Its Like Someone Pushed a Button. (11-30-13)

there is no such thing as Enough Lights

Driving home in the dark the day after Thanksgiving (which means about 4 pm around here) I was amazed at the amount of houses that had their Christmas lights all lit up. It's like someone flipped a switch and we went from Thanksgiving to Christmas in one day.
I am cheating using this picture as an example though. This is actually the house Paul and I had before we went on the road.  As you can see, his fascination with lights is not a new thing.








So, what have I been up to, here in Boston.....I went Christmas shopping (BEFORE Thanksgiving) with my sister.  We tortured my daughter- I sent her a picture of this dress with the text "Help! Aunt Debbie wanted to buy this dress for you because it would match your cat! I had to talk her out of it! "  Jess's response was that it might look cute... I guess we need to pick an uglier dress next time.

Stephen and I went to see the movie Gravity, in 3D.  My opinion?  Don't bother.  Its a movie about Sandra Bullock trying to survive in space when a million things go wrong.  By about halfway through the movie, we were both rooting for Space to win.  It was a good movie for 3D however.






Thanksgiving Day I went out to dinner with one of my brothers, my sister, and my son.  No pictures.  I am so bad at taking pictures when I am with people.  We had a great lunch/dinner at Legal Sea Foods, a well known local restaurant.  I had fish, not turkey- I eat turkey all the time.  Its the first time I have deliberately gone out to a restaurant on Thanksgiving (one year I got stuck on the road and never actually made it home that day- ate a turkey sandwich at a 7 Eleven store).  It was really nice eating out, and we went back to my sister's place for dessert.

I've had some time to read my favorite forums, where I found this picture that is supposedly  the results of a wind storm.  Amazing and scary if the wind could just knock over a 5th wheel like that.

I've also had time to watch the live feed of my favorite pair of Bald Eagles.{Ft. Myers Eagle Cam }
    They now have two eggs in the nest and take turns incubating them.  Its cool to watch them carefully settle themselves on top of the eggs, making sure they don't break.  They also use their talons to turn the eggs periodically.



That's about what I've been doing.  Nothing exciting per se, but I sure have enjoyed spending time with my family!

From Sea to Shining Sea (11-21-13)

One of the perks of traveling the way we do is the flexibility of our lifestyle.  Once we left the west coast, we headed inland to spend a few weeks in Fresno, where Paul went to college  and several of his (and now my) friends live.




Everyone knows that Paul is a "project guy". He loves to fix things and build things, especially when they aren't HIS things.  Don't tell his friends this but he loves to work on their projects so he can learn from any mistakes he makes.  His friends are obliging him by giving him things to work on, as well as helping him with his truck projects.














 Anyway, so about that flexibility. Two things "hit" me.  One, Paul would be among friends for the next few weeks (not like last time I left him to go home and he spent 2 weeks alone in Wall, SD)  and two, having just seen our daughter, I was now missing our son.

 So, off I went, flying the friendly skies of United, bound for Boston.

I love getting a window seat.  I'm still like a kid- I watch the scenery go by right up until it's blocked by clouds.











Since I got here I've been hanging out with my son, and my brothers and sisters.  I'm glad I brought my winter coat-with the windchill factor, it's 5 degrees out there!

Coastal California (11-16-13)

After leaving Los Angeles,  we were headed up the coast to Morro Bay to meet up with some friends.  On the way we stopped for 2 nights in Pismo Beach  to check it out because I, for one, had never been there.  Now I am looking forward to getting back there at some point! We could walk to the beach from our RV park, and if we had had time, we could have walked to a cute looking downtown area.  Instead, we chose to hang out with our neighbors.  There were two couples traveling together.  One was parked on one side of us, and the other was on the other side.  They were great people and we hope to catch up with them again!

Dozer stalking his prey

 Dozer was very happy to be rid of the Parking Lot RV park that we had been in while in Los Angeles.  Not only does Pismo have lots of grass, it has lots of wildlife too.

Here's the cat's eye view of the ducks that Dozer spent the afternoon stalking.

sunset at Pismo Beach

 Directly behind our site was a sitting area where people gathered to watch the sunset.  Pretty convenient for us, and a great way to meet new people!
The weather was perfect while we were there- it was even warm enough that I can say I swam in the Pacific Ocean.  Paul can say that he watched me swim in the ocean.  He doesn't like cold water much.

Morro Rock from the house

After a very short stop, we headed up to Morro Bay, which is known for the famous rock- Morro Rock. Once again our RV park was walking distance to the beach but the weather here is much cooler and it was windy so we never actually made it to the beach.

Sigma Chi brothers

 Our friends came up for the weekend and some of them stayed in a nearby house. These guys are Paul's fraternity brothers and trust me, when we get together, it's always a great time!

Most get-togethers tend to revolve around food, and this one was no exception!

 Since the weather wasn't conducive to being at the beach, we did what many Californians do when they need to fill time- we went wine tasting!

