2/17/2024 Wintertime Chillin’, New Mexico Style

Time to flee Kalifornia once again, we went jacks-up and headed east on our usual path of escape – the Tehachapi Pass on Hwy. 58. The temperatures have been cold to start the new year and we are in “weather watch” mode so as to not get hit with a lot of snow while traveling. I will never be a big fan of driving Rosie through snow and ice. We buckled down and pushed on into Primm, NV, and an overnight dry-camp stay at Whiskey Pete’s Casino. Then it was a short hop into our next stop, a return stay with the Boulder City Elk’s Lodge. The temperatures were absolutely frigid, but the mountains around Vegas had the very lightest dusting of snow. This stop was mostly for the purpose of getting chores done; Costco, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Jeanne’s hair cut, a quick tire rotation at Discount Tire, and, OK, a small donation to the local economy (hey, Sin City, what else can I say?). We also made a return visit to Hoover Dam to check on the status of Lake Mead compared to our last visit.

Moving on down the road, we conquered the battle of icy roads through the Flagstaff area and into an overnight stay at a defunct truck stop in Winslow, AZ. Up and at ‘em early, we motored our way to yet another return visit to the Enchanted Trails RV Park outside of Albuquerque, NM. A few days rest and on to our leased lot at The Ranch (SKP park) in Lakewood, NM. 

We got settled in for a bit of an extended stay, mainly to wait out the winter weather. I took the opportunity to do a few fixes on Rosie, at least the ones within my limited skillset. In all the cold weather our fresh water hose that is mounted on a motorized reel keeps freezing and snapping off small sections as I reel it in and out, so I had to replace the hose, not a difficult task. One of my more apprehensive endeavors was a clogged backflush spray head inside Rosie’s black tank (that would be sewer for you non-RVer types). A quick look on-line in the Tiffin RV Network (tiffinrvnetwork.com) and a huge leap of faith got me into the “belly of the beast” (Rosie’s guts) where I found the access to the backflush spray head to be very easy. I also tore into the (3) heat/ac units on the roof to clean the filters and hopefully discover the source of an interior water leak, the jury is still out on that one…

We utilized some of our time doing a little yard work around the casita. Being in the desert “yard work” consists mainly of playing with rocks. So we managed to kick our own butts, moving a total of (12) tons of rock that we had delivered by Southeast Redi-Mix from Carlsbad. The long dormant muscles that we both gave a rude wake-up call to are still screaming at us!

Rosie developed another coolant leak from the low coolant sensor, necessitating a road trip to the nearest Freightliner shop in Odessa, TX. A couple of nights camped out in their lot and, since we were there, what the heck, it was north to Lubbock for more big box shopping. We returned to the Lubbock Elk’s Lodge for a few days stay. Unfortunately for us, those few days included a pretty good dump of SNOW! It created some fun time (NOT) on our day of departure, it took me almost 3 hours to thaw the icicles and clear the slide toppers just so we could fold up the slides. Success attained, it was jacks up and back to The Ranch.

Clearer weather at The Ranch, we completed the finishing touches to our landscape project. Our backs and shoulders were happy to see the final placement of rocks! 

We have been meaning to pay a visit to nearby Sitting Bull Falls, just haven’t had the time/opportunity to venture out. With the yard done for now, we caught a nice weather day and headed out to the falls. New Mexico did a really nice job on the infrastructure/facility at this tiny little podunk-nowhere natural attraction. It is REALLY way out in the middle of nowhere, 32 miles off the “main” highway near the megalopolis of the “town” of Queen (basically, a cafe, a tin barn fire department, and a whole lot of nothing). The hike to the bottom of the falls was short (a couple hundred yards…maybe) and mostly concrete walkway. The water pools at the base of the falls was crystal clear beautiful, reminiscent of the clear waters in Montana. We also discovered the existence of a trail straight up the mountain which takes one to the spring headwaters for the falls. We were not prepared for a more strenuous hike at that time, but hey, now we have another activity to look forward to.

So this catches you up for now. I’ll leave you with a photo that represents the stressful lives of full-time RVers.  Until next post…

1/1/2024 Happy New Year 2024!

Working our way north from Santa Barbara and continuing with our little “Elk’s” tour, a  short return visit to the Santa Maria Elk’s Lodge was next. Chad & Crissy (our son & daughter-in-law) wanted to provide us a little Christmas cheer, so they treated us to a family overnight stay at the Cambria Pines Lodge in Cambria. The lodge does a yearly MASSIVE display of Christmas lights that we enjoyed with granddaughters Hailey, Ellie, Chad & Crissy.

Another really huge (NOT!) travel day moved us up to another return visit to the Oceano/5 Cities Elk’s Lodge. This lodge is right at the entrance to the Oceano Dunes State Beach (commonly referred to as Pismo Dunes). We spent a few quality days taking walkabouts down the beach, gawking at some of the spectacular left coast sunsets, stumbling all over the many live, washed-ashore Pismo clams, strolling the Pismo Beach pier and surrounding area, and otherwise enjoying the sunny December weather of the Central Coast of California. 

