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Hi all! We're off again! We will be gone about a month this time. We are starting in Las Vegas at a Foretravel rally sponsored by our local dealer. We will leave there and meet our church RV group, the Ramblin' Recs, part way through their first day's drive on our trip to the gold country of California. We will then head home "the long way" through Arizona to visit our good friends the Scholls and the Wilkisons. We should be home by the end of October. Friday, Sept. 28 We slept in the motorhome last night to help get a reasonably early start this morning. We pulled out of the driveway a little after 7:30, and after hooking up the Saturn down on the main road, we were on the road by 8:00. It is about 300 miles to Vegas and the registration time is noon to 3:00. We had a good drive and pulled into the brand new Outdoor Resorts campground a little after 2:00 and got all settled in our site. They are still building the campground and had our rally as a completion target for phase 1. We are the first campers to use the park. It really is still not complete. There is no pool yet, the clubhouse is still under construction, and more importantly no cable TV or Internet access to the sites! This is an "own your own lot" campground. One of the layout maps they provided us included a price list. We could buy our very own site here from $79,900 to $129,900! I cannot imagine why we (or anyone else, for that matter) would want to do that! I assume there is some kind of pay back as people pay by the night to rent your site, but the economics would be hard to justify! (or afford!) That's pretty high for about a 30 x 60 foot plot of land in the desert. (Plus, there is a $150 per month "homeowners" type fee for maintenance, insurance, etc.) We did meet a man who claims to be the only owner who is occupying his site at this time. He has lived in the area for a number of years, and is now using this as his home base. He will be here at least 6 month each year, traveling from here the rest of the time. Maybe it makes sense to him for that scenario. The Foretravel group is set up just around the corner from us and have four 2002 models on display. There is also a good sized tent where all the activities are held. Most of the staff from the Escondido Foretravel dealership hangs out there also. I hope someone is home running the store! OK, time for our "disaster du jour": Our coach ran beautifully and smoothly, and had no problems. Upon getting here, I got Betty's scooter out and all set up. I tried to drive it up to the front door of the coach, and discovered the front tire was flat. I pulled out my air hose and equipment, plugged them into the air connection I installed a couple months ago, and pumped up the tire. Half an hour later it was flat again! The tire itself has never been in good shape and needs replacing on general principles. It uses a tube which obviously needs help also. I went to the office and borrowed their yellow pages. One of the people there invited me to use his office and phone. I located several possible sources for scooter tires, but they all fell through. The last one suggested a medical supply place in Las Vegas. I called them and they had the tire and tube. They gave me directions and said they closed in 1/2 hour. They are not open tomorrow! I headed directly over there. Their directions worked great and I found the place with a minimum of trouble. It really was only several miles from camp. I bought a foam filled tire that uses no tube or air. It will never go flat! I got back to camp and in about a half hour had the tire installed and we headed over to dinner. All we had missed was most of Happy Hour - Aw shucks! Dinner was barbecued fillet mignon (cooked by the Foretravel crew) with baked potatoes, salad, etc. It was really good. The entertainment was a young man, Billy Bridger, singing and playing guitar. He was very good and did a lot of songs made famous by popular singers. His occasional imitation of them was quite good. Once one of the guys from our table went over and told him the volume was too @#$%^&* loud!, he turned it down and it was fine. I don't understand why performers think their music has to hurt! We stayed for about an hour after dinner and listened to him perform. It really was enjoyable. Saturday, Sept. 29 We were up early and back to the tent by 8:30 for a buffet breakfast. They had trays of fruit, sausages, bacon (almost raw!), eggs of course, and sweet rolls, along with juice and coffee. I ate too much! A doctor then gave a talk about first aid and medical emergencies while on the road. Following that we had a presentation by Michelin on tires. I won a shirt by being first with my hand up answering a quiz question. They had very nice tire gauges, hats, and two types of shirts. I already have a gauge just like theirs, so I chose a shirt. We went back to the tent for dinner. Tonight it was linen tablecloths and napkins! We had a catered dinner of shrimp cocktail followed by some kind of fancy chicken, rolled up meat and sauce, etc. We finished with a heavily cinnamon covered apple pie. The entertainment was again by Billy Bridger. Sunday, Sept. 30 The rally ends this morning. I went over to the tent at 8:00 for Krispy Kreme donuts and orange juice. (Coffee was also offered.) I had never had KK donuts before. They really are lighter than others. We visited Hoover Dam today. As a stepped up security measure, they are not allowing trucks, trailers, motorhomes, etc. across the dam, only automobiles, and they have checkpoints set up to screen them. Of course this did not affect us in our Saturn. They have also blocked off a parking lot on the Arizona side that is right at the end of the dam. All dam tours have