Birthday on Location

This morning it was time to move on and we bade our friends goodbye.  But not before they fed us a good breakfast, complete with bacon.  Lots of bacon.

Thank you, Scott and Karen for your hospitality, for opening up your home, for allowing us to air our dirty laundry (literally, not figuratively), and for inviting us into your church fellowship yesterday.

I was not really looking forward to piloting a big rig on five-lane LA freeways for a couple hours, but we did manage to break it up with a visit to The Donut Man in Glendora.  This little donut shop sits right on Route 66 and is somewhat of an icon in its own right, having been featured on numerous TV shows and interviews, and famous for their fresh peach or strawberry-filled donuts in season.  Unfortunately, this was not in season.  We were told that there is always a waiting line, and there was, although it was just three people.  We ordered four donuts, a couple for right now and two more for later.  Not having a birthday cake to celebrate my birthday, a couple of donuts will have to do.  I started with the crumbled sugar glazed donut.  It was amazing.

Happy Birthday to me.

More freeway driving until we left State Route 210 behind, going east on State Highway 62.  This circles to the north side of Joshua Tree National Park.  Our goal was the entrance in Twentynine Palms.

We took a detour to Pioneertown, a town built especially for the filming of old western movies.  The town was built to look like the 1880’s complete with a dirt Mane street that only allows foots and hooves (no cars allowed).  This town comes alive on weekends, with gunfights and everything you would expect from a western movie.  On a Monday, it was rather quiet.  We did add an item to the “World’s Largest” collection, with the appropriate editorial license.  The post office here claims it is the most photographed post office building in the US.  OK, maybe a bit of a stretch for this list, but we’ll allow it.  This time.

Leaving here, we headed into Twentynine Palms, then into Joshua Tree National Park.  We found a campsite at the Belle Campground nestled into the rock piles in this section of the park.

Late afternoon already, so we took a walk by just striking out across the desert, climbing some of the rock formations and dodging cacti, sage brush, and, of course, Joshua trees.  Other than these, it’s fairly featureless, if you ignore the mountains in the background.

We made dinner, complete with a bottle of sparkling grape juice bought from one of the grocery stores along the way.  The juice was disappointing, but we enjoyed the dinner sitting outside as the sun was beginning to set.  Beautiful setting for a birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday to me.

After dinner, we went for another walk, striking out across the desert in a different direction.  When we were a couple hundred yards away from the RV, we noticed a pink tinge in the sky.  At first I wasn’t going to do anything as this was probably not going to be a decent sunset because there were too many clouds in the sky.  But then Deb told me to get the camera at the same time I had the same thought, so I sprinted back to the RV and grabbed the camera.  No sooner had I done so when the sky exploded into a riot of color, and I managed to capture it.  A few minutes later, it had already started to fade, but what a fitting end to a birthday on location, at Joshua Tree National Park.

Happy Birthday to me.

Hesed

We had the amazing privilege of going to church with Scott and Karen this morning. In the smaller group, before the main service, we sat around tables and went through Psalm 36, which contrasts the wickedness of man with the steadfast love of God.  I don’t think I’ve been through this psalm at this depth before, and I came away with some insights which makes me understand the love of God just a little bit more.  

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart;
       there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes 
       that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; 
       he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
       he sets himself in a way that is not good;
       he does not reject evil.
Psalm 36:1-4

The nature of the wicked man is that he has no dread of God.  The Hebrew word is stronger than fear, and shows that he lives as if God does not exist.  God, whether He exists or not, doesn’t matter, and that removes all restraint for wickedness.

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
       your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
      your judgments are like the great deep;
       man and beast you save, O LORD.
Psalm 36:5-6

While the wicked do not see God anywhere, the psalmist sees Him everywhere.  He talks about God’s hesed, which is translated in several ways, which our teacher summing it up as loyal love, God’s covenant commitment to his people. This and the other character traits brought out here describe a God that is not just somewhere out there, but intimately cares for us.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
        The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
        and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
       in your light do we see light.
Psalm 36:7-9

We can take refuge and delight in God’s hesed and find Him deeply satisfying.  Our teacher told us:

The picture here is of a banquet of the greatest delicacies at Yahweh’s house, and his people feasting and drinking their fill... The word translated “delights” is the plural of the word “Eden”, bringing the reader back to God’s own presence in paradise.

