The saga continues...

Wednesday – What was my comment…”barring any glitches”? Well, we glitched! At the appointed hour of 7:00am, we rolled into the Freightliner shop as requested. The rest of the day was spent visiting the Sundial Bridge,



watching geese on the Sacramento River bob for food,

visiting Shasta Dam

and Whiskeytown Lake

and waiting in the “lounge” at the repair shop. At 2:00 pm, we saw the rig pull out of the shop for a test run. Fifteen minutes later, it returned and backed into the shop. Not a good sign. It was still “bucking”. More tests and head scratching. The consensus now is that when Freightliner San Diego replaced (under warranty) the “lift pump”, the small pump that brings fuel to the main high-pressure fuel injector pump, they did not replace the bracket that goes with it. The problem here is that the bracket contains a “check valve”, a one-way valve that keeps the fuel from draining back into the tank when the engine is shut down. Freightliner Redding now believes the check valve is bad. If the check valve is bad, then the injector pump we just replaced may or may not have been bad and we may or may not have had to lay out $500 for the repair. Freightliner Redding amazingly has the bracket in stock. So…we are now back at the Elks Lodge for the night and will return AGAIN in the morning to install the bracket with the check valve that will HOPEFULLY fix the damn problem. Mark told me he would “work with me” on the $500 deductible. He also mentioned that, if the bracket and check valve turn out to be the culprit, I need to have a “chat” with San Diego Freightliner about their work and the money it cost me. The saga continues! After a cool shower and a couple of peach ice teas, I felt better. Don and Pat are coming over tonight and we are going out for a Chinese dinner.

And what a dinner it was! We stuffed ourselves with sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, egg foo young, chow mein and fried rice. What we didn’t eat went home with Don. I was still a little apprehensive about the motorhome but slept pretty well in spite of being a little up tight.

At 6:00 am, the alarm went off and we got up. Think positive! Today will be the day they find the problem. At 7:00, we were at the shop and I backed it into a shop bay. We checked in with Mark and then took off for breakfast. We went to Lin’s, the same restaurant we went to with Pat and Don last night. Claudia had a Denver omelet and I had sausage, eggs and hash browns. The sausage patty was HUGE, greasy, spicy and delicious…just the way I like it. My cholesterol will probably do a huge spike, but it was worth it! We then went back to the Elks Lodge and sat on the rear grass lawn by the pool to work on the trip schedule and fill in the blank holes with newly acquired information. Gizmo ran around the tables and chairs, got his leash hopelessly entangled several times, ate lots of bugs, grass and sticks and promptly barfed up the contents of his stomach. About noonish, my phone rang. It was Mark. They found the problem! It was not “I THINK we found the problem” but a very positive “WE FOUND THE PROBLEM!” Hallelujah! We jumped into the Explorer and headed for the shop.

Mark took me to the work bench and showed me the check valve bracket. He held the check valve up so I could see inside. I observed a goodly amount of a black unidentified and/or unidentifiable substance inside the valve opening. He had some in a baggie for me but I dumped some more out into the palm of my hand. It was spongy like rubber but that was as far as I could go to identify it. The black “stuff” had plugged the check valve and restricted the flow of fuel to the fuel injector pump. (Ladies…isn’t this interesting?) They had installed the new bracket and it was running perfectly.

After a lengthy discussion on the engineering of a Cummins diesel engine, I found out there was no fuel filter between the fuel tank and the fuel pump. To my thinking, this was a huge violation of basic kindergarten engineering. Any engineer in their right mind would know to put a filter between the fuel tank and the injector pump. I guess the Cummins engineers failed kindergarten! What stupidity!!!!! Anyway, I immediately asked Mark to install an extra fuel filter in the fuel line between the tank and the first pump. That was probably the best $150 I ever spent. After it was all said and done, we drove back to the lodge for the night with a wallet that was about $750 lighter. Thank God for insurance! The total bill was over $5,500. I had a “two-fingered drink”, got the rig partially ready to leave in the morning and went to bed. I slept well…VERY well! Even Gizmo slept well!

We got up leisurely, finished packing, and took off for Crescent City. This time, we headed north on I-5 to Grants Pass and then took Hwy. 199 to Hwy. 101 and down to Crescent City. The motor ran flawlessly! We stopped at the Village Camper Inn where the caravan is staying in October and got all our questions answered. We then drove to the Elks Lodge, took one look at the area, and left. We were afraid someone would swipe our tires if we parked there so we headed for Brookings, just across the border into Oregon.

When we got there, we got the very last RV spot they had. We decided to stay for at least three nights (at $15 a night…with hookups) so we can go back and check out Crescent City and then go up to Gold Beach, our next stop. When we checked in, two guys were preparing a huge pig for a Hawaiian pit roast tomorrow night. It is going to be a fund raiser for the Past Exalted Rulers. The dinner is roast pig, Hawaiian chicken, rice pilaf and fruit salad. The whole nine yards is $10 per person. I grabbed a twenty from my wallet and snatched up two tickets so fast that Claudia didn’t know what happened…almost. Actually, nothing gets by her…NOTHING! We then went into the lodge and split two dinners, one salmon and one prime rib, both with baked potatoes and vegetables. The dinners were the absolute best we’ve ever had. The bill came to $28.50. God I love the Elks!

Redding and a LONG story!

