Wednesday, May 30, through Sunday, June 3, 2012:  Five Days in Oregon:
We went an easy 153 miles to Lakeview, Oregon (a bustling city of 2,000) on Wednesday.  The scenery (mostly on US 395) was terrific.  We are staying at the Junipers Reservoir RV Resort, a small park on a huge (8,000 acres) working cattle ranch.  It's a magnificent setting.




After initially setting up completely, we had a little problem getting satellite reception, so we had to move the rig about 15 feet further away from an offending tree, and set up again.

Thursday, we made a diesel stop and a hardware store visit, and then had lunch at El Aguila Real, a local Mexican restaurant, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. 

The first part of Friday was spent on a 151-mile trip to Burns, Oregon, still on US 395.  It was perhaps the most boring drive ever.  There is absolutely no scenery in this part of the state.  It’s considered high desert, with the emphasis on desert. Burns, itself, is not so bad for a town with about 2,000 people.  Since this is just a one night stop, we didn’t really bond with the area. 

For excitement, we toured the local hardware store, got a propane tank refilled, and hit the Safeway.  It rained briefly in the middle of the night, but we woke to bright sunshine Saturday morning.  We are staying at the Burns RV Park, just on the edge of town.  Nice place; nice people.

We left Burns early Saturday morning because we had a 215-mile drive ahead of us---going to Hermiston, Oregon, near Pendleton, the home of the famous woolen mills.  By contrast with the previous day, this drive was terrific.  We went though two national forests, climbed a bunch of hills, and traversed some beautiful valley cattle ranches and farmland.  Gorgeous.

We are staying at the Pioneer RV Park, not far from the center of town.  We expect to be here for two days.  Saturday night we had dinner at the Farmer’s Kitchen restaurant, a funky (but not cheap) place with delicious food.  I had salmon and, surprise, Becky had a filet.  They even had live music.  The combo consisted of two guitars and a violin, played by some not-so-young-guys, one of whom also sang. 

Their repertoire was a vast collection of standards, bringing to mind some great memories.  (Who else remembers "The Nearness Of You" written by Hoagy Carmichael and recorded by almost everyone?)


We picked up two movies at the local Blockbuster kiosk.  Man On A Ledge was the first one.  Pretty good for a thriller, with the biggest star being only Ed Harris.  (No offense intended, Ed.)  The second was The Vow, which we watched on Sunday.  It starred the always-adorable Rachel McAdams.  It also starred the aging (and stiff) Jessica Lange and a new guy named Channing Tatum, who was very good and not one of the new breed of Hollywood pretty boys.  It had an unusual plot and was very engaging.  I highly recommend it.


Since it was a bit brisk out, we celebrated the break from the heat by having some of  Becky's chili for dinner on Sunday.  Yum.

Tuesday, May 22, through Tuesday, May 29, 2012:  Starting North (in California):
The first stop on our way North was Lone Pine, California, an easy 156 miles away from Soledad Canyon, located on US 395, 40 miles South of Bishop.  We stayed at the Boulder Creek RV Resort, a nice place. 

It was beastly hot when we got there (around 97 degrees), and just a little cooler on Wednesday.  The big event on Wednesday was visiting the Lone Pine Film Museum, which celebrates the more than 100 movies, mostly westerns, that were filmed there, mainly in the '40s and '50s. 

Otherwise, it was a restful two days. 

The next stop---on Thursday---was the Meadowcliff Lodge & RV Resort, in Coleville, California (Population 400; obviously not an exciting city), 186 miles from Lone Pine, all the way on US 395.  On the way there, we went through Bridgeport, the seat of Mono County and a delightful little town, and drove along the Walker River for several miles.  There was lovely scenery the whole way.  


The RV park is very nice. 

The property was bought about 20 years ago, and then had just a 10-room motel building and a small restaurant.  Since then, the owners (Tim and Mary Fesko) have added another 10-room motel building and, recently, the 34-space RV park.  Tim, who seems like a very squared-away guy, is running for one of the County Supervisor slots in the June 5 election in Mono County.


On Friday, we ventured up US 395 about ten miles---into Nevada---to have lunch at the Topaz Lodge, located on Topaz Lake, a large reservoir located on the border.  The lodge is nice. 

The weather wasn't.  We woke up to falling snow, later turned to hail, then a little rain, and all the while a bit of nasty wind.  And the whole time the temperature was in the 40s.  Isn't it late May? 

Before we left for the border, Becky went on the Internet to locate the nearest Red Box.  It was on what appeared to be a Marine base only two miles North of our RV park.  It turned to be exactly that.  The guard explained that this location was only the residential area for the Marines who were stationed at the actual base 29 miles to the South.  It's a nice-looking village, not at all like a typical military base.  He let us enter so we could get to the Red Box that was located at the Base Exchange.  

