February 29 - March 2 - Trona Pinnacles
Left Owl Canyon by 9am after refilling our blue water containers, hooked up the car once we hit pavement and then made our way a different way towards Fort Irwin to the I-15. Unbelievable, another car crash. Other than speeding there were no other conditions that would have made this car roll-over! Snapped a picture with Ray’s phone.
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| Guy looks like he's gooned! |
We arrived at the Trona Pinnacles by 11:30 am. After unhooking and driving the car towards the Pinnacles, we decided to camp near the entrance and just take the car the 5 miles down the rough gravel road to visit the Pinnacles. Later in the afternoon another motorhome made the same decision and camped across the road in front of us a good distance away. Camping among the Pinnacles is allowed, but every part on the Motorhome would be missing.
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| The twice daily Borax train from the mill in Argus just north of the campsite |
The Pinnacles are recognizable in more than a dozen hit movies. Over thirty film projects a year are shot among the tufa pinnacles, including backdrops for car commercials and sci-fi movies and television series such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Disney's Dinosaur, The Gate II, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes.(Wikipedia)
The landscape at the Trona Pinnacles consists of more than 500 tufa spires, some as high as 140 feet, rising from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin. The pinna-cles vary in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin. These strange spires are composed primarily of calcium carbonate (tufa) and are spread over a 15-square-mile area.
These unique rock formations were created about 10,000 years ago when Searles Lake formed a link in a chain of interconnected lakes throughout the Owens Valley and the Mojave Desert. At its peak, due to glacial runoff from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, Searles Lake reached a depth of 640 feet and over-flowed into Panamint Valley and Death Valley.
Tuesday morning we went to the pinnacles. It was pretty interesting driving around these “tufa’s”. Freddy Ford did well on the “mario-kart course” as we scouted out picture taking positions for sunrise and sunset. Spent the rest of the afternoon on the shady side of the coach. Temps around 84F. It is not cooling off at night either. I will be glad to move to higher ground later this week. In the evening
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| Rock Spine |
Ray set off early to be in place for the sunset at the Pinnacles, while I prepared fish and chips for dinner. Wind came up stronger and was blowing pretty good so by 7:30 the Satellite dish came down. Still pretty warm though at 72F.
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| Nice blue hour shot |
Wednesday morning woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Pretty lazy day. We will slowly pack up ready for the road tomorrow am to Inyokern, a short distance away to plug in for 2 days. It has been 24 days since I last did laundry! I do believe that it is time.
The Edwards Air Force base is not far south of the area. At least once a day we get a close fly bye of a C5-Galaxy plane.
The desert has started to bloom.
Thursday morning we were on the road by 9am to get to El Solano RV Park in Inyokern. What a dive, but for one night at $20 Passport America to get laundry done with 50amp service … okay. The Sherriff goes through the park constantly, 3 times this afternoon. The last run he waved to me, so I stopped him and asked “should we be concerned staying here?” He replied he wouldn't recommend staying here so…. Good thing we locked everything up and closed all blinds as soon as it was getting dark and I stayed inside all day. I managed to get 24 days of laundry done, bread baked and rice pudding for Ray. So it was worth the $20. It was an uneventful night thank goodness. Ray ran into town and picked up the few groceries we need at the Walmart. He said it was a pitiful store.
Friday morning woke up at 4:30 and by 5:30 was up out of bed and working on the remaining laundry. Once I complete what I can, we will head off to Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills. Just had to dry 5 loads when we got there with the generator :).
Friday, March 4th - Tuttle Creek BLM Campsite
We were all set up by 12:30 and decided to go into Lone Pine for some lunch and then head into Movie Road for a short tour to get a feel for the area. We decided to have some real Texas BBQ first. Wow the ribs are really good as well as their baked beans. The brisket does not come off until 5pm, so we may go another time to get that while we are in the area. Saw where the Movie Museum is in town, but it wasn't open.
Off to Movie Road for a short tour while the sun is still out. The forecast is for clouds. wind and possible rain tomorrow.
