How Long Has It Been?

March 19, 2013 marks the One Year Anniversary that Joan and I have been on the road living in our RV. We left Florida last year headed to Oregon and the start of our adventure. And what a year it's been. We've been trying to think of a way to share with you all the wonderful things we've seen during the course of our first year. But to be honest there's just too much to condense into a single blog. So we poured over all of our pics and selected the ones below just to give you a small snapshot..........

Triple Arch - Moab, UT

Mesa Verde, CO

Multanomah Falls
Colombia River Gorge, OR

Crescent City, CA Oregon Coast Trip

Mt Hood, OR

Crater Lake, OR

Trouble in Paradise
Oklahoma City, OK

Redwood National Park, CA

Hoover Dam

Mt Hood - Viewed from Larch Mountain

1 Mile from our Destination in Mt Hood National Forest

Tulip Festival - WA

Mt Rainier, WA

The Resort on the Mountain - OR

Stonehenge - Colombia River Gorge

Lake Mead NRA

Lake Mead NRA

Bryce Canyon UT

Zion National Park

Deschutes State Park, Or

Bagby Springs, Mt Hood National Forest

Our Home - Summer 2012
Mt Hood National Forest

Valley of Fire, NV

Rock Climbing - Lake Mead

Mt St Helen, WA

Colombia River Gorge, OR - (CRG)

Our Friends (co-workers)
Mt Hood National Forest

Bitter Springs Trail
Lake Mead 

Green Acres (not really)
Bagby Springs, OR

July 4th - Mt Hood

Sisters, OR

Mt Hood

Joan's Garden - Estacada, OR

Oregon Coast Line

Olympic Mountains from Puget Sound

Oregon Dunes National Park - Florence OR

Flying Kayaks-Clackamas River

Felling Trees - Mt Hood

We start our second year with two weeks left at Lake Mead. Then we're headed to Nathrop, CO to work at Chalk Creek Campground for the summer. And we're planning on returning to Lake Mead this fall as we've accepted a position Road Monitoring. Sounds fun. So we at least have an idea where we'll be, but neither one of us has any idea as to all the things we're liable to see and do during this next year.

Stay Tuned. More to Come

7 Down, 3 To Go

Joan Making Sure It's Clean

It's hard to believe our time at Echo Bay is just about over. We've been here for 7 weeks and we have had a great time. Only three weeks left until we finish our volunteer position and head towards Colorado for the summer.

The last two weeks we have continued to work a little, play a little. We've made four trips into the Valley of Fire in two weeks and we continue to see new things that we haven't seen before.










The multitude of colors throughout the rocks is amazing. I'll show you a few pics, but check out Joan's Facebook albums if you want to see more.

Zion

Last week we decided to take a few days off and visit Zion National Park in Utah.

We spent two days hiking and sightseeing in and around Zion. All combined we hiked about 6 miles while we were there.






On the way home we drove a little further north to see Bryce Canyon.








There was still snow scattered throughout Bryce and the vistas were beautiful.

Almost as an afterthought we decided to drive through Kolob Canyon (the northwest portion of Zion located right alongside I-15.








Even though the drive through Kolob is only five miles long it is definitely worth the effort. It's almost like a miniature Zion.





The stargazers were due in this weekend but the weather just wouldn't cooperate. Instead of being warm and clear it was cloudy, cool and rainy. Even though the campground wasn't used, all the work we put into prepping it sure made it look great!

Stay Tuned. More to Come.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Joan and I have completed 5 weeks of volunteering here at Echo Bay and so far it's been everything we could have hoped for. The upper campground where we are located is quiet and comfortable; the temps have ranged from mid to high 30's overnight to low 70's when the heat wave passes over. Some mornings we've woken up to see snow on the mountain tops across Lake Mead.

