The Red Writer takes a timeout from Easterly driving

 ASHLAND, NEBRASKA - After catapulting from Scappose, Oregon to Pendleton, Oregon to Boise, Idaho, to Perry City, Utah, to Rawlins, Wyoming and to Ogallaha, Nebraska, The Red Writer has put into dry dock at the Eugene P. Mahoney State Park to regroup, rest and rejigger. A planned overnight will now be three nights. Biscuit and I both needed to get off the highway. (The bottom photo is our view of the small lake below our campsite.)

The trip from Scappose through Perry City was covered in in the last post. But the trip immediately after leaving that oasis to where The Red Writer sits comfortable today has been, well, a real trip.

With R. Biscuit Fitzfox navigating, we left the KOA in Perry City on a sunny morning, reinforcing our decision to take an extra day there to catch up on details - like writing my Write On column for the Finger Lakes Times. We blasted out at 8 a.m., hope to easily fetch Rawlins, Wyoming by 2 p.m., a time frame including several rest stops and lunch along the way. Mother Nature had other plans.

We dragged out butts into Rawlins at 5 p.m. after battling hellacious winds, winds famous (we learned!) on the stretch from Utah's border to central Wyoming. It was a tail wind - but gusting over 50 mph. The sustained wind was 40+ all afternoon and into the evening. We stopped three times in five-plus hours - twice at rest areas, the third for gasoline. Just outside Rawlins at a rest stop recommended someone suggested I pick Biscuit up and hold him tight so he didn't do a Toto and go flying off to Kansas. 

The Red Writer found safe harbor at the Rawlins KOA, But the facility is only a rock's throw from I80 and in the direct path of the wind. We rocked and rolled in the trailer most the night. Just before dawn the air went so calm, so fast, it was unnerving. So we hotfooted it at 5:45 a.m. and ran for Ogallala like the devil was on our tail. (Photo at left)

At Ogallala I was pleased to find that a RV camp area I had visited many times in past cross-country jaunts had become a KOA franchise. But it still has the same family-run flavor to it while upgrading everything. 

Then Wednesday the run from Ogallala here to Ashland, was another slog, this time with wind in the face and on-and-off rain. I conferred with Biscuit once we had parked the trailer and he gave me a paw's up to stick around for a few days. The site is large and he can roam. The only downside is the heat. Lots of it. And humidity, lots of it, too.

Saturday we will leave and continue eastward to Newton, Iowa where the KOA campground has a pull-thru spot with out name on it and two working laundromats on site. Given the volume in our dirty clothes basket, we might need them both. 

And by the time I post another one of these missives, perhaps I will have figured out how to post captions properly. Maybe.

The Red Writer is on the road again - at last

 BRIGHAM CITY, Utah - The Red Writer made a local foray in early May, a trip to Rancho Cordova to help celebrate Anne Fitzgerald Allen's birthday. You can ask her which one it was. But it was great fun, even though I declined the opportunity to don roller skates for the main event.

But it all got me to get The Red Writer out of its secure Point Richmond storage, spend two days in Anne's driveway, then roll north along Highway 101 camping and eventually meeting up with the Admiral at Lincoln City, Oregon.  We had a great time here and the Ester Lee Motel which let me park The Red Writer in their lot. Gratis.

Today Biscuit and I launched our Eastward-Bound Tour (known informally as Biscuit and Michael's Excellent Adventure). We traveled from Scappoose to Pendleton, Oregon and then to Boise, Idaho yesterday with Admiral Fox. The three of us had a good time and did some serious shaking down of the trailer, enough shaking that Biscuit and I are confident of our plans to get to Watkins Glen before the end of June. Today Adm. Fox left the pack to fly back to Scappoose (for a crawdad boil, seriously) and we trundled across Idaho into Utah to land here. Tomorrow Rawlins, Wyoming is the goal.

This is our second night in a KOA campground/RV park. Why a KOA? Well, they are clean, well-run and the Internet actually works well. That's huge! Below are some photos from the first three days of this trek. You'll have to guess at what captions I would have added. I'll do that tomorrow. Right now Biscuit is gnawing on my leg so I fix his dinner. Best I listen.

