Anyway, enough about KOA (which some folks claim stands for Keep On Adding). We got settled in to our site, which was very tight as we expected. Our 40 foot rig “fit” into the site, but the front was right on the line and the mirrors stuck out into the street. Not a problem though, because the car stuck out about two feet, thus keeping anyone from hitting the mirrors without hitting the Jeep first. Fortunately, the street in front of the coach is wide enough to allow passage
without any difficulties. After a quick lunch we drove down to Pismo Beach to visit Jackie’s aunt Donna. Donna and her late husband Barkie lived in Pismo for 40 years. Jackie and I have visited here about once a year for the last eight years. They have a very nice house on the side of a hill overlooking the town of Pismo Beach, the beach and the pier. Barkie, who was Jackie’s mother’s brother, passed away about three years ago, but Donna is still in the house. She is in her mid 80's but has an adult grandson, Cory, living with her to help take care of her and the house.When we got to the house Pia, Jackie’s cousin who lives in nearby Grover Beach, was also at the house. We had a very nice long visit with the family and then Donna, Pia and Jackie and I went out for dinner at Steamers, a very nice seafood restaurant in Pismo Beach. Donna’s house actually looks down on Steamers, which is right on the waterfront. We had a great dinner and then went back to Donna’s for a nightcap and a little more chatting. We finally headed back to the coach about 10:00.
Tuesday, the 8th of June, we stayed around the coach and relaxed until mid afternoon when we headed back over to Donna’s house for dinner. Pia’s friend James had come down from the Sacramento area to visit Pia and see us. We had met James several years ago when he and Pia were dating. They are still good friends and he is a very nice guy. Pia told us that James was going to cook a turkey dinner for us using a wild turkey that he had killed on his property up in the mountains above
Sacramento. We got to Donna’s and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking and having a great time with everyone. The turkey was wonderful and he fixed it with all the standard fixings, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, the whole works. The turkey was small, only about four pounds, but it was very tasty and not gamey at all. We didn’t stay too late on this night because Donna was leaving Pismo Beach on Wednesday to start a trip to England, where she will board the Queen Mary II for a 12 day cruise to Scandinavia. She loves to travel and cruise and usually goes a couple of times a year to some exotic location.Wednesday, June 9th we went out after lunch to do some geocaching in the area. We ended up with some pretty clever hides that took longer than normal to find, but we still ended up with six finds. We also had one DNF, our first “did not find” in
several weeks. After caching we went back to the coach and had a relaxing evening. Thursday Pia and James came over to the coach around lunch-time just for a quick visit. James is heading back to Sacramento on Friday and he wanted to see the coach. The last time we saw him was before we bought the coach and started full-timing it. We gave him the grand tour (all 40 feet) and visited briefly before he and Pia set off to do their thing. Jackie and I decided to lunch at the Far Western Tavern in Guadalupe, about 20 miles South of Avila Beach. While we still in Santa Maria at the Rodeo our friends Bill and Lynette had told us that they had gone to the Far Western for lunch and had a great time. They told us it was a great old building and had wonderful food, so we decided to give it a try. We headed to Guadalupe, which is a neat old farming and ranching town of about 6,500, located only a couple of miles from the ocean. The Far Western Tavern is in a turn of the century building which was originally a hotel. The interior is very “old west” and the service was excellent. The food was good, but not spectacular and the prices were pretty high. We both had the New York steak sandwich, which was very tender and tasty, but at $20 was a pretty pricey lunch item. I might recommend a visit to the place for a drink at the wonderful old bar, but I can’t recommend eating there. Especially not after the meal we had at Jocko’s in Nipomo, only a few miles inland. After lunch we drove back to Pismo Beach and spent the rest of the afternoon walking off our lunch at the outlet mall. After shopping we headed home and relaxed the rest of the night.Friday, June 11th the weather finally warmed a little so I could wear shorts again. No where near hot, but at least warm-ish. After lunch we drove up to San Luis Obispo, about eight miles from our park, to do some caching. San Luis Obispo is the largest city on the Central Coast and is a very quaint, nice city. We were able to add ten new finds but again had one DNF. One of the caches was located in Bubblegum Alley, which is located right in downtown SLO, just off of Higuera Street. The alley is about five feet wide, with three story brick walls on either side and runs for half a block, between the street and the vehicle alley. Both sides of the alley are covered in old bubblegum, from end to end and up at least ten feet on either side. The history of the alley is a little sketchy, but the most common story is that it started out as a graduation prank for the local high school. The alley was cleaned by the business association twice in the 70's, but it became such a well known attraction that when the idea of cleaning it again came up in the 90's the town voted the idea down. Not very sanitary, but very interesting and comical. By the way, the cache was magnetic stuck on a metal fence, not stuck with gum!
