Our route from Texas to Here...April to August

Our route since leaving Texas on April 1st. If you click on the Larger Map it'll open so you can scroll out and see the entire route.

View Larger Map

July in the North West-Lincoln City, Oregon

After leaving the Thousand Trails near Bend we moved west to be near the shore. Lincoln City runs about 7 miles along the coastline. This small town was very welcoming and we enjoyed our stay. It's a bit pricier being on the shore but wasn't too bad. We paid $13.00 a night for a week's stay at Chinook Bend RV Resort. This was another membership park where we get a discount rate thru our Resort Parks International. Another perk of owning a Thousand Trails membership. The park was OK..very tight spaces. I'm glad we only paid the lower rate. It is located on the Siletz River. They rent canoes and boats. We had planned to take them up on this, but the weather was pretty cool and rainy for much of our stay.
One day we drove south route 101. This route follows the coastline. It is winding very busy.
Along the way are many many very small state parks. These are usually located at the top of cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The views were outstanding. Another day we drove north on 101. Not as many state parks, but a beautiful scenic drive. I love the Oregon coastline. If I were ever to live on the coast..of all we've seen so far, this is the most beautiful.

More July in the Pacific North West-Crater Lake

One day was spent going about a 100 miles south to Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is located on the crest of the Cascade Mountain range, 100 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. It lies inside a caldera, or volcanic basin, created when the 12,000 foot high Mount Mazama collapsed 7,700 years ago following a large eruption. Generous amounts of winter snow, averaging 533 inches per year, supply the lake with water. There are no inlets or outlets to the lake. Crater Lake, at 1,943 feet deep, is the seventh deepest lake in the world and the deepest in the United States. Evaporation and seepage prevent the lake from becoming any deeper. The water is crystal clear blue that reflects the mountainous rock cliffs and the two islands.

July in the North West- In and Around Bend, Oregon

We also took a couple of short trips from the preserve to and around Bend. It is about a 20 mile drive right through the middle of volcano country. We spent several hours traveling up and around the volcanic mountains.

July in the West

At the end of June we left California and took a short detour into Nevada.
Gary felt the need to check out Reno since we'd been to Las Vegas earlier on our trip. Reno is called the Biggest Little City of the World. I'm not really sure what that means but it's their motto. The city is like Las Vegas..but smaller and a little "less refined" (imagine tongue in cheek here)... if that is possible. We visited Scheels, a very large sporting goods store while there. Ever been in a store that had it's very own ferris wheel? Pretty cool!!



Please note Gary's very creative support system for the sewer hose. County law required it be off the ground completely.

We also took a drive down to Carson City and the north shore of Lake Tahoe.
To quote the Offical Lake Tahoe Visitor Bureau website...
"About 2 million years ago, a shift in tectonic plates caused the Tahoe Basin to drop down between the Sierra crest to the west and the Carson range to the east. Volcanic activity, also caused by the tectonic shifts, led to expulsion of magma up through the faults, filling in gaps and damming the valley.

Ten thousand years ago, at the time of the last ice age, individual glaciers formed at the area’s highest elevations, on the north, west and south ends of the Lake. Movement by the glaciers scoured out basins and formed Donner Lake, Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake, which sits up and to the West of Lake Tahoe.

Today, erosion and weathering is causing a slow, undetectable lowering of the Sierra, the mountain range that houses Tahoe. It is believed that Lake Tahoe is filling in with sediment at a rate of one foot every 3,200 years, so that in 3,158,400 years the lake will be replaced by a meadow."

Wow..pretty impressive..I'm just glad I wasn't around when all the action was occurring. And won't be around once it's reduced to a meadow..
Its a beautiful place..but filled with gated homes worth $$$$$ ...way more than our tax bracket for sure. We also saw one of the ski slopes..very different looking than the winter I'm sure. There was still some snow around but nothing you could ski on.



The picture of the pole is a snow marker. These are placed along the road so that when it snows, folks can find the road...this give you some idea of the amount of snow they get???


We left Reno after a week and moved up near Bend Oregon. On the way we traveled thru the Oregon Outback. This area is unlike anything we expected in Oregon. In many areas it looked more like the southwest, New Mexico or Arizona. Very desolate for miles and miles.




We spent 1 night at Lakeview Oregon..this small town in Lake County is called the hang gliding capital of the west (self proclaimed). Lake County is a land of stark beauty where we appreciated broad expanses of desert, sagebrush, high bluffs and rim rocks, plus the solitude of mountain forests. We looked for their crystal clear lakes...most of which seemed to be dry this year. Lakeview was a nice small town with a pretty good Mexican restaurant that we enjoyed for dinner. Or at least I did..Mr P had his usual hamburger...the only American food most of the Mexican restaurants seem to offer.

Before we left in the morning we drove down the street to the Old Perpetual Geyser. This geyser was supposed to go off every 90 seconds. We later learned that we arrived during it's summer vacation. Evidently it stops erupting when the water table for the area drops in the summer. Oh well..we looked at pictures on the web instead. And it still doesn't compare to Yellowstone's Old Faithful. See below..




We stayed at the Thousand Trails near Bend for two weeks. Most of that time we spent sick. We missed all the 4th of July festivities at the park and in town. Gary started out with a cold/flu and we took him to a local doctor's office on Friday. By nightfall, I was sick too. We had all the symptoms of cold/flu and it was no fun. We were glad to know that the Swine flu had been and gone in the area before we arrived. We spent a lot of time going from chair to bed and back for over a week. My cough is still lingering.

More to come..I know I'm behind...I'll catch up soon. Love to you all. Deb