Day 2 - Back in Oregon. Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge

Todays Miles - 135

Total Miles - 360

Departed - Likely, CA

Arrived - Hot Springs Campground, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge

Note we are already days behind in posts as we had no internet at Hart Mountain. We dumped waste, filled water tanks and prepared for next phase.  

Out the campsite early, we headed north to Lakeview, Oregon. 

 Hurray, back in Oregon. Feels good.

Looking out north onto Lakeview area

We stopped in Lakeview for refuel (regular was $3.95, $0.25 cheaper than Alturas).  We also made some phone calls (yeah cell service) and ate brunch.

East on highway to Plush, Oregon

 The Oregon high desert is really pretty amazing.  4,000-7,000 ft with mountains over 8,000 feet they pale in comparison to the Rockies and Sierras.  

However, the vista's are amazingly beautiful.  Simply your basic wide open spaces. We look out on the Hart mountains in the distance.  Geologically it is a fault block where one edge, in this case the western edge, raises up and the other side is very gradual.  We have seen quite a few in the west.

 Lots of sagebrush and open road.  No antelopes yet though

 We drive past ranches and farms, admiring the space and quiet it represents.

 Home, Home on the Range!  Where the deer and the antelope play.

 We stop to check out an old Civilian Conservation Corps campground.  Nice shape but find a map and discover there is a hot springs campground up on the top of the mountain north of the Park HQ.

 Up we go on the gravel road which just has been paved.  Later we hear there are some big horn sheep in area which we missed seeing. Next time.

 We get to the top at HQ, stop to get our bearings and disconnec Mr. Toad.  Seems best idea to first dust off the jeep before we disconnect. Another visitor remarks that it seems a lost cause due to the remaing 50 miles of gravel road but we mainly do it to keep it off ourselves.

 No rangers around to ask questions so we consult the map and drive 4 miles south from HQ over a hill into a lovely little valley lined with Aspens.  Sraddha, in the jeep, scouts out possible campsites amongst all available.  Very primitive, yet beautiful.  We find a camp host site with no camp host and I drive over the little creek through Aspen forest.

 We set up camp at the host site.  No water or electrical in campground.  Just pit toilets but my, oh my, what a lovely spot, except for one thing.

 The one thing turns out to be mosquitoes.  We had hoped to sit ouside in the evening but decided not to.  Nevertheless we had a wonderful time.

Hot Springs Campsite.

One great benefit, other than stunning beauty, was the hot springs.  After setting up camp we drove over and jumped in.  Visited with some fun young people who told us about the meteor shower Friday night.

 It was refreshing but not too hot.  I tried the nearby stream to cool off. 

Looking out from our campsite.

 We were tempted to stay another night and watch the meteor shower, then get to Malheur late but we had made a date with our friends, Turtle and Hawk for Saturday morning birding, so we headed out Friday morning.  Glad we did.  Turned out the rain and clouds prevented the viewing of the shower.  But that is another story......

Day One - Circumnavigation of the USA in 51 Weeks

Today's Route

Todays Miles - 225
Total Miles - 225
Departed - Ananda Village, California
Arrived - Likely, California

First off, thank you to everyone with whom we connected at Ananda Village this past week for mentioning you follow our blog and travels.  We are blessed with your friendship.  And to all of you whom we have met along the way over the past year of our full time RV travels, we hope to meet you again on the road!

We have finished our first day in our journey to circumnavigate the USA during the next 51 weeks, returning to Ananda Village for the Swami Kriyananda Memorial Mandir dedication weekend of May 15, 16, 17, 2015.  In fact we made appointments for teeth cleaning on May 14, 2015 in Nevada City at our long time dental office.

I will report each day we stop at a new campsite, on the miles driven, total miles, etc for the trip. Occasionally I will report on some additional metrics. Hope you will read along.

Heading east on Hwy 49 through the forests of Sierra Foothills 

We elected to head east on Highway 49 through Downieville, and over Yuba Pass to Sierra Valley where we picked up Hwy 70. Right now we are driving north along highway 395 east of the Sierra's en route to eastern Oregon for a few days before heading to Ananda Laurelwood.  We have 4 fixed dates (see bold type below) the rest of this year.   We will fill in the blanks. We hope to stay off the freeways as much as possible yet still make good time in certain areas.

Essentially a One Lane Bridge in Downieville

After the 4th of July weekend we will head up to northern Idaho for a family reunion and also to Puget Sound for a visit and a wedding of two wonderful friends.  End of July will see us begin the eastern migration across the U.S. heading towards the Canadian Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Sierra Valley

We will then head  down the Maine Coast late September so I can attend a Fall Color Photo Workshop with Vincent Versace in Rockport, Maine.  Along the way we hope to visit Sraddha's sister in New Hampshire and my "niece" in Lowell Mass, then head to Washington DC to visit Smithsonian, National Gallery, Gettysburg, etc.

Clouds are gathering up Hwy 395

The weather will dictate a lot of our travel times and directions. Our last fixed date of 2014 will find us in Orlando over the Christmas Holiday near Disneyworld.  Mickey already told me he will be happy to see us again!

Kent and Mickey January 2011

Deep winter exploring Florida should be interesting before we begin our westward migration and birding along the gulf coast all the way to Corpus Christi near the Mexico border in south Texas.  Might even go clear down.  The best birding down along the gulf coast is March-April-May so we will see how it goes.  Again need to be back in Nevada City by May 15.  Whew.

