What Day 14 would have been like - Rye Patch SRA NV to Donner Memorial Park CA

Here’s what today, day 14 would have been like.

 

 

We would have had a chilly (high 20s) but pleasant night’s sleep at Rye Patch State Recreation Area in NV, just off I-80.   After breaking camp, we would have driven 10 miles down I-80, hugging the Humboldt River as close as we could, and taken a 16-mile round trip detour to visit the Humboldt Sink, where the river of the same name simply disappeared.

 

A lot of drama took place on this route in 1846, but was nothing compared to what was to come when the Donner Party reached the Sierras. Wolfinger was killed for his hoard of gold by Spitzer and Reinhart; Pike was killed in an accident; Hardcoop was thrown out by Keseberg (what did I tell you) and never seen again.  Eddy refused to help Breen pull his horse from the mud and the horse died.

 

Back on I-80, we would then be traveling through the Forty-Mile desert to just short of the suburbs of Reno.

 

In Reno, we would be setting the GPS for  4385 Loreto Lane where the Millcreek and Donner Springs subdivisions built in the 1980s set aside an acre of land to memorialize this spot (below) where the Donner’s camped on the Emigrant Trail  in then-Truckee Meadows before the final push to get to then-Truckee Lake to climb the 7,057- foot summit that would get them to Fort Sutter before the snows came.

 

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After a leisurely lunch in the bench-less park, much to the puzzlement of the residents as to why we were there (“Just wanted to give Donner a break,” I would have said, puzzling them even more) we would have hopped back into the Defender for the 27 mile drive in sunny 71-degree weather to Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee CA along the last of the rivers the Party would encounter, the Truckee

 

Before we arrived at Donner Memorial Park, we would have stopped at the Alder Creek Camp, six miles from Truckee, where the Donner’s were forced to stop after an axel broke on one of George owner’s wagons  He cut he hand trying to repair it, and that, as it turns out, was fatal.  It delayed the whole party from getting over now-Donner summit before the snows--- the biggest ever recorded there since, five feet---- hours before they attempted to cross over. Donner and I bivouacked just a couple of hundred yards from this camp back in 2018.

 

At Donner Memorial Park, our first visit would have been to the memorial statue there (below), depicting the hapless emigrants, not saluting, but shielding their eyes from the blinding sun  hitting the deep snow as they peered into the distance every day hoping to see a rescue party coming off the Sierras summit for them.  That help eventually came, but not soon enough for more than 40 of them.

 

 

Becasue reservations at Donner State Park for today were full two months ago, we had plans to camp at a park along Lake Tahoe, 20 miles to the south, but those reservations were cancelled because of the Caldor Fire.  There were a number of other camps near the Alder Creek Camp of the Donner’s we would have tried to camp in.  Or we would have bivouacked in the same site we cut back in 2018.

 

Donner at his eponymously named parked back in 2018:

On top of Donner summit overlooking Donner Lake with Donner in 2018

Replacement for Defender?

As those who have been guardian to a Defender know, there really is no vehicle like it.  None. And because of that, it is impossible to find a suitable replacement short of having one built from a kit. Knowing that my beloved 28-year old Defender is beginning its second life, at some point I will have to ask myself if I am prepared to go through the same cycle that I have been through these last 28 years.  So, until a suitable replacement comes along, the Defender will stay with me, come hail or high water, and it has seen both, and more, much more. 

 

But besides wanting to avoid the trials and tribulations, not to mention tows, that come with owning a Definer, I am getting to the point where it would be desirable, if not necessary, to have a vehicle I can sleep in when push comes to shove, as it has many times on my journeys.  If I had a Defender 110, I would be able to do that, but it is impossible to do so in a 90, which I have.  And I do not see myself moving down one notch on the on-the-road means, pulling a tent camper, and certainly never beyond that. It would not be the same kind of journey without a Defender or my dogs).  So my search continued.

 

SAs it turned out, my search really turned into a wait. Several years ago, when Land Rover announced that they would be discontinuing production of the three-decades old Defender worldwide (they discontinued shipping to the US in 1996 or 1997), Sir James Ratcliffe, a Defender enthusiasts, and the founder of the British chemical complex INEOS, pleaded with them to continue it. Land Rover ignored him. He then asked to buy the name and plans, and they ignored him again. Not one for giving it, Sir James vowed to start up his own production company and make the best utility vehicle on the market. Today, INEOS announced that vehicle, which they are calling the Grenadier, after the pub in England where the idea was conceived.   Although I had been following the sparce press on this for years, I accidentally saw a news article on it today. I immediately got online as soon as the reservations opened up and was able to secure with a deposit a reservation number in the 9000s.  The vehicle will be shipped  starting in 2022, but not to the US until 2023, so my Defender will be with me until then, if not beyond.

 

The Grenadier is shown in the photo on the left, while a Deferens 110 is on the right.  If they look alike, it is because they are mean to. On a scale of 0 to 10, if the luxury rating of a Defender is a 0, and a 10 for one of those very capable Mercedes G-Wagons, which are never seen where they belong, in the wild, the Grenadier is supposed to be somewhere in between, and very, very sparse on electronics.

 

Right now, this is only a pipe dream for me, but at least I have some security on being able to turn that dream into a reality.  My only hope is that Donner is still here with me to take a step up in comfort in any new vehicle I end up getting.

