dec 9 and 10, 2014

The last two days of our trip. On the 9th, Tuesday, we made it easily to Cattail Cove State Park in Havasu via rte 10 and 95. We passed the place where we went rock hunting a few years ago and enjoyed remembering. Once at the park we set up the RV, sat outside in only our shirts, and pretty soon the colleague and his wife showed up. They took us on a Havasu tour that included a stop at a hat shop (yes, we both bought one) and at a bar overlooking the lake. Then we admired the sunset over the mountains from their house and had take-out thai food. Perfect day! Wednesday morning we left comfortably early, bought fuel while still in Arizona, detoured via Palmdale, at the back of the mountains that are east of L.A., and zoomed into Santa Clarita by 1 PM. Got a spot, set up, and took the car into the city to see Deirdre, the kids, and Jeff. Yeay! We've arrived!
The only glitch is that we didn't book ahead, it's never been that busy at the RV park, but this time it is. So the spot we set up on is for only one night, today (Thursday) we move onto a different spot where we can stay until the end of January. It's on the side that's close to the road, but we can't be picky...

Now that we're in drought country, we know to be excited about the weather forecast of lots of rain the next few days. At least it's not snow... Life is good!

And now over and out until spring!

december 7, 8 2014

December 7, 2014

We shook the dust of Pecos off our feet early. Our bodies and brains are still on East Coast time. So, off to Carlsbad Caverns! This is a detour to the north, then back diagonally to route 10 in El Paso tomorrow. As soon as we crossed into New Mexico (and the next time zone) it got even earlier and we were in Carlsbad early enough to catch Mass at a small local church. They were very welcoming to visitors – the deacon came up to us and we had to talk into the microphone, tell who we are and where we’re going. A little uncomfortable for Opa Henk, I myself however love talking into microphones ;)  The other church visitors were pipeline guys, there’s a pipeline being built in the area. It’s oil country.

There’s a little RV campground at the base of the National Park road, where we stayed overnight. Quite adequate for self-contained RVs and people who don’t spend much time on the actual campground. The campgrounds in town may be more fancy but they’re all full because of the pipeline. This campground worked perfectly well for us so we were happy. We had dinner at the restaurant and that was very tasty for a decent price. And good service ;)

But first we went to the Caverns NP. An experience we will never forget! There are multiple caves and each cave has sooo many levels and side arms. They’re still discovering more chambers as we speak. There’s an entire cavern further into the NP where they don’t let visitors in, even if you’re a scientist you can’t just go in; they’re keeping that one just for research. The photos are unbelievable.

We looked at the 3-D model of the main cavern in the visitor center and chose one of the simplest tours for the afternoon: a lantern tour of the “left hand tunnel”. An hour and a half with the ranger and three other people in a twisty-turny cave, unpaved path, stubby candles lit in our old-fashioned lanterns, this is how the tunnel was discovered and explored way back when. It was awesome. No big rooms in this section, rather a lot of squeezing past stalagmites and alongside small pools. We spent some total dark time in a somewhat wider spot to listen to and experience the darkness. 

The most interesting formations were small warts of deposit on all sides of stalactites and stalagmites, growing in all directions – not downwards. They don’t even know why. They think maybe bacteria got in on it. They’re researching this in the other cave.

After the tour there was enough time left for us to do the Big Room, a 1.25 mile paved path through ONE veeeery veeeery large cave. This cave is the size of 14 or so football fields. Lots of awesomeness here, plus unbelievableness, grandness, catchyourbreathiness and mindbogglingness. All beautifully lit, tall ceilings with stalactites and straws and draperies, wide floors with dwarves and fairies and toothy monsters, tall droopy

 melting ice cream cones, small windows into the smaller spaces beyond filled with popcorn-decorated formations, dripdrips into crystal clear little pools - and on your head. Opa Henk took almost a hundred pictures, hoping some would be good, and to our surprise they all came out sharp. The flash pretty much wore out the battery…

We must go back another time to look around the many other cavern sections!

