we stopped here one year ago tomorrow on our return home just days after Leben became paralyzed. What a difference a year makes.
We are 150 miles from reaching our one goal of the trip, to return home safe and sound.
Day 59, 3:00 p.m., october 12, As it is happening
we stopped here one year ago tomorrow on our return home just days after Leben became paralyzed. What a difference a year makes.
We are 150 miles from reaching our one goal of the trip, to return home safe and sound.
day 58, Friday, October 11, Columbus Ohio KOA, 13,107 miles, 20,726 for parts 1 and 2
Got an early start on the road today from the Lieber State Park we stayed in last night. things turned out splendidly after all. What a pleasant night it was in that camp.
we took a detour 50 miles to the north to Fairmount Indiana to pay our respects to James Dean. i can think of no other actor whose personal legacy has been kept alive for so long. In town there are two museums keeping the flame burning, one run by two fellows, Lenny and Dave, that has more James Dean memorabilia than you can imagine. Anyone who ever was a fan of James Dean has to come here to this museum, the other one in town, and his grave site, which is covered with flowers. the edges of his pink granite gravestone have been chipped away (the gravestone has already had to be replaced) and the rock in front of the grave is covered with initials and messages. I have to admit that I have been taken in by the whole James Dean thing, for reasons only a shrink might be able to explain. He came onto the scene when I was 10, and so caught me at an impressionable time. But i have no doubt that the impact he had a generations in terms of his style has been enormous. and what an actor he was!
Tonight is our last night on the road. Tomorrow we head for DC. Needless to say, I feel sad that it is ending, but also feel quite satisfied that this trip has added value to my life, which is why i make them. When i arrive home, i will try to figure out what that value is.
we took a detour 50 miles to the north to Fairmount Indiana to pay our respects to James Dean. i can think of no other actor whose personal legacy has been kept alive for so long. In town there are two museums keeping the flame burning, one run by two fellows, Lenny and Dave, that has more James Dean memorabilia than you can imagine. Anyone who ever was a fan of James Dean has to come here to this museum, the other one in town, and his grave site, which is covered with flowers. the edges of his pink granite gravestone have been chipped away (the gravestone has already had to be replaced) and the rock in front of the grave is covered with initials and messages. I have to admit that I have been taken in by the whole James Dean thing, for reasons only a shrink might be able to explain. He came onto the scene when I was 10, and so caught me at an impressionable time. But i have no doubt that the impact he had a generations in terms of his style has been enormous. and what an actor he was!
Tonight is our last night on the road. Tomorrow we head for DC. Needless to say, I feel sad that it is ending, but also feel quite satisfied that this trip has added value to my life, which is why i make them. When i arrive home, i will try to figure out what that value is.
Day 58, Friday, Oct 11, 2pm
day 57, Thursday, October 10, 12,827 miles (16,427 with part 1), Lieber State Park, Indiana
knowing from the tone of her voice that i was not going to get anywhere with this person, i decided to see how rigid this person was, so i played some cards, not really concerned about whether i got a cabin from her at all. Look, I said, surely you can make an exception in my case because my one dog is paralyzed. No, no exceptions. I needed to use some other cards.
Look, I said, it us getting dark and I am tired after a long day's drive (I lied, I was not) and my car was smashed into the other day and the headlight is not working properly, which is true. No exceptions, she said.
OK, i said, I'll get the cabin for myself and leave the dogs in the car. Of course, i had no intention of doing that.
No, you can't do that, she said.
Can i tent there with the dogs, i asked. She said, You can tent here with the dogs and that's it.
Wanting to see the depths of this woman's inability to reason I asked, How about my getting
a tent site and a cabin, and I'll store my things in the cabin?
You can't do that either, she said.
I asked her to please call someone to get me an exception and she refused.
I then told her where I was and asked her for suggestions since i had no information on other camp sites and she gave me the number for another "nearby" KOA.
As it turns out, an hour later, after dark, when i got to the turnoff in the dark for that other KOA, it was not there. She had given me a camp 45 mikes to the north on I-74 when I was on I-70.