Incidentally, the Grenadier is by no means a sure thing for me.  While there is much that I like, it has shortcominngs: no manual transmnissionl no soft top; a 3.0 liter 6 cylinder engine, which is less that my Defender had with its original engine, and rear seats that when folded take up valiuable space in the back, which I need tfor sleeping ,   But we will see.

Would be day 13 photo 2

Would be day 13 photo of  Donner with John Snyder's dog, if he had had one

Would-be photo

Would be photo of Donner with John Snyder.

RE: What Day 13 would have been like

Today would have been an easy day, for us, but not for John Snyder 175 years ago on this route, as we will soon learn.

 

 

After breaking camp at chilly (30 degrees last night) but peaceful South Fork Recreation Area camp, we would be traveling in nice (63 degrees) sunny weather about 30 miles to the east, hugging the Humboldt River, to get to Moleen NV, which is where the Donner Party finally cut loose from the infamous Hastings Cutoff and the California Trail picked up.  (Some shortcut that was – 100 miles longer and much, much tougher. Lansford Hastings got his due share of denunciations along the entire cutoff.) One hundred miles up the trail (that is, I-80 these days) we would be taking the exit for the little (180 people) community of Golconda, turning right onto highway 789 and driving five miles along Midas Road to just before it crosses over the Humboldt River. At that point we would be turning right onto an often black-fly-infested  dirt road,  driving 5.6 miles along the Humboldt  River,  as the below map shows. Thank goodness it is not raining today or we would be driving in a sea of mud, but not up to the tops of our wheels as the poor Donner Party encountered when they crossed the Great Salt Lake desert.

 

 

At this point, we would be looking spots that look like this:

 

 

Our goal for today would have been to find the alleged location of the burial site of  John Snyder, shown by the arrows (graphic, not Indian) in the bottom photo above.  Who, you ask, is John Snyder?   Well, I will tell you. After crossing the Humboldt River, the pioneers came to a steep rocky hill (top photo above) they had to cross. Most of the wagons were double-teamed with oxen, but not the one driven by Snyder, a teamster for the Graves family . When Snyder's oxen became entangled with those pulling Reed's family wagon, Snyder starting beating his exhausted oxen.  Reed rode up to Snyder’s wagon on horseback and they then got into a verbal altercation to stop Snyder from beating his oxen. Snyder lashed out with his bullwhip handle and struck Reed in the head. Reed defensively responded to Snyder's anger  by pulling out his large hunting knife. (Wouldn’t any of us have done the same?) Reed's wife, Margaret (remember, her beloved mom died back in Alcove Springs in what is now Kansas) tried to separate the men, but Snyder then hit her with his whip. After two more attacks by Snyder, Reed plunged his knife into Snyder's chest, killing him instantly. Snyder was quickly buried off to the side of the trail, as the pioneers were wont to do, sometimes burying them on the trail so the Indians could not disinter and then desecrate them.  German immigrant Louis Keseberg (not a nice man, I understand) wanted to hoist the falling tongue of a wagon and hang Reed right there, but others intervened. Instead, Reed was banished from the wagon train and  forced to leave his wife and four children behind and walk off into the wilderness (the first Into the Wild?) alone with no horse or rifle. (With friends like that, who needs enemies?)  His daughter later rode off and gave him a horse and rifle.  As it turned out, this was really for the benefit of the whole group because Reed made it to Fort Sutter and was instrumental in arranging for the first rescue parties months later to make it to now-Donner Lake to save the poor starving (well, all were not starving, as we now know) souls soon to be stranded there for the winter. (While I am in no position to take sides in this fight, I will anyway. I don’t think Snyder deserved to die, but as an animal activitist, my sympathies go to Reed. Lesson to be learned: don’t beat your animals)

 

My guess is that I would have be testing the Defender’s oxen-power capability by trying to get over that hill in the top photo myself.

 

For some odd reason, I took a particular interest in wondering where Snyder was buried. After hours of research, I came across this interesting article in the Overland Journal (click here) describing where his grave might be.  Snyder, by the way, was killed six days from today 175 years ago on October 5th.

 

After paying our respects (or whatever) to the hapless Snyder, Donner and I would be saddling up and then moving an easy  67 miles down I-80  to Rye Patch Recreation Area to spend a comfortable night under clear but chilly (29 degrees) skies. ("I think a winter storm is coming," Tom Stoppard would be having George Donner saying at the end of his would-be play, The Coast of Dystopia.) So far, except for some rain in the first leg of our trip on the way to Springfield IL, there would have been no rain along the entire Donner Party Trail. Theh again, we would have covered it in two weeks, while it took the Donner Party five and a half months.

 

Tomorrow we would be bringing an end to our outward journey, at least for the journey of  George and his brother, Jacob, their wives, and a number of their children, since all died over the next six months at Alder Creek camp near Donner Lake.

 

Ed and Donner

Another lucky dog

Donner is not the only dog lucky enough to be riding around shotgun in a Defender. Look at this sweet dog named Brindle. Her guardian, Jim, who also is guardian to a Defender 90, stumbled across my OTR blogs and reached out to me. Of course, Brindle fits snugly into the passenger seat, while I had to tear out my own passenger seat and customize  Donner’s for him, with special accommodations this year to accommodate his disability. But dogs, unlike humans, will settle for whatever they can get, as long as the are with their masters, and, in Brindle’s and Donner’s cases, riding around in a Defender.

