What were we thinking!

After sitting for awhile in Petaluma, we decided a road trip was in order.  We decided to head for the back roads of Nevada with a stop in Death Valley along the way.  Now one would think that after traveling full time for over 20 years we would have factored in two obvious considerations:  weather and the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.  Neither crossed our minds until Sue Malone mentioned it had been 111F in Furnace Creek the first of May on one of their trips.  We smartly decided to pass on Death Valley until a more appropriate time.

So off to Nevada we go.  Our first stop in NV was at the Escapee's Pair 'A Dice park in Pahrump.  It was 101F!  What were we thinking!  We stayed one night and headed for Tonopah, thinking the high desert would have lower temps.  It was not to be.  Tonopah was one of the main reasons we made this trip.  Howard was fascinated with the name and thought it would have lots of sightseeing possibilities as well as "maybe. a little piece of acreage we could pick up cheap".  Ha!  The first obstacle was finding a place to stay.  There were 2 Passport America parks that, forgive me for saying, looked more like junk yards.  In fact the town was run down and decrepit looking.  We finally found a decent RV park north of town.  Sorry I don't remember the name.

The next major obstacle was the realization that the upcoming Memorial Day weekend was upon us and we had made no reservations.  Didn't even give it a thought.  So we headed to Fernley, NV and started our search for a place to park for a few days.  There were 2 Passport America parks.  The first one we stopped at was full as was most every park in town.  They did make a few calls for us and found the Desert Rose, a Passport America park, had one site left.  It was 30' and we said no problem, we could squeeze in.  We ended up staying 6 nights at half price ($16.50). Fernley is near I-80, Reno and Carson City.  We took a few drives around the area and decided Nevada would probably not be on our list of potential places to settle down.  What were we thinking!

  

Desert Hot Springs, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

We were ready for a change from Anza Borrego and Desert Hot Springs is about as opposite as you can get.  We stayed at Catalina Spa RV Park, a Passport America half price park for a week at $22.50 per night, enjoying the hot pools and getting more RV stuff done.

Our corner site at Catalina Spa RV Park

The swimming pool....

The hot pool...very hot!

Howard installed a new toilet seal in our little bathroom and what a job that always turns out to be! Next he worked on our batteries trying to figure out why they're not holding a charge. First he equalized them after a month of voltage fluctuation due to boondocking.  We usually stay at about 12.5 but as soon a the solar power turned off, the gauge on the controller fell considerably.  They are not holding a charge from solar or running the generator. Narrowed it down to a faulty heat sensor on our Magnum inverter and will have to wait until we get to Tucson to get it to an authorized service center for Magnum.

We had a great tourist day driving the roads of Joshua Tree NP.  Had not been in years and really enjoyed seeing all the rock formations, many with climbers up the rock wall. This was followed by a fun night in Palm Springs, dining at an old favorite Mexican restaurant, Las Casuelas Terraza, which we hadn't been to for many years.  It was pretty crazy, especially since it was a Friday night.

Joshua Tree NP

Rock climbers...look closely

Howard cautiously poses in the cholla garden

Great Margaritas at Las Casuelas

Yummy ceviche tostados

So now we are in Quartzsite for a few days, once again boondocking, parked north of town at Hi Jolly 14 day BLM free parking.  We check the vendors for products we use regularly.  Howard found a small 5 watt solar panel that will charge the phones plus charge the car battery when it is being towed.  We've had problems with the car not starting after a day of towing, so hope this helps.  We plan to leave by Monday at the latest for Tucson.

We have been anchored for awhile~~~

Family time

The time between blog posts seems to be directly related to the amount of travel we do.  So when we're in home territory, as we have been here in Petaluma at the Elk's Lodge for the last few weeks, my blogging takes a hiatus. While here we enjoy lots of time just lazing around, visiting family and local friends, soccer and softball games, birthdays and endless barbecues. We checked a few items off of our MH list of "to dos".

A very dry lake bed

There are hikes around nearby Shollenberger Lake amounting to just 3 miles round trip from our site here at the Elk's.  The temps have been in the  high 80s, with an intermittent shower or cool spell. 

We got caught up on medical stuff, doctors' visits and the like.  I have been living  with a reasonably uncomfortable case of  shingles for the last month, despite having had the vaccine a couple of years ago; a nasty blotchy rash that turned into blisters, that turned into scabs and hurt like the dickens.  Obviously, the vaccine is not 100%!

I also have a date coming up sometime in November to have cataract eye surgery.  I am actually looking forward to this as it will correct my far vision and astigmatism with corrective lenses.  Howard says this has been quite a year for me, health-wise.  Well, the year is almost over and I'm feeling blessed that we're still able to travel and that I'm doing really well in spite of past conditions!

