090626 - Toppenish, WA

Friday, June 26,2009
Yakima County, Washington

Today I think we gave G-D a good laugh. We had plans.

We left out Yakama Indian RV Park heading for Toppenish. This is a small town with a big reputation. The people have been painting murals on their building walls for 20 years and are apparently known around the world. Personally, I never heard.

To get a good view of all of these murals (about 40), there is a horse drawn covered wagon ride that travels around the town for about an hour and gives a guided tour. We were driving thru town, looking for the loading area for the wagon tour when we turned a corner and found ourselves along side it going the opposite direction.
I come to find out that Danny may have an issue regarding horses, because as soon as he spotted the wagon he started barking. He did a similar thing when he saw a horse mannequin in one of the dioramas at a previous museum. Guessing that it would not bea good idea to put him in a horse drawn wagon, we cancelled our planed and
quietly left town. I did manage to view a few of the murals but since there was street traffic I couldn’t stop to take any pictures.

http://www.toppenish.net/

Moving on to our next destination – a new Costco Store in the City of Union Gap.
Our GPS unit had it listed in its database so we confidently followed its instructions and found ourselves in the parking lot of a Costco store all alone. Apparently, this was the old store that had been replaced and of course it was deserted. Now ordinarily I would accept an error from my GPS except for the fact that I had just bought and installed the latest updated software about 3 weeks ago.

Fortunately, using my Palm Treo Smart-phone and with the aid of GOOGLE MAPS mobile – I was able to locate the NEW Costco and even get turn by turn directions to it. It was only a mile away.

Not wanting to challenge Danny too much I decided to leave him home. I fired up the generator, put the air conditioner on high, filled his water bowl to the brim and told him he was on guard duty. He seemed to understand, and when I returned he was smiling and wagging and everything appeared to be as I left it. He is a good boy.
We traveled on to a nearby Wal-Mart where I planned on doing some grocery shopping and then staying overnight. Usually, I waited till after dark when the volume of shoppers decreases and the parking lot empties out. That way I can move the Beast much closer to the front door so I don’t have to push a heavy shopping cart very far to unload it. This particular store was quite busy and the parking lot was still full by late evening. Even waiting till ten o’clock did not matter. This was one popular place. I finally made the decision to take the long walk. Fortunately, an electric shopping cart was available and I did manage to get everything I needed. The long walk (and push) back to the RV was good exercise (I keep telling myself) and when I open the front door, Danny’s happy face and wagging tail cheered me up.

090624 - Yakama Nation, Washingtron

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Toppenish, Washington
Yakama Nation RV Park

This RV park is actually on Indian Land, owned by the Yakama Tribe. It may seem corny but in addition to RV Parking and tent camping sites, they actually have large Teepees that are for nightly rentals. They are about 15 feet tall and have a cement floor, which is about 10 feet in diameter. Bring your own air mattresses or cots and sleeping bags and I’m sure it can be a fun experience for a family weekend.

Across the street is the Yakama Nation Cultural Center. A good reason to pull out the little red scooter. The complex is quite attractive, modern and yet very classic in its attempt to reflect the tribal traditions.

The museum was small but very complete in its descriptions and exhibits of the tribe’s history. Unfortunately, they were very strict about NO PHOTOGRAPHY in the museum. There were quite a few diorama of wildlife including bears, mountain lions, smaller furry animals and salmon. Danny was much better behaved around these stuffed animals than he was at the previous museum and didn’t bark once or even attempt to approach them.

A restaurant is part of the complex. It is very attractive and comfortable with an appealing menu. This was Danny’s first experience inside a restaurant. Fortunately it was not crowded and they gave us a table by a window in the corner. He quickly found his “spot”, laid down with his head between his paws and stayed that way thru the whole meal. He was a very good boy.

The scooter was also useful in getting Danny to exercise at a faster pace than his usual walk along side my walker.

The weather has warmed from the 70’s yesterday to the 80’s today. In the early evening, a strong wind came up and started rocking the Beast, and when I looked outside, my walker had been blown about 50 feet away to an empty site. I quickly fired up the scooter, retrieved the walker which was still upright on its wheels and secured it the outside of the RV with a bungee cord. The radio predicted the winds will be gone by tomorrow but for now they are strong and noisy but not threatening.