 

 

Day 12, Angel Creek Camp to South Fork Camp

Today, day 12, would have gone, or would be going, like this.

 

 

After a pleasant evening with the temperature a cool 41 degrees, we would be traveling 11miles to the south east to visit Clover Valley, the point at which the Donner Party reached the glorious Ruby Valley.  Searching for a pass to cross over the Rubies to reach the Humboldt River and rejoin the California Trail, they headed south 70 miles along the Rubies, as we would be doing.  Along the way they found a number of springs and creeks for respites from what they encountered crossing the Great Salt Lake desert. Eventually, they found what is now known as the Overland Pass, which we will use to cross over to the west side of the Rubies and then travel north in search of the Humboldt River, the penultimate rive they would encounter.  Our goal for day would have been to head for South Fork  Recreation Area Camp, 45 miles to the north, for a total distance traveled today of  157 miles.

 

Three years ago, Donner and I stayed at the South Fork Recreation Area on our way down to the Grand Canyon, 383 miles south.  What a wonderful place.  There was only one other camper there, probably because it was October 22^nd, three weeks later than when we would have been visiting today. Here is our camp there. I cannot seem to see Donner.

 

 

After we camped at South Fork in 2018, we drove through the Ruby Mountains over 110 miles south to Route 50, the same highway that if we stayed on it heading west would have taken us to our doorstep 2336 miles away.  The first 10 miles of the road were nicely paved, but then the next 100 were dirt. But what a gorgeous ride it was through the Rubies. Wild horse everywhere.  And what views! I wonder if the Donners though the same.

 

The temperate in the area today is supposed to be partly sunny in the 60s. But the temperature tonight will be 26, so out would be coming the winter sleeping bag. Interestingly enough, today would have been about the same date that the Donner Party reached this very point. While I might have welcomed some brisque cold air, they would have been freighted by it, knowing that they still had 321 miles to go (today’s measure), and could only do at most 15 miles a day under the best conditions. What was foremost on their mind was whether they would beat the snows to the Sierras at Truckee Lake, now called Donner Lake, for reasons  related to the well-known fact that the snows, I mean heavy snows,  beat them there by a matter of hours. HOURS, when they had taken journey six months to get there. What bad luck.

 

Here are some links to my 2018 blog and trip through the Rubies. Oh, how I longed to get back there, but my priorities trumped my longings.

 

On The Road - 9 : Day 32 photos (otr9.blogspot.com)

 

On The Road - 9 : Day 32 photos (otr9.blogspot.com)

 

Tomorrow’s would-be journey would have been bringing one of the more interesting highlights I was hoping to experience on the trip.

 

Ed and Donner

 

Today would have been day 11 on the road

Assuming all went as planned, and it sometimes does not (remember OTR-8 on the Alcan?), day 11 would be going like this.

 

Aftre a night at Echo State Park during a clear night with 57 degrees temperature, we would be crusising along I-84 to Weber Canyon, 35 miles distant. After trying for days to make it though impossibly rough Weber Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains, the Donner Party gave up and headed south, which we would be doing ourselves, but along route 66 and then 65 which were not there back in 1846, straddling the mountains, until we came to what is now as Emigrant Canyon, the 12 miles of which we would be covering in perhaps 30 minutes, allowing for stops, instead of the days it took the Donner Party. Eventually, we would reach the other side of the Canyon at what is now Donner Hill, where the Mormons, who themselves followed the trail blazed by the Donners a year later, built a memorial to the Donners.

 

 

 

After a few photo ops with Donner beside his eponymous hill, we would be proceeding southwest to what is not Grantsville, just below Salt Lake City

 

After a leisurely drive down Donner Place in Grantsville, and perhaps a brief stop off the small Donner museum there, we would pay a visit to the grave of Luke Hollaran, the next person to succumb on the trip after James Reed’s wife’s mother Sarah Keyes, who died back at Alcove Springs along the Blue River in what is now Kansas. Luke, who had hoped the West would cure him, not kill him, died of what was then called consumption. He was a successful young entrepreneurial Irishman who owned a small store in St. Louis. Despite owning six lots in town, he decided to give up his comforts to search for better health. He hoped that the western climate might cure his consumption (now known as tuberculosis). Little is known about the early part of his journey, but at the Parting of the Ways back near Fort Bridger, he was abandoned by the family with which he was traveling. Alone and in poor health,  he sought refuge with George and Tamzene Donner, who displayed a characteristic kindness and took him in. Too weak to walk, Halloran rode in a wagon, though even such luxury could not stop the ravages of his disease. He traveled with the Donners for more than a month, but died just after they came down out of the Wasatch and was buried in the salty soil of Utah. having rescued him from abandonment once, perhaps the Donners did not want to leave Halloran alone in the wilderness again. They dug his grave next to that of an earlier emigrant who had also succumbed to the rigors of the great journey west. Reportedly, Halloran was buried beside a John Hargrave, who was traveling with a party in advance of the Donners, who does from pneumonia. The exact location of the two graves is not known, but a memorial has been set to commemorate the two deaths as the first emigrants buried in Utah soil.