Having to burn a couple of days before we were due back at the Atascadero Elk’s Lodge, we returned to the San Luis Obispo Elk’s Lodge to fill that gap. Then it was on into A-Town Elk’s for a few days prep work before we road tripped with Chad’s family south for a Christmas stay in Big Bear, CA.

Christmas Eve required a family drive to check out the various Christmas lights on neighborhood homes. It might be just me, but there was a sad lack of participation in the Griswold Christmas Vacation tradition of exterior home illumination. We did find a “crown jewel” which had a walk path through and among the various lighted decorations, that homeowner had the right attitude!

Christmas Day, after Hailey & Ellie plowed through their family (and Santa) presents, the whole clan loaded up and drove to Big Bear Lake for a 4-day stay at a local cabin and some snow time fun. Oh boy were we surprised…absolutely NO snow on the mountains except for the limited resorts’ man-made variety! It was certainly cold enough, just missing the requisite storm activity to completely blanket the area.

Still, we were able to take the family skiing at Bear Mountain Resort; it had a couple of their ski trails open. Hailey & Ellie got their first timer ski lessons and had a blast, Chad & Crissy did their snow board thing on the growed up slopes.

Another day found us watching Hailey & Ellie do some tubing at the Snowplay park. They had a blast rippin’ down the hill. Hailey was hilarious at the end of the day. Worn out, she came off the hill carping angrily about “having to drag Ellie around” while sitting in her tube and not helping with dragging the tubes back to the lines. Just thinking back on that brings on a little chuckle…

One night we did a walkabout in the area of Big Bear Lake called The Village. They definitely embraced the Griswold tradition of exterior lighting and even without any snow it was very nice scenery.

All good things must come to an end and it was time to head back to Atascadero, just in time to enjoy the New Year’s celebration. Jeanne found California Coast Brewery that had a “Noon Balloon Drop” on NYE, so it sounded like a good idea for lunch and a couple of cold ones. In all the years of coming to the area, we were unaware of this little gem of a brewery (it had been there for 4 years). The place was packed, the Juicy IPA was good, the smoked brisket sando was outstanding, the band was pretty good, and the balloon drop was fun.

We followed that up with a NYE “Bonfire Concert in the Park” in downtown Paso Robles. Also packed, the Fire Dept. put on a huge bonfire of flaming pallets amid all the Griswold decorated trees while the Lucky Devil’s Band played their sort of Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire-ish style of music (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, trombone, trumpet, sax). Local food and drink outfits had vendor tents to quench that hunger and thirst throughout the night.

So welcome to 2024. We hope you all have a healthy & prosperous year. I’ll leave you with a photo that perfectly sums up what happens when a body has more fun than is humanly possible. Until next post…

12/5/2023 Caution: Lots of Family Stuff and Grandkid Photos

Jeanne’s brother Dave survived his eye surgery like a champ and it was time to head south for grandkid time. Our first stop was back to Atascadero and a couple of weeks at the Elk’s Lodge there. And first on our itinerary was one of 5 year old Ellie’s soccer games. There is no forgetting soccer at that age…it should be called “Herdball”. Nevertheless we did get the opportunity to watch Ellie score a goal. 

Grandparent’s Day/Veteran’s Day Celebration at Hailey & Ellie’s school was next up on the agenda. We have not had the pleasure of attending one of these yet. They did a touching presentation for both.

Both girls enjoy rollerskating so Jeanne found a roller rink in Santa Maria. One weekend we loaded the kids up and took them skating. I was just happy they survived with no major mishaps or injuries! And I have to say, roller skates have certainly evolved over the years (*decades*!) since I was a youngun’ sporting my skates (worn over my shoes) and adjusted with a skate key! Sorry about the pics, low lighting, moving targets, and my horrible camera skills do not mesh well.

7 year old Hailey is currently taking horseback lessons at a local ranch, so we tagged along to watch. She seemed comfortable in the saddle and was pretty capable of controlling her beast.

Mom & Dad celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary while we were there with a weekend away while Oma & Opa watched the girls. We took them out to Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Viewing area near Moonstone Beach just below Hearst Castle. This time of year is when the adults start returning for mating season and they were due any day. They had not arrived yet, but the beach was full of the juvenile males who precede the adults’ arrival. Besides the seals we got views of the Piedras Blancas Light House and of Hearst Castle.

