then four miles back down. Very fun!!

We are now headed to East Lake. We will be parked out by the lake. It’s the lake 45 miles from Bend. East Lake. That’s where we will park.

Hey dad, you remember this place. One of my favorite places on the planet. This year we not only rode down the the McKenzie Trail, we rode back up it as well!! We want to come back and do the entire trail in one day instead of breaking it up into two days. I sure did miss my ebike on some of those hills!

Collin came up and went fishing with Don a couple of days and I hiked, biked, and ran the dogs, Bert and Shibo. They caught a lot of fish in those two days. From there we went to the Metolius River.

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Don caught some very nice trout off his paddle board in the lake by where I’m parked 80 miles out of bend. I ran and road my bike and one wheel. Mike Kimber Laurie and Michael were parked by the lake that’s 80 miles from bend also.

I’m still parked out here by the lake. Someday I’m gonna move. But for now I’m still sitting by the lake. You know the lake 80 miles from bend.

We will move to the Mckenzie river. Sit by the river till we move.

We have been in Fossil for 3 and a half days and rode our bikes all of them!

We road to John Day Fossil beds Clarno Unit. On most of our riding we have to avoid running over snakes. They look just like rattlers but are gopher snakes. Some have been up to 5 feet long! Here is a picture of a small one.

We saw some nice craigs

We rode to Twickingham also. Small communtiy southeast of Fossill. There we found a school built in 1909, a huge herd of elk, a Herier hawk, and the John Day River. This was an incredibly steep and windy and windy road (yes windy and windy are both spelled the same. I had to look it up). The elevation change on this ride was 2,500 feet! Our time going down was a little faster than going back up.

Here is a sign post to give you an idea of the area.

We also rode from Kimberly to Monument. Monument is a cute little town way out in Grant County. On the North Fork of the John Day. We saw to American Eagles.

I have really enjoyed seeing this area that is all new to me. We have seen some rickety old bridges, barns, tractors and other odds and ends. Don has wanted to see the area for a long time.

Well dad, we are headed up wo Walton Lake tommorow and will not have any services. Walton Lake is 16 miles south east of Hwy 26 half way between Mitchell and Prineville. Don will do some fishing and I will do some trail running. Will catch you later.

We drove into Bend for the day because our Solar Panel stopped working. Zamp fixed it for free. Anyway, we stocked back up, did laundry and away we go. We are now in Fossil doing some seriouse bike riding. I would never have ridden this area without an ebike. The roads here are steep. We are staying at the Wheeler County fairgrounds in fossil. The people next to us had to be towed here because they blew out the torque converter in their truck! Massive incline and it was 98 degrees.

I really dont know waht to say about this town.

When it cooled off a little bit we went for a walk in the town and found an interesting thing Dad. I know what a special place Mt Hood is to you.

This is the black smith forge that Fessler used to make all the decorative iron works for the lodge! Behind it is the first proto type of the airstream HaHa.

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We arrived in Bates State Park which is a large park with miles of trails and a nice big pond with lots of wildlife. Bates was a town that was dismantled in the 50’s when the mill shut down. The entire town and mill were removed. People moved their houses with them and the mill was dismantled. The only thing left of the mill is the large pond. The only things left of the town are some daffodiles. In the picture above our truck is parked where the mill used to be and just past that the town was located.

Kimber Mike Don and I road to two small “ghost towns” past Bates, Susanville and Galina. It was a nice 40 mile ride. We were past by about 4 cars. Very nice road, called the Middle Fork of the John Day, it follows the river from Hwy 7 to Hwy 395.

This stretch of river was dredged by what in the day they called the “ultimate gold minning machine”. It destroys everything in its path. The dredge floats along in about 9 feet of water. It builds it’s own pond as it dredges along. Completly destroys the river and everything in it.

The confederated tribes of Warm Springs worked to repair the damage to the river and restored fish and wildlife habiat. A small section of the river was not repaired for some reason. Above are pictures of both. Don and I drove up to Sumpter where the Dredge State Park is. That is where I took the picture of the “machine”.

We road the Joseph Rail Riders from Minam to Rondawa about 20 miles round trip. No roads so we were way out in the trees. Very beautiful.

We started at the convergence of the Wallowa and the Minam River and road to the convergence of the Wallowa River and the Grand Ronde River. This location is called the Rondawa. Buzz Holloway, first person to boat solo down the Geen and the Colorado River, was killed here. He wrote a book titled “Doing The Thing”.

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Oops. Buzz Hallstrom The Doing of the Thing

Our first night headed east to Joseph we stayed in the parking lot of the casino in Pendleton. Our 2nd time.

this is what we go to see every day!

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Riding on the road and trails.

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This is where collin jessica don and I joined up with Jeff Kim Mica and Erin over twenty years ago. We packed in to an old minors camp for a week and hiked up to Android peak.

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The 25 was Kimbers birthday. We had twinkies and then went out to dinner. Best steaks ever. Mike had a huge 🍔

we are moving on to Bates for another bike tour. Will talk to you later dad! Love you

On The Road Again 2021

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We are ready to go on an adventure. We think we have everything packed. Now on to Tigard to visit dad and Colleen then pick up the trailer.