Tuesday, August 20
I clean the BLT and write a blog post in the morning. Most of the afternoon is consumed by our daily trip to get internet signal, putting the blog together for the day, and doing other online stuff.
Later, while sitting in the camp chair on the riverbank peeling potatoes, two otters – first one, then the other — stick their heads up out of the water, look me over, and disappear into the river.
No sign of Danny today.
I’d take a drive to the area where he said he might move, but it’s a confusing maze of narrow, rutted, rocky, unpaved roads. I probably wouldn’t find him. And maybe he’ll show up here.
Wednesday, August 21
Spike on the riverbank path
I’m in the BLT writing a blog post on my laptop.
“Hello? Hello, Sue?” I run outside. It’s Danny!
“Well, hello, Danny! I was hoping you’d stop by.”
“Yeah, I came by the other day but you weren’t here.”
We talk a few minutes and the subject of the Clingers comes up.
“The other two left, but the people in the big rig are still there.” He pauses. “You know what they did?” Danny shakes his head in disgust. “They ran their generator all night. Then the next morning . . . the generator still running . . . they tell me they’re going to be gone for the day and would I watch their stuff for them. I told them, no, I’m not going to watch your stuff. I’m going somewhere myself.”
“Oh, so that’s why they crowded up next to you. So you could babysit their stuff.”
Danny continues.
“They leave. The generator runs all morning. I guess they left their dog inside. I go to town. I’m gone about three hours. When I come back, they’re still gone and the generator is still running. That’s when I packed up and moved.”
“Gee, I’m sorry you were run out of that beautiful spot.”
We then had a good laugh over techniques against clingers (This is before I read readers’ suggestions in comments.). We decide that yellow crime scene tape wrapped completely around the campsite would work!
You call yourself rat terriers?
My habit, while at Tieton River Camp, is to write the blog offline at camp, and then post it and photos when we find internet signal up the road.
Another habit I have is to leave the BLT’s door open so Bridget and Spike can come and go as they please without me having to stop writing to serve as their doorperson.
Well, I’m sitting on the bed at the little table at the back of the BLT, writing an entry for this blog. Spike is on the bed, too, between me and the back wall. Bridget is also on the bed, on the other side of me.
I kick off my shoes, leaving my socks on.
A bag of kibble is tucked under the table next to my feet.
Bridget with her pretty face on.
I’m typing away, totally engrossed in writing the next exciting episode of “RVSue and her canine crew.”
I must have wiggled my toes because I feel something run over both my feet. “Acckk!”
Whatever it is scurries around the refrigerator on its way out the door. All I see is a flash. Momentarily I sit in shock, looking from the kibble bag to the exit route of the rodent and back again.
I don’t believe this.
The little creature, probably a chipmunk, sits at my feet packing kibble into its cheeks while Bridget and Spike snooze less than three feet away. These two slackers don’t deserve the title of rat terrier!
What is it about peaches?
Oh, so good!
If you buy a lot of them, they invariably are tasteless, refusing to ripen properly. They go from hard-as-rocks to brown mush, completely skipping the edible stage.
However, if you’re timid, having been burned so many times before, and buy only a few, then they turn out to be incredibly luscious and sweet.
The three peaches I brought back to camp from Naches are the latter kind. You can’t bite into one without juice dripping down your chin. I’m thinking of driving thirty miles (one way) to get more!
The Incident Of The Big Dogs
Usually the crew and I walk the path along the river. This late afternoon, to mix things up a bit, we walk down the forest road. We’ve already eaten an early supper. A brisk walk is in order. Less than a quarter-mile we approach another river campsite. Some people are sitting outside. Immediately four or five – I never did get an exact count – very large dogs come bounding out to the road.
They surround us!
They’re in constant motion making it difficult to keep them in the frame for a photo. Spike runs off the road and is stopped by one of the dogs for a sniff.
Bridget tries to stay next to me while fending off the bombardment of yellow canines. She’s terrified, but manages her nastiest snarl and her baddest face.
A lady runs toward us.
“I’m so sorry!” she exclaims in between commands to the dogs to get back where they belong. I look around for Spike, and then I have to laugh. He’s trotting down the road back to our camp!
What makes me laugh is he never pauses and never looks back the whole way. That boy is outta’ here! (If you enlarge the photo by tapping the ctrl key and the + key simultaneously, you might see the speck at the end of the road that is Spike.)
Actually, Spike had good reason to take off.
