Park Sierra is Great!!

Our second week in California has started out as a really nice surprise. Park of the Sierra's
is full of trees, hills, flowers, hills, birds, hills, squirrels, nice people and oh yeah, did I mention hills.

Because of the colder temperatures and busier schedule, since we left Benson,AZ and worked out way to California, I have not been walking nearly as much as I did in Benson. (daily at least)

I was hoping to get back in the groove here, but wow, I'm really not sure about all the hills, so I guess we'll have to see how that works out. We took a walk down to the main building to see what the facility was like and to our very pleasant surprise ran into two couples from Australia that we had met in Benson in March.

We chatted with the men for a few minutes and continued our tour of the facilities. After hiking back UP to the coach and relaxing for a little while, (necessary after the walk) I took my scooter back down the hill, to check out the area where we had stopped to register, to see if we were losing any fluids.

There were a couple of spots on the road in front of our site coming from the engine/transmisson area and I wanted to see if it was leaking earlier. I had noticed that our transmission was just a little overheated on the way to the park earlier in the day. I suspect the transmission was the culprit.

Anyway, I went back down the hill to check and stopped at the Aussie's rigs to chat and was soon joined by Connie. They were headed for Yosemite the next day, but recommended that we do Kings Canyon while we're here. We chatted with them for quite awhile and then headed back to the rig for the night.

Park Sierra Office	Reconstructed Stagecoach
Our House :-)	Our Australian Friends
Small stream in park	Water worn rocks
Balancing Rock	Cardiac Hill
Chukchansi Casino	Park Lizard :-)

It turned out to be a long day for us, simply because we have new friends, we travel and we (read I ) are getting older, so anything after 9pm is a bonus for Connie and about 11pm is my limit. We were both in bed and asleep ahead of normal.

It was a while before I realized why we were so tired. (not just old age) Our week of R+R at Eddo's turned out to be almost 7 days of travel. We were going constantly.

So, now it's time to sit still and regroup for a bit. Initially we were staying a week to sort out our future travel, then we talked about 2 weeks, and now we've decided to stay for a full month and forgo our trip to OR, WA and Idaho.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

ttfn

Paul

Actually posted 5/22/08

Dang that water's cold :-)

The warmest day so far was the day we planned to go to the Coast. I don't know if I've said it before, but Connie has never been to the Pacific Ocean, and it's one more of the things I especially wanted to do for her.

It was a very nice sunny day and I had planned a route out to Half Moon Bay, up the coast to San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and back to Rio Vista. It was about 230 miles of driving, but over 8 hours was really pretty nice.

A view before we got to the coast, looking back toward San Mateo.

Before anybody yells at me when they see the pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, I need to warn you that the Bridge is painted Red, not Gold.

The "Golden Gate" is actually the water that runs between the San Francisco peninsula and the Marin peninsula. Even more correctly, it's the strait that connects the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.

Try to view these pictures as if you've never seen the Pacific Ocean if you can. I know it pleased Connie and that pleases me.

Highway 1	Half Moon Venice Beach
Hungry Gulls	Can I trust you?
Hurry, it's COLD!!	Pretty huh?
Along the Pacific Coast	Electric Bus
Mimes	Fisherman's Wharf
Trolley Car	1st view of Golden Gate
Crossing the bridge	Near Marin
Golden Gate looking SW	Con & SF
Alcatraz	San Quentin

I hope you enjoyed.

ttfn

Paul

actually posted 05/20/08

Calories to go --- and more!!

The next couple of days at Eddo's Harbor & RV Park were supposed to be part of our R & R. hah

Since we now had the Belly Flops, and Connie didn't want them around (at least that's the story she's sticking to) we decided to go to Pittsburg,CA and mail them to a number of people the next day.

The weather was so so anyway, so it was something to do besides look at clouds.

We spent a small fortune with the post office, and while we were out and about, we did some shopping for a better vacuum for the rig, and some new glasses for Connie. Seems the bi-focals she had were a real problem for her.

