From the Pacific to the Prairies to the Appalachians and Back: A 2026 One Particular Unity Trip Once again we are on the road!!! Andiamo (Italian for Let's Go).
Most of you are familiar with our Blog and some of the initials we use. But to review and for new folks here are a few key terms:
OPH: One Particular House
OPB: One Particular Blog
HH: Harvest Hosts, which is a membership program (harvest host.com) that has numerous locations where campers can stay for "free" overnight and some offer extra days. WE have used it MANY times.
Unity: Is our current RV by LTV (Leisure Travel Vans). No more Alto camper.
This adventure starts on Saturday August 29th and will last for about 2 months total. It will be in stages and this first stage will end on Monday October the 5th. The Blog will run continuously with subtitles along the way.
And so we set out to start this segment on Saturday 8/29/26 and plan to leave OPH by 8am. But this turns out to be 9am. Start Mileage is 10844. Finally at 9:45am we make it to the Toll Road N 241 at Chapman.
At 10am on the Tollroad we are flagged down by a passerby who tells us that our rear storage locker's (the garage) top lid is OPEN!!!! Nothing flew out fortunately and we pulled over and used Canelo's long leash to tie it down. The lid was in locked position but it had not actually engaged. As of this writing we are in Oregon and have not been able to fix it properly. So we will continue tying it up. All part of the adventure!
We continued on the 91 FWY but 10 minutes later Eldon asks a simple question "You do have your Passport Book?? Uh ... NO, so we turn around and head back to OPH from Corona to pick up the National Park Passport book. After all, one of the main highlights of these trips is to go to as many Parks as possible and get the book stamped. So we go home and start again.
TAKE TWO. By now it's 10:50am. Passport book in hand and a better rope to secure the storage trunk. We finally left OPH at 10:55am. 55 to 91 to 15 to 395 at Hesperia. This trip will be US 395 all the way to Canada. The good thing is there is not too much traffic, maybe because all those people who decided to get an early start are WAY ahead of us.
At Noon we finally got onto HWY 395 at Hesperia, followed by Adelanto. Not much of a city but we always enjoy reading their Motto:
"The City with unlimited possibilities. " They do seem to be making progress as we saw a lot of new tract homes and businesses this time.
From there (which is actually going west, we finally turned north had the Sierra Nevada Mountains on our left (west) side.
We actually discovered by accident during our Oregon trip in April that US 395 goes from Mexico to Canada. So we decided to take it from stem to stern, so to speak.
Nice lava flow coming from a Cinder Cone on the easter side of the Sierra Nevadas because of ripping apart of the western US from here to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. As the crust pulls apart, faults facilitate the dropping of the Basins and the rising of the Ranges, and here along the Sierras, it is so dramatic that the molten rock of very very deep gets to rise to the surface (lava lamps).
The eastern Sierras, somewhere in here is Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental US at 14,505 ft.
Dramatic sky but no rain. No lessening of the temperatures either (90+).
We made it to our first campground at 5pm. Pine Cliff RV Resort in June Lake, CA. The weather was clear, sunny and 63 degrees which felt like 57 degrees. That was a welcomed change from our 100 degree heat at OPH. Lots of beautiful pine trees and clear skies.
This was also our first "Bear Sign."
Eldon went out to walk Canelo and saw this deer pop its head up. Look closely, right in the middle. Canelo was clueless having his nose pressed to the ground. All new smells.
Little did it matter, as 10 minutes back to camp ... he definitely noticed this one. Fortunately he was indoors and respects the sanctity (and fragility) of our screen door.
And then Clara showed up in her camping finest to comfort Canelo. Takes a village.
Eldon prepared a delicious dinner from left over Friday night pasta and at 9ish pm he took Canelo for his night walk. I did dishes and then we settled down to watch a movie he had downloaded. A Star is Born. The original with Judy Garland and I forget the guys name. It was great. There seems to be 4 versions made so we will plan to watch all four along the way. He has not been able to get the tv channels to come on so I have not had my normal fix of Star Trek, the Chase, Law and Order, Perry Mason, etc. Of course Eldon says he has all of them recorded on a hard drive already plugged into the TV but that seems too much like cheating.
Canelo is his own entertainer / entertainment as he toots his Cinnamon Whisky squeeze toy every morning, night, and in between. Sorry but this Blog does not "entertain" videos."
