The other day we took a picture of our cat Merlin on the bed. From the looks of it, he is either recharging or disguising himself as a mouse. He travels pretty well, and he seems to enjoy finding new places to explore, unless those places are home to great horned owls, which he doesn’t like at all. But we keep a close eye on him and he stays close to home, even on the rare occasions he gets off his leash. Having a cat on a leash is a trick in itself. Suffice it to say, it was an acquired taste for him.
We are on the road again. This year we left our home base a little early because there was an event in Idaho we wanted to attend, and it fit with RV travel. We teamed up with some friends from Billings and hit the road together. The first day was fairly uneventful, we ended up in Idaho Falls overnight and left for Cascade the following morning. Cascade is north of Boise, and it was a bit of a trick getting the fifth-wheel through that town and on the narrow road up to Cascade. Not far out of Boise we hit a stretch of road that had signs saying there was a 7% downhill grade and you should be sure to check your brakes. It was as advertised, a fairly tough stretch of trying to keep a manageable speed for the duration. This was the first stretch of road I have been on that has four runaway truck ramps in five miles. If I ever had to use one of those, the trailer would be toast I’m afraid.
After we weathered that storm, we came to a line of vehicles standing on the road that appeared to be backed up for a considerable distance. My wife Max had gone on ahead with our friends, I thought that she had probably already gotten to our destination. I couldn’t be sure because it was a mountain road and cell service was practically nonexistent. After sitting for a while I took a walk up the line to see if I could find out what was going on. Someone came down the line and said that a truck hauling logs had tipped over a few miles up ahead and it could be several hours before we got under way again. So, there I sat, just me and Merlin, who actually rides pretty well in the truck, though not always joyfully. There was getting to be a pretty long line of cars and trucks forming, and I was one of the few who was pulling and RV. It occurred to me that I might have an opportunity to rent out my rest room for a buck or two a turn if I wanted to really take advantage of the situation. About that time, a truck came from the other way carrying some of the logs that had spilled, so it looked like we might be moving again soon. Sure enough, we soon started to pull out, and before long I got a phone call from Maxine who said they were near where the accident happened and had been almost two hours in that spot, so they were just a little way ahead of me. We got to our campground about an hour and a half later than we planned but were able to get situated before dark.
It was a good four-day retreat after which we headed out for our trip to Arizona, only this time we will be stopping in some places we haven’t been before. We will be making good use of our Thousand Trails membership, taking an extra six weeks or so to get where we normally start our winter. First stop is Chehalis, Washington, at what is touted as the first Thousand Trails campground. It is a very nice place, rustic and woodsy. Check back for more on that and some highlights of the trip.
