Snowbirds Getting Ready to Roost

We left Utah bright and early yesterday morning. Our destination was Parker, AZ, where we had left our Suzuki Samurai in the hands of Rod, a Suzuki mechanic wizard, after the 4 WD drive rally in Kingman. The goal was for him to figure out why the Samurai was such a dog on the highway--maximum speed was 60 mph, and that was downhill with a tailwind. No, I'm not exaggerating. When we left it there after the initial consultation, Rod had several guesses about what it would take to fix it; they ranged wildly in price--from replacing some do-hickeys in the carberator for around $200 to redoing all the gears for $1000. We were holding our breath, until word came that it was carberator thingeys and that the final bill would be $350 dollars. Whew! Funny how a $350 repair can sound cheap.

After Steve's back had been protesting for several hours, we decided to stop and spend the night in Needles, CA, about 70 miles from Parker. Needles isn't exactly a major tourist attraction, and we didn't think we'd have trouble finding a cheap motel, even with two dogs. Wrong! The two Best Westerns we tried first wanted $100 a night, even with the AARP discount. We then pulled into the Needles Inn, a little private place that didn't look too bad. They wanted $53, which seemed about $20 too high, but Steve's back was telling him that he needed to get out of the car NOW. The place was a dump. A clean dump, at least, but definitely in the "dump" category. They didn't bother even bolting the pictures to the wall--they knew nobody would want them. The place was under new management and had been recently repainted by what looked like a couple of junior high students. But at least it was clean, and close to a pretty good Mexican restaurant, which made Steve happy.

We picked up the Samurai in Parker this morning, and it got a true road test on the way to Prescott. True to Rod's word, it went 65 on the highway, only dropped to 60 when there was a headwind, and actually made it up a steep, curvy mountain road at a reasonable speed. We got to Prescott at around 3 p.m anfd transferred all the stuff we had brought from home from the Honda into the RV. We had a nice supper of corn chowder and spinach salad with my sister-in-law, Dawn,m and niece, Arin, and then just relaxed until bedtime. Tomorrow I'll make a Costco run and we'll head down to Sun City West to visit my folks and drop off the Honda.

The Rest of the Mexico Story

I'm writing this a month later, back in Salt lake city. It's 17 degrees outside, snow is on the ground, and we are heading off this morning for Arizona and Baja. We enjoyed our little jaunt to San Carlos a lot. I took the dogs for daily long walks on the beach, and came home with a bagful of perfect seashells for my son Ted's aquarium and an even bigger (and heavier!) bag full of rocks for my other son Chris's aquarium, which covers almost an entire wall of his living room. They were both pretty excited when they opened them up Christmas morning.

The ketch we went to look at was a disaster. Even Steve was nonplussed at how run down it was and how much work and money it would need to get it into any kind of shape to sail. Pretty much everything in it was either broken, torn, dirty, or worn out. Steve figured it would take another $10,000 and several months of intensive labor to get it, well, shipshape. Neither of us were interested in that. Still, it was fun to be in Mexico again, and the trip made us eager to go back to Baja and hang out on the beach. We'll be doing that for the month of February, so stay tuned.

Mexico!!

After we left Kingman, we dropped off all our extra vehicles at my brother Jeff's house in Dewey and headed south. We spent a nice Sunday with our son, Chris, and his girlfriend, Sharon. Sharon cooked an amazing beef tenderloin dinner for us, and an equally fabulous breakfast, which I was unable to eat because I was sick with what turned out to be (I think) a weird migraine. After breakfast, Steve bundled me out to the Royal Palms, and I sipped chamomile tea (thoughtfully provided by Sharon) and felt sorry for myself all day while we drove to Patagonia State Park, which is near Nogales, AZ. This is a place I'd like to go back to, when we have the time and I'm feeling better. A pretty campground right on the lake. It's a prime birdwatching area, and the rangers lead birdwatching hikes around the lake all year round. There are moonlight hikes too, which sound cool, and poontoon boat tours of the lake. It would be fun to paddle our kayaks here. Maybe this winter.

This morning, after an Imitrex wiped out the last of my headache, we set out for San Carlos, Mexico. We crossed into Nogales, Mexico, without any trouble, and picked up our tourist visas. My Spanish isn't what it used to be (not that it was ever very good) and the immigration guy's
English wasn't much better than my Spanish. I tried to explain to him that even though we were only going to be in San Carlos a few days, we were coming back to Mexico in February and wanted the 6 month visa. He didn't understand, and we ended up with the (free) 7 day visa instead of the $26 six month one. Not a huge deal, but it means that we'll have to get another one when we go to San Felippe in February.

The drive to San Carlos was longer than we had expected (took 7 hours), but was also much prettier. We had expected the dry desert country of Baja; Sonora, at least the part we are in, is greener and more scenic, with rolling hills. The highway is better too.However, the few towns we did go through reminded us of how much we dislike the topes (speed bumps). San Carlos itself is a pretty little town on Bahia (bay) de San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez. You can see Guaymas, a larger town, farther down the bay. Totanaka RV park, where we are staying, is right across the street from the beach. I took the dogs for a long walk by the sea late this afternoon. The sun was setting over on side of the bay as a huge full moom was rising over the other side. It was gorgeous. Later, Steve and I walked to a restaurant and sat at a table outside, overlooking the bay. We feasted on shrimp tacos and sipped margaritas while a mariachi band serenaded us at our table. Your'e supposed to tip them if they sing to you; I wasn't sure how much to give them so I gave them a $5 bill. They were pretty impressed--passed it around, saying"Muy Bueno," so I guess I overtipped. Did I mention that the weather is warm and sunny here and people are walking around in shorts and T shirts? I'm never coming home.

