Some people think this reference can pertain to Death Valley National Park.  I guess you could feel that way in the summer.  You be the judge since we were there for 4 nights.  Also, technically Death Valley is not a valley, it is a basin.

Our friends, the Chen's (here is their blog), contacted us about going to Death Valley over the MLK weekend.  We checked Roxie's schedule and it was one of her 3 day weekends but with a twist.  She works every 5th Saturday.  When she works a Saturday she gets the Monday of THAT week off.  This time the Monday was a holiday so she got the Monday and Tuesday off.  So she got a 4 day weekend!  She took the Friday before off also to give us a 5 day/4 night weekend.  We were also able to find reservations at Furnace Creek campground for 4 nights.  We were on!

There is always prep work for any trip but a dry camping one is even more fun.  This time I used Evernote to keep track of it.  This way I could get to the list from any electronic device that I have and I also shared it with Roxie so she could add to them.  It helped a lot.  This was also going to be a good test of the new trailer batteries I got.

Day 1

We got out early since we had to go 320 miles to get there and I didn't want to get in after dark.  The route was south through Bakersfield, east on CA58, north on CA14, east on CA178 through Ridgecrest and Trona.  We joined up to CA190E right before the climb over the mountains into Death Valley.  We started the climb and this was a big climb!  We got down to 50mph on the climb which is a rarity for the truck.  We came over this pass to Death Valley about 6-8 years ago but I didn't remember it like this.

We got to the campground about 4:15 and started to setup.  A Chen contingent came by as we were finishing up.  We went to their campsite after that and talked a bit.  We figured out what we were going to do the next day then retired to our trailer, to eat and warm up.

Day 2

We met the Chen's at 8:30 to get on the road to a ranger talk about photography at the Eureka sand dunes.  We packed a lunch because we had some other things planned afterwards.  It was nice to walk out on the dunes and the ranger offered a few salient photography tips.  Unfortunately Maverick, the Chen's oldest son, had to stay at the vehicle with their dog.  We let me go frolic for a bit after we got back.  Maverick, not the dog.

Dunes (looking east):

After the dunes we headed to Mosaic Canyon.  Since this canyon was so narrow we were told that the best time to go is midday or it is mostly shadows and gets cold very fast.  That was very true.  We had been in a slot canyon before in Anza-Borrego State Park.  This one was different.  The rocks were very smooth from the water action.  Here is a view of the canyon:

When there are a lot of kids around and places to climb, what happens?  You end up with kids climbing everywhere.  Kids of ALL ages:

We had our lunch in the canyon.  It was fun to watch all the people walking by on the trail.  We stopped off at the Stovepipe Wells store on the way back.  That evening we had a nice campfire with the Chen's.

Day 3

The Chen's only had 2 nights in Death Valley and were planning on heading home today so we both did our separate things.  Looking at the ranger activity list we saw a walk/talk at Golden Canyon so off we went.  The ranger was from Oklahoma and it was interesting to hear his accent and colloquialisms.  We learned a lot and got to stretch our legs.  Here is a shot in the canyon toward the Red Cathedrals and one back down the canyon toward the valley:

Golden Canyon is south of Furnace Creek so we wanted to see the 'south' things.  There was another ranger talk after lunch, do you see a trend here?  We like to go to ranger talks. 

We had our lunch at the campground and had a few visitors.  The first is a well camouflaged road runner and a couple of doves:

The ranger talk after lunch was a bit north of the campground and was about the 20 Mule Team.  It was at the Harmony Borax works.  Borax was huge in the valley before tourism took over.  They would haul the Borax over 160 miles over ten days with a 20 Mule Team (actually 18 mules and 2 horses).  Here is the wagon they used to haul the goods:

We had to leave the talk early to get to another talk.  This next talk was at Badwater, the lowest location in the western hemisphere (282 feet below sea level).  I had to drive a bit faster than normal but we did get there.  There were a lot of people there, more so than any other location.  From down on the boardwalk I looked up at the hill next to us.  Look at the zoomed in portion, it gives you a taste of where we were:

Looking the other direction you can see people walking out on the salt flats:

Here is proof of Roxie at the lowest point (actually the lowest point is somewhere out on the salt flats, but don't tell her):

We made one more stop on the way back to the campground.  We stopped at the Devil's Golf Course.  This makes me glad that I have a vehicle and don't have to cross this area alone:

That night we watched a movie on the Mac in the trailer.  Our Mr Heater Buddy kept us nice and warm.

Day 4

The evening before we discussed what we wanted to do on our last full day.  I was going to get tickets to the Amargosa Opera House but the main actress there was changing her show for a final performance in February so that was a no go.  We had seen the first tour of Scotty's Castle but there was a second, 'underground' tour.  So on Sunday evening I called and got reservations.  So that is where we went. 

As we turned on the road to the northern part of the valley it got a lot windier.  I had left our awning out so, naturally, I was worried about that.  But all forecasts did not show high winds for the campground so I just let go.  Sort of.  We got to Scotty's Castle and it was windy and COLD!  We were a bit early so we were thankful there was somewhere inside to wait.

The tour started and we got to learn how the Johnson's survived there with NOTHING else around.  They generated their own electricity, heated and cooled their house with local means.  It was very interesting and the vast majority of it was inside.  Plus there were only 5 people on the tour!  Here is Roxie trying her luck as a door to door salesperson and the requisite shot of the castle:

Since we were at the north end of the park and I don't like to backtrack, we continued NE into Nevada, then SE on US95 to Beatty, NV.  By that time it was time to have some lunch.  We ate one time in Beatty before at a less than modern casino.  We weren't going to do that this time.  I had heard good things about the Death Valley Fire Pit BBQ but they were only open from 4-8.  So we looked to Yelp and found KC's Outpost.  It was very good and was definitely homemade food.

