Mad Dash to Oregon (part 1)

My original plan to Oregon was a several month plan that culminated with our arrival to Crater Lake being on our anniversary in August. Well that wasn’t going to work for this trip, this time. So back to the drawing board, as they say.

Let me go on record saying, I am not a good trip planner, My sister is an awesome trip planner but, I am not: I’m working on it though. With the help of some software and a few apps, We ended up with a nine day plan from Gulf Coast Texas to South Oregon.

Okay we now have a new plan, with a destination and a deadline.  We needed to travel 2166 miles in nine days.

After looking at the distance and the time frame; we decided that we wanted to get there quickly. This would also give us a day or two, to acclimate to the altitude. The campground is just over 6,170 feet above sea level (with Spring/Woodlands being a bit over 160’).

And we were off!

Day 1 Abilene, Texas  383 Miles  ….Wait what happened to the 2-2-2 Plan?

Day 2  Clovis, New Mexico 271 Miles…. Oh Yeah, we have a destination!

Day 3 & 4  Grants, New Mexico 294 Miles And a deadline

We earned a sightseeing  day here. We visited the Bandera Volcano and The Ice Cave. Located on Family owned property, the temperature at the Volcano was in the 90’s and a 30 minute hike brought us to the 31 degree naturally formed Ice Cave. Yes that is a wall of ice in the desert under a volcano. Beautiful and incredible

Day 5  & 6 Seligman, Arizona, 320 miles 

Day 5 – The hookup was straight forward and we were headed out. After our first fuel stop, we were visiting with each other and checking out the scenery.  And UH –OH a flat, and oh so joyful – it was a rear inner tire of the truck.  This means Mark has to remove two tires to change one flat.  At least it was the passenger side, so Mark wasn’t going to be working on the traffic side, of the shoulder.  We are prepared for this.  Mark spent about an hour on the roadside changing out the tire instead of 2-3 hours waiting on roadside assistance. This was Sunday, of course, so we stayed one extra day to get the tire fixed and then when we realized we were close to Lake Havasu: We stopped over to visit Mark’s Aunt Nancy.

Day 6) Havasu, Arizona 262 miles round trip Today started with a run to the tire shop. Then off to spend the day with Aunt Nancy.  Aunt Nancy is that awesome, spunky, crazy kind of aunt that has a zest for life; everyone should have one like her. Nala got her first golf cart ride in the desert. Aunt Nancy treated us to takeout Mexican lunch.  So we visited with a local and ate local. I mention this here because Mark and I have not come to agreement on what constitutes having “visited” a state.  I think you have to see an attraction, museum, or landmark and eat local. Mark says driving through is good enough to count.

Thanks for checking in. Follow us on our adventures!

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