Sunday, June 27, 2010

Gold Beach, OR

The coast line along Oregon is beautiful! Huge rock formations (like 3 story duplexes) interspersed between the waves. With the tide out, you can walk around the formations and explore the tide pool wildlife. It is truely AWESOME!

Karma loves the beach for the ball chasing but she has ended up swallowing some sand. You ask how do we know. Because it is coming out the back-end! I guess that is the good news - that it's not staying inside and pluggin up the process. The tennis ball collects the sand as it goes rolling out for her to catch. We'd use a hard rubber ball but she won't chase that type at all. We're going to try one again this week and see.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Gold Beach, OR

In Reno, 4 different people (eye doctor, RV park neighbor, staff at hospital radiology department) told us about how great Gold Beach was going to be. Each of them had suggestions and nothing but praise for Gold Beach. We have tried the breakfast suggestion - nothing special like we were led to believe. Still looking for the fruit stand that we supposedly couldn't miss. Considering the smallness of the town, we are surprised we can't find it either.

The coast line IS beautiful!!! Strange huge rock formations just off shore against which the waves break all day long. Sometimes it's impossible to get down to the beach at all but mostly it's a matter of how far do you want to walk down and back up.

There was a BIG storm this past winter that resulted in TONS of drift wood piled up on the beach at the high tide mark. Really TONS!!! Sometimes access to the beach is complicated by having to climb over the piles of drift wood. They don't seem to have any plans for removing the left over debris. We haven't seen any beach residents on blankets or towels. Mostly, they are, like us, running their dog(s) or just themselves. Or, they are beachcombers looking for "loot" that has washed up.

The temperatures are nice with a strong wind off the coast. So, we aren't expecting high temperatures or cold nights. The park reflects the temporary nature of RVing and our neighbors have changed out twice already.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Gold Beach, OR

The drive up here on 101 went through more redwood groves. This time the the road was a little wider and not as dark. The up and down highway was very close to the coast and we had a lot of fog whisps on the road. It was a short drive so we stopped for lunch and gave some of our money to the casino in Cresent city, CA.

Our RV park is small with only 20 sites and limits on the lenghths of rigs that it can accommodate (39ft). Our 31 ft looks like it barely fits! So, we are amazed that a 39ft would fit anywhere here. The park is right in the middle of town and within walking distance of the business district. Though we do need to drive to the beach access paths for Karma's ball chasing exercise.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Eureka, CA

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

As we have mentioned before RV parks are usually situated on the out skirts of towns or populated areas. We have experienced our share of train whistles and out-right trains passing through in the night. While in Reno, the approach to their airport went right over our park. Sometimes it really felt like they were landing on our lanai. Occassionally, they took off over us but lucky for us Reno Airport seems to be a daylight airport only.

Here in this fairground, there were "street" class drag races all today and this evening basically right next to the RV parking area. What a roar of engines! Ruthi went up to the exterior fencing while walking Karma to see if she could get a better idea of exactly what was going on - no such luck!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Eureka, CA

Fairgrounds as an overnight or short stay for RVs is a good idea. We have done it a couple of times before (Iowa, Nebraska). The cost is low and generally full hook-ups and pull-through spaces are available. This summer's batch of fairgrounds are leaving a lot to be desired. When Boots plans out the trips, she's careful to schedule the locations, dates and mileage between stops to accomodate our slow passage across America. Because reservations need to be made 60-90 days in advance, she calls to re-confirm the dates as we closer.

The fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, CA wanted to almost double the rate for our previously reserved price/days because some event was being scheduled for the same period. So, we changed our plans and picked a couple of other fairgrounds. When we got to the Ukiah fairgrounds, half of the sites were under repairs. Then we set up and were told that the sewer would be unavailable for the day. At 6pm, we were told that the sewer wasn't useable until morning. Lucky for us we try very hard to have empty waste tanks when we leave a location - mostly as a weight consideration. But we are finding that it's hard to predict how true the advertised facilities are.

Now we come to the Eureka Fairgrounds - there are about have the spaces available. When we pulled in we saw a cardboard sign on the Camp Hosts' post saying the RV park was closed from 14-28 June. Our reservations were for 17-21 June - hmm! So, Boots went to talk with the Camp Host and find out what the deal was. He was frustrated because it seems we weren't the first ones to show up with confrmed reservations for dates within the closed period.

The Camp host went up to the office to get things straighten out. And, lucky for us we got our pick of spaces and are staying here for our reserved period. Others are driving in and being turned away. Management finally put a proper sign up on the front gate to help turn away others.

Eureka, CA

Driving up from Ukiah today was really fun! First, there were the ups, downs and curves to get around the rolling hills of the area. Then we got into the Redwood forests. Or, in one case a "grove" of Redwoods - really that is what they call it. That is where the tree that everyone drives through exists. It seems there are a few of them in the area but none would take the RV, so we missed actually seeing it. But Boots had already seen it when she and Lou (her ex-husband) had been traveling across California while he was in the Army.

