California, Oregon and Idaho, november 4^th until november 13^th 2017

We have a good, but also busy, stay at home. It’s because I regularly stay with my Auntie Ank (we enjoy each others company).  We celebrate her 93^rd birthday with friends, family and an good buffet. We drive almost half our country to get spare parts for the RV, we have to bring back to America. And fortunately, we also have time to visit our good friends Thecla and Thomas. Just before we came home, Thomas had an serious accident on his work and we want to see them in person and bring get well wishes. But our stay in the Netherlands is actually too short.

On november 4^th already our alarm clock wakes us up at 3 am and after a breakfast with Apple Pie, given by auntie Ank (otherwise we have nothing to eat) we take a cab at 4 am to the airport. Next to a travelbag, we have a big square box with a new roof window. Of course, this box must be handed in at the odd luggage, but that’s not possible on this early hour on Saturday morning  so I hope this baggage comes along to the USA. (Dick doesn’t doubt about it). After a good journey, we have to wait only 3 hours (a short time) in London, and looking at great movies in the plane, we arrive at three o’clock in the afternoon in San Francisco. We stayed in the back of the plane so it takes long to get off and we may join a line of at least 500 people for customs and when we are almost there, I change rows , so it takes 1.5 hours before we get our stamp again and are allowed to stay in the USA for another half year. After all that waiting we directly can pick up our luggage, yes even our square cardboard box. Despite the fact that we brought cheese, cookies and liquorice (of course we said this to customs) it’s not necessary to pass an extra inspection and the BART train to Alameda is already waiting so we leave the airport pretty fast.

 

Unfortunately, we have to wait half an hour for the bus to the storage so we arrive not before 6.15 pm at the storage when the office is already closed. Fortunately Treila has authorized us so we can take our RV from behind the fence and in the dark night we drive to Antioch. There is only a place behind the fairgrounds. Despite the map the host gave us, we have to search in the dark for the place to stay but finally we find this spot with electricity on the grassland. Unfortunately the “Mexican” has a power failure so we cannot get any food and we eat some canned soup. It was a very long day with a time difference of 9 hours, so at eight o’clock pm we are sleeping.

 

Of course we wake up early because of the jet lag but now in the morning of  Sunday november 5^th we can shop early at Walmart (of course it’s not allowed to stay overnight here). We really need to do some shopping because we did not leave any food behind in our RV. A good thing because we find traces of mice in the RV. So we have to clean up also. Only a piece of chocolate and a sachet of herbs is eaten by the mice but we have to look whether or not there is a nest somewhere. The weather is beautiful, real autumn weather with plenty of sunshine and blue skies and a temperature of 65 degrees, so we can put everything outside. With the exception of a towel with a big hole (the mice probably found this soft towel great for a nest), we find nothing else and end of the afternoon we have a clean RV, stripped of mice droppings. Still our Mexican shop didn’t open so we cook a meal in the RV. The temperature is completely different compared to 10 days ago, it is at least 30 degrees cooler. Winter is coming.

On Monday morning again we wake up early so we also leave Antioch early. But nevertheless, we quickly join the traffic jam towards San Francisco. Although we are heading North we first drive to Alameda to pay the remaining amount for our Storage.  After two hours (1 hour longer because of the traffic jam) we arrive, welcomed by Treila. We’re talking and socializing before we finally say goodbye and leave Alameda. There is no more traffic jam and after crossing the city of Oakland (many homeless people here), we leave the San Francisco Bay Area and drive through the Napa Valley, surrounded by fields of grapes.

 

Again the weather is great, the sky is blue and the sun shines, we see the Napa valley at its best. Unfortunately, the State of California has a ban on camping near shops or churches, it’s not permitted, so we grab our “Good Sam” book and search for a public campground at Clearlake Oaks.

Around three o’clock pm we arrive on a spit of land at a completely deserted campground. It is a beautiful spot on the edge of the Lake. When a resident of the nearby mobile home park says she has no objection that we stay here, but we have to be aware that regularly there are strange characters around, we don’t hesitate and put our RV on a spot. Despite the bright sunshine it’s too cold to sit outside (it’s only 50 degrees) so the rest of the afternoon, from inside our motorhome we enjoy the many water birds on the Lake and our books.

 

 

Tuesday november 7^th we wake up when the sun appears just over the mountains and the Arctic Sea Fog still covers the Lake. Once this fog pulls up we can admire huge numbers of pelicans, obviously they stay here throughout the night. After a good breakfast we leave this wonderful place and drive further north. We have many winding mountain roads before we arrive in the region of the “Sequoia Sempervirens” or the huge Redwood Trees that grow along the coast of California. They are the “tallest living things ” on Earth. Despite the fact that we saw these huge trees already several times we always enjoy their presence. It is awesome to drive through the forest where they are located. You feel insignificant around this forest giants, growing more than 3000 years old and taller than 377 feet. After regular stops to view and photograph these forest giants (almost impossible by their enormous length and size) we arrive in Ferndale, an old Victorian town.

On the fairgrounds is a beautiful place for the night. I exchange some books in the office of the Fairgrounds and then we walk to town. It is a pleasant walk because the weather is sunny. Only the temperature does not rise above 50 degrees so we need a jacket. The town has indeed old Victorian houses and shops and the rest of the afternoon we walk around and visit shops. When the sun is almost setting (around half past five) we are back at the Fairgrounds. It’s a quiet environment so we sleep soundly. Unfortunately, the sun is gone on Wednesday November 8^th.  A thick layer of clouds covers the sky and every now and then some rain is falling. To bad because today we also drive through the Redwoods. Despite the fact that it’s getting darker and more and more rain is falling, it is stunning and awesome to drive between the forest giants.

