Monday, July 30, 2007

A Winner for "Where 'RV' Now?"

CONGRATULATIONS TO LOUIS MATTARELLI! Louis guessed correctly the name of the Indian Reservation (Hoopa) and the National Forest (Three Rivers). There were several good guesses with the responses Humboldt and Redwood Forest. The actual name of the campground is the Tish Tang and the river is the Trinity. Clue 5 is given below for your information.




Clue #5: Rikki and I had a wonderful time here on the Trinity River. The campground is on the Hoopa Indian Reservation along Highway 96.

Look for another 'Where RV Now?' in a few days, and you could be the next $100 prize winner.

Good Luck!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Clue 4 "Where 'RV' Now?" - Win $100




Clue #4: Our location is in California, is in an area renowned for the most Big Foot sightings in North America.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The first person to submit a correct answer will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address.

Good Luck!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Welcome to Lake Truck Stop


Here's a post that will disprove the myth that everything during this trip is dandy. It's almost midnight and we're in a truck stop somewhere in Washington spending the night. That's just the icing on the cake of today's events.

We've been driving since morning, we scraped the side of the RV trying to fit our way out of the last wooded campsite, we basically got lost three times trying to find a place to settle in forcing us to unhook the towed vehicle (5x total!) so we can turn this rolling giant around without a) falling into a cliff b) trying to kill the bystander who said, "yes, there's a campground here!" and c) smashing the peacefully parked cars in a tiny parking space-slash-dead end; after which we have to connect the towed vehicle *again* so we can drive off before the piranha-like mosquitoes start peeling off our flesh.

Apparently, ALL of Seattle's parks and campsites are full due to a 3-week summer event, which is just halfway through. So for tonight - no surrounding mountains, just 60-90 ft trucks. No cascading water sounds or chirping birds, just the rumbling and grumbling of more than 30 rigs lined up (and that's just to the left side of us). The crickets were replaced by sound coming from the adjacent high way, competing with the noise from bellows of trucks and cars taking off after filling their tanks with gas from a station just in front. The light from the then romantic moon was washed by the lamp posts, blasting down thousands of watts of pure uninterrupted halogen light - if you squint a little you'd swear it's already high noon standing under those lamps. And forget the fresh air, all the diesel in the atmosphere have now invited themselves into your lungs and is enough to ignite you to flames if someone lit a cigarette even from a hundred feet away.

Still, we anticipate hitting the road again tomorrow, we look forward to more adventures, to scenic routes, to breath-taking destinations and surprises that inspire us, to meeting family we haven't seen in years(!), and friends we miss dearly. So tonight, amidst the disdain and chaos in Lake Truck Stop, we're gonna sleep, cuddle, and as best as we could, be comfortable and keep warm - all twelve feet.

Clue 3 "Where 'RV' Now?"



Fox really enjoyed playing at the river!

Clue #3: The campground is on an Indian Reservation adjacent to a National Forest. A winning answer will include the correct name of any of the following: campground, river, National Forest or Indian Reservation.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 cash via PayPal sent to their email address. Get out your maps and do some digging!

Good Luck!!!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Clue 2 in "Where 'RV' Now?" $100 up for grabs!




Clue #2: The beautiful river in the panoramic photo above is adjacent to the campground featured in yesterday's photo. The location is approximately 15 to 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Stumped? Another clue awaits tomorrow. You may also win today only by naming this river.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 via PayPal sent to their email address.

Good Luck!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Win $100 by Guessing "Where 'RV' Now?"!!!


Welcome to our new feature 'Where RV Now?'

The first person to correctly identify the name of the campground in the photo to the right will win $100 cash.

We will post a clue each day until we have a winner. Clues will become more revealing as the days progress. If no one answers correctly by the fifth clue, then a multiple choice question will be given.

Send your answers via email to traveling12feet@gmail.com

The winner will receive $100 via PayPal sent to their email address.

Today's clue: This campground is set along a river in a Western U.S. State.

Good Luck!!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Spencer: "What View?"

Move, move, move. That's all we do.

Every time this house rolls away I try to show them my discontent, but my howling only seem to please them. They think it's cute. So I stopped. I would just hide behind the sofa where there's a gap between the seat and the wall and it's hard for them to reach me. And that really pisses them off. Something about "expensive leather" and "scrape marks" every time I claw my way out. So they banned me from going in there with funny smelling sprays (They don't know anything about the potent smells I'm capable of) . Anyway I just sleep under the bed or on the bunk. It's nice up here especially when we're moving. There are windows all around and the pictures keep changing! Well, I better sit and act nonchalant before they think I'm beginning to enjoy this, too.

Hey is anyone fixing my dinner yet?

A River Runs Through It

...Well, actually, just next to it.

The travel books and websites claim the Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site an "Oasis". We definitely agree. This one got a good 4.5 stars out of 5 (Chris gives it 4.75) in our book - and we knew as soon as we entered from the road! Our RV was parked cheerfully next to a trail that runs across and leads to the John Day River so the sounds of the gushing water and the birds (it's a birdwatcher's paradise!) provide an even soothing atmosphere to the spacious, flora-filled, and well-managed camp site.

Chris and I took Fox for a walk along that trail, and since the water level was low, crossed the river for a relaxing time watching birds, cooling off with our feet in the water, and watching the sun set. The sky burst with spectacular colors as the sun faded away, as you will see at the end of the video.




Click here if you don't see the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GqhPoPVGSvg

Rely on me to take a camera even when crossing rivers. :-)

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Lost in America




Yippee!!! We finally have an internet connection. Apologies to our friends and family - we have been out of cell phone range and apparently under too many trees to make an internet connection with our MotoSat dish for the past week.

We are camping this evening in an open area with an unobstructed view of the southern sky (hence our connection) somwhere near the Snake River on the Oregon/Idaho border. We certainly didn't expect the satellite dish to be this tempermental.

Congratulations to Rikki! Lonely Planet purchased his video and the right to use it on TV or the Web.

All is going well and we are having a great time. We hope to get some photos up on the blog as well as some travel tales very soon.

Hugs to all

Friday, July 13, 2007

Thank You Herrick Friends and Colleagues







Just one week ago I turned the page on a very important chapter in my life: leaving the medical center where I've been working for the past eight years. If any of you at Herrick read this, know that you had a profound impact on my life. I will miss you all dearly.

Rikki and I were moved by your generosity. The Chevron gift cards are the best! (You guys are so clever). We are putting them to good use already. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you too for the lunch at Eccolo, the cakes, the flowers, the balloons and the individual gifts. I was overwhelmed to say the least.


Click to see my photo albums: (1) Lunch at Eccolo (2) Bon Voyage Party

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Chris' First Post


Okay, here it is, finally, my first posting (July 5th for June 11th).

Rikki and I began our Eastern Sierra/High Desert journey in Red Rock Canyon, a California State Park. The canyon is actually the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and is located at the northern edge of the Mojave Desert.

While camping at Red Rock we took an all day off road drive along Jawbone Canyon Road up into Sequoia National Forest and back along Dove Springs Road. The following day we drove out to Lake Isabella.

A few bits of family history: my mom tells me that she and my dad used to drive from North Hollywood to Red Rock to go hiking when they were dating fifty-plus years ago. My paternal grandfather also loved this area. The hills and Joshua trees were the subject of many of his pencil drawings.

Click to see my photo albums: (1) Jawbone (2) Red Rock (3) Lake Isabella

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