The Precipice

Coos Bay to Winnemucca, Nevada

Ever notice that, while you don't mind standing on the edge of a cliff, it can make you extremely uncomfortable when your companion does it?

Precipice

When everything falls apart

time
age
health
wealth
glory
faith
belief

We hang barely
by a thread of love.

- Pradip Chattopadhyay

The campgrounds in Oregon have been full and hard to get into this summer. Tourism is up over 50% since the beginning of the "Great Recession".  It might be cheaper gas. It might be a stronger economy than the pundits would lead us to believe. Anyway you cut it, you better reserve far ahead for State Parks or RV park accommodations.

We spend three nights in Crescent, Oregon after leaving Coos Bay.

The eight hour drive east and south to Wunnemucca was very empty.

I've Been Everywhere

I was toting my pack along the long dusty Winnemucca road
When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load
If your goin' to Winnemucca, Mack with me you can ride
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand
And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"

 I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel, I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

Song by Johnny Cash

We should be able to buy some propane when we head east again this morning. We have a bolt on the main slide that keeps breaking. So far I've been able to fix it by replacing the bolt. I bought some triple strength bolts in Home Depot, but they shear off too after several extensions and retractions.

I take a long walk in the early morning through Winnemucca, past the bordellos,  casinos and sunflowers..

The drive to Winnemucca

The drive to Winnemucca

The drive to Winnemucca

The drive to Winnemucca

Land Between the Lakes

Grand Rivers, Kentucky

We're at an Army Corps of Engineers campground at the upper end of Lake Barkley and Lake Kentucky. We like the COE campgrounds. They're always on the water, well designed and inexpensive.

Grand Rivers has a population of about 300, but it has an elaborate theater. It was a gift from Mr. Bladgett who got rich barging coal around the lakes after they were created during the Depression by the Tennessee Valley Aithority.

We went to see "Ring of Fire" at the theater on Saturday night. It was excellent and told the Johnny Cash story with a mixture of his songs and video narrative.

These big lakes were created as part of FDR's electrification plan. about 10,000 farmers were relocated to allow the creation of the lakes and hundreds of square miles of recreation area between the lakes. We drove though here once about 30 years ago in our 79 Chevy camper van.

Things have been going wrong at an alarming rate. First we lost a hubcap from the  Toyota. Then the handle on our TV antenna broke off. I lost my favorite knife. Next I crushed the power supply for the Brake Buddy in the Car door. I tried to tape it up, but only managed to blow a fuse in the Toyota that controls the radio and cigarette lighter. Some how I've lost the Toyota manual and I couldn't find the blown fuse. So no radio and no GPS unless we download something onto the IPhone or IPad.

We should be in Mountain Home, Arkansas before the weekend. Today is a trip into Paducah to try to buy some books, fix the fuse, visit a junkyard to scroung hubcaps and see a movie....

Raft and Train in Royal Gorge

Cañon City, Colorado

We finally got our raft trip today. Our guide was an affable Colorado college student named Cody. He is studying real estate. At the end of the trip I gave him two tips. One was wet currency. The other was to change his major to accounting.

We had lots of opportunities to get wet. Cody let me jump out and swim for awhile. Apparently a floating body proceeds at at slower pace than a raft. I had to swim vigorously for five or six minutes while my raft-mates back-paddled to allow me to catch up.

There is a very tall suspension bridge over the Royal Gorge, perhaps the tallest in the world. It is hauntingly familiar. I wonder if Woody Harrell filmed a scene there to Leonard Cohen background music in "Natural Born Killers"? The tune might have been "Waiting for the Miracle"? I'll be shopping for new bungee cords in the morning. My old ones are frayed.

After the raft trip they give you lunch under a tent on the riverbank and provide a dressing room for a change into dry clothing. The Royal Gorge scenic train has an open car, but I went back into the air-conditioning and drifted off to sleep. The train loudspeaker plays a lot of cool train songs by Johnny Cash and others.

I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car
They're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars.

Of course you can't smoke big cigars or anything else on trains anymore thanks to the health Nazis...I dream of the days when every airline seat had an ashtray...the navigator's consoles on our C-124s had their own cute little ashtrays built-in...I don't care for the way things are going...before you know it they'll pass laws against spitting on the sidewalk and pull the spittoons out of drinking establishments.

We're planning to spend another day here, possibly hiking, then go look at Pike's Peak and Colorado Springs.