Sequoia National Park

It’s still winter in the Sierra Mountains while in the foothills spring has come. What this means for us is that we we can wear shorts in our campgound but plan on tromping in snow if we want to see the giant trees.

We pulled into the Potwisha Campground around 1:30 but it was after 3:30 before we got settled into a camp spot. Its a National park campground so it has very short, narrow, unlevel sites. Needless to say we did some stupid stuff and got too picky so it took us a long while to park.

We quickly drove to Hospital Rock where we hiked down a road to Buckeye campground then along the Paradise Creek Trail. We estimate it was a 4 mile hike. Such beautiful country!

Monday dawned bright and sunny, a good day to view the mountains and giant trees. The road into the park is only open up to The Waksachi Lodge and Lodgepole Visitors Center which includes the General Sherman Tree. This is the largest tree by volume in the forest. There are others that are taller and have a bigger diameter and are older (up to 3,000 years old) but Sherman is considered the biggest. It is over 2200 years old and its biggest branch is 7 ft in diameter.

Before we saw Sherman, we stopped at the Giant Forest Museum then hiked in the snow up to the Tunnel Log. We were smart and used our hiking poles so we didn’t slip and fall.

The scenery along the way was stunning. We are glad we did this today as the forcast for the rest of the week is rain & snow every day. We’d like to stay longer but not in rain and snow. Time to move on.

Paso, Pickleball, & Pinot

We had a pleasant drive up the coast to Paso Robles where we are staying a full week so that we can fully enjoy all the wines this area has to offer. In order to do that we need to burn off some calories each day therefore we located the local pickleball courts and have been trying to play for at least an hour and a half each day or taking long walks.

As for the Pinot, there is that and oh so many more wines to taste! Paso claims to have over 300 vineyards/wineries in this area. We cannot do more than 3 in one afternoon as the old taste buds get clogged and all the wine tastes wonderful!

Sculpterra not only had nice wines but the metal art surrounding the tasting room, patio and out into the vineyard were amazing. Cass and Still Waters wineries were just down the road. Tuesday we had an appointment at Law Estates Winery for a private tasting and met some very interesting people, two of which work at another winery (we’ll be visiting it later this week). We followed them down the hill to “dilecta”. We enjoyed their blends but they also had a very nice 100% Syrah. Most of the wines we have tried come from Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, & Chardonnay plus Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet, and Zinfandel.

Today we explored the coastline around Cambria about 25 miles west of Paso since we had overdone the exercise and the wine. It was an enjoyable drive along the coast watching Elephant Seals and spotting whale spouts out in the bay. We also had a delightful lunch and enjoyed walking around the town. Its starting to warm up a little - the sun was wonderful!

Santa Ynez Valley

Six towns are considered part of the Santa Ynez Valley and we have visited each one over the past 3 days. The closest one to Lake Cachuma, the recreation area where we are camped, is Santa Ynez. Even though we have visited this area before we had never stopped here. It is a quaint town with one main street crowded with boutiques, breweries, wine tasting rooms and several small restaurants and a couple of B&B’s. Next is Ballard, a very small community with a great big canyon surrounding it full of vineyards. Solvang and Buellton are good sized cities with a Dutch heritage and archetecture. We arrived in Solvang on Wednesday in time for their farmers market! I love markets like this! Buellton is more the fastfood and lodging town for the valley. Los Olivos is almost all wine tasting shops with a few diners, art and gift shops sprinkled among them. And last is Los Alamos which is two blocks of tasting rooms, an antique store and a couple of lunch cafes.

Today was cloudy, rainy, cold and dreary so we drove to Lompoc which is outside of the Santa Ynez Valley and in the Santa Rita Valley. After lunch we found a cluster of wine tasting rooms with wines from this valley. They have some very nice Pinot Noirs but not as good as in Oregon. It will be cold and rainy for the next two days so I’m thinking we’ll be exploring these towns again. Maybe even going to actual vineyards as apposed to tasting rooms.

By the way, Lake Cachuma is suffering from lack of rain and has shrunk considerably. We are also on the edge of where some of the wildfires were in December. One lady said that 3 different fire surrounded this valley but did not burn much of it. Smoke was the biggest problem.

