Author Archives: Jicky

So, so fortunate

Wow, this morning I woke up surrounded by moss covered trees in the very quiet Milo McIver State Park in Oregon near Mount Hood. Tonight I fixed dinner parked at the edge of the Pacific Ocean watching the sun go down. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Pacific, here I am

I am constantly trying to digest the days gone by, which is not that easy. One day I drive through the desert the next I am looking at vineyards or drive along rushing river through the mountains. The impressions are endless and I have to pinch myself from time to time to make sure everything is real. I can’t believe that I have been on the road now for five months. The time just flew by. Winter is coming soon and I have to figure out where to spend the cold months. I like to say that I am very fortunate, not lucky, that I can go on a trip like this; leave New York City for a year and basically just travel. I distinguish between fortunate and lucky, this trip was not simply handed to me, I had to work hard to get to this point. I am lucky, however, to have a boss who lets me continue to work for him from the road, thank you David.
Not every day is rosy. Yesterday was a hard day and I was completely exhausted by the time I arrived at the campground. A 200 mile drive took six hours! That’s hours of driving against strong head winds along the beautiful Columbia River at about 40 mph, followed by driving up and down mountain roads at 30 mph. No cruise control, just pressing the gas pedal down really hard with my right foot. I don’t enjoy those days. I can’t appreciate the scenery (Mount Hood in front of me and Mount Rainier in the rear view mirror) and my body, especially my right knee, just aches. I was in bed before 9 PM and slept for eleven hours.
Good thing days like today by far out number the hard driving days. Tomorrow I will be in the rain forest, what a country!

A day of repairs

It is so nice when everything is back in good working order.
I had decided to stop by my camper manufacturer, Eagle Cap, in La Grande Oregon to have a couple of things checked out and fixed.
I arrived yesterday and instead of spending the night at a campground, I figured I might as well park right outside their shop and save some commuting time. Bill, the sales manager, had no problem with this. All was fine until 5 AM when the first workers arrived! Luckily, I managed to fall back to sleep for a few more hours.
In the morning I went over my little issues list with Moni and Jason, who then put the guys to work.
I had to leave to get the right front tire of the truck fixed. I had noticed a nail in the side of the tire back in northern California, but had not found a Ford dealership to fix it. At my last stop nice RVers had pointed out that it could come to a blow out. Not what you want to hear just before you head out for a 250 mile trip!
The Legacy dealership in La Grande squeezed me into their tight schedule. As it turns out, the tire needed to be replaced. Side wall damage cannot be patched for safety reasons. The good news was that my extended tire warranty covers the new tire. I tell you I was happy to hear that. Not just did I get a new tire, but I also had the tires rotated and the oil changed. As a bonus my truck was also washed! Thank you Lony and Tony! FYI, it wasn’t a nail, but a very pointy piece of wood.
Another thank you is due to the inventor of the internet, thanks Al :),
and the inventor of wi-fi. Thanks to both I could get most of my work done while I was waiting for the truck to be fixed.
When I returned to Eagle Cap my camper was fixed as well. Cracks were patched, a crooked leg and a leaky faucet replaced, a radio antenna attached (I always wondered why I had such crappy reception). The guys also ran extensive tests to figure out why I had water leaking, but couldn’t find anything wrong. Connections were tightened and let’s hope that will do it. Thank you to Bill, Moni, Jason and their crew.
Off I went to my night spot 100 miles north on I-84. Yes, I took the interstate. Didn’t love it, but did not have much of an option.
I love traveling and living in my camper, I totally dislike having to find a camp spot for the next night. I think I am set for tomorrow night.

There is plenty more to write about and hopefully, next week I will have some time while I am staying with my friend Carol in Washington State.

Brief note

Just to keep you updated on my whereabouts. I have been spending the last couple of days in a crazy beautiful area in northern California. The Scott Valley is surrounded by great forests, mountain ranges and rivers. I have been staying in the very nice small town Etna with a population of about 800. Going on crazy curvy mountain drives. Driving 30 mph feels like speeding. If you tend to get car sick easily, these roads are not made for you. A 100 mile drive takes a good four hours, pack lunch, there are no places to eat for at least 60 miles. A full tank of gas is not a bad idea either.
Off to Crater Lake in the morning. More detailed reports from the coast and the mountains to follow. I know I have said that in the past. Eventually they will follow.