A very tall and steep sand dune

Siltcoos Lake near Florence, OR

We had a great albeit slow trip down the Oregon Coast.  There was a lot of traffic on the twisty two-lane highway.  We stopped for two nights at Darling's Marina & RV Park near Florence, OR, one of our half priced Passport America parks, beautifully situated on the banks of the lovely Siltcoos Lake with easy access to those monumental sand dunes Oregon is famous for!

 

Exploring Moonstone Beach

 Next stop was Trinidad CA on the Humboldt  County coast, a small seaside village and one of  the oldest and smallest incorporated cities in  CA. with just 360 population.  All of Humboldt  County and especially Trinidad offers plenty of  opportunities to explore the majestic beauty of  the area from a number of easily accessible  hiking trails to nearby giant redwoods, 3 state  parks and a couple of county parks. We stayed  at Clam Beach County Park, for their 3 day max  at $13 per night, giving us time to explore  Moonstone Beach and enjoy lunch at the  Trinidad Marina - calamari for moi!  

 

And since we have nothing on our calendar until an ophthalmology appointment on October 28th, we have decided to take an impromptu road trip~~the best kind.  Our destination is St. George, UT where we are hoping to get into one of the first-come, first-serve sites in Snow Canyon State Park.  Snow Canyon is a red rock and hiking haven.  If this doesn't work out we'll try some places around Zion NP.  We plan to leave tomorrow, Tuesday September 29th.

Falling in love with old Cape Cod?

OK, don’t hate me but I didn’t exactly fall in love with old Cape Cod.  Our timing probably had everything to do with it. Driving over for the first time on Columbus Day, which is officially the end of the season in New England, and with beautiful weather to boot, meant gridlock traffic.  Any hopes of driving all the way to Provincetown on the far tip of the cape, some 75 miles, was quickly squelched.  The main Highway 6 had little scenery to offer; a lot of strip malls and such, so we decided to exit, find a good place to have lunch, and return another day.


We had stopped at the Visitor’s Center on the way over and got a couple of restaurant recommendations plus some good maps noting places of interest.  We chose Spanky's Clam Shack in Hyannis on the waterfront, right by the ferries.  The end of season schedule offered few choices to Nantucket, some 30 miles away.

We did enjoy a great lunch at Spanky’s.  Their daily special was lobstah bisque (their spelling, not mine) and shrimp spring rolls.  We celebrated with their special “Morning After” bloody Mary/shrimp cocktail….after all Columbus Day also happened to be my big milestone birthday!  All choices got two thumbs up!  Afterwards, we walked around the waterfront and took turns taking photos with other visitors.


In our infinite wisdom we decided to take Highway 28 back through Falmouth, another area we had looked forward to seeing.  This route would take us home along the coastal route, i.e., less traffic, and more scenic.  Alas, we couldn’t see the water for the trees.  And Falmouth, what we got to see of it, was indeed charming but overrun with holiday tourists.

Home, by the way, is Gateway to Cape Cod Camping Resort, another Passport America park that is also affiliated with Thousand Trails.  It was nicely situated in a dense pine forest, in the little town of Rochester, and offered no possible chance of sun infiltration or satellite TV, but did provide great access to the Cape. Sites here were only available Sunday through Wednesday and we soon realized that 3 days was not enough time to fully explore and do justice to the area.


The very best surprise of all was we were right smack in the middle of cranberry bog country!  This was another first among the many we have experienced on this trip.  Luckily we stopped immediately when we saw this brilliant pool of ruby red gems because the next day when we drove by all the bogs had been harvested.  Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, you know!



The Tuesday after the holiday was designated “see Cape Cod day”.  We drove to Provincetown and the end of the road, making many stops along the way, and enjoyed the relatively relaxed pace of traveling the “day after”.  We did find sand dunes and salty air, as the song goes, and The Pilgrim Monument, commemorating the pilgrims’ first landing before continuing on to Plymouth Rock.  But the beaches and lighthouses were our focus, and taking advantage of a beautiful fall day and good photo ops before the long drive back.




What we had not considered was that many/most restaurants and businesses close after Columbus Day.  This became painfully clear when hunger pangs came on and restaurant after restaurant had closed for the season signs posted.  We finally stopped and asked a local and were directed to the Bookstore Restaurant at Wellfleet Harbor.  What a great find!  It was steamers for yours truly.



So with one more day to go we toyed with the idea of driving to Boston but soon nixed that due to traffic, especially with the Boston Red Socks hosting play-off games for the World Series.  Instead we drove to Plymouth and saw the Rock and the Mayflower, or rather its replica.  Plymouth Rock, as you can see, is considerably smaller than what we had expected.  And just looking at the Mayflower we were amazed by the pilgrims’ voyage aboard.  This was followed by a grand trip to Costco.  The provisions were getting low, and we have to move on……

Downeast it's Mainely Lobster

Howard and I have October birthdays less than 2 weeks apart and decided we would combine them somewhere in between and celebrate with Maine lobster, a delicacy to us west coast Dungeness crab folks  Our plan was to return, after some 15 years, to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island (MDI), the largest island off the coast of Maine, and home to many popular summer colonies like Bar Harbor.

