Alpacas to Dinosaurs – Our First Week on the Road.

 

The Short Bus is parked next to our new alpaca friends.

First stop – Alpacas! We have an exciting itinerary planned – an eclipse, National Parks, Escapade, and so much more – but our first destination was Natural Maximum Alpacas, a Harvest Host site in Prosser, WA. On Saturday, 3/9, we pulled in about 4pm and Linda Mackey, Alpaca mom extraordinaire, guided us to a spot with lovely views of the rolling hills. Best of all, we were parked right next to her delightful herd of 14 awesome alpacas. Linda took us on a tour and we got to feed her fluffy family. Linda and her husband James have five acres on which they've planted over a hundred trees. They’ve installed the longest reflexology pathway in the state and have several gardens for guests to enjoy. It was too early in the season for flowers, but I bet it’s gorgeous come summer. We were introduced to her four hens, which she told us each lay one egg a day. The morning of our departure, Linda brought us three fresh eggs and said one of the hens must have been slacking. Lol.

The first pic is Larry, Curly and Moe (just kidding!). 

Linda shows us the unprocessed fleece. Heavenly soft!

Rog is the alpaca whisperer. Lol.

We also got to see products made from her alpaca’s fleece. Linda makes many of the items herself - knitting, crocheting, and felting. She could identify which yarn came from which alpaca. There were so many choices, beautiful hats, scarves, gloves, socks, decorative items, and more. Rog picked out a pair of alpaca wool socks and I snagged a pair of fingerless gloves. Perfect for picture taking when the temps are low, which would be right now. Lol.

Just a few of my favorite things. 😄 

Our trip has started off much like the last one – with strong gusty winds nearly blowing us out of our lane. I was hoping leaving nearly a month later in the year would give us clear sailing. Maybe I should have thought more carefully about my word choice, because sailing is what it felt like. Although we had a few snow flurries, at least we avoided the blizzard conditions we encountered last year. Of course, it’s only day one. Lol.

Our second night was spent at the Oregon Trail rest stop near Ontario, OR. We opted to bypass the eastbound rest stop and circle back to the westbound one where the RV/truck parking was much larger and further back from I84. The highlight of the day was a stop at the top of Dead Man’s Pass where the kids had an absolute blast in the snow. Raney had the zoomies, while Riley made snow angels – laying on his back and kicking his feet in the air with a ridiculous grin on his face. Our boy loves the snow! I was bummed that I didn’t have my camera or phone with me, because their antics were priceless.

We stopped at another Harvest Host site on Monday, 3/11. No alpacas here, but we were perched on a bluff above the Snake River at The Boathouse restaurant in Burley, ID. The site boasts two restaurants, the Boathouse and Portside Pizza and Pub, as well as a couple cabins, and a huge open area to host boondockers. We enjoyed a tasty dinner at Portside Pizza and then had the RV area all to ourselves. Raney and Riley had lots of off-leash play time and an opportunity to wade in the river.

Perched above the Snake River at the Boathouse restaurant.

Playing ball and then going in the river - Riley's in heaven.

We are starting to think that stopping to let the kids play in the snow maybe wasn’t such a brilliant idea. It apparently stimulated Riley’s amazing snow mojo. Rog is tracking the weather and our planned route to Moab, UT is now under a winter weather advisory calling for 6-12 inches of snow in the passes. UGH!! Riley may be thrilled at the prospect, but we are not. We are exploring alternate routes that, while longer, should avoid the worst of the snow. We shall see. This is looking like one of those times when we stay flexible, deciding on a route as we pull out in the morning and adjusting it on the fly as necessary.  

No mountain passes today (3/12), so we made it to Lakeside RV Campground in Provo, UT without any difficulty. A little rain, a little sun, a little wind, typical spring weather. This was our first stop with hookups and we were looking forward to getting everything charged up and a long hot shower. Then Murphy decided things had been going way too smoothly. So far, our RV issues this trip had been relatively minor – the clip holding the blinds in the window above Riley’s bed (read that couch) failed and we had to remove the entire blind assembly until we can source a new clip. Plus a new rock chip on the passenger side window – hoping to get a repair before that runs!

Anyhow Rog hooks us up to power, everything is fine and then all of sudden we have no power to the 12volt system. If you are familiar with RV’s you know that most of the coach needs 12volt to run – no lights, no fridge, no water pump, no love without it. WTH?? Did one of the pups accidently hit the battery disconnect? Nope. Rog double checks all the breakers…nothing is popped. Hmmmm. Then…poof…everything is working again. For about two minutes. Arrrgh. Intermittent electrical issues are the worst! Rog spent the next hour trying to troubleshoot the problem. He opened up the battery disconnect switch, but it seemed to be fine. All the breakers…fine. I went to the campground office to get a number for a mobile repair service. Rog finally tried resetting the 12v breaker even though it hadn’t popped and ta-da – lights! For about five minutes. He reset it again…we’re back in business. So, we figure the breaker is bad. Nope, on the third reset he notices a loose connection to the breaker. All that because the connections had been jostled enough going down the road to loosen up just a wee bit. He tightened the connections, problem solved. Yay!!!!

Such a simple fix, but it could have been disastrous!

