Well we got here a day early because the night before we had reservations for 2 nights at Harrah's Rincon resort just outside of San Diego but decided against going there. Why you ask.....it's 20 miles into the mountains around San Diego on reservation property, not far but in a motor home pulling a Jeep it was a bit harry and besides a sign read "vehicles over 40' not recommended". Our rig is 37' with 4' between RV and Jeep and what 8 to 10' of Jeep....so we're about 50' and that freaked me out a bit, and it was dark which made it even scarier! So there was a Wal-Mart just back a few miles where we spent the night and the next morning came to the La Pacifica RV park a day early and they could accommodate us, so we'll be here for six days instead of five.
The RV park, La Pacifica is very nice and clean, all the amenities we need and close to buses, trains, and trollies into whatever in San Diego if we don't want to drive. The place like I said is really kept clean and that is great and somewhat surprising because 95% of the RV's are full time here, and 95% of those full timers are Hispanic. Not that Hispanic's aren't clean but we find no matter what the residence if a RV park has a lot of full timers it's usually not near as neat and clean as others. If you think about it at a monthly rate of $620 a month including utilities for San Diego that's pretty cheap living for those folks. Besides that we're only 4 miles from Tijuana, Mexico where most of these folks no doubt have family/friends, and there are buses running across the border hourly daily.
Now we await the kids arrival on Friday and that is with great anticipation because we miss them all so much after 3 plus months on the road and 6400 miles it's been a while. As a matter of fact I just checked and by the time we get home we'll have logged 6780 miles if we don't deviate from the usual route from San Diego to Phoenix. I actually thought we might hit the 7000 mile mark this year but looks like we'll fall a bit short of that, but still 6780 is a lot of miles especially at roughly $3.65/gallon and 6.8 mpg on average. Wow if you look at it like that it's about $3640.00 for gas on the trek, but you can't put a price on the friends we seen and met and the things we did and seen and the fun we had along the way. But then again you could look at it this way, we'll have been on the road for 94 days and take an average of $75/night in hotel/motels and you would have spent $7050 just for a place to sleep. Oh whatever.........money well spent in our minds and that's what counts, life is too short and we're taking in all we can while we can and enjoying every minute of the journey (well almost every minute...we do have our occasional spats) and it's sights and characters we meet along the way.
We hope to meet up with Matty's best friend and one of ours Time Anspach while we're here in San Diego, it's always good to see Tim and catch up on his life here in San Diego.
It's time to get outside and put my wind ornaments and garb like that around the motor home, didn't spend as much time in any one spot long enough to do that on most of the trip. While in Iowa it was due to rain for the first week or so of that leg of the trip, and wind and rain in Des Moines but from there on it was really great weather. Last year record heat wherever we went and this year after the first couple of weeks of rain the weather has been cool and comforting the rest of the way!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Last night in Monterey
We spent the last night on the Monterey Peninsula on Cannery Row, yes the same Cannery Row of the John Steinbeck novel by the same name. Only one problem, the wife likes Mexican and had a hankering for the south of the border food and believe it or not there was a restaurant serving that type of food. It was OK since we've had quite a bit of sea food lately and it was a nice change.
Stopped in one of the many shops selling T-shirts and other tourist crap and yes we bought some more stuff or the kids and grand kids. I'm guessing we've spent $500 plus on gifts for the kids and grand kids, but it's all so cool and I know they'll really like the stuff we bought. That of question never goes out of style I guess " what did you bring me back............." and once again everything has to be -Even Steven- if you know what I mean!
Well the night was good and the day was another one of those lazy ones, yes I agree we've had a few of those lately haven't we. The journey is coming to an end and we've invited the kids to join us in San Diego for the holiday weekend and so they will be coming over to San Diego to join us for our last few days on the trek. Want to take the grand kids to Sea World, it will be so good to see them all, we can't wait. We'll pull out tomorrow and head to San Diego and get there on the 28th and get set up for the kids and enjoy a good weekend before heading the coach to the barn for a few months. It's been fun but it's not over yet!