Old Mission Santa Barbara

Spain controled most of California in the 1700’s and the Spanish Franciscans friars founded over 12 missions intent upon converting the Native Americans to Christianity. The Old Mission of Santa Barbara was the 10th such mission and is considered the Queen of them all due to her white walls and the influence of Italian archecture. It was started in 1786 added to, repaired, and restored through the years but the original building is still evident.

It is an active catholic church with its own cemetery, friary, museum and gift shop. As evidenced by the tour buses, it is a popular stop in town. The chapel is beautiful with lots of colors. The statuary depicts Saint Frances of Assisi and Santa Clair of Assisi in one apse and Jesus and Mary Magdaline at the tomb.

We also took a short drive down the coast to the small fishing and resort community of Carpenteria. We took a long walk in the crisp ocean air along the beautiful beach on the nice boardwalk.

Today we are moving over the mountains into the Santa Ynez valley. They have some really good wine in this area so we might have to do some tasting.

Historic Santa Barbara

John got to be the tour guide today as he could follow the map better than I could. We rode our bikes to the downtown area then walked the Red Tile Walking Tour. We viewed seveal original homes, called Adobes, Built from 1849 to 1872 and mostly by Spainards who settled the area. Parts of the Presidio, or fort, are still standing depicting life in the early part of the 20th century. We walked on the oldest street next to the guard house of the fort, peeked in a window at the first wooden floor, and shot a picture of the oldest house.

We bypassed the Library, the Art Museum and Post Office but did go inside the Santa Barbara Court House to view the courtroom covered from floor to ceiling with a mural depictingnthe area’s history then climbed the stairs to the top of the clocktower for a great view of the city, ocean and mountains.

The weather deteriorated to wind, rain and cold starting mid-afternoon (cold being a relative term at 57°). We are in for a few days of this until it starts warming up again next week.

Santa Barbara

Having arrived in Santa Barbara on Friday we quickly adapted to the coastal lifestyle. Our RV park is locate right on the freeway so despite the highway noise it allows us easy access to bike trails that take us either to the coastal park or in the other direction to the downtown area and we are just 2 blocks from the pickleball courts.

Friday night we ate at the best seafood house on the warf. I had an amazing steamed rock crab and John tried the crab cakes. Then on Saturday night we ate ar the marina and had another great seafood dinner. Most of Sat. was spent doing chores but we did get the bikes out for a ride into town to shop at the farmer’s market and then along the shore, taking in the harbor sites like sailboats and sailboat races, sand volleyball, brown pelicans, sand sculptures, and crazy people on bike trolleys, skateboards and inline skates. The weather has been cool, 60’s, and breezy which makes me shiver to see people stepping into the ocean!

Today we headed back to the shoreline trail but this time it was lined with artists, craftsmen, jewelers and painters. We liked several paintings and one photograper, I saw some earrings and some other handmade crafts but didn’t purchase anything. We also explored the Funk Zone - an area with lots of wine tasting, breweries, shops, design centers, and arts galleries. Kind of a neat area.

Smoke Trees and Rock Houses

John is finally feeling better so on Tuesday I dragged him out on a 6 mile hike up into Smoketree Canyon where we got to climb over bolders and could have crawled under one (we chose not to endanger ourselves). Turns out we did that hike three years ago and even then we did not crawl under that bolder!

Today we drove the Jeep into Coyote Canyon on the Rockhouse Road. It was suppose to take us to a hidden spring and a view of rock houses. The spring was truely hidden and our imagination just did not work on those supposed rock houses. But we did enjoy the drive on this cool and windy afternoon. We rewarded our efforts with margheritas during Happy Hour!

Borrego Springs

The core of the state park is the small town of Borrgo Springs so on Sat., despite John’s cold, we rode our bikes the 8 miles into town, explored a bit, ate lunch and rode back , putting 18 miles on our bikes. During our exploration and shopping friends from MO ran into us at the Outfitters store. I was loking at some dresses next to a window when this lady stuck her face to the glass. Low and behold I knew her!! Sue and Rory came down from Palm Spring to explore the town too.

After church on Sunday we shopped some more and then drove around the town and came upon some metal sculptures we had not seen on previous visits. We drove through an RV community, went past a couple of golf courses and decided not to go into the park office as it was very crowded due to the holiday weekend.