After caching we went back to the coach and Pia came over for dinner. James had left to go back home and she came over just to visit and talk. Jackie fixed a nice enchilada casserole and we talked until about 9:00 p.m. when she left for home.
Saturday, June 12th we went into Pismo Beach and met our friends Ralph and Cece for lunch. We have known Ralph and Cece for close to ten years through our affiliation with the Indio Elks Lodge. They are members of the lodge and the travel club and are very good friends. They have a small class C motorhome that they use to travel most of the summer. Generally they stay in California, just going North to get out of the heat of the desert in the summer. They are going to be spending the entire summer in the Central Coast area. They were at the Elks Rodeo in Santa Maria with us and are staying in the RV lot at the Santa Maria Elks currently. We didn’t get a chance to really chat with them at the Rodeo because there were always a bunch of people around, so it was nice to have a chance to one on one with them. We met them at Splash, a well known seafood diner near the Pismo Beach pier. Being Saturday, we had to wait in line for about a half hour to get in, but it was worth it. The clam chowder at Splash is the best! Very creamy with a lot of clams.
After our lunch we went into nearby Grover Beach to find a big Laundromat. We had gone about two weeks without doing laundry because we were busy, so we had a pretty good pile of clothes to do. After laundry we headed back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day and evening.
Sunday, June 13th we went back up towards San Luis Obispo after lunch to do some caching and then a Costco run. We managed to find another ten caches with no DNFs. After an expensive visit to Costco (are they ever inexpensive?) we headed back to the coach. We invited Pia over for a last visit and dinner before we leave the area, but she had another commitment. Nonetheless, Jackie made the Halibut bake we were going to have and it was wonderful. Believe it or not, we are nearly out of Halibut. When we left Alaska last year we had 120 pounds, and now we are running low. Great fish.
Monday morning we left Avila Beach and drove North on Highway 101 to Salinas. It was about a 135 mile drive and was the first time we drove North of Paso Robles on 101 since our first year on the road, 2005. The amount of agriculture along that route was mind boggling. Farm fields as far as the eye could see and it looked like most of it was being harvested. The fields were full of workers. We arrived at the Salinas Elks Lodge about 2:00 p.m. and got settled into a space. We have never been to this lodge before. They have about 27 spots with water and electric and there were several still available when we arrived. Later on in the afternoon we went into the lodge for a cocktail and visit, and also to pick up our lodge pin. We then returned to the coach for dinner and to relax the rest of the evening. The lodge is right across the street from the airport, but they don’t seem to have any flights in or out after dark, at least they didn’t last night. We are far enough from the freeway that it is very quiet at night.
