Week ending Mar 26, 2015 Napa, Shasta, McMinnville

Friday morning we were able to have a nice Skype visit with John's parents. Now that we are back in civilization we are in 3G country both our cell phone and T-Mobile hotspot work perfectly. We packed our lunch and headed to Napa Valley to do a scenic drive with instructions for a tour and a map put together by the owner of this RV park. What beautiful country, green hills, miles  and miles of vines, starting to leaf out for the year. Apple trees are in bloom. We stopped at Mumm's winery, a recommended stop for the views across the valley from its deck. We only took about 2 1/2 hours rather than the 3 1/2 recommended, getting back to the trailer to eat the lunch we had packed.
 

Darioush Winery

Napa Hills behind a winery

Saturday morning, we decided that we had finished with the area for this trip, and packed up to head north.  We stopped at the office to let the kind gentleman know that we would in fact be leaving 2 days early.  He actually gave us refund for the 2 unused nights. We were amazed and very impressed. No other RV park would ever give you a refund. In fact most of them have big signs at the front desk saying no refunds for any reason. We recommend the Midway RV Park at Vacaville. It is a perfect park from which to visit Napa Valley, the Jelly Bean Factory and numerous other funky places in the area. We hit the road by 10:00 AM travelling north on I-505 to I-5. Easy driving as we could follow the speed limit, stop at rest areas and enjoy the scenery, and what spectacular scenery we had.  We passed by the Lassen Volcanic National Park,  Shasta Lake.  The best was Mount Shasta. The perfect mountain, 14,000 + feet, with a beautiful white top. We did not have to get close enough to the snow to touch it and in fact the temp cooled down to 17 C, but generally the temp is in the low 20's C. Much cooler than our temp at Indio, but tolerable. 

Lassen Volcano

Shasta Lake

Mt Shasta

By 5:00 we arrived in Medford Oregon. We figured that we would stay overnight in a hotel. The advantage of the T-Mobile hotspot became apparant, while John drove, Joan surfed the net to find a list of hotels, near the Interstate, with parking sufficient for our rig. We checked into the Motel 6.

Sunday morning we decided to go back to our orignal plan.we stopped at Black Bear Diner for breakfast. The Black Bear Diner was started by a couple of guys at the foot of California’s majestic Mt. Shasta.   It is now a chain that covers most of California and Oregon. The food was good and they had a great picture on the wall of a couple of black bears with Mt Shasta in the background. By 7:30 we were on the road, in the rain.  We decided our plan to go to Valley of  Rogue River State park was out as hiking in the rain (according to accuweather for the next 3  days) was not in the cards. As we continued on highway 99 we passed a huge field of tulips, which turned out to be a u-pick tulip farm. A few miles down the road the little town was having its tulip festive. Spring is here in southern Oregon. We targeted for Olde Stone Village RV Resort in McMinnville.  We had driven by this park on our way from Portland to Lincoln City area in the fall.  We gave them a call and were informed by an answering service that the office is closed at this time of year on Sundays, but we could choose one of the sites marked as available at the office.  We were able to get washroom codes from a fellow rv'er. We then watched the final 100 or so laps of the Nascar race. This is a very nice park.

Monday morning it was still showering. After a stop at the office to pay we discovered we had chosen wisely and the site we were in was available for the rest of the week. We paid for a few more nights, then took advantage of the nice laundry facilities.

Tuesday we walked next door to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. They have an interesting aviation museum, the heart which is the original Spruce Goose built of birch plywood by Howard Hughes. We hadn't realized the plane was bigger than a football field.   It had been built of wood during the WW II, when all metal was reserved for the war effort.  We then wandered through the Space museum. They have an extensive display and after 3 hours we had reached information overload.

Spruce Goose

Space Shuttle

We packed up Wednesday and headed up the Columbia River valley. Our chosen site was Moon River RV park in Richland, Washington, an obvious choice since we had stayed in a Moon River RV park in Arizona. Even though we had a rainy travel day we had a beautiful drive down the Columbia River gore and could see the wonderful waterfalls. When we drove the gorge in the fall the waterfalls did not have as much water in them. By lunch John was craving a good old fashioned hamburger. We stopped at C&D's in Boardman, a little town on the Columbia river, where John had their trademark Bozo Burger (bacon and cheese).  By 2:30 we arrived at the RV park, were assigned  a reasonably level large pull through sight, with clear site lines for our satellite dish.  This is primarily a permament resident park, with 8 pull-thrus at the back for over-nighters.   The permanent area is fairly unique.   The trailers are parked parallel to the drives, and each site has a small fenced yard with a tree in the corner.  We aren't sure how they manage to park the trailers next to the sites.  It would take parallel parking to whole new level.