Breaker,Breaker Good Buddy

Yup! The Varleys are now the proud, if somewhat bemused, owners of a CB radio. We found out on this rally that a CB radio is a must on the trail rides we've been on. All the cars in the caravan have one. They are all set to the same, previously agreed-upon, channel and the trail leader then can communicate trail information such as turns, obstacles, etc., as well as interesting facts about the geology, history, plants, etc., along the trail as we drive along. Being first-timers to this kind rally, we did not come equipped. But one of the couples, Bruce and Sue Purdy, had an extra CB that they said we could borrow for the week; they then sold it to us for a ridiculously low price.

We have learned a lot this week about both trail and CB etiquette. For example, did you know that when a group comes to a closed cattle gate and the trail leaders open it, they leave chocolate hanging on the gate as a thank you and reminder for the last car in the group to close it? I didn't. Everyone knows what 10-4 means, but did you know that 10-100 signals a bathroom stop, as in "We need a 10-100 , please?" And that on a 10-100, it's always gentlemen to the left and ladies to the right? We also learned how to do a "rolling 10-100, where there is no cover, but we won't go into that here.

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4 Wheeling Fun

Three day in a row of 4 wheel drive trails! This is a busy group! Tuesday we took the trip to Chloride for more mines and the Chloride murals. Chloride is another mining ghost town, where people still actually live. It's very different from the tacky, touristy Oatman--lots of old, boarded-up buildings, a post office, market, and a couple of little gift shops--not a T shirt shop in sight. Very low-key and friendly, though--if you wanted to visit the museum when it was closed, you could pick up the key at the gift shop and let yourself in! We had lunch at the excellent Yesterday's Restaurant. Everything was fresh and good. My patty melt was on marbled rye and came with a side of sweet potato fries--yum! The murals are up a primitive dirt road a couple of miles out of town. They were painted in the 60's by a local artist named Roy Purcell, and freshened up with new paint a few years ago. They are bright and wonderful, and appear to be a mixture of Indian, Eastern, and New Age symbols, as well as visions of whatever he was tripping on at the time. He supposedly has a great website with photos of all the murals, and some descriptions. Try Googling Roy Purcell and see what comes up.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we drove a route in Hualapai Mountain Park. We climbed from Kingman (about 4000 feet elevation) to the top of the range at 7100 feet. The route wove around the mountains, up high. You can see our route on some of the photos. Some of the time we were right on the ridge, and could look down into a valley on either side. The views were gorgeous. On the way down, we stopped for a peek at the Borianna Mine, which operated between 1914 and 1957. It was a tungsten mine, and closed when the mill burned down and the reduced need for tungsten didn't make it worth rebuilding. Fires at mine structures were apparently very common. Mills and other structures were mostly made of wood; the fires in the smelters were going 24 hours a day, and so fire danger was exceedingly high.

The photo of all the Jeeps (plus our Samurai) lined up was taken at the Hualapai Ranger Station where we all stopped to "air down." "Air down" means that you let a lot of air out of your tires in preparation for rough, rocky 4 WD drive roads. It makes the going much less bumpy, and I think helps in climbing over rocks and ledges. Once you're finished with the trail, you stop and "air up"--put all the air back in the tires so you can drive on the pavement. We have a cute little air compressor and pump for this that attaches to the engine battery somehow. I'm a bit foggy on the technical side of things, but it works.

Today is a rest day. This is a busy group, and the trails are long--every day has been 7 or 8 hours on the trail. There is a hike (optional) in the Hualapai mountains scheduled for today, but Steve and I will pass. I'm heading off for a Quilters and Crafters meeting from 10 a.m. till noon. There'll be time after that to take the dogs for a good, long off-leash walk before heading to Thanksgiving Dinner with our group at the DamBar Steakhouse.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

We did arrive home safely after our Farmington trip. As usual, I had good intentions--even photos of our campsite in Moab along the Colorado River on the way home, but, as usual, I got lazy once I got home, and never posted it.

We are now in Kingman, AZ for a week-long rally with one of the FMCA groups that we joined while we were in Farmington--the FMCA 4-Wheelers. This is the group we were supposed to meet up with this past summer in Colorado before Steve had his mountain biking accident in Crested Butte that cut our trip short. We got here yesterday and signed up for rides every day this week. The rally is so big--50 or more couples?--that we are spread out into three different RV parks. There are five or six different rides offered each day, of varying difficulty. We chose the easiest ones, suitable for "stock" 4 WD vehicles. Some of the Jeeps here have been so spiffed up that they cost more than our motor home. Our little 1987 Suzuki Samurai looks a little out of place among all those big, fancy guys, but it's a tough little thing and we are doing just fine so far.