Sleeping on the streets of San Francisco

Yes, it has come to this. California is so expensive that I am now sleeping on the street, no more campgrounds. OK, let me rephrase that; no campground in San Francisco.

NOT my accommodations!

After the garlic festival I was heading to San Francisco to visit my friend Priscilla and her family. I had figured I would find a campground just outside of SF and that way avoid driving with the camper up and down those lovely steep streets of the city. Priscilla, however, suggested I should save my money and just park on the Great Highway and Lincoln Street. Lot’s of people do it, e.g. homeless people. That part I did not like.
So we decided that I would park in front of her house. Priscilla had given me a route where I would avoid the really bad inclines. That worked until I made a wrong turn and ended up on a very narrow and then a very steep street. OMG, I told JD, let’s do it and up we went. I had been avoiding mountain roads with less steep inclines.
Parking in front of her house had just one little problem, low hanging tree branches. Off we went to look for a flat parking space. Flat is not that easy in San Francisco. We got lucky and only two blocks from her house was the perfect parking spot, long enough, no trees and flat. I just had to make sure to move it the next morning for alternate side street parking. I had stayed in friends driveways, but never on a public street. This would be fun.

That's my place

The weather was great, blue skies and mid 60s. It was nice enough to have lunch in the backyard.
San Francisco is a neat city. I love the views from above down onto the city.

Hillside living

I had been to San Francisco twice before but I never fell in love with the city; I don’t really know why.
So, you ask, how was the first night on the street? Not bad at all. By 11 PM the bus stopped running and the street got quiet. It was very strange to take a shower under someone’s apartment window. Remember, I have that big skylight in my bathroom. I felt safe in this place. I had met the woman in front whose house I was parked and by the next morning I had met two more of my “neighbors”. Very friendly neighborhood.
Instead of leaving after just one night I decided to stay one more night. I enjoyed a great breakfast at Chloe’s on Church and 26th Street; basking in the sun. Don’t get me wrong, it was not that warm. I was wearing jeans and a lined jacket.

Even a day of walking around the city could not change my mind about this city. There are lots of great neighborhoods, but I miss the electricity you can feel in New York. I am not trying to compare the two cities, but I think that’s what I miss.

Victorian houses (Painted Ladies)

Crazy gas prices

Leaving the city the next day was a little adventure in itself. Again, Priscilla helped with the route out of the city. There was just one steep part, Divisadero from Broadway to Lombard Street. I thought I had seen steep. Most roads I traveled had warning signs for 6% down grade. This was at least twice that steep. The mean thing is that they make you stop every block.

Steep Divisadero

Once again, I enjoyed the company of friends. Thank you for your hospitality! The next friend stop is 1,400 miles away…

Exhausting – finally Garlic Festival

Sorry about the long break between posts. Remind me never again to drive 1,200 miles in seven days! That is way too much with no days of rest in between. The good news is: I made it to the Gilroy Garlic Festival ahead of schedule. But, I have to say that it was not really worth the rush. Gilroy once used to be the largest garlic producer in the world until China took over. Garlic is still big business in Gilroy and when you drive past the food plant you can smell the garlic from across the street.
Let’s start by telling you how I got to Gilroy. After I left Boron I continued traveling on highway 58 towards Mojave. I had read about this airplane graveyard out in the desert and I wanted to take a look. This is just another strange thing on my list of things to see just like the garlic festival. If I wanted regular stuff, I’d go to Disney World.
Well, there is the Mojave airport and there are some big old commercial airplanes, but there is no way to get close to them. I was told that the former owners don’t like people to take pictures. Since I had the camper on my back, I couldn’t drive down the dirt roads that would have taken me closer to the fence. Oh well.

That's life

FYI, while I am writing this, I am sitting at my campground in Sonoma County on top of a hill under a nice old oak tree covered with Spanish moss overlooking some lovely rolling hills and a vineyard. Instead of drinking wine, I am scooping some of my pistachio ice cream. Damn, life is good.
Back to driving. Leaving Mojave was interesting. From a distance I had seen this cluster of big windmills up on top of a mountain range. I hadn’t realized that I would be driving right through them. I had seen some large wind farms in Texas and even had gotten very close to them, but I never saw this many windmills up close.