Usually we start our workday in long sleeves, but are quickly down to short sleeves. Lots of blue sky and the occasional windy day or evening. Our 32 hour work commitment passes quickly each week and the work keeps us active. For the last 2 weekends we've had 35 - 40 college seniors and graduate geology students from Flagstaff tent camping in the campsites adjacent to ours. They are learning how to map and document the various layers of strata in the desert. They even had a test while they were out in the field last Saturday. We are working on a project for our boss Tim. Over the last few years use at the upper campground has been very low; most campers preferring to use the lower campground nearer the lake. As a result of the lower usage, a couple of the loops have been unused and have become overgrown. The 2nd weekend in March we have a group of 30-40 'star gazers' coming out and they have asked to use the 4th loop because of its remoteness and 'screening' from other light sources in and around Echo Bay. They will be setting up portable telescopes and we might expect to see as many as 200-300 visitors stopping by to see the stars. Joan and I took on the project to clean out and prepare about 30 campsites for this group. It's turning out to be quite a job!

We took a quick drive up towards Zion National Park one afternoon. We're intending to spend a couple days here before we head to Colorado, but the weather forecast for this week was for snow with temps in the teens, so we decided to just take a quick ride instead. On the southwest side of the park is the small community of Virgin. We decided to turn here and drive up Kolob Reservoir Road rather than go into the park. It was a great decision.


This road travels 18 miles and rises 3000' in elevation along the way. A few houses and small ranches, but most of it is open range, with the road dipping in and out of National Park land along the way. We could see the peaks in Zion and the vistas were fantastic.

Along the way we saw 2 small herd of deer....had to wait for some of them to cross the road before we could proceed. As we got further in and started climbing we had to turn back due to roads begin closed because of winter snow still on the roads.

We've had several visitors over the last few weeks. Joan's cousin Theresa and her husband Brian called. They were riding their motorcycle and wanted to stop by. We hopped on our bikes, rode out about 15 miles to meet them and led them back to Echo Bay. We spent the afternoon talking and planning a jeep ride. Brian has a bodacious jeep he's transformed into a rock crawler that he's promised to take us out on. A couple days later we got a call from Jim and Sandy inviting us to dinner with them and our old bosses from Mt Hood Mel and Terri. We met them at Arizona Charlies and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with old friends for the evening. A couple days later Jim and Sandy came out and we took them through Valley of Fire and on a short hike through Anniversary Narrows. And last weekend Joan's girlfriend Terri flew into Vegas from Seattle for a quick vacation. We drove into town and went out for a steak dinner.

One of the NPS employees Bill called and invited us out for a hike. On Tuesday we loaded up and headed out to hike Cleopatra Wash. We took the jeep off-road about 3 miles to the edge of the wilderness area and then hiked down the wash for about 2 miles. We had to stop about 3/4 of the way down the wash when we came to a 8' flow over that we could not get around. Several large boulders had wedged themselves in a narrow portion of the wash requiring hikers to rock climb a risky rocky slope or climb over the rock barricade using rope (which we didn't have as we were hiking not mountaineering). On the way out we cleaned up about a mile of the off-road trail picking up beer cans, broken glass, shotgun shells and even an 8' piece of carpet. The desert is so pretty this time of year and it's really disappointing knowing that there are so many off-roaders unwilling to 'protect' those desert views by picking up after themselves.

We are having a great time hiking and off-roading; and we're seeing lots of wildlife. Besides the eagles and big horn sheep we've also seen wild burros and horses at different times.




Stay Tuned. More to Come

When You Assume You Make An Ass Out of Me and ……..Well, Just Me This Time

Another week of volunteering and we are very happy with our decision to work here at Echo Bay. Joan and I enjoy being outside and the weather here has been fantastic. The overnight temps are usually in the 40’s or high 30’s; but we can go outside with just a flannel shirt or light jacket to start our job. And once we've been pruning and raking for a while we’re usually shedding the long sleeves for a t-shirt. And with both of us working it doesn't take long for us to make our 32 hour commitment. As a result we usually take a couple of extra days off during the week to hike or off-road.