December 8

The Carlsbad Caverns NP is only a half hour from Guadalupe Mountain NP, and it’s on our way to El Paso. So we planned our first stop there. After a leisurely morning – well, it included trying to wash the sticky mud dust off the sides of the RV – we got to Guadalupe Visitor Center by 11 AM. We packed a lunch and walked about 45 minutes up the Devil’s Hall trail, found a rock to sit on for lunch, and then returned. A lovely bit of exercise in the clean fresh mountain air. Opa’s terrible cold gave up trying to make him miserable about halfway and he’s been feeling much better ever since.

The road being straight and quiet we pushed on to the east side of Tucson, got there around 9 PM, at a new and definitely Super WalMart. Halfway the afternoon we decided to make another detour tomorrow, via Lake Havasu, which to our surprise adds only a half hour of driving time. Opa called a retired colleague, he’s home and we’re invited for dinner. So tomorrow’s goal is to camp overnight at Cattail Cove State Park, just south of Havasu City. We were there before and it’s an excellent little park and campground.

December 6

Saturday December 6

I include “Saturday” because I’m starting to forget what day of the week it is…

Today was a bit of Louisiana and then Texas, Texas, and Texas. Route 20 all day. Everything went fine, and we enjoyed the large blue skies, streaky clouds, sun, not much traffic, no trouble with Dallas and Fort Worth on the weekend. We progressed swimmingly. Today’s goal changed a few times but in the end we settled on Pecos.

Have you ever been to Pecos? Don’t.

There’s a Denny’s at a truck stop. It’s a third world Denny’s. There was no entry for the RV via the truck stop side and no RV parking space at the Denny side and no decent way out, so Henk wormed the RV around alongside the parked cars, aimed at the car exit. We never waited so long for our food in a restaurant with a trusted name; eventually Henk asked what took them so long, I mentioned we would go to the local Pizza Hut – then lo and behold,  the food suddenly arrived. Which was tasty, but there was no service to speak of. Henk decided not to wait another half an hour to get the bill, so he left all our cash, which was just enough to cover the food. The drinks were obviously on the house and there was no tip.

Then there’s a “Super”WalMart in Pecos. It isn’t. It’s sad. We stopped for bottled water (yes), cash (surprise, yes), and a box of eggs (one box with broken eggs, we declined). We’ll have oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow!

The saddest part is that the Pizza Hut is probably also below par. Just like the big name grocery store in the low income neighborhood near Lisa, these big name stores/restaurants are in a low income town. Poor people, poor education, poor work skills, poor store maintenance. So, as far as we’re concerned, Pecos will be only a mile marker on the map.

Tomorrow we’re having a day off: we’re going to Carlsbad to see the caverns!

December 5

Dec. 4 -> 5

Yesterday we got to Sweetwater, TN around dinnertime and parked along the side of WalMart. This morning we drove around the building as soon as the Coca Cola truck moved and were off. Rte 75 through Chattanooga, then 59 to 20, which will take us west for daaaaays.

Alabama: this is a lovely state, even in her rain gear. Alabama has beautiful rest stops and it’s much warmer there. The best moment of this part of the day was when a tree snowed yellow and brown leaves on us. Much better than real snow ;) They just don’t do detours well, we spent almost an hour on the secondary road between two exits. It involved a left turn at a traffic light with a very short left-turn-green. Apparently the line of cars and trucks puffing diesel fumes through the little town didn’t make enough of an impression on the employees at the police station on that very corner, since there was no officer directing traffic to get more vehicles through…

Mississippi: rte 20 is in terrible shape, the RV rattled so hard that one of the little doors burst open. On the other hand, we passed through a large national forest with beautiful pine trees (a variety we didn’t recognize). It was so far between rest stops that my back and one of my legs cramped up in the male-truck-driver-sized driver’s seat. I think I’ll tuck a little pillow in my back tomorrow.

