Alternative Rving

Last weekend we tried out our new truck camper. It's actually about the same size as the 5th wheel interior with some extra goodies, like a solar panel for charging the batteries and a cellular antenna for phone and internet access via our Verizon service. We took it to Burro Creek, a BLM campground about 60 miles north of Wickenburg. We'd driven by several times and thought it would be close enough if anything didn't work.

It was a good trip. We took a hike along the creek that we hadn't realized was there and up to the edge of the highway bridge. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the bridge from underneath -- next time! I found some pretty rocks to add to the collection I keep at home around the courtyard fountain and Mike found what looked like a cannon ball or rusted ball bearing about the size of a bocchi ball. We had a fire the 2nd night out, when it cooled off and ran the generator for a couple hours to watch some DVDs. We made a list of little things for the next time we're out in the truck camper like an awning, longer water hose, portable water container, lots of kitchen stuff I forgot (can you believe I didn't bring salt and pepper?).

It is really easy to setup and go so we plan on hitting the road again soon!

The 5th wheel is being sold this winter, if anyone is interested or knows of someone looking for a 1 or 2 person 5th wheel that can be hauled by a 1/2 ton truck. We'll also be selling the travel trailer in Stanton, once we do a little fix-up.

Birth Day

Today is my 55th birthday! First a big hug to all of you that sent cards or called and made me feel great to have such wonderful family and friends.

Getting older brings reflection and the universe today put some interesting thoughts in my way.

I spent an hour or so listening to the story of the man who has been caring for my lawn for over 20 years. Turns out he was trained as an accountant in Guatemala where he is from. He served in their army and came to the U.S. in his 20's. He worked as a dishwasher, cook, landscaper and now owns over 15 properties and his own landscaping business, a very successful small businessman. He has 4 children, his oldest on the path to becoming a doctor. And yes, he's a legal immigrant.

It's sobering to think that all these years with my prejudice which can mean "to pre-judge", I've missed knowing him. I am ashamed of myself. Unlike my father, though I can see I'm too often blinded to the real person.

So, today, as I begin to enjoy the gift of another year of life on this wonderful earth, I wish for myself to be a kinder, gentler, caring person and to see with my heart. Happy Birthday.

There's No Place Like Home

We got back to Phoenix on Thursday and are still unpacking the 5th wheel and cleaning things up. The house was in fantastic shape (Thank you, Christina!!). It's taking time to adjust to the heat again. The best part of being home is seeing family. We had dinner with my Dad and Marilyn Thursday night and with Pam, Mike and Sophia Friday. Brad stopped by Saturday to check out the 5th wheel for hunting in November and I had lunch with KC and Joy. Here's a picture of Grandpa before losing the beard!

We both are finding the house a HUGE space with much too many things and I'm determined to have a garage sale and clear it out. After 5 1/2 months of living with so much less it seems silly to keep so many things around.

This blog is going on hiatus now until our next prospecting adventure. I may launch our own website this winter but I spent way too much time with the PC on my lap this summer and now I've got to work on getting rid of the lap! I know life itself will continue to be a wonderful adventure.

Day's End

Mike took a fellow prospector into the Medford Airport this morning and when he returned we started packing up for the journey home. There are so many things to do, that at the end of the day I just wanted to experience the quiet of this mountain area little bit more before we leave. I took a drive and tried to capture the rising moon reflecting on Elk Creek.

I have a poem that I saved from Jan, about reflecting on the end of the day that fits well for reflecting on the end of our stay. Here's the link to it: End of Day.
I hope we've "left a trail of kindness" with the people here in Happy Camp.

A Little Diversion

We had planned to go to dinner at the Oregon Caves Chateau later this week and decided to make the trip today instead. We headed over the mountain, where some of the flowers are turning to puffy seed.

The caves are 20 miles outside of Cave Junction, Oregon. Mike stopped at a dentist he'd found online who agreed to see him right away so I set off to wander while he got some fillings done.