But he (and we) eventually conk out.
Sunday August 30th, we awaken at 9am in June Lake, CA and left at 10am. Clear, Sunny, 56 degrees. It was time to instill some DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid - another new thing) at 11230 miles. This will be a new part of our RV maintenance for this Mercedes vehicle. Also having to use Diesel instead of gasoline. Things never get less expensive it seems. Oh well, you can't take it with you.
Here is Canelo guarding the homestead as Eldon comes back from taking out the trash. He is a good dog.
So off we went on our merry way and at 10:45am by Mono Lake, Eldon avoided hitting a BIG sheep that had decided to go for a gentle walk down the middle of our lane on the highway. Eldon is an excellent driver. Sheep is still alive.
Giant bridge in the distance which is the new 395 but we stayed on the old 395, which as you can tell is about 10 lanes wide so maybe not so new either.
We had plans to camp at a HH on 395 but it was not to be. The property was gated up and we just kept going and ended up at The Woodsmith which is Norman Allan's shop (Clara's ex-brother in law) at Allen's Corner in Janesville.. It was a fun time chatting and catching up with life. Norman, Kristie and us went to Susanville to the Mexican restaurant and had a yummy meal. Now we have more leftovers for more dinners on the road.
No TV, just to bed. Everyone was tired.
Monday August 31st in Janesville, CA, up at 7am. Clear, Crisp, Sunny and 55 degrees. Eldon took Canelo for his morning walk. Only pee and no poop. I managed to make the bed, even lift the whole thing back into the wall.
Canelo had another close encounter with a deer family last night that almost cost Eldon his leg all tangled up in the leash and a branch as Canelo was negotiating with them. They were totally unimpressed with his communication skills and basically left. Next morning he was a serious student of the outside as soon as the sun came up. No deer. Squirrels though.
Eldon and Canelo ready to go.
We hit the road at 8am and at 8:30 we stopped at the Blue Ox in Susanville (a repeat from last year) for some pastries, hot chocolate and coffee. Heading back to 395 (it does not go through Susanville) we made a little sightseeing detour to see Peter Lassen's gravesite. He was a Danish explorer and blacksmith who was killed by the Indians at the age of 66. Got the County and volcano and National Park named for him though.
Lassen's monument. Killed by Indians in April 26, 1859.
It does not look like anyone has come here recently to picnic with Lassen.
Canelo standing on the recliners so he can look out the front window. VERY studious dog.
We entered into Oregon at 11:45am, 71 degrees, sunny. Mileage was 11648.
Stopped for some groceries.
We had some challenges trying to find the HH spot but we did and the owner was very nice. Older widow living on her own. 2 cute little dogs that Canelo had to give them his opinions. We retired to the Unity so Eldon could catch up on ECI "stuff." And ... we both caught up on some sleep.
There were horses ... what are those? This photo has the image of my computer screen saver peacock. I took the photo of Eldon and Canelo from my chair.
Careful. There are horses out there.
I will fight those horses for you. Pretty tough looking dog, eh?
But it all worked out and later they were nose to nose friends.
And another perfect night on the trip comes to an end. Tomorrow to the James Day Fossil Beds.
Tuesday 9/1/26, Eldon up at 7:15am and me at 8am. Crispy, sunny, 55 degrees in Lakeview, OR. We were not able to say goodbye and thank you to our gracious Host. She is a widow with her 2 little dogs.
We headed out for breakfast and saw this deer waiting to cross the street. Very intelligent. Once we got to town we found a local eatery Downtown Cafe and Bakery) that had this bathroom sign. I just had to take a photo. It was like Cheers where everyone knew everyone and we were the youngest people in there. Good find.
We found the site for the Old Perpetual Geyser but only found cute little birds trying to find their breakfast. The one by itself is head in the water. So cute. We waited for 15 minutes for the 90 second geyser and decided to head off north.