Kingman AZ seems to have two claims to fame. It is the birthplace and home of Andy Devine (Wild Bill Hickock's pal "Jingles" in the 50's TV series) and historic Route 66, which runs through it. Today's ride went from Kingman to a little town called Oatman, and followed Route 66. Our trail leaders, Kim and Shelly Pollock, really did their homework, and we learned all about this historic "Mother Road." Route 66 was built in the late 1920's, although not totally paved until the mid-30's. It was 2,448 miles long, connecting Chicago to Los Angeles. At one time, it was the only uninterrupted highway from east to west. Tourists drove to California on it in their Model A's and Model T's. Okies fleeing the Dustbowl traveled it. It carried troops to the coast from forts all over the U.S. during WW II. Sadly, the invention of freeways and the building of I-40 in the 1950's caused the demise of Route 66. But little sections of it still exist, and are lovingly preserved.

The little building at Cool Springs was once a welcome stopover on Route 66. Travelers could fill up with fuel and water, have a meal, and even spend the night in one of the four little tourist cabins. It closed in the 1960's, and by 1999, all that was left were the bottom of the two front pillars and a few sections of wall. Someone bought it then, and, using old photographs, carefully restored it. You can't buy gas there anymore, nor spend the night, but it's a cute little museum and gift shop, and the manager is friendly and very knowledgeable about the history of the area and Route 66. He says that the section of Route 66 from Cool Springs to Oatman is the most scenic of the whole highway, and I believe it. It's only 9 miles long, but has 122 curves, winding through a canyon and up and over Sitgreaves Pass. From the top of the pass, you can see California, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Oatman was a mining town, now a little tourist town. Way too many T-shirt and souvenier shops, but there's a gunfight on Main Street every afternoon (they pass a hat and proceeds go to Shriners' Hospital). Burros, descendants of the prospectors' burros, wander the streets looking for handouts. We saw one stick its head inside a car window, hoping for a carrot and a muzzle rub. The babies were darling. I wanted to take one home, but Steve wouldn't let me. He said its mother would miss it, and anyway, it wouldn't fit inside the Samurai.

Pets on Parade!

Today’s highlight was the Pet Parade. There were about 40 entries, which is probably less than half of the dogs that I’ve seen walking around. Chihuahuas and Shitzus seem to be the dogs of choice for the majority of Rvers, and most have two or more of those little yappers (okay, my biases are showing big time!), but there are a lot of other breeds as well--smallish ones like pugs, Cocker spaniels, dachshunds, and schnauzers, as well as bigger ones. I’ve seen two Irish setters, several labs and golden retrievers, two other border collies besides my Ellie, and even a Great Dane. Our Tex dog seems to be quite unique. Lots of people stop and ask what kind of a dog he is.

We had to sign up ahead of time, and filled out forms telling about our dogs--bred, age, how long they’ve been RVing, and any other interesting facts. The event was really more of a dog show than a parade. Each dog was led out, one at a time, in front of the three judges, while the announcer told about the dog. The dog then had a chance to show off his or her costume, perform any tricks, etc. Ellie and Tex didn’t have costumes, but they both know some tricks, especially Ellie. She can sit up, shake hands, stand up on her hind legs and “dance,” roll over in both directions, and several others. Those of you who have read our blog posts from Baja may recall that she got us through all of the military checkposts without incident by entertaining the troops that way. Ellie’s performance in front of the judges got her a huge round of applause from the spectators, AND a blue ribbon from the judges for “Best Tricks.”
Some of the other awards:
Best Costume: Captain Tag, the border collie pirate
2nd Best Costume: the Westie witch
Most unusual: the English bulldog in a pink tutu
Largest: Abby, the Great Dane
Smallest: a teacup Chihuahua
Handsomest: a retired champion Irish setter
2nd handsomest: Dexter, a golden retriever

Along with the blue ribbon, all the winning dogs got to pick out a bag of treats donated by Natural Choice dog food. Ellie chose the Sweet Potato and Fish biscuits; she has graciously agreed to share them with Tex

We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico yesterday. We had spent the previous night at Red Rock State Park, just outside Gallup. A very pretty place on the edge of the Navajo Nation, surrounded by--you guessed it--tall, red cliffs. We were able to take a hike up the nearby canyon, right from the campground, which pleased the dogs as well as us, because they haven’t had a lot of chances to be off-leash. From Red Rock, it was just over a hundred miles to north to Farmington. We drove through the Navajo reservation, which is much more scenic here than in Utah and Arizona, stopping in Crownpoint to do laundry. While I was at the laundromat, Steve wandered around Crownpoint looking for the tribal police station where Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn hung out. Steve was disappointed--it was not what he had visualized. No sign of Joe either.

The rally is being held at the fairgrounds, a few miles outside of Farmington. Farmington is quite scenic. The San Juan River runs right by the campground, and the cottonwood trees along the river are all golden. This is by far the biggest rally (in our limited experience) we’ve ever been too. There are about 500 motor homes here, from all over the country, even though it’s supposed to be for just the Rocky Mountain area. Almost all the motor homes are BIG--mostly 40 footers! There are very very few--less than 50 maybe--under 30 feet, and even fewer that are our size (24 feet) or smaller. Everyone is extremely friendly and fun to talk to. Our name tags have red “first-timer” ribbons attached, and everyone seems to go out of their way to make sure we are enjoying ourselves.

