Serene Wandering

No body contact with the water.  Can you imagine a reservoir that has animals living in and around it and allows boating – but does not allow human bodies to have contact with the water?  We were surprised to see the sign below as we prepared to embark on our Wildlife Cruise on Lake Cachuma. (Lake Cachuma is at 28% capacity and has not been full since March, 2011.)

The ranger explained that Lake Cachuma holds drinking water for area communities and no humans are allowed to have contact with the water.  Although interesting, it didn’t effect our pontoon boat cruise.   We had seats that turned 360 degrees, for great viewing of the multitude of wildlife. We saw racing grebes, bald eagles and a golden eagle.

We saw deer, red tail hawks,  and a peregrine falcon.

We saw white pelicans and learned that white pelicans live near fresh water and brown pelicans live near salt water.

We also learned that, in general, if the male and female birds look the same, then they are both involved in baby feeding/rearing. We really aren’t bird people but had a wonderful time being on the water and learning a bit about birds.

We also saw a floating outhouse, the SS Relief.

The “no body contact with the water” rule is not isolated to that one reservoir.  Although we don’t know how prevalent the rule is, we did see it in reference to a second lake. Diamond Valley Lake is a man made reservoir designed to hold an 8 month emergency water supply for Los Angeles. We thought this chart about drought levels was sadly interesting.

Archaeologists, paleontologists and construction operators worked together during the building of Diamond Valley Lake. When blasting or earth moving equipment would reveal something of interest, the archaeologists would move in to map and gather the artifacts. There were artifacts from European settlers beginning in the 1800s and from native peoples prior to that. As the depth increased, the paleontologists became involved. The Western Science Center has fossil bones found during the dig.  They have bones for a mammoth named Xena, and also for Max, the largest mastodon found in the US. They have 60% of Little Stevie’s bones, also a mastodon, making him the most complete skeleton ever recovered.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Rancho Oso near Santa Barbara. Rancho Oso is a working horse ranch offering rides and training etc. but also has an RV park. We loved the rural feel. We were able to hike to a waterfall that  had a little water coming down.

We traveled to the Danish town of Solvang and went to Mission Santa Inez, founded in 1804. It was the nineteenth of the 21 California missions established by Franciscan priests between 1769 to 1823.

It has quite a collection of artwork, paintings, statues, vestments, manuscripts, and artifacts.

I loved the old sheet music.

We had dinner at a restaurant that specializes in Split Pea Soup!  Last fall when we were driving California highways, we saw billboards advertising Famous Pea Soup at Anderson restaurants and thought that was so strange. When we discovered we were close to one of their two restaurants, I thought we had to check it out. The pea soup was yummy, as advertised.

Another day we ate at the Cold Spring Tavern.  It is an old stagecoach stop from the mid 1800s, and appears as though it hasn’t been updated much.  It is very trendy and reservations are required for dinner, but we went for lunch.  It was quite dark inside during the day, I can’t imagine what it would be like later.  Definitely mood lighting!

We also visited Chumash Painted Cave State Park near Santa Barbara.

Lest you think it is all fun and games, the area around our current park near Menifee, California is a lot less interesting!  Most of the above activities were near Rancho Oso/Santa Barbara.

This stay was highlighted by the Diamond Valley Lake/Western Science Center and meeting other folks in the campground.  When we first arrived, as we were driving around looking for a place to park our trailer, we met another couple on their way out.  Randy said “I know you.” He reads blogs and watches videos put out by other RVers.  The couple we met are responsible for http://www.rvlove.com  and he recognized them from their videos.  It was an enjoyable chat.

We also were invited to Happy Hour by our neighbors in the RV Park.  They are 4 couples who travel together from Independence, Oregon.  Boise State football fans might know that former quarterback, Grant Hedrick, comes from Independence, Oregon so that was a nice connection.

We also enjoyed one of our favorite campground Sunday Worship Services.  Most Thousand Trails Parks have Sunday services on site, and this was an especially good one.

Otherwise, this stop has been more mundane:  trips to Costco and the grocery store, washing the trailer outside, cleaning it inside, and trying to figure out why our washer/dryer no longer dries efficiently.  Unfortunately, we also spent time trying to figure out if the two “things” I found under the sink, that look like they might be mouse droppings, were left over from our mouse last fall, or if we have a new tagalong.  The jury is still out on that one….Mouse prevention went into a higher gear again!

