Trees topple: Wicked storm goes unnoticed

Big trees, shattered in an instant.

It was a warm, quiet evening in tiny Colville in eastern Washington. 

But 11 miles to the east on the mountainous Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, a violent, unpredicted storm unleashed its flurry.

Aside from the few dozen residents of the area, nobody noticed. Not then, not now — nearly a day later.

Tree roots were pulled from the earth.

At 6:30 p.m., along about a six mile stretch of sparsely populated state route 20, a hurricane force wind came out of nowhere. The National Weather Service had predicted winds of up to 50 miles per hour. But these were stronger — a lot stronger.

At least a thousand (my guess) large pine and fir trees were split in half by the powerful winds, or their roots completely yanked from the earth. Some were two to three feet thick. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Paul and Marty Schroeder were going about a normal evening in their home of 30 years. "We've never seen anything like it in all that time," Marty told me.

Marty and Paul Schroeder

I found the couple along the highway, piecing their mailbox back together. "It was like being in a Mixmaster," said Paul. "Pine needles were flying everywhere, they covered our front window."

At first, the winds were from the south. And then in an instant they switched north and got mean. They only lasted a few minutes.

I SAW THE RESULTS OF THE CARNAGE this afternoon as I crossed the mountains on my way to Newport. At first I thought the forest was being thinned, perhaps because of a bug infestation. Trees were strewn about every which way — unusual, I thought, but not impossible. Then I saw them crashed on cabins and toppled over downed power lines. The road was littered with small branches. No, as improbable as it seemed, this was Mother Nature's doing.

Trees toppled onto homes.

A few miles up the road during the storm in the Flodelle Creek Campground, only one space was occupied. The campers were gone by the time I arrived this afternoon, so I couldn't hear their story. But it must have been a terrifying experience. A National Wildlife Refuge worker who had spent the entire day clearing roads with heavy equipment told me it took two hours to reach the two campers. "Trees fell everywhere except right where they were," he said.

Everywhere, trees on the ground.

There was nothing in the news this morning about the storm. Not a peep. How could that be? Hurricanes don't happen in Washington. So how could countless uprooted trees three feet thick be explained? How could other trees of similar size be split in half without anybody noticing?

I didn't stick around to investigate. I'm not a news reporter. But I am telling you, I have never seen anything like this, and I've been on a lot of roads, in a lot of forests, and in a lot of storms in those places.

I'll never see this again.

I have learned since I wrote this that the storm that caused this damage is called a microburst. You can read about them on Wikipedia.

Sheepherders Wagon sure looked like an RV!

This wooden wagon was built in 1937 on the chassis of a Model T Ford by Buford (Buck) Kinman of Riverside, Wash., to be used by sheepherders of the Warden Sheep Company. 

It was home to a sheepherder and his dog for about half the year. They would trail a herd of a couple of thousand sheep over mountain pastures from May to October. The sheepherder's only companion besides his dog was an occasional hiker or fisherman passing by. Every couple of weeks someone from the company would drop off supplies and something to read. This particular wagon was used until the early 1950s.

Although primitive compared to our modern recreation vehicles, it has most of the same amenities. You can see this at the Okanogan County Museum in Okanogan, Washington.

Fake women. But they sure look real!

I visited the Okanogan County Historical Museum in Okanogan, Washington today. I found the mannequins fascinating. They are remarkably lifelike! I wonder if they are based on real people? My guess is yes. If so, I wonder if the women who posed ever come upon their likenesses? 

Wouldn't it be strange to walk into a store or museum and see yourself, especially if years had passed and you had aged? Or what if the mannequin was your mother and maybe she had died. So there you would be, face to face with your mother when she was young and beautiful. Now, that would be really strange! I bet it has happened. Has it ever happened to you? I know that's a long shot, but I'll ask anyway.

The museum itself is excellent if you like Pioneer Museums. It costs $2 to get in, which is a really good deal. Don't miss the Sheepherders Wagon. It looks like a primitive travel trailer. And don't miss the thumbnail collection of the late Freda M. Henderson. You will be amazed at how many special thumbnails are displayed — ones with photos of Queen Elizabeth, Princess Di, and others from World's Fairs and Olympic events. There's even a few displayed side by side that feature a Burma Shave slogan.

I may write more about the museum later because there are some excellent exhibits. But for now, here's a look at some of the interesting mannequins that model clothing from yesteryear.

My motorhome is tiny, but spacious, too

My current campsite

When I look at my motorhome from a distance it looks tiny. Yet when I step inside it seems spacious. 