Before we left Beatty I thought I would top off my diesel so I didn't have to do it in the valley where it was $5.24/gal.  Between Beatty and the valley is the ghost town of Rhyolite.  Here is a shot from Rhyolite looking west:

There is also a house made of bottles in Rhyolite:

When we got back to Furnace Ranch we decided to have dinner at the 49'er Cafe at the resort.  The dinner was adequate for a remote locale such as Death Valley.  The waiting staff was superb even when they handled the 'idiosyncrasies' of the couple sitting behind us.  After dinner I was thinking of another campfire but if you know Roxie, you will know how much she doesn't like the cold.  So that was off the table.  We watched another movie in the trailer.

Day 5

Time to leave.  Here is another on of my normal shots of the trailer in its' spot.  It was a very nice spot because it had a few tamarisk trees around it.  You can see Roxie just barely coming out of the trailer in this shot..  I asked her to get in front of the trailer so I could include her but she declined:

We got on the road home at about 9:30.  We went back a different way that was 60 miles farther.  We took CA190E to Death Valley Junction, CA127S to Baker, I-15W to Barstow, CA58W to Bakersfield and then home.  Oddly we made it home around 4:30, same time we got to the valley on Day 1.

Recap

It was a enjoyable and relaxing trip.  It was a bit long for a single day's drive.  If we did it again we would probably break it up, getting old you know.  The trailer did fantastic!  The batteries started at 12.5 volts and ended 4 days later at 12.2v!  Roxie did a masterful job in conserving water and we probably had 15-20 gallons left.

One other thing and this has to do with George Chen.  They went home earlier than us and I texted him to see if they made it.  He said they did but they had a 'traction' issue and that was all he said.  He said look at his blog but I haven't seen anything yet.  Come on George!

We left around 11 on Friday and headed to highway 180 then turned east.  This route is a very long steady climb but nothing too strenuous.  I didn't push the truck much and there wasn't a lot of traffic.  I was able to do 45-55  all the way.  I did notice some black exhaust  coming out at times but no loss of power like before.

We got to our campsite around 2pm.  This spot was adequate, but it was the last spot available to reserve.  The issue with the space was the tongue of the trailer was so high!  Only one other time has our tongue been so high and that was at Red Rock SP (look at the second photo).  But I setup the Rotochoks, the corner jacks and all seemed secure.  Here is what it looked like:

We rested a bit, then had dinner.  We were cleaning up and getting ready to go to the amphitheater show in the campground when we heard someone stating they didn't want to hear any stories of anyone falling.  It was some friends of ours, Don and Renee McDonald.  They were staying on the same loop as us with some other family members.  Very small, this world.

The 7:00 nature show that evening was about birds. It was put on by a Forest Service employee named Diane.  She actually is part of a bird rehabilitation project and has many that she takes care of at home.  She started her talk showing a Red-Tailed Hawk.  The next three birds were Owl's of various ilks.  It was very interesting and she must have had about 50 people where there was seating for 20.  Many of the visitors knew her and have probably been listening to her for years.  After that was over we drove to the amphitheater at Sunset campground where the show started at 8:30.  This was an NPS ranger that was putting on a talk about fire.  This was interesting also but the ranger had a bit of an issue with child crowd control.  We went back to the trailer and watched Soul Surfer.

Saturday the Grant Tree walk was at 10am.  A ranger leads this and talks about the trees.  We went last time also.  This ranger was much better in controlling the children.  Roxie taking a break inside a tree:

We stopped at the Grant Grove store but I was very surprised by the price for ice so I thought we would head down to Hume Lake for some supplies.  The prices were better.  We went back to the trailer for lunch.  After lunch we took the Indian Basin trail which is right by the campground.  About 2 miles round trip but pretty easy and a lot of it is paved.  A few of the meadow in the basin that has been logged (those are stumps in the foreground):

Came back to the trailer to rest a bit.

We went to Grant Grove for dinner.  We started out in the restaurant but weren't sure we wanted a large meal so we opted for the Pizza 'parlor' instead.  This started at 7pm.  An hour and 15 minutes later we got our pizza's.  This was an issue since we had reservations at 8:30 for a star gazing trip.  Ouch!  We made it on time (across the street) but barely.  The ranger that was leading the tour talked to us about sizes in the universe and they are pretty immense.  She had an example: If our entire solar system (sun and 8 planets) were the size of a quarter, the Milky Way galaxy (the one we are in) would be the size of North America. WoW!

We loaded up in our cars and drove up the hill about 2 miles to Panoramic Point.  Normally this is a location where you can see the Kings Canyon area from a high view (more on that later), but she didn't go that way.  We went down a closed road (in the dark with just a few red flashlights) to the NPS heliport.  Well, she said it was the heliport but we could not see it.  We laid down our blanket and laid down ourselves.  This way we could look up at the stars without straining our necks.  The ranger had a very powerful green laser pointer so she could point out constellations and stars.  We say many different configurations, satellites, shooting stars, planets and the milky part of the Milky Way.  It got a bit cold and Roxie started using the blanket for its original purpose.  It is amazing how much your eyes can truly see in the pitch dark.  After about 1 hour we broke it up, headed to our cars and we were back at the trailer.

Sunday started a bit slower and we thought we would take a walk around the campground.  However, when we went by the amphitheater there was a talk starting.  So we stopped and listened to a talk about bats.  Lots of questions by the kids.  We then continued our trek around the loops of the campground.  I wanted to go to Panoramic Point in the daytime so we headed there.  We stopped at the Grant Grove complex and had our lunch.  I must confess, we hung out at the Grant Grove complex for another reason.  They had WiFi there.  On our trip I found out that my Uncle Stan had passed away, he was 92.  By getting my voicemail (no cell coverage) via Google Voice I was able to find out.  I was also able to call via VOIP to get more information.

Panoramic Point was much different in the light of day.  It was a bit of a trek up the hill to the viewpoint but this is what we saw:

We had plans for one more hike.  A trip to see the Boole tree.  We made a detour to Hume Lake again (you can see it in the picture above) to get a bit more diesel.  I wanted to make sure I had enough to get home.  So off to Boole tree!  It was about 2.5 miles offroad by the Big Stump Meadow.  We drove out here one other time but this time we kept going.  Some cows were wondering what we were doing:

We got to the parking lot and saw only one other car and a couple getting ready for the hike.  The hike is a loop of 2.5 miles.  To the right, 1 mile away is the tree, to the left 1.5 miles is the tree.  We decided to do the 1 mile first, just in case we didn't want to do the whole loop.  Off we go!