Week ending Mar 19, 2015 Mojave, Fresno

We discovered another off road vehicle area with free camping. So off we went to explore Jawbone Canyon OHV. At the end of the paved road in the off road area we parked and walked further up the gravel road.  After a few miles, the road took a few switchbacks to the top of a hill. What wonderful views from the top. The rocks show obvious signs of the fault line, some mountains are green, some red, some black and a few white. Very interesting. We could see down into the valley and Koehn Dry Lake.

Saturday was desert tortoise day. There is a desert tortoise interpretive center a few miles NE of California city. They have four interpretive loops with guide brochures, 3 which we did, and a longer loop with no guide. After a walk of almost 5 miles through the desert area, no turtles to be found, we saw 3 different types of lizards.

Tortoise Burrow

Leopard Lizard

Horned Lizard

Zebra Tail Lizard

Horned Lizard

Luckily we did not see any snakes. After having lunch at the center, and picking up a top with a turtle on it, we decided it was a perfect day for ice cream. We headed for Johannesburg and stopped at the gas station, grocery store, post office (a three for one business) picked up an ice cream sandwich and then drove through Randsburg, an old mining town, on our way back to the trailer. We watched  Jennifer's curling game against Scotland Saturday night.|

Sunday although cloudy, was back in the mid 80's. We spend the day visiting with our neighbours and watching the Nascar race from Phoenix. It seems hard to believe that it was 15 years since we attended the Nascar race in Phoenix. We spent some time surfing the net looking for RV parks and making plans for our trip back to Canada.

Monday was a day to do nothing. We walked around the little town the RV park is in, and made preparations for our further travels.

Tuesday was moving day. We arrived in Fresno at Blackstone North RV park. This park has really nice wide sites, easy to back into. After getting set up we watched curling and had an early night.

Wednesday morning Joan woke up early 3:30 A.M. to watch world women's curling. Joan went for a haircut. We then stopped at Von's for groceries. After unpacking groceries etc. we walked up to a local shopping area to Famous Dave's BBQ for lunch.  Not quite local Texas BBQ, but pretty good.  On our way back through the trailer park we visited with some people from B.C. as well as our next door neighbours, who are permanent residents of the park.

Thursday morning was moving day. Twice in one week, whats up with that????  We arrived at Midway RV Park on the north side of Vacaville shortly after 1:00 P.M. The first thing we saw as we parked in the check-in area was a wild turkey, a bird we have only seen in the northern areas of the States as well as Canada.

Turkey

The RV host showed us a couple of sites, our choice, depending on where we could get a satellite signal.   We chose a site, checked our t-Mobile hotspot, it worked great, good phone service and satellite aligned. A perfect rv park according to our criteria. Our plan is to visit Napa Valley from this area. 

Week ending Mar 12, 2015 Ocotillo Wells SVRA, Red Rock Canyon State Park

Friday morning we had a Skype visit with John's parents. Our wi-fi hotspot worked with video off, but because we only have 2G cell service, not 4G, the reception wasn't perfect. It did show us that there is a significant difference between the 2 types of cell service. We will be able to surf the net and make plans for our return trip, which unfortunately is coming very soon. We walked to the top of the sand dune behind us, watched some of the guys racing their dirt bikes, then spent the rest of the day laying around in the sun. Of course we did watch the final games in the Brier.

Saturday morning we walked to the highway to read the interpretive sign we notice on our drive in to the camp site. We discovered that the site had been used for the filming of the film Bugsy. We then walked on to take a look at the rv park down the road. It is almost empty and we found out why. For 45.00 a night you get not much more than we have where we are. They haven't got wi-fi working and they charge more for their showers than the SVRA area charges for theirs. Interesting. But they do have a small convenience store, sells ice cream sandwiches (9:00 A.M. seems a bit early, but we have to take advantage of what is available) as well as hamburgers, fries, the usual fried fare, beer and oil for ATV's.  We stopped at another interpretive sign across the highway from the store. It commemorates Juan Bautista de Anza's 2000 mile trip from Mexico to San Francisco Bay with 200+ people and 1000+ animals to establish Spain's claim to the area.  The rest of the day was spent watching people both young and old tear around on one of ATV's dirt bikes or jeeps. The neighbours had a young fellow, maybe 10 years old, that spent the entire afternoon doing a circle up to the top of the hill, down around and back up. We first noticed him when he was following his parents in their jeep, but finally the parents gave up and the kid spent the rest of the day riding his dirt bike around in a large circle. Who says kids aren't a dizzy lot... We are expecting that the camping area will again become a serene location as everyone heads back to work tomorrow afternoon.

