F-150 Keystone to Washington State to Alabama

[John D]

We must select pictures that will look good at the small format required for posting. I will have to see what works best at the resolution needed for the web site. Thank you for your patience. There is a man on the cliff in one of these pics and I wonder if he can be seen by viewers. John D

 

[John D]

It is a dirt road trip to the launching point for a trip on the Green River through Gates of Ladore. There was a visit to SLC for my daughter's wedding. We traveled some back roads in Idaho. Dogs are a big interest in that state (as everywhere).

 

[John D]

The man towing this old Power Wagon said he had just bought it from a rancher for 500 bucks and was on his way to California to deliver it to a restorer. Idaho has some very undeveloped areas. The river has a hot spring flowing into it and people had little dams made so they could enjoy the hot water.

 

[John D]

Custer Motorway in Idaho. Custer had nothing to do with this area but it was named after him shortly after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The gold dredge and the creek bed it mined are remarkable. This is a historic mining area along this motorway. This is not what is thought of as a motorway in England. People in the little ghost town of Custer, pictured, simply dug a ditch across the dirt road to slow people down, I think more to keep the dust down than anything.

 

[John D]

It has been brought to my attention that there is a way to send pictures with higher resolution, sort of a way to trick the WTW server. I did not know how to do this. However, I am concerned the web master might object if I consume more memory than he would like. Thus, I will continue to limit my image content to 500K per post as the web site is designed. If anyone desires to have a full resolution copy of any of these pictures, I would be happy to send it directly to them by email, etc.

John D

 

[John D]

Seven Devils is an interesting spot in Idaho, along with the entire area. Actually, I don't want folks to know how to get to this place! It is not good for trailers which makes it ideal for tent camping and light weight campers, especially 4X4s, due to the road. There is a super trail head here for back packers. We discovered it by accident.

 

[John D]

Washington State is certainly a great area for outdoor people, and there are a lot of them. Rainier is pretty close to Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. When the weather is nice, as it was for us, it is likely to be quite crowded. Fortunately, folks with off road capability can find camping spots in the national forest outside Mt. Rainier National Park. For those who like to eat, Paradise Inn has a brunch buffet on Sundays that will kill you. I discovered the best way to eat the smoked salmon is to unroll each Hors d'oeuve and eat it in small pieces. It is simply too rich to chomp down on a large piece.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Great pics... thanks for sharing!

 

[John D]

I am having trouble with posting this one. To this point, I have about half of what I want to put up done.

 

[ski3pin]

Wow John, what a trip! I have been enjoying your report and look forward to more.

 

[John D]

We found the east side of the Olympic Peninsula with weather much like New England. Next to Port Townsend is Fort Worden, and old Army post converted into an interesting resort. We were able to find good information about places in the Olympic National Park, the second largest in the US. We also learned about the town of Forks on the western side and I will leave this to those with the special interest. Forks is a funny town with young women walking around with the strangest smiles on their faces.

 

[John D]

Heading south on the Pacific Coast of Washington is very nice. It was cool and we enjoyed exchanging information about the mild temperatures with our friends back in Alabama where a heat wave was in progress. The redwood trees are related to the sequoia trees of California, both big. Camping here is scarce or expensive. I never learned if "at large" camping was allowed in the national forest here. One night we paid 35 bucks for a camp site. Apparently, there is a cooperation between the State and the Federal Government at campgrounds and all are rather expensive by comparison with most other places we camped on this trip.

 

[John D]

This type of RV is ideal for a woman traveling alone. The lady said that unfortunately they are not being imported any longer. We camped in the largest campground I have ever seen at Ft. Stevens. It was full. A couple of the tents we spotted are shown. I was impressed, no two camps alike and every variety from big and expensive to basic. An entire web site could be devoted to this one campground and would not do it justice.

 

[John D]

Here we are getting into California's Northern Pacific Coast. Soon we turned inland to cross the state toward Reno.

 

[John D]

Before California we made our way down the Oregon Coast. In Astoria, the fur trade is gone like the Astorians and Louis and Clark. Lots of history here and the mouth of the Columbia is ominously nearby. There are pilings in the water everywhere that were once used in the logging business, now pretty much gone. The US Coast Guard has a presence. Good fishing and crabbing. Kelley will cook your catch right in front of you. Never seen anything in to match this. Neither have I seen a fisherman's outhouse before.

 

[John D]

More Oregon Coast. Coos Bay had just opened its new tourist center the day we arrived and we were its first customer. There is a great floating fish house here. They will cook it or sell it to you raw. This is the home of the best candy I think I have ever tasted too.

 

[John D]

Yep, in our little camper, there was room for only one long sleeved shirt. I wore the same shirt every day. When in the campgrounds, I wore a nice colorful heavy bath robe to the shower, sort of looked English. My camping partner said I was nuts, but it was ankle length and warm, much needed when walking back to the camper in the rain after a hot shower.

 

[John D]

I have no idea why someone left six full soft drink bottles sitting on a fence in the middle of nowhere. As far as I know, they are still there. I had never heard of Lassen Volcanic National Park. The state I come from in the east has not a single national park. California must have dozens, so many that folks from the east have never heard of some of them and could not tell you where most of them are. Lassen National Park is absolutely world class.

I caught the fire bomber getting ready to take off and bomb the fire that can be seen in the same picture of the P3 on the runway. Well anyway, I thought it was cool.

The last picture is of Donner Camp, not far from Donner Pass, where eleven people starved to death in 1846, with many survivors resorting to cannibalism. "Ordeal by Hunger" by Stewart should be on every westerner's reading list.

 

[John D]

Nevada has more mountains than any other state except Alaska. We camped on the Fallon Naval Air Station near the end of the runway. My camping partner washed cloths and bought food at the commissary. I watched the airshow put on by the Navy's Top Gun school in the shadow of the camper sitting on a nice camping chair for two days. It is absolutely cool to watch a fighter taking off at twilight with the afterburner flame shooting out the tail half the length of the aircraft. Nothing is quite like that sound.

I was really worried about our truck problems here as we got ready to cross the state on Route 50, the Lonelyest Road in America. I put on a new fuel filter, the best on I could buy, and carried a brand new spare on top of that. We topped off the water tank, including a 5 gallon extra tank, made sure we had all the tools needed, then headed out. Of course, I forgot about the Great Salt Desert that would come later, but it is not as wide as Nevada.

We camped in a National Forest campground somewhere north of Ely. One of the things I learned about the desert is even though there is not much rain, there is plenty of water in the form of springs if one knows where to find it. I understand now how the first explorers knew to look along the lower reaches of the mountains for clumps of trees or a green area which could be seen from great distances. Obviously, the Indians knew this too and the first European explorers quickly learned to spot "Indian roads" that led to water. Knowing where to find water is a basic survival skill of the desert. Folks who travel in the desert should take it very seriously as there are some spooky thinks out there.

 

[Barko1]

It is absolutely cool to watch a fighter taking off at twilight with the afterburner flame shooting out the tail half the length of the aircraft. Nothing is quite like that sound.




In Vietnam I was at Dak To, a scruffy little base that had a small airstrip for C47's and the F104's would buzz us just above the runway, go upside down, and kick in the afterburners It was very cool, no warning, hell of a noise, and low enough that a tent got blown over (one unhappy cook).

You deserve a medal for most heroic trek in an ailing F150