On Frenchman Mountain

We started the day in Mammoth Lakes, California and drove my CR-V to Las Vegas, Nevada.

We let the GPS pick our travel route back home. It lead us over California Highway 168; the most windy, narrow, primitive road I’ve seen since Hawaii. I got car sick and i was driving. At one point the road collapsed to a one lane road. Scary! The California Highway Patrol should offer merit badges for successfully transferring this path.

The results of trip are as follows:
– 1,100 miles covered in my CR-V
– 2,200 miles covered in the RV
– $50 in quarters spent on laundry, showers, etc.
– Toured four states
– 13 days on the road
– Lots of memories from a once-in-a-lifetime adventure

Photo below shows Highway 168 from the top of one of the mountains the path crosses.

That’s right. We’re not done yet with this trip.

On Monday, June 26 we woke up in Williams, California. We spent several hours packing and cleaning the RV for it’s return to Cruise America. After dropping off the RV, we drove my CR-V to Mammoth Lake, California.

On the way, we stopped on top of the most beautiful mountain. It had a wonderful meadow which we walked for a few minutes.

Our evening in Mammoth Lake was quiet. We enjoyed a calzone and a bottle of wine. Yuma spent the evening relaxing on the bed and watching TV.

Photos below: (1) Yuma strikes a pose, (2) Jeremy and Yuma at the bottom of the hill just before they walked, (3) the mountain-top valley, and (4) Jeremy and Yuma at the top of the hill.

Another day of driving. We started at The Blue Ox in Albany, Oregon and ended 460 miles later in Williams, California at a good-old-fashion mobile park called Almond Grove.

Mtn. Shasta, a Cascade volcano, was along the way. It was beautiful as it loomed over the valley. California is surprisingly dry but has a lot trees.

Photos below: (1) THE Blue Ox, (2) Almond Grove Mobile Home Park, (3) Yuma smells an almond fruit, (4) the fruit as it hangs from the tree, and (5) Yuma stands on front of an almond grove.

We picked up Yuma from puppy daycare, Paws-a-Moment, where she enjoyed 24 hours of puppy fun with a pack of dogs while we toured Seattle. One dog in the group was a 110lb. Alaskan Malamute named Kahuna. Those two got along great and played and played. By the end of her visit, Kahuna was Yuma’s favorite playmate, and she was his as well.

Next we drove from Bothell, Wash. to Ellensburg, Wash. Here, Jeremy’s mother and her husband met us for lunch. They took the girls back with them to Spokane for a three-week stay.

Jeremy, Yuma and I hit the road for our final days before we return the RV in Sacramento. While crossing the Mtn. Hood toll bridge, the RV scrapped the side rail. The bridge was narrow so that when another RV coming the opposite direction passed, our RV brushed up on the bridge’s railing. Ouch!

After six more hours of driving, we stopped at Albany, Oregon and stayed at the Blue Ox RV Park. Next door was a free Christian country music concert. Another day filled with driving for tomorrow.

Photos below: (1) Full moon rises over Albany, (2) Yuma makes friends at the concert, (3) me and Yuma, and (4) pretty flowers at the RV park.

Today was spent exploring Seattle! We rented a car and dropped off Yuma at puppy daycare, then off to see the sights.

First up was the Pacific Science Center where we checked out a wheel chair for Katy. She is taking her antibiotics but tired quickly. Plus, her kidneys ache from activity.

After lunch, we took a tour via Ride the Ducks of Seattle. It was fun to ride in an old World War II amphibian vehicle. Part of the tour was downtown Seattle and Union Lake. I’m considering a houseboat vacation next!

The late afternoon was spent napping in the car for Katy while Jeremy and Sandra exploring the pier. We dined out at a restaurant in Pike Place Market called Lowell’s.

Katy was exhausted by this time so we skipped a driving tour of the University of Washington where Katy hopes to attend. Yuma is spending the night at puppy daycare so it will be a quiet night for us.

Photos below: (1) Katy and Sandra at the PSC, (2) Jeremy, Sandra, and Katy outside the PSC, (3) Sandra and Katy look at an exhibit, and (4) Sandra stands in front of our WW II duck just before our tour.

Today started out rough for Katy and led to a hunt for an urgent care facility that would accepted our insurance. After an hour on the phone with the insurance company, we discovered all the providers in Washington state either closed or stopped accepting our insurance. Luckily, the insurance company made an exception and Katy was able to see a fabulous nurse practitioner in Sequim. She was diagnosed with a kidney infection and has started antibiotic treatment.

Poor kid! What a horrible illness to have while on vacation. But she’s resting and drinking lots of fluids. Tomorrow should be much better.

Anyway…after filling Katy’s prescription in Sequim, we rode the ferry from Kingston to Edmonds. From there, we drove through Seattle to Bothell to our campsite. Tonight will be an early night as we have lots planned for tomorrow.

Our seventh day of our trip was a rough one for Katy. She had a fever, chills, muscle aches, and nausea. Not fun!

We left Riverside RV Park around 10 a.m. and drove through the Olympic National Park. On the drive we saw the beautiful Crescent Lake and stopped for a hike an lunch. Poor Katy was too sick to participate.

We checked into our campsite at Shadow Mtn RV Resort and promptly took a nap.

It was early in the afternoon, so we drove to Crescent Lake for a swim. It was refreshing!

That evening we enjoyed another rousing game of Apples to Apples.

Photos below: (1) Sandra in the Olympic National Park, (2) Sandra and Jeremy at Lake Crescent, (3) Sandra next to Lake Crescent, and (4) Sandra and Jeremy inside a living tree which burned from the inside during a forest fire.