Today was the first day of rally activities. I singed up for the line dancing class, and it was a lot of fun. I learned how to do the Texas Barefootin, the Freeze, the Honkey Tonk Stomp, and the Ragin’ Cajun. Pretty basic dances, but fun. Friday is lesson 2, where we’ll get a little more complicated. I hope we get to do some of the dances I learned on the Mexican Riviera cruise a few years ago. I don’t remember what they were called, but one was to “Elvira” and another to “Achey Breaky Heart.” Yee ha! After line dancing, we went to the First Timer’s Welcome Seminar, and then to the Chapter Fair, where we wandered around checking out all the different FMCA chapters and trying to find one in our area that does things that we like to do. Most of them seem to like to go to nice RV parks, eat a lot, shop, and play cards or golf. We did find one, Cuatro Estados, that likes to dry camp on BLM land or in NFS campgrounds, hike, and 4WD. They are based in New Mexico or Arizona (I can’t remember which), but mostly do fall and winter campouts in Arizona. Our plan is to get to know them a little better this week during the rally, and then maybe meet up with them this winter in Arizona at Quartzsite, Imperial Dam, or Tortilla Flat for one of their outings. We need to check out the Salt Lake group--the Salty City Ramblers--too.

From tomorrow on, our rally schedule is jam-packed. The seminars start tomorrow--everything from how to prevent odors in your holding tanks to RVing in Europe. Tomorrow is also the Pet Parade. Ellie, Tex, and I will be marching, and the dogs will get to show off their tricks for the judges. Many dogs apparently will be in costume. Ours will not. Definitely not. But I’ll have Steve take pictures of the more outrageous ones. The vendor booths also open tomorrow, so that will be fun to wander around and look at stuff for sale.

We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico yesterday. We had spent the previous night at Red Rock State Park, just outside Gallup. A very pretty place on the edge of the Navajo Nation, surrounded by--you guessed it--tall, red cliffs. We were able to take a hike up the nearby canyon, right from the campground, which pleased the dogs as well as us, because they haven’t had a lot of chances to be off-leash. From Red Rock, it was just over a hundred miles to north to Farmington. We drove through the Navajo reservation, which is much more scenic here than in Utah and Arizona, stopping in Crownpoint to do laundry. While I was at the laundromat, Steve wandered around Crownpoint looking for the tribal police station where Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn hung out. Steve was disappointed--it was not what he had visualized. No sign of Joe either.

The rally is being held at the fairgrounds, a few miles outside of Farmington. Farmington is quite scenic. The San Juan River runs right by the campground, and the cottonwood trees along the river are all golden. This is by far the biggest rally (in our limited experience) we’ve ever been too. There are about 500 motor homes here, from all over the country, even though it’s supposed to be for just the Rocky Mountain area. Almost all the motor homes are BIG--mostly 40 footers! There are very very few--less than 50 maybe--under 30 feet, and even fewer that are our size (24 feet) or smaller. Everyone is extremely friendly and fun to talk to. Our name tags have red “first-timer” ribbons attached, and everyone seems to go out of their way to make sure we are enjoying ourselves.

Today was the first day of rally activities. I singed up for the line dancing class, and it was a lot of fun. I learned how to do the Texas Barefootin, the Freeze, the Honkey Tonk Stomp, and the Ragin’ Cajun. Pretty basic dances, but fun. Friday is lesson 2, where we’ll get a little more complicated. I hope we get to do some of the dances I learned on the Mexican Riviera cruise a few years ago. I don’t remember what they were called, but one was to “Elvira” and another to “Achey Breaky Heart.” Yee ha! After line dancing, we went to the First Timer’s Welcome Seminar, and then to the Chapter Fair, where we wandered around checking out all the different FMCA chapters and trying to find one in our area that does things that we like to do. Most of them seem to like to go to nice RV parks, eat a lot, shop, and play cards or golf. We did find one, Cuatro Estados, that likes to dry camp on BLM land or in NFS campgrounds, hike, and 4WD. They are based in New Mexico or Arizona (I can’t remember which), but mostly do fall and winter campouts in Arizona. Our plan is to get to know them a little better this week during the rally, and then maybe meet up with them this winter in Arizona at Quartzsite, Imperial Dam, or Tortilla Flat for one of their outings. We need to check out the Salt Lake group--the Salty City Ramblers--too.

From tomorrow on, our rally schedule is jam-packed. The seminars start tomorrow--everything from how to prevent odors in your holding tanks to RVing in Europe. Tomorrow is also the Pet Parade. Ellie, Tex, and I will be marching, and the dogs will get to show off their tricks for the judges. Many dogs apparently will be in costume. Ours will not. Definitely not. But I’ll have Steve take pictures of the more outrageous ones. The vendor booths also open tomorrow, so that will be fun to wander around and look at stuff for sale.

