What's Up

A long time ago in a land far, far away we left you hanging after telling you our rig had been in an accident. As I said all living beings were fine but there was a lot of bent iron. Although we did make it home the last 600 or so kilometers, (370 or so miles) once we got there the truck was grounded and loaded on a flatbed for the last 30 miles to the repair shop and Woody's came down and hooked on our trailer and took it up to their facility to begin the process of estimating and finally repairing it all. There was close to $20,000 damage to the trailer and about $12,000 to the truck, mostly running gear, springs, etc, along with a new rear fender and box side. I won't bore you with pictures of bent tin though.

Brenda and the folks at Woody's got everything under way and our trailer was back in our hands by the first week of December rather than the estimated Spring 2020 we started with.

The truck was less of an issue it was back in a month or so.

So our potential winter north of the Medicine Line was averted and after a final doctors appointment for Brenda last Wednesday we hooked up and rolled south.

Southern Alberta sunrise

It was a coin toss whether we should scoot for the coast and enjoy the rain heading south or just go for it and head straight south. We opted for I-15 and the more direct southerly route. That meant we had about 1200 miles of high desert and potential snow to maneuver through but the gods were smiling and other than a little drifting snow coming over the Milk River Ridge and even less on the Monida in southern Montana it was bare and dry, cruise control weather the whole way.

We stopped the first night at the Clark Canyon Reservoir in southern Montana, where it was bitterly cold with a gale force wind blowing and ice fishing shacks set up right next to our spot. We ran the gennie all night with all the heaters roaring just to stave of hypothermia.

I promised you ice fishing, Max and I are gob smacked that folks actually do that for fun. Brenda not so much, she says it is a blast. I prefer my ice in my drink.

The next morning we were off and across those Idaho flat lands and then into Utah.

Idaho sunrise

Salt Lake City was its usual mess, but we just tucked in behind a semi and motored on through with him clearing the way. The day was uneventful but we did make about 700 miles before it was over in Logandale, Nevada. That meant we had moved over 1300 miles in the last two days but only left us 410 miles to get to our final destination east of Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Sunrise this morning, Picket Post Mountain in the background

Long time readers, and folks on my Facebook page will know that over the last few months at home we weren't just cooling our heels waiting for our southerly migration to begin. We did a little haying, baled some straw, swam most days, and did a whole lot of what my granddaughter calls picturing. I won't subject you to all those photos, there were a lot, of snowy owls, blue jays, moose, and other critters as well as innumerable sunset and landscape shots. But this lady was looking at me like she was saying isn't it time you moved on south and left these northern ranges to us hardier folk. I agreed, hopefully she will be gone back home before we have to. LOL

Snowy Owls end their southern migration about where we begin ours.

Time Flies

While other than our misguided adventure to see the IRS it has been a while since I updated our travels. Last time I wrote we were in Gila Bend on our way to Foothills over near Yuma.

We ran over there and did a little moochdocking with our friends Angela and Don Ritter. Their landlord allowed us to avail ourselves of the extra spot in his yard so we had a good 3-night visit, including a day trip down to Algodones for lunch one day.

We had our rig washed and waxed while we were in Foothills so when we pulled out we were gleaming in the sunshine. We intended to head over to Ogilby Road just west of Yuma for a couple of weeks but it seems that the BLM folks were telling those already there that they had to move out in a day or so, so we headed north to our favourite spot NE of Quartzsite. We spent pretty near the entire month of February there and were joined for a time by Skip and Jean and the legendary Wandering Willy, and even had a short visit from Ivan and Hailey. Kim and Wendy Johnson also stopped by as they were wandering their way south and west towards California.

A month is a long time to spend even in that perfect spot so we reluctantly hooked up and headed north looking for another spot to while away the winter. We popped into Telephone Cove up near Laughlin but that road didn't look all that conducive to a rig our size meandering down it, so after a short visit with Ivan while he changed a tire alongside of it we headed back up and hooked up and headed north.

That night we ended up in the Sam's Town KOA and experience we won't soon repeat. It was pretty close quarters kind of like sleeping in a sardine can with neighbours so close you could swear you were hearing their stomachs growling and other less pleasant bodily functions.

One night was it and we headed north out of Vegas looking for wide open spaces. About a week ago we arrived here at Snowbird Mesa/Poverty Flats just out of Overton, Nevada. Overton/Logandale are nice little towns and have most services you could need except for a laundromat.

