The Plymouth Park COE was decent and quiet for our one night stopover.  Good thing we had electrical hookups, the A/C was much appreciated in the 102F temps!

On the way there we passed through Mt Hood National Forest and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.  Very beautiful and very hot.  Mt Charleston weather spoiled us!

We are now at Pink House Recreation Area, near Orofino, Idaho, a place we visited back in August of 2020.

This is our "temporary" site.  As soon as a shaded site opens, we'll snatch it up :)
Only 2 sites were available when we arrived.  As soon as we took one of them the other was filled at the same time.  Phew!  That was close!  This being the 4th of July weekend and all.  Now to put Amazon and UPS to work :)

From Mt Charleston...

From eastern California and Oregon...

After leaving Mt Charleston, we headed for Hawthorne, NV for one night and then to Alturas, California.  These 2 overnight stops were uneventful, except for the scenery along the way.  

After quite an altitude drop from 7000 ft to 3000 in 16 miles we were on our way to Hawthorne.  The traveling was sooooo beautiful.  Eastern California and eastern Oregon, along US Hwy 395, is worth a revisit one day.

Arguably a highly desirable parking spot in a hotel parking lot, we felt safe and the price was  acceptable... free :)  Our arrival was blessed with a double rainbow! 

This is our next stop.  Another safe parking lot, this time in Alturas, California.  Again...free :)

Today's travel was indeed a very beautiful drive.  It is soooo nice to be free from distractions in a setting such as this!  We stopped several times in the middle of our driving lane and got out to stretch and take pictures.  For at least 125 miles, we enjoyed traveling 15 to 20 minutes at a time, several times, with no traffic in sight!!!!!!

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This Corsair was actually the one used in the movie Devotion.  Most of the aircraft in this collection still fly and are used in regional airshows.

But not for 2 more days.  That will put us 12 days here at Kyle Canyon Picnic Area, 22 miles north of Las Vegas.  The pollen from the Ponderosa pines has finally subsided but not without taking its toll on our lungs.  We've taken the last couple of days off from our hiking and are just about back to normal.  Today is our wedding anniversary so we are taking it easy today and will start preparing for our Monday departure tomorrow.  We definitely hope to visit here again!

Everything seemed to be in bloom :)

​The Bristlecone Pine—the oldest living trees in the world—are found throughout Mt. Charleston. Interestingly enough, this wilderness area contains 18,000 acres of them and is considered to be one of the largest Bristlecone Pine groves in the Intermountain West. The Mt. Charleston Wilderness Area also is home to 15 endemic wildflower plants as well as the Ponderosa Pine and White Fir, which are home to the Palmer’s Chipmunk — a species exclusive to the Spring Mountains. Rocky Mountain Elk also are found here, along with wild horses and burros, desert tortoises, deer, coyote, foxes, bobcats, songbirds, hummingbirds and various birds of prey.

Even the lichen and mosses are getting in on the act :)

We've seen evidence they're around but have yet to see one :)

Let's go this a way!

​The first 1/4 mile was brutal but the rest was fine!

On a challenging hike to Mary Jane Falls we were not disappointed.

Wendy caught this little guy in mid-air :)

He came up for a reward for his performance but since it's illegal to feed the wildlife he had to settle for a simple clapping of our hands :)

Paul A. would be proud of us to know we took a ski lift ride :)

As you can tell by Wendy's grip, she doesn't care much for being airborne.

Artificial snow machine? 

Here's where it gets interesting.  How do we get off this thing?  Almost everyone got off at the top to ride bikes down the trails so we had no one to watch as they got off.  The lift never stopped the entire time we were on it so we were obviously concerned by getting run over by the chair as we exited our seat.  I reckon my white beard tipped the attendants off that we might need some assistance... they gave us directions on how to lift the restraining bar on our approach and stopped everything so we could safely exit our chair...whew!   :)

We have truly enjoyed our hikes and adventures on Mt Charleston and hope to be back one day!

A change of sites made for better times.  We were next to a double tent site that brought about many people this 3 day weekend, and after being challenged by a pretty big unleashed dog we decided to move to another site.  We are happy here and will probably stay for at least another week.  Many more pictures to follow of this beautiful area in a couple of days.

What a difference an hour's drive makes!

From the streets of Las Vegas you can see snow capped Mt Charleston above the speed limit sign.  It was on the way to being another 100 degree day...arggg!

