Paws and Friends

We stayed longer than originally intended, in fact we had no plans for three days between Eugene and our Site #145 at Eugene Premier RV Resort--NICE! reservations at Champoeg State Park near St. Paul, OR. We do like to build in flexibility in our planning...! And it 'twas a good thing, as we had a very nice site (#145), pulled in to the pond and the weather gods treated us to some glorious real sunshine along with the standard Oregon sunshine....translate-RAIN! Premier Eugene is a good place to be when it rains, for there is grass and pavement. There is little mud that one will encounter there! Our site was a couple over from Casey, the Bird Patrol dog. He and his master are responsible for keeping geese away from the pond and the campground. A few years ago we avoided the pond sites, and we not too happy about being in the row of sites near the pond sites as they were peppered with geese poop! Thanks to Casey and his master, only a pair of geese kept testing their resolve...

How to find a good place to take your RV for service? It is a tough question! We have an answer for you! Read on! We cannot say enough about this place Lindy found it first in RV forums , then from reviews on line. All of us living full time in our home on wheels struggle with locating that one place where we take our "home" for service where we can relax, knowing that work is being done correctly, with care, and LOTS of practical, applied experience! This knowledge pays off in triple dividends as problems are diagnosed and effectively dealt with. Our initial appointment was for our silly satellite radio component of our JVC "Head" in our Phaeton. On our departure from Death Valley in January, Lindy noticed that the SAT component was no longer available--we were unable to listen to music! You may well be laughing at us in this predicament.We weren't! We enjoy the convenience of SAT radio--always receiving a signal (except under overpasses--and those rare ...

If I stare at this door long enough, it WILL open! You might have read about a hitch we have experienced on this journey. One of the Paws that make up the Paws and Friends of the Roving Riders has been feeling a little "punk". We visited a vet in Carson City, and stayed an extra day there for Bitty. Her red blood cells where below the "normal" level, and it appeared that she was not making more....plus, she had been eating rocks (what else is there to eat in the desert?!) and through a couple of x-rays we saw the rocks scattered throughout her digestive track.....  The vet kept her overnight, and kept her on fluid therapy to move those rocks along....! With success, we might add, for when we picked her up Saturday afternoon, a recent x-ray showed a small "bundle" in her tummy. They took another CBC, with a little improvement on the second, so the vet felt it was okay for us to go on, but important for us to get a CBC (blood cell count) test in 3 to ...

Leaving Likely, on those roads "less traveled".....California 299, to California 39, on to Oregon 140--and WOW! What a great drive! Here's our route: View Larger Map And what a GRAND place we called "home" for a few days! Rogue River RV Park is located right on the Rogue River, just past the bridge heading north on the Crater Lake Highway, Oregon 62. Our site, #76, was Site at Rogue River RV Park designed for motorhomes. We pulled in, facing the river, so that we had a terrific view of the river! Plenty of room to park our toad behind our coach. We had no neighbors, as early enough in the season, so the only reason we closed the night shades was the low temperature a couple of nights! We never "blocked" our picture window! Bitty LOVES the grass!! The only draw back in being in the deep forest was satellite TV reception--of which there was NONE! Lindy, the "TV setter upper" hooked up the cable and ran the cable set up on the T...

Readers of our blog will remember that we, like Robert Frost, enjoy those roads "less traveled"...especially NOT freeways. US 395 north out of Reno filled that bill nicely. The drive was pleasant, sparse traffic, and fantastic scenery! Our Site in Likely Place RV It is very "likely" that we may find a hidden gem in these less traveled places. As we did on this leg of our trip, the  Likely Place Golf and RV Reso rt .  Granted, we were a little early for the golfing season....although we did see one fellow on a golf cart return from a day of golfing.... And the night sky rivaled those of Bryce Canyon! We did wake up at 12:38 AM this morning, in time to see the Blood Moon. That was fantastic! No pictures--just know that we saw it, and noticed the star-filled sky! Golf Green The sign entering Likely listed the population as 99, we assume this means people as there were a great many more cattle, and of course their droppings. We shall return as there ...

Death Valley Inn and RV  We stayed at the Death Valley Inn and RV Park while in Beatty. From what we had read, it sounded like the best and after our visit to the area, we agree! Roads and pad were gravel--at one time pea gravel with mostly dirt now. Rain certainly would present some problems, but we only saw a few drops of rain. We enjoyed the green of the trees and their shade.We would stay there again. We drove through Goldfield, and Lindy took these pictures as we drove through town. What we saw Goldfield, NV sparked our interest in Goldfield--a place where we plan on spending more time. Moving on down the road we spent a night in Hawthorne, at Whiskey Flats RV Park. In keeping with our 200 mile a day plan, we arrived early in the afternoon, providing plenty of opportunity to explore the area around the park on foot. Lindy found a geoccacher's heaven! There were several caches all within walking distance! Only problem was that the main geocache site was down for ma...

We certainly have timed our travels right! While in Beatty, April 4-7th, we spent a morning visiting Rhyolite, then drove on down to Death Valley, Stovepipe Wells to be exact, just because we could! And we read that the Beatty entrance to Death Valley was the "most spectacular" which of course we had to "test".  We found the drive interesting, the view of the valley was picturesque--but we are still partial to our first visit, the drive from Pahrump on Bell Vista and on into Death Valley we found to be truly spectacular. But we wanted to stop in Beatty so we could visit the ghost town of Rhyolite. Beatty is billed as the "Gateway to Death Valley" with the temperature normally about 20 degrees cooler than on the valley floor. The morning we drove to Rhyolite, it was windy and chilly.  We ate our picnic lunch at picnic tables in the shade at the store in Stovepipe Wells where we shed our vests and long sleeve shirts....! It was 80 at Stovepipe Wells that day...

What a GREAT time we had in Las Vegas! Sharing hamburgers and malts at Johnny Rockets with Cousin Gay and her husband Dick, then feasting on a "pre-Easter" dinner at their house!!!!  We did not need anything else! We talked, we laughed, we talked some more, we laughed some more....! Two days passed all too quickly! We shall return! On to Beatty! And the weather is improving as we move along!!!  Still running the heater in the early morning hours, but have partially sunny skies, with some rain showers--maybe 23.6 drops.....then sun again! Forecast looking better (in lower 70's!) each day forward! We arrived at Death Valley Inn and RV Park around 1 PM Friday, and were at our site and all hooked up by 2. This morning we visited the Beatty Museum , in a former Catholic Church built by volunteers from the Air Force. What fun to explore old items nicely displayed from our parents' and grandparents' time! We gathered more information on our upcoming visit to Rhyolite...

Our "Green" Umbrella this Spring We have enjoyed our small piece of "home" here in the Arizona Desert. This winter has been really quite mild. The only snow we saw was on the near peaks, which didn't last long. Our leaves took forever to fall, and it seems like just after the last one disappeared, the trees burst out with new ones! What a glorious green umbrella they provided for us in the afternoon Arizona spring sun! Blue Buggy Under Wraps.... Moving out of the Roving Riders Roost did take some time on April Fool's Day....perhaps that is why we chose today to head out, you think? First we pulled the coach out at 9. Then the Blue Buggy was brought in and parked next to the shed, to try to protect it some from the ferocious winds that blow during the summer storms. We covered it, then tied it down, once, twice, three times, then a few more! We shall see how effective our work was when we return! We finally pulled away a few minutes after 11! F...