April-June 2021
A Much More Pleasant Spring
On the road again, we travel, we visit, we gather together
Even more than usual, in 2021 a new year has brought with it new possibilities. Last year we spent most of the year hiding in the most remote, forgotten places possible, staying clear of other people, self- isolating and hoping to weather the pandemic that had swept the country and the world. We all hoped this year might be different, and by March we had gotten our shots and had made plans to head to the West Coast to see our family and as many friends as we could fit in before mid-June. Why mid-June? Because it looked as if it might just be possible that the Tiger Rally in the Colorado Rockies was actually going to happen this year and we did not want to miss it.
So, as you may recall from our last message, we left Texas, crossed New Mexico, spent some time in northern Arizona with a camping friend, visited folks in Phoenix and Tucson, and then passed by Boulder Dam with its increasingly low water supply. It looked very bad in mid-April; by now, late in June, it is reaching historic lows. Indeed, Lake Mead is currently at its lowest level since 1937 when it was first filled. This is not good for the five states that depend on the Colorado River for much of their water and cut backs and other problems are expected to be felt by later this summer. It’s even likely that the hydroelectric power station at the dam will be forced to cut its output for the first time ever. Without a dramatic change in recent weather patterns the Southwest appears to be facing some difficult times and difficult choices ahead.
Despite those concerns, we moved along. After skirting south of Las Vegas and making a quick stop in Pahrump, NV (great name, huh!) we jumped over the border into California and started another whirlwind tour of our home state.
We had a great visit with our youngest son — the last of our children still living in CA — as well as lots of old friends (and old doctors!), and noticing how badly some areas had been dealt with between fires and drought as we moved north from the L.A. basin up through our old stomping grounds in San Luis Obispo County. We hung around SLO for ten days or so keeping busy renewing friendships with folks we hadn’t seen in a year and a half; it was good.
We had beautiful spring weather all the way. We kept remarking on how lovely the wildflowers were — and how much the trees had grown everywhere. If you don’t pay much attention for about 15 years, it’s amazing how things do change. We drove down one of our favorite old country roads and hardly recognized where we were. “Oh, yes, there’s that old barn — we are on the right road!” We had lots of fun.
Lupine, our favorite wildflower, was everywhere. We’d seen it in Texas (the variety there is the wonderful Bluebonnet), and every state since. In the forests the hillsides were covered with ferns, yellow broom and Queen Anne’s Lace. We saw plenty of deer, chipmunks, and hummingbirds (a surprise).
We continued further north, spending time with friends in Santa Cruz, then driving up 19th Avenue in San Francisco and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge — Tiger’s first time — and on into Marin County, the Delta, and then a brief dip into Nevada to visit our oldest son and see a little snow before crossing back into California and up along the Feather River and the back roads near Mt Shasta before going on into Oregon. And by the way, absolutely the single best view of Mt Shasta is to come north on Highway 89, through Lassen NP and Shasta-Trinity NF. Take our word for it. The mountains and forests still looked pretty darn good despite the very weak snowpack from the prior winter.
Our primary goal in Oregon was to get some work done on the truck in Grants Pass, but in between days in the garage we took the opportunity to drive up the Pacific Coast, back down through the Willamette Valley, visit with our two other children and spend time in Rogue River with some good buddies.
It was a beautiful time to wander in these areas, and this is always lovely country. Along the way we also made a stop at the Tillamook Air museum, where we had been several times before. Amazingly, this location has housed an air museum since 1944. The small collection of airplanes is housed in a WWII blimp hangar that is the largest wood framed building in the world. Pretty cool place anytime you find yourself in the area.
Our daughter Lauri lives in Nehalem, OR, just a bit north of Tillamook and we enjoyed visiting her along with her husband, Scott, and their assorted dogs, cats, chickens and, yes, goats. The country around where they live is beautiful and they have open farm land surrounding them.
By the time the work was completed in Grants Pass, we were twitching to get back on the road, as by now we only had 6 days to get to Leadville, Colorado. Now we know, covering 1400 miles in six days is no great feat for most travelers, but for a motorized turtle it’s still a fair stretch of countryside. Anyway we made the most of it, making as few interstate miles as possible, finding some place quiet and woodsy to stay most nights, and enjoying springtime across Nevada, Utah and western Colorado. And it all went very well.
Crossing from southeastern Oregon back into Nevada, we were aiming to go east on Highway 50, one of our favorite cross country routes. Much of it turned out to be kind of dry and dusty this year, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We left Oregon’s green forests and wildflowers behind, at least for the moment, and struck out for Winnemucca and Ely, a couple of our favorite town names. We spent a very nice night east of the town of Austin, NV, at a camping area called Hickison Petrographs. It was up a hillside with a nice view of the valley ahead, and there were, indeed, petrographs (aka pictographs) nearby. These didn’t quite match up with ones seen in Africa and Australia, but still it was fun to get up to enjoy them in the early morning light. And shortly thereafter we saw our first pronghorn of the year. Yes!