We rented New Year's Eve, which we just started watching as I write this.  It does not look promising.

It turned out to be a better movie than I thought but still not so good.   

Saturday was a lazy day.  We had a nice lunch at the restaurant here at the RV park, then went to nearby Walker and rented two movies---Rampart (with Woody Harrelson) and Contraband (with Mark Wahlberg).  Rampart was the typical anti-LAPD screed, and interesting only in how screwed up Harrelson's character was.  Contraband was not academy award level, but had good special effects.

Saturday, we made a 122-mile side trip to Lake Tahoe.  It's been a long time since we were there, but it doesn't seem to have changed much.  It's still a magnificent lake. 

We went there via Monitor Pass through Alpine County and returned via the Kingsbury Grade and Gardnerville.  The scenery getting to the lake was very nice; the scenery coming back was not so hot once we had finished the Kingsbury Grade, although Gardnerville is kind of a pretty town.  We had lunch again at the Topaz Lodge on the way back.

There was a wildfire near here a few years ago.  It threatened a strip of homes between the hillside and the highway.  An air tanker flew very low over the hill to successfully drop retardant right behind the homes and, in pulling out of the dive, had both wings snap off.  The plane crashed in the field across the road, killing all three aboard.  Firefighters from across the country visit the site from time to time and hang identifying T-shirts on the fence facing the saved houses

---in tribute to their fallen comrades.  The people living in the houses periodically wash and repair the shirts, which get quite weathered, and otherwise maintain the memorial,   It's a nice story.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we were slated to head for Honey Lake, 141 miles further up US 395. According to RV Park Reviews, the RV version of Trip Advisor, the place we intended to stay was a bit sub-par.  So we decided to go a little further.  The choice was the Eagle Lake RV Park at, not surprisingly, Eagle Lake, the second largest natural lake in California. 

(The largest is Clear Lake.)  Eagle Lake is North of Susanville, and our RV park is on the West side of the lake, but the advice was to go counter-clockwise around the lake to avoid very winding roads.  So it turned out to be more than 40 miles from Susanville to the RV park, making the trip 208 miles overall. Naturally, being experts at this stuff, we made the trip without incident.


The RV park, which is very rural and very casual, is right on the lake, and, after struggling to locate a space without tree cover to block our satellite reception, we ended up in a great site facing the lake.  

The owners are very helpful, by the way.  This place caters to fishing aficionados, which we definitely are not. But we cope well with not fitting into the crowd. 

We celebrated the holiday with hamburgers from our barbecue, washed down with a nice California cabernet sauvignon.  How traditional! Then we settled in to watch two of the free DVDs they offer here: Twisted, an Ashley Judd thriller I had seen a few years ago, and Lions For Lambs, a Robert Redford/Meryl Streep/Tom Cruise political statement (from the left, of course), both of which were awful.

Tuesday, we simply recovered from Monday, prepared to leave the area, and watched one movie---Absolute Power, a Clint Eastwood flick from the '90s.  It was good.

Thursday, May 10, through Monday, May 21, 2012: At Soledad Canyon (Mostly):

The 110-mile trip to the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails Preserve was a no-brainer, once we decided to avoid rush-hour traffic by going around the downtown LA area.  We set up in a 50-amp site in the usual area we prefer, and settled in to enjoy the heat.  (It was 95 when we arrived.)





Thursday and Friday were mostly relaxation days.  (We had Chinese takeout Thursday evening from the nearby Wences Bistro.)  We did tour the new, badly needed Ace Hardware store in Acton on Friday.  It has been under construction for several months, and we have been watching its progress.  It’s finally open, and it’s very nice.  Most people don’t think it’s a big deal for a hardware store to open, but Becky and I are avid hardware store aficionados---me for the parts and Becky for the housewares.  Becky and Ramsey also took a number of walks.

Saturday evening, there was a free dinner (in honor of Mothers Day) at the family lodge, which we avoided because they were serving spaghetti (not Becky‘s favorite dish), but the dinner was followed by a live band (the same one that performed there on New Year’s Eve) to which we spent some time listening and dancing.

Sunday was another relaxation day, except that we celebrated Mothers Day by having an early dinner at the nearby Don Cuco’s Mexican Restaurant. 

I was excited to find Whitefish Vera Cruz on the menu, but was disappointed with the taste.  Fortunately, I was able to wash it down with a couple of oversized, delicious margaritas so it was not a total loss.