What amazing weather in this area. Sunday was another hot sunny day. Even we are finding it hot and lamenting that we cannot use our air conditioner during the hottest part of the day. But then the alternative of being somewhere where it goes down to freezing overnight is not attractive, so we will quit complaining.  We explored some of the area this morning, stopped at a place where another movie "Into the Wild" was made in 2007.  We stopped at Devils slide area, which really shows the geologic history of the area. We climbed up Black Butte, which was an unsuccessful gold mining area at one time. Once we got to the top we discovered we had climbed the steep side, as there was a fairly easy trail down the back that the ATV's, jeeps and other sand loving vehicles use.



We did see one fellow climb the steep side in his truck, turn around, and then come back down, all while his young kids took pictures of him from the bottom of the hill. 

Barrel Spring, a water source near the gold operation was the result of the miners digging a hole in the sand and placing a barrel in it to collect water. The mine did not produce any gold. On our way back to the trailer we stopped at Ocotillo Wells townsite. Really just a grouping of trailers scattered about with gravel roads and not too many facilities. We got back in time to watch the last couple of ends of the bronze metal Brier curling game, then the Nascar race from Vegas and finally the gold medal Brier game.

Monday was another hot sunny day. We spent the morning exploring the area. Most of the ATV'ers have left, so the park is almost ours alone. Our first stop was at an  interpretive sign explaining that this part of California had been explored for oil during the World War II, without success. There were oil finds in California to help fill the demand created by Henry Ford. The economic boom spread here to the Imperial Valley, however the oil boom was fleeting. Our next stop was at the newest geologic feature in Ocotillo Wells, a gas dome.  The neigbouring mountains store water underground, building hydrostatic pressure in the water table. This pressurized water is pushed upwards through natural cracks in the desert floor. The results are these gas domes, which have mud and gas bubbling up to the surface.



Our final stop along this interpretive route was the artesian well, a hot water well discovered when the Imperial Valley Oil and Development company were drilling for oil.

We had some fun driving the route past the artesian well, as the route followed a narrow wash with some narrow turns, and many high ridges across the trail.  However, the truck did manage to get us through this area back to the highway.   We then headed into Salton City to have lunch at the Alamo Restuarant. It had been advertised in many spots along the way, so we figured we would give it a try. We had a great lunch of burritos, with enough leftovers to have a rerun for dinner, and because it is so warm out we enjoyed ice cold Mexican Beer.

Time to start heading slowly north. As we headed north through the San Bernadino mountains, the temp was in the 30's C.  The trip took longer than anticipated because we forgot to turn off the air conditioner so the transmission on the truck heated up on a steep uphill grade. We stopped, took pictures of the beautiful rocks in the area, had lunch and eventually carried on, with the air conditioner off. No more transmission issues.



We arrived at Sierra Trails RV Park just north of Mojave about 3:00 P.M, our home for the next week.

Wednesday was clean up day.  After being out in the SVRA land without any services we appreciated having a vacuum and a more abundant supply of water. It is also nice to be close to grocery store. Today was our first cloudy and cool day in a long time. After dinner tonight we even had a few drops of rain, a commodity much in demand in this part of California.

Thursday we had a perfect day to go hiking in Red Rock Canyon State Park. The cliffs were layers of red, white, pinks and browns. It is obvious spring had come to the high desert as the flowers where in blooms. We have never seen so many flowers, in so many colors in the desert.  We hiked up Hagen Canyon and carried on up a side canyon. The fluted folds, the result of wind and rain erosion, were quite spectacular. We saw many formations that with a bit of imagination looked like various animals, turtles, camels, owls etc.



After our first hike we headed across the highway to Red Cliffs.



The hike there was a short interpretive trail, but we carried on up the valley on a horse trail. Eventually we came to a Birds of Prey area that is closed from Feb 1st to July 1st so as to give them solitude during their nesting season. The rock formations and colours in the whole area was really worth the time it took to walk out to this area. After hiking about three hours in total in the nice warm weather we deserved to stop for a milkshake on the way back to the trailer.

Week ending Mar 5, 2015 Lake Cahuilla, Ocotillo Wells SRVA

Friday after testing our new T-Mobile wi-fi device, which seemed to work just fine, we did another walk around the lake and watched the preparations for the triathalon in the park this weekend.

