May 2020 – Page 18 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

January 19, 2017 Anza-Borrego SP

We woke up at dawn after sleeping at Fonts Point to catch the sunrise. It was not quite the party that sunset was as, there was only one other couple there. They drove out from San Diego just for the sunrise. The woman in the couple asked where Ton was from and when she told her Thailand, the girl laughed and said I thought so, you have the exact same accent as my mother.

After cooking up breakfast we headed over to Palm Canyon. We walked up a wash for about a mile and a half to the classic oasis you would see in a movie. Water and a cluster of Palms. It was very impressive

The oasis at Palm Canyon, just like a movie set for an oasis.

After returning to Scout we headed over to the town. On the two main entrances into town an artist has set out various sculptures in the desert. Not quite to our taste, but interesting none the less.

A giant dragon sculpture near Anza-Borrega, one of a series of similar sculptures.

We then headed over to a feature in the badlands called the slot. Another interesting walk. Including a very steep descent that looks like it used by motorcycles and possibly even some off road vehicles. It would be very tricky to try and a mistake would be quite painful.

On our way to camping up for the night Ton mentioned a cactus trail. She said it was only a mile walk, Ron had a vision of a nice stroll along a manicured trail. Instead it was a rocky trail through a wash and up over the side of a ridge. Probably a two hundred foot climb. Ton enjoyed it tremendously as the cactus were magnificent.

January 18, 2017 Anza-Borrego State Park CA

Today we reached our target to begin exploring instead of driving. We arrived at Anza-Borrego about 1:30 after driving about 250 miles. Enroute we stopped at a California Visitors Center in Yucca Valley to arm ourselves with some information about the park and other things in this part of California. While there we ran into a Canadian couple in a truck camper who had just come from Anza-Borrego. They told us to stop at the visitors center as the building was incredible.

When we arrived we made a bee line for the visitors center. Ton was not as impressed with the building as the Canadians, but she did enjoy the cactus garden. At the visitors center we asked for the best place for sunsets and they sent us to Fonts Point. The location was incredible overlooking the mountains, some serious badlands and a valley that stretched all the way to Mexico.

Part of the cactus gardens at the visitors center of Anza-Borrego.

The sunset was indeed incredible, though initially spoiled by a group that decided to hold a cocktail party at the overlook. After the sun set behind the mountains the cocktail party broke up, and Ton and I were the last ones left at the viewpoint. Ton mentioned that it would be a nice place for sunrise too, so we are now camped in the parking area for Fonts Point to be ready for sunset.

The sunset at Fonts Point looking out at the Badlands.

On a whim we checked the TV reception not expecting much, but were surprised that it found 17 channels over the air. When we started cycling thru the channels they are all from Mexico. As I write this we are watching the Patriots v Colts championship game in High Definition with Spanish commentaries.

January 17, 2017 China Lake CA

Our plans have changed. After spending last night in Reno we decided to head straight to Anza-Borrego, and then begin working our way North.

Today we headed down US 395 following the east side of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. Unfortunately for California this winter has again been mostly dry and warm. This road would normally have a lot of snow along it and today it was completely dry and the temperatures were in the high 50’s all of the way.

River along US-395 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Since we covered al lot of this area in our October trip we only made one stop to take pictures. Tomorrow we should arrive at the southern end of the trip and begin the real exploring, after watching the NFL championship games.

Tonight we are staying at China Lake Naval Weapons Station. I was surprised that they had a campground since this place is the Navy’s equivalent of Area 51. They had a weapons museum that included a bunch of aircraft that were in service when I first went into the Marines. As Ton likes to point out when I am surprised by these things, I am getting old.

The aircraft display that made me feel old.

December 18, 2016 Death Valley NP

Started heading home as we have a date on Sunday for a Christmas Party and our sons are coming home next week so we have some preparation to do. Had to make an emergency run onto the Marine Base to buy a replacement power cord for Ton’s Mac as hers died the night before.

We basically doubled back the way we came thru Mojave NP and heading north towards Reno, but instead of heading straight to US 95 we decided to run thru Death Valley NP as the main road thru the park parallels US 95.

