Craig's blog

Well, we made home today, but not quite as easily as planned. Things started off well. We got up and the girls were really excited to be going to Grandma Carol's house. We were off by 8:30 and at their house in Reno by 10:30. We transferred all their stuff for the week to the house and tried to be sure Carol knew what she was getting herself into. She (re)assured us that she did, and we eventually headed out around 11:30.

Earlier in the trip we found that the rear A/C no longer cooled, but the front still worked fine. This wasn't ideal, but now that it was just Patty and me, it was no longer an issue. We drove to Truckee for lunch. There was a bunch of road construction on I-80, so we were stop and go much of the way. Interestingly, the A/C really couldn't cool at all while we were idling. At the time it was about 85 outside. When we got to Truckee I heard a bad sounding tapping coming from the engine compartment. After a little experimenting I realized (with some relief) that it was "just" the A/C compressor. While this wasn't great news, it made me think we wouldn't get stranded on this last stretch of the trip because of engine problems.

We drove up over Donner Summit and then started our decent. About 30 miles down (a little before Colfax), there was sort of a band and then a loud pssshhh from the engine compartment. I stopped as soon as I could to get out and survey the damage. The good news was that the engine coolant looked fine. I believe the compressor blew and the freon went all over the place. I turned off the A/C and we drove on. The good news is that, sure enough, the engine was fine. The bad news is that it was 106 degrees outside when this happened.

We drove to Colfax where we stopped at a gas station where I rechecked everything and determined it was ok to drive, we filled up with gas and bought a bunch of water and ice to try to keep ourselves cool. We then proceeded to drive the rest of the way with the windows open. Until we got to San Francisco a couple of hours later, the temperature ranged from 106 to 111. It was HOT! Patty never does well when it gets hot, but she was a trooper today. We were glad we didn't have kids with us - that would have been really rough.

I was basically impressed (and I guess I still am) with the engine rebuild that Pearson did. The engine ran great and pulled hard the entire trip. Unfortunately, it consumed 2 1/2 quarts of oil during the trip as well as blowing up the A/C compressor (I think).

As promised, here are a couple of stats from the trip:

Total miles driven: 4669
Total miles with trailer: 3971
Longest driving day: 519 miles from Custer State Park, SD to Bozeman, MT
Total nights camping: 21
Number of states visited: 10 (California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon)
Hottest daytime temperature while camping: 95 in Glacier National Park, MT
Coolest nighttime temperature while camping: 33 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Hottest temp while driving: 111 in California (with no A/C)
Highest elevation while driving: 9400' over Continental Divide in Colorado
Highest elevation while camping: 6600' in Steamboat Springs, CO
Total gas consumed: 470 gallons
Avg fuel economy: 9.9 mpg
Total cost of fuel: $1969
Avg cost of fuel: $4.19 / gal
Max cost of fuel: $4.58 in St. Mary, MT
Min cost of fuel: $3.98 in Gillette, WY

Well, we're almost home. Tonight we stopped at an RV park in Standish, CA (a city I didn't know existed) on 395. We're about 90 miles from Reno, where we'll drop the girls tomorrow so they can visit with Grandpa and Carol. The girls are really looking forward to it.

Then Patty and I will head home and do as much unpacking and cleaning as we can before I have to go to work tomorrow. It will be interesting to spend a week at home without the girls. It will be the first time we've been home alone in 11 years!

This trip has been fantastic - everything I had hoped and more with no bad surprises. If I get around to it, I'll put a quick summary up tomorrow night. The engineer side of me loves collecting data - maybe I'll put a few stats up from the trip.

This morning we packed up from the Sisters KOA and drove in to town to meet up with Diane & Jim. Diane and the girls stayed in town to go shopping while Jim and I got some groceries and then headed up to the Metolius river to look for a campsite. I’d read numerous accounts of the great campsites along this river just north of the town of Camp Sherman. We weren’t disappointed. There are a bunch of little campgrounds just beyond the town of Camp Sherman. There were a number of great sites right along the river. It’s basically the ideal campsite with a beautiful stream, great pines, a big campfire ring, etc. We setup camp and made lunch to enjoy by the river.

After lunch we drove into Camp Sherman (about 1 mile) so Jim could look for a cabin. We tried a few small places, and at the last place there was one cabin left. Apparently they’re all booked because the world-wide quilting convention will be in Sisters next weekend and the rooms are already all booked for the early comers.

Next we drove down to Sisters to pick up the girls and then back up to the campground, where we spent the afternoon catching up with Jim & Diane while the girls played in the Metolius. We all had a nice dinner and s'mores by the campfire. This is a beautiful spot and I wish we could stay here another day (or two). You can see a few shots of the area here.

However, tomorrow we have to get down to Susanville in preparation for dropping the girls in Reno on Tuesday and getting home so I can get to work Wednesday. Sadly, this is basically the last day and night at a “destination”. It’s just driving and sleeping from here on in…

Friday (the fourth of July) we planned to go back down to Coeur d'Alene to see their fireworks over the lake. Over breakfast Patty had the great idea to take Mom & Dad's motorhome instead of our car. Everyone thought it was a great idea, so we did it. It certainly holds all 7 of us easily, and it worked as a great home base for the day. We arrived a little after 11:00 and the city's 4th of July parade had just started. This blocked our ability to get to the parking lot we had planned on going to, but I dropped everyone off (except Dad), and they watched the parade. As soon as the parade was over, I was able to get in to the lot.

