I loved my stay in the Willamette National Forest. Being in such a dense forest is just indescribable. For one thing, the trees are HUGE. Not quite as tall as the redwoods, but pretty impressive, nonetheless. And the bark is brown. Raw Umber brown, with just that hint of red warmth. There was such a feeling of isolation (in a good way) with very few cars passing by on the dirt road we pulled off, and even fewer coming into the clearing where we stayed. One van did come in around sunset one night. They drove slowly as not to stir up too much dust, and then found their way to the opposite end of the clearing and down one arm coming off the clearing. They turned off their lights and they became invisible until morning. I saw a man (I think) get out briefly. Then he got in and they left, driving past me. It was a young man and woman, with CA tags over a European back license plate. They waved as they left and they returned after dark that night, took the same spot and left early the next morning. Other than that, Cosmo and I were totally alone for our 4 days there.
We left Monday morning and headed south toward Crater Lake and Klamath Falls. I had mapped out a course that took us first to a Dollar General so I could stock up on laundry detergent, Ibuprofen, bleach, and some snacks. I drove and found it without a problem, but the signs on the door said, “Closed for Remodeling.” I got back in the van and drove to my next destination, which was a gas station right around the corner. Like New Jersey, you cannot pump your own gas in Oregon. The stations have attendants to do that for you. I pulled up and there was a small building next to the pumps. It didn’t appear to be occupied. I got out and there was one central credit card reader in order for you to scan your card and enter the pump number. I tried one card and it said, “Credit Card Not Read.” I had this issue at another self-serve station and found out it wouldn’t take a MasterCard without a PIN, but it did take a Visa, so I tried my Visa card. Same message. I guess the station was no longer in service. I moved down the road to a grocery store. Well, not exactly. It was a tiny food store, just a half step above gas station convenience mart in a small town with many falling down and boarded up houses and businesses. Their inventory was quite limited and over-the-top expensive. I bought a frozen lasagna meal, which I remember costing about $3.95 when I lived in Milford. It was $7.95. I bought it anyway thinking it may be big enough for two meals if I supplemented with a salad. (I heated it up later that night, scarfed down the entire thing and was still so hungry that I wondered what I could make for dinner). A can of dog food which I used to pay less than a dollar for, cost $3.50. I passed. I did get Cosmo some hamburger to go with his kibble in the morning. It didn’t have a price tag and I needed it. I’m sure I would have cringed a little had I seen the cost. They had vegetables and fruits which were mostly rotting and still so expensive that they would become compost before anyone paid that price for decomposing melons. I got enough food to get me through the next couple days. I’ll have to find a real grocery store when I leave Crater Lake/Klamath Falls area.
We moved on to another sno-park since the last one was so nice. This new one wasn’t, but it was adequate. I parked in the lot with a skoolie, and two overland campers (big pick-up trucks with a “6-pack” camper in the bed. The camper shells were the kind that are flat until you park and put the roof up.) There was a woman with a dog off leash. When Cosmo and I were walking, her dog charged us, and she shouted “It’s OK. He’s friendly.” I was immediately pissed. The woman was probably mid-thirties, had on a long skirt, slit up the side to her waist band. No shoes. The dog WAS (fortunately) friendly and the woman kept jabbering. She said “Well, he IS on a leash, I just don’t hold it. Oh, look, they like each other, maybe they’ll be besties…” She just kept on, yammering and never even pausing to take a breath. I had no patience. I managed to avoid tearing into her, but only by literally biting my tongue. She kept talking as I walked away, yelling toward my back something about other camping spots. I saw her later and decided she was mentally ill, so I’m glad I didn’t yell at her. She kept coming by my van and talking to me even though she couldn’t see me inside. Then she started parading around the parking lot singing America the Beautiful and The National Anthem (she did have a pretty good singing voice, though nobody in the parking lot appreciated the volume). She finally took her dog (still off-leash) and walked down a steep hill to an adjacent campground. When she did, the skoolie and the two Overlanders all left immediately. She came back and circled my van jabbering about everyone leaving and saying she had a map and even if I didn’t want it (she was talking to the front of the van, not to me) she was going to leave it for me. When she went down the hill again, I pulled up stakes and headed out of the parking lot and into the forest until I found a clearing where I could park. Fortunately, she saw the empty lot and went back down the hill.
There was no internet or cell service again. This part of Oregon is pretty much no man’s land. The small towns are falling down. There are large ranches, spread throughout the region. I realized while driving through that nobody is growing anything. Maybe the growing season is too short? Or the soil is not conducive to produce? Everyone seems to be just raising cows, and not very many for the amount of land they have. You can see the ribs and backbones of most of the cows. It is a little depressing to drive through such squalor in between beautiful National Forests.
