Green Valley, Happy Valley

Views from J&Cs patio

We’ve been parked at Jaci and Cory’s in Green Valley, AZ, since Saturday afternoon. Twenty miles south of Tucson on Hwy. 19, Green Valley is a retirement community at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains. It’s been beautiful here with the sun smiling every day on cul-de-sacs and winding streets of pristinely maintained stucco homes and intertwining golf courses.

We’ve known Jaci and Cory for 40- some years, since Michael’s days of college at Southwest Minnesota State and then farm living near Marshall, MN. Annual Christmas cards and a couple of dinner dates during those 40 years, and then the discovery they own a home in Green Valley and are spending the winter here – right on our Arizona route.  So we brought our riff-raff to this fount of pleasantness, parked in their driveway and have been enjoying their incomparable hospitality.

One of our days here we hiked in nearby Madera Canyon, a dent in the Santa Rita range, crisscrossed by hiking trails, home to many migrating birds. The trail we chose was steep and rocky, following a dry stream bed and at a high enough elevation to be mostly shaded by cedar-type trees and a few live oaks. Even Nina slowed down as we climbed to 6000 feet.

Mary & Mike's rig

Another day we drove 15 miles north and look who we found! Friend and former co-worker at GLCS! It was great to see Mary and Mike and be able to catch up on retirement travels.

 

Quartzsite, AZ

 Quartzsite, Arizona, is a mecca for RVers.  In terms of a town, it's not much more than a busy intersection, but it’s a place where motor homes and trailers congregate in January and February.  Thousands of RVs flock to the few RV parks in Quartzsite (meaning graveled parking lots with rows of electricity, water and sewer hook-ups.)  Others dry camp on public desert lands south of town, hundreds of RVs on either side of the highway, parking every which way.

What’s the draw? What’s the attraction?  It’s the annual RV Show and Sale: a Beg Tent, home to vendors selling everything from LED lights to Vitamixers, gel pad seats to age defying lotions.  Surrounding the tent are brand new and used RVs, more makes and models than I’d imagined, doors open, “Take a look inside.  Find one you like,” and tucked between RV dealer displays are carnival food booths selling BBQ ribs and chicken, homemade ice cream, caramel corn and Kettle Corn.  Festive atmosphere, yes, but I had trouble at first justifying the aimless wandering of the retired masses, using up their time by  watching Magic Pan demos or trying out vibrating chairs.  But that’s me. I’m relatively new at this retirement thing and we DID choose to stop there.  Michael had heard about it and wanted to see for himself.

We were saved from this retirement la la land by the Pacific Cruisers and the 49ers, two California GMC clubs that have been camping together the last week of January at Rice Ranch in Quartzsite for the past 12 years.  They welcomed us warmly and invited us to park by their group, share their "happy hours" and eat meals with them.  GMCs were the common thread.  We bonded in the midst of RV giants two times our size.

We spent two nights in Quartzsite, wandering aimlessly and feeling fortunate to have met fellow GMCers in this strange land.

Joshua Tree - Whole Lotta Rocks

Joshua Tree National Park near Palm Springs, CA.
We camped there for two nights in Jumbo Rocks campground.  It's in the part of the park that shows off uncommonly unique piles of rounded boulders created by upheavals just under the Earth's surface followed by erosion a really, really long time ago.                                  

  Some rocks have eroded into recognizable shapes.  Michael is sure most of the Star Wars alien creatures were inspired by a visit to Jumbo Rocks Campground.

This campground it the largest of six in the park. It's the one that RVs CAN navigate, even though the loops and curves are tight, and if any vehicle parks a bit out of its turn-out space, lapping into the right of way, it would block oncoming traffic.               
                             

So lots of young folks flock to this park to hone their rock climbing skills.  Some make it to the top.