Colonel Allensworth and Our Desert Adventure

We loaded up our wine and our dogs on Friday morning with long days of driving ahead of us. We need to be in Farmington, New Mexico on the 13th, and that means lots of miles. Our fist night's destination was Bakersfield; our trusty Don Wright camping guide showed a state park just north of there, near a little town called Earlimart, so we headed there. Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park is located on the historic site of Allensworth, a town founded, financed, and governed entirely by African Americans. Colonel Allensworth was a runaway slave who joined the Union Army, fought in the Civil War, and later served in the US Navy. He achieved the rank of colonel, which was the highest rank ever acieved by a black American to that date. He eventually emigrated to California, and founded the town of Allensworth in 1908. The town didn't last a very long time because the company that sold them the land didn't include enough water rights, and a railroad line that brought them goods and services was diverted to another town. By the early 1930's, most everyone had moved away. In its heyday, however, Allensworth was a thriving little rural community, with a two-room schoolhouse, library, dairy, restaurant, and several general stores. Many of the buildings have been restored or rebuilt, and there's a nice little visitors' center as well as a small campground. When we pulled in Friday afternoon, there were only 3 spots left. We were somewhat surprised to see that every other person in the campground was African American. It turns out that this weekend is the 101st anniversary of the founding of the town, and there was to be a big celebration on Saturday. All the buildings, usually closed to the public, were going to be opened, tours given by volunteers in period dress, etc. Everyone was really nice to us and invited us to stay, but we had many more miles to go, so pulled out in the morning before things got underway.

Our goal yesterday was to get the rest of the way across California, to Needles, which we did by mid-afternoon. Our camping guide described a free BLM camping area east of town, along the Colorado River, which sounded nice, so we headed for that. We got off I-40 at the designated exit and turned onto what we thought was the correct dirt road. After about a quarter of a mile, and without warning, the hard gravelly dirt abruptly changed into deep, sandy mush. We were stuck before we realized what was happening. We dug for about an hour, trying to place sticks and rocks under anbd behind our wheels, but just kept getting in deeper. Finally, I got on the cell phone and called our Good Sam Emergency Road Service. We didn't have much hope of them paying to get us out--their policy is that you can't be more than 50 feet from a paved road--but we figured they could at least know who to call to come and rescue us. I spoke with a nice young man named Henry; he was able to figure out where we were, and, amazingly, after a consultation with his supervisor, said that Good Sam would pay for the service call, up to two hours. If it took longer than than, we'd have to pay the difference. We were elated! About 45 minutes later, a huge long-bed tow truck showed up. Out of the cab climbed a tattooed young man named Tony, his fiancee (I never did get her name), and her little fluffy dog named Spanky. They were very nice, got right to work, and almost immediately got stuck in the sand as well. Tony called for reinforcements, which appeared about an hour later in the form of his partner and best friend, Bobby, and an older guy named Al, in Al's 4WD tow truck with a heavy duty winch. You could tell Al was an old hand at this. He supervised the whole operation, first getting Tony's truck free, then winching us out as well. The whole process did take more than two hours, but since it wasn't our fault that they got stuck, they only charged for the two hours and billed Good Sam. We found some hard ground just off the dirt road on the weay back to the freeway and tucked in for the night. Steve mentioned later that he had almost not renewed our emergency road service contract with Good Sam this year because we hadn't used it for several years. We are now true believers. We didn't see the actual bill, but are sure that it was at least $300--more than double what our yearly Good Sam membership is.

Today we drove almost all the way across Arizona and are parked in the OK RV park in Holbrook. Another long day of driving. We had planned to stop earlier in the day, but our camping guide let us down. The place I really wanted to stay--Homolovi State Park with Anasasi ruins--was day use only; the campground closed October 1st, even though our book said it was open year round. The next place we tried--Cholla Lake County Park--was closed to the public, period. Our campground guide was written in 2004--guess it's time to get an updated edition. Tomorrow should be an easy day. We plan to camp somewhere around Gallup, NM, then on up to Farmington on Tuesday in time for the FMCA rally. We're keeping our fingers and toes crossed.

Santa Rosa

The rally ended on Wednesday morning, and we barreled up the coast to Santa Rosa to spend a couple of days with my brother Tony, aka "Stone" (I don't know why he's "Stone", don't ask) and his wife, Lorraine, aka "Lo." I was hoping we'd drive up along the coast, through San Francisco, and over the Golden Gate Bridge so I could stop and walk in Muir Woods, one of my favorite places on earth. Alas, Steve wanted nothing to do with the traffic craziness in The City, so we took a slightly more roundabout and less congested route inland, going over the San Raphael Bridge into San Quentin, through Petaluma, and up to Santa Rosa. We spent a nice evening with Stone and Lo, catching up on each others' lives, at a fun little Italian restaurant called Nonnie's in quaint downtown Santa Rosa. The next day, we met Stone out at Michel Schlumberger Winery in Dry Creek Valley for our own personal tour and wine-tasting. Stone has been at the winery for about 13 years, working his way up from grunt to pretty important. His current title is winery biologist and assistant winemaker. He knows everything there is to know about the operation, and is passionate about winemaking and sustainable farming. No pesticides are used. Unlike neighboring wineries that till up the soil and use Round Up between the rows of grapes to get rid of weeds, Michel has a flock of sheep that roams the vineyard, cropping the weeds down and depositing natural fertilizer as they graze. They have beehives and a bee garden to attract bees to pollinate the grape blossoms, and an organic vegetable garden that attracts "good" bugs to eat the "bad" bugs. The winery is beautiful, and the wines that come from it are premium--from $20 to $100 a bottle. We not only got to taste some, but got to take some with us--a generous gift from Stone.

Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The aquarium, located right on Monterey Bay, is absolutely wonderful. The tickets, at $29.95 for adults, are pricey, but even Steve had to admit that they were worth every penny. Each display was more beautifully done than the last. Around every corner was something that took your breath away. Steve's favorite was Makana, a two year old female albatross, that was rescued from the ocean, unable to fly because of a dislocated carpace (bird wrist) that will never heal. She is on display at the aquarium, and is very cool. She looks like a huge seagull, but her wingspan is more than six feet across, and she is one of the smaller species of albatross--some of them have a wingspan of 12 feet! Her name, Makana, means "gift" in Hawaiian. My favorite was the new "Secret Life of Seahorses" exhibit, that opened a few months ago. Look closely at the photo that looks like plants. Steve walked right by it, not realizing that they weren't plants, they were sea dragons!!! They have beautiful green, wavy fins that look like leaves, and thus are expertly camoflauged in the ocean. I could have stayed at the aquarium all day.

Laguna Seca

Finally, we got to the Skinnie Winnie Rally. It was held at the campground at the Laguna Seca racetrack, which is located about halfway between the cities of Salinas and Monterey. While apparently not all that well-known in America, it has an international reputation. It is a SCRAMP venue, which, I think, is the 3rd tier down--Formula 1 and NASCAR being numbers 1 and 2. SCRAMP stands for Sports Car something-or-other, and there is a sports car, classic car, or motorcycle race almost every weekend during the season. The track director came and spoke to our group, and donated two pairs of tickets for the final race of the year, which was held Sunday, October 11th, a couple of days after our rally ended. The tickets were valued at $125 each, and the people who won them were very pleased.

The rally was pretty loosely organized--a short talk or seminar in the mornings, ample time in the afternoons to explore the Monterey peninsula. and pot luck dinners each evening. Dave Kuhlman, one of the organizers, made arrangements for a tour of a family-owned business that restores vintage cars. Some of their restorations have won gold medals at the Pebble Beach Concorde, arguably the most prestigious vintage car show in the world. Steve, most of the other guys, and a few of the wives (I passed), had a great time ogling the cars in various stages of restoration.

The highlight for me was our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Details are in another post, because Blogger has a limit as to how many photos you can post per entry.

On Toward Laguna Seca

We left Yosemite through the south entrance (exit?) so we could stop at the Mariposa Grove, where the giant sequoias are. We spent about an hour wandering through the lower grove. They are awesome in the true sense of the word--not quite as tall as California redwoods, but with a much more massive girth, with thickly furrowed trunks. Their bark is so thick that it can withstand fire;many of the trees we saw had blackened lower trunks but their foliage, high above the fireline, was green and healthy.

Upon leaving Yosemite, we had two more nights on the road before getting to the rally at Laguna Seca. We spent the first one at an Army Corps of Engineers campground at Eastman Lake near Raymond, CA. We forgot to take a picture of our campsite, and it's too bad. Our site overlooked the lake and we had the whole loop to ourselves. It was off season, the camp host had left the previous day, and there was only one other campsite occupied in the whole campground. I walked the dogs down to the lake, and they had a great time racing around the meadow after rabbits on the way there. We spent the next night at Coyote Lakes County Park, near Gilroy. Gilroy touts itself as the Garlic Capital of the World. Apparently, it used to be, but, according to my brother Tony, a garlic afficienado, that is no longer the case. At their annual Garlic Festival, most of the garlic is imported from China. The two pictures at the top of this post show our campsite and the lake. It was prettier than it looks, with lots of wildlife. The deer grazing by the lake wandered right by our campsite, followed shortly afterward by a flock of wild turkeys. There were cranes and herons on the edge of the lake, and a huge hawk.

Yosemite

Yosemite is as beautiful as I had imagined, a gorgeous as all the pictures you see of it. The Valley itself isn't very large, so you are always in pretty close proximity to all the famous views. There is a paved bike/pedestrian path that loops all around the valley, bout 12 or 13 miles worth. You can get to all the trailheads, campgrounds, and visitors center by bike. We rode our bikes all over one morning, and then took the dogs on a long walk another. Late September is a great time to see the park, as far as I'm concerned. Although a couple of the waterfalls and seasonal lakes are dried up, I didn't miss them. I also didn't miss the hoards of visitors that overrun the park during the summer months. We hiked lower part of the Mist Trail--the one that goes to Vernal and Nevada Falls, and ultimately to the top of Half Dome. You don't have to be a mountain climber to summit Half Dome. There is a hiking trail that goes up the back side, with a set of parallel cables, sort of like a ski tow without the pulley, to help you get up the last bit. Even going up the "easy" way is a 4000 foot elevation change. They call it a day hike, but at 10 to 12 hours, it would be a long day. I got Steve to snap a pic of the restroom at the Vernal Falls footbridge because it was the most scenic spot for a restroom that I'd ever seen.















We stayed two nights at the Crane Flat campground, about 16 miles from Yosemite Valley, and one night in the valley itself when a spot opened up. The campgrounds in the valley are by reservation only, go on sale five months in advance,and they fill up within minutes.

Bear are everywhere in the park. Each campsite has a locker for food and toiletries, and your food is never to be left out or more than an arm's length away from you. If you store your food in your vehicle, it must be out of sight; bears know what coolers look like, and will break into your car to get at them if they're in sight. I actually got to see a bear! I was walking along a trail between two loops of the campground, and about 50 yards ahead of me, a bear came out of the woods, stopped, took a good look at me, and headed up the trail in the same direction I had been going. Very cool! And yes, I did turn around and go back the way I had come.