However, with the many rain it’s hard to take pictures of the huge herds of Elks that wander freely around here. At half past one we arrive in Crescent City, CA, close to the border with Oregon and it’s raining cats and dogs. If we find out that here we may stay overnight at Walmart, we don’t hesitate and put our RV in the back of the parking lot. We don’t want to continue our drive with this weather. A good decision because after shopping, the wind is blowing hard and the rain is even more intense so staying in our parked RV is very pleasant. Better than driving along the coastal road. Fortunately, the weather improves something when we leave Crescent City on Thursday. When we arrive in Brooking,  Oregon, the sun shines. Now at least we can enjoy this beautiful road along the wild Pacific Ocean.

 

 

Regularly we stop to watch the wild foaming ocean beating the rocky coast and then we arrive in Florence, Oregon where we find a place near the ocean on a county park. All forest parks along the US-101 are already closed and inaccessible by fences. The rest of the afternoon we stay inside and do our administration. Fortunately, it remains dry although, because of the many clouds, the Sun is little visible. Friday november 10^th  the sun shines early in the morning but soon clouds cover the sky. After having breakfast we drive the Coastal highway to the North. We want to find the Cache Across America of Oregon, hidden just north of Florence, OR. The road is beautiful and runs largely along the coast. When we get to the place where the cache is hidden we find our way through the more than man-sized bushes that cover the mountain slopes.

It’s hard to struggle through and we are happy when we find a trail in the forest with its tall trees.  Our GPS doesn’t work good among the many trees here and we search and search and search without finding anything. Sometimes we cannot see each other because of the high ferns and many fallen trees. Dick reads the instruction for this cache and find out that we had to download a picture that would bring us closer to the hiding place. We search more determined. We have to find this cache, we did not drive so far to not find this one. Finally we find the cache and are happy. Now we can leave the forest over a much more accessible route through less wooded areas, back to our RV, parked at the coast. Just in time because the sky above the sea turns black and even before we are back in Florence, OR it’s pouring rain again. No problem because we have to do laundry and are busy the next couple of hours.

After two hours we leave the laundromat with bags full of clean clothes. In Florence, we stop at a bookstore with used books and lucky me, again I find 3 books of the series Wagons West. Then we drive back to our county park “Harbor Vista”. It is now 4 pm, the rain is still intense but inside it is pleasant and our books are fascinating so we enjoy the rest of the day. Saturday morning everywhere flags are lined up for the parade of Veterans day. Unfortunately we will not be able to see it because after some shopping at Fred Meyer we leave Florence, going farther east. First there is some rain but soon the sun appear.

Although it is colder outside this is better than constantly having rain. Steadily we climb up in the mountains towards the Western Cascades and at around 4710 feet, we are in the snow. The snow disappears when we descend and in Bend, OR, no trace of winter is to be seen anymore. Only the temperature shows us that we are in the mountains, it’s 45 degrees. Even though everywhere at Walmart are signs with “No Overnight” we see some decrepit RV’s and we decide to give it a try. We stay under a “No overnight sign” but nobody bother us and we have a quiet night on this parking lot. And once again I have the ability to look around in Walmart in the evening. I find an awesome Christmas outfit, even my sister and auntie Ank like it, so it is a successful shopping. Sundaymorning we leave Bend early morning, heading East. Over the rolling hills, less and less people are living here and almost no traffic on the road. Just before we arrive in Ontario, OR, the landscape gets more attractive, we drive through a beautiful gorge along a small river.

Unfortunately once again we lose an hour because we arrive in Mountain time. We drive further than we planned, 242 miles, so we arrive end of the afternoon in Ontario, Oregon. Walmart does not allow us to stay and there is no campground, but near Interstate 84 we find a piece of land where trucks are parked. Far away are idling trucks but on our spot it is silent and quiet, only passing and honking trains give some noise. However, I am so tired that even that I don’t hear.

When we wake up on Monday the world is very,  very small. Fog is around us like a thick blanket and it is freezing cold. On the puddles around us is a layer of ice to be seen.

After we drive an hour, we already arrived in the State of Idaho, the Sun dissolve this fog and we enjoy the warm sun rays. It feels great after all the cold and rain. On the hilly landscape of southern Idaho, for the first time, we see the product where this “Potato state” got its name, mountains and mountains of potatoes. We thought we should never see them because until now we only saw alfa-alfa, corn and onions. That last product is grown here too and in the neighboring state of Oregon, every year more than 1 billion pound onions come across the fields. Around noon we arrive in the small town of Bruneau, Idaho. We have to look around but then Dick find the road to Bruneau Canyon, at first it’s paved but soon we only have a dirt road going to nowhere. There is literally nothing around us.

We don’t know or we are on the right way but follow our GPS and yes, after 7 miles, the road narrows more and more, we arrive at  the Bruneau Canyon Overlook where we not only have a magnificent view on a deep black gorge below us but also find two caches, one of them is the Cache Across America, Idaho. Our 5-th State is there. After crossing the bomb range (what is here??)  we are back in the inhabited world and drive another 10 minutes to Bruneau Dunes State park. On a completely empty campground we find a spot and enjoy the last rays of sunshine before the night falls at half past five.

