The Lagrande fiargrounds aren't quite setup for winter travelers as far as camping yet. But, We got in touch with a lady on the fair board and she got us setup and comfortable there. The cost for camping and a covered stall for 2 mules for the night was $20.00.
The Lagrande Firgrounds was shut down for the winter but they do board hords there. I managed to find one water spigot that was still turned on and the power was turned off. Luckily, Last Year Ron Stolp, Dave Lunstroth and myself installed a $4,000 solar system on the Living Quarters trailer so we were able to run the heater all night and lights.
The mules were not liking all of the mud in their Areana! and were happy to get in their stalls and out of the cold wind. We decided that we were going to load up early and head towards Baker City in the Morning to a truck stop, Fuel and eat breakfast . The goal for the day would be to hit either Ely or Alamo NV for the next night.
The next morning we pulled out at 5:30 am from the Lagrande Fairgrounds. Here's another tip for those pulling long living Quaters trailers. You need to time your visit for late afternoon and depart early in the morniong because it is hard getting into the fairgrounds from the busy town. The turn that you have to make in town is at a busy intersection and can be hard if there is a lot of traffic.
Things were going good until a mile before Baker City. There was a few of those lighted highway signs saying the road was closed ahead due to an accident. We started seeing Trucks parked along the shoulder on the highway. We could get off on the Baker City exit so we did and went into the truck stop for breakfast. There were many trucks there! and more and more coming as we ate breakfast. We heard that there was a bad wreck at mile post 318 and it would be awhile before it would be cleared. there were reports of possible fatalities so it could be closed for a long while. We took our time eating breakfast all the while more and more trucks were coming into the truckstop.
Peg decided that we should go back to Lagrande and we could do some shopping while waiting for the road to open which we did. All of the way back to Lagrande we kept seeing more and more trucks parked along the Highway 84 shoulder. The highway was a ghost town. We made it to Lagrande Walmart and did some shopping and that parking lot started filling with Semi trucks and people stranded and parking until the highway could reopen.
The mules were in the trailer for most of the day so We decided to go back to the LaGrande Fairgrounds and let them out for awhile to stretch their legs. I decided that we should probably stay there and listen to the radio for the highway to open. And We waited and waited. This was a really bad wreck! It started getting dark. We decided that we should just stay put and just write the day off and head out in the morning really early. Here is a link to the wreck, make sure you look at the photo's. 15 minutes earlier and we would've been it that mess! Check out the link here:I-84 accident story and here:photo of trapped man. They finnally got the highway reopened at 10 PM that night.
When we pulled into the fairgrounds asked me if I could pull higher up onto the grass because of a big mud puddle that was located outside of the camper door. I did and everyone was happy. Us, the mules and Scout and Bandit.
The next morning we got up to more snow falling and cold wet rain. we decided to get out of there to get to warmer weather! So, We loaded up and were heading out. That's when I said uh oh!
I decided to call the lady from the fair board to see if there was a tractor available I could use to pull us out. That's when Peg said, "Hey , We have US Rider!"
She made the call and I've got to tell you that the guy who answered was in Ontarior Canada and was VERY nice! He was totally concerned about us, and more inportantly our animals! He asked the size of the trailer, our tow rig, how many horses we had with us and if everyone was ok. He said that he'd make a few calls and get back to us. He called us back in 15 minutes and said help is on the way and let him know if anything went wrong. He told me not assist the wrecker guy and let him do it all.
The wrecker guy showed up 15 minutes later and was really happy that I hadn't buried the truck to the axles. He said that most people would've spun the tires trying to get out and would've been buried. He got me out and just had me sign a slip that US Rider would pay. They would pay up to $200.00 for winch service. We were on the road again and happy campers! It was well worth the $129.00 we paid for our yearly membership. A half an hour later , we received another call from the guy in Ontario Canada. He wanted to know about the service, if we were OK, how our animals were and thanked us for using US Rider. I can say enough nice things about how nice they were to deal with and quick to get us out of that pardiciment.
We highly reccommend them to anyone that hauls horses and mules down the road. They even cover us if we are in another persons rig and they're driving. Can't beat that!
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