Lone Pine, CA

Oct. 29, 2018

We arived in Lone Pine about 11 am, hoping to pick up the water heater we ordered 2 weeks earlier before the Post Office closed for lunch.  They had our Amazon package, but NO water heater. After a quick email to the supplier, they said it was due to arrive the next day.  It did arrive the next day but I couldn’t pick it up until late in the afternoon.

I was going to take pictures of the install process, but I got so involved I forgot to take any.  Although it took much longer than anticipated (it always does) all went well and we have hot water on tap again.

While there’s free boondocking in the Alabama Hills north west of town, but we stayed in Tuttle Creek BLM campground, $4 a night with the senior pass.  We stayed here in June of 2017 and loved it. Tuttle Creek is one of those places with great views in any direction you look. To the west are the craggy Sierra’s with Mt. Whitney.  

Morning light on the Eastern Sierra's

Sunrise over the Inyo mountains.

View from the camper window.

To the east is the valley 1300 ft below and the multi colored Inyo mountains.

To the north and south of us was the plane we were sitting on with the mountain range receeding into the distance.

Tuttle Creek is all dry camping with vault toilets and a central water source in every loop.  It’s one of our favorite BLM/Forest Service campgrounds,

The Alabama Hills are famous as a movie location since the beginning of movies.  Mostly westerns but also films as diverse as Star Trek, Star Wars, Iron Man and the campy Tremors in 1990. The Museum of Western Film History chronicles the local movie history.

A few miles north of Lone Pine is the Manzanar National Historic site.  Manzanar is one of 9 “relocation camps” hastily constructed to house Japanese Americans from the west coast during World War II. Over 10,000 people lived at this site from 1942 till the camp closed in 1945.

The only original stuctures that remain are the stone guard shack and Gym / Meeting Hall (now the visitors center) completed in 1944.  There are reconstructed Barracks, Mess Hall, Latrine, Fire Station, Guard Tower and Barbed Wire Fence.

The unearthed Merritt Park






Reconstructed barracks

"Monument to console the souls of the dead"

While we were in the Bishop Visitors Center we learned of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory near Big Pine, CA, about 50 miles north of Lone Pine.  The first Monday of the month they have a tour open to the public. We made a day trip of it visiting the Big Pine Canyon and the home of the Palisade Glacier , the southernmost permanent glacier in North America.  While seeing the glacier would have required a long hike, we did have a nice view for a picnic lunch.

The Radio Observatory tour started at 1 pm and consists of a 30 min talk followed by a tour of the 130-foot/40-meter radio telescope constructed in 1968.

View from the cat walk on the 40 meter radio telescope, about 50 ft up.

We spent 7 days at Tuttle Creek and Lone Pine. Of course the star of the show is the views.

More pictures from the Lone Pine area...

Downtown Lone Pine on a blustery day.

Hiking the Arch Loop trail in the Alabama Hills.

Mobius Arch with Joan and Mt. Whitney.

looking East through the Mobius Arch

The mundane events of a traveling life.

Coming next Death Valley NP.

Bishop, CA

Oct. 27, 2018

After leaving Standish we took 3 days to get to Lone Pine, CA.  One night at Washo Lake State Park outside Carson City, NV.

One night at the Gardnerville, NV Wal-Mart, no picture.

And two nights at a county park north of Bishop, CA.  We wanted to spend some time in Bishop and get a feel for the place.  Joe, the guy at the Visitors Center, gave us enough stuff to do for a week.  We’d only planned to spend 1 day in Bishop so we picked a few things to do and saved the rest for another visit.  The only thing we didn’t like about Bishop was the lack of reasonably priced camping.  We scouted a free BLM site, a $2.50 a night (with senior pass) BLM site with great views of the mountains but a rough road leading in and the $14 a night county park we ended up staying in. 

The free BLM site had a long washboard road with a couple of sharp turns we didn’t think we could make with the camper.  The other BLM site, named “The Pit”,  had a pretty level road but with a lot of grapefruit sized rocks that made for, well, a rocky (as in rock and roll) drive in.  While the price was definitely right and the views were great, we thought it may not be worth any potential damage to the camper.  The last option, the county park, was the easiest to get to (paved road) and we were getting tired so that’s what we picked. 