We had lunch at an internet cafe where I uploaded my blog entries and pictures for the previous week.

Later in the afternoon, we rented a wave runner for an hour. The girls complained and complained that they wanted to go tubing again instead, to the point that I almost just cancelled the whole thing, but we went ahead and went out. They all had a total blast. I rent one of these about once every 3 years, and each time I'm amazed at how fun they are, and how much they've improved. This one was a really powerful 4-stroke. It had 110 hp, and could really accelerate, but was still pretty manueverable. It also heald three people comfortably.

We went back to the motorhome to change out of our bathing suits, and then went to find a restaurant. We ended up at Brix, which didn't have a wait, and was really nice. It was one of the nicest places the girls have been to and wasn't outlandishly expensive.

We then waited on the beach for the fireworks show. I had heard they would start at 9:30, and the kids had trouble waiting until then, but unfortunately, they didn't start until 10:00. By that time Jessica had fallen asleep in my lap. I woke here up for the show, and we all enjoyed it.

We walked back to the motorhome where the girls all went to sleep for the drive back to Farragut. We got them in bed in the trailer around midnight and Patty and I got everything ready for the morning by 1:00.

We got up this morning at 5:30 for another big drive. We were off at 7:00 and said goodbye to Mom & Dad. It was fun travelling with them for much of this trip. The girls really enjoy it. :)

We drove to Sisters, OR, (450 miles) where we had planned to meet our good friends, Jim & Diane Coward and camp at the Metolius river, which I've read is spectacular. It was a long enough day, and the tanks needed emptying, so we decided to stay tonight at the Sisters KOA, which is clean and KOA-like but certainly not spectacular.

We had dinner with Diane & Jim and made plans to meet them tomorrow morning. Jim and I will try to find a campsite on the Metolius for tomorrow night while the girls walk around Sisters and shop.

We also finished our plans for the rest of the trip. The girls have been campaigning to stay with Grandpa Lombardo and Carol for a few days, so we need to drop them in Reno on "the way" home. So instead of going down I-5, we're going to take 395. We'll leave this area on Monday, stop just short of Reno, and then on Tuesday (our planned last day) drop the girls with Grandma Carol and head home.

All good things must come to an end, although it will be nice to be at home in our own bed. :)

We’ve had a great two days in the Pend Oreille, Coeur d’Alene area. Yesterday we drove down to Coeur d’Alene (about a 20 mile drive), which is a large resort town on Coeur d’Alene lake. We reserved a boat for the afternoon and then did a bunch of errands including getting the oil changed in the Suburban. It has burned 2 ½ quarts in 3,500 miles, which isn’t great. We also got our laundry done and had lunch. We went and got our boat and went out on the lake. It was a perfect afternoon, doing one of my favorite things. It was about 85 outside and the water was about 65 and calm. We went out to a cove that was recommended to us and started pulling the girls on a tube, which they absolutely love. We did that for about ½ an hour when Mom & Dad called because they had come back to the area. We boated back to the dock to pick them up and then back to the cove for more tubing. Each girl also tried skiing, but didn’t get up. Kelly got very close. Next time. It was an awesome day. Here are some pictures from the boat.

Today we had a leisurely morning, I went for a bike ride and then after lunch we walked to the beach on Lake Pend Oreille that’s about a mile away from our campground. It is a cool spot toward the end of the lake where the water spills out. The water is sort of flowing, but there is a natural barrier that forms a huge natural pool. The kids played for a couple of hours and I went for a swim to the opposite shore (probably only about 300 yards each way).

We came back and I made lasagna. Tomorrow we plan to spend the fourth at Coeur d’Alene.

It was incredibly warm the last night at Glacier. When I went to sleep at midnight it was still 80 degrees in the trailer (and 75 outside). At 4 AM we awoke to a pretty good thunderstorm. It wasn’t until after 5:00 that everyone (and the weather) had settled down and we went back to sleep. By morning it was nice enough to eat outside before we left. I have failed to mention the mosquitoes – they were out in force at Glacier, and given the fact that I’m the mosquito bait in our family, it was a real bummer. This morning after the rain they were especially impressive, and even my Dad said he got a bite.

After we ate and packed up we headed SW on Hwy 2 through Kalispell and then continued west on 2. It was a pretty drive. Instead of staying on 2 (which is the bigger and slightly shorter road to Coeur d’Alene), we took the scenic route and headed south at Troy on Hwy 54 and then west on 200 into Idaho. It was a great densely forested area and the roads were fine.
We arrived at our campsite in Farragut State Park near Lake Pend Oreille. It’s an absolutely huge lake nestled around a bunch of foothills. The campground in this park is beautiful, just as I had read. We’re really pleased.

Mom & Dad arrived a couple hours after we did because they stopped to visit some friends along the way. This evening I started a campfire to the sound of thunder. We sat around the campfire and watched and listened to the storm. In started to sprinkle, but we stayed outside in the 72 degree air and enjoyed the storm some more. Eventually we came in and it has now been pouring for the past hour and a half. We’re hoping it gets it out of its system so we can have fun on the lakes tomorrow.