Storm clouds grow even more northbound on Hwy 395

Oh yes, let's finish our drive today.  We encountered a fun thunderstorm with winds.  Initially we thought they weren't as strong as many encountered in New Mexico, then we caught a huge gust broadsides which woke us up.  Woah!

our campsite at Likely Golf and RV resort

As we approached Likely Golf and RV resort  the sun broke out to reveal snow capped peaks to the east.  We pulled in and made camp then took a walk around the lake.  The golf course looked inviting especially after i had my best round in 3 years, yesterday in Nevada City.  Alas, I don't have my clubs yet.  Next year....

one of the little lakes around the Likely Golf and RV Resort

Off Like a Herd of Turtles

We are off to continue our northern migration.  Had a wonderful visit at Ananda Village with long time friends of all ages and locations during the weekend's festivities.

I was asked, last minute to help out with photography of the main event, the Groundbreaking ceremony.

Veranda of Crystal Hermitage with Palanquin of Swami Kriyananda

For first time in 20+ years, Sraddha just enjoyed the events without having things to do to help out.  We both had many visits with our friends and family.

I even played golf yesterday in the rain. First time for that.  Hadn't played in two years due to shoulder issues and had best round of the day with 3 pars and only one bogey.  Woo Hoo.  Makes me want to do it again. (sucker is born every minute they say).

We got our haircut by our favorite cutters,  we got our teeth cleaned and inspected with good news.  Even made appointment for next May when we return from our USA circumnavigation.

We will head out later this morning east over Yuba Pass on Hwy 49 to the east side of Sierra Mountains then north on 395.  Likely as anything we will camp in Likely.  Heh heh.  Then up into eastern Oregon for memorial Day weekend to see some new acquaintances who are volunteering at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

We expect to land in Ananda Laurelwood the first week of June where we need to register our RV and Jeep, sell the Subaru, and spend some time with our friends there.

Saddle up!

Slight Change of Plans

Our 3 day journey has turned into a two day journey. We stopped in a small RV park just west of Wells, Nevada after driving 200 miles yesterday.

Our right to Ananda Village

We had a wonderful visit helping Tyler and his family move into their home, it was time to head west.  The journey is 650 miles of mostly interstate.

Snow capped peaks

Last weekend's storm left some wonderul snow capped peaks all across Utah and Nevada. We try to stay off freeways as much as possible, preferring to go the back roads as we did in Arizona and New Mexico and Colorado.

Long way across Nevada

We stopped in Winnemucca at 9:00 AM for breakfast.  Omelet and fresh potatoes.  Yum. Regular readers know we had planned to head to a campsite near Carson City then around Tahoe, one of our favorite routes.

A little congested at the truck stop

However, we arrived in Fernly, Nevada at 1:15 to refuel, dump and have an RV wash and looked at GPS.  Only 3 hours drive to Ananda Village!  Let's do it!  So we are driving about 450 miles today. Not bad on freeway.  So we will arrive a day earlier and drive fewer miles.

Even more busy at Truck Wash

We gassed up ($3.75 per gallon) both vehicles, and waited in line at the Blue Beacon Truck wash for an hour before getting RV washed and a coat of Rainex put on ($40 for our size RV).   CharLi is now a spiffy and clean enough to go into a city.  But where to dump waste?  Our original plan was at the campsite.  However, we have a little app on the iPhone called Sani-Dumps.  Sraddha researched local dumpsites and discovered a rest stop 4 miles west of Fernly which has a dump station.  FREE was the price so we stopped there. Voila!  Empty waste tanks good for another week!

Civilization - AKA Trader Joes

A Google search revealed a Trader Joes on the south end of Reno so we took the 80 bypass around south and pulled into the parking lot not knowing what to expect.  Plenty of room.  Sraddha headed into buy supplies while I visited with a couple, Toni and John, who stopped me in the parking lot to ask about the RV and full timing.  Fun times.

Now Sraddha is driving us over the Sierra mountains on a beautiful sunny day, the only kind of day you want to be driving over the Sierra's.  I am typing and we will be back at Ananda Village, our previous home for past 15 years prior to full-timing.  We will be "boondocking" at our good friend's house for next few days and seeing a lot of friends.  

Westward Hoh!!

The wagons are hitched,  horses fed (gassed up).  Supplies sufficient.  Saddle up and let's head west!

We spent the past 3 wonderful days helping Sraddha's nephew, Tyler and family, move into their new home.  Camping outside on the street or "Burbs-Boondocking" was really fun.  We met many neighbors and friends who stopped by to say hello or help.

Burbs Boondocking

We even went shopping at Ikea for shelving and spent last afternoon and evening assembling and installing shelves and other storage devices in the playroom.  I had lots of help from the little ones.  Unfortunately, no one thought to take a photo until afterwards.  Sigh.  Must I do it all?

Helping out in the kitchen

We will finish up with installing wall photos this morning and I packed up the RV, making it ready to head out.  We had lunch with Tyler, then headed west.  Tonight's destination unknown but we have some possibilties.  It's 650 miles to Ananda Village.  Too far for one day.  Almost too far for two days although we have done that mileage.  The problem is having any energy left upon arrival.  So we will spend 2 nights on the road.

A little playtime when the sun finally came out

If we can drive 200-250 miles today (5-6 hours) and 250-300 (6-7 hours) miles tomorrow, then we have an easy day Thursday of, say 100-120 miles.  We average 50 miles per hour when we are really moving but thursday will be over and down mountain passes which drops the average to 35 miles per hour realistically or 4 hours of driving.

Helping out

So we will shoot for Wells-Elko area Tuesday hoping to set up camp for a late dinner.  Then head over through Fernly, NV for refueling and onto Washoe Lake State Park or Lahontan Lake Recreation area outside of Carson City, might be possibilities for affordable stop.  Then we could hit the Carson City Trader Joes store for essential resupply before heading up over Tahoe to Ananda Village.

We will not make any reservations and just see what comes to us.  Should be a fun little trip and looking forward to more "burb-Boondocking at Ananda Village.  The price is right.