We enjoyed meeting a fellow camper at the petrographs when he recognized the Tiger and asked us if we’d ever heard of those Travelin-Tortuga folks. Turns out he has a friend who owns a Tiger and had told him all about us. We had a nice chat with him and then would later meet up with his friend, whom we had met before, at the Tiger Rally.
On the east side of Nevada, in the Ely area, they seem to be doing some gargantuan mining projects, with entire hills being removed — it was quite hot, windy, and dusty, so we didn’t stop to try and see more, but it sure was ugly near the old mining town of Ruth. We didn’t envy the numerous cyclists we were sharing the road with; this could not have been a pleasant part of their trip.
It got better when we reached Utah. Of course, first thing is you cross into the Mountain Time Zone. But you also start to pass through nice green agricultural areas with small towns with pretty city parks, most of which welcome you to park up for the night. This would be true in lots of Utah; the state is most welcoming to travelers.
Traveling along in Utah we had an interesting encounter. Coming down through a lovely canyon just after joining I-70 for a bit, we came around a curve to see a car beside the road with a lady standing beside it waving her arms. We stopped to see what was what. It seems they had tire problems and no cell service; could we help. Their late model car did not come with a spare tire — this was news to us but apparently is now quite common. The damage to their tire was in the sidewall and so was unrepairable with our plug kit, so we took her the short distance to a rest area which amazingly had a working wifi hot spot. She called her roadside assistance, they promised to get someone there within the hour, we took her back to her husband and bid them farewell. But it was actually a great experience. These were lovely people, out on a long road trip from Washington DC, and we had a fun chat as we were working out how to do all this, and we now have new friends! It was nice to be able to help.
We continued on I-70 for a bit, and it is, at least for part of its run, one of the prettier sections of interstate around. We stopped in Green River, where we’d remembered buying absolutely the best ever melons one summer. Well, it seems it wasn’t quite summer yet here for the melons although it certainly seemed hot enough to us; we’ll have to visit again another time. But be sure to put the town on your list of stops if you can time it right. Minus the melons, there really isn’t much to Green River.
Entering Colorado and motoring past Grand Junction we dropped down off I-70, back onto quieter US-50, and down to Delta and the way east to Monarch Pass and Salida (to stop to see friends and pick up a package that had been chasing us). From Salida we’d continue up the road past Buena Vista and on into the aspens, lupines and yellow wildflowers that surround Leadville, where some buddies were expecting us. One detour before we went over Monarch put us on a secondary road (CO 92) to bypass a mud slide (shades of Highway One in California), but this turned out to be a blessing as the road was beautiful and the wildflowers just kept on comin’. From there on all went well and we got to our Rally as planned.
Ah, the Tiger Rally. This was a pretty great event. Despite our Tiger’s rather advanced age of 14 years, this was only our second rally due to the fact that, aside from last year when no rally could be held, La Tortuga has been out of the country every summer other than 2016, when we attended our first rally.
Perhaps in part due to everyone’s pent up need for a gathering, this year’s rally hosted a record turnout with 45 Tiger’s present along with three other vehicles with either past or hoping to be future Tiger owners. Lots of folks we knew but plenty of new friends to meet and visit with as well. We gave talks about our travels both afternoons and just generally enjoyed spending time with other Tiger folk. It was a really fun weekend
Since the rally, we have been collapsed in the mountains, catching our breath — a little hard to do at between 9,500’ and 10,500’ elevation — and making plans for the summer. When we left the rally we just returned to a really nice dispersed camping spot near Leadville where we’d been for a night before the rally. There we were joined by other friends and also by the incredible cloud display shown in the picture below. After several days there we settled into a new dispersed camp spot in the Pike National Forest about an hour west of Denver, and this is where we remain. Quiet solitude.
After two months of near constant visiting and driving, and then the busy time at the rally, we were pretty whupped and needed some rest and catchup time. As for plans, we figure we’ll spend more time here in Colorado, then go explore northern New Mexico. We’re planning on catching up with a vacationing son in the Santa Fe area after the 4th of July, but nothing else has been organized for the summer.
All we really know is that we want to stay in the mountains as much as possible — we expect it to to be a very, very hot summer so we’ll be trying our best to stay at higher elevations. If you are out and about in the mountain west, give us a shout and we’ll see if we can hook up. Otherwise, enjoy the freedom of being able to travel again (gently and carefully, of course), and let us know how you’re doing.
Love to all, Rick and Kathy and the ever contented La Tortuga