 

 

We would then be getting onto I-80 in 85 degree sunny weather for our 80-mile journey across the arduous Great Salt Flats desert, which posed the second greatest challenge so far to the Donner Party after the Wasatch mountains, and then 35 miles on to Pilot Peak in what is now Nevada. While the Donner’s had no interest in climbing Pilot Peak (nor would the DC Donner), they and their beasts of burden welcomed the nearby springs so much that today it is known as Donner Springs.  In fact, some of the oxen who smelled the springs miles away broke loose to get to it and were never recovered.  James Reed abandoned his double decker Pioneer Palace wagon somewhere in the desert, something I would never have done with the Defender. Here’s a summary I found of what the Donner’s encountered in that desert: “Exhausted, they started out on the 80-mile trek across the Salt Flats. It was hot. It was dry. It was sticky. Many of the wagons became stuck in the salt-crusted mud and had to be left behind.  Many oxen pulling the wagons died, and so did many cows.”  It took  the Donner’s five days to cross to the desert to Pilot Peak. We probably would be making it in two hours, unless the Defender decided to give up en route.

 

After a brief repose at Donner Springs, we would be heading west 80 miles to Angel Creek Camp in the northern section of the Ruby Mountains near Wells NV. I doubt if the Donner’s headed that far north, but with no roads on a more southernly route, we would not dare venture through the desert, especially using our Garmin as a guide (go read the book, “Death By GPS” to learn why).

 

The total distance for us today would be about 260 miles, within my distance goals.  My guess is that we would be trying to stay on schedule instead of bivouacking somewhere, not only  to get out of that desert as fast as we could but because not only are camps almost non-existent on this route, so also is life of any kind.

 

Tonight, we would be settling in for a good night’s sleep in Angel Creek Camp --- with comfortable temperatures in the low 40s---,snuggly situated in the spectacular Ruby Mountains, not far from where Donner and I stayed back in 2018.  This probably would have been our camp for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

Today would have been day 10 on the road

Today would have been day 10 on the road.  We would have broken camp at Louis Lake National Forest WY, where the temperature would have been a comfortable 46 degrees last night, heading for 74 today with lots of sun. and, after passing through the Rockies at South Pass,  we would be passing through Farson WY, where the Donner Party et al. spent the night. And then, after encountering the Little Sandy River, we would be  moving on to Fort Bridger, on the banks of the Black’s Fork of the Green River, where the proprietor, Jim Bridger, and his sidekick Lois Vasquez, selfishly chose not to dissuade the Donner Party and the 20 wagons in their entourage  from heading west over the infamous Lansford Hastings Cutoff through the formidable Wasatch Mounts and  on to  the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, instead of heading north on the usual Oregon- California Trail. (Bad decision, George, bad decision. You needed me on that trip to set you straight.) Tonight, we would be heading for Echo State Park on the egde of the Wasatch Mountains tonight, for an easy drive of 209 miles today,  Yeah, easy for us, but not for the Donner Party, althugh compatred to what starts "tomorrow": for the Donner Party, when they begin to run into trouble, I mean, like real bad trouble, their their journey of almost 1000 miles to this point  was a cakewalk.

Incidentally, the Donners expected to be greeted at Fort Bridger by Hastings, who was to lead them through his Hastings Cutoff, only to find instructions left by Hastings who had left a week earlier with another team of emigrants heading for California. With guides like that, who needs a GPS?

 

As for the DC Donner Party, we spent the morning sitting by banks of the Potomac River where we expected to be greeted ---or maybe seen---  by no one, except perhaps by a masked Nancy Pelosi, who from time to time speed-walks past us at our favorite park bench there, surrounded by her own entourage of security personnel.  Donner (my Donner, that is), I am sure enjoyed his outing today more than he would have the would-be outing today in WY. His spirit is heading up, as he begins to realize that he has entered a new life-style.  While it breaks my heart to see him eliminate routines he loved to do before, he demonstrates well that at some point, we all must accept the inevitably of the cycle of life, make the best of it, and move on.

 

 

Dinner for Donner at Angola’s

His usual seat was taken, so we sat at a sidewalk table where he had a better view of oncoming dogs, and dog lovers as well.

He will, of course, will get some salmon

The Donner Party should have had it so good.

Did you know that on all my road trips, probably 450 days in total, I only left my dogs twice to eat in a restaurant? Of course, most of the time there was no restaurant —- or humans, for that matter—-for miles.

Donner swimming today

As Donner gets used to his situaiton, his spirit improves.  Today, his spirit was getting back to normal.  He is walking better, not beause his problem is going away, but because he is learning how to walk on his rear right leg better.  I took him swimming and he was his same old self.  After I send this off, we will go to his favorite restaiurant, Angelos in Georgetown, where he is treated like a king, which he is. 

The first two ules of managing a lame or paralyzed dog are: (1) keep his spirt up, and (2) to do that, do everything he did before. Some may recall  my challenge when Sonntag became paralyzed, how to take him cross-country skiiing again with me.  The solution is shown  in the photo below Donner swimming. I still have those skis, and they even have “Sonntag” emblazoned on them, as if there was a large theft problem with skis for dogs.

