A Full-time Life

Category: The Whole USA

Roadtrip! Again

For ten years, we explored all over the country while living in an RV. Later, after we settled on the Canal Cottage as our winter home, we “migrated” twice a year from coast-to-coast. When we got tired of driving pretty much that same route every time, we started to “commute” by plane, leaving our trusty RoadTrek camper van behind in Florida. It has been our reliable daily driver and occasional camping getaway rig every winter/spring season for years. More to the point, it has been living all by itself during Florida’s hot, wet rainy season (while we’re in Oregon). That subtropical climate is hard on cars so, because we wanted to save it, we needed to bring it home.

We — the driver and fulltime-passenger — thought we were up for another road-trip. And we were — but this time it took us even longer than it used to.

Here’s a random dinner-time view from our traveling home on wheels and a good example of why we still love RV camping. A road-trip motel room seldom has a view like this.

People used to ask us how long it took to drive back and forth and we’ve never really had a good answer. We stop a lot! We take detours. We try to stay off the freeway. This trip was no exception as it took nearly the full month of June to cover a distance of 3579 miles. Obviously, for us ‘road trip’ doesn’t mean covering the most miles in the fewest hours.

We weren’t in any hurry — on our traveling days we started off about 10 and pulled into our campground for the night by late afternoon.

We didn’t explore many new places on this trip, but we did re-visit some favorite old ones. The collage and the picture above are from our visit to one of those favorite spots — Avery Island Louisiana. The island is a salt dome that extends about eight miles down into the ocean. For five generations, the McIlhenny family has grown peppers on this salty soil. Tabasco — the hot sauce the family developed — is still manufactured and bottled here.

On our previous visit years ago, we toured the factory and museum, but we skipped those this time in favor of spending our day exploring the Island’s ‘s semi-tropical Jungle Gardens.

In 1895, Edward McIlhaney (second generation of the founding family) became interested in the birds and wildlife the land attracted. He built an aviary and began by raising and breeding a few wild egrets. At the time, egrets had been hunted to near extinction. Their plumage was popular for fashionable ladies hats. McIlhaney freed the adult egrets after they had raised their hatchlings. They migrated and then returned the next spring. And they kept returning year after year. After all these generations, thousands of egrets still return to the island to nest every spring — their rookery is called Bird City.

At this point we were definitely not driving on the fastest East-West route. But our detour had a purpose as we were heading toward the Texas Gulf Coast where we have family. From there we would travel to Colorado for more family time.

We loved revisiting the beauty of Cajun Country (and the food was wonderful!) but we had miles to go and more good times ahead.

More road(trip) ahead!

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August 8, 2026
Last of the summer, first of the fall

At home here in Eugene, trees are beginning to turn, skies are blue, leaves are beginning to fall…..

Eugene Oregon, October 5

… and someone has abandoned the rake because there is no foreseeable end to their job anyway. A walk in the neighborhood reminds me to give thanks that these days we can enjoy the beauty of Autumn without any of the yard work!

Finishing up our summer camping trip here in blogland today — we weren't away from home for as long as it has taken me to finish blogging about it. I take a lot of pictures because Oregon is blessed by so much natural beauty.

Brookings Oregon

From Arcata in Northern California we headed back toward home, taking our time along the Pacific Coast Highway. A round-trip is more fun, especially when you can marvel at the redwood forest one way and even more amazing views of the Pacific Ocean the other.

Southern Oregon Coast

The beautiful Harris State Park is not named for our (hoped for) next President, but after an Oregon pioneer who owned the property at one time. ….. We could see the Army Corps of Engineers dredge boat at a distance from our camp spot in Brookings and the next day we drove around to where we could watch it work up closer.

The boat was dredging this channel. If you click to enlarge you can see a very small motor boat between the work boat and the rocky shore. Too close for comfort in my opinion. The crew on the workboat really shouldn't have to keep an eye on little boats that could go elsewhere to play.

We stayed in Coos Bay on the last night of our trip, spending just a little time the next morning at the working harbor. It was time to go home – only a couple of hours away.

People were hard at work pulling up and loading oysters. It is always interesting to see where our food comes from and how much work it entails.

We couldn't resist this sign. Fresh tuna is the best. It is hard to believe it is the same food you get in a can. (Even the best variety.)

We admired this young man's knife skills as he fileted and wrapped the fish we bought. He said he has dock duty on his father's fishing boats right now, but hoped to take his own boat out next season. The last of the tuna packages we brought home are still in the freezer. A taste of summer awaits!