Windmills

Even more amazing was the change of scenery. I had been driving through desert for the most part since Texas, with some exceptions in northeast Arizona and New Mexico. Now all of a sudden the desert changed to golden colored rolling hills with little green trees dotting them. I was at awe. There was no gradual change, there were no signs saying “Watch out trees and rolling hills coming up” it just happened.

Rolling hills

Not just trees but also farmland was added to the picture. To me these hills have a very gentle look to them, no jagged edges just covered with yellow straw like grass. It is hard to explain, they have something comforting about them, I call them gentle giants. You just have to see them yourself.

Golden hills

California does not have many back roads. Even the secondary two lane highways are crowed with trucks in both directions. I don’t feel comfortable driving on them, too much pressure to keep up with the speed, especially uphill. The lanes are narrow and the oncoming trucks are wide. I have to focus so much on the driving that I have no time to look left and right or to pull over to take pictures.
I called it the quits in Lost Hills, west of Bakersfield. I couldn’t make it to Paso Robles anymore which was only one hour away. I was too tired to do much of anything. It was only Wednesday and I only had less than 200 miles to go to Gilroy or to my campground in Hollister.
The next day I past the James Dean Memorial site at the intersection of highway 46 and 41 without incident.
In San Miguel I pulled over for lunch, something I seldom do. The nice people at the deli helped me figure out if I could take some of the back roads I had picked without getting myself into any trouble, i.e. really steep roads. We figured it all out and I was happy as a clam when I finally drove on a beautiful, quiet two lane road. People always say: “No, you don’t want to take that road, you can’t go fast on that.” My reply: “You bet I do.”
Friday was a day of rest, a look around town and some grocery shopping that’s it. The overnight temperatures had dropped to 60 F, I was freezing. Had to pull out my sleeping bag to stay warm at night.
Saturday was the big day, Garlic festival here I come. I had no idea what to expect. I had only read that this is the world largest garlic festival. This year’s event drew almost 100,000 visitors over three days!

Gilroy Garlic Festival

The first thing you see when you enter the festival grounds are food stands and more food stands. Chicken, beef, some fish (fried), pasta, Asian, American, you name it. Garlic bread and garlic ice cream were also on the menu.

Yes, garlic ice cream

Food wasn’t the only thing you could get. Arts and crafts vendors were equally well represented along side the toe ring booth and the henna tattoo place. There was a big stage for the cooking competition, which took place before I arrived, and some cooking demonstrations.

Showing off

Climbing walls for young and old. Oh yeah, you could also buy some garlic. Did you know that elephant garlic is best used for roasting? Or that it is closer in taste to onion than to garlic? Did you know that garlic only gets harvested twice a year? Early harvest is in June and the late harvest is mid-end July. So all the garlic you buy in May in the supermarkets is almost a year old, who knew.
Well, I bought some great garlic bread, one bulb of just harvested garlic (I still had another bulb at home) and some none garlic related spices. It was too hot (even for me) to eat any of the hot foods. One of the best things at the festival; I saw a really nice photograph of beach houses and the photographer told me where she took the photo. You can read about that in the next blog.
Now you ask, would I go to the festival again. Not really. If I happen to be in the area, maybe.
More to come about sleeping on the streets of San Francisco and the Pacific coast.

Garlic festival

I am sorry; I don’t know where the time has gone.  I haven’t had a chance to write the Gilroy Garlic Festival report, but it will come soon.  Too much traveling in to shorter time period.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Jackasses

There is so much to digest.  I drove through a lot of different terrain since last Friday that I sometimes can’t even remember where I was last or what it looked like.  I don’t like to drive, stay one night and continue.  I drove 900 miles in the last four and a half days, that’s too much when you are hauling a camper.  The good thing is that I will make it to Gilroy in time for the garlic festival.  A campground is secured and the ticket for the festival is purchased.  Only 400 miles to go.

I have to tell you about yesterday’s drive from Kingman, Arizona to Barstow, California.  It was amazing, fascinating and cool.  I had a late and slow start leaving the motel in Kingman.  I was very happy having spent the night with a little air conditioning.  It was strange not to sleep in my camper which was parked right outside my door.  I even plugged in the power cord from the camper through the window into the room.  The fridge always seems to run better on electric versus gas.  Never mind that it does not work that great in 100 degree temperatures, who does.

