Today is the forth fo July.  We were at the RV park for the whole day.  We fished and played horseshoes.  After dinner we made a fire and had smores.  At 8:30 we watched a movie called Hom Alone.  Now I'm going to bed.

Yesterdaty we visited the Lava Beds National Monument.  We explored several of the lava tube caves formed by the molten lava as the out layer cools and hardens and the hot lava constinues to flow through.  These tube caves were formed over 30,000 years agao and are barely visible from the surface.  We climbed down ladder/steps with our flashlights and bicycle helments (to protect our head from bumping th elow ceilings) and walked deep into the caves.  When we turned off our flashlights ... it was pitch black.  The footing was uneven and I could easily imagine getting lost within the cave.  The Ranger told me a gorup of middleschoolers were lost once for 27 hours!

 

Last night and tonight we are staying at Rocky Point RV resort near Klamath Falls, Oregon.  There are a lot of beautiful birds singing here and Phil and the kids have the trying hard to catch some fish, without luck.

Today we went to the rock caves.  They were cool.  The rest of the day was just drive, drive, drive.  Today we also left California and entered Oregon.  At night we played scrabble until 11:30pm.  I tied for second place.  I am done.

The scrabble game we played was fun because 1) it was fun 2) I won!

 

Eli and Dad said that I cheated BUT I DIDN'T!  I swear!  Whatever, this is my second writing today.

 

Emma won 272 to 176. 

 

New words

 

Ziydup - a dinosaur who like to run

Whealioao - a run-away wheel

Ziydupwhealioao - a diinosaur chasing a wheel

irvieoust - a car

ifibonc - an ifi bonking its head

zadntain - a map

ifibonczadntain - an ifif bonking tis head on a map

I like the Rancheria that we stayed at but the bathrooms were sor of hard to get into (lol Mom).  Now I'm sitting in the RV waiting  to soee our new campsite to see what it looks like.

no no no no no no no no no I don't wan to go I like this place I like the general store no no no no no no no  no  no you can win money in the gumball machine and I got butterfineger BB's.  no no no no no no I wonder when I can eat the (butterfingers) no no no no no no no no!

Yesterday, we hiked through Lassen Park to Paradise Meadow.  It was beautiful hiking through wooded areas to the meadow which was half covered in snow.  Ringo (our dog) was a tropper, as were the kids and everyone enjoyed playing in the snow.  The drive through the park was really fasinating with the landscape in the recovery form the volcanis eruption of Mt. lassen 80 or so years ago.  We couldn't take the road that winds throughout the park because it is still closed (due to snow) for another 2 weeks.  I want to come back here and do some backpacking through the hot suphur works Lassen Peak and the boiling spring areas. 

 

We are staying at the Rancheria RV park in Hat Creek.  Loads of big and really big RVs and clean bathrooms and plug in electricity.  A quieter crowd than at Black Butte campground.  We were the last to go to sleep and the first to wake up.  Emaa was right about the cars going by with a load VROOM!

The highway is so annoying.  The cars go VROOM and they are gight behind the RV. 

 

Earlier today, when Mom and I were going to the shower place, it was "locked".  Later we foundd out ath you needed the key to get into the bathroom.  The catch is that Mom ad the key in her hand!  PS.  This is revenge to Mom for dropping my Aptos Physical Education Tee Shirt -  we're even now Mom.

 

Once upon a time, there was a little bug named Bob.  Bob's real name was thingamobby lobbydiggydongybob but he preferred Bob.  One day Boby ran into a tree and he had a concussion and he forgot who he was.  Bob wandered anround until his memory came back.  Then he lived happily ever after.

Today I went hiking to a meadow full of snow.  It was filled with snow and water.  Me and Emma kept falling into the water when the ice broke.  I didn't really like the hike because it was too much uphill.  When we got to a lake called Hat Lake, we saw a humongous beaver dam. 

  On the way to the new campground we all fell asleep except for the two people in the front seats.

  The new campsite is right next to the highway.  I am now done writing in this dumb thing.

 

We hiked through 2 caves at the Lava Beds National Monument.  We hiked through "Mushpot" cave and "Golden Dome" cave.  "Mushpot" was an old lava tunnel that was extinct (what a relief!)  The tubes also showed different features of a tube inside a volcano!  (with out the lava!)  "Golden Dome" wa a loop-de-loop cave that was low, (we had to crawl) rocky, and easy to get lost in.  Overall though, it was fun.

