Tom and Sally's RV Adventures: Catching up again

View 2011 - July-December in a larger map
Can't believe it's been almost 6 months. Tom tries to keep us up to date, but the fault lies with Sally for lack of follow-through. So, in the spirit of the new year, here's a synopsis of the last half of 2011.
Summer
We celebrated our fifteenth anniversary in Boise - we saw Cars 2 the night before and had an excellent lunch at a Leku Ono, a Basque restaurant (while waiting for the RV repairs).
After settling in at Malheur again, we made a quick trip to Washington to see Tom's cousin, Darlene, and Tony, her husband. They have a new home near Shelton, WA. We also go to see Tom's other cousin, Desiree, who flew out with her husband, Curtis.

We took a side trip to Nisqually NWR one day, but mostly spent some time just catching up.

Other special trips in the northwest this year:

Renewal Energy Fair at John Day, OR. While Tom learned about wind power, Sally wondered down the way to help build a cob oven (clay and straw oven). Very interesting. Maybe we could build one down at The River to bake bread for family get-togethers. Google "Cob Oven" for some interesting info about this ancient building material. (I took pictures, but I have mislaid one of my SD cards and these must have been on the missing card).

Later, in August, we went to Crater Lake National Park after (most of) the snow melted. There was still snow left on north-facing slopes (even in August!) and one of the overlooks was still closed.

But most of the roads were open, so we got to make a complete loop.

We visited Winnemucca, NV, the weekend of the Alabama - Penn State game. Tom appreciated the chance to watch a game in a state where gambling on sports is legal.

On the way back, we took a quick trip through Sheldon NWR, just west of Denio, NV.

We saw a herd of antelope and a really old corral made of willow at one of the refuge HQ buildings.

On another of our weekends, we visited Hart Mountain NWR. Saw some gorgeous views of the valley east of the refuge. The roads are pretty rough heading that way, but the visit was worth it. We are hoping to camp out over there at least one night next spring.

We met fellow workampers Jeff and Pat in Bend to attend the Lil Woody Barrel Aged Brew Fest. Wonderful beers - all of them were made just for the fest and you can't buy them anywhere, unfortunately. If you are in the area, it's highly recommended! http://www.hackbend.com/2011/08/31/the-little-woody-barrel-aged-brew-fest.php

We spent August and September at Malheur. Malheur experienced very high water levels in 2011. The snow pack on Steens Mountain was supposedly 300% of normal and the mountains north of Burns also had heavy snow. The result was a very wet year. We had never seen water at the Narrows before, but this year it was very wet. Here you can see the water on both sides of the road to Burns (normally this is ranch land.)

Lots of birds, including many breeding grebes.

Sally got an airboat ride with the fish biologist checking water quality and tracking tagged carp on the lake,

so she got a view of the Narrows from the water side.

Besides the trips already mentioned, we did a lot of local stuff:

Up Steens mountain. This is Kiger Gorge.

Demolition Derby at the Fairgrounds in Burns - lots of fun. One of our friends at the refuge won one of the heats. He had a "zombie" car. It would sit there smoking till I was sure he was out for good and then he would zoom into action again!
We also went to the fair after Labor Day.

On the refuge with biologists. Here they are setting nets to catch a sample of fish in the canal to determine where the carp are already established.

Animal sightings:

Trumpeter swans at Benson Pond.

Young bobcat (from the RV steps!)

Carp - the ugliest fish ever

Grebe with baby

Mule deer fawn (from inside RV)

Sage Thrasher on Buena Vista trail

And as fall arrives in eastern Oregon, we leave for the south.

Fall and winter
We left Malheur at the end of September with a goal of getting back to Mississippi by October 6. 2500 miles in less than a week! We did manage to stop in Dallas one night and visit with friends Carol and Bill Sumner.

The reason for the hurry is that we had promised to be at Ms Sandhill Crane NWR in time to help with the two fall festivals. And we were also on deck to watch our little grandsons while Stephen and Katie had a short visit to Miami the first weekend in October.

First was Gautier's Mullet Fest
Then a visit to see Sally's dad in Florida

Then the refuge Crane fest
And then we rested a bit with a trip up to Anniston to see Tom's family and a trip to Philadelphis MS to the casino with TD and Melanie.