The Biscuit is ready to go adventuring again

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - California's state parks are closed, victims of the state's pandemic-related, stay-at-home order. But just before the gates closed across the state in early December, Biscuit and I snuck in a three-day camping expedition to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Kenwood (Sonoma County), a place that holds decades of history of me.

     Biscuit is ready to go again. Me, too.

Morning view from our campsite

   Adm. Sylvia Fox took a pass on this trip because of tasks she wanted to do at home. Plus, it was going to be damn cold during the longish nights, which spelled quite a few hours in The Red Writer. It can get beyond cozy with the three of us in cold weather.

     The campground is a dry camping spot - no electricity, water from just a few taps and wi-fi is available at the visitor's center at the far end of the area.  No cell phone service at all. 

     But Biscuit and I worked it out, though he wanted to watch a movie, I could tell. Instead, I read book aloud which put him fast asleep.

Biscuit vs. the gophers   

   Biscuit didn't know it, but the trip was an experiment. I needed to see how he and I would fare with just the two of us. Would he wander off? Would he come back when called? Would he eat and be his sociable self, or miss Sylvia too much and mope. Yes, Biscuit is an excellent moper, if he wants to be.

     He didn't wander. He ate plenty and was abundantly social with other dogs and campers. We are working on the recall issue.

     Overall, The Biscuit is now officially cleared for travel, once Adm. Fox and I get the jab of vaccine and feel safe on the road.

   The nearly 4,000-acre Sugarloaf Ridge park is a few miles from Jack London State Park and hasn't changed much since I first visited it in 1970, just arrived in California with my young family from Lakewood, NY after driving cross-country in a 1964 blue VW bus. A ranger named Martin told me if I was looking for an interesting place to check out, I should try this little town not far away called Napa.

     He was right. And a few years later I had graduated from Sonoma State University and was working as a reporter at The Napa Register newspaper. The rest is history.

Pandemic porta-potties

     Portions of the park have burned in recent years in the massive Sonoma County wildfires. But the campground has been spared. This year the pandemic kept it closed for months, then when it reopened the state put porta-potties at each site, cleaning them thoroughly between camper visits. 

     It looks a little odd. 

     But the benefit for campers is they don't have to use their trailer or camper holding tanks if they don't want to.

     Even with many of the trails closed because of the fires, it's a still magical place. And for Biscuit, it was heaven chasing gopher and squirrels.

   We'll go back when the state gives the all-clear, days are longer (and warmer) and the Admiral wants to join the gopher hunting and other fun.

Campsite in the woods, with a private toilet

One of the trails still open after the fire

I had wanted to climb Bald Mountain this trip - no go though

The water is ok for washing, but not for drinking

The creek had frogs and creatures aplenty

Some low-end glamping tents for rent

The Visitor's Center, staffed by volunteers

Biscuit on point - watching gophers

 

The mission to Modoc County was a success

   POINT RICHMOND, California - The Red Writer rolled to Modoc County in late October to visit the Lava Beds National Monument.

Pizza night at Indian Wells

     The mission was to check out the lava beds and caves where a Native-American Modoc Chief and a relative handful of warriors held off the U.S. Army in pitched battles. The area is also likely to be part of the backdrop for some chapters in my newest novel being drafted, Sons of Covid. 

     The trip was the first major foray for The Red Writer since the pandemic hit. A few local trips were accomplished earlier. But this sojourn was a major haul, up Interstate 5 right to the Oregon border.

     It included a stay in the Redding, Calif. driveway of a host who is part of the Boondockers' group.

     Nothing like a free RV stop for the night to start the trip off well.

     The campground at the monument is fabulous - if you like quiet and star gazing. At one point I heard the flapping of wings - a hawk overhead.

It's first-come, first served. But except for holiday weekends, there is lots of space, park officials say,

     Because of COVID-19 restrictions, part of the Visitor Center was closed off but the park rangers were very helpful with my research about Captain Jack, the Modoc Chief who led the tribe during what the history books call The Modoc War.

    I would have stayed longer but the nighttime temperatures were dipping into the teens.

     That said, The Red Writer will likely be heading there again in the spring - after the snow stops falling.

