Our very first Camper trip - October 15, 201

We had such an enjoyble time in Scotland driving around in our Camper Van that we decided we'd like to try to dublicate the experience in the United States.  What we enjoyed was the freedom of going where we wanted to go and the relatively inexpensive accomodations we used (read RV parks or campgrounds). We didn't like the camper van we rented other than it drove wel and got us safely where we wanted to go.  It was pretty uncomfortable since we could not stand up inside it, there was no usuable stove unless you could cook outside, and the tiny refrigerater was inconveniently located under the bed.  The worst was that when it rained in Scotland, which was almost every day, we were stuck inside the camper.

We knew we had to have an improved method of transportaton/accomodation.  And so was born the........tah dah!!  Meet "Rado" our 2015 Chevy Silverado LT, 3/4 ton pickup and his trusty pal a 2015 Pastime 840 LT camper, suitable for two adults and 2-3 grandchildren.

Now, where to go on our first trip??  The choices are nearly endless.  We ended up chosing to go to a portion of the Barlow Road just a bit south and east of Mt Hood.  I had been to this area twice before.  Once when Malcolm had been an Eleven Year Old Scout, and our patrol did the Hiking Merit Badge.  The hardest requirement was to complete a 20 mile hike in one day, which we handily accomplished.  To this day I wear the "Barlow Trail Commemorative Patch" on the front pocket of my scout shirt.  The second time was when I took Evan and Bjorn on their birthday hike to Catalapa Lake which was just a short hike on a steep trail away.  We searched for some geocaches, but I was the only one who seemed excited about being on the historic Barlow Road.  But, the REAL reason I wanted to do the Barlw Road is because i was hopeful that the large trophy size elk had migrated from the mountains south of LaGrande to the mountains south of Mt Hood.  Our goal was to fnd sign of elk (hoof prints and p__p) and return and report our findings to Travis.

Yep - our first trip - note I am holdng up one finger in commeration of this event.

Dad got sucked into the vortex surrounding Joe's Doughnuts in Sandy,  I will admit that I could not resist temptation.

We are on the B Road or in a campsite, doesn't really matter as thee were no other cars or people for miles.  I think Dad was looking for a geocache.

And...our first lunch in the camper.  We started making a list of things we forgot to put into the camper.  You can see that I'm eating my salad with tongs - the doughnts were long gone.

We started to drive north on the Barlow Road and came to this big pool of water - hmm - drive through or drain.  So Dad got out and reverted to a school boy and played in the water.

Here is proof we were on the Barlow Road - as if you needed proof.

A few photos as we went north

It was getting late so we decided to find a parking spot; turned around and headed south.  In just a bit we came upon this actual pioner campground just in time for sunset.  It was the only relatively flat place for miles where the pioneers could easily cross the White River

Rado in our spot for the night.  This was a real USFS campground with numbere sites and picnc tables' we had no neighbors.

In the morning I got up and went exploring the area for sunrises and sign of elk

A good sunrise pictue.  Look in the center of the river.  Do you seek the riffles?

The riffles were reallly cool.  They must have been formed because of little sand bars in the river.  They were right there in front of me and then suddenly....they vanished and the water was smooth.

Oky - now I need to find signs of elk.  I found some cow pies, but no elk p__p (I'm trying to be delicate); hmm, perhaps some super big elk hoof prints...no just cow hoof prints.  There!!   In the sand by the river!!

Yeah, I know - not an elk.  I was hoping for bobcat or cougar or maybe a lynx.  But, Travis tells me it is a simple, common, run of the mill coyote. So I can return and report to Travis that the Eastern Oregon elk have not migrated to the Barlow Road.  We still need to search.

We continued traveling south on the road looking for three geocaches.  Found one in a wooden drain pipe and one at Faith Springs, where the Pioneers replenished their water supply.

Faith Springs.  One hand poining to the sign and the other to the rivulet of water.

Pretty soon we came to a humongous tree/log/roots that were blocking the road (sounds like the hunting incident).  ATVs had made a steep and sloping path around it, and we could have done it if necessary - like a T-Rex chasing us!  We decided to go back.  This caused a bit of a prolem because it is a one lane road, so Dad backed down hill for, he estimates, about a mile.  I walked ahead of him right on the edge of the road so he could safely judge how far away he was from slipping down the hill.  I have no pictures of this part of the trip - how interesting would be pictures of the back end of a camper and ruck anway.

By the time we got to a wide spot in the road where we could turn around, we'd had enough excitement for our first trip.  We learned a lot on our first trip.  I'll remember to bring utinsels, a hot pad, salt, shovel sugar, butter more electronic hookups.