Monday, February 27, 2012

Beginning Our Travels for 2012

Janet and I have had an inauspicious start to our travels this year.  I am hoping that much like last year we get the bad stuff out of the way right off the bat and have smoother sailing the rest of the way.  We left Alpine, CA on Saturday, Feb 25th., about 12 noon and planned on driving only 150 miles to Yuma AZ, so we figured we wouldn't need to leave too early.  We were driving down I-8 listening to some old Doobie Bros (Rockin' Down the Highway!) and 69 miles down the road something caught my attention in my side-view mirror.  I took a longer look and noticed smoke pouring out of the side of the trailer.  I immediately pulled over and found that our left front tire was completely shredded.  One of the problems with pulling a trailer is that you are so far removed from what is going on behind you, that you don't notice things like your tire blowing out until you are littering the freeway with rubber and sending a plume of smoke behind you to the delight of everyone following your rig. 


Fortunately we have road side assistance, unfortunately we have road side assistance through Camping World.  We went through 3 different people, but did finally get someone who was able to help and he dispatched a tow vehicle to us to replace the tire with our spare.  Three hours later we had our spare on and were able to continue down the road.  Three hours is an eternity while stranded on I-8 near El Centro.  For those who do not know the area, it is essentially a waste land of arid soil, arid mountains and dust.  They do some farming out there, but not sure what type of crop grows in this inhospitable land.  Thank goodness it was not summer as the temps would have been in the 100's I'm sure.  Amazingly, not one California Highway Patrol went by in the 3 hours we were stranded, although the Border Patrol cruised by a couple of times.  Guess you can speed all you want as long as you are not an illegal alien.

View from our truck while waiting for assistance
Janet and I made it safe and sound in Yuma at around 7:30 pm AZ time and are now looking for a tire place so that we can continue our travels.  Never thought it would take 6 1/2 hours to go 150 miles.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

California

Lassen Peak, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Deer Creek, Lassen National Forest

Misty Morning, Central California

Yosemite National Park

Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park

Asilomar State Beach near Monterey

Asilomar State Beach

Monarch Sanctuary in Pacific Grove

Montana de Oro State Park, Los Osos

Montana de Oro State Park, Los Osos

Montana de Oro State Park, Los Osos

Oregon

Continuing the last leg of our travels last year, we spent quite a bit of time in Oregon.  We really love this state and are always happy to return.

Vista House Columbia River Gorge Oregon

Columbia River Gorge Oregon

Multnomah Falls Oregon

Covered Bridge outside Cottage Grove Oregon

Row River Oregon

Office Covered Bridge, Westfir Oregon

Fall foliage, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

Lighthouse at Bullard's State Beach

Bandon Oregon

Cacade Range from Rim Drive East in Crate Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park

Forest Bridge near Rogue River National Forest

The Rest of Our 2011 Travels

It seems that I am never going to be able to finish last years travels.  So, I have decided to simply post a few of the shots I took in chronological order.  That way anyone who wants to know where we went after Montana can view them.  As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, so why fight it?  I have vowed to keep a log/diary of our trip this year in order to make it easier to transcribe into the blog.

OK, to start us off, here is Idaho and Washington.  Hope you all enjoy them.  Let me know if you have any specific questions on any of this places and I'll see what I can remember.  Cheers!

Sunbreak over Couer d'Alene Lake, Couer d'Alene Idaho

Space Needle, Seattle Washington

Seattle Skyline

Mount Ranier National Park

Waterfall at Mount Ranier National Park