Seattle to Oregon- On the road again

 

After a great week of boating in the San Juan Islands, we said ‘until we see you again’ to Scott and Monica, and headed south to Puyallup.  We had a week to wrap up a couple of trailer projects, see some friends and get in some family time.

Tom spent 12 hours installing our new lift and leveling system.  What a project!  After a defective replacement part was overnighted to us, the system is fantastic! Tom giggles and stands back watching the system lift itself off of the hitch, then finds its level position. It’s really sweet and certainly drops the anxiety level when setting up and breaking down camp.  A few other minor projects were completed and some ongoing ones continued.  Just like a boat, the project list is never empty.

 

We spent a very enjoyable afternoon with our friends Mike and Kathy at their ‘perfect’ beach house near the Hood Canal Bridge.  Even the smoke from the fires cleared enough to show us a wonderful sunset.

 

Southbound I-5 south of Olympia Monday 11 am!

We try to plan our departures to avoid the horrendous traffic in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Thinking 10:30 was a good time, we headed out, only to find traffic all the way through Portland!

 

Southbound I-5, Portland Tuesday 11:00am

Passing through Portland allowed us a visit with Tom’s sister Carol and husband Mike.  A fun dinner at the Island Café on Hayden Island was enjoyed by all of us.   Our next stop found us in Eugene, and an overnight visit from our friend John. Our first guest, who unfortunately learned that our ‘fold out bed’ doesn’t fold out for some reason.   A good reunion on both nights. We’ll add the fold out fix to our project list!

 

The smoke is from current fires to the west.  This burn is several years old.

Wednesday, we headed over the mountains to Crescent, just north of Crater Lake.  We’re staying in the Big Pines Campground for a couple of nights.  We’ll do some exploring and hopefully some hiking in the area.  A visit with Capt Mike, a La Paz buddy, who now captains the Crater Lake day cruises is in order for later this week.

 

No more lizards on the stumps!  Tons of these cute little guys!

We spent this morning and afternoon driving the scenic highway looking for birds, other cool stuff and potential 5^thwheel accessible campgrounds.  The smoke from the fires has cleared up   due to a nice westerly wind.  This morning we woke to cool, blue skies. It was a crispy morning, about 40, but has warmed up to a nice 80 degrees.  I’m already breaking out the long sleeves and sweaters!

 

A lone pine atop of the lava flow in Lavaflow camp ground.

 

While on the road, safety is pretty important.  After all, we’re going to be in some pretty remote places.  I feel much better and will sleep good tonight… we saw Superman in the phone booth in Crescent Oregon!  Already in his ‘speedy’ clothes, he’s ready to save the day!

 

And my favorite shot from today’s drive – a hovering dragon fly – and a happy one at that!