330 RVing Women in One Place

We arrived in Sacramento the evening of October 7. We were amazed to find there were over 250 rigs there, all driven by women and a large percentage driven by women traveling alone.  Since it takes two of us to deal with Lilypad, we were very impressed.We were just in time for our Tuesday class on RV Maintenance class where we learned a lot of important things: like how to keep spiders out of your hot water heater and refrigerator compartments (they start fires, those little devils); the difference between an inverter and a converter (actually we think we already knew that); how to protect all your appliances from bad circuits and what happens if you don’t; everything we needed to know and should have known already about slide-outs; what to spray and clean with what substance to keep it in tip top shape; and most importantly, how to stay vigilant so we only have little problems and not big catastrophes.

The next day we skipped out of the convention and took a train trip to the Bay Area to see two old friends: Estelle Bern and Jenn Bowman. Some Friday Harbor folks may remember when Jenn worked at Whiteys. She’s now a casework manager with the Casey Family Foundation in Oakland. She took us out to dinner and we had a great visit.

Lilypad Visits Pedrozo Dairy in Orland, CA

Thanks to our membership in Harvest Hosts we got to stay at a sweet little dairy near Chico. We got up early and walked in the nearby walnut groves. Then, after the cows were milked we met Tim Pedrozo, third generation dairyman and his son Tim. They told us how they moved up from Merced with 50 cows and established this business. They sell at local farmers markets, Whole Foods, regional co-ops and specialty stores. Then we met Rosemary, the cheesemaker and she showed us the process and let us visit the curing room. We are not showing you the funny little outfits we had to wear there. We will tell you we left with several slices of delicious gouda style cheeses in the fridge.

Ashland is our kind of Town!

We rolled into Ashland off the Volcanic Legacy All American Road. Sigh, perhaps someday travelers on the San Juan Islands Scenic Byway will have interpretive opportunities to get their bearings and learn about the area. The Volcanic Legacy Byway has great signage. We visited our friend Lavelle Foos who took us on a great ramble in the hills and then over to historic Jacksonville. We also realized our trip is neatly planned around visits to friends and family exactly when we need to do laundry! It was fun to see Ashland again after our great Road Scholar experience last April for Janna's 70th birthday. The local organic food, arts scene, college atmosphere and good coffee make it our kind of town.

Government Shutdown Devastates Gateway Communities

We had intended to explore Crater Lake National Park, but the CLOSED signs turned us away. We mourn for all our treasured public lands and the stewards that tend them. The folks at Jo's Organic Deli at Fort Klamath said we were their first lodging customers all week. We camped behind their sweet little establishment by the banks of the pretty Wood River (and sang the song several times). Before that we enjoyed the High Desert Museum just outside of Bend. On our trip over the mountains into Ashland we traveled on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway, an All American Road. We're starting to think of scenic byways as roller coaster rides: often no guard rails and in the case of this route, 9 miles of a 5% down hill grade with lots of curves!

Now we're into Oregon

Here we are - our third night out already. The first night was in a lovely vineyard near Yakima - just us in the middle of the grapevines. Last night we were at Peach Beach just below Maryhill Museum of Art and the Maryhill Stonehenge War Memorial. That's Liz framed by the Memorial, looking at Oregon across the Columbia River. These two attractions were both very worthwhile - a fabulous art museum in the middle of nowhere and a complete reproduction of England's Stonehenge, devoted to World War I veterans. Both were created by philanthropist Samuel Hill.

Tonight we are almost the only guests at Kah-Nee-tah - a huge resort on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. We swam in the huge 94-degree pool, soaked in the hot tub, then settled into lovely Lilypad for a delicious tamale dinner. We will sleep well tonight no doubt.....

The Things We Have Already Learned!

Over the weekend we pushed through buckets of rain to say goodbye to the grandkids on Vashon. Both of them showed off their soccer skills at games played totally in the rain. Yesterday we learned there is snow at 4,000 feet in the Cascades. Since the Chinook Scenic Byway is a few hundred feet about this altitude we discovered how well Lilypad handles in an inch or so of slush. We were lucky to find a couple of WSDOT guys salting and scraping and they directed us on a better (albeit longer) route to Naches. We trundled into our berth at the vineyard that Shannon Borg so kindly found for us. Thanks! Today we explored the Toppenish Murals, learned about the feral horse problem on the Yakama Nation lands, and visited the Maryhill Museum. We are camped by the Columbia River tonight, enjoying the late peaches from the adjacent orchard.

Everyone asks, "Where are you going?"

Well, here's a partial itinerary. We figure small towns that support creativity will offer locally grown food, reflect progressive politics, and be welcoming to lesbians in RVs. Our kind of places.