A Bit Rustic . . .

A "Rustic Park"

Ok now, you already read my rant about the different campgrounds we have run into, but tonight's campground is worth a few words.

A year or so ago, we discovered Passport America, a discount RV service that gives you 50% off the regular rate on campgrounds. Of course not all campgrounds are on their list. It is mostly campgrounds a little off the beaten track, or newly opened ones wanting to increase their clientele. If you can find one on your route, it is definitely worth while.

When we left San Francisco, we had no set destination in mind, because we did not know how long it would take me to install the two new springs, and we had no clear idea how far we would get. Once we were on the road and the trailer seemed to be bouncing along just fine, we started figuring out where we could get, and where we might stop for the night. It looked like Redding California was a workable destination.

I decided to give the “Travel Planner” a break, and since dad was driving and Regis was navigating, I took the campground directories, and tried to find a campground for the night. The Passport America directory listed a campground just past Redding. It was called “Trail In” and it listed lots of sites, full service and was only a mile off the I-5 Interstate which we were following. I looked in Woodall's and found a number of other places, but nothing that was that much better than this one. Now as we drove by Redding we did see a place called “Durango Resort” with fountains, paved sites and lots of BIG expensive rigs, but we decided it was probably in the $75.00 range so we ignored it and kept going.

Yum, fresh blackberries

The instruction in the directory, agreed with the GPS, and when we were told to “Enter on the Right”, the sign and entry were actually on the right. The hand lettered signs directed us to the office, and we parked and Regis and I went it. Two young men sitting on the front deck said “hello” and tipped a beer to me as I walked in. Behind the counter was another young man with a pony-tail who said “You planning to stay with us tonight?”.

I told him we would like to stay, and he said it was $25.00. Regis pulled out her Passport America Card and I plunked a couple of locally brewed beer I found in the cooler on the counter, and he changed the price to $20.00 all in.

Normally when you enter a campground you get a map, code for the washrooms & laundry, location of the various amenities, and “Rules”. Here he said if you want a pull-through, just drive around the office, follow the road and pick a site you like the looks of. No rules, no instructions, no nothing. Regis reluctantly asked about WiFi Internet, not expecting much. He looked at her and replied “Oh, you want internet, no problem, I'll watch where you park and I'll point the router in your direction so you get a good signal. Enjoy your stay!”

Now it's no KOA, but we have 30 amp, Cable TV, and full hookup. Dad reports that the washrooms and showers are the “Shower-Shoes” variety, but not really that bad. It is a nice quiet campground right in the mountains, and just fine for the night. I even found a patch of California blackberries down the drive that were just ripening – just perfect to add to Sharon's fruit salad she was preparing for dessert.

Lunch in a Barn

With a day to wait for new springs to get the trailer bouncing back down the road, we decided to take a trip up the coast through the Sonoma Valley, across and back down the Napa Valley. We decided to try to find a couple of wineries to visit for tasting, and find someplace to have a nice lunch.

The first thing we discovered was that the biggest problem in finding a winery to visit was not in finding one it was in choosing which one to visit. There are literally hundreds of wineries along the way. They are one after the other all along the route, and they all seem to have tasting rooms. Purely by chance, we picked two to stop at. They ended up being a good contrast, and gave us a good taste of the region.

Kendall Jackson Winery

The first was the Kendall Jackson Winery. This is a brand I know from home, and I can buy their wine in Canada. It is a very high end winery, and was situated on a huge estate with an amazing garden. There was a “Garden” tour starting just as we arrived, so I bought a glass of one of their reds, and went out into a beautiful “Not a cloud in the sky” California summer day to casually tour their gardens with a guide. It was very pleasant to stroll through the beautiful estate from garden to garden with the guide explaining about the various plants and garden designs while sipping on a glass of delicious Californian wine. It certainly made me forget all about having to fix the trailer tomorrow.

Our next stop was a smaller winery called Foppiano Vineyards. It was considerable smaller, and much more casual. In fact as I was tasting and purchasing a bottle of wine we discovered that the owner was there in the room and quite impressed that these folk from Nova Scotia were all the way out here tasting his wine. Again, the wine was excellent. I liked all the samples, but chose a “Petit Sarrah” which I discovered was a good choice since it is their speciality.

You know, this wine tasting is a fun activity – it might be worth another visit to California . . .

