Heading Home

We have decided to head for home (Sunriver) and then back to Fox Island. The weather forecast for the next week or so is good and we need to put TOWME2, our 4'x6' utility trailer, in the garage for the winter. We have had a great time in our travels and would not have changed anything. We have put over 5,000 miles on Trek and she has performed great for us. Trek averaged 20.5 MPG while pulling TOWME2 and without the trailer averaged 23 MPG, which we were very pleased. We have certainly developed a bonding with Trek and have enjoyed traveling with her. We thank the many of you who have followed our path and shared our travels with us. It has been fun and a real learning experience for both Nancy and myself. We have been blessed with our health and safe travel and give thanks to our creator for making this all possible. The blog has been updated with many new pictures and you can view them in a slideshow presentation. Many of the posted entry's have numerous pictures and we think that you will have as much fun looking at them as we did taking them. We will be signing off until our next adventure and wish all of you a Happy Holiday season ahead with family and friends. To view all of the individual posts and pictures continue to scroll down to the bottom of this page and then click OLDER POSTS in the right hand corner of the page.

Saddlebrooke, AZ

We arrived at Saddlebrooke in the afternoon on Tuesday (November 4th). We stopped and visited with our friends the Mears in Tucson for a short-time before our arrival here. The next 3 days will be busy for us enjoying all of the activities at Saddlebrooke and looking at real estate.

Marana, AZ

We arrived at the Valley Of The Sun RV Park in Marana, AZ Monday afternoon. This RV park is one of many, many Passport America sponsored parks around the country. We paid for our annual membership fee the first couple of nights on the road. We joined Passport America and have been saving 50% a night on our fees. It is really a great company and the parks are great. We will stay here for one night before moving on to Saddlebrooke in Oro Valley. It will be just a short drive to Saddlebrooke where we will be staying for 3 nights. We love Saddlebrooke and cannot resist enjoying this area when we are here.

Friends Depart

The morning of November 1st we parted company with our good friends and RV mentors, the Hanson's. They were headed to Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ and we were headed to Mesa, AZ. We really enjoyed their company and had a fantastic time getting to know each other. We will really miss them in our travels, but are looking forward again sometime soon to travel with them across the country. Our plans are to stay at the Mesa Spirit RV Park in Mesa, AZ. We will be going by the service department at Holiday Motorhomes in Mesa to talk with them about a couple of things with Trek. Trek has performed great and has not caused us any problems. We just need to talk with the service people about somethings so will do so on Monday (November 3rd). We will be heading to Tucson, AZ after we meet with the service people.

Prescott, AZ

We left Cottonwood, AZ the morning of October 29th and went to Prescott, AZ. This is a very beautiful area and very popular with retirees. The elevation is much higher that either Phoenix or Tucson and can get very cold in the wintertime. We stayed at the Prescott Valley Elks Club for three days. This is where we spent Halloween, but we got no Trick or Treaters that night. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Prescott, AZ area.

Oak Creek Canyon (Sedona)

Our hike up the west fork of Oak Creek was spectacular. The oak and vine maples were very brillant and colorful. The creek was full of water and it was so very peaceful. Considering that just a couple of years ago there was a huge flood in the Oak Creek basin the vegetation has really flourished. The weather was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. We had to forge the creek on several occasions, but it was well worth the effort.

CLICK HERE to view our Oak Creek Canyon slideshow! When you have finished watching the slideshow, click your BACK ARROW and it will take you back to our blog page.

Dead Horse Ranch State Park

We left Kanab, UT on October 27th and were headed to Cottonwood, AZ. Our plans were to stay at Dead Horse Ranch State Park and go up to Sedona, AZ and hike the West Fork of Oak Creek on Tuesday (October 28th). The RV facilities at Dead Horse were great and we enjoy our stay. There were several fishing ponds and they were getting ready to stalk the ponds with fish. The weather was fantastic and we were looking forward to our trip to Sendona, AZ in the morning.

CLICK HERE to see our "Dead Horse Ranch State Park" slideshow. There were many great fishing holes and only one fisherman. When you have finished viewing the slideshow click your BACK ARROW icon and it will take you back to our blog page.

Emerald Pools Trail (Zion)

Our second hike was to Emerald Pools. There are actually three separate pools that you can hike too. We hiked into the 1st and 2nd pools. It was a 2.5 mile hike round-trip and the fall colors on the vine maple were spectacular as you will see. We really enjoyed this hike as you could not only see the beautiful fall colors in the trees, but smell it as well.

CLICK HERE to view our "Emerald Pools Hiking Trail" slideshow. When you are finished viewing the slideshow, click on the BACK ARROW icon and it will take you back to our blog page.

