Early in the morning on our last day on the road. We're in Valley of the Rogue State Park. Looks like we'll have a nice drive home, only about 165 miles to go. These last few posts will end the Winter Blog. Thanks for the comments during the last 4 months. Time to move into Spring and a new motorcycle riding season!

Morning in the State Park. Julie was out "smelling the daffodils"

Just got home and unloaded the Helix. The house and lawn look pretty good. There had been a lot of branches in the back from the high winds from a couple months ago. The neighbors went back there an cleaned it all up for us. One of them has mowed the lawn a few times since we've been gone. 4 months, and it looks about like it did when we left.

The town is full of flowering trees! These belong to a neighbor. It was a nice welcome back to Coos Bay, seeing all the Spring color.

I remember a Fall day before my Mom passed away.....she came down to our house and planted about 10 Crocus bulbs. She said they would be pretty in the Spring....she's been gone 13 years now, but every Spring these little beauties pop up. Glad we got home in time to see them again this year.

Some Spring Heather and other plants starting to show signs of color. It will take a while to get the lawn and gardens all back in order after being gone 4 months!

A rest area in a Eucalyptus grove near Dunnigan, CA. there used to be a Truck stop near here called Panty Hose Junction. All the waitresses wore very short skirts.. It was demolished several years ago and a new Pilot truck stop was put in...Ahhh, for the "good ol' days"! It was beautiful here this morning, the blossoms have a very strong sweet odor, and the sun was warm.

Diesel was 4.019 here at the Flying J, the TA was $4.049. I figure that the trip I need to make to deliver the 2 bikes in April from Coos Bay to Iowa, to Texas, and back home will cost me around $1500 JUST in Diesel! This is getting ridicules!

A vendor parked at the Flying J in Corning. Pat bought some fresh grapefruit, oranges, and pecans from them.

A new Calif. DOT weigh station, the valley Redding, CA is in, with Mount Shasta in the background.

From the Fruit and nut orchards to more Oak and Fir trees, more Dairy Farms, and other cattle, and a different sort of agriculture. The red buds are in bloom as well as a lot of blue Lupins and buttercups along the highway. This is getting close to Redding.

Mount Shasta off in the distance. Still has a pretty good covering of snow. When some of you go by here in July, it will look a lot different.

Black Butte. It's a pretty tall peak, but looks small in the shadow of Mount Shasta.

We're in the heart of the "State of Jefferson" here. Interesting story, if you have time, you might want to Google it sometime. It ALMOST became a state!

Some cattle just south of Yreka, CA.

This is the top of the pass over the Siskiyou Mountains, just North of the California-Oregon border. It's the highest elevation on I-5 which runs from Canada to Mexico. Only about 4500 feet, but gets a lot of ice and snow sometimes.

A small farm in the Rogue Valley. We're now in orchard country, also lots of dairy farms and horses. This was taken about 5 miles from Harry and David's, a sort of famous place to buy roses and gift packs of fruits and nuts. I remember 51 years ago when I first got my drivers license, driving my 51 Merc over there from Grants Pass to the little store they had. Was about 40 miles, and the only place in the Valley that had free samples of anything...I haven't changed much But the new huge tourist complex there sure has.

From the time we dropped down into the Valley near Bakersfield, we've had a steady treat of blossoms and flowers of all kinds. The fruit and nut trees are pink and white, and it looks like it will be a huge crop this year....if they don't have a late frost.

Since we're in California, these must be California Poppys. They are in full bloom.

Texas has their Blue Bonnets, but California has tons of beautiful flowers of all kinds along the highways. The Poppies are predominant.

Miles and miles and miles of fruit and nut trees

More California poppys

Wednesday, March 5th, 08. The Helix is loaded. I had a potential buyer down here, but I hate to part with it, so it's going home with us. We've been packing all day, will finish up tomorrow. The Burgman scooter, "Suzy Q" will be staying down there with the Anderson Bros. until I pick it up in April. We really hate to leave this place, it's been a wonderful place to spend the winter.