BarnDiva for Lunch

Then came the real treat of the day. Everyone was getting a bit hungry, so we stopped at a little town called Healdsburg, where we were told we would find a good choice of eating places. We drove into town and parked in a nice 3 hour limit (Free) parking spot right on the town square – gives you an indication of the size of the town. Sure enough, there were a number of interesting places to have lunch. I scouted on ahead to look around , and after seeing all that the streets on the square had to offer, I headed down a side street where I saw an interesting looking little pub. After rejecting the “Pub”, I noticed a large red building with umbrellas in front, and an old funky truck parked out front. It was called “Barndiva”, and proved to be a real “find”.

There was a menu posted out front, and I immediately liked the look of it. I thought this was a place Ryan (Our Son) would approve of. It boasted a “Sustainable” menu of local food, and the items on the menu all seemed very interesting. Well, they did to me . . . . dad grumbled about not seeing anything he would want. Sharon & Regis agreed, so poor dad was once again outvoted (We got him through Death Valley on a “majority” vote as well), and we went in.

This really was a top class restaurant. The food was amazing, the service was exemplary, and the atmosphere was very nice. In fact it was so good, you sort of forgot that it was a ethical eating establishment.

Two examples of the service were; our water glasses were refilled the entire time we were there, including after we finished and were waiting to leave; and when Regis got up to go to the washroom, the waitress came over and refolded her napkin – I've never seen that before. All the wait staff were attendant, but never pushy.

A delicious menu!

The food was the real treat. Everything was amazing! I ordered a salad of Heirloom beets, Apple, Endive, Avocado, Watercress, Walnut, and Warm Chevre. I asked the waitress if I could substitute Goat cheese for the Chevre cheese, explaining my difficulty with cows milk. She said she thought that it was a goats cheese anyway , but would check with the kitchen. She did however suggest that it was a “Light” meal and wondered if I'd like an appetizer. I said “No, I thought I'd be fine.” but she then mentioned the “Goat Cheese Croquettes with House-made Tomato jam and Lavender Honey” OMG how did she know that was my second choice? I ordered it to share with everyone.

The goat cheese croquettes were delicious little deep fried balls of goat cheese mixed with Tomato jam and lightly coated in a crumb crust sitting in lavender honey. I'm sorry Linda Saunders, but I have to steal your expression – it was “To Die For!”.

My main course was an amazing mixture of roasted red and white beets mixed with apple, walnuts, avocado, and orange, with just enough “greens” to call it a salad. I do not know what the dressing was, and I don't care, because what ever it was it worked to perfection. I was pleased to note that the chef decided not to chance the possibility of cows milk in the cheese, and instead gave me two more of the Goat cheese croquettes – yum!

Oops, forgot the picture . . . .

Everyone's meal was equally delicious. Regis and Sharon had the Crab Club sandwiches, and Dad had the Quiche. By the time he started his meal, even he was raving about the taste. I have included a photo of the menu so you can see the other amazing choices. Sorry Alisha, the food was so good all I got for a photo was empty plates!

We even decided to have dessert, since there was a fabulous sounding strawberry shortcake, and the waitress had the cook make me a special “milk free” sorbet to go with the French Press coffee.

This really was an amazing find and a wonderful addition to an interesting day in California. In fact we took so long enjoying the delicious lunch, we had very little time to tour the rest of the Napa valley.

Spring Wine (Or Spring Break)

Lovely Scenery - Terrible Roads!

 

For those who are not RVers, the trailers and Rvs I am writing about are basically houses built on a steel truck frame. Some of the real classic trailers like the Airstream are built with an aluminium, frame, and some like the Boler we had are a nice fibreglass shell mounted on a steel frame. The Boler was an amazing trailer, light, strong and well designed, but it looked like two fibreglass bathtubs pop riveted together with some windows and a door cut into the sides. Modern RVer, insist on oak cupboards, flat screen TVs, arm chairs, and microwaves. In other words they want a “Home away from Home”, and they want it to look and feel like home. The result is a big square wooden structure like a house attached to a truck frame. But of course to tow it behind even a big truck it has to be light, the result is a compromise, and it results in shifting, bending, and breaking. Nothing ever broke on the Boler in years of service, but so far , we've bent a wheel, the back venetian blind has fallen down twice, one light fixture fell off, and two cupboard door handles have fallen off. Oh, yea, two of the springs that keep all this “homeyness” rolling down the road have broken.

