9/28/15 Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Nevada

A nice relaxing drive in our new truck to Lake Mead RV Village next to the Hoover Dam and another state sticker on the map. Although it's 107 degrees, it cools quickly to the 80's at dusk as we watch a coyote spring through the park.  We have seen so many

Coyote in Campground

magnificent sunsets on this trip but this one rates among the very best.  Decades of drought have taken the lake down well over 100 feet making the once lake front campground a half mile walk away from the water.

Next morning we scoot over to Hoover Dam and marvel at the technology needed in 1931-1936 to build this colossal structure. They say there is enough

concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. Standing atop it, it warms my heart to know that core samples tested in 1995 show no signs of deterioration.  Took 5 years to build which included first having to build tunnels to divert the raging Colorado River, and 2 coffer dams on each side of the construction site and then the dam itself.  Hummmm, that's about how long it is taking our builder to build two 3 story, 8 unit buildings and a club house....Sorry, just couldn't resist.

White Area Normal Level of Colorado River 

 Turbine Room At Bottom of Dam

Our Condo, Building Two

9/27/15 San Diego with Jack

Jack and Mom at Sweetwater Campground

As we pull into San Diego's Sweetwater Summit Campground, perched on a rolling hillside with a lovely valley view, our Camp Host neighbor says "glad you are here, wasn't sure you were going to make it for dinner".  Along with several Park Rangers and fellow Camp Hosts, we are invited to a freshly caught fish cookout including sticky rice, yummy fresh tuna jerky and Fireball Whisky to close the evening. Happy to have Jack join us, the gang of mostly Navy/Marine vets enjoyed listening to his plans and thanked him for his service.  We are SO very proud of him.

Ford 350 Crew Cab Long Bed

Truck issues finally force us to buy a new one and the process took 4 LONG DAYS! Day 1 is paperwork.  Day 2 is driving 220 miles round-trip to Riverside to get a new hitch base, get it installed, then drive 350 miles round-trip to Yuma, Arizona to take delivery of said truck (the dealer's recommendation to avoid California sales tax since we are not residents).   Our old truck practically died pulling into the Lowe's parking lot where we met with a Yuma notary who verifies we took possession outside California. We swap trucks with the Ford Dealer's driver, put on our old Montana license plates, drive back to San Diego in our new unregistered truck (no dealer plates or have to pay $4,000 sales tax), and are luckily waived through the California Border Patrol check point.  Day 3 is spent correcting the new truck title that had the old truck's odometer reading on it.  Day 4 is getting it accessorized including running boards so Deb doesn't need a ladder to get in.  Love the bigger, stronger, longer truck but hard to park!

We learn the hard way why many RVs have circled their rigs with all sorts of chemicals to keep ants out.  We get ants and do what is recommended on the internet, put liquid borax traps (Walmart) around the room.  Do you believe everything you read on the internet???  Well a few hundred tiny ants turn into THOUSANDS and they are climbing the walls everywhere.  The borax worked in that they were all gone the next day but how about next time putting the traps outside near the RV and not draw them in???

Seems like we have been in stressful situations for months and so it continues. Chili just had a  8.3 earthquake generating a tsunami warning up the southern California coast and a thunderstorm in Utah led to flash floods in Zion National Park (our next stop) killing 17 hikers.  We are fried, and having already seen soooo many beautiful places in this country, we skip the planned trip to Utah's Zion, Bryce, and Monument National Parks and settle down here for 8 more days and then go direct to the Grand Canyon.  We have gotten to the point where we are not appreciating these magnificent sites so will save Utah for another trip.

USS Midway Museum

Jack takes us on a tour of the surface fleet and we go aboard the aircraft carrier Midway.  This was the first ship Grandpa French served on as a Seaman Recruit in 1950! We  have a fantastic walk around Cabrillo National Park and visit to Mission San Diego.  Mid-week we catch a Padres game with Jack, and spend time hanging around Hotel Del Coronado with

Hotel Del Coronado

Virginia friends John and Vicki who are here vacationing.  Next weekend, with Jack we hike around Torrey Pines and boogie board, watch ECU beat VA Tech at Jack's Coronado apartment, and experience the blood moon eclipse overlooking the ocean on the deck of the Hotel Del with John and Vicki.  So hard to leave after visiting with either one of our kids.

Jack's Coronado Apartment View

9/15/15 Point Mugu, California

Towed Off Point Mugu Beach

 Today was not for the faint of heart but one that tests our positivity skills and our commitment to continue this Freedom Folly. The truck acts like it has had enough of 14 months of towing us around the country so we plan to buy a new one when we get to San Diego. 

We arrive at Point Mugu State Park, near Malibu California, where the beach is the only thing on this sliver of land surrounded by a crescent of large steep hills.  We park parallel to the beach so our feet step into the sand at the bottom of the RV steps.  Life is good!

Then realize – the RV battery is so low the slides won’t open.

Then realize – the fridge has an ignition default signal which probably ran the RV battery down.

Then realize – can’t start generator to charge battery because need a little juice from the battery.