Friday our boss asked us to help with ‘signing’ the marina. Echo Bay has a large marina with docks and storage for hundreds of boats. The current concessionaires’ contract has expired and unfortunately no one bid to renew the contract. The marina was constructed 30 years ago utilizing some materials that have since been determined to be detrimental to the lake. Those materials must be removed from the lake within the next 2-3 years and the new concessionaire would be responsible to complete that work. Our job on Friday was to post ‘No Trespassing’ signs throughout the docks. The NPS will probably be responsible to remove the docks in the near future. Hopefully in 4-5 years a new bid will post to rebuild the marina. In the meantime the lake ramps are still open and we are seeing many boaters coming in every day.

Saturday we went back into Valley of Fire and spent a couple of hours hiking in and around Mouse Tank. Mouse Tank was named after the legend of an alleged outlaw Indian named "Little Mouse” that hid out here in the 1890's. There are natural depressions in the rocks that hold water for long periods of time after a rainfall; because of the mild climate and shading rocks the water may last for months. This area is also known for the many petroglyphs that can be found on the canyon walls.

We worked the next 3 days and decided to take a day off to combine a little 4-wheeling with a hike. Our destination was The Narrows. We drove down to mile marker 16 and turned off-road onto Callville Wash North. A short while later we turned onto 94A and headed towards Anniversary Mine. Along the way we passed several abandoned/closed mine shafts. After exploring the area in the jeep for an hour or so we drove to the edge of ‘Wilderness’ area, beyond which no motorized vehicles are allowed.

We donned our backpacks and started through The Narrows. Absolutely gorgeous. Pictures don’t do it justice. They can’t give you a proper scale. Make sure you check out Joan's Facebook page for lots of these pics!

The path through the Narrows is probably 400-500 yards long before opening into a large wash. We stopped at the end of the Narrows and had lunch before heading back towards the jeep.

On Thursday I decided to tackle a problem that I've been working on since we decided to go full-time almost 2 years ago. Our RV is wired for cable and satellite TV. I've been working with Dish Network regarding some problems we've experienced with our DVR and finally got to speak with a tech (Krystal) that was able to help me understand many of the peculiarities with my specific setup. I have a WineGard automatic antennae and have been unable to fully utilize it because I didn't have 2 cables between the antennae and Dish receiver. I've never been able to utilize the satellite connection in the RV because I couldn't find a signal when I connected to the satellite connection at the rear of the RV; rather I've had to use the single cable TV connection and manually switch the cable back and forth between the Dish receiver and/or TV depending on where we were staying and whether we had access to cable service. Over the last 2 years I've spent numerous hours pulling out drawers, looking under and around sinks, cabinets & basements and communicating with Monaco to determine how the cables were prewired and where I might find connection points or splices. I decided today would be the day I would either find the information I needed to correct the wiring or run new cables from the rear of the RV into the living room slide where the Dish receiver is located. I spent about 3 hours retracing cable runs, clearing out the basement, up on the roof, even pulling off some of the fixed side panels of the RV to identify where the cables were run. Guess what I found out……..NOTHING NEW! I still had 6 cables coming out of the wall behind the TV. What? 6? Why do I have 6? 1-roof antennae; 2-rear TV; 3-exterior TV(we don’t have one, it’s just prewired into the basement); 4-rear cable TV connection; 5-prewire for roof mount antennae; 6-rear satellite connection. That means there’s no splice between the rear satellite connection/roof satellite connection/main TV cabinet! But that also means my original ASSUMPTION about the cabling was wrong. Let’s look where each cable is connected. Okay, yeah that one is good…..two is good….3 OK…..4 fine…..wait a minute……what the &#%^ is the Auxiliary? I don’t have an auxiliary so why is one of the cables connected to it? Could this be the elusive satellite cable? A dash out back; a quick switch between connections…..and……..YES! I swear I heard a chorus of angels singing….the ‘auxiliary’ cable is actually the satellite cable! I finally have access to the satellite cable and can use it as the 2^nd cable needed for my antennae! And it only took me about 50 hours! I ASSUMED all the cables were correctly connected when we bought the RV. What should have been a 10 minute job kept me guessing for 2 years. Never ASSUME! You know what happens! 2 hours later I had the RV put back together. Joan and I can now watch different programs at the same time as well as recording something while we watch something else!