Stopped in one of the many shops selling T-shirts and other tourist crap and yes we bought some more stuff or the kids and grand kids. I'm guessing we've spent $500 plus on gifts for the kids and grand kids, but it's all so cool and I know they'll really like the stuff we bought. That of question never goes out of style I guess " what did you bring me back............." and once again everything has to be -Even Steven- if you know what I mean!
Well the night was good and the day was another one of those lazy ones, yes I agree we've had a few of those lately haven't we. The journey is coming to an end and we've invited the kids to join us in San Diego for the holiday weekend and so they will be coming over to San Diego to join us for our last few days on the trek. Want to take the grand kids to Sea World, it will be so good to see them all, we can't wait. We'll pull out tomorrow and head to San Diego and get there on the 28th and get set up for the kids and enjoy a good weekend before heading the coach to the barn for a few months. It's been fun but it's not over yet!
Monterey Peninsula, California (and Salinas)
We're actually in a KOA outside of Monterey in Salinas, California. The place is gorgeous and so many fields of produce and fruits, mostly berries as it looks, and also the garlic and artichoke capitals of the U.S. We just about 15 minutes from the Monterey Wharf and Cannery Row on the end of the Peninsula, once again great sea food and a lot of tourist stuff to do. The weather is the best part I guess, we actually had to wear jackets on the way to the wharf but in the sun it was nice. The high yesterday was 69 and supposed to get to 70 today and 68 tomorrow, yet one more place along our journey Bev says she loves!
The trip out of Tahoe was very smokey, all the was down the hill into Sacramento but thickest up near Tahoe. The fires around Yosemite are really blazing and only 7% contained as of this writing, it was very hard to breath even while traveling in the motor home until we got into Sacramento and went south from there.
We hit a town called "Los Banos" about 4:30 p.m. ................Los Banos, I believe that's "The Toilet" or something like that in Spanish and it was hot in the coach so we decided to go on into Salinas and glad we did. We were her by 6:30 or so and got a great place in another great KOA, as Bev was making the reservations over the phone I heard her say 30 amp (the electric hook-up power the site provides and we prefer 50 amp in case we need both A/C units running at once) the guy on the other end heard me say 50 and he told her not to worry we would need the heater long before we'd need A/C and he was so right...just wonderful!
Yesterday we road into or down the peninsula thru Sea Side and Sand City (major sand dunes along the coast) to Monterey and the Wharf and Cannery Row. Sea food abounds once more and you know how we love it, start off with squid, clam chowder, shrimp, salmon and mahi mahi (durado) and then have no room for desert! We think each time which chowder was the best and it's always the latest one seems the best, when in essences their all pretty damn good. We started eating chowder in upper Wisconsin in Duluth/Superior and then once more in Oregon and the the Bay area and now the Monterey Peninsula...........all good, yep all good!
It's already 10:00 a.m., Bev has slept in a bit and we're decided what to do today, we leave her tomorrow heading towards San Diego for those last days of the journey. We have already made reservations at a place called La Pacifica RV park in San Diego, 4 miles from Imperial beach and 4 miles from the Mexican border at Tijuana............no not going any closer to that place! We'll be there from the 28th thru the 1st and were damn lucky to get a place at all due to the Labor Day weekend, most places were booked up already. We've invited the kids to drive over and spend the weekend with up in San Diego and we could take the grand kids to Sea World or something, hoping the all can make it, we miss them so and would love nothing more than to spend our last few days on the road with them around. I'll let you know if this will all come to fruition.
The trip out of Tahoe was very smokey, all the was down the hill into Sacramento but thickest up near Tahoe. The fires around Yosemite are really blazing and only 7% contained as of this writing, it was very hard to breath even while traveling in the motor home until we got into Sacramento and went south from there.
We hit a town called "Los Banos" about 4:30 p.m. ................Los Banos, I believe that's "The Toilet" or something like that in Spanish and it was hot in the coach so we decided to go on into Salinas and glad we did. We were her by 6:30 or so and got a great place in another great KOA, as Bev was making the reservations over the phone I heard her say 30 amp (the electric hook-up power the site provides and we prefer 50 amp in case we need both A/C units running at once) the guy on the other end heard me say 50 and he told her not to worry we would need the heater long before we'd need A/C and he was so right...just wonderful!