Virgin Riverside Trail (Zion)

When you get to Zion you must park your car in the huge parking lot. You then get on a shuttle which takes you up the canyon for about 7 miles. There are several spots along the way that you can get out and get back on again. At most of the stops there are several trails that you can take that are either loop trails or come out at another pick-up spot. We selected two trails to hike which were both very beautiful. The Riverside Trail goes up the Virgin River and is 5.6 miles round-trip. It is a more popular trail as it as been paved for most of the way. Where the trail ends you can continue up the river, but you will be hiking in the river itself and must be very careful for flash floods. The canyon walls get steeper the further up the river you go.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see the rest of our river walk pictures.

From Riverside Trail

Zion National Park

We got up early in the morning and had a lite breakfast. We headed west from Kanab to Zion National Park to spend the day. When we arrived the air was smokey from a controlled burn in the area, but the air soon cleared itself. We were anxious to do some hiking as the fall colors were magnificant. At Zion National Park you are already in the canyons looking up at the sheer walls, compared to Bryce National Park, where you are on the rim of the canyons looking down.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see all of our pictures.

From Zion Canyon

Kanab, UT

After a short drive, we arrived at the Kanab RV Corral Park. We got settled into our spots and Dick and I went to play some golf. We had a great time playing the 9-hole course and decided to treat ourselves to a Mexican dinner afterwards. We went to bed early because we were excited about spending the next day at Zion National Park.

Heading to Kanab, UT

We left Bryce National Park the morning of October 25th and headed to Kanab, UT. The evening before we left Bryce, we met a very interesting couple from Belgium. They are Vincent and Ellen. We watch them as they walked a "tight line". This is a 40' line that is suspended between two trees. Inorder to walk the line, they must be perfectly balanced at all times. Both of them are very skilled at performing this task and it was amazing to watch them. They are both teachers, Vincent is a sport's teacher and works with special needs students while Ellen is a college professor who teaches her students to become school teachers. They both are on sabbaticals and love the outdoors, especially climbing. Both have a great foundness for each other and love Corona beer. We loved talking with them and would like to share their blog page with you as well. Beware, it is in their native language, but great pictures. To view their blog page CLICK HERE.

Queen's Garden Trail (Bryce)

What goes down, must come up! We took the Queen's Garden trail out of the canyon and it was spectacular. We hope that you enjoy our pictures climbing out of the canyon.

Click on the picture below and then on slideshow to see all of our picture as we climb back out of the canyon.

From Queen's Garden Trail

The Navajo Loop Trail (Bryce)

We awoke early in the morning of October 24th and had breakfast. We had located a great camping spot the night before at the North Camping Ground in Bryce. We moved our rigs to the park and then headed out for a day of hiking. We decided to hike the Navajo Loop Trail down into the canyon which is about 1.75 miles and then take the Queen's Garden Trail out of the canyon which is another 1.75 miles. There is about an 800' elevation fall to the floor of the canyon and then you climb back out of the canyon. It was a beautiful day and the temperature were expected to be close to 70 degrees. We packed our snacks and water, then headed out on the trail.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see the rest of our Navajo Trail pictures.

From Navajo Loop Trail

Bryce At Sunset

As soon as we got ourselves settled in our camping spots, we took Dick and Alice's car to get some pictures before the sun went down. As you can see in our pictures, Bryce National Park is a very special place. At Bryce, you are looking down into the canyons from the rim. It takes on an entirely different view at sunset and sunrise periods of the day. At any time, it is just awesome.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see the rest of our pictures.

From Zion At Sunset

Arriving At Bryce National Park

We had a beautiful trip across some spectacular country. We crossed the Colorado River at the Navajo Bridge and headed south through Utah towards Bryce National Park. We traveled through some very prosperous Mormon farming communities with the hub of their towns the Mormon church. It was truely a pleasure to see these clean and productive communities. We arrived at Bryce National Park and stayed the first night at Ruby's Campground and RV Park. We picked out a great spot in the RV park that was private and quiet. We went the the Cowboy's Buffet after a hot shower. We had a great nights sleep and were looking forward to waking up and hiking the canyon. The National Park ranges in elevation along the rim from approximately 8,000 feet to over 9,000 feet at the northern end of the park.


Click the picture below and then slideshow to see all of our pictures.

From Arriving Bryce

Ely, NV

We headed out the morning of October 22nd towards Ely, NV. We knew that it was going to be another long and lonely drive on HWY 50. The elevation of Ely, NV is 6,260' and is at the head of the Great Basin National Park. We arrived safely in Ely and the temperature was 66 degrees. There were only two RV parks in Ely so we decided to stay in the most appealing. When we awoke in the morning, it was 19 degrees out and our city water hose was froze up. Thanks to Nancy's hair dryer, we got ourselves thawed out and headed to Utah on HWY 50. There did not seem to be any plumbing problems and we were excited to move on to Bryce Canyon National Park. To learn more about the historic Ely, NV area, CLICK HERE.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow is view our pictures of the Great Basin National Park. They are beautiful!

