California – Page 5 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

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.

April 21, 2015 Monterey CA

Today was a kind of lazy day as we were a little slow getting going. We picked up PCH and followed it down the coast to San Francisco. Initially we were following Tomales Bay instead of the coast. We noticed a lot of advertising for BBQ Oysters but as we were running late there was no chance to check them out. We may have to come back in the future to find out how they taste. Near the bottom of Tomales Bay we came across some mud flats teaming with birds and seals.

The mudflats on Tomales Bay were teeming with birds.

After Tomales Bay we climbed back up for some more cliff top driving until we crossed into San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge. The traffic was pretty tame for San Francisco so we were thru the city pretty quickly and back along the coast heading to Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. Despite living in the Bay Area for two years we had never followed PCH from San Francisco to Santa Cruz so it was new for us. Our tours of west coast lighthouses continued as we stopped at Pigeon Point lighthouse which California State Parks took over from the Coast Guard. Ton was excited to find a whole new bunch of wild flowers.

Flowers and high surf at Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

Tonight we are “camped” with our back to the Monterey airport, at a Navy Campground, but the price is right. Tomorrow we are going to stay in the area and explore a little bit, before heading for Big Sur.

April 20, 2015 Petaluma CA

Today the weather was tremendous, the nicest weather we have experienced since we bought Scout. In addition there was exceptionally high surf along the whole coast which just added to the views along the PCH.

Really high surf today made the coast even more spectacular.

The drive today was slow but, really beautiful. The combination of the bluff top views and the surf made for a fun drive. Scout handled the twists and turns of PCH very well and we were rarely the slowest vehicle on the road, turned a couple of heads when we would catch up with cars moving slower than we were along the highway. It was a really happy day for Ton as in addition to the beautiful weather, the wildflowers were out at all of our stops.

In addition to the spectacular sea views the wild flowers were out on all of our stops.

In Gold Beach we met a Chinese couple who had a rental RV, we did not speak much with them beyond helping the husband find the place to check in as their English was limited. Yesterday we saw them a couple of times and today when pulled off in Bodega Bay I looked up to see the wife waving at me as they drove by.

After checking in at the Coast Guard base in Petuluma for the night, Ton pointed out that Lagunitas Brewery was located in Petuluma so we were off. Good Beer, Good Weather, and a Good Band made for an enjoyable night and the end to a great day.

Lagunitas is one of the biggest independent brewers in the US.

April 19, 2015 Ft. Bragg CA

Today we would be going into new territory heading down the Pacific Coast Highway. Past trips had taken us as far south as Crescent City California, so the next few hundred miles will be new for us.

Today we were focused on visiting the Redwood National and State Parks in Northern California. We had made a day trip down into Northern California on a previous trip to Southern Oregon and had seen enough of the Redwoods to really wet our appetite to see more on this trip. Unfortunately the weather was not fully cooperative and it was raining and gray most of the day.

The Redwoods did not let us down. We stopped at a couple of California State Parks to look at these trees. The Coastal Redwoods are really magnificent sometimes topping 300ft tall and 70 ft. in circumference. The highlight of the day was the 32 mile Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt State Park. This park contains 3 of the 5 tallest Coastal Redwoods in the world, though we did not find any of them. We did find a fascinating drive with trees that defy my ability to describe them. We also stopped by one of the obligatory tourist traps where you drive your car thru a Redwood, but Scout would not fit, and Ton was unimpressed with the stuff in the shop.

The root ball of a Redwood. Really immense.

After that we followed PCH over a coast range and along some high cliffs over the Pacific to Fort Bragg for the night. Another ho-hum 40 miles of magnificent views.

February 6, 2018 Joshua Tree NP

Ton brought up the idea of heading over to the coast. Our original hope was to stay at the Navy park on Coronado Island in San Diego, but as with every other time we could not get a reservation. We instead are at the Marine Base with an ocean front spot. We are not disappointed with not getting into Coronado.

We started out trying to get up for sunset but did not succeed. Ron ran out to try to get some just past sunset pictures but they did not turn out. On our way out of the park we stopped at one of Tons favorite spots the Cholla garden. The Cholla Cactus has one of the nastiest thorns of any cactus, but it has really nice flowers.

We took a back road from Palm Springs to Temecula which kept us off the freeways from Palm Springs to Temecula. The highway was called the Pine to Palms Highway and takes you thru the Santa Rosa Mountains. The climb out of Palm Springs is quite steep as you quickly go from Sea Level to 3000 feet. You go from desert to alpine and pass thru at least three different plant types. While the road is windy and narrow for Ron it is less nerve racking than dealing with Southern California Freeways.

We arrived at the beach and as we were setting up a nice couple came up and struck up a conversation about our drive down and the Tiger. Ron was hooking up things and Ton was outside speaking with the wife. A few minutes later Ron noticed water coming out of the truck. Sometime along the way one of us had bumped the water in the kitchen sink on. While we are driving we store some stuff in the sink so that was blocking the drain, and we had a flood. So tonight we are drying out the floor, and some of our dish towels and things are hanging up to dry.

We ended the day by doing something we have never done in seven or eight years of camping. We built a campfire and sat on the beach eating our dinner and enjoying the sound of the surf.

February 5, 2018 Joshua Tree NP

Today we visited one of our favorite national parks. Ton really loves cactuses and Joshua Trees. It was originally in our plans for the trip with our friends last fall, but we cut it out due to time constraints, so we decided to head over on our way to the coast.

The drive took a little longer than we thought, and we ended up driving around for over an hour looking for a place to spend the night. At that point Ron realized that we probably needed fuel, so we ended up driving back out into town to the Marine Base to get fuel. The fuel there was 50 cents a gallon cheaper than in town.