The trail started off by climbing.  We went along a bit more and it climbed again.  Finally it started climbing some more!  It leveled out a bit and then it really climbed.  More so that the first part.  It was shady and there was a breeze.  If it wasn't so, we probably would not have made it.  But we started it so we trudged forward.  Finally we crested a hill and saw the trail split.  We were there.  There were a lot of trees around the Boole so here is a shot of Roxie in front of it:

It is hard to show the immensity of these trees in pictures.  Here is a try:

There were a lot of bugs messing with us so we didn't spend too much time there.  We went back to the trail split and had to make a decision.  Go back the same way or continue on the loop.  We opted for the loop because we figure we can't climb much higher.  Fortunately we were right.  We were able to see one last glimpse of the tree on the way back:

The trail started a descent, pretty easy and we were feeling pretty good.  We passed the couple that passed us going uphill.  We only passed them because they stopped to eat something.  About 1/4 mile down the trail we heard some birds really complaining about something in the trees ahead and to the right.  I was curious about it.  Pretty much all the way down the downhill we saw tracks in the sand.  It looked like deer and possibly a coyote.  Roxie was afraid about bears.  As we came closer to the freaking-out birds, we heard some bigger noises coming from trees.  Something was moving around in there, something big and breaking branches.

That was all Roxie needed.  I stood still and looked to see if I could see anything.  Roxie was already running down the trail leaving me there.  She wondered aloud if I was crazy staying there.  I thought she was crazy running from an unknown animal that could be a predator.  She thought bear, I though some type of deer.  She wasn't stopping, I wasn't moving.  After I could see, I decided to catch up to her.  I did so but I did not run.  We continued on a bit and found a gate through a fence of barbed wire.  Now I knew what it was.  It was a cow and there were hoof prints to prove it.  Roxie is still not convinced.  We continued down the trail.

We ran into some more cows and they were very afraid of us.  They shot down the hill, breaking through branches with the same sound that we heard earlier.  We were very happy to get off the trail and sit down.  We were beat.  We went back to the trailer to rest.  Roxie did a little stir fry and we watched Red Riding Hood outside in our lounge chairs.  At 8:30 we went to Sunset campground to see the campfire program on, ironically, bears.

As we walked to the show, Roxie had to make a detour.  I could hear the ranger asking if anyone knew how to help with the computer and projector.  I stayed back and watched who would step up.  One lady did and I was happy.  However, by the time we got down there the issue was not resolved.  I went into the booth and helped out.  Together we got it working for her.  It shows you never get away from your profession.

We retired to the trailer and knew we had to go home the next day.  Back to the heat, routine and everything else we do.  A few more shots before we left (first one proves that I do put the awning out!):

Until next time!

We have been lucky in the sense that I can pretty much take time off of work for traveling whenever we would like.  Roxie's work was the same way since she worked 'per diem'.  That meant that we did NOT have to go camping during the high times of travel.  We didn't have to go during a major holiday weekend.  Well that has changed.  Roxie's new job no longer gives her that level of flexibility.  So that means we have to be like the rest of the general public and take advantage of the holidays given.

Roxie found out that she had a 4 day weekend for the 4th of July.  She wanted/needed to get away for a bit so I tried to find a spot on the coast.  We thought it would be good to get away to somewhere that is cooler.  I was able to get reservations at the Pismo Dunes Ranch RV Resort.  We have stayed here before and it is a simple RV park.  Not as crowded as Pismo Coast Village nor as noisy as the one between highway 1 and the railroad tracks.  I reserved that spot starting on Saturday as it would have been too tough to get everything going on Friday and we would be getting in there when it was dark.

(Our view)

We left around 10am, naturally, on Saturday.  We stopped in Hanford to get a replacement tire on the trailer.  I always find it easier to get a tire on the road since the trailer is already hooked up.  We got some groceries, had a bite of lunch and headed off.  It is only about 150 miles from us and a very familiar drive.  What could go wrong?  Don't ever say that.

The temperature was about 100-106 during the drive in the valley.  We left Kettleman City and there is a small hill to negotiate.  Near the top I noticed puffs of diesel exhaust coming out of the truck.  Each time there was a drop in power and eventually a puffing sound was emanating from under the hood at the same time.  We crested the hill and descended.  Now the mind games start.  What is wrong with the truck, is it damaging it more by driving, how can I fix it, can AAA tow us home if needed, etc.  I know we had two more grades to cover on the trip. 

Hill number 2.  This time I opted to try it without the A/C on.  It might have been hot for a bit but it will help the diagnosis.  Luckily I got behind a slow truck.  This kept our speed down but it still was doing it puffing pattern for a bit but not the whole hill.  Hill number 3.  Left the A/C on and it puffed a bit near the top but we were over the last hill.  Yes, we did have the Cuesta grade by San Luis Obispo but we were going downhill on it this time.

We got to the campground around 3 and setup.  Boy, my mind was churning.  We went out to eat at F. McLintock's in Arroyo Grande.  We have gone to the one in Pismo before but this one was more local and a much different ambiance.  It was good.  However, we got back to the trailer and my mind was going again.  I got on the internet to research the truck problem.  I found a lot of doom and gloom, stories of replacing turbos, EGR valves, repairs over $3000, ouch!!  I tried to analyze what was going one.

Over the last many months I had noticed the truck getting a bit more sluggish.  I used to be able to take off very quickly getting on to a freeway, etc.  That was not happening anymore.  I attributed it to the truck getting old.  But 104K miles should be a drop in the bucket for a diesel.  Drawing an analogy to the human body, it seemed like there might be a blockage somewhere.  I heard someone mention on the 'net that their solution was a fuel filter.  It made logical sense to me.  It could have been starving for fuel when it really needed it.  Around town it did not need high volumes of fuel but under hard acceleration or heavy load (towing on a hill) it could not get what it needed.  Also, I could not remember the last time I changed both filters (yes, there are two).  So I thought $100 would be a good investment to see if it helped.

