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18 May 2010

I’ve never even come close to the length of time in-between blogs as I’ve done this time.  Sooo, were do I start…

Our journey coming out of California was partially on California Highway 1.  We drove that winding, narrow, slow highway from just outside of Los Angeles to Santa Cruz.  After leaving the Morro Bay area we headed up to see if we could get a tour into the Hurst Castle.  Just about 5 miles south of the castle, California has another state park that we were able to get into.  This worked out great as we were able to get an 8:30am tour at the castle the next morning and this would give us a quick and close run up in the morning.  The afternoon prior to our tour we got our tickets and took the opportunity to see the I-Max movie of the Hurst Castle.  There is no doubt this is a great story and a good piece of history for the state and the country.  If he was to have tried to live the life-style today with all the women in his life and the way that he treated his family, he would have gone into seclusion I’m sure, but that was a different time and he did build quite a monument to himself that draws a huge crowd year after year.  Louise

_and I totally agreed on one thing, the “castle” it’s self was a disappointment.  It was really “cold” inside and made you feel very uncomfortable.  The outside of the castle left a lot to be desired too, but the landscaping

_and the pools…amazing.

_God, with all that money and all the property equaled quite a dream come true for him.  Continuing on our coast drive we made one more stop for a nights rest. 

_We knew that we were getting close to Los Gatos and the home of Laurie and Bob so with a quick phone call we got ourselves invited to stay a day or two.  Our kayaking buddies are great hosts and friends and we were made to feel right at home in their driveway.  We’re hoping to join them on the water again when they make it up north.  From Los Gatos we headed over to take I-5 and made our next stop at the Casino in Redding.  Our last time there we left with just under $150 and this time we (Louise) left with another $100.  Now as we leave Redding, we’re heading into the snow and rain and we’ll carry that with us all the way to Salem, Oregon.  I have a 94 year old aunt that lives here and I just wanted to stop by and see how she’s doing.  Aunt Neola has been a tough lady all her life and being 94 hasn’t slowed her down much.  Then a stop up I-5 to Charbonneau and have lunch with Leroy before ending up our day with a stop in Gresham.  We’ll stay in Gresham with Ricardo and Suzie for a couple of nights, pick up our car that we left with them over the last 6 months, and then head up to the Tall Chief resort. 

_24 April 2010

After leaving Indio we headed over to Los Angeles to check out a manufacturer of RV furniture.  I found them online over a year ago and kept them in mind to “someday check them out”.  Their website looks really good and their prices…pretty darn good.  Now let us see just what is what.  We’ve kicked around the idea of either reupholstering or replacing the couch, but with their prices it almost makes sense to look at replacing everything.  Just before noon after pulling into their parking lot and meeting one of the owners, we were given the “grand tour”…  Rick and his partner started this business about 15 years ago and is doing quite well.  There biggest part of their business is home theater seating and then it breaks down to the RV and boat furniture end.  They ship all over the world from this one manufacturing plant and all of their business is done out of a catalog, although they will do custom manufacturing as well.  I will admit I went with a negative mind set but came away quite the opposite…very impressive. 

Now it was time to get the hell out of Los Angeles before the traffic comes to life and we’re caught right in the middle of it…we’re off to the coast, where I had no idea, just drive until we have to stop for the night.  Well we got as far as Lompoc and immediately headed off to find the local Wal-mart for a night of dry camping.  A surprise awaited us as we pulled in and found out that they don’t allow over-night camping in their parking lot like most others…  Well as it happened, we looked across the street and noticed that there was a large group of trucks and 5th wheel trailers parked together…the carnival was just arriving.  With our little motor home in-between 2 of their big rigs we got away with a free nights lodging.  Early the next morning we headed off for our next stop along the California coast…Montaña de Oro State Park.  We’ve heard how the state parks fill up in California so we weren’t too sure we’d get a spot.  As luck would have it, we found we’re still traveling in the early part of the season and their campgrounds aren’t full yet, but that will be changing soon.

_We had a lot of young families camping around us, and they brought all their “little ones” with them…what a good time for all of us.  For Louise and me, it gave us a chance to take a couple of nice long hikes along the beach. 

_On one of the hikes we almost stepped on a rattlesnake !!!  The trail was wide enough for us to have seen it in plenty of time, but our attention was caught by a little lizard scampering away from us.  Fortunately it just wanted to get out of our way more than set up and fight.  It was so close that I could almost count its rattles.  We knew that there were these critters all around us but that was a little “all too close”.  Other than the short lived scare, we had some wonderful sights and adventures along the beach.  From the white shale

_to the unusual rock formations with pass-thruogh waterways...

_Life continues to be wonderful.

