Sharp's Travels

We went up and picked up our mail at 10am this morning then headed to Crater Lake. We found out by talking to the locals that we could see the lake by going in at the south entrance. The road was open to the ranger station and we could view the lake from there. The rim road would have been neat but we will take what we can get.

It was a 197 mile round trip but well worth it. The closer we got to the top the more snow there was. We even saw people loading snowmobiles up. The lake is a beautiful blue. It’s 5 miles wide and ringed by cliffs almost 2000 ft high. The lake rests in the shattered remnants of a volcano called Mount Mazama, which erupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago. It’s the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet deep and one of the deepest in the world. We waded in the snow to overlook the lake. Gay got some really nice pictures.

We ate lunch at the café there before heading back. We took the highway back around the lake and stopped to take pictures of more beautiful rivers along the highway. The road was lined with tall pines. It made a beautiful picture.

Our temperature went from 61 degrees to 46 degrees as we climbed to the summit. The sun was shinning so it didn’t feel so cold up on top.

We arrived back at the 5th wheel at 3pm. Another neat day!

Gay has uploaded pictures. The album is Crater Lake. It also has other pictures of the day.

It’s sprinkling again this morning. We were on the move by 8:30am. We stopped on the other side of Burns to get gas. It was 30 cents more per gallon since the last time we filled up. We have traveled 3729 miles so far.

We stopped in Bend at a Wal-Mart to pick up a cheep water regulator to use until we can get ours back.

We pulled into our campground at Crescent OR at 2pm. We will stay here for 2 days while we wait for our mail.

Cheri's flock of Sheep, they had the road blocked
while they drove them across the road.

We closed up and were on the road by 9am. We took Hwy 26 over to Ririe, ID to pick up our mail. It’s a small town and we were able to park our rig right in front of the post office. We haven’t had mail since Smith Center, KS 2 weeks ago.

We needed groceries so we stopped at a Wal-Mart in Idaho Falls. We took time for a sandwich after we put the groceries away.

We stayed on Hwy 20 which ran along the Craters of the Moon National Preserve. It’s just piles and piles of volcanic rock jutting up through the ground. Not an attractive site. It looks like a coal clinker dump site. For more information go to their web site at www.nps.gov/archive/crmo/home

We pulled into our campground in Mountain Home, ID at 5pm. What a beautiful park. Everyone has their own pad, cable and Wi-Fi. We didn’t even have to unhook!We closed up and were on the road by 9am. We took Hwy 26 over to Ririe, ID to pick up our mail. It’s a small town and we were able to park our rig right in front of the post office. We haven’t had mail since Smith Center, KS 2 weeks ago.

We needed groceries so we stopped at a Wal-Mart in Idaho Falls. We took time for a sandwich after we put the groceries away.

We stayed on Hwy 20 which ran along the Craters of the Moon National Preserve. It’s just piles and piles of volcanic rock jutting up through the ground. Not an attractive site. It looks like a coal clinker dump site. For more information go to their web site at www.nps.gov/archive/crmo/home

We pulled into our campground in Mountain Home, ID at 5pm. What a beautiful park. Everyone has their own pad, cable and Wi-Fi. We didn’t even have to unhook!

It was a cold wet day with a high of 49 degrees. It rained most of the day. I took the truck to a car wash and gave it a good cleaning on the out side. Cheri did some laundry and cleaning. Cheri and I played a couple of games of cribbage and she won both games, plus she skunked me the first game. Then we played a couple of games of Five Crown and I won both of them. The rest of the day was spent reading and watching TV. Boy we were really lazy today and it felt good.

We were both up early this morning as we haven’t gotten use to Mountain Time. We went to church up in Driggs to the Community Bible Church. Everyone was very friendly. After church we made a call to check on a hot air balloon ride. The price was $550 and thought it was too rich for us. We went back to the 5th wheel and took it easy the rest of the day. I watched racing all day and Cheri read her book. We had a couple of rain showers come through. It did get up to 56 degrees today and was the highest for the last four days we have been here.

View from our campground

It rained all night. Temperatures dropped to 38 degrees. Morning didn’t bring any dry weather. We had to close up in the rain. By the time we pulled out it was rain/sleet. We made a stop at Sink Canyon State Park in Lander. The river rushes down and disappears into a cave. For years they couldn’t figure out where it went to. Now they find it coming out of the hillside rocks about ¼ mile down the road. What a beautiful picture.