The forecasted windstorm kicked in with a blast of sand and grit late Sunday afternoon and continued all day on Monday. The blast caught us off guard and filled the RV and the Jeep. What a mess! Because of the wind we did a driving tour around the area going through Warner Springs and Julian, stopping at an Escapees Park and taking a 1 1/2 hour tour, and trying to determine if we could take our 30 foot RV up and over and around the mountains. Lots of curvy, steep, narrow roads. Probably not going to drive those routes.

Anza-Borrego

When we find a place we like, we go back to it anytime we can and we are back in California’s largest state park filled with mountains, desert and dunes.

We left Lake Cahuilla on Valentine’s Day. I was feeling much better but still had a cough. Since arriving in the desert John has caught my cold and now has a runny nose and cough. The flu shot may keep it from lingering but we are still suffering.

The state park has put a lot of restrictions on the open desert areas where RVers used to camp. Now most of the sites are blocked off and we are all congregated together. Mind you the area is very large and we are not camped on top of each other. Just down the wash from our site sits another Bay Star RV exactly like ours! Of course, we met the couple and invited them in to see our rig. They bought theirs used and are wanting to upgrade the interior so they were very interested in what we had done. They are full time RVers who work from their rig, write a blog and host a Face Book site called RVtoFreedom.com for people who are fairly new to the RV lifestyle. They are a very nice couple.

Since John is not feeling up to par we haven’t done much. We explored Borrego Spings by car yesterday and today we revisited 17 Palms oasis in the desert and had a nice drive through the dunes, down washes and between canyon walls. When we came out of the desert we had a great view of where we had been although no roads or trails were visible. Yesterday I took a short hike up Coyote Mountain where I found some desert artwork someone had created.

Lake Cahuilla/Palm Springs

We got into our campsite last Wednesday after leaving the Fountain of Youth and feeling at least two days younger! But I started coughing, then ran a fever then coughed lots more, then got a runny nose - Yes, I came down with the flu despite having gotten my flu shot this fall. At one point I was afraid I had bronchitis so we went to urgent care but it is just the flu. It has taken about 5 days for me to start feeling better.

Poor John has had to doctor me and then take off for some excercise all by himself. He put over 30 miles on his bicycle and hiked up into the mountains one afternoon alone. It has been quite warm in the valley which makes for pleasant sun bathing by the RV. I had explicit instructions to stay in the RV or just outside the door while John was gone. He even pampered me with pizza one night.

Since I was feeling better on Saturday, we were able to have a nice dinner with our friends who are staying here for a couple of months to escape the cold. Sunday, after I went to church, we drove up to Idyllwild, a small mountain artists community about a 2 hours drive from here. It was a very pleasant afternoon with spectacular views along the route. The center of the town features a Gorilla Glue sponsored sculpture where the artist glued 4 spruce tree trunks together and then carved a bear, mountain lion, eagle etc. sculpter. It’s quite lifelike.

Today, however we are suffering through a windy day. Having left the windows cracked in the RV this afternoon, every surface inside is now covered in a very fine, powdery dust! I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow!

Inspiration Mountain

We opted to travel down the east side of the Salton Sea and stay a couple of days at The Fountain Of Youth RV Park and Spa before our stay in the Palm Springs area.

Bathing in mineral rich hot waters has definitly lengthened our lives but not sure its made us any younger! We have also found a group of avid Pickleball players so had a very active morning.

But this afternoon was much more interesting. The Salton Sea is 236 feet below sea level and shrinking yearly. Its a shallow lake and very salty - not as salty as the Great Salt Lake but more salty than the oceans. Due to irrigation and re-channeling of the Colorado River, there is little new water coming into the basin and therefore the lake is shrinking. We had lunch in a really seedy dive bar called The Ski Inn. We were almost the only ones there for lunch and the bar maid was not able to give us much information about the area except the the town of Bombay Beach is home to an arts festival in March that triples the size of the town of 1200. We found a slit in the berm so we walked past what used to be a marina and out to the water. The last boat is famous for its graffiti.

Nearby is a well known area called Slab City and Inspiration Mountain. Slab City is comprised of squatters and RVers camping on slabs of concrete left by a US marine base that closed down and removed its buildings but not the slabs. It all looks vey trashy and dilapidated, dusty and dirty but with some creative pieces here and there. Its a wonder people can live there.

At the entrance to Slab City is Inspiration Mountain. Leonard Knight, over many years, has piled up trash coverd with sand and adobe into a mountain. He then painted it and shaped it to reflect his great love for God and Jesus. He continues to add to it by taking dead trees, old wood and haybales, and shaping them into a hut then covering it with adobe and paint.