Yesterday we road into or down the peninsula thru Sea Side and Sand City (major sand dunes along the coast) to Monterey and the Wharf and Cannery Row. Sea food abounds once more and you know how we love it, start off with squid, clam chowder, shrimp, salmon and mahi mahi (durado) and then have no room for desert! We think each time which chowder was the best and it's always the latest one seems the best, when in essences their all pretty damn good. We started eating chowder in upper Wisconsin in Duluth/Superior and then once more in Oregon and the the Bay area and now the Monterey Peninsula...........all good, yep all good!
It's already 10:00 a.m., Bev has slept in a bit and we're decided what to do today, we leave her tomorrow heading towards San Diego for those last days of the journey. We have already made reservations at a place called La Pacifica RV park in San Diego, 4 miles from Imperial beach and 4 miles from the Mexican border at Tijuana............no not going any closer to that place! We'll be there from the 28th thru the 1st and were damn lucky to get a place at all due to the Labor Day weekend, most places were booked up already. We've invited the kids to drive over and spend the weekend with up in San Diego and we could take the grand kids to Sea World or something, hoping the all can make it, we miss them so and would love nothing more than to spend our last few days on the road with them around. I'll let you know if this will all come to fruition.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Last night in Lake Tahoe
Yesterday we got up early and went golfing at Tahoe Paradise golf
club, an executive course which suits Bev's game better. Another golf
course with tall pines and narrow fairways but the beauty of the
northwest and the coolness of the same. This course was probably the
narrowest but yet both Bev and I hit the ball rather well and straight
for the most part. There was this gal that Bev had asked how the course
was and she said nice but be sure and take a lot of balls, meaning
being so narrow you'll end up in the woods quite often and lose a lot of
balls................Bev only lost 2 and I did lose one that I might
have found but didn't bother with it. We did good, I shot an 82 and Bev
a 108 which was great for her game! Looking back on the past
2 1/2 months we played a lot of golf on a lot of nice courses, from top
of the line to muni's and enjoyed all of them. We visited a lot of
friends and family along the way seen some new and exciting places in
this wonderful country of ours, Diana Shore had it right when she sang
"see the USA in your Chevrolet........check this out: Diana Shore
We weren't in a Chevrolet per say but we do have a 496 cubic inch fuel injected Chevrolet engine on a Work Horse chassis, so we are in kind of in a Chevrolet I guess.
Today was yet another of those lazy days around the camp site, Bev had some work to do and I just plain was a vegetable for the most part, a real retirement day I guess you could say. We pull out of Lake Tahoe tomorrow heading back towards Sacramento and hooking up with interstate 5 heading south. Not sure where we'll end up but we do know one thing we're on the last leg and heading home. We'll probably be home in a week I'd guess or maybe a day sooner or later, depends I guess on what crosses our path on the way towards Phoenix. It's a little sad not having anything or and place in particular to be heading to at this point but all good things must come to an end and this voyage is on it's last leg!
Believe this, I'm already thing of the next one and which direction it will be in, why wait a year to hit the road maybe sooner...................................
We weren't in a Chevrolet per say but we do have a 496 cubic inch fuel injected Chevrolet engine on a Work Horse chassis, so we are in kind of in a Chevrolet I guess.
Today was yet another of those lazy days around the camp site, Bev had some work to do and I just plain was a vegetable for the most part, a real retirement day I guess you could say. We pull out of Lake Tahoe tomorrow heading back towards Sacramento and hooking up with interstate 5 heading south. Not sure where we'll end up but we do know one thing we're on the last leg and heading home. We'll probably be home in a week I'd guess or maybe a day sooner or later, depends I guess on what crosses our path on the way towards Phoenix. It's a little sad not having anything or and place in particular to be heading to at this point but all good things must come to an end and this voyage is on it's last leg!
Believe this, I'm already thing of the next one and which direction it will be in, why wait a year to hit the road maybe sooner...................................