Driving down the road the boulders are awesome. Some of the wildflowers are starting to bloom. I think in another week there will much more as the buds are on the plants now. Fingers crossed. As it has been posted there is very little cell coverage on Movie Road so it is probably best we are in Tuttle Creek BLM.
This hole was right beside a beautiful campsite. There are quite a few spots we scoped out we could fit in if we desired. Being so close to the rocks though in most cases, would limit the amount of solar charging we would get.
Even though we prepared for wind last night it is really quiet … just the burble of the small creek behind us, Ahhhh, much better than El Solana! Woke up at 6am and by 6:30 the sun came out onto the snowy peaks so Ray's out taking pictures lickety split! I also noticed a couple of fisherman walking up and down the creek looking for the “honey hole” for trout. They apparently release 6000 trout each year into this small creek. Ray managed to get a good picture of one. We've seen about 6 of them.
We headed off to Movie Road area again. One area we stopped at, is where they filmed some of the movie Gunga Din.
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| Somewhere in there between two rocks they constructed a bridge |
Freya helping Ray to take good pictures of the arches! This one is called the Graffiti Arch.
It started clouding up in the afternoon and the wind started to blow so I had a cooking day, rice pudding for Ray and Spaghetti with chicken, bacon and mushroom Carbonara. By 4pm the dish was down and I put the big slide in at bed time because of the gusts up to 50 mph I think. The rain came on and off all night as well. I did not hear a thing as I had my ear plugs in. :)
Sunday, March 6th - Tuttle Creek Road
Sunday morning we woke up to an unexpected sunny morning. Ray took off to take some more pictures while the sun was out. The dispersed camping is just below our Tuttle Creek Campground.
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| Dispersed camping above and two below |
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| Hambone Rock |
When he got back we decided to go into town and check out the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. Very interesting. After spending about 1/2 hour wandering around we decided to take another way back to camp that contained “arches” on the way.
So down Tuttle Creek Road we went over hill and dale.
The road up Tuttle Creek Canyon where we found the Flow Cave and the Flow Cave Arch. The cave looks like piled cow poop!
As we continued down the road we were following Tuttle Creek and found this little spring coming out of the rocks.
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| Moby Dick Arch |
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| Tuttle Creek Natural Bridge above and two below |
When we got back the clouds came in again with some wind. Cooked a pork rib roast for supper yumm.
Monday, March 7th - Arch Search and Snow
Monday morning we woke up to clouds. Forecast is for some sprinkles this afternoon. We to have high winds last night but nothing materialized. I decided to make scones for breakfast and a batch of cookies for Ray. Since it's cold and gloomy and the generator needed to be on anyways. Tomorrow the weather is supposed smarten up so we can venture out and about exploring again.
After that, we headed out before the weather turned to find a few arches detailed in the book we bought. This is a picture of what Ray calls Wolf Eel Arch but the locals call it Eagle Eye
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| Rabbit Arch with Hells Gate Arch behind |
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| Rabbit Arch |
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| Dumbbell Arch |
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| Hells Gate Arch |
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| Pallett Arch |
The forecasted sprinkles in the afternoon ended up being snowflakes at 4pm. It was quite windy overnight so Sat dish down again.
Here it comes!
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| Snowing on our parade |
By the time we went to bed it was crystal clear outside but quite cold. Big Buddy is set on low and we were toasty all night.
Tuesday, March 8th - Arch Trail
Tuesday morning we woke to a crystal clear sky and a light dusting of snow on the ground just 500 feet higher than our campsite. Absolutely stunning. Ray's out the door first thing to get some pictures.
When he came back off we went to the arch loop trail to specifically see the famous Mobius Arch. It's a lovely walk up and down and around all of the boulders. Ray also managed to find another known arch called the Lathe Arch. We'd bundled up to start the walk with hats and gloves etc. Within 1 1/2 hour we were carrying most of our extra clothes! We should have started out 1/2 hour later.