Monday morning:

We fired up the motorhome at Oh-Dark-Six-thirty, dumped the tanks and headed for the Freightliner shop. I got to the first light and…chug, chug, hiccup, hiccup, cough, cough and it slowed to 5 mph. It then started going again but did its little tricks three more times within the four-mile trip to Freightliner…but we made it! They ran it inside and ran a diagnostic on the engine. Hmmm…whir, whir, cachunk, click, click and out came the report. Bad fuel pump. Hey, we just replaced that. No, we replaced the “lift pump”, which is a little fuel pump that brings the fuel to the main fuel pump which is the one that is now bad. You following this? Guess what a brand new fuel pump for a Cummins diesel engine costs? $5,000…Five Grand…five BIG ones…more than a set of tires…and that’s PLUS one full day’s worth of labor to remove the old one and install the new one. We (luckily) do have an insurance plan that SHOULD cover it all but a $500 deductible. They only pay for a rebuilt pump, not a new one, but the guy at Freightliner says the rebuilts are just as good. So…we are now back at the Redding Elks Lodge for the night while they get a rebuilt pump shipped from the Bay Area. We will take the rig back to Freightliner tomorrow morning for the new rebuilt pump to be installed. They say it will be done tomorrow. I asked if he was sure. He said, “Trust me!” RIGHT!

Oh me, oh my, what shall we do today? Oh, let’s get the oil changed in the car and do laundry! OK, we’ll get the oil changed and do laundry. What the hell! While we were getting the oil changed, my phone rang. “Hello” “This is Mark at Freightliner. Everything has been approved, but they don’t pay for freight to get the part here”. “OK…how much is freight?” “$487 and change” “WHAT!!!!!!!”. I sat down! “Wait a minute. Let me check that again”. After a few minutes, Mark told me that Freightliner had screwed up and that the shipping would be $50 or less. I told him he owed me big time for a near-fatal heart attack.

After doing the laundry, I went for a swim. Gizmo pouted because he couldn’t go in the pool area. The pool at the lodge is huge and beautiful. It even has a diving board and separate diving area. After cooling off, the board beckoned. I haven’t been on a diving board in a long time, a VERY long time. I walked out on the board and bounced a few times. It was very springy. I tested it with a standard old front dive. Not bad…probably about a “7”. I felt a little shaky, and my back has been acting up, so I didn’t do what used to be my signature dive, a forward 1½ . Probably a very smart thing. I retired to the rig and we kicked back for the night.

We got up at a normal time and got ready to head for Freightliner. Before we left, we had to watch Gizmo’s favorite TV show, “Predator Quest”. This is a show about hunting coyotes and the introduction shows coyotes being called with a wounded rabbit mouth call. The camera is positioned so that most of the coyotes are running right at it. Gizmo just loves this part. I hold him up in front of the screen and he is absolutely memorized by the sight of all the “dogs” running toward him.

Gizmo watching "Predator Quest"...his favorite show

We finished the show and headed for the shop.

Don met us at the shop and, after checking that all was on schedule, we left for the mountains to see his cabin. Don and Pat have a great little “cabin” in a small town called Old Station.

Don and Pat's cabin

Lunch with Don

View from the kitchen

They had a fire there a few weeks ago that got really close to the cabins on their road. The firefighters threw a bunch of stacked wood away from the house to reduce the fire danger to the house itself and we spent some time moving the wood from a neighbor’s property back to Don and Pats and putting some sheetrock back on the porch. Both Gizmo and Don’s dog, Kimberly, went crazy running around the area, chasing lizards and each other.

Kimberly and Gizmo

We wound up spending most of the day there and then returned to the Freightliner yard. The dogs slept on Claudia's lap for the whole trip home.

Two very tired dogs!

Due to a miscommunication between two service writers, no work had been done to the rig. We had been working with one service writer (Mark) but a new one (Rick) talked to me this morning. I was told by Mark that the new fuel pump should be in about 10:30 and that they could start working on it then. If Larry, the mechanic, couldn’t finish it by 5:00 pm, the night shift could finish the job. OK, fine! I did tell them that if there was any possibility they couldn’t finish the job today, don’t start it and we would bring the rig in tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:00 and they could have it all day and get it done. Well, Rick called me twice about 11:00 to tell me the part had gotten there but they didn’t have enough time to finish the job. We had no cell phone service at Old Station so I didn’t get the message. About 11:30, I called Mark from a landline phone at the cabin and he told me the rig would be done by 5:00 or 6:00. Mark and Rick weren’t communicating so nothing got done, which probably is good thing in the long run. At least we have a place to sleep tonight! Now, tomorrow, it goes in at 7:00 am and they promised it would get done.

Our schedule is still tentative at this time but it looks like we will be taking off from here on Thursday, Friday at the very latest, barring any major glitches. The plan for now is to head north on I-5 to Grants Pass and then over to Crescent City. We may stay in Crescent City or go on to Brookings, OR. That’s the plan right now but, as y’all know, our schedule is, shall we say, flexible?

Eureka and Redding

The trip to Eureka was uneventful with the exception of a pair of young deer standing by the side of the road and one slightly used coonskin cap lying in the road. We pulled into the Elks Lodge, picked out a spot and got all set up. They have about 25 RV spaces here and all but a couple were taken. The amenities include 50 amp power, water, sewer and free wi-fi at your site. These Elks do it right! I called Ron and Juanita and their schedule now allows them to be here tonight. Things are lookin’ up!

I got a haircut, Gizmo got a bath and brushing, Valentino got his water changed and fishbowl scrubbed and we headed out for a little reconnoitering. The first stop was the Samoa Cookhouse. It is a family-style restaurant from the lumber days and carries its name from the town of Samoa where it is located. On the way back to town, while crossing the Samoa Bridge, Claudia looked to the right on a spit of land about 100 yards from the bridge. There, standing right next to the water, in plain view, in the wide open spaces, was a huge four-point mule deer buck. I absolutely did leer…and in a big way! I later went into Bucksport Sporting Goods on the main drag and found out that the buck was in a reserve. Oh well! They don’t get big by being dumb. We bought Gizmo some poop bags at PetCo and returned home to await the arrival of Ron and Juanita.