Coming through Dubois, WY we ran into snow. The ground is all white and the snowflakes are BIG. Temperature is 33 degrees as we climbed up to the Continental Divide in the Teton National Forrest. The snow got deeper along the roads and clung to the trees. It was so pretty. As we got almost back down to the bottom the Grand Tetons came into view. They were all snow covered with clouds hanging around them and the sun in the background. What a beautiful site.

We entered Grand Teton National Park and spotted buffalo along the road and 2 big herds of elk.

At noon we pulled off in a scenic overlook to eat lunch just before entering Jackson. We took Hwy 22 that goes up through Teton Pass and on up the highway they had a flashing sign saying NO TRAILERS beyond that point. They said the roads were icy and we shouldn’t go over the pass with the 5th wheel. Darn, we only had 18 miles to go to our campground in Victor, ID. We turned around and headed back into Jackson and took the loop around to Victor. That meant about 80 miles to our campground instead of 18 miles!

It was still raining when we reached our campground and we had to set up in the rain. We are here for 5 days to look over the area.

Gay has uploaded pictures of our day. Sink Canyon, Snow, Tetons

We decided to stay 2 nights in our campground outside of Lander, WY. We had a scary night here. About 10:00 pm the wind started to blow. We thought our camper would blow over! It lasted about 1 hour and then all was good again.

By 9:30am we were ready to head for the gold mining town of South Pass City. We went off the main road onto a well maintained dirt road about 3 miles to South Pass City. It has been restored to the period of its last big gold rush during the late 1800’s. The buildings are all in their original locations and have all been furnished as they would have been back in the 1800’s. If the buildings were no longer standing, they had markers indicating where they were located. It was all very interesting and we had the town to ourselves until a bus load of kids arrived.

We bought our pans for panning gold when we get to Alaska at the visitors center before we left.

We took a short cut from South Pass City over to Atlantic City, another god rush town, and ran into snow on our road! We are up in the Wind River Mountains at an elevation of 7,750.

Got back to the main highway and decided to drive on into Lander to fill up with gas, $4.39 per gallon for a total of $436.

We have a lot of pictures to upload when we get a better internet signal.

We were on the road by 9am. Our first stop was the Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site in Guernsey, NB. It boosts of some of the deepest, most photographed wagon ruts of the overland trails. Here thousands of iron-shad wheels and hooves chewed tracks 5 to 6 ft deep in solid rock. Hard to believe the wheels could wear into rock like that.

We left Hwy 26 and traveled Interstate 25 on into Casper, WY.

We saw a number of herds of antelope grazing on the plains and hills along the highway. Gay stopped and took a few pictures. We also saw a deer surrounded by geese grazing by the river. There are working oil wells out in the fields along HWY 26. Another site was a prairie dog village. We got a glimpse of a couple of prairie dogs poking their heads out of their holes.

We got to the National Historic Trails Center at Casper by noon. We went into the fifth wheel for a quick sandwich before taking the tour. When we entered we watched an 18 min. media presentation of the early pioneers, Indians, trappers and pony express riders. We then made our way around the museum and even got to ride in a simulated covered wagon crossing the river and had a stagecoach ride. It made you feel like you were back in the 1800’s. We spent about 2 hours there.

As we traveled to our next destination, we saw snowdrifts about 100 yards of the highway. 80 degrees and snow!

We stopped at Independence Rock at Alcova, WY. It is the most noted landmark of the wagon trails west of Fort Laramie. Thousands of emigrants camped at the foot of this rock and many carved their names in the granite.

About 5 miles on down the road we stopped at Devil’s Gate. It is a deep cleft cut through the rock ridge by the Sweetwater River. People are puzzled as to why the river went through the rock instead of around it. It was an interesting site.

We arrived at our campground outside of Lander, WY at 5:30pm. Fixed supper and watched a little TV before turning in.

We are late getting this blog in as we don't have a signal where we are staying, had to go into town to up load. We have pictures to upload when we get to a place with more signal.

We had another night of not sleeping very well. We just took our time, enjoying our coffee and deciding what was on the agenda for today.

Gay’s uncle lives about 10 miles from our campground and we drove over but found no one home. His car was there, but he and the dog were gone. He had left the windows open and the door unlocked so he hadn’t gone far. It is turkey hunting season here and that’s probably what he is doing. He loves to hunt and fish.

