winter-spring 2014-2015

One big blog entry today to finally catch you up on the past winter, four months after the fact. I have a few excuses for the delay, none of them particularly good: the trip west was fast and mostly boring, I don’t get many comments so I don’t know if anybody actually reads this blog; and, you know, I post stuff on Facebook. Then I forget the blog.

But Monday we visited with old friends, and he, Richard, said he reads it. Yeay! Hi Richard!

Well then. The trip west was fast and mostly boring. Yes. We had the RV in New Hampshire all summer because we were building our new home; and we left really, really late because the house wasn’t finished until Thanksgiving. All summer we said to the builder, When? What if? Oh, late September, yes, mid-October, well, no later than late October. That’s good because Henk has a business trip early November, and we don’t want Mary to have to move in by herself, right? So I moved in by myself (with help from the movers and from the carpenter guys) on November 12^th or so, when everything was ready except the deck and the shower glass. I showered for two weeks with lots of towels draped around the bathroom, no big deal. Henk got back from his trip just before Thanksgiving, and all East Coast kids came to the new house for dinner! We waited a few days until the shower glass guys were done, the Tuesday morning after, and escaped with the RV at 2 PM just before a sleet-and-ice-storm.

We took off northwest over Claremont, NH, at the Vermont border and rte 91; then we planned to go south and west over Scranton, PA; but once we were on 91 we drove straight south to Connecticut, where it was just a little milder and the sleet and ice came down as merely chilly rain. Bought long underwear and warm socks at WalMart in Norwalk, CT – the RV is very poor at keeping its people warm right behind that huge windshield… Slept in the WalMart parking lot, and left at 4:30 AM to get through/around New York before the morning rush. We drove via Gettysburg, PA (visited and had dinner with a cousin in Baltimore); Sweetwater, TN, where it was raining but not cold anymore; Monroe, LA (great dinner at Catfish Charlie in Shreveport); to Pecos, TX (dinner at the worst Denny’s in the world). Noteworthy on this route were that VW and Mercedes have their own exits in Tennessee, the rest stops in Alabama are beautiful, and Pecos is a town where one probably shouldn’t stop for anything other than fuel.

Here we detoured via the Carlsbad Caverns and stayed a day. We spent the entire day underground, Henk made a few hundred pics that all came out amazingly well. We want to go again because we only saw so little of it and it was so absolutely mind-bogglingly awesome!

Back on track the next day via the Guadalupe Mtns to Tucson, AZ; then to Havasu, AZ (dinner with a work-friend of Henk and his wife). The next day we arrived in Santa Clarita – 9 days, 19 states, 3400 miles or so. Our interstate highway pastime of checking off state number plates yielded only 24, and none of them Canadian, Mexican, or Indian Nations. Boring.

The winter in L.A. was lovely. There’s the weather, of course, as well as Destination Imagination with its kid-centered activities and the L.A. “board” now being dear friends; but mostly we had fun with Deirdre, Jeff and the kids. The big winter project was a pergola on the concrete slab out back, and we helped with some tiling there as well. We also helped plan their future kitchen renovation project – well, not really, but we had our opinions and shared them at every opportunity :)

In January we moved the RV from our usual RV park to an RV park in Acton in Soledad Canyon, about 15 miles east from Santa Clarita. It’s a nice change of scenery, since the former suffers from road construction, and we’re not allowed to hike in the dry riverbed anymore since somebody found a rare salamander. Acton is much quieter and roomier, with lots of opportunity for hikes in the raw beauty of the arid canyon. The Pacific Coast Trail crosses nearby – this is similar to the Appalachian Trail - and we hiked a few miles in both directions. We were very lucky with the weather – plenty of sun and mild temps, as well as enough rain for the desert to burst into bloom in early March. We saw lots of flowers that we never saw before on the canyon wall hiking paths as well as at Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

March 28, 2015, two weeks ago, we “worked” the Destination Imagination California State Tournament in Riverside, south of L.A. and it was awesome, as usual. The next morning we started our return voyage. A lot slower this time! And I’ll speak in complete sentences to underscore the leisurely pace!

Day 1, Sunday, we left nice and early and drove north through the high desert of Antelope Valley, picked up route 5, then went around San Francisco on rte 580, the worst bumpy road ever. So bumpy that my Fitbit registered my day in the passenger seat of the RV as almost 3500 steps ;) Then on to Cloverdale, which is northwest of Napa Valley, a nice little town in the hills with forests and a cute little river. Here we met up with Deirdre, Jeff, and the kids at the campground. They left a day earlier and enjoyed San Francisco while we were at the tournament. They put up their tent for 2 nights next to the RV. Day 2, Monday, after a leisurely breakfast by Opa and Deirdre, we cruised around and visited a local little place with petrified redwood trees. We saw petrified trees before; these were greyer but much, much larger than the ones in Arizona. Apparently they were buried in volcanic ash (which explains the grey color). We had more plans, but instead we went back to relax, and the kids played in the campground river. Brrr. They didn’t mind though, getting wet is their favorite pastime :).

Day 3, Tuesday, next on the agenda was Eureka in Northern California via Humboldt Redwoods SP, a half day drive. We spent the afternoon walking among the giant trees. Henk took a few hundred pictures, including of the 370’ behemoth that toppled over in 1991, 1900 years old, people thought there was a train crash when it went down. The kids and Jeff found another river, and guess what, the kids played in that one as well. We did find between us enough dry clothes of various sizes to drape on them until after we did laundry… ;)

We camped one night in Eureka. It was a chilly night, so this was our “everyone in the RV, let’s see if we sleep” night, and sure enough, we did. The four grown-ups sat in the RV bedroom after the kids went to sleep in the living area, and made plans for the next few days – Henk and I were nature oriented and heading further north, they picked a morning at the beach and then inland to see volcanic tubes and such on their way back to L.A.