The Kohn’s arrived about 6:00 and we all did a “group hug”. There was so much to do (and we had a late lunch) that we just exchanged a few major information items, went into our own rigs, had dinner and did paperwork until 10:00 and went to bed. Not very exciting, but productive.

The weather has changed! We have been running the air conditioners constantly but we sure don’t need them here. In fact, I broke out the second blanket last night. The temperature was down into the 40’s! When I got up this morning to romp Gizmo, it was downright cool! My left knee (the bad one that I had the surgery on) was past barking. It was howling! It hasn’t bothered me in a long time. Oh yeah, it hasn’t been this cold in a long time. Duh! After morning chores, we got ready for a long work day. Let’s see how it goes.

We were at it all day and it’s still not done. We took a lunch break and decided to go to the Samoa Cookhouse because we needed the driving directions for the Trip Log…at least that was the excuse we used.

Samoa Cookhouse

The lunch was wonderful. It is served family style and is all you can eat. We had soup, salad, fresh homemade bread, coffee, pot roast, carrots and roasted potatoes. After lunch, we drove back to the Elks Lodge and got back to work. It is 8:50 pm right now and Ron and Juanita just left. We’ll work again until 10 or 11 to finalize what we did tonight. We have decided to stay another day so we don’t have to rush finishing up. Besides, the Samoa Cookhouse is having barbecued ribs for lunch tomorrow. Need I say more? We will head for Redding on Friday.

Thursday was our final(?) work day here at Eureka…maybe. Anyway, it looks like it. Claudia and I got a bunch done this morning and have a pretty good handle on the trip from Tillamook to Crescent City. We have given Ron and Juanita a whole bunch of good info on the rest of the trip. It should be much easier for them from now on. One thing I have not mentioned so far is the large number of “social outcasts” and other strange individuals up here. We have seen lots of hitchhikers by the side of the road, many with dogs.

They are mostly all so filthy that I wouldn’t even give them a ride in the back of a pickup! How they can live like that, I’ll never know. There are also about double the number of dumpster divers that we have in the San Diego area. There are also quite a large number of “Forest Farmers” that use the National Forest land to cultivate a slightly illegal, but highly lucrative cash crop.

We took a lunch break for the aforementioned barbecued ribs at the Samoa Cookhouse. As usual, we overate! Luckily, I am wearing a wide, strong belt so the front snap on my levis won’t break. We are meeting in an hour or so…maybe two hours, maybe three…whatever...and will finish the trip to this point (Crescent City). Tomorrow we leave for Redding. Things are lookin’ up!

Things are lookin’ down! A couple of weeks ago when we were heading to Columbia, I was accelerating from a stopped or slow speed when the rig lurched a couple of times. At the time, I thought it was just a hard shift or maybe a bit of bad fuel. After two “misses”, it stopped and we had no more problems…until today. We were almost to Redding and I was coming down a hill. At the bottom, I started to accelerate and the motor started bucking badly for 20 to 30 seconds and then ran normally. When we pulled into the Elks Lodge, I got us set up and then went inside to pay. After the necessities were done, I called the local Freightliner dealer and talked with the service writer. He said it could be several things so we made an appointment for Monday morning to get the rig checked out. We are now officially out of warranty so I hope it’s something simple and cheap. We shall see. Don Baker, my old partner and Alisa’s godfather, came over at 5:30 and we reminisced for about three hours. Tomorrow, we are heading for Red Bluff to see Don, Pat and their kids and have a barbecue. I’m going to bed early tonight. It’s hot and I’m tired. ‘Night!

We got up slowly, had breakfast slowly, got ready slowly and left slowly. It was too hot to move fast. Pat and Don have been telling us we are having a “cool-down” right now. I’m glad we weren’t here during the “heat-up”. Last week, it was well into the hundred’s. Claudia and I have reaffirmed the fact that we don’t do heat well. The first order of business was to find out where the Freightliner dealer was. After that, we got the car washed, mailed some letters and headed for Red Bluff. We pulled in front of Pat’s house right at 3:30 and the reunion started. In short order, there were (I think) eight adults, two almost-adults and about two ankle-biters that represented three generations. We had a great dinner and celebrated Pat’s LXVIIIth birthday. (She doesn’t want to broadcast her age!) After dinner, we said our goodbye’s and headed home. We are getting together again tonight do dispose of some Chula Vista carne asada we have in our freezer. After that, I have to get the motorhome ready for an early departure tomorrow morning to go see the “motorhome doctor”. What happens tomorrow morning will determine what happens the next day, few days or whatever. More later after it’s over. Wish us luck.

Garberville and the redwoods

Sunday, August 16th – Today will be an easy kick-back day. It unfolded slowly with a late sleep-in, slow romp for Gizmo, two cups of coffee and a relaxing shower. Sometime around 10-ish, we took off for Garberville. This portion of 101 is a mostly two-lane, curving and winding (“winding” is different than “curving”…lots of “curving” equals “winding”) road. We drove about 40 mph most of the way. We were about 20 minutes into the trip when a white Cal Fire pickup went by me with its red lights on. I kept watching behind me as we travelled and, during the next 30 minutes or so, about six more fire rigs went by. We passed the turnoff to Highway 1 at Leggett and soon started smelling smoke. It got slightly hazy and we soon saw actual smoke in the distance. We didn’t exactly know what to expect with a good portion of California now in flames and were hoping we could get through before they had to shut down the road. As it turned out, the fire was on the east side of the road and looked to be pretty much under control. We saw at least two water-dropping helicopters and four to five hand crews working the fire. We continued on.

