Nuestra casa rodante – Our Airstream, travels and such…

roger September 26th, 2009

We tried to do this earlier in the year.  We were going to meet some friends there and just relax.  The winter is the best time to go to the desert but if you hit the spring at the right time it can be even better.  I remember we went to Red Rock State Park one weekend in the spring.  The weather was cool but the wildflowers were blooming all around.  We saw many of them on a ranger walk.  We were hoping that visiting Anza Borrego State Park at the end of March might give us some nice wildflowers also.  At least we had reservations this time.

Before we left we had a minor modification done to the trailer.  When we refloored our house with laminate flooring we got some extra for the trailer.  The installer (our neighbor) did the trailer for us also.  We no longer have the white carpet (well mostly white) and have a surface that is easier to clean.

Our reservations started on Monday and we had 3 nights there.  One plan was to leave early on Monday from home and get there later in the afternoon/evening for a total of 354 miles!  Roxie worked on Sunday but she had a plan.  Let’s leave Sunday night when she gets home.  I agreed that we could try and we would be able to do another first for us:

Wal-Mart!  This was the first time we have ever stayed overnight at a Wal-Mart.  This was in Palmdale and we got there about 11pm.  I checked with the security guard and he said we would park there no problem but no longer than 2 nights.  Suited us just fine.  All that I did was put down the tongue jack (remembering to park nosedown) to level it out and I unplugged the umbilical cable.  You can easily see why Wal-Mart likes this because we proceeded to spend $80 the next morning at the store.  The nice thing was that this evening trip essentially cut the remaining distance in half making a much more managable drive.

Our friends (Rich, Eleanor and Emma) had arrived a day earlier and were not around when we arrived.  We went through our normal procedures.  When we saw the Luhr’s, they introduced us to some other Airstreamers that met them there also.  Ken & Petey, Adam & Susan were introduced to us all and the Airstream bond was created.  On Tuesday we all got together and took a road/hiking trip.  We were lucky enough to go in style with Ken & Petey.  The first spot was the slot canyon.  This is where the flooding of Anza Borrego has created very narrow and interesting canyons that you can go hike in.  We weren’t concerned about flooding at this time.

The next stop were the wind caves.  Cavern type areas carved out by wind and rain.  This hike was a bit more strenuous than the first.  We had a steep climb to start then some up and down.  However it was well worth the hike.  The formations are very interesting and a lot of fun to scramble around on.  Here is Roxie in a cave:

We also stopped to see Font’s Point which gives you an overview of the badlands area.  You can go to my Flickr set of this trip for other photos that I took.

Wednesday we decided to take the hike to the Palm Canyon oasis.  I remember doing this when I was a child and the others had done it many times previously so we were on our own.  The first part was ranger led and there was a big emphasis on spotting some Bighorn Sheep (the park’s namesake).  Everyone was hoping to see some and started out with high spirits.  The day was a  bit warm, very little breeze and a constant uphill elevation change.  The ranger stayed with the group about half way but there were no sightings of Bighorn.  The ranger turned back but continued on to the oasis.  About 2/3’s of the way to the end (for us) we found a little cave that was in the shade and decided to take a bit of a break.  I thought I would scan the opposite mountains for any movement (I can pick up movement pretty good).  Looking up about 2000′ above us and I saw something.  It was a Bighorn.  So now I get to tell Roxie where it is.  Not an easy task to try to tell someone which rock(s) out of thousands they should look at to see something that was so minuscule.  However she was able to see it.  I tried to tell others as they passed by but they weren’t able to see it.  But I do have proof:

Look for the arrow and this was at maximum zoom on our camera.

We were able to complete our hike but we were pretty beat.  It was very warm at the end.  We had just purchased some water backpacks and were depleted also.  We went back to the trailer and rested a bit.  The next day we took our requisite trip to Julian.  It was about the same as it was before but we always enjoy going there.

You can see Rich Luhr’s account of their Anza Borrego trip at his blog.

