Last Day on the Road – Part 2

May 19, 2014  –  Monday (continued)

The cold date shake felt good on my increasingly sore throat. We snap a few more pictures before the long uphill Hwy 74 that takes us up over the mountain.

The above picture shows two of the many switch back roads we came up. In the distance, top right of photo, shows where I started the climb. I put the RV in 3rd gear and it climbed the road really good.

It was nice to see the first sign that says how far Aguanga is! Getting really close now.

Aguanga has an elementary school, this tiny general store, a tiny post office just to the right of it and a real estate office to the left. Our mail is delivered to the post office, since they won’t deliver to our house, one mile up a dirt road. We do all our shopping in Temecula, a nice good size town, 18 miles away. Minutes from the post office and our home, is Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. We have a membership to this SKP park, and is where our RV lives. We have never taken either of our RVs home, due to our steep, rocky dirt road.

Once we got back to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort, where all my trips start from, I called my son and asked him to come and get us. We left our cars at our home, so he could drive them and keep the batteries up.  While waiting for Rick to pick us up, we gathered just the necessities to take home, like our iPads, chargers, medication, etc.  I usually go back the next day to bring home clothes, dirty laundry, dog related stuff, etc

I asked the dogs if they wanted to go home while waiting for Rick. They look pretty happy! Bella only makes this face when she is really happy. Chica loved everything about the trip so she would be just as happy to keep going. She is a great traveler. Unfortunately, Bella hates being in a moving vehicle. She never stops panting until the motor is turned off, then she is really happy! I’ve tried various calming products on Bella, but none of them worked. The only option is to leave her with someone when I travel, but I can’t bear that option. Who would take care of her as good as her momma?

Rick pulled up in my car shortly. It was good to see him and know we were close to being home! Both dogs seem to realize we were close to home when they felt the rough dirt road going up the hill to our house. Daisy, our pitbull/shepherd mix greeted us happily when we good home. I tried to take photos, but they were all so blurry! Once we got into the house, Bella ran and got on my bed, her favorite place in the world.

Chica and Daisy played like this for a long time. Daisy has always played so gently with my small dogs. These two have a very close relationship. Chica was a young puppy and Daisy mothered her from day one. Bella was full grown when we got Daisy as a puppy, and Bella doesn’t really like to play as much as Chica and Daisy.

Thanks for following our 49 day RV trip!

 

Patty, Bill, and the stroller dogs, Bella and Chica

 

Last Day on the Road – Part 1

 

May 19, 2014  –  Monday

Yesterday and this morning have been the hottest days on our trip so far. We ran the air conditioner all night and morning. I hate hearing that thing, but it was too hot without it. There was a good breeze, but it was hot air, so just leaving the windows open wasn’t enough.

We planned to get up really early and get on the road to beat the heat. Yesterday, I could feel a sore throat coming on. I didn’t fall asleep till pretty late I think due to the loud air conditioner. This morning it was hard to get going, but we each took showers at the park and were on the road by 6:45 am. My gps says home is 4 hrs and 12 minutes away.

The Lake Havasu area is very pretty. I’m not all that familiar with the campgrounds, but I have stayed at all three state parks. The drive leaving Cattail Cove was scenic, and uphill. I had Bill snap some pictures.

Besides various RV parks, there are a lot of mobile home communities it looks like, right on the Colorado River.

Then the road got long and boring, on our way to pick up the I-10. We pass the Welcome to California sign at 7:20. We pulled over at 8:25 for potty breaks and to replenish our water bottles.

Soon we pass the Riverside County border sign, and we are still 2 hrs and 42 minutes from home! Riverside county is HUGE. We technically live in Riverside county, but near the San Diego county line.

Finally we get to the I-10 freeway in Blythe at 9:15 am. We gassed up in Indio, paying $4.05 a gallon, the most expensive gas we have had for the whole trip. Welcome to California, land of high gas prices.

At 10:30, we are on Hwy 111 that runs thru Indio and the Palm Springs area. Palm trees line the roads, with manicured parkways, expensive shops and golf courses. When I take this route, I always stop for a date shake at Shields. I pull into the parking lot away from the cars so we can run the RV generator and the air conditioner. An RV generator should be run at least 30 minutes or longer a month, to keep it in good working order. We didn’t use it much on this trip. Bill stays in the RV with the dogs while I go in to get my date shake and look around.

I’ve never taken the time to watch the “movie” .

With the monthly generator run done and my belly full, it’s time for the last stretch of the trip before getting home. It’s also the most steep road, on any trips I have taken, I think. My last RV climbed the hill without any problems. I hope this one does as well.