We got to Benbow and pulled into the Richardson Grove Campground and RV Park. This was a Passport America park and we got a two-night full hookup stay for $28! We pulled into our assigned site and got set up. Shortly after setting up, a beat-up old bus(?) pulled in to our left. It had the faded markings of the “Oaktown Department of Korrections” emblazoned on its sides. It had a car battery sitting on the roof by a vent, probably to power a ventilation fan and another bigger house fan positioned in the door. The occupants emerged from the bus and started setting up their space. They put what I would describe as three “tiki-heads” on the table for decorations and two spare tires against the front of the bus. Now…how do I describe them? Probably as punk hippies. The male had long shorts, socks that went up to his knees and a shaved head except for a spiked Mohawk haircut. The female portion of the team was dressed in a semi-long, hippie-style skirt and dreadlocks that were almost to her knees. Interesting! They did have a good-looking dog though. I think it might have been a Jack Russell. What the hell…to each his own.

After a quick lunch, we took off to visit the RV park in Benbow where we will be staying on the caravan. What a great park! They have nice paved interior roads and easy pull-throughs. Every site looks like it will handle a 40-footer. This will be a piece of cake. It has its own golf course for those who wish to imbibe. After checking out the park, we drove into the thriving metropolis of Garberville. Both Claudia and I were expecting a bigger town. Nope! All we got was about a five-block main drag. Maybe there’s more to it but we sure didn’t see it. We got lots of good info from several sources and headed back home for a refreshing drink. I settled on a gin and tonic, Claudia had water and Gismo slurped up an ice cube. What a life!

The next day was “See the Giant Redwoods Day!” and we wanted to get started early. I jumped out of bed, let Gizmo out of his cage and romped him quickly. He ran back into the house and jumped in bed with Claudia. All he wanted to do was play. Anyway, we got up, fed Giz and Valentino, took showers, had breakfast and were finally ready to go. We left the house and headed north around 11:00, which is “early” for us on this part of the trip.

We first drove over to the Benbow Inn for a look-see.


Benbow Inn


Rear lawn view

This is a very beautiful old inn that has been around for many years. It is first class and well worth a visit. After visiting the Inn, we headed north, straight to Scotia to check out the sawmill and look around. We found a great-looking museum with a train, steam engine

and a really cute donkey!

Steam donkey

After petting the donkey, I crossed the street to look at the local movie theater


Scotia movie theater

before jumping back on 101 and heading south to do the Avenue of the Giants. The 32-mile trip was magnificent! It was hard to pick out the “best” picture but here are a couple.

About halfway down the Avenue, we came to Myers Flat and the drive-thru tree. As we were on a scouting trip for the caravan, they let us go in and look. I would NOT recommend that anyone pay the $6.00 entrance fee to drive through the tree but would give the nod for a $3.00 walk-in charge to see it and the tree houses.

Drive-thru tree

Tree houses

I was glad I had deer whistles mounted on the grille the car. The only problem was that they start working at 35 mph and we were driving about 30 for most of the trip. I really can’t say that deer whistles DO work, but you sure know when they DON’T! On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at one of the many tourist traps to look around.

Bigfoot

We really had to hold back, but we left without buying anything. Maybe next time!

When we got home, we started categorizing all the stuff we have picked up the past few days. We then called Ron and Juanita with the latest information. They were in Crescent City so we quickly re-arranged our very tentative and flexible schedule and arranged to meet them in Eureka on Wednesday. We are actually going there tomorrow but they won’t be in until Wednesday. We will get to compare notes face-to-face and get the trip logs and Wagonmaster Log for the first half of the trip. Finally, something concrete to work with. We will then move on to Redding on Thursday…maybe!

Ukiah and Fort Bragg

Friday, August 14th – Today, we drove to the Elks Lodge in Ukiah. As soon as we got there, I just leveled the rig, plugged in to power, romped Gizmo and took off in the car to do company business. We headed north to Willits and then west on Highway 20 to Fort Bragg. The road was curvy but beautiful. When we hit the coast, we headed for the RV park just south of town. It was another rustic park and the sites were all set in amongst the trees. Pretty!

After checking out the park, we headed for town to check out the Skunk Train and the town. The harbor was a real “working harbor” and is the only harbor between San Francisco and the Arcata/Eureka area. Ten percent of the entire commercial salmon catch is landed at Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg Harbor

After checking out the town, we drove south on Highway 1 to Highway 128 which heads back to Highway 101. This portion of 1 is an easy, very beautiful drive. We crossed several beautiful bridges, all of which had great looking beaches as they met the Pacific Ocean. There were lots of “beachers” that were walking, tidepooling, sunbathing and “etc.erring”. The drive back to 101 was especially beautiful as we went through the Navarro Redwoods State Park. The redwoods were so dense in a couple of spots that there was no sunlight on the road. There were several camping areas full of tent campers. If I ever got back into tent camping…very doubtful…this is one spot I would hit…absolutely!

When we got to Boonville, we saw an interesting barn. I had to turn around and go back to take a picture.

A Peace Barn! (click on photo to enlarge it)

We then headed back to Ukiah to update our paperwork and plan out the next few days. We have decided that, subject to change, we will stay here another day to visit WalMart and do laundry and go to Garberville on Sunday. Our tentative plan is to spend two days in Garberville and then head east to Red Bluff and Redding to visit Don (my old CHP partner) and Pat Baker and probably kill a week or so reminiscing over old times. Don is already planning some fishing trips and a trip up to their cabin in Old Station, east of Redding and north of Mount Lassen.