 

 

 

In search of a solution

After every trip, or part thereof, I try to figure out how to make life easier on the road with the Defender. Below is the possible solution to the task of transporting Donner’s wheelchair and stroller.

 

When Donner’s wheelchair arrives, I will transport it as I did Leben’s, lashed to my ladder in the left rear (see photo --- yes, that’s Denali)), with the wheels securely lashed to avoid what happened when I crossed from the Yukon into Alaska in 2013.  The ladder that I use to get access to the roof rack front, which I now transport lashed to the rear ladder, I will lash to the front of the roof rack.  But what about his stroller?

 

 

Donner’s stroller (see below, although he has a new red one on order) comes apart in five pieces. The cab folds up and fits nicely in the roof rack; the handlebar fits nicely in back of my seat; the front wheel and fitting fits nicely in the trash can in the rear; but the wheels have to be lashed to the grille over each of the side rear windows, and are a pain to get to and take up valuable space in the rear.

 

So, in search of a solution to transporting the wheels for quick access, here is what I came up with. I don’t have the dimensions of the bag yet but if the Defender tire (see below) is like mine (30”), the opening of the bag I calculated as 23.4”.  The strollers tires are 19”.   Lashed together they are 20.5 inches and 9” deep.  Each tire would be strapped to a side strap and the center strap.   As for the depth, lashed together they are 9” deep.  The tire is 9” wide and if the width of the canvass hood (se right photo) on the tire is the same width as the depth of the bag, or even slightly less, the two tires lash together would fit in the bag, especially since the canvass bag probable stretches in the center, where the largest depth of the two tires would fit.

 

So, it looks like I may have a solution to carrying the tires to Donner’s stroller instead of tying them down to the grille on the windows.

 

There is a solution to every problem worth solving, and this one is.

 

I email the UK for the dimensions. If the width is less than 21 inches or depth less than 9, it’s back to the drawing board.

 

 

 

Today's warm welcome goes out to Alex from Denver

As I strolled (I mean, Donner strolled, I pushed) with Donner on the Waterfront tonight after our evening pupuccinos, Cappupuccino  for me and Puppupuccino for Donner, we were stopped in our tracks by the delightful Alex from Denver, in town for a photography tour with her friends, who simply had to get a photo of Donner in his RV. As usually happens when we meet dog and nature lovers, one story led to another, led to another, and led to still another.  Despite the “Solitudiem” on our patch, this is one of the very reasons I take our road trips, to meet like-minded people all over this vast, beautiful  North American continent, from DC to Northwest River in Labrador, to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, Deadhorse on the Arctic Ocean in Alaska, to Death Valley, Denali, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, the deserts of California, Nevada and Utah,  on the Colorado, Mississippi and Yukon rivers, and all the wonderful camps snd bivouacs in between those boundaries of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans.  I think I covered all of those great places and more in my sermon with Alex and her charming friends.  If I cannot take a road trip this year like I am wont to do, sharing the memories of those trips is just as good as far as I am concerned.  Alex and her friends were each rewarded a coveted On-The-Road.camp patch for their enthusiastic reception to our stories.

 

Donner

I took Donner to his primary vet today. He thinks he has a cruciate ligament tear. If that is the case, it is on top of his neuro issues, for which there is nothing that can be done. But I will take him to his orthopedic vet next week to get an assessment. If it is an ACL tear, I will probably go ahead with the surgery. In the meantime, his spirit is still pretty low, but he is adjusting to his new situation as he returns to his old routine. Fortunately, it has only been seven years since I last had to manage a paralyzed dog, Leben, so the routine for me is still fresh in my mind. The top task in managing a paralyzed or otherwise non-walking the dog, is to keep his spirit up, and the best way to do that is for him to do everything he did before

Photo is of Donner outside in his office at Starbucks on the waterfront.

Donner Party Trail

I decided to set up a separate blog for the Planned OTR-11 for the benefit of others who wish to take it. After all, I invested many hours researching the route and so someone else should get the benefit of it. I may not get to it every day as I had hoped because of the time it takes to manage Donner, but I will get to it when I can.  Had a site like this been available to me, I could have save many hours. You can reach it from the link on the right side-bar or here: Donner Party Trail

FW: Day 6, DC

 

Well, after going in and out of rain and no rain a least 20 times, we made it back to DC by 6:00 p.m. last night  During the drive home, an incident, which I report below,  occurred that convinced me I made the right decision, not that I was questioning it anyway.

 

We stopped by Donner’s swimming pool on the way to see how he perked up within a couple of hundred feet of it. He has a session tomorrow (Thursday). I am hopeful that will bring him some relief and enjoyment. It certainly will rebuild his spirit and give him some needed exercise. I bet over the last week he hasn’t walked more than 250 feet.

 

Unloading the Defender was the fastest and easiest of the 11 returns-home. In fact, this OTR was headed for the best prepared and best outfitted of all eleven. Experience does pay, I guess. In fact, I rarely referred to my To-Take list in preparing, except at the end as a final check, it was so permanently impressed upon my mind.

 

In a day or so I will start my simulation of what the journey would have been, for the benefit of those who wish to make the journey themselves, and for my own benefit when we resume the journey, which we will at some point.  We turned around only a day’s drive (two weeks in Donner-Party time-distance) from where the Donner Party started its journey in Springfield IL. Ironically, we were in Springfield OH.

