Geriatric Park?

Many moons ago when we first started traveling by RV through California we heard that Hemet was a great retiree playground. Lots of sunshine, no smog, many golf courses. Always had it in the back of our minds to go and explore the area.

This year we stayed at a wonderful RV park: Golden Village Palms. It was great. Clean, friendly, and lots of activities.

Hemet has grown recently. We saw at the local museum a picture taken by plane over the area. This RV park was right in the middle of many acres of farms. But now, the road in front is clogged with traffic and there are about 6 strip malls and a big mall within 2 miles.

And why? The demographics of the area in the last 10 years has lowered the average age from 59 to 37. The housing costs in the LA area have risen so much lately that the young families are moving out to the Hemet area for "reasonable" cost housing in the $300's! That's progress.

From some of our old information, there was an item about the private zoo in the area. We drove past and found lots of No Trespassing signs but did see a field with sheep, goats, antelope, and zebras. Guess the new owners got the animals in the bargain.

Home Depot for Squirrels

More pictures from the "safari-mobile".

This antelope ground squirrel apparently decided he needed more "insulation" in his den.


He started pulling on the paper towel which was stuffed in the chair pocket.







And he pulled and he pulled.









Finally getting it all loose.

Now he had to figure out how to carry it. So he started stuffing this 11x14" paper towel in his mouth.






First try, he didn't get it all in.

2nd try, he was successful and ready to move.

We've been Badgered

Even though some folks think camping in an RV is not the way to enjoy nature. We enjoy the view from our "safari-mobile". Animals that wouldn't be in the neighborhood if folks were sitting outside will walk through our campsite.

Take this guy, for instance. Him and his mate walked through the campground coming out of the rocks above our site. What a surprise! We didn't know that there were even badgers in the park. His claws were longer than 3". Glad he was out there!



We printed the picture and took it to the ranger's office and they said several years ago that there had been a report of a badger 30 miles away in the other end of the park. So they were quite delighted to see proof.

Darn those bees after all

News this week in Visalia is the growing fight between beekeepers and citrus growers.  Now the way we see it, we think that the bees are pretty important in the pollinating of the trees.  But the citrus growers who grow seedless oranges say the bees are creating unwanted seeds in their crops.  Now the orange farmers want "no-fly" zones and farmers of other crops need these bees.  A lawyer for a citrus farm is threatening to sue if the bees treaspass within two miles of the crops.  Can you imagine a little bee jail?  Or maybe we just keep them under "hive" arrest (kind of like house arrest)?

 

We have enjoyed the hospitality of the Visalia Elks lodge.  Nice folk, safe parking, good RV utilities, book exchange, and free wifi.  Hardly could get better than this!  Heading east over Tehachapi Pass then dropping south toward Joshua Tree National Park later this week.

 

Visiting the Pinnacles

New travel route for us heading down to Pinnacles National Monument. We had heard about all the tarantulas on the trails but were 6 weeks late. The male tarantulas wander all over the park in October looking for a mate. Just as well we missed them!

The whole route south was along the San Andreas Fault line. Half expected to feel a shaking while we were there but all was quiet.

At one of our touring spots we were interested where the creek had overflowed and torn a lot of material out of its banks. Reading about this 40-year flood we found that the park service had used this area as a solid waste dump. (Guess we would have thought that next to a stream bed would be a bad place for garbage.) Now they are having to do a remedial cleanup. Yup!



The Pinnacles is one of 6 places where California condors are being released in the wild after being raised in zoos to help this species from becoming extinct. If things go as planned, adult female condors lay an egg. Then scientists take the egg away and the female will lay another one. The scientists give the egg either to a non-laying female or take it to a zoo to be hatched and then raised by condor puppets. (really) We didn't see any condors because at this time of the year the scientists trap the condors for the season and keep them in a cage. Quite sure we hadn't heard of that before! Guess they have good reason for this as condors are close to extinction because they feed on carcasses which, to their bad luck, often are the animal remains left by a hunter and have lead from ammunition. It's the lead that has killed them.

A new campground has been added to the park this year and that is where we spent the night. Laurie didn't get in trouble for squishing a park bee. Guess the ranger felt the sting was enough! We had 16 deer, 12 wild turkeys, and at least 500 quail in our campsite! Didn't see any of the wild pigs that are in the area but noticed a lot of damage in the campground from their nosing around.

Great day to tour the San Francisco waterfront

It's been a long time, maybe 20 years, since we've been in San Francisco. We picked a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 60's.

Got up early to catch BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to town. Our trip was so speedy we even got to Pier 39 before the stores opened.

We saw 3 Cruise-A-Homes in the marina there. Excuse me, the south marina. The north marina was taken over by sea lions almost 20 years ago.