 

 

The night is really, really dark, we are the only ones on the campground and nowhere around us is any light. The Moon is new and not visible, only the stars shine high in the sky. This state park is truly a “dark sky” park.

 

This week we are confronted with the fact that it’s not quite common to travel together in this beautiful country. Not only are we informed by our neighbor Danielle (she still takes care of our mail), that a good acquaintance, Ria, died, also Susan gave us a message that Mike’s brother Bill, which we met three years ago, suddenly passed away. At such a moment you realize how grateful we may be that we can make such a beautiful trip together.

Nevada and California

Thursday October 12^th until Tuesday October 24^th 2017

 

Wednesday evening we eat outside and we admire the beautiful sky, filled with stars. After a good night’s sleep, actually we always have one, we wake up Thursday, October 12^th at 7 am. The Sun is shining and the thermometer shows already 72 degrees so we eat outside before leaving this great National park. The closer we approach Las Vegas the more traffic. It’s hard getting used to this traffic after the quiet roads we drove. I direct Dick to the wrong way and the result is that we have to cross all the city and over the Strip. Every hundred yards is a traffic light, always on RED, but finally, after a lot of traffic jams, we arrive at Road Runners RV park at 12.15 pm. Quickly we have a nice spot.

We stay for three days because then it’s cheaper. We are not in a hurry and consider this place always as a resting point on our trip. Offcourse I’m doing laundry, write for the website and Dick is selecting pictures. I’d rather read my books because I just exchanged some and they are waiting for me to read. Today we have a leftover day so we don’t go out for dinner but it is great to stay outside the RV and the food is good too. We still need much sleep because even when we don’t go late to bed, around 9.30 pm, we don’t wake up before 8 am without our alarm clock. The showers at this campsite are great and a welcome change with our own, navy shower in the RV. Although it‘s only 68 degrees and still cool, the sun warms quickly in the morning.

Dick is going to publish, he’ll do it in the campground office because the Wi-Fi is not so strong and I sit outside in the sun to make our English translation. Around noon the result is that I’m like a freshly baked bun and Dick exit the office as an ice cube. Always that freezing air conditioning. After some coffee and a shower we take the bus to the Strip. Unfortunately this time the driver is relentless. If we want a senior card, we have to show a special RTC senior identification and of course we don’t have that. We are not from Nevada. So we have to pay the full price for a ticket, $ 5,-  but that is still much cheaper than if you buy a ticket on the Strip for $ 8,-

 

We get out the bus at Mandalay Bay and are not the only ones. Many people pay respect to victims of the horrific shooting a week ago. The billboards are full of texts and prayers. The windows from where the shooting was at the festival, on the opposite side of the road, are covered by banners with “# Vegas Strong”. Offcourse there are also candles and texts in memory of the many victims. The music festival “Route 91” is still hermetically sealed off. Lost in our thought we walk through the many casinos where everyday life started again. Only the T-shirts and many texts with “# Vegas Strong” are everywhere. Every now and then we try a slot machine but we never win. Also walking around the casinos and looking at people is enjoyable. Just before 6pm we arrive at our favorite restaurant “Outback” where we get a table at the window, enjoy the view over the Strip and of course the delicious food.

When we walk slowly back in the evening, it’s considerably busier than some weeks ago. It cools down quickly and we are happy to be in the bus back home. Saturday October 14^th is really a day to idle or poke around. I complete my translation so Dick can publish soon and thereafter I’m searching in the cabinets to look for what we may take home. I end up with a bag full of clothes we take with us, better leave them at home then in the filled up RV. A second bag will contain other superfluous things which also can better stay at home. Very late we consider that we need to extend our RV insurance so we mail Seabridge to arrange that.

 

At 6 pm we shower and walk to Sam’s Town, where my players card, never used to gamble, give us a great deal because we have each $ 5,- discount on the buffet. There aren’t so many people so we do not have to stay in line and may proceed immediately. The food looks delicious, there is plenty of choice and it tastes good. Fortunately, my stomach isn’t so big and the look of the many, really fat people make you eat less. After walking around in this casino looking at the gambling people (actually they never win some) we go back to our RV. Doing nothing is also tiring. After another laundry in the early morning, so we leave Vegas clean, we need to do some shopping, fill up with diesel and propane and withdraw money before we really can leave Vegas and head to, yes again, Death Valley. On our way to the East Sierra this place is, after all, a natural overnight stay. This time we put the RV on the campground at Stovepipe Wells.

It is really quiet here. Except us, there are only a handful of RV’s. It is also very hot when we arrive, 98 degrees, so Dick put the awning down. Unfortunately, it gives us no benefit because the sun is too low but the refrigerator exhaust is in the shade. Because it is too hot to sit outside in the sun, we walk around.

 

Near the campground is a Ranger Station and there we hope to get a stamp in our National Park Passport. Unfortunately the stamp is broken, a new one is requested, so we will have to do without it. But we can help the Ranger lowering the US-flag, which, of course, never may hit the ground.

When the sun disappears behind the mountain ridge at half past 5 it is pleasant outside. It’s still 77 degrees.