Tomorrow we move to Palm Springs, our last stop in California.  I’m wondering what other uniquely Californian discoveries we will find.

A common RVing term is to refer to a regular home as “sticks and bricks.” We no longer have a “sticks and bricks”, having sold it in May, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a good home. We’ve seen two of them in the past week!

While staying near San Jose, California, we toured the Winchester Mystery House. This house has 160 rooms and we saw 110. We also saw stairs that went into the ceiling, doors that opened to nowhere, switchback stairs and on and on. The mystery is – why is the house so odd?

The prevailing theory is that Sarah Winchester, widow of the Winchester Rifle family heir, was very concerned about spirits and often held seances.  She was told by a  medium that she would be pursued by the spirits of those who fell victim to Winchester guns. She believed that she needed to find and continue to build onto a house to confuse the spirits that would try to find her. She started with an 8 room farmhouse outside of San Jose and construction continued 24/7 for 38 years, stopping only at her death in 1922. Obviously, she was perceived as being somewhat eccentric.

But, she was also very business savvy. She had plenty of money given her 1880’s $20,000,000 inheritance and $1000 per day stipend for life.  Yet  she operated 160 acres of land in orchards, selling prunes, so the estate was self sustaining. She had many innovative systems in her home and on her farm.

At 160 rooms and 24,000 square feet of mazed rooms and hallways, the Winchester House is dwarfed by the second “sticks and bricks” we toured!

Actually the Hearst Castle can’t rightly be called “sticks and bricks.” Due to earthquake concerns along the central California coast, the Hearst Castle is made almost entirely of reinforced concrete.

William Randolph Hearst’s family had camped on the hilltop overlooking the ocean for years and it was his favorite spot in the world. The family ranch stretched for thousands of acres along the coast up into the hills. As an adult, he had wanted to build “a little something” up there but his mother would not allow it because she felt he might over do it. She knew her son.

After his mother’s death, he contracted with a female architect in San Francisco and they worked together on the estate for 28 years.  Building and furnishing continued until his death at age 88, and yet some still remains undone.

As a child Willie Hurst traveled with his mother to Europe and spent 18 months experiencing all the culture they could absorb. Much of his fascination with art and architecture began with that trip.  The architecture of the castle and grounds is described as Mediterranean Gothic and the home is furnished with European art, much of which was purchased after World War II.  One tour guide said that while Hearst encouraged people to “buy American”, he was buying half of Europe.

Of course, with his publishing and movie empire, the castle hosted all the important people of the day.

The home, furnishings and grounds are now part of the California State Park system. The acres around the home are still a working Hearst Ranch. It was a fascinating way to spend a day.

A few miles down the coast from the Hearst Castle is a rookery for elephant seals. There were 100s! It is calving season so there were quite a few babies. We definitely enjoyed that stop.

Another activity we enjoyed in this area of the coast was connecting up with friends from Boise.  Friends Greg and Jackie were in the area for a vacation and invited us for dinner. We were then able to meet their friends, Joyce and Debra.

It is so great to see people from home while we are on the road!

We have been popping “In-N-Out” of campgrounds in California as we work our way south.  We have finally found some weather that isn’t cold, but it is not yet warm either.   We traveled along the Avenue of the Giants and were entertained by our GPS that could not track elevation in the midst of the big redwood trees.  

We stayed 4 nights in the vicinity of Santa Rosa and the highlight was visiting the Charles M. Schultz Museum. We learned many things about Charles “Sparky” Schultz and the comic strip Peanuts.   Sparky Schultz originally named his strip ‘Lil Folks but the syndicators changed it to Peanuts  and he never liked it!  We were amazed that he had total control over nearly every aspect of the strip and the characters of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang, but not over the name of the strip. The appearance of the main characters changed over time. The classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, was written over a weekend and was groundbreaking in that Sparky felt strongly they should use the Luke scriptures – telling of the birth of Jesus – in the show, something that had not been done before. Also, they used children for the voices for all characters (except Snoopy) and that was also new.   All involved questioned whether the show was any good and how it would be received.  Obviously, the rest is history!

