On September 26, we drove through Columbia River Gorge on I-80 on our way to Hells Canyon on the Snake River. After a couple of stops along the way, we arrived at Copperfield Campground at Oxbow dam on the Snake River. Copperfield is one of several very nice campgrounds owned by Idaho Power in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area. The campgrounds are very nicely maintained and have electricity and water at each campsite. As I mentioned in our previous post, we wanted to investigate this area as a possible place to take the boat and stay during the late spring and/or early fall. While there is no doubt it would be an excellent place for fishing and boating and the surrounding scenery is awesome, there are some deterrents to long term stays for us. First, there is absolutely no cell phone service in the area, and I don’t mean you have to drive 10 miles down the road to find it. It just isn’t there at all! Of course this also means no internet service unless we buy a satellite internet system, which we are not likely to do. Secondly, the closest medical services are about 80 miles away. Thirdly, the closest Wal Mart, or any other larger size place to shop for goods is also about 80 miles away. Being accustomed to our near-constant contact with the outside world, we’re not sure we could stand the isolation for any period of time. Other than these drawbacks, it would be a perfect place to tow our boat to in the fall, stay for awhile then leave the boat in storage there. In the spring we could come back and stay for a while then tow the boat back to the coast for the summer.

After leaving Hells Canyon, we moved onto Sparks, NV, via Caldwell Idaho. We headed south though Nevada. We made an overnight stop in Tonopah. If you have ever been to Tonopah, I'm sure you will agree it ain’t no garden spot! When we woke up on Friday it was 28 degrees! Our first reminder that winter is on it’s way. There was some snow in the forecast, but fortunately it didn’t materialize. On Monday october 13, we settled in at Laughlin, NV for 10 days. Our plan was to hang out there until the 23rd when we would travel over to Palm Springs for a family get-to-together. However on the 14th we received word that Roger’s Mother had passed away. A memorial service in Centralia, WA was to be held on the weekend we were to be in Palm Springs. After investigating our alternatives, we decided it was best to go to Orange County so we could still get together with the family and Roger could fly up for the service.

We are now in Brenda, AZ, near Quartzsite for a couple of days to visit with our good friend Harold (camp host at Charleston Marina RV Park). Friday, we will slowly press on to our winter spot in S. Texas, dragging our feet until hurricane season is about over.