_21 April 2010
Notice the little green string under our "Hummer"???
We've been here in Indio for the last 10 days and we're ready to pull out in the morning. I'd say the real reason we stayed this long was the weather...that is the weather up north.Not that it's changed all that much but we're going for it anyway.  Our stay in Indio allowed us to take in another street market in Desert Palms.  About 2 years ago we took in our first market there and really enjoyed it so we're making it a must do when in the area.  I found one of those "Fire in a Can (although the one I bought was called an "urn") that I've been wanting for quite some time.  It stands about a foot high, 10 inches square, and has a fire
pit with volcanic rock that run off of a propane tank.  This will be useful when we want to just sit outside while watching the stars and enjoy a small fire at our feet.  During our stay we also enjoyed taking a few long walks, riding our bikes in the park, shopping at one of our favorite Mexican grocery stores, and finding a new (to us) casino.  The Fantasy Casino is really a very nice casino, as far as casino's go.  Good food in anyone of the 4 restaurants, very attractive, clean, not too smokey (and I'm a nut over that...), and the machines seem to be some what "loose".  I saw one lady win $1,000 on a penny machine and quite afew winning
into the one and two hundred areas.  Louise was even at $230 early on.  At 6pm we were able to sign up for their "club card".  Their deal was; for us to put in $20, once or if that was used up, you would push a button with your card in the slot, and you would be credited $50. You couldn't take that $50 directly out, but what ever winnings you made you could draw out.  I pulled out $53 gross, our $33 and Louise came back with just over $100...we had a great dinner and a good time and we still have a little of our money left.

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11 April 2010

Our Google Earth location is:  33.70596N, 116.21192W    Indian Waters RV Park, Indio, California

_Once again our drive out of Yuma to Indio took us down California 8 to El Centro and north on 111.  We passed along side the Salton Sea passed by The Fountain Of Youth RV Resort

_and then into Indo.   We arrived this last Friday afternoon after a quick stop by Algodones, Mexico.   We had to stop by Algodones once more because Louise lost her prescription sunglasses somewhere and she needed to replace them before we got too far away.  By “quick stop”, I mean that by the time we stopped outside border, crossed over,

_walked to the optometrist who took an examination of her eyes, made the glasses (2 pair), had a great lunch, walked back across the border, and back on the road in 2 ½ hours…not bad.  Oh ya, it cost us $100 plus $10 for lunch.  Two weeks ago we had driven into Yuma and immediately went over to see Mark and Susan (Louise’s brother).  We parked in their drive last November for a couple of days but this time we were offered a second option…some friends of theirs offered they’re place to us to pull into.  Jim and Nancy have a large lot that was set up for RV parking in 4 different locations around the property.

_Including the RV parking they have a small casita that we could use to watch TV, wash clothes, or stay in if we wanted.

_Hell, we even had “Wi-Fi”…pretty nice digs from some great people.  We couldn’t thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity.  On Easter afternoon, after we were sitting around after a great barbeque, we were “treated?” to a 7.4 earthquake !!!  There were about 20 of us enjoying “our” patio and a great pot-luck when the ground started to shake and shake…  Some of us guessed that it lasted at least 2 minutes or more, but the reality of it was much less.  Less of not, it was one hell of a shake…  Even some of the “after” quakes came close to the size of the first and they continued for a few days after.  If you remember, I wanted to get the frontend aligned on the Winnie while in Yuma.  Well I got that taken care of…

_it only cost me a set of upper ball-joints, 4 more items on the tie-rod, and the alignment, and all for $528.  Next it was new glasses for me in Algodones and a trip to the dentist for the both of us for a cleaning.  All in all, we had a great visit, met and made new friends, got a lot of our “must do’s” done, and once again continued on our way.

_18 October ‘09 Some of the locals tell us it wasn’t quite that warm, but let me tell you something…these “locals” don’t know what they’re talking about.  As we pulled into Indio this afternoon the first sign we saw that was showing the temperature, indicated the temperature was 107 degrees and I BELIEVE IT !!!  Right or wrong, it was hot as hell.  We’re sitting here at Indian Waters (our campground for a couple of days), at 9pm and it’s still in the high 80’s.  Hell, we’re just not used to this heat all at once, we’re “Northwestern’ers”.  When we left Seattle it was getting into the low 50’s and when we pulled out of Portland, the winds were howling and the temperature was in the high 30’s, now…the 80’s at 9pm?        Well the drive down out of the Grapevine and onto Indio was hot but other than that, un-eventful.  After arriving here at Indian Waters, we hooked up, started up the roof-air, and headed for the pool.  Just after 6 we walked down to the local shopping area (about ½ mile each way) and split a very nice Italian dinner.  Now we’re sitting here reading and catching up on the blog, little by little.  I’m already missing not having the internet dish with us.  We’ve found a campground that wanted to charge us $8.95 a day to get our emails and now we’ve found one that was only $2 but it would only give us 60 megs per DAY (which is nothing)…I want my satellite dish back.  It’s either that or I’ll just have to stop up-loading my pictures.  We’ll see how things go down the road.

