Family, quilting, and the RZR (mostly)

My daughter did officially graduate with her MS in Midwifery! We camped near where her ceremony was. She is part of the University of Iowa’s very first class of Midwives, and she already has a job beginning in September. Until then she will continue as a L&D nurse as she has been. It takes quite a while to get the official go-ahead to schedule boards and the her DEA license. Luckily her employer is paying for all of that. The evening of the ceremony we had all the local kids, spouses, partners, and grandkids at a restaurant for dinner. It was great fun to see everyone and I not have to cook or clean! We also had a smaller group out to the camp for a peach dump cake and my famous New Mexican style green chili chicken enchiladas, both cooked in Dutch Ovens.

I also have gotten some quilting done even with multiple dentist and medical appointments. We try to condense all our visits into a short period when we guarantee we are home, and this year both of us have had to have follow ups which take even more time! I still have one more next week, but Kevin is finally all done.

I did finish the May Kona Block of the Month, this time quite early for once! I am glad this is just about the last of the brown and dull green blocks. We will be moving to more cheerful colors soon.This one was the easiest yet; just a square in a square, some flying geese, and some squares.

May’s design

I have quilted two quilts. The first one had been sitting in the “pieced not quilted” pile for far too long. I wanted a quilting design that would contrast the linear pattern, so I decided to use two different sizes of circular templates connected randomly with wavy lines. I am actually pretty proud of the circles; it is HARD to quilt around circles! And yes, it is actually nicely square. Luna kept coming by Kevin’s right foot and he twisted around some.

More modern than most

See those pretty circles?

Close up of quilting
Quilting back

I also quilted the Turkey Giblet quilt I pieced during our winter trip. It is so busy I just quilted it in a random meander with black thread. The first picture is pretty true to the actual color; the other not so much.

“”Turkey Giblets” is the official name
Bad color, but it shows the shapes

Kevin worked on the RZR more. He had all the important pieces one, but he still needed to improve how to get it on and off the truck. Our last little RZR had a removable cloth door that he could climb out of easily. The new one has solid plastic doors that remove with screws. The first few times he needed to get out or in he climbed through the open roof, but obviously that wasn’t a long term solution. He decided to build up the wooden supports in the truck so the door was above the truck side walls. Note the ladder in the second picture; it is definitely needed. Luckily the RZR still fits on the truck hitch attachment which was a pleasant surprise. We were worried the hitch would need to be lengthened an inch or so. He also bought new tires so we now increased the total ground clearance about 2” while maintaining the narrow width we need. Impressive! BTW, that’s our old AZ tag; we now have a new one for the new rig. He installed this one to make sure the lighting worked.

RZR in truck bed
All the new ramps

Of course when you get a brand new rig from the dealer you are taking a chance of finding some kind of factory issue. Yup, we have one. The steering is misbehaving some, so the RZR has been at the shop since late last week. Should be home next week, or so the service shop said. They’ve seen it before and seemed to know just what to do.

And here is an in-process picture of my bleeding hearts and shade garden getting weeded by my granddaughters. Their parents don’t like their faces on the internet, but we all agreed this one was ok. The bed looks much nicer now!

Nicer after the granddaughters did weeding
May’s design

My only remaining quilting task here is adding a first border onto the green Mystery Monday quilt I did a year ago. I need to enlarge it to king sized for our motorhome bed. I am also prepping for a class I will be teaching at the Rocky Mountain Motorcoach Association “Ramble” – a rally in October in Farmington, NM. I will be teaching folks how to make oven mitts. It was a popular class last time I did it at the FRVA international convention a couple of years ago, but this is a much smaller rally so I am not expecting more than 4 or 5 people. I am providing supplies for 10 though, just in case. I need to get the insulation cut at least, plus see how much fabric I need to buy new and how much can come from my stash. I have plenty of time for the fabric, but the insulation comes on a big roll, and I don’t want to haul that around!

