Nuestra casa rodante – Our Airstream, travels and such…

The leg from the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument to Tucson took a very long time.  It did not help that the Arizona DOT was messing around with the on and off ramps by I-10 so we could not get on the freeway.  Instead we got to stop and go with the hundreds of others for about 10 miles on the frontage road.  It did not help that Tucson was hosting their Rock and Gemstone Show.  It just added to the fun.

Our destination was the Gilbert Ray campground at the Tucson County Mountain Park.  We were going in without reservations, something I am not really used to.  It turned out to be fine and we found a spot just as it was getting dark.  Around 8pm we had everything setup and disconnected and had dinner.  Yes, the tank was still leaking…

The next morning I crawled under the trailer, as much as I could.  I could still see it dripping and according to our meter, the tank was almost empty.  The water was coming out of a small ‘patch’ by the drain spigot.  I removed the screws on the patch and looked inside.  I could see the main drain plug but I could not tell where the leak was actually coming from.  If I had more time (and was younger) I would have done some more investigation.  In the state of Arizona there are only two Airstream authorized service centers and there is one in Tucson at Oasis RV.  I called them and explained our problem.  They said to bring it in.  I had paid for two nights but we were not sure if we would have use of the trailer but the campground would work with us.

We hooked it all back up and headed to Oasis.  They seemed to think that it was not very serious.  Of course, I was thinking the fresh water tank was cracked and it would be into the 4 figures to get it fixed.  They have many years of experience and had no qualms leaving the trailer.  We gave them my cell number and headed off to the Rock show.  Might as well do something instead of just sitting there.

The Rock show encompassed something like 20+ locales with different things everywhere.  We were able to see some tents from Oasis so we went over there.  It turned out to be by a sports area (where the Arizona Diamondbacks do spring training).  The parking was ample and easy and they had a place for dry camping (for $20).  We started looking at the rocks.  The first area had the small individual sellers that were selling out of their RV’s.  One guy had a enclosed area with blacklights to see all the odd colorings in his rocks.  We moved on to an area where they had more large commercial vendors with crystals that were bigger than me!  There was every type of stone, rock, etc. you would want.  Roxie particularly liked these:

We were there about 2 hours when my cell rang.  It was Oasis telling us that the trailer was done.  It was the drain spigot that broke (something must have hit it) and the repair took 2 hours.  I was very relieved.  We spent about another hour and then went to get our trailer.

We took the trailer back to the campground and set everything back up.  The campground had electricity only so having water was fairly important.  It was not leaking!!  We took a short rest (got on the computers) after all that went on.  We ate at Benihana’s that night to celebrate the relatively inexpensive repair.  We were able to coordinate with Rich and Eleanor so we could visit with them while we were there.  We missed out on courtesy parking at their house since there was already an Airstream there (I wonder what the neighbors think).  It turned out they had an idea for the next night and invited us to dinner at their house, perfect!

The next day, Thursday, we paid for one more night.  We went to Old Tucson, which is in the county park.  It is a movie set that was created in the area to lure Hollywood movies here for a more authentic location.  It was kind of touristy but that is what we were.  It was enjoyable.  We ate at a BBQ place inside, Big Jake’s.  The food was pretty good especially for serving a captive audience.  Old Tucson took us up to about 2pm.  We were going to go to the Sonoran Desert Museum.  We drove though the parking lot and it was almost full, we knew we only had about 2 hours so we passed on it this time.  This will leave us something to do the next time we are in Tucson.  We headed instead, to the Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain Division.  There we listened to a very interesting talk about the geology of the area and were able to see LOTS of Saguaro cacti.

We stopped by the trailer to clean up and then headed to see Eleanor, Emma and Rich (their chauffeur).  Eleanor cooked us a very nice meal with some creative chicken cooking.  Rich was in charge of the grill but it wouldn’t stay lit.  We got to see their home away from the Airstream and it was a very nice Arizona home.  I loved the low maintenance back yard.  We finished up dinner and went to a local theatre, the Loft, to see the Academy Award nominees for Animated films.  It was entertaining, albiet some of the films went a bit long.  My favorite, Oktapodi, did not win the Oscar.  We were able to visit a bit after the film and then we said our goodbyes.