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
       and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
        nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the evildoers lie fallen;
       they are thrust down, unable to rise.
Psalm 36:10-12

The psalmist prays for a continuation of this hesed, and acknowledges the evil still present in this world today.  David also states what he knows to be true: that the wicked will ultimately be defeated.

The picture of hesed, of Eden, of God’s commitment to us, of what he has already done on the cross and will continue to do in spite of my failings spoke to me with assurance: God’s love is boundless, I can rest in that.

And that was just a summary.

The main service covered Romans 8:26-30.  How the Spirit of God helps us in our weakness.  He intercedes personally, as our representative, and knowingly.  I know my prayers are weak, confusing, and often interrupted by sleepiness or distractions, but the Spirit knows the mind of God and takes our prayers to God in perfect compliance with His will.

We are also eternally secure because he set his love upon me in eternity past, called me, declared me righteous, and gives me the assurance of future glory with Him.  All this is for His glory alone.

So pray on.

The service was also a musical feast, with an orchestra and a 100+ voice choir, who did a rendition of Soli Deo Gloria that was just amazing.

It’s the shout of every pilgrim
Who’s been shown the holy place
It’s the cry of every sinner
Who’s been covered by his grace
Soli Deo gloria!
To God alone be the glory!

Indeed.  What a blessing.  In more ways than one.

After having lunch at La Charria Restaurant and walking around Newhall for a bit, we went for a hike at Pacerita Canyon.  We also saw the campus of The Masters University, where some of the teachers in church this morning double as professors in various Biblical subjects.  That would explain the theologically rich teaching. We took a drive up to Pico Canyon, where Scott rides his bike a few times a week.  Imagine, having your own canyon for bike riding near your house.  Almost makes you want to live in California.  Then again, maybe not.

A day like this just goes too fast and it was soon over.  What a joy to reconnect with old friends and share a little bit of our lives once again.

Destination: Los Angeles

A little bit of a different day today, as we had a definite destination in mind and even an approximate time to get there.  But a few things to do before that time and a few miles to travel to get there.

Since we arrived at this campground in the pitch dark, we had no idea what it looked like or even if it was full.  So we adopted the “first available” strategy and took the first empty campsite.  This morning we took a walk around the campground before leaving and saw that there was plenty of available sites farther up the road.  So we really didn’t have to park next to the big Class A diesel with the generator running.

Tuttle Creek is a nice campground next to perhaps the only water in the area and a view of the mountains on both sides.

We drove into the town of Lone Pine and found a parking space in the visitor center as the cell signal was better there.  We then dialed into the gift-opening party for Nate and Abigail held at our house.  Wish we could have been there in-person, but it was good to be able to join remotely.  Happy 2-week anniversary!

Here’s a shout out to Josh and Steph for arranging the party, planning for and obtaining all the food, and taking care of all the details while we were not there.  And, after everyone had left, Josh stuck around and ran the mower over all the many leaves that had fallen.  As I said in an earlier post, I have awesome kids.

After signing off of the video meeting, we headed back into the Alabama Hills area to hike one of the trails and enjoy the beautiful day.  This is an area of fantastic rock formations where quite a few movies are filmed.  It is also a favorite camping spot as there are campsites scattered all over, all of them occupied.  We stopped in a parking area for the Arch Loop Trail, an easy hike which wound through the rock formations.

Since we had a destination and a time in mind, we left there and headed south on US-395, then southwest on State Road 14 towards Los Angeles.  As we neared the city, we could see some of the support systems that feed the city.  Massive solar farms that filled entire valleys.  Thousands of wind turbines covering the lower foothills.  Lots of high tension power lines all headed in the same direction.  The LA Aqueduct carrying water to the city.  It was fascinating and quite instructive.  It takes a lot of land area to support a city that large.

Scott and Karen are dear friends of ours who graciously hosted us for a couple days.  We arrived at their home in the north suburbs of LA at about 5:30pm, just in time for grilled steaks and an evening of catching up.

Miles traveled today: 216

Tufas

We used up most of our battery capacity last night.  It got down to 23 degrees and, in addition to the furnace running nearly all night, we had to use the tank heaters to keep the waste tanks from freezing.  We’re trying to get away from the cold, but it doesn’t help that this camp site is at 7000 feet in elevation.  Mountains and cold just go together.