Other than that we are just getting organized for our trip beginning the first week of June, assuming I get clearance from my doctor which is very probable. We won’t be back until the week before Halloween, our longest summer trip yet.

Update on the new RZR 900 Trail side by side

Since we got home Kevin has been keeping the delivery folks busy. He’s been having a blast getting the new RZR ready for the trail. The version we bought is really stripped down as it comes from the dealer. It didn’t even have a roof, mirrors, or turn signals.
As it came from the dealer

Here is the front so far. Notice the roof, front bumper, winch, low mounted fog lights, a split front windshield (it opens into three separate positions), a manual windshield wiper, side mirrors, a center mirror, and removable side windows that attach with magnets. The 2” lift kit isn’t obvious, but it gives a significant benefit for the rock climbing needed in Arizona. He also got 27” tires all around (the original 26” tires were different widths too).

From the side the windows are a bit more obvious as is the custom GoPro attachment he 3D printed for me! He also installed rock guard at the bottom of the doors to protect the plastic lower doors.

At the back you can see the tail lights, turn signals, lighted license tag holder (we have a tag from Arizona), spare gas can, water can, fire extinguisher, and a spare tire mount (plus tire of course). One of the real advantages of the new tires is now all five tires are the same size. There is lots of storage now for a lunch ice chest, spare parts, tools, two flag pole holders, and emergency gear. We are pretty cautious with emergency gear since we frequently ride by ourselves. Food, water, extra clothing, emergency shelter, and an In-Reach emergency communication device. A few things you can’t see include a radiator rock guard, power outlets in the dash plus custom switches for the new stuff, hangers for our ear protection/radios, and grab handles to make getting in and out of the rig a lot easier for old joints like ours LOL!. Oh, and Kevin had to modify the wooden ramp in the truck so the bottom of the door is just above the side rail of the truck. With the old RZR he just took off the door to climb in or out. This one has OEM doors, and they don’t come off easily.

Since we have had wet weather in the last few weeks we haven’t taken it out to the local OHV area, but it is looking like we can do it next week. We have been busy working on other things and putting off. I did get my garden weeded by my fantastic granddaughters, we have gone to concerts, and then my back ablation added to limited opportunities to ride. Kevin has made sure we have stickers for riding in Iowa, Arizona, and South Dakota (both the state one and the one needed for the Black Hills). We are still waiting for the ones for Oregon and Utah, and we need to order the Wyoming one. Wow, I guess that is enough.

As for sewing, I have another quilt sandwiched just waiting to get on the machine. This one is very modern, and I am looking forward to doing straight lines and circles on it. But my daughter is graduating with her MS in Midwifery, and is planning on taking her boards in the next couple of week. We are heading down  in the RV for a few days to make it easier to get to the graduation. We will be staying a few days just to relax too.

Iowa – home again first time in 2025

It was time to get home. Always something to look forward to, and something we regret since we love the Southwest so much. I did some serious medication and lots of heating pad use, and I was able to drive semi-comfortably.

We left Monument Valley and went to Page, AZ, staying at the Elks Lodge 4 April.  It was a gravel parking lot, and they charged $15 for dry camping. I thought that was fairly high, but, then again, Page is a big vacation spot. Very friendly people though. The next night we went to the Twin Arrows Casino outside Flagstaff, AZ. It is always an easy spot to stay, free, and not too noisy. On 6 April we spent the night at Santa Rosa State Park, NM. Lovely place. It is a bit of a pain to get to, but worth it for a beautiful and quiet spot. We thought about staying two nights, but there was weather coming in, so we kept going.

Monday saw us all the way through Texas and into Elk City, OK where we spent the night at the Elks Lodge. Again it had no hookups, but we were able to find a nice spot. We got to Oklahoma City fairly early on Tuesday. We stayed at the Edmond Elks Lodge. Not very nice due to crowding. We could hear a lot of conversations from surrounding coaches! We stayed two days because a group of elementary and high school friends were getting together. I keep forgetting how little I have in common with the people I went to high school with! I think this will be the last time I try to get together with them. Life definitely does go on.