I then pulled into a gas station to ask about other nearby camps and the locals there were extremely helpful in directing me to the Lieber State Park just 4 miles up the nearby winding, dark, deer-populated back road. One young man named Taylor even told me to follow him and he would show me the way, which I did. As it turns out, we are now tenting in this splendid little park surrounded by a circle of tall trees with the open, clear sky lighted by the numerous stars and half moon, a far better deal than what we would have had in that stuffy cabin.
if any one of the three competent and equally delightful young women running Pruden Lake camp were at that KOA, we would all be settled in one of those cabins now. There are two kinds of people in life, those who can think and those who cannot. The Indianapolis KOA is staffed by the latter. And thank goodness it is because i am enjoying this new camp enormously.
What i am learning is that the KOAs are not whst they used to be. you can find excellent ones like the Goodland Kansas KOA, but you can no longer count on that for all of them, eg the Indianapolis KOA and the Minneapolis East KOA, and it is more than being prt-friendly, It is about helping people wuth their travel problems. The clerk at Indianapolis is probsbly a descendant from that inkeeper in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.
tomorrow, eastward some more, but only after a ritual i must go through when i am in this area.
Photos include...
- Leben and Erde relaxing at last night's KO cabin
- our visit to the St Louis arch, at 70 miles an hour.
- Leben and Erde at a rest area finally obeying the rules
day 56, Wednesday, October 9, 12,373 miles (93 days and 19,1982 miles with part 1)
Made good time today on the road, 466 miles, or 2nd best, even losing an hour with time change. Stopped at a pleasant little town for a rest break and then realized it looked familar. We stopped there also in 2001 and discovered it was Senator Bob Dole's home town. Photo is of Leben and Erde in historic section of town. I could envision a young Dole riding in some convertible down this street during Memorial Day or July 4th parades, or opening his campaigns here. Leben and Erde were interested in the smells, and I the coffee at the great expresso bar in the background.
We made it to our goal,the Kansas City KOA by 8:30. we would have made it earlier except i got lost. but i also got lost the exact same way when i tried the find the place on September 11, 2001, on our way back from Alaska.
Been thinking about that auto accident in Cheyenne more. If i did not have the brush bar on the front, the impact would have taken out my radiator and headlight, among other thjngs. Also, before i even assessed the damage, I reviewed my contingency plan just in case the damage was trip-interrupting: go back to the camp, rent a car, and stay put until the Defender is functioning again. This was the same plan we had at the Yukon. Fortunately, the damage, while a lot, does not interfere with my driving, although the left headlight is aimed lower than it would be, impeding my driving at night.
When i return, i will continue tuis blog with my thoughts on a number of individual topics or themes from the trip. Maybe one a day for a few weeks. I can think of about 50 topics off the top of my head. Unfortunately, on the trip, i don't have time to work on them for this blog.
one of the topics i will talk about is my many sources of inspiration for these trips. One of those is clearly my own mother who at 21 set out with her 19-year old sister Evelyn on a cross-country road trip from New Mersey to California in 1935. Let me repeat, 1935. No interstate system, no paved roads all the way, no AAA, no Napa shops, no Walmart's, no gas stations every 20 miles, no Jiffy Lubes, no ATMs, no GPS system, no cell phones or iPads, no coffee machines at every gas station, no KOAs , no Defender 90s or even JEEPs, etc., etc., etc. See photo of my mother next to what she and her sister drove to California and back. Where is their gear?
Taps. long drive tomorrow.
day 55, tuesday, oct 8, the trip so far (11571 miles, 19180 for parts 1 and 2)
day 55, Tuesday, Oct. 9, Curt Gowdy State Park Wyoming to KOA in Kansas,
we paralleled the Rocky Mountains until Denver and then got onto Interstate 70, the road that will take us home. before i started to KOA-cabin it home, i wanted to tent one more night. the only state park in Colorado off 70 and a decent travel from Cheyenne was Bonny Lake State Park. When i was about 2 hours away, i discovered that the park was closed except for primitive camping, which is what i have been doing for most if the trip anway. when i got to the exit for the park, i looked at the sun and realized that i would be arriving after dark, which would be no fun for any if us. also, i would have an extra hour's drive tomorrow,and would have to get up later, and lose an hour breaking camp, all on top of the time zone change loss of one hour. in the interest of time on the road, not to mention need if a shower and laundry, i drove on for an hour to a nice little KOA in Kansas, where we got a cabin for the night. i could live in one of these fir a year, they are so quaint. as soon as i lifted Leben from the Defender, he made a bee-line right away for the cabin, which is one of the reasons i stay in them, i.e., they are all alike and the dogs feel at home in them. although it was a tough decision for me to give up tenting on this trip, it was a wise devision.
the scenery after Denver changes dramatically, all plains, as far as the eye can see. but there is a certain beauty in all of this, especially at sunset, so the drive was not boring.
some photos...