I love thrift shops so I stopped at the local Senior Center Thrift Shop. A patron had recently dropped off his entire book collection and I enjoyed picking out a few old gems. A reprint of "Ladies Indispensable Assistant" from 1852 is a hoot! Satisfied with my finds, I picked Mike up and he drove up to the monument.

We didn't tour the cave (not a good idea after fillings and without jackets) but planned on saving that for next year.
We had lunch at the 30's style cafe (I tried to make the picture a little Hopper-esque) and looked around the chateau. It's built into the marble canyon and would be a nice place for a romantic weekend.

I snapped a shot of some very forward blue birds who seemed offended after posing and not getting any treats.



The lunches were huge, so we brought the leftovers home for dinner and settled in for the evening. We're heading back to Phoenix next week, me via Reno and Mike through California. Can't wait to see everyone again!

Home Fever

I took a ride into Cave Junction today for some groceries and gas and to trade in our summer reading at the Book Exchange. It's a hour and a half drive over Grayback, as the locals refer to it; a twisty, turning road that takes you from the river level in Happy Camp, CA up and over the mountain to Cave Junction, Oregon.

The ride is beautiful, lots of tall pine and fading summer flowers and even a few trees starting to turn to fall colors. But, I have to admit, I'm yearning for bigger vistas - the long stretch of the desert and cholla cactus and Arizona sunsets. There's no place like home.

Capturing Nature

I finally got some pics of the hummingbirds feeding, not great, but pretty good without a super zoom lens. And I made another drive up Elk Creek Road, hoping to see Cougar Falls and Sulfur Springs. I found both roads but after a couple of miles on each it was plain the low slung Matrix wasn't going to make it and I turned back.
I did get some snaps of the East Fork of Elk Creek and the sun setting on the trees.


I also saw a bear scoot up the side of a hill from the road. When I stopped to take pictures it was so quiet I thought I could hear the trees breathe. We humans are so small.

Big Foot Parade and more

Today was the big parade down main street. You can check out the video on the Happy Camp Chamber website on the Calendar page. I got to ride in the 2nd place winner, "American Moms" float. We had "American Pie" blasting on the boom box and threw candies to the kids.

I was touched as we moved down the street at all the faces I recognized of the people I've met here in Happy Camp. It's been a wonderful place to live for a time and I know I'll remember it fondly.

This afternoon I scrubbed down the dredge parts (I do love to clean!) and after a long, hot shower and dinner I took a ride up Elk Creek road to a lookout point. The road gets very narrow and the edge isn't too stable but the little Matrix does fine. And the pics below made it worth it. We have been so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

Labor Day Saturday

This weekend is a big deal in Happy Camp, with a Big Foot Queen crowned last night, a teen dance and then today and Sunday vendor booths, food and a dance in the park. I like the woodworking and admired the Forest Service's classic truck. Mike and I drove to Cave Junction to check out their festivities. There was a truck obstacle course race going on and we admired the electric bicycles--the rep told us they were "hybrids" because you could use the motor OR pedal!



We drove into Grants Pass with clear blue skies and stopped at the Kerbyville Museum to check out the local mementos. They had a great collection of indian baskets and old mining gear, a military room and several shelves of research material. It made me think how cool it would be to digitize and document collections of small museums to preserve them.

We had dinner on the way back in Cave Junction. It was breezy and cool tonight - just a hint of fall coming. Tomorrow is the big foot parade with the float done by us ladies in the park. Can't wait!

An ordinary day

Mike went into town yesterday for a taste of big city and I walked into Happy Camp for the day. I updated the Happy Camp Chamber of Commerce web site and picked up the mail. I did a lot of work for my job and completed several required online courses that I needed to get done before the end of the month.

This afternoon I cored and quartered the apples we picked and made a yummy applesauce that went nicely with the pork chops I made for dinner. I have apple juice too, that I hope to use in a cake.