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Nice night on the Lake
Last night was the dinner cruise on Lake Tahoe and everything from the weather to full moon made it a very pleasant cruise. The weather had been threatening all day, forecast of thunder storms and overcast skies were present all day. I guess it was about 4:00 p.m. and we were getting ready for the evenings activities when the sun came out, and thanks to a little breeze the skies cleared and the haze was gone. Thanks to the good Lord the evening was just perfect weather wise and the cruise was a most pleasant 3 hour tour.
The views were great, high Sierra's surrounding this massive Lake of crystal clear blue water with average depths of 1000' with a maximum depth of 1645' and the best part to me is the clarity, a 70' depth clarity which seems even deeper. There were parts of the lake we went through were the water was a mere 4 - 5' deep in spots and so many designs on the bottom looking from the boat. I've never seen such blue and I mean deep blue water in a lake before, it is truly a sight you'd all enjoy taking in.
The dinner was very good, choices of steak, chicken, salmon or pasta with all the trimmings included. The bar was a different story though, drinks ranging in price from $8 to $5.50 for draft beer. Don't get me wrong, the money was well spent and I would do it again tomorrow but they do make it rather pricy for the average family. The tickets were $75 each and then $8 to park in the lot leading to the dock, then 3 drinks at $8 and a couple of glasses of wine with the meal for $6 each and then gratuity for the waiters.......of all these the only one that bothered me was the parking, no need to rape us for parking in what looked like a public lot. Oh well, like I said it was well worth it for us and we enjoyed it but I'm sure a lot of families had to pass because of the high cost and that's a shame.
I mentioned the fact that there was a full moon, as a matter of fact we didn't realize that until sitting up on the deck after finishing our meal. Picture this, a brisk, breezy evening on a beautiful lake with the moon shimmering atop the water leading away from the boat towards the shore. Leading to a shore of only a few lights spotted from here to there and all passing by oh so slowly as we made our way along the shore. The upper and second decks were scattered with folks, guys with there special ladies and the occasional family wrapping up the little ones. Yes, a very nice evening to be snuggled up next to someone special and the full moon made it all that much better.
Today is a new day and we're not sure as of now what it will bring, but you can be sure it will be enjoyed.
The views were great, high Sierra's surrounding this massive Lake of crystal clear blue water with average depths of 1000' with a maximum depth of 1645' and the best part to me is the clarity, a 70' depth clarity which seems even deeper. There were parts of the lake we went through were the water was a mere 4 - 5' deep in spots and so many designs on the bottom looking from the boat. I've never seen such blue and I mean deep blue water in a lake before, it is truly a sight you'd all enjoy taking in.
The dinner was very good, choices of steak, chicken, salmon or pasta with all the trimmings included. The bar was a different story though, drinks ranging in price from $8 to $5.50 for draft beer. Don't get me wrong, the money was well spent and I would do it again tomorrow but they do make it rather pricy for the average family. The tickets were $75 each and then $8 to park in the lot leading to the dock, then 3 drinks at $8 and a couple of glasses of wine with the meal for $6 each and then gratuity for the waiters.......of all these the only one that bothered me was the parking, no need to rape us for parking in what looked like a public lot. Oh well, like I said it was well worth it for us and we enjoyed it but I'm sure a lot of families had to pass because of the high cost and that's a shame.
I mentioned the fact that there was a full moon, as a matter of fact we didn't realize that until sitting up on the deck after finishing our meal. Picture this, a brisk, breezy evening on a beautiful lake with the moon shimmering atop the water leading away from the boat towards the shore. Leading to a shore of only a few lights spotted from here to there and all passing by oh so slowly as we made our way along the shore. The upper and second decks were scattered with folks, guys with there special ladies and the occasional family wrapping up the little ones. Yes, a very nice evening to be snuggled up next to someone special and the full moon made it all that much better.
Today is a new day and we're not sure as of now what it will bring, but you can be sure it will be enjoyed.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Very lazy and relaxing day today.
