Chasing the 70’s

We last left you in Yuma nearly three months ago! Here we are, winter over and we're on our way back north. That isn't to say we didn't run into some winter though!

One of our goals this season was to check out a park we have never been to yet have signed up for hosting. Goose Lake state park is located in the south east of Oregon along the border with California (the road into the park from the highway is the borderline). I mention this because in order to pay a visit to the park we needed to divert from our normal northbound route a bit which in turn, took us right into the teeth of a winter storm. Taking 395 out of Fernley Nevada we made the run into the leading edges of the forecasted cold front towards the small town of Alturas, California. Rain, slush and some not so friendly side winds beat us up pretty bad so instead of going to Goose Lake and then onward to Klamath Falls Oregon, we stopped at Sully's RV Park in Alturas for a much needed break. I'm really glad we did as that night the front went through with a vengeance – more rain, sleet, and wind gusts over 45mph slammed into our rig causing a sleepless catnap sort of rest that really isn't a rest.

Come morning we had, according to the map, an easy 4 hour drive up to our destination, Sutherlin Oregon and the Escapee park for a weekend of downtime with visits to our favorite local restaurant, Fusion. Blatant plug: if you are EVER within even 25 miles of this place you simply have to check them out. This very small cafe located on the main street of Sutherlin is a definite keeper. What's the phrase? Oh yes, nirvana!

Okay, back to the trip. Uneventful all the way to Klamath Falls. Changing over to highway 140 we had bare and wet roads and to my shame, I grew complacent and mentioned how nice the roads were. Oops. Within a span of just 5 miles we went from high overcast skies, and as I mentioned a really nice road to a snow covered mess, lowering clouds, and the promise of a lot more snow to come. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, no place to safely pull over. Wouldn't have mattered anyway, we weren't carrying chains.

We learned a few things on this trip. Number 1: NEVER, nope, not EVER travel into a snow storm again. Not even if we have chains (we won't, too much temptation to use them). There is always plenty of time to take our time. Number 2: There is really no good reason to press on in high side winds – period. Why take a beating if you don't have to. Lastly: we have a motorhome. That means we can pull over, heat up some water, make lunch, watch a movie, take a shower, do laundry – virtually ANYTHING other than risk our safety or make a trip less enjoyable. (This last one will require numerous applications of a 2X4 to the side of my head to ensure I learn it.)

Our nearly four months this winter season consisted of visiting museums, arts and crafts shows, small quirky towns, and trying to enjoy what was a cooler than previous winter's weather. I believe, unlike last year, we experienced at least 4 nights where it froze or frosted up pretty good. Didn't matter too much as each day was topping out at 70 degrees or more with tons of sunshine to sit and enjoy.

The title of this blog is chasing the 70's. We really didn't have to do much chasing, just kicked back testing lawn chairs and let the 70's catch up to us.

We're currently two days out from our first hosting gig of 2018 – Lincoln Rock State Park. The rest of 2018 has also firmed up so here's the CnD Travels hosting schedule for the summer season:

April/May: Lincoln Rock State Park, East Wenatchee, WA
June: Goose Lake State Park, New Pine Creek, OR
July: Collier Memorial State Park, Chiloquin, OR
August: travel and goof off month. You could run into us in UT, SD, MT, ID, WA, and OR. Perhaps even CO.
September: Wallowa Lake State Park, Joseph, OR
Oct/Nov: Sunset Bay State Park, Coos Bay, OR

Until next time – and I can assure you the time gap between blogs will be MUCH shorter. Shoot, new campers seem to guarantee it.