We had to decide where to next.  Well we were still staying south so we thought, let’s go see some old trailers in Bisbee.  Stay tuned…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We got notice that some friends were going to be in Anza Borrego SP over New Years so we thought we would try to join them.  I had the days planned out but I could not get any reservations actually IN the park but I did in an RV park just outside.  However plans get changed.  We had a family illness that needed attending so we canceled this trip.  But I was looking for another time to get away to replace this.

We are lucky enough to get off two holidays in February on consecutive mondays.  This way I only had to take off 8 days of work to have a total of 16 days off.  So the general plan was to go travel around Arizona since we sure did not want to do it in the summer!  We decided to only plan 2-3 days ahead as we went.

The initial plan was to get to Sun City West and spend a couple of nights with my mother.  This is a drive that we can do (over 500 miles) in one day without the trailer but we weren’t about to try that with the trailer.  Our first stop was at Sam’s Family Spa and RV in Desert Hot Springs.  I love to stop off there since it is pretty much a good distance to stop and they have 4 hot water pools.  Very relaxing.

While we were at my mother’s we were trying to figure out where we were going to go.  The weather made the decision for us.  This was the time that all the storms were going through north part of the state, Flagstaff had almost 2 feet of snow.  We now knew we were going south.

On our fourth day of the trip we left my mother’s and started south.  We stopped by Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  We have a NPS pass so we might as well hit them all.  This is an interesting park as it has the remains of a large house that the native americans used for functions that are still not understood.  I was impressed with the cover that was built over it to help preserve it.

The park was enjoyable, in one aspect.  While pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a trail of water coming out from under the trailer.  We had a repair on our gray water valve before we left and I was wondering if it was that.  It was not, we did not have an liquids in that tank yet.  It turned out to be fresh water that was coming out.  Good, something to worry about!

We were going to go to Picacho Peak State Park and spend a night and perhaps a short hike.  The leak changed the plans.  We were going to go to Tucson to visit the Luhr’s so we pushed that up a day.  The Tucson Rock and Gem show was going on and it might be tough to find a spot so Rich told us about the Tucson Mountain Park.  We headed there.

The trip continues in the next chapter…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Yes, I am finally getting around to a post about something that happened in October.  We periodically get together with other groups of Airstreamers from Airforums website.  There are too loosely defined groups in California, the northern and the southern.  Since we are in Central California we can choose either one since they are normally not too far away for us.

The ‘northern’ group had a trip to the Jackson Rancheria RV park planned for the second weekend in October.  That is only about 200 miles from us and we have not explored that area too much so we got reservations and made plans to go.  The ’southern’ group had a trip to Kernville at the Rivernook Campground for the very next weekend.  This one was only 124 miles away so made reservations there also.

Jackson:  We have been in the Gold Country a bit but have not really spent any time there.  This was a good opportunity for some exploration.  We got there fairly late on Thursday and planned to leave Monday.  The spot we were initially assigned did not have enough nights available and we would have had to move for Sunday night.  We were able to switch with another Airstreamer that was leaving on Sunday.  We were able to get around to see Black Chasm Caverns with its amazing collection of helictites.  We always enjoy stopping at any caves/caverns we can.  We also got to look at the Indian Grinding Rock SHP.  It is difficult to imagine living the way the original inhabitants of these areas did.  We topped off that day with a stroll through the town of Jackson.  They were having a old pipe organ festival at that time.

We visited in the evening with the other Airstreamers.  We had the obligatory potluck on Sunday night (friday night a lot of us snuck off to the Casino’s buffet) and the weather was FREEZING!  Luckily ‘doorgunner’ brought his hellish propane fire pit.  Due to the high fire danger, no wood or charcoal fires were allowed.  However propane was fine and the Rancheria fire department came by a few times to check on us but the pit was legal (you can see us on the left of this picture).

