Our Rig

Our Rig
Our Home away from Home

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Musings #6

April 17

Three Rivers RV Park in Tulare California- went grocery shopping and the lowest prices on fresh produce and meat I've seen in years.  Stocked up and ran out of space, so am now storing non-perishables in the oven.

April 18

Dropped the dog off to be groomed while we travel to Sequoia National Park.  Spectacular scenery on Rt. 198.  Tall, skinny trees like you see in Italy.  We are climbing into the Sierra Nevada mountains on a 15 mph serpentine road.  It's so twisty that vehicles over 22 feet are prohibited.  How to describe what we see out the window?  Since I'm a mountain person, I would imagine this is what heaven would look like to me.  Range after range all the way to craggy snow-covered peaks.

Big yucca plants,purple flowering trees (redbuds?), bluebells and tiny white flowers.  Now we're in the clouds and deep snow.  Temperatue had dropped from 70 degrees to 45.  Poor Dan dressed for the day in shorts this morning.  Luckily we both had jackets in the backseat.  Trees are getting taller as we drive through the Giant Forest.  The sequoias are hard to miss as they are lighter in color than other trees and of course are SO much larger in circumference.

Drove to see the "General Sherman" tree - the largest tree in the world.  Pretty impressive!   The average age of these trees is 3200 years.



April 19

After climbing and decending another mountain range (didn't know Calif. was so hilly) we are driving through another valley.  Lettuce, strawberries, more grapes, peppers - now I know where a lot of my veggies and fruit come from.

April 21 (I think)



We were just outside Monterey the last two nights.  Went downtown to Cannery Row which was made famous in John Steinbeck's novella.  Certainly doesn't look now how it must have done in the 30's.  Now it's all tourist stores, restaurants, breweries, etc.  One of the sardine canning factories is now the Monterey aquarium that is rated one of the best in the US.  I believe it. 



It was expensive - $30 each for seniors but we spent hours there.  Fish facinate me and I love snorkling so also love aquariums (is the plural aquaria?) would like to have a small aquarium but with traveling, a dog to care for is plenty.  Anyway, the aquarium was very enjoyable from the jellyfish exhibit to the seahorses to the penguins and, of course, the otters.  What fun.  Saw some creatures I never saw before.



Naturally we ran out of time and we didn't get to see the San Juan missions or the Steinbeck museum in Salinas.  I wanted to see the Steinbeck museum as I am a fan of his books.  The museum has the actual camper he used as he wrote "Travels With Charlie."  That book started my desire to travel around in a camper.  As I read the book in high school, I wanted so much to do the same.  Aren't I lucky?????

Another billboard - "1-800-STINKY    Triple A Plumbing Service

An advertisement for a restaurant - "Salivation is Nigh"

April 22

Headed for San Francisco.  The question is how to get the rig over the Golden Gate Bridge while avoiding the downtown hills.

Driving in a congested area when driving a big rig you try to leave a lot of space between you and the vehicle in front of you cause it takes twice to three times as much space and time to slow down or stop.  Naturally, human nature being what it is, that space is an open invitation for people to dart in front of us and then hit the brakes - unnerving.

Wow temp change - 72 degrees in San Jose to 59 in San Fran.

Beautiful going across the GGBridge.  I think that everyone that owned a sailboat was out on the water today,  Surprising the amount of foot and cycle traffic across the bridge.



Now we're staying outside the small town of Garberville on Rt. 101 in the middle of the redwood forest.  Drove the Avenue of the Giants.  Humungus trees so dense the road was as dark as evening.  These redwoods are much taller than sequoias but not as large around, and not as old.



Sometimes the campgrounds are a disappointment and don't live up to the description in the book.  This was one of them.  Oh well, it has water, elec. and sewer.

April 23

Drove to a place called Shelter Cove on the coast.  Looked like an easy drive of 20 miles.  Again 49 degrees and very windy.  Maps can be deceiving - it took us an hour to get there.  Driving thru mountains into the clouds and i've never been on such a narrow (one lane in spots) winding road.  Locals passing us zipping along as we are crawling and hugging the center of the road.  There are a couple of communities up there but can't even imagine living here as it is so remote.  Shelter Cove has a small plane runway and while we were there, two planes took off and one landed.  That must be the preferred way in and out.  Can't get a craving for a Ben and Jerry's in the middle of the night if you live here.



This whole stretch of coastline is so inaccessible it is called the "lost coast range" and it is a national conservation area.  Lots of wildlife but we didn't see any - did smell a skunk, though.  We were along the migratory route of gray whales.

April 24

On our way to Oregon and are still on Route 101 which is the scenic route along the coast.  Going along the Fraser River Gorge with waterfalls everywhere and snow on the top of the mountains.  Met a couple from Nova Scotia.

Sign at a truck stop - "Junk Food for sale here"

Amazing - people on bicycles with all the camping gear struggling up the mountains.

More later.

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