We hiked north along the waterfront. Checking out all the boats and the shops. Found that the shopping "meccas" of the Cannery and Ghiradelli Square are no more. Though we could still get some chocolate at Ghiradelli's.

We did have lunch and some Irish Coffee's at the Buena Vista - a must. The USA version Irish Coffee's were perfected here in 1952. They pour about 2,000 a day. We did our part!

Enjoyed hiking out the pier at the National Maritime Park looking at the historic vessels, enjoying the beautiful day, and watching the swimmers(!) (We think the water in the bay was a bit chilly!)

Heading back, we just had to try one of the high-tech automated self-cleaning toilets.

These units have been situated in Seattle with some disparaging comments and a cost of about $700,000/year .

The self-cleaning cylindrical bathrooms include a toilet, wastepaper basket, and sink with a dispenser that dribbles out soap, then air drys your hands. The doors open and close like those on an elevator. Step in and you have 20 minutes to do your job. The floor has been freshly cleaned - even soap suds around the corners. Laurie's experience: Pluses: sweet smelling, enough time to do the job. Negatives: no TP, no soap air dry for the hands.

Sliding our way around San Francisco

So we headed south down I-5 wondering where we could stay that would be north of the San Francisco / Oakland weekday traffic mess. Hard to find any place. Lots of olive trees and rice paddies but not much in the way of camping. A casino 10 miles east or a county park 10 miles west. No WalMarts.

Then we saw a billboard for Bill & Kathy's Restaurant. And they welcomed us to stay the night in their parking lot. Laurie loved it: dinner and breakfast out. And even better a wifi hotspot.

Bill & Kathy's Restaurant has been in beautiful downtown metropolitan Dunnigan since 1947 and is now being run by their grandchildren. Dunnigan looks like it only has 130 population so, "metropolitan" is a bit of a stretch. We certainly appreciated a place to pull off.

Saturday morning after breakfast at B&K's, we headed south to Fremont (near San Jose). Lot's of traffic but nothing like the weekday. We were there early enough to scope out the BART train station, shop at Fry's Electronics (for a few "must haves"), and grazing at Trader Joes.

Parking here at the Elks for a couple days. Plan to take BART into San Francisco and visit some boating friends.

Resting in Redding

Resting day. That is if you consider washing CuRVy and AMZN.BUS part of a "resting" activity! Took a nice hike along the Sacramento River Trail in the sunshine.

Heading south tomorrow.

Which is better?

To follow a de-icer truck up over the pass or to be passed by a cattle truck with a number of carsick bovines? Neither would be our choice! Our mudflaps have "brown streaks" and the wheelwells remind us of life on the farm. Hmmm! RV wash next!






Woke up to a beautiful day in this very well maintained park.

Almost hated to leave but needed to motate to be off the mountains before the next winter weather hit.



Beautiful drive
(deicer & bovines aside)
and great views of Mt Shasta.

219 miles today!
But we've made it to California.

We can tell we are in California...
the sun is shining
and the grass is brown!

Toured but did not buy

Avoiding black ice and snow showers we headed toward Albany and took a FREE FACTORY TOUR! of the Palm Harbor Mobile Homes.

Pretty neat seeing the way each section of mobile was put together at a dedicated station. First station built the floor joists, put in floor furnace ducts, and floor insulation. 2nd station: drain plumbing and tongue and groove OSB board floors. Station 3: interior walls with sheetrock on one side only (for ease in installing plumbing & wiring). Other stations installed the roof, exterior walls, sheetrock tape & texture, siding, cabinets, and painting. When tasks were done at each station, this section of the mobile was pushed (usually took about 3 folks pushing) to the next station. After the tour, we walked through a few completed models (think they would have been real happy if we'd brought our checkbook!)

Hey, we noticed that the weather was "clear" (meaning not icy and not raining and not snowing) so we decided to make a run for Seven Feathers Casino. Egads, 160 miles today! No cooking tonight! Know we are going to get the bargain steak dinner down at the casino!

We are staying at the casino's new RV park - Fantabulous! Beautiful paved sites, with trees, rhody's, green lawn, and picnic tables. Free wifi (yea!) Maybe we'll even get a chance to go swim in the indoor pool!

We don't need reminding ... 2

Snow on the cars this morning but the roads were bare and wet. Off we headed but just as we unhooked, a big snow shower came along. We still took off and the snow stopped almost outside the parking lot. No rain, snow or ice on the freeway.

Road conditions were so nice that we even took the direct route through Portland. Only problem were astroids from a truck which passed us. There were chunks of ice sliding off its roof and heading like missiles at our windshield. Whew! Made it through that.

Got to Salem by 12:30 and were planning some exploring but before we got the RV hooked up the snow started. Several inches in an hour. Glad we're hunkered down!

