Criss-Crossing the Country – Westward (May-Sept 2021)

This is one of a multipart “catch-up” series to cover our last two years.  The others in the series include: 
October 2019 to Pandemic , Venturing Out Again,  Criss-Crossing the Country – Eastward

• After a great week on the Keys, we headed north with a brief stop at Everglades National Park. We landed at Koreshan State Park between Naples and Fort Meyers, FL.  This was a great week as well.  We visited Sanibel Island and swam in the gulf.  Had a lovely Mother’s Day dinner there as well.  We took a guided kayaking trip where we saw the mangroves, spotted one manatee, and got to hold a sea urchin in our hands.  The highlight however was venturing out a little into the Gulf of Mexico and having a pod of dolphins play with us.  They came right up to our kayaks and darted about us.  It was great fun!  Our week there ended with dumping our tanks and then misjudging how far a palm tree was leaning OVER the road.  We were stuck on a turn.  We had several other RVers try to help, but the awning was a loss.  The best thing that happened was we kept our cool and someone even complimented us on it.  Life happens and RV life just has different complications.
• As we went north, we stopped at Garagiste Meadery in Tampa.  We then stayed a week at Coe Landing RV Park outside of Tallahassee, FL.  This was another nice County park with plenty of trees and a lake to boot.  We were able to go into town for shopping and brewery trips, though we mostly stayed put.  We were ready for a rest.
• We continued west to Bay St. Louis, MS.  We spent a week here with some time at the beach and eating seafood.  We also marveled at how much destruction was still evident from Katrina along the Gulf Coast.  We found a brewery there as well, of course.
• We hadn’t made reservations for Memorial Day Weekend so we did the “Harvest Host Hop” with a couple of stops during the long weekend: Pour Brothers Brewery in Beaumont, TX and Frascone Winery in Anahuac, TX.  Both were nice stays.
• We then went to Austin for a week to visit Dad and friends and drop off our defunct awning.
• We had a schedule to keep, so started traveling north again.  And it was getting hot in Texas!  We spent two weeks in DFW;  first at Hickory Creek, where we got flooded out, so we went to Shady Creek to finish our time in Dallas.  These have been other “home” parks for us.  We made a few trips to Sherman and saw the kids.
• It was then time to head north to Colorado.  We traveled the boring Interstate Route, but rather than boondocking in Kansas, we had to get a campground so we could run AC.  It was just too hot.  We then landed in Fort Collins for 3 weeks.  It was a great time visiting with friends and seeing our old haunts as well as finding new ones. We had a great drive up the Poudre Canyon and to Pingree Park.  It made us realize this is still a place we can call home.
• Our next stop was the Escapees Escapade in Rock Springs, WY.  We didn’t think we would go to Escapade this year, but the arrival of vaccines made a huge difference in our comfort level.  Viki also got a “volunteer job” as a Seminar Host; basically, she was a room monitor.  There was live music and a magician for evening entertainment as well as a lot of seminars during the day.  The best part was reuniting with friends we had made at the Florida Hangout in February as well as a few others we’ve met along the way.  It was a full week!
• From Escapade, we headed to Ogden, UT.  Roger spent a quiet week working while Viki flew to Dallas and helped our daughter and son-in-law with their move.  Both had started new jobs just a little too far from the old place to commute easily.  Viki was able to do some of the last minute packing as well as cleaning of their house.  Didn’t get everything done, but it was some they didn’t have to worry about.
• Next we went to Twin Falls, ID for two weeks.  We stayed at a county fairground a few miles out of town.  While there, we went to a brew festival, visited a really cool (and Cool!) ice cave in a lava tube, kayaked on the Snake River, soaked in a hot spring, saw Shoshone Falls, and found a great cidery.  We also made some new friends!
• We took a short trip to Boise to visit with one of Roger’s coworkers and stayed at our first Boondockers Welcome.  It was a nice spot, but we were having power issues and had no AC.  It was in the 90s so not great sleeping weather!  We took off pretty early the next morning to drive on to Oregon.
• Way back in May, we had scheduled some service work for mid-August at Beaver Motorcoach Sales and Service in Bend, OR.  That’s how far out you have to schedule these things right now, and not just as this place.  We were able to park for three nights in their lot and figure it was about $2,000 per night for “free” camping.  They weren’t able to get all our work done due to staffing issues, so we left early and stayed at Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Madras, OR.  We liked Bend very much and have added it to our “have to go back” list.  While in the area, we visited breweries (of course), did a long scenic drive over McKenzie and Santiam Passes, walked through lava fields, saw amazing rainforests, and explored an observatory made by the CCC.  It was smokey from wildfires, but we were still able to get out and do things.
• After Bend and Madras, we moved to Cascade Locks, OR for two weeks.  This is right on the mighty Columbia River.  We enjoyed visiting breweries and wineries, as well as the Bonneville Dam and the Portland Farmers Market.  We attempted to visit the Japanese Gardens in Portland, but alas it was way too crowded, so we took our own short hike through Washington Park and loved it.  We also visited several falls along the Columbia Gorge.  They are magnificent and afforded us some short hikes.  We were also able to have dinner with a friend of Viki’s from elementary school.  A fun and rewarding side-benefit to the travelling life is reconnecting with folks from all periods of our lives.
• Now at Labor Day weekend with no reservations, we did the Harvest Host Hop again!  We stayed at La Uva Fortuna, a winery/restaurant in Battle Ground, WA for our first night and had the vines right outside our window.  The second night we stayed at SakeOne, a Sake Brewery in Forest Grove, OR.  Neither one of us had had much experience with sake and were glad to learn some more and to taste some different one.  The third night we were at Blue Heron Cheese Company in Tillamook, OR minutes from our next destination!

This brings us up to the time of our next Escapees Hangout, and nearly up to real time.  We covered a lot of ground on this section so here are a LOT more pictures:

(Pro tip! Clicking on the photo makes it bigger and captions are below it)