See Part 2  –  Last Day on the Road

 

Cattail Cove State Park, Lake Havasu – Part 2

May 18, 2014. – Sunday (continued)

I stayed at this state park with my son a couple of years ago on our way to the Lake Havasu Balloon Festival. It was pretty crowded then, because of the event in town. Today, being Sunday we practically have the park to our selves. We have a much better site, than when I was here last.

The road coming into the park keeps you in suspense of what you will see. Around a curve you get a glimpse of the water. On the last picture, above the orange things in the water, is another campground up on the hill.

As soon as we got hooked up, we walked the dogs down to the boat dock to see the lake. A lady walking on the dock gets in the boat that picks her up. Photo of the nice restroom shower building and in the photo of Bill holding Bella, you can see just how close our RV site is to the water.
The park may not have many campers here today, but there are still a lot of day use people using the park to launch their boats and jet skies. We have a great view no matter which window we look out of. It’s entertaining watching all the boats come and go during the day. Now that its evening, every thing is quiet, except for the noise of running our air conditioner!

I take the dogs out to potty and Bella wants to come right back in it’s too hot for her. Chica is always up for adventure, so I take her on a little walk over to the dog area and dog beach. My dogs really haven’t been around water in a lake, pool or river much. They don’t seem interested when they do see water. I tried to get Chica to touch the water with her feet, but she wouldn’t go closer than three feet. I think the small wakes scared her a little.

The stairs in one of the photos goes up to a trail. I didn’t take it today, but did with my son last time I was here. On the walk back, Chica caught the scent of something and dragged me up the side of the trail so she could get to whatever she smelled. It was a dead rat. Yuck. Luckily she left it alone when I said “leave it”.

So that’s about it for our day. I worked on the photos and blogs most of the afternoon. Feels good to get that done. Bill wants to leave here early in the morning, to beat as much heat as we can. We will probably be home tomorrow, but I’ll do another blog about the trip home.

Time to walk the dogs before it gets too dark. They have been very patient for most of the trip. I know they will love getting home and free of their harnesses and leashes.

Cattail Cove State Park In Lake Havasu, AZ

May 18, 2014 – Sunday

We left Williams at 8 am, trying to beat driving in the heat. Forecast for all routes leading home are in the 100’s. Got gas in Kingman, dogs and I had a short break while I called a state park in Lake Havasu to see if they had availability for tonight. She said it was almost empty, now that most people leave Sun morning, so that’s our destination.

The exit for Seligman was coming up, and you can get off here and back on I-40 a little farther up, so it wasn’t really out of our way. I wanted him to see this funky little Route 66 town that I’ve visited before. We didn’t stop, just snapped photos from the RV and back on the freeway.

The drive to Lake Havasu was long and not many places to stop for a rest. The scenery was pretty. The road required downshifting on some of the steep hills.

We arrived at Cattail Cove State Park, after driving thru Lake Havasu City. We got here at 12:15 and was allowed to pick our own site. We drove thru and found the best site ever empty, so we went back and paid for our site. Just $28 for a pretty lake view site. Plus, there are only about five of us RVers here today. We have no neighbors and a great view out of every window. But it’s hot, 104 today! There are a lot of day use people using the park to launch their boats and jet skies.

See Part 2 for photos of this nice campsite.

Part 2 – In AZ and Staying at the Grand Canyon RV Resort

May 17, 2014 – Saturday (continued)

This RV Resort is next to the Grand Canyon train station and hotel. It’s a huge place, and has a fancy restaurant, gift shop. RV guest are allowed to use the hotel pool and jacuzzi. I took pictures of the RV entrance, and office/store/dog kennel building, but forgot to take a picture of our RV on our site. It was a cement pad with full hookups.

We were checked in and hooked up by 2:00 pm. Once we all had a short rest and the dogs were walked, Bill decided to walk with us to Route 66. I got the dog stroller ready along with water for us and the dogs. The hotel has a free shuttle which I called, but they didn’t show up on time, so we decided to walk the few blocks over there.

I’m sure glad the dogs enjoy their dog stroller. It’s so easy to take them places in it. Chica is so interested in anything and everybody. She wants to see it all. She has to meet everyone that walks by and eats up the attention. Bella is more like Bill…she goes along but doesn’t show much interest in things. She loves riding in stroller and shares all the attention they get, but would rather be home napping. :-))
Chica loved smelling the coon skin hats, Bella didn’t care much. Chica even smelled the dream catchers.