I found a JiffyLube in Oceano that was open on Sunday on a holiday weekend.  They replaced the filters.  Immediately I could feel the difference in acceleration.  I was cautiously optimistic about the solution.  It also helped put my mind at rest.  We made a picnic lunch and tried to go downtown Pismo. Our son Aaron and granddaughter Paige were there in his truck.  No way!  Too much traffic.  We would have a hard time finding one spot let alone two.  We thought we might try Avila Beach but it seemed even worse.  Everyone, including us, wanted to go to the beach.  Aaron suggested going to Oceano beach, where you can actually drive on the beach.  He has a lifted F250 with large wide tires.  I have the stock narrow tires.  We had been on the beach before with our friends the Chen's earlier in the year, so I didn't think too much about it.  Although I did bring my tow strap.

We needed the strap right off the bat.  We were looking for a place to park where Paige could play in the water and on the beach.  Aaron turned one way and I followed and instantly got stuck in the soft sand.  We attached the tow strap and Aaron pulled me out.  We went the other way on the beach and drove down to find a spot.  We pulled in and settled in.  Aaron was a bit concerned with the tide as it looked like it was getting higher.  I check the tide schedule and we were already 30 minutes past high tide so we were OK.

We let Paige play and get completely soaked for about 1 1/2 hours.  We all got burned which was surprising since we never saw direct sunlight due to the fog bank that was there.  I forgot to mention that the temperature was 65 for most of the time we were here.  A far cry from 100+ degrees.  Aaron had to head back home after the beach but he had to pull us out of the sand two more times for good measure.

Roxie and I thought we would go down to Pismo for the night to get something to eat.  The parking was abysmal.  This is where I thought the rest of the populated world was since it was so crowded.  Since we were eating a bit early we were able to walk right in to the Pierside restaurant.  Roxie wanted to do Splash Cafe but it had a line around its' corner (not surprising).  Dinner was OK, nothing special.

Monday.  4th of July!  Roxie has started a walking regimen at home and we brought our bikes here.  I thought we could take a ride out to the ocean and back for a bit of exercise.  I had looked it all over on Google Maps and I know Roxie had ridden horses (with Hannah) from the campground.  We started off.  It was a good dirt road.  Some parts said no vehicles but that would mean cars, etc.  The wide road turned into a narrow path.  The dirt turned into sand.  We were riding but had to start walking.  The plants were over growing the route.  Mosquitos were flying around everywhere.  We were pushing on.  We got to the sand dunes and stopped for a bit.  I saw about 20 mosquitos on Roxie's back biting the heck out of her!

I checked Google Maps and we were off in the weeds somewhere.  Well duh!  I went up a dune to survey the situation.  I noticed the creek we were near turned in front of us and headed south (we were heading west).  The only options were to turn around back through the mosquito nest or cross the creek.  We chose the latter and found a shallow place.  Took our shoes and socks off and crossed.  It was only about 8 inches deep.  Put our shoes back on and walked the bikes to the beach.  On the way we had to go under a 'fence' and noticed there was a sign on it to stay out since it is a bird preserve.  Great.  We were also violating the law.  We headed north on the beach, riding, to the entrance.  We were then able to get on city streets and make a loop  About 4 miles total.  Roxie now calls this the bike ride from Hell!  I thought parts of it were fun.

We thought we would head downtown for lunch and see how things were.  Mistake!  The traffic was really bad so we bugged out of there.  I wanted Roxie to get her Splash cafe fix and we know there is one in SLO so we went 15 miles up the road.  The plan was we go by Mo's BBQ and I would get what I want and take it to Splash Cafe so Roxie can eat there.  Interestingly she found something at Mo's and she really enjoyed it.  Now what?  We still went to Splash and got some frozen clam chowder and two bread bowls for her to bring home.  We went back to the trailer and took a short nap since we knew we might be up a bit later than normal.

We know that Pismo Beach sets off fireworks from their pier and we figured that it would be VERY crowded.  It was.  We didn't even try to park within 5 blocks of the downtown area.  We parked about 8 blocks away, grabbed our aluminum chairs and headed out.  We needed to eat dinner and were looking for somewhere.  We found it about 3 blocks into the walk.  We found Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant.  We know there is a Rosa's in Pismo, like in Visalia but that was a bit down the road.  We went in a side entrance so we did not do a "Beverly Hillbillies" on them with our casual attire and chairs.  The food was good, but Roxie really liked the dipping sauce they put with the bread.  It was balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and grated parmesan cheese.  I admit it was very good also.

Down to the beach!  We made our way through the throng of people and ended up on the beach to the north of the pier.  There were more people than I have ever seen during the DAY on this beach.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for the show to begin.  This was the first time I have ever watched 4th of July fireworks wearing a coat!  Roxie was freezing since she was not as prepared.  The fireworks show was impressive because they had SO many in the display.

After it was over Roxie said we should go up a set of stairs and through a gate.  I saw it said No Trespassing but a lot of other people were doing so also.  We ended up in a gated condo community.  All the gates were locked.  We could not get out, as about 30 others could not either.  Luckily a resident was leaving in his car so that opened up the flood gates, so to speak.  We made it to our truck and then more fun was to be had.  The police department decided not to let us, or anyone else, go south.  We had to go north about 2 miles before we could get on 101 southbound.  From the time the fireworks were over until we got on the freeway, we had used about 1 hour.  We slept good that night.

Tuesday the 5th, time to go home.  We packed it up, hooked it up and cleaned it up.  The big test was ahead.  How would the truck work up the Cuesta.  I had trepidation coming up the grade.  I gained as much speed as I could in the run up and tried not to push it too much up the hill.  Normally I would do 65 up the hill with the trailer.  This time I kept it at 55.  The truck did just fine.  What a relief.

We pulled into Paso Robles and thought we would stop for lunch.  They have a very nice downtown with some interesting restaurants.  The drawback was the temperature was over 90 and climbing there.  We decided on Basil Thai.  It was good and odd at the same time.  The soup was the odd part.  This was the first time we had a soup based on coconut milk.  Not my cup of tea but the main course, a variation of drunken noodles was good.