These dogs look just like the one that took a bite out of his behind at Willard Springs, Arizona, during early May, 2012.
When the Bridge and I get back to our camp, Spike is waiting for us under the BLT.
The Tieton River rises.
Every day the river level goes up. The photo below was taken a few days ago. If Spike were to stand in the same spot now, he’d have water up to his knees.
Apparently the water is being released from Rimrock Lake over a period of days. Saturday the floaters and kayakers are expected in full force.
We need to vacate our Tieton River Camp on Thursday. The campsite, along with all the others along this stretch, are reserved for commercial float outfitters and their customers.
rvsue
I hope you’ll remember to use my links when you shop Amazon.
THANK YOU!
That photo of bad-face Bridget is priceless!! Good shot, Sue!
OMG…Bridget…LOL, now why wasn’t she using that face for the rodent??? LOL.
I hear yah about peaches, I also have the same problem with pears.
Well I guess the hooligans won that round but Spikers can still move out when needed.
Your site is again beautiful.
Don’t you just love dogs? And peaches. Not clingers!
Love RVSUE too!
The nerve of some people! Wanting the people whose campsite they invaded to ‘watch their stuff’ while they run their generator and are gone all day. Unbelievable! 🙁
Ah, another great “RvSue and Her Canine Crew’ adventure to read, poor ‘Spike’ and ‘Bridge’ but on the picture of him headed back to home 🙂 as well as your discription Sue…
I have actually enjoyed catching up on a few of your recent adventures, makes my day/week….!!!
I’ve got some roots in the SNW (SNW= Soggy North West), love it up there (in the summer time 🙂 )
Look forward to more and more of your postings and hope you have internet soon so it’s not quite as burdensome to post or do what you need to online!!
But while you are where you are enjoy the beauty, love seeing river otters so fun and they seem so happy!!
(Thank you Sue for expressing the non-political purpose of you blog and it being a happy go to place for all of us and for you to write!!!)
Continued safe travels!!!
T~
OMG! That photo of Bridget snarling was sooooo funny, like Mindy said, she shoulda used that snarl on the kibble thief! That many large dogs should never be allowed to run loose in a public park! Looking forward to your new site! Buy some crime scene tape asap! LOL!
Love brave Bridget! My greyhound runs the other way when surrounded by dogs (or, god forbid, children!).
Didn’t know that about the fire rings. That and/or picnic tables are always a demarcation of a site. If there was only the one ring there, then it was definitely encroaching and parking where they shouldn’t have! In that case putting things around your own site to mark your own territory would be a good idea. Could Danny have told them that since there was only one fire ring that it’s a site for one rig? But from your description, Danny seems like too sweet of a guy to be confrontational, even in a nice way. And then having the audacity to ask someone to watch their rig! They were very lucky Danny is one of the good ones. Someone not so nice could possibly have turned off the generator or done some damage to their rig for being so bothersome.
I’m learning a lot from your posts.
LARGE orange cones lol
OMG … Crime Scene tape….GREAT IDEA!!!!!!
Love your spot!
Very brave little critter coming fight to help himself. Glad he didn’t disturb the crew! Haha!
That is too funny, Spike running home:)
I had a feeling you would meet up with Danny somewhere down the road. The nerve of some people…would you watch our stuff? Not to mention…leave and the generator is still running?
Crime scene tape in theory works very well. We strung up a line across our driveway…because it was too muddy and I hate ruts. Don’t you know…everyone that drove by stopped to be a looky loo! Oh geeze…wonder what happened there?
Oh dear…Ms Bridget’s face is giving that Chinese Crested dog #2 a run for her money! The look on the other dogs face is priceless.
cinandjules, Off point a little, did you see the link concerning solar power I put in the last session.
Yes I did……….thanks.
I am still wondering if the “set up” is adequate or not for the intended use. Sometimes applications on paper don’t work out in real life.
Sue seems happy with her set up but she a 100% boondocker.
Hopefully Mick, with his tech skills, can elaborate….he’ll just have to go really slow!
Prior to…the only “ah” I knew about didn’t involve nothing close to amp hours! 🙂
I think Sue only uses her batteries for lights and the computer. Her batteries although physically large are actually pretty light weight at 75ah. Most larger RV’s have a greater need. I am using 4 6v golf cart batteries at 225 AH each. I will be using 4 140 watt solar cell panels. But I will also be running a residential refrigerator using 45 watts per hour.
Oh dear…I think my calculations were wrong. I thought it was a total number of ah’s…not just one 6 volt.