-leaving Curt Gowdy park
- the park lake from the way out
- started to see more cattle in Wyoming and Colorado (but also saw lots of cattle trucks going you know where). these cattle have in good compared to most cattle, confined to those unethical and obscene CAFIs, combined animal feeding operations.
- more windmills here than cattle
- downtown Cheyenne. nest place. all brick buildings on the main street
- the ugly part of the return trip, the traffic near the cities,min this case, Denver. more cars than cattle and windmills.
day 55, Tuesday, October 8, 11:00 a little snag in Cheyenne
day 55, 9:45 am, Tuesday, October, 11,571 mikes (19,189 for parts 1 and 2)
heavy winds last night starting at 2:00. got little sleep after that. it stopped just in time for Reveille at 7:00. otherwise, quiet night except for an owl. Sorry, no wolves. gone here, too. poor wolves. poor us.
off to Cheyenne to get Defender serviced fir 4th time. then off to Denver and onto Interstate 70, which is last highway we will take.
we have done 19,189 miles so for parts 1 and 2, with1700 miles to go. add the 3500 for last year's attempt, and we have circled the earth just about (24,901 miles).
Day 54, Monday, October 7, Rockport Stats Park in Utah to Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming
Long drive today. fortunately, the whole drive was scenic and the road was very fast. i had no idea Utah, Wyoming etc. were so extraordinarily beautiful. views that are unknown in the east.
stocked up on food for the last time today at a small town.
my plan was to make it to at least Laramie and maybe Cheyenne today and start staying in those KOA cabins so i can have more time on the road. but i discovered a state park in Wyoming between the two so i targeted that. despite our running out of sun by 6pm, we pushed on, passing up a KOA and two National Forest Service camps. i was rewarded for my diligence. The 14-mile side road to the camp was perhaps one of the modt scenic i have been on, ever. and finally, some cattle in the fields . the park itself is breathtaking. our site is located on the crown of a hill overlooking a small valley and lake. photos tomorrow. only problem was setting up the whoke camp in the dark, but i am a pro at that now, and know how to watch my step. in fact, everything was done in 90 minutes from the time we arrived. of course, i had to cut out something, and that was my dinner. i ended up eating a teaspoon of the dogs' (formerly my) salmon, a small V8 juice, and an apple from the Srrachans's garden on Vancouver Island.
time to call it a night.
the photo with this posting is of the view after leaving the Rockport Camp.
ed
day 54, oct 7, 3pm, as it is happening, rest stop for the dogs in Wyoming
where are all the cattle i expected to see?
ed
day 54, 10:00 am, Monday, Oct 6, as it is happening, Utah
day 53, Sunday, October 6, Bruneau Dunes Camp, Idaho, to Rockport State Park, Utah, 11166 miles (19166 total parts 1 and 2)
i took Leben and Erde for a long walk toward the dunes in what i can only describe as desert-like. Boy, did the two of them gi crazy. they found smells they had never encountered before and couldn't get enough of them, badgers, coyotes, kangaroo rats, jack rabbits. (sorry, no wolves. they're all gone in Idaho since Obama lifted the restrictions on hunting them.). beyond these animals, the area is occupied by eagles, owls, and with a few scorpions to boot.
got off late (11:00) and so had to move along to make up time. but the haste did not spoil the drive on an easy, fast highway. Not a boring minute on the drive. wide open plains bordered by hills in the distance, and then once we hit Utah, mountains, snow-covered. Wow is the word I deployed most today.
we made it to our planned destination at 6:30, the Rockport State Park in Utah, not too far from the Wyoming border. and what a wonderful little park this is. we are not only the only tenters once again, but the only campers, so we got our choice of sites. at last, we are in a site that has grass on which we pitched the tent. we went through the whole evening routine in less than 2 hours, and by that time, before we went in-tent, i had a chance to take in the enormous sky that is more star than sky. the last time i saw such a sky was in 2001 on the way back from Alaska with Leben and Erde in Ely, Nevada. since then, we have learned that we are not alone, so gazing at the sky tonight meant something quite different than it did 12 years ago.
