Sisters, OR – the sister city of Bend, OR – so nice, we visited twice!
Leaving Waldo Lake, we spent the morning at Hosmer lake in the Deschutes National Forest. If you’re headed to the lake there’s a a nearby campground that looked nice. Doug and his daughter, Kellen, spent the morning on the lake.
Visit 1:
Kellen and Corey hosted us in their campground-like driveway for 3 days. – July 1st through 3rd. Kellen and Doug scouted some boondocking locations via bike on day 1 and on day 2, Corey and Kellen took us out on nearby forest roads to scout some additional possible locations. Kellen surprised us by packing a picnic lunch that we ate near a stream with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. This was also the first time that Corey had seen the RV and he reviewed it with his keen mechanics eye and had some good insights – most notably that the rear suspension seemed to be just barely up to the task handling of our “loaded to max weight” configuration. With some quick internet research he found a solution in a product from Firestone – Ride-Rite Air Springs; an add-on for the rear suspension leaf springs that provide a little extra help with heavy loads. Doug (perhaps a bit impulsively according to some….) put them on order with a one week delivery time – thus triggering the 2nd return visit and the “Oregon Vortex” discussed in the next post.
Another highlight for Doug during our first stay in Sisters was a (very) early morning adventure with Kellen in search of a clear viewing of the Neowise comet which happened to be making a timely appearance in the early dawn sky while we were there. Kellen and Doug drove up to the Dee Wright Observatory (a volcanic rock viewpoint/structure about a 30 minute drive to the east on Old McKensie Highway) at 3:30am. It was a spectacularly clear and calm morning and they were treated to a great view of the comet as well as a great sunrise.
Corey’s parents arrived from Eugene to spend his birthday with him so it was great to catch up with them before we left on the afternoon of July 4th. We managed to snag our top boondocking spot and avoided all fireworks which I know Bailey appreciated.
Social distancing – Kathy, Doug, Kellen, Kevin and Corey
4th of July Boondocking
