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.)