Historic Route 66 - Classic car

As I mentioned in my last blog I stayed at a motel just off the historic Route 66 which runs right through Kingman

Historic Route 66 - Mr D's Diner

and continues through the Sitgreaves Pass, also referred to as Oatman highway.  This is a drive up a narrow two lane mountain road with lots of curves and hairpin turns, never mind the steep slopes along the outer lane, my lane.  This road was not build with big trucks in mind and the speed limit in many areas is 20 to 35 mph.  Not that I could have gone much faster anyway.  The early part of the road leads through the desert.  Once on the mountain section the mountains change from what seems like big dirt piles to more rugged mountains with great rock formations.

Historic Route 66 / Oatman Highway

I had to think of the early drivers along this road with no air-condition (I didn’t turn mine on) and no means to keep drinking water cold.  And I had to think of illeagals who walk through the desert for days to find a better home.  The desert is not very forgiving and at 120F the air alone burns your skin.  It feels like when you open the oven door and that hot blast of air hits your face.

Historic Route 66 / Oatman Highway Stilgreaves Pass

I was very happy that I opted for this winding road and didn’t continue on the interstate.  This way I could pull over, take pictures and truly enjoy my surroundings.  I ran into a biker, actually he was a motorcyclist wearing all the protective gear one should wear when one rides a bike.  He had been riding for the last ten days from Florida.  We exchanged road stories, we had driven along the same routes.  I continued running into him along the way since we both stopped and took photos.

After 30 miles and two hours later, OK I did stop frequently to take pictures, I landed in Oatman and that is where I ran into a handful of jackasses, the four legged kind. 

Oatman - jackasses

They are supposedly wild burros.  Ancestors of the burros used during the mining days.  They roam the street (there is only one) and stick their heads into stores.  Oatman is considered a ghost town by many, however there are plenty of souvenir stores and restaurants to make you think differently.

I continued my drive south of town towards Needles, California.  More hot, hot desert.  I think this might have been the more interesting stretch of Route 66, nothing better than an adventures desert drive, where you never know what lies behind the next turn.  I had run into Route 66 in New Mexico, in Tucumcari and Santa Rosa.  Both towns had more closed down businesses and gas stations than any small town I have come across so far.  Most of the old motels were only a shadow of their old selves.  It is sad to see so much deterioration.  Everybody marvelous about Route 66 and there are still plenty of places that make money of it, but there doesn’t seem to be enough money to restore or simply to tear down the remains.

Back to yesterday’s drive.  By the time I reached Needles I was hot.  I know I could turn on the AC, but a) I don’t like it and b) I am stubborn.  So 100 F is no big deal until I come to a stop and really feel the heat.  When I crossed the Colorado River I saw some people swimming.  Should I pull over and go for a swim?  Nah, let’s keep on moving.  After the next turn I see a family in swim wear walking down the street.  OK, let’s ask them if I can just jump in anywhere along the river.  Yes, anywhere is just fine.  They pointed me in the direction of a parking area and all I had to do was put on my swimsuit.  I just love when I have everything handy.  Wow, the river was freezing cold, but it felt sooooooooooo good. 

Colorado River

I talked a little with the grandmother of the group and the kids showed me their swim trick.  Thirty minutes later off I went again.  All cooled down.  Given the current temperature I was not interested in sleeping in my camper.  I made reservations at the Barstow Motel 6.  I still had a three hour drive ahead of me.  And what a drive it was.

Interstate 40 was not as bad traffic wise as I had feared and it went through beautiful mountain ranges and the Mojave Desert Preserve.  Coming from Texas and New Mexico I had seen different kind of mountains.  Texas’ mountains look more like big hills with rounded tops, further north in Texas the hills have flat tops when they run along a canyon.  In New Mexico the mountains have pointy tops.  These mountains had great jagged edges.  The mountain ranges ran perpendicular to the highway and in one area the big ranges were preceded by a handful of little mountains.  The bases of these mountains were engulfed by this blue late afternoon light / mist which made it look as if these mountains were floating in midair, almost mystical. 

Floating mountains

Look for it the next time you drive west on I-40 just about 20 miles west of Needles.  And then there was the great big freight train.  I just love them, 100 container cars at a time.  And yes, I had to wait at a crossing and let them all pass.  I have also slept right next to tracks and cursed the drivers when they enjoy pulling the whistle late at night to make sure that everybody knows that they are working and I still love them.