We had been warned that some of the roads in the park and surrounding area would be closed due to the Desert International Triathalon, so on Saturday morning we left the park by 6:15 A.M.  Even that early, we had drive off the road to get by people setting up.  We stopped for breakfast at Denny's, about the only place open at that hour of the morning.  We then went on the Palms to Pines National Scenic Byway from Banning (just west of Palm Springs)  to Idyllwild.  We were a bit concerned about the roads, as there were clouds low on the mountains, and Idyllwild is at 5400 feet above sea level.  Fortunately, the bit of fog we drove into did not pose a visibility problem. It was a very scenic drive from sea level to over 6,000 feet.  The temperature dropped from 24C to 2C. There was even some snow in the forest at the top.

From Idyllwild, we dropped into the San Jacinto South Fork Valley, stopping in Hemet at Mr. You's Donuts for some smoothies.  From Hemet, we returned to I-10 and the outlets at Banning.  Even though we didn't find anything we wanted to buy, we had a good walk through the many stores.   We did a grocery stop on our way back to the trailer, then watched some of the Brier curling.  We had a few new neighbours in our area of the park, all obviously preparing for the second day of the triathlon. 

Sunday morning our new neighbours taking part in the triathalon where up by 5:00 A.M.getting prepared for the event. By the time we got up the only evidence we saw of the participants was the runners on the route going past  the trailer.  They had a cold and rainy day. Rain in the desert, quite a surprise to us. We hunkered down and watched curling.

Monday we did our final walk around the lake, and visited with a new couple from BC, chatting with them while they got their satellite set up to watch curling as well. The mountain sheep had returned and were busy eating the lush new greenery that had appeared thanks to the rain.

Tuesday we eventually got packed up and moved to the dispersed camping at the Ocotillo Wells SVRA (State Vehicle Recreation Area). The area we had checked out was less than an hour from Lake Cahuilla.  By lunch time we were parked, satellite signal obtained, solar panels working hard at keeping our batteries charged so we can watch the Brier. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a cell signal from the trailer good enough to use our T-Mobile wi-fi.  It was a warm beautiful day so we sat around outside enjoying the quiet camping area. This is free camping at its finest. No power or water, but there are bathrooms (chemical toilets) and garbage containers. In the past when we have been out in dispersed camping we have had to find a place to dispose of our garbage.

Wednesday morning we hiked out along the Tectonic Gorge trail. Our first point of interest in the gorge was the site of the filming of the final episode of X-Files. Any evidence of the production had been removed. We then came across an Oasis. It had a beautiful palmetto bush. Although the information signed promised that bats could be seen during the day hanging on the leaves, we didn't see any. 

Although that was the only 2 marked points of interest we enjoyed walking through the gorge looking at the various rock formations. Round rocks that looked like large cannon balls, interesting formations on the canyon walls.

We really didn't know how far we would go, so when we had risen out of the gorge to the level of the highway we had been paralleling, and near another camping area, we decided to stop for lunch and then return. We stopped to chat to some fellows sitting outside their trailer. They informed us that this weekend was a Tierra Del Sol Jeep Club Desert Safari. They are expecting hundreds of participants.  We had thought the event was the previous weekend.  I guess its time for us to move on. We will move to the other end of the park where it is likely to be quieter and less risky being a hiker.

Thursday morning we packed up to move. As we were just about ready to go we saw 3 motorized parasailers. One of them noticed that I was taking pictures of them, so he circled the trailer a few times and dipped down to wave at us. We suspect they were part of the Tierra Del Sol desert safari.

We moved to the south side of the SVRA, not too far from a cell tower.   Even though we could see the cell tower from the campground, the signal wasn't strong, as is only 2G.  We spent some time checking that the wi-fi would work before deciding to stay.   While we were trying to get the satellite aligned, which involves some shouting back and forth from the dish to the TV, we kept getting drowned out by planes roaring overhead.  It turned out that there were two twin prop planes circling at low elevation from the Salton Sea just east of us, out to the hills on the west. This part of the SVRA is beside the US Navy Salton Sea Test Base. As well, the north end of the US Navy Bombing Area is about 8 miles to the south.  From Jeeps and ATV's running around to planes flying overhead, it seems like silence is not to be had this weekend. By the time we got the satellite aligned and had lunch, things had quietened down.  Shortly after lunch, a park ranger stopped by with an information package and garbage bag for us.  She asked if we had seen the Osprey's earlier, the planes that had been circling over us.  We had a nice chat about things to do in the area, and about places she and we had been to in Utah.  She spends the summer in state parks Utah, as the parks in the California desert don't have many visitors in the heat of the summer.

The wi-fi device worked well enough to post the blog from here, better than in some RV parks.