by Barbara Taylor & Homer S. Sewell III
We have done a lot of traveling since last we visited three weeks ago. We have been driving so much I've not had time to update you until now.
While we were in Colorado Springs, Colorado we were fortunate enough to find a good RV repair man who was able to get our refrigerator and generator repaired. Our new extended warranty insurance covered the repairs except for the $200 deductible. Thank goodness for insurance plans. Those repairs would have cost us about $1,500. It is good to have a refrigerator that works like it should and the generator comes in handy when we are not parked at an RV park with electric hookups.
Homer visited schools in Bennett and Pueblo, Colorado while I took care of the repairs. We then headed north to Elizabeth, Colorado before crossing over the mountains in Loveland Pass. We were at 12,000 feet and then down to and through a beautiful gorge with a river running alongside of the highway. What scenery!
We then drove 125 miles through the Sevier and Great Salt Lake Deserts on a one lane gravel road to speak to 30 kindergarten through sixth grade students on an Indian Reservation in Ibapah, Utah. There were times when we wondered if we would make it through the deserts on that gravel road. The only life we saw during that trip was a lone llama out in a field, some horses and lots of ducks and other birds in a wildlife preserve we drove through. It was desolate but beautiful in its own way.
We then drove on north and west to Spring Creek, Nevada. By that Saturday afternoon we were in Spokane, Washington. We had come over 1,700 miles since leaving the Denver, Colorado area on Wednesday. We crossed the six states of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. What a long drive through some beautiful mountains!
On Sunday we drove about 35 miles across the line from Spokane into Couer d'Alene, Idaho to look around this beautiful resort town on a mountain lake. We walked the 3,300 feet World's longest floating boardwalk and Homer joined the Fraternity of Eagles while we were there.
On Monday, Homer spoke to two schools in Spokane and then we drove on to Granger and Sunnyside. On the way south we stopped by on Tuesday afternoon in Goldendale, Washington and visited and had dinner with Homer's cousin, Michael Levitz. He is the Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Goldendale. It was nice to be able to meet some more of Homer's family and he hadn't seen Michael for a couple of years.
We drove on to Tualatin, Oregon and stopped for a look at a beautiful waterfalls outside of Oregon City. While trying to get turned around to speak at the school in Hillsboro we got stuck behind the grange building. The backend of the AbeMobile got hung up on a downhill slope in the driveway. We thought we were going to have to call our Good Sam Club to get a wrecker but a nice man in a big truck stopped by, hooked up a chain to the front of the RV and pulled us off the slope we were stuck on. We then drove on down to Salem and had dinner with Homer's cousin, Curt and his wife, Barbara. Curt and Barbara raise llamas and have 45 of them. We spent Friday night in their huge arena where they show their llamas. We had a nice visit with them before heading out Saturday to drive down the Oregon Pacific coast. We stopped at Coos Bay and spent the night Saturday at the Lucky Loggers RV Park. The drive along Highway 101 runs right alongside the Pacific Ocean with lots of cliffs, up and down mountains and lots of curves that were a challenge for the AbeMobile.
The 200 mile drive through the mountains to Hayfork, California was one of the worst and slowest we've had yet. We ran into fog, snow, ice, a lot of steep roads and was such slow-going that it took us almost six hours to make the 200 miles to school. Then after school we had no choice but to go right back through the same mountains again. It wasn't quite as bad in the daytime as it had been the night before.
We backtracked to Crescent City and Fort Dick for schools there. On the way south we saw a large herd of elk on the side of the road. I was able to get some video footage of them as we passed by. We drove through the Redwoods National Park and later through another redwoods area where we saw giant redwood trees big enough to drive a car through. We also saw giant sequoias trees towering a long way into the blue sky.
We drove south to San Jose and Livermore. We spent the weekend at the Solano County Fairgrounds RV park. On Saturday we took a trip over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and wanted to take a boat ride out to Alcatraz Prison. When we got to Pier 41 to the ticket office they told us they were sold out until Monday for trips out to the old prison. We were disappointed since this would have been my first boat ride. We did get to ride the famous San Francisco trolley cars from one end of the line to the other end and back. We had to wait in a long line at each end for about an hour but it was worth it. The hills in San Francisco are bigger than anything I've ever seen anywhere. While walking around on the piers at Fisherman's Wharf we saw a lot of neat shops, lots of people crowding around, several musical groups entertaining us and a juggler. There were also about 150 sea lions enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon by sunning themselves on some floating piers.
If any of you ever think your gas prices are high there you should check out what we've been having to pay to fill up the AbeMobile here in California....from $1.35 to $1.59! Ridiculous! They sure try to rip-off the tourists. When Homer spoke to Jason the other day back there in Alpharetta he said gas prices there were running about $.72....one-half of what we are paying out here. The AbeMobile takes about 75 gallons to fill it up and gets only five to six miles to the gallon. How would you like to pay the $300 a week we have to pay for gas?
We will be here in California until April 17 and then we go to Arizona. The last weekend before we leave California Homer will receive the Lincoln of the Year Award in Burbank.
Until next time.....Keep soaring with the eagles and tell someone how much you love them....TODAY. Barbara and Homer signing off......