The road narrowed and became more curvey as we went through the "grove" on 101. The trees are immense and right on the edge of the road. We read an article in the local paper about the need/want to widen that stretch of 101. While the Redwoods wouldn't be removed or cut down, the root system would be damaged and hence the trees would be in trouble. The trees looked very close to the road. Don't know how they can widen it without removing trees. It was really canopied over and beautiful. The distance was really only a short span - 25 miles maybe. Personally, we think people need to slow down and smell the roses anyway - here's a good place to do it!!!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ukiah, CA

Today marks 2 years in our travels. We have adjusted the living space to better meet our needs: dining room table is up against the slide wall and the desk (set up at each stop) is positioned on the back living room wall. this opens up the space and provides for another chiar on the slide for watching TV.

When we are back in Santee for the winter, we are finally going to have the desk and associated drawers permanently built-in and the dining room table plus storage secured on the slide.

After the rush of the first 18 mnonths we are slowing down our travelling. Our summer this year is on the Northern California's, Oregon's, and Washington's coast lines. then back for 4-5 months of winter in the San Diego area. We are planning our summer 2011 as we travel this summer.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Cloverdale, CA

Karma loved the river! She chased her ball up and down the river's edge. Yea I did throw it n sections that were over head - she swam to get it but her preferences is to bound through the water making as much splash as possible.

We liked this park even though it had some access challenges. You couldn't always see the road in front of you on the curves that went up/down the hills. the sites were relatively cool considering the outside temperatures in the high eighty's and ninety's.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Cloverdale, CA

Today, Ruthi needed to go to the nearest hospital for a blood test. While waiting to be called to the lab, she noticed another patient registering for care who did not have English skills. A passer-by stopped and helped patient get started by doing some of the translation for her. It seemed to Ruthi, that it takes a lot of courage to be somewhere where you wouldn't know the language.

What this reminded Ruthi of was how her Italian grandparents (nonno, nonna) and a lot of her aunts/uncles came to the USA to work the coal mines in the Carolinas without English skills. Ruthi's mother was born here but did not learn English until she entered first grade.

How bad it must be somewhere else, that a person would come here with no way to communicate with everyone else! How isolating/frightening to not understand the medical questions or procedures! Remember our reactions to our visit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada - where Boots' high school French helped but mostly the Canadians spoke English. We were able to communicate and knew we were only staying a few days and could get back to English-speaking areas quickly. A big difference between that and the situation Ruthi experienced today,

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Cloverdale, CA

Got into this new RV Park late, by our standards (5pm). We are allowed to select our own site - good news / bad news. Not knowing the camp ground means it's looking at the map and wandering around to find something that will be easy to back in. One plus that was provided were indicators about whether or not the roof mounted satellite dish would work vs the mobile tripod dish. Mostly we squeezed through narrow, narrow roadways missing trees hanging over the roadway to the first site that looked doable for our backing skills. All of the sites with good satellite coverage for roof mounted domes were taken.

We found a partially shaded slot with access from down the hill with little turning challenges. Boots' first try put the rig within 8-10 inches where we wanted it. The oppisite side of the rig was on the edge of the paved site and the drop off was 3-4 inches and then mostly down hill. So, we continued for another 60 minutes getting farther and farther away from our goal instead of closer. It had looked so simple - just turn the wheel a little bit and then we'd creep to the left but instead we creeped further and further right. We called a time out and decided to start from down hill again and "@#$%" it and take what ever happens. Miricles of miricles we again ended up 8-10 inches from perfection and took it! So, wood and the rubber mat filled the in the ledge at the door. And set up the rig before crashing inside with the fans on full force.

Cloverdale, CA

We had planned on spending the night for free at the Camping World in Vacaville, CA. But the temperatures were in high 80's heading to 90's when we stopped to get a few items at the Camping World, Our next stop was ok with our coming in a day early so we headed there - making a long day!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Sparks, NV

We are at a new RV park much closer to central Reno. In fact, while it is addressed in Sparks, it is hard to really tell the boundary line. We are probably right on the line to the North East of Reno.

OK, now we are getting Summer weather. The last few days in Quincy and today in Reno we are in the high 70's to mid-80's. Much better than the cool days we had but still hotter than we'd like. As Boots' son said, we are looking for the perfect weather!!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Quincy, CA

Karma has discovered the "new" kittys at the kids house! Their dog, Sunny, plays very actively with them "mouthing" them and generally harassing them inside the house and out. The kittens seem to put up with Sunny but they are unsure about Karma. She charges them whenever she sees them out in the open OR can get to them in their hiding places. Their response is typical cat - hunched back, big hiss, and a swat. Karma keeps trying to make friend but she is a bit big and fast to get into their faces.