Oops…breakfast break! WOW! Claudia just fixed some hot flour tortilla breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, green peppers, onion, bacon, salsa and sour cream with a really sweet cantaloupe on the side. Boy are they good! Gizmo is going crazy with the aroma. Me too! Giz just got a bite of cantaloupe. He loved it and wanted more. Go figure.

We got the laundry done and got a few things at WalMart. Claudia had some running around to do so I stayed home to get into trouble. Since we are “camping”, I decided to make a pineapple upside-down cake. So here I sit as the cake bakes, typing on my computer and drinking a cool beverage I got from the refrigerator while two air conditioning units keep the “camper” cool and the television keeps me occupied with my favorite hunting shows courtesy of the satellite TV antenna. After the cake was done, I did the dishes to impress Claudia when she returned. I had to do them by hand as we don’t have a dishwasher here in the rig. Maybe someday. Ah, camping is difficult, but one must make do with what one has!

Claudia came back all pumped up. She found a foot and nail place…whatever you gals call them…and got a manicure and pedicure with a hot rock massage and some other foo-foo stuff and then got a complimentary five-minute neck and back massage that was “wonderful”. She was happy so I was happy! She also went to Lucky’s for some food. Outside was a charcoal firepit and a guy barbecuing tri-tips. One called her name so she brought it home too. We just finished barbecue tri-tip sandwiches covered with Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce and pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. As I said, camping is difficult, but one must make do with what one has! I think it’s time for a nap!

Sacramento and Petaluma

While we waited for 4:00 pm, the appointed time for Claudia’s haircut, I refreshed my sourdough starter. For those of you who aren’t familiar with cooking with live sourdough, you start with a “starter” that is essentially a live yeast culture. This culture is kept in the refrigerator between use and must be “refreshed” every two weeks or so by adding a small amount of the existing culture to a flour-water mixture. The active culture “feeds” on the flour-water mix and ferments into a new larger culture. When it’s ready, the culture is very bubbly and throws off a pungent sourdough odor.


The starter at work!

The motorhome is filled with a really great sour odor right now. Maybe I’ll do some cooking. Maybe some nice fresh sourdough bread? I am drooling! Too bad this can’t be a smell-o-blog!

Claudia came back with food, some new clothes and a great looking bob. Not “Bob”, but “bob”, as in haircut. Claudia romped Gizmo who, again, went totally nuts on the grass. She was still laughing when she finally got him back into the rig. We started out to go to dinner at a local fish & chips place but didn’t like the looks of it when we arrived so we just went to a Denny’s Diner around the corner. Returning to the rig after dinner, we relaxed and studied up on the Petaluma area. We’ll move tomorrow.

Today was the usual morning…wake up, bring the mutt into bed with us, get out of bed, put on shorts, romp the mutt, feed the fish and, finally, sit down with two cups of coffee and decide what we are going to do today. We confirmed that we will be heading for Petaluma and made preparations for leaving. We pulled out at 9:15 and arrived at 10:45. Not bad at all! We first stopped at the Petaluma KOA, met the manager, confirmed our stay and got all kinds of great information about the area and our proposed route of travel. We went to the Elks lodge, got set up and called Ron and Juanita, the owners of Adventure Caravans who were in Florence, Oregon mapping out the trip as they headed south. We passed on all the info we had gleaned so far and finished setting up. As I set up, I heard a bunch of honking. Not “honking” as in a car horn, but “honking” as in a V-shaped flight of Canadian geese flying right over my head…well within shotgun range. I leered! I then returned to the rig.

Around 6:30, we went into the lodge for a great hamburger dinner. After dinner, we headed out for a drive to show Gizmo the area. Spotting a McDonalds, we pulled in for a couple of ice cream sundaes. Claudia had a hot fudge, I had a caramel and Gizmo licked the cups. We then returned home to clean up loose ends, romp the mutt and get a good night’s sleep.

Thursday morning, August 13th – We paid for another day here at the lodge and loaded the car to go sightseeing. We drove west on E. Washington Street in Old Petaluma, headed for Bodega Bay. Now…let’s play Jeopardy! ANSWER – “Petaluma” What’s the question? “Where does the founder of the World Wrist Wrestling Championship live?”

Monument to the founder of wrist wrestling

Isn’t that interesting? It just might come in handy some day. You never know! Anyway, we continued toward Bodega Bay and passed a restaurant with a unique play-on-words name…Rocker Oysterfeller’s.

We arrived at Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay from across the main channel

and stopped at the Visitor Center. The lady at the center gave up a bunch of great information. First and foremost, you can’t walk around Bodega Bay. It’s almost all right on Highway 1 and there are no sidewalks or shoulders to walk on. You drive…period! As I looked out in Bodega Bay, I saw a great picture of a sailboat.

The blowboat "Happy" hard aground!

I later found out the owner had been evicted from the marina, anchored in the harbor and wound up on the mud flats courtesy of a major storm. It was then abandoned and sits there so tourists can ask the ladies at the Visitor Center all about it. Another interesting fact about Bodega Bay is that the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” was filmed here in 1961-63. Tippi Hedren, the star of the movie returns to Bodega Bay each year to sign autographs during “The Birds” festival. We just missed her. She was here last week.