Highway 395 took us along the Abert fault, a major normal fault within the Basin and Range wherein the faults drop one side (the Basin) and lift the other (the Range) forming a major part of the North American west. The Basin and Range (geological) province stretches from the eastern Sierra frontal fault to the western Wasatch fault in Utah. Within this province the crust of the earth has stretched about 50% resulting in northerly trending mountain ranges and interior valleys. Here along the Abert fault the western side is a very steep escarpment while the basin is filled with a lake. However, and I am sure frustratingly for the early settlers, it is highly salty because it has no exit and so the salts accumulate as the water evaporates leaving behind pretty salt rims along the lake. Birds love it though because of the lake's brine shrimp. But, who was Abert?
The geological story.
The Abert fault.
Lake Abert.
The salt shorelines.
Finally a picture.
Good shot of the Abert fault escarpment.
And another of the Unity.
Highway 395 is amazingly empty through Oregon. We almost never got passed, and rarely even met another vehicle.
We managed to find an unattended weigh station which we took advantage to weigh the Unity. Total weight was 11, 500.
Loneliest road today from Lakeview, OR to John Day, OR.
And then we started seeing turquoise roofed barns and houses and other buildings. We had entered the Silvie's Valley Ranch. Only 150,000 acres, stretching from here to there, think of the Dutton Ranch in the TV series Yellowstone, only for real.
They no longer serve anything but alcohol so after a couple beers, and Clara's nap, we went into town in search of food where Canelo got into it with a wooden bear. Sadly this platform does not support videos (or if it does we do not know how) but he was growling and "barking" and ready to get into it. Kind of like his horse encounter last night.
And so ends another day of this epic trip. Sorry, no sunsets. Probably no sunrises tomorrow either. We only have to go about 125 miles to get to Pendleton, OR for our mill tour at 3.
Wednesday 9/2/26, John Day, OR. 59 degrees, clear and sunny. Eldon up at 7:30am and I was awake by 8:30am. We hit the road at 9:20am and drove across some beautiful country. They had to be mostly cattle ranches with horses. Historically we think it was into mining, logging and now tourism.
This is the local place to be and catch up with what is happening. It was a neat place. Think Cheers where literally everybody does know your name, even the homeless guy who popped in.
We had a good breakfast and then onto our next HH which was the John Day Golf Club.
It was a beautiful drive and the river along the road was so relaxing. The North Fork of the John Day River. As you can see from the photo, it started to get cloudy but it was still beautiful.
Then we came across this sign telling us that we were crossing this landmark location. Half way between the Equator and the North Pole sounds so exciting!!!!! So much left to do.
We had to stop to "celebrate" the occasion and when we were to start back, Canelo had decided that he would go ahead and drive the next leg!!! When he has that look, you know he means business.
He got us safely to Pendleton, OR and our first order of business (for Eldon and me at least) was to have a steak lunch at a famous restaurant called Hamley Steak House and Saloon. After all we had been passing all these cattle ranches along 395. Very tasty.
This is the underground floor where special events took place. Think about a speakeasy. Or just a men's club.
Steak and eggs with potatoes and THE best sausage gravy on the planet. Put this place on your RADAR. Diet food.
Now to find our camp spot and take a snooze. KOA - tank dumping and showers tomorrow.
After a brief nap we headed to the Pendleton Mill and took a 3pm tour. Very impressive and free. Of course nothing is ever really free. They don''t give away samples. We ended up buying a blanket to use on the top of our bed in the Unity. It's really beautiful. $$$$
Hidden behind this strip of blankets is a woman whose whole day is spent inspecting and if possible fixing machine errors. If she cannot, then they go to the Sale bin (where we shopped).
Rolls of future blankets awaiting inspection and final cutting. After cutting they are washed and dried, resulting in a 25% shrinkage and tightening of the weave.
The first loom that we saw. Takes two professional weavers two full days to load the various threads for a specific blanket run.
Chief Joseph, from whom they collaborated on blanket designs to reflect and respect the original native designs.
This is their original and still classic Chief Joseph design.
Yarn bundles waiting to be made into blankets.
More yarn bundles. And there were yet more.
We also had to buy something for Canelo after being so good to wait in the car. He has been doing pretty good on the road. It seems like he is not too fond of the rain sounds. But his squeaky Pendleton squirrel does seem to sooth him. Again it is too bad we do not know how to post videos because he is really fun to watch playing this own toon. We do not expect the tail to last past tomorrow, and the head might be soon to follow. With the Cinnamon Whiskey bottle he is more gentle, knowing how it could hurt him. Of course Clara has already had to sew the cap back on, so maybe a squirrel head will be next.