Next up was a (very short, not by choice) stint with grandson Max back in Santa Rosa, CA and a return stay at the Petaluma Elk’s Lodge. Max celebrated his 12th birthday and being so close to Christmas we took him out on a combined shopping spree. He made out with a couple of video games as well as some new duds and shoes. We did not have time for sightseeing activities with Max, but we did get a few days of quality time with him, at the expense of nearly blowing out my shoulder throwing the football with him. Getting old really is a drag…

More sad good-byes and it was southbound and down once again. An overnight stop at the San Luis Obispo Elk’s Lodge, then on to our destination stop at the Santa Barbara Elk’s Lodge for a few days. This was our first time staying at this lodge, which has (16) RV sites, flat gravel with 50A/water and a dump site in the parking area. The name is misleading, the lodge is actually in Goleta which is just south of downtown Santa Barbara. Besides the lounge and dining areas, it had a fairly nice (small) gym, laundry, and shower area.

We wanted to pick up some liquid refreshments for an upcoming visit to Big Bear, so a short road trip was in order. Solvang is home to a very nice beer/wine store and taproom called The Backroom at Valley Brewers. As is our usual custom, we arrived in town just in time for an unexpected, massive downtown Christmas parade. Once we found parking out in the wilderness, a short walk landed us smack dab in the middle of Main St. and the tail end of the parade. A quick bite to eat, then it was on to The Backroom. For you who are unfamiliar and have not read my previous post about a prior visit to Solvang, it is a quaint little Danish styled hamlet, they even claim to be “the Danish capital of America”.

A visit to SoCal is never complete without seeing some Pacific Ocean once in a while. We headed into Santa Barbara and took a stroll around the area of Stearns Wharf. At Chase Palm Park next to the wharf there was a kind of “Art in the Park” thing going on with various artists displaying their works for sale alongside vendors of custom made jewelry. There was also a big outdoor skate park that was fairly busy. We took a walk out to the end of the wharf, taking in the sights, then a short spin around the seaside businesses in that area. We have been somewhat surprised at the low number of homeless visible in this area, but we came across one who was loitering and trash can diving next to the outdoor seating area of one restaurant. Jeanne almost gagged watching him pull out a half full cup of some discarded milky colored drink from the trash can and down it lickety split. 

One last outing took us to downtown Santa Barbara and a foot tour down State St. It is a similar set up to Fremont St. in Vegas, sans the freakazoids dressed in character and those in various states of dress and undress. State St. is closed off to through traffic, however you have to watch out for your life as the throngs of yahoos on E-bikes go scooting along with the pedestrian traffic. It is quite the urban palm tree setting, with the usual types of mall shops and a plethora of eateries and such. It was a daunting task to simply find public parking lots within the maze of downtown one-way streets, but the walking was good.

That’s all for now, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and stay tuned for the next “exciting” installment of “the Recreational Wanderers”…

10/23/2023 Sad Times And Life Goes On…

The area of Kanab, UT was our next temporary home. We found Country Rose RV Park in Fredonia for a couple of night’s respite. There is a popular trail in the area to access Peek-A-Boo slot canyon (AKA: Red Canyon Slot). We fully intended to conquer said hike…until we stopped by the visitor’s center in Kanab. There we were regaled with horror stories about the 4WD section of said trail winding through nothing but soft, pillowy, thick sand and the $1,000 cost of getting towed out after getting stuck, even in 4WD. Time for Plan B. Jeanne found the Best Friend’s Animal Sanctuary just north of town. It was a large stretch of land used as a sanctuary for various animals, as well as a large pet cemetery, and the road through provided some nice scenery.

Onward and upward, we were off to a few days stay at the St. George (UT) Elk’s Lodge. They have a nice lodge parking area with 13 power pedestals (30/50A) and the lot overlooks a 9-hole municipal golf course. The course was a beautiful deep green which was an awesome contrast to the bright red rock formations surrounding the lodge.

We found Pioneer Park nearby and thought we might avail ourselves of some of that hiking. It was a bit disappointing, there really were no trails of any significant length, but the scenery was great. There is a “slot” canyon of sorts called St. George Narrows which we got up close with. I say “slot” a bit facetiously, it would only function as a through and through slot canyon if you have a waist line measurement of 2”. Jeanne and I had just been extolling the virtues of the area and its lack of homeless freak bums when by golly I stumbled upon a thrashed campsite inside a small windcave type crevice in the rocks. Such a pitiful eyesore…

Good-bye once again to St. George, we were pushing on towards the left coast. We discovered there is actually an Elk’s Lodge in Ely, NV so that seemed a good stop off for a couple of days. They share a gravel parking lot with the Hotel Nevada Casino, so in we went, dry camping only. It promptly came to our attention that we were coincidentally in time for The Great American Eclipse on 10/14/2023. Oh joy. 

Once we “got eclipsed”, it was “On The Road Again” to another Country Rose RV Park, this one in Fernley, NV, for a couple of days getting shopping chores done. Then we opted to head over the mountains through Susanville and on to Redding for a stint helping Jeanne’s brother Dave while he underwent some minor eye surgery. We split our time between the Redding Elk’s Lodge and Win-River Casino. Deep sadness struck again. Woodrow Wilson has not been doing well for the past couple of years, firmly in the grasp of what we believe was Cushing’s Disease. We made the difficult decision to end Woody’s suffering at the Cottonwood Small Animal Clinic since he had been a patient of theirs several times over the years. Those people are top quality there, very respectful and compassionate. Vaya con dios, little buddy!