We had fun this summer here in Oregon, but every season has its joys. We look forward to enjoying the rest of Oregon's beautiful Autumn.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; SIGNS SIGNS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY

October 6, 2024
Stone Lagoon

We stopped at California's Stone Lagoon State Park on our way to Arcata (previous post). I had so many bird pictures from there that I ran out of space, so this is a bit out of chronological order.

The Lagoons along this section of the Pacific Coast are shallow bays between rocky headlands. Wave action forms sand bars that separate each lagoon from the Ocean.

click picture above (IMG_7367) to enlarge

Stone Lagoon ( Chah-pekw O'Ket'oh in the Yurok language) is a place that has been sacred to the Yurok Indian Tribe since time immemorial. Today, the Visitor Center and the Park are managed cooperatively between the State of California and the Yuroks.

It was spa day for the lady Elks at the edge of this Lagoon.

We were away from the ocean on a backroad here . The country-side was beautiful too.

I never get tired of seeing Great Blue Herons

In real-time, I'm grateful that the days here in Eugene are cooling down to better temperatures for rambling photo-walks in the neighborhood and Fall colors are beginning to appear. On the other side of the country, Hurricane Helene and her water surge caused no damage to or around our Florida Canal Cottage. For that we are grateful, for the next storm we are hopeful, and for those who were in the path of the destruction we are so very sorry. Thank you to fellow Florida-blogger Dina who has an excellent post about the damages that the water surge caused near her home. Click here for a link … the words in her very first picture are perfect.

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following, with gratitude to the hosts:

NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS

September 30, 2024
Northern California with Birds

In last week's blog I wrote that we took an in-state trip to celebrate our August birthdays — I should have written "regional trip" because on that same trip we spent a week on the Northern California coast. The northern part of that big state just south of where we live still seems like part of the Pacific Northwest. California changes when you get further south.

Crescent City

We spent a couple of nights on the beach in Crescent City. We left from Eugene in extremely high temperatures (for Oregon) and it was even hotter in Ashland but the ocean breezes cooled it down once we crossed the border. We walked along the rocky shores, listened to the waves and the birds, and just relaxed — we were at the Coast and that's what y0u do.

All of the places on this getaway are "old stomping grounds" and our next familiar stay was in Arcata, one of our favorite places to visit. We enjoy the laid-back ambience of the area, the good weather — and the birds.

Willets

Except for the Crescent City collage, all of the pictures in this post were taken on our walks at Arcata Marsh. Here is a link to an old post that tells more about the marsh.

Mid-August isn't the best time of the year for birding and California has been in a drought situation for a long time, so we weren't sure what to expect when we got to the marsh. We were not disappointed.

Brown Pelicans

The weather was perfect for walking. It had been quite a while since we'd had a birding day, so I was a happy camper.

Another older couple passed us going the opposite way on one of the trails. She said "aren't we the luckiest people in the world to be able to spend a day like this." I agreed wholeheartedly.

A beautiful day at Arcata Marsh!

THANK YOU to the readers who told me about the photo editing programs they are using to replace our beloved Picassa — I used Photoscape for this post and it seems to be working the best for me so far.

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY (HAPPY HOUR WITH PICS); THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SATURDAY CRITTERS

September 22, 2024
Sibling Road Trip – Bellevue Washington

We finished out the camping season last month by enjoying some more travel with the tiny trailer. I'm calling this one the Sibling Road-Trip because we went from home here in Oregon to the Seattle area (Washington State) for a great visit with my sister and brother-in-law and then across Washington into Northern Idaho for the same with Bill's brother and sister-in-law at their floating cabin on Lake Chatcolet. We enjoyed great catch-up times at both destinations and, as always, enjoyed the journey as well.

Here's a picture taken from our doorstep on our first night's stop:

Mount Rainier, late afternoon in late September

This is why we like staying in our own home-away-from home. You don't often get a view like this from a motel room.

We met up with our family the next day. It was a great catch-up time, enjoying good conversation and reminiscing, good meals, and exploring the area. One day the four of us visited the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. Below are pictures from a beautiful bridge walkway built across a ravine in the 55-acre park.

As the sign says, it's a taste of the wild side in the middle of the city.

The whole park is one of those places that always seem sort of magical to me because of being so close to a major metropolitan area, while feeling as if you're miles away. An easily accessible outdoor getaway for city-dwellers — and tourists as well.

October and November are Dahlia season in the Pacific Northwest and the "tamer" area of the park had a beautifully groomed garden featuring these show-stoppers:

Who could fail to be cheered by these beautiful flowers.