I was really hungry, but most of the food places were busy and Bill wasn’t going to eat, so we just went back to the RV, since we were done walking the touristy area. It was hot walking back and we turned the air conditioner on as soon as we got to the RV. I tried to rest, but my tummy was growling for some non RV food. While Bill and the dogs napped, I took off walking for the hotel restaurant. Along the way I stopped at the train depot, gift shop, visited with the horse and buggy horses, before getting to the restaurant.

I didn’t see any prices at the restaurant for the buffet, but I was hungry and didn’t care. I was a little shocked when she said that will be $21. Yikes, that’s how much we paid for our campsite. Guess our RV site wasn’t half price after all with the cost of my dinner. It was a fairly small buffet as they go, but I had a good dinner while listening to a guitar player as the entertainment that night. Had cheesecake and ice cream for desert. I waddled back to the RV wondering why I pay to feel so full and miserable after eating out. I should have had a bowl of cereal at the RV. Oh well, diet starts AGAIN after this trip.

Spent the rest of the night fighting with the free wifi the RV Resort had. I had trouble getting on it and it was slow or stopped when I was on, so I didn’t get to blog that night. We looked at maps tonight deciding which route to take home from here. Maybe one more night on the road before getting home!

Already in Arizona and Staying at the Grand Canyon RV Resort – Part 1

May 17, 2014 – Saturday

This morning I called the Grand Canyon RV Resort in Williams to see if they had any availability for tonight. I had to call three times they were so busy and kept me on hold so long I just hung up and tried again later. Good thing I called back when I did, as we snagged the last site available for tonight. I like this fancy resort, as its in my 1/2 price Passport America book, and its a short walk to Route 66 tourist area.

We left Gallup, New Mexico at 10:00, heading for Williams, AZ. We encountered Indian Country and different Route 66 advertisements along the freeway, as well as National Parks. We didn’t stop at anything other than the Tomahawk Indian Store parking lot. Bill didn’t even want to get out, so I snapped some pictures quickly and we continued down the road.

I was looking for this pretty hillside village, as I stopped here on my last trip on this freeway. I thought the mountain was so pretty right behind the gift shops. I wanted to get some pictures of my “new RV” with that background, like I did with my last RV.

Notice the animals and eagle statues on the mountain. When I was here last time, I walked thru the stores, bought a vase and had the best hot, fresh fry bread.

Just past the Yellowhorse Gift Shop at Navajo Land, we came to the NM/AZ state border crossing. Then much farther down the road we passed the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert exits, Geronimo and their tee pees, and the Famous Rt 66 Jack Rabbit souvenirs.

Finally we got to Williams, AZ. I drove us down Route 66 historical main street before going to the RV resort. I wanted Bill to see where I would be taking a walk with the dogs in their stroller later that day.

Spent The Night on Route 66 in Gallup, NM

May 16, 2014  – Friday

It was fairly quiet in the casino parking lot last night. I went to the casino in the evening while Bill and the dogs slept. It’s a colorful casino, all decorated in Route 66 decor. Got some free coffee and blew $4 in a couple of slot machines. Cheap entertainment for me.

This morning I walked over to the gas station/store/fast food side of the parking lot for coffee and my favorite, biscuits and gravy.

We left the casino at 9 am, heading west on I-40 towards Gallup, New Mexico. Within about 20 minutes of driving, the scenery and landscape started to change and get real pretty.

On the other side of the freeway, I saw a group of motorcycle cops followed by a lot of bike riders. I guess some of the riders I saw yesterday tag along for part of the ride, then I back to where they started from.

Bill has had a stiff neck for the last few days and wanted to stop early today, so I got off in Gallup on Route 66 and started looking for a campground. I snapped a few pictures of the downtown area.  Saw the El Rancho Hotel Motel Restaurant that said Home of the Movie Stars.

Finally saw an RV Park sign, just before getting back on the freeway. It’s called USA RV Park. I checked us in to a full hookup site next to the restroom and laundry. Soon as we were parked, I took the dogs for a walk over to the dog park. I took their leashes off and Bella just stayed in the shade while Chica walked around a little bit. They find dog parks boring without other dogs.

After walking the dogs around and taking pictures of the campground and store I did laundry while Bill and the dogs slept. After laundry started editing pictures, looking at maps for our destination tomorrow and updated the blog.  A woman’s work is never done.  🙂

Bikes – Ride of Their Lives – Part 2

May 15, 2014 – Thursday

Here are the rest of the bike photos from today.

That’s all the pictures I took. Sure was fun watching them all leave as many of them waved to us bystanders.

