2023 Season

[Merlin]

Now if I could just figure out how to post photos? 

[djsamuel]

Now if I could just figure out how to post photos? 

I upload them to IMGUR.COM and then use the links provided there for forums.

[Merlin]

We got back home to Michigan last month after our trip west. There were some amazing highlights.

We spent a week on the Oregon coast and one night had a cougar call right next to the camper! That night, I was typing on the laptop in the trip journal and my wife was reading. Just when it get completely dark outside, there was a loud, deep, resonant meow-like sound that went on for 3-4 minutes in the trees just outside our large window. We both said, boy that sounds like a big cat and our dog went crazy. After it stopped, my wife went back to reading and I looked up cougar calls on the Internet. She didn't know I was doing the search and when I played back the cougar mating call, she said: "Listen, there it is again!". We didn't go outside again that night.

We were amazed beyond amazed at the birds using Great Salt Lake as a staging and feeding area for migration. We camped on Antelope Island and were really stunned at the bird life; shorebirds and ducks galore, not to mention the buffalo wandering through the campground.

We had to significantly alter our trip plans due to forest fires and extreme heat. The campground we had planned for a 3 day stay in Redwoods National/State Park was closed by a fire too close by. We did get in a day trip to see the big trees, but it was disappointing to not be able to camp among them in California. The other major change was not wanting to camp in Arches National Park. There are no hookups in the campground and temperatures were in the mid-90sF the 3 days we had planned to be there. So we bailed out and traveled around much further north. We drove through smoke so thick it was fog-like in eastern Washington just before going through the Columbia River Gorge. We also had smoky air most of the time we were in Oregon.

I was able to take a fantastic jet boat trip 40 miles up the Rogue River in southern Oregon. If anyone ever gets into that area, take that trip on Jerry's Rogue Jet's out of Gold Beach and be sure to ask for Kevin as your boat captain    You won't ever forget that ride.

I figured 13.1 million revolutions of the engine crankshaft and 52.44 million spark plug firings for the trip. I guess I better go change the oil again.