 

California One-night Stops

After leaving Big Basin State Park and Scott's Valley, we drove through the vast, flat expanse of vegetable fields surrounding Watsonville and Hollister. North and east form Hollister, tucked in the San Joaquin Mountains is San Louis State Reservoir and Recreation Area. "Tucked "makes this lake sound smallish. It's not. It's miles and miles across and provides water to all of those fields of greens we passed. Campers seem to enjoy fishing the lake, too. For us it was a surreally quiet resting place. Night herons perched in the trees along the lakeside near the paved trail where we walked and let Nina run.

 

Woodpecker on a faucet at the county park

The next night we stayed at Kern County Park outside of Tehachapi, a small town known for its Railroad Loop and its miles and miles of wind farms. The town sits at 3000 some feet, surrounded by tall hills. We had stopped in the town about 4 in the afternoon for gas. Michael noticed a flat tire on the Volvo, and while changing it in the parking lot of a brand new Dollar General, I found the campground listed on my phone. It had been a long day of driving, after almost running out of gas not too far from Kettleman City (We were within rolling distance) and later, having to pull off the road in the mountains east of Bakersfield when Michael saw smoke pouring out of the back of the Pickle! It resulted in nothing that he could find, but we were ready to park for the day. The County Park was just the thing - 3 miles out of town on a gravel road, a few sites overlooking Brite Lake which really was small, but lovely. Electric hook-ups, flush toilets and free hot showers!! One other site was occupied so Nina had the run of the place. She loved it.

Review: One More Setback, A Mechanical Story

A synopsis of a couple of eventful (in a not-so-good way) days:

Annie's little house in Petaluma

 Leaving Annie’s on January 16^th, we drove the Volvo to Applied GMC in Fremont to retrieve the repaired Pickle.  We paid up, we said good-by and reattached. We headed toward Santa Cruz, south to New Brighton State Park, on the coast, a 70 degree day…. perfect. Well, Hwy. 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz (especially the 1^st 20 miles to Scott’s Valley) is a bugger – a pretty steep pass and the GMC just crawled.  Michael figured the braking mechanism to the Volvo was not functioning correctly after having been disconnected, and that the Volvo’s brake was partially on – all the time.  We turned off # 17 into the town of Scott’s Valley – a busy sunny kind of California town – to find a place to park and have a look.  Deciding the first parking lot we chose was too crowded, we turned back out onto Whispering Pines Drive.  That’s when the front wheels of the Volvo didn’t follow the turn of the tow-bar, the car’s front bumper jammed into the tow bar and pulled loose.  Right there, right in the middle of the street, mostly in one lane with the car’s rear slightly blocking another lane!

 Whoa!! Hold everything!! Michael dove into action. What happened? What to do? Where’s my crowbar? Where are my tools? (Said simply, our things were still in disarray after abandoning the Pickle for a month and it had been broken into while sitting in Fremont. Yes, one set of tools was gone.)

Middle of the street, stalled, small cars inching past us on the inside lane, the rest backed up and zooming around us on the outside when their coast was clear. Fifteen minutes? Maybe 20, it took to dislodge the Volvo’s bumper from the tow bar so Michael could disconnect it from the motorhome.  Separately, they were driven to the nearest gas station on the corner. And there we were.

Knowing he didn’t have the necessary tools to remove the bolt, Michael walked to Integrity Automotive two doors down to see if they could do the work. They could.  Tomorrow.  A 1-hour job.  We left the Gherkin there and continued down Hwy. 17 to a campsite.

New Brighton Beach State Park – best CA state park yet.  Sites were on a bluff overlooking the north end of Monterey Bay with trails down to the beach.  Because of the upcoming 3-day MLK weekend, there were just a few sites open for one night only. We grabbed one.

Next morning we walked to the beach. It wasn’t a let-your-dog-run-joyously-Oregon-kind of beach, but oh, so pleasant. The sun warmed us quickly. We began planning what route we would take after picking up the Volvo.



