ABOUT US

QUARTSITE 2023 RALLY

Hi folks! Guess where we are, in the middle of the winter?

We are at the 2023 Winnebago View Navion Rally, held in Quartzite, Arizona. The weather has been perfect 58 degree days and 35 degree nights; not too bad since when we left home it was 33 degree days and 15 degree nights and snowing. It truly feels wonderful!

The rally consists of hundreds of people getting together in the middle of the Arizona desert to meet and greet, camp together, and just have a good time sharing stories about their rigs. There is an agenda, so it’s very organized, and lots to do, see and learn. Example: first day starts out at 9AM with a BIKE RIDE, 10 AM is a hike to Q mountain or watercolor Sketch with Amy, and then hospitality get together at 5PM. We visited the big white tent on opening day of the RV show, which proved one time is good enough for us but everyday truly is full of fun get-togethers and seminars. Almost too many things to do!

Yesterday we joined the watercolor class (super fun!), today is solar seminars, and tomorrow a pancake breakfast. So far there are over 145 Views parked every which way, with all being unique colors, styles and designs. It’s quite overwhelming with lots to do, super friendly people, and technical information from the attendees at the Rally. We even got to meet the YouTube famous Grammpa Ron at several of his seminars, great fun indeed!

We met the most amazing people who are very friendly and helpful if you had a problem of any kind. We camped between two especially nice couples and quickly became friends. A big shout out to Marshall and Mel and Everett and Diana, which lots of fireside memories were created.

So see ya all next year and many thanks!

Jeff and Liz

Working on Solar
Pancake Breakfast
The Navion Rally
Many Views
Art Class
Gramma Ron
Camping Area

The San Rafael Swell Utah – BLM camping

Its April 1, 2022 and we are fully loaded, probably overloaded if you know us headed to our first BLM experience at the Swell. We have given ourselves two days to reach the Swell. Stopping at a truck stop in Winnemucca, Nevada for our fist night and our second night at Rowley’s Red Barn in Santaquin, UT. This was a Harvest Host location and a lot of fun with great ice cream. We woke up early to snow capped mountain views and hurriedly headed to The Bonneville Salt Flats. First impressions, Flat, Vast and super white. Encompassing approx. 40 square miles and 7 miles long, you can drive on the flats as far as you can see. Very unique, you got to visit just once.

The drive from Nevada into Utah is definitely a high dessert experience, rolling hills, sage brush and sand dunes, surrounded by snow topped glacier carved mountains. Its mile after mile of sand and sage yet with this said there is a peaceful beauty. We headed down route 10 to Castle Dale and headed East into the San Rafael Swell. We stayed in a BLM campground named N. Swinging bridge. Amenities were a actual clean pit toilet that didn’t smell and cleaned daily , a picnic table and a fire ring. NO water is available in the whole area and we were twenty eight miles from a paved road. At $3.50 a night not bad, we were very prepared for this and only one other camper in the campground, very peaceful.

The next 2 days we spent exploring petroglyph’s and pictograph’s, hiking through slot canyons and even a dinosaur foot print. The views and the rock formations were incredible. the roads are ruff, wash boarded and dusty. We especially loved the Little Grand Canyon view point.

Next Stop Arches National park

Cheers for Jeff and Liz

PS: Not everything is perfect on the road. We had to buy a new battery for our Honda CRV that we tow, but luckily we were in Santaquin and not in the middle of Swell. Otherwise all systems are working great.

Winnebago Navion – Our new Adventure

Hey friends, we have changed gears and shifted in a new direction. For those who don’t know us we are Jeff and Liz and to our loyal followers welcome back. We are excited to share our new adventure with you all. After much discussion, many pots of tea and crunching numbers we decided to put our 25P Artic Fox up for sale. After many miles, many great memories and RV Adventures we found just the right buyer to continue the Artic Fox’s Journey. Now your wondering what the heck did we do!!! WE purchased a 2018 Winnebago Navion, 24 D on a Mercedes Chassis. Jeff had been shopping and crunching numbers searching all over the USA for just the right fit and price. We found our dream Winnebago, no not in Oregon or even a couple of States away, but in Florida. We have never been to Florida and didn’t really realize at the time how gosh darn far Florida is. But being crazy adventurers that we are, we packed our Honda, notified our family of our crazy idea and set forth to Florida. We decided if we were going to drive that far to pick up our RV we would make a grand trip out of it. It all turned out quite wonderfully as we got to spend a night with our cousin Denny in Arizona, our Son in Law, daughter and grand kids in Ft Worth, Texas and finally arriving in Florida.