We don't need reminding

No, we don't have to be reminded that leaving late in November to head south that we may run into inclement weather.

Woke up to snow but that went away quickly. By the time we reached the interstate there was lots of traffic. Folks returning from their Thanksgiving outings. Our short ride down I-5 was miserable with heavy rain and wind.

Down to Kelso by lunchtime. Parked and hooked up in the rain....then the sun came out (momentarily). Snug and warm.

Cheese Whiz!

Montesano Helen came by for lunch and a great afternoon visit. She even brought us some Cougar Gold cheese then took us for a drive up to a farm north of Montesano.


The farm is a small cheesery: the Estrella Family Creamery. We tasted more yummy cheese and took home some Wynochee River Blue and Vineyard Tomme. Our sales clerk wears many hats: he supplied us with tasting samples, runs the Creamery's booth at the Olympia Farmer's Market, is one of the cheese makers, and milks the goats and the cows. He is 11 years old. What a great family enterprise!

Saw some sun today. Little rain.

Heading west

Lucky us!  Breakfast at our good friend Joanne's house.  Yum!  Great visit with her.  Enjoyed watching the birds and the squirrels and getting hugs.  Fine person that she is: she sent us home with yummies!

 

Headed west through Olympia.  Through heavy rainstorms.  Landed here in Elma for a couple nights.  Great RV park with wifi, cable, 50 amp power, and full hookups. 

 

Yes, it's still raining.  And now, the "s" word is being mentioned in the forecast. 

A Casino Thanksgiving

Knew Laurie's mom, Louise, would enjoy some slot machine time at a casino. We all enjoyed it. Even won some money....early...

Below is a copy of our take home winning cash card!

There were 8 restaurants at the casino where we could get a full turkey dinner. When we sat down, none of us ordered turkey. We had our chance!

Back to my mom's for an early Christmas exchange and a colorful fire at her apartment.

By the way, it's still raining!

We're off!

It must be time to get away from this rain!

Record-breaking inches for November!

Soggy - soggy - soggy!

Traffic was heavy this day before Thanksgiving but we got ourselves parked at the Elks early afternoon.

Then off for a great visit with my sissy Irene and her guy Richard. We enjoyed a great homecooked meal, caught up on lots of happenings, and played some cut-throat Chicken Foot!

We're feeling great already....on the road again!

Time Warps

So here it's been 2 months since we last blogged!  No we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  We've been motating!

 

Had a great rendezvous with the houseboaters at Lake Powell.  Then instead of turning for home we headed east through the Four Corners region.  Arches and bridges, petroglyphs and monuments, entrenched meanders and the moki dugway.  More on these with our next website update!

 

Got home the first of May for a round of doctors, dentists, optometrists, friend and family visits, yard and garden maintenance.  But we left again on May 24th for another 3 weeks out in the RV.

 

More visiting with friends and family, enjoying (?) the northwest showery tinkle on our roof, planned RV maintenance, and a week at an RV rally in Albany, Oregon.  In another week or so, we "may" make it back to Bremerton.  Ha!

The Singing Squirrel at Wahweap

Beautiful sights along the shoreline of Lake Powell.  Many mesas and irregular rocks formations and lots of different colored layers.

 

We are staying at Wahweap Campground which has widely spaced sites, beautiful lake views, and is nicely laid out to blend into the desert.  Our particular campsite has one additional bonus: a singing squirrel!  This antelope ground squirrel has been "well-trained": he comes out of his hole and runs across the desert into our site, up onto the fire pit grill, sits there and "chirrs" until we open the window and throw him out a peanut.  We can't resist!

Petrified Logs in the Painted Desert

Double treat at the Petrified Forest National Park. The northern half of the park has many viewpoints of the Painted Desert. Multicolored layers hundreds of feet high.

 

As we traveled along the 25 mile drive in the park we started seeing boulders. Then more. Upon closer inspection we found that these were indeed petrified trees. We've seen a petrified tree before. One. Not a forest worth! Very apt name for the park. We were amazed at the number of logs lying around everywhere.

 

Learned alot about the geology of the area (but still much more to learn). The petrified trees here are from the Late Triassic period - 225 million years ago. At that time the earth was one super continent (Pangea) and this area was near the equator and much more tropical. The trees were washed down streams and mired into mud and lake bottoms to finally become petrified. This was the declining age for the dinosaurs and living creatures had formed into smaller animals that could survive in the changing climates. One looked like an alligator that ran on it's hind-legs.

 

Don't take any samples! There was lots of scolding by the park about everybody picking up a piece of petrified wood to take home. But by reading between the lines, we think that much of the big stuff that disappeared was before it was made a park in the early 1900's. (And no we didn't take any home.)

Need any Spare Parts?

You know we can't manage a trip out without a tour of an aviation museum....