So we spent some time riding around finding a Wally World to hopefully do both at the same time. No such luck. We found the vacuum ok, but they didn't have a optometrist in that store, but we did get a referral to a guy in Antioch.

We found a nice pair of glasses that he could have ready the next day at a sorta reasonable price. After ordering the glasses we spent a little time riding around before heading back to the Park, and came across this street sign.

Connie's maiden name is Davison, and it's very unusual to find the name spelled without the 2nd D, (Davidson) so I took it just for the heck of it.

We needed to go back the next day to pick up Connie's new glasses, so went early enough that I took a couple more pictures, heading back toward the park. :-)

The Levee around Sherman Island

The bridge to Antioch and Pittsburg on the South end of the Island.

I had already made plans to go out to the Coast on Thursday, so all of a sudden our R & R week is very rapidly disappearing. Oh well, there's always next week in Coarsegold, at the SKP Park.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention that yet. We have decided to go to Coarsegold for the time being, and stay in warm weather while we figure out what we're doing next.

Next post will be Connie's 1st visit to the Pacific Ocean.

ttfn

Paul

Actual post 5/16/08

Belly Flops to go!!!

No, I'm not talking about lousy swimming technique. ;-)

When we were still in Benson,AZ our friend Rick Traver mentioned that there was a Jelly Belly store in Vacaville,CA where you could get a really good deal on Jelly Belly's candy by buying "Belly Flops".

He explained that they were bags of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans that were not "perfect" for some reason, and the company sold them for a discounted price.

Hmmmm, let's see, discounted price, Jelly Bellies, Connie, uh I think that's a no-brainer.

When we got to Eddo's, I did some internet research and found out that the Vacaville place was just an outlet store, but the Factory was in Fairfield,CA about 15 miles away from Vacaville, and they gave tours.(about 30 miles from us)

Needless to say I didn't have to twist Connie's arm to check it out.

The Jelly Belly Candy Company was originally the Gustav Goelitz Candy Company, started in Illinois in 1869 by two brothers who emigrated here from Germany.

As the family business grew, one of the brothers moved to California to open up another Candy Factory.

Sorry, but it's not the camera, I moved. :-(

Fast forward to the 1970's and Jelly Belly Candy Company became the source for Gourmet Jelly Beans for President Ronald Reagan.



It takes at least 7 days to make a jelly bean and can take as long as 21 days with certain flavors.

We did the tour and wandered around their factory outlet and found the "Belly Flops" that were my mission for the day. We picked up enough to send to a few select people and kept some for personal use. hee hee

Pictures were not allowed inside the factory, so I can only give you a couple. All in all it was an interesting day and we can mark off another new adventure.

ttfn

Paul

actually posted 5/16/08

What is that green stuff???? ;-)

We headed out of Reno and COLD weather toward California's central valley area. Going over the Sierra's was not an issue for me, which was another plus kinda day. :-)

As we went over the mountains and started down into California, it suddenly became green around us and Connie got her camera going while I drove.

It was the first time we'd seen any green except for cactus since mid-January. The road was really rough, so she had a hard time getting a picture, and this one is the best of the bunch. :-(

We continued past Sacramento toward Rio Vista and Eddo's Harbor & RV park. The Passport America book comes through again.

It's located on Sherman island at the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in what is know as the "Delta" area. If you've never been in the area, it's a great destination to really
get away.

The whole Delta area is a group of Islands that used to be routinely flooded with spring rains. It was very fertile land and the farmers decided to protect the Islands, so they built levees around the perimeter of almost all of them.

A huge quantity of California's agriculture and cattle is found in this area, and there's also some really good fishing in the area around Sherman Island, close to the park.

Uh did I mention that they also built VERY narrow roads on top of the levees? It was an interesting ride from the main road to the park, especially driving a wide-body Motorhome. ;-)

Once at the park, we met the owners to get registered and I have to say they are VERY nice people and got us moved in in short order. Shortly after we get set up, Connie decided to put 10lbs of paperwork in a 5lb bAG. :-)
It's a small park (about 30 sites) and all back-in at this point, but plenty of room for our rig and dolly. They have plans to add to the park in the near future, and they will be pull-through sites.