When we left the Sno-park, we went to Crater Lake National Park. The park entrance was just a short drive north, and I felt that even though our destination was to the south, I should make the effort to go see Crater Lake. The road in was very steep and winding with lots of switchbacks, no guardrails and fortunately, lots of scenic view pullovers so I could let all the Californians riding my ass pass me. At the Scenic View pull offs, there were signs saying “Falling could cause serious injury or death. Stay back from the cliffs.” That was reassuring. It took a long time (I was short on patience that day) to get to the top. The parking lot was packed with lots of RV’s and many 4WD cars. There was a gift shop and snack bar. I went in, thinking I might get a Crater Lake T-Shirt. But as I entered, the number of people buying souvenirs was such a turn off, I didn’t stay long. Tourists were clamoring to buy mugs and coasters and hoodies. I have more shirts than I need and I fought the urge to advertise to others where I’ve been. I went out the back door and followed signs indicating that the lake view was down this path. The lake itself was amazing. It was huge, much lower than the outlook where I was standing and surrounded my mountains and tall pines. Like the Grand Canyon, it was so immense that it was surreal. It looked like a movie set background. The pictures just don’t do it justice.
There were a million tourists, (a million and one, if you count me), cell phones out snapping photos. It was sad to me, not that we were taking photos, but that we couldn’t really experience the lake, just take photos and say we’d seen it. I think that is my problem with the National Parks in general—They have become such tourist traps. Everything is walled off or restricted by chains strung between posts. I felt like the only way to know Crater Lake would have been to camp down next to it, or even camp high up where I could see it every morning when I awoke and at night at sunset before I retired for the night. There was one campground within the park. They were booked up for months in advance. It was filled with giant, new class-A RV’s (Like Greyhound busses). I guess the rich can plan their vacations a year in advance, get a site, and bring everything they own with them in their giant rigs. It depressed me further. So I headed south, back to another spot in the forest. Or so I thought…
I am going to have to find a better way to find free camping. I currently use two apps; One is Campendium which tends to be a bit conservative. They don’t have nearly as many free places listed as they have paid campgrounds. I think they rely on the users to post coordinates and descriptions of the places they’ve stayed. They also have a list of questions for the users to fill out in order to rate a site, like how easy the access is, how difficult is the road in, how many bars of cell service, what is the noise level, etc. This is helpful because I believe Americans, especially the young, are illiterate for the most part. I can’t tell you how many people type that “It was a quite spot.” Nearly all the reviews are full of typos, poor grammar, misspellings, or are otherwise totally unreadable. But at least the 5-star rating system gives a good indicator. The users on this site, tend not to visit the free places so much so I’ve had to learn to look at when the review was posted. A review from 2017 is useless as the place could be long gone, closed, burned out, etc. I’ve made that mistake more than once, finding a good review, heading there only to find out that there are locked gates, or has “No Trespassing” signs.
The second app I use is called iOverlander. It is much more “rebellious.” It was a learning curve to be able to read into the reviews. The users include many risk-takers, and I suspect mostly young. So there are some listings that say “Great place to spend the night” but if you read all the way down into the review it could say “There were signs saying No Overnight Parking/No Camping”, but nobody bothered us.” Others will describe a turn off onto a dirt road, behind some trees, close to the main road. “Could be private property, but we stayed two nights.” So on this site, if you stay someplace and don’t get arrested, it is considered “a great place to stay.”
Both apps have led me to some very beautiful and amazing places to stay, in BLM land or National Forests and even the occasional pull-off on the side of a back road. Both places have also led me to profound disappointment.
The first place I drove to after Crater Lake was one such disappointment. I drove for about an hour and followed the GPS coordinates. It led me to Oasis Ranch (the listing on the app was for “Oasis campground.”) I turned onto the dirt driveway and came upon a sign that said, “private driveway.” I have seen some reviews that say the BLM land is past a private residence, and sometimes the property owners resent so many campers driving by, even though there is a legal right of way onto the BLM land. They sometimes put up signs discouraging people from driving past their house. So I continued and soon saw another sign that said “NOT CAMPGROUND.” OK, but was the campground further down the dirt road? I drove on a bit until I was obviously in the middle of someone’s ranch. There could have been BLM land further down, but I felt I was clearly on someone’s property who had warned me not to be, so I turned around and looked for my back-up plan. That one was supposed to be a nice lot with lots of nature trails. I got to it, and it was a rocky, dusty parking lot on a steep hill. There was a porta potty and lots of hiking/biking trails leading off in all directions. I drove around and around the lot until I found the most level spot and using all my leveling blocks, I made it work. It was right on a main highway and 18 wheelers drove past my bedroom window all night. It was the worst night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time. I got out of bed at the first sign of light, did our morning routine (quickly) and headed out. I had a spot picked out on the Klamath River, on BLM land. I was hoping it wouldn’t be another bust.
