Still in Woodland, WA

Obviously I'm still not getting onto the computer regularly, but I have taken some pictures. We are having a good time with our friends. Greg has been working at Trail Head Cycles and it is nice to have him enjoy going to work. He isn't riding as much as when we were on our trip, but usually still a couple times a week. We are hoping to find a place to rent in Hillsboro so he won't have the long commute. Until then, we are happy here.

Still Updating

I had written the last post while we were still in Moab (obviously). During our last few days Greg was able to ride with Terry and Debbie, friends from Oregon, though he was still recovering from that flu. On Friday we went to a campground north of Grand Junction and spent the weekend there. Then back to Fruita where Greg was going to ride with Shawn from Texas. He did get to see Shawn, but the rain kept him from riding and we left on Friday morning, May 4th for Boise, Idaho to see Craig. We decided to head back to Oregon.

I knew that we would spend more than we expected, but it was unbelievable how much money gas and food sucked up. Greg was actually offered a job in Moab, and he considered it, but I think it made him realize that he doesn't want to live anywhere outside of the Northwest. We stayed at Craig's for nearly a week. He was extremely welcoming and has a lovely home. It was relaxing and rejuvinating. We left on Thursday late afternoon, stopped at a rest area near Hermiston for the night, and arrived at Jim and Charissa's before noon on Friday the 11th. It was like coming home. We are so comfortable here, hopefully not too comfortable for Jim and Charissa. I will post pictures soon, Greg put them on a disk and that makes it a little more difficult for me. I will have access to the computer and the internet now and that will help me to keep everyone updated on our progress.

April 22, 2007

It has been a long time since I’ve updated everyone. I’ll give a brief (maybe) summary. It rained nearly the whole time we were in Fruita. We left a few days before we had our reservations in Moab and went back to Rabbit Valley. The kids and I rode some as well as Greg this time. We had some cold nights, good that Greg wanted to get some warm sleeping bags. Henry said there was a thin layer of ice on the inside of his window one morning, but he wasn’t cold. We left for Moab a day early. We called to get directions for the campground and we asked if we could come a day early and he said it was no problem. Our spot was taken that night, but we moved into it the next morning. Pack Creek Campground is about 2-3 miles outside of the downtown area of Moab. It’s quiet and we have a great spot at the far end with nothing on one side. The campground is old, but clean. The showers are free and hot and the laundry is less expensive than most. There is a playground, but the kids have mostly enjoyed the creek. There is a path just across the campground road that leads down to a path that runs along the side of the creek all the way to the other side of the campground. A little wooden bridge crosses the creek and there is another camping site there. The kids all found places to make little forts in the trees. Greg has been doing the most riding ever, which was expected. The kids and I counted down the days until Jim and Charissa arrived with their kids. They came on Wednesday the 18th and it was so wonderful to visit with them again, to see the kids play together, we have missed them. Jim and Charissa have dear friends in Colorado and they came in on Friday. The men and Noah were riding Saturday morning so us women took the kids to Arches National Park, which is only a couple of miles from Moab. We had a wonderful time hiking. That night the men stayed with the kids and us three women went out to eat and visit. It was a wonderful time. When we got back, Greg had almost all the kids in bed, in fact he and Otto had gone to take a shower. Unfortunately, before I even got ready for bed Henry was complaining of a stomach ache and shortly after that we realized that a flu bug had somehow found its way into our family. Henry and Greg were miserable all night and slept most of Sunday. Jim and Charissa’s friends left fairly early that day and Jim and Charissa left shortly after 1:00PM. It was a sad moment. Olivia cried all the way back to our trailer after saying good-bye. I worked to keep my composure. Amazingly, no one was up during the next night, but as I write this there are three children, Otto, Olivia and Louis who have been throwing up all morning. It is one of the most challenging situations I have ever experienced. Louis was nervous about getting sick and I suggested he plan on it, after all, we are in such a small space that although it isn’t intentional, everyone is throwing up in the kitchen. It seems inevitable we will all have to suffer through it, though Greg told me he is praying I will be spared. It rained last night and had been raining and stormy all day, so we are all inside together. Most everyone is napping now, but we watched a movie earlier and will likely watch another before the afternoon passes. We are here until Friday and then I’m not sure where we will be going.

