A Full-time Life

Category: The Whole USA

ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN A PANDEMIC

Last morning walk of the season in Florida

We traveled 3,359 miles pulling a 13-foot travel trailer to get home to Oregon this month. We did it in 12 nights — the fastest we've ever driven across country. It could have been a risky thing to do, but we thought it was our safest bet during this pandemic (and ultimately our decision turned out well.)

Getting from one place to another as quickly as possible is really not our thing — we'd rather take time to smell the roses. But taking our time was not an option this year. Fortunately we both like road trips, even just the 'on-the-road' part of them. And this time, the trip itself at least gave us some challenges and new things to talk about during this time of isolation.

(click to enlarge)

We drove from North Fort Myers Florida with these overnight stops:

Ocala Florida, Elko Georgia, Jasper Alabama, Jonesboro Arkansas, Harrisonville Missouri, York Nebraska, Sidney Nebraska, Rawlins Wyoming, Declo Idaho, Burns Oregon, Blue River Oregon, and then HOME!

"We" didn't drive long days (Bill did all the driving) — The longest driving day was 426 miles (going from Wyoming to Idaho). The shortest was the last — 54 miles just because we didn't want to arrive home tired after a long day, (The trailer had food in it! And dirty clothes! We had to unload it as soon as we got home.)

Here are some of the places where we stayed overnight: .

I don't usually take pictures of the RV Parks where we stay, but some days, especially toward the beginning of the trip, we didn't really see anything else that was picture-worthy. We had almost no problem finding open RV Parks and mostly saw nobody else while we were parked. (This is unusual for RVers who are a friendly bunch as a rule. We were glad it was different this time.) Most of the parks handled registration completely over the telephone.

We didn't do any sightseeing, other than what we saw from the car window. And we were on major highways all the time on this trip. (In a normal travel year, we like to go off freeway as much as possible – the trip might take longer, but you see more.) Some of the time it was just us and the truckers on the road! Lots of trucks. We are grateful that they are out doing their job — it is certainly an essential one now as always.

We did see interesting things through the windows sometimes though — and occasionally I was even able to get a quick picture.

Car window picture somewhere in Wyoming.

Wyoming was hard on both of us because we usually drive through it on our way to or from visiting our son and daughter-in-law in Colorado. That was not to be this year, since at that time none of us knew for sure if we were virus-free. We did appreciate the blue skies — and that the roads were clear of ice and snow (we were lucky in our weather) — and were glad that we were getting closer to home.

We were back in Oregon before I was able to get my 'first-mountain-of-the-season' picture. Taking that picture is an annual tradition when we return to the West from the flatlands of Florida. (In most years, that picture has been taken in Colorado.) On this trip, we began to see nice elevation on the horizon well before we hit the Oregon border, but this lonely road between Burns and Bend Oregon was the first good opportunity for a decent picture. I don't think about missing mountains while we're in Florida — but as soon as I see them when we come back I realize that I did!

The Mountains are always there whenever we return, but Spring flowers are usually gone by the time we get here. So seeing them is one good thing about this year:

All these lovely flowering trees and bushes were in the little RV Park where we stayed on the last night of the trip — Blue River Oregon.

And here's the first picture I took after we got home:

One of the gardens in Cyndi and Jeff's yard

We'd already unloaded everything out of the trailer at home and then driven it out to the country to stash it on our gracious kids' property. We talked to them at the prescribed safe distance and of course haven't yet been back as we're just ending our first week of self-isolating at home. So we're communicating electronically just as if we were over 3,000 miles away instead of 20! But at least we can do that.

It's good to be home.

Linking this week to the following — thank you to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;

April 19, 2020
The Journey Home

The long long shakedown cruise with the short short trailer is proceeding without any problems that really matter (we forgot a few things, but we improvise).

Social distancing for sure … I haven’t spoken to anyone in person (besides Bill) since we left the Canal Cottage. He wears mask and gloves when getting fuel. We haven’t needed anything else (yet)

We’ve been able to walk around at RV parks without even seeng anyone else. Most registrations have been handled by phone. If not, Bill masks up.

Some of the slow-to-accept-reality States are “shutting down” behind us as we go …. Florida, Georgia, Arkansas and Missouri all just as we left (heard on local radio as we drove). We are in Nebraska tonight.

We are traveling faster than we ever have, but still not overdoing. We reminisce as we drive past places we enjoyed years ago — back in the days when we full-time RVed . We are happy this time just to be getting home.