That Sunday night at the casino they had a concert.  The performer was Don Felder, one of the founders of the Eagles.  The tickets were inexpensive, $20 each, so we thought we would attend.  The concert was very entertaining, he played mostly Eagles songs, on SRV song, and one original song.  He must have played 6 different types of guitars.  There were only about 200 people in the audience, it was a flat floor with an elevated stage.  Very similar to when we saw Steely Dan at Table Mountain Casino near home.  The only drawback was all the cigarette smoke in the casino.  I am very glad we went.

Kernville:  I had 3 days at work, then we turned around and headed to Kernville.  It didn’t break my heart.  We have friends in both groups and there was one other couple that made it to both as we did.  It is interesting that each group has so many differences but I won’t go into them here.

The Rivernook campground was a stark difference from the Jackson Rancheria RV park.  The Rancheria park was neat as a pin, paved, grass everywhere, new.  The Rivernook had its’ own charm.  It actually felt like a campground, once you got past all the permanent RV’s, you could see tenters, tent trailers, trailers, very few 40′ bus’.  No two sites were alike, some had hookups, some didn’t.  Plus there were many creeks that ran through it along with the Kern river.  Our group took an entire row and some others were dispersed around.

The weather was very different this weekend, as this photo will attest:

We spent part of Saturday walking around Kernville and going through the consignment and antique stores.  It wouldn’t take more than 4 hours since there weren’t too many of them.

All in all it was nice to go somewhere we haven’t before but it was a bit much to do two weekends with work sandwiched in there.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

At the end of July, we headed to Sacramento to see a concert.  Since we were only going for two nights, I did some calculations.  Based upon the time and distance, it worked out better financially to take the Hybrid and stay in a hotel.  That way we were able to stay closer to the venue.  We went to see The Police!  This was part of their farewell tour.  No longer would there be The Police so I thought I had better get some tickets.  The concert was at the Sleeptrain Ampitheatre in Wheatland, CA.  That is about 20 miles north of Sacramento.  This is a fantastic place for a concert.  A nice slope with grass along the top edge.  We were in the section just up from the close section but the view was still great.  The sound was just as good.  We were in the first row of the section so there was no one in front of us.  Elvis Costello was the opening act and Sting joined him for backup on Alison.  I really enjoyed seeing all the old guys, Sting even had a beard.

I have been a fan of The Police for many years and have enjoyed Sting’s work but in a different way.  I like the earlier Police sound with a hard edge.  As Sting evolved so did his music and the Police’s which probably precipitated the breakups.  I think Sting is a very good lyrics writer, his music lags behind.  However the next week we went to another concert to see a group that is the other way around.

We went to Paso Robles to go to the Mid-State Fair.  They ALWAYS have good acts performing there.  This time they had Steely Dan, my favorite group.  If they are close, I will go to the concert.  We did take the trailer this time since it was a bit closer and we chose to stay at the Wine Country RV park.  We have had good luck staying there over the years.  However, this one was a bit different.  When I made reservations I was not told we were going to get the ‘fair special’.  It was special alright, special for the RV park.  It was over $60/night due to the fair!  That was not even in a ‘premium’ spot.  The premiums are pull-through.  Ours was a back-in and had a concrete pad.  The lesser spots, which were full, have dirt for the pad.  We had a difficult time getting the truck to fit into the spot also.  When we were leaving we were prepared to turn in front of the clubhouse (to the west of it) and follow a motorhome out.  Some employee emphatically motioned us to go around the clubhouse, even though no one was coming and the motorhome was there also.  Oh well, I think we will reassess our visits to this RV park in the future.  I would rather drive further and stay somewhere else, like Redondo Vista.

Regarding Steely Dan, I feel they are the best that I have heard musically.  I love their intracacies in their music and the fun they have.  Lyrically they could do a bit better and sometime Donald Fagen doesn’t have the pure voice to carry it.  I always thought it would be good to have Boz Scaggs singing lead for them, who, ironically, was at the Mid-State Fair also but we did not see him.

But wait, there is one more concert to discuss in a future entry.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Another post today!?  It must be a sign of the apocalypse!

As mentioned in the previous post we had a trip planned to Bishop.  Our niece was getting married on the 28th of June.  We planned on taking the trailer anyway since there would be no place to stay at my sisters house.  We thought we might stop off somewhere for a couple of days before.  Six months before I started to get a reservation at Yosemite at 7am on the day the reservations for June opened.  Well 10 minutes later the park was sold out!  Ouch!