Then realize – although we see truck tires in the sand, John tries to pull our monster truck beside the RV to charge the battery and it sinks 6 inches into the sand.

AW JEEZE!  We go from the height of ecstasy to the pit of despair in 15 minutes.  Good thing Deb’s reading The 10^th Insight by James Redfield (of The Celestine Prophecy fame) as we look at each other, smile, and say “THINK LOVING THOUGHTS SO THIS NEGATIVITY WILL STOP!” 
Immediately, a fellow camper watching this fiasco unfold offers to tow us out of the sand – no problem.

The truck battery cables just reach the generator and the jump works - no problem.

The RV slides open and the fridge default signal miraculously goes off, food is still cold – no problem.

YAHOO - We grab the boogie boards, hit the waves, drink lots of wine, watch an amazing sunset in front of the RV with our feet in the sand and gleefully acknowledge, as Deb’s sister Sherrie jokingly puts it …..it sucks to be us ;)

Yet another of John's cousins, Jim, came by for a wonderful visit getting to know each other after 50 years.  We then tear ourselves off the beach and drive 1.5 hours to Hollywood to visit with John's best high school buddy, Lee and wife Melanie.  It is great catching up with them and hearing about their current play and screen writing projects.  We arrive at the campground well after curfew and the gate is locked with no Ranger in sight.  John "MacGyver's" (1980's TV show hero can fix anything with a pocketknive) a wood platform over the exit-only spike strip and Deb gingerly drives over; no shredded tires and no arrests!

Relaxing on Point Mugu

9/12/15 Northern and Central California

CCC Bridge Sims Flat Campground

Mt Shasta's Peak from Sims Flat

    9/8 Yet another state sticker is added to our RV map as we drive Route 5 South through beautiful Oregon. Definitely want to spend more time along this coast and in the mountains.  So sad to see how low Lake Shasta is after many years of severe drought. We camp in Shasta National Forest at Sims Flat on the site of an old CCC camp.  A 1933 suspension bridge, water tank from an old locomotive, and foundation of a saw mill still remain.  Being the only campers in this remote campground, we spend a peaceful evening in our birthday suits drinking wine and reading while enjoying the dry 100 degree thick forest along the rushing river.

9/9 When not climbing up and down forest covered mountains, hundreds of miles of valleys are filled with olive groves, avocado, strawberry and many other types of produce.  In a 104 degree Walmart parking lot, John changes a flat tire on the RV (#6 new tire on this Freedom Folly).  East of Sacramento we have a swim and dinner at our 49ers Village Campground with Hawaii friends Dean and Jaynine who are on their own RV escapade for a few months. During dinner we see and smell smoke coming from the direction of their campground, so they scoot through flames on the way.

9/10 Next morning we meet John's cousin, Court, at a local diner after last night's fire burned the power lines leaving his home smokey and dark.  

Cousins Court and John

 (A week later this 'Butte Fire', employs more than 3,000 firefighters, consumes over 70,000 acres, 800 homes and out buildings, and 2 lives ...so far.)  Our friends and loved ones remain safe through this tragedy.  Many miles away, traffic crawls through the coastal mountains to Monterey Bay due to another fire activity along the roadside.  We inch by in 104 degree temps and are greeted on the other side to 64 degrees along the Bay.  We stay at the lovely Monterey Pines Campground surrounded by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPG) golf course.    We have dinner with an Operations Research icon from Johns past, Wayne and wife Joan, after cocktails at their most fantastic California casual home.  The salty air and homey Asian theme has Deb ready to move right in.

Fishing Boats Monterey Bay

9/11 The Monterey peninsula's average temp is normally 60’s in the summer, making it very pleasant to say the least.  The next morning we tour historic Hotel Del Monte which is now part of the Navy Postgraduate School complex. Being 9/11 we take a moment in the chapel to pray for the souls destroyed by terrorists in 2001 and for a better humanity.  John reminisces about several visits attending conferences at NPG and Asilomar. Just think we could have lived in this fabulous place when we moved from Hawaii to Washington DC but Deb wanted to be closer to her aging family on the east coast and was afraid of earthquakes.  We walk along Monterey Bay through groves of eucalyptus and pines, find fantastic sea glass for Deb’s mirror project, see sea lions basking on the piers, and watch squid fisherman unload their catch while enjoying coffee, pastry and fresh peaches for breakfast.  These Monterey Bay piers are where Arthur Beaumont (the official artist of the United States Fleet in WWII)  painted several watercolors of fishing boats of which we have 4 in various stages of completion.  We also have two Naval paintings he did in Antarctica  and the Artic.  We have a book of Naval history describing these paintings which says while painting he lit candles under the paint to keep it from freezing.  The paintings were acquired from a close friend of John’s parents (Marie Brooks) who Arthur Beaumont taught to paint.  We also have one of Marie’s still life paintings of a vase of flowers.