We made a couple of stops including the lowest point in North America. Near there we ran across a couple of Coyotes who decided to pose for Ton, the first one even responded to her command to heal as she had not finished taking his picture! They both seemed pretty healthy and not at all skittish about people.

This coyote came trotting up to the truck looking for a hand out.

We had never seen Scotty’s Castle in the North end of the park so we made that our target for the day. We arrived just a little too late to take the last tour of the day, but got to walk the grounds. The grounds are pretty impressive and the back story is interesting as Scotty was basically a con man who got the money to build the castle by duping people into investing in gold mining operations when there was no gold.

Tonight we spent the night in Mesquite Springs campground which is nice and by a dry creek, that apparently was not dry last week. A flash flood came down the creek and flooded about a quarter of the campground,, but everything seemed back to normal.

Tomorrow will be a long boring driving day heading home.

December 17, 2016 Joshua Tree NP

Last night was spent in a great campground in Joshua Tree called Ryan where we were surrounded by granite rocks that make the park famous. We woke up early to the sound of rain and were worried as we had a busy day planned. Luckily the rain quit very quickly and did not amount too much for the day.

Our first stop was to Keys view. On our way up we passed thru a Joshua Tree Forest that Ton really enjoyed. We had been told by the Ranger at Mojave that the Joshua Tree’s here were a different sub-species than the ones at Mojave. Ton says she can see the difference, the trees here are taller and have less branches than the ones in Mojave. When we got to the top we had climbed into the clouds so Keys view was limited to about 50 yards.

Heading down we continued to enjoy the Joshua Trees and the drive. The next stop was the Geology Loop Road which is an 18 mile self guided loop that shows you the different rocks and the San Andreas fault. The park service says it is a difficult 4wd drive road, but in fact it is not bad at all and Scout did not even need to leave 2wd the whole way. We had the entire valley to ourselves for the entire trip which was fun.

Part of the Geology Loop Road where you can clearly see the San Andreas Fault.

Next stop was the Cholla Cactus garden which Ton loved. The Cholla Cactus is a Colorado Desert plant and the Joshua Trees are Mojave plants to show the impact of the two deserts coming together.

A flowering Cholla cactus. These are the worst spines to get in you, they really hurt.

The next stop was the Marine Corps Base at Twentynine Palms where we stocked up on food and did some shopping at the store. The last stop was the Indian Cove campground for the night. The campground is also a training base for beginning rock climbers so we got to watch some folks climbing, and even scrambled up a couple of simple rocks ourselves.

Ton commented that the campgrounds at Joshua Tree were among the best we have seen in the park service.

Joshua Tree is a center for rock climbing instruction as it is easily accessible.

December 16, 2016 Mojave NP

Today we visited Mojave NP. The Preserve has three of the four desert environments in the western US with sections of the Great Basin, Mojave, and Colorado deserts coming together in this area.

Woke up early to catch sunrise, but between the cloud cover and the location we were a little disappointed. Headed out on Wild Horse Canyon Road which was a pretty well developed dirt road. Ton got some nice photos of the area.

Next we headed towards the Clio uprise which is a granite uplift. It is really not noticeable but it makes for a perfect environment for Joshua Trees. Ton loves the trees and loved the area. We did a little offroading to get deeper into what is supposed to be the biggest Joshua Tree forest in the US. Scout as always handled the trails very well.

Part of the largest Joshua Tree forest in the US.

We next went back to the visitor center to look at the museum. Most of the museum is dedicated to the railroad days with a little bit on the desert. We talked to the ranger for a while and he steered us over to the Kelso Dunes. The Dunes were over 600 feet tall and extend for about 40 miles. We climbed pretty well to the top and took some pictures and Ton tried to make a holiday message in the sand.

Pulling out of Kelso Dunes we were heading back towards the Joshua Tree forest to a spot we had scouted for a rough camp. Ron did some calculations and said it would take an extra 30 minutes to get to Joshua Tree NP from where we were. Well 90 minutes later we pulled into Joshua Tree NP. More to follow tomorrow.