We stopped at a hole-in-the-wall fish & chips place that had six tables. The fish was excellent but the clam chowder was only mediocre. Next door was a tourist trap souvenir shop. We walked in and I spied a huge table with many buckets of salt water taffy. I grabbed a plastic bag and started putting handfuls of different flavors of taffy in the bag. I was quickly stopped and reminded that it will probably be VERY expensive. I thought it over and then continued stuffing the bag…this time with only half-handfuls. The bag came to just under $5.00. As we drove away, we started sampling the various flavors. They were all good to excellent…until I got to the cinnamon flavor. All the other flavors were nice and soft and chewy, but not the cinnamon. I bit down on the piece and found my jaws stuck together. It was like a piece of flexible epoxy…a HOT piece of flexible epoxy! I didn’t dare force my jaws apart. I have some VERY expensive crowns in my mouth and didn’t want to spend tomorrow trying to find a dentist. I had to grin and bear it as the taffy S-L-O-W-L-Y melted in my mouth. Did I mention it was HOT? If you ever see some cinnamon taffy, and think you might want to buy it, you might just want to re-think that purchase!

We drove north along the coastline

and hooked a right on Highway 116 and headed northeast along the Russian River.

Russian River

The river was full of swimmers, kayakers, waders, floaters and the like. We also ran across a great-looking golf course caller Northwood. The fairways run right through the redwoods. It is beautiful!

Northwood Golf Course

We passed through Gueneville and back to 101 and home. Gizmo was VERY happy to see us. He ran right out and took two very long pee’s. I don’t know whether the smile on his face was happiness or relief. Claudia fixed two very refreshing chai teas and we started kickin’ back. Giz got an ice cube and he kicked it as well.

Tomorrow, we head for Ukiah.

The Gold Country!

We slept in late and even brought Gizmo into bed with us. At 9:00, I made a call to Marble Quarry RV Park in Columbia, off Highway 49 in the gold country, the park we are staying at on the caravan. They had a space for us so we firmed up plans and started to get ready. After showers and breakfast, we pulled out about 11:00 am and headed for Columbia. “Karen”, the Australian voice on our GPS, decided to take us on a slightly circuitous route through the agricultural fields instead of a more direct route. The trip was enjoyable. We saw lots of vegetables, fruit trees, cattle, and even a big flock of wild turkeys. I leered! We arrived about 3:45 and settled into a very nice site just above the office. Since it’s too late to drive around the area, we will now kick back, relax and “work” tomorrow.

We started down the hill toward Sonora and Jamestown, stopping at the Visitor Center in Sonora. It was a wealth of information and we (I) walked away with a heavy box of brochures and pamphlets. We continued on to Groveland and the Yosemite Pines RV Park. The park is on the “primitive” side but should be OK. Personally, I like the primitive parks. They get me back to nature.

After exploring the park to see the best way to bring the caravan in, we headed for town to the Groveland Hotel to check it out for our scheduled breakfast. We then went across the street to a GREAT Mexican café for lunch. I had two pork enchiladas with rice and beans and Claudia had two chili rellenos, also with beans and rice. We split the dinners, which were absolutely delicious. I WILL go back there again in October. We then returned home to update all our paperwork and do laundry.

The next day was Sunday. We (including Gizmo) slept in. (I’m not sure about Valentino. Does a fish sleep?) Over coffee, we planned our next destination. South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, Carmichael and Sacramento were all in the running. Carmichael won and we plugged the address for the Elks Lodge into the GPS and took off.

We meandered through the rolling hills of the gold country on Highway 49, passing through the old historical towns of Angels Camp, Drytown, Sloughtown and a few others that you need a magnifying glass to see on a map. We pulled into the Elks Lodge shortly after noon, paid for a two-day visit and got the rig set up. This is a beautiful lodge with 50 amp hookups, free Wi-fi and a pool. Depending on several factors, I just might get wet later today. Now, several phone calls are in order and will determine what we actually wind up doing today, tomorrow and ??????????????

Well, I did get wet…in the shower! We are heading to Ellie’s house (Claudia’s step-mother in law) for a reunion and dinner. Both Claudia and I thought it would be nice to shower before we go see her. With the rather warm days now, showers are coming more frequently. As I type, the digital thermometer is reading exactly 100-degrees outside air temperature (in the shade). That’s warm! I gave Gizmo an ice cube to chew on. For some reason, he loves ice cubes. Every time we get ice, he runs to the refrigerator and looks longingly at us, begging for a cube. He does have personality!

We drove to Ellie’s and then went out for Italian food. Good dinner and a good visit. We returned to Ellie’s to continue the visit. After the visit, we drove to Claudia’s old house about two miles down the road. It was in disrepair and was pretty sad. Claudia’s dad had always taken pride in the house. Today, it looks like a rental. We returned to the rig for TV, phone calls and computer work. Tomorrow will be a meet with a buddy that used to work with DMV as a fraud investigator. He and I once hammered an RV rental company for a couple of million in fines for fraudulent registration violations. Ah, memories!

OK…today is Monday and we are off to explore…right after romping the mutt. He went bonkers for two reasons. One, he was on grass and he always goes crazy running on grass. Secondly, he must have felt much better after pooping because I found out he had been chewing on my cellular antenna wire and probably ingested some of the wire. Now that it’s out of his system, he probably feels much better. Luckily, the main wire doesn’t appear to be broken so I just taped up the cable with electrical tape to cover the exposed shield wires. I will have to be sure no cables hang down in the future. First on the agenda today is to visit the caravan park in West Sacramento and then on to Old Sacramento. After that, who knows? Right now the temperature is 103.5 and going up…but it’s a dry heat! The A/C is working double-overtime! Tonight we meet John and Sharon for sushi.

“Karen” took us on a circuitous back door route but, what the hell, we are retired and don’t keep a schedule anymore. We pulled into the parking lot at Mikuni Sushi in Fair Oaks a few minutes before six. John and Sharon soon showed up and we all wound up in big bear hugs. Sharon has to be the most kind and wonderful person in the world. She absolutely has to be to put up with John. I can’t describe John for you because this is a family blog and you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. Let’s just say he’s one of a kind and has a heart of gold. All the years I have known him have been wonderful, but VERY stressful. Working cases with him was always like walking a fine line… a VERY fine line! He was a master at making a case and giving some scumbag a “dirt nap”. Let’s just say we had a lot of fun working together and leave it at that. The meal and the company were fabulous…and long overdue.

