Guest Writer today

June 24 – Today there is a GUEST JOURNALIST, Mr. Nice Guy. We left the casino about 9:15 on the way to Crater Lake RV Campground. It is about 176 miles. As we were leaving Coos Bay, Kelly made a comment about a road going off to the left and I misunderstood what she said and I guess I yelled at her because she wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the

Nice scenery for the drive

day. Every question I asked her I got a 1 word answer. Those that know me know that I would never yell. Look at my nick name. We took route 42 from 101 East to I-5. It was VERY curvy. We then got on I-5 for about 100 miles and had 4 hills at 6% grade.  For lunch I had the drink of the Gods, Raspberry Snapple. We got off I-5 at a little town, Gold Hill. Named for a hill nearby where they discovered - wait for it – GOLD . We drove out of town on 234 until we came to 62 the road to Crater Lake. We waited forever to get on 62 because of traffic. Kelly pulled out and I thought we were going to be hit but I was wrong and we survived. We  drove through the little town of Shady Cove on the way to the campground. Shady Cove has its own FM radio station. Played great music. While on 62 we ran into a long stretch of road construction, they were tarring the road, Nice. Lucky not very much on the front of the RV or the  truck.  Not a lot of shopping here. The town the CG is in is named Prospect, pop. around 500. Closest Wal-Mart is 30 miles S. Closest big town is Medford, 40 miles S.

Getting Closer

The campground is very nice with a lot of trees, 57 sites, all asphalt. When I went in to register they had free mints. I took 2 to Kelly to help smooth out our relationship of the day, not sure if it helped. All but 1 of the sites are B/I but because of our MH they gave us the only pull through. I think it was my charm when I registered. Ed, the volunteer that showed us to our sites, looks like a former AP at WO, Dr. Painter. The owner of the CG asked me where we were going when we left here. I told her we were volunteering at a CG in Idaho. She asked if we would be interested in being hosts here next year. I told her I would talk to Kelly. I asked Kelly but she said it is to far from home. Too Bad. I hooked up and then while Kelly made dinner I washed the front of the RV and the truck. Had chicken tacos for dinner. Great! Kelly can really cook. I am so lucky to be married to her. While washing the RV got to meet a nice couple with a great dog. They are interested in attending the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. The lady is going to talk to Kelly about the CG we stay at while we are there. They went to Crater Lake yesterday.

Love snow caps

They said it is beautiful.

Tomorrow we are going to Crater Lake. Can’t  wait. I have been waiting 65 years for tomorrow. Hope we get to eat lunch at the lodge. Only the West ½ of the rim drive is open because of snow. They had a low amount of snow this year, Only 35’.   Seeing ½ of it is far better than not seeing any of it.  There are a lot of other sites to see in this area. We will see the other sites on Wednesday. 

One other thing I have learned while we have been in Oregon, you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon and New Jersey because of insurance on gas stations. One attendant told me the insurance on his station would be $1,000,000.00 a year if I pumped the gas and only $100,000.00 if the station hired him, but then the owner has to pay him and others. The price of gas also shows this. We have paid over $3.29/gallon. At most stations the price of regular is more than diesel.

Well this is all for the guest journalist. I am sure you will be glad to have Kelly back.