 

While visiting the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, we got a guided tour of the AMARC facility on Davis-Monthan Air Base.  AMARC is the acronym for Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration. 

 

AMARC manages and regenerates (rebuilds and repairs) aircraft and are currently caring for over 4,000.  There are many airplanes on the field that are being stripped for parts which are then sent worldwide to repair planes. 

 

They are storing production tooling items for military aircraft that aren't being built any longer - just in case they may be needed again.  As part of the SALT agreement, there are B52's that are being sliced up and turned upside down.  Some planes not being used any longer by the military are sold to other countries.  They also convert some to waterbombers; some to air combat practice drones. 

 

The dry desert is a good place to store aircraft.  White protective film is placed over the glass to protect from the sun. 

 

As a bonus, we saw 63 planes on Celebrity Row representing one each of every kind of plane that is stored on the field plus historic models.

 

Beep! Beep!

Beep! Beep!  No, the roadrunner doesn't go "Beep! Beep!"  Nor do we see him racing around at high speed.

 

Many are traipsing through our campsite at Catalina State Park.  They are inquisitive and pretty tame. 

 

But what we like the best is their expressive comb and tail.  The comb raises and goes flat and makes us wonder what he's thinking. 

 

The tail sometimes goes almost straight up but usually hangs along the ground.  His tail feathers have the ends worn off because he drags them so often.  Then sometimes the tail cocks to the left or right.  What is he trying to tell us?

 

We found out one cool morning that they turn their backs toward the sun and raise their back feathers (and "mini" wings) to warm themselves. 

The Washingtonian Rain Dance

The rain dance worked.  The Phoenix area got wet and we got 2" of rain one day at Usery Park.  And it was cold.  38 degrees was the high for the day. 

 

What a great surprise to see Superstition Mountain in all it's snowy glory!  We passed at least 100 cars (honest!) pulled onto the shoulder of the road taking pictures.  It is such an unusual sight.

140 days without rain in Phoenix

140 days without rain in Phoenix and it's getting pretty dry and dusty here. Many folks are having lung problems with the crud floating in the air all the time. We are trying our best as proper Washingtonians to bring a relief to this drought but alas none here yet.

There is a big worry for all of Arizona that there will be some terrific wildfires this year and all government agencies are practicing firefighting techniques so they will be prepared when the fires break out as they surely will.


Here at Usery Park we were able to watch the county and city firefighters practicing hauling hose, spraying foam, and water bombing a pretend fire (an "X" on the ground). We climbed up a vista trail that allowed us to watch the happenings below. In Washington, the water bombing is usually done by airplane and the water is sucked up on a lake in the area. In Arizona with very few lakes, the water bombing is done by helicopter with water pouches lowered into portable "dunk" tanks to fill while the copter is hovering. These portable tanks are filled by water trucks. On the day we watched, 3 helicopters were practicing.

Don't know how to bring AZ more water but Seattle sure has had more than enough to share this year.

Speeders in Scottsdale

Big news around this area is that Scottsdale is now sending folks tickets for speeding on State Hwy 101 which wanders through the town.  The rub is that the tickets are based on sensors buried in the hiway, with cameras snapping pictures of the license plates.  They tested it for two weeks, and found an average of over 700 speeders (more than 8 mph over the limit) per day on weekdays and over 1000 per day on weekends!  During this trial they sent out 7,500 warning tickets!  We are not surprised at the numbers as we typically have to go 60 on the main thoroughfares thru residential areas to keep up with traffic.  During this test, two drivers were recorded over 120mph and many over 100mph.  Yee Hah!    According to the TV news, there is a big market for wavy glass plates that go over your license plate.  You can read the numbers with your eye, but the waves distort any picture taken by a camera.  

 

Just after the test period was over, we traveled 101 and were pleasantly surprised at traffic running 5 miles below the speed limit. 

 

The speeding fines are on a sliding scale.  Much of the fine money collected will be kept by the company providing the service but expect from the high numbers of offenders that Scottsdale will reap big bucks too. 

Mea Culpa to the Bottom Feeders

Yes, we were getting paranoid that our identity had been stolen when we started getting calls from a local dealer and the credit union. (see 2/9 blog) But (surprise!) it was just our son choosing to use our address when buying a new vehicle. Guess we were to figure this out thru osmosis. All good for now.

The Town Dump

We had great hosts to show us around the Cave Creek and Scottsdale areas.

Diverse activities included checking out Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home Talisan West, examining some weird cast windchimes at Cosanti, and traipsing through the cowboy country of old downtown Scottsdale and the current cowboy country of Cave Creek. Interspersed with all that was checking out restaurants to keep our energy level up!