As you can imagine there are many local visitors from Vegas trying to escape the heat.  Thanks to my dear friend, Veston, for telling us about this place.  There seem to be many, many hiking  opportunities ahead :)   A picture of our site below.

The views from our picnic table.

This will end our structured schedule for about 4 months, when we will then return to SC through Texas after a rally in Ft Davis, TX.  We will definitely try to do a better job this year in finding cool weather during the summer months.  Altitude will be our friend :)  Believe it or not, we can see snow covered Mt Charleston while we sit at our campsite, surrounded by 100 degree heat.  Guess where our first stop will be :)
We found our way to Las Vegas to see Wendy's first cousin, twice removed, marry the love of her life.  Lauren and Lawrence graciously invited us to their awesome event.  I mean it was AWESOME.  3 days of celebrating, dancing, and eating with, 300 or so, family members and guests left us in need of the next 4 months off :) :)  The food was 5 star quality and always at hand.  Most of the time I didn't know what I was eating but I can assure you it was stellar.  The waiting staff must have been 50 strong and they made sure we were all well taken care of.  The music and performances were of Broadway caliber.  Their beautiful, Jewish, wedding will always be remembered!

Our campsite on Nellis AFB.

Wen caught a pretty nice picture on the way into Las Vegas.  A lot of haze and smoke around so I couldn't do the picture much justice in post editing.

Just a couple shots of downtown...drivers are nuts here as well.

The city has greatly changed, not in a good way, from 1998.

Here is a link to a very short clip of the reception.

The first day was a pre-wedding day meal where everyone got to meet one another.  Wedding day and reception was the following day.  My head finally hit the pillow at 2:30 AM!  And day 3 was the brunch, which was actually a party from 2 PM until midnight.  We only stayed a few hours as we were so worn out from the day before.  I suspect that was probably a good thing!

In no particular order I'll just post 3 days of wonderful times :)

A first for me...sherbet served over a glowing ice cube :)

All who were invited were given a pair of Nike shoes for the dancing :)

And a bottle of wine sent with the invitation.  Ours was sent to our previous residence we moved from in January of 2020.  We were able to retrieve it from the current residents, who kindly called us about it.

A long day took us through Monument Valley for one night at Zion Vineyards.  The wines were top notch as all of their 10 entries at the state level won medals last year.

The town of Mexican Hat, named for this rock, is just outside Goosenecks SP.  Wen and I and her parents spent the night in a hotel there...in 1998 :)

I keep looking for cowboys and Indians every time we go through Monument Valley :)

Goosenecks SP outside of Mexican Hat has been quite a stop for us.  It's quite beautiful and relaxing (both physically and spiritually).  Here is a link to Wikipedia for the area .
​en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goosenecks_State_Park

I just couldn't stop with the picture taking :)

Our new canine friend, Cora, is prepared for departure :)

One of the things we love the most is to run across new friends, even if we only spend a few minutes together knowing we may or may not cross paths again.  Carrie and Kamal...may you enjoy safe travels and good health :)

After the mountain pass we ended up in the Sky Ute Casino RV park.  It was a nice stop as we washed clothes and went into Durango.  A fast wash job at the gas station and fill-up on a propane bottle and we're ready to move on. 

After leaving the casino we traveled to Gooseneck SP in Utah.  We passed by and stopped at the 4 corners of AZ, CO, UT, and NM.  We were there 25 years ago with Wen's parents while traveling all around our wonderful country!

At the suggestion from our friend, Dwaine, we went for a Navajo Taco...kinda messy but VERY tasty!

After leaving 4 Corners we enjoyed the sights towards Mesa Verde and on to Gooseneck State Park in Utah.

We didn't stop at Mesa Verde as we've been there several times.

We are now at Goosenecks State Park, UT, close to the town of Mexican Hat, and I have a bazillion pictures for you in my next post :)

After we left Colorado Springs we went through Wolf Creek Pass at over 10,000 feet.  It was raining and snowing.  No trouble going up, but coming down was another story.  In order to "stay off the brakes" we had to shift down into first gear in areas to maintain 20 mph and 4000 rpm.  I still had to occasionally use them to maintain 4000. Thankfully we had 2 lanes so the speed demons could use the other lane.  All went well.

After the descent we came into this valley with such beautiful views :)

Stress relief ... Wolf Creek Pass in the side view mirror :)