With Woody now in a way-better place, we chose to honor his memory with a lengthy day of hiking. No more limiting our away time to a couple of hours, we drove up to Mt. Lassen National Park. We picked out Brokeoff Mountain Trail to “break the ice” so  to speak. Oh my, with a long period of only short hikes, this was tough! The trail is listed as “strenuous”. It was. Very. Strenuous. It is ALL uphill, some sections pretty steep, 3 3/4 miles to the top, with a 2,600’ elevation gain. It got a little windy and cold near the top as well. I say “near the top” because we ended up pulling up about a half mile short, out of gas and out of will. The views were still spectacular. After the knee-cracking, quad-burning, calf-burning return downhill, we headed for a little more torture. The trail to Kings Creek Falls, albeit a little less elevationally challenged, was about a 2 mile round trip. The poor ol’ legs barely held out but we made it to the falls. The downfall to enjoying Mt. Lassen Nat’l Park is it was severely scarred by the 2021 Dixie Fire, so a lot of the hiking is through burned out forest areas.

Now, you’re caught up. Until next post…

5/2/2023 Chores And Visits Over, Back to Land Roaming

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s been a few months, I know. From our venture into Joshua Tree N.P., we headed deep into the belly of the beast (Kalifornia) for some birthdays, Spring Breaks, a little babysitting (Chad started a new job, Crissy was out of town on business, so we had a week of babysitting Hailey & Ellie), some routine medical appointments for Jeanne, and general family visits. We did manage an outing or two with family, but for the most part I will not bore you with a lot of verbiage here, instead let the following pics describe our time here. (Viewer alert: Lots of photos of the wee ones!)

Happy Birthdays to Ellie, Hailey, and Jeanne’s brother Dave, it was Kalifornia in our rear-view mirror once again and “Off to see the Wizard…”. We decided we wanted to do some more wandering throughout the Northwest, keeping a sharp eye out for a possible “landing spot” for our eventual exit from “life on the road”. Just a reminder, we have been full-time RVers since 2012. We are currently of the mindset to downsize from the 40’ motorhome when we locate our landing zone and maybe doing some seasonal recreational wandering. But for now, we are not close to finding that one spot.

First stop outside the Twilight Zone was Klamath Falls, OR. It has been over 40 years since we were last here and not much has changed other than the addition of a few “modern” stores such as Walmart, TJ Maxx, etc. We made our home at the Klamath Falls KOA which was right in the middle of town. From the frequency of jet engine noises and fighter jets buzzing the treetops we discovered we were smack dab in the flight paths for the jets out of Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base. Oh boy. We were blessed with less than optimally pleasant weather during our stay, being on the receiving end of more icy cold rain and chances of snow (in April/May !). But on a couple of semi-clear days we took road trips on Hwy. 97 up to the area of Chiloquin. That stretch of the highway traverses the shoreline of Upper Klamath Lake which is the largest body of water in Oregon (in surface area, 25 miles long by 8 miles wide). During those trips we saw NOT ONE boat anywhere as far as the eye could see (dang near all the way to Mt. Shasta) on the water. We did manage to see no fewer than 9 Bald Eagles on the hunt for top water fish/snacks. I later asked some locals about the lack of boats on the lake. They advised me that Upper Klamath Lake is a dying lake, average depth of about 9 feet, and currently experiencing not only some type of toxic algae bloom but also polluting chemicals/nitrates from local farmers being dumped into it. They did not recommend bodily contact with the water. Oh joy.

Jeanne found the OC&E Woods Line State Trail, another section of trail as part of the Rails to Trails system that runs right through the middle of town. It is a 100 mile section of trail, 50 of it from Klamath Falls to Bly, OR. We fired up the bicycles one day and attempted a ride down the trail but got forced short about 6 miles out due to a nice little thorn in my rear tire (not a goat head). We limped it back home, picked up a new inner tube, and hit the trail on another day. We did not go all the way to Bly (100 miles round trip? You bumped your head…) but stayed to the paved section of trail. Crappy weather cancelled any additional forays down the trail…

With an underwhelming experience in the big city of Klamath Falls, we went jacks up and headed…Well, you’re gonna have to wait until next post!

2/27/2023 Joshua Tree National Park

After several attempts over the years, we FINALLY made time to stop & visit Joshua Tree Nat’l Park. To get to this point was not without its little trials & tribulations. The morning we raised jacks in Pahrump, NV, we got snowed on. “&#*$^%@!!!” We were successful in our escape, but… Our chosen route was to cut over the mountain to Shoshone, CA, then Hwy. 127 into Baker to catch I-15 into Barstow. Holy smokes! Well, dust really. It seemed a massive, near zero-visibility dust storm was in the works along I-15 between Baker and Primm, which succeeded in rerouting a whole lotta truckers onto that poor ol’ 2-lane Hwy. 127. Once we made it to Baker, we hit several areas of thick dust storms from there to Barstow. Then, on our final leg down Hwy. 247 to Twentynine Palms, we hit several light snow flurries! Snow! In the southern California desert! Late February! You’ve GOT to be kidding me! “&#*$^%@!!!” Along the “lemons & lemonade” thought line, it was nice to see the severely drought-stricken areas getting some much needed watering, even though Nancy’s nephew is still saving those good old life sustaining Delta Smelt.