We decided to stay another day here in Carmichael, mainly so Claudia could get a haircut. We also need to make a decision on our next stopping place. Right now, it’s looking like it will be the Elks Lodge in Petaluma but that’s not set in stone. This might be a three cup of coffee decision.

We had another vote. Everyone voted to stay another day so Claudia could get a haircut at 4:00 pm. I forked over another $16 for the night and came back to the rig to putter around with miscellaneous jobs. Today is pretty overcast and really quite comfortable. It’s almost 10:30 and is only 81-degrees. After careful consideration, we have decided to go to the Elks Lodge at Petaluma. There’s a lot to do over there so I suspect we will be there for two or three days as well.

Since I have good Internet here, I think I will shut up and get these musings off and into cyberspace.

On the way to Monterey!

Our first day on the road found us settling in at the Elk’s Lodge in Santa Barbara, which is actually in Goleta in case you were curious. They have about 20 full hookup sites and the lodge is absolutely beautiful and extra-large, double-huge. Getting to Santa Barbara, however, was a bitch! We had to go through Los Angeles traffic. We started to hit traffic around the 405. People were cutting in and out without signaling, following too closely and were just totally rude drivers. I hate driving through L.A. When we got to LAX, the traffic slowed from “creep and crawl” to “stop, stay stopped and then inch ahead”. People were cutting in and out without signaling, following too closely and were just totally rude drivers. I hate driving through L.A. At the cutoff to Hwy. 101, we just stayed in our lane and gritted our teeth. People were still cutting in and out without signaling, following too closely and were just totally rude drivers. I hate driving through L.A. It wasn’t until we got somewhere around Thousand Oaks that the traffic start lightening up and I could start driving somewhat normally again. Even Gizmo barked at a couple of cars. Good dog! I hate driving through L.A.

Once we got to the Elk’s Lodge in Santa Barbara, we got set up, romped Gizmo and took off for Buellton to check out the RV park where we will be staying in October. We also checked out some restaurants and got some local info at the Visitor’s Center. After a quick stop at Albertson’s for some needed supplies, we headed home for a refreshing cup of coffee, a more refreshing shower, dinner and an early dive into bed. Tomorrow…San Luis Obispo to see my sister.

Tuesday morning, October 4th – We got off about 9:30 (after I rousted Gizmo from the driver’s seat)

and arrived at the Elk’s Lodge in San Luis Obispo about an hour later. It was a beautiful drive on a four-lane divided road that meandered through cattle and wine country and right along the coast. We saw some otters swimming around the kelp beds and some deer mixed in amongst the cattle. Again, I leered at them! After checking in and setting up, I put in a call to my sister and then made lunch while we waited for her to arrive. She showed up right at noon. After all the hugs and “Howdy’s” , we took off to pre-run some of the trip.

We headed north and stopped at Hearst Castle to check out the RV parking situation. All fine…no problems here. We again headed north and stopped at the Vista Point lookout and the Elephant seal rookery just south of the Piedras Blancas lighthouse.

There were about 75 critters lying on the beach in all modes of sunbathing, covering up with sand, playful sparring and posing for photographs. The males get to 16’ in length and can weigh more than 5,000 pounds. They typically dive between 1000-2000 feet to feed but can dive to over 5,000 feet. WOW!

We then turned south and stopped at the world famous town of Harmony, California.

The town of Harmony

Harmony, population 18, is famous for being the town that was put up for sale on Ebay. Remember that? The town has about eight buildings and one 100-yard long main street. After visiting Harmony, we stopped at Cambria to buy some pies for dinner and then did a drive-through of Cayucos before returning to our rig to get ready for dinner. Gizmo started doing back flips when he saw us. He wanted OUT! He got a nice long romp. We then cleaned up and headed for my sister’s house for dinner. Tonight we are having Seafood Pie with a pound (each) of shrimp, scallops and crab and a Caesar salad. Tomorrow I will diet (Dive into everything tasty!).

OH NO!!!! TRAGEDY HAS STRUCK!!! Gizmo has fleas!!! I kept telling him to watch where he walked and who he struck up a friendship with. I think this RV lot behind the Elk’s Lodge is like a flea factory. It’s all dirt and weeds and backs up to heavy brush and trees. We are going out today to sightsee and meander. One of our stops now will be to pick us some flea shampoo and/or anti-flea medicine for the Giz. Another stop will (hopefully) be the See Canyon Winery just down the road. I picked up a case of an absolutely outstanding Chardonnay a few years back. Maybe I’ll luck out again.

The stop at PetCo was successful! We left with a good flea spray that kills fleas and their eggs for up to a month. Good! The only good flea is a dead flea! After several mini-stops for various and sundry items, we wound up at a Mexican restaurant where we shared a red snapper burrito. Delicious!

Returning home, we de-fleaed Gizmo. He wasn’t thrilled with the whole thing. I tried to convince him it was for his own good but he was more interested in getting a treat than listening to me. I then made a suggestion that we go to the winery. Claudia said no! I called for a vote. Gizmo voted to go. Valentino voted to go. I voted to go. Claudia voted NOT to go. The vote was three to one to go. We didn’t go!

Since we were outvoted, I prepped the rig to leave tomorrow morning. I filled the fresh water tank and got the key to the dump station. Since five o’clock was approaching and our chores were done, we took off to the lodge for a toddy and some power relaxing. Our stay here in San Luis has been fun. Tomorrow…Monterey!

