Camping Trip

Eagle Rock near Prineville, OR

Geese with Babies at Prineville Resevoir

Lizard sunning on rock.

My brother-in-law, Dave rescuing Courtney, 2nd cousin. She was having a hard time getting to shore.

My nephew, Jaime resting against a rock by the lake. He reminded me of Huck Finn.

Dad and Jaime digging a pit for the campfire.

Jaime coming back to shore in the raft.

Dad cleaning catfish.

This is an unusual rock that Uncle Virgil and Aunt Jennie found when they were digging rocks in Central Oregon.

Left to Right: Uncle Virgil, Dave, Dad and Nancy

Left to Right: Courtney and Aunt Jennie

Uncle Andy

Prineville Resevoir

Dad and Mae

Camel Rock

Road into Camping Area

Long stretch of road by Crater Lake

Clearwater Falls

North Umpqua River

Rick at Love's Truck Stop in Roseburg


We got up at 4am Saturday to finish getting everything in the van. We had prepared our bed in the van the night before. Rich took the ice coolers, groceries and the rest of what we thought we might need out to the van. Our little cat, Misty was watching everything closely. We said goodbye to Misty after making sure she had plenty of food and water for a few days. We left the driveway at 5:30am.

We stopped at Love's Truck Stop in Roseburg to top off the tank and get some coffee. I had forgot to get batteries so I picked up some there. Surprised they were cheaper than Bi-Mart. We cut across to Diamond Lake and then we would take Hwy. 97 to Redmond. We stopped and took some photos of North Umpqua River and the Dogwoods. I couldn't get a very good photo of the dogwoods because it was still quite shady. We stopped at Clearwater Falls for a potty break. I walked up and took some photos of the falls. It was nice and cool there that morning. No mosquitoes in sight. The last time we stopped by the mosquitoes were out in full force. I start swelling as soon as one bites me.

As you can see by the one photo it seemed like we would never get to the end of the road. Along side of the road was trees, trees and more trees. We finally came to the junction and turned North on Hwy. 97 toward Bend and Redmond. We had decided to go to Redmond and then turn to Prineville. We was also scouting out the road that heads to Sisters. We are planning on attending the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July. We only saw 1 accident the whole time we was traveling. Outside of Chemult a 18-wheeler and SUV was involved in an accident. The only thing we can figure out by the broken glass and the damage to the SUV.......is that the truck was passing and pulled into too quickly hitting the SUV. Didn't seem to be anyone hurt

We didn't have too much trouble until we went to turn on the road that goes to Prineville. The signs were kinda confusing and I got in the wrong lane. No problem.....I waited until traffic cleared and go over in the right lane. Then we turned to go toward Prineville and it looked as if we were going into a residential area. We stopped and asked a man if we were on the right road to Prineville. He told us that we was and just to keep going and we would drop down into Prineville. I hadn't been to Prineville for over 35 years.....but I did remember you dropped down into a valley.

We drove and drove and finally we could see Prineville down in the valley. Dad had given us instructions on how to find the camping area. They always camp around on the lower end of the lake where it is free. We was to drive through Prineville until we came to a Shell gas station on the left. We was to turn right on that road and follow it until we came to a 3-way stop. We were to go straight and drive until we passed a 16 mile marker. We drove and drove. Rich said that he never knew it to be so far between mile markers. Finally we came to the 16 mile marker. Our next instructions were to turn right when we came to the sharp curve......if we seen 17 mile marker we traveled to far. We turned right at the curve and went across the cattle guard. Then we drove and drove and drove some more down this little rutted road......if you met a car you had to pull off onto a wide spot for them to pass. Anyway after a while we finally spotted Dad and Mae's motorhome. We pulled down into the campsite and parked in front of their motorhome. They were down catfishing when we arrived. Oh, we arrived about 11:45am. We started talking and Dad asked me if my sister, Nancy and her family were coming. I told him that they should be here at any time. They live in Portland. I called Nancy and they was lost.....3rd year in a row for them getting lost. We finally decided that they were only a couple of miles from the campsite. My uncle talked to them and told them how to come on around the lake from the state park to where we was camping.