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First stop was Planet Fitness for a long hot shower. I rarely work out in PF because I have my own routine working out with bands. I can do that anytime of day or night, right outside the van. I miss my routine at Planet Fitness, but they are seldom close by, and I find one so seldom that there would be no “routine.” Also, when I do go, I have to leave Cosmo in the van. I’m OK leaving him alone, windows cracked and fan on, for the 15 minutes or so it takes me to shower, but wouldn’t be comfortable leaving him for as long as it takes me to workout and shower.
After the shower, I stopped at a Dollar Tree. It’s a great place to stock up on dish soap, laundry detergent and fabric softener (all in small bottles of a name brand for a buck twenty-five). I also bought crackers, a frozen veggie eggroll, a vegetarian chimichanga, a box of mac and cheese, breakfast bars and some Tootsie Rolls. I still had some fresh fruit and vegetables, so I wanted some things that won’t perish in case I want to extend my stay at the next campsite I find.
From there, I drove on to Klamath Falls BLM. When I turned off from the main highway onto the gravel road it looked promising. I saw a few spots off either side and decided they would work in a pinch if I couldn’t find the exact coordinates I was looking for, or if the good spots were all taken. I got to the coordinates and as Google Maps announced “You have arrived” I thought “Indeed I have.” It was a big clearing covered in gravel and (for whatever reason) wood chips. I pulled in, got oriented facing south (best for solar charging) and got leveled up. I don’t always get southern exposure AND level, so this was perfect. We immediately walked to the river which we could see from the van and was just a short walk down a hill.
I discovered that there were 3 or 4 even better campsites/clearings down by the river, with three dirt roads leading to them. One road was extremely steep, and I didn’t think it was passable in the van. The second had a lot of big boulders in the middle, and didn’t appear to have the clearance I’d need to get over them without risking damaging my undercarriage or water/gas/propane tanks below the van. The third looked manageable but had some deep ruts that I’d have to navigate carefully. I decided that since I’d be there through the Labor Day weekend, I had plenty of time to decide if I wanted to move. The original place had such good sun exposure and while I’d been living in the forest, I often didn’t have direct sunlight on my solar panels (due to the tall pines) for more than a few hours when the sun was directly overhead. Being in full sun would top off my batteries nicely. It appeared that we couldn’t go in the lake due to blue-green algae. I’d been told it can be quite toxic. Cosmo would immediately drink from the river and that would be disastrous. I could see the river from a higher vantage point from my original spot, and it was an easy walk (just a couple hundred yards) to go down and sit on some big rocks and take it all in.
At night, it got pitch black. I could see a million stars, (and one bright Jupiter rising) as the crescent moon set. I stood out marveling at the Milky Way and I heard a noise. What was that? I heard what sounded like crunching of branches. I stood still and let my eyes adjust to the dark. COWS! Big black COWS. They were about 20 feet from me, I guess heading home for the night (or possibly running away from home under the cover of darkness?) They strolled casually past me as I backed up a little closer to the van. They seemed used to people, and undaunted as they passed by in single file.
After not sleeping well the previous night, I went to bed early (9:30). I slept soundly until 5:00. I sat up in bed and took in the view of the lake at dawn, then laid back down. Cosmo snuggled up next to me, his head on my chest and I fell asleep again until 7:00.
Since I planned to stay put through the Labor Day weekend, it really felt quite freeing. It’s often hard to find a good spot on weekends, and on holiday weekends, it can be just about impossible to find a place to camp. Staying put for 5 days seemed a very good option. It’s funny, but you’d think that being retired, every day is a day of vacation. But staying put for a long weekend is truly a life of leisure. I don’t have to move. No driving. I’m stocked up on food and water, so I don’t have to go shopping, or get propane, or gas. I don’t have to decide where I’m driving to tomorrow because I’m already home for the weekend. It’s actually a big deal to “have off” for 5 days and do whatever I feel like doing. Cosmo and I take several walks during the day. We are just yards from the river (I can see it out my van window) so we go down and sit on a rock. When we get back home, I sit outside in the shade of my van. Late afternoons are best for this with the sun sinking in the west and my van making a fairly large shadow to the east where I can sit comfortably and read or listen to an Audible book being read to me. I stop often and look up at the forest, or the reservoir, or the squirrels and chipmunks running around. Occasionally, a herd of cows wanders past me. We look at each other suspiciously, but rarely speak. ?