Tuesday, June 15th we left the coach mid-morning and drove East about 20 miles to Monterey. It had been many years since either of us had visited the Monterey peninsula. By the time we got there it was time for lunch so we went down to Cannery Row, where many of the shops and restaurants are located, and hunted a parking spot. Like many beach communities, parking in Monterey is at a premium, especially in the tourist areas. To compound matters, the U.S. Open golf tournament
is being held this week at Pebble Beach, right next door to Monterey. We finally found a place to park and selected a restaurant called The Fish Hopper to have lunch. The restaurant was on the pier, out over the water, and the views were great. The food was also very good. The clam chowder was among the best I have tasted. Both of us had seafood pasta dishes, Jackie’s with a garlic butter sauce, mine with a cream sauce, and they were both excellent. We had the calamari appetizer which I would only rate as fair. It was tasty, but not served hot and the pieces were very large. Overall it was a good restaurant and I would recommend it, although it was not inexpensive. After lunch we did some shopping in the Cannery Row area until the time on our meter ran out. When we went back to the car we had about seven minutes left on the meter, but we were trapped by a large delivery truck. There is no spare parking along the street, so when trucks have to make deliveries, they just double park in the street. Unfortunately, this truck was parked right next to us and we couldn’t get out. We just rested on a nearby bench until the guy came along with his little dolly delivering supplies to various restaurants along the street. We asked him if he could back the truck up a little so we could get out and he was very nice. He moved the truck and we finally got mobile again.We then did some caching on the peninsula. Most of the caches were along the waterfront drive that goes South and West of the main part of the city. The weather
was nice, although a little cool, and the views were spectacular. We managed ten finds with no DNF’s. After caching we stopped at the Monterey Elks Lodge for a cocktail and lodge pin. We struck up a conversation with a nice lady named Kitty who was a Past Exalted Ruler of the lodge, as well as a Past District Deputy and Past State Vice President. She gave us a tour of the lodge, which has a pool, exercise room, and a gorgeous dedicated lodge room. The lodge building is huge, especially considering they only have a little over 600 members. Kitty told us that they have added over 200 members in the last five years, mostly by attracting younger members because of the pool and exercise facilities. The lodge location is nice too, sitting in a residential area with great overlook views of Monterey Bay. After a couple of drinks, and obtaining our lodge pin, we headed back to Salinas and relaxed the rest of the night.Wednesday, June 16th. My daughter Tye’s birthday - Happy Birthday! We started our activities after lunch and drove North 30 miles to the town of Gilroy, California, the Garlic Capital of the World! Jackie believes that some of her relatives, grandparents or great grandparents, lived in Gilroy back in the mid 1900's. She
just wanted to see the town, she really had nothing in particular to look for, she didn’t know enough about that part of her ancestry. We were also there to do some caching. The caching took us all over the town, which was larger than we thought at over 50,000 population. One of the more interesting sights was the original City Hall, built in 1905. It has a European look, almost like it should be in a town in Germany. We both noted that the town was very neat and clean. We didn’t find any run down neighborhoods, and very few houses that weren’t well tended. We did drive by one of the garlic plants
and the smell, although good (we both like garlic) was so strong it burned my sinuses. One of the caches we found took us to the abandoned Indian Motorcycle plant. It seems that in one of the brand's later reincarnations, from 1999 to 2003, Indian motorcycles were built right here in Gilroy.After our caching we walked around downtown a little bit and went into an antique store, just to look around. On one of the bookshelves a book entitled “1931, The Great Pacific War” caught my eye. I thought it might be a history book but was a little confused about the date - WWII didn’t start until 1940 and WWI didn’t have much action in the Pacific. When I looked inside the book I found that it was a fictional account of a war, as envisioned by a noted historian, between Japan and the United States - and it was written in 1925! This fascinated the hell out of me and I wanted to read the book to see how close this guy came to predicting the actual course of events 15 years later. I paid twelve dollars for the book, which was in pretty good shape for an 85 year old novel. When I got back to the coach later I did some research and found that there were copies of the 1925 first edition of this book (which is what I have) that are selling for anywhere from $200 to $400 and it is considered a classic among military buffs. Can’t wait to read it and I sure won’t give it away like I do most books I read!
After our caching and touring (we found 15 caches in a couple of hours) we stopped at Garlic World, one of the local stores, to do some shopping. They had garlic
everything. We bought some pasta sauce and some garlic pickles, which the lady who owned the antique store at which I bought my book, told me were wonderful. After our stop at the store we drove the 30 miles back South to Salinas and relaxed for the rest of the night. We didn’t stop at the Gilroy Elks Lodge because it is only open one day of the week, and it wasn’t Wednesday.Thursday, June 17th, we decided to stay a little closer to home and explore Salinas. We went out after lunch and drove around old town for a little while, taking in the sights, before we started caching. By late afternoon we had found another eleven caches for our list. Unfortunately, we also had one DNF. Salinas is an interesting town and seems smaller than it’s population of nearly 150,000 would indicate. After caching we did a quick stop at the grocery store and then headed home for the evening.
