October Happenings (10-2018)

Very soon after arriving home in October, Paul's  brother Tom and his wife Sue stopped by for a few days. They are now retired and have a motor home. We look forward to meeting up with them along the way!


Of course we made time for a trip to the Desert Bar before they left....

Our daughter Jess moved into a new apartment in Los Angeles, in October, and needed some of her household items that were being stored at our place, so I took a short road trip and met her about halfway,  where we transferred her stuff from my car to hers. There may have been some shopping done as well, haha.

Back at home, the hummingbirds were hungry enough to eat from the handheld feeder. Pretty cool.

The weather wasn't great in October in Havasu... we did manage to take the boat out, and hike a few times, but it wasn't too long before we decided to go on a road trip.

We loaded up the truck camper and headed to California.

The  route we chose was fairly remote, with few campgrounds along the way. In fact, most of the towns we were going through didn't have any television reception, which we considered vital that particular night. We called places until we found a campground that had cable (only in the clubhouse, but that worked) so we could watch the Red Sox win the World Series.

Our first stop was  Giant Sequoia National Monument, where we walked the Trail of 100 Giants.













This wasn't a particularly long trail but it was an interesting one.















Our second stop was Sequoia National Park.  Here we spent several days exploring and hiking. We found it astonishing that neither of us had spent any time here!

We couldn't have asked for better weather, and one of the perks of traveling in the truck camper is that its easier to fit into campgrounds that are IN the national parks, which really adds to the experience.

Many of the trees and groves here have been given names...The Senate, the House, etc. And of course, General Sherman tree....the Largest tree, by volume, in the world.  Note the car in the picture of this tree.

As impressive as the trees were, the trail with the best view was the granite dome called Moro Rock.

This trail wound around the granite, all the way to the top. Or, at least I assume it goes all the way.  The trail got a little narrow for me, and the railing was a little low for my taste,  so I waited for Paul just below the crest.

Even driving around the park was interesting...

 After a few days of hiking, we moved on to our final destination- Fresno, and the fraternity brothers.

Kirk was building a hot tub shack at his cabin in the mountains, so the guys got together to help, while the girls played Rummikub and provided the men with refreshments.

 Once the weekend was over, we headed back to Havasu.

Fresno Happenings (05-13-14)

Things have been winding down a bit in Fresno.  There are just a few more details for Kirk and Paul to finish and then Paul’s part in  Kirk and Karen’s condo projects will be finished.
The new floor has been laid, most of the cabinets have been painted (the bottom doors will be finished tomorrow), the appliances are in, and a lot of baseboard and walls have been painted.









Of course, life is never all work and no play…

  Last week, while Paul and Kirk were busy,  Kevin and I took off to Sequoia National Forest and hiked the Hart Tree Trail.

Hiking among the Sequoias is always awesome.  They are enormous! This trail was about 7 miles long, with maybe 500 feet of elevation gain.  The weather was perfect for being on the trail.

  At one point we were supposed to pass by Fallen Goliath (NOT the tree in this picture.)  Goliath has been on the ground since before any recorded history in the park.  Unfortunately when we got there, we could still smell the smoke from the fire that destroyed this giant Sequoia..  Apparently just a week or so ago someone set fire to the log and it almost all burned in the fire.  Too bad.

 
Mother’s Day weekend was spent relaxing at Kirk and Karen’s cabin near Shaver Lake.

The 6 of us always have a great time together, whether its cooking, hiking, working on projects, or playing cards.

Part of the reason we are still in Fresno is because tonight, Paul becomes an Elk!  I am sure there are many good reasons to become an Elk, but for us, the biggest reason is that many Elk lodges have small RV parks attached to them. This may come in very handy, especially on our trip to Alaska.

Speaking of Alaska- our scheduled day for bugging out of here is next Tuesday.  We are quickly taking care of all the last minute details required for that, and just today we rented the enclosed storage unit that will house our Mobile Suites for 5 months.

This weekend we’ll take off for a short trip to L.A. to see our daughter one last time before we leave.

From the Frigid Cold of Boston to the Bitter Cold of California? (12-10-13)

  Here I was, looking forward to leaving the cold temperatures of New England behind me, but I had forgotten that we were headed to the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California for the weekend.

I’m glad I brought my winter coat with me because temperatures up at Shaver Lake were in the teens.

Lucky us, we also got about 8 inches of snow while we were in the mountains.  It was actually really nice.  Very peaceful and beautiful. It’s nice being in the snow when you know that at soon as you come down off the mountain, you’ll be leaving it behind.

The truck has never seen so much of that white stuff!

Someone was very happy about the cold and the snow!

Our friends, Kirk and Karen, have a cabin up in the mountains and we were up there for the weekend so the guys could do some more work on the master bathroom renovation.

  Of course, the weekend was not all work and no play- we did plenty of eating, as usual. Dinner was particularly fun, since Suzy brought all the makings for fondue with her.

Some of us took advantage of the sunshine to go for a (short) walk.

Paul’s drink of choice, Smirnoff Ice lived up to it’s name for the first time.

Once the weekend was over, it was back down to the city of Fresno for us. That’s where I got to see everything that Paul’s been up to while I was away.  He bought all the fasteners needed to put a truck camper on our F450, and he is adding some switches to the cab of the truck.  We have two horns on our truck.  One is the “baby” horn that came with it, and the other is a set of train horns that Paul installed.  Hearing that horn is an unforgettable experience (the decibel level is incredible).  It’s not a horn that we toot lightly because beeping at an unwary biker, for example, could easily cause them to fall off the bike.  So, having a switch is awesome.  Paul is moving that switch from outside the grill to inside the cab.  We also have an air compressor in the toolbox so we can easily add air to things like the air horns, the air hitch, the air springs, and of course, the tires. He is moving the control for that into the cab as well.

   And of course, once again, life is not all work and no play.  While I was away, Kirk gave Paul a scooter.  Not the kind that’s like a motorcycle, but the kind we grew up with that had no motor. Except this one definitely has a motor. 

It goes so fast, Paul was a blur in every picture.  When I expressed concern as to what purpose this scooter will serve, and where on earth we’ll store it, I got no sympathy.  Karen was just happy to have it out of her garage (traitor!) and the guys suggested I use it to go back and forth while doing laundry. Ha.

We wrapped up our visit to Fresno by having people over for our standard Mexican food and Margarita Fest.  We always have a great time in Fresno, and we plan to be back in the spring.  I think we’ll use this as our jumping off point for our trip to Alaska, moving into our truck camper  and leaving the 5th wheel in storage here.