Today is tomorrow and we are here in Monterey at the Elk’s Lodge. We drove Highway 1 and survived. Actually, the only BAD part of the road was a 10 to 15-mile section around Ragged Point. There were a couple of 5 MPH curves where we were over the centerline and you had to do it when there was no oncoming traffic. Luckily, traffic was light and, with my extraordinary driving skills, we had no problems. The route from Morro Bay to Monterey was about 123 miles and took us three hours and forty minutes without stopping, except to let traffic pass.

After settling in, we visited the Visitor’s Center, loaded up on brochures and maps, did a little sightseeing, returned to the rig and poured a nice cool adult beverage. Life is good! We have decided to stay here for just one night. Tomorrow we head for the area of Yosemite. Where we stay will be decided later tonight over (probably) several glasses of wine.

And away we go!

As the end of July approached, we spent most of our time trying to think of everything that needed to be done before we had to leave on the trip. As the days progressed, we did our chores in no specific order but the list was dwindling and that was good. We took a day off on Thursday to take the kids to see “Wicked”, the untold story of the witches of Oz. Actually, Claudia took a day off on Thursday to take the kids and me to see “Wicked”. I am not a musical kind of guy, as in “Let’s all go and see a musical” (said loudly with mirth and glee). I would much rather go see a good movie like “Quigley Down Under”, “Clear and Present Danger” or “The Hunt for Red October”. However, the six of us jumped on the Coaster and rode down to the Santa Fe station in San Diego. The highlight of the trip was when I spotted a deer just south of Sorrento Valley. Rachael saw me leering at it and mentioned that I would go to jail for shooting a deer within city limits. Hmmm…what a decision! Venison and a few days in jail or a musical. Had to think about that one for a second or two! Anyway, when we arrived at the downtown Santa Fe station, we walked the eight blocks to the Civic Theater, stopping midway to split three sub sandwiches before the show.

The show was good and, admittedly, enjoyable. The two female stars of the show portrayed a “good witch” and a “bad witch”. The bad witch was actually damn good and had a great set of pipes. Her singing had “zip”! When she hit and held her last note, it was like a crescendo that set you back in your seat.

After the “zipping”, we hustled back to the Coaster and headed back north to meet Alisa at Leucadia Pizzaria. After stuffing our pie holes with pizza, linguini, tortellini and a couple of other “…ini’s”, we came home. The kids packed up their gear and headed home with Alisa. Claudia and I started to tackle the cleaning of the downstairs half of the condo until sheer exhaustion took over and we slammed into bed.

Friday came very early for Claudia and slightly early for me and Gizmo. We were even up and working before the trash truck came…a feat of almost unknown historical happenstance. The trash bins were at 110% capacity but the cleaning was all but done…just a quick vacuum, floor wash and top dust to go. After Claudia proclaimed “done”, we loaded the refrigerated and frozen food into the motorhome and hooked up the car. It always amazes me how most of the food in the BIG home freezer fits into the tiny freezer on the motorhome. I would have bet against it…and given good odds…but I got it all in. We left nothing behind.

We pulled out at 1:00 pm, heading for a three-day transitional stop at Santee Lakes until the grandkids leave for home on Sunday. After topping off the propane tanks, we got set up and awaited the arrival of Alisa and the kids. The kids requested grandpa’s almost world famous hamburgers a-la motorhome barbecue. After dinner, the kids and I went for a swim. I hadn’t had a shower since yesterday and had been working hard for two days. I did feel much better. What the hell! Tomorrow starts the weekend and they always give pools an extra shot of chlorine just before weekends. I think it’s the law. If it isn’t, it should be! The kids left, we took showers, I climbed into my new hot weather motorhome pajamas…a matching pair of boxer shorts and tee shirt in a modern camouflage pattern …and went to bed. We’d had it! Enough for one day! Whew!

Today is Saturday, the first day of August. Alisa and the kids are coming over today. They will be “pooling” at some point in time and we are going to inaugurate our brand new beautifully-built Beanbag Baseball game at some other point in time. The game consists of a slant board with holes cut in it’s face. The holes are designates as hits, outs and fouls. The only difference between this and a real baseball game is that you don’t swing a bat. You just pitch a beanbag and, depending which hole the bag (hopefully) goes through, you either strike out or run the bases.



Beanbag Baseball in progress!

The kids arrived and Gizmo was soon in doggie heaven, as in the center of their attention. He went from "Oh good, I'm going on a walk" to "Not another walk" to "No way, Dudette! I ain't budging this time!". It was time for Beanbag Baseball anyway. We set out the game, positioned the bases and I explained the rules. We had two four-person teams...the Chargers and the Raiders. After nine full innings of play, and with only a few disputed rulings made by the Official Umpire (me), the Raiders beat the Chargers by a score of 7 to 5. Thank God this in no way bears any resemblance to the REAL world where the actual scumbags from Oakland would never come close to beating a much finer, and certainly more gentlemanly group than San Diego's representatives to the NFL. After the baseball game, we all packed up and headed for Alisa's where Grandma Claudia performed her magic on Brooke's hair, followed by a great Farewell Dinner for the Texas grandkids who leave us tomorrow. We will soon be returning to reality!

Morning arrived at the ungodly hour of six o’clock. After romping Gizmo, Claudia and I headed to Alisa's to pick up Rachael and Kyndallyn for breakfast at Denny’s and the ride to the airport. After the kids were safely on the plane and on their way home, we returned to Santee Lakes to ready the motorhome for the start of a new adventure. Tomorrow, we head north with a very firm itinerary of stopping first at Ventura, or maybe Santa Barbara, or maybe Oceano or possibly Avila Beach. Stay tuned. I'll let you know.