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April 5, 2020
KEEPING IN TOUCH …

… in the time of Corona Virus

The first day of Spring in this hemisphere happened last week — but it was kind of overshadowed by all that other news. I hope everybody was able to go outside for at least a breath of fresh air.

We are using technology to keep in touch during the isolation — but for us that really isn't all that different than ever, since we are so far away from family. Just that it is even more important these days.

The Blue Jay pictures above are mine — taken near home (the Florida one) on the first day of Spring. The rest of the pictures were texted to me from further away — also on the first day of Spring. I'm grateful that all of our families are well and able to go outside and breath some fresh air.

The first two below are from Oregon:

A Rhododendron blossom from our daughter and son-in-law's yard.

(in Oregon)

We didn't venture far from home last week. Nature parks and beaches (and restaurants) are closed here. We kept busy — working on the Canal Cottage project and spending some time assessing our various traveling options in light of the current situation. (Traveling back to our home in Oregon — nothing more exotic than that needless to say.)

Cyndi and Jeff's beautiful Black Walnut Tree and the Spring garden under it

The next picture came from our son in Colorado. Their back yard (taken on, may I remind you, the first day of spring). It's definitely an outlier among the blue skies and spring flowers:

Colorado people are strong and healthy and happy in all kinds of weather though (aren't they?) – and anyway, by now, it's highly possible that the snow has melted and the sun is shining.

My sister sent the next picture from a walk in the park near her Seattle home. Our oldest son who lives in that corner of Washington State also texted that he spent the weekend working in their yard.



Perfect Spring Days in the Pacific Northwest! (except for the you-know-what). As the old song said "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle" – it should have added "when it's not raining." (That is also true for our corner of Oregon .)

(from Oregon)

Don't forget to keep in touch with those you love.

And go outside to play as often and as long as you can.

Thank you to our family for essentially writing this post. It would have been a boring blog with just one picture of a Blue Jay.

Linking to the following: Thank you hosts!!!!

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

March 22, 2020
THE WEEK THAT WAS …

It was one of those weeks – full of the petty little annoyances that seem to come in bunches (my mother always said things come in threes.) However we word it, I hope we are finished with that run for little while. Here's an old but happy picture that cheers me up just by looking at it:

Butterfly Park, Fort Myers, from the archives
(taken in January a couple of years ago)

It would have been a great week to go for a nice long walk or two, but one of the annoyances was a bad head cold. That coupled with windy and changeable weather kept me indoors. I was going to post all archived photos this week (as the one above is). But this morning we got a taste of early Spring in a text from our daughter. She said I could share the joy.

Oregon morning

I haven't been waking up nearly as early as I used to — whether here in Florida or when we were in Oregon. So this Oregon sunrise from Cyndi was a real gift.

The first crocus in Cyndi and Jeff's backyard. We don't see early Spring flowers (or really any typical Spring flowers) here in subtropical SW Florida.

I do miss the flowers. But the frequent chilly, rainy February days, not so much.

Violets

Their violets are remnants from years ago when our "kids" first bought their home in the country and we too still lived "full-time" in Oregon. Bill and I cut our own firewood back then and after one expedition wild violet plants came home on some of our logs. Cyndi and Jeff were happy to get new plants then (as you do when you buy a home on five acres where the yard had been completely neglected by the previous owner.) We transplanted the violets, gave them several bunches and planted some in our own flower beds too. Before long, parts of both our lawns were more violet than grass.

I'm glad I had those colorful Spring pictures to share because below are the archived ones I was going to share — pretty much the only color in them is a fluke of photography. Both mosaics are from last summer's trip to Washington State.

These pictures are from the Dismal Nitch rest stop near Astoria. All three are straight out of the camera with no editing (except to put them in the mosaic of course). I almost always take too many pictures of everything and once in a great while, my camera puts some of them into different shades. I honestly have no idea how it happens, but this one time I didn't throw the fakes away, because it was kind of interesting to see some color instead of … well … the true dismal gray.

The Lewis and Clark expedition was stuck here in November 1805 by a perfect storm.

We stop at Dismal Nitch Safety Rest Area whenever we drive that route. It is always windy and cold, even in the summer. That and the excerpts from the 1805 expedition journals make you grateful for warm clothes and transportation fast enough to mean you will never have to spend a week camping out in that kind of weather.

