Wed -Sat : Heading to the Mountains

It was probably the hottest day in Dayton when we headed for Hope Valley. We had only been home from our 'big trip' for two weeks and had a lot going on with Gary's surgery, more repair on our motorhome, and lots of yard work but it felt good to be on the road. Gary kept a close eye on the engine temperature, hoping to not experience another hose break.

It was about 97 degrees as we headed west on Highway 88. This area is in the Minden Valley. The road slowly inclines and before we knew it we were over 7000 feet in elevation.

We were able to set up our new flag pole for the first time. It looked great! Our camp was in a National Forest area near the intersection of Highways 88 & 89, south of Lake Tahoe. There are no services, tables, trash containers, pavement or cell phone reception! There was also no cost!

Apollo and Lady loved being outside with us, though they started getting pine cone sap on them right away. They'll get to rough it with the rest of us!

Speaking of 'rest of us' - We were camping with our Copper Hills Sams chapter members for these few days. There were only 6 rigs this time as 4 of our member rigs were leaving on a cross country caravan and will be gone for two months. We hope they have as much of an adventure as we did, without the broken hoses!

You can't see Apollo and Lady too well unless you double click on this picture to make it larger. They loved running free up the dirt roads and scurrying around all the brush and trees. I am sure they could smell all the chipmunks and coyotes that frequent this area. They might have scented other animals, too, but we can't understand dog speak!

Tuesday night had been the night of the full moon, but Wednesday night was almost as awesome. I tried to take a picture as it came over the mountain and this is the best one of the five I took! Every night we were camped there were coyotes and owls to add to the sounds of the night.

Of course, we played games with our fellow campers. This time we were setting up the table to play Mexican Train (dominoes). We also played cribbage, sequence and 31 while we were together this campout.

One thing we never had to worry about was good food. We had two potluck dinners and one potluck breakfast planned for this trip. Everyone is a great cook and we have some that are excellent dutch oven specialists. I need to get out my dutch oven before our October campout so that maybe I can get some lessons.

Two or three times a day we let the dogs run up the mountain 'roads.' There are signs posted that say jeeps and quads are recommended. We did end up traveling up this road in our 4x4 Tacoma because we knew there was a lake at the top! Unfortunately, my camera BROKE! I can't get it to turn on at all! BOO HOO!

Our friends, Paul & Mary Nagel, brought their camera with them when we drove up the rocky road to the lake. It was only 2.5 miles but seemed like 10 because we had to drive so slow. One nice thing about someone else having the camera is that Gary and I got to be in the same picture! This is Scott Lake, probably over 8000 foot elevation, and it is fed by snow melt!

The dogs were in heaven! They swam and swam and barked and ran and chased after sticks and had a good ol' time! They did not seem to mind the water temperature at all.

These are our friends, Paul and Mary. Paul is a retired science teacher and Mary is a crafter extraordinaire! Next week they are going on an Alaskan cruise, lucky ducks!

We had a lot of fun with our camping group. The area we stayed at was truly a primitive camp and we loved it! Gary and I need to find more areas like this for some quiet getaways. We saw coyotes a few times, but since my camera was broken I can't show them to you. The weather got windier and cooler each day and when we left today it was only 50-55 degrees.

Tonight we are staying in Susanville at one of the campgrounds in our "Camp USA" program. We pay 1/2 price for the campgrounds which makes it a little more affordable! It's a nice camp, but the weather is cold and rainy tonight so we are just staying inside and getting caught up on phone calls, emails and the blog!

Tomorrow we will drive to Sprague River and stay at Doug & Bev's house for the week. On Monday we will go to Klamath Falls to meet with Ed and buy our property! I also plan to buy another camera so that we won't miss out on all the pictures. Hopefully we will have some to share on the blog for Monday night.