Integrity Automotive, Scott's Valley

Not so fast! When we arrived at the repair shop at 12:30, the Volvo project had not yet been started and the mechanic was still at lunch.  We made sandwiches and waited…..Once the car was on the lift, the mechanic (with Michael in an advisory capacity) discovered that the problem wasn’t a broken bolt.  The nut attaching the bolt to the frame of the car had torn out.  Different problem.  Now the bumper would have to be dropped and a new plate welded to the frame to hold the nut and bolt = A 3-hour project and “it’s too late to start it today. We’ll get to it first thing in the morning.” Ok, where to camp? It was Friday night, the start of the 3-day weekend, and another perfect 70 degrees.

We drove to Big Basin Redwood State Park outside of Boulder Creek, probably 9 miles from the little woodsy town if you’re following a map, but if you’re flying by the seat of your pants in heavy traffic and not paying attention to road signs, it’s about 30 miles around the north end of the park, then south through the park to get to the campground. Did I mention the road was too narrow to have a yellow line, winding, roller coaster - like and tree-lined? We found a nice campground, though. The higher elevation and some very tall trees gave us cool, shady, woodsy and full of nature kind of camping.

A little brake repair at the campground.

The next morning we took the short way back to Scott’s Valley to Integrity automotive. We arrived at noon and the Volvo was nearly done. In another hour, the Gherkin was attached to the Pickle and we were on the road again.

 

 

Colorado Side Trip

LC at hotel in Price, Utah

   We are in Petaluma, CA, for the moment, back from a 5-day side trip to Colorado. The purpose of the trip? To get an ’85 Land Cruiser there. See, Annie has had the LC in CA since she moved here, but hasn’t driven it for 3 years because it doesn’t meet state smog regulations. It was time to do something with this vehicle. Selling it in CA without smog upgrades was not an option and Michael’s attempts to hire a company to transport it cross-country failed, so…. Because it runs well, it’s “built like a tank, and it’s too good to scrap out,” the idea formed to drive it to Michigan where it can get the tender loving care it needs before being resold (or not.)  Our side trip was Stage 1 of its eventual arrival at our Maple City driveway.

   Eagle CO is near Vail, and Phillip and Allison Shapton live there. They graciously agreed to make room for the Land Cruiser at their place (it does work well in all that snow) until we figure out Stage 2 of the Land Cruiser’s Return to Michigan. It may provide one-way transportation home for Phillip’s parents, Don & Judy, our good friends, when they visit their new grandchild in Eagle in April, OR it may mean Michael will make another trip to Eagle in the spring. One way or the other, the LC will find its way to northern Michigan.

   We took 3 days to drive to Eagle – we left Petaluma last Friday the 10^th, drove north past Sacramento, across Donner Pass, through Nevada and Utah, into Colorado and arrived at Phillip and Allison’s Sunday afternoon, just in time to accompany them to the local sports bar to watch the 2^nd half of the Denver Broncos game. (Go Broncos! Yay for Allison!) We spent the night at their house, and then the next morning, after P&A had gone to work, we drove the Land Cruiser the 35 miles down Glenwood Canyon to Glenwood Springs. The California Zephyr Amtak train would take us back to CA. (Phillip and Allison were able to pick up the Land Cruiser later in the evening and drive it back to their house.)

Glenwood Springs station      

   The train ride from Glenwood Springs to Martinez, CA, took 25 hours. Martinez is only 20 miles from Vallejo where Annie works, so she was able to pick us up when we arrived there at about 3:15 Tuesday afternoon, the 14^th. The Zephyr ride was pleasant. It’s an easy pace, a nice way to see the country, if you have the time – sitting in the observation car watching the sunset over western Colorado, and then the sunrise over Nevada the next morning, with a little sleep in our coach car seats in between. We read a lot, met some people, drank coffee from the snack bar, and ate dinner in the dining car. The train tracks follow the same route we’d driven in the Land Cruiser, so we got to see everything in reverse from a different perspective.