We spent 10 April on the trip at the Kansas Star Casino south of Wichita. Great place to spend a quiet night for free. The lot we stayed in was gravel, but it was pretty flat and relatively unoccupied. There is an alternative spot closer to the casino that was asphalt, but it was slightly more occupied. Our last night was spent at the Walmart in Osceola, IA. Lots of reefers running all night, but it was handy. A bad wind was coming, so we left early and headed straight home.

We got here this morning and put the motorhome at Big Woods Lake County Park. We are about half unpacked, and we will finish tomorrow. The cats are enjoying the space. Each of them is rubbing their faces over pretty much every surface, marking the place as theirs after so long.

With the new RZR and tariffs being on and off, Kevin has ordered all kinds of things for it. We had them delivered to my oldest son’s place. A lot of things are big (front and rear windshields, bumper, etc.), and our son has joked that he will give us the bill for the storage unit the items required! He also said we owe the poor UPS guy who has to walk up 20 steps or so to their front door! Kevin will be fully employed getting everything put on. I have a list of things to quilt, and I need to get them done before we leave again around Memorial Day, so most posts going forward will probably be quilt-related.

Out of Quartzsite for this year

We left Quartzsite on Monday, 23 March, planning on gradually working our way home to Iowa. This is the picture Kevin took on Sunday night of the sunset. It was taken through a long lens, and then it had be reduced in quality some, but it is an impressive sunset view from our campsite.
Great silhouette with a long lens

We first went to Lake Havasu City, spending 4 nights at the Elks Lodge there. I went to a “Staycation” with the Havasu Quilters guild Monday through Wednesday. The problem was that I was still very, very sore from my back spasms. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I intended. I finally sewed up the quilt block for March’s Block of the Month, but I am not very happy with it. It is not only not my best work, it isn’t even my average work. Oh well, it will do though. I made some little scrubbers for gifts from a kit I have been hauling around for a couple of years. They will be cute in a gift package of a mug and hot chocolate mix (the fabric is hot chocolate related). I also finished all the 8 star blocks I needed for my Christmas quilt, but I didn’t get much more accomplished. All day Monday back would spasm for 30-60 seconds while I just tried to breathe through it. It really sucked. Tuesday was better with no spasms, just soreness. Wednesday the pain was bad. The staycation is normally a treat with lots of good companionship, good food, and lots of sewing time.

Not my best work
Scrubby

After LHC, we headed north to Monticello, UT. We spent one night at the NavajoLand RV Park in Tuba City, AZ on the way. It was decent but not really set up for a rig our size. In Monticello we are staying at the Western RV Park. It is another older campground where we barely fit, but they obviously just redid their sewer system with a lot of fresh gravel on all the sites.

The reason we are in Monticello is because Kevin bought a new side by side! The shop is in Grand Junction, CO, and we drove the truck with the old RZR in the back from Monticello to there. Why? Because when we leave here tomorrow we are headed back to Monument Valley, UT and then to AZ to complete all the paperwork. We had planned on picking it up after we left Monument Valley, but they had rebates that expire tomorrow. But first a bit about the trip up to Moab on the way to I-70. I don’t think we had ever driven the road headed north, though we have done it southbound a few times. It is a glorious drive. There was haze and we had a schedule to meet so only a couple of pictures, and those were through the windshield. The first was the lovely La Sal mountains south of Moab. Lots of snow on their peaks.

Snow in the La Sal Mountains

And then we started getting to the fabulous rocky outcroppings as we got nearer to Moab. I loved this one the most, and I named it “Haystack.”