Finally Nancy, Dave and Jaime arrived. My niece, Emily decided she didn't want to go camping. We got our campsites chosen and set up our camps. We was going to sleep in our van and Nan's family had their tent. After setting up our camps we were all sitting around visiting. Dad asked if we was ready for lunch. He fried up about 20 catfish and brought them out on a big platter. The big cast iron skillet that Dad used to fry up the catfish belonged to his mother. During the Depression years my Grandpa would catch the big channel catfish in Arkansas. Grandma would cut them into 1" think steaks and fry them along side of the road on a campfire. Then she would place the catfish between 2 slices of homemade bread and sell them for $1 each to the men walking down the road. Now days, there is no way you could do that to earn money. The Health Department would be down on you in a heartbeat. We made lunch of those catfish.....except Rich. He had bologna sandwiches and chips. He doesn't like catfish.

After we had lunch my Uncle Virgil, Aunt Jennie and their granddaughter, Courtney came up to visit. They live in Prineville. I hadn't seen them for a long time. We all set around visiting. Uncle Andy, Uncle Jack and Aunt Bobbi was also there camping. Uncle Virgil was telling us about the rocks that they find while rockhounding. Uncle Virgil brought out the white one to show us. Nobody can tell him how it was formed. It reminds me of onion or flower bulbs. Beautiful.

Uncle Andy came over and asked if we wanted to take home some catfish. He said he would catch us some......but we had to clean them. Dad told him that he would clean whatever he brought over for us. I told him that I would help. Yeah right! He wouldn't let me clean a single fish.

Later that evening Dad, Dave and Jaime built a campfire and we roasted weiners for dinner. Dad deep-fried potatoes. We had S'Mores for dessert. Then we sat around the campfire talking for hours. Finally, Rich said he was going to bed. We went and got everything arranged in the van......had to move some bags up to the front off the bed. I went back and talked with the rest for a couple of hours. Then Mae, Dad and I headed for bed. Nancy and Dave stayed up for a while longer.

I hate to complain but my bed was too soft and downhill. I felt like I was sliding down hill all night. Then in the middle of night I had to go potty. I didn't want to go to the bathroom......it was about 1500 yds. I also didn't want to open the van door and wake up the whole camp. Besides our family there was my Uncle Andy, Uncle Jack and Aunt Bobbie sleeping. The night before I guess Uncle Andy had heard Dad and Mae's dog bark and he came out of his tent with gun drawn looking for intruders. So, I decided to use my coffee can that I had brought along. Have you ever tried doing your thing in a coffee can on your knees in the middle of a van. You're right.....it was very challenging. Needless to say I didn't get a drop on the bed.

Next morning we were up with the crack of dawn. Actually Rich and I slept in.....it was 6:30am when we got up. Dave, Nancy and Mae was up already. Mae had been up fishing for a couple of hours before we got up. Dad was still snoozing until Mae went and woke him up.

After a while Dad went into the cook tent and started cooking breakfast. He didn't listen when we all told him that we usually didn't eat much for breakfast. Sunday morning we did........we had Ham slices, Bacon, Eggs and Coffee. He had forgot and used up all the potatoes the night before or we would have had fried potatoes too!

We sat around the campfire talking. Finally he was getting close to noon and we had to leave for home. We had told my Uncle Virgil that we would stop by their house on our way home. He wanted to give us some rocks and show us their beautiful garden.

We finally left Prineville and my Uncle's house about 1:30pm. We filled up the gas tank and started home. After a few stops to get out and walk around a little we finally arrived home at 7pm.

Poor little Misty was so happy to see us. When we got home she was under the bed in our bedroom. Finally after a little while I hear this soft meowing coming down the hallway. Rich was outside and so she came running to me wanting to be picked up. I picked her up and cuddled her for a few minutes. Then she wanted down and ran straight for her food dish. She had ate dry food while we was gone......now she wanted her Friskies Salmon Pate. She was munching down on it when Rich came in the door. She was happy to see her Papa was home.

Rich brought in the ice coolers and whatever else he thought I might want in that night. We sat and played with Misty for a while. I finally headed to bed. I was starting to feel like a Mac Truck ran over me.

On Monday we slept in as Rich had taken Monday off from work. I spent most of Monday in bed resting. Today I feel better.........but still tired.

We had a lot of fun camping over the weekend! Maybe Rich has the right idea about camping......Motel 6.