July 6, 2009

The Journey Resumes

After breakfast and saying goodbye to all the relatives we were on our way by 9 am.  We went down the scenic west side of the north end of Klamath Lake and then west toward Grants Pass stopping along the way to find several geocaches.  We stopped at Valley of the Rogue State Park.  It can be a little noisy but otherwise is a beautiful place to camp.  Right on the Rogue River.  We took a two mile walk along the river and then just relaxed outside and planned our direction for the the next few days.

July 5, 2009

Quiet day

Saw Ken and Dan and families off and then did some clean up and catch up.  Sue did a sewing project on some bed comforters.  Mostly a pretty hang loose day.  Tonight we will celebrate a birthday of a cousin-in-law.  Supposed to be a surprise.  Don’t know how well that will work.  Off  tomorrow.

July 4, 2009

Fourth of July

Started the morning with more quad riding and swinging from a rope in the barn.  Later in the morning the kids, their fathers, Sue, and I took a short walk to a geocache.  Only cache for 24 miles in any direction happens to be about a half mile from the ranch house and just over the fence on Forest Service land.  Very well hidden but many eyes made pretty quick work of it.

After lunch we took everyone to see the actual headwaters where the Williamson River starts as a series of springs in the middle of a very dusty hill side.  Within a few feet it is a 20’ wide river.

From there it was off to Hyde Lake for several hours of swimming and boating.   

Swimming in lake.

Boating

The two white spots in center are pelicans,

 

This lizard was quite happy to sit two feet from me for quite a while.

Clouds over Hyde Lake

Back to the ranch to shower and get ready for dinner.  Ranch style buffet feeding 25-30 people.  Several families of nearby and not quite so nearby friends and relations.  After dinner the kids played with their uncle/cousin Joe.  They would run around and he would rope them like a cow or a horse.  Often he would catch them in bunches. At twilight we lit a large fire to sit around and began the festivities.  Sparklers for about 14 kids for a half hour or so and then fireworks for all.

July 3, 2009

Day on the ranch

My cousin had a chore she wanted tackled that had been put off for a while.  The task was installing a hood over her cast iron kitchen range/oven.  Sounds simple enough.  Complicating factors:  the house is nearly 100 years old,  the exterior walls including the wall the stove is on are 18” thick lava stone,  the ceiling is exposed beam with a beam right over the stove, there is no electrical power on that wall for the hood fan and light.  It became quickly apparent why the task had bee put off.  It took the efforts of four people for most of the day but the final installation looks clean and functions well and will be a good addition.

Late in the afternoon Ken, Julie, Amanda, and Nicholas arrived from their stay on the Oregon coast.  Again the new kids were introduced to Lizzy and the quad and ranch life became interesting. 

July 2, 2009

Yamsi Ranch. 

We left Redding before 9 am and it was already hot.  Easy drive up  I-5 with lots of trucks and then over to Klamath Falls on US97.

Two views of Mount Shasta.

In Klamath Falls we picked up some fireworks and milk and filled both vehicles with gas.  Up the east side of Klamath Lake and right at Chiloquin.  Thirty miles and one mountain later we turned in to Yamsi Ranch.  Yamsi Ranch is owned by my cousins and I have been visiting and sometimes living here since my pre-teen years. It is a large working cattle ranch.  The headwaters of the Williamson River start just outside their fence and the first six or seven miles of the river flows through their land.  This section of river has some of the best fly fishing in the world.  This is not a boast but an evaluation of many the best fly fishermen.  If interested in fishing at Yamsi click this link.

We spent some time greeting and visiting and about mid-afternoon Dan, Lori, Griffin, and Claire arrived.  They had been spending a few days in the Bend area.  The kids were introduced to their cousin Lizzy who introduced them to the quad runner and from then on the ranch looked pretty good to the city kids.  Dan was introduced to the mysteries of fly casting and that pretty much filled his spare moments while he was here.

 

Williamson River

  

The dot in the water in the center of the picture is a muskrat.  It swam within three feet of us but I was slow to take picture.

Sunset over the Williamson River.

July 1, 2009

On the Road Again

Up at 7am.  Finished packing carbus and closing up the house.  Left at 9am.  First stop – Sam’s for gas and some produce.  Then it was cruise control for three hours to Redding.  Pulled in to the Elks lot,  parked and hooked up carbus, had a brief lunch and then into the pool.  Very refreshing.  107 in Redding today.  We will leave early tomorrow to get in to mountains before it warms much.

Statue outside Redding Elks Lodge

June 30, 2009

Wrap up of our visit home.

I donated plasma a couple more times last week.  We also attended Nicholas’ belt test to advance a level in Taekwondo.  He passed and was given an Orange belt.  Wednesday I waited around all day to meet with the phone man to install a DSL line in the Net Control building for the WS100 race.  This is the place where we process information regarding the location of every runner (400 of them this year) throughout the duration of the race (30 hours).  Friday I spent most of the day setting up Net Control and processing graphics to be used on each runners bio. page.  Saturday I was at Net Control at 4:30am to get ready for 5:00am start.  The next 30+ hours were filled with collecting, processing, and posting information as each runner was tracked along the 100.2 mile course.  If you’re interested in the WS100 ultra run go to the web site. 

Sue worked on the church rummage sale setup for a day and took a friend to Roseville to shop at a number of stores another day.  Last weekend she attended an all day sewing class in Rocklin to learn freehand techniques for quilting.

Part of another day was devoted to attending a memorial for a friend and neighbor.  One afternoon I helped Dan move a piano and we had dinner with Ken, Julie, Amanda, and Nicholas on Fathers Day.

Tomorrow we head north.  Redding the first night.  Yamsi Ranch the next day for several days and then on toward Aurora, OR for a wedding.

We’ll get back to regular entries and pictures soon.