Tonight I watched the convention speeches and checked out the float that the campground is going to have in the Big Foot Jamboree Parade on Sunday. This weekend is a big celebration for the holiday. I'll post pics and pans after the big weekend.

Jade hunting

This morning I took off with Laurel to hunt for "happy camp" jade, not a true jade, but a pretty pale green stone that's mined in the area. We took off in her jeep wrangler to a spot on Indian Creek and waded up and down the stream looking for the stone.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze, great for wading. We spent several hours in the water and then headed back toward town. On the way, we spotted some apple trees on the side of the road, and decided to pick a few. We braved the blackberry brambles and endured their thorny branches to reach the tree and its treasures. Later this week I hope to make an apple crisp from our takings.

Here's a large piece of the jade that I'll bring back and put in our courtyard. Lots of fun!

Across the river

Today I got to go across the river to help out running the sluice. The little boat zips across with the current and with Mike's considerable effort, gets back to the other side when we wrapped up.
I sat by the sluice and ran dirt through it while Mike was loading up buckets. I had some butterflies visiting me. The sun and climbing tired me out and after a shower I vegged.

Jellies and jigsaws

This morning after Mike took off to do some sampling on the ridge above his dredge, I got down to jelly making. Keep in mind I have one saucepan and one large pot so the logistics were challenging and when the jelly boiled over, I had sauce oozing over the stove top. Good thing it's a small space and cleans up quick! Here's the results of today's canning. Not bad for a newbie!

I got the laundry done and some cleaning in the rig and made a (strange) chili relleno dish for dinner that turned out to be jalapeno flavored cornbread. Won't be doin' that again!

My fellow camper finished her driftwood chair and I think it's very stylish. It goes together like a jigsaw puzzle from pieces she gathered on the beach. It's bolted together with heavy duty screws and the seat and foot rest are painted 2x6 pieces. She'll take it back home when she leaves and preserve it with a clear deck stain.




Oh, I got a lift to the laundry mat on the camp host's golf cart, that puppy really zooms along! All in a day at Happy Camp.

The passing of days

I can't believe it's late August. We've been here almost four months now. Today was breezy and overcast and much cooler. I sat outside in the gazebo and worked on my paid job. Later this afternoon I picked a bucket of red plums and white plums and tonight started making jelly with them. A fellow camper here explained how to do it. She's been making jams and jellies for years.
It's probably old hat for some of my readers, but it's all new to this city girl! After mashing and cooking the fruit, Mike helped me suspend it in cheesecloth so the juice could drain into a bowl. Tomorrow I'll pour off the juice, add the pectin and fix it up in jars.

My teacher is also artistic and was working on a driftwood bench she made from wood collected in Crescent City, on the coast. When she finishes it, I'll post a picture.

Monday this week I drove into Yreka to meet my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew for dinner on their way to Ashland to attend the Shakespeare festival. We had good food at the Black Bear Restaurant. I spent the night in Yreka so I could do some research at the Siskiyou Historical Society Museum. They have a wealth of material on the area going back to the late 1800's.

For lunch I drove into Ashland to visit with my sister some more (can't resist getting to see family) and after yummy food and ice cream, drove back to Happy Camp.

There was a small fire outside of Saied Valley with 3 or 4 helicopters overhead and lots of fire fighter vehicles traveling the road. It's a beautiful drive and I notice new spots each time.

Here's a shot of the mountains in the distance that I took on my way out on Monday.

Have you left your box lately?

Out on a morning walk, I noticed a man driving around in a large orange box with windows and horizontal legs that crabbed across the landscape cutting the grass and thought to myself, "that man spends his day in a big orange box, while I…." and then one of those newer SUVs drove by with the new squared off design, and the driver inside sporting a determined grimace as she rode off into her morning commute. And I thought that we all spend a lot of time in boxes.

We drive in our car box to our office box where we sit in front of our computer box and work our in-box. We drive home, maybe stopping at a store box, then on to our house box where we empty our mail box and sit and watch the TV box with food from the ice box. And in the end, we end up in a six foot box.