Oxbow Lake

Even though we had to travel through California to get here, Oxbow Lake is still in AZ. It is south of I-10 about 20 miles and north of Yuma about 60 miles in the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge surrounding an ox bow of the Colorado River. This is a place where the river backs up into a lowland area creating a lake of sorts while the main channel continues on. Thousands of birds migrate here for the winter. According to their literature over 288 species of birds have been recorded here along with mule deer, coyote and bobcats and many other animals. Not that we are birds hunters but it was neat seeing all the ducks and geese in one pond as well as sandhill cranes nearby and later we saw white pelicans and wild burros.

We are dry camping on the lake. We took a ride around a protected portion of the refuge where a majority of the birds are located then we followed the river a short distance to the Hart Mine Road and headed into the desert where we had lunch then explored the washes and canyons of the area.

Sauturday we got the kayak out and paddled up the lake for a bit until we felt like we were getting sunburned. Today we got in the kayak with fishing gear. I paddled while John fished. He had no hope of catching any fish as everyone we talked with said they had not had any luck. But it was peaceful and pleasant to be surrounded by grebes chirping and chortling as we paddled past them.

Believe it or not - we can get the big game on our little antenna! Its Super Bowl Time!

Lake Havasu City

John made reservations at the State Park back in July as this park is always full. In fact a lot of RVers were staying in the overflow parking lot which we have done in the past. It is so popular because it is only about a mile from the London Bridge.

We rode our bikes every day we were here. We crossed the bridge to ride on the bike/walking trail on the island several times, we tried riding south but the slog up that long hill had us worn out before reaching the top, and I went shopping on my bike.

We experienced ome of many beautiful sunsets and the rising Supermoon simultaneously!

Tuesday John received a text from our son that he was in town on business and did we want to meet for lunch! What a treat! Most days we watched ultra-light aircraft flying around us and remote control planes flew at the beach parking lot. John even took me out to eat a couple of times.

Life on the Colorado River

Buckskin Mountain State Park is on a point where the CO River flows around a corner. Across the river is CA and another RV park. We are camped up against a mountain which blocks the sun most of the day so it is rather a cool spot. Thursday after we pulled in and got settled, we drove along the river road looking at other RV parks, checked out the Emerald Canyon Golf Course (since it is the only one in the area it is very busy), and drove through the Parker Strip. One the way back we stopped at the Pirates Den Bar where happy hour started at 4 pm and they had Karaoke. It was 4:30 and the retirees had the run of the place, some were 2-fisted drinkers and several thought they could sing. It was FUN!! John figured it would be dead at 7 PM!

Friday we hiked, did laundry and rested so that on Saturday we would be ready to off-road in the Jeep out to the Desert Bar. We’ve been there a couple of other times and enjoy the ride out as much as the beer and food they serve. The bar is situated 5 miles out into the desert on what used to be Willie E Mine. Their only power is from solar, and until recently they hauled the water in. There is live music, fried foods, beer and liquor and lots and lots of people. When we got our food, we found an empty table then one couple joined us then two more couples sat down and it was as if we had been friends for years instead of just a couple of hours. In fact, one lady asked how long we had known each other!

Quartzite Con’t

Sunday, Jan 21 we took the Jeep out for a run. About 10 miles south of town is a National Wildlife Refuge with a Palm Canyon hike. We left the RV unprepared without extra water, extra jackets, no poles and regular tennis shoes. The hike to the palm trees was longer than we expected, on rougher terrain and the wind was bitingly cold. We turned around and went back home.

Monday and Tuesday found us in the big tent looking at stuff for RVers like food, dresses, hand lotion, specialized cookware, bedspreads & pillows - you know - stuff! Actually we did talk to industry people about braking for tow cars, air pressure monitors, water pumps, solar panels, tow bars and caravan tours. We signed up for a caravan tour to the Canadian Maritimes Provences, got a new water pump, learned something about our new tire pressure monitor, and teased the Blue Ox folks about the stickers on their new tow bar.

Wednesday we did the Palm Canyon hike only this time it was warmer and we were prepared. Nature is amazing. These 40 some palm trees were surviving in the crevasses of rock walls at the back of the canyon where there must have been some water but we can’t imagine there was any dirt in that rock slit. While on the hike we got a call from friends from home who were in Quartzite and wanted to meet. We had a lovely afternoon with them at the Yacht Club.

