Modesto, muy modesto

We enjoyed a couple days in Modesto. Warm temperatures and sunny skies. Unlike so many communities we've visited in the last few months, there is lots of water here. Everything is green and lush. Lots of blooming: roses, lilacs, wildflowers.

We asked around to find out what to see and do in town and folks really couldn't come up with anything?! So with a little sleuthing we found out George Lucas (of Star Wars fame) graduated from high school here. His first hit movie was "American Graffiti" based on his experiences "cruising the loop" in downtown. We stopped by the George Lucas Plaza and took pictures of the American Graffiti statue.

And then just down the road in Turlock is a unique office building for the United Equipment firm.

Off on the backroads we passed lots of orchards (nuts, mostly), and many dairies and chicken-raising barns both owned by Foster Farms.

We also drove across a bridge which was approximately 50 feet over the Tuolumne River below. A sign before we crossed cautioned: "Watch For Water Over Bridge"!

Other interesting things we learned about Modesto:

+ Modesto means humble, modest in Spanish. Hearsay, is that originally the town was going to be named to honor a financier who helped set up the town. When he objected, he was described as "muy modesto" (very modest in Spanish).

+ In 1912 a contest was run to come up with a motto for the city, the #1 entry "Nobody's Got Modesto's Goat" was passed over in favor for the more PC (and nice but boring) entry #2 "Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health".

+ Their "A" baseball team is the Modesto Nuts.

+ Ernest & Julio Gallo, besides being local winemakers, own the largest wine bottle manufacturing company in the world.

+ Forbes lists it as the #8 most miserable city to live in (behind LA & NYC).

+ And Modesto is the #1 place in the United States to get your car stolen (Seattle-Tacoma area is #6)

Nature Study

I know crab catching season is adjusted around times when crabs are molting. I know that salmon fishing has a season. I know that we are kept out of areas where eagles are nesting.

But we think that maybe in the high desert around Barstow and Mojave there should be a season to protect the butterflies. Maybe lower all speeds to 40mph so they could get out of the way? Maybe close down all roads. Ha! Unfortunately, we squished a number on the front of the RV. The butterflies were so big they looked like birds flying into the windshield.

We've heard about birds being killed around wind generator windmills. Not sure we could teach the birds to fly faster or convince them to fly in other areas but maybe there is a benefit to coyotes or mountain lions or, definitely, buzzards. Food comes floating down below the windmills in bite-sized pieces perhaps. I looked but couldn't see any meat-eaters hanging out below the towers.

Want to buy an airplane? Need spare parts?

Traveling through Mojave, California, Dean just had to stop by the Mojave airport again. On previous visits he'd seen P-51's, ex-military jet fighter conversions and planes produced by Burt Rutan's company (of the Voyager and the VariEze fame), which is based there.

This time he found locked gates and doors, and lots of security cameras. But he was able to go on a van tour around the field to see many of the stored planes. There were a lot of "blue tails" --- planes ready to be sold to anybody who wants them. Parking them in the desert until ready to use is a low-maintenance means to store them. There were a number really good-looking ex-Air Canada 757's, and assorted other 737's, MD-90's and more. Some are owned by airlines who no longer need them; others, we're sure, are owned by banks and finance institutions. (But who owns the banks and financial institutions these days?)Or, let's say, you need a nose cone, or landing gear, or maybe just a luggage door. That's why we have used plane parts lots (aka wrecking yards). It was sad to see 747's, MD-11's, more MD-90's, and Lockheed 1011's with crudely cut holes in them where the salvagers simply cut out the part needed with saws. Not disassembled --- just sawed out. Causes a twinge to an old airplane builder.

Calico to become a ghost town again?

We've been to the Calico Ghost Town near Barstow about 20 years ago and checked it out again this week. Background: Calico was a silver mining community for a few years in the late 1800's. In the 1950's, Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm fame, took it upon himself to restore the town from pictures and previous resident's memories. (Not sure if he planned to make Calico a tourist destination; but it makes sense.) He then gave Calico to the San Bernardino county.

While we were there we saw several school buses of kids and at least one tour bus stop in to tour. There are about 20 buildings and numerous "touristy" shops. During our visit there were no gun fights or shady ladies walking the streets but understand on weekends they provide entertainment. My feel from looking at the deferred maintenance at Calico is that it is close to becoming a ghost town again. We'll have to see.