Utah and Colorado

We decided to go ahead and drive to Moab, but before we got there we changed our destination to Fruita. We camped further out than we have yet. We arrived at a dirt road (a trailhead parking area) and Greg explored on his bike to find a spot for the trailer. He came back and we S L O W L Y pulled the trailer up a rugged dirt road to the most beautiful spot yet. The trail was out our front door and on the other side was a cliff that dropped into a canyon and no words can describe the view. The other side was just as pretty. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night. There was a bathroom? a ways up the road at a viewpoint also indescribable and the trail from there headed to our site and past along the ridgeline (not too close to the ridge) following the other side of the canyon. Otto and Louis rode about 11 miles with Greg one of the days. Henry rode with Greg a little later and I rode maybe 5 the next day. The flowers are beginning to bloom. There are tiny little pink flowers that cover the ground when the sun first becomes bright and when it begins to get hot they close, like morning glories. When we left the area there we many people camped closer to the road we came in on, but we only saw one group of riders the days we were there. We left in the afternoon and went just a few miles down the road to exit #2 in Colorado. We pulled into a large parking lot at another trailhead and we stayed another couple of nights. It was fairly late in the afternoon when we pulled in, but we saw a lot of cows. They roam freely in the area and would even walk through the parking lot. The next morning Greg and Otto went out to explore some trails and came upon a large herd crossing the road. They rode through them, but I’m sure neither of them will forget the experience. Otto decided to head back after about 5 miles, they had passed us during that time and he was within sight when he turned back. Greg rode on and found a good 10 mile ride he had been looking to do. He came back and rested before going out again and riding an awesome 20 mile trail. You can find out more about those on his MTB site. The kids and I did school work, I cleaned and organized (it will never get done). On the other side of the parking lot was a cliff of boulders and dirt, not too steep, not too high. The kids had the best time climbing it (Olivia was unhappy to be too little). From the top you could see a fair distance in all directions and the kids found lizards, rabbits, a bird skeleton and saw cows fighting. On Saturday the parking lot filled with people, mostly motorcycles and ATVs and they were loud. Greg was taking a rest day from his 30 miles the day before and there must have been a lot of traffic on the trails. We had as much of the noise as we could take by the afternoon and left. We thought we would go to another parking lot at another trailhead, but we were going to dump the tanks in Fruita first. We went ahead and checked out the state park campground, also in Fruita, just to see if they might have a space for us, and they did. We got a site with full hook-ups and are sooooo enjoying the electricity and water, the showers and Laundromat. It is like reaching civilization after a journey into the wilderness. We even went out to dinner last night. Fruita is a great place, we would be happy to stay here a while.

Arizona, Nevada and Utah

We camped at the parking lot of the rodeo arena at Estrella Mountain Regional Park near Phoenix Arizona, two nights for $5 and the last free thanks to the kind park host. (Click on the above picture and we are this side of the arena, there are other trailers parked with hook-ups on the far side.) We didn’t have any hook-ups, but we were right outside the clean bathrooms. The trails were on the other side of the parking lot. We did see a lot of traffic during the day, but nothing intrusive and the view was beautiful, as has been the norm. I was a little over confident and went exploring the trails with Louis before Greg checked them out; it won’t happen again. We did see some beautiful views, but mostly walked the bikes up and down… loose rocks and cactus, I crashed twice. One evening we rode our bikes to the playground as the wind began to blow. It blew harder and harder and we took some pictures of the sand blowing through the trees behind us. When it headed our way, we headed back to the trailer. We intended to then stay at Sedona, our book said there was free camping, but it has been reassigned. We had to take a smaller two lane highway to the area and the construction started at least 5 miles before town. We turned and went the mile up the road to where the camping was suppose to be, but it is a small pay-to-park lot at a trailhead now. We took some pictures, it is an amazing place of red and purple rock walls rising above the contrasting green, though sparse, trees and bushes. We got back into the construction and had to continue the narrow roads through a deep canyon and out the other side. We arrived near Flagstaff and wider, faster freeway just in time to see the snow falling. We decided not to stay, but continue on toward Boulder City, our next destination. The most direct route was across Hoover Dam, but as we neared the junction we saw signs and heard traffic reports that stated we would not be allowed to cross with the trailer. That meant a longer route and we were getting really tired of driving. The kids are great and rarely complain, but pulling the trailer is stressful and we had been up and down a lot of hills. Thankfully, as we pulled into Nevada and got onto the road heading to our destination we spotted a gas station with some RV’s parking for the night. We joined them, ate a quick dinner and went to bed.

We got on the road in record time the next morning and quickly made our way, only about 60 miles, to Boulder City. We were planning to stay at a campground just past, but Greg wanted to go and check out Bootleg Canyon first. We saw signs directing us as we came into town and drove straight there. It turned to a gravel road soon and up a hill we couldn’t see past. Greg turned the trailer around thinking it would be unwise to continue with it, but a man walking a dog came up to us and said that we would make it fine and directed us to a sizeable parking lot. We then walked to a beautifully set up area with covered tables, BBQ’s, map and clean bathrooms with showers. We were impressed. A young lady came up with her dog, emptying garbage cans and told us a little about the difficulty of some of the trails and let us know that we could stay in that parking lot for a few days without any difficulty. It was a great stay. Greg and Otto did a huge amount of riding. Louis and I both took a crash. Henry did some riding that pushed his limits, but he met the challenge and did well. It was, again, a beautiful spot to camp.