Sunday evening we watched Larry Crowne on HBO.  It was a typical Tom Hanks movie---largely predictable, but cute.  Monday was a shopping day in Palmdale, where, as usual, we stripped the Wal-Mart shelves bare.  Tuesday was another relaxation day.

Wednesday, we picked up Becky’s dad and his caregiver Raphael in Pasadena, and headed for the Jonathan Beach Club for lunch.  Becky’s brother John met us there.  It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it immensely.

On Thursday, we gave up on our toilet which, though only 1 ½ years old, was giving us problems.  So, on her way back for getting a facial in downtown Los Angeles, she picked up a new toilet at the RV dealer in Acton (All Valley RV) and I installed it immediately---with only one stop at the new, conveniently-located Ace Hardware store for parts.  That was followed by a visit from Sal Velez, Jr., a neighbor at the RV preserve, who is also an actor and a dog trainer. 

He came to give us a quick refresher in how to manage our dog. (We had last been trained when we got Roxanne in 1989. We’re a little rusty.) Sal spent an hour and a half walking us through the basics---Heel, Sit, and Stay. We will spend the next five months working on those, and will call him again when we return to Soledad Canyon at the end of October.

On Friday, we dropped Ramsey off at the local kennel we love and left for the weekend (sans trailer) at the Justin Vineyard & Winery 213 miles away in Paso Robles, California.  

We had stopped there last October just for the typical tasting, and liked the place so much we reserved one the four guest rooms they have for this weekend---to celebrate Becky’s 60th birthday.  It’s a long way there---215 miles---but we did it in leisurely fashion. The Tuscany Suite was not quite ready when we got there, so we had to kill an hour in their tasting room.  Damn!  The room was lovely.

We had arranged to meet Barbara Coad and Carla Schmidt (Barbara came from Los Angeles for the weekend and Carla came from San Francisco for the weekend) for dinner at McPhee’s Grill in nearby Templeton.



(It took 45 minutes to get there, half of which was getting from the winery to downtown Paso Robles.)  Interesting place, one of only two restaurants anyone goes to in Templeton, apparently.  We all had hamburgers; they were delicious.

When we made the reservations at the winery, we did not realize this weekend was the 30th annual Paso Robles Wine Festival, the main event of which was a mass wine tasting in the city park on Saturday.  We arrived at 11:00AM to get a decent parking place, and waited for the noon whistle to blow---announcing the opening of the event.  It was great fun.  There were about 50 wineries represented, all with their own booths and open bottles of wine.  By pre-arrangement, we met Barbara and Carla there, and, as well, our friends Sherry and John Phelan

(who had come up for the weekend from Irvine).  After slugging down several glasses with them, we all went across the street for a late lunch of Mexican food.

Saturday night we all met again for dinner at the winery.  Barbara and Carla got lost getting there and arrived about a half-hour late---having gone about 30 miles out of the way.  We had waited for them, so it was no big deal.  The dinner was spectacular.  It was a five-course “fixed” dinner, with three choices at each course.  We all chose a wonderful New York steak for the main course, but went every which way for the other courses.  I had a dessert consisting of Crème Fraiche Cheesecake with Pistachio crumble, Vanilla poached pear, and Apricot sorbet.  (I hadn't had that in quite a while.)  We also plowed through several bottles of the Justin wine, which magically appeared on the table.

Sunday, we met Sherry and John for a quick tour of Cambria (about an hour away, near the coast), to visit cutesy shops.  Becky got a new hat at one of them.

Becky and I then headed back to the winery for a 2:30PM formal tour.  Interesting.  We had added Sunday night to our stay some time after making the original reservation.  They could give us the Tuscany Suite for only two of the three nights, so we had to move to a different room for Sunday night.  By the end of the tour, our new room was ready.  It turned out the new room (the Bordeaux Suite) was twice the size of the Tuscany Suite, with a dining room and kitchen, and located at the site of the tour,

which was the production area of the winery, a quarter-mile from where the other rooms were.  It was very nice, but a little strange because there was no one else around once the workers went home. Barbara stayed for a while, and we had cheese and bread (and wine, of course) for dinner.

Monday morning, it all came to an end, and we left right after breakfast for Soledad Canyon.  Five hours later, and after a quick lunch at Don Perico's Mexican Grill & Cantina at the base of the Grapevine, we had picked up Ramsey and returned to our normal routine.  It had been a great weekend.

Sunday, May 6, through Wednesday, May 9, 2012:  Back in Civilization:
The 110-mile trip from the desert to the sea on Sunday was easy, except for the congestion from an accident on Rte. 91.  Maddening.  We arrived before noon at the Huntington By The Sea RV Park on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. 