One week in the desert it enough for me, so on Thursday we headed north a whopping 32 miles to Buckskin Mountain State Park on the Colorado River.

Desert Living

I havent posted in awhile because we haven’t done anything really exciting. When we left White Tanks we spent a night in Buckeye so we could prepare for our stay in Quartzite.

We arrived in Quartzite early on Thursday so we missed a lot of the traffic that is expected for the RV Show and Gem and Mineral Show which start on Saturday. Our spot in the desert is near where we stayed three years ago so basicly 1-1/2 miles from town on the side of a large wash, with few neighbors, in the desert.

Our daily routine is to sleep until 7, breakfast at 8, bike into town around 9 or so, back at the RV mid-afternoon for naps, walk or go back to town, then supper and a quiet evening until bedtime. There are several miles of vendors selling anything you might need like tools, kitchen supplies, RV supplies, outdated food and drugs, not to mention tons and tons of gems, beads and rocks! Then there are the junk/collectables vendors; fair clothes, hats, belts, & scarves sellers; honey, oil, soap, etc; and food, of course, like corn dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, cinnamon rolls, tacos, gyros and the list goes on. And did i say junk?!

We met friends Sharon and Dwight for lunch on Saturday. Haven’t heard of any other acquaintences in the area.

Jackass Junction

There is no oasis here, there is no oasis near here. If you are searching for an oasis please continue your journey.

North of Fountain Hills/Scottsdale is McDowell Mountain Regional Park with over 65 miles of hiking and biking trails into the desert and up small ridges, mountains and into washes. On one of these trails we stopped at Jackass Junction, an intersection of several trails where a group of runners has erected a pavillion where one can rest in the shade. Decorating that pavillion are empty beer cans hung to clang like wind chimes, a stark white skeleton sitting on the roof clutching his own empty beer can and a sign with the above quote.

We are staying in the park for a week of hiking, biking and warming up. We biked several easy trails, a couple of more difficult ones (by that I mean up hill and over big rocks, some walking involved) and John has done at least one very difficult trail after I turned around and went back as it was more than I could handle. We are enjoying the desert sun rises and sunsets, a rainstorm and visiting with other campers and bikers.

Wanderlust Released

On October 1, 2016 we stored the RV (except for a Memorial weekend jaunt) so that we could explore the world and build a house. About three months ago the wanderlust that propels us out into the RV or around the world and into many adventures started percolating to the surface. At a point when we were finished with building and furnishing our new home and entertaining our friends and family over the holidays the wanderlust exploded and we loaded up the RV. On Jan 3, in the midst of a terrible cold spell, we set out for the warm weather promised by Arizona and southern California.

We spent 12 hours one day trying to escape the frigid climate and eventually landed in Las Cruces. We un-winterized the RV, filled her with water and took off again, landing in Bisbee, AZ where we found some fine dining and explored the city and its numerous art galleries hunting for artwork for our new home. We even found a canyon rim hike to start working off the holiday sweets.

Last Day in Iceland

We have been very fortunate that the weather in Iceland has been so nice - up until today! It was cloudy and cool yesterday and spit rain but today it added wind to the mix plus more rain. It doesn't rain hard but it enough to make it miserable.

John and Susanna joined us this morning while Katy and Lanny slept in. We headed to the National Museum of Iceland and now know more of its history than about our own history! It is a beautful museum and very well done.

We had a brisk walk in rain to the harbor area for lunch and a long walk back to the hotel. Later the six of us met in our room to finish off a bottle of wine and then to dine together one last time in Iceland.

Viking Sagas

We started out the morning by trying to find museums that would give us an idea of the way Vikings lived. Of course you start at the beginning. The Settlement Exhibition is an exhibition of a 10th century Viking hall discovered in 2001 and is dated to the year 874 plus or minus 2 years. Very interesting.

After lunch we were going to visit another museum but the girls got sidetracked with shopping and the guys took off to help dLanny find a post office with his lost package.

After supper we attended a play at the Harpa Concert Hall called "The Icelandic Sagas-Greatest Hits". This was a spoof of Iceland's history over 400 years told in 75 minutes. It was nicely done and very funny!!