Friday morning we packed up the coach and left the Salinas area. Our next destination was the Delta Shores RV Resort in the Sacramento River delta area. The trip was only 150 miles and mostly on freeway, but I knew that it was going to be a little hectic because of traffic. I was not wrong - once we hit San Jose, about 50 miles North of Salinas, the traffic became very heavy and nerve rattling. One highlight was crossing the Sacramento River near Concord, California. The toll
bridge was very high and steep and really gave some great views of the delta. We finally arrived at the RV resort around 2:00 p.m. and, after getting settled in, I was ready for a beer and some relaxation after the scary drive. We have never been to this resort and it is kind of nice. It is small and located on the Mokelumne River, a tributary of the Sacramento. The delta is very interesting in that it is made up of a whole series of islands, separated by various rivers and streams making up the Sacramento watershed. All of the roads are elevated and the structures serve as levees, keeping the water out of the farm land and recreation areas in the delta. Without the dikes the whole area, hundreds of square miles, would be a swamp. We will be here for seven days before moving on to Sacramento.Saturday, June 19th we decided to just have a stay at home day. Got a few little fix-it projects done, but otherwise just stayed in and relaxed for a change. Sunday we went out after lunch to do some caching in the delta region around our park. We found seven caches with no DNF’s in a couple of hours. Took a little longer than normal because the caches were spread out and we had to drive several miles between caches. After caching we went into nearby Stockton to do some shopping before heading back to the coach for the evening.
Monday, June 21st - the first day of Summer and the longest day of the year! We left the park about 10:00 for a day trip to the wine country, Napa and Sonoma. Napa was about 45 miles West of us and almost all of the trip was on two lane road, much of it under construction. Needless to say, it took a little longer than normal to get there. Once we got to Napa we did a few caches in the metro area, which is much larger than one would expect. I think the sign said the population was pushing 75,000 people. After a couple of caches we headed over to the Napa Elks Lodge for lunch. The lodge is in a very nice building with a very large piece of land. They have 12 full hookup RV sites in the back of the lodge. They were full on the day we visited and the bartender told us that they stay full most of the time and they don’t take reservations. Considering the state of the roads coming to this area, I think it would be chancy to drive all this way and not be able to get a space. The lodge serves lunch every weekday and we had a very nice lunch. Big portions at a reasonable price, and tasty too. We also got our lodge pin. The bartender was very cordial and friendly, although none of the other patrons had anything to say to us.
After lunch we went out and did some more caching. We drove North of town a little ways, but didn’t go far enough to hit the concentration of wineries, which are 15 or 20 miles North of the town of Napa. We don’t drink much wine and didn’t have a real big interest in visiting wineries anyway. After doing a few more caches, we drove ten miles further west to the other half of wine country, Sonoma, California.
Sonoma was much smaller, about 10,000 population, and much more quaint. The downtown area was built as a town square around a large city park in the middle of which was the City Hall. The buildings were all well maintained and appeared to date back to the early 1900's for the most part. We did some caching in Sonoma and walked around the downtown square for a little while. Again, we didn’t bother with any of the wineries. We finally headed home with ten finds and got back to the coach about 7:00 p.m.Shortly after we got back to the coach we were sitting outside in the wonderful cool weather, enjoying a cocktail, when we heard a load “zap” come from the area around some coaches further down our street. I recognized the sound as a large electrical short circuit, and noticed that the air conditioner on the coach next to ours stopped running. I told Jackie, “I bet the power’s out” and walked into the coach to check. Sure enough, no shore power to the coach. We never did find out what caused the short, but they had it fixed by 9:00 and we only had to run the generator for about an hour to keep the air running. It was not real hot, but there was no breeze and it was humid.