December 15, 2016 Mojave National Preserve

Well the nice thing about the truck is flexibility. We were originally heading towards Joshua Tree NP but a combination of the weather and some research about Mojave had us talking about going there. A couple of hours into the drive and some reprogramming of the navigator and we were heading towards Mohave National Preserve.

We arrived about 3:30 and headed towards the headquarters which is located in an old Union Pacific Railroad Station in a rail stop. We got some ideas for tomorrow and headed up into the mountains to a campground. We arrived at Hole in the Wall campground about 30 minutes before dark and had the place almost to ourselves.

October 18, 2016 Folsom CA

Today we had another fun day with Pae and Supachai. Supachai was meeting some of his friends from work at an Apple Orchard and we were invited to tag along. It was a pretty place, but it reminded Ton and I of how many more people there are in California than in Oregon. There was a quite a crowd, though everyone was having a good time.

After the apple orchard we went over to a brewery near by (of course) to check out the local brew. It was a nice setting and they were serving beer, cider, mead, and wine. We had a nice lunch and shared tasters of all of the beverages that were available. The beer was good, the cider was good, the wine was fair, and I still have not developed a taste for mead so I do not know if it was good or bad.

Pae and I enjoying our Beer, Wine, Cider, and Mead taster.

Next stop was Placerville which is another old gold mining town, but much gentrified. We visited the downtown which had some good antique shops including an old bookstore. Walking down the street we noticed that the main street in Placerville was our old friend California Highway 49. As Ton and I were walking down the street we saw a sign in the window of a cafe proclaiming Highway 49 as the Mother Lode Highway. We checked out the sign as we like to collect highway signs of roads we have enjoyed, but this one was considered an antique and out of our price range.

October 17, 2016 Calaveras Big Tree State Park CA

Today we were invited to spend the night with our friends in Northern California Pae and Supachai. We were feeling a little “grangjai”(a Thai word that is hard to translate) as this would be our third visit to them this year and we were afraid we were overstaying our welcome. But Pae assured us we were more than welcome and really encouraged us to come.

As we dropped down from Yosemite we were once again going thru the gold rush country on California Highway 49. We realized between our last two trips to California we had spent a lot of time on this highway. It is a pretty road through an interesting mix of the Sierra foothills, small towns with interesting names (Angels Camp, China Camp) and wineries.

The Sequoia grove at Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

We decided to retrace out steps to Calaveras Big Tree State Park to look at the Sequoia grove there. As usual the trees were spectacular, and California did a good job describing the reasons the remaining trees are protected.

After that it was a short jump to meet Pae and Supachai and enjoy some good company.

October 16, 2016 Yosemite NP

Today we started the day by visiting Bodie SP. Bodie is a ghost town not far from US395. It was a gold mining boom town founded in 1878 and reached its peak population of about 10,000 in 1884. By then the gold was starting to play out and the town started to lose population. There was enough gold left to sustain a commercial goal mining operation so the town survived until the mine was closed during WWII. At that point given the harsh conditions around Bodie and the lack of any other source of employment the town was shut down and left in the desert. There are a couple of hundred buildings left more or less as they were in the 1940’s and because of the arid climate they survived in pretty good shape until the state made it a park.

We then headed over the Tioga pass into Yosemite. We had missed this part of the park when we visited in the spring because the road over the pass was still closed. Today we enjoyed our third pass thru the Sierra Nevada’s this week. Of the three as you would suspect this one had the best views, though they all had some points that were very spectacular.

The plan was to camp in one of the valley campgrounds as we assumed given the late part of the year and mid-week that we would be able to get a spot, but when we arrived at 2:30 pm there was no room in the campgrounds in the valley. The only park campground available was Hodgson Meadow near the Northwest entrance to the park. So for the second time this year we are at Hodgson.

October 15, 2016 June Lake CA

The day started with a bear encounter by Ton. After a slow start in the morning we had pulled into the dump station at the camp ground. While Ron was fiddling with the dump Ton was on the phone with Pae our friend from Sacramento when a black bear crossed in front of the truck. Ton was so startled that she could not get the camera out in time to take a picture, and Ron was so intent on the dump station that he did not notice the bear.

