Road Trip: Day 1

Sunriver, OR to Fernley, NV  

419 miles

After a lovely weekend skiing and communing with the ONC-CGC gang, we departed Sunriver after breakfast on Sunday morning, St. Patrick's Day. Our plan was to be out by ten. We were all hooked up to the camper at the storage area and on the road just before the big hand hit the twelve. It was a beautiful, crisp cold day, with a fresh dusting of dry snow on the ground. No worries. Or so we thought.

We rolled down Hwy 97 to La Pine, affectionately known as LA Pine, where we turned east onto OR 31, a quiet two lane country road. All was going swimmingly, until we hit rail road tracks. 

The camper which we thought was securely attached jumped the shark. The ball came out of the hitch. The safety chains flew off their slots. And the Coleman Destiny headed on a journey all its own, across the highway, soft landing in fresh soil on the side of the road. The tongue and battery were buried. The battery cover popped off, which made it handy for shoveling. The poor man following us pulled over to help (after his near heart attack). He and Lloyd engineered the extraction of the camper from where it was planted with our handy tow strap. It took several pulls on both sides of the axle from behind, a pull from the front (which only served to bury the tongue again), and magic levitation using 6 hands to get the tongue up and the wheel stand lowered. The only thing that was damaged was the rear bumper (which started pulling off during the first tow attempt) and Lloyd's pride. How did that damn thing come off? The good news (besides no one coming at the loose trailer head on) was that the ball bent up just enough that it now seats much better in the hitch cup. A slight delay, we were on our way in a lot less time than we thought.

The drive across SE Oregon was spectacular, especially for my resident Geologist. He wants to go back that way. 

We stopped at a nice rest area in Summer Lake, where I got this picture of dust devils.

After crossing into NW California (east of Susanville...we did catch a glimpse of Lassen), we rolled on to Reno, where we originally planned to stop for the day. Reno was nuts. Reminded us too much of Houston. We pulled in to a BJ's Brewhouse for a cold one and some light appetizers for dinner, then drove on to Fernley, NV, a small military town east of Reno. A most hospitable and comfy Best Western meant a great night's sleep.