_17 October ‘09 After being in a campground with all the hook-ups, tonight we are parked beneath the stars about 30 miles north of Los Angeles.  More specifically, we are dry camped at Pyramid Lake, just at the southern end of the “Grapevine”.  Our campsite sits on the side of the hills above the lake (no views from here) with no sounds but the crickets and the aroma of the steak on the BBQ.  The further we get into southern California the warmer…no HOTTER it gets.  Here we are, about 3500’ above sea-level at 6 pm and its 90 degrees.  Now much later (fact is, it’s now 7:30am) and its 52 degrees…we even had to pull up the comforter this morning.  Oh ya, I forgot to mention the bugs.  We’re back into those damn little flies that bite, suck blood, and leave a deep red mark that itches like hell for a week…damn those little critters. 

Boy gas prices have sure been running the gambit.   Since arriving in California, we’ve paid anywhere from $2.74 to $3.39 a gallon. 

_16 October ‘09 Who doesn’t like a drive through the California wine fields (especially now with all the foliage changing colors), filled with all those beautiful tasting rooms (huge buildings that look more like personal mansions), and all this bathed in perpetual sunshine.  There is no doubt about it, northern California is beautiful.  From the Pacific beaches that are dotted with “sea stacks”,

_to the incredible Redwood forests, and as I mentioned above, the wine fields.  Our drive continued to take us down Hwy 101 until we hit Hwy 12, and then a drive through Sonoma and onto our campground alongside the Sacramento Delta.  This is our 4th time to stay at one of two campgrounds along the Delta and into this area.  Each and every time we have passed by the Jelly Belly plant and have said “we’ve got to stop and take the tour someday”…well today was that day.  We pulled in about 2:30 and in another 15 minutes we were offered samples and guided throughout the plant.  The history leading up to the “Jelly Belly” was really fascinating.  It’s the familiar immigrant story that came about by brothers bringing a candy receipt to the states in the late 1800’s, going broke, and then finally a couple of the “family” members brought it to what we all enjoy today.  Another part of the success of the company came about when “Governor Reagan” brought them into the Capital building then into the White House as President. 

_15 October ‘09 This “tin roof” is amazing…  I’m not sure whether we had a slight rain fall last night or more than likely, we were the target of falling foliage from the tall trees above us.  Anyway, it was like living in a water torture chamber all night.  Prior to leaving this morning I grabbed my tire gauge and proceeded to check the tires for departure.  When we had the tires installed in Portland, I made sure that the installer knew that I checked the tires regularly, so “Please” make sure that I can get at all the valve stems to get an accurate check…”no problem”…  Ya right.  When we arrived to pick up the coach they had a valve stem so short that I couldn’t even find it…”Oh, well I had better get an extension on there for you”…  Ya right.  This morning I went to check the tire pressure and guess what???  One of the rear tires, with an extension, didn’t show any pressure…Thank God it was one of the outside duels because I could see that it did have plenty of air, and besides that, ALL of the tires were about 20lbs over inflated !!!  I was NOT a happy camper this morning.  Well there wasn’t anything that I can do now about the incompetence of this installer and his company, but I could do something…  We drove directly to Les Schwab in Brookings and told them of our dilemma.  It didn’t take but 10 minutes and they were out there at the coach and “fixed” everything….”NO CHARGE” !!!  What could I say but “Thanks Les Schwab”.  We finished off the Oregon coast and continued down Hwy 101 with more stops for pictures, a late breakfast, and lunch…all sitting beside the heavy surf crashing at our wheels.  Another “detour” was driving the 26 miles through “The Avenue Of The Giants”.  It was a slow ride because of the narrow two lane road, but the views of the great Redwoods made it well worth the time.  We had planned to camp in one of their state campgrounds in The Giants, but when we pulled up to register, we were blown away by the $35 a night charge WITHOUT hook-ups.  Well the Giants are very nice, but the price for the stay just didn’t warrant our staying with them…cheap, Yep…  Sooo, further down 101 we found an abandoned restaurant parking lot that sits right next to a gold course that said to us…COME-ON IN, THE WEATHER IS GREAT AND THE COST IS FREE… 

