For a change of pace(and by request of my big bubby), I am going to try my hand at one of these posts and give Erin a break......
We forgot to post yesterday about how we were the hit of the KOA. After we had registered an old couple came up to us (part of an RV caravan) and went on and on about how they used to travel like that and they miss it so much and how great they think it is we were doing it. They were really nice and kept pulling their caravan friends over saying "oh we used to do this!"
We've also forgot to post that we've abandoned the 4 corners of the U.S. idea (for this trip anyway). It's still on our bucket list and I'm sure we'll do it someday but for this trip it was just too much; it was going to take too many days and there are other things we'd rather see more. We will still go to Key West this year though...
Today we woke up to a wet, chilly, misty morning. I think it got down in the upper 50s, so it wasn't too cold for sleeping. The KOA had a kitchen so we heated up water for an oatmeal and coffee breakfast. After breakfast and packing up a very wet everything, we left the trailer at the campground and headed out towards Mt. St. Helens. The campground ended up being only about 50 miles away from the visitor center closest to the volcano. The closest place to see the volcano was only about 5 miles from us. We just wanted to see it from a distance and get a couple of pictures and be on our way, but the cloudy morning had other ideas. We stopped at a visitor center that focused mainly on the forestry in the area and the impact the eruption had on the surrounding forests. There were signs there advertising views of the volcano and elk, but it was too cloudy(we were literally inside the cloud) and misty to see either of them. We decided to go farther hoping to see the volcano. We went about another 10-15 miles and then all of a sudden, we rode out of the clouds into the warm sun with the volcano sitting right in front of us. It was pretty amazing, so we stopped for pictures and decided to get even closer. We rode probably another 10 miles to one of the closest viewing points and took some more pictures.
The area around the volcano still shows the effects over 30 years later. In the river are trees sticking out of the bank side. When it blew, it melted all the snow and ice which sent a wall of ashy slurry down. The trees near the top are still all blown down the same way and there are lots of trees sticking out of the ash/dirt in lower areas. They said they had been watching it bulge for a while before that. On our way back to town we had to stop and hang out with Bigfoot before picking up the trailer. He seemed nice enough, but wasn't very talkative....
Can you find Mini-B? He's really dwarfed by Big Foot:
At the bigfoot spot was an a-frame house that was 3 days from being finished when it blew. they had dug out in front and inside but we were standing 5 feet higher. The sign said the flood "water"had the consistency of cement mix and was 100°. Near the top of the mountain it was traveling at 70 mph but close to 30 by the time it hit. They heard the blast over 600 miles away and had ash over 250 miles away. We picked up lunch and dinner at the local grocery store and ate in a park before getting on our way.
At this point we were several hours behind where we wanted to be, but it was worth it to see the volcano as close as we did. When planning the ride, I read that US101 in Oregon was a great motorcycle road and had great ocean views. Well it doesn't. It takes you through small coastal towns and only gives a few short ocean views. The road surface is rough and there were a lot of RVs slowing the traffic down. Eventually we made it to the beach. We were a little road weary by then:
We stopped at a KOA a lot closer in distance than we wanted to for the day, but it ended up being better. It was supposed to get into the low 50s, so we got another kamping kabin, which was a lot warmer than the tent. We had bought spaghetti for dinner (easy right? boil water, add sauce), so we fired up some charcoal to boil some water. I think that when the lighter fluid bottle leaked in the trailer, the charcoal must have soaked up some of it. When I lit the coals, they were flaming up pretty high and I hadn't put anything on them. My experiences with charcoal so far on this trip have given me a renewed appreciation for propane and all of its magical bliss. It lights instantly, is easily adjustable, and is CLEAN.... I think I'm going to get a propane stove for the next leg of the trip, or just borrow Dad's...... I should have listened to Hank Hill, he has been right all along. It took forever to boil the water. Eventually we had mostly cooked spaghetti. It had been such a long day that anything was good at that point. The kabin only had one bunk bed and one full size bed, so we weren't hitting our heads like in Montana. We put our air mattress on the frame again. It was awesome to sleep in a warm bed.