Looking back, I suspect that the loud bang we heard as Regis was coming down the twisty narrow mountain roads in Yosemite National Park was one of the springs finally giving up and snapping, but I didn't notice it then. The trailer was making a lot of noise, but it does on bumpy roads anyway, so we didn't worry about it. However in the morning as I was checking everything over prior to leaving San Francisco to drive up the coast, I noticed that one spring was broken in half, with just one end holding the axle in place. We were not going far with that. We had a spare, but dad must have cleaned that out when getting ready for the trip. We went to the local RV shop, but although he could get the part, he could not do the work today. I elected to pick up the part and do it myself.

I got everything apart, and in the process discovered that a spring on the other side was also broken but not so bad. Fortunately I had bought two springs just in case. When I went to put the nice shiny new spring into place, it would not fit. A measurement revealed I was sold 26” springs and needed 23” ones. A phone call informed me that 23” ones were not in stock and would have to be ordered – a two day wait. We reregistered at the campground, put things back together (as good as the stripped threads, and bent brackets would allow), and went back to the site.

So with two more days in San Francisco, we have decided to take the rest of the day to just relax here. I worked on a walking stick, Regis tried to keep up on her reading for all her book clubs back home, dad took a nap, and Sharon found some temporary “Grandkids” Next door to make a fuss over (Sorry Jasmine, Nicki, Alex and Drew). Tomorrow we will leave the trailer here and go up the coast in the truck and visit some of the California Napa valley wineries. Life is tough!

Between a Rock & a Hard Place

Note trees & big rock . . . . .

When traveling with an RV, you need to find a place to park every night. With a 28 foot trailer, you need plenty of room to maneuver,  so a site that you can simply pull into (a “pull-through”) is easiest. The compromise with these however is that they tend to be open sites with no shade.  In 30 - 40 degree heat, a bit of shade is appreciated, but although I’m getting better a backing the trailer into tight spots, we usually ask for the easier pull-through sites.

After driving through Death Valley, we started looking for a campsite. We were headed towards Yosemite National Park, and although there were lots of RVs and big trailers on the roads with us, the trend seemed to be towards smaller unserviced sites for tents or small trailers. There were lots of sites in Yosemite, and the various state parks, and forests, but after a long hot drive through Death Valley, we wanted water, electricity, and a hot shower. Regis found a place called “Pine Cliff Resort”, that had over 300 sites, and plenty had services, so we headed there.

The first indication of trouble was when we couldn’t see the sign for the park. After going by, and taking a scenic tour to the nearby town, we were pointed back where we came from. This time we saw a little sign peeking out of the weeds on the left side of the road - the instructions in the book said “enter on right” - no wonder we didn't see it. At least we had found the park.

While waiting for Dad & Sharon to register, Jasper and I observed that this park was going to have plenty of shade, built into the side of the mountain, and full of huge tall pine trees.

Dad come back with rather sketchy instruction to our site. “Go around that big rock, either side is OK, between those trees, and back in there. Just getting there was interesting, having to judge where to turn the truck to keep the trailer from clipping the trees and huge rocks. When we got there the site looked pretty tight, and there was not much room to maneuver. The fellow parked behind the site, stood up from his table and came over, "You gonna try to put that trailer in there? My Buddy took eight tries to get in there and his was smaller than yours. The guy across the road chimed in "I'll move my truck; you'll need all the room you can get!"

With Dad, Regis and Sharon guiding me, and with a few suggestions from the neighbors, I started backing in. There was a large pine tree on either side of the entrance to the site, and a large rock on one side. There was a concrete pad on the other side, and the power and water stuck up beside the rock. I almost got it in, but got too close to the tree with the truck. Even with tucking the mirror in, it was not going to work. I pulled out and tried again, no, still too close to the tree. I got out and looked everything over. I pulled out and tried to start further up the road, pulling almost into the site across the road - good thing he moved his truck. This time I got the trailer in, but we realized that it had to be over so the tires were almost touching the concrete pad in order for the slideout to come out without hitting the power and water. Another try and I got it in pretty well - Check level? No, . . .  got to pull forward to block one side. This time everything looked good, and both neighbors congratulated us for getting it in. I felt good since it took his "buddy" eight tries.