We also learned that health concerns prompted the retirement of Sparky Schultz. There were 6-8 weeks of strips in the queue when he retired. He died in his sleep the night before this last strip appeared.

While in the campground, Randy noticed we had a trailer tire with significant wear. As you can’t mess around with tires in this life style, finding and getting two new tires became a priority!

Tires installed, we made another trek south.  We are currently near San Jose, at Morgan Hill, and yesterday was a busy day! Randy had extreme frustration while trying to add a tail gate assist on our truck to keep the tail gate from crashing down when opening. He used to have all the tools in our old garage but doesn’t have them any longer :(.  Notice the wooden spoon, the gorilla tape, the Super glue and the petroleum jelly – all supplemental tools for this project.  It was reminiscent of the movie Apollo 13 when there was a crisis and all the available supplies were laid out on the table so the engineers could figure a solution.  It took both of us to figure out ways to attack the various challenges, but it was eventually accomplished. A 20 minute task took 3 hours.

Then we headed towards Monterey.   En route we stopped at our first ever, In-N-Out Burger joint. We had both heard of this icon fast food restaurant for years so it was time to experience it for ourselves. At first glance, the area was busy and there were 30 cars in the drive-through. The inside was hopping as well. The simple menu was interesting, but we ordered and waited, and waited, and waited.  It was way too busy to be fast food! Fortunately while we waited we talked with the couples near us (sharing tables again!) who were amazed we were In-N-Out newbies. They told us there is a “secret menu” to expand the choices – such as ordering burgers “animal style”.  Animal style means they add some mustard to the meat before cooking it.

We are pleased to report that the burgers and fries were very good, but the really enjoyable aspect of the stop were the nice people sitting on both sides of us.

After lunch, we drove to the coast to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. TripAdvisor calls it the #1 Aquarium in the world and we can believe it! We saw so many beautiful creatures, some of which we’ve never heard of before. Our favorite section was for Jelly Fish. There were large, small, colored, white, electric neon and so very delicate. The pictures could go on and on! Randy has known of this aquarium for years because it was originally funded by the Dave and Lucille Packard Foundation, of Hewlett-Packard renown. One daughter is still actively involved with the foundation. Because the aquarium was fully funded, they have not had to spend efforts fund raising. They have instead been able to focus on providing exemplary care for their 40,000 animal “guests,” research and education. We learned about the feeding regimen for the animals and how they track to make sure each animal is getting their share. When different species are in the same tank, they train different species to come to feeders for their specific diet. The Aquarium offers free field trips to school groups. As we were leaving, and heading down Cannery Row, there were about one hundred 4th graders lined up for a school “overnight” field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. How cool is that!

We enjoyed Christmas week in Boise!  We enjoyed staying with Natasha, Seth and Archer and being able to spend lots of time with them.  We also celebrated Archer’s first birthday with  Seth’s family, and my parents who came over from Vancouver.

We squeezed in breakfasts, lunches and dinners with most of our close friends in Boise and are so appreciative that you had time for us during our short week.

On our last morning in town we saw this sign and wondered if someone put it there just for us!

Unfortunately our time was short because we really needed to head south! Snowy roads and cold temperatures aren’t ideal when you live in a trailer!  We needed to pick up our home near Vancouver and get going!

We traveled from Boise to Vancouver during a weather “window” that didn’t really exist. There were at least 100, maybe 200,  semi-trucks along I-84 between LaGrande and Pendleton putting on or taking off chains.

We made it safely down the other side but were very glad we just had our truck for this part of the trip.

We picked up our trailer, re-provisioned the kitchen, and headed to the Oregon coast.  It wasn’t our plan to head south via the Pacific Coast Highway 101, but the temps on the coast were at least 10 degrees warmer (low 30s at night instead of teens and 20s).  We didn’t want to worry about freezing pipes, and wanted to be a little warmer ourselves!  The combination of electric heat, propane furnace and an electric blanket has worked well enough. Yet, we will try to avoid having the trailer this far north, this late in the year, in the future.

Watching gas and diesel prices along the coast was interesting.  We hadn’t seen diesel cost less than gasoline in ages, and certainly not at this low price!  Interestingly enough, 200 yards down the highway, diesel was $3.49!  Prices have really been all over the place.

