Starting up again

Our traveling adventures are about ready to start up once again. Almost three years after  moving to Florida and selling our little RPod travel trailer the adventure bug has hit us again. I guess we had not seen everything we wanted to see just yet. This time we are off in our new to us 2017 Four Winds 26B Class C motorhome. A bit more room and a whole lot more comfortable than the old RPod was. Hopefully our travels will commence in about 6 to 8 weeks while we tidy up things here in Florida. Stay tuned for our upcoming adventures.

Phil

Catching up on our trip

Well, we finally made it home but still have some adventures to tell you about.

After leaving Redding, CA we headed further North to Roseburg, OR. and the Rising River RV park. Another gorgeous spot on our way home. The park was nice and the facilities were clean as a pin. We are still seeing very low water conditions in the rivers, lakes and streams. I’m not sure about the local area here, but we have been about 91 days without rain back on Whidbey Island and it is sorely missed and needed. This was one of our overnight stays but I wouldn’t mind coming back here again.

The next day we are off to Portland, OR for two days which turned out to be about a week to short! We seem to forget how wonderful a city can be, for some things, living in a small town like we do. The RV park on Hayden Island was very nice and the facilities were clean. What more can you ask for? How about train whistles, jets landing at Portland International airport and big rigs on I-5. Actually the train sounds took me back to when I was a little kid and spent many nights at my uncle George Gibson’s house with my cousin Eddie. Great memories for sure.

Our only full day in Portland was spent at Coventry Cycle, a recumbent cycle dealer with way to many cool things for our new recumbent trikes. After losing some money there we headed on the the newest Powell’s Book Store in the Hawthorne District of Portland. Powell’s bookstore literally cannot be described in short order. This small (10,000 square foot shop) is overwhelming enough but the big store downtown encompasses a full city block and is five stories high! Now that is a book store. Needless to say we spent several happy hours looking around and made a small purchase before heading out for some great General Tso’s chicken.

The Hawthorne district is a very old section of Portland dating back to the early 1900’s and has some of the best little shops and restaurants you can imagine. Street music on every corner and people with a flair for life all around. If it wasn’t so extremely rainy in Portland this would be a great area to spend a few years.

Leaving Portland was hard but home was calling so once more we packed everything up and hit the road for a long drive home. After a mostly uneventful drive we arrived safe and sound back at our little slice of heaven. We turned the house back into a place of warmth, got the trailer parked in its resting place for the winter and started unpacking, washing and cleaning everything in preparation for the coming winter. We still need to totally winterize the rig but that means no more trips this year, kind of hard to do at the moment.

Thanks for following us along on our trip this time. We will keep this blog going and add to it as life happens so if you want to keep up with the Sikes’ just follow this blog for our further adventures.

Phil & Lydia

          

Redding, CA – Shasta

When we saw the sign for “The Fly Shop”, our overnight plans changed pretty quickly. This little place in Redding is one of the premier fly fishing shops in the country.

So, rather than staying where we had planned, we spent the night in Redding at the Mountain Gate RV Park. What a find this park was. This was easily one of the best RV parks we have stayed at. Level sites, clean facilities and access to some great attractions Lassen, Shasta Lake, and lots more.  It even had an enclosed dog run for Max.

          

After a short shopping spree at The Fly Shop, that landed a new chest fishing pack for Phil, we went touring around the Turtle Bay area of Redding. This is a real treasure in the area with a very nice botanical garden, museum, and a place for kids to explore nature and its ways. We enjoyed the kid stuff as well as the rest of the gardens and the Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River, which lights up beautifully at night. Saw lots of folks fly fishing and even saw a fish rise to the surface. We found out later that they were fishing for salmon.

            

A quick back-track for a bird report. Just a short drive from our parking spot in Mill Valley was a nice marsh area where we spotted Black Necked Stilt, American Avocet, Long Billed Curlew, White Pelicans, Double Crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret and Great Egret. Last night in Redding we had a great view of a Rough Legged Hawk. Also saw plenty of Scrub Jay and Stellars Jay every where we have been. What has been surprising has been the large number of Crows and Ravens we have seen.

       

Shasta Lake and the dam area were beautiful. From the dam we had limited views of the mountain but on our drive north today we had some pretty great looks at Mt Shasta. Unfortunately, we are driving I-5 to make a little haste on our way home so not too much as far as scenery to reoprt on other than some great looking rivers here in Oregon. Another trip in this direction with some fishing time is definitely in order.

Off to Portland to spend a couple days and see some friends, then back home again in three days.

Phil & Lydia

Mendocino, CA

Mendocino must be one of the prettiest places on this planet. I still can’t believe Lydia let me take her out of this place! We had a great view of the beach from the Little River Inn and the stars at nigth were spectacular.

       

When I came to visit Lydia bank in 1998, she took me to the Albion River Inn for my birthday. Fourteen years later we came back again and the views, food and single malts were still amazingly good. One of the best Fillets I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

       

We spent most of the next day walking around town and doing a little tourist shopping before heading up to Fort Bragg so Lydia could get a Rhododenderon she wanted for our yard. Seems you can only get them there at the Botanical Garden.