also been suspended. They have a fairly new visitor center. It is very interesting. I thought I spotted it from a distance, but what I saw was the parking garage, which is built into the crevices of the canyon wall. We had to walk down the highway a ways and take an elevator down. Entering the visitor center was like entering the secure area in an airport. All loose items had to pass on the belt through the x-ray machine. We then had to pass through the magnetometer. I did not see them confiscating nail files, pocket knives, etc. I guess it is hard to hijack a dam! Part of the visitor center is under the highway. There are several levels ranging from the theater level (underground) to several stories higher at the observation room and deck. There are talks, movies, and numerous exhibits including a number of small video displays and interactive computer terminals. It was an enjoyable visit. We have two more days here in Vegas before heading back to California to meet our church RV group. Monday, Oct 1 Today was the day for us to check out Las Vegas. This morning we drove out the strip and saw all the giant casinos by daylight. The excesses are just unbelievable! We gradually worked our way north to the downtown area. We went to the location of the RV park we always used to stay in when passing through Las Vegas. It is now a parking lot for one of the hotel/casinos. We scouted out the area to return tonight to see the Freemont St. light show. On our way back to camp, we explored other areas of the city. These looked much more like other cities, with normal businesses and homes. Tonight, we headed back to the downtown area to see the light show. We ended up parking in the lot that used to be "our" RV park. It was only about a two block walk to the light show. Freemont Street has been covered by a very high arched "roof" extending about 2 block and is the full width of the street. The inside of this roof is totally covered with light bulbs. Several times each evening, all the surrounding casinos dim their outside lights, the speaker systems start with quite loud music, and the overhead lights up with mostly surrealistic patterns and figures. The overall effect is quite striking! The show lasted about 10 minutes - it was very enjoyable! I am just amazed at all the displays in Las Vegas. Almost every hotel on the strip has a large screen "diamond vision" type TV display out front. This display on Freemont Street must have millions of bulbs to be controlled. Each bulb seemed to handle all the colors, rather than just one. The electronics required to control all this must be humongous! Tomorrow we explore some of the surrounding areas. Tuesday, Oct 2 We did some exploring of the area outside of the city. We first drove east a few miles to Red Rock National Conservation Area. There are areas of the hills that are as red as any we have seen! It is a very pretty area. We first went to the visitor's center where we saw one tortoise in the Tortoise Habitat area outside. We used electronic "wands" where we pushed a button corresponding to the current exhibit, held it to our ear like a phone, and it told us all about the exhibit and the history it detailed. We then drove a 13 mile loop road which took us by some very scenic areas. We drove from there to Mt. Charleston. On the way we passed a Home Depot, so I was able to pick up the items I missed yesterday Driving to Mt. Charleston, we kept climbing higher and higher with no apparent change in the landscape. Finally at around 7000 feet, the typical desert scrub brushes gave way to pine trees. We got as high as about 7500 feet, and it was beautiful. The road we were on dead-ended at a hotel, where we turned around and headed home. It was an interesting day, and much more relaxing than navigating around within Las Vegas and its mobs of people like we did yesterday. And they say that business is way down due to the reduced air travel! Wednesday, Oct 3 We got everything stowed and were on the road before 8:30. We headed to Boron, staying in a small park we have used a couple times before. We are about a half mile from the Borax Museum, where we meet the group from our church tomorrow. This afternoon we drove about 25 miles to California City where my sister Barbara and I now own some property. Our folks bought this while I was in college. Now we get to pay the taxes on it! I stopped at a realtor and verified that property is still not doing anything at all here, but that there is hope. The current mayor and council are aggressively courting industry, and the direction of growth is toward our land. We explored more of the city than we have ever done before, including the new prison. I was chased away by one of the guards as I took pictures of the prison from the road out front. Thursday, Oct 4 We did some necessary house cleaning this morning. We figured the group from Escondido should reach us probably between 12:00 and 12:30. We headed to the museum shortly after 12:30, just in case we missed them driving by. We drove up and down the street once, looking at the businesses there and the group came around the corner. We had lunch, toured the museum, then headed to the Borax mine, about 5 or 6 miles away. We were shown a movie at the US Borax Corporation. I had no idea of the variety of uses for borax. In addition to soap and laundry products, it is also used for building insulation, fire retardants, glass products such as Pyrex, plastic contact lenses, fiberglass, charcoal briquettes, fertilizers, and a whole host of additional products too numerous for my limited memory. The Boron site is such a rich source of borate that the corporation ceased operations at most of its other locations. From the mine, we hurried back to the park, where we had been given