But the world isn't made of boxes. It's a flowing, undulating stream of irregular shapes and complicated living things as far as the eye can see.

Maybe it's time to do some out-of-the-box living.

[I wrote this a few years ago and since we've been living in a box for several months, I thought I'd share it!]

Quilt Show

Today we went to Cave Junction, Oregon so I could see the Illinois Valley Quilt Show. The quilters from around the area displayed about 100 quilts. Quite a show. Check out the slideshow on my blog to see all the beautiful quilts.

It's a craft I would like to get into but its not practical in my current setting. Part of the admission was a free gift, a pattern and fabric to make a quilted pincushion. Now that I can do here!

I met tonight with a local resident who is willing to maintain the Happy Camp Chamber website. I want to get it turned over before we leave.

After the meeting I had dinner at the regular Friday night Art Council gathering. There's a couple who ran an art "gallery" that split up and now have separate organizations. I don't know which half operates the dinner but it's good food, usually vegetarian, fresh and adventurous so since Mike was happy with leftovers from our trip to town I indulged.

The smoke has returned tonight. The forest service is containing fires by surrounding a couple of large ones so the burn into each other in the wilderness. It's a bit controversial for the Indian tribes because its in an area they consider sacred land, one of many such places up here. The winds should clear out the smoke again in a few days. The evening sun glows a bright orange-red through the smoke.

This week is usually the hottest one of the year for Happy Camp and we've been seeing it get to 100 degrees during the day. I went down to the swimming hole yesterday to cool off. Clear and refreshing and no need to add chlorine! The water is about 3 feet deep and runs over smooth rocks so it's great for a midday dip.

We've been seeing the hummingbirds at our feeder outside the dining table window but I haven't managed to get a picture yet. They go through the nectar like kids slurping shakes!

A Night on the Town

This weekend I went into Ashland, Oregon for a girl's night out. I wanted to see a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and do some window shopping. I drove in Sunday and saw "Comedy of Errors' done in a Western theme in the outdoor theatre. It was a hoot! Before the play is "The Green Show" a free performance on the green outside which featured a blues and jazz singer. Great fun!
The play was well done and despite being in the farthest most balcony seat, I could hear every word and see fine!

I enjoyed dinner at Louie's Bar and Grill (the fries with garlic and feta cheese were yummy) and had brunch Monday at Morning Glory - look at that bagel with scrambled egg, pesto, tomato and melted brie). My DH called and wished me a good night and regretted not coming into town with me. He's such a sweetheart.

I returned via the U.S. 96 Scenic Byway - about a 100 mile drive from door to door. It felt like coming home when I saw the Happy Camp valley.

The Conqueror

Today Mike got the dredge across the river and anchored in the spot where he'll be dredging. When he got back to the near shore, he had to climb this cliff to get the rope high enough off the river. This one's for you, kids!

Surfing

I have been entranced with the Internet since the first time I played Zork and discovered listservs in the mid-80's. It's like wandering in a visual library with endless rows of card catalogs. So I thought I'd share a few of the sites I've found recently and some I've admired for a long time by adding them to my favorites on my blog www.prospectorwife.blogspot.com.

Because, while I don't get outside and dig in the dirt like a true prospector, I do share the excitement of searching for "gold" and finding the treasures buried in the Internet.

He Crosses the River

Today, after almost 2 weeks of trying, Mike got across the river. That's him the yellow life vest up on the rocks.

We'd started out planning to use a raft but it's large surface area meant it couldn't glide across the current and was just pushed downstream. And the plastic paddle broke. We tried using a boogie board to get across the current to the rocky shore on the other side. No luck. We both got within arm's length but couldn't grab on before either the board or the rope towed us back downstream with the current. So Mike pondered his options and decided a better craft was needed. He went into Medford Monday and picked up a 7 foot inflatable canoe and sturdy wooden paddle. Today would be the day we made it!