The hill climbs on the way home were uneventful and I hoped they would be.  We always hate going home but it is a necessary evil.  It doesn't help a 40+ degree temperature increase.  All in all, it was nice to get away.

We went to Anza Borrego State Park for New Years.  This is becoming a tradition of sorts for some Airstreamers.  We know some of them and knew they would be there.  We didn't plan ahead for this and so there were no spaces available.  We were resigned to not going.  We were last there almost 2 years ago.

I was checking the reservation system for openings and one showed up on Monday.  I snagged it for Thursday for 3 nights.  It is always nice to get away for a bit.  So we got everything ready to go.  We were going to initially follow the same itinerary that we did the last time.  Leave in the evening and drive to Palmdale, spend the night at the Wal-Mart.  This way we can get supplies there and knock out half of our trip.

Day 1

We left about 5pm and hit the road.  South of Bakersfield I saw one of the road signs say, "I-5:  Snow on the summit".  I didn't say anything to Roxie about it but I was curious.  A bit further down the road, another sign said the same thing.  Roxie saw this one and expressed some concern.  I was unsure what to think since the weather was nice and clear.  We pushed on.

Starting the climb on the grapevine the weather started to turn.  As we got near the top the snow started.  It was dry and we didn't need our windshield wipers as the snow was just blowing over the truck.  It was also just blowing around on the road but not sticking.  As we reached the summit we could see CHP's escorting traffic northbound and CalTrans trucks dumping sand on the road.  We continued on to 138 to go to Palmdale.  The snow did stop and we got to Wal-Mart about 8:30.  We went shopping and I checked the local weather.  It said it was 36° but with the windchill factor it was 22°!  The entire night the trailer shook like someone was grabbing it.  We went through 2 small propane tanks with our heater buddy.  We survived the night.

Day 2

The morning was not quite as cold as it was but it was by no means temperate.  When we stop just for an overnight like this I jack the tongue to level the trailer and disconnect the umbilical cord to stop truck battery drain. So I lowered the jack and we headed off.  The trip was uneventful until we stopped for a bathroom break about 2 hours later.  I noticed that I had not reconnected the umbilical cord!!  This meant I had no trailer lights or brakes of any kind.  Not good.  We had descended from the high desert to the San Bernardino area in this state.  It shows me how beefy the truck is that I was able to control the whole rig like that.  But I don't want to do that again.

We got to Palm Canyon Campground in Anza Borrego around 4:30pm and had enough time to setup before the sun went down and it got cold.  We met Dan and Marlene (and their girls) that operate the Mali Mish blog.  We met Dan and Julliette from AirForums and Bill Kerfoot, also from AirForums.  We wound down the day quickly as we had to head inside since it was so cold.

Day 3

I had a hike on my mind.  With my current knee situation we really cannot do too many long and/or strenuous hikes.  I read about a hike that started from the campground and went up to a panoramic point.  We started out around 10:30.  Here is a picture of Roxie taking a rest on the way up.

We had to stop a bit every once in a while on the way up as it was pretty steep with a lot of switchbacks.  However, we did make it to the top.  We could see the surrounding area very well from up there.  Here is our trailer.

I also took a set of panoramic pictures and stitched them together.  Here is the link. 

We had some lunch and then walked to the visitor's center to hear a naturalist talk about the Creosote plant.  I remember my father loved the desert but I cannot remember if he loved the smell of the creosote or sage plant or both but it was one of his favorite things.

That evening Rich, Eleanor and Emma plus Alex and Charon showed up in their Airstreams.  This was New Year's Eve and some of us had plans to get together over at  Bill's trailer.

Almost all of the 7 Airstream's had representation at the 'party'.  Everyone brought some different type of food and we all huddled around the fire since it was cold, again.  Good discussions and such were had.  Then the wind picked up and that dispersed everyone to their trailers.  I know that we ended up in the trailer by 10pm and we did not make in anywhere near midnight.  Lights were out by 11pm. 

Day 4

Happy New Year!

More hiking or no hiking?  How about a combination of both.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed by the visitors center to get some ideas.  We ended up doing some offroading in the truck to the Desert Garden 'picnic' area.  It had two tables but it was pleasant.  We continued on the road and did a few creek crossings in the truck.  Roxie seemed to enjoy it so we will have to try this some more.

The next stop was to see the Elephant Tree.  The road to this trail was TERRIBLE!  Not only rough but a lot of rocks.  The hiking was good and easy.  We had a brochure that talked about each point of interest.  However the sun was starting to set.  Here is the Elephant Tree.

Here are some ocotillo shots.

The next stop was Narrows Earth Trail.  It had better be short because we were losing daylight.  It was short and taught us about some of the geologic features in that area.

We had worked it out to go out to 'town' and eat with the Lin's (Dan and Marlene).  We are ones that do like to sample the local area eateries when traveling.   It turns out they do too!  We tried to go to a local bar and grill, Carlee's.  It turns out the tradition in Borrego Springs is that all the locals go out to eat for dinner on New Years.  There was no where for us to sit at Carlee's so we had to go somewhere else.  Hopefully, they would have room.  We tried Pablito's, they had room and it was very good.  It was nice to get to know the LIn's, they are a very fun couple.

We had a campfilre by their trailer but again, the cold closed in and we all retreated.

Day 5

We woke up and got around and saw Dan and Marlene were gone.  We found out why a bit later.  I had wanted to stop in Desert Hot Springs and hit a hot pool or two, another thing my dad liked.  However, Roxie 'forgot' her swimsuit so we decided just to head home.  We hooked up, said our goodbyes and hit the road.

We made it to Temecula and I checked the weather radar map and it showed snow all across the grapevine!  Here we go again!  I called the road report and the CHP was escorting traffic over the grapevine.  I decided to head up I-15 to Corona.  There I would have to decide, grapevine or high desert.