    

   Today (Thursday, 16^th) is the day we plan to pick up the Pickle and get back on the road. Yesterday Michael drove the Volvo to Fremont to check out the newly repaired transmission on the GMC. He also had to take a load of “stuff” (bikes mostly) to load onto the Pickle, so we can take the rest of our things plus Nina today. Was his GMC test drive successful yesterday?? Well, yes, since now the distributor has been repaired after the engine died between the 680 and the 880 near San Jose. Certainly that was the last thing to malfunction and the Pickle will be road worthy once again. (Keep the faith, baby!)

   It will be hard to say good-bye to Annie. We’ve been mostly with her now for the past month and a half, either here or in Michigan!!  I’m sure, though, she’ll be happy to get back to a less crowded house and her usual routines, and for us, well, we’re kind of anxious to get back into that driving-around-looking-for-a-campsite-seeing-the-sites-on-the-road –state-of-mind. Arizona here we come!

How Do You Spell Adventure? (With a $)

                                                  Holidays in Michigan

Teachers relaxing on vacation (Bobby & Ellen,
Lillian's parents)

Grandma & Lillian

 



Snowshoeing trail through the
woods

 
Adventure: an undertaking, usually involving danger and unknown risks.

I guess what that means is, you can't really plan an adventure. You can put yourself in situations that are ripe for adventure, i.e. an expedition to Antarctica, a safari in the Serengeti, or a backwater Amazon River rafting trip. Risky? Possibly. Dangerous? Most likely. And the whole time you're preparing for the adventure, you dream pictures in your mind of "you having an adventure." But the adventure really happens as the experience unravels and you are forced to deal with the unknown whether or not it fits the picture you had in mind. 


 Well, our return to California unraveled rather unexpectedly and here we are again - up to our ears in adventure!
The first unexpected event was United's cancellation of our early morning flight from Traverse City to O'Hare on Tuesday. To avoid rebooking our entire itinerary (a 5-day delay) we instead rented a car and drove to Chicago on Monday. Was Monday, the day when every school in Michigan was closed due to blowing snow and cold temps a good day to make this trek? Absolutely not! White out conditions and icy roads plus the closure of I-94 near Michigan City turned the 5 and 1/2 hour drive into an 8 hour one. We did it though, and we were able to get to the airport early Tuesday morning to check into our 10:15 flight to San Francisco.

    60 degrees and sunny skies greeted us in San Fran. An easy purchase of tickets bought us seats on the BART (train) to Fremont and Applied GMC where the Pickle awaited us. It had undergone a few upgrades to the carburetor and tires while we were home for the holidays and now, put to the test during rush hour traffic on the 880, north through Oakland, Richmond, and across the Bay Bridge, it ran like a million bucks. Boy it felt good to be back in our Home-on-Wheels until... until...Wait, where's that noise coming from?... Just north of the San Raphael turn-off, a whining, a screeching, coming from....where? It's us! Is it the engine? We had to pull over, fortunately into an old weigh station lane that appeared just at the right time, and there we sat, suddenly with sinking hearts, dismal thoughts, repairs will be needed ...stranded.

    Annie, coming home from work in Vallejo about that time, drove over to our rescue. (Nina was with her. (Nina, who was so excited to see Michael, she woofed!) Applied GMC towed the Pickle back to their shop in Fremont later that evening. The next day the cause of the noise was determined to be the torque converter on the transmission - a loose or broken blade in the housing ??? (Ask Michael. I know nothing about torque converters.) The transmission needs to be rebuilt and as said by a die-hard believer in the value of old vehicles, " this is a good thing because the transmission has over 100,000 miles on it." (Guess who --- his name begins with M.)

The transmission rebuild will take a few days. We're going to use that time to drive Annie's too-old-to-be-smogged '85 Land Cruiser to Colorado. A return trip to San Fran on the Amtrak Zephyr is part of the package. But wait! That sounds like another adventure, and I'll tell you about that one as it unravels.