Our RV Adventures

Our day started very early this morning, 5:30 early to be exact.

At least for me.

Jan got to sleep in . . . til 6.

We wanted to leave Boron, CA by 7 am to be sure we made it to Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA about 233 miles away before noon. If we were late, the office would be closed, and we would have to drycamp overnight before checking in Monday morning.

So we pulled out of the Arabian Oasis RV park in Boron a little before 7 and got back on the road, heading west.

After passing through Mojave, and seeing the hillsides covered in windfarms,

we started the long climb up and over Tehachapi Pass, and of course, more windfarms.

The windfarms are here because the wind pretty much always blows here. In fact it’s not unusual for the pass to be shut down to trucks and RVs due to the high winds.

Railroad tracks paced us for a good while, threading their way back and forth, over and under the highway, including a long series of tunnels along the way.

Finally, after about 90 miles we reached Bakersfield, CA and turned north on SR99 heading toward Fresno.

In Fresno we got on SR41, the road that would take us to Coarsegold, about 35 miles away.

We pulled into the park a little after 11 am and were greeted by Jeanne Sparks and Eldy Tompkins waving to us as we drove in, and then as soon as we parked at the office to register, there was Dave and Lynn Cross to greet us as well.

It’s always good to see old friends.

We were quickly led to our sites and got parked and set up. Luckily we were able to get a site right next to Nick and Terry.

We had been told about the Ice Cream Social at 2:30, and since Nick and I couldn’t pass up ice cream we all headed down to the clubhouse about 2:20. Didn’t want to be late.

We stayed about an hour before heading back to the rig for a nap. The early morning wakeup call was starting to have its effect.

After a really good nap (is there any such thing as a bad nap?) we headed out about 6:30 for a tour around the area and dinner.

We drove through Coarsegold, and then on to Oakhurst, the last town before you enter Yosemite National Park.

All the while we drove around, we were trying to decide where to eat supper. It finally boiled down to the Chukchansi Casino right outside the park. We had heard the buffet was good, and it was.

Very, very good. Certainly on par with the Las Vegas casinos. We’ll definitely go back, probably on Wednesday night when it’s Steak and Seafood night. And it’s only $8.99 with the Player’s Cards we picked up on our way out.

We got home about 9:30 after a very long day, that hopefully will lead to an early bedtime.

More tomorrow . . .

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Thought for the Day:

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." — John Locke

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Today’s post covers both Friday and Saturday since I got a day behind due to our trip to LA.

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Friday the 13th really was. We lost power at the RV park about 7:15, or at least our half of it did,

Of course it was our half!

At first they said it would be back on by noon, then 3 pm, then 5, then 7.

Then maybe tomorrow, maybe.

We are so out of here, tomorrow, at least.

We did use our generator to keep cool, but finally just gave up and hit the road about 1 pm.

Our first stop was at Nick and Terry’s mail service down in Boulder City to get their mail, and the last of our packages.

Next we headed back over to Border’s Books for a while, and then next door to get in one last visit to Fry’s Electronics. I got a bigger (32gb) SD memory card for my digital camera, and drooled over some other stuff that I want, but don’t need.

After that, we were getting hungry so we ended up at the Lucky Star Chinese Buffet for our last meal in Vegas.

After that we stopped by Sam’s Club so I could pick up some vitamins, then on to Wal-Mart. Jan wanted to get her hair done, and Terry wanted to get some groceries. While they were doing that, I took Nick home so he could take care of some Internet stuff, and I wanted to pick some pants at the coach to take back to Wal-Mart when I picked them up.

Of course when we got back to the park, we still had no power, but it was cooler, and between the generator and our battery/inverter system, we did fine.

But I am glad we’re leaving tomorrow.

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Saturday the 14th was certainly better than the 13th.

We’re heading out today to Boron, CA, a little over 200 miles away. It’s just a stopping-off point on our way to the Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA, just south of Yosemite National Park.

We spent a week here last year and look forward to introducing Nick and Terry to the area.

Nick and Terry pulled out of the Thousand Trails RV Park here in Vegas about 9 am, heading up to the Speedco in North Las Vegas where Nick wants to get his oil changed. Hopefully it works out better than it did a couple of weeks ago at the Speedco in Kingman.

Jan and I left the park about 10 am, heading to the Shell station about 2 miles down Boulder Highway, where they had diesel for $3.939. A great deal since I’ve seen it around here for as much as $4.699. And when I last filled up over 3 weeks ago, I paid $4.109 in Camp Verde, AZ.

I didn’t really need fuel as I still had about 60 gals which would be plenty to get to Coarsegold. But I would need it soon after, and diesel is way more expensive in California. This way I won’t need more until we’re in Washington state, or after.

After we go fuel, we cut across the bottom of Vegas to get to I-15 S where we parked along the side of the road and waited for Nick and Terry to catch up. I went ahead and hitched up the truck, and then we just sat and read for a while.

They came by about 12:20 and we quickly pulled out and caught up, driving straight through to Boron, arriving about 3:30 at the Arabian RV Oasis. It’s a Passport America park, so it was only $12 for full hookups and a pull-thru site. Nothing fancy, but the sites are level and the place is neat and clean. We don’t ask for much more.

Boron’s claim to fame is that it is where borax is mined, you know, the 20 Mule Team stuff.

One additional note is that about 20 miles into California from Nevada, we hit a new milestone. We’ve now put 40,000 miles on our coach since we bought it in Dec. 2007, and we’ve been from Key West, FL to Fairbanks, AK, and from San Diego to Newfoundland, Canada. Not bad for only 3+ years.

About 4 we headed out for dinner at Domingo’s Mexican Restaurant right down the road. We all agreed it was good, especially for out in the middle of the desert. Of course, not La Fonda or Esther’s Taco House good, but good none the less.

When we got back, I got the satellite set up and we were in for the night.

Jan talked to Brandi about 6:30 to let her know that we’ll be on the road tomorrow morning so we won’t be able to Landon-Skype then.

We’re leaving here very early, about 7 am because we want to get to Park of the Sierras before noon, else the office will be closed and we’ll have to dry camp until Monday morning.

More tomorrow from Coarsegold.

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Thought for the Day:

"Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock." – Will Rogers

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