From Great Basin

The Loneliest Road In America - HWY 50

We arrived in Fernley on Oct. 21st and stayed at the Desert Rose RV Park. It was a great place and when we woke up in the morning, we showered and did our laundry. We needed to be on the road by 9:30 AM as we are headed to Ely, NV which is about 275 miles away. Once you leave Fernley, NV you are on what they call "The Loneliest Road in America". It is Highway 50. We fueled up and headed east on a journey across the high plains and mountain passes. We will cross over several passes that are in excess of 7,200 feet.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see more pictures!

From Lonely Highway

Redding, CA

When we arrived in Redding, CA the weather was beautiful and the temperature was 78 degrees. We stayed at the Redding Elks Club which is right next door to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. We woke up to a clear and brisk morning and went for a 3 miles walk through the park. The park is located along the Sacramento River and is just beautiful. We crossed over the river on the Sun Dial Bridge. We passed many walkers, runners, bikers, and baby carriages. It was a great walk among the beautiful oak trees. Fall is definately on the way! After our walk we did some grocery shopping and we purchased a trailer tongue jack with wheel and a spare time for TowMe2 and headed east for Fernley, NV.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see more pictures!

From Redding

Headed To Redding, CA

We pulled out of camp (Beachside) on Monday (Oct. 20th) and are headed to Redding, CA with our friends Dick and Alice Hanson. This is their rig in front of us. We left just in time as the heavy rains are falling on the Oregon coast. Our plans are to go to Utah and visit Bryce National Park and then head south to Arizona. We will be traveling with Dick and Alice for this part of our trip. They spend a couple of months a year in the Phoenix area. We may spend a week with them at "Happy Trails RV Park", which is around Surprise, AZ and was built by Dale Evans & Roy Rogers. Do you remember them?

Our First Wild Mushroom Hunt

The 9th annual Yachats mushroom festival was great fun. We went to the mushroom dinner on Friday (Oct. 17th) and attended several classes on the importance of mushroom ecosystems, mushroom identification, mushroom exploring, and recipe cooking. We ate mushroom burgers, soups, and enjoyed our first wild chanterelle pasta dinner with chicken. We had a great time collecting our first wild mushrooms and will continue to hunt for them over time. We started our hike into the forest on Sunday morning. It was clear and cold. We hiked to about 400 feet where the fog had settled in and there was moisture. It was here that we picked our chanterelle mushrooms and there were many to be found. It was a fantastic and educational experience for us.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see more pictures!

From Mushrooms

Cape Perpetua

We had a great day of hiking and exploring the Yachats area. We hiked up to the top of Cape Perpetua where you could see for miles. It was approximately 2.5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 800 feet. After we hiked down, we explored the coastline and all of the tidepools. It was another spectacular day at the ocean!

Click on the picture below and then on slideshow to see our other pictures!

From Perpetua

The Perfect Campsite!

We arrived at Beach Side State Park and picked this beautiful campsite. It would be my first attempt at backing up the trailer. Yes, I needed help! We had power, water, fire pit, clean restrooms, hot showers, and the beautiful Pacific Ocean in our front yard. Can you imagine all of this for just $17 a night? Upon our arrival, we bonded quickly with the Verhaag brothers (twins) and their wives from WA and the Kositsin's from British Columbia, Canada. We will be staying here for 6 nights. We are hoping that the weather will hold for us. The mushroom festival starts on Friday (Oct. 17th).

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see our pictures!

Perfect Site

Heceta Beach Light House

This is the lighthouse at the northern end of Heceta Beach. To learn more about the history of the Heceta Beach Lighthouse CLICK HERE.

Leaving Heceta Beach

We left Florence, OR (Heceta Beach) on Tuesday (Oct. 14th) and headed north. Yachats, OR is only about 26 miles away. It is not very far, but the coastline is rugged and majestic. We passed the Sea Lion Caves, which I can remember visiting when I was 10 years old. It was alot different then. You had to walk down a very long stair case which was fixed to the side of the cliffs. Now they have two high speed elevators that take you down to the caves.

CLICK HERE to view our "Leaving Heceta Beach" slideshow. When you have finished viewing our slideshow, click on your BACK ARROW icon and it will take you back to our blog page.

Old Town Florence, OR

Florence, OR is one of the oldest commerical fishing ports on the Oregon coast. We talked with some of the fisherman that had just come in from Tuna fishing. They had to go out to sea 180 miles and decided to come home as there was a storm moving in to the coastline. They did not think they would go out again this season, so were preparing for the commerical Dungeness Crab season which starts in November.