Aside from the RV park, they also have a boat launch and protected dock area on a small channel on the San Joaquin side of the island. Oh, and it's also nice and warm this time of year.

A very welcome relief from Reno.

More from Eddo's next time.

ttfn

Paul

actually posted 5/11/08

Convention Bound and Reno

Another day trip.

Time to leave Pahrump and Pair-A-Dice SKP Park, and head for Reno,NV and the National Chimney Sweep Convention.

The weather forecast was calling for a sunny day, getting windy as the day progresses, so I wanted to get a relatively early start. Our plan for today is to travel a little less than half-way to Reno and stay in Tonopah,NV at a small Passport America park.

Once we got going (around 9am) we made really good time and were approaching Tonopah around noon. We really didn't want to stop quite that early so Connie checked our books for more parks on the way to Reno, we called to cancel our reservation in Tonopah and kept on rolling.

The wind hadn't picked up at all going to Tonopah, but it started to blow harder as we headed further North. As it turned out, after doing some cautious driving in 30-35 mph winds, we arrived in Fallon,NV and stayed at Sage Valley RV Park, another Passport America Park.

It was a small park, but served our purpose for the night, as it was another pull-through site where I didn't need to unhook the tow dolly or car. :-) The other real plus was we were off the road and the wind was really blowing when we got parked. Gusts over 50mph. yikes!

Since it was a Monday night, I HAD to get our TV Dish set up, for Dancing With The Stars or Connie might shoot me. It took a little longer than normal, but it got hooked up in plenty of time. Life is good!! hee hee

Tuesday we headed for Reno, and only had about 60 miles to go, so we got a late start, and stopped to get fuel on the way. We still got there before noon, but it was our destination, so it really didn't matter.

Oh yeah, did I mention that all that wind was the start of a huge front coming through the area. Well, it was, and we saw that ugly 4 letter word for the first time in a long time. Of course I mean SNOW. yuck!!

This picture was on the ride up yesterday.

It was snowing North of us and South of us as we drove into Reno, but it didn't actually snow where we were. It did however get a whole bunch colder than I wanted to see. Remember, we've been in shorts for more than a month. grrrr

The view from IDK ain't bad - grin

I won't bore y'all with the daily details, but wanted to say it was great seeing all of our Chimney Sweep "Family". We've been in touch with some of them routinely, but many of these friends we only see at conventions, so it was really nice.

We also got to see Ron and Renee Brigman (the new owners of Bless Your Hearth Chimney Service, my former business) , Blume and Chris May, some of our very best friends on the planet, all from Upstate South Carolina.

Here are just a few pics from the rest of our stay in Reno, enjoy.

All in all it was a great time seeing our Sweep friends, although a little bit colder than we wanted. We stayed through the week and left Sunday morning to head for a week of R&R in Rio Vista,CA.

Knowing our lifestyle, that might seem like a stupid statement, but our normal hours aren't as early or late as they are at convention, and we're also not as physically or mentally focused, so it really does wear us out some. (more me than Connie)

Rio Vista was her idea, and the next post will tell you a lot more about it.

ttfn

Paul

actual post 5/6/08

Pahrump & The Valley of Death ;-)

Pahrump,NV

From Camp Verde, we went west to Bullhead City,AZ for the night. We stayed at River City RV Park with a full hook-up. It was a pretty small and tight park, but it worked just fine for us.

Bullhead City is just across the Colorado River from Laughlin NV, and originally I thought we might go over to one of the casinos, but after the drive, I just didn't feel like it.

It was about 4-1/2 hours of driving, and we didn't really take any pictures all the way across AZ. I think the Grand Canyon and Sedona may have spoiled us.

