July 22-24 - to Mt. St. Helen's & home

After having to straighten out some registration glitches the campground folks made, we were off on Monday morning for an easy drive to Mt. St. Helen's.  It was lots of climbing (with the resultant slow driving) for about 50 miles after we left I-5.  I wish we would have allowed more time.  There were two other visitor centers we didn't make before closing time.  This place fascinates me.  Unfortunately they have no place to camp close by.  If they did, we would have stayed and gone back.  We thought of staying in one of the viewpoints as they were not signed that it wasn't allowed.  We stopped in one and had dinner.  But then the go home buzz started circulating in our heads.  For our next trip, we'll have to park the MH first, then drive to the view points and visitor centers.

 It is chilling to think of the people miles away from the blast that were either buried in debris or obliterated by the force and heat of the blast.

This helicopter tour was just returning to base.  Have to consider doing this type tour too.

The landscape looked pretty bleak, but there were quite a few groups of elk that seemed quite content.

There is still considerable ash in the crater.  We were told when the wind picks up, it carries ash up and looks like smoke.  Some of the breaks in the glacial ice still show some white (before the ash covers it too).

The glacier in the crater is one of the fastest growing glaciers in the country.  

 

 

 

Hard to imagine the force that could break trees off like this.

More of the animal life.

The downed trees were a visual reference or the direction of the blast forces.

Spirit Lake was originally considered destroyed, but it was just remodeled.  The YMCA and BSA had camps on the lake shore as well as privately owned structures.  The lake was raised 210 feet by the landslide and volcanic eruption.  Previous lake shore property was buried and/or submerged. 

The Johnston Ridge Observatory is built into a hillside 5-6 miles away from the crater.  It is named for the geologist, Dr. David Johnston, who was at an observation post on this ridge when it blew, May 18, 1980.  He lived to see and report by radio the eruption, but his body was never found.  We heard various estimates of the blast taking 40 seconds to a couple minutes to reach him.  A RACES volunteer helping the observers was a couple miles further from the blast, but met the same end.  A photographer on assignment from National Geographic was about nine miles away.  His car was found half buried in ash.  His wallet and some clothing was found several years after the eruption, buried in ash.

 We spent the next two nights at rest stops.  Oregon at least posts signs so you can identify where you are located.  I would have liked to keep driving and get through LA at night, but our headlights were out of adjustment or the chassis was dragged down in the back by the bike.  Not sure what it was, but I just couldn't see well enough to continue.  To many dark spots and I didn't want a deer to jump out and me not see it.
 

 I walked all over the California one, but nothing there to tell you were you were.  On Tuesday we were able to get 693 miles.  Our only hold up was a circuitous route to find fuel in Sacramento.  David found a good price, so we got off and drove right to where there were two stations selling diesel.  Only problem was their pump area covers were lower than our vehicle needed, so we ended up driving through part of Old Sac and downtown Sacramento before finding our way to fuel and back to the freeway.  That fill-up was all it took.  We stopped just after getting into San Diego County at a rest stop with an RV Sanitation Station.

Last dump stop

We picked up some black rubber marks where a chunk of tire  carcass got thrown up at us in LA.  It made a big noise when it hit, but we weren't in a place to stop and look until we dumped.  Fortunately, it must be well supported in that area and the fiberglass cap was not cracked.

This note from our grand kids put smiles on our faces when we walked into the house.

87 days

8,871 miles on the motor home

620 miles on the tandem bike

est. 500 miles on the motorcycle (we only took it down in six places)

est. 350 more with friend and family

(Camden took us to Seward, Pam & Dave took us sight-seeing and let us use one of their cars too)

It took us 13 days to drive north to Seattle but only 3 days to drive home.

I could add up how many gallons and liters of fuel we used, but I won't.  It just doesn't matter.  This has been a fantastic trip.  I hope the readers have enjoyed my musing about it.  It was fun to keep in touch this way (at least it was fun when I had a wifi signal in the mh).

Many thanks to the friends and family we visited, to those whom helped plan the trip, and to the fellow Ventana owners who taught us helpful things about our motor home.

Anyone want to guess how many of the 8,871 miles David drove?