We got a kick out of hiking around a fun shop called The Town Dump in Cave Creek. So much stuff we just hardly could live without from tanned leather to Mexican pottery to many fun figures welded from old car parts. Earrings on these figures were keys on chains!

Miscalculation

Enjoyed exploring White Tank Mountain County Park. Tanks being areas in the mountains that hold water for a while after desert rains. Valuable source for humans and animals. The rock in this mountain is light gray - "white". Hence White Tank. We walked a couple trails to areas with numerous petroglyphs. One area is called Petroglyph Plaza as there were so many at that spot.

One morning we were thrilled to see a hot air balloon high in the sky coming our direction. A glance a few minutes later and the balloon was low - really low! Behind the trees and cactus from us. The pilot had run out of propane for his burner and down he came amongst the briars brambles and prickly cacti. Weren't able to find out how he was able to get the balloon out of that situation as there were no roads nearby. Wonder how many punctures that balloon has now!

Sunny Day with the Golden Knights

North of Yuma on the Yuma Proving Grounds is the winter practice area for the Army's parachutists demonstration and competitive group called the Golden Knights. The Golden Knights are part of a mission to promote Army recruitment and to test new parachuting equipment.


Each weekday the team members jump 7 to 8 times and the lucky folks who drive to the Proving Grounds get a whole day's entertainment watching them jump from the plane and then land barely 50 feet away.

The demonstration teams aim for an "x" in the field after jumping out at over 12,000 feet. Some of these teams form diamonds in the sky (looked much like a Valentine heart to me) passing each other at 180 mph. Other teams make free-fall formations hanging onto each other's legs way up there before separating and opening their chutes. Must be like flying!

The team dressed in black are the competition specialists. They have smaller chutes and come down at a much faster rate of speed. As they land on the grass, they ski to a stop. (They call it "turf surfing".) Fascinating. These competitors with their smaller chutes are trained to land in the center of intersections and outdoor arenas. And we can imagine that their skills could be used in behind-the-scenes Army action.

The friendly team members all took time out to answer all questions we had.
It's a great country we live in.

Guided tour of Algodones Mexico

Dick and Helen, our hosts here in Yuma, offered to take us on a walking tour of Algodones. They've done a lot of exploring there and knew where to find the best selection and prices of jewelry and decorative housewares and yard ornaments, the bakery with the best yummies, where to get haircuts, drugs, and dental work done, and great fish and shrimp tacos.

It was interesting to see the shopping areas and listen to the rap of the vendors trying to intice us to check their booths out. Loved the tacos at the open air cafe. And we picked up an unique iron and rock ant standing about a foot tall. Just what my garden needs back home!

Brought back a little liquor and some Mexican vanilla. Ah, after my mom mentioned that there was something wrong with Mexican vanilla, I did some research on the internet. Egads, the product I bought was contraband in the US. Apparently most Mexican vanilla is synthetic and made with warfarin. The FDA won't even allow it into the country. Decided I didn't need THAT stuff!

Journey to the Center of the World

Visited the town of Felicity, California. The self-proclaimed Official Center of the World. There under the 20' pyramid is a bronze plaque pointing to the exact center.

In the late 1950's, the Istel family bought the property which makes up the town of Felicity (and which is named after the Mrs.) The Istel's realized nobody had made the claim to be the center of the world so they did. And mostly it is promoted tongue-in-cheek. Istel has written a children's book which describes this official center: "Coe - The Good Dragon at the Center of the World". All new buildings (currently there are 6) must be approved by the Felicity Historical Society. And government of the community is led by the Council of Sages whose sole duty is to dispense wisdom. They receive an annual remuneration of 18 cents per year, including travel expenses!

More impressive to us were the 100' long engraved granite walls. Currently there are about 10 of these walls engraved on both sides. Marine Corps Korean War Memorial, History of French Aviation, History of the Foreign Legion, and the History of Humanity from planet formation thru civilizations on each continent. Many facts and pictures on these walls. Other granite walls are dedicated to remembrance and honor of individuals, college classes, and corporate history. To become the World Commemorative Center. For just $200, you could get your name engraved here too. The Istels plan for 100 of these walls to be onsite (but maybe not in their lifetime.)

Ah, warmth! at Lake Cahuilla

After Superbowl weekend we dropped down into the Coachella Valley to the Lake Cahuilla County Park in La Quinta. What wonderful weather we had! Temperatures 10-15 degrees above normal. NO RAIN! Lots of sun and just enough breeze to make it comfortable!

We did a lot of errands and spring-cleaned AMZN.BUS. Hiked around the lake. Explored new hou$ing in the area. $1.6 mil for lots (no house) a mile away. And enjoyed the "in your face" hummers!

Off toward Yuma!

Bottom Feeders

Guess I'm boiling at the underhanded tactics of some of Bremerton's merchants. Since we bought CuRVy, we've received 3 "cryptic" phone messages.