Here is a shot of our trailer at Anza Borrego and a shot of my parents trailer many years ago.  Same campground but a different spot.

Now it is time to leave.  Do we go straight home in one day?  My birth grandmother lives in Riverside and we haven’t seen her for 4 years so we will see where we can stay for the evening.  Riverside does not have too many places to camp and a weekend is coming up.  So we try for another first and see if we can take advantage of some courtesy parking.  The WBCCI has a listing for that in the membership roster book but Airforums also has a place to list such.  We looked for someone in Riverside and found Towster!  We had met Vince and Virginia at some other rallies but did not know they lived in Riverside and we contacted them about parking for one evening.  They graciously agreed and even moved their trailer so we had room for ours:

We attempted to repay them for their kindness by taking them out to eat that evening.  It was nice to visit with them and get to know them better.  Sometimes it is hard to talk to people at the rallies since there are so many people.  We were able to visit my grandmother twice while we were there and then we pushed on home on Saturday.

A good trip, not rushed, a couple of firsts for us and new Airstream friends (Ken, Petey, Adam, Susan, Vince and Virginia).

• Airforums groups , Airstream , Trips , WBCCI
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caadoptees March 15th, 2009

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.

• Airforums groups , Airstream , Trips
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caadoptees May 5th, 2008

One of the trips discussed at the AirForums was one to San Felipe, MX. We had been two other times with some other friends. It is a nice place to go and relax. This time we were going to go to a different place in San Felipe. As the plans were being formed it appeared that 5-7 Airstream units were showing up. As time got closer, people dropped out. It ended up being us and Ron and Debbie in their Airstream motorhome.

We left home on a Wednesday with reservations at an RV park in El Centro. We were to meet Ron and Debbie there to ‘caravan’ together down to San Felipe. The drive is a 400 mile trek for us and it seemed we would never get there. We left about 8:30am and go there about 12 hours later. We made SO MANY stops but we kept telling ourselves we are in no hurry. I also was trying was to slow down with the trailer for safety and MPG, more on that later. We got there and did not disconnect. I just connected the electric and put down the corner jacks. I took a shower and we went to bed, Roxie a bit sooner than I. It was weird to not disconnect but it sure made it easier in the AM.

We got going around 9am, made it through the border with no incidents. They asked if I brought any weapons (I didn’t). The drive took us about 2 1/2 hours. We stopped by to see Ron and Debbie’s house they are building down there and then went on to Playa Bonita. It was a little interesting to get into the RV ‘park’. I had to pull past the gate, back up a road to the left so I could align myself to go through the 10′ gate. We had the second spot from the water reserved (Ron and Debbie had the closest one), but when we got there we thought the third one looked better, it was much shadier. Her is a pic.

Here is the view from our trailer.

The beach was about 30 steps from our trailer. We went down there quite a few times. The RV ‘park’ also has condos there. It does have full hookups with 30amp service and good water pressure.

We went into town a few times to walk around, have some Mexican food and buy souvenirs. You can get 2 fish tacos, rice and beans for about $2.50 US. Everybody is very friendly and always trying to sell you something.

On Saturday we went to the 2nd Annual San Felipe Blues Festival. We started at 10:30 but it was pretty sunny later in the day so we bugged out back to the trailer (about 2 blocks) for a siesta. We went back about 6 and stayed to the end. It was fun, there were good bands and some not so good bands. It was fun to watch all the people which were primarily Americans that had moved down there. Very few local Mexicans there.

We finished up on Sunday by picking up some more things for people back home. I got my boss and one of my staff (we had a contest) 2 wrestler masks (like in the movie Nacho Libre). They all liked them. I also filled up the truck with diesel at a PEMEX station.  It was $2.10/gal!!!!   Wish I had a bigger tank with me.  Earlier that day Roxie got up early to take this shot of the sunrise (we are on the east coast of Baja).

Monday we made it back to the states. Ron and Debbie went via the east border checkpoint. We had always gone through the main one in downtown Mexicali. Once we got in line it took us about 15-20 minutes to get through. I guess it helped to have a unfriendly border guard. We said goodbye to Ron and Debbie in El Centro and we headed on to Anza Borrego State Park.