We spent just one night at each of our first two stops because the goal was just to get south.  This stop, at Port Orford, is for two nights.  Port Orford is the oldest townsite on the Oregon Coast and the most westerly point in the lower 48.  Cape Blanco State Park has the oldest and highest operating lighthouse in the state.  We are staying at a small RV park in town.   Camp Blanco, is very tidy and we liked the cute little doggie spot.

Yesterday afternoon was dedicated to watching Boise State win the Fiesta Bowl -yeah Broncos!  Today we did a little exploring and spent some time at the beach.  The weather wasn’t quite as nice as our time at the Mexico beach, but the view was gorgeous!

Tomorrow we stay on 101 and head into California where we will be for most of the next month.

December is a great time to spend two weeks in Mazatlan, Mexico!

We have been coming here for years during March/Spring Break due to my teaching schedule and it has always been crowded and busy at the resorts.

This year the visit has felt very relaxed as we were able to extend our stay to two weeks.  (Thanks mom and dad!)  We’ve had time to spend at the pool, on the beach, and to do some things we’ve never done before.

Our first week was spent at our time-share resort Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. We enjoyed pool time!

With the relaxed environment came new friendships. We spent time with the Davis Family from Montesano, Washington.  We hope to see them again when we visit Ocean Shores, Washington in June. When we went to this restaurant at Playa Bruha (witch’s beach) with them, we were introduced to Almond and Coffee sipping Tequila. It is so good, that we are considering buying some even though it will necessitate checking luggage – something we don’t usually do.

We also met Angela from Vancouver, British Columbia. We have spent quite a bit of time with her and she has an amazing life story. She has traveled alone through much of the world and done things way beyond my comfort zone! We hope it will be possible to stay connected with her as well. One evening we went to the Mexican Professional Baseball game together when Mazatlan beat Hermosillo, even though the Hermosillo team is the Mexican and Latin American Champions. We thought it was quite interesting that the uniforms were walking billboards.

During the second week, we moved to ElCid Marina Beach Resort.  Although we were regretting having to leave Emerald Bay, this resort has had some nice perks.  Instead of trees decorated for Christmas, there are a few sailboats decked out.  They have movie nights and a pontoon boat that goes to a private island.  We have been able to see a Mexican wedding and a Christmas party given for the staff by one of the seasonal residents.

One of the strange quirks of this place is the available TV.  There are local Mexican channels, some channels that voice over Spanish on American shows and then they have DISH – just as we do in the trailer.  We have been able to watch the Boise State Championship game and most NFL games.  The part that is curious for us is that at this resort we are getting New York City local channels (ABC,CBS, NBC and FOX).  We are always having to call DISH to get new local channels as we travel from region to region and yet here in Mexico, they get NYC channels.  It is a wonder?!

Walking around the marina, we saw the boat, Velvet Sky, from Boise, Idaho and had a chance to speak with those aboard. He retired from Camping World in Meridian,  they sold their house in Nampa and took off sailing full time in their boat with their young son.

We have talked with a few couples living full time in their boats and that seems even more extreme than what we are doing! It was interesting to hear their stories though.

We have also enjoyed watching the fishing boats come in in the afternoon and the pelicans beg for scraps!

The local wildlife also includes a variety of iguana which wander around. This one was different than the others.  He was about  3 feet long.

There are quite a few Canadians and Americans who come here for the winter year after year. A retired Canadian naval officer spends his winters  working with a Mexican orphanage. The kids came to the resort and did a Mexican Dance program to raise awareness and funds. The show was conveniently located right out our balcony window.

On another night there was a Latin Dance Program.

Randy and I went to the the Mazatlan Aquarium and Zoo. It was very different from American zoos!  The animals were very close to where you stood to observe  them. If you were so inclined, you could reach in and touch the crocodiles or the Bengal tiger. Of course, there were signs telling you to “not introduce your hands” but there was very little physical barrier.

After the aquarium we walked along the “malecon”, a sidewalk stretching for miles along the bay and beach.

