La Pine, Oregon June 4 – 8

This was another new destination for the group.  I stayed in La Pine State Park and it was another great experience.  I was lucky again to beat the crowds as lots of late snow was scaring folks away. In fact we could not get to two of the lakes we had planned to paddle as their roads had not been plowed yet.  I felt lucky! A little cold is better than crowds.  What I was not lucky about was the skeeters.  They were crazy bad, all day and night.  I am so thankful my van has the screen door.  It really saved me. 

 This is Charley on the Big Deschutes River where we launched

We paddled three lakes in three days.  Hosmer Lake was beautiful, clear and had great water trails.  As we paddled to the far back end of the lake I could feel that I was paddling against the current and got a little bit of a work out in.  Turns out we paddled all the way to a nice waterfall.  We pulled out for lunch and had a pirate picnic.  This was all courtesy of our fun hosts for this paddle.

 

Pirate Picnic

 

 

 

Hosmer Lake

 

 

The next day was East Lake.  This was in the Newberry Crater and  part of a string of old and potentially active volcanoes.  We could see old lava flows and masses of beautiful flows of obsidian lining the lake. 

Third day was my favorite.  We paddled the amazing Big Deschutes River.  This one required a shuttle. That is where we leave our boats at a launch point, then drive down to leave our cars at the take out point…then all the drivers pile in as few cars as possible back to the launch.  Kind of a hassle, but well worth it.    This was an 18 mile paddle with a small current to help us along. But WOWie it was a beautiful ride.  We passed through so many different areas with the last 10 miles being the most remote and beautiful. 

 

That was a lot of paddling for me and I was so glad I was able to do it all.  Charley the Travato handled it all with ease.  He was an easy drive to all the launches and it was soooo easy  loading and unloading my kayak from the G garage back door.  At night I would just pull my kayak out and lay it by the van to give me more room inside.  But it is nice to know that I don’t even have to do that.  I can leave it and still maneuver around fine.

 

 

 

 

 

Best of all, I am really getting comfortable in my van.  It is such a great tiny house with all the amenities of home.  I spent a little more time inside because of the skeeters, but oh was I cozy.  I love reading my books and listening to my audible while relaxing in my van.  In fact, I turned down offers of dinner out just so I could get back to my book.  This book was called “Boys in the Boat” and I highly recommend  it.

 

I am also finding it fun to listen to local radio stations in the morning while I am drinking my coffee and eating breakfast.  It gives you a real local look at things.  Some of the small town commercials are hilarious!

 

Next is a 10 day trip up to Belfair WA, exploring the Hood Canal.  This will be my longest trip with Charley...

 

Traveling on!

The Adult Fort

Alone…on your own…no one else there.  You make all the decisions, you take all the risk.  Sleep in, dress in sweats, lock the door and tune out. You can binge on ice cream, get up and leave on a whim, get lost…decide to stay still for a week.  There is a feeling of complete empowerment and relaxation when you are on your own.  

I speak as an older lady, in the youth of my old age…as they say.  I cherish the time I have alone whether vegging on the couch, paddling down a river or hiking a mountain trail.  I love my alone time.  It just needs to be balanced with family/friends time.

As a new RV – Camper Van owner, I read with fascination all the stories of single ladies traveling alone.  Some are full timers, some just casual travelers. Younger and Older, there are so many who have chosen that life style. There are a lot more men solo out there, as expected, and they also experience a lot of the same challenges and feelings as the ladies.

I took my first solo trip in my camper, Charley, back in March.  I spent two nights down at Sunset Beach.  I did not even bring my dog.  I thought I might be scared or lonely, but I was not! I enjoyed the days.  I walked around the campground, which was pretty empty, and met several fellow travelers.  I spent time at the beach, visited the otters down at Moss Landing and visited some local retail shops.  I also just hung out at my van reading a lot.  

 

My other trips have either included friend or family or had a destination where I joined friends.  At Sunset Beach my goal was to continue my education and familiarization with all the systems and buttons and bells in my van.  The first night I decided to try the TV.  I got myself comfortable by swiveling the passenger chair and used the table as a foot rest. I grabbed a bowl of ice cream (ok, carton) and settled in to see what I could find.  I moved my purse with my foot and off went my personal alarm that I have connected to my purse. WOW is that thing loud, especially in a closed space like my van.  In the dark I scrambled to find my purse…then threw it on the bed and jumped on it to muffle the noise.  After several minutes I found the button and was able to silence it. I have no idea how loud that was outside the van, but no one came a knocking.  