 

About that incident, it was in a sense rather ironic. Recall that I wrote on the second day that I had made three mistakes, something that usually happens during the shake-down of the trip, the first five days, as I suddenly change all ---and I mean all--- of my daily living chores.

 

The first mistake was sitting on the kitchen container to eat breakfast. Bad idea. The container sat on a slight slope and no sooner had I sat on it facing side-slope when it toppled over, taking me to the ground with it. It could have been serious, but wasn’t.  I should add to my Rules of the Road a new rule “Always sit on anything facing downslope: as a corollary to Rule #1, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

 

The second mistake was when I loaded Donner into his front seat bed before I got on the road. As I walked to his side of the Defender to load up to roof rack, he leaned against to door and the door opened and he slipped out. Apparently, when I had opened that door earlier I had intended to return to do something and closed the door but did not shut the door securely. Fortunately,  I was there to lessen his fall to the ground. My hope is that I would have caught it during the final check before I pulled out later because locking that door is on my check list.  But this is not the first time I made that mistake. Back in 2013, after I took then-paralyzed Leben out of the front seat for a walk from the Defender, I closed the door but did not secure it. I returned him to the Defender by way of the back door and forgot the check the passenger door. As I drove on, Erde jumped into the front seat and started to make herself comfortable as she was inclined to do. As she did, she leaned against the door and fell out into the street (I was going slowly at that point). A bus passing on my right swerved to miss her. She was not hurt, but I thought I learned my lesson. I guess not..  The Defenders do not have any “door open” warnings.

 

The third mistake I already briefly refereed to.  I always take on my trip a pair of boots and a pair of smaller nylon shoes to wear around camp. This year I meant to take my black Garmont boots instead of my black Under Armor boots, but since they look and feel alike,  I mistakenly took the latter. The problem is that they are slightly larger and sometimes get in the way of the pedals on the Defender, and they make it difficult to put two feet on the same rung of the ladder as I climb to the roof rack. So, after one night on the road, safety being on the top of my list, I said it was time to pull out the smaller shoes from the bag on the roof rack. After I pulled them from the bag, I tossed them to the ground, as I usually do when getting something from the roof rack. After I got down the ladder, I probably got distracted by some other of the multitudinous chores involved with breaking camp. When I was ready to get on the road, I did my final check around the camp and the Defender, looking under it, on top of it, and its sides dies to make sure everything was in order (that’s when I would have caught the open door). But the shoes were in a tan bag about seven feet from the Defender in not in my line of vision, so I drove off without them, the first time I let anything behind on of my trips (the second time, really, which I will explain at some future time). Fortunately, as I wrote, I stopped by that camp four days later and found the shoes, abet somewhat wet, exactly where I had tossed them. Now comes he ironic part. I did not put the wet shoes on then,, but about 50 miles up the road, when  I took a break for Donner, after moving him to a nearby grassy area, I got the smaller shoes out and put them on as I sat next to Donner.  Break over, I returned Donner to the Defender and then got busy with the usual chores of loading up and checking around the Defender, but did not check everywhere I had been. . Everything secure, I got on the road. Then, about another 50 mils up the road, the thought suddenly hit me that I did not recall loading the books anywhere in the Defender. When I stopped for gas, sure enough, no boots. I had forgotten to load them. The good news is this. I have a new pair of the same boots at home, but I did not like them anyway, and so I am glad to see them go. The bad news is that this was another mistake that I should not have made, and confirmed my decision to return home (I am too distracted. Usually mistakes end about five days into the trop and I should have been passed that phase. I guess there is a silver lining in everything.

 

Ed and Donner from home.

 

 

Donner at home

Day 6, what Donner likes best

A little vanilla ice cream break could not come sooner

Day 6, rest stop on 70 in either Maryland, west Virginia or Pennsylvania.

Stopped at a rest stop on 70 to walk Donner. Also scheduled a swimming session for him tomorrow and an appointment with his orthopedic vet. Will order wheelchair when i get home.

I will also simulate day by day the Donner Party trip we will eventually take when i get back so others can benefit from my research, and mistake. Biggest mistake i made was leaving on day 1, but i gained valuable experience these last six days. Second mistake was not going through some trial local trips, as i had hoped, but i gained more experience this way.

I accidentally left a pair of my camp shoes (smaller than my boots) at site B33 at Chestnut Ridge last Saturday. First time over 11 trips i ever left anything behind. I stopped by the site after leaving Cooper's Rock this morning and they were still there. My record is still 100 percent.

Good decision to leave Salt Fork yesterday. It's raining there today. After a pleasant rain all night at Coopers Rock that gave me 12 hours of solid sleep despite the rocky bed we were on, the rain stopped and the sun is now out.

It looks like we will be home at 415.

Interestingly enough, i have no regrets, not even disappointment, over the trip interruption. Perhaps my legs or balance are not what they were two years ago, but my judgment is better, and it was pretty good before.

Ed and Donner from the road.