We headed over to Ash Hollow State Historical Park. We had seen a lot of it when we were here a few years back, but it was nice to revisit it. Ash Hollow is where the pioneers passed through as they were traveling the Oregon Trail west. The park museum was very nice. We also took a look at the small rock shelter on the side of the bluff where the early man and plains Indians took shelter. They have unearthed a lot of artifacts there. A rock school house is also on the grounds. We visited the Ash Hollow Cemetery. Rachel Pattison, one of the early pioneers is buried there. Her trailside grave was the beginning of this pioneer cemetery. A monument preserves her original gravestone. This is also where Gay’s aunt is buried and we spent some time by her grave.

We had lunch at the campground store and then it was back to the 5th wheel where I ironed and Gay washed the 5th wheel and truck.

About 3pm we tried Gay’s uncle again, got no answer and had hardly hung up the phone when he drove in by us at the campground. We visited for a few hours and then Max went back home to drop off the dog and came back to the 5th wheel and we all went out to eat.

We plan on going to church with Max and he’ll be here at 8:30am tomorrow morning to pick us up.

Gay has uploaded pictures from today. Album: Ash Hollow

Cheri’s back has been bothering her and didn’t sleep very good last night. We both were up early as we need to get the 5th wheel closed up as it was setting in front of one of there work bays and need the space for the next 5th wheel to be worked on. I did get a new lock for the back door. It wasn’t hard to install, but was a $50.00 lesson. We said our good byes to Rick and Y just before they left and then went in to the lounge to say good bye to John and Terri. I think they will be there for another day. We were on the road by 8:45 am. We got into Kearney, Nebraska around 11:30 am and stopped at the Great Platte River Road Archway. It was built over Interstate Highway 80. It was very interesting. To learn more about it, go to their web site at www.archway.org We spent about 2 hours there and also had lunch there. When we got to North Platte we gained an hour as we are now in Mountain Time Zone. We arrived at our campground in Lewellen NE around 4:00 pm. We will spend at least two nights here. Cheri has a lot of laundry to do and we are going to visit my uncle who lives here.

This morning routine was the same has the last few mornings, except it was after 6:30 am before I got to the repair center. I had coffee and the morning visit with the other folks waiting on their 5th wheels. Around 8:00 am I went back to the bed and breakfast to pick up Cheri and check out. We went for breakfast down town at the Second Cup and then back to the repair center. By noon I was able to put things back in the basement. They got done with the 5th wheel around 2:00 pm and pulled it outside. Cheri and I worked getting everything back in it place. Late afternoon was the first time we all had our 5th wheels outside at the same time and was able to see each other floor plan and trade more ideas. This evening Cheri and I went with Yvonne & Rick and Terri & John out to eat. After we got done eating we sat there and visited for over two hours. It was fun hearing all the different things that has happened and how we all got started full time rving. When we got back to the 5th wheel, I gave Cheri the key to unlock the 5th wheel while I went into the repair center. When I came out she was still trying to get the door unlocked. Well I gave her the wrong key and she got it stuck in the lock. I had a hard time getting it out. The right key would not go into the lock. It is a good thing we have two doors. I couldn’t even unlock it from inside. I will have to check on a new lock in the morning. If something like this has to happen this is the right place as they have all the parts here.

Once again I was over to the repair center before 6:00 am. Did some work on the computer and spend some time talking to the other people here. I went back to the bed and breakfast at 8:00 am so Greg, Jeanene, Cheri and I could go downtown to the Second Cup for breakfast. After breakfast Greg and Jeanene left for Wisconsin. It sure was nice of them to come all the way out here to visit. We had a good time while they were here. Cheri and I went back to the repair center, they had the bedroom slide done so we put the bed back together and cleaned out under the couch, so they can take out the slide and repair the floor. By late afternoon they had the dinette slide done. This evening we went out for supper with Carol and Darryl (managers of bed and breakfast), Bobbi and Bruce (owners of the bed and breakfast), and a salesman that stayed the night.