After a good breakfast we leave Death Valley on Monday morning. Offcourse we first chat some time with our neighbors from Oregon. We know the road but never drove it in this direction, to the West. It’s beautiful to cross the rugged ridges and drive through the lonely desert around us. We ascend and descend and ascend and descend, it doesn’t stop. Our brakes have to work to their limits, particularly after a 9 miles long descent with 9% slope. You really smell the brakes.

 

In Lone Pine, the sky is veiled by the smoke, with the result that Mt. Whittney the highest mountain on the US continent (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), is blurred. We drive on the US-395, one of the beautiful roads through the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Nearby is a historic Fish hatchery, a beautiful building which can endure the ages. Unfortunately this doesn’t count for the hatchery, this one don’t exist anymore after a mudslide in 2007. After fueling up in Bishop we look for a campground. Our Good Sam book indicates that there is a BLM campground near Horton Creek. But this place is not so easy to find, due to some road closures, but after asking and driving around, we find the campground in the middle of the mountains, it’s a nice spot.

A short time later we sit outside but when the sun disappears behind the high mountains that surround us, it is directly cold outside. Although we are at an altitude of 4930 feet, not so high up, the clear sky makes that it cools down very fast.

When we wake up at 7 am next morning it’s warm inside our RV. The heating ignited early morning. Outside it is just 42 degrees. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long before the sun get over the mountains and the first rays warm our RV.

 

Before we leave, we’ll look at the route and the weather. The forecast looks stable so we decide to make a trip to Devils Postpiles, a special rock formation and National Monument near Mammoth Lake. It’s good that it’s beautiful weather when we drive the steep mountain road, pin, after pin, after pin and go higher and higher up into the mountains above Mammoth.

At 9190 ft we arrive at the Mammoth ski arena. Unfortunately, there is no snow because I would love to ski here. After leaving the skiing area, we drive a narrow one-lane road, descending steeply down at the other side of the mountain. Fortunately we are early in the morning, 9.15 am, so there is no upcoming traffic, really pleasant on this narrow road with deep precipices. In the Valley, at 7500 feet, we soon find the car park. A trail leads us to the basalt columns of “Devils Postpile”. Along the way down we saw some campgrounds but all of them are already closed for the season so it’s good that we did not come here last night. It is freezing cold, around 40 degrees and I regret that we only put on a hoodie and long pants and no jacket, but the trail isn’t so long so after fifteen minutes we arrive at the foot of the 60 feet high Basalt columns. All though this rock formation with 5 to 7-sided vertical columns is pretty impressive, I pictured it taller.

After quite some time walking and looking and making pictures we walk back and return over the narrow, steep, mountain road. Regularly Dick has to turn aside to the steep side of the road, giving priority to oncoming traffic. Sometimes with tremendous speed they drive around the curves, not giving priority to us, climbing traffic. I give a sigh of relief when we arrive at the skiing area where the road widens. After descending the mountain, we continue our drive on US-395.

 

At the Visitor Center we took good maps so we can find our way to the Tufa’s in Mono Lake. It is awesome to walk along this lake (2 to 3 times saltier than the Pacific) and we admire the Tufa formations. The Tufa’s are formed when calcium out of a fresh water source contact the carbonate out of the salt water. The calcium carbonate forms the Rocky towers you see along the coastline. This Lake was seriously threatened by the State of California. They took all the water from the mountains for their own use. Committees took action for many years and managed to keep water for Mono Lake. California now only takes 80% of the water supply from the mountains. This makes, along with a winter with abundant snowfall, that the water level in Mono Lake increases. All this we learn when we look at a very interesting documentary about Mono Lake in the Action Center in Lee Vining.

Around 3 pm we leave Lee Vining to find a campground in the National Forest  on our way to the Tiogapas, but all campgrounds are already closed for the season.  October 15 is a magical date and end of the camping season.

 

It forces us to drive back to Silverlake where, amidst the beautiful colored yellow birch trees, we find a forest campground still open at an altitude of 7200 ft. Now we are surrounded by the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada and it’s cold, very cold, outside. At night the temperature drops to freezing and in the morning everywhere it’s white from the frost. Here it’s winter. Fortunately, the sky is still steel blue and the sun shines on the mountains when we wake up, so the Tioga Pass we want to drive to San Francisco (better than having a 100 miles detour) will be still open.

After checking our mail in Lee Vining, we climb Tioga pass, where we arrive at 9.15 a.m. at almost 10000 feet. It’s obvious that one of these days this road will be closed because all the campgrounds and lodges along the way are already closed.

 

The ranger thinks the road will be closed before the weekend because of the weather. Snow is expected. When we stop at Olmsted, a viewpoint with the bald smooth rocks and the Half Dome, we see huge clouds of smoke in the distance, caused by the fires in the southern part of Yosemite, near Wawona. That’s why the view around is hazy. Around noon we are in Yosemite Valley. It is very busy here, all parking spaces are full and everywhere are people. In a traffic jam we drive around Yosemite Village, where climbers search for their gear so, in these last sunny autumn days, they can climb the sheer rock walls of El Capitan. All the campgrounds are full, only in Wawona in the South or Hodgdon Meadow in the North are still places available. We decide to drive to the North, it’s closer and further from the fires and Yes, even at 3 pm we find a beautiful spot on Hodgdon Meadow Campground.

It is difficult to level our RV because the ground is very uneven and this campground has only slopes but Dick has developed an art to level our RV, even without levelers. We notice that we are on a significantly lower altitude, almost 4900 ft, because the temperature increase and it’s now 75 degrees.