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29 November ‘08

Saturday

Our time at Disney was just long enough and with our reservation set for Ramona, we set sail down I-5.  I must admit, it was just like sailing…that is, on the back of a snail.  We really thought that the Thanksgiving Day traffic would be light, but we were sure wrong.  Heck, we only had 90 miles to go and it took us over 3 hours to get there.  I have to admit, if I was still driving my car instead of the motor home, my blood pressure would have been sky high.  I don’t know what it is but driving the coach has made a difference.  OK, we made it to Ramona Canyon RV Resort (one of our member campgrounds) and settled in.  We enjoyed our last visit here and are looking forward to enjoying this one too.  This afternoon we drove up to one of the many reservoirs around the area in hopes of doing a little kayaking only to find that it was closed.  Yep, closed…  out of water (well pretty low anyway)… and the sign said it would be closed until 2012-2014.  California is really hurting for water, there is no doubt and every reservoir we saw was so low on water it wasn’t even funny.  Well with no water and not a chance of kayaking today, we decided to check out a couple of hiking trails.

_One of those trails we will be going back to in the morning and the other, we hiked today.  Because of the time of day, we chose the shorter trail of 3 miles and climbed an additional 1330 feet from were we left the car.  Now all we have to do take a deep breath and finish the day with a little shopping trip to Trader Joe’s and Costco.  Once we leave here we are not going to have their stores available to us for quite some time so stocking up with our “favorite” things from their stores was important.  Well another subject…the weather.  The sun was out today and the temp was hovering around 72 with the promise of 75 tomorrow and beyond for a few more days.  Now that is something I can get used too.

_26 November ‘08 Wednesday

Our day started just as it did yesterday by heading directly into Disneyland and enjoying a couple more rides before California Adventures opened.  Our first ride was in Adventure Land.  We jumped into the Jeep of Indiana Jones Adventure and traveled a wild and crazy ride through the jungle and tunnels of Adventure Land.  Next it was over to Frontier Land and the exciting train ride of Big Thunder Mountain.

_This is one ride that we all loved the last time we were here and rode it a number of times before we left.  We thought about riding Splash Mountain but the additional thought of getting wet just didn’t give us the idea of fun, so we now have a reason to come back some day…when it’s a little warmer.  Then it was time to head over to California Adventure.  Our first ride there was one that we ended up doing twice.  It was Soaring Over California.  On this ride it takes you high into the air and you take this “virtual” glider ride over some of the wonderful locations throughout California.  It is amazing how real the “virtual” feels…hang on…  We followed that with another ride that we did twice.  This one is known as Maliboomer. 

_On this ride, you sit on a seat that is attached to a 180 foot tower.  At the end of a 10 count you are blasted straight up to the top of the tower and then “yo-yo’d” back down…WHAT A RUSH!  Next door is another incredible ride.  California Screamin…

_This is one fast and long rollercoaster.  First, you are LAUNCHED to an amazing speed and then launched directly upward.  After reaching the top (and it doesn’t take much time) you are heading into a nose dive, a twist right and then left, jetted into a complete flip so that you are now upside-down and then some more of the same…AMAZING !!! 

A little more timid ride was our next.  The Orange Stinger, and then the Mulhalland Madness, and and and…  What a day !!!  Our last ride for the day was one that I really thought was a very old hotel.  Well it turned out that this ride was one for the books.  We took this “freight elevator” up 4 floors only to have the door open up in front of us and, showing us just how far up we were, and then the bottom drops out from under us plunging us up and down 2 to 3 floors each way.  Of course each time we came to the 2 top floors the door would fly open and we would see the height we had obtained and lost.  Quite a ride!!!  Like yesterday, we pulled up stakes about 3 and headed back to the coach to re-group.  One further location that our bus would take us was one that I’ve always wanted to visit…The Crystal Cathedral.  We arrived at the Cathedral just before 7 and were amazed at what we found.  First, I was disappointed that they don’t light the exterior of the building and tower, but that disappointment was short lived.  They just happened to be having a dress rehearsal for “The Glory of Christmas”

_and they just happened to have a couple of free tickets for us….WOW !!!  This was a pageant that you just have to see and we were blessed to have had that opportunity.  The story, music, dancing, costumes, animals and the set…WONDERFUL, absolutely wonderful.  Now it’s time to hurry back to Disneyland.  Unfortunately we just missed our bus heading back so we had to wait another hour.  By the time the next bus arrived and by the time we hit the gates at Disneyland, we heard the loud blast of the first aerial fireworks going off over the Fantasyland Castle.  This is why the rush to get back…the magic fireworks of Disney.

_They say that Disney spends over $40,000 each night during this season for the fireworks display, and I believe it…it is beautiful.  Just as the last rocket is blasted into its multi-colored spectical high over our heads, the castle covered in sparkling ice

_and you find yourself being layered in SNOW…  Yep, they even have their own snow fall… pretty good huh?  Ok, let’s get for home, it’s been a full day and we’re underway in the morning.