Wednesday May 8th, 2019
So here’s where we officially PAUSE our blog. We will be in Bandon (one of our 2 hometowns) for a couple of weeks. We’ll be busy trying to catch up with friends in person and take care of life business. No gypsy road tales to share for the time being but we’ll let you know when we’re back up on luckyontheloose.blog. Until then – it’s been great having you aboard with us on the road. We’ll be in touch!

Monday May 6th -Tues May 7th, 2019
After a farewell to the fly fishers at Wild Billy we headed north to Seven Feathers in Canyonville. The RV Park has a really nice indoor pool and hot tub and after 4 days at Wild Billy we were happy to have showers!

We used the shuttle to go to and from the Casino and got delivered right to Lucky at the end of the day. We spent a morning antiquing in Canyonville and a bunch of time having slot fun at the casino!

We were super lucky gamblers – we never spent any money at the casino that we hadn’t won gambling along the way! It was soooooo much fun!

It might look bad but honestly I don’t have a gambling problem – I just can’t pass up a deal! Whenever we get new Players Cards we get free play, discounts on food and gas and a Players Card as a souvenir.

Thursday May 2nd – Sunday May 5th, 2019
Wild Billy Lake looked a lot different this year than last. The lake was really, really high but even though it looked iffy for awhile most everyone showed up. 

Thursday May 2nd – Even though the lake was high it was still beautiful. Gene and Judy had their trailer set up in no time and we followed suit. We scoped out 2 huge eagles at the shoreline across from us, standing side by side at the waters edge, like besties just passing the time. The large and lovely pelicans were in flight and afloat, some with a catch of nice sized trout in tow. A good sign for the fly fishers! The weather was clear and crisp (cold) but by afternoon it warmed up a bit.

Friday May 3rd – It was cold in the morning but nicer as the day wore on. The fisherman were out and about in their pontoon boats. Gene had a few on even though he seemed to be the only one catching. Judy and I took in the view and watched the snakes swim across the water and the giant bumble bees in the trees. We’re dry camping so the sound of our generators humming probably kept the pelicans on the other side of the lake. 

Ron had his planes with him again this year and they’re always fun to watch. He brought a jet boat this time and it was cool and super  fast!  He lost one plane on the water but JP rescued it, so no harm done.  

The guys were out on the water on and off all day but the catching was slow. JP and I went out in the evening and I had one on but no catch for us. The sunset was awesome though. Judy baked oatmeal cake so we had a yummy dessert, and all settled in at the campfire . 

Saturday May 4th – Judy and I took  a 3+  mile hike around the lake . We saw all kinds of hoof and paw prints. We’ve heard coyote and there are antelope but we didn’t see any.  It was sunny and got pretty warm but the water level was still way up so we had to take the high road on our hike so we weren’t treading in the boggy ground.

Sunday May 5th – Last day to fish and everyone seemed to have a better day. We lucked out having nice weather while we were at Wild Billy but the heavy rains before we got there made for less fish, but everyone loved having the lake to ourselves and had a good time! Below is JP’s catch – and his partner in crime!

The road in and out to Wild Billy is a bit rough. It was close getting through the limbs going in but going out there had to be some limb trimming to save us from roof damages on our trailers. Gene and JP managed to cut the low lying limbs down and save the day.

Wednesday May 1st, 2019

We camped at the Waterwheel RV Camp on the Williamson River in Chiloquin. Our friends Gene and Judy pulled in to camp in the AM and we caught up a bit.

Later in the day we did a grocery run. We stopped for gas on the way back and were lured into the little casino next door. Kla-Mo-Ya Casino was super generous with their free play and food coupons, and it turns out JP’s luck was holding! He left cash happy and excited about our trip to Wild Billy Lake in the AM.

Tuesday April 30th, 2019 
We had a long day traveling from Reno to Chiloquin. We were headed north on 395 when we had a flat on the truck. AAA showed up in about 30 minutes and we were on our way to Alturas. We got lucky and the tire shop fixed us up with a spare and we were good to go, but a couple hours behind schedule. We stopped in Tule Lake had a great burger and a short rest, then headed on to Coquille OR. We didn’t get in until after dark so it was a long day for sure.

Monday April 29th, 2019

I was excited to go casino hopping but first we had to replace JP’s IPhone 6 that died (yes, I said iPhone 6)! It took awhile so we made a visit to the lovely Orvis Store while we waited.

We finally left the Apple Store at about 2:30 with a new iPhoneX R in hand. Next stop – Reno!

The Peppermill is my fav so we started there, then onto Atlantis, Silver Legacy, El Dorado and Circus Circus. We ate a couple overpriced mediocre meals but had a hay-day playing the slots. We called it a night at around 11:00 and headed back to Bordertown. It was 8 hours of fun and we still left ahead!

April 28th,  2019 
We stayed at Bordertown RV and Casino about 20 minutes north of Reno just off 395. It’s a nice RV park behind a small casino and restaurant. We got our players club card and 10.00 in free play, a free drink and 2.00 off an OK meal. Armed with our free play and 20.00 each we made a killing and a plan! RENO here we come!

Saturday April 27th, 2019

We got a late start but the weather was great so we headed about an hour north of Bishop. Mono Lake is really beautiful in a strange and alien sort of way. It formed over 760,000 years ago. Since there is no outlet the accumulation of salt makes the lake water alkaline. The formations are eerie! They’re called Tufa and have a look all their own. The background of snowy mountain tops against the oddly green water rimmed in white makes a surreal picture!

 We got back to Bishop in time to make a stop at the Erikk Schat’s Bakery. Its the boom of Bishop and we didn’t once see it that it wasn’t hoppin’! We popped into grab some goodies for the road – but it was hard deciding on something when you are both crowded in between fellow shoppers AND surrounded with all kinds a wonderful! Get this!  This Dutch bakery makes about 25,000 loaves of bread per day, that outnumbers the population of Bishop by 6 times! Crazy!

According to it’s website:  “It is known for a special bread, the Original Sheepherder’s Bread,  that they have reportedly produced continuously since 1907, although no trademarks exist until 1938. This roadside bakery boasts turn of the century recipes and all their bread is baked in stone hearth ovens, using no preservatives. They make everything from scratch, including their baker’s yeast – after all, there’s not much else to do on the edge of a desert in the middle of nowhere.”

Friday April 26th, 2019

We decided to stay in Bishop because we wanted to break up our drive north. It turns out that this is really somewhere we will want to make a destination. The Fly Fishing Stores, and Sporting Stores were bustling because Saturday is opening day of Trout season. The RV park was full and apparently it is “Fishmas” in Bishop. One Fish and Fly shop had chili dogs cooking outside and bales of hay to eat on. It gave the fisherman something to do until there was room in the store for one more customer. Seriously PACKED with fisher-people. JP heard there was great bass fishing lakes nearby but we are on a short stay so he’ll have to wait until we come back this way.

We took a drive up to the Inyo National Park. Its so beautiful there with the warm weather and sunshine. The landscape is high desert surrounded by the amazing snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains.

There’s camping and hiking all around this area. We stopped at Sabrina Lake, but it’s still mostly frozen over.

Later that evening we made a visit to the Paiute Palace Casino. We had a good time but didn’t overstay – after all our next stop is RENO.

April 25th, 2019

The drive was long and the scenery was – well. . .  not much to talk about. We headed to Bishop CA,  not so much as a destination as the first leg of our trip north toward Oregon.