From a distance it looked like a pretty nice place, on a creek with some green area and lots of trees. Up close though, not so nice.  It’s at the base of a large dam with steep rocky cliffs on either side.   Visions of a dam burst with a wall of water racing down the manmade canyon sweeping us away in the middle of the night.  There’s even signs warning of that possibility, during the spring runoff.  Okay, little risk this time of year.  Then there’s the threat of a boulder rolling off the cliff and crushing us in the middle of the night like a bug.  That threat was still real, but what are the odds…!  Those green area were places you couldn’t pitch a tent or park a camper.  The rest was talcum powder like dust.  And finally the creek that, according to the web site, draws fishermen, also draws mosquitos, LOTS of mosquitos, that come out at dusk, right when we were setting up!  Now, being from Florida we’re familiar with mosquitos but haven’t had to deal them with in… well, several years. 

By the way, all these campsite are in… “Pleasant Valley”!

Campsite in Pleasant Valley

Fall colors in Bishop city park

Twins, same year, same color, each with a topper, one from Florida (ours), one from Texas.

Bishop is a nice little town and we'd love to come back and spend more time.

Coming next, Lone Pine, CA   

Standish, CA

Oct. 25 2018

We spent 4 days at our boondocking “Sweet Spot” near Lassen Volcanic NP.  During that time we had 4 vehicles go by.  Here’s a few more pictures…

On a walk up the road.

No wonder we had good cell coverage, tower on the hill.

A little fall color,

Sunset colors in the eastern sky.

The next destination was Wal-Mart in Susanville, CA.  This was the smallest Wal-Mart we’ve ever spent the night.  The food section was only about 6 small aisles with almost no produce.  Not to worry, there was a Safeway a short walk away with a fantastic produce section.  It’s like Wal-Mart conceded their food business to Safeway.  In the same strip mall was an Ace hardware and Laundromat, all be it expensive - $3 a load.  All the people we encountered in Susanville were extremely friendly.  The guy at the Ace hardware even called around town to find an obscure part I wanted for the upcoming water heater install.  Sometime in the future I’d like to come back to Susanville and spend more time.

We stayed in the parking lot at Wal-Mart until about 11am. Our next destination was a whopping 14 miles away in Standish, CA.  What’s in Standish you ask, a little 27 site PassportAmerica  RV Park called Days End.

Days End is one of the nicest little RV Parks we've visited.  Arnie, the owner/manager/grounds crew and all around character is a little gruff at first but he's really a nice guy who runs a tight ship.  All the facilities are top notch.  We originally planned to do one of our "Drain tanks, fill water, do laundry and take a real shower" stops.  With all our chores done we were ready to leave the next day but liked it here so much we stayed another day. Oh, and did I mention the great WiFi and TV reception!

There's not much here, a gas station/convenience store (that Arnie built in the late 80's), post office and this RV park (that he built in the early 2000's).  It's basically a farming community cross roads.

Here's some pics...

Yes, That's population "85".

Sunset over Standish CA.

Boondocking near Lassen Volcanic NP

Oct. 19, 2018

After leaving Lakehead, we stopped for the night at a Walmart in Red Bluff CA before heading into the mountains toward Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park southern entrance.  More to come on Lassen soon. We’d planned to stay in a Forest Service campground but when we called, they were closed for the season. The lady we talked to suggested dispersed camping including the snowmobile staging area parking lot, unused this time of year.  We knew of some dispersed camping or boondocking spots from an app on our phones (Freecampsites.net) but we wanted to scout them first. The parking lot would be a good place to start.

We found a great place with a view, plenty of sun for our solar system AND full bars of Verizon LTE.  With a good weather forecast, we decided to stay here for a few days and just chill.

Snowmobile parking lot.

Boondocking spot.