Pacific Coastal Highway

Around noon we are heading south on the 90 mile drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (Route #1) heading for Point Mugu.  Glad we took this 3 hour spectacular ocean drive along sheer mountain cliffs where there may be 20 miles of straight road BUT WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN IN AN RV!  White knuckle all the way.  Camped at Hearst San Simeon State Park.  So drought stricken here you have to bring your own water and many trees are dying among the tinder dry grass. 

Hearst Castle

9/12 William Hearst's father made his fortune in the California gold rush but in silver.  He bought over 250,000 acres in San Simeon area.  When William inherited the property, he was already a mega wealthy 

Small Section of Hearst Pool

man and built a Mediterranean style castle atop one of its many hill tops.  Objects from Europe and some from Egypt dating back 3000 years make up the walls, ceilings, fireplaces and statuary.  A magnificent museum but an abomination upon this otherwise pristine landscape.  Still it is worth a visit. The beautiful sea side, rolling hills landscape is filled with sage, clusters of trees, grazing cattle, horses and from the Hearst Zoo days, zebra who have obviously bred with horses as some are half brown and half striped.  

9/8/15 Salem, Oregon

Welcome Cocktails in the RV

We put another state sticker on the map when we camp in Salem, Oregon behind John's cousin's house over Labor Day Weekend.  Megan's husband's family is having a wedding and we are graciously invited to attend a family function. Our John sees many people for the first time since Megan and John O. were married 40 years ago.  My how time flies. Dessert is a peach cut in half, grilled on

both sides, drizzled with honey (or your favorite liquor) and served with vanilla ice cream.  It is fantastic and works with nectarines with nectarines too!   We also gorged ourselves on salmon and halibut caught from their recent Alaska fishing trip.We finally got to wash the RV, had a great walk through a local park, and especially fun times with their kids, grand kids, and 85 year old Aunt Shirley who is a hoot and a half!

Jack 8 and Zoe 10

Bday 20 Years Later

We spend 4 well needed days relaxing around Salem while the kids are in San Francisco celebrating their same day birthdays.  This first day of school photo was taken on the porch of 127 RI Avenue home in Newport the day after their birthday.  They loved to celebrate bdays together with large themed events often coinciding with real life events like space ships, olympics,  and safari.  

A thoughtful friend of Debra's shares a very important piece of information that anyone who wants good relationships must read and heed :) 

9/3/15 Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

The drive across the entire state of Washington to the Pacific coast  takes us about eight hours with stops and was appreciably uneventful. The storm the day before brought well needed rain which helped slow down the fires and clear the air a bit.  Grayland Beach Campground is very nice and peaceful with large private sites against the dunes which block the ocean view but not the sound of the waves. A few minute walk over the dunes we see an angry looking ocean after yesterday’s 90 mile an hour winds which knocked out power to the campground.  Not much to see around here so for two days we relax around the foggy, damp beach and pray for a clear sunny day which we have rarely seen since hitting the smoke filled Rockies in Montana two weeks ago.  We meet fellow full-timer campers who for four years have worked as camp hosts all over the country.  Sometimes working in the camp store, overseeing camper check in, managing campers “issues”, cleaning restrooms and cabins, etc.  We realize this is not for us although we may want to volunteer for some fun jobs if we stay in a place for a while.  Blackberry bushes cover the dune behind our site and we enjoy them for many breakfasts to come.

Kalaloch Roadside Campsite

It's only a two hour scenic drive up the coast to Olympic National Park and Kalaloch Campground where tree damage from Saturday's storm is apparent.  We arrive to find it had been evacuated three days ago in the height of the storm due to road closures and downed trees. Deb just read The Celestine Prophecy which espouses ‘there are no coincidences’.  If Kalaloch had space when making reservations two weeks ago we would have arrived the day after the storm to closed roads and a closed campground.  Instead we had two relaxing days at Grayland Beach!  Few sites are large enough for our rig in this ocean front, thick rain forest and the only one available (they think, no power to check reservations) is literally just pulling to the side of one of the camp roads.  With our parlor slide extended into the road, another rig can barely get by.  We affix an orange noodle (pool float) along the edge of the slide to improve visibility and leave the outside light on at night as there are no lights in the campground (even when there is power – we like this).  Not very busy since the storm damage caused many people to cancel.  While exploring we see that some of the fabulous ocean view sites are big enough for us on the D loop - next visit!   Nights are in the mid 40's and days in the 70's, very nice.

Bones of the Rain Forest - Kalaloch Campground

We take long walks on the beach, picking up sand dollars and driftwood for the guest bathroom mirror frame Deb is going to decorate from beach treasures she has been collecting on this trip. Massive cypress logs, called ‘the bones of the rain forest’ line the beach making it a little difficult to initially get on to the sand.  Seven miles north is spectacular Ruby Beach where we spend hours among the massive rock formations.  We head East up to the Hoh Rain Forest for a "drippy" nature walk where 20 feet of rain annually is normal. 

Walking among 300 foot tall, 800+ year old Sitka Spruce and Hemlock is amazing.  Tired of all the driving we do, we choose not to explore the whole peninsula, saving the northern section for another visit, and enjoy long walks and reading on the beach IN THE SUN FINALLY. Thank you Zoe for telling us about this campground.!