Two of them were from the same party: another car dealer. The first message asked us to call back because they wanted to be sure we were satisfied with the car purchase. The second message said that our licenses were in and to call back and make an appointment to pick them up. When we called these numbers, the phone was answered "Parr Ford". We had no dealings with them and expect they went through public records to find we had just purchased the car. We thought it was more than a little cinchy that they didn't bother to say on the message what company they were with but just let us assume it was with the dealer we had bought from.

The last message was from Bridget at Kitsap Credit Union calling to get my correct address for the loan I had and to please call her back. Since we do not have an account at Kitsap Credit Union I wondered if we may have had our identity stolen.

I called the number left in the message and Pam answered. I said that I had a message on my answering machine from Bridget. Pam said that: oh, yes, Bridget isn't here right now. I said that Bridget said she was from the Kitsap Credit Union. Pam said: Because it is after hours, we don't answer the phone with "Kitsap Credit Union". I said this doesn't sound right and hung up. The next working day I contacted the bank and they verified that that was a good phone number for the bank, and that Bridget worked there, and wanted to know if we had just bought a car. Apparently searching through public records for new car purchases is a normal tactic for this bank.

I'm very disappointed with these bottom feeders. And their dishonesty with potential customers. Bah!

Jumbo Rocks

Wonderful time at one of our favorite places. Jumbo Rocks campground at Joshua Tree National Park.

Since last we camped here two years ago, the area has had 12 inches of rain. Everything looks so healthy. During the drought at last visit, the antelope squirrels had eaten through the bark on many of the Joshua trees looking for any kind of moisture. The trees looked very scabby then, but not now.

We took a couple hikes and drives. From Keys View there is supposed to be a panorama of the Coachella Valley. Not any more (or at least not while we were there). Heavy smog covered the Palm Springs - Indio area. Yuk.

At the campsite we enjoyed the squirrels, jackrabbits, quail, and scrub jays. We had a water bowl set out that everybody used. We got a big kick out of watching a curved bill thrasher bathing in the bowl. Quite thorough he was. By the time he was done, 30 MINUTES later, he was soaked. But it must have felt good. How many times can an animal find a water hole in that area.

We've frozen up at Jumbo Rocks many times because we are camping in the middle of the winter and it is about 4500' high. But this time we enjoyed nighttime temps in the mid-40's. Much nicer than the 16 it was one time!

Need to head out to someplace that has TV. Gotta watch the Seahawks win in the SuperBowl.

Where do these names come from?

So where do these places get their names?
We went through Antelope, Apple, and Yucca Valleys and traveled on Pearblossom Highway. Didn't see an antelope or an apple or a pear blossom. Yucca we are seeing. Maybe we have to be here at a different time. And how about Old Woman Springs Road? Now that one may be self-explanatory but this old woman never found the springs.

We are off tomorrow for Jumbo Rocks. And, yes, that is an apt name as jumbo rocks are there. Will enjoy the flora and fauna and rock climbers in Joshua Tree National Park and get in some hikes.

By the way, the bank robbery in Exeter (as written in the previous blog) ended with everybody safe. The robber slowly let hostages go and finally the whole thing was over when he needed cigarettes passed to him and the last hostage got free.

Crime in California

We thought we'd just ignore it but we've run into these incidents too many times as far as we are concerned. 

 

In Petaluma, just driving down the block, we saw two policemen standing outside a fence one with a pistol out and the other with a shotgun.  We kept driving. 

 

Then in Rio Vista, we pulled into a gas station and found police cars surrounding a car.  The police were behind their open car doors.  We decided to fuel up elsewhere!

 

Today we walked the town of Exeter checking out their murals.  There were three murals in the Bank of America parking lot so we spent probably 20 minutes checking them out.  Our surprise tonight was seeing a bank robbery gone bad at that bank about two hours after we left.  As I write this, the robber has 5 employees still hostage.  Exeter is such a quiet town.  We hope all comes out well.

 

 

Murals, Oranges, and California's Mima Mounds

It's so much more fun to go and explore when it is sunny. Today the temps got close to 70 and we went off to explore.

The town of Exeter has many wall murals and we had a nice walk finding them all and looking for the hidden figures in each. (Glad we got out of town when we did. See next blog entry!)

We followed the road toward Sequoia National Park until we reached a reservoir called Lake Kaweah. The lake level is way low and the boat ramp has at least 3 paved extensions so boaters can still launch. The campground on the lake looks like it had a destructive runoff from the hills above with mud and sand all over the roads and campsites.

We drove through many orange groves. Many are being picked this week. We hadn't known that citrus was grown in this area but it is Exeter's big business.