We stayed along the malecon when we came to Mazatlan on our honeymoon in 1980. We have been here numerous times since and have tried to find our honeymoon hotel but couldn’t as we were always zipping by in a bus or taxi. This time, as we walked, we think we found our old hotel. It is painted a different color but the location and design seem right.

We also took a tour to the Mexican village of Puerta de Canoas.  Here we were able to make authentic salsa and tortillas and enjoy a great lunch.  We also saw a demonstration of horses being trained to dance. They train Azteca and Fresa horses for about one year. I am not a horse person but even I could see that the Fresa stallions were amazingly beautiful. We were told the breed is from the Netherlands and horses cost $60,000 before being trained. However, the picture of the Azteca turned out the best, and it is a nice looking horse too!

We also went to a Tequila Factory Tour, but unfortunately they didn’t have the sipping tequila.

This evening we went on a  Sunset Cruise and saw amazing colors!

We have had another “muy bueno” time in Mexico.   Adios!

We have spent a lot of time in the rain since I last wrote!   We stopped at Emigrant Lake County Park near Ashland, Oregon and had one nice weather day.  We explored a park trail and ended up with a nice view of Emigrant Lake.

We should have had the lake about 30 feet from our trailer, instead it was more like 300 feet.  The drought has been severe.  We walked along the lake bed with a garbage bag and collected, and disposed of, a lot of interesting junk.   We intended to go out with our metal detector near the docks but when the winds and rains came, it didn’t seem like it would be so much fun after all.  (The rain is so badly needed that I’m not really complaining about it.)

We were glad to have the opportunity to go to lunch with another of my father’s 58 cousins, Guerin and his wife, Donna.  They treated us to lunch at a nice restaurant downtown.  It was good to visit and catch up on family news.  Guerin was reminding me this afternoon by email that it was time for another post.  Guerin, this one is for you!

Another day we went to the favorite hamburger joint, Jaspers Cafe – info provided by Trip Advisor. The reviews warned of a small place and waiting for a table, and that was all true.  There were tables for outside dining, but then there was that rain….

The small tables inside had signs suggesting that you invite people to share.   After so many days in the rain, talking mostly to each other, we were glad to invite another couple to share our table.  We had a great time comparing notes about the Ashland and Boise Shakespeare Festivals, our life style, and their vocations as Zen Buddhist Monks.

My family lived for a time in Thailand when I was a young teen and I still remember being very careful not to touch or bump into a monk.  Having physical contact with a female would require them to go do all their prayers again.  So, it was quite interesting to talk to a female Buddhist monk.

Ashland feels like somewhere we’ll need to visit again.  We missed the Shakespeare Festival by just a few days and the rain curtailed other activities so another visit is warranted – in a different season.

The same is true with Eugene.   We were surprised when we drove into Armitage County Park to find that the campground was fully booked – in November!  It didn’t take long to realize the reason was because there was a University of Oregon  football game that weekend and people from outside Eugene were staying in the park.  The Ducks won and they were all happy.

Oregon State Parks are very nice in general and these two County Parks were outstanding.  The park in Eugene even had a laundry facility and cable TV, in addition to all the normal upgrades.

Alas, even though the park was one of the finest we’ve been to – we were tired of the rain and tired of being cooped up in a small space.  We left on Monday, a day early, and came to my parents’ home in Vancouver.  It is still raining, but at least we have other people to talk to and space to be together or alone as we choose.

My aunt Bonnie and cousins, Lisa, Chris and Kylee (last seen at the chili competition in Las Vegas) joined us and we had a nice Thanksgiving.   After dinner, we enjoyed our traditional Russian Rummy card game, breaking for the Seahawks win, and then concluding the game.

On Saturday, Randy and I will leave for two warm weeks in Mazatlan, Mexico.  When we come back we will head for a cold, wonderful week in Boise, celebrating Christmas and Archer’s birthday.   The trailer is at a local RV renovation business getting new window shades.  We will see it again at the end of December when we head south to warmer weather and fewer rainy days.

We spent a week at Lake of the Springs RV Resort, on the western side of the Sierras in northern California, or in other words, Our Own Private Idaho.   After seeing very few people from Idaho along this journey, there were 4 of us from Idaho right in succession along our loop. There is another former Idaho couple (now from California) up the hill.   Gooding, Priest River, Nampa and Boise (twice) are represented.   All are full timers or “most” timers.   Many spend extended time here.  I agree, this is a great place and my favorite stop.