Sunday morning we began another drive to St. George, Utah. It wasn’t far and we stopped at Quail Creek State Park Campground. It rests between a tall rock cliff painted with the natural colors you see here in Utah and a small lake with Hurricane Cliffs and Zion National Park in the distance. We can only stay a couple of nights and we are not sure where we will be this next weekend. Finding a free place, hopefully, all the campgrounds seem to be full for Easter. We can’t seem to bring ourselves to make reservations anywhere. We are anxious to get to Moab and know where we will be for two whole weeks, with a Laundromat. Things have gone amazingly well and it is obvious how God is directing us to the right places at the right times. We will continue to trust in Him.

Big Laguna trail

Otto and Louis ripping it

Only one week?

The camp at Oak County Park in Simi Valley was quiet and it was probably nice in its day, but that day is past. We found out that they are closing April 1st so we just made it. The absolute best part of that stay for me was going to Keith and Christi’s for dinner on Saturday night. They were kind and gracious. It was wonderful fellowship with a sincere Christian family. They have two children, Nicole, who never seems to get girls her age as part of the guest list, and Kyle, who had a great time playing with the boys. They invited Gene, a friend who rode both days with Keith and Greg, and his family for dinner, also. Unfortunately, Gene was called in to work at the last minute, but his wife Sandra still came with their two boys. They have a pump track in their backyard which only Greg and Henry were willing to try of our family, but the other boys rode like crazy. Foosball was another favorite along with running, chasing, etc. Everyone was ready for sleep by the time we made it back to the trailer.

My cousin Leslie and her husband Chuck, with their two older children, Jackie and John, live in Southern California and invited us to stop by their home. They even offered us food and the opportunity of using their washer and dryer and their internet (that is how I posted the blog before this). They have a beautiful home and yummy food; we felt welcome. Thank you, Chuck, Leslie, Jackie and John!

We then continued our journey to Oak Grove Campground in the Cleveland National Forest. We arrived just as dark was setting in, but found a great site close to water and flush toilets, a luxury. We stayed there five nights. The place was alive with rabbits and squirrels. We had cool nights and a fair amount of rain, but Greg rode and Tuesday with Doug and Jeremy from the San Diego BOMB. He was scheduled to ride Thursday, but that was Louis’s eleventh birthday so he stayed with us and played. We were there long enough that I was able to get some more things settled in the trailer. It has been a challenge to figure out where to put everything (have I said that before?). There are still things that get moved around constantly, but it is getting better. We left on Friday (now March 23) and made our way to Laguna Campground in the same forest. It had obviously had a fair amount of rain and we wondered if they would be able to ride the trail they had planned, Nobel Canyon. A strange fog rolled in that night, but Saturday the sun rose bright and beautiful. I can not imagine more squirrels that they had at Laguna, and woodpeckers and blue jays. I hadn’t thought before about how much wildlife we would see. Louis was working on his math one afternoon and later told us how he had made up a story to go with the squirrel play he was watching out the window, full of names and all the movements of the squirrels.

Laguna Campground has several trails from the campground including Nobel Canyon, so after his ride Greg rode the Big Laguna trail back to camp. He said it would be great for the kids and me (we had ridden a little of it on Friday when we were just exploring around). Sunday morning Louis, Otto and I left camp, rode to the trailhead and followed the trail back to camp. It was such a surprise when we were getting close to find Greg, Henry, Solomon and Olivia had walked out to meet us. This trip is full of fun times, love and laughter. There is a lot of stress, too, and we are trying to let that bother us less and less. It will take time, but we are getting there.

After we got back to camp I rode my bike a couple of miles (nearly all uphill) to a store to use the phone. Out in the forest our cell phones have no coverage and we wanted to call a couple of campsites to see where we might stay the night on our way to Arizona. We had hoped to get close to the border, but ended up extremely close to where we were. The decision was based completely on internet access. We want to keep our family and friends up to date with how and where we are, but time on the computer is a challenge. Actually, it’s not just internet access, but access to electricity. We opted not to get a generator because they are just so expensive and we haven’t needed it except when it comes to charging our batteries and using the computer. We will see how things continue. We are learning a lot. Tomorrow we will head for Arizona and some parks near Phoenix. We do not want to spend the majority of the day driving, but sometimes it seems the best option. We will let you know how it goes when we can.