Learned of an area near here that is called Hogwallow Preserve. And also known as Mima Mounds! The area is described as hogwallows about 1.5 million years old and used to cover 1000's of acres. Now only 10 acres. Not sure if we'll be able to find it. Isn't that something?! We thought the Mima Mounds near Lacey Washington were unique.

Belly Flops and Delta Fever

Hey, guess what?  We have had some time in the last couple days where the sun has shown and the sky has been blue.  Of course, there seems to be rain everyday.  Need to get farther south before we find warmth though California rain is warmer than Washington rain.

 

Been parked in Vallejo for a couple days as it is a good central place from which to run our errands and to visit folks.  Visited Dean's cousin in Concord yesterday and a Cruise-A-Home owner on the Sacramento delta today.  The Delta has miles and miles of waterways to explore and the summers last a long time hence "Delta fever".  Unfortunately, we are always here in the winter when it is gray and damp and not at all enticing.

 

Took a tour of the Jelly Belly factory on Thursday and were amazed at the amount of automation that has been brought into the factory since we last visited 5 years ago.  Tour guide said no employees lost their jobs due to the automation.  When we were there last we couldn't believe how much manual labor the process of making jelly beans took.  Seems like 8 to 10 robotic machines were handling a lot of tasks now.  But it still takes 10-12 days to make a jelly bean.

 

Tried some samples, bought some of our favorite flavors, and bought some mixed flavor sacks of "Belly Flops" (jelly beans that aren't perfect).  Unfortunately the package of "flops" had Jelly Belly's new odd flavors that have to do with Harry Potter.  The flavors are like grass, dirt, earthworm, booger, earwax, and vomit!  Ugh!  Think that a vomit flavor was in the flops.  We are culling them out!  Really gross!

 

Heading through San Francisco / Oakland area tomorrow.  Timing it around Sunday morning traffic which should be the lightest.  Plan to visit friends in San Mateo before heading south again.

 

Critters, Computers, and Confusion

We headed south from Brookings yesterday.  It was a sunny day (our first in a month!) and a great ride to Arcata.  Saw critters for the first time on the trip.  3 herd of elk and 2 deer and a "gaggle" of wild turkeys.  Think they've been hiding out in the dry under trees?  We are seeing lots of storm damage with broken and uprooted trees and lots of wood drift close to the road at sea level.

 

Had service done on the RV in Arcata.  (For once) Murphy wasn't impacting us.  The shop's computer was able to analyze the fault code AND recognized the code as a problem with the "ESS" (Engine Speed Sensor) AND the shop had the sensor on hand AND were able to replace it immediately AND it was covered under warranty.  Wow!  (Murphy did hang around the shop tho: the tech pulled the computer off the cart onto the cement!  Computer didn't talk anymore!  Argh!)

 

We were out of there by 10:30 and made a run down 101 through the Redwoods.  Little rain while traveling today but lots forecast in the next week.  We passed over the Eel River probably 10 times.  It was rushing along but looks like 15 feet lower than it was recently.  In 1964 the Eel River flooded majorly as we were reminded again with a sign on the bank beside and above us showing the flood height and we were at least 50' above the river. 

 

101 has been closed off and on in the past couple weeks near the intersection of Hwy101 and Hwy1 at an area called "Confusion Hill".  We found out that today the area was open but didn't know what to expect.  Actually, when we traveled through, the road wasn't bad with a lane open in each direction but what was really disconcerting is that there were probably a dozen road workers in that area all looking up the bank.  We were too busy driving to look up but guess we needn't worry unless they'd started running!

 

Tonight we are in the town of Ukiah at the Elks Lodge RV park which is two blocks from the Russian River.  A couple weeks ago the river overflowed it's bank sending 18" of water running through the lodge and the hotel next door.

 

Really great thing is that CuRVy is following nicely and was still behind us when we got here!

Friday the 13th one day early

Egads. We are trying to be safe! Think we are using all our luck up!

Matched Amzn.Bus to CuRVy and checked out the tow hookup then headed out of Newport. It's usually drier in Brookings but that was about 200 miles ahead. What the heck, on this particular day it was mostly dry. We'll head there. We found about 20 places where US101 had fallen apart due to the recent heavy rains. Loose gravel, sunken grades, and cracks in the pavement. Just south of Port Orford we stopped at a vista point and found out soon after we pulled back on the road that we were in the middle of a pilot car train going the wrong way.

So we quickly found another pullout and got out of the way. While there the dreaded Check Engine light came on Amzn.Bus. The service book says take to a mechanic as soon as possible. ... That's in Eureka, CA 135 miles ahead. In the meantime, the engine "saves" itself and degrades. Max 40 mph - 45 downhill - 20 uphill. We limped along.