It was cold here this morning, only 34 degrees. It did warm up to 70 degrees. Cheri and I went to church here in Smith Center; we went last year when we were here. Got back to the 5th wheel at 11:40 and started putting things away so we could close up in preparation for going to the Bed & Breakfast for a few nights while they work on the 5th wheel. Greg & Jeanene Peterson, friends from Wisconsin, who just retired, met us out here to hang out and visit with us. We went for lunch and then went over to the Bed & Breakfast to check in. We stayed there last year when we were here and the owners gave us a tour and told us the history of the Bed & Breakfast and then took us over and showed us their house they are remodeling. This year we got another tour of their house and we saw how they are coming with that remodeling. What a great job their doing.

Supper was at Pizza Hut and then back to the Bed & Breakfast to watch the final Survivor show for the season. By 10pm we were all ready for bed.

Rain, wind, and cold weather are what we had today. I did a quick wash job on the 5th wheel and got wet before I got done. Cheri cleaned and fixed barbeque pork chops in the crock pot and pecan pie for dinner. We picked up mail at the post office this morning. This is the first time we have received mail by general delivery. Also the first mail since we left Florida. Cheri went to bed early and I stayed up and watched the NASCAR Race.

Happy birthday Grandpa, 88 years young. It rained most of the night and was raining when we got up. This morning before we closed up we went to the Social Security office so Cheri could sign up for Social Security. It stopped raining before we got back to the 5th wheel so it made it nice for closing up. Glad I filled up the truck in Missouri, because when we got in Kansas it was $4.369. We got to Smith Center about 3:30 pm. We are set up out side the maintenance shop. We have an appointment for 6:30 am Monday morning to have some problem fixed.

Nothing much to write about today, It was misting rain and foggy when we left the campground in Branson. We got on the road at 10:00 am and arrived here in St Joseph MO around 4:30 pm. After we got set up we went to Wal-Mart for groceries and to fill up the truck with diesel. I put in 105 gallon at a price of $3.989. Which wasn’t too bad as the cheapest I saw it anywhere else was $4.09.9 and up to $4.199.

It started raining before we got up this morning and rained all day, it was still raining when we went to bed. We stayed in the 5th wheel, reading, working on the computer, and watching TV. Cheri did a couple of loads of laundry. We didn’t go out until it was time for our evening show at 8:00 pm to see New South, Branson’s Quartet singing Country to Gospel and 50s to modern day music. There was also a lot of comedy. It made for a nice evening of entertainment.

We took a long walk around the rest of the campground that we hadn’t seen. It is a large campground with over 500 sites in 4 different locations. It started to rain shortly after we got back to the 5th wheel. It didn’t rain that much, but threaten all day. We had only one show to go to and it was a dinner show at 7:00 pm. It was the Magnificent Seven variety show. We had a nice dinner of chicken and prime rib. The show was a variety of music from the last seven decades. It wasn’t one of the best shows we have seen.

It was in the high 40’s this morning and in the high 70’s this afternoon. We walked down to the campground office this morning to get our billing straighten out. They had triple billed us on our credit card and did one refund. They also billed us through Coast to Coast for 8 nights instead of 7 nights. I hope they got if right now, will check with the bank in a couple of days. Late this morning we went down in old town Branson to the Branson Landing. There are a lot of new stores and Cheri needed to go into a lot of them. She did buy a few things that she said were essentials. I wonder if that would work for me. This afternoon we went to the 3:00 pm Shoji Tabuchi show. This is the third or fourth time we have seen his show. It is by far the best show in Branson. He said it took 88 people to put on the show. Check out his web site at www.shoji.com . This evening we went to the 8:00 pm show to see SIX. It is a group of six brothers that take their musical entertainment to a whole new level using only their voices. Zero instruments required. Dubbed an orchestra of human voices. It was a great show. Their web site is www.thesixshow.com

Darren has made an addition to our web page. If you look under Links of Interest you will see a new link Alaska or Bust. If you click on it, it will take you to a map that shows our trip as far has we have gone. I will update it each time we move. Thanks Darren.

Cheri went to bed before me last night; I stayed up and watched the NACAR Race I had recorded. It was 1:00 am before I got to bed. Sooooooo we slept in this morning. It was only 40 degrees this morning, but it did warn up to 69 degrees. It was sunny so we took a long walk around the campground. We left the 5th wheel around noon and went down the strip and stopped at the Peppercorn Restaurant for their lunch buffet. It is advertised as Branson’s best buffet. If this is Branson’s best buffet I am not going to any others. It was real bad. Later we did some shopping and then went to the Yakov Smirnoff 3:00 pm show. He is the famous Russian comedian. He put on a great show. It was 6:00 pm before we got back to the 5th wheel.