I shake my head when I have this thought. How can it be both tiny and spacious at the same time? I don't know.

Sometimes when I am at my home near Seattle during a cold, windy and otherwise nasty storm, I may come upon a small, occupied RV while I am driving somewhere. This could be when I am passing by an RV park, for example. When this happens I sometimes feel sorry for the RVers inside, cooped up in such a tiny space during the miserable weather.

YET I KNOW FULL WELL I should not feel sorry for them. When I am on the road and stuck in a similar storm inside my little RV, I will usually feel snug as a bug. My motorhome is warm and dry, and the sound of rain on the roof is actually soothing. If the sky should open up and rain should pound my roof, then I am even more content, as I know how lucky I am to be inside and dry and warm and comfy.

It was blazing hot yesterday here in Twisp — 108 degrees in the late afternoon. It was miserable. I only stepped outside a few times, each time the blast of hot air sent me retreating. But inside my little motorhome, my air conditioner kept me cool. That is where I spent most of the day. I wrote some, read, listened to music and studied maps about where to go next. I can easily spend an hour exploring maps, dreaming of what places and adventures lay ahead.

This morning, the sky is dark and it's raining. It's night and day from yesterday. It's still warm — 82 degrees now at 8:30 — but the rain and a slight breeze coming through my open window feels heavenly, more like the low 70s.

(I made a video a few years ago in which I talk about how my little motorhome is just right for me, even though it is on the small-size compared to many RVs these days. The video is here if you want to watch it).

Noon, 96 degrees and battling mosquitos!

It's noon in Twisp, Wash., where I am holed up for another 20 hours. The temperature is already 96, headed to 106. It's already too hot to do anything.

I killed at least two dozen mosquitoes in the motorhome this morning and I'm still swatting. I have no idea how they got in and I think they are still coming. Just when I think I have finished off the last one, another shows up. I have never liked mosquitoes. I know every creature is on Earth for a purpose. I don't know what that might be for mosquitoes.

My major pastime today, besides staying inside my RV to be cool and avoid mosquitoes, will be to itch mosquito bites from the last couple of days. I have six on one foot and another two or three dozen elsewhere. This whole Methow Valley is swarming with the pests. I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of one at my ear. Then there was another and another. I swatted like a mad man. I got a few, missed most. I cursed. I tried to go back to sleep, but awoke again to the annoying "zzzzzzzzzz" of the pathetic little creatures — sometimes two, even three at a time — worthless, bloodsucking buddies.

I'm camped along the Methow River. It's beautiful. I'll walk down this evening and wade in the cool water. It feels good, really good.

But I'm headed outta here tomorrow morning. Tired of mosquitoes. Tired of heat.

Sad to say, where I'm headed, which is east, it's hot or even hotter. I don't care. I'm going anyway. Gotta to at least try to find a cooler place. Maybe the weatherman is wrong.

Total surprise: Wild animals on display in tiny town's only supermarket

Twisp, population 940, in northeastern Washington is the last place you would expect to see a wildebeest. It's the last place you would expect to see an African Lion attacking a wild boar. 

But, if you go grocery shopping in Twisp, at Hanks Harvest Foods, which is the only supermarket in town, you will immediately notice a zoo of stuffed animals high atop the frozen foods section. When you're finished shopping, you'll pass by an African Lion bringing down a wild boar just beyond the cash registers.

Hanks is a small town supermarket owned and operated by Hank Konrad with able help from his son Jackson. Hank opened the store in 1975. About 30 years ago he brought in his first wild animal to display. Today, there are three to four dozen, most high above shelves and cold boxes. A cougar greets visitors toward the front of the store. A black bear stands high over the meat department.

Oh, they aren't just animals Hank bought somewhere. He and Jackson hunted them in far away places. Many are from Africa. Many of the deer are from Alberta. Most years, Hank and Jackson head off to faraway places to hunt big game. They do so "fair chase"-style, says Jackson, meaning they don't just show up, plop down money and shoot a helpless animal that's there for anyone who can point a gun and pull a trigger. They actually go out into the native lands of the animals to stalk their prey.

The two men support organizations that fight poaching, and they donate the meat from many of the animals they shoot to people who don't have enough to eat.

The locals in Twisp go about their shopping at Hanks as anyone would in their hometown market. I bet most don't even see the animals anymore. But it's a different story for the tourists and others passing through, who are awed by the display. The gawking is most evident in hunting season, when hunters stock up on supplies. They bend their necks to look upward, marveling at one exotic animal after another including a giant mule deer from Alberta that for a time was the largest ever taken in the province.