Checking in was expected to be a bit of an adventure because the office is normally closed on Sunday, but we quickly found help because the office was open due to a family emergency with the managers---who gave us our choice of available spaces.  (Our pre-assigned space had not yet been vacated.)  It's a small, in-town park with the customary tight spaces, but we managed.  The park is right across the street from the beach,

and, but for the fact that it's all asphalt, it's pretty nice.

Sunday afternoon, we headed for a party at Brent and Carrie Carroll's house in Coto de Caza, celebrating the graduation of their son, Blake, from college.



Eveybody was there, including our oldest niece, who had flown in from Seattle for a few days.  There were also a bunch of Carrie and Brent's (and Blake's) friends and neighbors we did not know.  Altogether a happy and fun group.

Monday was a nothing day; the weather was cold and damp, and it seemed like a good idea to just hang out.  Tuesday was much more active---walking Ramsey, my getting a haircut, a little shopping, and going to Santa Ana to look at possible new companions for Ramsey.   The street the rescue place was on looked like a very normal residential street, except that it was zoned solely for dogs. 

Every house on the street was a commercial kennel except for the place we went, which was a place to adopt dogs that had been rescued.  We saw three dogs that were either partly or wholly Dalmatians.  None of them met our needs.  Too bad.

Tuesday night we had sushi at Matsu, a very nice (and, happily, inexpensive) Japanese restaurant about three miles away.  Delicious!

Wednesday, we cooled it, getting ready for the next move, except that we finished our stay in Huntington Beach by having dinner that5 evening at the Naples (Long Beach) home of Joyce Levinson and David Kriesel. They are long-time friends of Becky‘s from banking days. (We attended their wedding in 1986 and, a week later, met them in London for, among other things, a breakfast of eggs floating in grease, a fascinating hour watching a trial of an IRA terrorist at Old Bailey, and a tour of St. Paul‘s Cathedral.) It was great fun seeing them again.

Tuesday, May 1, through Saturday, May 5, 2012: In the Desert:

We headed for Ehrenberg, Arizona, on Tuesday.  It was a 238-mile trek, mostly on two Interstate highways, so it was easy.  We arrived at the Colorado River Oasis RV Resort, a nice place, at noon, and set up in a convenient site.  It is definitely not the high season here; there are few RVs and it's hot.  Ehrenberg is just across the Colorado River from Blythe, California. 

We are here for just two days, mostly trying to avoid the heat (it's supposed to hit 97 on Wednesday), and then we will go to Desert Hot Springs, California, for two days---and more heat. 

Our big event on Wednesday (early morning, before the heat arrived with a vengeance) was to clean the outside of our trailer---for the first time in months.  It's beautiful again.

We can now see out of the windows, and a zillion bugs have been removed from the front.  (Exaggerations, sure, but mostly true.)  After that, we visited Blythe, to get some groceries.  It's not an impressive place.  Ehrenberg, by contrast, is not even a place, judging by what we saw.  It seems to contain only old RV and mobile home parks.  The "old" refers to both the parks and the RVs and mobile homes in them.  There is even a sign at the city entrance announcing that it is a ghost town.  It's not even that nice.

Thursday morning, we left for Desert Hot Springs---only 138 miles away.  It was an easy trip.  DHS is sort of a suburb of Palm Springs, but it is not nearly as nice.  The RV park we are in---Catalina Spa & RV Resort---is very large (420 spaces) and was once very nice, apparently.

Now it could use some maintenance of its asphalt inner roads and concrete pads.  It is also very apparent that high season has gone.  RVs are few and far between here.  But, it's just fine.

We headed to downtown DHS to see what it was about, and ended up having a very nice lunch at the Two Bunch Palms Spa, a place Becky had heard of and always wanted to visit.  We had a very nice lunch in a very nice place.  I was a little concerned that it was too nice for me to get by with just my Pahrump Nugget T-shirt, but we were the only guests not dining in bath robes.  (They are very serious about the "spa" in the name.)

It turns out we couldn't have a glass of wine with lunch because the new owners (said to be "four gentlemen from L.A.") have not yet received their liquor license.  They just bought the place in April from the bank that had foreclosed on it two years ago, and the bank was not willing to sell the license.  The place has been around since the '20s, and legend has it that it was initially built by Al Capone as a hideout and remained mob-connected for some time.  Interesting.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Saturday by having an early dinner at the Casa Blanca restaurant in DHS. 

It had high praise on Yelp, and lived up to the billing.  It's just a small, local place, but I have never had such tasty Mexican food in my life.  Really.  It was terrific, and a nice way to end our stay  in the desert.  (We continued a bit of the tradition by having a few nore margaritas when we returned to the RV park.)