We have a beautiful campsite with great views 270 degrees.

We have been able to see deer on almost every walk, and sometimes while we just sit in the trailer.   The deer come around and explore our campsite and we can observe them daily from our windows.

One evening it was really windy so our perch up on the hill seemed a little shakey but overall we loved it.

I discovered that I really like line-dancing.  They have line dancing class in the activity center most mornings and it is a little bit physical exercise and a lot (for me) mental exercise.  It was great fun.

One rainy day we went into Grass Valley to the old Del Oro Theater and saw Interstellar.  The theater was built in the 40s and had been refurbished in a very authentic way.

Another day we went to West Coast Falconry, one of the only schools in the country where you can actually learn how to work with falcons and hawks.   Because of our schedule and theirs, we went to an Owl Experience.  We got up close with three beautiful owls and learned a lot about owls in general.  Randy and I were even able to have one of the owls fly back and forth from person to person and land on our gloved hands.  The trainers were feeding the mouse pieces so it was okay.  Unfortunately, I had a HUGE operator error and deleted the pictures before I saved them to the computer.   I wish you could have seen them!  And I wish I still had them to see as well!  When we come back to this great park, we will return to West Coast Falconry and do the Falcon Experience and get more pictures!  They were kind enough to send me pictures of two of the owls!

Today we left Lake of the Springs and traveled (without drama) to Ashland, Oregon.  We saw a lot of trailers headed south, but not too many going north like we are!

Along a very nice section of I-5, (unlike the Seattle, Portland and LA sections), we saw Shasta Lake.  It was very beautiful and also very sad in how low the water level is.  Research indicated that they are experiencing their third lowest level all time due to the drought – and rapidly approaching the second worst.  Many interesting things are showing up as the water is receding.

We also saw Mt. Shasta.  When we saw the height designation it didn’t seem that much lower than Mt. Whitney a few weeks ago.  It prompted a search to see where Mt. Shasta ranked in US mountains.  (I am the co-pilot, I have time to do these things.)   Here is the info that I thought was interesting.

Of the 50 highest mountains in the US, the first 11 in height are in Alaska, led by Mt. McKinley (Denali).  Fourteen of the highest 50 mountains are in Alaska.

Mt. Whitney (tallest in the lower 48) ranks #12 in the US.   It is the first of the seven mountains in California that made it into the top 50.  Mt. Shasta ranks #34.

Colorado has 28 of the tallest 50 mountains in the US (yes 28!) led by Mt. Ebert at #14.

Only one of the highest 50 mountains in the US is outside of Alaska, California and Colorado.  That is Mt. Raineer in Washington coming in at #17.

Hope you found that little bit of info interesting!

Our first “detour stop” was Soledad Canyon RV Resort near Acton, California. We arrived without drama and found a nice place on a ridge looking out at the San Gabriel Mountains. We did see this sign as we entered our camping loop warning people to watch their small pets.  We were glad Elko is big.

That evening we took a walk through a huge campground that had been allowed to deteriorate in a sad way.  Large sections were unusable.  We could hear the pack of coyotes howling from across the narrow canyon. We could also hear many dogs barking from a local rescue facility.  (You could hear one or both groups pretty much throughout our stay.)  “This place is creepy” became a common refrain.  During the walk we also became aware that Elko had eaten something he found along the way.

The fact that Elko had eaten something rotten became very apparent the next day. No details are necessary, but he was running out the door to let loose every hour or so.  Since I am the one that can wake up in a moment, I was the one who would follow him out many times a night, hear the dogs and the coyotes, and  pray the coyotes and/or a mountain lion weren’t in the vicinity.  The place was creepy!

After two long days and nights we went to a local vet who said that labs eating things they shouldn’t keep him in business. He tested for parasites and giardia (both negative), and gave Elko an antibiotic and special food.  Fortunately, he bounced back in time for us to move on – we’d of had to stay longer in the creepy place if he couldn’t travel.