Fay 5, Coopers Rock State Park West Virginia

OTR Eleven may have been interrupted, but it has ended. It will continue in some form as soon as I deal with Donner"s situation and get it under control, and I will take that trip along the Donner party trail at some point. The silver lining in this is that it will Force me to assess the situation with how I take these trips. The trips have always been difficult, long days of driving and the work to set up camp and break camp. But it seems that this year trip the difficulties were compounded by almost a year and a half of relative inactivity compared to what I had been used to doing for my entire adult life.

We are camped for the evening at Coopers Rock State Park in West Virginia, where we started both OTR nine and 10. We will stay here for one night and move on home tomorrow.

Today was not a particularly good day. It rained in the morning and although nothing got wet in breaking except the tent, it was still a bear of a time breaking camp. And then leaving camp my GPS took me on some circuitous back country route over 20 miles of deserted dirt and one-lame roads to get to the exit for the Salt Fork State Park. It was quite an adventure.

Donner is rapidly learning how to accommodate his disability. and his spirit has somewhat picked up. I am glad I did not decide to continue with the trip for another day or so because looking at where he is today I might have continued with the trip, which would not have been good.

Day 4,$alt fork State Park, ohio

Donner sacked out in the tent. Hot in here . The queen sized air mattress did not work for Donner so i deflated it. But he is pretty comfortable with his other mattress.

As those who study maps figured out, we made a u turn today. Although i thought for hours about this, it was an easy decision. I am not exactly one for quitting, but this isn 't quitting, it's doing the right thing. So, we are on the Donner party trail after all, i.e. the one on the right of the blog photo. The Donners should have been so wise. We will head bacl home in a few days, when i will order Donner's wheelchair, take him swimming, check in with his vet, and let him met some dogs. He is meeting few on this trip. In the meantime, he is adjust to his situation, but i have to work hard to keep his spirit up.

As for me, i am getting used to the routine. I am working through the break-in period and find the evening's routine easier, but still equivalent to an intense twi hour workout at the gym. The problem is that these tasks i go through require muscles we don't use at home, unless you have a Defender parked in your living room and have to set up your entire house every night.

My guess is that after we return home we will alternate between some local camping and taking Donner swimming. If there is one thing he enjoys more than anything, it's his swimming. And my original plan this year was to stay local, until the Donner party trail popped into my head. Besides, the two of us have already driven the Donner Party Trail without knowing it, so we are missing nothing. But it sure was fun researching the whole story. I think i should write up a guide for traveling the trail by car since there is nothing out there about that, at least that is accurate.

Our plan is to stay here two days and move on. But since it is supposed to rain here on Wednesday, i may try to stay an extra day. Incidentally, there are about 150 sites in this camp, but only three tenters. The Softening of America.

Ed and Donner

Day 4, dinner for Donner at salt fork State Park

Day 4, salt fork State Park

Arrived at salt Fork State Park a couple of hours ago. Difficult to set up a tent on the concrete slab that they provided instead of sand or grass. I am using the queen size air mattress to compensate for the lack of soft ground. I hope Donner can navigate over it.

All my batteries are running low. For some reason, the super chargers Are not charging during the drive. Need to figure out the problem.

I kind of like the idea of staying at a camp for two days and driving only 150 miles a day. That's what I had anticipated as the trip for this year anyway.

We will stay here for two nights and move on somewhere.


More later

Ed and Doner from salt Fork State Park

Day 4 Monday leaving Buck Creek State Park

11:am

Finally, a good night's sleep. No generators last night. In fact, only 5 campers in this area. I like this new site, so I glad I moved anyway. Site 104.

Light drizzle this morning. I can handle that.

Getting ready to pull out. I will go where the Defender takes me.

Day 3, Buck Creek State Park Ohio

As I wrote, I decided to stay an extra day at Buck Creek to get some sleep, so I didn't have to decide which direction to head when we leave here. What a pleasant camp this is. Since it is only a 2 Days drive from Washington DC, I am sure I will be back. I also scouted out a number of state parks along the way so when I return I don't have to make 250 miles each day.

One thing for sure that I am learning on this trip, however truncated it turns out to be, is why I take them. There is no better way to purge one's mind then getting on the road as I do it. And when I reach a point where I cannot do it the way that I have been doing it for the last 20 years, I will figure out someway to do it. I think now I understand why some people travel in RVs… They simply can't do it the way that I do it.

As readers of this blog will see for themselves, most of my postings are on the day's activities and incidents. There simply isn't time to delve into the profound happenings and interpretations of what All this means. One person who understood that better than anyone was my late friend Jake Stein who would constantly probe my sub-conscience for answers to that question.

Tomorrow morning I will decide where to head, east, west, or stay put. Unless I give proper thought to that question, the decision will be very difficult. But if I put in the right time and effort thanking about this, it will be an easy decision.

By the way, I am dictating all of these postings. Unfortunately, either I don't have time to proof them, or I miss some of the mistakes that spellcheck made. I'm sure you can probably figure out what I was trying to say.



Ed and Donner , from the road.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 3, off to swimming

I drove to the lake and when I realized it was too far of a walk to the beach, I returned to the camp and retrieved his stroller. It fits nicely in the rear of the Defender. I did not know that.

He did not take to the water like he did at the pool, but he did go in to retrieve a tennis ball about a half dozen times. He had a chance to exercise his legs, which was good.

Day 3, dinner for Donner

Just got back from taking Donner swimming. When I barked, let's go swimming, he perked right up. If he has a number one treat, that is it.

