Tractors, Tulelake and TIMBER!

The Labor Day weekend started off with a trip to the local "Threshing Bee." Antique tractors, motors and farm equipment was being displayed, paraded and awarded ribbons. There was even a raffle to win a tractor! Heather, Jason, Doug, Bev, Gary and I met Tami, Bryan and the kids at the 'farm.'

Doug was talking to one owner who had some parts he could use to restore a tractor he had back at the house.

Just a quick picture of Bev, Doug, Jason, Heather & Gary.

Gary found this 'Porsche' tractor which was made during the 50's & 60's.

I liked this steam tractor which was almost 100 years old.

This is the other tractor that I liked. It really was a "honey"!

After the tractor show we all returned to Doug & Bev's for a BBQ. We invited Nancy down as it was her 70th birthday!

Hannah and Becca took turns leading "Lightning" around while the other rode on her. She is usually used as a cart horse so she doesn't have a regular bridle.

Sunday morning we drove to Tulelake - known for it's migratory birds, lava beds and Interment camps.

Our main goal was to explore some of the lava caves and this is the first one we entered. It was the only one lit up or having a paved walkway but was near the visitor center so that everyone could sample what the 'tubes' were like.

We each had our own flashlight and as a group we picked out a few of the caves we wanted to explore.

The women decided to let the men and kids go to one of the more treacherous tubes while we waited above!

The next tube we explored was called "Sentinel" and we walked about 3/4 of a mile underground!

This was at the end of "Sentinel" where there was a bridge of lava. Hannah and Andy were much faster at getting up the rocks!

When the rest of us were out of the tube Hannah and Becca went back down so that we could take this picture.
We then decided to go to "Captain Jack's Stronghold," a place within the lava fields where there was a standoff between the Modoc Indians and the US Army.

All of us were on the half mile trail among through area where the 60 Modoc warriors were able to hold off the 1000 army soldiers.

Some of the passageways were pretty narrow - and volcanic rock is not exactly smooth!

We had passed a family that seemed to be having trouble walking the trail and decided we had better go back and give them some help. Andy is carrying the 95 year old man on his back. We still had a quarter mile to get back to the parking area and it was quite an ordeal to get him back. The terrain above was the only spot where it was fairly easy. The rest was up and down volcanic passageways.

You can't see it here, but we sent a folding chair back up the trail to set the older gentleman in so that it was easier to transport him. Had a park ranger been around we would have asked him for assistance. Doug, Gary, Bryan & Andy did what they could to help the man's son get him off the trail. He never should have been taken on it to begin with - not a very wise decision by his family!
By time we were able to leave the Lava Beds it was about 3:30 pm and we hadn't had lunch so we stopped in Tulelake at the local hamburger stand to get something to eat. It took awhile for all of us to be served but we were glad to be out of the sun and sitting down!
Plans to go back to Tami & Bryans for a BBQ were scrapped - we decided to just go our separate ways. On the way back to Doug & Bev's house Heather & Jason checked on land that is for sale on Cherrywood, between our new property and Doug & Bev's house. Who knows, maybe we'll have at least three family members in Sprague River!

Today our plans were flexible and seemed to change on the spur of the moment! Heather and Jason left about 5 am to drive back to Placerville. Gary was helping Doug work on their boat when they got a call that a nearby friend was willing to come cut down our diseased tree.

If you make this picture larger you might be able to see the red ribbon Gary had tied around the tree to his left. Rob (right) was here to take a look at what would be involved in taking it down. He also checked out a few of our other trees to see if they were healthy.

I did take a video of the tree being felled but don't know how to get it on the blog yet. We had estimated where we thought the tree would fall and were right on the nose!

Rob started cutting off the branches so that we could cut it into firewood lengths for Nancy. He was going to mill the rest of the tree and figured he could get about 300 board feet of wood from it.

One last look at the tree before it was cleaned up. Gary, Doug, Rob & Bob took care of it while Bev and I went into town.
We met Tami at the Ross store, then Bev and I went to Fred Myers store so that I could see what types of items it carried. It seemed like a cross between Walmart, Target, Smiths, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Depot! They had some nice clearance sales, too!

Back to Sprague River for dinner and a game of Phase 10 Twist and now I'm blogging. Tomorrow we will clean up the RV, go see Val & Kevan's property and come back to finish packing up our site. We'll head back to Dayton to see what everyone's been up to!
It's been a full few weeks!