My first reaction at seeing our new NAV in person was oh my its really Bougie. We were both so pleased that our purchase was everything we hoped and in perfect condition. Now our first NAV adventure begins. We decided to work our way down the coast to Pensacola Florida and stayed our first night at the Elks Lodge to work out how the heck all of these fancy new buttons and switches work. That took two days, I told you its fancy. We used our Honda to day trip in Florida , visiting The Blue Spring State Park, famous for viewing over 300 manatees, spectacular and explored the Gulf Gulf Islands National Seashore, National Park. From Florida we headed to Goose Island State Park in Texas spending several days exploring the Aransas National Wildlife Area. We were on a little bit of a time line as we wanted to make it to Ft Worth Texas for our Grandsons golf tournament and of course Christmas with our family.

Heading for home in our new RV, we left Ft Worth a day before New years Day as a storm system was heading our way. We spent our first night in Davis State Park, getting to view our first wild javelina’s. I’ll give you a list of of our journey to home, instead of going into such detail for each stop.

Rock Hound St Park, New Mexico – Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, Arizona – Joshua Tree, California – Our daughters in Waterford, California – Lake McClure, California – Chacewater Winery, California – Brookings (Elks) Oregon – Florence (Elks) – Oregon – Tillamook Blue Heron French Cheese Factory, Oregon and finally home!!!

We soon became very familiar with our new NAV and I had to say I personally love to drive it. I am only 5 feet tall and to find a vehicle to fit me with comfort and safety is very important. Its loaded with amenities making our lives easier. Our next adventure is a shack down trip to Camp Sherman for a few days, but right now its snowing so as soon as it gets a little warmer than 20 degrees we will head out. Then comes the next big trip, I am so excited, we are headed to the big 5!!! Please stay turned as its going to be exciting.

Cheers – Jeff and Liz

PANDEMIC 2020

Forty Three days we have stayed home, stayed away from friends and family and survived. Jeff and I have as everyone should, taken this pandemic very seriously, besides our children would kill us if we got sick. So what have we been doing, you ask?

Painting, finishing projects that have been on hold for years, cribbage, puzzles, Planting a garden, going on lots of walks and cooking. I am very lucky in the fact I have Jeff as he is a lot of company and loves projects. So needless to say we have not been bored. Jeff took over the sewing machine as we made mask for us and family members.

In our neighborhood of over 300 + homes we hardly ever see many people or children. Wow ! there are sure a lot of people now, joggers, bikers, dog walkers ,children riding on anything with wheels. The yards have never looked so good as people seem to have a lot of extra time on there hands. We have had groceries delivered and picked them up at Fred Meyer as they are not charging seniors for grocery pick up. We have twice phone ordered a pizza from Little Pizza Paradise , our fav to help support the owner in these times. We are doing a lot of reading and research into plant based diets as we are moving in that direction with are diets. We have new heroes in Dr Greger. Dr William LI, Dr Campbell, Dr Dean Ornish, Dr Esselftyn and the folks at Forks over Knives. We are spending a lot of time in the kitchen trying to learn new cooking methods with our lifestyle. Jeffs brother Richard has had heart surgery and is learning a lot of the same methods. We are Dehrating more than ever, getting ready for when we can hit the road with our trailer again. We have whole meals dehydrated and lots of greens, herbs, lemons, limes and fruit in general. WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT BORED.

As we are entering into May with no set script for everyday life we are continuing are careful measures and cautions. We hope that you are all safe and well out there. We are lucky to live in a smaller population center of Central Oregon which hasn’t been hit as hard as some areas. Please stay SAFE AND WELL. CHEERS FROM JUST AROUND THE BEND.

RV Travel Adventures

Welcome to Just Around The Bend our travel  blog. As we go about our adventures we are hoping to see and experience some wonderful places and meet a lot of interesting people. One of our challenges on the road and living in our little caravan is to stay fit and eat healthy. One would hope that the time factor is on our side and we can be creative in our cuisine keeping it healthy and tasty. Another fun goal is to visit every National Park on our journey in our 24 foot Navion Sprinter. see ya on the road!

We are Jeff and Liz from Bend Oregon. Five years ago we retired and have been traveling and exploring the United States and Canada in our 2018 Winnebago Navion. Our goal is to visit all of the National Parks and State Parks and National Monuments and any and all points of interests.  Our RV is a 4 season ready and so are we. In the past five years we have traveled extensively through the Pacific Northwest into British Columbia and spent the last two winters in The Sonoran Desert. We are ready to head out and see the rest of the country and lots more of Canada. We will keep you posted on upgrades to our RV and life on the road. Happy Trails from JUST AROUND THE BEND.

Happy Trails,  Jeff and Liz   ♥