After breakfast of blueberry pancakes and bacon we readied the RV for takeoff and drove the half-mile to the little parking area for the hot spring.  The trail to the hot spring was short but it was very steep and rocky, requiring utmost care to keep from slipping down the slope.  A couple of the spots on the trail were wet, and those areas had frozen overnight. At the bottom, we met one person just getting out, but the area was otherwise empty.  So we have this popular place all to ourselves.

We stripped to our bathing suits, which soon started us shivering because it was still below freezing outside.  We eased into the largest pool, which was perhaps 18 inches deep.  The cold was soon forgotten.  This was wonderful!  The water was quite hot, but still tolerable, and sitting in that water right next to the river was a true bucket-list experience.

We soaked in bliss for perhaps a half hour and then reluctantly got up to leave.  We could probably have stayed here all day.  To climb back up to the RV, I only put my shoes and my T-shirt on.  The below-freezing temperatures didn’t bother me at all, even all soaking wet.

We bumped our way back to the main road, wondering how many screws were coming loose because of this washboard road.  I’ll have to tighten then all later.

It was perhaps a half-hour drive to our next top, Mono Lake.  This is an enormous saline lake on the western side of the Great Basin, a sister lake and somewhat similar to the more familiar Great Salt Lake in Utah.  We stopped first at the visitor center, which was closed for the season, and took a hike in Lee Vining Canyon.  Sunshine and rapidly warming temperatures made for a beautiful hike, and the fall colors here are at their peak. Not the brilliant hues seen in Michigan, but still beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop.

We drove around to the south side of the lake, to an area where the tufas can be seen.  Ever heard of a “tufa”?  Me neither, before today.  Before the lake level dropped, these were formed when fresh water springs bubbled up into the lake.  The minerals in the fresh and salt waters reacted to form these towers under water.  When the lake level dropped, these were exposed, creating an other-worldly landscape worthy of a Star Trek discovery.

This area is also very popular and people are willing to drive a mile down a very bumpy road to get here.  At a nearby, less well-known area, a series of sand formations can be seen.  About two to three feet high, these are well hidden if you don’t know where to look.  We can thank Deb’s guidebook for putting us onto this one.

Another half-hour or so down the road and another few miles of washboard dirt road revealed another geological feature:  A boiling spring next to a river that is popular with anglers.  You can’t go in or even near this one, but the colors and the terrain around this are really interesting.  There are even nearby fissures in the ground that breathe steam.  Super cool.

There were strict warnings about going near this because of the temperatures and the unstable ground.  So pictures had to be taken with a long lens.  However, there was no rules or warnings about how near a drone could get, so I took a few pictures overhead with the drone.

The roads into these places give new meaning to the term “slow travel”. In this case, it’s literally slow, averaging about five miles per hour.  Worth it, however, if you have the time.

We stopped in the town of Bishop, as Deb spotted a bakery she wanted to visit.  Erick Schat’s Bakery, which is a Dutch bakery, is crammed full of all sorts of delectables and we came away with a large cinnamon roll for tomorrow’s breakfast and some cheese breadsticks which were used for today’s dinner.

The building was very Dutch looking, a lot of the stuff inside was very Dutch, but I think the predominant language was Spanish.  I think we were the only Dutch looking people in the store.

Dinner was meatballs in red sauce with the breadsticks instead of spaghetti noodles.  It was delicious.

Bishop is a town that reminded us a lot of Moab, Utah.  Touristy, outdoorsy, kind of a gateway to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Lots of camper vans and people that look like they have been on the trail for a week or so; that dusty, tired look.  Perhaps that describes us also.  The town caters to us transients, with ample RV parking and gas stations that have RV dump stations in the back.  We took advantage of all of these.

We left town in the darkness, traveling for an hour south until Lone Pine, where we stopped to camp for the night.  All the dispersed camp sites west of town appeared to be taken (it’s the weekend, after all), so we finally took the first available site at the Tuttle Creek Campground.  Much warmer here due to the lower elevation.  We made 199 miles today.

Buckeye Hot Springs

When you are camped in the mountains, with a high ridge to the east, the sun takes a long time to come up.  So I can say I was up and outside before the sun was up, even though the sky was brightening considerably.

It’s quiet here.  There are a couple other campers and a tent trailer.  When was the last time you saw an actual tent trailer?  Well here was one in use.  I should have taken a picture.

The guys in the trailers looked like they were here for the duration.  Lots of stuff scattered about the campsite, a couple of ATVs parked nearby, and a large bag hanging from a tree.  I would guess they were hunters, taking the ATVs farther up the road and doing their thing, and one of their trophies was currently in the bag hanging from the tree.  They came roaring by long after dark last night and again at 6:30 this morning on the ATVs, breaking the near absolute silence.