Tomorrow, we had east toward Cheyenne or maybe Laramie, Wyoming. the only public parks there are all national forest parks, which are closed now thanks to our dysfunctional politicians. but what we are experiencing now is nothing compared to what is to come because of this dysfunction.
Photis
- Leben and Erde walking near the sand dunes. the tracks are Leben's
- what in God's name did they find that was so good?
- the drive into Utah
day 52, Saturday, October 5, Bruneau Dunes State Park, Oregon, 10,700 miles (18,700 total)
Emigrant Hills Park was not something i expected. what a pleasant surprise. if all state parks we modeled after this one, cities would be empty on weekends. i checked out their $39/night cabins, which I would have stayed in if it had been raining, and what a deal. Thoreau would have killed to have stayed in one of these. why are all these great parks 3000 or more miles from my home?
i had just enough gas to make it to the next gas station 60 miles up the highway in a small town called Huntington, but one i got there the one station there had run out of gas. the next gas station 26 miles up the highway. I had emptied my spare can before i got on the ferry so had no extra fuel. Fortunately, i found some local who sold me 2 gallons from his private stash, and made it up the line. But for some inexplicable reason, the red Check Engine light on my dashboard has gone on. still another problem? i will ignore it as long as the Defender is running fine.
i hoped to stay in the Bruneau Dunes state park near Mountain Home but they did not take reservations for tonight and had few sites left when i called at 4pm because it is a weekend night, and a beautiful one at that, and all the National parks are shut down thanks to our incompetent politicians in Washington. Not one for discouraging easily, I took my chances and drive the 25 miles out of the way down this extraordinary back road to the camp. i expected to run into John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Audie Murphy riding out of the hills on the way down. As good luck would have jt, we arrived at 5:30 and got the last campsite. It is like an oasis in the desert, with huge dunes surrounding the camp in the distance. We have an enormous panorama of a clear sky tonight and there are more stars out now than i ever thought existed until Carl Sagan corrected me.
Tomorrow we head for Utah. who knows where after that?
photos in include:
- our Emigrant Hills site
- quaint cabins at Emigrant Hills
- just imagine 300 miles of scenes like this thru Oregon on a wonderful road
- the Defender, out of gas, in a small town waiting for me to find someone to sell me $10 worth.
- sunset over the dunes at Bruneau Dunes Camp. I have seen almost 50 different sunsets and sunrises in the last two months.
-
Day 51, Friday, October 4, Emigrant Hill State Park, Oregon, 10,600 mikes (18,600 total)
we ended up in a magnificent state park along highway 84. they had some near little cabins available but i decided to stick with my roots and tent it. the truth is, we all have the routine down cold, and i do mean cold, and i did not want to break stride this last week on the road. the cabins were $39 a night, the same price as that slum i stayed in last night at tge Seattle/Tacoma KOA. Here i am paying $14 for a fabulous tent site, and i have a sky filled with stars a planetarium would only hope for. the camp is right next to the highway, but the sound if the vehicles speeding by sounds like the ocean. i got here at dark (6:30) so i'll post some photos tomorrow
it seems that we can only get in about 350 miles on a good day, and so with 2400 miles left, it looks like we'll be on the road 8 more days. needless to say, it will be not be easy going back to my DC comfort zone, but if this after-trip is like the previous ones, i will try to simulate life on the road as a transition.
it is a nice crisp 40 degrees outside, nit much warmer in the tent. but i have the dogs, some Merlot, and some Rachmaninov to warm things up a bit.
i have no idea where we will end up tomorrow. Probably some state park in Idaho. i'll worry about that in the morning.
ed
photo taken on the road in Washington. that thing off to the left is my Air Snirkel.