Peach blossoms are just starting to bust out on this tree on the Kingman property. We'll be home , behind the Gray Curtain, by the time the fruit is ready

Close up of one of the season's first blossoms. Soon this will be a Peach!

Truxton is only one of two places to buy gas between Kingman and Seligman. Since we were making a 130 miles side trip off the main road, I thought I'd better fill up suzy Q.

Must have been tough on all those poor folks traveling Route 66 in the 30's. FOUR bucks a gallon for regular is sort of on the high side.

The two tribes that are in this area visit this tank every Friday night to fill up the jugs with "Fire Water" for the weekend (it's a joke!)

Here is where we turned of State Route 66, onto Indian 18. Two tribes, the Hualipai's and the Havasupai's have reservations here. 65 miles of good pavement. I don't know what the highest elevation is, but it got down to 39 degrees and there was snow on both sided of the road for about 20 miles before we dropped down to the rim of the Grand Canyon West. There are NO services at all, not even a place to buy water, gas or food. The end of the road is a parking lot that has a helocopter pad and a stable for the pack horses that take people down to the Supai Village. If also is full of cars owned by the Tribal members that live down there, and tourists that are visiting. It was a boring ride getting there, but the end of the road was beautiful and very interesting.

This was our first view of the Grand Canyon West end. The Havasupai Tribe of 450 people have a Village 8 miles from here. You can hike, ride small horses, or take a Helicoptor. That's the only transportation to their villiage. It's in the National Park, and now vehicles are allowed in the canyon. There are several good webpages that tells about this little tribe, here's one of them. http://www.havasupaitribe.com

A helicoptor returning to the pad at the Hilltop parikng lot. We saw it land and take off twice during the time we were there sight seeing.

A close up of a pile of rocks above the Hilltop parking lot.

One of the many Indian dogs near the Hilltop parking area..at the end of the road.

There seems to be enough of these tough little horses to have several "trains" on the trail at the same time. It's 8 miles from this staging location to the Supai Village. There were a few large vans parked in this lot that obviously were a stocking place for supplies to head down the Canyon.

Another view of the Canyon.

We spotted this pack train going down into the Canyon. A little 8 mile trip to the Supai Village. The is how they get all their supplies to operate the town of 450. There are always a lot of tourists there too. You can hitch a ride for only $75 bucks. (one way)

The train is moving along pretty fast. It's a LOT steeper than it looks from up here looking down. I have the camera on 10 times zoom here.

Looking down into the canyon.

Carl got pretty chilly on the way up here. He's all thawed out now, and checking out the scenery.

Ed gazes off into the Canyon. It's pretty spectacular!

One of the "passenger ponies" waiting for someone to carry down to the Villiage. It's 8 miles and costs $75 one way by horse.

The helicoptor takes off every few minutes, ferrys people and small cargo to the Supai Villiage 8 miles away. It's amazing how fast they dive down into the Canyon.

We stopped here for gas and food. Found out the restaurant was a mile off the old Highway. We decided to give it a try..FOUND FOOD! It was excellent food and good service! This is the largest business between Seligman and Kingman on Route 66.

The only gas station for miles. It's "unmanned", you have to use a credit card to pump away. Regular was only $3.599 a gallon, not as bad as Truxton where I got gas..............

This was our lunch stop of the day. A good choice! http://www.gccaverns.com/

A few sun bleached trophy's inside the Grand Canyon Caverns restaurant. There were many others, and more interesting stuff on the walls.

We had a very good lunch here. Great service too. We think this place is probably very busy during the summer. There is a nice gift shop and reservation area to make trips to see the Caverns.

Ed having a last smoke as we get ready to head back towards Kingman.

Don't know if this place is still in business, but there were several cars parked around it. It's located in Peach Springs. Reservation town with no gas stations or quick stops. There is one grocery store that looked like it was open.

Some Mainstreet buildings in the Reservation town of Peach Springs.