Since we got here in the pitch dark, I launched the drone to take a look around.  If others can run around on ATVs at 6:30, I can certainly fly a drone at 7:00.

The dirt road continued to wind its way up the ridge, disappearing into the distance.  The whole area is just hills and sage brush as far as the drone can see.  Not much civilization here, other than us crazies that drive rough dirt roads in the dark to get to a camp site.

We continued south on US-395 for a couple hours, arriving in Reno, Nevada, late morning.  We stopped at a tiny trailhead for the  Tom Cooke Trail, a 3.7-mile loop trail that started along the Truckee River and climbed up into some of the dry hills on the edge of town.  Downtown Reno could be seen from a distance.  Nice, fairly easy trail.  A bit rocky at times.  It felt good to walk in the sunshine.  The distances between stops can be quite large in this area of the country, so getting out and taking a hike helps to break that up.

Reno seems to be a lot like Bend, Oregon.  Outdoor haven, lots of growth, busy.  We saw several people on this trail that looked the outdoorsy part.  Brand name clothing, tanned, driving Range Rovers and Subarus, very serious about their hiking or mountain biking.  Yeah, I’m probably stereotyping here so I’ll move on.

We walked in nearby Mayfield Park for a bit along the Truckee River.  Great spot for a picnic or to bike along the adjacent bike trail.  This town appears to be quite bike-friendly.

We stopped in Carson City to pick up a few supplies and to fuel up.  Diesel was $4.95 here, which sounds like quite a bargain from the nearly $5.50 average I have been paying.  Once we drive into California, the price jumps by at least a dollar and a half, so better to cross the border with the tank full.

A few hours farther down US-395 we turned off on Buckeye Road, with the intent to see Buckeye Hot Springs.  It took a long time to drive the five miles as the road is a one-lane dirt road, with rocks and a washboard surface, just to make things interesting.  We got to the tiny parking area just as the sun was setting and decided to disperse camp in this area, as there were several sites about a half mile further up the road.  We’ll check out the hot springs in the morning.

This is a pretty popular place.  The parking lot was nearly full and most of the dispersed camp sites are occupied.  We did find one, even a semi-level one, and claimed it for the night.

Dinner on the road is always a bit of a challenge and you have to be a bit creative when you lack a full kitchen with a large refrigerator and an oven.  We decided to try loaded baked potatoes and had the choice of using either the microwave or the instant pot to bake the potatoes.  Our microwave is rather anemic so that would take a while and a lot of battery power, so we thought we would experiment with the instant pot.  Two things we found out:  First, it is possible to bake a potato in the instant pot, and Second, it takes a lot less battery power than I expected.  It’s a lot more efficient than the microwave.  So we will be probably doing more meals in the instant pot.

The potatoes were delicious.

We’ve been without cell phone service for the last two nights.  It doesn’t help that we drive dirt roads way back into the hills to camp.  It does remind me how much we rely on the Internet.  In addition to not being able to post these journals online for the last couple days, we are unable to look up how to bake a potato in the instant pot, Google Maps doesn’t work, we can’t check our email, and pictures of our grandson don’t come in.  Even the Bible study materials I am working on ask you to look up some things on the Internet.  It’s just assumed.  While we were driving on US-395, we had good signal, so Deb was able to look up whatever she wanted, but here in this camp, nothing.  

But all is not lost.  Deb is currently on the bed, surrounded with the road atlas, several brochures that she obtained from the various ranger stations and visitor centers, and some guidebooks purchased online and printed into 3-ring binders.  The paper library is alive and well.  And we are busy planning the next few days with it.  Stay tuned for where we will show up next...

Sightseeing from the Cab

If two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 
Ecclesiastes 4:11

We stopped for the night last night a little earlier than usual.  After leaving the Volcanic Monument, we found a spot on a forest service road just a few miles away, so we were parked with engine off by just after 6pm.  We could have traveled further but we needed to catch up on some Bible study, write a travel journal entry, and look at the map for a while to determine where to go tomorrow.

