Daily Archives: August 20, 2018

Heading back to southern Oregon we stoped at Chickahominy Reservoir for a week.  It wasn’t much different then boondocking as it was wide open space and hardly any other campers.  A few came and went while we were there, with a few others staying as long or longer than us.  The heat though, that was another story.  As some of you are well aware of, we have some nasty fires here in southern Oregon and the winds brought in smoke many days.  Though the air quality never got bad enough, you could most certainly see the smoke in the distant horizons.

You know what I love most about boondocking…

the night sky and of course the wide open space!  The milky way at night is A-mazing.  I’d forgotten about those clear black skies full of stars we used to see when we camped in the mountains in Colorado.  Breath taking!

Chickahominy in between Bend and Burns OR, is a BLM and while filling out our fee we came to find out that if you have an Interagency Annual Pass, otherwise known as America the Beautiful you can save on camping fees in BLM, National Forest and National Parks.    We did purchase an annual membership while visiting Yellowstone cos’ we knew we’d be going there daily for the 3 weeks we were in the area and we thought it was the best value for our money.   What we didn’t know is that we could save 50% on the nightly fees at these other government campgrounds.  Chickahominy would have been $70 for the week…we paid $35.

It’s dry camping, no hooks up.  Their are various good size pull through, graveled sites throughout.  No trees, though lots of sage brush.  There were a few faucets scattered throughout but there was no way of knowing the quality of the water.  Just up the road at Sage Hen rest area there was potable water and a dump station.

While there we heard coyotes a few night but other than that we never saw much wild life. Except for these little tan birds that ran around reminding me of little road runners.  There were lots of butterflies and moths like this cute, fuzzy guy.

Williamson campground was a pretty amazing place in the forest. Snugged in the Fremont-Winema National Forest across from Collier Campground in Chiloquin, OR. We chose Williamson because we could dry camp and save money. Once again our pass allowed us to have 50% off, making it another week for $35. So you can see by now, the pass has paid for itself with all the savings.  The last mile down to Williamson is on dirt road and a horribly kept rutted road. Only brave souls that didn’t mind the rattling ventured it. So though it was a campground, once again we found it to be much less crowded which made for a peaceful stay.

Another junior ranger badge…

We weren’t sure if we were going to get any clear days with how thick and heavy the smoke was here. But some winds kicked in and we got lucky to explore Crater Lake National Park. He not only earned his junior badge but also a patch for his patience and dedication to learning and sharing. It was pretty cool as Ranger Mike said that our little guy made his summer.

There were some not so good air quality days, but I made sure we had our diffusers going. What did I diffuse?…our Breathe blend. It’s an amazing blend to support healthy airways and it’s refreshing scent helps on those heavy hot days.

While here once again we heard coyotes, quite close to our trailer…beautiful and eerie yet I felt there was strong medicine there for me.

Onto Emigrant Lake…

From there we made our way further southwest into Ashland. A town I dreamed about living in when we first were searching for a ranch to purchase. This was 5 years ago when we moved our ranch from southwest Colorado to Oregon. It’s a beautiful area, with a wonderful energy.  But the smoke here was bad.  The diffuser was getting a work out.

Emigrant Lake, the Point was a sweet campground with a huge public water slide and a beautiful lake. By now we were looking forward to the full hookups. We didn’t get any discounts here it’s your typical, county park fees. Some of the sites weren’t set up all that great though…and ours unfortunately was one of them. It was narrow and no grass area or room for the picnic table except in the rear of the lot…made it awkward to enjoy the space. But the host was really nice and for the most part it was a peaceful park.  Once again coyotes visited us…this was the third week in a row that they have come to bring me their medicine.

Our boondocking set up is just enough to keep things going, so we have to keep ourselves in check, conserving electricity and water. So, here, having full hookups we were free to use electricity, though we kept catching ourselves in the dark trying to limit the electrical use and would laugh as we kept reminding each other we have full hook up now. I personally enjoyed being able to take a real shower…instead of the military kind, as I call them. Where you get wet, turn water off, wash up and turn on one last time to rinse. Not fun but it gets the job done and conserves water.

While here I had the opportunity to meet up with my mentor and friend Arin, doTERRA Blue Diamond. She has always been there fully supportive without judgement since I signed up under her and after years of connecting on the phone and social media, we finally met in person. What a treat that was, I even got to meet here sweet little angel, who will be turning one, the day after my baby girl’s birthday (though not a baby anymore at 28).

I was also able to set up appointments with to amazing energy workers, to have some muchneeded healing.  I feel incredibly blessed to have these women in my life. Both were referred by Arin.  One to support my body with natural herbal and essential oil solutions Dr. Engelsen who is also part of my doTERRA family. The other to support me spiritually, Coyote Marie, a traditional Indian practitioner, Cherokee/Choctaw lineage, which explained all the the coyote visits in the past weeks.

Next…our coastal home town of Brookings…so looking forward to the Ocean!