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| Mobius Arch above and two below |
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| Lathe Arch above and two below |
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| Heart Arch |
We got back by lunch time and then spent the afternoon sitting outside in the sunshine. By 3pm it started cooling off with clouds in the sky so I started a fire so we could stay outside an hour or so longer.
Wednesday March 9th - Mt. Whitney and Lone Pine Campground
Wednesday we stuck around camp other than taking the short drive up Whitney Portal Road to view Mt Whitney up close and see where the Whitney Portal Arch trail began. Only a couple tents are set up at the Lone Pine campground. They provide lock boxes for food to keep safe from bears and an oven/woodstove to keep warm.
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| Whitney Portal Road zigzagging up the mountain |
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| What an idyllic setting |
March 10th - Fossil Falls
Thursday we took a daytrip to Fossil Falls and left bright and early and hopefully we see some wildflowers. Wow did we ever.
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| Gorge from the first falls to the second above and two below |
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| Cinder Cone above and below |
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| After the falls and off to the Owen River |
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| Picnic area, there's also a campsite with spots for large rigs |
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| Second Falls, a combined 75' tall |
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| Top of First Falls above and below |
Came home to baked beans and BBQ Beef Ribs in the slow cooker … Yummmm.
March 11th - Chasing Arches
Friday morning woke up to wind and the start of the next storm. Ray got out for an hour to take some more arch pictures and I hunkered down with some house cleaning. Winds could be gusting to over 50mph tonight.
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| Elephant Ears Arch |
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| Face Rock |
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| Gunga Din Temple Site Marker - Cary Grant 1938 |
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| Ram's Head Arch |
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| Rancher's Arch |
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| Rancher's Arch #2 |
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| Unnamed, west of Face Rock |
As the day progressed we can see the storm approaching
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| Storms a'comin! |
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| The wind is picking up |
Wildflower tour March 4 - 16 while camped at Tuttle Creek BLM
Apricot Mallow at Fossil Falls also spotted at the Arch Trail in Alabama Hills a couple of days earlier.
Brown eyed Primrose, Fossil Falls
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Desert Needlegrass at Fossil Falls
Desert Star at Alabama Hills also found at Fossil Falls
Venus Blazing Star at Fossil Falls
Blue Phacelia found both at Alabama Hills and Fossil Falls
The desert is covered in Freemont Gold flowers. Everywhere you look has a yellow colour amongst the sage.
Scarlet Milk-Vetch found at Alabama Hills.
Desert Paintbrush from Alabama Hills.
Some of the shrubs are starting to bloom as well.
Getting in the mood for St. Paddy’s Day at camp!
March 13th - Bishop and Chasing Arches
Friday night’s wind came but isn't as strong as predicted here. However, Steve and Dianne faced the worst wind storm at Trona Pinnacles they've ever been in!
Saturday we woke to sunny skies and decided to go and check out Marzourka Canyon for wildflowers just south of Independence off of Highway 395. Unfortunately, that was a bust as the flowers were no where near ready to bloom. We decided to carry on to Bishop and do a grocery shop and eat lunch at a brew pub there called Mountain Rambler Brewery. They have 2 great beers we enjoyed and although a limited food menu, they have good burgers and flat-bread pizzas.
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| Cinder cones above and below along Hwy 395 |
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Sunday morning Ray took off with the dog to find some more named arches from the new book, while I got things under control for dinner tonight.
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| Dike Fence - went on for some length. Made from rock being pushed up by lava, the rock is stronger from the heat |
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| Multiple Arches |
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| Grim Arch above and below |
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| Laughing Arch |
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| Mile Arch |
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| Nice campsite |
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| Upper Lip Arch |
Steve and Dianne are coming here to see Alabama Hills so we will get a few days of visiting with them and touring them around. It's supposed to blow last night but it never happened here. We will see what today brings. They arrived by 1:30 and I invited them over for a crockpot dinner.
March 15th - Chasing Arches with Friends this time
Monday morning it got quite windy after 10am, but we decided to go for a drive and Dianne and Steve accompanied us to see a bunch of arches, which they can further investigate later on their quads. A great morning. Freya sure enjoyed all the attention from her aunty.