Part of the trip was along an old section of Route 66.

We got back to our campsite just in time for sunset, and had a nice walk shooting pictures of the sunset, rocks and Joshua tree’s. It was also fantastic weather, clear and 79 degrees, so for the first time on the trip we will not need the heater.

January 24, 2015 Joshua Tree NP

We are getting used to the drive from Joshua Tree to Death Valley as this is the fourth time we have done it in the last couple of months.

On the way out of Joshua Tree we stopped at Skull Rock. The Skull Rock Trail is a short trail that highlights the non-cactus plants in the desert. Skull Rock really does bear an amazing resemblance to a skull.

We drove from Joshua Tree to Death Valley on a back road that passes thru Mojave National Preserve and Baker California. We were planning to fuel up in Baker as it had the cheapest diesel in the area last trip. Despite fuel prices dropping everywhere else on this trip, the fuel in Baker had actually risen to over $4 per gallon so we passed and drove on towards Death Valley, if we were going to pay an exorbitant amount for fuel we decided we would rather do it in a small desert community, then a large community right on the interstate.

Today we visited Dantes Peak in Death Valley which is an overlook above the main valley. From 5000 feet you are looking the length of Death Valley and can also see for miles back towards Las Vegas. We stayed up for sunset and Ton got some nice shots.

December 17, 2014 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 to 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.

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.

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 popular destination for rock climbing.

December 18, 2014 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 very healthy coyote posed on command for Ton.

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.

Clouds are not a normal part of the sunset here.

Tomorrow will be a long boring driving day heading home.

January 26, 2015 Death Valley NP

Ron had always wanted to visit the Racetrack Playa. Ton was a little nervous as the park service puts out very severe warnings about the road and particularly mentions long stretches of sharp rocks. Ron had done some research and several other Tigers had made it out there, though all of the owners had complained about the washboard condition of the road.

We started the day by visiting Ubehebe Crater. The crater is about a half mile across and 700 feet deep and is a result of a recent magma explosion in the park. The crater is quite impressive and a reminder of how suddenly things can change on the planet.

We set out for the playa and Ron thought it could not be much worst than yesterdays drive thru Titus Canyon. In some ways he was right and in some ways he was wrong. The road itself was pretty straight forward with no particular narrow places or washed out sections of road. Looking at it it was a typical gravel road you find in the west. But the washboard was the worst Ron had ever experienced and really beat up the truck and the people inside. We creeped along at 10 miles per hour most of the way and still felt like we were inside a blender.

The valley approaching the race track is really beautiful and you feel like you are really on your own. For the day I think only about 5 vehicles including us went out to the Playa. About 6 miles from the Playa you come to Tea Kettle Junction where there is a tradition of hanging a tea kettle with your name on it. We were not aware of the tradition and did not have a tea kettle to leave.

It is a tradition to leave a tea kettle at the sign, we did not know so we did not contribute to the tradition.

Finally we arrived at the playa. How the rocks moved used to be a mystery, but apparently in November a group from the Scripps Institute were out there and saw the rocks actually moving. To make a short story of a long story it apparently takes a combination of a wet Playa, freezing temperatures that causes ice to build up on the rocks and high winds, and suddenly a 60 pound rock will move on it’s own.

When the conditions are right this rock will move with some help from the wind.

The drive back was no more fun than the drive out there, but we made it back in one piece.

Right as we settled in to go to sleep it started raining. Death Valley only averages two inches of rain per year and we were there for a significant rainstorm.

January 25, 2015 Death Valley NP

it was quite warm last night and we enjoyed a good nights sleep without a heater. After we got going we started the day by touring the Golden Canyon. It was a short walk but quite nice. Even at 8:30 it was starting to warm up a bit.

Next we went to the Devils Golf Course. It is on the valley floor and consists of thousands of small humps with salt deposits on the top. It was interesting but a little disappointing for Ron as he was expecting something with more of a golf theme.

We had visited Artists Point on our first visit about 10 years ago. We had enjoyed the drive so were looking forward to visiting again. This time Ron was a little disappointed with the drive. Ton pointed out that the light was much better in the evening and the last time we had been there in the evening.

The last thing we planned was to take the Titus Canyon road. This is about a 25 mile drive thru the Grapevine Mountains on an unimproved road. The last time we did it in a car so we thought it would be a relatively simple drive. It turned out to be much rougher than it must of been last time, because I do not think we could have gotten a car thru the road as it was today. Still it was great fun and Ton wore out the battery on her camera taking pictures, and Scout handled the road very well.

January 24, 2015 Death Valley NP

We are getting used to the drive from Joshua Tree to Death Valley as this is the fourth time we have done it in the last couple of months.

November 2, 2018 Death Valley NP

We had planned to head to Zabriske point for sunrise, but everyone overslept. In the end we got there about an 90 minutes after sunrise. Zabriske point was the highlight of our first trip to Death Valley, and Ron in particular has fond memories of the place. We were happy to see that Dang and Noi were more up about Zabriske, so Death Valley had a happy ending.

We had originally intended to target Tehachapee for the day, but when Ton realized we would be there around noon, she extended the drive to Bakersfield. After arriving about 1pm we checked into Orange Grove RV park, which is a great commercial camp ground including you own orange trees in each site. If you are in the area I highly recommend you check it out. As it was still quite early we headed to Costco to fuel up, and see if there were any secret things in Bakersfield that we had not seen in other Costco’s. Yesterday California raised their gas tax by 12 cents per gallon, so even with the Costco discount we had our most expensive gas on the trip at $2.80 per gallon.