We had another unfortunate travel day!  We have two GPS devices, one designed for RVs which knows our height and length and is suppose to keep us out of trouble with tight turns and low tunnels/overpasses.  The other is for regular vehicles that we have used mostly successfully for years.  Since  we have had trouble with both devices on this adventure we decided to use them simultaneously -and I had an old fashioned map in my lap.   Each GPS was suggesting a different route, both of which turned out to be bad, the RV one suggested a route we were too long for and the other was trying to send us down a road that wasn’t even big enough to be on the map.  I eventually resorted to calling the resort and taking their recommendation to come in from the north (even though we were coming from the south).  We aren’t sure how we are going to solve our GPS problem – even Google Maps on our phones aren’t always  dependable.

During our circuitous route we saw lots of California agriculture, the largest feed lot ever, oil wells and some kind of light collection euipment that we didn’t understand. It appeared that there was a large array of mirrors projecting the sun’s rays onto a panel high atop this tower.  It seemed like something out of a science fiction movie.  If you know what it was, let us know.

After our travel adventures, we arrived at our second “detour stop” after dark, (very dark).   Then it is time to pick a spot!  We got up close and personal with an overhanging tree Randy couldn’t see in the dark, but fortunately had no permanent damage.   Our current place is the San Benito RV Resort near Hollister, California.  This place isn’t creepy – its nice.

After trying to avoid the animals at our last stop, here we are trying to find the local favorite, the bobcat. Bobcats are seen regularly in the park and vicinity and we have walked the route where they are usually seen many times a day.  We have seen deer on every walk and seen and heard many woodpeckers, but no bobcats…

Our other activities have been down the road a few miles at Pinnacles National Park. It is the newest park in the system having just received that designation in 2013.

Today we drove to the park and hiked to and explored Bear Gulch Cave.  We usually go to caves that have a ranger led tour and electric lights so this one was different.  This one was just us and our headlight and flashlight.  Of course, it was in the park so there were people around and wasn’t too dangerous.  It was interesting and not creepy until I thought of the San Andreas fault.

We did have a couple great things happen in the last week (besides surviving the drive, Elko’s illness and the creepy place).  We had our first visual computer link with Natasha, Seth and Archer.  Archer was far more interested in looking at himself on the computer, than interacting with us, but that will come.

And, we got our third, and final, volunteer position for summer 2015.  We will be at Chief Plenty Coupes Historic State Park, near Billings, Montana for the month of September.  It will host two large (500-700 people) Native American events in September as well as school field trips.  I will be working education, and Randy will be doing maintenance.  We are very excited about this different type of opportunity.

On the road again tomorrow….hopefully without GPS adventures…

We had an interesting drive through Death Valley! We are excited to go back someday, stay in the park, and really visit instead of just driving through. The area is so vast with many different landscapes,  as well as healthy coyotes, $5.98 gas, sand dunes, and many elevation markers.

We didn’t actually see the lowest elevation in North America, -282 feet at Badwater Basin, but this was pretty close on our GPS.

Traveling just 100 miles west , we are now in the shadow of the highest point in the lower 48, Mount Whitney at 14,491 feet.   We are in Lone Pine, California on the east side of the Sierras.

After getting settled in Lone Pine we went to Manzanar, a National Historical Site on the grounds of the former Japanese relocation center.

Having been at Minidoka, and then seeing some items from Topaz near Delta, we were stunned at this historical site.  The entire compound is still viewable.  About 10,000 people lived in barracks in this camp.  The concrete slabs are still there and they have built replicas of 2 barracks.  There are also areas where the residents built gardens, a cemetery, schools and many other regular places of life.  They just did it behind barbed wire.  The visitor center, in the old gymnasium, is very thought provoking. Some of the things they had to endure seem unimaginable now.  It was sad to think this ever happened, and this site is a place everyone should see.  (Sorry for the picture quality – it was dusk.)

The next day we got back to fun things! Our first start was the Film History Museum.  Due to its proximity to LA, (and the scenery), this area was a common “location” for movies beginning in the 1920s.  Over 200 movies were filmed in the Alabama Hills near here, mostly westerns.  You’ve seen the area many times and never knew!  It has also been used in science fiction movies and, more recently, lots of truck commercials.  If you love movies, especially old movies, you would love this museum!  We spent an hour in the museum and barely scratched the surface.