Louisiana: the road surface is much better and brought us speedily to Monroe, where there is a SuperWalMart next to Catfish Charlie’s restaurant. Obviously, since we were in Louisiana, we weren’t going to eat at McDonalds. We each had a thin and crispy catfish fillet in a basket with deep fried pickles and deep fried red onions, Henk’s “snappy”, mine regular. We bought butter cake for dessert and ate it all. The cash register lady, when she realized we had never been there before, told us to come back to tell her what we thought of the food, and was surprised we ate all of the butter cake in one go. I guess we don’t know the butter cake conventions.

December 2, 3, 4, 2014

December 2, 3, 4 2014

Our annual trek to California started very late this year. Building the new home took longer than even our direst predictions. We’re not complaining though, it turned out awesome. We moved in Nov. 12^th, at least I (Mary) did, Henk was on a business trip. He got back just before Thanksgiving, which we celebrated with all the East Coast kids and grandkids. Celebrated the new house while we were at it.

Immediately after the movers left I had to winterize the RV thanks to that nasty cold front, you remember. I did the best I could with help from the carpenters and a little ceramic heater. But we can’t leave the RV in New Hampshire all winter, they’re not built for the cold. So after Thanksgiving we started packing the bus and kept an eye on the forecast. Wednesday morning was our planned departure date.

Monday rain, OK, Wednesday snow, not OK. Or rain. No, ice. Snow. Or not. Starting Tuesday evening. Tuesday morning the shower glass was finally getting installed. Now what?

The shower glass boys came early and were done by 1:30 PM. Excellent! Meanwhile we finished packing and Henk activated the security system. Tuesday, 2:20 PM we were on our way. Yeay! We had planned to go secondary roads via Henniker and Keene to rt 91 in Vermont (cold and hilly), south to Hartford CT, then (inland, therefore cold) north around New York City to Scranton PA (very hilly and cold), and then south to Gettysburg. We changed that a little, went to 91 via Claremont (better road, less hilly, even if a little longer), in case snow started early; and from Hartford south to the coast via 84 and 95 (less cold). The forecast there was for only rain. We parked overnight at WalMart, and went to bed nice and early. Rain during the night but no snow. We got up at 4, Henk still has a bit of jetlag anyway, and got through New York well before the morning traffic. This worked really well. It worked so well that we were in Gettysburg by 10:30 AM. (Rtes 95, 287, 78, 81, 15).

Gettysburg has a year-round campground. There are very few of those, hence the WalMart stops, but also, the fun part of Gettysburg is that it’s only an hour from Baltimore, where a niece (once or twice removed) of Henk lives with hubby and little girl. So we enjoyed the rest of the day with them.

This morning we took it easy. Caught up on sleep, had hot showers, did laundry, and threw enzymes in the grey tank, so it will slosh itself nice and clean the next few days. Today is almost all day rt. 81, then 40 near Knoxville TN and 75 until we’re at the WalMart in Sweetwater, TN.

Today we saw a few other RVs for the first time since New Hampshire. Mostly all the other RVs are long since in warmer parts of the country ;)

oct. 21 - 24

Monday  Oct. 21

The route from Washoe/Reno to Sacramento is all route 80 and a pleasant drive. We buy fuel first, before we cross the state line, and then we’re off again, like a mother duck followed by one chick – that’s me, in the Honda. Yes, the Honda can be towed, but we first need to have a special tow bar installed in the front. So I’m still following. First we go uphill a little, up the Sierra Nevada I think, but from there it’s all downhill. Before 1 o’clock we are in Vacaville, 20 miles past Sacramento, at a lovely RV park. Shade from eucalyptus trees, singing birds - finches, hummingbirds, woodpeckers - it feels like we’ve arrived at an oasis. I relax the rest of the day while Opa catches up on work. Of course, when we’re following each other, he can’t work with his computer; he can only use his phone.  In between relaxing (chair in the shade, cup of tea, binocs, birdbook) I do four loads of laundry. The state parks we stayed at have only limited services and enough water for laundry is not one of them ;). Yeay! Enough clean socks!