We took a road trip to Yosemite earlier and while I was there I talked to the reservations office.  They told me if I was there the morning of the day I wanted to stay most likely I could get a spot on the valley floor.  ‘Most likely’ didn’t give me a great sense of security.  They also told me to keep checking online for cancellations.  So starting then I would check online at least every 15 minutes when I was near a computer.  I did this for about 3 weeks.  I was getting nervous, not knowing where we would stay.  Then I got a hit!  A spot at Hodgdon Meadow for the two nights we were looking for!  I thought about it for about 3 minutes and then took it.  It wasn’t on the valley floor but it was near Hetch Hetchy.  We had never been there.  I stayed many years ago on the floor in a campground, but I don’t remember much.

So we were off to Yosemite!  It takes a long time to get there from Visalia.  It is just 120 miles but a lot of the drving is through the park, which is slow, but rightly so.  We were assigned a huge spot that was not particularly level but we made it work.  It was nice to watch all the tenters and be happy we didn’t have a tent anymore.

The next day we took a day trip to Hetch Hetchy.  I have heard a lot about Hetch Hetchy and all the controversy but had never been there.  It is a very beautiful place, unfortunately we went when all the forest fires were going.  We came to the main gate and were asked our plans and given a placard to take and return when went back out.  They also recorded our license plate.  You could not stay past dusk either.  When we got to the dam I asked a ranger about all these ‘measures’ and if it was for the security of the dam.  He said it was.  He also told me some things about the things done to the dam.  Look at this picture:

Hetch Hetchy Dam

To the upper left of the spillway you can see some large white blotches.  Someone painted “John Muir” there.  There is also a jagged white area, someone painted a fake crack to scare people.   The whole area is very beautiful with some large cliffs and falls.  Here is a poor picture due to the smoke:

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

It is always fun to go somewhere you have never been to.  The next day we went somewhere that we have been before, Glacier Point.  The view of the valley there is fantastic, especially if you look straight down!  I remember the firefall that happened many years ago when I was a child and asked a ranger where the drop point was.  Nice to reminisce.  Here is a photo of Roxie with Nevada and Vernal falls in the background (this shot is after I asked her not to squint):

Roxie with Vernal and Nevada falls

After our two nights in Yosemite we headed to Bishop via Tioga pass.  It is such a beautiful place in the high country.  We stopped off at Olmsted point, another never had done item.  We got a good view of the back side of Half Dome and could see hikers going up the steps and cables with our binoculars.

Half Dome from Olmsted point

We made it to Bishop and wedding went well.  The actual wedding was held on the shores of Convict Lake.  Here is a shot:

Wedding at Convict Lake

We made the big loop on the way home, south on 395, we cut across by Lake Isabella, down the Kern river canyon then home.  The worst part of any trip is the last leg home, it didn’t help that it was over 100 degrees!  It was, overall, a good trip.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

It sure has been a while since I have posted.  I feel really bad about that.  I did mean to get to this post sooner but life catches up with you sometimes.

Back in June we needed a bit of time away.  We had a trip to Bishop via Yosemite setup for the end of the month.  However we had this free weekend so I was trying to think where to go.  I thought about Kernville because we have a get-together there in October with some other AirForums users.  Sequoia (Lodgepole) was booked solid.  So I thought of Kings Canyon NP.  I remember staying there as a kid with my cousins.  I can still visualize it.  So we left about 10am on Friday.  It is only 45 miles away so we were there by noon (hills).

We drove around Sunset campground but could not find an adequate site.  We then went through Azalea campground and did find a spot near the end.  This is dry camping but there was not a close restroom.  I always try to use the campground restroom when I can.  It is probably because I get to dump the holding tanks.  We setup the chairs, kicked back and promptly fell asleep.  Roxie said she wasn’t too worried about bears because my snoring would keep them away.

We awoke, had dinner and went down to the campfire program.  The description mentioned “An evening with John Muir” so we thought it might be fun.  The ranger chatted with virtually everyone that was there, asking things like where they were from.  I enjoy hearing where people are fun and marvelling at people coming from the other side of the world to a site that is so close to us.