Haystack in stone

And here is Kevin in the brand new rig! It is a Polaris RZR 900 Trail Sport. We got a very good trade in, rebates, and additional deals because they had a bunch of 2024 rigs still in stock. It is a 900cc engine with 75hp and real doors that don’t require contortions to get in the rig. Even the seats are more comfortable. Now he gets to keep the UPS driver busy bringing all the accessories to make it street legal and comfortable. Things like roofs, windshields (front and back), mirrors, and storage boxes are all aftermarket. Kevin has a great time shopping for them, and putting them all on will keep him busy when we get home. I can hardly wait until we can take it out on the trails!

Kevin’s new baby

We leave tomorrow for Monument Valley. I will post as we finish that portion of the trip.

Edited to add: We had an absolutely fabulous late lunch at Bella Thai in Moab. It is probably the best Thai food I have ever had! I wanted to make sure I had it in the post because I look back a such info later on.

Quartzsite Redux

We are staying at a different location in the Tyson Wash LTVA than we were the last time we were here. The crowds are gone, so we moved a bit closer to the entrance. We back up to a wash, and there have been quite a few birds coming by – quail, hummingbirds, doves, and some other ones I don’t know. A friend has a trail cam, and I am definitely going to buy one before we head out for the summer. She puts it out every night, and she finds lots of cool creatures. One time a bobcat came by! Not here luckily.

We definitely have done a bit of riding since we arrived and my back has improved. I am still taking it easy, so no long, rough group rides. We enjoyed this view from the “Q” mountain (someone put a rock art Q on it). I have posted other pictures from a nearby spot, and the reduction in campers is significant.

Q and La Posa West

One of the interesting things in the area is this old mill just outside the town. It is always fun to wander around it.

We took one 55 mile jaunt out past the famous Quartzsite golf course. You are advised to bring colored ball, orange being the most popular. The 9 hold course has marked holes with flags .There always seem to be people on the course.

We also took a side trip to the old Scott’s Lead Well. There is an old corral, a broken watering tank, and water storage tanks. They aren’t working anymore, so the fish and game folks installed a new wildlife guzzler. The tank is underground, and it has a well to pump. If the water gets low, they come out and fill the underground tank. When we were there we startled a bunch of birds away. The video shows the ride up to the old tanks, and the still picture shows the guzzler and the old tanks in the background. As usual, click on the link to get the video.

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Sadly the desert will filled with trash. We collected 1 1/2 sacks of small pieces of garbage since we couldn’t take any big stuff. This is a burned out fifth wheel someone had taken out to a lonely spot and torched. Probably an insurance scam: “Oh officer, the rig was in perfect shape before it was stolen!” Disgusting..

This is a memorial to a local bicyclist. The bicycle was actually stolen a few months back, but they replaced it.

It is still very, very dry, but the ocotillos have started blooming even though there isn’t enough moisture for their leaves to come out. They are among my favorite desert plants.

Our ride took us out to the Cyprus Copperstone Mine. It is an open pit gold mine that was very profitable. Now they are planning to dig underground in the same disturbed area for more gold. We didn’t get too close; they have gates that are locked. The pit is off to the right.

Cyprus Copperstone Mine Mill

On the way back we hit the sandhills that are northeast of town. So many people think Arizona is just sand dunes, but they are actually pretty uncommon. Here is a short sample.

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I have been sewing some as I recover from the back problems. This is what I am calling “Midnight in the Desert.” I am in love with the colors of this, and I really like the way the circular star pattern shows up as a secondary design. I was planning on sandwiching and quilting it here, but I have decided I really want to get the intersections super flat with the LaraStar ironing system I have at home. The colors in the first picture are accurate, but those in the second picture are quite washed out. It does show the fabric design of the print though. I have also sewn a few hundred Christmas squares together, but I won’t show that one for a while yet.

Midnight in the desert

Tonight Kevin got a great picture of a doze camouflaged in the brush. It was easy to hear him/her, but it took a bit of work to see.

Camouflage

And no post in the southwest is really complete without fabulous sunrise …

Sunrise

…. and sunset pictures.

Sunset

We are heading to Lake Havasu on Sunday. It will be getting hot here – upper 80s into low 90s – so it is time to head in for electricity and air conditioning.

