2017 Summer LookyLookyForTheHalibuti

30-August-2017 Lexington Va ...watching it fly by on the right. Pounding out the miles in the gunship Monday  Left Colorado/Arrived Kansas City... ate Bar-B-Que. Visited with friends Tuesday Left KC arrived Beckley West Virginia. Ate leftover Bar-B-Que & baked goods from Co. Slept at a truck stop Today we hope to make Hatteras Island and home

26-August-2017 Colorado Springs Colorado. The blog is off for the weekend relaxing with many family members (except those that ran off to Burning Man!). Monday begins the mad dash east. It appears the wahoo bite is heating up at home. I bought 4.5 gallons of  Olive Oil at Costco today. Looky Looky for Mr Wahoo!!!

23-August-2017 Salida Colorado I waited till the day after to post this entry... just in case We arrived in Salida in time to catch up with our niece Claire, her friend Matt, and have us a nice dinner. Next morning we took it slow with coffee and bagels from a quality baker. In the afternoon we headed up the Monarch Pass in quest of the ever elusive mycelium. Yes indeed , we were looking for 'shrooms. But not the kind for recreating, the kind for eating. And found them we did. Some mushrooms are meant to be eaten and are quite tasty. Some mushrooms will make you sick, hopefully making you a better mushroom hunter. Some mushrooms you only get to eat once.  These are to be avoided. We came home and made a nice risotto with the mushrooms. Here's some photos from the day  The team getting ready to head out The eating kind The non-eating kind More good eating stuff The day's haul Bacon Mushroom Ri...

21-August-2017 Eureka Nevada Salina Utah The Gunship truly is an eastern bound mode  as a return to Hatteras Island looms in our future. A good friend suggested we take Route 50 through Nevada. Billed as the Loneliest Road in the Country it certainly opens up the west. The road cuts through the Great Basin which is a new area of exploration for the Gunship Team. We spent a few hours at Great Basin National Park which exceeded our explorations. Truth is we didn't have any expectations. But it is a truly cool place with its very own species of trout. So take that Marlin Perkins! We slept a night at the police station in Eureka Nevada. Eureka is billed as the Friendliest town on the Loneliest road. We didn't do anything wrong. The Sheriff invited us to park the gunship in his parking lot for the evening. Next day we just kept getting it to the east. That meant Utah. That meant Red Rocks and 3.2% beer. We skipped the beer, ate a sandwich and parked the gunship for the night at the ...

19-Aug-2017 Santa Rosa California The blog rolled into Santa Rosa and promptly shut down  in the fog....... in so many ways. We caught up with another old friend from high school and spent 3 nights living the vida loca. Truth is we lived a bit more loca way back when. Nevertheless we ate at great restaurants, drank great wine, went to wineries, saw a Santana tribute band (Caravanserai- most excellent)  and just had a good time. We even managed to dust off our instruments and jam for awhile. Good fun. We took some silly pictures The Berlinger Winery

17-Aug-2017 Humboldt Redwood National and State Parks Northern California The Gunship pushes further south into the land of giant trees. The Gunship itself was denied entry for the much desired "car inside a redwood tree" photograph due to its size. That was a bit of a setback... but we got over it. And we know of a bigger tree further north for next time. Anyway onward we rolled, hiking for hours in the redwoods, and drinking fine IPA's in the many brewpubs that dot the landscape. Seems like we are clear of the fire smoke for the time being. The gunship rolls 

16- Aug-2014 Grants Pass Oregon The blogs been resting for a few Days as we make our way through Oregon. We hugged the coast for a bit, hit a few gardens in Portland and landed for a few days at the home of a high school (so many decades ago) buddy and his wife in Eugene. We spent a day or two catching up, doing a little hiking and of course eating good food.  So far this trip we've been able to dodge all the timber fires out here in the west. That was till yesterday. We headed south from Eugene toward Crater Lake. There was a pretty good haze in the air and here and there you could see and smell the nearby fires. We passed an encampment of  fire fighters and even ran into a bunch of them at the brewpub where we had dinner last night.  Anyway, we headed back west toward the coast thinking that would clear things up a bit. Will let you know how that works out. Portland Chinese Garden Portland Biker Gang  Portland Japanese Gard...

11-Aug-2017 Toutle, Washington Back in 1980 Mount St Helens blew her stack. It was an event many of us barely noticed or remember. Unless you live around here.  The entire side of the mountain blown away .. haze courtesy of the B.C. Wildfires. We went on a nice hike as close to the volcano as they would let us. Plenty to eat along the trail The Odonates have returned......finally !!! Extra bonus donate

10-Aug-2017 Cape Disappointment Mouth of the Columbia River Washington State After the rain forests we headed west to the coast and rolled south. We passed Oyster Farms, Wildlife Refuges, Cranberry Farms, etc. We also passed through a few fishing towns that had seen better times but still manage to hang on. Sounds familiar. Fishing is tough everywhere. Smoked salmon collar.  The best smoked salmon I have ever eaten

9-August-2017 Quinalt River Valley Olympic National Park. Quinalt is another valley in the Rain Forest of Washington. Amazingly this valley holds title to 5 or 6 of the worlds tallest/oldest/most ginormous trees from 4 or 5 species. Like the Hoh River valley its just a place where the size of the trees has to be seen to be believed. Fallen trees of 2-300 year old seem commonplace. We found the worlds largest Sitka spruce at over 1000 years. Unlike the Hoh Valley, Quinalt seems a bit harder to get to and a little less discovered.  It was nice to have the place a little more to ourselves.  Anyway, we spent the night at the Graves Creek Campground on the River. The next morning we hiked the Enchanted Valley trail up the Quinalt for a few miles. Here's a bit of what we saw The Quinalt Mycelium- Its been scarce this trip!! A little more Mycelium