090622 - The Oregon Trail

090622 – The Oregon Trail Museum
Baker City, Oregon

Having heard so much, and knowing so little about this famous “ROAD”, I felt obligated to increase my knowledge base. I’m not sure what the difference is between a museum and an “interpretive center” but I’m guessing it is political correctness and not worth wasting time finding out. Regardless, this place is not to be missed, and I’m glad I didn’t.

Perched on Flagstaff Hill, from the Interpretive Center, you can view almost 7 miles of the Oregon Trail ruts which still remain today. From the top of Flagstaff Hill, travelers of the Oregon Trail could see the distant Oregon land to which they were making their way. Dioramas, an amphitheater and living history programs, explain and interpret what it was like to travel the Oregon Trail to a new homeland.

This 23,000 square-foot interpretive center overlooks nearly seven miles of well-preserved Oregon Trail ruts that extend across Virtue Flat southeast of Flagstaff Hill. This arid trail segment, where emigrants fought their way through shoulder-tall sagebrush, tested weary emigrants who had endured four or five difficult days ascending Burnt River. In places, several ruts run parallel, suggesting some teams pulled alongside or ahead of others in the push to reach the Powder River.

But travelers were also greeted with their first site of the Promised Land beyond. From atop Flagstaff Hill, the Blue Mountains beckoned in the distance, assuring emigrants that their long journey from the Missouri would soon end in the long awaited Willamette Valley.

In 1800, America's western border reached only as far as the Mississippi River. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 the country nearly doubled in size, pushing the nation's western edge past the Rocky Mountains.

Yet the wilderness known as Oregon Country (which included present-day Oregon, Washington and part of Idaho) still belonged to the British, a fact that made many Americans eager to settle the region and claim it for the United States.

American Indians had traversed this country for many years, but for whites it was unknown territory. Lewis and Clark's secretly funded expedition in 1803 was part of a U.S. Government plan to open Oregon Country to settlement. However, the hazardous route blazed by this party was not feasible for families traveling by wagon. An easier trail was needed.

It wasn't until 1836 that the first wagons were used on the trek from Missouri to Oregon. A missionary party headed by Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa bravely set out to reach the Willamette Valley. Though the Whitmans were forced to abandon their wagons 200 miles short of Oregon, they proved that families could go west by wheeled travel.
Large-scale migration started in 1843, when a wagon train of over 800 people with 120 wagons and 5,000 cattle made the six-month journey. Amidst an overwhelming chorus of naysayers who doubted their success, the so-called "Great Migration" made it safely to Oregon. Crucial to their success was the use of South Pass, a 12-mile wide valley that was virtually the sole place between the plains and Oregon where wagons could cross the formidable Rocky Mountains.

At an average rate of 11 miles a day and a death toll of about 20%, the trail was littered with discarded belongings, broken wagons, carcasses of horses, oxen and cattle and graves of those who could not survive the challenge.

By 1846, thousands of emigrants who were drawn west by cheap land, patriotism or the promise of a better life found their way to Oregon Country. With so many Americans settling the region, it became obvious to the British that Oregon was no longer theirs. They ceded Oregon Country to the United States that year.

During eight decades in the 1800s the Oregon Trail served as a natural corridor as the United States moved from the eastern half of the continent toward the west coast. The Oregon Trail ran approximately 2,000 miles west from Missouri toward the Rocky Mountains to the Willamette Valley. A trail to California branched off in southern Idaho. The Mormon Trail paralleled much of the Oregon Trail, connecting Council Bluffs to Salt Lake City.

The Oregon Trail was the Interstate 80 Highway of today. We travel it at speeds exceeding 65 miles per hour. Just stop and think what it was like to make that trip in a covered wagon over the Rocky Mountains, the Blue Mountains and finally The Cascades at the rate of 11 miles a day. Of course that would also assume that your horses or oxen or mules were healthy, your wagon didn’t break a wheel and the lack of water and adequate food or disease didn’t slow you down or end your trip.

After leaving this exhibit, I felt foolish for all the times I complained about some traffic or road construction that slowed me down or detoured me from my travel plans. I am in awe of the strength and stamina and courage and determination those pioneers must have had to make such a commitment and follow their dreams against such great obstacles and hardship. These are the people that I have a newfound respect and gratitude for what they accomplished.

