Catching Up

Today we are in Willits at the KOA. We wish there was another place to stay; prices are high and we even had to pay an extra $15 for arriving an hour and a half early! Or, as the lady in the office said we"could wait in the Safeway parking lot!" I do understand the early arrival policy up to a point, but the amount seems exorbitant!

This "castle" was on the back part of the KOA; we had never walked back there before.

Of course we had to have a picture of us on this swing!

Last night we were in Williams, CA, at the Almond Grove RV Park. It is mostly a park for permanent residents with seven or eight spaces for RVers. When we arrived there was a note on the office door to call for a space. I had called ahead so I knew that was going to be the case. Much later I called again to find out the owner was at the hospital with his wife who was being treated for a broken elbow. I only wanted to find out the wifi code, so felt a little guilty. He came by in the morning (today) and gave it to Cary while I was washing my hair. I guess the heat got to me yesterday--I went to bed about 6:30 and slept until nearly 6:30 this morning. Eureka and Crescent City will not come soon enough!

While Cary was putting fuel in the tank I was observing these guys doing something with the signs on the marquis that has to be pretty high to be seen from the highway. I watched one of the men crawl through that opening on the left. Look carefully and you can see him inside the sign. The man in front is slicing the sign to take it down. I never gave this any thought. As big as the fuel tank is, we didn't get to see what he was going to do after all the letters came down.

p.s. I just edited the entry from Patterson, so go back and take a look!

As we were leaving Williams, just turning onto Highway 20, we pulled over to watch a crop duster. As we did, an SUV pulling a utility trailer passed us. I am glad he did. We followed him for awhile, watching him weave all over the road, crossing the center line, going onto the shoulder, back and forth. I called 911, was connected to the highway department to give a description. At one point he seemed to stop, but he pulled back out and continued the same erratic movements. When he did stop later, we were nearly hit by an 18-wheeler who was behind us as two motorcycles and a car passed us while we went around the trailer sticking out in the road. I wasn't able to get a plate number, but the guy resembled one of the homeless people you see--grizzled gray beard and hair, slightly intoxicated or stoned--no business driving. I hope he stayed put and that the patrol located him.

Patterson, California

Before getting to Patterson, we stopped at this rest stop for lunch. A few years ago I read a book about names (people and places mostly, as I recall), and one of the names mentioned was Coalinga.

Back in the days of coal-fueled locomotives, the trains had to stop at different stations to refuel. One of the stops was coaling station A and one was coaling station B. Eventually the second station was eliminated, and the name of the first was shortened to Coalinga. My husband has wanted to pronounce it ''coaling-a" ever since I told him the story.

 

We are settled at the Kit Fox RV Park, with good wifi and enough oomph to run the AC, microwave, toaster, etc. There is also a book trading library but I haven't read enough yet to trade anything. We made a Walmart run for some lettuce, milk, a Sunday paper and more yogurt. 

This little guy in the RV park is pretty similar to Cary's first trailer. He had me take its picture to share with everyone. I am not sure I could have managed in it!

California City, Day 3

Cary woke up at about 4:40 to discover the toilet had overflowed sometime between 2:00 a.m. and 4:40. I managed to sleep through his sopping up the moisture with towels and rags, didn't wake up till after 5! Really! Just another adventure! We have been at the Sierra Trails RV Park for a few hours now and he is still trying to dry the carpet with a fan and hair dryer. Unfortunately this is not a park with a lot of oomph, so when he turned on the hair dryer he blew a breaker. When I came down to the office to use the computer, he was still trying to get it back on. With over 100 degree temps, it is more important to have the AC working. He is trying to undo the carpet staples in the hall so he can peel it back to dry the floor. Once we get to northern California, it will be a little harder to dry it out. Another tool we need: a wet/dry vac!

Kingman, Day Two

We arrived around 12:15, had some lunch, bought fuel and found a Walmart for some things we thought we needed--including an ice chest that is supposed to keep things cool for three days. I know eventually we won't need to keep things cool, but today it seems pretty important.

We are at the Ft. Beale RV Park where we stayed last year, but unfortunately were unable to meet with our friends, Bob and LaNore Printup who live here. They worked with us at the lighthouse a few years ago. Bob fell on June 11, needs physical therapy and is no shape to go out. We, however, did go out to eat. I took a picture of the restaurant with my phone, but forgot to save it! I am still a novice with that, but I am learning. I was able to upload photos I took when we went to see "In the Mood" at the Fox Theater last year, and also curtains in a vintage trailer.

Summer Travels 2015

 We spent over an hour loading the trailer with last minute things (refrigerator items mainly), then a few more minutes trying to remember how to set the camera to take this picture!

I am going to let Cary explain why we are now leaving the Dodge dealer in Flagstaff! I am happy to report it is nowhere near as traumatic as some of our other first days on the road....

 

 I had the front brake pads replaced a couple of weeks ago and had only driven the truck about 20 miles. This obviously was not enough to seat the pads. When we pulled in to camp they were stinking and smoking. We found the Dodge dealer only about 2 miles away. They checked it out and made that report, and said everything was working properly. Just put some miles on it. The interesting thing is that they didn't charge us for taking the wheels off and checking things out. I still can't believe that.

When we got back to the trailer Cary needed to make sure the vacuum cleaner was still working, I guess...so he spilled almost a full bag of chips! It still works just fine.

 

The reason we started our trip today had to do with Hemmings Motors Great Race 2015 (http://www.greatrace.com/2015-cities) It was going through Flagstaff today.

 

 " The teams aren’t judged on who gets from Point A to Point B fastest. Instead, their goal is to hit various checkpoints along the way as precisely as they can. The closer you are to the allotted time, the better your score. And it’s not as simple as just heading down the road for X number of miles. The teams have to follow cryptic directions: for example, “Proceed for 12 minutes at 45 mph and turn right at the white church.” That’s why each team has a navigator on board."*

 

These guys are the Wandering Troubadours of Finland. Really.

 

 

 

*http://www.fasthorseinc.com/blog/2014/07/07/old-cars-nd-jumpsuits/