Beverly
Beach, Oregon
May 26, 1994
SO HERE'S
WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING...
I am sitting
here in the back room of the Phoenix One, which, if you've seen the vehicle,
you know also serves as dressing room, guest room, washroom, wardrobe
and library. Right now it's the office, and I'm looking out at the Oregon
coast near Newport -- Beverly Beach, to be exact. In the month that's
elapsed since last time we wrote, the views from this window have included
Yosemite, Sequoia, Fresno, Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Pasadena, Puddingstone
Reservoir, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Bristlecone Forest, Bishop, Virginia
City, Reno, Red Bluff, Lassen National Park, Arcata, Redwood National
Park, Lost Creek Lake, Crater Lake, the Rogue River, Tumalo State Park
and Corvallis, Oregon.
Wait! I hear
you cry. Yosemite, Sequoia -- even Fresno makes sense. But what's this
about Yorba Linda and Pasadena? What's going on? Well, okay. We did circle
back to have some finishing touches put on the Phoenix. We now have an
exhaust system that's the envy of every high school boy we meet. It's
improved our performance and mileage, but I think Mark also enjoys the
sound it makes. As though we weren't making enough of a statement before.
With that and a few other adjustments, we left Southern California again,
and this time we're really gone. No more southward trajectory until summer's
over. We'll be sticking with north and east, unless of course we change
our minds. Don't much like being locked in, if you know what I mean.
Our trip
has been nearly flawless, although we did get caught in a snowstorm going
into Yosemite. Four wheel drive helped, but the snow kept piling up. We
slid into a bank at one point, which was a whole lot better than sliding
off a cliff, but I'm not keen on sliding in any direction. But of course
Yosemite was worth the white-knuckle moments, with dogwoods blooming everywhere
and the falls at their peak. We hit Fresno afterwards, and immediately
decided to head for the hills again. Fresno can do that to you. Sequoia
was still ensconced in snow, too, but the skies were clear, the air was
warm, and we had all those wonderful, huge old trees practically to ourselves.
Las Vegas
was a big switch from all the mountain scenery. We checked out the new
super-double-duper hotels like the Luxor and the MGM Grand, but, frankly,
I'd take Vernal Falls and the General Grant tree any day. Still, for manmade
wonders they are quite something -- have you seen that naval battle diorama
in front of Treasure Island? -- and we did get a great deal on a prime
rib dinner. Also, Mark won enough quarters for us to do our laundry.
Death Valley
was hot and spectacular, the perfect venue for Mark to celebrate his fortieth
birthday. While we were there, we read a book about the Jayhawkers, a
'49er group from Illinois that got bad directions and ended up in Furnace
Creek instead of the gold fields. Most of them eventually made it to Southern
California, but the story of their Death Valley ordeal is quite something.
Even in May, the temperatures rose enough to melt the undercoating on
the Phoenix and cause it to drip. We kept our own undercoatings intact
by sightseeing at dawn and going swimming at midday.
From Death
Valley we headed to Bishop by way of the Bristlecone Forest in the White
Mountains. This is another forbidding and desiccated place, but the views
of the snow-capped Sierras were wonderful. We took off on a couple of
dirt roads, to see how the Phoenix would handle. It's not exactly a Jeep,
though, and our height can be limiting. We didn't think it'd be a good
idea to saw branches off some three-thousand-year-old tree, so we didn't
get too far.
Bishop, the
watering hole for all California mountaineers, provided us with a nice
place to stay and some fabulous beef jerky, which we inhaled, even though
I know you're supposed to chew it. It's just that it's SO GOOD.
Our next
stop was Virginia City, Nevada, where we spent a memorable evening in
the Bucket of Blood Saloon, watching some magnificent thunderheads roll
across the sky. After that, we headed to Reno, where we saw friends and
ended up staying over because our air suspension system blew a valve.
Federal Express sped a part to us, and some very clever RV repair technicians
had us running right in a day.
We paused
next at Red Bluff, CA, where we found an enchanting little park on the
Sacramento River. A large, hideous and aggressive Muscovy duck stalked
Marvin, intimidated him, and ate his food. He wasn't sorry to leave.
Speaking
of Marvin, he's chalked up his first recorded kill. A little ground squirrel
somehow made a wrong turn into his mouth, and Marvin bit down at just
the right moment. Despite Mark's best efforts to get him to drop it, Marvin
finished the little fellow off with a couple more chomps. So even a creature
as domesticated as Marvin still has some primitive instincts in him. Watch
out, unless you're a Muscovy duck.
From Red
Bluff, we headed west and came to Susanville. We accomplished two great
things in this town: Mark renewed his driver's license and I got my modem
to work with the cellular phone. The driver's license renewal was incredible
because it took— FIVE MINUTES!! So here's some advice, Angelenos.
Next time you have to go to the DMV, go to Susanville! Even with the extra
drive, you'll be done sooner!
The modem
thing was even more incredible. I'd been trying to figure out how to make
it work for weeks, and the owner of an electronics shop put his mind to
the problem, told me a few facts about modems, and VOILA! The next time
I tried to log on, IT WORKED!! So now our office is truly and utterly
mobile!
A wonderful
drive through the redwoods the next day brought us to the Oregon border,
and we felt we'd passed a major milestone as we left California, as though
now we were REALLY away. Oregon has absolutely splendid state parks. The
first one we encountered was Joseph Stewart State Park south of Crater
Lake. The campground is on the edge of a gorgeous large lake, and wildflowers
were blooming everywhere. The weather could not have been more perfect,
and there weren't even any bugs. I kept trying to find the drawback of
this place, but it just wasn't there. Stewart State Park is perfect—
that's all there is to it.
Nonetheless,
for true and utter majesty and every other royal superlative, Crater Lake
is IT. I'd been there before, but it didn't matter. I still couldn't believe
it was real. If you haven't already been there yourself, you'll just have
to go, and then you'll know what I mean. It's so magnificent that you
want to scream. But you don't, because the beauty of it awes you into
silence. No one even speaks in a loud voice when they're near it. The
Indians said Crater Lake was a holy place, and they knew what they were
talking about. We took pictures, and they came out beautifully, but this
is a place to experience for real. Go there, and if you've been, go back.
We spent
a couple of balmy days in Corvallis with my sister. It's easy to see why
so many city people want to move there -- it's got rhododendrons AND great
coffee. Hard to beat, although I know it's not always sunny and seventy.
That about brings us up to date.
I know I
said last time that this lifestyle was taking some getting used to. Well,
we've gotten used to it, and we love it. It's wonderful. We'll let you
know next time if the feeling turns out to be as fleeting as sunshine
in Corvallis.
Megan