Part 2 – May 15’s Post, The Exciting End Involving Cops

May 15, 2014 – Thursday (Continued)

Ok, so we are both tired, but not fighting. 🙂
We were looking forward to getting to the campground and I was going to get to do laundry. Yippee. Now we are driving and searching the side of the freeway for more campgrounds. We see a couple, but they look pitiful too. I would rather stay at Cracker Barrel or Walmart than a junky campground. We pull off to get gas and I got on his iPad to search for another place. It doesn’t have hookups, but by now we don’t care. We can boondock again.

We are at Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque for then night. I stayed here before when I took my Arizona/New Mexico trip a few years ago. It’s the first time on this trip staying at a casino in their parking lot.

Sorry about the Cop tease. I wasn’t pulled over again, but there were a lot of them here at the casino.

When we pulled in, there were maybe 50 motorcycle cops all lined up by the entrance. There were Sheriff cars too. I parked the RV and took the dogs out to potty and to snoop a little bit, to see what was going on. I took a few photos along with other RVer’s. I took the dogs back in the RV and watched the bikes from the window. Pretty soon, there were hundreds of motorcycle riders pulling into the adjoining gas/truck stop area. They were just regular bikers, not cops. I didn’t think it was a club, since there were so many different type of bikes. I asked Chica if she wanted to go for a walk and grabbed my camera phone again. Bella didn’t want to go, she would rather take a nap with Bill.

By this time there were more people standing around taking pictures. I asked one of them what the deal was. He told me it was a club of bikers that are on a cross country motorcycle ride in honor of military veterans, prisoners of war, those who have been killed in action and their families. This ride is called Ride of Their Lives. I did a google search to get more info and it came up with Run for The Wall Motorcycle Event May 14-23rd. One mission Three Routes. Riders visit VA medical centers, veterans memorials, VFW posts, as well as schools along the routes. This particular group was taking the middle route, while others were farther north or south. They all started in Rancho Cucamonga, CA and will all end up in Arlington, VA.

The cops were there to escort them thru the traffic to keep them together. Once everyone was ready, a signal was given and the cops rode off followed by all the bikers. There were so many of them! I just took photos every few seconds till they were all gone. Chica wasn’t even scared. Her ears are kinda funny in the photos, like maybe it was too loud, but she wasn’t afraid that I could tell.

For those that are interested, like my son Rick, I’ll post the rest of the bike photos in the next post called Bikes – Ride of Their Lives – Part 2

Another Long Day of Driving with an Exciting End

May 15, 2014 – Thursday

When we woke up at Walmart, most of the other RV’s were already gone. There must have been at least 20 of us spending the night there. We had our own campground, dogs got to mingle as well as the people. One lady, had a relative in Norwalk, where I grew up, and she lived in Cerritos area I think she said. She also belonged to SKP and has stayed at our RV park in Aguanga before. Small world.

We left Walmart in Amarillo, TX at 9:20 and just 15 minutes down the freeway we saw a lot of cars stopped on the frontage road on the other side of the freeway. I thought maybe there was an accident, but then I noticed them pointing cameras out into the field just off the freeway. I looked and just barely caught a glimpse as we drove past, of the Cadillac Ranch cars! Bummer, I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture. I did a google search and “lifted a couple of photos” off the website RoadsideAmerica
.

We crossed into New Mexico at 10:30.

All along the freeway there were big billboards for various tourist traps at a gas station. First one we saw was for the Flying C Ranch. Bill said I could stop, and it was time for the dogs to have a potty break…so I did. We walked the dogs, then I went in to browse around and my reward at the end was a Pecan, Carmel Blizzard at the Dairy Queen there. Yummy

Farther down the road, we started seeing similar signs for Clines Corners, a famous stop so I’ve read. Bill gave me the OK to go see it too, so I took the off ramp with intentions to stop. It wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be, probably had the same souvenir stuff and the parking lot was a lot smaller and had pot holes all over it. I decided to skip it and get back on the freeway.

Bill’s goal was to make it to Albuquerque today, which was a little over a four hour drive for me. I had looked thru my Passport America 1/2 price book before leaving Walmart, for a campground that advertised full hookups, laundry and free wifi. After two nights of no hookups, I was ready for electric and to do laundry finally. When we finally got there, it was a dumpy place with older RV’s that appeared to be living there with junk around them. The place was gravel and weeds. It was ugly. I told Bill I could t stay there, so we continued west.

SEE PART 2 of where we stayed and more COPS! Just a tease….