Now dinner. He gets 3/4 of my can of salmon.

Notice how I block the tent entrance to prevent him from seeking refuge. Once he is in, I cannot get him out.

He is adjusting to his disability. As I was talking with a neighbor, he got up and started to walk around. I knew it was just a matter of a few days. He is a pretty stoic dog, as are all German shepherds.

Day 3 Buck creek State Park camo to buck creek State Park camp

Well, as it turns out, i don't have to decide which way to go today, east or west. The decision was made for me. You see, yesterday, on the drive to Buck Creek, the 246 mile drive here was very tiring, compounded by the less-interesting scenery, sun on the concrete highway. I vowed to get a good night's sleep before i made a decision on the future of this trip and, certainly, move on. As it turns out, i did not get a good night,'s sleep. In fact, of the now-11 road trips i have take, probably 452 nights, this was the worst. You see, despite the no-generstors-after-ten rule in ohio camps, one, perhaps several, of the nearby RVs had their generators going, several until 1:48 am, and one all night. I tried ear plugs, but they did little. I tried some wine from my wine cellar, but that did,t help. So i tried an ambien, and that worked for three hours. So, instead of moving on 250 miles today either east or west, i will drag my tent over to the site 100 feet away with the hope that that deafens the generator noise.

For the life of me, i will never understand why some people even bother to lug all their stuff to a camp when if it's all the comforts of home they want, the best place to get that is, well, at home.

Donner, in the meantime, is learning how to cope with his new disability. Since i have already managed Sonntag and Leben in their wheelchairs over 28,000 miles of camping, i can manage him for the rest of this trip. In fact, it would be easy to manage him on the road than at home. But that is not the critical decision factor. The most important thing is what is best for him.

Ed and Donner,

Day 2

Donner in the tent after his evening stroll through the camp. I finally figured out the success to get him to head for his mattress, and not mine.

Day 2, Buck Creek Park near Springfield Ohio

Our pleasant settlement for this evening and may be an extra day or two, at Buck Creek Park near Springfield Ohio, site 115. After a hard drive today through absolutely boring territory, I decided that both Donna and I need to rest. And once I found out that there is a leak just down The road, with a cement entry bed, I decided to take Donner swimming tomorrow.

His condition is no better, and I do not expect any improvement, but he is getting used to his situation and learning how to abide. He was a lot more alert in the defender today setting up a good deal of the time.

These are the stretches of Highway in North America that I hate the most. Long stretches of cement with only gas stations and convenience stores at the intersections.What I miss are driving through the small little towns and stopping off at the coffee shops and bakeries and general stores. Perhaps on my way home, whenever that is, I will do that.

I said a Donner's stroller Tonight and will take him for a stroll right after I send this off. This way he'll feel like home. He does seem to enjoy himself sitting on his cot outside the tent looking around at all the new surroundings. If he did not seem to enjoy that, we would be on our way home already.

Day 2 3rd mistake

Just made my third mistake in less than 24 hours. This concerns me. Details to follow

Sent from my iPhone

Day2, heading to Buck Creek

Day 2, Morning

No sooner had I left the tent this morning when Donner immediately expropriated my mattress and sleeping bag.

The new arrangement with his mattress did not work out well last night. The constant sound of his trying to shift position by scraping His front paws on the nylon fabric of the mattress kept me up half the night.

Donner is able to stand up and walk out of the tent on his own, which I thought would be problematic for him. But how long that will last I do not know. I am simply amazed at how quickly his situation deteriorated this past week. But like all German Shepherd 's, he is pretty stoic and doesn't complain. He seems to accept his situation as it is, doesn't blame it on anyone, doesn't look for help from anyone, and moves on. There's a lesson there for all of us.

Ed and Donner

Day 1 , Chestnut Ridge camp, West Virginia

Nothing terribly exciting to report today. But I did discover something that I should have done, but didn't. Before I leave each time, I am supposed to check out anything that was new or newly organized, to make sure it works. I did Go through the routine for everything but one item. Several years ago, when I remarked to the manager of the north face store in Washington that One of the pole sleeves on my v25 tent Had gotten torn From six years of heavy use. He said, no problem, just bring in one piece of the tent, and we will give you a new one, which he did. I welcomed the exchange because I had been asking to purchase an extra set of tent poles, but they did not have them to sell. So, after this exchange, I had myself an extra pair of tent poles. The problem with my original tent poles was that overt time, with heavy use, they begin to get bent, with the end result that the tent it's not exactly Symmetrical. So, for this trip, I packed the new bag of poles. Unfortunately, I never check ed them out before I left. As it turns out, two of the four poles are for the V 25 tent, but the other two are for a smaller tent.I did find that putting up the tent was a lot easier because I didn't have to struggle to get the ends of the tent poles in the grommets, but the end result is that two sides of the tent sag inward. The good news is that I brought along the old poles so I will probably take the two best ones from that group and use them instead of the two smaller poles North Face gave me. I guess I can't complain because I got a $900 tent for free.

Even On The Road, if it's not one thing, it's another. Nevertheless, despite the difficulty in camp tonight, I will admit that it's good to be back on the road. But for how long, only time will tell.

Ed and Donner, from the road