The 30 space campground of 20 years ago has expanded to 300 campsites. So that is definitely a going concern.

Learned that the silver mining here was not deep. The miners found the silver veins right at ground level. Wouldn't I get a kick out of seeing a silver vein while on a hike. Or would I even recognize it?

Amazing strata on Wall Street at Calico.

Laughlin & the Big Bend

Up the Colorado River we traveled to Laughlin, Nevada.

Like Lake Havasu City which was built by one man (McCulloch of McCulloch chain saws), Laughlin was the bright idea of Don Laughlin who in 1966 built the first casino here and built the bridge across the Colorado River to Arizona. Now there are 10 casinos.

But that may be the end of the town growth. Note this hotel which was never completed. An attached golf course has gone out of business. And across the street is a huge complex with a coal-fired power plant. The plant no longer meets federal requirements and the cost to upgrade was too steep so the plant closed.

We stayed at Big Bend State Park which has recently opened their campground. Huge 50 amp full-hookup spots. The park's day area is right along the river. Not many people have heard that this campground is open so it was only a quarter full when we got here. Pretty spot just 5 miles out of town.

We came up here to visit cousin Carol who drove down from Kingman. Great visit. Had time to play a few penny and poker slots and came out ahead. Woohee!

Lazy Days along the Colorado River

Guess we get to change our route home this year. Too much cold and flaky (as in snow) weather in some of the areas we wanted to travel through.

From Cave Creek, just north of Phoenix, we traveled to La Paz County Park along Colorado River hoping to get one of the ramada campsites that are quite close to the river. Surprise! La Paz was full of snowbirds who are awaiting better weather up north to travel home. So one night in the dirt. The next morning we got a great ramada spot.

We enjoyed watching the activities on the river. The weather was in the 80's and 90's. We found lots of places to walk Miss Lily as this park has one mile of waterfront. We enjoyed the Saturday swap meet. Listened to the "hee haw" of the wild burros across the river. And the park now has wifi - ah, life is good! The only disappointment for Dean was that spring break was over and all the nubile California college coeds (who left their clothes behind) were not cavorting on or near the water.

One day we traveled to the California side of the river to "inspect" the BLM Empire Landing campground which was being rebuilt 5 years ago. It has just opened this season after spending $3 million for improvements. There are now 40 campsites and they are charging a high price of $30 a night. Guess what? Whereas La Paz was full, there was nobody camped at Empire Landing.

Cave Creek Nature Center Grand Opening

Lucky us for being at Cave Creek county park on the right day. Our Cave Creek friends joined us for the grand opening of the park's new nature center.It was a nice warm morning for ribbon cutting and dignitary speaking and there were many live displays of birds (falcons, hawks, hummers, and owls), desert critters (scorpions, gila monsters, and rattlesnakes) and a ringtail cat (AZ state mammal).

Normally at an opening of a nature center, a rehabilitated bird, like a falcon or an owl, is released back in the wild. The speaker stated that in deferrence to the bad economy everything was being scaled back; therefore, a hummingbird would be released today! (Guffaws all around!) The hummer took advantage of the open cage immediately and headed off into the desert.

Saguaro Cactus

One thing Dean enjoys in the desert is the saguaro cactus and their different poses. These plants are fascinating, from the fact that they grow only four inches in their first ten years, to their 12,000 pound weight for very mature trees. They don't grow "arms" until they're 40 (or 70, depending on which expert you believe) years. We think of the arms as children.

Therefore, many are seen as just tall skinny poles.

Others have one or two arms; some near the bottom; others near the top. (No, we don't know why the cowboy is riding backwards!)

Some kids are unruly.

And, there's the octouaro -- the inspiration for the octomom in California.

Sometimes they just have to give it all up.

Miss Lily becomes Miss Piggy

The Tonto National Forest has a number of recreation sites along the Salt River. We have stayed at Pebble Beach before. At another Tonto site is a two-mile hike we thought would be interesting, and safe for Miss Lily in that there were few if any nasty cacti for her to bump into.

It was a warm day, and her tongue hung out a lot. We stopped several times to let her drink out of our hand (or directly from the water bottle, which she seemed to prefer).

At the end of the hike, we took a detour to the river, where we thought she might slurp up a big drink. The path went through a couple of washes where water runs during higher water. All were dry except the last one nearer the river, which was filled with standing stagnant water with a nice slime coating over much of it. We had to tiptoe around the edge to get to the path on the other side.