Campsite at Indian Wells

South Entrance Road - bumpy

North Entrance Road - much better

Damage from a recent fire

More fire damage

Some caves were closed

The monument covers 46,000 acres

Pandemic prompts local & driveway camping

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - The long-planned grand adventure of traveling to Oregon & Washington, then east across the northern U.S. and eventually to the Maritime Provinces of Canada has been downsized.

Camp set up at Olema

     Maybe a better description would be miniaturized.
     Thanks a lot, coronavirus!
     Instead of thousands of highway miles, The Red Writer for the balance of this summer will likely do mostly local travel, going to places like Olema, Calif., adjacent to the Point Reyes National Seashore.
    We did one foray there to shake down the rig last week. Another four-day expedition begins Sunday.
     How local is Olema to Point Richmond and SF Bay?
    Thirty miles.
     But last week's trip proved that 30 or 3,000 miles doesn't make any difference in enjoyment.

Biscuit searching for gophers, moles and voles

     We camped among the trees at a private campground. Our Yorkie pup Biscuit was able to run free. And Admiral Fox and an amiga made it to nearby Limantour Beach for a hike while I stayed at camp and practiced the ukulele with Biscuit as canine critic.
     I think Biscuit would have preferred to go to the beach with the ladies, but he was a good sport.
     The only real excitement came a 2 a.m. the first night when we were visited by a hungry raccoon. He got in the tent and absconded with a ripe avocado, passing up a tray of apples and bananas.
     Because the campground is in Marin County, his choice of foods is not that surprising.
     The state parks in California are slowly re-opening, filling up campsite reservations as soon as gates open.
     Once Labor Day is past however, campgrounds will be mostly empty and The Red Writer can expand our travel radius with plenty of places to stay.
     One arguably big trip is being mulled.
     A few days ago a newspaper story about Modoc County in California caught my eye.
     It's a last-frontier kind of place. Kind of wild west. Undeveloped wooded property there is pentiful and relatively cheap. Maybe buying a few acres might be worth considering.
     Might have to break out my cowboy hat to wear on that trip.
     Oh! And Modoc County has not had a single case of COVID-19.

Downtown Alturas in Modoc County, Calif.

The tent has a footprint as big as the inside of the trailer

Test campsite - at our condo in Point Richmond

Plotting escape for when the storm door closes

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - It's gotten to be a very familiar question from friends and neighbors.
     So, um, when are you leaving on your trip north and east?
     The answer is equally familiar.
     The minute we can. The minute we can.

     But when that minute will arrive all depends on when shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted and it seems safe to travel.
     Exactly when that safe-to-travel time will come is a topic of much conversation at our house - and everywhere in the nation, of course. I know, I have been reading and writing about the coronavirus, infection rates, flattening curves and how efficient protective masks are against COVID-19 almost endlessly for at least the last month.
     But eventually - we hope - the virus storm door will close and we can safely head out.
     So yesterday Admiral Fox, Biscuit and I pulled The Red Writer out of storage a mile away and brought it home to clean it up, stock it up and test the systems for quick getaway.
     There's a couple of days worth of things to do - along with pondering routes to take.
    When we're done, we will be ready to be On The Road Again - Play It Willie!

San Francisco to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia...?

   POINT RICHMOND, California - Spring brings out the maps, calendars and dreams of summer travel.
      And after several summers of criss-crossing the U.S. from San Francisco to New England, Adm. Fox and I are considering pushing the envelope a little further (or is it farther?).
     That further - or farther - is Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, a camping/touristing paradise by all accounts.

     It does mean a drive of more than 4,000 miles - each way. But the mighty Toyota Tundra still has less than 200,000 miles on it. And The Red Writer trailer is now rejiggered and ready for Canadian wilds.
    Note that in paragraph two above the operant word is 'considering.' Given how crazy things are getting with the coronavirus (and life in general), it's hard to make solid plans until we get closer to May when we would begin a trip.
     And that 4,000 miles? Well, add a 1,000 or two miles more because on the way to Cape Breton, we have plans to stop in Portland, WA, extreme Northern Michigan, and various Finger Lakes and upstate NY locales on the way.

     Just yesterday, R. Biscuit Fitzfox, Assistant Navigator and Morale Officer was cleared for limited duty by his doctor after his broken leg episodes. By May Biscuit should be certified 100 percent fit for travel, we hope. 

