2024-09-22 Lakeview Deer Parade

 Another night in Lakeview another deer parade. Such and elusive creature. 😂

Chris says it is like this in many areas in the lower 48 states. Just not in New Hampshire. He had mentioned before how hard it was to get blacktail deer hunting tags in Oregon. So, I asked if they are this wide spread and this populated in town how is the deer herd overall? Not good apparently. One of his co-workers said you are playing on the wrong team. Meaning the herd is not going to survive long term in Oregon. Sort of like Moose in New Hampshire. Sad.

It still amazes us how domesticated they are in Lakeview. 

The herds can get big in size. 

I got this video out the back door of Chris's house. The door looks out onto the garage and driveway with a little side yard area. About 55 seconds into the video it walks right towards me. Elusive for sure!

TTFN,

Doug and Nancy

2024-09-09 Motorcycle Sold

 Chris is heavy into his prep work for the move to Alaska. He wanted to reduce as much as possible and decided to sell his motorcycle. And he did. He agreed to meet the buyer halfway in Klamath Falls. So load it up and road trip.

We felt kind of bad for the buyer. By the time we got to Klamath Falls it was dark. And he had to ride it home for another 1.5 hours. We met him at the local grocery store and he was a character. Did the paperwork and some money changed hands and home we went. It was a clear night and about half way home Chris pulled off on a dirt road. Because we were out in the middle of nowhere we got a some good views of the Milky way. However none of those pictures came out. We did get this sunset as a consolation. 

TTFN, 

Doug and Nancy

2024-09-08 Motorcycle Ride to Alturas California

 We took a motorcycle ride to Alturas, California on this day. Chris had told us that Lakeview got its name from being so close to Goose Lake many years ago. Now as the crow flies it is about 8 miles away. Over the years as the lake is used for more irrigation, and coupled with the recent drought, it gotten smaller in size to the point you almost can not see it from Rt. 395.

Many farms and barns along the route.

Dilapidated to the point of collapse. 

Nancy's theory is that this could be a pot farm. She might be right. We are now in California so anything is possible. 😅

We knew the price of gas in California so we hit the last gas station in Lakeview heading out of town. Yikes, good thing we did.

Once in Alturas we stopped at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant for a bite to eat. It was highly rated online and the waiting line indicated the ratings were justified. It did not disappoint. It serves breakfast and lunch with a good menu. If you are ever in the area it is worth a stop.

Alturas is a small town similar to Lakeview. Chris says people from Lakeview like to go there because they have a better grocery store. It is full of cowboys and cowgirls and everyone is polite. It is still cattle country here.

It was a short but fun ride and back home we went.

Back home again.

TTFN,

Doug and Nancy

2024-09-07 MC Ride to Paisley - Fawn Collar Retrieval

Nancy and I took a motorcycle ride to Paisley the back way Chris had showed us before. Beautiful landscape views.

Much of the area had no visible sign of human activity, houses or farms for most of the trip. It followed a river as you got close to Paisley. There were many opportunities for free primitive camping along the river that Chris had told us about when we got to Lakeview.

Somewhere along our Westward trip this summer we started noticing these cattle guards. It really unnerved me the first few that we hit on the motorcycle especially if they are located in a curved section of the road.

Chris says they are used to contain cattle into an area that is fenced. The fences run right up to the guards on both sides of the road. The road could be an escape route for the cattle without the guards. The cattle will not try and cross the guards because of the big gaps between the rails that span the width of the road. It is as good as having a fence across the road.

It was a hot day and just before Paisley we pulled over for a nature call and water break. Hey, just trying to do my part in the fire prevention effort. 😂

Watching the stream below and relaxing in the shade.

It took us through a big area (140,000 acres) that had burned several years ago. 

In areas that have burned the Forest service will go back in a couple of years and conduct Fire Reduction Efforts to limit the fuel supply in these areas in the future. They accumulate downed trees from the fire that did not completely burn into piles and come back at a future date and burn these piles. A lot of work. 

In Paisley we stopped to get another tee shirt because ... well just because there is always room for another tee shirt. Am I right or am I right? Its a biker thing. We had eaten here the other day with Chris and it is very good. So if you are ever in the area check it out. Note: there is nowhere else to eat for miles in any direction. 

On the ride back home we went back the same way we came into Paisley and had the road to ourselves until we got back to Lakeview. 

It is pretty out here in the middle of nowhere.

Started to see signs of civilization as we got closer to Lakeview.

We went by Chris's work office location. The two campers are used to house seasonal technicians in the summer. 

When we got back Chris said he had a fawn mortality and he had to go pick up the GPS collar. So we went with him on a ride towards Klamath Falls. 

Along the way we saw what looked like huge thunder clouds. Chris checked his fire location app and the direction with the OnX app and said it was the two recent fires that had started.

Chris had made the arrangements with the land owner so he could go on his private land and retrieve the collar. To make a long story short when we got to the collar area the land owner and a ranch hand came flying towards us in a side by side wanting to know "what we were doing there?" Once the dust settled and they figured out who Chris was they apologized for "Coming in hot."

Nancy, almost as soon as we got out of the truck, found the collar on the ground. We have both accompanied Chris on collar retrievals before so she new what to look for. That was easy. Sometimes it takes a while to locate the collar even with GPS coordinates. 

The picture below is Chris explaining how the collar works to the land owner.

On the ride home we got treated to a beautiful sunset. It was mostly directly behind us but Nancy got some good shots.

TTFN,

Doug and Nancy