The view just a short half mile from our campsite here at Poverty Flats

A desert oasis and spring along the side of Lake Mead

Also in Lake Mead NRA, they tell me those were Sand Dunes at one time

The Logandale Trails wind their way through these Red Rocks

We did run back into North Las Vegas last Sunday and had a great visit with our long-time RV'ing friends Randy and Sue Beck, folks from North Pole, Alaska who we first met in Nashville, Tn when we began this adventure way back in the fall of 2007. We have kept in touch and crossed paths a few time since then but always love to see this couple on our travels.

That missing element I mentioned, the laundromat, is driving us to head for a little-used laundry room that we know about so later today we will be loading Blue II and prepping to make a run for the Medicine Line. Hope I have some clean socks waiting at Dogpound North.

Matt has been working the last two weekends trying to get the snow cleared off our road so we are hoping with his hard work and a little chinook weather the road to Dogpound North will be passable in a few days when we make the turn off of Range Road 41. We are big and that road is small and our old John Deere has been giving Matt a little trouble so wish us luck.

On the Road

We spent Thursday and part of Friday hauling stuff out to the rig and packing it away, loading things for our southern migration. About noon we figured we had enough stuff to keep us from blowing away in the wind so we fired up the truck and headed out. The plan is to do something we haven't ever tried before and just wander our way south, taking it easy. Our first stop was going to be somewhere around the border, Milk River or Shelby, but we didn't actually find a decent spot to pull off until pretty Dutton, Mt. There is a good little Rest Area just north of there that is quite a way off the road and makes a good place for a "rest". And a great spot for the dogs to get out and do a little exploring.

We got a good nights sleep and Saturday morning around 9 we got on the road, I told you it was going to be different, in the past we would have already been 4 or 5 hours down the road by that time. Just a while down the road we pulled into Great Falls and filled the Ford, and then headed into Denny's to fill our own tanks. Brenda had her favourite Chicken Fried Steak with white gravy and I tried something new called Sticky Bun Pancakes. They were Pecan Pancakes dressed with some sauce off of Sticky Buns and holy smokes they were good, fattening, and not healthy, but oh so good. After a leisurely breakfast we headed back out onto the highway. Our plan was to head for southern Montana and called it a day south of Dillon, at the Clark Canyon Reservoir. There are a few spots to camp there, we chose Horse Prairie and it was sure a hidden gem. Rumour has it that it can be windy in that valley but it was dead calm the whole time we were there.

A pano the lake from our spot, probably 6 or 8 images stitched together

Sticking with our theme of taking it easy we hooked up about 9 and got on the road soon after. Today we had a big day planned, about 5 1/2 hours on the road, Seems strange wandering along, hooking up in the daylight and setting up in the same, not my usual way of heading south, but usually I am racing to get to DPS to meet Brenda coming on the airplane, but this time she is traveling with me and long days and her CRPS don't fit well together. We stopped for the night at Cabela's in Lehi. We have pulled in here before both with and without the horses, they had corrals here for them but those have been removed so it is not a horse stopping spot anymore. We did slip into the store and pay the rent though with a few purchases.

This morning we got on the road about 9ish and headed south again, it was a nice driving day and we slipped down the Virgin River Gorge and pulled into our regular stopping place at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale, Nevada. This is a great spot for those hauling horses, nice pens, some covered stalls and even an internet connection that works pretty well. We always throw some money in the honour box as even though we don't haul horses anymore we do use the internet and the power that is available. This a well kept place and I was a little disappointed to see that some folks don't appreciate it, looked like at least two trailers had been here recently and cleaned themselves out in the parking lot. There are great spots here for doing just that but these goofs just pushed it out the back onto the parking lot. I worked off my dinner shovelling a couple of idiots manure and shavings and piling it in the proper place if we don't look after these places they will not welcome transient horse folk anymore. And you just know that people that do that probably didn't put anything in the box either.

Logandale Sunset

Tomorrow we are heading for Vegas, Brenda has a mission in mind so we will have a short, 60 minute, drive day and get that job done.

Hey look at that two entries, one month.

Gone to DPS

Yep, it is November and we have flown the coop and left winter behind at Dogpound North. Last week I loaded Blue and Wink and pointed the truck south. We had found a weather window that gave us a good shot at getting down to Dogpound South (DPS) without hitting to much weather along the way. Late season trips to the south place mean your travel plans need to be flexible and as we slid across Montana we started hearing reports of an incoming storm in Southern Idaho, mostly high winds but some snow and that led us to change our first overnight stop from Dillon, Montana to down near Idaho Fall, Idaho. And to ensure that we beat the winds out of Idaho we made an early (2:30AM early) departure from Idaho Falls and headed for Utah. The early start got us out of Idaho and into Utah so that we were through the Salt Lake City rat race before most of those folks got out of bed. As we rolled south across Utah the roads were good, at least until we hit the junction of I-15 and I-70, at that point they went downhill in a hurry. Although the temps were up around 45F we came over a hill in the middle of a pack of transport trucks to find a State Trooper jumping up and down in the middle of the highway. Sure wish he had gone a mile or so farther north as that might have given us a chance of getting slowed down a little before we hit the packed snow and ice covered highway ahead. Now anyone who has driven the ice roads in the Arctic knows how much fun it is to be on solid ice when the temperature gets above freezing. Hard enough to stand up let alone skid our big LQ down the highway while trying to get down to a more reasonable speed as well as not cause any issues for the surrounding transport trucks. Eventually the truckers and I managed to slip our way between the ditches, which were full of four wheelers, and get our speed down to a still too fast 15-20 mph. The ice and snow only lasted for about 3 miles, but they were an exciting three miles.