California, Here We Came!

Phew! We've been more than a week on the road, and this is the first chance I've been able to use the computer. The first couple of days, going across Nevada, there was no internet service at all. When we finally got to somewhere where we could theoretically get on line, we discovered our aircard had broken (again!) and so we couldn't connect. We are now staying in a very civilized campground with Wi-Fi, so I'm finally able to blog. Maybe. On our Colorado trip in July, I blogged faithfully, but kept getting error messages from blogger.com when I tried to post them, even after we got home. I will try to catch everybody up and keep my fingers crossed that it actually makes it into cyberspace.

The Royal Palms pulled out of the driveway Fridaymorning, September 25th. The excuse for this trip (as if we needed one) was a Skinnie Winnie rally in Laguna Seca, CA, near Monterey. We had attended a rally with this group last summer on the Oregon coast and really enjoyed it, and thought it would be fun to hook up an hang out with our old friends again. While we were at it, we thought we'd stretch it out and poke around central and northern California. I'd always wanted to see Yosemite, wanted to visit my brother in Santa Rosa, and then just wander around for awhile. We'd figured out a tentative route, made some campground reservations, and were ready to go. Then, the week before we were to leave, Steve decided that he really wanted to attend another rally in Farmington, New Mexico, as well. It was happening just a week after the Skinnie Winnies, and he figured we could just make it. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but hey, why not!

Yosemite was our first destination, and the usual way to get there from here is I-80, a straight, albeit boring, shot across Nevada. Steve wondered aloud about trying I-6 through Ely and Tonopah, noting that it was shorter and could possibly be more interesting and scenic. Again--why not? Ely was our first stop. I found a great NFS campground up in the mountains south of Ely called Big Springs. The campground had closed for the season (host gone, water turned off), so it was free. Large shady sites and only one other rig in the whole place. It had miles and miles of marked trails for hiking, mountain biking, and cross country skiing, and we spent a couple of hours in the morning before we left exploring on our bikes, the dogs running happily alongside. The photo with the motor home is our campsite. Pretty, huh!

If you've ever driven I-80 across Nevada and thought it was the most barren place on earth, you are wrong. I-6 is, believe it or not, even worse. Once you leave the Ely area, which is quite pretty, things quickly deteriorate. Flat, barren, brown, and dusty. No plants, not even desert plants. A few not especially nice-looking mountain ranges off in the distance. We got across Nevada as quickly as we could and spent the night in a hot, dusty, overpriced campground ($20 no hook ups) near Bishop, CA, because Steve was sick of driving and there weren't any better options.

From Bishop, we drove north through a cute town called Lee Vining, and stopped for coffee at a place called Latte-Da. They had yummy homemade pastries as well as drinks, and we each had a slice of chocolate poundcake, chock full of chocolate chips and laced liberally with espresso with our coffees. We stopped at the visitors' center at Mono Lake just outside of town and got camping and hiking recommendations from the ranger for some NFS campgrounds on the way to Yosemite's east entrance over Tioga Pass. Thus it was that we spent my 61st birthday at Saddlebag Lake, elevation 10,087 feet. It's a 20 site campground just above a beautiful blue-green lake ringed by 1200 foot peaks. There's a water taxi that will take you (and your dogs!) across the lake to hike the 5 mile scenic Twenty Lakes Loop, or backpack into the wilderness, but we got there too late to do that, so instead opted for the around-the-lake trail (also 5 miles). It was a flat, easy trail, which was good, because at that altitude, even hiking from the lake up to our campsite got me huffing and puffing. That's Steve and Ellie taking a break, and a view of Saddlebag Lake. I still haven't figured out how to get the pictures where I want them in a post--they mostly end up on top, and out of order. Sigh.

Next day, it was on to Yosemite. I'm going to try and post this now, and finish catching up later. Photos in the next post. Steve is off with the camera somewhere.

Over and Out

We're home! As usual, I kind of lost interest in blogging towards the end of the trip. Or else got preoccupied with the logistics of it all. We packed up last weekend and left the Ajo area to spend the weekend with our son, Chris, in Tempe. We parked the Palms in his driveway and hung out with him and his new girlfriend, Sharon, all weekend. Low key, but lots of fun. We went to a restaurant called RigaTony's for dinner Friday night; it was wonderful--a small, local chain similar to Olive Garden, but even better. Saturday night, Chris hosted a barbeque for friends, and we spent the afternoon shopping for ingredients for the skewered chicken tenders Sharon was going to make. Some of them were fairly exotic (have you heard of galangal--I hadn't!), so Chris took us to LeeLee's. It's an Asian/international market in Chandler, and if they don't have it, you don't need it, and it probably doesn't exist anyway. Sharon was moved almost to tears when she found the specific brand of lime pickle that she loves and hasn't seen since she moved from New York to Tucson several years ago. The produce section had every imaginable and unpronounceable vegetable, fruit, and melon known to man; the meat department, along with familiar and unfamiliar cuts of meat and whole frozen fish, featured a wall of fish tanks holding sea bass, tilapia, and catfish. Theoretically, you could pick out the exact fish you wanted, and they'd net it, kill, it, and clean it for you before you left the store.