Freight train against the Sacramento Mountains

The drive took longer than I had hoped.  There were many long inclines where I could only get my speed up to 35 mph and then there were the head winds.  Good thing this was a two lane highway otherwise some people might have gotten a little impatient.  Did I mention the road condition, potholes all along the right lane, bad I really had to focus on the road, no left and right sightseeing.

The night at the motel was too cold, despite the fact that I had turned off the AC.  It was time to sleep in my bed again.  I drove to a nearby campground in Boron, I know you all have heard of this town (wink, wink) the camper temperatures have dropped to comfortable sleeping conditions, 85 F.  I am very happy to be “back home”.

One last thing.  California is expensive, gas is at $3.29 per gallon.  I even saw $3.59 and many stations charge an extra ten to twenty cents for credit card use.  My high end price elsewhere had been $2.79.  Also campground fees are twice as high as what I have been paying; $40 per night is common.  Arizona’s camping fees were just as bad.

Thanks for reading this far.  I know I have some very regular readers and I know most of them.  However, there is someone in the Pasadena area who has been following my blog almost from the start and I don’t know who that person is.  Would you mind leaving a comment?  Thanks!

Caving in

OK, the heat finally has gotten to me. Last night was too hot (91F) and I didn’t sleep well. That combined with three days of driving, I was too tired to make it all the way to the Mojave Desert. I quit at 3 PM and pulled into a Motel 6 in Kingman, Arizona.  Just off the old highway 66.  My home is parked outside my door. Kind of strange, but when it is 102 F outside, an air conditioned room sure beats the comforts of my home.
Had hoped to be at the coast on the 19th. Wanted to treat myself for my birthday and rent a fast car to drive up the coast. Fifty five miles per hour are fine, however after a while I get a little jealous when I get past by all those cars.
Today’s drive was not as pleasant as I had hoped. The scenery was nice, but there was too much traffic on hwy 93. Drove through Joshua tree “forests”, pretty cool. Same old story, no pull outs or if there was one it wasn’t marked ahead of time. You try to quickly pull over with a camper on your back. Had some climbing to do as well at 40 mph I could at least enjoy the scenery.
New Mexico and Arizona have so far been the only two states where I was forced to take the interstate due to the lack of secondary roads running near by. I do not enjoy that one bit. I have the feeling it won’t get better when I get into California.

Good night.

Beating the Arizona heat or not

This morning I woke up to cool temperatures, only 66 F (19C) and I will be going to bed with temps in the high 90s (39C).  As I am writing this at 9:30 PM it is still 102 F.  You wonder where I am or where I was.  Well, I slept in Show Low, Arizona.  That is in the in the north eastern section of the state at an elevation of about 6,400 feet, and I am going to bed 50 miles northwest of Phoenix at Lake Pleasant at an elevation of a measly 2,000 feet.  It is pleasant, but only in the water.  I can’t even take a cold shower.  The water from the cold water faucet is as hot as regular hot water.  I shouldn’t complain.  This morning I thought I was in Colorado.  The stretch from Show Low to Payson along hwy 260 was all pine forest, great smell.  Unfortunately, big sections of the forest to the sides of the highway were burned.  Not sure when those fires took place.

Driving through the mountain passes was fun, mostly because I was going downhill, for the most part.  There were some sections where the forest opened up and I was looking over great mountain ranges.  I wish the highway department would take into consideration that people might want to stop and take a closer look and build turn outs when they redo highways.  No photos.

The scenery changed drastically when I headed south from Payson on highway 87. 

Saguaro cacti

Forgot to mention, I got up really early, 5:30 AM local time.  That was 6:30 AM my body time.  For some reason, Arizona does not have daylight savings time.  Figured I get an early start to avoid some of the heat.  In any case, I had a second breakfast at the Small Café in Payson.  Nice family run place.

Just a mile or two out of town the Arizona desert opened up in front of me.  Huge Saguaro cacti to the left and right in the mountain valleys.  No more pine trees.

Lake Pleasant - from my camp spot

Once at the campground, I did go for a dip in the lake.  Nice and refreshing.

How I got from Texas to Arizona is a story for the next blog or two.

Stay cool New York!