Tuesday, June 22nd we did some more caching in the local delta area and also explored the two towns closest to our RV park, Rio Vista and Isleton. We were able to find ten caches, but did have one DNF. One of the caches took us to a bar called Foster’s Bighorn in downtown Rio Vista. This bar was founded in 1931 by Bill Foster who was an apprentice to a world renowned big game hunter, Henry Snow. Snow had
shot hundreds of animals in his time as a hunter and Foster wanted a place to put the trophies on display. The inside of the bar is a virtual museum of big game with mounted trophy heads literally covering the inside of the bar. It is one of the most fascinating bars I
have ever been in. There is every type of animal you can imagine, from an elephant to a ground squirrel hanging from the walls. If you ever find yourself in the delta region find your way to Rio Vista on the Sacramento River and go into the old downtown and find Foster’s Bighorn tavern. It is well worth the journey. Considering it is only about 25 miles from Lodi I would even encourage it as a quick day trip from the Stockton/Lodi area. Wednesday, June 23rd was our day to explore the San Francisco area. Both of us have been to Frisco numerous times over the years, but it has been at least seven or eight years since we have been there. The city was about 60 miles Southwest of our resort, but the biggest part of the trip was on freeways. The worst part of the journey was the approach to the Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco. Even though it was 10:30 a.m. by the time we got there the traffic looked like rush hour. It took about 10 minutes to get to the toll booth and onto the bridge. We finally arrived in the city and headed for Union Square in the downtown area where I knew there was a parking lot. We parked the car in the underground parking lot and headed out to our first destination, lunch!
We walked seven blocks to a place called “Tommy’s Joynt” which had been featured on Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives (Triple D), a television show on the Food Network that we follow and have talked about before in the blog. We are trying to get to restaurants that were on the show whenever we are close to one. There were several
in San Francisco but we only had time for one and picked this one. It was featured on the show primarily because of its quaint funkyness and the fact that they do all of their own meats, corn beef, pastrami, beef, etc. I was originally going to try the corn beef, but the daily special was a braised ground round sandwich on sourdough with mashed potatoes and gravy which I couldn’t resist. Both of us had the special and it was great, and you get a lot of food for the money. The inside of the place was very interesting with stuff hanging all over the ceiling and walls. I would greatly recommend the place, which is on the corner of Geary and Van Ness. Van Ness is Highway 101 through town, so it’s easy to find. The only tough part would be finding a place to park, which is always a problem in Frisco.After lunch we walked back to Union Square and visited the San Francisco Elks Lodge which is located just a block off of the square. The Lodge is on the third floor of the Kensington Park Hotel on Post Street, just off of Mason. This is Lodge Number 3 and is the longest continuously operating Elks Lodge in the country. It was chartered in 1876 and the current building was built in 1924. The Elks own the entire building and the hotel, as well as a theater and restaurant, lease the space from the lodge. The club room and combination ballroom/Lodge Room take up the entire third floor of the building. In the basement they have a spa and swimming pool and on the fifth floor they have handball courts. They were still serving lunch in the club room when we went in and we noticed that there were a number of tables with obvious professional men, wearing suits, having lunch. It has been a long time since we have seen men in suits in an Elks Lodge, although the history of the order teaches us that until WW II the Elks was “the” organization to belong to if you were a mover and shaker in your town. The bartender was very friendly and gave us a little of the history of the lodge. We had a cocktail and got our lodge pin before leaving to explore the rest of San Francisco. I would strongly encourage any Elk traveling through San Francisco to take the time to visit this beautiful and historic lodge.