After the early excitement we headed over to Devils Postpile National Monument. It is a very small national monument near Mammoth. Originally included in the boundaries of Yosemite NP the area around the monument was cut out of Yosemite in the early 1900’s to allow mining. The main formation at the monument is fascinating and worth the trip.

The main formation of the Devils Postpile.

After finishing up at the monument we headed out to find some fall colors. After three days we were finally rewarded with some nice fall foliage around Convict Lake and in McGee Creek Canyon. We were surprised to still find any leaves had survived the windstorm from the day before, but the leaves were still there and quite beautiful.

We next headed over to Mono Lake. We stopped by the visitors center to see what the lake was all about. After a visit there we headed over to the south Tufa preserve to check out the Tufa’s there. Tufa’s are formed by springs in the lake bubbling up and calcifying to make these neat formations. The trail was fun and informative about the efforts to preserve the lake.

Some of the salt formations called Tufa’s.

We ended up spending the night at June Lake after the ranger at Mono Lake discouraged us from driving in to Yosemite for the night. It was another forest service campground where we shared a beautiful sunset with a couple from Zurich next door.

October 14, 2016 Mammoth Lake CA

Today we took the long way to Mammoth Lake. We decided to try two of the Sierra Passes from east to west that are closed for a great deal of the year due to snow. They were both open and it was probably our only chance. We were hoping to see some fall colors at altitude also.

The first pass is California Highway 4, also called the Ebbets Pass Scenic Highway. And while very scenic and fun to drive, long stretches were unstriped asphalt 1.5 lane road, the colors were disappointing. There has been a lot of wind the last couple of days and a lot of leaves have been stripped. The west end of the road is in Calavares County where Mark Twain hung out during his California Gold Rush days.

The second pass is California Highway 108 also known as the Sonora Pass Scenic Highway. This road wound thru miles of evergreens and was like any mountain road in Oregon until about 15 miles from the end there was a sign stating that the next 10 miles had a 27% grade. This road has special meaning to Ron as the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center is located on the east end of the road and highway 108 is actually used as the access road to the training areas at the top of the pass. In the winter the road is closed with up to 20 feet of snow on it and the Marines have free play in the area. In the summer they share it with the campers and the local traffic. Ron spent two winters here training as a mountain leader and climbed around on the local mountains and skied down route 108 with full gear and a M-16. It was a lot easier with Scout.

Fall colors along Sonora Pass Scenic Highway.

Tonight we are in a forest service campground within the city limits of Mammoth Lakes.

April 29, 2015 Manton CA

Today we are beginning to head home so the primary goal was to get north. We recently joined an organization called Harvest Host which allows people who join to dry camp in participating wineries. Our friends and fellow Malayan owners the Cooks recommended the organization. After an uneventful but windy drive mostly on I-5 we arrived at Indian Peak Winery in the very small town of Manton California.

The drive from I-5 was interesting as we entered a whole different environment closer to eastern Oregon than the Sierra foothills we had been in. As we approached the winery we had several nice views of Mt. Lassen, and determined to return later when the roads thru the park are open all of the way.

We were not quite sure what to expect when we pulled into Indian Peak. It is a very small winery closer to the scale we are used to in Oregon than the massive wineries we have been seeing in California. The tasting room was nice but empty when we walked in, and suddenly we heard a voice from upstairs saying I’ll be right down. The voice belonged to Donna the co-owner along with her husband Fred. We tasted and enjoyed all of the wines, with Fred relieving Donna about half way thru the tasting process so she could return to doing her paperwork upstairs. After completing the tasting we purchased a bottle of wine that we intended to drink with dinner, but before we could leave Fred grabbed a couple of the bottles from the tasting table and said “why don’t we go outside and enjoy the day and drink some wine.” We couldn’t pass up an offer like that, and 3 hours later we had drank a lot of wine and had an impromptu barbecue with Donna and Fred. All in all it was a wonderful evening that we thoroughly enjoyed. Good company, good food, and good wine. Donna and Fred have certainly set a high bar for future harvest host visits and we would like to thank them.