 

Even when the sun disappears behind the mountains it’s very pleasant outside next to a wood fire because there is practically no wind. Together with Ralf and Rosanne from Amsterdam and our Camphost Cindy we enjoy the campfire and a delicious glass of wine. Thursday October 19^th, after breakfast, we leave Yosemite. At the entrance of the park we see the sign that at 5 pm the Tioga Pass will be closed. We are just in time. After a long descent, passing the dreary trees, victim of forest fires last autumn, we arrive in flat country. Every piece of land here is planted with fruit trees and grape vines. No wonder this dry California take so much water from the mountains.

In an almost a straight line we drive to the West and in Antioch, a small town not far from San Francisco, we find the last spot on the Fairgrounds campground. The rest of the afternoon we do our administration and I also skype with my Auntie Ank before she goes to bed. There is a 9 hour time difference with The Netherlands. Because of the cold wind so it’s not agreeable outside. Tomorrow we drive to our storage to do the paperwork so we can storage our RV there.  We don’t leave Antioch early morning because the American insurance mailed us that they need all kind of papers and pictures of our RV and we want to do that first. Our current RV insurance company no longer exists and cannot be extended. We really don’t like this !!!! But we have to deal with it.

 

Finally we leave the Fairgrounds in Antioch and emerge into the busy traffic around the Bay Area of San Francisco. There is a lot of traffic and people drive aggressive and speed. You need eyes on all sides. At half past 11 am we arrive at Harbor Bay Storage in Alameda where we are warmly greeted by Treila, the manager. Three years ago we met her and stored our RV here and thanks to Treila, again a spot is available. We chat a lot and have fun and Dick shows Treila the art of Geocaching, because we want to search our third “Cache Cross America”, California. It’s hidden near Palo Alto. At 1 pm we leave the storage after saying goodbye to Treila. Everywhere is a traffic jam, often 7 lanes width but eventually we arrive close to our cache.

Unfortunately, it is near the huge Google complex and wherever we look, there are cars parked and nowhere is a place to put our RV. After some time driving around, we find one place to park and we start our search. It’s a long walk and we look more difficult than necessary, but finally we find the cache.

“California” we got you. Riley and Karen found this one too because their name is in the logbook. Earlier at the storage, Treila and I looked for places in this neighborhood to stay overnight and we drive to a public park, high in the mountains. I should have known that the road would not be easy to drive when I see “skyline” and later “alpine” road on the map. Indeed, we drive on a really winding mountain road with deep and steep precipices. The public park is nice but too expensive ($44) so we continue our drive over the coastal mountains to Redwood State Park in La Honda. The road here is even more narrower with a lot of pins and steeper than what we already have driven so I hope there is a spot in this park. It’s already 5pm.

 

We’re lucky because after driving around, only RV’s until 24 feet are allowed and our RV is 24’5” feet, we find an empty spot between the tall Redwoods. Although it is not my first choice to stay in between these tall trees, it’s cool and there is a lot of moisture, this place is very impressive by the huge and tall trees. The temperature is not so bad as long as you don’t sit outside.  Dick prepares our meat on the grill outside and we eat inside. And of course we raise our glass on Riley’s birthday.  Saturdaymorning we see that the campground is completely filled up, so yesterday we got really lucky with this place. It is now 44 degrees but that’s because the Sun cannot penetrate the trees.

However we can change our long pants and hoodie a little later when we leave the narrow mountain road and arrive at the rim drive, we are warmed up by the sun. Our “Hakuna” (navi tool) brings us over all kind of winding roads. The many cyclists here are surprised. We think no other things drive around here than cyclists and small cars, certainly no RV’s. Finally we arrive at Palo Alto and moments later we take Dumbarton Bridge over the bay. It should be a toll bridge but we only see toll booth at the other side of the road. Possible it’s the same as the Golden Gate bridge, you only need to pay toll if you drive into the direction of San Francisco. Near Oakland is Anthony Cabot campground. I think it’s nice to stay here two nights. I should have known better because it is Saturday and after driving 8 miles over a narrow mountain road we find out that the campground is full. So we continue our drive to Antioch.

 

On the fairgrounds is a flea market and we have some trouble to reach the campground. But that’s probably the reason that there is still one spot. We may stay for two days. After a cup of coffee, especially Dick earns that with all those mountain roads, we walk around the market. Except a lot of used stuff, Dick call them rubbish, there is also new stuff for sale. I find a new case for my IPhone, urgently needed because the old one really falls apart. We also cycle around to find a laundromat, we want to use tomorrow. Sunday morning we sleep until 8 am and after fueling up we drive to the laundromat. The neighborhood is not really great. A lot of people loiter and everywhere is the smell of hashish. But the laundromat is quiet and the washing machines wash fairly clean so at 11 am we finish and our closets are not empty anymore.

The rest of the day we pack our bags for Holland, I clean the empty fridge and Dick polishes the bikes and our bike rack. Tomorrow we put them inside our RV.  At least we are ready for our journey back home. Bags are packed and tomorrow we only have to dump our grey and black water.

 

We have no food anymore, only a piece of bread for tomorrow, so we walk into the city to a Mexican grocery store. Not only at the flea market, Mexico was all around and everybody spoke Spanish, also at this place you think you are in Mexico. There is also a restaurant so with some help we order food and soon, with Mexican food, we walk back to the RV. The food is good. So good that next time we will take again food from this place. We go to bed in time because tomorrow at 6 am, our alarm clock will wake us up.