We made our home at the 29 Palms Elk’s Lodge for several days for our Joshua Tree N.P. visit. Wouldn’t you know it, crappy weather most of our time there! That would include major snow and slicing, biting winds! We toughed it out a couple of days and toured the park, even though when we made it to Keys View, a scenic viewpoint for the Coachella Valley including Coachella, Thermal, Indio, Palm Springs, and the Salton Sea, all we could see was a wall of snow-fog. The following photo gallery just about sums it all up. I am too lazy to caption them, so I’ll leave it to you to see if you can identify sites like Skull Rock, Split Rock, Hall of Horrors, and of course, the aforementioned Keys View.

One particularly nasty snowy day we ventured up to Pioneertown, a sort of ghost town which Jeanne informs me was an old Western set used for filming. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Even with the nasty weather, we were treated to some cool atmospheric views like several rainbows and a nice sunrise. We even got to see a 3-legged coyote. We definitely must be living in the Twilight Zone…

Joshua Tree National Park in our “completed” category, we were off and running towards grandkids, family time, tax time, and medical appointments. Until next post…

Max’s Big Road Trip Begins

Just before we made our exit from Prescott, AZ, Jeanne & I ventured back out for a hike on the Constellation Trails. On our previous hike of the trails we kept to the interior trails. This time we chose to do the outer loop which is a little more than 2 miles and includes the Ranch Road Shortcut, the Rock Wall Trail, the Lost Wall Trail, and the North 40 Trail. The hike was moderate, only about a 200’ elevation change, minimal rock scrambling (you can add all the scrambling you want, in and amongst all the granite rock piles and formations), and very scenic but the only critters we encountered were the lizards.

Once we went jacks-up, it was “westward ho!” We did a couple of one-nighters at the Needles Elk’s Lodge and the Pilot truck stop in Tehachapi, then a two-nighter at the Merced Elk’s Lodge, and hit our destination of the Petaluma Elk’s Lodge as our base for doing our medical chores. Several days later, those chores done, we snagged Max for his summer adventure. We had him for a couple of days in Petaluma, then raced on out of Kalifornia, eastbound & down, to the Boomtown KOA on the NV-CA border. We did a 3-night stay for the weekend, Max & I making good use of the pool & hot tub. That hot tub turned out to be a real perk at the end of one particular day. Jeanne found a waterfall hike for Max to take us on, after a pre-requisite visit to the Cabela’s store for some hiking gear, of course. The Hunter Creek Trail leads to Hunter Creek Falls and is a very popular hiking trail for the locals. It turned out to be a 7 mile, round trip hike (out and back, not circular), with a 1,300’ elevation gain, no rock scrambling for the most part, with just a couple of short sections of very loose shale. To get to the best viewing area you must navigate some downed trees/limbs in the creek, and that could be problematic for those with balance issues or limited tread shoes. But if all else fails, the creek is only about knee deep at the deepest, there are plenty of spots where it looks ankle high. The views along the hike, as well as the waterfall, made it well worth the effort. While at the KOA we just HAD to walk on over to the Boomtown Casino where they have an arcade room for the kids. Max got his fill of arcade fun and we topped it off with his favorite meal (“cheeseburger, plain”) at the Mel’s diner.

Boomtown in our rear-view, it was southbound toward Pahrump, NV. We wanted to show Max the “boondocking life”, so we did a one-nighter along Walker Lake at the Sportsman’s Beach Campground. We have stayed here a couple of times before and it is a popular stop over for many in the full-time RV lifestyle but we have never found it crowded (OK, usually there is nobody anywhere in our line of sight). We spent the day walking down to the water’s edge, chasing lizards. And too bad for Max that he does not wake up for Woody’s 2:30 a.m. toilet run, at that time I got a pretty spectacular night sky view including the Milky Way! After all, we were in an area of Dark Sky Parks (getting awful close to Death Valley).

