Southbound
October 2005
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We had a great time in Seattle, despite going through a bit of a health scare with our dog Bruce. He had two seizures within about 4 weeks of each other along with the good ole ear infection. We had all sorts of test run to find out everything we could. Antibiotics cleared his ear infection for good, hopefully, and all of the test results were normal. The testing required us to stay a month longer than we planned so it was great to finally pack up the van and push off. We said goodbye to James, Dan and the Seattle crew and hit the road. Our first stop was through Eugene Oregon to spend a day with Alison and Jason. Alison showed us her classroom where she has been teaching before sharing one of her amazing dinners with us. Since she has been super busy with graduate school and teaching, she asked if we would take her dog Jackie down to Tempe Arizona with us to deliver to Glenn and Barbara. We of course agreed to allow the stowaway aboard and enjoyed the next few days with our additional canine companion. From Eugene Oregon, we decided to avoid all interstates and stick to only the highways. We headed toward Crater Lake National Park before moving south through Klamath Falls Oregon and into Northern California. Once in California, we noticed Lava Beds National Monument on our map so we decided to pull through and take a look. We were completely moved by the place; so much so that we ended up spending multiple days exploring this out-of-the-way park. We HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you have a chance. It is as amazing as any National Park/National Monument we have seen. There are endless caves to explore and stories about the native peoples and their clash with the pioneers. While we were there, we met a great guy named Damon whom we shared food with, learned music from and explored the park with. Damon is a very interesting individual, he lives out of an old blue Ford Econoline Van which he built out himself. He has been traveling the world for about 12 years where he has spent time as a Buddhist monk in Asia, learned music in India and beyond.
We parted ways south of Lava Beds as Damon continued on his path and we continued on ours. Heading south toward Reno Nevada we consulted our “Free Camping” guide and located a totally secluded, completely vacant campground on the east side of the Sierras. It was a bit chilly at night but it made for a cozy evening in the van. The aspens which surrounded the area were on fire with golden tones as they changed color with the arrival of autumn. We continued south, stopping in Reno Nevada briefly for some supplies before pushing down to the Mammoth Lakes area. We found another free campground, after some nighttime searching, and spent a frigid night in the mountains just north of Mammoth California. The next morning, we stopped at The Village Café in Bishop California for one of the best breakfasts we have treated ourselves to in some time. We spent the day driving with our bellies full of good food and ended up at one of Eric’s long time secret camping spots near Las Vegas Nevada. Eric’s friends named the place “The Juniper Spot” because of the abundance of juniper trees and free firewood. Eric and friends discovered the place during one of their first climbing adventures to Red Rock Canyon during college. We continued on our “interstateless” adventure by driving old Route 66 from Kingman Arizona to Flagstaff. After breakfast at Mike and Ronda’s, we continued south on 89A through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, Arizona. We then headed east toward the Mogillon Rim area via Strawberry, Pine, Payson ultimately arriving in Tempe at the Waterkotte’s house.
We made it to Tempe just in time for our Niece Maura’s 1st birthday party. The reason for our visit was Saturday night’s Banner Desert Nights 2005, a fundraising dinner for the new Banner Children’s hospital. Eric’s parents, Glenn and Barbara were guests of honor as this year’s recipients of the John and Betty Kerr Community Service Award. Sharing the evening with Glenn and Barb was a very special occasion for all of us. After our visit in Phoenix, we stopped through Cottonwood Arizona to visit Wanda, Cleo and David Walker. We were happy to see them doing well and to share the afternoon together. We went out for a great Mexican food lunch before flipping through old photographs and sharing memories. Since it was Halloween, we continued on to Flagstaff where we met up with PJ O’Malley. We couldn’t resist another opportunity to eat at Mike and Rhonda’s before heading out to Paradise Forks, another one of Eric’s old stomping grounds. Climbing at Paradise Forks was almost exactly as Eric remembered; nearly void of other climbers, steep and perfect for anyone who enjoys climbing beautiful basalt cracks. We spent a full day exploring Paradise Forks before heading on toward the more moderate sandstone climbing near Las Vegas. On our way, we overheated on the side of the road due what we later discovered was a decent sized hole in our engine’s heater hose. We made it to Kingman Arizona where we camped in the dirt lot next to the Ford dealership while waiting for the replacement part. We made the most of our time by going on walks, seeing the movie Serenity (written and directed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s creator, this movie receives two thumbs up from the reviewing duo Waterkotte & Waterkotte), and eating at The Cracker Barrel. The folks at Colorado River Ford of Kingman were extremely hospitable towards us; they quickly got us back on the road again.
When we returned to The Juniper Spot, the weather was mildly cooler. We spent the next couple of days climbing and exploring Red Rocks. We both warmed up and tuned into climbing quickly. The weather was perfect which was nice as it can get windy and cool during October and November. Anyone who has ever gone rock climbing for several days in a row without showering knows that things can get pretty “funky”. We decided to pack it up and head south towards Los Angeles to stop in and see our friends the Boghossian family. We also caught up with our friend Ron Kiino who we hadn’t seen for some time and his lovely girlfriend, Dianne. We are now gearing up to see family and friends in Orange County before heading back to Baja to catch some surf for the next several weeks. Afterwards, we will be returning to Arizona before we take off on a Christmas cruise with the family.
We hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving! – Eric, Sarah and Bruce