Sunday, November 22, 2015

Oregon to PA Oct-Nov 2015


Upper North Falls, Silver Falls SP

After we replaced the last 2 original tires, we headed to Oregon’s most visited state park, Silver Falls SP. This park features 10 waterfalls that you can see on one long day hike. Due to its popularity, we could not get a camping spot there over the weekend, so we stayed in nearby Silverton. This town is known for its murals. Also nearby we visited the Oregon Gardens and a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

from Four Freedoms (Speech,Want, and Fear)

Oregon Gardens


Mr and Mrs. Potts and son Clay
Frank Lloyd Wright design

Mt Shasta  

We headed into California, and hiked in Castle Crags SP and toured Lake Shasta Caverns before we spent some time with Elizabeth and Helen. On our way through Nevada to Kingman AZ, we found the road closed due to a fire at a hazardous waste disposal site. They were unable to tell us how long the road would be closed, but since the detour route was an additional 120 miles, we settled in to spend the night on the side of the road. Fortunately, our wait was only four hours. We found out later, that some travelers were delayed more than 24 hours. I guess we were lucky. We spend several days with Phil and Connie, before moving on to Sedona AZ.


Elizabeth and Helen
Donner Memorial

Only in Vegas




Monolith Gardens Kingman AZ
Devils Bridge Sedona

At Sedona we went to Sedona Summit timeshare to check in. After much searching, they could not find our reservation. I checked our documents and came up empty.  Somehow I had noted on our calendar that we had a confirmed reservation. We ended up camping the entire week in and around Sedona. We drove to a lookout one evening to see the sunset, and found Frank Carpenter there. I had not seen him for 10+ years. He was on his way to California.


Red Rock Country

After Sedona, the original plan was to drive back to MD/PA via Lewisburg WV, but since we had been looking to replace our RV, we decided to visit a few RV factories on the way home. The first stop was Born Free in Humboldt, IA. We soon found out that a new Born Free was out of our price range. We traveled to Forest City, IA and toured the Winnebago factory. We found one RV that could work for us, but it just seemed too big. We drove over to Elkhart, IN (where most RVs are built) and toured the factory for Phoenix Cruiser. We found what we wanted and ordered our first brand new RV. It should be ready in February. We are selling our Born Free on our own.



Ruxton - front wheel drive classic


While in the area we toured the RV/MH Hall of Fame and the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Auto Museum. We got stuck in the area due to 50 mph wind gusts that made RV driving very difficult and dangerous. We did get out of the area a week before a big snow storm arrived. We made it to Lewisburg and checked on our property there. We also did the Bunker tour at the Greenbrier Resort. This was a secret Cold War bunker for the US Congress.


1937 Cord

We camped out in Shirley’s driveway and checked out her new house in Dayton, VA and made it back to York, PA in time for Pat’s Dad’s 88th birthday.