day 51, 5:00 p.m. dinner break on the road in beautiful oregon
ed
day 51, oct 4, as it is happening, 12:39
just decided to head to Boise instead of Spokane to try a route not taken before, heading to the Idaho border tonight, 300 miles away.
just noticed that all the bad roads broke my support frame for the exhaust pipe. did a temporary fix of wire to hold it in place. no big deal. these things happen.
beautiful day, sunny, few clouds, low 60s. tonight in the low 40's. at last, the weather suits me again. not time yet for those KOA cabins, where they exist, that is.
by the way, notice the Frosty Paws on the dogs's dining table. first time they had one since home. in fact, they got two each since i have no freezer to keep them. what more could a dog ask for?
Day 50, 9:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct 3, KOA Seattle/Tacoma, 10,216 miles
arrived in port angeles at 12:30. decided to abandon option of touring Olympic. peninsula again, and moved on to Seattle/Tacoma. decided to stay at KOA there when it came up to 5:00 and dogs hadbeen in Defender since 6:00. no cabins there but decided to dry tent out and do all laundry. not a particularly nice KOA, but it'll have to do.
tomorrow i hope to make it to Boise, 500 miles. that's pushing it.
this is the part of the trip i like least and not because the trip is ending. stare parks and many KOAs are closing is one reason. but the traffic jams and speeding traffic on the interstates are enough to make me lose all the benefits of the trip literally overnight. we americans are always in a hurry to go nowhere fast.
Day 50, 10:11 a.m.,Thursday, Oct. 3, Victoria, 10,035 miles
6:40 on the road to 8:20 ferry in Victoria ti Port Angeles
7:29 Arrived ferry terminal. web site was wrong. ferry leaves at 10:30 , not 8:20. but it is good i got here early as i am on standby and may not get on. if i had known the ferry left at 10:30 I would have bought a ticket and would not be on standby.
the ferry will take us to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula. earlier, my plans were to tour the peninsula as we did in 2001, and then head home stopping at some parks along the way. however, since i spent almost two weeks on Vancouver Island when i planned to spend two days, i think it's time to bring this trip to an end. i have no idea where we will spend the night. i will set my goal for today when i get to the other side, my guess us that to save for driving, we will camp out in those cozy little KOA cabins that are so close to the interstates we will be taking home, 3000 miles away. i miss my tent already, rain, wind, or cold or no rain, wind, or cold.
photo
- leben and Erde in front of the famous bust of the respectable Juan Quadra in downtown
Vancouver.
- an unbelievable photo of Leben and Erde at play taken by Nicholas Soluhub.
Day 49, Wednesday, October 2, Rathtrevor Provincial Park to Golstream Provincial Park in Victoria, 10,000+ miles
Nicholas, along with his girls, Kyra and Rudy (the beagle), met me at my campsite and we spent the next four hours talking about our dogs, both wheel-chair bound dogs and others. what a treat that visit was for my last full day in Canada. and what a great setting to meet in. it was a rather surreal scene when we decided to take the dogs for a walk and the two of us then retreated to our dogs to saddle them up, in precisely the same way. that is a scene i probably will never experience again, nor will i forget it. seeing Nicholas manage his wonderful dog made me finally understand why people made the comments they did about Sonntag and do about Leben.
there were only a handful of others in the park today, some of whom walked past my site when Nicholas and his girls were there. needless to say, they had no idea at all what was going on, four dogs, two in wheel-chairs. what they saw today, they will never see again, ever.
after Nicholas and his girls left, i headed off the Victoria and Goldstream Provincial Park. no sooner did we arrive at Goldstream when the rains started again. so much for that new ditty of mine. I thought about staying in one of those cozy KOA cabins tonight so i do not miss the 8:20 ferry to the Seattle area, but decided i needed to stay in stride. if we miss the ferry, we will spend the morning in Victoria and the catch the 2:00 ferry and settle for a lesser goal tomorrow.
my current plan is to cross over by ferry to the states tomorrow and then head toward Spokane, Washington, tomorrow night and then plan each day's goal from where i end up each night, until i get home. we have done 10,000 mikes so far on this trip, with 3000 more left. I figure that with no side trips, the journey home will take 8 days. we'll see.