With more people arriving for dinner, we decided to cook, instead of going to a restaurant.  Everyone contributed something to the meal.

It was a great idea to do it that way- we got to relax over our dinner and spent the evening laughing and chatting.








The weekend came to an end way too quickly but we left everyone knowing that we'll be seeing them again in the near future, so it's easier to say goodbye.

L.A. Living (11-09-13)

I think living in L.A. is not for the faint of heart.  I might think that partly because driving a dually around the city of Angels is not exactly fun, but the amount of people that live here is overwhelming anyway! Traffic, of course, is a nightmare,  Everyone parks on the street, because they have converted their garages to living space.

The RV park we were staying in is right on the ocean.  There were some positives to that- obviously the beach was great, but we were on the flight path for LAX and the planes flew right over the RV park at times.  Not so much fun.

 
In the winter, they build up a large berm to protect the RV park from ocean storms.  Unfortunately the berm was up, and blocked our view of the water- but the kids enjoyed sledding, L.A. style!









The sunset view from the top of the berm was unbeatable!









We had a whirlwind visit with Jess.  It started with her cooking dinner for Paul and I at her apartment.

The following day we headed to brunch at BLD’s, a popular L.A. restaurant. We needed fortification for the full day of shopping ahead of us!  Jess’s Christmas present is some new clothes, so we were off to the mall to see what we could find.

The mall was so big we used Paul’s GPS to find our way to the next store on our list.  Finally, after hours of  shopping, we had everything we needed!

Sunday, Paul’s brother and sister-in-law drove up for lunch.  Tom showed Jess his stacking can trick before we all went for a walk on the beach to walk off our quesadillas.

We finally got the bikes off the back of the trailer and took advantage of the bike trail that runs more than 20 miles, from just outside our trailer to Marina Del Rey.  So beautiful to ride along the shoreline.








   Marina del Rey is home to quite a few seals, and several of them were swimming nearby as we rode along.











Only in L.A:  On the bike ride back, the trail was about to be closed because a TV show was filming nearby.  One of the stars loved Paul’s mustache and stopped me to show me pictures of his dad, who also sports a handlebar mustache and looks a lot like Paul!



Of course, our visit was too short and way too soon it was time to move on to our next destination.

Joshua Tree National Park (11-05-13)

 The Hikes

So, in between relaxing in the hot tub, and doing laundry, we’ve gone to Joshua Tree National Park to do some hiking.  The first trail that we picked to hike is closed due to flash floods back in September. 

  We asked the Ranger’s opinion on another trail to hike, and she suggested Coyote Mine.  Well, anytime you say “mine” , sign Paul up!  We got directions and headed out on the “trail”. Unfortunately, the directions were terrible and the trail is unmarked.  We wandered around looking for this mine for a while.  We did come upon some great views along the way!

It’s not unheard of to have unmarked trails in the desert.  We had two GPS’s with us so we weren’t worried about finding our way back home.  We finally found “the mine”.  There were just a few timbers left, and some tailings. No other signs of activity. 

So, we left and headed back to the truck.  We took a different route, and hadn’t realized how high up we were from the valley until we came across this area.  We had the choice of picking our way down the boulders or turning around.

We slowly picked our way through the boulders down the hill, and made it back to the truck. 

Paul did some research and found a trail he wanted to try- to another mine- no surprise there!  We took Split Rock Trail to Eagle Cliff Mine. Split Rock trail was pretty neat- full of the huge boulders that make up Joshua Tree National Park.

Once again we had to hike up a pile of rocks to get to the ridge.  We couldn’t find an actual trail on the way up, although on the way down, we found it.  We know there is a miner’s cabin atop this ridge, and we thought we had decent directions to find it.  Wrong again!

  After reaching the ridge and searching for the cabin, we came across two women who were also searching.  They had the guide book with them so the four of us teamed up.  I couldn’t believe that the directions in the book said something like “ Go to the right of the big boulder, and turn left at the three slanted rocks.” Really?  Look at this picture. There’s nothing BUT boulders.  Which “big boulder??”

The “cabin” is built into the side of some boulders, and the entrance is hidden by a large tree.  If you look in this picture, you can see one of the women we were with.

The cabin was really cool-it has been left just as it was when it was occupied, over 100 years ago.  I am guessing they make it hard to find so it doesn’t get vandalized.

 

Anyway, it was a pretty cool destination, and the whole hike was only about 4 miles.

As our map indicates, we have now moved on from Indio and are staying near our daughter, just outside of Los Angeles, right on the beach (and the flight path for LAX!).

Indio, CA (11-04-13)

Indio is one of the towns in the Coachella Valley in southern California.  We've been through this area before but there’s lots more to see.  We have about 6 days to spend here, so we've been prioritizing what day trips we’d like to take. 

The Salton Sea

Our first venture was to the Salton Sea

The Salton Sea was created accidentally.  For centuries, this area had been a dry lake bed. In the early 1900s, the fertile land in the valley was being used for farming, but there was a shortage of water for irrigation.