To complicate matters, this is our maiden voyage with a new set of Epoch lithium batteries. Shortly before we left, Rog had replaced our 7-year-old lead acid batteries with lithium batteries that would double our available amp hours. The installation required some rewiring and additional components. Although he tested the system and all was working, it certainly made the power failure a little more anxiety ridden. Glad it was a simple fix!

New Epoch lithium 300 amp hour batteries and a Renology DC to DC charge controller. Woohoo!

We also have another new toy this trip. Thanks to my brother’s generous Christmas gift, we are the proud owners of a Starlink. It has been a huge upgrade. Instead of one tiny nubbin of Verizon 4G that was barely enough to send a text message, I’m cruising the internet and have no excuses not to get the blog out. Wait…maybe it’s not all good. Lol. Now if mother nature will just cooperate and let us through the passes without too much fuss, we’re gold. Lol.

And Starlink too! Ain't we fancy? Lol. 

We made it to Moab! (But you could tell that from the Starlink pic, right?) After much deliberation, Rog decided to just stick with our original planned route. Mother nature played nice and we made it through the passes with just a few sections of slushy roads, spitting snow, and, of course, the ever present wind. We pulled into Horsethief BLM campground about 3pm on 3/13 to find it nearly deserted and our favorite campsite open. Hurrah! We set up camp and, while the temps were brisk, we thoroughly enjoyed a few hours of sunshine. Raney made friends with the lab next door and we chatted with our neighbors. Then the clouds moved in, the winds kicked up and it started snowing sideways. Lol. It didn’t last long, but served as a reminder that spring weather in the desert is an uncertain business.

Threatening clouds and snow on the hills, but the roads stayed clear.

Once we got out of the mountains it was blue skies for a change!

Riley and Raney were glad to be out of the coach for awhile.

The view from our patio.
Now you know why this is our favorite site in the campground.

One of the main reasons we love this campground is that Rog can access the Horsethief system of mountain biking trails right from our campsite. On Thursday he bundled up and took off to do parts of Rowdy, Rodeo, and Wrangler trails. He was back after a couple hours, with the realization that tackling trails at nearly 6000 ft of elevation with no training does not make for easy riding. And we won’t say anything about us not getting any younger. Lol.  After being cooped in the RV for the last several days, the pups were lobbying to sit outside after dinner. Rog pulled out another new addition to the load out, an Ignik Firecan. It’s a baby propane firepit! We can’t fit a full sized one in the rig, but this little guy puts out some heat and is a great alternative. Campgrounds frown on or outright prohibit bringing in firewood and with frequent burn bans, it‘s nice to have options.

Anxiously waiting for last bites.
Those faces! And Raney has the waterworks turned on. Lol. 

Trying out the Fire Can until the rain started and drove us back inside.

Friday was supposed to be our warmest day and this is what we woke up to… Actually, I would have been happy to just wake up to the view. Instead I was outside (ahem) enjoying the weather at 5AM. Riley was unsettled most of the night, must have been that snow dance he was doing. But he finally had me bolting out of bed to the sound of him hurking at the door. Nothing can make a dog mom (or cat mom) levitate out of bed faster. Ugh. It was a minor mess, but by the time we had it cleaned up everyone was awake and Raney was demanding breakfast. So 5am potty walks in the snow and early coffee. Gotta love ‘em. Sigh.

The view outside our bedroom window - once it was light enought to take a picture. Lol. 

We had a few hours break in the weather Saturday afternoon, so we loaded up the pups for a drive. Even with the clouds the scenery is spectacular. We wanted to check out some nearby dinosaur tracks at Mill Canyon Fossil and Historical area.  There’s a short trail with a boardwalk and several informative signs detailing the six different types of dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous period (about 112 million years ago) that left their mark here including early alligators, Therapods, and Ornithopods. There have been no skeletal remains found in this area of some of the dinosaurs, so the only record of them are footprints. The Therapod was a meat-eater, estimated to be 8 ft tall at the hip. The Ornithopods were herbivores, similar to the Iguanodon. Dinosaur tracks are just so freaking cool!

The clouds touched the top of the mesa.

Monitor and Merrimack. 

A large Therapod track.

Ornithopod running across the algae bed. Lol.

Maybe 112 million years from now someone will be
awed by these tracks of the amazing mastisaur. Lol.

Mill Canyon is also the site of an old stagecoach stop and a copper mill which ran from 1901 to 1903. Today there is a small BLM campground and trails for hiking, biking, and equestrians. I loved the metal sculptures depicting prospectors near the trailhead.  

Sculpture commemorating the early minors.

View from the Mill Canyon campground.

We opted to head back to our campsite and take the pups on a short hike before the rain was due to start at 4pm. The trail was completely deserted so the pups got to explore and sniff to their heart’s content. We timed it perfectly, getting back to the rig just as the rain started back up. A little sun, clouds, rain, sleet, snow…another typical day. I’d just like to note that the folks at home have been thoughtful enough to share that they are enjoying 70° temps and sunshine. We obviously left a week too early, although there’s no telling what Riley’s snow mojo would have done to their balmy spring weather. Lol.

The pups enjoyed exploring and so did we!

I see you!

I love the twisted juniper and colorful lichen.

Rog and the trail dogs. 

Raney and Riley relax after the hike. 
Notice the pink toes?

Our next destination is Durango, CO. We’ve never been there before, so we’ll see what trouble we can get into. 😊