permission to stay beyond the normal check-out time. We hooked up the car, unhooked the motorhome and headed to Tehachapi, about 50 miles away. We arrived as several members of our group were still registering. This is a pretty park, nestled in pine trees. We are right on the edge of a small airport where sail planes are prevalent. Friday, Oct. 5 We headed out in 5 vehicles this morning to see an Ostrich farm, then the famous Tehachapi Loop where trains turn a complete circle, gaining altitude. The train passes over itself in the process. We did not find the Ostrich farm, and after one wrong turn found the loop. We waited almost an hour and finally we saw a train coming in the distance. It couldn't have been going 10 miles per hour. It finally showed up rising out of a gully in the center of the loop. It then made the rotation around the loop. Finally the front of the train disappeared off to the right as the rear of the train was still being pulled in under the track where the middle of the train was still passing over it. Sound confusing? It was neat. A man there watching said he had been here last week when one train was doing the loop going up while another was doing it going down. It is a double track around the loop and for a couple miles on each side. The cast of characters for our church group: Gordon and Mary Alice Boyce
On our way back, we all (except Boyces) stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Saturday Oct. 6 We broke camp this morning around 10:00 and headed for Kingsburg. Now that we know where the loop is, we spotted it for the first time from the highway. We only had about 140 miles to go, so it was an easy travel day. We left before most, as we were planning a fuel stop in Bakersfield. Shortly after getting back on the highway after fueling, we came upon 3 of our rigs in caravan, so we joined in at the end. We got into the Riverland Resort campground and found our spots (by the map - there were no numbers on these specific sites). In addition, there were several rigs in our spots, and the whole area looked about like a slum. It also was directly along highway 99, and not much farther from the train tracks. We waited for the office to open (at 1:15) and asked about full hookup sites. There were only 3 or 4 available. We ended up moving to some water-only sites and set up for dry camping. It is a much more beautiful area among the trees, between a small private lake and the King's River, well away from the highway and tracks. The only problem with that scenario is that the river is dry! When Floyd and Ruth Lamb were here in the spring, the river was almost overflowing, now there are just a few stagnant ponds. We used to drive by this spot on 99 every now and again. We always noticed the King's River at this point. There was a wide spot with an island in the center. There were always lots of boats and skiers. It was beautiful. It is disappointing that it is not that way now, but there is always next year! We are now at a full compliment of people. The Longs could not meet us until today, so drove from Escondido here and arrived within about an hour of when we did. We have 9 RV's and a passenger car, as well as several towed cars. We have 19 people total. A team went into town to locate a restaurant for tonight's dinner out, and returned having chosen an Armenian one. We all headed over there for a 6:00 reservation and had an excellent meal. Betty and I had a combination plate with most of the various specialties they offer, and an extra plate. The one meal fed the both of us, and we had two take-home containers with the balance. One of the containers was filled with a large bowl of rice that had been served the three at our table family style. It will do well at tomorrow's pot luck! I noticed that many of the couples shared a meal, not only because they were very large, but also because they were very expensive! Our dinner was $21. Not bad for a couple, but a lot each! Sunday, Oct. 7 We started off the day with a marvelous pancake breakfast cooked by Jean Johnson. A little later, we all gathered on the lawn by the lake for a worship service lead by Gene Collett, who had claimed that he is retired, and did not do this anymore! He lead a very nice service. At 3:00 we had an "ice cream social" with ice cream and cake. At 6:00 we had a pot luck dinner, with more of a lot of things than you can eat, as is typical of pot lucks. Since we are dry camping, running from our batteries, we postponed an evening of games until tomorrow when we will be back on shore power. Today was a day largely about food! Monday, Oct. 8 Norm Johnson has been sick and he and Jean decided to stay at Kingsburg until he is well. Jean did talk to his doctor and got a prescription for him. They will head home from there. Gene Collett has not been feeling too well either, and he and Evelyn left for home this morning. Our group is down to 7 rigs and a passenger car. A group went over to a co-generation plant for a tour, then found they could get a tour at the raisin factory after all. Originally we were told an international group had reserved the tours during the times we could make it, but apparently the decrease in travel helped us in this case. We headed north for a drive of about 160 miles to Columbia. We stopped in Oakdale and parked near the Hershey factory. We toured both the gift shop and the factory. The factory tour showed us the production of chocolate chips, Hershey kisses, Hershey bars (with and without almonds), and their best seller, Reeses peanut butter cups. It was a fascinating tour. We got to our park after a couple of wrong turns and some un-requested, but helpful information from a construction truck driver. The park is really quite nice. We are tucked into fairly tight