Then we went “on location” to the Alabama Hills themselves. You can purchase a map where you can see where different movies were filmed using GPS coordinates.    But we had a different reason for wanting to go.   As RVers, we have heard about the Alabama Hills as a common “boondocking” area.

Boondocking is camping without hook-ups, generally with solar panels, on BLM land, for free, up to 14 days at a time. It is not something we aspire to, but we were interested in seeing the area that people we’ve read or heard from are so excited about.  The view here would be something to get excited about!

We did enjoy driving around, hiking a bit, and generally enjoying the views!

When we arrived in Lone Pine the mountains were bare, and now there is snow! The weather has turned cold.  Randy spent the morning outside doing some of the never ending trailer maintenance (due to living in it full time and  rockin’and rollin’ down the road) and had to take a long shower to warm up!  Originally, we were going to go north and cross into Yosemite but now the pass is closed and our plans had to change.   We are headed to the west side the Sierras by going around the south end instead of through them.  We knew that might happen this late in the season so no worries – just more opportunity for me to look at maps and plan where to go!

This week we have been in Pahrump, Nevada – 60 miles west of Las Vegas and 60 miles east of Death Valley. We are in a nice park full of friendly snowbirds (like us) and with all kinds of amenities and activities, but the real meaning to the week has been friends and family, or chronologically, family and friends.

As we were driving through Las Vegas toward Pahrump, my cousin Lisa and her husband Chris were also there for the World Chili Cook-off competition held last weekend at Mandalay Bay.   Their daughter, Kylee, and my aunt Bonnie flew in Thursday evening.   Chili cook-offs have been a hobby for their family for many years and we have always hoped to be able to go have the experience.   It finally worked out!  On Friday, we drove back in to Las Vegas, visited with them, and tasted lots of yummy chili.   You buy tickets for $1 apiece, decide from whom you’d like to taste chili and then get a very small cup.  And you do that about 10 times!  (Of course, we got family chili for free.)   It is amazing how subtle the differences are in how the chili can taste.  It was fun to go to the chili cookoff and great to see family!

In the middle of our stay we did a few activities here in the park and around the area. We found that even though we are 60 miles east of Death Valley, that access is really just one small portion of the park.  Death Valley National Park is huge and we were just too far away to do much.  The weather is still too warm to leave Elko in the truck except in the morning and evening and the visitor sites in the park were too far away to leave him here all day and evening.   We will drive through the park when we leave here but our experience will be limited.   Death Valley will require a separate visit, staying right in the middle of the park at Furnace Creek and branching out from there.  That’s okay, we can do that sometime!

The most interesting excursion we went on was to the China Ranch Date Farm. At the southern edge of barren Death Valley is a beautiful, natural oasis where a Chinese man raised lifestock in the late 1800’s.  The wife of an owner in the 1920’s planted a few date trees.   Current owners moved to the farm in the late 1970’s and planted many more date trees to run as a family farm.  Currently, they grow 18 varieties of dates and ship them around the country.   It is quite a drive into the farm but the difference between the desert and the date farm oasis is amazing!   They advertise date shakes and baked goods.  We tried both!

The week here in Pahrump is ending with a visit from Kent and Pam as they head to Las Vegas for a tennis tournament. Do you think if we just stayed put near Las Vegas we would see lots of you?

We visited, played pickleball, did the winery tour and tasting (connected to our RV resort) and went to the winery clubhouse dinner.   As always, it was great to spend time with Kent and Pam!  We are so glad they travel a lot because we think we’ll be able to hook up with them fairly often.  It has only been a few weeks since we saw them in Delta, Utah.

We are also so excited that friends Darrell and Cindy have already made their reservations to go to Farragut State Park while we are camp hosting there in July and August!! I get to start working on reservations for Natasha, Seth and Archer to come north.  I know my parents will come!   We would love to see anyone who thinks northern Idaho in the summer sounds good!

We got another camp hosting job this week too! We will be at Cove Palisades State Park, north of Redmond, Oregon for the month of May.  If anyone might be available to come see us there, we will be hosts at the Crooked River Loop, site E73.

Leaving family and friends behind is the hard part as we go on this adventure– seeing you on the road is very exciting, and appreciated!!