Thank you to Cyndi for all of the cheer from Oregon! And for the memories. Grateful for my archives too. And grateful that the small glitches were solved by Bill before he caught my cold. (I'm better and sorry that I generously shared the germs.)

Thank you also to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

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

February 9, 2020
LASSEN NATIONAL PARK

On our Autumn roadtrip we spent a full day in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park with a short stop on our way at nearby Burney Falls State Park.

Burney Falls State Park (California)

The Fall colors at the State park were beautiful and Burney Falls itself is spectacular. We had the Roadtrek Camper Van and had planned to spend the night there, but the Park was absolutely deserted, with all camping areas roped off. The visitor center was closed. We never did find out why — mid-October seemed early for the season to be over. We had a little walk around the area, took lots of pictures and then found an unexceptional motel near the National Park.

One of the informational signs at Burney Falls. I've always loved waterfalls but at seeing this sign realized I had never even given a thought to how they are formed. Science and Geography were not my best subjects in school. They say it is good for aging brains to learn new things — and that is easier to do when you missed a lot of learning earlier in life.

Summit Lake, Mt Lassen National Park

This view looks calm and peaceful, but Lassen Park is an active volcanic site and is home to all four types of volcano — plug dome, cinder cone, shield, and stratovolcano. Scientists continually monitor the area, especially since Mount Saint Helens (also part of the Cascade Mountain chain) blew up in 1980. The National Park Service has developed an emergency plan to protect the public in case an eruption threatens.

Bumpass Hell Trail and Sulfur Works

Hydrothermal sulfur mud pots boil along the trails in the park. In appearance (and "aroma") they rival those in the more well known Yellowstone National Park. Lassen is one of the least visited National Parks — it gets around 500,000 visitors annually, compared to Yellowstone's over 4 million.

Rocks "painted" by sulfur and other deposits

Brokeoff Mountain (Mt Tehama)

Brokeoff Mountain was an active stratovolcano around 400,000 years ago. It would have been 11,000 feet high. After the volcano stopped erupting the mountain slowly eroded and crumbled. These are remnants. Volcanic activity in the area shifted toward the present Mt Lassen.

We are honored to have visited 41 of the 60 National Parks in the US and are grateful to the dedicated people who work for the NP Service. I can only hope that these parks (and other natural wonders here in this country) will still exist by the time our great-grandchildren are old enough to visit them.

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following sharing opportunities, with thanks to all of the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;

February 2, 2020
WORK and (mostly) PLAY (now and then)

Except for the first two rows, this week's pictures are all from last Summer and Fall. But like the best second meals from the same day of cooking, it's not just leftovers served because there's nothing else, but rather "planned-overs." In this case, good experiences that we really want to remember.

Here are the new servings:

It was a beautiful day for the January Boat Club lunch. Above, the Captain is bringing our boat in to the dock in front of the restaurant for a passenger pickup. Bill's piloting and our friend is ready to help. I'm always happy to cede first-mate duties to someone more experienced — and we enjoyed the company during the "voyage." The spouses formerly known as first-mates were waiting at the dock. It had been a long walk to the place where we'd tied up during lunch and we were happy for the water-taxi service.

But below is what that Captain was busy with for most of the week ….

… which explains why there were few new experiences to blog about. "We" are putting in a second bathroom at one end of the Florida Room that we added a few years ago. It's in a very small space planned for this purpose — but finishing it requires not only skill but also acrobatic ability (neither of them mine, although sometimes I stop blogging and go hold something or fetch something as requested.) The addition of this bath and then renovation of the existing one are the last parts of the remodeling project begun when we bought the "Canal Cottage."

Now onward — or backward — to last season when we were in Oregon.

Late November

The picture above is a view of the Willamette River from one of the walking paths we can access easily from our apartment. Autumn is beautiful in Eugene and we are happy with our location where we have the ability to walk these natural surroundings as often as we wish.

Early November
Birds and a Bat!

All of the above critters were seen on the same day as I walked through residential areas on the way to the river. There were dozens of robins on the grass behind our apartment complex — perhaps a migration stopover (although Eugene seldom gets too cold for them — maybe this was their final stop). There are always ducks — but the center picture was a big surprise. It was taken behind our apartment complex, an area where the sun had not yet reached, on the same walk where I photographed some of the many robins. I have to admit that I didn't realize I'd taken a picture of a Bat until we downloaded the pictures — what a surprise that was.

Burney Falls, California

October

Burney Falls was the first California stop on our October Road Trip. We were in the area to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park — which is another "planned-over" for a future post.