With the engine off, that source of heat is now gone.  Even the afterburner, as we call it, the auxiliary heat that uses the heat of the engine to warm the cabin, turns cold after about a half hour.  We usually set the furnace at about 58 degrees and let the cabin cool to allow good sleep.  Our earlier stop meant that it cooled more as we were working.  Deb usually reclines on the bed and surrounds herself with her maps and materials, I usually sit in front at the table with the computer and cameras.

Maybe it was the forecast for snow, but the cold seemed to seep in more than usual, and even with extra clothing on, we were both chilled to the bone after a while.

That changed when we went to bed.  Solomon was right, if two lie together, they keep warm.  With blankets piled on we were soon warmed up and comfortable.  Then, in a post-menopausal hot flash, Deb was throwing off blankets and complaining that she was too hot.  Solomon said nothing about this.

Who needs a furnace when you have a wife?

When I looked out the window this morning, there was two inches of snow on the ground.  Snow can be beautiful, but right now it's something we're trying to avoid.  So the weather is pushing us south at a faster rate than we would otherwise go.  Looking at things from above, even the lava dome that we were hiking around yesterday was white with snow.  We considered spending some more time in Newberry National Volcanic Monument, but this nixed that.  We also would really like to visit Crater Lake National Park, but most of it is closed for the winter and the online webcams revealed a few inches of fresh snow on those areas that are still accessible.  Maybe next time.

For the first half-hour or so, the roads were rather icy, until the sunshine melted through the snow.  We could then make normal progress.

We branched off US-97 on State Route 31 just south of La Pine.  This road, called Oregon’s Outback Scenic Byway, angles down towards US-395 which we plan to take south for a ways.  There are also a couple of points along this route that deserved investigation.

First stop on this route was Fort Rock.  About 8 miles off the road, it is an imposing rock sticking up out of the high desert.  Coming closer reveals an opening on one side, making the rock form a large ring.  This is a “tuff ring set”, or a volcanic cone in what once was a lake.  Oregon has made a state park out of it and we stopped at this state park to take a look around.

We hiked the trail around the inner circle and the partial trail that was available on the outside of the ring.  The crags in the rocks are supposed to be a haven for falcons, but all we saw was pigeons.

We made lunch before getting back on the road again.

Quite a bit of today was spent sightseeing from the cab of the RV.  State Route 30 is indeed scenic in a wide-open, desolate sort of way, and it was an enjoyable drive.  A good half-hour is spent driving around Summer Lake, which is an enormous alkali lake which look like a vast salt flat.  From the road we could see dust storms and dust devils swirling across the expanse.

We stopped at the top of Picture Rock Pass, as one of the brochures said there was some petroglyphs on a rock.  We found some dispersed campsites, we found some trails, but we didn’t find any petroglyphs.  The brochure said they could be found on a certain rock less than 100 feet from the road.  There were about a billion rocks near the road of all sizes and we didn’t want to inspect each one so we moved on.

I spotted a ranger station in the town of Paisley.  A rather nondescript building, which matched the size and nature of this town.  I stopped to let Deb pick up any brochures that may be useful.  By now we’ve picked up quite a library of them and they have been useful in ferreting out some interesting places.

Deb was in there a long time.  I finally went in myself and found her talking to two guys who loved to talk.  She was having a little difficulty breaking out of the conversation.  One of the guys was telling her that he lived in Bend for 20 years.  He hated it.  It was too crowded, too big.  So he moved out here, to the middle of nowhere.

“But if you wanted to move here, you probably can’t,” he told us.  “Nobody will sell you any land.  About the only way you can get any land is if someone dies.  Then the family usually hangs onto the land.” 

I guess they have the growth problem figured out.  Just never sell.

He also told us there are some of the largest ranches in the US around here.  By some accounts, the ZX Ranch is the largest in the US.  20,000 cattle ranging over 1.5 million acres of land. Down from 30,000 head in its heyday. So we’ll add that to our “World’s Largest” collection, with a little editorial license.  World, US, sort of the same, right?

We were going to stop at the hot springs near Paisley, as they looked intriguing.  Both outdoor and indoor rock pools at 104 degrees.  Unfortunately, this is a private business and they were having some sort of event at the time, so drop-ins like us were not being accepted.

We finally stopped at Ramhorn Springs Campground, a BLM campground about 3 miles of washboard dirt road off of US-395, arriving here at around 8pm.  No cell signal here, so will have to update the online version of this when signal is available.  Total miles covered today: 350

South on US-97

Beautiful sunrise this morning, it reminded me of the mercies of God:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

I like the conclusion that the author of Lamentations arrives at in the next verse:

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I will hope in him.”