In the morning we had to get back out. Dad had gone for a walk to scope out the best way to exit the night before with Jasper the RV Dog, and they thought they had it cased.

Dad pulled out of the site fine. Up the road, and around the Fish cleaning house (Yup - they had a fish cleaning house), and out between two trees. The trees were close, so we asked the fellow across the road to move his truck. He said "No problem, but you should know that the last guy who tried to come out this way got himself wedged in tight." We got out and it was pretty close, but we were committed by now. Dad inched the trailer forward, but there was no way it would fit. The awning was going to catch on the tree. He had to back up and try again. The fellow on the other side came out of his trailer and added "Watch the slope by the tree on the left - if you come too close to that one, it will tip your trailer into the other tree. Dad backed it up again, moving a bit to the left but not so much to tip the trailer. He inched it forward and I guided him, the awning just touched, chipping the bark, but not anything serious. We had made it out.

Dad suggested that it looked quite a bit wider last night.

I think we will look for a pull-through tomorrow.

Las Vegas in 90 Minutes

Las Vegas

We are visiting lots of places on this trip, but ultimately our goal, and purpose is to visit my sister in British Columbia and attend her son’s wedding. As a result we are driving through many places that could be vacation destination on their own. Las Vegas, Nevada is an example, we arrived at about 2:00 pm, but planned to leave for Death Valley in the morning. We had to see Las Vegas in one evening.

The campground staff recommended, we get a 24 hour ticket for the “Deuce”, a double decker bus that we could use all evening and could hop off and on whenever we wanted. While waiting for the bus, we struck up a conversation with another visitor who had already been using the bus, and she suggested some good places to visit. She said that most of the big casinos allowed anyone to just wander the premises. Most of them have some big attraction to lure prospective gamblers in, and they are usually free.

Tourists

We discovered that the campground really was, as advertised, “within walking distance” of the famous “Las Vegas Strip”, and in fact it was close to some of the biggest casinos. We were just a couple of blocks from Caesar’s Palace, the Ballagio Casino, as well as two or three other well known casinos The campground itself is attached to the Circus Circus Casino, which is itself a huge one.

We hopped off the bus at Caesar’s Palace, and were presented with Las Vegas in all her excessive, opulent, glory. You really just had to pause a moment at take it all in. These casinos are absolutely huge. You can wander around them for hours. They have entire shopping malls under their roofs, and you have at least ten choices of eatery, everything from VERY high end restaurants, to fast food chains. You can get your hair cut, your nails done, your entire body massaged, and pretty much anything else you might want. Yes, I really think you could get “anything” without leaving the casino complex. The reminded me of a cruise ship only on a much bigger scale with much more emphasis on the casino aspect.

Las Vegas Lake?

We wandered through Caesar’s Palace, the Bellagio, and Circus Circus, and I think this gave us a pretty good idea of Las Vegas. Circus Circus had a carnival, circus theme, complete with a huge indoor amusement park with roller coaster, flume ride and kiddie merry-go-round, a circus big top, and all the expected “carny” games and booths. Regis, Sharon, and I went here after dark, and they said they were glad I was there to lead them back to the RV, because if they were alone they would have still been wearily wandering around this morning trying to find their way home.

I know that given time to really explore Las Vegas, you would discover that it is more than just huge opulent casinos (or maybe not), and I’d like to come back, stay at one of the hotel/casino complexes and see more of “The City that never sleeps” but I think our little one evening visit gave us a pretty good slice of this city.

Jasper the RV Dog

Jasper the RV Dog

There are actually five of us on this trip. Dad’s little nine pound Rottweiler, Jasper (he is actually a Shih-Tzu) is along with us, and very much a part of the company.

We have taken our cat across the country with us, but she just stayed in the RV. A dog is a lot more work. He has to be walked, and given a chance to do his social networking duties - peeing on things to announce he was there.

Jasper did not start out as a good traveler. He wants to go, but when he gets in the truck, he will not settle down, panting, and pacing. He wants to sit on someone’s lap and that is not allowed; he does not understand why he cannot sit on a lap. We decided that we had to establish his boundaries, and decided to put him on the floor when he wouldn’t behave. He found a way around this, by simply deciding that the floor was his favorite spot - so much for punishment!