As it is with most campfire programs, there is a warm up.  The one he did is an old (I have found out) campfire song, lyrics are here.  With each different verse you have a different motion to perform.  And you add, not replace, any additional motions.  At the end, for the last verse, you are doing 5 different things at once and the ending is very appropriate.  It was the BEST campfire song I have ever seen.

Then John Muir showed up.  The ranger transformed himself into John Muir.  He already looks like him and he changed his language and nature.  The job he did was incredible.  I feel very fortunate to have seen the performance and investigating it further, it appears he is pretty well known locally for it (here, and here).  If you ever get a chance to see him, by all means do.

The next day started out lazily, as all the best camping days do.  We saw there was a ranger led walk around the Grant Grove area.  We have been there many times but never with any rangers.  We showed up and John Muir was there!  Well not really, it was Frank this time.  He again asked people where we were from, he looked at me for a longer time and said that I looked familiar.  He asked if I was a teacher and I told him no, that I worked with computers.

The walk was at a nice slow pace and very informative.  At the end of it I talked to Frank some more and told him that I worked for the Tulare County Office of Education.  He asked if I knew Rick Mitchell.  Since I have worked there since 1985 I know pretty much everyone there.  Yes, I do know Rick, he is our director of SCICON.  Frank stated that he worked for Rick earlier in his career.  It was fun to have a connection like that.

Here is Frank in action:

Frank Helling at Kings Canyon National Park.

Come Sunday morning it was time to return home.  The trip was a success with the exception of my gray tank water leak.  We can only go about 2 showers and it start dripping.  That was on Saturday.  So I hooked up the blue boy and let it take it.  I need to fix that ‘in my spare time’.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Not a good milestone though.  Last Wednesday night I paid $5.039/gal for diesel.  That is about what it is going for in the central valley of California.  The gas station (USA) has a sign that Visa and MC cards will only allow you to do $50 at the pump, but Discover will do $75.  They say to start another transaction if you need more.  However, if you go inside, there is no limit.  So I went inside, I knew it would take more that $75.

I tried to leave my card and the lady said I couldn’t.  I was to tell them an amount to put on the card.  I guessed high, $200.00.  She ran it on my card and had me sign the receipt.  They charged it right then and there.  I asked what to do if I got less.  She said come in for a refund.

I pumped $126 in to the beast and went back in for my refund.  It was kind of weird to do that and I will probably just double-dip the card at the pump the next time.

The good news in all of that was time between fillups.  This fillup was on 6/4.  My previous fillup was on 5/9.  Almost 4 weeks!  I had put on a bit more than 300 miles.  Just back and forth to work.  All of our driving is now done in the Camry Hybrid.  I got over 45mpg yesterday on a trip from Porterville to Visalia (about 30 miles).  I can live with that.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

We just got a Toyota Camry Hybrid to replace our 4Runner.  Roxie does a bit of driving for her job, not to mention the 20 miles each way to/from work.  We looked at the Prius but it didn’t have enough of the amenities we had become accustomed to.  Heated seats, dual climate control, power seats, etc.

So, on Saturday (24th), we decided to take a trip through Yosemite.  Remember that this was Memorial Day weekend so we realized that it might be a bit busy.  We weren’t expecting a sold day of rain and SNOW!  We ran into snow at Wawona and Crane Flat.  It was rain everywhere else.  Bridalveil falls was flowing very good and we decided to take the .8 mile walk to the base and back.  I got SOAKED.  No hat and a thin coat was not a good combination.  I felt sorry for the people in tents.  We couldn’t find a place to eat so we had a picnic in the car.

We came back down 120 through Groveland.  On 49 to Coulterville, then down toward Merced via Merced Falls and Snelling.

We went about 350 miles that day and averaged over 30 miles/gallon.

It is a weird thing to drive the hybrid.  When you are going slow you can be on electric only.  Just cruising along with no sound.  You also learn how to maximize the mileage.  There a realtime gauge on the dash that lets you see what your current usage is.

We have gone through two tanks and almost have 800 miles on it now.  Very fun.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!