Every variety and every color so photogenic.



We saw a few deer as we wandered around the park and always enjoy these sightings . But the above sign (and chewed up hosta leaves) reminded me of why some gardeners aren't happy to see them. Obviously, this park wasn't going to stop the deer from snacking. I'm sure the sign is to explain to the public that the plant damage isn't because the gardeners are neglecting their work.

The bees loved this flowering bush. Plantings in the gardens were all those that would do well in Western Washington's climate.

We had a great couple of days, over all too soon, before we got back on the road. I'll share some pictures from the other side of the State of Washington and neighboring Idaho in another post.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to all of the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

October 1, 2023
It’s good to be back again …

…. both at the Canal Cottage in real life and posting all about it here in blogland.

Our calm and peaceful Oregon backyard, early October

(around the time we were learning about the hurricane damage to our winter home in Florida)

Thank you to everybody who reached out with good wishes as we found out about the mess that Hurricane Ian left behind here in SW Florida. The rest of the pictures today are postcards I could have sent while we were on our cross-country roadtrip to get here.

Mt. Shasta California

There were so many trucks on the road — it is hard to believe there's a shortage of anything anywhere!

Sidewinder Grade — Just past Oatman Arizona on Route 66

That's our car/camper in the background

Because of the hurricane, we left Oregon about a month before we'd originally planned and we drove and camped across the country in our Roadtrek van.

Oatman Arizona — wild burros come into town a couple of times a day to be fed and admired.

(Here's one of many reference sites for more information).

It was even more fun to spot the donkeys who chose to stay up in the hills:

We've never enjoyed drive-till-you-drop road trips. We do enjoy the journey, even when we're anxious to reach our destination.

Just a few people, some of whom you might recognize, doing what you do in Winslow Arizona.

(More information here — and many other places)

We drove 3,775 miles in just over three weeks. Because there had already been a snowstorm in Colorado, we sadly missed visiting our family there. We especially missed thanking them in person, because our son was able to spend some time at the Canal Cottage as soon as people were allowed back into our neighborhood after the mandatory evacuation (well before we even left Oregon). He did a lot of the necessary cleanup and hard preliminary work to save our house from most mold and water damage. We are beyond grateful. (I'll share some more information and pictures in a later post.)

Window Shot — the roads were mostly flat — the scenery sometimes more interesting.

Instead of our preferred route through the mountain west, we took the flatter route — from our Oregon home, we stayed at least overnight in California, Arizona, New Mexico, a small portion of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and home to Florida.

Sunset from our campsite somewhere along the way.

This is one reason why we like a camping road trip.– you seldom see sunsets from a freeway motel room.

We are in our winter home now and doing fine, although it will still take a little while and a lot of work to whip the Canal Cottage back into the shape it was in before the hurricane. Many people were not as fortunate — we count our blessings.

Linking (with thanks) to the following:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

December 4, 2022
We’re having a heat wave

We have been living under a heat dome lately. So hot! But it is supposed to be moderating a bit this week. I took the screen shot below from Thursday's local paper:

The line under the icons reads: Thursday Sunny and Hot; Friday Very Hot; Saturday Very Hot; Sunday Colder; Monday a shower……

Temperatures over 100 are definitely not summer normal here in western Oregon (or at least they haven't been up until the last couple of years. ) But I laughed at the five-day outlook when I noticed that under the icon for Sunday it says "Colder" (with a temperature range of 89/62). I don't think that's quite the right way to describe a day where the high is expected to be 89! (I'm writing this on Sunday morning and it is more pleasant outside than it has been, but I'm not wearing winter clothes just yet thank you.)

Because of the heat, we didn't get outside to play much at all last week. We've spent some quality time with our Oregon family and loved it, but somehow the camera never remembers to come out of hiding on those days.

Geoff's picture from their Colorado backyard

So this week I'm blogging a a few Oregon pictures from earlier this month and interspersing those with some lovely (and cooling) pictures from our Colorado family. Colorado is our "third State."

Lisa's picture from Colorado

Above is Lisa's picture of Geoff with Max the big white dog on an early summer hike. Morning or evening, Colorado skies are beautiful.

The pictures in the next mosaic are mine from a week ago Saturday before it got so hot here:

Just some random people showing some of the ways to enjoy the beautiful South Willamette River Trail (and on that river as viewed from the trail). Walking, kayaking, bicycling, walking with the dogs, tending plots in the two community gardens along the path, fishing, and just chilling in the park and along the water's edge. The trail offers something for everyone on a perfect summer's day. I'm pretty sure we'll have more good days before summer's end.