photos
- Kyra
- Rudy
- nicholas with leben, Kyra
- ed with kyra and leben and erde
- nicholas with kyra and keben
day 48, Tuesday, October 1, Rathtrevor Provincial, Vancouver Island, 9900
Rain, Rain go away, I have more important things to do than deal with you,
another rainy day. after four essentially rain-free weeks, it has rained every day for the last three weeks weeks, except for the days I was in Denali, so i guess i cannot complain. Before the rains started, i was a novice at dealing with the rain on road camping trips. now i am an expert, a wet expert, but nonetheless an expert. i have learned how to take the rain in stride, and spend half my time in the rain carrying out my daily chores thinking about how i can improve the way i am hand,ling things, so i guess that is is good sign. Fortunately, the rain has not spoiled my stay on Vancouver Island one bit. In fact, it has enhanced it, added to the drama, and made the trip more challenging, which is partially what these trips are all about. Leben and Erde couldn't care less about the rain, but i am the one who has to sleep in the tent next to them so i do. i give myself credit for tonight's performance after i arrived int Rathtrevor Provincial Park, and i think i have perfected my technique to about 90 of. perfect performace. Now i know why Gene Kelley was so happy.
I left charming Port Alberni after a one hour interview with a reported for the local paper. i fear i gave her way, way too much information, which the poor woman must now sort through to craft a story about a man and his two dogs traveling from coast to coast to coast, camping all the way. Maybe she'll write the book for me from the notes i gave her.
We had a short ride today, fewer than 50 miles, to this camp we are in now, Rathtrevor Provincial Park. i am staying here tonight so i can meet up with Nicholas and Kyra and Ruby tomorrow, a very special treat for me. The camp is one of the most elegant camps i have stayed in, right on the ocean, although i am not too sure that elegance is a requirement for a good camping experience for me. the problem I have with this camp is that the sites are are hard gravel, with no grass or sand to pitch a tent on. it's quite sad how many parks have done this, discouraging tenters, and encouraging more people to take the easy route to enjoy nature, in an RV. i have lost almost 25 pounds on this trip tenting it, which i did not need to lose. if i had travelled in an RV, I would have gained 25. let me correct that, I lost 20 poinds. i gained five back at dinner last night at the Strachans'. My hope is that when they open up their Back-to-Nature camp, Sue opens up a baked goods shop or restaurant. if she does, you will need to reserve a year in advance. What a chef she is! What pioneers the two of them are.
another topic. i have generally resisted discussing on this blog the details of managing a paralyzed dog on the road because most of my readers would tune out to the blog if I did. i am not bragging or complaining when I tell you that it is not easy. for instance, the other day at the Pacific while at the yurt camp, to get Leben off the beach we had to go up a steep slope with fallen logs on it that Erde herself had a hard time navigating. i literally had to lie down on my back and winch him up. not easy. i could have removed him from his wheelchair and slung him up, but i wanted him to feel some sense of accomplishment so i took the harder route. those who know me that know that that is my modus operandi. (At the top of the slope, he gave me a That-was-Easy look. If he only knew.)
i am running out if battery on my iPad. I also want to get in a few more pages in that book.
ED
P.S.
tomorrow, somewhere, i will hit 10,000 miles for this part of the trip. i will take a photo of that spot and post it as one of my popular As It Is Happening posts.
another rainy day. after four essentially rain-free weeks, it has rained every day for the last three weeks weeks, except for the days I was in Denali, so i guess i cannot complain. Before the rains started, i was a novice at dealing with the rain on road camping trips. now i am an expert, a wet expert, but nonetheless an expert. i have learned how to take the rain in stride, and spend half my time in the rain carrying out my daily chores thinking about how i can improve the way i am hand,ling things, so i guess that is is good sign. Fortunately, the rain has not spoiled my stay on Vancouver Island one bit. In fact, it has enhanced it, added to the drama, and made the trip more challenging, which is partially what these trips are all about. Leben and Erde couldn't care less about the rain, but i am the one who has to sleep in the tent next to them so i do. i give myself credit for tonight's performance after i arrived int Rathtrevor Provincial Park, and i think i have perfected my technique to about 90 of. perfect performace. Now i know why Gene Kelley was so happy.