We called it a day once we wound our way down the Virgin River gorge and through Mesquite towards Logandale. Logandale and the Clark County Fairgrounds have a great spot to stop with horses. Brand new box stalls, pens, and even a place to plug in the LQ for the night. Even with all the excitement we were all settled in by mid-day and probably could have made DPS if we had been so inclined, but the horses had two long days in the trailer and it was better to let them get out and move around a little and get an early start the next day.

Day three we were up and on the road again early and through Las Vegas before rush hour and well into Arizona when the sun rose. One stop for fuel and it was all downhill in the Valley of the Sun. We were at DPS around noon and got unloaded and stretch our legs, all 18 of them. I never mentioned the dogs but they are great travelers and slept most of the way down.

Things here at DPS are pretty well setup so it was just a matter of hanging a water bucket on the rack and turning the tap and we are ready to go.

Thursday, Brenda was up early back in Canada and onto an airplane headed down to join us here at DPS. We gathered her up and stopped to pick up a few supplies on the way back out of the city. The last few days have been spent getting settled in here and restocking the larder.

We've spent the last few days getting settled in and trying to get Brenda not to do to much. When it comes to the former we have been relatively successful, but the latter has not been that great a success. She has raked and swept and cleaned both inside and out, so DPS is looking pretty nice.

And back at Dogpound North it is looking like "we are glad we beat it."

Deja Vu All over Again

Well I made it back to Dogpound North and spent a few busy days up there, getting things ready for our imminent departure. The folks doing the flood repairs are working hard to get things done so they are gone when we are gone also.

I had a couple of ponies that were going to my friend Wayne's place for the winter so they had to be moved up there. That is where Rosie came from ten years ago and it was obvious that she knew where she was as soon as she got out of the trailer. She will spend the winter with a group of mares, including one that she grew up with 18 or so years ago. Hank is spending the winter with Wayne's geldings and a couple of young stud colts, so they will be living the life of Riley.

While I was home I managed to sneak in and see Annika playing a soccer game, the first of the winter season. Boy those kids got a lot of energy, I was tired just watching.

Another job that had to be done was getting the horses blood tests done, not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I had already done this a couple of weeks ago. Appears that my usual vet's CFIA certification had expired so she arranged for another vet to come and redo the tests. All was good and we managed to get the federal vets (CFIA) signatures on Wednesday when we were in town for Brenda's appointment with her surgeon. That done we had a green light for an early morning departure on Thursday morning. I was up and loading horses about 4:00AM. After a quick stop at the border so the USDA vet could check our paperwork and have a look at the horses and give us the OK to head further south. That first day we made our stop at the Dillon, MT rodeo grounds. They had a nice big pen so were able to move around and work out the kinks of standing in the trailer all day.

Next morning we were up and loading again by 4:00AM. It is nice to get out on the road early, not much traffic except the odd transport truck. Late in the morning we ran the gauntlet that is Salt Lake City. The interstate through there is in a constant state of construction but timing is everything so if you make it through at a none rush hour time it is a relatively painless journey. That night we made our stop once again at a rodeo grounds. This time the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale, NV supplied the pens for our overnight. They were having a barrel race there that evening so even Max and Maya had lots of folks to watch as the evening went on.

Saturday morning found us slipping through Las Vegas very early and got us down here into Dogpound South about mid-morning. Needless to say horses, dogs and I were all glad to get out and stretch our legs without the need to jump back in the rig for another long drive.

Sunday was spent washing cars, trucks, trailers and the deck and house again in anticipation of Brenda's arrival Sunday evening.

And that brings us to today. I have moved the leftover 25 bales from last year under cover and readied our stack yard for arrival tomorrow of another squeeze of hay. And now that the horses have had a couple of days off it is time to start legging them up so we can get out and get a few pictures for this blog.

Oh Yah! A reminder of just why it is we come to Dogpound South. Dogpound North is pretty but also pretty cold this time of year.