September

This is Parker, our daughter and son-in-law's dog. He is half McNabb Terrier and half Mastiff. This big puppy thinks he's hiding behind that tree. There's a family tabby cat as well and one of my photo goals is to get a good picture of Parker and Chloe playing together. They really do like each other — and the great part of it is that the two have almost the exact same coloring. Some day I'll get that perfect picture.

August

Swallows migrated through our area in August — I caught a few of them in a very rare moment resting moment.

Auto-correct is one of my pet peeves, so I had to laugh at this sign seen in a coffee shop somewhere on our summer travels. This is dedicated to every blog friend who has ever wondered what the heck it was I meant to say when I didn't catch an error in a comment before I hit "send". We won't even talk about text messages.

October — Mt Lassen area

Beautiful blue skies from our Autumn Road Trip — and at the lower row corners, what I can fairly confidently say is the only snow we'll see this season.

Thankful for memories this week and for the new ones we're making — of both work and play — today, last season, and always!

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

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

January 19, 2020
HOLE IN THE HEAD …

…. and other follow-up from Bodega Bay.

California — The Golden State

Pictures above are from somewhere on the road between Bodega Bay and Arcata Marsh, during our October road-trip to California (from our home in Oregon).

Hole in the Head, Bodega Bay

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Bodega Bay Headlands was home to Miwok Indians — there was fresh spring water, sea water, and abundant land and sea life. Early settlers followed for the same reasons. In the late 1950s, PG&E (Utility Company) bought land from a local rancher and planned to turn the area into the nation's first commercially viable nuclear power plant. This would have destroyed the habitat and local residents and other concerned citizens mounted a campaign to halt the construction. It dragged through legal channels until it was stopped for good in 1964 — the environmental destruction alone should have been enough, but the fact that the Headlands lies on the San Andreas Fault was actually the deciding factor.

The Hole in the Head is a 90 by 120 foot deep hole dug by PG&E during the initial construction phrase. The "hole" is constantly refilled by the fresh springs that drew Native Americans and early settlers to the area. It provides safe habitat for a variety of birds and wildlife. (Information from signage at the headlands, with some of my own thoughts inserted.)

I posted about Bodega Bay earlier HERE – (only a few weeks ago — I'm still way behind in blogging) . Above is another picture of some of the Marbled Godwits that we saw . Thank you to the generous birders who verified my identification in their comments. Your help was much appreciated.

Possibly descendants of early movie stars?

A few comments on the earlier post mentioned that famous movie filmed in this charming little town. For entirely different reasons, I appreciated those comments as well. I knew a little about "The Birds" and there were are still a few signs and reminders of it around the town, but we'd never seen the movie. (It was released in 1963 — by November of that year, we had four children under the age of six. Movies were low on our list of things to do.) Too bad we didn't have streaming services available back then (although I'm sure I'd have fallen asleep in front of the TV just as well with it!). We did use that modern service to watch it just recently — it was definitely dated and only the opening scene looked much like the Bodega Bay we saw. It was fun to watch though — and I still love all kinds of birds.

This sign is along Highway 1 just outside of Bodega Bay. The Chanslor family owns a big ranch and this wetlands area. The sign on this fence said that hiking was allowed with permission and that minors must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Seemed like the prickly tangle of weeds would do a good job of keeping anyone young or old out of this protected area. But we walked along the edge in front of the fence and soon came to a great photo stop where we could actually see the water.

I think, but am not sure, that the water is Salmon Creek. There was the largest flock of Mallards here that I've ever seen. These are just a small part of them. It's an extremely common duck but it was interesting to see so many of them together. And they are handsome!

Grateful …

… that we were able to travel to this fascinating area and for all that we learned. Thankful for the people who saved the Bodega Headlands.

And thank you for visiting and especially for your comments. And, as always, thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities.

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;   SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

January 12, 2020
BODEGA BAY, CALIFORNIA

Bodega Bay, mid-October

We're alive and well and enjoying real life in Florida. But still living in the past here in Blogland.    These pictures are all from a roadtrip we took back in mid-October.

Our destination was a new-to-us coastal area — Bodega Bay in Sonoma County, California. We traveled from our Oregon home in our RoadTrek RV (camper van). We'd only been back home for a few days when that part of Northern California was devastated by wildfires and power outages. I've not been able to find much on-line about what happened in the coastal town of Bodega Bay, but we hope that it was not severely damaged.