Monday October 23^rd we drive at sunrise because we want to be early in Alameda and after putting our RV in the storage we take the public transport to our hotel in San Francisco. The Aida hotel is located on Market Street, very conveniently because it’s just a few 100 yards walk from the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport system) and it also goes directly to San Francisco Airport within 45 minutes. Very easy. Early afternoon we are in our hotel. The room is super simple, the bed very narrow, not what we are used to in American hotels, but we can open the windows, there is no airco (we love that) and the people are very friendly. We walk around in the area, eat some at the Cheesecake Factory on the 7^th floor of Macy’s, a well-known department store and then we enter the new Apple store here where we admire the newly announced IPhone 8.

We don’t see much difference with former editions, a lot of people wait for the IPhone X, announced for November 3^rd. End of the afternoon we walk back to our hotel and on a TV from the ‘70^th we look an episode of criminal minds, you see them 24 hours a day.

 

Tomorrow October 25^th we fly back to the Netherlands but today, the 24^th we still have a day in San Francisco to look around. We don’t want to see the standard tourist attractions but choose a walking tour lead by geocaches and again we come to places we didn’t see before. Around 5 pm, we walked almost 9 miles, we end up at Moo’s, a small restaurant in Grant Avenue. Several times before we had a burger here and once again this one has a “super” quality. We cannot remember where we ever have had a better hamburger. Then we walk back to our hotel and slightly tired, all together we walked 11 miles, we go to our bed.

November 4, we hope to be back in the land of the “unlimited possibilities”.

Saturday  September 30^th until Wednesday October 11^th 2017

Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California.

The days fly by and we are almost 5 months on the road, traveling across the United States. Our RV is now our home. Despite the fact that we are in a place where we have been before, we always see something new. Soon after leaving Bluff, Utah we arrive in Arizona.

Although it was cloudy all morning, the clouds disappear so we see the red rock formations Monument Valley is famous for, lit by the Sun. It is striking that there is significantly less dirt and glass along the way than previous years and there are no tourist stalls at all.

After a stop in Kayenta, with a delicious Sonic milkshake, we continue our drive until we see the sign “Navajo National Monument”. Ofcourse we take that route and when there is also a (free) campground, we leave our RV there and walk to the Visitor Center, view the film of the monument and hike the trail to an overlook from where you can see one of the three cliff dwellings. It is these cliff dwellings where this place got the status of National Monument. There is also a walk to one of the cliff dwellings, tomorrow at 10 am, and since I want to go there I register my name. Dick has hurt his ankle so he don’t want to walk steeply down into the canyon.

Everywhere are signs that it is prohibited to collect Pinons, seeds of the Pine trees that grow everywhere, but the native Americans don’t bother so late in the afternoon, when we sit outside enjoying the nature, cars constantly drive around with 5 till 6 Indians, they stop, get out and collect the seeds. It’s not for personal use only as we discovered this afternoon in Kayenta.

 

For a small bag with Pinon seeds, $ 5 was asked. Well it’s at least better than the procession of native Americans that followed, begging for money. Long after dark, there are cars around and we hear voices but we sleep deeply and are not much bothered.

We get up early on Sunday because I do not want to be late at the Visitor Center. It is just a 5-minute walk so I’m too early, 50 minutes. At 10 am sharp the ranger arrives and four of us take the steep slope down into the Valley. Not many people want to do this walk.

 

Regularly our ranger, a Navajo, tells us about the plants around us and also give us an insight view into the life of the contemporary Navajo Indians. After an hour descending we arrive at the cliff dwellings. Unfortunately we are not allowed to walk between the ruins but we are close by and hear the stories of the Anazasi who lived here until 1300 and then, probably due to a prolonged drought, left everything behind and went away.

It is impressive to see the ruins close by. Finally we climb up again. Each in its own pace and that takes quite some strength so it’s better that Dick did not go.

At 1 pm I’ll back and we drive straight to Page to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Our friends Riley and Karen, volunteer in this park, have their RV somewhere. At 3 pm we see an RV that looks familiar, it turns out to be the living place of Riley and Karen. Despite the fact that we have not seen each other for 3 years, it was in Big Bend National Park that we said goodbye, it feels like we met yesterday. There is a lot to tell and time flies.

 

Riley’s offer to join a delicious piece of meat (there are only two of these parts to a cow) we cannot refuse and a little later we enjoy a delicious meal and enjoy. Around eight pm we say goodbye to each other. We drive to the parking lot of Walmart in Page, 7 miles away. Tomorrow we try to find a place on the campground nearby. And we’re lucky because Monday morning there is a dry camp place on Wahwaep campground, only 2 miles from Riley and Karen. After doing our laundry in Page, really necessary after 9 days, and shopping for a meal tonight we drive to our spot on the campground.

Everywhere the flags are at half mast. There was a horrible shooting in Vegas with a lot of casualties. When we arrive at the campsite, there is also Wifi, we see a lot of emails of anxious friends so we answer our mail in the afternoon. Dick manage to publish and then Riley and Karen arrive.

 

 

For half an hour we can still sit outside but soon we have to go inside, there is a cold hard wind and you almost freezes. Only Riley and Dick remain outside to grill the meat. Again we enjoy a good meal. Although it’s a little tight with four people we succeed to have dinner inside our RV. We chat and chat and chat and late in the evening we say goodbye.