So on Day 4, Wednesday April 1st, Henk and I reported to the wildlife reserve in Eureka. First Wednesday of the month, 9 AM, there’s a guided walk with the local bird expert – we’re such lucky ducks! Spring migration was in full swing. A harrier, lots of ducks we hadn’t seen before, same with the geese and little songbirds, as well as a few new flowers to note in our bird- and flower books. Meanwhile the younger folk explored tide pools at the beach. We met again at lunch time, and went each our own direction after a volley of goodbye hugs.

A little lonely with the two of us, we drove north on rte 101, along the coast into Oregon, stopped to see a famous lighthouse, continued to the Oregon Dunes near Florence, and settled in for an extra day. Btw, Henk doesn't recommend 101 north of SF with a 40-foot bus. There are too many narrow sections, lots of curves, steep up-and-downs, and giant trees right alongside the road that make for slow, tense and tiring driving. A car, yes; a big rig, maybe not so…

Thursday 4/2, we checked out the dunes, the beach, and the jetties of Florence. There was a stiff breeze and the waves were fantastic, and there were seals frolicking in the surf. Otherwise it was nice but not mind-blowing. First, we expected a lot more birds, but apparently we got ahead of the migration, so there were hardly any in the dune marshes; also, we were both born and raised in a dune city in the Netherlands and don’t appreciate enough what we’re familiar with. Anyway, we didn’t feel that we were missing anything when we moved on the next morning.

Friday 4/3: over the coastal range via Salem, OR (lunch with old work-buddy) to Silverton (old friends from Maine, Bob and Gail and their two kids, now all grown up). We arrived mid afternoon, Henk parked the RV next to the barn, and we were comfortable in no time between the 2 dogs, 4 cats, 2 pet llamas and countless angora bunnies. Oh yes, and the people. We stayed with them through Easter and had a grand time.  Somehow we missed the Easter angle up to a few days before, but we found a church in Silverton. A small one, it reminded us of Windham NH, the pastor came over to welcome us personally, obviously he knows each parishioner. We felt very welcome.

Monday 4/6 saw us back on the road. We drove north past Portland on good old rte 5, then east on 84 through gorgeous Columbia River Gorge. This is another section of road Henk advises only with a regular car, this time because it’s hard to find a place to park the RV to go sightseeing or take pictures, or go on a little hike up to one of the many beautiful waterfalls that come splashing down from the side of the gorge. After the gorge we were more or less on the old Oregon Trail route and drove on until Baker City in the southeastern part of the state. In the process we saw the lushness of coastal Oregon dwindle back to arid sage brush country. Tuesday morning we spent two hours at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and saw their really, really good video. The images of the people on the Oregon Trail with their covered wagons came back to us regularly the next few days. Unfortunately I also saw one of the resident great horned owls fly head-on into one of their picture windows L. She was sitting dazed on the ground below with a wing out weird. Thank goodness, one of the employees went to check, and she flew off a few minutes later.

Oregon was a new state for us. With our day at the coast, weekend in the middle, tour along the north and visit to a historic site in the southeast, we can truly claim Oregon as “been there and did something”!

Around lunch time we left Baker City and drove, still on rte 84, into Idaho to Boise (dinner at old friends from NH). Noteworthy on this section: fresh snow on the mountains and sections of highway with room to put the chains on your tires… hmmm… The next morning, Wednesday 4/8, we left early for the first long drive of the trip to the East. We drove more or less along the southern border of Idaho, saw our first little herd of pronghorns, switched to rte 80, then ducked into northeastern Utah for a little bit to get to Wyoming. Idaho counts because we stayed overnight and we visited people, and we have by now seen many parts of Utah. Wyoming counts because we stayed an extra day to pack up the RV and load the car. Utah and Wyoming also count on the list of bad winter weather! Wednesday was a sad and stressful day with cold rain, mountains with fresh snow, a poor dead barn owl alongside the highway; and east of Ogden, UT, when we had to get over those same mountains, yes, snow, snow, more cold rain, more snow, poor visibility. Yuck.

Yesterday: Friday 4/10. It took us a few hours to get the RV into storage and winterized. Yes. Because it was in the low 20’s, so the pipes will freeze. Spring is still a ways off in Wyoming on the Great Divide Basin Plateau… and we’re leaving the RV in Rawlins because that’s the perfect place to start off from in the Fall, when we want to visit Yellowstone Park and the Grand Tetons. No need to burn a gallon of diesel every 8 miles back and forth from NH. So, we were off around 10:30 on our way to Kearney, NE, the goal of the day. Dry and sunny all day, yeay. We saw our second herd of pronghorns, so pretty. We also noticed lots and lots of snow fence alongside and diagonal to the highway, with still pretty thick blobs of dirty snow on their east side. They also have large gates on the highway and signs that say that if the light blinks, get off at the exit, because they’re closing the road. With the gates. And signs that you may not park on the highway to wait it out. Apparently they don’t bother with plowing, they just wait until the strong sun melts it. Snow on the prairie is not the same as snow in New Hampshire…

We pulled in at a motel in Kearney, Nebraska, around dinnertime. Peculiarly it was full with groups of happy kids under the guidance of one or two adults, and a few U-Haul trailers in the parking lot. This came into focus this morning when we came downstairs: all of them already having breakfast, many with funny hats and Destination Imagination t-shirts. They’re having their state tournament today. We wished them a wonderful day and left for Chicago. 

I'll write one more entry to cover today through Monday, when we expect to get home. Check on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll also try again to include photos, they're not downloading right now.