Shout out to the Ritten Clan! February seems to be Birthday Month. Happy Birthday to 4 of the 7 kids:

Michael, David, Joan & Paul

And a belated (sorry kiddo) January HB to my sis Vickie!

Stay Tuned. More to Come.

Desert Views

Last weekend Joan and I had the chance to take the bikes out for a ride. It was a great day with temps in the low 50’s and nothing but blue sky overhead. We rode into Henderson, grabbed some lunch and picked up a few things to include in some birthday gifts.

Joan & Sean (33)

Joan's son Sean and my youngest son Chris both celebrate birthdays in January. Happy Birthday guys. 

Chris - the Big 30

Last week we officially started our new jobs as volunteers in Lake Mead NRA. The National Park Service has 2 small campgrounds located at Echo Bay; the lower campground is smaller with about 40 sites located about 400 yards from Lake Mead, while the upper campground where we’re set up are about a ¼ mile further up the hill has 4 loops with approximately 150 sites. We are considered maintenance, not camphosts. 

Our responsibilities include campsite and firepit cleaning, landscaping, trimming oleander and some of the other trees throughout the campground as well as trash pickup throughout the NPS areas in and around Echo Bay. There are several areas along a 20 mile stretch of road where we will work during our 2 month stay including Rogers Springs, Blue Point Springs, Redstone, Stewarts Point and St Thomas. 

Both campgrounds are landscaped with oleander bushes as ‘dividers’ between the individual campsites…..and they need lots of pruning. We have access to a vehicle called a MEGA; a combination electric golf cart and dumptruck. As you can see it comes in handy with the cleanup after the trimming is done.

Here is a picture of our boss Tim working. Unfortunately Joan and I are not allowed to work with this tractor

During our familiarization tour of the area we had occasion to see lots of wildlife…

3 Bald Eagles and 1 Golden Eagle (sorry, no pics as we weren't fast enough with the cameras), however we were able to get this pic of bighorn sheep.

There were 2 unfortunate sightings: the first was a slow moving homo sapien in an old Infinity driving anywhere from 15 to 35 mph for a stretch of 16 miles before he pulled over to answer natures’ call. He was fortunately apprehended by the local law enforcement officer a few minutes later before anyone or anything was caught in his grill; the second was one of the park’s wild donkeys who decided to take a midnight stroll along the highway where he encountered a small import. Neither he nor the import survived (the driver was medivac’d out).

A couple of days ago we had occasion to leave the park and when we returned we met one of the NPS employees working the entrance gate; Heather. We introduced ourselves and started asking questions about trails we could hike or take the jeep on. She discovered they were out of maps, but promised to pick some up next time she was in town at the office. A couple days later we were working in the campground and who should stop by…..Heather, with copies of maps for several of the areas around Lake Mead showing mile markers, trails and back country roads we could explore. Thanks Heather. This is a common theme we've discovered in talking with National Park Service employees; they are really interested in helping people explore, discover and enjoy their parks and they go out of their way to help.

We've taken the jeep out for a couple more off-road excursions. It’s been interesting seeing the desert away from the paved roads. Generally we’re driving through washes, with occasional climbs across barren rock and through rocky routes when we get into the higher elevations. One side effect…..the jeep is really dirty. We've also taken a couple of hikes; a short hike to investigate Rattlesnake Wash and a supposed pool where you can swim; and a 1.5 mile hike just inside Valley of Fire.

Sunday we drove into Vegas to Main Street Station. For those of you in Florida it's just like Church Street Station and I think it was built by the same person (Bob Snow). The reason we went was to meet Joan's cousin Theresa and her husband Brian, uncle Bobby and aunt Georgia. We had dinner, then Bobby took us on a short 'inside' tour of Freemont St and surrounding casinos.