April 28, 2015 Yosemite NP

When we left Folsom in the morning we thought we needed to be in Portland on Thursday, but when we checked we found out that the appointment had been delayed. Ton suggested that we go to Yosemite instead of heading North. So after turning Scout around on the freeway, we ended driving backroads all the way to Yosemite. Driving thru the California gold rush country was new to us and even though California is in quite a drought it has rained just enough in the last three weeks to green up the grass so the scenery was quite nice. We passed thru Calaveras County which is the place that inspired one of Ron’s favorite Mark Twain short stories, the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

We had last visited Yosemite about 20 years ago so our memories of how spectacular it is had faded. It is easy to understand how John Muir and so many others were inspired by this place. Our timing was a little off as this was the first day that on line reservations could be made for the park, the ranger we spoke to at the entrance said that they were nearly empty over the weekend, but today every spot was full. He had mercy on us and assigned us a tent camping spot, and told us just to park Scout in the parking area for the tent campers and sleep there.

April 27, 2015 Folsom CA

Today we planned a day with Supachai and Pae. We started off by going to Folsom Lake to see the fish hatchery there. When we pulled in there was a special event going on, an intercollegiate rowing competition on the lake, we watched the last two events and enjoyed the atmosphere as there were about 20 universities represented.

One of the teams from the University rowing meet on Folsom Lake.

Next we moved on to the Amador County wine region to check out a couple of wineries. We had a nice lunch at one of the wineries, and Supachai became a member of the wine club there so we were entitled to a free lunch at their sister winery. Not being able to pass up a free meal we went to the other winery and enjoyed our second lunch.

The vines were just starting to bud at the winery.

On the way home we noticed that there was a road bike race taking place in the mall near Pae and Supachai’s house, so we stopped and watched the last 10 one mile laps of the race. We are not sure who won as the place we thought was the finish line turned out not to be the finish line!

Inspired by the bicyclists Supachai wanted to go for a bike ride. It was fun to watch Ton deal with gears on a bicycle for the first time in her life. Pae was a great coach and got Ton thru the ride without any damage to her or the bicycle.

We finished the day by having a delicious steak dinner prepared by Supachai, while watching the Anaheim Ducks win in overtime to advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Pae and Supachai are always great hosts, but this time we really want to thank them as they truly outdid themselves. Thanks so much for a wonderful weekend.

April 26, 2015 Kings Canyon NP

Today we woke up to quite a surprise. There was over a foot of snow on the ground. It was really beautiful, but the concern was whether we could get out of the campground as the road was invisible. Ron did a little scouting and marked the path of the road, until it got to a part that had been plowed. After some photos were taken, it was time to move, and no problem at all, Scout handled the foot of snow easily. As we dropped down out of the mountains we were quickly out of the snow zone and on our way to visit some friends in Folsom.

A lot more snow than we expected when we went to bed.

Supachai, and Pae are old friends from Portland, and we try to swing by and see them whenever we are in Northern California. As always their hospitality is great, and we enjoy catching up with them. Tonight was a all you can eat Korean Barbecue, with Supachai challenging us to eat 20 plates of barbecue items. I think we just missed, but everyone was very satisfied.

April 25, 2015 Sequoia NP

Today we planned to move on to Kings Canyon NP, but in keeping with our history with Scout we woke up to snow. We decided to push on anyway and drove thru a mixture of snow and rain to Kings Canyon. When we arrived we stopped to see the status of the roads and were told that the first couple of miles were snow covered, but after that it would be ok as we descended into the canyon. So we decided to move on, within the first mile we came across 2 cars that had slid off the road, but Scout was tracking with no problem.

As we descended into the canyon we did not regret our decision as the scenery was spectacular and the mist and the snow cut the visibility but made what we did see was really beautiful. After driving to the end of the road in Kings Canyon we returned to the visitor center at Grants Grove. As we were pulling in the snow plows were arriving which made things easier. When we got to the trailhead for the Grant Tree we were met by a volunteer who was going to lead a Ranger talk. The Rangers were all busy dealing with a bus that had slid off the road, no one was hurt, but they had a bus load of kids who needed to be entertained. So we had a personal guided tour of the Grant tree which was really nice.

At this point we decided to grab a spot in the campground and hunker down and watch the snow.

We were caught in an unexpected winter storm.

