Antelope Reservoir and a Big Stone

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Antelope Reservoir

We leave Boise and head southwest on Route 55 and then 95. The scenery is once again awesome. We drive through the mountainous hills with huge boulders laying on the sides of the hills ready to roll down on top of you. You can see the cracks in the road where the boulders have hit the pavement. Yikes!!

About 11 miles west of Jordan Valley we end up at Antelope Reservoir, a BLM camp. There is another couple there in a truck camper from California. They are an older couple and seem very nice. The scenery is wonderful. Lots of birds, including pelicans. It is a bit on the windy side.

As night falls, we break out the personal protective equipment that my cousin gave us. Thanks again, Deb!!

One Big Stone

Around 3 am Charlie wakes up in pain. He paces the aisle in Lilah until he wakes me up around 5 am. I try to get him to eat some oatmeal for breakfast but he refuses. He is confident that this is the 4 mm stone that he has been carrying in his kidney for the last four years.

Instead of staying for our originally intended four days, we make the decision to leave this BLM ground – which is seriously in the middle of nowhere. We are thinking there may be a need for a hospital very soon. It is apparent now that I will be driving. We break camp and head turns Burns, Oregon hoping they have a hospital.

With Charlies guidance, I was able to drive Lilah up, over, and down the mountains. One hour into the trip and I am sore. My joints ache and my hands are stiff, but my Charlie comes first. We finally arrive at Burns and what a blessing to see the blue “H” sign. Yay, a hospital!!!

I know this may sound weird but we sit in Lilah in the hospital parking lot for a few hours to see if the stone will pass. Remember, we have everything we need to survive in Lilah. Chuck didn’t want to go in..so we sat and waited! He took pain pills and slept. I read and communicated our situation with family back in Boise and Illinois.

A Respite for Weary Travelers

We finally decided to find a campground.  We located Burns RV Park, not far from the hospital, and paid for one night.

 Entrance to Burns RV Park

After we get settled in, Charlie crashes and sleeps for hours, only waking up long enough to pee and take another pain pill. Finally after a long day and evening of struggle, he passes the stone…we think anyway!!

We end up staying another night in Burns just so Charlie can relax and heal. It was actually quite pleasant camping out for more than one night in one place. The RV Park was very nice with full hook-up and clean showers. The wifi was great. The owners of the campground were very nice and concerned about Charlie and checked on us frequently.

 Note I placed on shower room door so poor Charlie 

could get clean after his ordeal.

Charlie spent the day reading outside in the lawn chair.

 Lilah relaxing

I worked on the blog, took a short bike ride, and spent time re-organizing three cabinets in Lilah. A girl has to organize…even on the road trip of a lifetime!! LOL

Twisted Trees

We end up leaving the next day (Saturday, May 30) and driving towards Bend. Again, we see amazing scenery. There are these trees that are twisted…like they spiral up out of the ground. They are very intriguing. I am not sure if it is just how the tree grows or if something has happened to them to make them do that.

Then we come across the Badlands just outside of Bend and the deep canyons are so wild looking. You can just imagine what they must have looked like back in the day. Golden in color, jagged edges and cliffs and so pretty!!

A quick restock in Bend at the Wal-Mart and we head to the Big River Campground. It is a US National Forest campground. It was rustic and self-pay but it was nearly full. The sites were small and oddly shaped. It was right off the main road and the traffic noise was noticeable. So we decide to move on still in search of a babbling brook.

We end up at La Pine State Park. A very nice campground…but full of big fifth wheels and other large rigs. It was a little expensive but was full hook-up and we got a site near the shower house. We get a decent night’s sleep.

We wake up in the morning fix breakfast, take our showers, unhook and head out to Crater Lake!!

This is gonna be a GREAT day!!!