       

Getting from Mendocino to Santa Rosa does allow one to enjoy just how twisted some roads are here in California. Not only did we get to enjoy the curves, we also had the opportunity to enjoy fresh asphalt going down in one section and more road work in another. Still, traveling through the redwoods, and Alexander Valley with your best friend allows you to enjoy anything. We stopped at one of the wineries and did a little tasting too.

         

With this task completed there was only one more thing to accomplish before heading back to San Francisco, La Texanita in Santa Rosa, CA. This is without a doubt our favorite mexican food on the planet. I do not normally care for anything avocado but they make a guacamole here that I can eat and enjoy and would not give out the recipe. Great homemade food and a good price too.

Back in San Francisco late yesterday and getting ready to go see our friends again tonight for another great meal. Tomorrow morning we will hitch up the trailer again and head out for Shasta Lake for a few days. Only six more days left on this roadtrip and neither of us are quite ready for it to come to an end.

More as we get there…

Phil & Lydia

Still in San Francisco

Where does the time go when you are having fun? We have been driving around seeing the sights and spending some good quality time with our friends John and Barb. (Full moon in the first picture).

                

Saturday we were driven out to Stinson Beach for lunch with more friends.  Max got to romp on the beach, chase the birds and get all sandy.  On the way home we stopped at Pt. Reyes National Seashore and got our National Parks Passport stamped with yet another park.

             

Yesterday we drove out to Tiburon for a few hours. What a beautiful spot with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and SF. We went to their little museum to learn that this was the farthest point for the railroad, where they then loaded the train cars on ferries to get them to SF before bridges.  We watched Terns and Pelicans diving for lunch and all of the Uber Rich folks styling along the walkway. I do believe all of the 1%’ers of the world live here now, no one else can afford it.

          

Today is a day for laundry and general cleanup before a home cooked dinner by John who is a fabulous cook. It is hard to imagine we have to head home in 10 days! I do believe we are both ready to keep going.

Tomorrow we are off to Mendocino for 2 days without the trailer for a vacation within our vacation. An over nighter at the Little River Inn sounds like a good idea. With dinner at the Albion River Inn and my second leg of their single malt tour of Scotland …. what could be a better two days with my wonderful wife!

More as it happens – Phil & Lydia

Day in San Francisco

Have made it to the Marin RV parking lot.  It is not as bad as it sounds, but definitely just a place to park and venture out from … real estate is prime in these parts.  Camped next to us in a tent are a couple of youngsters from the Netherlands. Very nice folks and fun to talk with. We bought a bag of Avocados driving in to San Francisco and gave them one this morning, while we discussed Sonny Rollins playing at the SF Jazz Festival tomorrow.

Today we had a nice time in San Francisco. We went from sunshine to good old SF fog.  Not really complaining, other than the lack of ‘views’ … the moisture and cool breeze was a great relief. Here is what we saw of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a shot of Alcatraz.

            

We went to Tommy’s Joint, a great deli in downtown. They make their own Pastrami and man was it ever good! We also shared a cup of Buffalo Chili that was sort of so-so. Not enough heat for me. Found an assisted living place built right over the joint … future options.

We roamed around Golden Gate Park for a few hours seeing the sights and drinking a nice cup of Starbucks coffee. Lydia took me to the San Francisco Flycasting ponds in Golden Gate Park. For a place to work on your flycasting this place was great. Large square pools all measured out for distance and floating rings for accuracy. I almost got my fly rod out but we were a little short on time today. We saw the Conservatory and a quick stop at the Cliff House which has changed totally from last time we were here.

          

          

I had a nice chat last night on our ham radio we brought with us. I found a guy from Coos Bay, Oregon on and we had a nice QSO (that is a chat in ham radio lingo for those of you who aren’t hams). 40 meters around 7.215 MHz seems to be a pretty good spot for anyone wanting to check in with us.

Tonight we are going out to dinner with some old friends of Lydia’s, John and Barb. We are both looking forward to seeing them again, and spending the day tomorrow with them going to Stinson Beach.  Life is definitely good!

Phil & Lydia

ALL WASHED UP

So today, we did laundry, washed the truck, washed Max, washed ourselves, cleaned the trailer and are ready to hit the road in the morning and get to cooler weather.  SF here we come!!!  We did go into Oakhurst today and had a great Italian lunch. If you are ever in Oakhurst make sure you try either El Cid Mexican or DiCicco’s Italian Restaurant. Both are excellent.

Had a little problem with the awning when we were taking it down, which of course, needed the one tool we did not have.  It was 5pm and we barely found one auto store still open. Finally got the tool we needed and all is well …. WHEW!!

So, no pictures today, and we will be traveling all day tomorrow, so our next post will probably be Saturday.  Very excited to get to SF and Mendocino this next week.  We’ll keep you posted.

Phil & Lydia

Yosemite Day Two

Another fun filled day today! Up and out of the trailer so we could have a second day in Yosemite. Today was the valley and Yosemite Village. I do believe the views of the mountains may be even more spectacular from the base of them.