Our new Pendleton blanket, already approved by the boss.
As the rain comes down we reflect on how lucky we are to be under the roof of this amazing LTV RV and nothing to disconnect or connect or even do outside because we are so internally self-sufficient. Despite the awesome (and large) lunch, dinner tonight was using up leftovers; Carnitas, roasted Jalapeños and refried beans from Susanville stuffed into a tortilla and toasted up like an Empanada, plus Mac and cheese from John Day, and wine from California. We will not starve.
Tomorrow to Spokane. Well, Fort Spokane.
Thursday 9/3/26, in Pendleton, Washington State. Eldon was up at 7:30am and I was up at 9am. It was cloudy and about 60 degrees. Eldon took Canelo out for his morning walk and he "discovered" a metal cowboy nailed to a building wall and gave a Godzilla growl just to let him know his place in the world. Back at the RV he then noticed a similar black metal horse on another wall and spent at least 10 minutes in heated exchange with it. Dog has some peculiarities. Hit the road at 10:30am after enjoying nice showers at the KOA campsite in Pendleton. Last night it rained all night and it made a nice gentle sound on the roof. With the prior camper we could hear the rain hitting the aluminum roof and not very soothing. Eldon: It was a very gentle rain, so not exactly a fair comparison.
We continued our trek along HWY 395 and enjoyed many beautiful sites.
We crossed the Columbia River into Washington at Umatilla. It was 11:25am and even though there were clouds overhead, no rain came down. The Columbia is a very large river.
The dam was showing some spill into the river. Neat.
More bridges, more rivers, thanks to Idaho for the water.
This an another shot of the flat but not flat nature of the landscape. This part of eastern Washington is in the rain shadow of the Cascades Mountain Range, so it is dry compared to everywhere else. But you can see here a channel cut into the upper lava flow. This is part of what is known geologically as the Channeled Scablands. Even though yes there is a Columbia River with a lot of water in it, 15,000± years go Glacial Lake Bonneville (Salt Lake City Utah - now the pathetic Great Salt Lake) overflowed its sill, and sent a wall of water maybe 1000 feet high down the Columbia all the way to the Pacific. It so filled the. Columbia that it tore across the upper landscape forming new channels that had never been there before. It made ripple marks hundreds of feet apart and dozens of feet high. It was a big deal, appreciable only from the air.
Another forever desolate road. It's amazing how many of these types of roads exists in the USA. I am always in awe when I see these roads. "And that old highway, goes on forever."
We took a detour off of 395 and therefore miss out on the real Spokane because we wanted to go to the original Fort Spokane so Clara could get another Passport Stamp for her book. After 5 miles of washboard gravel, 10 miles of fresh oil, and some additional confusion, we finally arrived at Fort Spokane on what is now Roosevelt Lake. CLOSED for total renovations.
This fort was built in the late 1880s to "control" the native population, which mostly meant killing them in favor of the white settlers who were taking their lands, and including forcibly taking their children away and putting them into Indian Schools so they could learn white people ways. That ended a decade later, but what a terrible time.
After leaving Fort Spokane we endured an hour of "road construction" resulting in over an hour of repeated one lane traffic control, just so we could drive over fresh asphalt. In case you have not noticed we have a VERY white RV. Anyway, with a gas stop and some Safeway groceries, we made it to our Boondockers (Harvest Host) location in the mountains near to Lake Roosevelt. The host is a retired school teacher from Seattle who built a cabin here in the woods as a base camp from which they RV a lot. When home they open their lower property to people like us who are just passing through. Canelo immediately took ownership and explored as far as his 15 ft leash would permit.
At our camp, an exposure of the Hanford Volcanics (lava flows) with some cool yellow lichen growing on the columnar basalt faces. Nice talus slope of rock fragments below too.
Dinner tonight was some sirloin steak tips bought at Safeway today, fried with garlic and the last shallot and Hatch chili from home.
That was served with the last of the leftover Mac and Cheese and Hashbrowns (with the gravy) from Hamley's Steak House back in Pendleton. And of course Eldon's beans, still edible from home. As usual, we will not starve. Maybe more rain tonight, but supposed to be minor.
Tomorrow, Canada, if they let us in. We will plead refugee status if needed.