Green Heron

This is also my picture but from three years ago. A couple of weeks ago I showed a distant shot of another green heron and then I remembered this old picture. It's the best one I think I've ever taken of this particular species of heron even though we see them often both here and in Florida. Like the more recent picture, this one was also seen at the Delta Ponds and also in July.

We've been watching this big apartment complex going up along one of the streets on our way to the River paths. It's interesting to watch the progress. At this stage, the buildings didn't look like they were ever going to be finished, but now they look more like people will be able to live in them someday soon. The already finished building is, I think, going to be the office.

And here's one more Colorado picture:

Geoff's picture

And it's another one taken from their deck. They have magical views from their new home.

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities where I'm linking this week:

NATURE NOTES; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

July 31, 2022
Catching up

It has been a quiet week at the Canal Cottage. But the weather here has been good, we have things to do, and I am always grateful for ordinary days. One evening, we had a little wander around at the nature area down the street from home. It used to be the nature area next door because we could walk there along a short path from where we live to the center of the park.

The nature area hasn't moved and neither has the Canal Cottage, but now there's a gate that prevents residents of our snowbird resort from using that path. (We think it was a management decision due to insurance or legal concerns.) It isn't safe to walk along the shoulder-less highway to the public entrance, so now we have to drive there. Which means we don't go as often. It's never been the best nature park for seeing birds and animals, so if I have to get in the car anyway, it feels like we might as well go somewhere else.

That's about it for pictures from the week, so this is a good time to serve up some planned-overs. (Not left-0vers, because I have always meant to use these before the end of the season.) Most of them are from our Autumn stay in Colorado, which was so picture-worthy that it is no wonder I'm still blogging about it.

On one of our mountain drives with our son, we stopped in downtown Ouray. There is a beautiful koi pond (actually kind of a man-made canal and pond) at the town park. It was a fun place for a rest-stop.

Ouray is a charming mountain town that looks like a toy village from the viewpoint above. The town nestles at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, not too far away from where our son and daughter-in-law live.

On another day we visited a city park on land that was donated to the town of Ridgway by the family of Dennis Weaver (Chester in the long-running western series "Gunsmoke" for those old enough to remember.) The Weaver family had a home in the area.

I believe the sculpture below was meant as a memorial to Dennis Weaver. As the sign says it is a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle.

The Mountain and the sky are real. But the Eagle is NOT the real thing!

It really is quite a nice depiction of a soaring Eagle. And I think the pictures look like it could be a real bird taken with a good zoom lens! It would be a sub-adult because in the bright Colorado afternoon light, the white head didn't show up well. If I were at all inclined to cheat, it sure would be tempting to say I'd finally taken some good flight pictures!! (But I wouldn't do that. ) By contrast, below are the best flight shots I've ever gotten of the real thing:

These were from "our" Eagle nest (the one here in Fort Myers Florida) in 2018, the year I stopped by the nest on the very day that one of the Eaglets of that season took its final flight away from the nest.

And finally, one more picture which has nothing to do with anything at all that I've blogged about recently, but that I saved just because:

This handsome fellow belongs to a man who helps out at the property where we store our boat while we're away. He was keeping a close eye on us when we went to bring the boat home last Winter. Isn't that mask great? Unsurprisingly, his owner called him "Bandit." Definitely one of the most interesting random cats I've ever seen!

SHARING these random cats, birds, and wanderings with the following: Thank you to the hosts.

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April 3, 2022
CROSS-COUNTRY ROADTRIP, part 2

Going back in time today (not even quite two months, but it seems longer). Here's a collage to set the mood:

ROAD-TRIP!!

Yes, finishing up our cross-country road-trip from Oregon to Florida.    The pictures above are all from the car window shots (some are from the first part of the trip, before our stop in Colorado.) The one at the top left was on the back of a truck that we had to follow for miles in spite of the instruction not to do so! It doesn't take a lot to make me laugh when we're road-tripping, but I thought that was funny. We were waiting for a pilot car to take us through a construction zone convoy and this truck was right in front of us the whole time, while we waited and while we drove the gauntlet.

You can scroll back a few posts to see more about the first part of our journey and about our stay in Colorado, where we spent the most time with the nicest people and where we saw the best Fall scenery. The collage below shows the difference in terrain between Colorado and neighboring New Mexico.