After Death Valley – KOFA National Wildlife Refuge

We left Death Valley on 1 March and went back to the Needles Elks Lodge. We did the necessary tasks of laundry and grocery shopping, then we headed to our favorite spot in KOFA along King Road. This spot is so pretty, sitting between two rugged mountains. Except for a friend that pulled in a couple of days after we set up, there was nobody within 100 yards.

The first picture is on the north side of our campsite.

Nice views

This is just a bit to the side, just as the sun was almost gone.

Sunsets were fabulous

We did go back to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge one day. This time we took the highway, and our friends took the 4WD road. We beat them by only 5 minutes or so. The paddle cactus blow was just starting to bloom in the garden there. I think it is a Beavertail cactus, but I am not foolproof on identification.

Paddle cactus of some type blooming

At least some of the cranes were still there, but a lot have already headed south.

Some birds still there

There is so many places to ride the RZR here! The landscape is generally more vegetated than in Quartzsite, so here is a sample.

Just interesting areas

One of the key things the Fish and Wildlife Service does is maintain watering spots, known as tanks, for the wildlife. Here is a natural catchment area that has been enhanced. In prolonged dry spells, they will bring large water trucks in and fill the basins. I am quite impressed; the trail in was rough and narrow.

Water catchment after a rain

Sadly I came down with a massive back spasm while we were here that resulted in a trip to the ER in Yuma. Some heavy pain meds (400mg Gabapentin, an injection of an NSAID, and a Lidocaine patch), and I was able to walk out. But I sure didn’t do much the next few days! It was over a week before I felt 75% recovered, so we didn’t get to ride as much as we wanted.

We headed back to Quartzsite on Monday, 10 March. I finally got some more sewing done. Here is my in-process inspector saying I better get going!

“Get cracking Ma!”

Quilting and riding in Quartzsite

People I meet sometimes think I am an extrovert because I engage in conversation well. However I am actually just an outgoing introvert. I am mentally exhausted by the last 3 weeks of people. I really like the group who showed up for the rally, and keeping things a bit organized is just what I do, but my oh my, I needed some “me” time. I have done it, finally.

But first another trip on the RZR. We went on Colorado River Indian Tribe (CRIT) land on Saturday with 27 other rigs. It was supposed to be a short ride, but with that many rigs it took a lot longer than anticipated. It didn’t help that 10 rigs got lost on a turn. Of course they were found again, but it took about 45 minutes to get them all rounded up and back with the group. Interesting ride though!

The first video gives a good feel for the ups and downs. The GoPro smooths things out so much that the ride is deceptive; it was rough!

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The second video is just a nice view of the area.

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I also took some photos of the cabins we visited. I didn’t spend much time on good pictures because I have a bunch from previous visits. The area is just full of mines – big ones, medium ones, and small little glory holes. Lots of gold and silver taken out of this area.

This is where we had lunch. I hadn’t ever been here before. Fascinating rock formations.

I also did a lot of sewing. I am participating in a Block of the Month Club with a quilt store, Inspired to Sew in Cedar Rapids, IA. Luckily the classes are all virtual so I can follow along easily. I finished my first block quite late on 2 February, but I kind of made up for it by finishing February’s block today. Here they are. Note they are big blocks – 18” finished.

January
February
Quality control wasn’t very helpful

The BOM is from Moda, and it is hundreds of 5” charm squares, all in solids. Each month is in a different color palette. The kit didn’t include the 6 yards of background fabric, so everyone chose their own. I chose to go with an Amish-inspired look, and I think the colors just glow. I have also finished a few dozen blocks of Turkey Giblets that will be eventually a donation quilt (I think). Still a long way to go on that one. Tomorrow I start on my Christmas quilt again. Lots to do there!

Where does the time go in Quartzsite?

