October 7th is a long ways from May 31st.  We have been to Canada and back with the land yacht and now are prepared to go south for the winter.  In the mean time my nephew David has finished the Pacific Crest Trail (around 2800 miles) and may have some time to help me with the technology. 

He could help with the motivation as well.  Imagine hiking over 30 miles in one day then taking time to blog!  He then had to find a hot spot in the wilderness in order to broadcast.  I only need to keep my rolling home on the road and then find some internet in order to post.

By the time we got to Sisters, Oregon last June it was clear that we needed new tires.  Our coach vibrations were growing.  We found some flat spots on the tires and some threads in the treads separating.  6 new truck tires cost us about $3300 installed.  The RV is oh so much smoother with the new tires.

A few miles north of Sisters is this small out of the way town called Camp Sherman near the Metolius River near the Deschutes National Forest.  This is where we spent over a week without internet or phone service.  There was a wide spot in the road on the way to the highway that was locally known as the phone booth.  This is where you had to go in order to pick up a phone signal.

We learned that in every national forest there are areas where you can camp for free.  The program is called dispersed camping.  You have to find a safe area a few feet off of the designated roads but not too far into the forest.  For small rigs this would be an opportunity.  For forty foot land yachts it isn't always that easy.  For practical reasons such as dust and vehicle vibrations we try to avoid dirt roads.

The Sisters area is surrounded by beautiful cascade peaks often covered by snow offering great hiking and off road driving.  We made it up the original toll road over Santiam Pass from Sisters to Big Lake near Hoodoo ski area just barely.  Many opportunities for failure with our semi off road Honda CRV all wheel drive.  At times our low clearance wasn't high enough.  The Sisters rodeo shouldn't be missed.

From Sisters we followed Hwy 26 across the rural center of Oregon to pleasant state park near Mount Vernon before following Hwy 395 north to Walla Walla.  There were some extreme hills which caused the land yacht to overheat in the 80 degree days.  Rural Oregon is so much more pleasant than the populated big city messes.

More soon; as David would say:  Thanks for reading.