090620 - Why I like to travel in my RV like a gypsy

I just came accross this entry in a blog by the editor of RV TRAVELS.
I could not have said it better -

although as Milton Berle once said when accused of stealing a joke:

"it's not mine now, but it will be later".

Why I like to travel in my RV like a gypsy

I came across a book recently about "Running Away With the Circus." But what it was really about was running away from one's present life and to a new one. Quitting an executive job to take up pottery-making would be an example. Retiring early to go full-time RVing would be another.

When you were young did you ever dream of joining the circus? I did. Oh, I was never serious about it, but I did ponder the idea of drifting from place to place gypsy-style. I have never understood my need to be a drifter.

Some people need to plant roots firmly and then stay planted. I never desired deep roots, but shallow ones that could be easily replanted elsewhere.I know people who love one place. They may try living in different towns, but never feel quite at home until they arrive in a special town where, for the first time, they feel complete. "This is it," they say, and that is where they remain forever.I have never found such a place.

My place has always been somewhere different from the place before. And my house — my very favorite house — has always been my motor-house, the one that allows me to live as a gypsy without being so conspicuous that people think me odd. I like waking up often in a different place, but I especially like it when I awake in such a place in my very own RV's bed.

I believe this is like having your cake and eating it, too.Right now, I'm feeling a bit of what I felt as a young man when I dreamed of joining the circus — of seeing new places and having new experiences. Have you ever stood at the airport and watched a friend's plane take off to a place far away? Did you want to go? Did you feel envy? Did you feel left behind? That's how I feel right now.
posted by Chuck Woodbury at 5/08/2009 07:40:00 AM 4

090617 Promotory, Utah

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Promotory, Utah

The last 5 days at Willard Bay State Park were well spent with Danny and I getting to know each other. He is very smart and energetic and responds to some commands quite well.

With a sense of adventure reborn, we headed to a famous historical landmark in United States railroading history.

After the Civil War ended, the country looked ahead to expansion and travel. That meant traveling from east to west. In the past, the Mississippi River defined the border of civilization and safety for many travelers, because west of the Mississippi was the untamed frontier. The only way to cross it was by wagon train thru barren desert plains and over monstrous mountains and if the natural elements didn’t kill you then there were the Indians to worry about.

The government decided we needed a railroad system that would enable pioneers and settlers to travel across the entire continental U.S.

One crew, staffed by Chinese immigrants started in California and headed east. Starting with about 1,000 workers, the crew expanded to over 10,000 by the time the job was finished. Their most differcult task was boring a tunnel thru a mountain of granite rock. They averaged less than a foot of progress a day but succeeded in building the 37-mile tunnel in a year.

The crew laying track from the east had to contend with the dangers and weather of the frontier and dust storms and Indians killed many.

In 1869, the two crews meet and connected their tracks to complete the first transcontinental railroad. To commemorate the occasion, a golden spike was driven into the connecting piece of track. Of course the gold spike was them quickly removed and sent to a museum for safekeeping and was replaced with a standard iron spike painted gold.

Completion of the world's first transcontinental railroad was celebrated here where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met on May 10, 1869. Golden Spike was designated as a national historic site in nonfederal ownership on April 2, 1957, and authorized for federal ownership and administration by an act of Congress on July 30, 1965.

Click below for train photos and story
http://www.nps.gov/gosp/historyculture/upload/jupiter%202.pdf

This historical site was to represent 2 important moments.

Firstly, it was the first sightseeing event I have chosen to take since Peter’s death and secondly, it will be the first time that Danny will get to appear in public as a service dog in training.

Promotory Point (20 miles west of Corrine) is in the northeastern Utah desert, north of the Great Salt Lake.
The main attraction is the presence of two steam locomotives that are duplicates of the original steam engines that were at the connection ceremony. Though operational, they did not allow guests to ride them as they traversed the landscape to reenact their meeting.

Just another piece and place of history to check off the list.

