The Last Leg

10/15/2018 Departing Sequim I drove through the Mt Rainier National Park finally settling along the Tieton River at the, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Windy Point Campground. 

10/16/2018 After driving about 140 miles I stopped in Pendleton, Oregon for a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mill. The company was established in 1863 with the building in which the mill is housed originally built in 1893 although modernized numerous times over the years. Famous for its wool shirts and blankets, I joined a mill tour that described the sheep wool to cloth milling process. The mill tour lasted about 45 very educating minutes and was well worth the time.

Afterwards, I drove about 25 miles to the Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area campground for the night’s respite. This campground has a mix of campsites that have a variety of hookup capabilities at more than fair prices. My only criticism is that this campground is immediately adjacent to Interstate 84 which makes for a very noisy encampment. 

10/17/2018 After slowly breaking camp, I headed to La Grande, Oregon home of the Northwoods Nash manufacturing facility and birthplace of my travel trailer. I had a few matters that I wanted to discuss concerning problems with my trailer which some were begrudgingly resolved by their Service Department. Unfortunately, I felt like I was interrupting something else in that department so I just moved on. So far, I have fixed all issues with my trailer so I guess I’ll continue to do so. Leaving La Grande, I headed south where I ultimately landed at the Emmett, Idaho city RV park. 

10/18/2018 I spent this morning catching up on this blog. Lately I’ve been in a few areas lacking connectivity that puts me behind on my blogging. Enough excuses. Late morning I left for Boise where I visited the Idaho Capitol Building. Upon arrival in the Capitol vicinity the streets were very crowded with the boisterously large Micron Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: MU) 40 year anniversary celebration that was taking place on the Capitol steps, within the Capitol building and in the Cecil D. Andrus Park across the street. Making my way past the throngs of celebrants, I entered the neo-classical Capitol building that was completed in 1912 after seven years of construction. This elaborate building interior was fashioned with four colors of American and Italian marble covering every interior surface thereby constructing, in my opinion, an extremely decadent structure. I spent several hours exploring every lair in this center of Idaho government. On my way out of downtown Boise, I stopped halfway back to Emmett at The Schnitzel Garten in Eagle, Idaho for dinner. I ended this day with an appreciation of my exploits undertaken. 

10/19/2018 Spending most of the morning with my mobile residence spring cleaning, I eventually trekked over to a nearby golf course for a good walk spoiled. Playing the River Birch Golf Course I joined the twosome of Christie and Nate Bartholomew making three and a very pleasant round of golf. A great couple to play golf with, Christie was showing us the proper way to play golf and still have fun. On the first hole I went into what I thought was a dried reservoir for my ball. I quickly found out it was actually a very slick mud that was soon placed all over my backside with a fall. The day was completed with a very good dinner at the Cowboy Chop House in Emmett. 

10/20-23/2018 Today I relocated to Mike Calico’s house in Boise, Idaho for a 4 night visit. Mike is a hometown school friend. While there we recalled our friendship, toured the Boise area and welcomed Mike’s Boise friends for a televised World Series game. 

10/24/2018 This morning, I left Mike Calico placidly standing in the his driveway of his Boise home to begin the final leg of my journey. After a southerly 220 mile drive I made a remotely isolated camp 6 miles from Nevada Highway 95 up the Indian Creek-Canyon Creek road in the Toyobe-National Forest. 

10/25/2018 Wanting to venture over to the Lye Creek Campground, mid-morning I began the 25 mile drive over the steep very rocky, very narrow roads leading to that campground.   About half way to my destination, and fortunately on an open flat area, I was required to learn the Ford flat tire changing procedure. Once the process was completed, I was again on my way to the Lye Creek Campground. The Lye Creek Campground is exceedingly desolate but in a very scenic ravine. As I headed back to camp, I stopped for a beer at the Paradise Valley Bar & Grill in Paradise Valley. The Paradise Valley Bar is where the infamous trapper and poacher Claude Dallas was captured in 1982 after a 15 month manhunt for killing two Idaho Fish & Game wardens. 

10/26/2018 This morning I drove into Winnemucca to have the previous day's flat tire repaired very inexpensively at the Big O Tire Shop. Afterwards I walked around downtown Winnemucca visiting several shops and the Cheers Tap House bar. Eventually I retired out of the big city of Winnemucca to the solitude of my Indian Creek-Canyon Creek campsite. 

10/27/2018 I moved this day into Winnemucca to the Winnemucca RV Park. I relocated to Winnemucca so I could dine, without a lengthy drive, at the Basque restaurant in the historic Martin Hotel. 

10/28/2018 From Winnemucca, this element of my adventure took me through Austin, Nevada eventually driving a total of 170 miles to the small hamlet (population 113) of Kingston, Nevada. Home of the Lucky Spur Saloon, I soon found it to be a gem of a tavern in the middle of Nevada and a great place to have a drink and wonderful conversation. The bartender at the Lucky, Ruth, was ironically from Halifax, Nova Scotia so our conversation was initially centered upon her native country then lingered on to a regional exchange. Leaving the Lucky I drove 5 miles above the small settlement of Kingston, up Kingston Canyon where I soon found then retired in the beautifully quiet Kingston Campground. The campground was near vacant and cold but it was peaceful with the soothing ambiance of Kingston Creek. 