After our visit to the Elks we got the car and took a driving tour of parts of San Francisco. We drove through Chinatown, up on Nob Hill (where we did a geocache in one of the historic churches), down Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the country, and around the Marina District. We parked the car near Fisherman’s Wharf
and walked around for a while looking in shops. We also did a couple of geocaches down on the wharf, both of which were virtuals, which means there was no physical cache, just something we had to look for and report on our observations. When we left the wharf area we headed South on Highway 101 through the city to South San Francisco, where we visited the South San Francisco Elks Lodge. The lodge has a big building on top of a hill in the middle of town. The main bar and dining room was very nice, but the bar that was operating was the “members” bar which was a small room off the hallway. There were a number of people there and I have to say this was the friendliest Elks Lodge we have visited in a long time. We were there nearly two hours, had four drinks and only had to buy one. Everyone in the bar talked to us and wanted to know our life story. Very nice place. I would strongly encourage any Elks traveling in the San Francisco area to visit the South San Francisco Lodge. It is between the I-280 and the 101, just North of the San Francisco airport, about 10 miles South of downtown San Francisco.About 7:00 p.m. we left the South San Francisco Lodge and started heading back to the RV park. We had to drive back up into the city to cross the Bay Bridge and the traffic was still very bad. Once we cleared the Bay Bridge the freeways opened up and the rest of the ride was OK. We did make a brief stop at the Walnut Creek Elks Lodge, which was on the way, but the bar was closed because of the visitation of the District Deputy, so we were unable to get a drink or a lodge pin. We finally got back home right at 9:00 p.m., just as it was getting dark. Gotta love these long summer days.
Thursday, June 24th we did our laundry and a little caching, finding four more and bringing us right to the edge of 1,600 caches found. Friday morning we left the Delta Shores RV Resort about 10:00 a.m. and started North towards Sacramento. We were actually headed for the Carmichael Elks Lodge in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento. The lodge has a big RV lot and we have stayed there before. The whole trip was only 57 miles, but the roads were rough which made the trip uncomfortable. When we arrived at the Carmichael Elks we found that their RV lot was full and no one was leaving today. So we plotted a course across town, about 10 miles, to the Rancho Cordova Elks Lodge, which also has RV sites. We called first and the bartender told us that they had several open spots. After about a half hour trip we arrived at Rancho Cordova Lodge and moved in. We will be here for five days visiting some old friends of Jackie’s who live in Carmichael. Although the Carmichael lodge would have been a little more convenient, the Rancho Cordova Lodge is not that far away. The only real problem is that the Rancho Cordova Lodge RV park has very poor electricity. When they installed the RV spaces they apparently didn’t put in a big enough electric service for the 15 or so spots that they have. The result is that the voltage, which should be around 120 volts, will drop significantly when there are more than a couple of RV’s on the lot - especially if it’s hot and they are running A/C’s.
Running an air conditioner with voltage less than about 104 volts will overheat and eventually ruin the unit. We have an electrical protection device on our shore power line that will kick off if the voltage drops below 104 volts. When I plugged a meter into one of our 120 volt sockets I found that the voltage was about 108 volts. As soon as I turned on the A/C it dropped to 100 volts. The bottom line of all this is that the electrical service is too poor to be able to run an air conditioner in our unit. We were concerned because it was in the 90's when we arrived on Friday and the temps were predicted to be over 100 on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday we left the coach after lunch and headed over to Jackie’s friend Kathy’s gift shop, which was about 10 miles away. Jackie and Kathy had a good time catching up and talking and Jackie loves looking around Kathy’s shop. After an hour or so of chatting we left to go out and do some geocaching in the area. We were able to find five before we decided it was too hot to be outside looking for caches. The weatherman was right and it was about 102 degrees. We did manage to get to the 1,600 finds milestone on this day though! After caching we went back to the coach and found it to be VERY hot without any air conditioning running. The poor cat looked like he was melting. We opened all the windows and turned on all the fans and managed to get it down to a barely tolerable level. About 6:00 we left to have dinner with Kathy and her husband Bill at a restaurant called Tex Wasabi’s. Regular readers of this blog will remember that we are followers of a TV program called “Diner’s, Drive-in’s, and Dives” (Triple D) with the chef host Guy Fieri. Guy is one of the owner’s of Tex Wasabi’s and we wanted to try it out.