   

     Below are some of the sights he'll be taking in with us.

New axle, tires and personality for The Red Writer

   POINT RICHMOND, California - The wizardry of Sean Keown, master mechanic at Vogel's RV in Ukiah was clearly demonstrated Wednesday.

Waaaaaay higher off the ground

     He skillfully - and quickly - installed the new axle and boondock-style tires on The Red Writer, boosting the trailer's ground clearance dramatically.
     The new tires and higher ground clearance make the trailer look, well, much beefier.
     But an unexpected outcome from the retrofit was that the rig is much more comfortable to drive. Bumps in the road are just bumps and no longer feel like craters. On the test drive on a bumpy section of Highway 101 outside Ukiah, I hardly felt anything.
     Just amazing, really.
     The one downside to the whole change is that because the trailer is higher, I need a taller stepladder to put on the trailer cover when The Red Writer is in storage.
     Maybe the solution is to keep traveling and not put it in storage at all.
     Now there's a thought.

New axle installed...

Tougher tires, too

The day before leaving to get The Red Writer retrofitted

Home the next day with new tires and axle installed

Spring renovations & maps for The Red Writer

   UKIAH, California - For the last few seasons, The Red Writer has occasionally gone where no T@B 320 probably should go.
     There was that rutted goat trail in Oklahoma and then 'W' Road in Tennessee.

Thank you CSAA for the maps... And the rest I will order

     And so it is that next week The Red Writer will be handed over to a mechanical magician named Sean at Vogel's RV to swap out the axle and tires on the trailer with those normally used on a more beefy unit called the T@B Boondock model.
     With the modification The Red Writer should be about 6 inches higher off the ground - a ground clearance boost that should make my off-roading less stressful.
     Theoretically.
     Pix of that axle-swap operation and the finished install will be posted sometime after Wednesday.
     The other innovation for this spring/summer/fall travel is the addition of paper maps to the navigation department.
     Yes, paper maps. You know, those things that used to fill up your car's glove compartment because you couldn't get them folded back the right way.
     While my Rand-McNally Road Atlas (Big Print Edition, thank you very much) is useful, it lacks sufficient detail for, well, the boondocking I have inadvertently done and some that I want to do - on purpose.
     Today 14 maps arrived from the California State Automobile Association, a good start on the hardcopy map library. Already I spotted some less-traveled roads in the Midwest and East that are likely candidates for this season's travel.
     Two of the maps are for Canada, by the way. Brrrrr...

The Red Writer visits Olema for Biscuit's birthday

   OLEMA, Calif. - We dusted off The Red Writer last weekend for a three-day sojourn to Olema to camp and celebrate The Biscuit's birthday.
     He was one-year-old Saturday and celebrated at a party at the Olema Campground in the company of maybe 100 people.
     OK, they didn't all come just for his birthday. It was a Northern California T@B Rally, a gathering of folks with T@B trailers like The Red Writer.

     Admiral Fox, The Biscuit and I toured a dozen other trailers and found all kinds of neat RV hacks to make things more comfortable.
     Perhaps the biggest single thing was finally getting courageous enough to put up the tent that affixes to the outside of the trailer. Since buying The Red Writer, a dozen tales of mishaps from T@B owners had made me hesitant to try it. But with about 30+ T@B trailers there - a half-dozen of which sported similar tents - we knew we had plenty of backup to make it work.
    As it was, it took just the two of 20 minutes at the most. And it was easy-peasy.
     That might have been because: A. Admiral Fox and I have decades of sailing experience doing similar things and B. The Admiral read the instructions.
     The tent has more square footage than the inside of the trailer. And it is a game changer. Of course, we need accessories now for inside the tent. (I'm pushing for a wine rack.)
     The Biscuit proved that he loves the outdoors a lot more than our Point Richmond condo. He scampered hither and yon the whole time. And as part of our weekend, we took him out to Limantour Beach on Point Reyes where he chased birds and ran like the wind for an hour.
     We hope to get The Red Writer out for another foray in a week or two before the rains set in. But if they do, well, we have tent in addition to a trailer now.

Biscuit was subdued early in his birthday party

Although a good camper, The Biscuit proved not to be a morning dog

A Sunday selfie at Point Reyes

Biscuit thought this was his birthday party...