I have been busy with the RVForum rally, so that’s my excuse! It isn’t a very good one though LOL! We had folks starting to arrive the Wednesday before the rally officially began on Saturday, 18 January, and we enjoyed a daily Happy Hour around the fire. Folks brought a LOT of wood, so we have had fires every night but two when it was too windy. Wind is a continued issue in Q, but it just goes with the territory.
We added a LOT more wood after this picture was taken
Sunset from the firepit

We did a really challenging ride with the Arizona SunRiders again – Preacher’s Pass and Hogsback. Glad we were with experienced riders! We would never have dreamed of tacking it ourselves. But this is exactly the reason we like going on group rides; experienced riders in a group can really advance your skills. The ride leader said there wasn’t any ride in the area that was more challenging, and our little RZR did just fine! Some pictures and videos are needed of course. Click on the links to see the videos.

View from the top is always nice
We always have dog buddies along
View of the trail
Yup, it’s a long way down

The second video shows the ride to one of the passes. It is steeper than it looks!

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One of the activities of our rally was a high clearance vehicle ride across the Yuma Proving Grounds to the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. Lovely ride through pristine desert, though the lack of rain in the last 6 months made it very dry. The only casualty was our own flat tire! Luckily we got it changed in 15 minutes, and we were all on our way again. There weren’t as many birds as usual due to the dry weather. We were told there were more at Imperial Wildlife Refuge south of Cibola. I did get a few shots of the Sandhill Cranes.

A lot fewer sandhill cranes than in previous years
They liked the edge of the corn rows this time

I also took a video at Goose Pond. Normally there would be thousands of birds, but this time there were only a few hundred.

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Our final formal activity of the rally was a trip to the Desert Bar, aka Nellie E Mine. Absolutely off-grid completely, only opens weekends in the winter. There are pictures of previous trips on other posts, so I will just show the pictures from the women’s toilet, a famous vista (yes, really!).

View from the women’s toilet to the right
View from the women’s toilet to the left.

I admit I am tired and need some quiet time, but I should get that today. Tomorrow evening we will go to dinner at Silly Al’s Pizza, a tradition. Until then I will clean up the mess that is inside the motorhome and get some sewing done.

Now in Quartzsite, winter 2025

We made it to Quartzsite on Friday, 3 Jan. We decided to leave Oklahoma City and take I-40 to Albuquerque before heading south on I-25. We took the cutoff at Deming to join I-10 at Hatch. We then take I-8 to the Phoenix Bypass up again to I-10 and into Quartzsite. Spent a couple of nights in a Walmart and another in an Elks Lodge, so it was easy stops. The weather was quite cooperative after we left OKC. We arrived about 2, dumped our waste tanks and filled with fresh water, then moved to our campsite in Tyson Wash LTVA. This is where we stayed last year, and it is lovely.

Yesterday, Saturday, we headed out to the Barry Goldwater Training Range for a UTV trip. We hadn’t taken the RZR out of the truck bed, so we drove down to Wellton, AZ east of Yuma to meet up with a local guide. It is a 100 minute trip or so each way, and we drove a total of 50 miles on the range. Interesting trip. Here are some pictures with captions.

Our first stop was a picnic spot. The covered shelter had four fireplaces, and was quite impressive. The women’s restroom had a wall 3’ or so high, big enough to cover the important parts! The men’s toilet was quite a ways away and constructed the same way.

Picnic shelter in the range
The women’s bathroom at the picnic area

The range takes helping endangered species so there are a series of what are called “tanks” in this part of the world. They are many times big catchment ponds like this one that was almost completely empty. Nice scenery though.

One of the tanks for wild animals

There were all kinds of old military hardware along are path. Lots of old dead army tanks, pretend artillery batteries, multiple launch rocket systems that were rusted solid, etc. You can climb around them, and some of the folks did.

Lots of old dead tanks were around

There is also a wooden replica of a town informally called “Combat City” used for training. These pictures were taken by my husband since it was more walking than I wanted to do.

Lots of wooden structures imitating a town

Sadly there are some aircraft wrecks too. Luckily the pilots survived both of the ones we saw. This is one of them.