Theresa, Bobby, Georgia & Joan

That's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come

Jeepers Creepers

We made it back to Vegas on Thursday(10^th)….7 days, 2600 miles, 5 hotels, 8 McDonalds' sweet tea stops, 1 detour to Carlsbad Caverns, and 12 friends well-met and visited with along the way! All in all it was a great trip back to Florida for the holidays, but we are glad to be home in the RV.







We took a few days and just relaxed, then took care of a few maintenance issues such as replacing the black tank valve in the water bay and getting our Dish Network/Winegard Antennae properly hooked up and working.

We spent a week in Duck Creek RV Park before relocating to Echo Bay in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We set up in the upper campground and met our supervisor Tim and co-worker Marty. We’ll be working in Lake Mead National Recreation Area until the end of March.

On Saturday we decided to take the ‘new’ jeep out for its inaugural off-road trip. Our supervisor had marked up a park map identifying some good off-road routes, so off we went. We decided to take a short 3-4 mile route down Echo Wash. Everything started out fine with some sandy and loose gravel river beds as our main track. Then the route ventured off into the desert as the wash was marked as Wilderness Area – No Motorized Vehicles. About 2 miles out we came to the first intersection and I decided to go straight rather than turn left…back to the main road. After all we were having fun! And the next thing you know it was Gilligan’s Island all over again. Yep, what started as a 3-hour tour looked as though we could be lost for an indefinite period of time.

I owned 2 jeeps in the late 70’s early 80’s. And have spent a little time off-road in Florida. Nice flat Florida. Nice flat sandy Florida. Nice flat sandy close to something no matter where you are Florida. I have not however spent any time off-roading where it’s rocky…or where it’s hilly…or where it’s desert…or where it’s miles and miles and miles to anywhere. It’s a lot different. About 10 miles in we had a chance to turn around and head back. We had passed 2 other jeeps and a motorcycle. According to the biker we had 1 spot left that was a little rocky…..then it would be smooth sailing for the remaining 10 miles….if the road hadn’t changed in the last 2 years since he had traveled it. So we decided to keep going. We found the rocky spot and after walking it decided we would give it a try. We made it with a little extra effort and locking the jeep in 4Wheel Low. By now we had been out for about 3 hours and were only a little over half way through the trail. 

About an hour later we made a turn that dead-ended a mile later. We backtracked and got back on what we thought was the correct trail to what appeared to be a little used track. A few miles later we found ourselves with a steep down-hill grade with numerous solid rock outcrops. We still weren't sure if we were on the correct track at this point. We had just turned around again when a couple of ATV’s came by. They told us we were only 3 miles from the end of the trail, with only a couple of ‘iffy’ spots along the way. So on we went. Through the ‘iffy’ spots ( I was glad the ATVs’ would be coming this way just in case) and found the dirt road. 4 more miles and low and behold it was pavement….for the first time in what seemed like forever. The jeep did great. 20 miles across the desert without a hitch. I on the other hand need to be better prepared next time.

We took the road through Valley of Fire State Park and saw some great red stone mountains and formations. A quick hike to Mouse’s Tank and we even managed to see some petroglyphs. Then it was about 15 miles back home. We were both tired and hungry, so we settled in for the night. Tomorrow we’re planning a quick trip back into Vegas on the bikes to charge up the batteries.

Stay Tuned. More to Come.

Where Is Home?

So here we are on our way 'home'. It didn't take Joan or I very long to figure out that the motorhome is now our home; in our heads and in our hearts. We left Vegas on Saturday 11/17 headed for what used to be home; Florida. We stopped in Alabama and Atlanta along the way to visit family for Thanksgiving. And we spent 5 weeks in Florida visiting family and friends before heading back to pick up the MH and start our next workamping gig. And as much as we love our family and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with our friends; we missed being home. When we left Vegas we thought we might spend as long as 2 months in Florida. That idea continued to 'morph' the longer we were gone. By the time we left Florida we could barely think about eating out again. And as we get closer to home we're both of the opinion that next year's visit to Florida for the holidays will be a shorter version.