Calling the road report at Corona made the decision for us.  The grapevine was closed.  High desert it was.  We continued on I-15 past San Bernardino and it started snowing and continued the same dry swirling snow we had to start the trip.  The snow stopped at the summit and we didn't see it in force until Mojave and it was really coming down.  The road report on 58 said the CHP was escorting traffic there also.  I was hoping we could make it through before they closed this road.  But we do have the trailer so we could spend the night somewhere if we needed to.  The traffic on eastbound 58 and southbound 14 was amazing.  These are all the people that were trying to get to the LA area from the north.  I have never seen so much traffic over the Tehachapi's.

The rest of the trip home was the same boring 99 that we are used to. 

One interesting thing happened at the end of the trip, as I was taking the trailer around the block to park it.

All in all the trip was kind of like a flight for a pilot.  The takeoff and the landing were the most difficult with the in between being the easy part.

We headed over to the main visitors center.  We have never really spent much time there so this was a welcome relief that we were not rushed.  In a bit, a naturalist walk/talk was starting just outside the door.  We decided to join up.  The talk was very enjoyable and the walk was very easy.  However, 3 months after the fact, we cannot remember the specific subject.  We walked across some meadows and one of our fellow attendees pointed out some deer in the grass (see below).

After the walk was over we walked to the nearest bridge and took the requisite shot of half dome.

We went back to the main village area, looked around a bit and went back to the trailer.  I had heard of someone talking about going to Glacier Point to watch the sunset over the valley.  This idea intrigued me so we headed out to do so.  As we got on 41 and headed to the Tunnel the traffic was backed up.  I was not sure if we would make it to Glacier Point in time (it takes about 1 hour to get there).  An additional problem was that I didn't have any headlights!  What?  That wasn't going to work.  We pulled over into the Tunnel View parking lot.  I started to investigate the headlight problem.

It turns out that I found the problem.  I added a special harness that senses when the lights are turned on and then powers the headlights directly from the battery.  It is supposed to help headlight brightness but it uses two relays.  One relay is for the low beams and one is for the high beams.  The low beam relay had failed.  I swapped the relays so I had low beams but no high beams, which is workable.  However there was absolutely NO WAY to get to the sunset viewing now.  So we just sat at Tunnel View and watched it.

With a bit of sadness we went back to the campground but decided to go to the evening ranger program.  The subject was bats.  Again, very informative.

We are going to Paso Robles this weekend with our WBCCI unit, and another one for a joint rally.  It will be held at Wine Country RV.  We are using this as a great excuse to get out with the trailer.  We like Paso since it is pretty close to us and we are familiar with the town (lots to do).  We also have not been out with our WBCCI unit for about 3 years and we can reconnect with some of them.

Just because we have not had the trailer out does not mean it has been quiet in our RV life.  The tow vehicle, our F250, has given us some grief.  You may remember the problems we had with it on our Albuquerque trip and the transmission issue.  About 1 month after the trip the truck started surging at idle and it threw a code.  The code was for an ICP (Injection Control Pressure) valve.  As this was happening, I had the batteries run down to the point where it just had that clicking sound when starting.  Once I got the batteries charged, the truck started running rough and threw another code!

Wow!  Two at once!  The code mentioned something about an injector had low pressure.  I know that injector repairs are EXPENSIVE!  I decided to attack the ICP problem first.  A trip to Ford and about $200 later, that was fixed.  But the truck still was running rough.  I lived with it for a few more weeks.  Now it was time to take it to a local diesel shop.

The first thing they saw was the batteries were very low and were not holding a good charge.  Diesels are very hard on batteries, hence the reason for two in our truck.  They need a minimum voltage to start correctly.  These were having problems with voltage and they recommended I get them replaced.  I still had 1 month left on the full Diehard replacement so I hauled them both to Sears.

Their tests concluded the batteries were fine, naturally.  I tried to convey the information, from the diesel shop, that batteries in diesels are under a different set of requirements and the standard automobile load test is not pertinent.  After a day or two of ‘discussion’ the Sears manager was willing to warranty replace one battery but I had to purchase the other outright.  I can live with that.

I took the batteries back to the diesel shop.  They installed them and started looking for the injector problem.  It was gone, it cleared up after the new batteries were installed.  We deduced that the fuel injection control module (FICM) is very susceptible to low voltage but once the fresh batteries were put in, it relearned its program.  Fantastic!  Plus the shop only charged me two hours for easily four hours of their time.

So was that it?  No!  Next I started hearing a squeal when the A/C compressor would kick in (defroster).  I wasn’t sure if the belt was just slipping (preferable) or was the bearing going out on the compressor (oh no!).  It turned out it was the belt tensioner.  It was fixed in place and not movable, as it should be.  Hurray, another repair!  The tensioner’s are pretty pricey, about $180!!  So we replaced the belt at the same time, it was due at 90K miles.

The truck seems to be running good now (knocking on wood – my head) so we will test it out on this trip.

Our extended warranty expired in August around the same time we paid the truck off.  It seems that the truck knew the warranty expired.  However all of these repairs did not reach what our payment used to be so we are still ahead of things.  I am just curious if the people that determine these warranties are the same ones that make the actuarial tables for life insurance?

I will post about the rally after we are back, maybe even during.

I forgot to mention lunch Tuesday.  We looked online for a restaurant in Gallup, NM since we were heading through there at lunch time.  We had two choices, Earl’s and Genaro’s.  Earl’s was a bit like a Route 66 cafe so we opted for Genaro’s.  Might as well have one last meal that represented New Mexico.  We found out again how California Mexican food differs from New Mexico Mexican food.  I feel the difference is in the chile’s used.  I have not been a real fan of chile in general but I have liked what I have been tasting here.  One reviewer of Genaro’s raved about the Green Chile Cheese Fries so we thought we would try those.

I wasn’t so thrilled with them but they were OK.  Roxie had a burrito with Green Chile sauce on top.  I had a shredded beef taco. They both were good.  The salsa with the chips was the hottest we have ever had, I believe.  Roxie found out the hard way.  I have learned NOT to dip into the salsa before I get my drink if I have never had the salsa before.  Roxie didn’t wait, she dug right in and took a big dip.  She was VERY glad when her drink came.