I write this journal early in the mornings when the van is cool, and in the evening, I often watch YouTube or something on Netflix for an hour or so. I’ve also been keeping up with my new exercise routine. I do that each morning after our walk and before making breakfast.
Some not-so-great news this week: My mom is doing poorly. She has mostly stopped eating. She weighs only 76 lbs. so she can’t continue like that for long. She is often incoherent, thinking my sister is her sister who died many years ago. She talks of getting ready to go on her honeymoon and at one point she asked my sister if she (Ann) was her wife. I talked to her by phone several days, but the conversation is mostly incoherent and repeats over and over with her asking where I am every 15 seconds, and when I tell her I’m in Oregon, she says “Are you coming by today?” I explain that I’m 3,000 miles away and she tells me there is a bed in the spare room for me and Cosmo. Then she asks where I am. Minutes after I hang up, she has no idea that I even called. My sister tells me that some days my mom asks why God has taken her sister, her mother, her husband, and her son and most of her friends and leaves her behind to suffer. I think she is ready to go. I think we are all ready for her to let go and be at peace.
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My stay here next to the Klamath River has been so relaxing and restorative. I settled into a little bit of a routine with doing my morning workout (I don’t always make time for it in the mornings when I’m moving to a new location, or when I need to go somewhere for food, water, gas, propane, etc.) and I’m really feeling motivated. I found a guy (young and handsome and well-built) on YouTube who does an entire workout routine with just elastic bands. I have a set but hadn’t gotten comfortable with them. He shows not only a full workout of every body part, but he does so without attaching them to anything. Most exercises are done just by standing on the middle of the band and using the grips at the ends to perform all the exercises. It’s very well thought out, and works easily for me no matter where I am. And if I can’t remember an exercise, or lack motivation, I just pull up his YouTube video and get inspired, and somewhere in the recesses of my aging brain, I believe for a brief minute that if I just do what he is doing, I will eventually look just like him. (Hasn’t happened yet, but I haven’t given up.) I continue to walk several times a day with Cosmo. That is made difficult by the amount of dust and dirt in the area. The trails we walk on are dirt. Fine powder. Imagine walking in a room that is an inch or two deep in brown baby powder and you’ll get the picture. We come back filthy. I rinse my legs and feet and flip flops off using my outside shower, but then still have to walk around the van to the opposite side door to get in. Cosmo, with twice as many feet as I have, hops in the van dirty. It’s been a chore to keep things even relatively clean. I sweep and mop each morning and night. I dream of staying someplace with grass. Still, it is beautiful here.
Lessons From The Road: I’ve been thinking a lot about entropy again this week. The van has taken a beating over the last 15 months. It is a 1998 Dodge. I’m sure it was meant for an older couple to take it out on weekends during the summer, or maybe on a week’s vacation. I’m betting whoever designed/built it never in their wildest dreams envisioned an old man and a dog living in it full time. They should feel proud that their build went way beyond what it was intended for. It is quite comfortable, but the amount of fabric inside makes thorough cleaning difficult. The U-shaped sitting area has cushions covered in very durable fabric. I wash them whenever I stay with someone I know who has a washer and dryer. (It takes the better part of a day). To the designer’s credit, the covers come off and can be thrown in the wash. I washed them last when I was in Prescott Valley staying with friends in May. With 6 feet coming and going many times during the day, and 4 of those feet coming in from the dirt and hopping up on the sofa, it doesn’t take long for them to get dirty again. And I eat my meals and snacks there at the table in the center of the U-shaped “dinette,” so sometimes something falls on the cushion. I clean it as best I can, but it is in dire need of a good washing again. I did wash the throw rugs last week, and that really made a big difference in the amount of dust that is inside the van. But the carpet (a 3’x4’ section under the dining area) needs some serious TLC. The back walls are covered in fabric, and they too probably need a good professional cleaning. I dust countertops, tabletops, and my solar system daily. I wipe my dashboard with a damp cloth every other day. Still the dust persists. Camping is dirty.
Likewise, the past 15 months have aged me noticeably. I look in the mirror and don’t always notice those extra lines creeping in on my face, but I DO notice the wrinkled skin on my arms, especially when I raise them to comb my hair or tie it up in the back. When did this happen? I tried to remove a speck of dirt from my hand the other day. It wasn’t dirt, it was an age spot. I’ll be 70 in January. Life has taken its toll on my body. I have scars from falling off a ladder when I was putting up siding on my building. I have marks on my let where a dog bit me last Christmas. There is a stretched-out scar on my right hip where new parts were installed 15 years ago. I look at Cosmo for some consolation and notice that he too has grown some new white hairs on his muzzle. An old man and an old dog living in an old van. Happily.