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| Cave Arch and awesome campsite |
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| Upper Lip Arch |
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| Three Flowers |
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| Cardinal Arch |
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| Ouch |
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| Dianne modelling |
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| Egg chair |
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| A hold up |
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| Shot Rock Arch |
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| Three Cabelleros |
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| Tuttle Creek Natural Bridge |
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| Several Unnamed Arches |
Tuesday we were all off again to scout out the Eye of Alabama Arch and a few others.
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| Big Daddy Arch to centre and Mick Jaeger Arch |
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| Bikini Arch |
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| Mick Jaeger Arch |
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| Exfoliated Rock |
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| Eye of Alabama Arch above and below |
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| Ghost Arch |
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| Stevenson Arch |
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| Bowling Ball Arch (bottom right) |
After a couple hours of wandering around we went to the Totem Café where Dianne and Steve treated us to lunch. We had a wonderful late afternoon campfire. No one needed dinner as we ate so well for lunch at 2pm.
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| Commemorating the 1892 earthquake which buried 52 of 59 buildings in Lone Pine |
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| Inyo Mountain |
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| Jake's Saloon above and below |
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| A sit with my BFF |
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| Moffat Ranch above and below |
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| Totem Cafe |
Wednesday morning Ray and the crew (Dianne, Steve and Freya) left bright and early to catch the sunrise at Whitney Portal Arch. I am in charge of making breakfast. They did not quite make it, as it is too hard to climb up for Ray. They went to Mobius and Lathe arch for the sunrise instead.
Breakfast is a hit. Crepes with ham and egg baked in the oven and sweet crepes with strawberries and whipped cream.
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| Breakfast prep |
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| Savory crepe |
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| Sweet crepe |
When we were checking out the “rock fence/dike” I managed to find a petroglyphs. These rock fences were caused by molten rock being forced out existing fissures and hardening.
The popular Face Rock in tribute to all of the movies that have been filmed in the area. Dianne even managed to find a geocache in behind the rock.
Happy St. Paddy's Day
We had a great time for 4 days with Dianne and Steve taking them on morning tours of the area. There is always way more to see that we will have to save for another time.
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| Steve taking Lightroom computer lessons |
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| Dianne's famous lasagna |
And last but not least is our St. Paddy’s Day Dinner with corned beef and cabbage and a green coconut cream pie.
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| Desert star. They only bloom in the morning |
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| Snow level's gone way up since we first got here |
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| St Patty's day dinner |
As you can tell we did a lot of eating and drinking! Lots of laughs.
We had such a good time at Lone Pine it's hard to go, but Friday morning after dumping and filling we were on the road by 9:30 on our way to Jawbone Canyon and Red Rock State Park. Enjoy finding more arches Steve and Dianne!
March 18-19th - Jawbone Canyon and Red Rock State Park
Took us less than 2 hours drive and set up in Jawbone Canyon . We managed to get a lovely spot just as someone else came after and tried to nab it. It's Friday afternoon and it does get really busy on weekends. After setting up, Ray took a quick trip up the road to the Red Rock State Park to get an idea of where he wanted to go first thing in the morning for pictures. By the time he came back, I'd set everything up and we spent the afternoon sitting outside on the shade side of the coach, as it was over 80F out. Hot! Hot! Hot! But at least there's a breeze.
Unfortunately the breeze moved into a full scale blow by 9pm so the Satellite dish came down and with it being so hot, we need the windows open during the night. This made for a very noisy time and I hardly slept. Same occurrence happened Saturday night as well, so we got the heck out of dodge! Obviously the wind does not bother the other campers, or they are used to it, as the place became packed by 6pm on Friday night. After Ray counted out his “pain pills”, we realized he would be short so we needed to make tracks back home more quickly.
Here are some of the pictures of Jawbone Canyon. Absolutely stunning. The paved road is 8 miles long with lots of good camping opportunities. This area is mostly used by OHV.
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| View to each side of our campsite |
The drive down the canyon yielded some wonderful other campsites and spectacular colours on the hills. Here's some of the campsites we viewed.