Because his mercies never come to an end, therefore I will hope in him.  And that is not a false hope, that is not hope in vain.  That is hope in God whose steadfast love never ceases.

A trip like this would not be possible without the generosity and hospitality of others.  Yesterday I gave a shout out to my kids who have been looking after my place back home, today we are thankful for the hospitality of Duane & Cheryl (and Elizabeth) who put up with us for a few days.  They opened up their home as a home base--a place to refuel, to resupply, to do the laundry, to enjoy meals not prepared in a tiny galley and eaten on a postage-stamp-sized table, and to enjoy the fellowship of family. Thank you for everything, and thank you for the cookies.  They’re Grrrreat!

We bade goodbye to Duane and Cheryl and Elizabeth and hit the road going south on US-97, looking to make it to somewhere around the Bend, Oregon, area.

I got my picture of Mount Adams this morning, taken from the Zillah Cemetery.  So our first stop was about one mile from where we started.

Just on the south side of the Satus Pass summit, there is a Monastery, visible on the left side of the road.  A sign by the side of the road said “St. John’s Bakery”.  Since it was about snack time, I hit the brakes and turned into the parking lot.

The Monastery of St. John the Forerunner is a Greek Orthodox women’s monastic community, housing about 30 nuns and novices, nestled in the trees near Goldendale, and supports itself partly by the traditional Greek food and pastries in this bakery.  We browsed the small store and finally settled on a Kotopita, a chicken and cheese pita, or so the sign said.  It wasn’t anything like any pita I have ever had, rather it was closer to the flakiness of baclava, or perhaps a croissant, with chicken and cheese in it.  It was unexpected to have chicken in a pastry, but it was quite good, being more like a small meal than a snack.

We crossed into Oregon on US-97, past the thousands of wind turbines on the slopes over the river.  There were a lot of wind turbines the last time I was through here several years ago, but nothing like this.  Literally.  Thousands.  As far as the eye can see.

We left those behind and entered a high desert of mostly ranches and wheat farms for many miles.  This eventually gave way to foothills as we skirted the Cascade Range to the east.  We stopped at the Crooked River Gorge to stretch and to peer down at the river, 300 feet below. The old bridge, built in 1926, was eventually retired and used as a pedestrian bridge when a new bridge was built in 2000, and a rest area was added, allowing people to view the river and the other bridges from the old bridge.  The Thee Sisters can be seen over the nearby railroad bridge, making for a cool picture.  Nice stopping off place with some great scenery.

We stopped in Bend to take a hike up Pilot Butte.  This reminded me a lot of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, a mountain right in the middle of the city which is a popular hiking destination.  Likewise, this butte is right in the middle of the city, offering 360-degree views of the city and the mountain ranges beyond.  The hike wasn’t as much of a rock scramble as Camelback, but it definitely gave us some exercise.

Bend, Oregon has become an outdoor enthusiast’s Mecca, unfortunately, it has become a victim of its own success.  Being one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, the influx of people seeking recreational opportunities and good weather has won the resentment of the long-time residents, who bristle at the congestion and the inflated property values created by the increased population.  Indeed, we noticed it took more than one cycle to make it through some of the traffic lights, and it just gives a big-city vibe.  We decided to move on.

About 10 miles south of Bend is the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  We found out online that most of the visitor resources are closed for the season, but we just wanted to hike the trails, so we drove there, arriving at about 5pm.  We were the only ones in the parking lot other than a park service pickup truck.  We hiked the Trail of the Molten Land, a paved trail that winds through a moonscape of lava rock piles surrounding Lava Butte.

The park closes at dusk, so we didn’t have any time to do anything else.  We left and found a nearby Forest Service road where we boondocked for the night, arriving here just as it was getting dark.

Checking the weather, there’s snow predicted for this evening, so we are being driven farther south by the weather.

Chilla' in Zillah

Today was another low-key, no-drive day, other than running errands.  Kind of a gloomy day with a bit of rain when we got up.  May be time to start heading south.

We've been noticing an apple cider smell, as the big bag of apples that we took along from Michigan are starting to get a little too ripe.  The bag spent the night in Duane's garage, because it's starting to smell strongly of fermented cider.  While I like cider, the smell needs to be contained a little better.

So today we sorted out the apples that had any bad spots on them (most of the bag), cut and peeled them, and made applesauce.  Probably one of the few times we would have this opportunity since we have access to a real kitchen and unlimited electricity right now.