I took a walk around the camp grounds this morning after by chores were done ( besides re-leveling I had to fix a minor leak in the water line from the outside panel of the refrigerator, no problem just a snugging of a fitting) and believe me I feel the altitude in my breathing. We're at 7400 feet and this can take a minor toll on even young lungs not to mention these old one I have, and the additional weight doesn't help either. Speaking of weight both Bev and I can't wait to get home for one reason besides missing the kids and grand kids and that's to get back on our weight loss regiment. Of the 33 pounds I had lost before we left I'm relatively sure I've put 2/3 of that back on and that makes me sick because it's too hard to take off!
Anyway while walking that little bit I took a few pic's I'll share on this blog for those that won't maybe see them on FB if and when I post them. No wind to speak of, 5-10 mph is the most expected and slight chance of rain today and tomorrow (40%) but it looks very sunny right now and I hope you can imagine the beauty of these trees and rocks in the pic's.
The pic's tomorrow will include Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe, I understand it's one of the most photographed places in the country. The shear beauty of the cove and the depth of the crystal clear water is supposed to be awe inspiring and we can't wait to take it all in. They say you can drop a shiny penny over board and watch it for what seems like forever descending to the bottom which is literally hundreds upon hundreds of feet deep.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
South Lake Tahoe
We left Vacaville this morning at about 7:00 a.m. and headed towards Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe to be exact. We made reservations at Zephyr Cove RV resort, www.zephyr cove.com
We'll be here for the next 6 days basically just relaxing and doing some tourist stuff here at Lake Tahoe and that will include paying a visit to Harrah's and Harvey's casino's. We stayed at Harrah's back in 1977 for the first time and where impressed by the place, as a matter of fact it was the first Hotel we stayed at that had a "mini bar" and all the luxury's they provided. We saw Sammy Davis Jr. during that visit and just can't believe we waited so long to make it back, the place really hasn't changed all that much to be honest.
By the way the motor home preformed just fine climbing the hills up to Lake Tahoe at 7382 feet, no noise, just cruised right along the way it supposed to. We thank Charles "you can call me Tony" Anderson of Midway Truck repair for all he did to get us out of Vacaville, he squeezed us in and took great care of us and the motor home. We have found so many folks like Tony in our many travels across the United States over the past 5 or 6 years, sure there were those few that could give a shit less but many more like Midway Truck Repair you can be sure of that. Man do I love this country........you can have all your foreign countries and trips outside the United States, there is so much to see and do right here and good folks around every corner.
Tomorrow we look into a cruise of the Lake or possibly the dinner cruise leaving from Zephyr Cove here where we're parked. They have a couple of big paddle wheel vessels for day cruises and dinner cruises, and we also plan on getting Bev back out on the golf course too.
Oh by the way..............the Arizona Cardinals are 2-0 and yes I know it's preseason but this is still good!
We'll be here for the next 6 days basically just relaxing and doing some tourist stuff here at Lake Tahoe and that will include paying a visit to Harrah's and Harvey's casino's. We stayed at Harrah's back in 1977 for the first time and where impressed by the place, as a matter of fact it was the first Hotel we stayed at that had a "mini bar" and all the luxury's they provided. We saw Sammy Davis Jr. during that visit and just can't believe we waited so long to make it back, the place really hasn't changed all that much to be honest.
By the way the motor home preformed just fine climbing the hills up to Lake Tahoe at 7382 feet, no noise, just cruised right along the way it supposed to. We thank Charles "you can call me Tony" Anderson of Midway Truck repair for all he did to get us out of Vacaville, he squeezed us in and took great care of us and the motor home. We have found so many folks like Tony in our many travels across the United States over the past 5 or 6 years, sure there were those few that could give a shit less but many more like Midway Truck Repair you can be sure of that. Man do I love this country........you can have all your foreign countries and trips outside the United States, there is so much to see and do right here and good folks around every corner.
Tomorrow we look into a cruise of the Lake or possibly the dinner cruise leaving from Zephyr Cove here where we're parked. They have a couple of big paddle wheel vessels for day cruises and dinner cruises, and we also plan on getting Bev back out on the golf course too.
Oh by the way..............the Arizona Cardinals are 2-0 and yes I know it's preseason but this is still good!
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