The restaurant was very crowded but we had the foresight to make reservations so Kathy and Bill were already seated when we got there. The service was a little slow, but that might be expected on a busy Saturday night. The menu was very eclectic, with a lot of sushi dishes along with BBQ and regular diner fare. I had the beef brisket, which was excellent. I took half of it home for lunch the next day. Jackie had one of the sushi rolls, which she also said was very good. The calamari we had for an appetizer was fair, not real hot and kind of chewy, even for calamari. If you are a follower of Triple D this is probably a “must visit”, but otherwise I wouldn’t rave about the place. It was good, but not fantastic. After dinner we headed home and tried to stay cool. I did find that after the sun went down and the demand for electricity in the city diminished, we were able to turn on one of the air conditioners without kicking off the power. This made it a little easier to sleep because it was still in the 90's, even at 11:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 27th we again left the coach after lunch and went to the mall to see a movie. We saw “Sex in the City II” which was cute. I know that it was a “chick flick” but I have a good sense of humor and liked the humor in the TV series, which we watched regularly when it was on, and I enjoyed it in both of the movies. It
really is a typical formula romantic comedy, as was the first movie. After the movie we did some light shopping at the mall and then headed out to dinner at Kathy’s daughter’s house. Jackie met Kathy when Julie, her daughter, was a young teen and they have been very close. Julie and her boyfriend, Kevin, have an adorable baby, Isabella Bliss, or Bella.
Julie asked us to come to her house to visit her and Kevin and the baby. After we got there she ordered some pizza and we had a very nice dinner. They have a very lovely new house in West Sacramento, along with the requisite dogs and cats. Both she and Kevin are in the mortgage business. After dinner we went for a walk with the family in the large private park that is a part of their home’s development. We had a very fun visit and finally left after dark when Bella went to bed. Bella took very well to Jackie, considering she is only 20 months old, but she was timid around me. She would talk to me, but wouldn’t come to me. She is a very cute kid.When we got back to the coach it was dark and again we were able to run an A/C to keep the house cool. My big concern was the poor cat. We could leave the coach during the heat of the day, and have been, but he is stuck there and probably miserable. The weatherman had originally said that it was going to start cooling down, but changed it and now was saying it was going to be over 100 on Monday too.
Monday morning we made a decision to try to find another place to park, somewhere we could run our air conditioning to try and keep the coach cooler. We called the Carmichael Elks and they told us they now had a couple of spots open. Jackie immediately got into the car and drove over there to pay for a spot while I packed up the coach and got it ready to move. Even though we were paid at the Rancho Cordova Lodge through Tuesday, it was just too tough to stay there without good power. After I got the coach packed up I drove the ten miles to the Carmichael Lodge, parked and got set up. Her we had good 50 amp electric power which meant that we could run BOTH air conditioners in the coach and do a much better job of keeping the heat at bay.
We stayed in the coach avoiding the heat until evening when we went out to join Kathy and Bill for dinner again, this time at a Mexican restaurant near Kathy’s shop, called La Casa. The service was very good as was the food. I can recommend this place, which is on Fair Oaks Avenue near University. The chili rellano was one of the best I have ever had. Stay away from the beef fajitas and shredded beef tacos - the meat was pretty tough. After dinner we headed home again and enjoyed a nice cool coach for a change.
Tuesday, June 29th we went out to have lunch at one of the Triple D featured restaurants in the area, the Squeeze-In diner. The claim to fame for this place is their cheeseburger. When they put the cheese on they pile a quarter pound of shredded cheddar on it while it is still on the grill and then serve it with a huge “halo” of crispy cheese hanging off the outside of the burger. Looks a little gross, but VERY tasty. They have recently moved from their original location which was very small, hence the name “Squeeze In” and the new place is a little larger, with a 20 seat lunch counter and several tables. We got there shortly after noon and the place was packed, although we only waited a few minutes for seats at the counter. The food was very good, although a little pricey. $20 for two burgers, two drinks and one order of fries is a little high, but we did go away full. Unfortunately, without the tiny old building the place just didn’t have the “funk factor” that it showed when it was featured on the TV show. Now it’s just another diner with messy cheeseburgers.