We went to Pahrump,NV the next day and got a site at the SKP Pair-A Dice RV Park for a week. Pahrump is a whole bunch bigger than I expected, and the park is very friendly and well maintained. The site gave us plenty of room to relax in the shade of the casita. ;-)
Hank and Patti Landry were at Furnace Creek in Death Valley when we got to Pahrump, but were leaving and heading for Las Vegas, so we made plans to have them stop and go to lunch with us, on their way.

We got all caught up on their travels and let them know the areas we've seen and are going to see. It was great seeing them again, and a real bonus was Connie got her "Boston" fix with Scooter and Molly.

Our only real adventure out of the park was a day trip to Death Valley.

Folks, if you've never been there, I really hope the pictures will convince you to go. It's awesome!!!

The rest of our stay in Pahrump was walking around the park, relaxing, and for parts of two days I worked on waxing the motorhome. I think it's growing. hee hee

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pics.

ttfn

Paul
Actual post 5/4/08

From the Halls Of .........

Montezuma's Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well.

Sorry folks, I couldn't resist. hee hee

Well, we sat through the WH pitch, and if we wanted to be "on the move" all the time, we might look further, but for now we gratefully accepted their free nights and turned down their offer to buy a membership.

Just a few miles from the park is Montezuma's Castle National Monument, and about 10 miles from there is Montezuma Well.

I took pictures of a few of their signs because they explain things better than I could, so here is another day with a few pictures. Enjoy.

There's a lot more info on the NPS site if you're interested.

This is my last post from Arizona folks. After 2-1/2 months in AZ we head for Nevada tomorrow and continue the adventure from there.

Time to get some sleep, hope you liked it.

ttfn

Paul

Actual post 4/27/08

No Wonder it's Called GRAND Canyon!!

I had traveled to the Grand Canyon in the late 70's, so I guess I need to blame my feeble memory. Man is the Grand Canyon awesome!!!!!!!!!

The main park area has been developed tremendously since I was there, and I found out that having a disability can be a good thing at times. We received a special pass that allowed us to take our car to a number of places that are usually restricted to their trams.

It allowed us to move about the park a lot more freely at our own pace. (which at times can be pretty slow)

There's a picture of an elk in this group. Everything after the elk is taken on the ride eastward out of the park. There's still a lot of really pretty views going in that direction, so if you visit, make sure you go out on the east road while you're there.

I only have a few pictures to put up, or I'd never get any posted. So, without any further ado, I give you our Grand Canyon Day in brief.

Well folks, we get to go through the Western Horizons sales pitch tomorrow, so I'll end this here.

Hope you enjoyed.

ttfn

Paul

actually posted 4/27/08

Red Rocks Rock!!

Sedona,AZ -

We finally left the Saguaro park in Benson yesterday and drove to Camp Verde, AZ, about 90 miles North of Phoenix.

We had a flyer that was given to us, for a few FREE days and nights at a Western Horizons Resort if we sat through a sales presentation for their program. I have to tell ya, I was really surprised when we got to the Park, cuz when I made the reservation, I assumed we'd have a Full Hook Up for our rig, and they gave us water and electric only.

It was not a huge deal, because we do have everything we need in the rig, but it surprised me because I really thought that any "Membership" organization would automatically put their best foot forward to entice us to join. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for thinking. hee hee

So, yesterday after we got set up in the park, we decided to take a ride to Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood and see what the place was like. We had almost decided to stay at the park when we were trying to schedule our Northern AZ travels, and we just wanted to se what it was like. It was a very nice park and would have worked great if we wanted to stay there.

After the quick ride to Cottonwood, we got back to the park and chilled for the rest of the night.

Today we headed North about 30 miles to Connie's 1st choice destination, Sedona. I'm not going into a lot of description except to say that it was awesome. Seeing a church built into the side of a mountain was something I couldn't even picture before we actually saw it.

I'll let you guys decide if the visit is worth it.


We really enjoyed the scenery and were both pretty tired by the time we got back to the rig.

Well, that's all for Sedona, and tomorrow is the Grand Canyon. wheeeeeeeeeeee

ttfn

Paul

actually posted 4/22/08