Joan and I made a couple of changes while we were in Florida. The first change was to switch our cell service. We had determined that our previous carrier did not have good coverage in the mountains of Colorado where we will be working this summer; based on our research and feedback from other workampers we selected Verizon as our new carrier. The second change was to trade our car for something that would allow us to explore a little further out into the country and mountains than a standard car. We ended up buying a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4. We've always enjoyed taking the car for drives and while we were in Oregon last summer our attempts to explore were continually being thwarted by roads that turned from asphalt to gravel to impassable for standard vehicles. We hope to really get off the beaten track this year.

We had a great Christmas and New Years. We also had some adventure. While we were in Florida there were times when we needed additional transportation as Joan and I would be going in different directions. The week before Christmas Joan borrowed her sister's F-250 4x4. It was being underutilized and everyone thought it would be a good idea for it to be driven. Our car was parked on the street and the truck was parked in the driveway at Jim & Deb's. Deb had gone out early for breakfast with friends and when she returned Joan apologized for blocking her car in the garage. "I wasn't blocked" replied Deb. "Yes you were; I was parked behind you in the driveway" said Joan. "No, nothing was behind me" said Deb. Everyone rushed outside to discover the truck had been stolen. According to the police, that particular vehicle is the vehicle of choice for crooks needing a vehicle to 'do a job'. The truck can hold your entire crew; is easy to break into and hotwire without any alarm going off; and can pretty much go anywhere, including through doors or walls that might be hampering the crooks ability to take whatever they want. The police also stated they had probably already done their dirty deed and abandoned the truck before we realized it was gone. Sure enough, Joan's brother (retired corrections officer) made a few calls, drove around for a couple of hours and found the truck abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot. The truck had been driven less than 10 miles from where it was stolen.

The crooks had apparently used the truck to crash through a wall (damage to the truck bed and red paint along the sides of the bed and doors) then steal some sort of safe (the door to a safe was found in the truck bed). The truck is in the repair shop and will be as good as new in a few weeks.

One side affect....Joan has been getting all kinds of calls from different folks asking if she would be interested in driving their unwanted cars.

Just before we left Florida we met up with Al and Karen (Wish Upon an RV Star!). They had the job last summer that we will have this summer. After following their blog last year we were very interested in working in Colorado. When they announced that they would not be returning to Chalk Creek this year we immediately contacted them to ask questions. We subsequently submitted our resumes and were offered the camphost positions they vacated. We met for breakfast and ended up talking for over 2 hours. Flash forward a couple of days and as we were driving west through Texas Joan realized that Rudy and Phil (Workin' RVers) were also traveling in the same area. She called them and we determined we were only a couple of hours behind them on the interstate. We made arrangements to meet them the next day and spent 3 hours discussing workamping, Amazon and future plans. We stayed 2 nights in Phoenix and managed to meet up with some co-workers from Oregon; Larry and Jean. And we met with Dave and Maxine (Wandering Wingers). Several friends and family have asked if Joan and I get lonely being so far away from Florida and the people we've known our entire lives. We have to tell them 'No'. We have met so many new people this year that we now call friends. And being able to travel across the US and meet up with so many of them along the way reinforces with us what a good decision we made to go fulltime.

While driving through Texas we took a slight detour into New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns. We had plenty of time and decided to take the walking path down into the natural entrance rather than the elevator.







The pathway into the caverns is 1 mile and drops 700 feet. Once in the caverns there is a 1.25 mile path in and around the caverns and formations. Then we took the elevator back to the surface. Needless to say we have been feeling the steepness of that hike over the last few days.


Our plan from here is to travel to Yuma where we hope to catch up with more Oregonian co-workers Don & Donna, Mel & Teri and Phyllis & Gerry before finally making it to Vegas this weekend. Once there we will catch up with our supervisor from Lake Mead Recreation area and start our volunteer position which will carry us through March.

That's about it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come.