It was down to 42 degrees this morning and windy. Our first show today was at 10:00 am to see the Twelve Irish Tenors. 8 out of the 12 are from Ireland and the other 4 are of Irish descent. They did a very good show of Irish folk, Opera, Pop Swing, Jazz and Gospel. Cheri really enjoyed it, but it’s not my cup of tea. After the show we went to the Fall Creek Steak House. Cheri and I split a platter of smoke ribs and brisket, along with fresh baked rolls that they throw to you as they walk by. Then it was off to the Branson Mill. It’s a village of working craftsmen. Being its Saturday there wasn’t much being done; we did look at a lot of crafts. Then back to the 5th wheel to rest up for our evening show at 7:15 to see the Baldknobbers Jamboree Show. This is their 49th year in Branson with four generations of music performers. They performed country classics, hot new country hits, toe tapping gospel and lots of side-splitting comedy.

Our day started early has there was a tornado warning, we went to the Rec hall at 5:00 am. It didn’t last very long but we did have some trees down here in the campground. Some of the towns near by didn’t fair as well as us. This forenoon we went up to the lodge to buy show tickets. Then we headed for the World’s Largest Titanic museum. The structure is anchored in the water to create the illusion of the Titanic at sea, and the 90 minute, self-guided tour is designed to give guest the sensation of being an original passenger on the Titanic’s 1912 maiden voyage. This afternoon we had tickets for the 3:00 pm Pierce Arrow show. We laughed so much our sides hurt while Jerrett Dougherty was performing. The rest of the group does smooth sounds, rock-the-house Gospel, and Patriotic medleys. Their evening show is different from their afternoon show, so we are thinking of going to it if we can find the time. Our 8:00 pm show was the Haygoods. It is a family of seven brothers and one sister. They did powerful harmonies, energetic dance numbers and virtuoso performances on over twenty different instruments. It was a great show to end the night. It was almost 11:00 pm when we got back to the 5th wheel.

After breakfast we went over to Dave and Maryann’s. Cheri and Maryann went into Mountain Home shopping. Dave and I went to the car club’s coffee clutch held in one of the members shop. His name is Ron Young and has five muscle cars plus a couple of corvettes. It was fun to hear them swap stories. A few of the guys get together every Thursday morning. Ron was nice enough to show me all of his cars. We left there and went to pick up Dave’s 1940 Chevy that he was having some work done on the digital dash. We got back to Dave and Maryann’s at 12:30. Maryann fixed us a very nice dinner. We said our good byes and headed back to the campground to hook up the 5th wheel and headed for Branson MO. We arrived at Treasure Lake campground around 4:30 pm. After we got set up we went for a walk around the campground and saw several Excel 5th wheel campers. Come to find out Excel of Mo, is having there get together. While I was checking into the campground Cheri was picking up brochures of all the shows and is already planning our week. We will be here for 7 days. I have uploaded some pictures of Dave’s 1940 Chevy; check them out in the photo gallery.

Dave and Maryann picked us up at 8:30 am and we headed for Branson MO. We arrived at Silver Dollar City around 10:30 am. Our first stop was for a pretzel stuffed with cream cheese, boy was that good. Then we headed for the Silver Dollar Saloon to see the Frontier Follies. A madcap comedy ensues when Bart and the girls hire a couple of big city directors to produce a new saloon show. It was very funny. The next stop was Opera House to see the Zuni Acrobats of China’s combined ballet-like elegance with pinpoint precision, agility and strength in one dynamic show. What a show, we held our breath while some of the acts were preformed. It was a great show. After that was over we visited several stores on our way to the Red Gold Heritage Hall to see Feet of Fire (Ireland) a talented ensemble of all- champion step dancers direct from the Emerald Isle combined with live Irish music and symbolic fire dancing in one dramatic stage production. On the way out of the Park we visited a few more shops. Then we drove down the Branson Strip to Branson Landing. It is an all new area of shops, stores, and restaurants. After checking out several shops we stopped at Garfield’s Restaurant & Pub for supper. We had an excellent meal; I think Cheri and I will be going back when we get back to Branson tomorrow. We got home around 10:30 pm. Thanks Dave and Maryann for such a great day.