Hiked 3 miles up to Paradise Meadow.  There was a lot of snow and coldness.  Even so it was fun.  4 people loved the hike.  4 people loved the snow.  3 people loved everything.  3 people like the museum.

Orland Buttes - 9:48am 90 degrees.

Our meighbors have backed up their sedan to their campsite, opened its doors and out comes a gentle salsa for all to hear.  This site is a rolling parking lot of asphalt with patches of oak trees and golden weedy grass.  Pop-up trailers, motorhomes and tents straddle the asphalt dirt divides.  I heard a kestrel, morning dove, chickadee and some other birds this am.   Also spotted a pair of lizards.  They'd run a couple of steps, dow what looked like push-ups, and a couple more steps... repeat.  I think I got about 2 hours of sleep last night.  It was so hot.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.... The heat is hugely hot!  The AV wasn't working yesterday and the temperature was like 97 degrees.  (in the car driving though Sacramento to pick up the RV).  Arg! Very frustrating.

Whern are we going to go?  When are we going to go? We going to go?  When are we going to go? When are we going to go?  ***************************************?????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*************************????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@@@@@@@@@@Yellowstone@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@##############3arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@111111111111111000000000000000000=========================-----------------------------------------------+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

 

I'm managed to procrastinate the task of making reservations for our campsites until the last possible minute.

 

Rough plan is we pick up the motorhome Saturday in Cameron Park (somewhere east of Sacramento).  Barb will size up the capacity of the refrigerator and run off to the store for supplies.  I'll load the RV with everything we've brought from home and learn how it works from the owners. 

 

Then where to stay? I have waited until 3 days before the long July 4th weekend to come up with a plan.  After bombing out on every "profiled" (meaning "best 2400 in the country") Frommer RV site in Northern California (i.e. all sites full), and similiarly with most State Parks (by the way www.reserveamerica.com is very helpful as it allows you to reserve a campsite at 100k possible choices) I've been able to scrounge up the following for our first 4 days (I simply do not have the courage to bank on a "first come first serve" National Park policy over the July 4th weekend...) :

 

July 1 - Orland Buttes, CA  - The description is as follows:

 

Orland Buttes Campground is located at Black Butte Lake in the scenic foothills of north-central California, approximately 100 miles north of Sacramento. Blue oak woodlands and towering basalt buttes offer a picturesque setting along 40 miles of shoreline. Black Butte is best known for its warm-water fishery and is a popular destination for both powerboats and sailboats. The campground offers 35 campsites and a group area. The area is a perfect location for a weekend getaway for the family or a group of friends. For additional information visit: www.spk.usace.army.mil/blackbutte.html

 

From what I recall, we stopped here once while returning from the Trinity Alps.  I recall it being hot, dusty and essentially a couple of trees near a man made lake.  The water was rather warm and cloudy...  Oh well. 

 

The net is this should do as a quick overnight stop for $15.  We'll learn how to drive the RV beast, learn to back it up and pull forward, learn how to cook a meal, and learn who sleeps where.  Next day we'll drive up into Lassen National Park and hike around.

 

July 2 - Hat Creek, CA - Should be a step up from Buttes, as its an "unprofiled" Frommer's campground.  [i.e. B Class Campground].   www.rancheriarv.com The ammenities boast of a private catch and release lake, satelite TV and WIFI, and general hookups.  I'm thinking it will be like camping at a Putt Putt Golf course on grades of level gravel with bug zapping UV lights shinning from the main office.  We'll see.  With WIFI we'll update the blog from there.

 

Next day its off to Glass Mountain ("a mass of jet black obsidian glass") and Lava Beds National Monument.  From here we'll cross the border into Oregon and spend a couple days at Klamath Falls, ORE (our first 4 star (5 in beauty) campground.)  It boasts of a beautiful lake, 500 year old pine trees hosting 200 different species of birds, otters, beavers, minks and of course electrical/water/sewage hookups.

 

From here its a crap shoot.  Somehow we want to get to Ketchum Idaho.  There doesn't seem to be anything in between Klamath Falls and Idaho by the look of the map... that seems hard to believe.  There's a nice camp site in Ontario Oregon though the warning is "do not attempt this trip in a large rig or during freezing weather as the road has steep treacherous curves without guard rails".   Hmmm...

 

Next Blog to be posted from Hat Creek.