Danny donned Peter’s old service dog vest which barely fit him as I let out the belly strap to its fullest. Danny is about 85 pounds and Peter was about 60. He was obviously excited and happy to begin a new role in his young life. Aside from some exuberant pulling he performed quite well for his initial outing.

His only fall from grace was his barking when the steaming trains blew their loud whistles and clanged their bells. I don’t know if he thought this was a karaoke session and he was supposed to sing along or he was complaining because the noise hurt his ears.
In either case, the rest of the tour group fully understood his response as most of them held their hands over their ears until the noise of the engines stopped.

Since this is a National Historical site and I am a disabled person, I was eligible for a Federal Access Pass that allowed me to visit the site free. I had a Golden Eagle pass, which I lost, but apparently this new “NATIONAL PARKS AND FEDERAL RECREATION LANDS PASS” has replaced it.

When we start the day, the weather was gray and raining, but by the time we arrived at the venue, the sun was out and the blue sky has some pretty white clouds.

All in all a good day.

090611 - Afton, Wyoming

Thursday, June 11 2009

Willard Bay State Park, Utah

After overnighting at a WAL-MART in North Logan, Utah, I headed northeast to a little town in Southwest Wyoming. If you never heard of Afton, Wyoming, don’t feel bad – neither did I. According to my Microsoft Streets and Maps computer program, it’s about a 70-mile trip on state route 89. From past experiences, I have learned to accept this program for what it is – an estimate and a suggestion for traveling from point A to point B. My first hint that this was going to be a long trip was the fact that I was traveling on a road that while well paved and maintained, went thru lots of small towns and municipalities with speed limits that dropped from 65 to 45 to 35 and then 25 in just a few hundred yards. Between the towns, the road winds thru mountain passes with grades of 6 to 8% (with elevations ranging between 4,000 to 8,000 feet), which is just as differcult going down as up. Going uphill kept my speed to less than 45 MPH and going downhill was about the same to avoid becoming a runaway, out of control on a curvy 2-lane mountain road. Oh, did I forget to mention the weather – rain on and off all day. Ordinarily, I can enjoy a slow drive on a small rural road thru small towns and picturesque country landscape, but today was not one of those days.

I’m sure the question that now comes to mind is “why”? The answer – I was on a quest.

Having lost Peter and being without the companionship of a dog was very depressing. I had no idea the psychological effect would be so drastic and traumatic. I had started to cruise the Internet sites for dog rescue agencies just to be able to associate with adoptable dogs and to read about their history and attributes. When living in Los Angeles, this was how I found Peter. It’s the same as Internet dating, except in my case, more successful. In my search, I read about and viewed photos of hundreds of dogs from the entire northwestern area. Since I did not expect to actually find a “match”, I realty didn’t pay any attention to their actual locations. It was just a way to pass the time … sort of like window-shopping without any intention of ever buying anything.

As I scrolled down the photographs and biographies of dog after dog, I was drawn to a handsome gold lab named Dandy. His write up was well done and appealing. I book-marked his page as I had done to at least a dozen other dogs before him and continued my review. I spent about an hour a day for the next few days “window shopping”, adding dogs to my “wish list”: and each day Dandy’s profile and photo would show up. Not knowing where Star Valley, Afton, Wyoming was and never expecting to go there I looked at a map out of curiosity. I was in Ogden, Utah at the time.

It seemed crazy to even think about driving hundreds of miles to look at a dog, when I wouldn’t drive more than 10 miles for an Internet date. Besides, I had been telling myself that it was too soon to think about another dog.

After a couple of emails back and forth to Bonnie, the owner of the rescue agency that had Dandy, I bit the bullet and committed myself to at least make the trip to check him out.

That 70-mile drive took 3 hours. Bonnie and her husband Rick have a small ranch with dogs and cats and horses and claim to have rescued more than 600 animals over the years. As soon as I met Dandy, I knew he was going home with me. He was well mannered, good looking and paid no attention to the 2 cats that wandered around the living room.

The newest member of the Highway Guys is a 22 month old Gold Labrador Retriever mix, 84 pounds (needs to lose some weight) and eager to please and learn but for now, we are just going to spend a couple of days living together and getting acquainted. Lessons will start in a few days. For some reason, I am having trouble calling him Dandy, so I’m changing his name to Danny. I hope he won’t mind.