The applesauce turned out great and is now in the fridge, to be enjoyed on the road.

We ran some errands this afternoon.  We needed to get one more visit in with Mom before we left, we picked up a rock chip on the windshield a few days ago that needs to be fixed before the windsield cracks, and we needed to get more apples.  We stopped by a fruit stand in Union Gap and picked up a box of Cosmic Crisp apples.  This is a club apple, which means it is limited to a certain number of growers who have permission to grow these apples, and they also pay royalties on the number of apples they sell.  This means they are more expensive than the widely available varieties, but in this case we were willing to pay the extra price.  They would be serious competition to my current favorite apple, the Honey Crisp, as they have a very similar sweet flavor and are a lot more durable.  Perfect for a road trip.

We visited Mom again at her assisted living facility.  Once again, a short visit. I think we woke her up from a nap as she appeared quite tired and was still saying she was short of breath.  Saying goodbye is a little bit awkward as Alzheimers is a disease of a thousand goodbyes.  Each goodbye is said to a slightly different person as the disease takes its toll.  Mom now is different than Mom of ten years ago and will continue to become more different each time we see her.

We also dumped the waste tanks, since there was a municipal RV dump in Zillah, and topped off the fresh water tanks.  No telling when the next opportunity for this may be.  The propane tank was down to 41% since we have used the furnace quite a bit for these cool nights, so we stopped at Bleyhl Farm Service and topped that off as well.

This morning I got a text from Zhen, who volunteered to mow the lawn.  With leaves piling up back home, the lawn was looking like a bit of a mess, and he graciously volunteered to run the mower over it to clean it up.  I sent him the user's manual for the mower since he had never run that big machine before.

I checked the surveillance cameras on the house a little while later and saw him out there mowing the lawn.  He must have figured it out.

It took him all morning as it's a big lawn.  At one point I got a text which said "Check the camera".  When I checked, he was standing in the driveway, eating a brownie.  He found the stash of brownies in the freezer and rewarded himself with one.  I would say it was a reward well-deserved.  Thanks, Zhen, for taking care of us while we were gone.

In a conversation with Abigail a little later, she said that she and Nate were going to come at some point and mow the lawn.  They have also been checking on the place and picking up the mail.

Aren't my kids awesome?

A Zero-Mile Day

We drove exactly zero miles today.  And it was grand.  After 2582 miles in eight days, having a zero-mile day was rather nice.  I’ve spent a good deal of time in the driver’s seat and letting someone else drive was refreshing.

The day dawned bright and clear and we had a great view of Mount Adams and Mount Rainier from where we were staying at Duane’s house.  Unfortunately I didn’t think to take a picture until the haze obscured the mountains.

The dahlias are still blooming and the tomatoes are still producing in the garden here and everything is still green.  We had a touch of frost last night, but not enough to kill the garden plants, so the garden is still going strong, even at the end of October.  Ours at home has been done for over a month.

We attended the church I grew up in and there was a special surprise in store.  Pastor Ron, who was commemorating 50 years in the ministry was preaching.  He was ordained in this church in October, 50 years ago and was back for a visit to the church he started out in.

Things have changed since he was a young pastor 50 years ago.  The church built a new building, people have come and gone, but there are still some people that were there 50 years ago.  A bit more grey than before, but still there. I’ve been gone for over 40 of those 50 years.

We went and visited my (Tim’s) mom today after dinner.  One of the reasons for pushing to get out here to Washington was to see her.  We’re not sure how much longer she will be around.  She has lived far longer than expected after a heart attack severely damaged her heart six years ago.  She has been very short of breath lately, having to stop and pant several times from the dining hall to her room.

But she usually maintains a positive attitude and is always glad to see us.  Visits are usually fairly short, as her world is fairly small and her schedule is pretty regimented.  Today we were there 45 minutes, and then she was ready to head down to her Bingo game.  We’ll see her again tomorrow and then we’ll probably be heading out of town.

We spent the rest of the day with family, playing games and catching up.

And it didn’t involve any RV driving. :-)

Nukes

We toured Reactor B at the Hanford nuclear plant this morning. The Hanford Site was used to produce plutonium for the bomb that helped bring an end to World War II.  Most of the reactors were shut down by the late 60’s, with all but one of them entombed in concrete to allow the radioactive materials to decay.  Supporting buildings have been removed and buried.  The B Reactor was converted into a museum and was brought under the National Park Service in 2015 as part of the Manhattan Project National Historic Park along with a site in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge Tennessee.