The real topper was the sopapilla.  We have had variations of them, even two days previously.  A puffy pastry that you eat with honey.  It did not prepare us for the biggest sopapilla we have ever seen:

This thing was the size of someone HEAD!  It was huge!  It was pretty good but it would have been nicer to have a few smaller ones instead of a big one.  All in all we did like Genaro’s and would seek it out again.

This brings us to Wednesday.  As you may remember we had made it to the KOA at Holbrook.  That morning (Wed) we found out that we had to get home and cut our trip short.  The reason was not due to health reasons but something that we could not take care of on the road.  We decided to get on the road and get to at least Kingman that night.  We were sad that we could not continue on but we did accomplish our main goal, the Balloon Fiesta.  We can get to Arizona with only one night of travel so we can, and will, hit the locations we want to see.

So we got into some rain and cloudy weather in Flagstaff.  On a truck related note, the passenger door switch used to think it was closed all the time.  Now it is thinking that the door is open when it is closed and closed when it is open.  Another thing is there is a check engine light that came on again.  This is the ‘generic’ check engine light.  While refueling I remembered there was an auto parts store nearby.  I was able to rent a OBDII code diagnosis tool.  What it told me was the computer had not relearned some sequence.  I think this may have happened during the transmission service.  I read on the internet that I was supposed to clear the code and let the truck idle at operating temperature for 5 minutes.  I did so and the light is gone.  Yea!

We made it to Kingman but it was about 3pm and we thought that was a bit too early to stop.  We know that the more we travel this day, the less we travel the next.  We pushed on to Needles, but we wanted some more variety so we took Route 66 through Oatman, AZ.   The first part of the road was standard desert road wide, straight, bumpy.  However it did change to a more Route 66′ish road but narrower.  Right when it changed we came across these two in the road.

We had read about their friendly wild burros.  I read that as an oxymoron.

This road is very interesting.  Even moreso when towing a trailer.  Very narrow, curvy, a lot of up then a lot of down.  The truck handled it with aplomb and we eventually came to Oatman.  We were there just before 5pm and things were closing up so it is somewhere we need to come back and see again.  We did see some more of those burros.

These were being fed from a store owner in town.

We made it to Needles and stayed at the Desert View RV Park.  The price was good and they said their WiFi was very good.  Well it was not, we had to sit outside at the end of the trailer by the road to get service.  But it was a bit too cold (yes, we remember it being 100 degrees the week before) to be outside so no WiFi.  I think they need a few more antennas in the park.  I tried my 3G card but it was only Edge and it cut in and out.  Hence no blog last night.

On to Thursday.  Left Needles and traveled the boring I40 W to CA58 W.  Yawn!  Down the Tehachapi’s, the hill that started our truck fun.  No problems.  We made it home about 5pm.

Would we go back to the Balloon Fiesta?  Sure, probably not next year though.

Will we get to Northern Arizona?  We want to, this was the second attempt.

Do we want to east New Mexico cuisine again?  Definitely.

Did we meet many new interesting friends?  We always do.

Will we take another trip?  Come on!!!

We did NOT set the alarm this AM for once.  We thought we would naturally get up early enough to see anything.  There actually was a Texas Hold’em competition for the balloons this morning.  There huge cards on the field (I did not go verify) and the balloonists would drop a marker to get the best card.  Depending upon the wind direction they would launch from the north or south to fly over the field.  The wind was blowing from the south, as it has for 2 days now so they launched from the south.  This meant they were coming directly over us!  I thought this might be the case but was unsure until we heard a burner ignite over our trailer.  We hustled outside to watch them float over.

Now this guy looks real low but he wasn’t so bad.  Here is another shot of him a bit further down his run.

See, he is gaining altitude!

As all this was going on I would look to the south to see what was coming, then to the north to see what the balloons were doing over the field.  This is the bad news.  We saw a balloon that was severely deflated and still very high.

It is the one on the left (this is a friends photo).  We saw it come down faster than normal and only stopped when it hit the ground.  That is just part of the bad news.  It appears this balloon clipped one of the hospitality tents at the south end of the field.  In clipping this tent, it tilted the basket enough to eject the pilot (or passenger, it is still unclear).  He tumbled about 20 feet to the ground appearing to suffer a broken hip.  Prior to this the pilot was attempting to gain altitude by hitting the burners.  Balloons do not react real fast so it obviously did not help enough.  The combination of extra heat and less weight caused the balloon to shoot into the air very rapidly.  This entire sequence was very frightening to the remaining passenger in the basket and she responded by opening the top of the balloon which caused the rapid descent.  We only say the descent but I am conveying the information from eye witnesses.  That was the bad news.  I am sure there is more on Google by now.

The good news is the truck!  It is fixed!  I visited a transmission shop, Mike’s Transmission which was only about 1 mile from us.  I immediately had a good feeling from Mike himself and he stated he would do a diagnosis on the transmission and give me an estimate and there would be no charge.  I could decide what to do then.  He called back in about 1 1/2 hours and told me what he had found.  The sensor gave two codes.  The first said it had reached 315 degrees!  He said if there was this code only then it would mean overheating but the second code showed it had reached -40 degrees, yes 40 below zero.  This pointed to the sensor.  I could get the part ($80!) replaced for a total of $170.  However, since the pan would be off I could get new fluid and the filter replaced for $250.  That was a no brainer.  Do the extra service.  About 2 hours later the repair was done and a new friend neighbor gave me a ride there.  I talked with Mike a bit and determined that not only was he a very nice and honest guy, he really knew his business.  Also I feel if he did not know how to do a job or felt he couldn’t, he would NOT do it.  Very recommended shop!  So remember, wait until Albuquerque before you have any transmission problems.  (Hey, Mike if you are reading this, you need to get away to the lake, SOON!)

This evening the group had another meal.  This was not a potluck but had bratwurst, hamburgers and/or salmon and other sides provided.  It was the last get-together before the rest of us bug out tomorrow (some already have).  This has been a fun rally. Bob and Phyllis came to the trailer for a bit to visit before they continue on eastward tomorrow.  We had fun with them and I know they will continue to have a good trip and I am sure we will see them again.  You always tend to see other Airstreamers again.