Lobster by the pound...delicious!

The park, of course, was closed therefore no carriage ride and no hikes from our campsite through the many roads and trails. Yes, you could still walk into the barricaded sites that were accessible from the public roads where you queued up in a long line of shoulder parking. Disappointing but we compensated well with yet another Passport America park, Mt. Desert Narrows.

At Mt. Desert Narrows with a view

We immediately set out to find Thurston's Lobster Pound, listed as one of the best in all of the reviews we read.  Why, I wondered, were all the lobster places called pounds, until we ordered at the walk-up counter and were asked what size.  We opted for lobster and salad with a cup of fish chowder, but many orders came packed with corn on the cob and many sides!  The very casual restaurant was crammed with international visitors, local New Englanders, and others on the road like us.  On our outings we'd stop for lunch adding lobster bisque, lobster rolls, Caesar salad topped with lobster. Enough already!  When we met up with our friend Al for yet another birthday celebration at Galyn's, a local favorite by the waterfront, we all ordered their famous prime rib! 

Colorful lobster trap buoys  

Our week's stay was full of long drives with strolls through towns and villages like Southwest Harbor, Somesville, and Northeast Harbor.  Each offered its own ambiance from working harbors and boat-building to summer enclaves for the rich and famous.  There was no lack of photo opportunities and rich history to enjoy.

Much photographed scene near Somes Sound

 

Splashes of Fall color on a gray day

Southwest Harbor

Northeast Harbor

Island sunset

Another beautiful scene around MDI

Getting into Bar Harbor, then securing a parking spot, was challenging due to the late-season crowds and beautiful weather.  We soon learned to avoid downtown on days when as many as 3 large cruise ships were in port, or arrive after 5 p.m. when passengers were back onboard. Since many of the park attractions were closed the sidewalks and streets were gridlocked with pedestrian traffic and fully loaded buses headed for outlying villages.

Downtown on a drizzly non-cruise ship day

By Bar Harbor waterfront

Tall ship & cruise ship

Around town

Bass Harbor Lighthouse was a must-see even with the access road closed to vehicles.  We drove toward the village of Tremont and Bass Harbor, parked along the highway and joined the parade of visitors walking in the approx. 1/4 mile to the lighthouse.  To the right is a path that takes you down to the tower and viewing area with a panoramic view of the harbor and islands in the distance. This is a working light and the ranger and his family were in residence.

Light tower and keeper's house

To the left of the buildings, and not as clearly marked, is a path leading to a stairway that follows the face of the cliff down to the rocks below.  In order to get a really good shot you need to climb out to the water's edge, but I was pushing my luck to get this far.  Clicking on the link above will show photos of those more nimble and courageous than I.

Bass Harbor Lighthouse seen from the rocks below

We are now at our furthest point East and will soon turn south.  I think it's worth mentioning that from Washington State we have followed US Highway 2, with a few detours along the way, to Bangor, Maine.  This northernmost east to west route spans some 2570 miles, mostly two-lanes, and often on America's backroads.  What a trip!

US Highway 2

  

  

Leaf Peeping in New Hampshire

New Hampshire was in full color mode, and like Vermont, the peeps had foliage fever.  This is a busy (read crowded) time of year and we saw many no vacancy signs on the Inns and B & B's.  

No problem, though, with RV parking for a few days.  We found another gem tucked away in the little town of Bethlehem, the Apple Hill RV Park, another half price Passport America park.  The website said the rate was not honored on the weekend which is pretty standard, so arriving on a Thursday we were pleasantly surprised to receive 3 nights of discounted parking.  We have found that owners have options whereby managers and camp hosts usually stick by the book.

Our site at Apple Hill

We are well-situated in the White Mountains, primo foliage country, and near all the National Forests and Scenic Byways. We chose a 100-mile loop drive that combined the White Mountain Trail, including the Crawford Notch and the Franconia Notch, as well as the Kancamagus Highway, and were not disappointed...well maybe just a tad that the skies were gray and overcast, not the best for photos. These notches are steep, narrow gorges cut through mile-high mountains, often by rivers.

There was lots of traffic and thankfully many scenic pull-offs, as we tend to drive slowly and gawk.  All the NP campgrounds were closed, but roads, for the most part, were not barricaded and we even saw a few campers in residence. Fortunately, the day use areas were open for viewing.

One last tidbit before the photos.  Back at 1000 Islands Winery our map was highlighted by a New England native who warned us to beware of moose on the roadways. We have seen nary a moose and now I know why.  Overheard at the little town of Bethlehem market at the check-out counter:  It has been so warm that all the moose are dying and the ticks are multiplying!