We like to stay off the freeways as much as possible and for almost the entire trip we were able to do that. We like to think about the people who live in the small towns we pass through and wonder what their lives are like. The terrain and landscapes along the way are different and every town is unique in some way — not at all like off-the-freeway stops which are the same everywhere.

Once out of Colorado we spent a couple of nights in western New Mexico without unhooking the tiny trailer — The first night we stayed in Bloomfield New Mexico which is near or perhaps on the Apache Reservation. We have explored this history-rich area on previous trips.

Then we spent a few days near Socorro NM, hoping to see the Autumn flyover of snow geese and cranes. We have been there to see this twice in previous years but sadly this time we were too early and barely saw a bird.

There was good sky-watching and good eating. Even though we cooked almost all of our meals in the trailer, we did venture out to a nearby restaurant that is famous for its green chile burgers, because it wouldn't be a visit to the area without that.

  Without the birds though there really isn't a whole lot to see so we moved on down the road.



But we took a little New Mexico with us! Green Chile sauce was the most common condiment in grocery stores here. I include this unpaid advertising because it shows how much you can learn about an area by shopping for groceries. For us that's one of the fun parts of RV travel.

Mostly as a memory aid for myself, I am including the names of all of the places where we spent a night on this trip. We spent two more nights in New Mexico after leaving Socorro. We travel in a leisurely fashion! In New Mexico, we stayed in Bloomfield, Pie Town, Socorro, Fort Sumnter, and Clovis.

We drove right through Texas (well this part of it anyway ) with our only stop being to grab a few pictures of this small town's signs which I loved. We were driving through cotton country. This was the only state we drove in without spending at least one night (and without spending any money at all). We were in Oklahoma by our first night after New Mexico.

By the Lake RV Park Ardmore Oklahoma

We stopped for groceries at the Choctaw Country Market in Clayton Oklahoma. We had been driving through the Choctaw Reservation which we found so interesting. At the top the receipt from the store says "Halito ((Hi). I'm Ashley" … and at the bottom "Yakoke (Thank you) for Shopping With Us." So now we know two words in the Choctaw language. Tribal Nations are sovereign governments, so as we traveled without leaving the United States, we had actually also been in a couple of different Nations within the last few days. (The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Apache Nation in New Mexico).

In Oklahoma, we stayed in Altus, Ardmore, and Clayton.

Eastern Bluebird

We spent a couple of nights in Arkansas and I finally got a picture of a bird! I really took very few pictures on this whole part of the trip — partly because we were still on a scenery high from our Colorado Autumn (and nothing is as picture-worthy) and partly because after Socorro we didn't spend a lot of time exploring outside of the RV Parks where we stayed.

In Arkansas, we stayed at Mena and Lake Village.

Mena Arkansas

I'm not sure what the RV Park manager meant to convey with the Truth sign on this decorated pickup but by this point in the trip, our truth was that we were eager to get back to the Canal Cottage. We had three more days on the road after Arkansas, but we arrived home with four more days of October to spare.

We stayed in Marion Mississippi, Dothan Alabama, and Alachua near the center of Florida

It was good to be home.

We are thankful that we both enjoy traveling by RV and that we have the time to travel in a leisurely fashion. We were happy to find good RV Parks all along the way (no bad experiences at all), and grateful that people we saw in those parks and almost everywhere we stopped to buy food and fuel were following Covid-safe common-sense precautions. (And grateful that the same thing is true here at home in Florida).

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

December 12, 2021
GETTING AROUND at the Canal Cottage … and elsewhere

This one is elsewhere — seen on one of the Colorado backroads we recently explored with our kids:

I can get lost in a large closet, so I love my GPS. But I would know better than to use it on a backroad. And better yet, I know smart people who do have a good sense of direction who are happy to take me along when they drive them!

Here are a couple of places where even I don't need a GPS:

Morning on the Canal

Rise and Shine

Both the above pictures were taken across the Canal from the Cottage on my morning walk. I've taken similar pictures for years, but this great start to the day never gets old.

And below, a little further away from home, are pictures from Franklin Locks Park where I walked one day last week. This park is just a bit past our current favorite Farmer's Market, so the car pretty much knows the way all by itself!

Ibis along the edge of the river, taken from the pedestrian bridge at the Lock. And below is my Bird of the Week, the Northern Shrike, perched on a fence at the edge of the Park:

At least that's what I hope it is as it seems to match the description in my books. Even if I'm wrong he is still my bird of the week just because he posed so politely for me.

Grateful for ordinary days!

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

December 5, 2021