The distance to this rally is the real killer for us but we will do it again some time.  This is the first time that I can remember us dry camping for 4 nights without adding water or dumping gray water.  Roxie has done a great job in conserving.  As far as power, I created my extra battery box similar to this one so we have had 4 batteries for the duration.  However we have been running the generator regularly to charge the laptops (I don’t like my inverter).  It has been a learning experience.  But tomorrow night we WILL have full hookups so we can take nice long (7 gal hot water) showers!

We hooked everything up and headed on to a relatively short day (200 miles).  We crossed over into Arizona and immediately became the slowest vehicles on the road.  The speed limit in AZ is 75mph regardless of vehicle type.  Well I still stay at 60-65 but even the big rigs were zooming right by us.  Except on the hills where we could pass the loaded ones.

We made a fuel stop in Kingman, AZ and noticed that the old Route 66 took off there.  We had been on this stretch before about 7 years ago on our Grand Canyon trip but don’t remember too much about it.  We thought we might as well do this stretch while we were there.  Great decision.  There was more traffic on this stretch but it was more scenic and more populous.  We were kind of looking for a quaint, Route 66′ish place to eat.  We thought at least one of the towns on the stretch between Kingman and Seligman would have something.  Phyllis produced a printout of a place in Seligman that looked very appealing.  Continuing to enjoy the scenery and nostalgia (even the Burma Shave signs) we headed to Seligman.  We found just the place:

Delgadillo’s Snow Cap drive in.  It was a very fun place and the Delgadillo’s are a very famous part of Seligman.  There were various other shops to purchase touristy stuff, which we obligingly did.  It was odd that for a period of time we were the only primary English speaking people there.  A tour bus dropped of a group of Europeans (I think German) and they milled around.  Later there was a Japanese group.  It was fun to listen to all the languages.

We parted ways with Seligman after almost 2 hours of leisure (sadly missing from our previous day) and stayed on the ‘mother road’ as far as we could.  We were eventually funneled back to I40.  We came across a sign on the freeway before Williams that stated slow trucks next 18 miles.  Usually slow trucks mean a grade but I could not think of an 18 mile grade that I have ever been on.  Well it was a grade and it was almost 18 miles long.  The transmission continued its’ light show but the truck performed just fine.  We made it to the Flagstaff KOA at any astonishingly early time of 4:15pm.  I called a transmission shop and discussed the problem.  I also conversed with my boss, who likes to rebuild vehicles also and every concurred that there was something probably bad with the sensor.  I am going to the transmission shop in the AM to get a type of temperature gauge for the outside of the pan.

We setup the trailers and decided to try another discovery from Phyllis, the spot this time: Miz Zip’s.  Very good food.  Chicken Fried steak with mashed potatoes was highly rated by the girls.  The guys liked the Roast Beef dinner.  We ALL loved the Peach pie with ice cream, even me and I don’t care too much for fruit pies.  We made a few more house keeping stops and came back to the trailers.  So what is the cold part regarded in the title?  The temperature tonight is supposed to be 32.  What a difference a day makes.

Back to the pull and it happened again about 3 minutes later.  Pull over again.  This time we looked for leaks, we pulled the transmission dipstick.  The fluid was nice light red, no metal particulates, and it did NOT smell burnt.  I called the Ford dealership in Bakersfield but they were not much help, didn’t want to do a over the phone diagnosis.  The truck still ran great, seemed to be performing normally.  There were a few weird feels but that could have been my reactionary driving now that I thought something was wrong.  We still had 10 miles to get to the town of Tehachapi.  So off we went.  The meter pegged itself again for about 2 minutes but then it dropped back to normal operating range for 10 seconds, then back to pegged.  Very odd behavior.  It did this all the way up the hill.  We stopped for lunch and to see if cooling off helped it or perhaps the computer might get reset.

Off again.  The trans temp started at cold and gradually warmed up, like it should.  Then it hit the operating temp and shot up to HIGH with all the various indicators doing their dance.  I knew it was all downhill to Mojave (the next Ford dealer) so we pretty much coasted down the hill.  The gauge bouncing between normal and high all the while.  We were feeling pretty good that the transmission temperature sensor was malfunctioning.  It all pointed to that.  We pulled into the Ford dealer and the service coordinator listened to what I had to say but said she was short two technicians and could not look at it today.  I guess there are no special privileges for people traveling, I will have to remember that when we retire.  She was able to pass the symptoms onto a technician when he came in and he stated that a bad sensor could be a probability.  But they would not commit to anything.

Confident with the sensor being the culprit we moved on down CA58 E, next stop Barstow.  I was going to stop at this Ford dealer but I called first and told them my lament.   He said he would need a full day of troubleshooting and he could start it first thing tomorrow.  Nah.  The confidence is building.  We only stopped their for some fuel and got on I40 E for Needles.  Along the way the truck did fine, but I didn’t.  I was constantly hashing and rehashing this in my head.  Roxie would ask me if I wanted a snack and I would always decline.  I definitely do not eat when I am nervous.

At Ludlow we turned southeast for a bit to travel on old route 66.  Phyllis really likes the old road.  I know I must have traveled on it from time to time.  We went for over 30 miles, at 60mph (freeway speed) before we saw anyone else.  It was amazing.  The mountains were stunning.  It was HOT!  I think it got to 104 in one stretch.  After about 70 miles on the mother road we rejoined I40 E.  It was only 7 miles longer going the alternate route but much more fulfilling.

We have made it to Needles now.  We ate dinner around 7:30.  We are parked on the bank of the Colorado river at Moabi Regional Park with full hookups.  Bob and Phyllis love it, remember this is only their 3rd night in their trailer and it is pretty nice here.  Just 90+ and 30mph winds.  It is supposed to be 30 degrees tomorrow night in Flagstaff.  What a change.  We will see what tomorrow brings.  Roxie is sound asleep and I am going be that way very soon.  A long day.

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.