Today we traveled 284.9 miles for a total of 5866.2 miles across America.
We forgot to post yesterday about how we were the hit of the KOA. After we had registered an old couple came up to us (part of an RV caravan) and went on and on about how they used to travel like that and they miss it so much and how great they think it is we were doing it. They were really nice and kept pulling their caravan friends over saying "oh we used to do this!"
We've also forgot to post that we've abandoned the 4 corners of the U.S. idea (for this trip anyway). It's still on our bucket list and I'm sure we'll do it someday but for this trip it was just too much; it was going to take too many days and there are other things we'd rather see more. We will still go to Key West this year though...
Today we woke up to a wet, chilly, misty morning. I think it got down in the upper 50s, so it wasn't too cold for sleeping. The KOA had a kitchen so we heated up water for an oatmeal and coffee breakfast. After breakfast and packing up a very wet everything, we left the trailer at the campground and headed out towards Mt. St. Helens. The campground ended up being only about 50 miles away from the visitor center closest to the volcano. The closest place to see the volcano was only about 5 miles from us. We just wanted to see it from a distance and get a couple of pictures and be on our way, but the cloudy morning had other ideas. We stopped at a visitor center that focused mainly on the forestry in the area and the impact the eruption had on the surrounding forests. There were signs there advertising views of the volcano and elk, but it was too cloudy(we were literally inside the cloud) and misty to see either of them. We decided to go farther hoping to see the volcano. We went about another 10-15 miles and then all of a sudden, we rode out of the clouds into the warm sun with the volcano sitting right in front of us. It was pretty amazing, so we stopped for pictures and decided to get even closer. We rode probably another 10 miles to one of the closest viewing points and took some more pictures.
The area around the volcano still shows the effects over 30 years later. In the river are trees sticking out of the bank side. When it blew, it melted all the snow and ice which sent a wall of ashy slurry down. The trees near the top are still all blown down the same way and there are lots of trees sticking out of the ash/dirt in lower areas. They said they had been watching it bulge for a while before that. On our way back to town we had to stop and hang out with Bigfoot before picking up the trailer. He seemed nice enough, but wasn't very talkative....
Can you find Mini-B? He's really dwarfed by Big Foot:
At the bigfoot spot was an a-frame house that was 3 days from being finished when it blew. they had dug out in front and inside but we were standing 5 feet higher. The sign said the flood "water"had the consistency of cement mix and was 100°. Near the top of the mountain it was traveling at 70 mph but close to 30 by the time it hit. They heard the blast over 600 miles away and had ash over 250 miles away. We picked up lunch and dinner at the local grocery store and ate in a park before getting on our way.
At this point we were several hours behind where we wanted to be, but it was worth it to see the volcano as close as we did. When planning the ride, I read that US101 in Oregon was a great motorcycle road and had great ocean views. Well it doesn't. It takes you through small coastal towns and only gives a few short ocean views. The road surface is rough and there were a lot of RVs slowing the traffic down. Eventually we made it to the beach. We were a little road weary by then:
We stopped at a KOA a lot closer in distance than we wanted to for the day, but it ended up being better. It was supposed to get into the low 50s, so we got another kamping kabin, which was a lot warmer than the tent. We had bought spaghetti for dinner (easy right? boil water, add sauce), so we fired up some charcoal to boil some water. I think that when the lighter fluid bottle leaked in the trailer, the charcoal must have soaked up some of it. When I lit the coals, they were flaming up pretty high and I hadn't put anything on them. My experiences with charcoal so far on this trip have given me a renewed appreciation for propane and all of its magical bliss. It lights instantly, is easily adjustable, and is CLEAN.... I think I'm going to get a propane stove for the next leg of the trip, or just borrow Dad's...... I should have listened to Hank Hill, he has been right all along. It took forever to boil the water. Eventually we had mostly cooked spaghetti. It had been such a long day that anything was good at that point. The kabin only had one bunk bed and one full size bed, so we weren't hitting our heads like in Montana. We put our air mattress on the frame again. It was awesome to sleep in a warm bed.
Today we traveled 284.9 miles for a total of 5866.2 miles across America.
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