I had always remembered going here as a child in our Airstream so instead of heading home in one day we spent a couple of nights there. It is very quiet at night there and Roxie got a bit spooked when she heard coyotes in the distance yipping away.

On Tuesday it was very windy so we thought we would take a trip out of the desert. I remembered that the town of Julian was close by. Julian holds an interesting place in the Smith family history. Back in 1969, my parents tried to buy some land in Julian. The idea was to build a KOA kampground there. We were very close to purchasing the property when a bizarre thing happened. The lady that had the property also had a donkey, supposedly a world famous donkey. The donkey died, the lady buried it on the property and then she decided that she could not sell the property anymore. If that would have gone through, my life would have changed drastically. I am happy how it has turned out so far. I tried to find out some information about this lady and where the property was but the historical society was closed.

We headed back home on Wednesday. We were surprised to see someone towing a Bowlus on the freeway near Redlands. It had a few windows out and the front door was either open or gone. It had temporary tail lights and the axle did not look correct. But it sure was neat to see one. There was no reaction from the driver as we passed.

Since we came down through the LA basin we returned via I-15 through Victorville and the high desert. However this time, in a change of pace, we took State Route 18 (which becomes 138) to Palmdale. We normally go to State Route 58 then down through Bakersfield. We stayed on 138 which would take us to I-5 near Gorman. We were surprised to see a HUGE amount of California Golden Poppies in the fields and on the hills.

We find out further down the road that this is the location of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.  Very nice this time of year.  It was a nice way to end our trip.

I have other photos at my Flickr account if you would like to see them.

I mentioned previously about going slower in our trailer.  I thought I would run an experiment on this trip regarding safety and MPG.  This post by Rich Luhr got me thinking this way.  At 60mph, it is easier to handle the trailer, it is not too noticable since my truck outweighs the trailer by 50%.  I don’t have to worry about law enforcement at all.  I can cruise right on by a CHP with radar at 60mpg.  I don’t have to worry about passing anyone.  When is the last time you saw anyone doing 55 on the freeway?  The biggest plus is the MPG.  I have an option on the truck where one of the displays shows your MPG.  I don’t rely on it too heavily but on the trip down to Mexico, it never went below 15mpg.  I will take that ANY day while towing.  I did keep track of the entire fuel cost ($387), mileage (1290) and gallons (95.7).  My MPG for the whole trip was 13.48.  It could have been better but we had horrendous headwinds by Palm Springs and the high desert.

I am convinced about towing at 60MPH.  I normally would tow at 65 and if I had on this trip it would have saved us a total of less than 2 hours of time.   My MPG would have been down to around 11-12 so we also saved there.

• Airstream , Trips
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caadoptees April 27th, 2008

It has been a while since I have posted and, therefore, it has been a while since we visited the San Clemente State Beach.  It was during the first weekend of February.  It was with the California group from AirForums, the rallies are discussed in this thread.

We got there on Thursday and stayed in the full hookup loop, others were in the no hookup sites.  The weather was not too bad during the day but it did get cold at night.  We did the tourist thing on Saturday and went to the San Juan Capistrano Mission.  It was one of the first times that we had been to a mission without a child’s project riding upon a visit.

The saturday night pot luck was fun.  The weather was managable with the bonfire.  We had it at a campsite that was on a plateau overlooking the ocean and sunset.

After leaving San Clemente we took an extra day and went to Bolsa Chica State Beach.  They have a policy of not allowing you into the spots until 2pm.  They do enforce this.  So, since we were there early, we ate some lunch until we would could go in.  Essentially it is a parking lot(s) with hookups.  We had a spot that backed up to the beach.  We could see the Catalinas and oil rigs from our back window

The primary reason to extend the stay was to visit with my birthfather who lives nearby.

All in all it was a fun trip but it is pretty exciting driving around the LA basin with the trailer.

• Airstream , Trips
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