Heading south for the winter

Oct 6, 2018

The last 2 days at McMinnville were overcast and drizzly.  We'd squeezed as much summer out of Oregon as we could.  It was time to start heading south.  Our first stop was the Valley River Mall in Eugene, OR.  Last June we learned they allowed RV's to stay in their rear parking lot for up to 2 nights for free, we planned to do some shopping in Eugene before moving on.  Everything is very official. The security guards drive by and check you in with a little note indicating the day you'll leave.  We found evidence of this practice going back to 2011. Unfortunately the security guard informed us they'd be terminating the program starting Jan. 2019.  One (but not the only) reason was a few people abusing the PRIVELAGE!

Our main shopping objective was to buy Joan a new computer. Her 17" laptop, dating back to 2012, had become more of a liability than an asset with several system failures.  Also, it's size was the "elephant in the room" in such a small living space. Well, after several stops at the usual electronics stores and some Internet research she selected a 14" laptop with a Microsoft i5 processer and a 256 Gb solid state disk drive. I'm pleased to report that Joan and her new computer (Hanna) are very happy together!

The next stop was Valley of the Rouge State Park near Medford, OR. We'd take care of our systems after 5 days of dry camping, do some laundry and cooking before moving on.

Campsite at Valley of the Rouge State Park. Fall colors.

Oct. 10

The plan is to head south into northern California, cross the mountains and check out the southern entrance to Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park before continuing south along the eastern side of the Sierra-Nevada's. We've wanted to explore that area more after passing through on our way to Oregon a few years ago.

Mt. Shasta from I-5 heading south.

First stop in California, Antlers National Forest Service Campground at Lakehead, CA.

We only planned to stay here overnight.  After setting up I noticed a little drip under the camper that shouldn't be there.  I traced it to the water heater and eventually to the fitting on the hot water outlet pipe.  It was just a small leak around the threads, no problem I'll just remove the fitting, put some more sealant on it and put it back in.  Well... the fitting was plastic and as I was "unscrewing" it, it didn't feel right.  Yep, you guessed it, it sheered off. 

I removed the water heater from the camper and tried to remove the broken off part with various tools including a Dremel with tiny bits similar to dental tools, no luck.  The plastic threads were some how fused to the aluminum tank.  I later learned you never use steel or PLASTIC fittings on these aluminum tanks.  With 20-20 hind sight I'd have tried some radiator patch epoxy from an auto parts store.

So, what started as a minor leak has turned into a new water heater. Oh well, it was a 9 year old water heater but it was working just fine. The installed price from various RV repair shops is about $1000.  I found a new one online for $369 and feel pretty confident since I'd already removed the old one. We're shipping it to Lone Pine, CA, where we planned to spend some time anyway. In the mean time we'll heat water the old fashion way, on the stove. 

We really liked Antler CG so we stayed 3 days while sorting out a plan for the water heater.

Day 2 at Antlers, about 5 hours of good solar per day

Our weather window for crossing the mountains had closed-in with heavy winds warnings for "high profile vehicles".  Also, Joan needed some heavy duty WiFi to finish setting up her new computer so we moved to a full service campground on the other side of I-5, Lakeshore Inn and RV park.

Lakeshore RV Park campground.

Making home made apple sauce with apples from Beaver Creek trees.

The lake in Lakehead, CA is Lake Shasta, drawn down for the winter.

Antler Campground is on the other side of I-5.

What was supposed to be an over night stop turned into 5 days at Lakehead, CA.  C'est La Vie, when life serves up lemons, you make lemonade or in our case, apple sauce.

Spruce Goose VIP tour

SPRUCE GOOSE TOUR - for $29.95 up to 4 people can take a guided tour of flight deck and cockpit. Keep in mind the Goose is 98% wood, even structural members that look like medal, are made of wood.

Here's some picture...

Looking aft. Notice 6' mannequin at center right.  The flat surface above is where the wings come together.

Looking forward. The production model would have had clam shell doors for loading tanks and other cargo.

The wings are large enough to service the rear of the engines.

Engineers would sit here monitoring test equipment during the test taxi/flight.

Looking forward from the pilot's seat. One of first "heads up display".

Looking out the pilots side window.

Joan peeking out the pilots roof hatch.

Smile for the camera! Cockpit photo is included with the tour.

Views of  the wood structure.

The edge on the right is the outer skin of the fuselage.

Coming next, Heading south for the winter.