One of the jet crash sites

And what desert trip would be complete without some really cool rocks? The weathering in this aged sandstone was fascinating. The scale is shown by the folks next to it.

Fabulous rocks

We were exhausted by the time we made it home to the motorhome. We went to bed by 9:15 and didn’t get up until 6:30! I admit I woke up a few times, but I managed to get back to sleep quickly each time. The sunrise was glorious.

Arizona sunrise

I will end with a demonstration that the two cats love the magic blankie!

Cuddlers

Antelope Island views then north

I forgot to post any pictures from Antelope Island, so here you go! The bison herd on Antelope Island is famous. The bulls were looking pretty beat up since mating season was just finishing.
Nursery herd was on the east side
A standard bison jam

And no set of pictures for Antelope Island is complete without a gorgeous sunset view. The sunset was just orange/red from the smoke haze. Beautiful, but it makes it tough to breathe.

Best sunsets in the Salt Lake Valley!

We did get to Island Park, ID and found a great boondocking site on Sunday, 21 July. We stayed there through Thursday night. We obviously took some RZR rides, but we also enjoyed meeting some friends who were work camping in the area, one in West Yellowstone and one at Henry’s Lake State Park.  We discovered the osprey nest on a dead end trail we took by accident. Nice accident! There were two young birds. When I snapped this picture (from a long way away!), one adult bird had just flown off to get more food for the hungry teens.

Osprey

There was quite a bit of water, and we saw lots of lilies.

Lovely water lilies
Mariposa lilies?

We also took one day into Yellowstone. We got into the park by 7:00 am. It was cool enough some of the animals like these elk were still close to the road. The other advantage of early, cool mornings is the steam rising from the thermal features is much more visible.

These three elk were just as we got into the park
Steam from thermals

We saw a number of the primary animals – bison, bald eagle, osprey, elk, deer, and a fat, happy black bear.

More osprey!
Nursery herd
Black bear

We spent Friday, 26 July, at the Y Knot Winery campground, Glenn’s Ferry, ID. It was still smoky, something that had been increasing since the last couple of days at Island Park. The next day was a killer. We had reservations in Burns, OR, but the AQI was over 600! A lot of eastern Oregon seems to be on fire, and there was a big one just outside Burns. The haze was thick, and the air smelled of smoke. We just kept going until we got to Bend, OR where we stopped at an Elks Lodge again. The drive was mostly 2 lane roads with lots of curves. I was tired when we got set up!

The next day wasn’t any better, but we wanted to keep heading west to get out of the smoke. We drove from Bend to Springfield, OR, just outside Eugene, OR. I had a UPS delivery sent there, and I needed to pick it up before our chapter rally. The road from 5 miles south of Sisters pretty much all the way to Springfield was the slowest I have driven the motorhome. It was only 120 miles, but it took over 4 hours. The traffic was very heavy, there was lots of construction, and the mountain roads very winding. Ugh. We hadn’t started until 10:30, because we thought it wouldn’t take long. I was awfully tired when we finally got to the Elks Lodge where we stopped for the night. We have definitely gotten a lot out of our Elk’s Lodge membership! It is nice to have a safe spot to pull into while traveling. Many are dry camping for $5-$10 which is just fine for us. Some have electricity which is nice on hot days, and those are $20-$30 a night, still worthwhile.

I was so tired of the bad air quality, so we headed for the coast instead of staying in Springfield a few days like we had intended. We are currently at the Elk’s Lodge campground in Florence, OR 1 mile off Hwy 101. Beautiful place for $35 a night with electricity and water. We could only get 2 nights here, but they also have dry camping where we hope to spend the next nights before our FMCA rally in Coos Bay. I intend on hitting the local fabric shop for some more fat quarters and interfacing for class samples. I am teaching a class on collapsable fabric storage containers, and it is easier to show students some of the steps than describe them. I have the kits cut for the students, but I will partially make some more as examples.

Now to clean up!