From Utah to Oregon - A picture review

I know I get a little wordy in my blogging so this time I am going to show a picture review of my trip from Southern Utah through Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon over the past six weeks.

I am presently in Oregon and plan to be here through September, at which time I will start my migration back to Texas for the winter.  I sure hope it isn't as cold this coming winter as last!

I hope I don't overload anyone with so many pictures. I chose carefully to represent the trip and these are only a small portion of what I have taken.  Digital cameras have spoiled us all!

Just to prove I am still kicking and grinning through it all.

In a small Wyoming town.

My favorite place....the Grand Tetons

Lake Jackson in the Grand Tetons late May

Our camp in Teton....almost vacant.

Right outside my trailer in Teton

This is in north central Idaho

The whole place, 50 square miles, was a major volcanic eruption within the past 2500 years

I bought a 3 day Idaho fishing license and here I am on the Salmon River ready for tomorrow

This is tomorrow!   It started snowing and did not quit so we got out of there.

I camped next to some hot springs along the Salmon River in Idaho and these guys were my neighbors.

Our campsite along the Snake River near Ontario, Oregon

Approaching the John Day area of Eastern Oregon

I really love this place called Oregon!

My son Jason and my Grandson Shawn.....what a great couple of guys!  Beaverton, Oregon.

I think Shawn likes me!  Dexter is a little jealous.

Visit to Willamette National Cemetery in Portland to pay my respects on Memorial Day

My sister in law, Judy, visiting with me in Vancouver, Washington

My son Josh and his new little rescue doggie, Phoebe, visiting us in Portland.  Josh is working on his BS in nursing at the University of Portland.  Great guy!

These nice folks (Don looks a little grumpy but he's a Teddy Bear) are my friends and my hosts in Prineville, Oregon, Margie and Don Nelson.  We met a few years back in Rockport, Texas while they were full time RV'rs.  They were going to visit Oregon so I suggested they check out Central Oregon and they liked it so much they bought nine acres and a home on a hill with the best view ever!

If you look dead center and a little to your right behind a tree you will see my 5th wheel parked at my friend's house in Prineville, Oregon.  Look a little further to your right and you will see a small house which I telll you about in the next picture.  The folks on top of the hill have a 360 degree view including Mt. Jefferson.  Beautiful but windy!

This is a close up of the little house behind my trailer.  It was the original house and has been gutted but is structurally sound and has big possibilities.  My friends want me to buy or lease it but we have a lot of details to work out, including how to afford it.  It would be a nice home for me to grow old in while sitting in my rocker on the deck overlooking the valley.  Adding a deck and a peaked roof and a few other things would make it look like a cabin. Check out the view in the next five pictures.  You can't put a price on that view!

This is where I am presently camping, near Frenchglen, Oregon in the Southeastern part of the state

About 150 years ago, two men named French and Glen owned over 200,000 acres here and it was the largest cattle and horse ranch in the Northwest.  This hotel is open and operated by the State.

A rare view of a herd of wild Kiger Mustangs.  There is no other horse in the world like these.  They are amazing and I encourage you to Google them to learn more.  You can actually adopt one and take it home!

I had to drive 13 miles up a rutted dirt road in my 4-wheel drive BFT to see these guys.  It was real rough but well worth the effort.

My campground until tomorrow.  I have to go back to Prineville and take Dexter to the vet.  He has a very sore paw.....poor little guy.

Dexter likes to think he is a big shot holding his bone like a cigar!  This little man has been my savior.

Flaiming Gorge National Recreation Area and Grand Teton National Park

I left Hurricane, Utah and headed northeast with plans of spending a week in the Flaming Gorge area instead of going to Moab as previously planned.  I made a mistake and should have stayed in the Southern Utah area another month to allow the northern weather to warm up.

My first night I stopped at a forest service campground about ten miles off the highway at a little town called Ferron, Utah.  It was way back in a canyon and pretty nice but I felt almost claustrophobic.  It also got very cold that night!

I camped back where you see the sunshine.

This is what the area looked like going into the canyon where I camped.

Flaiming Gorge

As I entered this area, I made the decision to go around the east side because I had not been there before.  It was nice but all the campgrounds were closed except one.  I found a small camping area near the boat launch in one of the coves.  It was not pretty but it was sheltered and flat.  I decided to stay only one night.

I was camped down there.

The Birthplace of J.C. Penny Company 

By accident I passed through a little Wyoming town called Kemmerer.  It is a pretty small all American town but it also happens to be where the first J.C. Penny store was opened in 1902.  Here is picture proof. I could live in a little house like that but I would want a larger front porch.

Fossel Butte National Monument

After leaving Kemmerer I came upon this place.  It was very interesting and proves existance over 400 million years ago.  There were lots of pictures of fish and wildlife and flowers etc from way back when.

On To Grand Teton National Park

It is a long drive from where I was in Flaming Gorge to Gran Teton.  I didn't plan to drive so far but I was too early in the season and all the campgrounds were still closed.  It was strange to see signs that said to camp only in designated campgrounds May 1st through Labor Day and still find all the campgrounds closed.

Anyway, I passed up many nice commercial RV parks thinking I would find my free or low cost forest service camping spot around the next bend.  Let me tell you there are a lot of bends in the road when you drive about 300 miles in the Rocky Mountains!

I did pass though some really pretty areas and would find myself visualizing living in a neat cedar or log cabin near one of the pretty mountain towns.  Not going to happen because I can't afford it and I'm not ready to settle down yet.

I really love being back in the mountain states with all the trees and beautiful scenery.  As I said earlier, I got here too soon as you will see by the following pictures.

This is the Lander cutoff at about 7500 feet.

This was a neat little town.  That arch is made of Elk antlers.  Jackson Hole has a similiar one but these folks claim this is the largest in the world.

The Grand Tetons

Neat little church in the park built in 1925.

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Frozen Lake Jackson

My home on wheels..and no neighbors.

OK.....that is all unless I take some really neat pictures of wildlife.  I will only be here five nights and then on to Yellowstone and over to Cody, Wyoming.  The weather does not look good for me this coming week but I can't change that....only my direction if it gets too bad.

I am seriously considering continuing East to Upstate New York and New England and then down to Florida for the winter.  I may change my mind but hope to do this as it was on Pati's and my bucket list for years and I'm traveling on the short end of the stick, if you get my meaning.