Go or No Go?... Let's Go!

This morning we're in Collier Memorial State Park, about 30 miles north of Klamath Falls and 90 miles south of our last camp, the snow-camp, at LaPine State Park. We woke to 30f degrees this morning... not as cold as the forecast... and a light dusting of new snow that fell overnight. At this early hour it looks like we'll have some sun today too.

After I posted yesterdays entry to the Journal we cleaned the snow off the car and drove around to check out road conditions. About that time the snow started falling again... a snow shower... and the condtion of the roads in the park gave us reason to think we'd probably be spending another night at LaPine. The roads were snow/slush covered... maybe an inch or two deep. I've always said I didn't want to drive the camper in the snow... that we'd just wait for it to melt... which we could do, but the forecast for the next few days was not much of an improvement and I was itching to move further south.

Once we got to the main road outside the park, US-97, the snow had stopped and the road surface was wet, but clear of snow. We drove down to the town of La Pine for some provisions and gas for the car, and by the time we headed back to the campground the sun was out. My spirits lifted and we decided to move. Along the way back we made a side-trip in the park to see the "Big Tree"... Oregon's largest and oldest Ponderosa Pine. Now that's a big tree.

Back at camp, it took only 20 minutes or so to get the bus-house ready for travel. Because we wanted to minimize slush spray from the bus-house from covering the car, we decided Dar would drive separately until we got to a truck stop in La Pine where we could hook up.

Fuel is expensive in Oregon... we paid 3.34 for diesel at La Pine, which was about the observed going price during the last few days. We won't need fuel again until well into Nevada where diesel is at least 20 cents less.

Once fueled up and hooked up, the drive south was uneventful. US-97 is a good two lane road and this portion is very level and lined with tall pines on both sides. Even if we had clear blue skies and the peaks in the Cascades would have been clear of clouds, the trees along the road would have made peak-vieiwing a spotty hobby at best. Dar also remarked how much more enjoyable travel is when the toad is hooked up to the bus-house and we can be together during our drives... bantering back and forth... small comments... questions... nonsense... occasionally breaking out into song... it's just a more fullfilling and complete experience. Some fellow fulltimers always drive separately and that certainly is not our preferred style.

After a few more brief snow showers along the way, we pulled into Collier Memorial State Park about 2:30pm. This is another great Oregon State Park, a smaller one with about 40 sites. But get this... most of them are full-hookup with 50amp service. You don't find that at many State Park campgrounds in other states.

There's a few more campers here than there was at LaPine, but still plenty of sites to choose from. We selected one, backed in, and set up for a short stay. We think we'll be here two nights, as Wednesday still looks like the best weather day to move further south. During our stay we'd like to attempt a visit to Crater Lake National Park. Clouds may prevent seeing much, but we're getting bus-house fever and need to get out and do something. Click here to see an up to the minute webcam image of the entrance to Crater Lake.

Gotta run...
T