Saturday, March 24th, our last day in Desert Hot Springs. There was a beautiful red sunrise and the temp got to 80* It was garage sale day in the park so we biked up to the gate to get a site map. It is the end of the season and folks are cleaning out their closets. I scored a straw hat for next year's sun. We met several new people and asked more questions about living in a retirement park. In the afternoon, we headed to the pool for one more soak in the warm spring water. I sure am going to miss floating around on my noodle! We met a man and his wife who had recently arrived from Wyoming. The man was glad to finally get a chance to relax after 3 days of traveling which included a snowstorm that sent him off the road into a sign post. He managed to keep driving but his car was damaged. He tried to report it but was told there were too many accidents to tend to so he reported to his home sheriff. The next day, his wife was bitten by a spider in the hotel where the stayed overnight. They spent several hours at the local ER getting that tended to but she couldn't use the pool or hot tub till it healed.
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| Remote control boating at one of the Sky Valley Park ponds |
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| I wondered why there were fake ducks in the pond... |
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| One last trip on my bike with my noodle to the hot spring |
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| Guess this guy had no room to mount his trophy inside. |
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| Our campsite in the dog patch |
Sunday, March 25th, 9 AM, we were packed and ready to leave "Paradise Hollow", formerly known as "Watts" by the residents. We preferred to call it "the dog patch". People were friendly but the RVers were generally second class, hence the names. We were in a hollow with campers stacked in pretty close at all angles. After the newer park models moved in to capture the desert view, Watts became Paradise Hollow.
As we were leaving, the wind came down the valley of 4000 windmills so we were traveling uphill and into the wind. No great gas mileage that day. For my family members who are following the route, we traveled on West on I-10 to N 215 San Bernardino, 138 to Palmdale, 14 N to Mojave, 58 to Bakersfield and 99 N to Kingsburg. It was still warm but overcast as the weather was promising a big storm on the way for Monday. We passed more amazing land formations, Joshua trees, mountain ranges, a 36'motorhome towing a 24' toy hauler and a huge swap meet in Palmdale. The temps dropped so in Mojave, we had to change back into long pants and sweatshirts. We could see storm fronts in the mountains and crossed a 4000' pass with rain. The west side hills were velvety green. We became part of an RV convoy heading along 99 with 6 other rigs but we had to stop for gas in Tipton, CA. We got 12 mpg and paid $4.59 for diesel. The rain had stopped as we left the mountain range and we found our campsite at the Viking RV camp in a little Swedish town, Kingsburg, CA. As with many RV parks, this one was also built between the freeway and the railroad tracks, both heavily used 24 hours a day. After dinner, we drove into town to walk about after riding for 6 hours. All was very quiet and closed.
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| Along the way, traffice was slowed due to an accident. This trailer provided entertainment. |
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| Rolling rock formations |
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| The Swedish water tower in Kingsburg, CA |
Monday, March 26th, we were on the road by 8:45 AM under blue skies. Northbound 99 is cruise control driving: flat and straight passing grape vines, nut and a few fruit trees. An uneventful 300 mile drive to Old Orchard RV Park in Orland, CA. We got there early enough to do a laundry and we played Dominoes to pass the time between loads. Several campers came in who were returning to British Columbia. They had been down to Yuma and told tales of dry camping in the desert for 70 days. We watched the weather reports carefully as a big storm was on its way into our travel path. Snow was predicted in the Siskiyous on I-5 so Sonny was thinking we better make another travel plan out to the coast. Our BC friends said they were going to head N on I-5 anyway. Wonder where they are tonight....
Early morning Tuesday, March 27th, the rain began. We dreaded going outside to get the rig ready for travel. I was hoping to sit still for a day to wait out the weather but the storm was predicted not to clear along I-5 till Thursday. We gassed up at $4.33/gal and got back on I-5 heading South to Williams. We turned West on CA 20 to 101, a very pretty ride through canyons and along Clear Lake in spite of the pouring rain. There were live oaks, pines, cattle in the pastures, a herd of elk, a buffalo farm and bushes with lavender blooms. There were passes at 1400', 1900' and 2000'. Near Clear Lake was a town called Lucern which posted a sign saying they were the "Switzerland of America". Hmmmm-we saw little cabins and many mobile homes-is that how Switzerland looks?
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| The pouring rain |
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| Eel River flooding |
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| Rock slide truck |
We followed the Eel River though the redwoods. The river, streams and low lands were flooding. We passed several small rock slides and trucks with plows on them. Today's travel was 294 miles to the Emerald Forest in Trinidad, CA. We are camped under towering redwoods. This is the first campsite that has a picnic table and a fire ring but it is raining buckets so we are inside with the TV instead of enjoying a campfire. We must return here someday if we don't float away in the night. Did I say it was raining buckets?
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| Sonny in the redwoods |
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Finally, a campsite with table and fire pit...but there is 6" of water
in the ring and mud all around |
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| Redwood stumps in the Emerald Forest Campground |
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| Our rig under the redwoods |
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| Hard to build a fire in here |
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| Trilliums in bloom |
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| Emerald Forest rents cabins |
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| A dry place under a redwood stump |
