JerryM

I haven't seen any bible quotes for a long time, anybody know if JerryM is allright?

Methinks he is on vacation link.

JerryM has been on an extended road-trip through Utah & Colorado. And probably contemplating new biblical perspectives with which to enlighten us. He should be back soon.

Hi All,
I admit that I am a little surprised that anyone would notice my absence. Thanks, sincerely, for the interest.

My wife, and I left the 5th of May and returned yesterday afternoon. We pulled our 26 ft travel trailer about 3700 miles.

I have a wonderful friend in Clatskanie, OR, and we headed there without much of a plan other than to go there and return down hwy 101 and see the coast. Because the road does not run close enough to the beach to see it most of the time, we left it at Newport. We went through Utah, and Wyoming to Colorado and finally home. We are about as tired as "death warmed over."

In retrospect since we did not stay any place very long, it would have been better to have used our new Toyota mini-van.At over $2.00/gal, the RV is not economical unless one stays long enough in one place to overcome the price of motels and meals.

Regarding Bible verses and such, I heard Sean Hannity make the statement that he does not think that liberals are evil. I may send him an email about that. I don't think that Sasha would let me initiate that subject. If she did, the verse that comes to mind that might be appropriate would be,
Psalms 2:1 ¶Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

Notice that I am not saying that such a verse would apply to any of my CPF friends, but.....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for the interest. I do remember that Stu and I agreed on a couple of things. That scared me a little and I decided to take a break and see where I had gone wrong. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jerry

Sounds like a great trip, Jerry. What are some of the highlights? What kind of trailer do you pull, btw?

HI Kitchener,

Our RV is a 26 Ft Challenger by Damon. We don't have slide outs. If we were going to spend a lot of time RVing slide outs are nice. However, we normally make two trips a year, May and September, for about three weeks. For that use our trailer is completely adequate, and is lighter. It is a tow type and not a fifth wheel. I prefer the pull type as I want the use of my pick-up bed with a shell.

This trip was the least "exciting" of all our trips. It was nice in that we got out of town for awhile. Jo Ann wanted to see the Salt Lake, and the Oregon coast. Neither was especially interesting, but one does not know until you try. The coastal highway in Oregon, 101, does go down the coast, but most of the time is not close enough to the beach to observe it. The trees make it difficult.

We did see some pretty country. If you want to see some gorgeous country go to Durango, CO. We have been there several times so it was nothing new. We stay at a RV park, Alpen Rose, which is on highway 505. North from Durango is a little town of Ouray. It is in a valley and the color of the mountains is beautiful. I would not want to pull the trailer from Durango to Ouray, as there is a very high and steep mountain between the two. We only stayed in Durango for two days this trip. We have been there so many times that there is nothing new to see that we know of.
As we returned home we thought we would go to Estes Park, CO. We were there in the Fall several years ago, and it is a very nice place. But when we checked the weather forecast, it appeared that the weather would not be good weather for wandering around so we just came home.

Another place where we usually go for a week is Flagstaff, AZ. It is a pretty place, and close to there is Sedona, and it is also a beautiful place. The red rock and scenery is equal to the Grand Canyon, although not as large.

Several years ago we went to see Mt St Helens and then to see the Redwoods and Sequoias. That was probably the most interesting trip we have made.

There is some pretty country in Utah especially the Zion National Park. We went there last year.

We have had some interesting trips. I think that the best thing about our trips is that there is just the two of us. No phones or places where we have to be, but just doing what we find interesting. Can you imagine that my wife still thinks I am wonderful (or at least I think she does) and I think she is the loveliest and most wonderful person I have ever known after 49 years?

Any suggestions for another trip?

Not sure where we will go in the Fall, but it might be East. Another option is the Dakotas. We have been over most of the West but not there. If there we probably will go in the car.
Both of us tend to get motion sickness and do not want to go on a cruise.

Have a good day.
Jerry

If you got off 101 at Newport, you missed most of the Oregon coast. Much of what's south of Newport goes inland for various reasons, including the sand dunes. The rest of the way north rides pretty close to the coast line.