I hope the birds in the picture above are (mostly) Marbled Godwits. But I could be wrong (and any corrections are more than welcome) …. in any case it was great happening upon an evening feeding frenzy of these busy shorebirds as we headed back to our RV Park after a day exploring Bodega Head.

Same general area, but all by itself — this little guy was able to find a quiet dining spot away from the company of bigger birds.

Some color on the hillsides above the Bay. There were so many great viewpoints. I'm always thankful to spend time exploring nature and this really was a beautiful spot.

One of the above is not like the others.

.

Bodega Head

On the other hand, each of these is pretty much exactly like all the others.

Another person watching the activity on this offshore rookery told me these were Brandt's Cormorants. As always, I depend upon the kindness of strangers (and blog friends) for birding help. Cormorants are not my favorite bird and they're not very photogenic, but a rookery is always interesting. (The inset is highly cropped – I used it to compare with my bird book description — Brandt's looks right to me, but again …. )

This could be any seaside town in Florida, but it really was taken in Bodega Bay California.

Can't go to the Coast without enjoying the Pelicans (and it doesn't matter which coast we're on).

This was a great roadtrip — we learned a lot about the area and I do have other pictures and information for a later post. But since our posts have been a bit lacking in birds this whole past summer and fall, I'm making up for that shortage this week.

We drove a lot of interesting roads on this trip.

This picture also shows the dry conditions that prevailed prior to those terrible fires – California needs rain.

Thankful to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities (and to everyone who visits and especially those who comment):

MOSAIC MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; SAY CHEESE; WILD BIRD Wednesday   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

December 15, 2019
NATURAL WONDERS — closer to home

Cape Flattery

It's time for some more recent travel pictures — and definitely time for some pictures of our beautiful natural world. Toward the end of last month, we went on a ten-day road trip to Washington State. The next two shots are from the new Point Defiance Aquarium in Tacoma.

These are straight from the camera shots — the jellyfish tanks had the best lighting ever.

The jellies were almost hypnotic!

Seattle Spheres

The Spheres are workplaces for Amazon employees in downtown Seattle. Seattle's a pretty amazing city anyway, but it is jaw-dropping to come upon these spheres in the middle of it! (Read about them here.)

After great visits with family in Tacoma and Seattle (and as usual for me, too few people pictures) we drove North to the very tip end of the Olympic Peninsula.

These pictures aren't in any particular order — just a little taste of what we saw along the way.

Bill got to indulge in his love of mountain driving on the way to the Makah Reservation at the tip of the Peninsula. I got to enjoy a hike through the forest (on a sometimes iffy board walk). Beautiful forest views along the way and of Cape Flattery once I reached the top.

Roses and hollyhocks — and hollyhocks and roses!

On our way home again, just a little way into Oregon, we stayed at an RV Park in Netarts. It really was a pretty place — with gardens to wander through, the ocean across the street — and (important to those of us who do old-people camping) a very easy drive to good restaurants.

These lazy elephant seals just across the street from our spot were quiet neighbors.

Olympic National Park

Grateful to visit with family — for the interesting places they showed us (and this post was just a tiny taste of those) — and for the beautiful natural places we saw when we took the long way home.

Linking this week to the following: Thank you to all of the hosts.

SATURDAY CRITTERS; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; MACRO MONDAY TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; COUNTRY SCAPES;    TUESDAY TREASURES ; SAY CHEESE; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;

September 6, 2019
WILDLIFE BREAK

Taking a little break from our Grand Tour

with pictures from familiar places.

(See the previous two posts for the first two chapters of our trip.)

This Green Heron was perched in a bare tree at the Delta Ponds near our Eugene apartment. It was just a short neighborhood walk during the first week we were home. Not really even looking for birds but very glad I had taken the little camera anyway. Nice welcome back to the neighborhood.

The week before that we were in Colorado with our son and daughter-in-law, our Colorado family. Toward the end of our stay, more-or-less recovered from jet lag and travel weariness, we spent a day with them in one of our favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park. As always, we had a great time with Geoff and Lisa — and as always on our Colorado visits we saw beautiful scenery and wildlife.

The Moose (Mooses? Meese?) were having a lovely splash in what was really just a large puddle. (The background photo shows what it looked like from where we stood — without our binoculars or zoom lens.)

LINKING to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY , NATURE NOTES; SATURDAY CRITTERS, and RATHER B' BIRDING . Thank you to the hosts.

July 16, 2019