Moving along it was off to a couple nights stay at the Pair-a-Dice SKP RV park in the happening hamlet of Pahrump, NV. This was basically a rest stop along our route, with time enough to get laundry chores done and enjoy the triple digit heat. That is a wrap for now, consider yourself up-to-date. Until next post…

Summertime 2022 Approaches 

So, the sarcastically “great” state of Kalifornia always seems to sink its claws into any plans we would like to make and violently rip them from our grasp. Jeanne, being named Trustee for her mother’s living trust, was charged with the administration of the trust. This would have been a task that could be handled while still allowing us to be mobile. But, alas, Kalifornia DMV strikes once again. Jeanne’s mother’s car being registered in mom’s name and not the trust, the DMV requires a 40 day wait period from the date of death before one can submit all the forms necessary to change the title for purposes of selling the car, and all being done in person at the DMV. So then, we get the (dis)pleasure of hanging around even LONGER in that miserable state. “%&@*$#!&@^#%$!!!!!” We bounced around between the Redding RV Park, the Redding Elk’s Lodge, and Win-River Casino, trying to keep our long term costs down while burning time.

For what little downtime activities we could squeeze in-between taking care of trust business, we managed to get our bicycles fired up and ride parts of the Sacramento River Trail which runs from downtown Redding to the Shasta Dam (20 +/- miles one way). We also did some walking back at the Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River. It was certainly a huge improvement over the past 4-5 years being in the area with all the past smoky skies due to wildfires (I don’t know why they continue to call the constantly occurring events “wildfires”; I personally think most if not all of them are being intentionally set, should be called arson fires instead). Never having experienced the great Redding Farmer’s Market, we wandered over to find it to be a pitifully small event at the civic center. More entertaining were the various pieces of artwork scattered about the grounds of the civic center. At some point during this stay Jeanne caught “the bug”. No, not that one. The “pickleball bug”. She decided she wanted to try it out and we found some fairly new courts had been erected at Enterprise Park in Redding. After a short outfitting run, rackets in hand, it was off to the park. After a few scattered days of chasing that wiffleball around the court, Jeanne decided she was hooked. Me, I’m easy, having played my share of racquetball (although the two sports are not even comparable), I was happy we found a mutually satisfying physical sport.

The whole area of Redding has a yearly car show event called “Kool April Nites”, a local take on the Reno “Hot August Nights”, and various areas hold their own mini-events. One such event is the “Show & Shine” held at the Win-River Casino. We grabbed up Jeanne’s brother Dave and took a stroll through the restored, mostly classic cars from days of yore. One regret I have is that I never learned much about auto mechanics, I think it would be fun working on a restoration project now and then. I’m sure it’s a kinda expensive hobby…

Upon freeing ourselves from the grip of the DMV, we FINALLY got the go signal, went jacks-up with warp speed, and resumed a run towards Prescott Valley, AZ which we had originally planned back in December. Heading toward Hwy. 58 and the Tehachapi Pass (our regular route of choice for ingress and egress to/from Kalifornia), we made a very short detour/stopoff in Atascadero, CA, to say “Happy Birthday” to granddaughter Hailey (and belated “Happy Birthday” to granddaughter Ellie). 

Back on the road, it was onward to Prescott Valley. We did a one-nighter at the Needles Elk’s Lodge, then completed the route at the Prescott Valley Elk’s RV Park. Our point to the return stay was to further evaluate it as a possible landing zone for when we retire from the full-time life style and not necessarily to re-experience any major sightseeing as we had already done. That being said, we did take another stroll around Fain Lake since it is directly behind the Elk’s Lodge. In fact, Jeanne got the “good samaritan” idea to pick up garbage along our walk to the lake. It was not like trying that anywhere in Kalifornia, there you would need a truckload of garbage bags. Here we barely filled one bag. They also put on a weekend “farmer’s market” next door to the Elk’s Lodge, which we attended. This was a sad “farmer’s market” since there were absolutely NO produce stands (we were told it was too early for planting in the area, still subject to frost). It turned out to simply be a swap meet style of marketplace.

With our stay in Prescott coming to an end, we are preparing for a somewhat dreaded return to Kalifornia. We have some medical stuff we want to take care of with our PCP back in Santa Rosa. We are also planning a summer vacation trip for our 10 year old grandson Max. We are going to snatch him up after our medical chores and hit the road for a whirlwind summer tour of the midwest United States, the crowned jewel being a few days run through Yellowstone Nat’l Park. Max has not ventured into this part of the country, so we put together about a 5-week plan.  So, now you are caught up. “Say ‘good night’, Irene!” And check out these moon pics. Until next post… 

Hiatus Blogofus Is Given A Temporary Boot…

OK, OK, OK, so I know there has been a lengthy lull in the action. I’ll do my best to fill in the blanks coherently. So you last read about us in early December when we were in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Part of that stay we took the ferry boat over to the California side and the Havasu Landing Casino, the boat ride affording us some cool scenic views. Some of the sunset views over the lake were pretty amazing as well. While enjoying the lead up to Christmas, we happened to learn our friends (and my former workmates) Jim and Stacy Camara were also in the area avoiding their colder Idaho weather for a few months. We hooked up with them to take in some of the sights, like the London Bridge Swap Meet and a downtown Thursday night car show. We also were able to give them the tour back at Sara’s Crack as well as the Bunker Bar. 