My entire childhood was defined by the trips we took every other year (by not taking vacation in the in-between years, my Dad could take off the better part of the summer the following). Our RV experiences are like others' with boats. As the years went by, they got bigger. An interesting phenomena with trailers. The bigger they get, the less they sleep, lol. Our old 1969 19' Layton probably slept 8. The bread and butter RV of my childhood years were two Hi-Los (looks like a pop-up, with a hydraulic lift) -- these also slept quite a few. By the time I left, they graduated to a much larger rig, an Avion fifth wheeler. There the trend reversed, as it slept at most 6 (two slide outs and all). They've since retired and become nearly full-time, sun-chasing RVers (rough life with a satellite dish up on the roof), and have moved into a diesel pusher 38' motorhome, and that sucker sleeps 4. I guess the RV bean-counters realize that it's the retirees with the disposable income (and inclination) that purchase those big rigs, and don't need to sleep a family and friends as much, anymore. About the only wind that blows them now is he does volunteer audit work for Christian missions (Wycliffe) around the country, so that gives them some direction.

Anyway, our trip that included the Redwoods (mind you, I'm an easterner, so that was a long trip) was a stand-out. RETURN OF THE JEDI was filmed there (that was the "forest moon of Endor"), and I definitely felt a bit like a hobbit there. Gorgeous. In fact, on that same trip, we also visited Flagstaff, and I remember it snowing there, and this was in the middle of the summer... I'm an avid skier now and have been to Utah, Colorado, and Montana a good bit in the winter time, and the Rockies are one of my favorite parts of the country.

The Dakotas would be interesting -- Custer's Last Stand, Mount Rushmore, etc. You could do two trips to the east. I'd think about the South, first. The East introduces another destination equation outside of natural beauty: history. For the former, you'd want to make it to the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Blue Ridge Mountains, especially in northern North Carolina and in Virginia, are beautiful. But, as to the history part, you could go nuts. There are, of course, some very interesting Civil War battlefields. Andrew Jackson's mansion outside of Nashville, The Hermitage, was preserved as he left it right after he died (unique at the time), so that authentically evokes his personality better than most landmark homes. Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, outside of Charlottesville, is a place I never tire of seeing. It was his life's flashaholic-type passion. Of course, the Kentucky horse farms region is a gorgeous region of the south. The Vanderbilt mansion Biltmore is a wonder, as well.

Headed north, there's of course the Smithsonian museums in Washington. Gettysburg Battlefield is interesting even to folks with zero interest in such things -- a lot of drama and very easy to learn the unfolding of that 3 day battle. The Catskill region of New York has quite a few treasures. John D. Rockefeller's estate Pocantico was opened to the public in very recent years. A little further north, in Hyde Park, is FDR's estate, as well as the Val-Kill cottage Eleanor Roosevelt occupied in later years. About two houses up is another Vanderbilt mansion (Frederick?) that's quite the wonder. The Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame is is in this area, as well. Speaking of which, a dearth of wonderment (and lobster) lies in Newport, Rhode Island. "Chateaus" that would today cost $100,000,000 to build were created by the Astors and Vanderbilts as summer homes they would occupy for 6 weeks of the year. It was an age that disappeared after the sinking of the Titanic, the First World War, and the advent of income tax.

Headed back home, it'd be worthwhile to head through Ohio where first you can visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton (Patterson AFB) -- it is the largest (to my knowledge) air museum in the world, large than the Smithsonian Air and Space. Among other things, you'll see the reverse prop, humongous wing-span B-36. The Bock's Car is there -- it's the B29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. I was able to run my hands along the bomb bay windows. About mid-way up the Ohio/Indiana state line is a little Indiana town called Auburn. This is where you'll find the neo-deco, 1920s factory headquarters for the Auburn-Cord-Dusenberg car company. It's now a very well-heeled antique car museum. Walking in, you'll see a row of Dusenbergs (one was owned by Clark Gable, if I recall), and that's just the tip of a multi-story iceberg of priceless automobiles, including old Ferraris, a 1919 Lincoln limousine, a Tucker, numerous boat-tail Cords, you name it. Part of the wonder is being in this old-time factory/showroom.

I'm sure there are a ton of things I'll think of later, but these are some of the must-sees that immediately came to mind.

We came from Clatsknie which is almost on the Washington state line. Although it is near the coast, the distance and trees obscure the beach. We had been down hwy 1 in CA a few years ago, and I think that is what Jo was expecting.

Thanks for the suggestions, and we will look into those places.
In general I have avoided places which are anti-gun.

Jerry

JerryM,
Glad you're home safe and sound.