10/29/2018 Today I started from my Kingston Canyon campsite driving to and then up past Grove Lake. I discontinued my drive up the canyon where the road narrowed and its angle upwards increased significantly. On the way down the canyon I stopped a USDA Forest Service Ranger to discuss the historic Kingston Guard Station situated along the road near the lake in the canyon. The significant Kingston Canyon camp was built circa 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and was refurbished about 5 years ago. Unfortunately the site has been fairly vandalized by the unruly few that venture this way. When evening came, hoping to watch Monday Football, I drove back to the Lucky Spur in the small village of Kingston. Upon inquiry about the prospect of watching the football game on the Lucky Spur television I was informed that they do not watch football there. After a couple of beers and a historicly thorough  tour of the Lucky Spur I returned to camp for a very cold night in a warm camper. 

10/30/2018 Having a list of remote saloons in Nevada I left Kingston and headed for Gold Point, Nevada where I anticipated finding the very accommodating yet eclectically decorated Gold Point Saloon. About 15 miles south of Gold Field, Nevada then another 16 miles west on Highway 266 then Highway 774 I arrived in Gold Point but unfortunately I was unable to locate my intended target location. Now keen to inspect the Scotty’s Castle area of Death Valley National Park, I was sadly informed that the Scotty’s Castle at area of the Park was closed due to an earlier flash flood. Moving on, my new target location was Stovepipe Wells which is located near the center of the Death Valley National Park. There I was able to acquire a dry campsite for a very moderate price. After setting up camp, I felt as though I was in the lot of a drive-in movie theater. As the sunset commenced, the surrounding, astonishingly picturesque, Death Valley scenery soon created a very scenic panoramic projector screen. And alas a warm balmy nightfall nicely ousted all of the previously cool to cold evenings suffered since leaving Minnesota. 

10/31/2018 Wanting to explore, I left my camp at Stovepipe Wells for Furnace Creek Ranch to review the Furnace Creek Ranch Golf Course and other points of interest. I then drove to Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below sea level it is the lowest point in the United States. By my visit to Badwater Basin I augmented to my tour of fringes hereby adding to the most eastern and most northwestern points in the Continental United States. Heading back northward within Death Valley National Park I also visited the Devil’s Golf Course then to the Salt River. The Devil’s Golf Course is actually an area of rather unique large clumps of salt some up to 2 feet high.  The Salt River, this time of the year, does not flow thus resembling more of a salt marsh. Returning to camp as the evening was approached; I was able to accomplish the cooking of a steak before dark but forgetting a bag of trash on my portico. 

11/01/2018 I woke this morning and suddenly came to the realization that my front porch garbage was strewn about my campsite. My moment of sloth last evening created quite a mess for me this morning. The Park indigenous nocturnal inhabitants had torn open my trash during the night. A rookie mistake, I also received a written warning from the Park Ranger regarding this malfeasance. After cleaning the campsite, cooking breakfast and a brief period of interior trailer polishing, I headed for the Furnace Creek Ranch Golf Course on this warm, still day. I walked this vast tamarisk tree lined course having only two issues. Firstly, I had several close encounters with the golf course resident coyotes. Secondly, I lost track of Hole 13 and walked around aimlessly trying to acquire my directions. It seems I had mistakenly played Hole 17 after Hole 12 a mistake that added considerably time and distance to my golf game. Locating Holes 13, 14, 15, and 16 behind a thick row of tamarisk trees I allowed a twosome to play through so I could follow them as to not repeat this misstep. Completing my golf game I returned to my trailer, and after preparing dinner, I properly discarded my trash before retiring as one of the culprits from last night, a diminutive desert kit fox, was already rummaging through my camp. 

11/02/2018 Since I had not accomplished a Blog posting since leaving Winnemucca, Nevada on October 27 and with no other adventurous ideas in mind, I decided to make the 80 plus miles (160 plus miles roundtrip) drive into Lone Pine, California where I hoped I could make an internet connection. About halfway to Lone Pine in the Panamint Springs area I received a signal but decided to continue on to Lone Pine. Arriving in Lone Pine, I setup on a picnic table in the Spainhower Park. I spent about 3 hours in the Park copying, pasting and correcting blog entries to catch up on my goings-on. 

11/03/2018 I left the Stovepipe Wells Campground in Death Valley National Park this morning wanting to boondock in an area where I could connect to the internet. Driving about 120 miles and wanting to camp on BLM land near Randsburg, California, I was unable to locate any BLM near there that would allow camping. I finally settled south of Red Mountain, California on Cuddeback Road 15 miles from Randsburg. Merely a dirt road I drove east 3 miles from Highway 395 settling in a designated camping area. The cool calm evening was enhanced with a brilliantly orange desert sunset. 

11/04/2018 My last overnight camp. I drove around the area exploring the vast open BLM allocated Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) location. Locating and driving around a dry lake bed for half an hour and wanting something else to do I headed to the closest store in Kramer Junction, California. 25 miles from camp, Kramer Junction is just that, a junction of two highways (highways 58 and 395) in the middle of nowhere. Finding Kramer Junction quite busy I purchased milk and a soda then headed back to camp where I completed my last evening of this 255 day adventure.