Dean slipped through the bushes to make it to the path. Miss Lily chose to walk through the edge of the water, which didn't surprise us. She then did one of her lay-on-her-belly-with-her rear-feet-behind-her flops, which still didn't surprise us in total. We knew she would like to cool herself; we just thought she'd maybe wait for clean water.

But after about five seconds on her belly, she decided to roll on her side. That maneuver took her into water a couple of inches deeper -- over her ear and nearly to her right eye. She followed that with a further roll to her right -- most of the way on her back. (With her head bent forward, she kept it out of the water.)

So --- pretty well completely covered with putrid water, she finished the hike tracking sand onto her wet belly and sides, until she dried off and most of it flaked off.

Nevertheless, she got a bath when we got home to the RV.

Sorry --- no picture. It happened too fast.

Field Trips

Back up to Usery Mountain for more time in the beautiful desert. Temperatures this week are in the low 60's (poor us) so we took some field trips.

DESERT GARDEN SHOW AND STADIUM TOUR

What an opportunity to go see how and what to grow in this dry climate. We got to learn lots about VitaMix, candles, hot tubs, and patio furniture, too. While we were walking thru the posies, the guys were touring the new UPS (University of Phoenix Stadium). An impressive design with this stadium is the giant tub holding and growing the football field turf that gets rolled in and out of the stadium.

APACHE TRAIL AND LAKE ROOSEVELT

News reports said that Lake Roosevelt was 100% full. So time to trek up the Apache Trail to the lake and check it out for ourselves. First we had to get ice cream at Tortilla Flat. Then ford a stream. Then 25 miles on dirt road. Sometimes steep; sometimes washboardy; sometimes curvy; sometimes very narrow; but always dusty!

Finally we got to Lake Roosevelt and it is great that it is finally full. A few years back it was at a 17% level and they were forecasting this 18-mile lake going completely dry. We remember the huge parking lots for boat trailers that had never been used. Now the campgrounds were busy and there were fishermen out in boats. In fact, we are wondering if the lake is "over" full. Note the parking lot lines under water.

COMMEMORATIVE AIR MUSEUM

Near here is the Commemorative Air Museum (formerly known as the Confederate Air Museum). While it is not nearly as big or as impressive as the Seattle Museum of Flight, it was well-kept and the displays were well-marked.

We could take a flight on the B-17 "Sentimental Journey" for $425 and brought 5 more rich friends. This little guy had the right idea.

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Miss Lily is doing well walking with us so we thought we'd take her on a longer and more rustic trail. Wrong choice. She got two cholla thorn gobs caught in her paw and those things go in deep so easily. She wasn't thrilled with us pulling them out nor was Dean thrilled with the 3 punctures he got trying to help her.

Then today walking her on the pavement we had to wait for a rattlesnake crossing our path. Then later, a host came by to tell us that another snake had been seen crossing near our site and to watch our pooch. Darn right!

Resort Life

You know us. We'd rather spend our time in a public campground than a private campground. Some people call them: concrete jungles.

When our maximum two week stay was up at Usery, there were 23 RV's sitting in overflow waiting for our spot. So we escaped for a week down to Valle Del Oro Resort just 7 miles away.

For a concrete jungle it was very nice. We were placed in the "pet area" just 5 spots away from a dog run on a nice quiet street. The campsites here are about 25' wide which gave us plenty of room to tie Miss Lily out and let her play, to sit and enjoy the weather, and to park our tow car.

Lots and lots to do there. There are 8 baseball teams in the park and one day we got to watch a women's slow pitch tournament. The 8 tennis courts were busy - always.

During our week, the temperatures were close to 90 every day. We enjoyed swimming after dark in the 75 degree evening temps!

The resort had lots of planned activities and we went to a seminar, talent show, swap meet, and a dance on the patio. We did lots of bike riding - after all it's a long way around the park as there are over 1700 sites!

Dean's favorite activity was watching the multi-track multi-train displays by the park's model train club. Guess I know where I'd find him if/when we come back here. Of course, we ran out of time to try out rockhounding, model airplane flying, painting, sewing, pottery, hiking, biking, shuffleboard, bocce ball, or water volleyball....phew, lots going on here.

Pretty place; nice people.