Going over the Rogue River in Gold Beach, we heard a crunch noise, looked up into the backup camera, and saw the new car was moving side to side. The hitch broke! Dean took the RV out of gear and coasted to a stop. We ran back and unhooked (about 2 minutes) and drove off. Nobody got too excited, the folks behind us flagged folks around, a policeman came the other direction and said he'd turn around and help us but we said we were ok and on our way off. Hitch is ok. (The shaft in the ball had unscrewed and dropped out.) No dents in CuRVy or Amzn.Bus due to Dean's coolheadedness and skill. We had another hitchball and got it put on and tightened well. Another thing Dean will put on his daily checklist.

And that was Thursday the 12th. With luck like that we thought we ought to just play like ostriches and bury our heads on Friday the 13th.

On the 13th, we discussed what we had to do to get the RV serviced. Have to have it towed? Guess the driveline comes undone to do that. Anybody locally that could help us? No. And it was raining cats and dogs and pretty miserable. But he started the RV up to see what was happening and guess what!? No Check Engine light! Hoorah! Kept the engine running in case the error code might happen again and we didn't hook up the CRV in case the engine did degrade again. No problem with anything. Only 30 miles to here (Brookings).

But it was the big guy's birthday and luck was with us. Amzn.Bus ran well! We landed at the Elks RV park in Brookings with ocean view, paved wide spots, laundry, cable TV, and wifi. And prime rib dinner being served! Good day.

Dean talked with engine folks in Arcata (next door to Eureka) and they are ready to have us come visit them on Monday. We'll get the error code checked out and see what needs to be repaired. (shhh! engine is still under warranty until Feb 16th).

Introducing CuRVy!

Our new CRV. Looks just like picture - same color and everything - except no sunroof as certain tall folk in this household can't fit in the car if it had one. Ah, well! We like it. Seems so much bigger than the Eaglet but measures out pretty close. We took CuRVy today to Roadmaster and had brackets installed to allow us to tow.

The Eagle Has Landed

We made the trek north leaving the RV behind safe and sound in the campground.  We are just "camping" in Le Souzeer while we are here.

 

Big surprise when we got home: the post office hasn't been forwarding our mail!  Now that's taken care of.

 

Been visiting our friend Joanne and her family in Auburn.  And then yesterday while taking her for a ride, the Eagle ate it's transmission!  Nice little car.  Very short ride.  We were lucky 1) that it wasn't raining, 2) a nice lady behind us gave Joanne a ride home, 3) a fellow behind the nice lady pushed the Eagle onto the shoulder, 4) Dean answered the phone at home and, 5)drove the truck over to tow us home.  All without disaster.  Shudder to think how nasty it might have been with both Dean and I in the car in the dark in the rain. 

 

So another situation to consider: repair the Eagle now or in the spring, hitchhike down to Oregon and bring the RV back, or buy a replacement vehicle.  Stay tuned!

 

Geriatric Park?

Many moons ago when we first started traveling by RV through California we heard that Hemet was a great retiree playground. Lots of sunshine, no smog, many golf courses. Always had it in the back of our minds to go and explore the area.

This year we stayed at a wonderful RV park: Golden Village Palms. It was great. Clean, friendly, and lots of activities.

Hemet has grown recently. We saw at the local museum a picture taken by plane over the area. This RV park was right in the middle of many acres of farms. But now, the road in front is clogged with traffic and there are about 6 strip malls and a big mall within 2 miles.

And why? The demographics of the area in the last 10 years has lowered the average age from 59 to 37. The housing costs in the LA area have risen so much lately that the young families are moving out to the Hemet area for "reasonable" cost housing in the $300's! That's progress.

From some of our old information, there was an item about the private zoo in the area. We drove past and found lots of No Trespassing signs but did see a field with sheep, goats, antelope, and zebras. Guess the new owners got the animals in the bargain.

High Water Everywhere

Sheesh - it's still raining and blowing and flooding.

High and heavy seas with enough surf to throw drift onto the roads. We drove down to Waldport yesterday and found the Alsea River flooding (like all the other rivers around). Watched a dock section and a 25' aluminum boathouse floating loose down the river toward the ocean. Don't know if there is any chance that they could have made it out through the surf but what a mess that would be. We wanted to go see the waves coming into Newport so we drove out the south jetty road. Oh, oh. Not a wise idea. Ahead of us the tide was rolling across the road bringing gravel and seaweed and drift. Lots of macho trucks were proving they could drive through it. Guess they don't worry about rust later on. We chose to stay out of the way and in a high spot.

And with the nasty weather in California, it looks like the weather will be the same.

We've just lost one of our best buddies. Our friend, Gene, was one of the "nice guys". He always was so kind and helpful to others. We spent lots of time with him and Joanne boating and RVing. With all the exploring we did we could always count on him. (We will be going home for a few days.)