Heceta Beach RV Park

We loved our camping site at Heceta Beach RV Resort. It was very private and we stayed 3 nights and had a real good time combing the beach. We had hot showers every morning and all was very pleasant. The picture above is of our campsite.

Geocaching At Heceta Beach

We woke up this morning to an overcast sky, but soon the sky's cleared and the day was beautiful again. We decided to see if there were any geocaches in the area and found that there were several. We headed out for a hike to the north jetty and found three along the way. It was fun and we had lunch on the jetty and watched the seals hunt for fish. We headed back home and decided that we would stay a couple more days before heading up to Yachats for the mushroom festival. We will be staying at Beach Side State Park for four nights during the festival.

Click on the picture below and then slideshow to see our pictures!

From Heceta Geo

A Beautiful Drifter

Once we got to the ocean and walked the beach for awhile, I could not pass up this picture of the beautiful scenery on Heceta Beach. It can't get any better!

Heading To The Ocean

We left Eugene around 11:00 AM and of course we had to stop by the nearest Camping World to buy a few more things for our trip. We headed west on Highway 126 to Florence, OR where we arrived at around 2:30 in the afternoon. We found a great RV park at Heceta Beach. We are tucked in behind the huge sand dunes between our site and the ocean. We have a very private spot and the weather is clear, warm, and beautiful. We could not wait to head out to the ocean and see the beautiful scenery.

CLICK HERE to view our "Heading To The Ocean" slideshow! When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click your BACK ARROW icon and it will take you back to our blog page.

Our First Night!

Our travels over Santiam Pass went well and we arrived in Eugene around 3:00 PM and spent our first night at Premier RV Resorts just north of Eugene. The RV resort was full of Oregon Beaver & Duck fans because both schools had Pac-10 home games on Saturday. The Beavers were playing the WSU Cougars and the Ducks were playing the UCLA Bruins. Oregon football fans are special and they love their football teams. We had a great time, but it was too congested for us and we were looking forward to heading west to Florence, OR and the ocean.

Headin Out!

We decided to leave today (October 10th) because the first snows have started to fall in the passes. Last night in Sunriver the temperature was around 20 degrees. The night before the first snows hit the mountains. They had 6" of the white stuff on Santiam Pass (4,817'). We will be heading over this pass to Eugene, OR for our first night. We will be leaving Sunriver around noon, as the temperature on the pass will hopefully warm up a bit. This will be our first day of traveling with Trek and TowMe2. Yes, we are excited!

Click on the picture below and then click slideshow to see our pictures!

From Leaving Sunriver

Sunriver Arrival

We arrived in Sunriver on September 25th. We will be volunteering for the 12th annual Pac-Am golf tournament and will be here for about a week, or more, before heading out on our Trek journey. The trailer needed to be retrofitted for a kayak rack so we left it in Gresham to be picked up later. We decided to name our trailer TOWME2.

Click on the picture below and then click slideshow to see our pictures!

From Trek (Sunriver)

Headed To Sunriver, OR

September 25, 2008 - We woke up early this morning excited about heading south to Sunriver, Oregon. We had been preparing Trek for her first travel voyage most of the week. We are all very anxious to get on the road for a busy day ahead. We will be making two stops along the way to get Trek officially licensed and to make arrangements for a small 4'x6' enclosed cargo trailer to haul our kayaks, bikes, and extra gear. We will be spending about a week in Sunriver before heading over to the Oregon coast for our first overnight trip. We will keep you updated on our travels.

CLICK HERE to view our "Headed To Sunriver, OR" slideshow. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click on your BACK ARROW icon and it will take you back to our blog page.

Picking Up Trek

When we picked up our new baby on August 29th, we decided to call her "Trek". At the same time, we decided to call ourselves "Drifters", so the name Trek Drifters was established. We have a very close friend who started calling us drifters, so we felt that this would be a very appropriate name for the two of us and our new baby. Thus, a new era has emerged in our lives and when traveling with "Trek", we will be known as "2drifters".

Our New Baby!

On August 29, 2008 we took the plunge and purchased our new land yacht. After looking at RV's for several years and dreaming, we bought a 2008 RoadTrek Adventurous RS van. It is beautiful and has all of the comforts of home that we will ever need to trek down the road and explore the country and meet new people. It is 22'9" long, white, and has a Mercedes Benz 6-cylinder diesel engine that purrs and the new Sprinter (Freightliner) chassis. It is rated at 21-23 MPG on the open road. We also can't wait to discover the many new geocaches that await us in the future. Continue to visit our blog as we update our adventures with pictures and text.