Abbey's Road

I got a late start from Cottage Grove on Saturday because I decided to get some cleaning done while I still had hookups. I also had to make a stop at Camping World and Trader Joe’s on my way past Eugene up to the mountains. Then I really got delayed when I got my second flat tire in 2 weeks. There was a patch of loose gravel in the road where they were doing some construction and I didn’t slow down fast enough. There was a pretty rough bump and it jarred one of the tires a bit too hard. It didn’t blow out, but the valve got knocked loose. I thought I was OK because it seemed to hold air when I hooked up the compressor, but just like last time it only held pressure to about 60 psi before it gave way again. Luckily, at the suggestion of my buddy Lurch from my last flat, I had bought a lug nut set and breaker bar at Harbor Freight Tools in Eugene. So, I was able to loosen the lug nuts this time. But….I ran into another problem. I turned the release valve on the jack (Lurch had left it open) the wrong way and out popped oil, and unbeknownst to me, a little steel ball that is critical to the operation of the jack. So I drove back 25 miles, very slowly I might add, to the nearest town, bought some oil and filled the jack back up. Of course, without that little steel ball the jack still didn’t work. After reading the instructions (should’ve thought of that before I started) I figured out I was missing that little steel ball. So I gave in once again and called the emergency road service. The only problem was that it was Saturday on a holiday weekend so they had a hard time finding someone to come out. Finally about 9:00 the guy showed up and put the spare on. By this time I was pretty tired and too hungry to cook so I grabbed something at an A&W drive-in, only I had to walk up. I don’t think I’ve been to an A&W for about 30 years. I remember we used to go to them in Massachusetts when we were kids. Anyways, I drove back up the mountain and found that little steel ball sitting in the middle of the oil slick I had left when the oil leaked out of the jack. Sure enough, when I stuck it back in the jack the next day, the jack worked fine.

Being the Fourth of July weekend and it was now close to 11pm, I had a little trouble finding a campground with open space so I ended up parking off of a forest service road in a snow park area. At least it was free. After a hike in the morning we found a much nicer campground on Clear Lake. I had thoughts of joining Abbey for a swim in the lake but quickly changed my mind. A few minutes standing in the water and my toes went numb. Which was probably a good thing because Abbey mistook them for something else in the water and she bit them. The thanks I get. Unfortunately, it’s mosquito season up here and they have been out in full force most places we’ve been, especially on our hikes. Yesterday we started out on what was going to be a lake bonanza for Abbey – 5 or 6 lakes in 6 miles. We stopped at Big Lake first so she could get cooled off before having to hike a mile or more to the next set of lakes. The mosquitoes would eat me alive if I stopped so I just kept moving until we reached the next lake. After tolerating all I could we moved on to one of the bigger lakes which Abbey really seemed to enjoy. Luckily, the bugs weren’t quite as bad there so I just hung out and watched her. Then a group of 4 women rode up on horseback and stopped to water their horses and eat lunch. They got a big kick out of watching Abbey. Then the fun began. I heard some rumblings in the distance and at first Abbey didn’t seem to notice. That was until there was a loud crack of thunder much closer to us. So much for swimming. She went into the bushes though and didn’t want to leave. I knew it was only going to get worse so I forced her to go. One of the ladies wondered if she was the same dog that was in the water because she didn’t look so happy anymore. Soon after, the rain came. And then, the hail. When it finally stopped raining after 15 minutes or so, I wished it hadn’t. The mosquitoes went on a rampage once the sun came out, not to mention the river of mud that the path had become. I knew I should have gotten gore-tex hiking shoes! At least Abbey kept moving most of the time. I didn’t dare stop for fear that she wouldn’t start up again or there would be nothing left of our bodies after the mosquitoes got done with them.

This morning I wasn’t surprised when I couldn’t get Abbey out of the RV for another hike, so I just went myself. Her day wasn’t so great today and now we are camped in a park listening to the fireworks going off all around us. Not in the park since it’s not allowed, but I think everyone is lined up right outside the park firing away. I’ve got Kenny G blasting on the stereo to try to block out the noise but it’s not really working. She’ll be a wreck by the time this is through. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow so at least she can catch up on her sleep.

BearGrass - this stuff is everywhere up here