.

Two men were hired to dig a canal from the Colorado River to the ancient lake bed.  For several years the canals worked well to provide the needed water. When the water stopped flowing, the men came back and built a second canal.

Unfortunately, soon after, the Colorado River flooded, and the two canals became one.The entire Colorado River was now flowing into the lake bed. It took 18 months to get the river back to flowing in its original path.  In the meantime, a 45 mile by 20 mile lake had been created- the Salton Sea.

Three rivers still feed the lake but there is no outlet, so the only loss of water comes from evaporation.  That increases the salinity of the water on a regular basis.  Fewer and fewer species of fish could survive in the salty water, and now, although there are still millions of fish in the lake, they are all Tilapia, the last surviving species.

Salvation Mountain

The Visitor Center at Salton Sea  gave us a list of “things to do” in the area and we noticed that there were two familiar things on the list.  The first is called Salvation Mountain. Originally created by artist Leonard Knight in the 1980s, many people have added to this desert monument.  People come to visit and bring a gallon of paint to add to the monument.

We spoke with someone doing some maintenance on the "mountain” and I asked him who owns the land.  I was curious to find out if it’s private land, or public.  The guy laughed when I asked the question.

The land is/was government land and  was home to a military base during World War II. Years after the war it was discovered that the land is quite contaminated. Ever since then, no one really knows what to do with the land, so they pretty much ignore it. So, as long as no one complains, Salvation Mountain is allowed to exist. 

Slab City

Nearby is what’s called Slab City.  The “Slabs” are the cement slabs left over from buildings of the military era.  Many people call this place home during the winter months.  Without a doubt they are all people who want to live “off the grid”. 


I am guessing that during the summer, this place is somewhat abandoned. but during the cooler months, thousands of trailers dot the landscape. A friend of ours spends a good portion of the winter here. It looks like a pretty cool community, but I prefer a few more services.

Well, as has been happening a lot lately, I work on my blog post for too long, IT becomes too long and I am late posting it. etc etc.  So I’m going to finally just put this out there,  and hopefully post another one pretty quickly.

A Short Visit to Phoenix (11-01-13)

When It rains, it pours.  We ordered our new air conditioner in Tucson from a warehouse in Phoenix, so we drove up there and stayed in one of our favorite resorts for a few days so we could install it and make sure there were no problems, before moving on. 




  The day we put it in, we discovered that our Fantastic Vent, the ceiling fan that vents pretty much the whole trailer, isn’t working anymore.  Since its less than a  year old, that didn’t make us very happy.  Paul called the company and they did some troubleshooting over the phone.  In the end, they decided they have to send us a new one.  At least they didn’t give us an argument.  They just asked when we bought it and where we want the new one shipped. 

So, back to the air conditioner.  Our biggest challenge was getting the 110 lb box up onto the roof.  We ended up renting a ladder from a place down the street.

We set the ladder up to “walk” the A/C unit up to the roof.  I went up on the roof to help pull and guide the box, and Paul pushed it up.  While we were figuring  out our plan of attack, our neighbor came over and decided we needed a second ladder so he brought his over. As Paul pushed the box up, Bruce helped guide it and kept it moving smoothly.  It was really nice having his help!








 

Once everything was up there, it was relatively easy to install the air conditioner.  Of course, Paul did most of it- I just helped lift it into place and counted the seconds until I could get down off the roof!

When we looked at our plans for the next week or so we decided to stick around an extra day so we could go to the Halloween dance. With the Passport America discount, we’re only paying $22 a night for this place and considering all the amenities, it’s quite a bargain and difficult to leave!  We met up with Bruce and his wife Michelle at the dance, and had an awesome time.

Since we had one more day, we started the process of educating ourselves about truck campers. A truck camper would sit in the bed of our F450. Nothing would be towed behind us.  If we want to take it off the truck while we’re in a campground, we can, but we can also leave it on the truck if we want to.

We’re not tired of our Mobile Suites, and no, it certainly isn’t suddenly feeling too big.

Our tentative plan is to spend next summer- about 3-4 months- in Alaska. For a variety of reasons, we would prefer to not bring our big 5th wheel up there.  Our main reason is actually flexibility.  We feel like in Alaska, it will be much easier to “blow and go”, boondocking ( basically just pulling off the road to sleep) along the way. 

 
It will be easier to park the truck with nothing being towed behind it, and we won’t have to make campground reservations.  This past summer, in Canada, one of our stresses was making sure we had a place to park for the night.







So, we went out looking.  We’re learning which brands are best, and which features are important.  We’re thinking we’ll try to buy something used, and then sell it when we are done.  Possibly before we even leave Alaska.   Are we sure we’re going to Alaska? Nope.  It IS our plan though.  Are we sure we’re going to get a truck camper? Nope.  We may end up taking our own rig, but it doesn’t hurt to educate ourselves!