It is a long slow drive from Oakhurst to the South entrance of Yosemite but the views along the way are just unbelievable. Once into the park they only get better.

On the way in today we saw our first bear. We couldn’t get the truck stopped in time for a picture but trust me it was pretty cool.

          

El Capitan was most impressive no matter what angle you looked at it from. Every direction we looked there were massive granite mountains to gaze at. The gift shops were even pretty nice and the prices were not out of line at all. We both got new coffee cups and shirts today.

           

We finally picked up a National Parks Passport and hope to fill it all in before our traveling days are done. Even if we don’t, the memories from trying should be enough to last a lifetime.

Max was a bit disturbed at the Don’t Feed Animals Signs ….

           

Tomorrow is a kind of day off for trailer and truck maintenance as well as some time in the town of Oakhurst. They have what looks to be a nice little flyfishing shop that bears a closer look. Unfortunately, the rivers are so low that fishing does not seem to be an option this trip.

The next day is going to be spent in Kings Canyon looking at more Sequoia trees. This isn’t too bad a way to live!

Phil & Lydia

Yosemite Day One

What a wonderful day we had today! A relatively short drive to the South entrance and we were winding our way into Yosemite National Park. Twisty and winding doesn’t begin to describe CA-49 and the roads in Yosemite. Regardless, the trip is simply spectacular.

      

Our first sightseeing stop was the Mariposa Sequoia Grove. Man, those are some big trees! One ‘limb’ had a diameter of over 7 feet. We had figured the crowds would be a little smaller this late in the season but that was not the case today.

      

We drove on up to the Half Dome View Point and the two falls seen from there which were pretty small this time of year, but still magnificent. Even Max enjoyed the view. Then it was up to Glacier Point and even more spectacular vistas and a look down into the valley. We got out the spotting scope and saw over 25 climbers on the top of Half Dome … amazing.

                                                                   

Of course, we stopped at just about every pull off and view area to let the speed demons fly by us slow tourists.

On the way back down we stopped at a Pioneer Historical Museum. They had saved numerous old buildings, buggies, stagecoaches and had other really cool things on display including a covered bridge. Here is a picture of inside the bridge with Phillip taking the famous knothole picture of the creek below.

    

After a very full day we meandered our way home to prepare for another day of driving and going to Yosemite Village on the valley floor tomorrow.

Phil & Lydia

Nevada – Lake Tahoe – Oakhurst

First of all to backtrack a little for our birding friends.  The Klammath Lake area was one of the most magnificant places for birds.  They really do need to put in some pull outs for viewing/picture spots.  We have never seen so many water birds in one place before. We couldn’t begin to count the White Pelicans. I think if we could have tied them together they would have made a grand boat to float around on! Sorry no pictures.

The drive to Lydia’s brothers house in Gardnerville, NV included some real backroads  and a seriously messed up Hwy 395, we ended up on 3 different 395s, old, new and detour. After we got started on detour, we came across a sign that said, No Trailers, No RV’s and nothing over 9.0 feet tall. We exceeded all of those but still made it through!

We had a great visit with brother Rick and wife Virg.  It was good to see them and help celebrate his remission after 9 months of battling Multiple Myeloma.

They took us over the hill to Lake Tahoe one afternoon for a wonderful lunch and a gorgeous view of the lake – a new spot for Phillip, and an old haunt for Lydia.

Saturday morning it was over the hill and on the road to Oakhurst, CA where we will stay a week to explore Yosemite National Park and Kings Canyon. This was a trip to be remembered for sure. Mostly in nightmares though. I do not believe I have ever driven a more twisty road Hwy 49 (sometimes it seemed like all 4 directions at the same time no less), although there were some very cute Gold Rush towns on the way. There was also a motorcycle rally in Reno and it must have been huge, because we passed hundreds of bikers headed that way.  For our Ham friends … we couldn’t resist stopping here for lunch.

It was great to finally reach our RV park.  YIKES, we woke up to an ant invasion this morning. It seems the little critters decided to open a large branch office right under one of the rear jacks on the RV. Yet another adventure in insect control on the road.

The big news in town was an International Flute Festival this weekend. What a pleasent surprise for my resident flute player. Not classical flutes though, Native American 6 hole flutes. Lydia found one of the flutes that seemed to really like her a lot so it followed her home. The music in our campground is phenomenal at night with all of the flute players coming together for some great jam sessions. I’m not sure how my banjo will fit in with the music but I may give it a try. I also came across a deal I could not pass on – an older Epiphone mandolin. Not the kind you slice vegetables with, the one you play music on!

With good Wi-Fi we should be able to keep the blog up to date for the remainder of the week.  And as Lydia was getting coffee at the local Starbuck’s, Phillip snuck next door to AT&T and traded in the Blackberry phones for I-phone 4s … 99 cents, so we are official Apple junkies now.

We both have now added 4 new life birds to our list also. Clark’s Nutcracker and Gray Jay at Crater Lake and here in Oakhurst Lesser Goldfinch and Acorn Woodpecker. Already a grand birding trip and it hasn’t even really started yet.

Life on the road continues to be an adventure that we are loving. Off to see Yosemite tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Phil & Lydia