We hadn’t even realized this was a National anything until yesterday, when Deb discovered this while looking for places to spend the night.  They allow overnight parking when participating in their tours, which found its way into Deb’s searches.

So we overnighted in the visitor center overflow parking lot in Richland.  Three other RV’s did the same.  

The rain followed us there.  I woke up a few times during the night.  1am: rain.  2am: rain.  4am: rain.  5:30am: silence.  And then it started to rain.  The rain finally ended at 6:30 and by the time the tour started, the sun was peeking through.

Official start time of the tour was 8:30am and the time required was four hours. The length of time included a 45-minute bus ride from the visitor center to the reactor.  During the bus ride, the docent relayed many facts about the area and background on the reactor site.

The tour of the reactor was quite fascinating.  Aside from an initial talk by the resident docent, and two optional talks, we were free to walk around the place and check it out.

I found it fascinating from a technical standpoint, Deb found it fascinating from a historical standpoint.  Just the sheer complexity of it all and the oversight needed to build a reactor from ground breaking to loading fuel in 11 months was mind-boggling.  At the time, we were racing to keep ahead of the Germans in producing plutonium, so time was of the utmost.

The tour was very well done, very informative, and I would recommend it to anyone remotely interested who happens to be in the area.  It’s probably the only place where an ordinary Joe like me can walk around inside a nuclear reactor facility.

There’s a backstory that’s not told, however.  It seems that the National Park Service wants to put a pretty face on this whole project.  It could be added to our “Worlds Largest” collection as the world’s most expensive clean-up project.  None of this was mentioned in any of the presentations, but information to complete the backstory is available on the Internet.  

There is plenty told of the heroism by engineers, physicists, construction workers, and the like to get a project like this off the ground in such a short amount of time.  In actuality, they weren’t even sure it would work.  They built a lot of safety features into the plant to ensure that any thing going wrong would shut down the reactor, which is good practice, but I have to wonder if some of the extreme safety features were in place because they weren’t really sure what would happen when they flipped the switch.

All the clocks in the plant are set to 10:48pm, the time that the reactor was started, and it was started at this time because most people would be asleep and may not notice if something went terribly wrong out there beyond all the wheat fields.

The production process was horribly inefficient.  Tons of uranium was required to produce ounces of plutonium, and refining the plutonium from the reactor output required lots of chemical processes, resulting in huge amounts of hazardous waste that is still being cleaned up today.  Some chemicals made it onto the ground and is probably working its way towards the Columbia River, others are stored in tanks and vaults which will need to be dealt with at some point.

This reactor is still being periodically inspected by the Russians after the nuclear disarmament treaties enacted during the Reagan Administration, with the last inspection performed in 2018.  Water valves sit without their covers, monitoring pipes are disconnected, and all this is photographed periodically to ensure that nothing has changed.  A pipe wrench was moved one year which caused some concern on the part of the Russians that things were starting to happen again, and that situation was resolved by retrieving the wrench and laying it on the same spot that previous photographs showed so that the photos would match.

It was all quite fascinating and well worth the time spent.

The Reactor

This is the pressure monitoring panel.  Each fuel tube has an individual gauge here.  There are two more panels this size besides this one as there are 2004 tubes.  “SCRAM” is an acronym for “Safety Control Rod Axe Man”, a term that came from Enrico Fermi’s nuclear pile experiments in Chicago.  There was a control rod held up by a rope and a guy with an axe standing next to it.  In case of an emergency, the guy would swing the axe to cut the rope, allowing the rod to fall into the pile, shutting down the reaction.

Yours Truly at the main control desk

The pipe room, where all the water from the Columbia River was distributed.

What it looks like from the outside

After the tour, we drove to Zillah, to stay at brother Duane’s house for a few days.  We went and visited my mom in the afternoon.  It was good to see her again.

And, two items to add to the World’s Largest collection today ... these were both pointed out by the docent on the bus going to the Hanford tour:

The Worlds’s Largest Freezer.  At a total of 455,000 square feet, and costing $150 million to build, this freezer in Richland, Washington is used for frozen food products

This one is not the world’s largest, but the highest in the continental United States, the Tallest Treeless Mountain is Rattlesnake Mountain, again near Richland, Washington.