  

The next morning was dish washing time.  My sink faucet swivels up out of the sink when you want to use it.  I swiveled it up, turned on the water and the faucet fell off in my hand.  Water was shooting everywhere! I was level headed enough to figure out that you just shut it off .  And, I was able to easily screw the faucet back on.  But everything was pretty wet.  And I just laughed. I can go on about smoke alarms, awnings and other challenges, but  every one of them just made me feel stronger and smarter and….maybe I CAN do this on my own.  

I am not alone in loving my Charley.  There is a whole community of people who express their happiness regularly in a group I belong to for just my kind of RV.  It is quite a diverse group of youngsters and olders, singles and couples, all feeling the joy of “getting on the road “. We seem to universally believe in …Oh the places we will go and the things we will see. 

 

We also all seem to share the spirit of building a new nest.  Or perhaps an adult fort….maybe treehouse is more relevant for some.  It becomes our own little traveling hide away, driving away from whatever hum drum or maybe even crazed existence we live…or it could be just for the joy of “going somewhere else”. I have a pretty good life so it is not as if I need to get away from anything. Instead it is more just the leaving normal behind and having a new adventure.  As we customize our little mobile forts we decorate, add storage, make modifications, and boy are we excited when we find a new little cubby for something!

 

Yes, Charley has become my own little fort.  You can only come in if you are invited.  I have it stocked, organized and decorated, just for me.  The year ahead is going to be full of adventures!

Happy Traveling! 

Hello 2017

I am really looking forward to this year after a very rough start.  Rain, colds, and other health bugs!  It has been a while since I had some good stuff to share.  The last couple of years have been taken up with health challenges, death in the family and then the joy of a wedding and a year later, my first grandchild.

Yup, all those sappy things we have heard from all those grandparents are true.  This little guy has brought such joy to my life I struggle to fully explain it.  He is pure, unconditional, love in the best little bundle.  Watching him grow and being a part of his life has been such a huge blessing.  Little E, I hope you read this sometime in the next 10 – 20 years and just know what joy you gave to this grandma.

More good stuff!  After a couple of years of health issues that kept me pretty much grounded for a while, I am finally getting back to normal life.  I have some limitations, but I was not really planning on bagging any mountain peaks anyway.

I have missed being on the water and traveling.

So, I have taken a couple of plunges.  I am now semi-retired, working only 20 hours a week.  Whoo HOO!

AND even more big news.  Over the last several years I have been re-introduced to the joys of camping.  Spending time in so many beautiful parks and campgrounds, hanging out in the redwoods or by a river has been warm soup for the soul.  However, tent camping got tough.  So much set up, take down, dirt, and too hot, too cold and where the heck is that dang bathroom again? So I bought a brand new Camper Van, class B.  This is my Winnebago Travato 59G.  This van is like my own little tiny house on wheels.  Fully contained with all the comforts of home and I can park in regular spaces. (well, most regular spaces).  I can camp with all my other tent friends in the same campsites. While they are setting up tents and stuffing food into bear lockers, I am setting up my chair, and done! My kayak fits inside, right down the center aisle.  So much easier than the car topping I have done for years.

I have named him Charley.  Charley is in honor of a favorite author of mine, John Steinbeck.  As I was perusing the books I wanted to revisit this year I came across, Travels with Charley. In this case Charley is a big Poodle that traveled with Steinbeck on a 3 month cross country trip across America.  Steinbeck felt he had lost touch with America so he ordered a custom camper truck, loaded his dog and took off.

Here is Steinbeck’s observation from Part one of this book.  He is setting up his camper truck -

...and neighbors came to visit, some neighbors we didn’t even know we had. I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here.  Nearly every American hungers to move.

I get that! I am anxious to hop in Charley and go!  So this blog will now cover kayaking and road tripping as I explore Traveling with Charley. 

I do plan to take my own hairy beast of a dog, Sydney, who has not done well with travel so far…but I am willing to try it again. It seems it has been raining all January.  So once things dry up a bit we will be hitting the road.