After inflating the canoe, Mike practiced a little in the water and then made two attempts to get across the current into a cove of calmer water. Both times he was pushed back out into the current and dragged downstream with the rope. Pretty exhausting.

My turn next. I paddled across stream twice, brushing the branches on the far side but not able to maneuver the canoe to get a grip anywhere. By this time, Mike was very silent.

I jabbered about some options and then finally got the hint to just keep quiet. He switched to a lighter rope, strapped on his life jacket and headed for the water. Before I knew it, he had headed up stream and launched into the current. In about 5 minutes, he had breast-stroked across and was able to latch onto a rock and climb out the other side. It took another hour or more to anchor a second rope across by floating the end on a buoy till it caught on Mike's line. He then swam out on the first rope, which was anchored on my side and tied to him, and retrieved the second line. After climbing the boulders on the far side and securing the cross-stream rope, Mike swam out into the current and I pulled him across until he could swim upstream again. That was one exhausted prospector and he hadn't done any digging today!

After getting some rest, he ratcheted the near side of the rope up above the water to 12 feet height, for the safety of any rafters that might go by. That was enough for today --tomorrow its the challenge of getting the dredge across and all the equipment-- and getting back again.

All in a day's work for us retired folks! We'll keep you posted.

Napping

Relaxing is a skill I have rarely practiced and still am quite clumsy at. Doing nothing goes against my irrational need to be productive every minute, or at least hourly. To counter this sad state of affairs, I've been pursuing the art of napping.

One spot is my camp chair with the foot rest on the path side of the 5th wheel. It's under the giant pine next to us and looks out at the park and people passing by to get to the swimming hole. I've mastered reading here and of course chatting with the other residents. Today I *put down the book* , closed my eyes, listened to the birds and dozed off! I think I could get the hang of this!

I've read where napping is good for your heart and could improve memory, so it could be productive after all.

In Memory of Opal

A wonderful lady and loved family member passed away this week. Opal, my sister's mother-in-law, died this past Monday at 93. I hadn't seen her a lot but I heard of her and her love for her family through my sister many times. Opal cared for others always, from her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the people she met at The Peaks where she last lived. She always seemed happy and engaged in life and had energy to do what needed to be done no matter how she felt. Our love and thoughts are with her family.

Dredging and Dallying

Getting gold from the bottom of a river is a lot of work. It seems that more time is spent getting ready to dredge, climbing down to the river, suiting up, and setting up the equipment than actual dredging! Today we made the first attempt at getting to the other side of the river, where there is a very promising-looking cove.














The pics today show Mike carrying supplies around some boulders to get to the launch site. I scramble over the rocks. The middle pic is of the dredge floating in the water. On the left side of the picture is the opposite shore we're aiming to get to.

The pic of Mike shows him suited up for crossing the river. That's a boogie board in his hand. He's got a wet suit on and a life jacket and is tethered to a 300 foot rope that I'm feeding from the shore. I'll get pics of the crossing later this week.

It's not all work up here, we took a trip to Grants Pass earlier this week and on the way back I snapped pics of some of the wildflowers growing in the higher elevations of the mountains. I made Mike stop along the road and got out to take the shots. We've been here 3 months now and will be heading back the end of September. I'm looking forward to seeing some early fall changes before we return home. Summer is just flying by.

country pleasures

Sometimes it's the little things that make it fun to be out in the country.

i've grown herbs before but never tomatoes! This is a picture of my first and if the critters don't get it, it'll be ripe in a few weeks. Yummy!

The bowl of blackberries came from the bushes out on the river where we're dredging. These will probably go with some ice cream or pancakes but if I get a bunch I might make up some jam.

Sunday nights are potlucks in the campground. Tonight was smoked turkey. I made some tortilla pinwheels and carrot cake cupcakes (though some of them had to stay home for the hungry guy!).

I hung up the hummingbird feeder but haven't seen any yet. It's right outside the dining room window so I hope to snap some close-ups.

Tomorrow its back out to the river and some dredging in a new spot. Have a relaxing Sunday evening.