Which makes the formula wrong….. 🙁
Sue:
Do you only get credit from Amazon if camping and/or RV things are ordered. What about any other items. I would be happy to order thru your link if I know you get credit.
I just started reading your blogs and I’m hooked. Saw the tidbit on Facebook and now read your blogs daily.
Connie
Schaumburg, IL
Connie,
Anything you order from Amazon through Sue’s link is credited to her. It doesn’t have to be camping related. I buy .mp3 songs!
Thanks, Barb! And, Connie, I appreciate you wanting me to get credit for your Amazon purchases!
Maybe a chalk outline of a body would help keep the clingers away.
Or dig deep holes in the ground and cover them with branches and pine needles. Ooh, I’m bad.
Nah, as ‘cinandjules’ pointed out, crime scenes, like crashes on the freeway, attract more interest than they repel. Maybe getting out of your rig and staring blankly at them when they drive up…but, then, people who Cling are far too obtuse to take a hint.
What beautiful camp sites, Sue! Of course, this is my ‘local’ camping ground so I’m fairly familiar with it. The downside is, of course, that most places off US 12 have no cellular signal.
Best photo #1 – Spike hightailing it out of there! and #2 Bridget snarling and the other look on the dog’s face while she is doing that. That big dog must have been thinking, “Really?”. Both of these are priceless!
LOL… Your blogs really bring up my spirits…They are wonderful…and the pups antics are priceless. Thank you!
Funny about the peaches …. are you dreaming about them? LOL
I went to the Saturday Market last week with my friend and she asked at every booth that had peaches: “Are these the kind of peaches you have to eat over the sink?”
When she found someone who said, “oh yes,these are the ones!” she bought!
Just found your blog and see that you are in our “neck of the woods”. We have a 17′ Spirit Deluxe. We live in Wapato—not far from the Tieton. We are right along Hwy 97 (you can see our trailer from the hwy). You are welcome to stop and visit—we have a dump site right here if you need.
We are also 60 somethings and getting ready to head out to southwest mid-Oct. and then most likely into Baja California for the winter.
I have 4 days to go to finish my “hobby job” at the Buena Library. Been working for 10 years with a group of friends to build a beautiful new library for a very poor community. Project is done and my husband and I are off to new adventures.
I am really enjoying your blog and will be reading more and more about your travels. Thank you.
Kathy
Welcome to my blog, Kathy! Glad you are with us!
I always wonder why commercial enterprises get to use our rivers, lakes and streams and the campsites along them for free. At least in virginia, they don’t pay a dime to clog up the rivers with their rental kayaks, rafts, tubes. Sorry you have to leave such a lovely site.
I don’t know a surefire way to keep “clingers” out of a campsite but years ago a friend told me a way to get a crowded elevator car to himself. He said you get in and immediately begin deep gagging. Looking to everyone you are seconds away from a vomit. He claims everyone will get off at the next stop. I don’t know if it’s true or not but it made for a funny story at the bar.
Question! How many AZ posters hang out here? Not snowbirds but genuine “Zonies” who tough it out all summer long.
I lived in Phoenix from 81 to 91. Had to move back to VA. for family needs.
Love the South West, hated Phx.
I visited my sister who lives in PHX for a weekend. It was 110 degrees…..couldn’t wait for the weekend to end!
I don’t care for Phoenix either. As to temps the highest here in Surprise so far this year was 115. You have to plan on a hot summer but the rest of the year is spectacular…
Way to go Bridget, look at that snarl! What a brave girl! Ha, I wonder who/what your little visitor was, can’t believe the crew snoozed through that!
It amuses me the way that Bridget exerts her authority while Spike walks away from a confrontation. They are so cute. So is my dog, of course. Animals are just so much fun! 🙂
AZ Jim, I’m one of the Zonies that toughs it out in the summertime. It’s almost bearable if you can turn your yard into a “want to be in” area… Sounds of water, nice area to enjoy your morning coffee and shade, shade, shade :/. Even then, I have to have my morning dose of Sues blog and I pretend 🙂
Here in Tennessee those peaches are called Bendover peaches.You have to bend over to bite into one to keep the juice from running down your neck. Thanks for the blog Sue.
Does anybody know where you can buy “Crime Scene” tape? When I can find it I think it’ll become part of my staples: flour, sugar, cereal, Crime Scene tape.
Why………………you can get it at Amazon.com
be sure to use Sue’s link.
big mouth toys crime scene banner tape