After Chris's, we drove to Sun City West and stayed with my parents. We had made an appointment at Al's RV Service in Glendale, about 12 miles away, to get the levelers fixed. Al's is one of the two places in Arizona that has a certified HWH master mechanic (Utah has none!). They quickly determined that the levelers failed for one of two reasons--a bad computer chip in the control panel or one in the motherboard, both quick fixes once you had the very expensive part. They called HWH in Iowa, who, amazingly, said they would cover it, even though it was out of warranty. The only thing we had to pay was $45 to have the parts overnighted from Iowa to Al's. Once the parts arrived, it took Al five minutes to determine which chip was bad and another fifteen to unscrew the control panel and pop in the new chip.

We took two days to drive home, staying at our favorite Cedar Pockets Campground in the Virgin River Gorge, about halfway. Because we were coming back to winter, Steve wanted to avoid as many mountains as possible, so we went home the Las Vegas way rather than the Flagstaff way we came down in January. The only bad thing about this route is having to drive the freeway through Las Vegas, always nerve-wracking and jammed with fast-moving traffic. Steve consulted some maps, and found a road that wound around the west side of Lake Mead and dumped us out on the north side of Vegas near I-15, but avoiding the downtown Vegas freeways. The "short-cut" was a very scenic, quiet, good two-lane highway. We will definitely use this route again.

We came home to snow flurries, with a fair amount of the white stuff on the ground. We've started the tedious business of unpacking. Not sure where or when our next trip will be. We're expecting our second grandchild in mid-July, so any summer trip would have to be after that. We'll keep in touch.

Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge

Cabeza Prieta means "Dark Head" in Spanish, and refers to a peak in one of the mountain ranges around here. Our campsite is actually within the refuge, which is the 3rd largest in the lower 48 states. It encompasses over 800,000 acres, seven mountain ranges, and a variety of habitat for many species of plants and animals, including 6 kinds of rattlesnakes and 212 different kinds of birds. Earlier this week, we paid a visit to the visitor center in town, and left with the necessary maps and permits to go exploring. It's all very wild and rugged country, with absolutely no amenities--like water or road signs.The permit is good for 90 days, but you have to call in each time you use it so they can keep track of visitors. You call in and leave a message, stating your permit number, how many vehicles, and what your destination is. The recording states firmly that you are on your own--they don't want your name, license plate number, or when you plan to return because they aren't going to send someone out looking for you if you don't come back when you said you would. So there!

Tuesday, we set out for El Camino del Diablo (the Devil's Highway). The route was pioneered by a conquistador named Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774, and got its name after hundreds died on the route on the way to the California gold fields in 1848. From where we are, the route goes south into Mexico or north to Yuma, maybe farther. It bumps and grinds along the Mexican border, so we saw a lot of Border Patrol guys. Part of the road is very sandy, and they drag tires behind their trucks every day to smooth out the sand so they can see and track footprints. The "highway" crosses into Organ Pipe Natonal Monument, and at first it was very scenic. Lots of saguaro cacti, with "arms" going in all different directions. Once we left the monument, however, the road lost its charm. The bumps got bigger, most of the plants disappeared, and there was nothing but barren desert. This is apparently one of the areas where good Samaritan groups leave water jugs out for illegals crossing the desert because so many people die making the attempt. We turned around after about 20 miles hot and tired and dusty despite being in a car, with water, Diet Pepsi, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I can't imagine trying to do it on foot.

Yesterday, we took off in a different direction, in search of the petroglyphs at Charlie Bell Pass. It was a 17 mile ride, with good dirt road for more than half of it, and crummy for the rest. We dubbed one part Boulder Highway because, for about a mile, it was nothing but rocks. When we got to the end of the road, we parked the car and started hiking down into the valley on an old jeep road. We saw a snake about 2 feet long, not a rattler, sunning himself on the trail.The volunteer at the visitor center had said it was about a half mile to the windmill and petroglyphs, but it was probably twice that. The windmill was active, pumping water from a well into a big enclosed tank. There was an open, overflow tank that Ellie jumped into to cool off, and a spigot where we could fill up our water bottles. It was a hot day, and Steve and I both took off our T-shirts and got them sopping wet for the hike back up the hill. They were dry before we reached the top. The petroglyphs were inscribed on individual volcanic rocks scattered all over the hillside near the windmill and well. There must have been hundreds. Our guess is that there must have been a spring where the well is now, and the early peoples either came here to get water or settled here because of it.

Although we had brought drinks, we hadn't anticipated being gone so long, and didn't bring snacks. By the time we got back to Ajo, it was 3 p.m. and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We pulled into the Dairy Queen andf chowed down on burgers, fries, and Oreo Blizzards. I'm usually not a big Dairy Queen fan, but either this was a really good one or we were too hungry to be picky--everything tasted great!

Today so far, we're just hanging out. Steve plans to get under the Samurai and secure some tin plate near the muffler that the the roads here have rattled loose. We may do a little excursion this afternoon to some old (not ancient) Indian settlement nearby. Tomorrow, we want to go to the Barry Goldwater Testing Grounds, which are (weirdly) also in the wildlife refuge. First we have to go the visitors center and watch a 25 minute orientation video ("when you see a plane, duck?") and get the password of the day to unlock the gate.