 

Here at Lake Powell we have a wonderful place so we will stay tomorrow. There is only one con, the time zone goes across the campground so we don’t know what time it is.

Oh well, tomorrow we see each other again and for us time is not important. Tuesday morning, October 2^nd, the sky is steel blue again and the wind still blows very strong, so in the morning, the temperature does not rise above 50 degrees.

Fortunately, it warms up during the day so, sitting outside in the sun I can translate our website story. That takes always more time than I thought so almost the entire day we stay near the RV.

Dick is peeling the last apples from the orchard in Fruita so we can make apple sauce and he disassemble our broken headlight. Our Friend Rien like to know the specifications so he can figure out where to buy this unit. It’s great to have friends helping us with this. Hopefully we can take a new light unit back from the Netherlands. Ofcourse we also walk around in the area.

 

Especially during the summer it’s very hot here so everywhere are warning signs that you always bring water with you. And modern times arrived in the National Parks and recreation areas because drones are not allowed.

Ofcourse we also talk with other people on the campground, they all want to know everything about our RV and the transfer to the US (we tried to learn it swim). We agreed with Riley and Karen to have pizza tonight. Luckily, the wind stops blowing so at 6 pm we enjoy our delicious pizza outside at the harbor.

Again, we have too much to talk about so end of November we have to meet each other again. Than Riley and Karen are back from a trip to Botswana and Namibia and of course we want to hear everything about their trip.

Besides, they love cheese so we have to bring them a piece of Old Amsterdam, real Dutch Cheese. Wednesday we leave Wahweap campground after dumping our grey- and black water and filling up with clean water. We intend to drive to Kanab. But when we do our groceries at Walmart we meet Coby and Peter from Holland, looking for parts to charge their camera’s and phones. Their rental RV does not give power and their phones and tablets are empty. Dick inspect their RV and give a call (via skype with his phone)  to the rental company. It helps because moments later they find a reset button, press it and there is power.

It is 2 pm so we decide to stay here, search for some geocaches and take a look at the Colorado river near Horseshoe Bend.

When the Sun is high in the sky and you dare to climb on the verge of a boulder you see the Colorado River flowing around the rocks below you. It’s hot, 86 degrees, when we walk in a huge crowd to this viewpoint over the river. Large groups of Asians walk behind flags on poles. They have no fear to climb the boulders and sit on the edge of the rocks to have a look at the river. Dick and I are not such heroes and with a lot of effort we look down. Fortunately we have a selfie stick so we can make a picture from the river below us.

 

End of the afternoon, after a long walk to find some caches, seeing again a Roadrunner cross our path (we like these funny birds) we are back at Walmart.

We have dinner and then Coby and Peter pass by to drink some coffee. Till late evening, we talk to each other about this beautiful country. The next morning we leave Page. Dick and Riley found out that the road to “the Wave” is only suitable for four-wheel drive cars or ordinary cars with high clearance so it makes no sense for us to participate in the lottery for a ticket. We first need another RV or Jeep. So we drive to Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park, where we have the last available spot.

To reach this State Park we have to pass Kanab, a village located amidst a beautiful, wild, mountainous landscape. No wonder that many films were shoot here from the 1920^th.

Still there is a film studio, “Little Hollywood”. We can’t resist to take a look and walk around the houses, bars and jail used in the movies. There are only fronts, supported by girders and the jail has bars made of plastic tubes. Sitting on a Director chair, we see a documentary about the making of films around this place. It’s better to imagine cause you’re in the same spot. We walk around some time and make a lot of pictures but then we really have to go to Coral Pink Dunes State Park, 25 miles away.

 

The weather is great so we walk around, find caches and ofcourse we look at the many off road cars crossing the sand dunes. In the evening we enjoy a nice wood fire. During daytime the temperature is pretty pleasant, 72 degrees, but after the sun disappears it’s becoming cool and without a wood fire not really nice to stay outside.

 

This State Park has great showers, warm and no trickles of water (inconceivable amidst sand dunes) so after waking up on friday October 6^th we shower there. We have a good breakfast and then drive to Kanab where we find a place in the library. Now Dick can log our found caches. That is important because the State of Utah give a souvenir for every three found caches in a district. And around Kanab we found three Geo-tour caches.

Meanwhile, I walk around in Kanab, search for caches and I am surprised at finding balls around recreation places in this town where everyone can play. In the Netherlands they would disappear within half a day. Around 1 pm we leave Kanab.

It’s beautiful weather and we don’t want to drive far so we stop in Pipe Spring National Monument on the campground. It is a beautiful campground, $ 20 not expensive, few people, great showers, Wi-Fi, no trees and a magnificent view over the plain to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Again we walk around the orchard of Pipe Spring. Ofcourse I cannot resist to walk to the livestock, the funny chickens, even their legs are covered with feathers, the Texan Longhorns and the horses. Meanwhile Dick talks to a ranger sitting next to one of the Mormon wagons at a fire place. Finally, end afternoon, we are back at our campground where we still enjoy the last rays of sunshine.

As soon as the Sun is gone it directly cools off till 50 degrees and at night we see a beautiful starry sky and an almost full moon. Saturday October 7^th Dick celebrates a special birthday, he‘ll be 70.

