We have departed early on the Ranger cruise to Four Corners. Note that by "early" I mean "before the others"; it was not so early in the morning for us. We cast off at about 0925; we arrived in the campground at about 1645, got set up (without unhitching), and found the promised campsite water not actually available. We had not bothered filling our water tank the last time we were out, so there was nothing at all to do but to up-anchor and roll around the corner to take on water at the restroom. Not an actual problem.
Although it is next to the busy interstate highway and therefore very far from quiet, this is a pretty little park, with spacious, open, campsites among a mixture of ponderosa pine and other conifers.
Also present in surprising abundance: piles of snow. As we drove up, there was quite a bit of snow next to the highway (some of the passes are at nearly 3500'), but we thought it quite a novelty to park next to it in the campground. Temperature at present is 46 F., so perhaps those piles won't grow any while we are here.
My Scangauge is working again, so we can again be treated to the knowledge that downhill we might get as much as 50-some miles per gallon. This ready access to data from the truck's engine-management computer is not an entirely un-mixed blessing, however; uphill we watch fuel efficiency drop to 5 m.p.g. or worse.
Never mind that. It would be unseemly to complain about the cost of dragging the absolute lap of luxury behind one's mode of transport. Big refrigerator, hot meals, hot showers, room to stretch out, and warm or cool (as needed) shelter among the trees (or, occasionally, the Walmart _clientele_); this is a great thing.
Tomorrow we will look for a scenic byway that should be around here: Blue Mountain Scenic Byway, which follows an old route in parallel to the new-tangled Inteerstate highway.
We have had bright sunshine, rain, blue sky, clouds of the white and the ominous varieties. We have dodged trucks and construction cones; we have looked up at snow-covered mountains; from the tops of steep and long switch-back systems we have looked into valleys full of orchards and vineyards--all of this during DAY 1!
Excellent.
Mark_
SERENITY
Emigrant Springs State Park, OR