After lunch we went to Costco to do some shopping and stock up on liquor. We will be heading into Oregon soon and liquor is MUCH cheaper in California than it is in Oregon, where it is only available in State run liquor stores. After Costco we went to the mall and spent a couple hours walking around and getting some exercise while keeping cool. We then went by Kathy’s shop for one last visit before we leave Sacramento tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 30th we packed up the coach and headed North out of Sacramento heading for Red Bluff, California, about halfway between Sacramento and the Oregon border. While on the way we stopped in the town of Corning, about 20 miles South of Red Bluff, to get the coach serviced. Our motorhome needs the oil changed every 15,000 miles or annually. We never get to the 15,000 mile mark, so we always try to get the service done in June. Last year we discovered a company called Speedco, which is kind of like a Jiffy Lube for big trucks. They also do diesel motorhomes and their prices are significantly less than the cost of having it done at a motorhome service facility. In addition, they get it done a about 90 minutes versus all day at an RV service center.
We then headed up the last 20 miles to Red Bluff. Normally we stay at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge which is right off the freeway and on the Sacramento River. It is a very nice lodge and they have a lot of RV parking, however, it is only 30 amp and there is no sewer at the sites. Usually we only stay two or three days, so this is not a problem. However, while we were at the FMCA rally in Albuquerque in March there was a vendor there representing a new RV resort in Red Bluff. I had chatted with the guy and told him that we passed through Red Bluff a lot and he gave me a card good for half off our next stay. The resort is only a mile or so from the Elks and also on the river. We called the RV park, Durango RV Resort, and they had spots available so we went there. Their normal rate is about $40 per night, but you can get it down to $35 or so with discounts. However, they honored our half off and our three night stay was only $60, just what we would have paid at the Elks - and here we have resort amenities and full service 50 amp hookups. It is a very nice park. After we got set up I spent some time in the hot tub relaxing.
Thursday we went out after lunch to do some caching in the Red Bluff area and added another ten finds to our tally. The weather was still pretty warm, mid 90's, but there was a little breeze and it was dry, so it was manageable as long as you didn’t stay out in the direct sun too long. As long-time desert dwellers, we were used to that philosophy. After caching we did some shopping and then headed back to the coach for the evening. Friday we did our laundry after lunch and then decided it was too hot to go caching, so we just stayed around the coach the rest of the day and relaxed.
Saturday, July 3rd, we got an early start out of Red Bluff for our next destination, Gold Hill, Oregon, between Medford and Grants Pass. The drive was about 190 miles and, although almost all of it was on freeway, it is still a mountainous drive with a lot of grades and curves. In addition, it was a holiday weekend so we anticipated heavier than normal traffic. We were correct - the traffic was moderately heavy the entire way. The worst part, however, was as we were on the upgrade on I-5 near Mount Shasta in Northern California. We came around a curve and traffic came to a standstill. We crept forward for about an hour, perhaps five miles, until we came upon the cause of the backup. A motorhome, a diesel pusher, had caught fire, apparently in the engine compartment in the back, and burned on the side of the road. They must have responded pretty quickly because only the back third of the coach was destroyed - usually these fiberglass houses go up in a matter of minutes. However, their tow vehicle, which looked like a Toyota Prius, was also completely burned. It is kind of scary when you come upon this kind of thing. Makes you wonder what these people lost in the fire.
After we got out of the traffic jam the second half of the journey was tiresome, but otherwise uneventful. We arrived at the Valley of the Rogue State Park near Gold Hill, Oregon, about 3:00 p.m., a little later than we had planned. We are going to be here in this beautiful park for 12 days. We have stayed in this State Park
several times in the past. It is very nice, with trees and grass and spaces placed a decent distance from each other. It also has full hookup (water, electric and sewer) with good 50 amp electric. As we were setting up we noted that the temperature was in the low 80's instead of the low 100's we suffered through during the previous week. After getting setup we relaxed the rest of the evening.With our departure from California and our arrival in beautiful Oregon, we will close this chapter of the blog. We will post again in a few weeks, just before we begin our round of rallies here in the Beaver State. Until then, stay safe and live well.