Tuesday Oct. 22

Yesterday Mr. Campground handed us a promising Napa Valley route. Opa fields phone calls as we go along. We start at the east side and go north from Napa on Silverado trail. We are told to make a stop at the Soda Canyon Deli to pick up lunch, so I go in while Henk is on the phone. How large are the rolls, I ask. Like those over there, says the young man, pointing at rolls of the size that they put six in a bag of. O, good, then I can buy two and we each have two different halves; I order one turkey avocado and one roast beef jalapeno. Opa will get all the peppers ;) When I pay I also get one cookie to share - you know the size of those deli cookies, it would be enough for a party of four. Chocolate dipped oatmeal raisin, yum. Meanwhile they put our sandwiches in boxes.

Then we drive further north, pass by a few vineyards and stop at Clos de Val for our first ever wine tasting. It’s a small place, but they were part of, when, years ago, the Napa valley wine(s) beat the French the first time. First surprise: tasting wine is $15 for a few sips of three wines. A $30, a $35, and an $80 wine. I watch Henk enjoy his three tastes, seeing as I don’t really like the stuff, the $15 would be so wasted on me.

A little further north we cross the valley and drive back south on route 29. Pretty soon we stop at Beringer, the vineyard with, according to our route description, the best wine cave tour. I don’t look as opa pays for our half-hour tours…  We enjoy our lunch on a European-style terrace decorated with grapevines, that is, eh, we enjoy half of our sandwiches, each half larger than the small rolls the young man pointed at. Geesh, one sandwich would have been plenty for the two of us!

The tour is cool, it involves tasting three more wines (I barely sipped the first, skipped the second, and! liked the third!) and strolling through the cool caves they ripen in. Just before Henk goes back to the car for yet another call we pass though a short connecting corridor decorated with photos of past master wine makers.  And then from the picture of Roy Raymond, wine master until 1970, !those are my dad’s eyes grinning at us! Only the mouth and chin are different. Same head, same hair, eyes, eye brows, nose… Hmmm… Much later Henk checks Google maps to see how far it is from Mainz, where the Beringer brothers hail from, to Kratzenburg, where the Krassenburg’s family tree research stops. Hmmm… a mere 30 miles… which is even stranger when you realize Roy wasn’t a son but a son-in-law…

After his phone call Henk rejoins me and gets to taste the last wine, a new light red, lightly sparkly one, only available at the vineyard as a test wine. He likes it too and the young fellow talks him into getting a few bottles.

Afternoon tea is in the shade next to the RV, and after dinner we pack up the RV because we’re expected for service in Davis (Sacramento) at 8 A.M.

Wednesday Oct. 23.

Today they install a replacement faucet in the kitchen and a new awning motor, plus a few other minor adjustments. Great people, only, it takes until 4 P.M. Opa works, while I visit the nearby WalMart, play computer games and watch episode after episode of American Pickers. Finally everything is finished and we can go. We back up a bit on route 80 and then take 5 south, with dinner at Denny’s in Stockton or thereabouts. We have driven route 5 enough already to know we’re actually going to be better off driving as much of it as is reasonably possible in the dark… Of course, it’s six hours drive time to “our” RV park north of Los Angeles, and no need to get there tonight. So we see how far we get. This turns out to be a rest stop just north of Coalinga.

Thursday Oct. 24.

We’re awake early, I guess we smell the stable? At the first exit is another Denny’s where we have breakfast, and then we finish our long trek via the grapevine to Castaic, to the RV “Village” on the edge of Santa Clarita. We find a good spot with great satellite reception (Red Sox, Patriots). Opa, as usual, gets as much work done as he can, and then we get back into the car to drive to Los Angeles in time to pick up the grandkids from school.

And that concludes this fall’s trip. Do stay tuned, because I intend to add a post with lots of photos sometime next week. Thanks for reading! And don’t forget, I like to write but I also like to hear from my audience once in a while. One little note from each reader would really make my day!