You can't miss Hanks Harvest Foods. It's right on the main drag, which is state route 20.

Hot, hot, hot! And why teachers of old had to avoid barber shops

It's 100 degrees in Winthrop, Washington. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 104. That's way too hot! Mother Nature is cooking me! The only good news is that I'm not in Death Valley, where it's 117 today and headed to 120 tomorrow. I was there once when it was 122. Getting out of my air conditioned vehicle was like stepping into an oven.

I'm holed up today in my (thankfully) air conditioned motorhome in the Pine Near RV Park, a grassy, quiet place a block away from downtown Winthrop, a western themed town that earns its income from tourists. Sherri's ice cream stand was doing a booming business earlier when I visited.

Tomorrow, I'm headed out, but I won't go far. I have months to go before I need to return home. Heck, I don't need to be home anytime in particular. I still haven't accepted that: I feel like I need to race. "Gotta go. Gotta make some miles"

Downtown Winthrop

Going slow is hard. Many full-timers have told me this about when they started. My friend Greg Illes wrote this as he began his current trip to Alaska: "Too often, especially on a long trip such as driving to Alaska, we get unconsciously purpose-bound. Time to get going, gotta drive, gotta see, gotta do, lots of miles to travel and sights to photograph." 

So I'll try to go slow.

The Pine Near RV Park is across the street from the Shafer Museum where there are about a dozen buildings from the 1800s. I liked the old schoolhouse. The "1872 Rules For Teachers" is framed and on one wall. Among the rules:

•Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's lesson.
•Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
•After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
•Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
•Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
•The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Yours for only $150!

I like the many old Sears catalogs on display. The one from 1897 featured "The Highest Grade Columbus Carriages" for $150 (or $175 if you wanted leather seats). I wonder how Sears would deliver these?

What I did not like one bit was the tooth extractor used by John Anderson back in the late 1800s. He wasn't really a dentist, but when someone was suffering from a bad tooth . . . well, something had to be done. Mr. Anderson would use this device. When you see things like this you are reminded of how lucky we are to live at a time when we have good drugs (and medical equipment).

It's now 6 p.m. on Friday. I need to finish up the RV Travel Newsletter. So I better get going. I hope if it's hot where you are that you are staying cool!

Drive across North Cascades is one of America's prettiest

Washington Route 20 crosses the state through spectacular mountain terrain. It's one of the prettiest drives in North America and an official scenic byway. It passes through the North Cascades mountains which sport 300 glaciers — more than any other place in the USA except Alaska. Most of the glaciers are in North Cascades National Park.

Admission to the park is free. Campgrounds are plentiful, both in the park and on bordering National Forest lands.

The couple in the photo above were snoozing in one of the most beautiful spots along the highway, an overlook at Rainy Pass. Don't miss this.

The drive over the mountains begins in the west off I-5 at Burlington and ends in pretty Winthrop, a western themed tourist on the eastern lip of the range, where conifers are replaced with cowboys. A good place to camp is in the naitonal park campground at Newhalem near the Ross Reservoir dam which generates electricity for power hungry Seattle more than 100 miles away. In Winthrop, the pretty Pine Near RV Park is a five-minute walk from downtown, with its many tourist shops and restaurants.

Rest in Peace, pink plastic flamingo creator

I am sad to report that the inventor of the pink plastic flamingo died last week at age 79. Back in 1957 Don Featherstone created a plastic flamingo with a couple of rod-like legs. He named it Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus.

The plastic bird was an instant hit for Union Products, a maker of plastic lawn ornaments in Leominster, Mass., where Featherstone worked. In 2009, the city of Madison, Wis., declared the pink plastic flamingo the city's official bird.

I snapped the photo of this one in the Pine Near RV Park in Winthrop, Wash., where a flock of 70 of the plastic birds (some are blue, not pink) makes a regular appearance, sometimes with holiday themes. This solar-powered fowl was modified by a local flamingo aficionado to glow at night.

Raiding Mr. Hippo for quarters

This video is standard definition so it requires only minimal bandwidth for RVers on the road with limited data plans.

I'm only days away from heading out on a three to five month journey from Seattle to the East coast and then back. Today I spent some time going through my cookie jar piggy bank, which I call Mr. Hippo.  I was looking for quarters — lots of them! Why? I explain in the video.