Absolutely stunning. Kind of like Artist Palate in Death Valley National Park.
More wildflowers along side the highway and in and around our campsite.
We drove out to the Jawbone Canyon General Store. Not much of a place but apparently very busy in the summer with all of the OHV traffic. They have live bands playing and lots of beer and hamburgers etc.
There are two aqueducts that run through this canyon to LA. They come way down the hill and then are pumped way up the other side. Way down the hill ….and way up the other side.
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| This is the second pipeline closer to our campsite |
Saturday morning (later as Ray went for sunrise shots), we went to Red Rock Canyon State Park. It is not very big and did not take us very long to see what's there. The first is Hagen Canyon.
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| Mushroom Rock |
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We decided to explore the next canyon over from Jawbone called Red Rock Canyon, The colours are absolutely great. The number of flowers covering the desert floor is incredible. A lovely area. |
Sunday, March 20th
We left Jawbone by 9am and were at the scheduled stop at the Tulare Walmart. Not the best choice … very noisy and so warm (over 80 degrees and 68 degrees overnight) but I could not open the windows with all the vagrants going in the nearby dumpsters. Not a very great sleep again. This makes 3 nights for me with the 2 windy ones at Jawbone Canyon. Made meatballs to use up the ground turkey and scones for a couple days of breakfast.
Monday, March 21st
On the road by 8am with scone in hand and with a little oops with the GPS … missed following the I-5 we arrived at 12:30 at the Woodward Walmart just north of Sacramento. Saw a car smashed up on the 99 with the ambulance and police… did not look good. Also saw a tanker truck with its pup on its side on an entrance to the 99. Quite the day. The Walmart at Woodward seems to be a much better choice as there is a grass lawn for Freya and it is not a very busy Walmart. Should have a better sleep tonight I hope. We just arrived and the scheduled rain and wind began. Temps 63 F. It showered on and off for the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow, we've decided to stay at the Win-River Casino in Redding. No point going too fast as there is expected snow in the mountain passes for Monday and Tuesday nights. Wednesday should be good to go.
Tuesday, March 22
Woke up to sunny skies. Today’s destination is only 2 1/2 hours up the road to the Win-River Casino in Redding. This Walmart in Woodward was great for Freya and very quiet overnight so we actually got a great sleep. The casino RV park is great for Freya and seems quiet. Lots of laundry to be done. Went to the Casino for lunch, I ordered a pizza and Ray the buffalo burger. We would stay here again but one row up. We had site 7 and did not get a satellite signal. Oh well.
Wednesday, March 23
Had a good night’s sleep, although we were both up early by 5:45 am. New song “had laundry on my mind!” We will hang tough for a few hours so that the ice at the top of the Siskiyou Pass is gone. Otherwise should be a good travel day to Medford Oregon. Settled in at the Walmart by 12:30 beside the store where the trucks off load. Perfect. Had a great sleep and it was pretty quiet overall. A few sprinkles overnight. As we were asleep by 8:30 so we were up by 5am.
Thursday, March 24
Our destination today is Valley River Center in Eugene. We liked it there last year and there's lots of grass and paths for Freya and Ray to walk. Forecast is for some sprinkles so hopefully it holds off again until we get there….we managed to get there be-for it rained.
Friday, March 25th
Arrived by noonish at the Lacey Walmart just north of Olympia. A great place with a Costco close by. They even have a small park for Freya.
Saturday, March 26th
Last night in the USA until next fall. An hour and a half drive this morning found us at the Tulalip Casino for the night. I am tired of leftovers so Ray took me to the Rams Brewery for lunch and he got to eat my leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow we cross the border yeah….. It poured overnight so hopefully the rain event is over for the drive home. Hope-fully until we set up anyways.
Sunday, March 27th
Arrived at Peace Arch RV Park by 11 am with no trouble at the border. Just relaxed and planned to see Dad and Betty tomorrow.
March 28-31
The rest of the month we spent looking after Dad as Betty was in the hospital and arranging for caregivers.
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