spaces with trees and antiques all around us. There is a very nice, quite rustic meeting room with plaques, flags, logos, and marked up paper plates representing hundreds of RV groups who have stayed here. We need to do one for the Ramblin' Recs! The building looks like it could have been from the gold rush days. It is one of the nicest meeting halls we have had! Tuesday, Oct. 9 We explored the area around Columbia today. We went into Sonora and Jamestown. While Sonora is a very modern city, much larger than we had realized, with an area of historic gold mining period buildings. Jamestown is a largely historic town with a smaller section of new growth. The highlight of our exploring today was Railtown 1897. This is a rail depot, roundhouse, and several associated buildings, along with many locomotives, rail cars, support equipment, etc. This was an interesting collection not only for its historical value, but also because this area and this railroad equipment were used in many movies and television programs over the last 70+ years. Several of these are: The Virginian 1929
Gary Cooper, Mary Brian
This is about 1/10 th of the productions listed on the 9 page handout they gave us. Locomotive #3 is by far the most photographed piece of this equipment, appearing in the very first and the very last movies listed, and well over half the ones in between. The roundhouse had several locomotives in various stages of repair and refurbishment as well as numerous other vehicles. There was what looked like a German staff car (I'm sure it was not) retrofitted with train type wheels for use on the tracks. There was also a Ford Model T from about 1922 that had been rebuilt into a track inspection vehicle. Of many similar cars of the day that had been converted, this is the only one surviving today. There were engine cylinders, wheels, couplers, and many other railroad piece-parts just about everywhere. It was most interesting! We ran out of time to explore Columbia today, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. We had a pot luck dinner tonight followed by a talk by the owner of the campground. He gave us a very good history lesson of the immediate area, the gold rush, and many of the resulting events. It was a most interesting talk. We are in this park for two more nights. As I was just successful in sending email for the first time this trip, I shall attempt it again. I used a cut and paste operation to transfer the messages to a web based email service. Hopefully this method will continue to work for the rest of the trip. Wednesday, Oct. 10 We are still in Columbia, CA. We all gathered at 9:00 this morning to head to the Mercer Caverns, one of several in the area. This is privately owned and gives tours. It is definitely NOT wheelchair accessible, so Betty (and Mary Alice) waited in the parking lot for the rest of us. There were over 400 steps first descending into the cavern, then climbing back out. It was a very interesting tour. There were just about all the classic formations, plus an additional one or two. They had stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, bacon, draperies, popcorn, and coral. Several I had not heard of before were a beehive (yes, it looks just like one), angel wings, and snowflakes. The angel wings were a pair of draperies which looked just like a pair of angel's wings, and the snowflakes were white balls of very fine texture, almost like fir on the surface. Even with my worn out knees, I could still walk just fine after the tour! We'll see how things are tomorrow! Next we headed several miles away to Murphys, CA and the Ironstone Winery. This is an absolutely gorgeous 1100 plus acres. We had lunch in their gourmet deli (I personally like "plain old" deli's where you can understand what it is they put in the sandwiches), then went to their museum and gift shop. The highlight here was a single nugget of leaf gold which weighs 44 pounds! This was found near here less than 10 years ago! They say it is priceless, but for insurance reasons it is evaluated at $3.5 million (well over the per ounce pricing). We were then given a tour of the grounds. They have really done a beautiful job of landscaping! All this has been done since 1988, except for the live oaks. The only real disappointment was there was a private party in the music room and we could not go there. There is a large theatre pipe organ there with full electronic controls added. This has allowed performances by world class organists to be saved and repeated exactly. We were all looking forward to a demonstration of this. Several times a year they feature silent movies with a professional organist who specializes in playing organ accompaniment to silent movies, just like in the "olden" days. While the others relaxed, Betty and I went back into Columbia. There is a several block area that is all 1850's style, some original. We first toured a soap and candle shop where they made both molded and hand dipped candles. We then saw numerous stores, many of which are still operating - a blacksmith shop, a carpentry shop, a leather working shop, and two fire stations. The engines in the fire stations were all hand operated pumpers. They were pulled to the scene by horses, then two long bars were lowered, one on each side. Teams of firemen would manually push these bars up and down to pump the water. These were made before the advent of the steam powered pumpers. We came back to camp and relaxed briefly, then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant here in Columbia. I was still quite full from my lunch, so for a change I ordered very lightly (one ala carte tostada) and did not grossly overeat! Tomorrow we break camp here and move to Coloma.
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