But alas, and the reason for our little blog hiatus, we got that frantic, crocodile tears call from Jeanne’s brother Dwayne, telling Jeanne that he thought their mom was near death. We hoisted jacks and abruptly terminated our stay at Lake Havasu, heading W/B and down back to Cottonwood, CA (Redding area). Their mom was pretty frail, weak, and basically bedridden when Jeanne got there, so she contacted the local hospice care outfit and got hospice started.

During this stay in the Redding area, Jeanne and I managed to run into a fairly clear day to make a return hike up to Chamise Peak for a blue sky viewing of the 3 Shastas (dam, lake, and Mt.). 

Our nephew Alex (David’s young’un) had a basketball game that we were able to take in. It was certainly nice to see the Junior High kids playing a sport without having to wear face diapers.

There was a Boat/RV/Motorsports show put on at the Shasta District Fair that we took in with Dave and Alex. And dummy me, do you think I would have taken a lot of overall photos of the event? Of course not, I photo’d critter heads hanging on a wall, (1) watersports vehicle (a SeaBreacher), and one hokey stuffed Big Foot. Sometimes I just kill myself…

Well, 12 weeks into hospice care and Jeanne’s mom Yvonne is not even close to exhibiting signs of the end of her journey. Family tensions have been stretched to their maximum limit pretty much this whole stay, so we have decided to head back out on the road (not a whole long distance but absolutely escape out of Kalifornia once again). In the lead up to our escape, Jeanne planned out a “special adventure” for our (3) grandkids, Max (Santa Rosa, CA), Hailey & Ellie (Atascadero, CA), and as it turned out, Hailey & Ellie’s dad (Chad). Kind of a combined birthdays/Christmas celebration, destination: The Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca, CA. The Great Wolf Lodge is a franchise of lodges scattered nationwide which cater to family/kid entertainment. The main attraction at this one in Manteca is the large indoor water park consisting of several pools with water slides, a wave pool, water activities and fountains. The lodge contains an elevated ropes course, pee wee golf, a kids variation on a bowling alley, a mining attraction for those budding gold panners, an arcade, various shops and eateries. The lodge does a great job of putting on activities for all ages. There are characters for photo ops, kid’s dances, baby yoga, bingo, arts & crafts, a Build-a-Bear shop, and the main attraction, MagiQuest. The kids obtain a magic wand (with pass purchase or straight purchase) and there are numerous “stations” scattered all over the lodge where they wave the wand, watch an animated video or activate a “feature” and are given directions to follow (kinda like a treasure hunt). The theme is like that of a nature conservationist, the goal is to save the 5 trees of the empire. It is pretty intensive, took Max & I (3) hours of hoofing it back and forth across the entire lodge searching out all the features needed to complete the task and be certified a “Master Magi”. The grandkids had ample daily pool time and the goofiest big highlight of their stay was getting to push the elevator buttons to get to our 6th floor room. Ellie got to be the big winner at bingo with (5) total wins, Hailey got (3), and Max got (2). Hailey was poised to be the big winner at bowling, however Oma rocketed from behind to finish big. Max got to show off his prowess on the ropes course, completing both the lower level as well as the nose-bleed upper level. All in all it was (5) days of fun, I know because I’m still feeling it (getting old sucks)! However, I would recommend (3) days as the optimum stay length. The kids can cover all the activities in that time, any longer and it gets repetitive.

Fun time over, “good-byes” said, Jeanne and I headed back to Anderson, CA. That is where we left Rosie (the MH) and Woody (the wonder dog), at Dave’s house. A few days of road prep (laundry, food shopping, etc.) and it was jacks up, off to… Time out, put the jacks back. Jeanne’s mom took a turn for the worse after we returned to town. As it was, she passed to a better life on, of all days, at 2330 hours on St. Patrick’s Day. God bless her soul and thank you Lord for putting her suffering behind her. Until next post…

Chores & Visits Over…(for now)

