Quartzsite, AZ

We left Glendale this morning, stopping to get diesel first ($4.139).

We’re now in Quartzsite for a month at the Pit Stop Campground. While we’re here, we have to have the part ordered for our big awning and have to take Maxx to the vet for another Valley Fever blood titer and more VF pills.

The Wedding

Lorri and Gina’s wedding was held this evening at the house of friends of theirs, Eric and Fred. The house is in the Hollywood Hills and has a fabulous view of Los Angeles (would have been even better had it not been for the smog)...and, of course, the house itself is something out of Architectural Review! My brother, Andy, officiated at the wedding (which is allowed in the State of California...you just have to get certified and the certification is only good for the one day) and did a great job!

There was a dinner afterward (catered, of course) which was wonderful...both Earl and I had the Halibut.


My brother, Andy









Lorri (left) and Gina (right) [At the right of the picture are Fred in the light suit and Eric in the dark suit...the people at whose house the wedding was held]







Gina, Mom, Lorri

Lorri and Gina had dinner (catered) at their house this evening with family and friends who were here from out of town. This is the first time that Earl and I have seen their house since they’d had it remodeled...very nice! We also got to meet Gina’s siblings...the first time we’ve ever met them.

Glendale, CA

We stopped in Mojave for lunch at Denny’s and arrived at the Glendale, California Elks Lodge in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it’s hot here and this park only has 15-amp electrical service...not enough to run our A/C. We had expected it to be relatively cool here (in the 70’s), so decided to stay here rather than Dockweiler RV Park which we had originally considered.


Our rig at the overflow area of Red Rock Canyon State Park








Miles driven: 149.0
GPS coordinates: N 34° 08.515' / W 118° 15.264'

We went to K-Mart to buy shoes for Earl and a pair of slacks for me, stopped for diesel ($3.999) and did grocery shopping.

Ridgecrest, CA

Stopped in Hawthorne to buy diesel ($3.999) on our way south after leaving 20 Mile Beach.

We drove roads today that we’ve never driven before: SR-360 from Tonopah Junction to its junction with US-6 and then US-6 over Montgomery Pass to Bishop, California.

We’re spending the next couple of days at the Elks Lodge in Ridgecrest, California...full hookups for $15 per night. Since it was a long day, we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut and had it delivered. :-)

Miles driven: 280.4
GPS coordinates: N 35° 37.092' / W 117° 40.021'

20 Mile Beach

Before leaving Winnemucca, we filled up with diesel ($3.849...the first below $4.00 per gallon diesel we’ve run into this summer since we filled up in Henderson, Nevada earlier in the year).

We’re spending the night at 20-Mile Beach along the northwestern shore of Walker Lake north of Hawthorne, Nevada. This is a favorite stop of ours when we travel US-95 north or south through Nevada. It’s a free BLM area that has undesignated sites and it’s free.

Miles driven: 186.9
GPS coordinates: N 38° 45.153' / W 118° 45.619'

Winnemucca, NV

We’re on our way to Los Angeles for my (Linda) sister’s wedding. We were planning on saying at Water Canyon Campground, but when we arrived, we couldn’t find any level sites, so we ended up at Winnemucca RV Park where we’ve stayed before.










As we were driving down SR-205 after leaving the RV park, we ran into this herd of cows walking along the road (this is open range area). In fact, we ran into another herd a little farther down the road. By the time we were through both groups, our truck and fifth wheel were filthy!

Miles driven: 223.1
GPS coordinates: N 40° 58.7962' / W 117° 42.6810'

There were lots of activities today at the Headquarters...the unveiling and dedication of a bronze statue, the placement of a time capsule by the museum, a very interesting talk by Trish Nixon from the Peregrine Funds Birds of Prey Center in Boise (a place we weren’t aware of before and which we’ll definitely visit the next time we’re in the area).

This evening, there was a barbecue dinner at the RV park.

100th Anniversary Celebration, Malheur NWR

This weekend is the 100th Anniversary celebration for Malheur National Wildlife Refuge where we volunteered in 2006 (see blog entries for May, June, and July 2006 for our experiences). We arrived at the Narrows RV Park which is about 26 miles south of Burns on SR-205 at its junction with Sod House Lane, the road that goes east to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge’s Headquarters, stopping first in Burns for groceries.

We returned to Burns in the evening for the celebration dinner at the Outpost at Big Bear, stopping first to fill up with diesel ($4.019).

Miles driven: 59.7
GPS coordinates: N 43° 15.4585' / W 118° 57.4170'

Chickahominy Reservoir

We left Cascade Meadows RV Resort this morning and drove to Chickahominy Reservoir. This is one of our favorite stops between Bend and Burns and is about 32 miles west of Burns, on US-20. There are no hookups at the campground, but there is fresh water available at the fish cleaning station and a dump at Sage Hen Rest Area to the east of the reservoir.

Miles driven: 123.2
GPS coordinates: N 43° 32.991' / W 119° 36.729'

We went into Bend today to shop at Costco. Before going there, we stopped at a couple of RV dealers to look at the Host and the Eagle Cap campers.

At this point, Eagle Cap is #1 on our list. While the Host has some good features, like 2 slides and a 60-gallon fresh water tank, it is more expensive that the Eagle Cap and many things which come standard on the Eagle Cap are options on the Host (such as dual pane windows, for example).

Cascade Meadows RV Resort

Today we moved down to Cascade Meadows RV Resort which is at the intersection of US-97 and Paulina Lake Road (the road that goes up to Paulina and East Lakes).

Miles driven: 16.0
GPS coordinates: N 43° 44.885' / W 121° 27.578'

Earl and I drove into La Pine today to pick up our mail and to do grocery shopping.

We’ve really had a lot of fun at Little Crater...we have a site right on the lake from which we’ve been able to watch the Osprey fishing in Paulina Lake and then taking them up into a tree to eat. We’ve also seen a couple of Bald Eagles while we’ve been here. There is a tree at the edge of the lake on our site in which one of the Osprey landed for a short period of time, so we got a really good close up look at it.

Little Crater Campground

We finally left Sutherlin this morning and headed for Little Crater Campground in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument south of Bend, stopping in La Pine for diesel ($4.299/gallon). We’ve stayed at this particular campground before and think it’s the best one of the several that are here because all the sites are either on the lake or have a view of the lake...and it’s not so heavily treed (at least at some of the sites), that we can’t get sun on our solar panels or get satellite TV tuned in.

Miles driven: 185.6
GPS coordinates: N 43° 43.037' / W 121° 14.453'