April 24, 2015 Sequoia NP

We had planned to cross over the central valley to Sequoia National Park. The night before Ton mentioned the Carrizo Plain National Monument which is famous for its spring wildflowers. So we took a side trip to Carrizo Plain National Monument despite the fact that we did not think there were going to be many flowers due to the drought. California Highway 58 was another great backroad. As we had guessed there were no flowers, we passed a dry lake that showed the extent of the drought.

A dry lake bed in Cazillo National Monument.

Next we headed across to Sequoia NP to look at the Giant Sequoia’s. The drive up to the park is very steep with a 5000 foot elevation climb and many turns and switchbacks. The tree’s are impressive and while not as tall as the Redwoods they are thicker and denser. We stopped at the Sherman tree which is supposed to be the biggest tree in the world by volume weighing 2.7 million pounds and is estimated to be 2200 years old.

Reportedly the largest tree in the world by volume at 2.2 million pounds.

We are planning to spend tomorrow here also.

April 23, 2015 San Luis Obispo CA

Today we drove the most famous stretch of PCH from Carmel to San Simeon. The weather was perfect for the drive. Ton was very impressed with the trip and I was less so. For me it was less impressive than I expected, and for Ton it was everything it was built up to be. I think the difference is that for me as the driver it was just another cliff side drive, and in fact is less challenging than the stretches north of Mendocino, and between Point Reyes and San Francisco. For the passenger who can look out the window the cliffs are higher and the vistas are grander so the view is incredible.

The famous bridge on the PCH that is featured in so many car commercials.

We stopped at what I think was a private home that had planted flowers and had some art by the road near Pacific Valley. It was really spectacular and Ton spent nearly an hour taking pictures there. Not only where there great flowers but the views of the ocean were also tremendous.

Near San Simeon we came along to a beach with thousands of elephant seals. It was fascinating watching them from up close as they lay on the beach. This colony of seals is recent with the first ones showing up in the early 90’s and growing up to 15,000 seals. This time of year the colony is mostly made up of females and juvenile males. The males are in Alaska. They come down to the colony twice a year in the spring and the late fall.

The elephant seal colony. They are just resting before swimming off to Alaska.

The last stop was Hearst Castle which is now part of the California State Park system. I guess it is interesting what unlimited money and time can do. To me it is a little over the top excess, but there are a lot of interesting art pieces that were brought in from Europe.

April 22, 2015 Monterey CA

Today was a day to sight see around Monterey. We started by visiting Point Lobos State Reserve. Another stretch of beautiful coast with views over to Pebble Beach and out to sea. We saw more birds, sea lions, and harbor seals. We walked for a couple of hours just enjoying the view and of course taking many pictures.

Sea Lions on the rocks at Point Lobos State Reserve.

After Point Lobos Ton wanted to head over to Salinas to visit the John Steinbeck Museum. On the way we were amazed with the amount of vegetables and other crops we could not identify. I know the mid-west is supposed to be America’s bed basket, but as you drive thru it is long sections of one crop. What we always find amazing about California is the diversity of crops in small areas, I guess this makes California Americas fruit and vegetable stand.

One of the many vegetable fields we saw around Salinas.

We stopped in a great visitors center in Salinas. The place was tucked into a strip mall, but was staffed with the typical friendly people you find in all visitors centers, and had a plethora of information about the central coast and the rest of California. Ton loved the free local raisins.

The Steinbeck Museum was nice, though one of the exhibits was closed and they were preparing for a festival. I enjoyed the exhibits on his early life in Salinas and how the local area influenced his writing. But the highlight for me was seeing Rocinante Steinbeck’s truck camper he used for researching Travels With Charley this book was one of my inspirations for doing this. I only wish I had Steinbeck’s ability to write about what we are seeing, but I am sure I am not the first person who wished they could write like Steinbeck.

Finished the day by visiting Pessagno Winery. We enjoyed our talk with the tasting room manager Chris about the Salinas Valley, the Philippine influence on the local culture, and how the local people felt about Steinbeck. The wine was good also.

We ended the day with a dinner at Pebble Beach. The sunset was a bit of a disappointment, but not the day.