So we motorvated back to Kalifornia for family visits and medical/dental duties. We checked in and helped out with Jeanne’s mother’s health care, then looped around from Atascadero to Santa Rosa for grandkids’ literal face time. We ended up spending about two months in that God forsaken state, but the day we completed our last appointment (me getting a tooth crowned, had to wait 2 extra weeks for the dang thing to get molded/created/installed) we went jacks up and sped away toward Hwy. 58 and the Tehachapi pass, our preferred path of escape from Kalifornia. (***Spoiler alert – if you want to avoid my politically incorrect rants, skip now to the next paragraph***) Each and every time we go back there the amount of garbage, homeless encampments, graffiti, dirty air, and the quality of the roads seems to get progressively worse. The politicians (who KEEP getting re-elected) have run what once was the most beautiful of the lower 48 states right into the toilet. What’s worse, the people still living there keep putting up with the socialist and totalitarian crap spewed by the likes of Gav & Nan & Maxie & all the rest. The facemask Nazis are everywhere, screaming at unsuspecting customers who may errantly wander into stores without the suffocating face diapers being worn in “the appropriate” manner. Even worse, some businesses actually require proof of vax (“Your papers, please!”) if you want to enter their buildings. This whole farce of a “pandemic” got out of hand long ago. I got news for everyone – it’s the flu, people! Covid, the flu. Delta, the flu. Omicron, the flu. Guess what? All of the future 347 variants over the foreseeable future, the flu. And anyone with a brain can see how effective the big pharma vaccines have been. But hey, if you’re fearing for your lives feel free to keep wearing those ineffective face diapers, getting multiple (failing) experimental chemical injections, maintaining that social distancing, self-imposing your very own quarantines, and continue being blindly obedient sheeple to your ruling class. I’m changing the name of the state from Kalifornia to Psycholovakia. Right now, if you are asking yourself, “What gives this moron the ability to make such broad, sweeping condemnations of the state of Psycholovakia,” I spent 53 years of my life as a resident of said state. And with 9+ years of full-time RV-ing throughout all of the lower 48 for use as a comparison, I think I’m qualified to render the opinion. ‘Nuff said.

With very little time for tourista activities during the last two months, I will leave it at that with a montage of grandkid photos… 

Our new adventure started at Lake Havasu City, AZ. Our home for that stay was the Lake Havasu Elk’s Lodge. (For any of you Elks reading this post, this Elk’s Lodge is an extremely happening place. One of the members we spoke to claimed it to be the second largest lodge in the country…). The RV lot for the lodge is a gravel lot with 25 FHU spaces that are fairly spaced apart. The lodge has an active calendar with all types of events and meals of which we made good use of during our stay.

First outing was a return visit to the area of the London Bridge. As is our custom of unwittingly arriving in areas during special events, we discovered that the annual Lake Havasu City Christmas Boat Parade was scheduled for that evening. After a quick recon of the area during daylight, we left only to return later for the parade which was slated from 1900-2100 hrs. Sometimes, no, oftentimes, “The best laid plans…”! The master plan was to head back a couple hours early, have a nice meal at one of the many restaurants in the area, then scope out our viewing site. We returned at 1700 hrs. to discover the parade is kinda popular in these here parts. Parking anywhere near was nigh on impossible, but we found curbside parking still within long walking distance. The area up and down from the bridge was jam packed with humans! Not only that, ALL of the restaurants were full with SEVERAL hours wait time. Oh boy,  like the famous quote from a memorable Seinfeld episode, “No soup for you!” We soldiered on and found our viewing site for the parade and proceeded to hurry up and wait. The parade was pretty cool, after the boats did their thing some aquatic acrobats did their thing on lit up jet skis, flips & dips etc. We decided to cut out a little early due to impending traffic jams and boy howdy I’m glad we did. It still took a while to get away, thousands of other folks also had the same idea. But we survived…

When we were here a few years ago, we found a cool bar located out in the desert between Parker & Parker Dam, dirt road accessible, aptly called “Nellie E Saloon – The Desert Bar”. At the boat parade we spoke with a couple who mentioned a second desert bar located north of Lake Havasu City (about 6 miles from the Walmart). That one is only open on weekends, so on a bright and cheery Sunday we ventured north and found “The Bunker Bar”. This was a short dirt road drive (a couple of miles off the highway) to arrive at the military bunker themed outdoor bar. It is a big-time pro-military, pro-first responder, pro-America venue. They had a small converted freight container for a stage with a band called “Roadwork” playing at the time. Food bunkers are on site (pub fare) as well as a swag store. Family friendly, there are all manner of things for children to play/climb on and cornhole for all. The band was pretty good (rock-n-roll, baby!), the gee-tar man making his rounds through the audience while he played licks from the likes of Ted Nugent, Eddie Van Halen, etc. Jeanne even got to mug for the camera with him to the tune of “Stranglehold”…

The area of Lake Havasu has a cornucopia of outdoor desert activies for those of you so inclined. The whole area between Quartzsite and Lake Havasu City (70 some miles or so) contains non-stop boondocking opportunities, a lot of it very popular and on BLM land. Their are miles and miles of OHV areas, Jeep trails, hiking/biking trails, not to mention all the lake activity available at Lake Havasu/Colorado River. Jeanne found a popular hike at Sara Park, on the south end of town, called “Sara’s Crack”. We loaded ourselves up, sans Woody, and headed out to explore Sara’s Crack (pun, well, heck yeah, but no, we are not budding proctologists!) This was about a 3+ mile round trip trek containing a large slot canyon. There are several trails that take off from the parking area, mostly criss-crossing through the bed of the gully/draw heading toward the slot canyon, some branching up onto the mountainside, you can pick your poison. We chose the “yellow” trail and once we got through the slot we branched uphill onto what I think was the “blue” trail which headed up for overall views of the area. I would classify the difficulty level for our journey at moderate. There was some rock scrambling and rope assisted climbing.

So that about catches us up to the minute. Until next post…