June 2006

Greetings to all,

Well, our first full month on the road is behind us and in many ways it feels like we just started our 2006 adventures. We haven't gotten too far from the Idaho/Oregon border but have put 4340 miles on our rig (motorhome and car combined). We completed surveying the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests in Oregon, resurveyed a little of the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho, and got to see a widely varying landscape.

We resurveyed only the Clearwater National Forest's campgrounds along the Lochsa River. While we were impressed by this Forest during our first visit some eight years ago, we were simply blown away by its springtime appearance. There were still patches of snow scattered around but things were, for the most part, green and growing. Wildflowers were everywhere and the mushrooms enormous and plentiful. The Lochsa was tumbling and churning from snowmelt and recent rainfall. What a glorious place to spend some time. We had to chuckle at the method used to keep the grass cropped at the District Ranger's compound. There, between the staff's individual cabins, the tricycles and wagon scattered around, and District Office, a small herd of maybe half dozen horses and mules wandering around, cropping the delicious spring grass. Now that is being resourceful and a sight we hadn't seen before.

The Lochsa River, followed by the Corps of Discovery (Lewis and Clark), flows through a narrow canyon to where it meets the Clearwater River. Here, the landscape begins to open up a bit but it wasn't until we crossed the Snake River and entered Oregon that we had a very special experience. Imagine yourself riding a soft green velvet elephant with its many friends surrounding you - that was how we felt. The gentle rolling earth stretched out as far as we could see. It was covered with spring green crops of wheat, oats, hay, and alfalfa that appeared as soft as velvet. Tucked down in the landscape's folds were farmsteads and small communities but the dominant feature was of one massive hump of green after another. Beautiful!

In this delightful scenery we began our 2006 Season of research with the Umatilla National Forest. Most of the Forest is nearly empty of people but full of great scenery, healthy woodland, and interesting sights. Interesting sights like the gas station/general store in Ukiah where the owner states his opinion of both cockroaches and politicians in a large, bold sign out front.

The center of this area's population in Pendleton, Oregon. You know Pendleton, as in those fabulous wool shirts and blankets. We, of course, visited the Pendleton Mill factory and found a perfect blanket for each of us. And none to soon since summer was taking its own sweet time arriving. Blue jeans and sweatshirts was the order of dress for most of this month.

Next came the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (NF) in eastern side of Oregon. Suzi's former Department Chair, born and raised in Oregon, suggested staying at Wallowa Lake State Park and we did. What a glorious place! The deep, glacier carved lake backs up onto steeple topped mountains and looks out onto towering moraines. We used the State Park as a base camp to survey several campgrounds in the Wallowa-Whitman NF.

One outstanding perk of staying at Wallowa Lake State Park was the nearby community of Joseph. Besides being a pleasant little community with a strong focus on art (there are maybe a dozen full size bronze statues mounted at street corners scattered around town), it had a delightful tavern that was also a Wifi hotspot. So most days, after surveying the planned campgrounds, we would drop in for coffee (Suzi) and beer (Fred) and do our computer stuff. (BTW, we have been getting between 140,000 and 170,000 hits per day resulting in a lot of email.)

After we did all we could do from Wallowa Lake, it was time to move on to the southern end of the Wallowa-Whitman NF. Here, we stayed at the Forest's Union Creek campground. To be honest, it would be hard to say which location we liked better. Wallowa Lake State Park had the scenery and Wifi but we get Fred's senior discount at Union Creek, the crowds are smaller, and the sites are larger. Hey, until the price of gas goes down, we delight in every bargain we can find.

The last week of June has been the highlight of the month. The weather finally warmed and we could wear our shorts during the day (Suzi is still in her sweat pants when walking the dogs each morning).

July 4th will be spent quietly enjoying our camp and maybe a hike or a visit to a nearby flea-market. The rest of the month will be spent researching Malhuer, Ochoco, and Mt. Hood National Forests. There will be a lot of driving, a bunch of new discoveries, and never-ending computer stuff to do.

Last winter we looked for some device that might expedite transferring our campground research from its handwritten form into our database. We had thought a hand-held computer device would be the answer but learned there were software problems. Then, in Walla Walla, WA, Fred found THE solution - a mini-network device. Now our laptops can "talk" to each other. Besides writing the introduction for each forest and blog entries, Suzi enters the extensive survey data into the database on Fred's laptop via her laptop. Fred takes orders for our ebook CDs, creates web files representing completed forests, manages our website, shares in answering email from our readers, etc. It is a wonderful solution and has taken a lot of pressure off Fred for getting everything done yesterday. Maybe this will be the first year we can return home without a four week backlog of computer work to do .

Oh my, what is the saying about "be careful what you wish for"? The weatherman is talking about temperatures in the mid-80s for today. Well, it is summertime. Hope yours is going well and you are staying cool.

Suzi and Fred