He actually settled in pretty good, and has developed a routine. He now goes into the back seat, and almost immediately settles down on the floor. He moves back and forth from side to side, but sometimes, is so quiet, that “where is the dog?” is a common expression. He can tuck himself under the back seat so we can’t even see him.

There are two things that Jasper does not like, lightning, and rumble strips. He gets so upset he does not know what to do. He wants up, he wants down, he wants . . . . he doesn’t know what he wants. Actually he just wants the lightning to stop! The rumble strips are another matter. He used to panic every time you drove over one. Of course with the trailer it is worse because eight tires instead of four are rumbling. On a narrow little road in Pennsylvania there were not only rumble strips on the side of the road, but also in the middle. You couldn’t avoid them in a fifty foot long vehicle. Poor Jasper was frantic. The trip has actually been good for helping him learn that the rotten rumble strips can’t hurt him, because after 17 days, he is getting used to them, and unless you are on them a long time he ignores them.

Jasper had a very traumatic experience last evening. The KOA RV park had a very nice “doggie playground”, and I was teasing Dad and Sharon, that if they were good doggie parents, they would take him over there to play. Sharon finally agreed, and I went with them. There were two big ugly white dogs there already, but as soon as we opened the gate their owners assured us their dogs was “OK”. Sharon let Jasper off his leash, and he started exploring, ignoring the other dogs.

Not so with the other “OK” dogs, one charged at him, running him over in a cloud of dust, and chomped down on him. The owner immediately yelled “No, he is too small to play with!”, and came to separate them. I think they actually thought he was a nice moving “chew toy”. By then, the owners were upset, and as a result their dogs got upset, and the other one went after Jasper as he tried to get away. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt, but he definitely did not like being used as a “chew toy”. He did not like going to the “doggie playground” after that.

As I write this we are rolling down highway 95 towards Death Valley (Harolyn’s advice), and Jasper is happily sleeping under the back seat by Regis’ feet. He seems to be settling into this RV trip just fine.

Ain't It Grand

The Grand Canyon

When we stared planning this trip, the one place that Regis wanted to see was the Grand Canyon, so it was set as our goal as we worked our way across the United States. It was as far south as we would go on this trip.

We had a terrible time getting information on the Grand Canyon. We did not know the best way to get there, we did not know what to expect when we got there, and we were not sure if we should camp close, or camp in a nearby city and drive to the canyon. We stopped at the Arizona welcome centre, and the extent of the help we got there was being handed various brochures. When we asked about routes to drive to the canyon we were told to go a particular way because she felt traffic on the route that followed the south rim would be like rush hour. "30 miles of 30 mph driving", she warned.

We elected to stay in Flagstaff, Arizona for two days and spend the one full day at the canyon with the truck. We ignored the Welcome Centre's advice and drove the "busy" south rim route. We were the only car on the road at times, and had no backups or congestion, and there was always lots of room to park at the scenic overlooks. This route takes you straight up to the canyon, and then snakes along the southern rim of the canyon, providing many spots to pull off to look out over the canyon and take pictures.

At one point a sign warned that there could be mountain lions for the next 15 miles. Then, about two miles further there was a picnic area with a family happily eating. Does this really make sense? Didn't these folks realize that in a "mountain lion" zone, the picnic area, was for the lions, and they were the picnic . . . . Don't these people read the signs?

The Colorado River

The Grand Canyon is one of those "Must See" attractions, and there are so many pictures of it, that you have a preconceived idea of what to expect. It is actually exactly what we expected, and was every bit as spectacular as we expected. There are so many different layers of rock and it is just so huge that every stop provided something different to see. At one point we saw a sheer cliff to the bottom, another we could see the rapids on the river below, and on one stop we saw California Condors gracefully soaring above the canyon. The canyon changes by the hour, and the views over the canyon are different in the morning and afternoon, and although we did not stay to watch the sun set over the canyon, we were able to see how the lengthening shadows made particular rock formations stand out and certain colours become dominant. I took my camera with nice fresh batteries, and lots of room on the memory card, and I took hundreds of photos, but it is very hard to capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon.

At The Grand Canyon

We knew what to expect; I can only imagine what early explorers or pre-internet vacationers must have felt coming across this incredible landmark for the first time. It is aptly named, and really is "Grand". Put it on your "bucket list".