I left charming Port Alberni after a one hour interview with a reported for the local paper. i fear i gave her way, way too much information, which the poor woman must now sort through to craft a story about a man and his two dogs traveling from coast to coast to coast, camping all the way. Maybe she'll write the book for me from the notes i gave her.
We had a short ride today, fewer than 50 miles, to this camp we are in now, Rathtrevor Provincial Park. i am staying here tonight so i can meet up with Nicholas and Kyra and Ruby tomorrow, a very special treat for me. The camp is one of the most elegant camps i have stayed in, right on the ocean, although i am not too sure that elegance is a requirement for a good camping experience for me. the problem I have with this camp is that the sites are are hard gravel, with no grass or sand to pitch a tent on. it's quite sad how many parks have done this, discouraging tenters, and encouraging more people to take the easy route to enjoy nature, in an RV. i have lost almost 25 pounds on this trip tenting it, which i did not need to lose. if i had travelled in an RV, I would have gained 25. let me correct that, I lost 20 poinds. i gained five back at dinner last night at the Strachans'. My hope is that when they open up their Back-to-Nature camp, Sue opens up a baked goods shop or restaurant. if she does, you will need to reserve a year in advance. What a chef she is! What pioneers the two of them are.
another topic. i have generally resisted discussing on this blog the details of managing a paralyzed dog on the road because most of my readers would tune out to the blog if I did. i am not bragging or complaining when I tell you that it is not easy. for instance, the other day at the Pacific while at the yurt camp, to get Leben off the beach we had to go up a steep slope with fallen logs on it that Erde herself had a hard time navigating. i literally had to lie down on my back and winch him up. not easy. i could have removed him from his wheelchair and slung him up, but i wanted him to feel some sense of accomplishment so i took the harder route. those who know me that know that that is my modus operandi. (At the top of the slope, he gave me a That-was-Easy look. If he only knew.)
i am running out if battery on my iPad. I also want to get in a few more pages in that book.
ED
P.S.
tomorrow, somewhere, i will hit 10,000 miles for this part of the trip. i will take a photo of that spot and post it as one of my popular As It Is Happening posts.
day 47, Monday, 9/30, Wya Yurt Camp to Strachans' Paradise, Port Alberni, Vancouver Island
When i was at Cape Scott, there was another couple there, Les and Sue Strachan of Port Alberni. they kindly extended an open invitation to us to spend a night with them, but i was reluctant to take them up on their offer because only the kindest of souls would ever extend such an invitation to someone, and his two dogs, who had been camping out for three fortnights. But i accepted their offer after they offered their small, unheated cabin for the night. after driving through the paradise that they call their driveway, i discovered that they lived on what can only be described as a multi-acre ecological system that they had painstakingly and lovingly created themselves over almost 20 years, salmon-filled ponds, streams, trees, rocks, walks, and other settings i have no vocabulary to describe. I asked Les to send me something to describe their paradise as i cannot do it justice, and will post it on my blog when he does. their next plan includes building several low-budget cabins and to open a getaway for nature-loving, adventure-seeking souls who wish to escape the comfort of their urban lives and live with nature for a while. I will be the first to sign up when they do, once i figure out how to get there and back quickly.
Les showed me the sparse, basic cabin he had offered to me for the night, which was just fine for us, but then took me to his fifth-wheeler for the night. it wasn't the step up in luxury that bothered me, but the steep five steps into the mobile lodge that i had to get Leben into and out. We managed, though, albeit with some difficulty, and had a pleasant night's sleep after a wonderful dinner and story-telling in their wonderful home in this magnificent paradise they created themselves.
Tuesday, after i talk with a local reporter who wants to do a story about us, we head to a camp near Parksville back on the main highway so i can spend a few more hours on Wednesday with Nicholas and Kyra and Ruby and Michelle, I hope. then it's off to Victoria, then Port Angelis and the somehow home, 3000 mikes away.
Ed
photos
- Leben and Erde on the Pacific
- View from Pacific Rim Park
- the Defender in front of our home for the night. i was tempted to tow it away.
- the driveway to the Strachans' home
- their home. it and 10 acres are for sale for much less than i paid for me tent-size condo. city life destroys our minds, bodies, souls and wallets, too
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