Actually you cannot speak about a celebration as there are only two of us but we drive to St. George in Utah and hope to find a restaurant where we can celebrate. Dick says there also should be a cake with candles but I don’t have the ingredients nor a recipe on hand (Susan, I miss you) so when we arrive in St. George we look for a cake to buy. There are cakes but incredibly large and only Halloween ones and to give Dick a cake with a spider? Susan directly should bake one and put candles on it, but Dick will have to do with a muffin. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to spend the night in St. George at Walmart so we drive to Washington, Utah and find at Walmart signs “No Overnight Parking”.

 

The Walmart employee says that no one cares about the signs and the police rarely intervene so we stay. On the other side of the road is a Royal Thai Cuisine restaurant where we want to have dinner. A good choice because the food is more than excellent. Despite the noise, there are 18 RV’s on the parking lot and some trucks with a humming motor, we sleep well and wake up at 8 am. We are back in Utah so we have mountain time again. And ofcourse I forget to put our clock forward. Over the US-18 we drive North. It’s really quiet on the road but it is Sunday morning. Regularly we stop to search some caches (also in St. George, we want to have the souvenir) but further on we see nothing than endless plains bordered by mountain ranges. This corner of Utah is not really inhabited. Then we are back in Nevada, where we instantly win an hour (we don’t do anything but criss-crossing time borders).

 

We stop in Panaca, Nevada at a beautiful State Park “Cathedral Gorge”. Despite the fact that tomorrow it’s Columbus Day, so a long weekend, there are places in abundance and at # 13 we put our RV. Sitting in the sun with my laptop I write something for our website but after an hour we take our backpack, GPS and water and walk some trails. There are beautiful rock formations and canyons.

During our walk the wind is rising and a sand storm forms so when we return after 2 hours we cannot see anything and are covered with a layer of sand. But the walk in this beautiful park was more than worth it. Fortunately, this state park also has good hot showers so we can strip off our sand and have dinner. On Columbus Day, Monday October 9^th, there is less wind and we clean the RV from dust and sand. A sand layer formed so it’s necessary. It is very cold and the temperature is 49 degrees. We fill up in Panaca, Nevada because the next 160 mile there is no gas-service, and then drive into the desert over inhospitable terrain and through barren plains, until we arrive in Crystal Springs, an oasis in the desert. Here it’s green and there are some tall trees, the effect of water.

 

The Extra Terrestrial Highway, ET-highway, start in Crystal Springs, and this road is a Mecca for Geocachers because about every 500 feet is a cache hidden. Unfortunately all caches are film canisters under a pile of rocks along the side of the road, so after some pickups we are bored. In Rachel, NV, a couple of houses in the middle of nowhere, we also find only film canisters between the bushes in the desert so we decide to go on and drive to Tonopah. Every now and then we stop to get a cache. After a 215 miles drive, a lot because normally we drive no more than 100 to 110 mile a day, we stop in the Centre of Tonopah at a casino where we can stay overnight in the parking lot.

 

Dick tries a slot machine in the smoky and dark casino, quite a different with the luxury gambling places  in Vegas, He wins 94 credits, will not collect, and eventually lose one whole dollar. The casino has a Chinese restaurant and the food smells delicious, so we order food but have our meal in the RV, it saves us a doggie bag. Even though it is fairly quiet in Tonopah and on the parking lot of the casino, in the course of the evening some trucks arrive. They decide to start their engines at 2.30 am and have them running for an hour before leaving. So we don’t have an undisturbed sleep but nevertheless we wake up early and I can Skype with my auntie Ank in time. My sister Hannah has reset her computer so Skype works again and over an hour we have a chat. We talk about her upcoming anniversary (93 years old) and the guests invited.  After finishing our breakfast we leave Tonopah, Nevada.

 

The last few days it’s so cold, despite the steel blue sky and sun, that we decide to drive to Death Valley to warm up. Unfortunately, 2 years ago there has been a mudslide at Scotty’s Castle and the road and part of the castle disappeared so we have to go to Beatty, Nevada, to enter the National Park. From 4220 feet altitude we descend in chilling tempo but we have a magnificent view of Death Valley below us. Our descent stops at 259 feet below sea level. No wonder it is warm here. It is bone-dry so the adiabatic temperature increase is almost 2 degree per 300 feet. At Furnace Creek, it’s 97 degrees and only one campground is open. High season did not start yet.  But there is enough place. After driving around a few laps on the campground, we find a large place with a view, only no shadow (the small sagebrush hardly give any shelter from the Sun) so Dick lowers the awning as soon as possible. We walk around and at the General store, near the Visitor Center, we have an ice cream. The temperature drops when the sun disappears behind the mountains so in the evening sitting outside, we have to put on long pants and a hoodie. It is 76 degrees but it feels colder after the heat of the day. Wednesday October 11-th we decide to stay another day.

After breakfast we drive to Badwater Basin, the lowest spot in Death Valley, 285 feet below sea level. The salt flat is dark and we need to walk at least 1,5 miles before we walk on the white colored salt. There are too many people walking on the salt plains.

Our RV is 24’5” feet, so finally we may enter the Artist Palette drive, a narrow road twisting through the mountains with stunning views on the different colored rocks in Death Valley. Around 1 pm we are back on the campground. Once again I write some while Dick search for pictures and make coffee. Fortunately, there is a small breeze blowing so the temperature feels slightly less hot. It is 89 degrees. We are definitely warmed up.