Monday, June 6, through Tuesday, June 14, 2011: In Denver:
The 148-mile trip to Denver was supposed to be a piece of cake, and for the most part it was. Then we started climbing about 5,000 feet on I-70 from Silverthorn toward Denver. At mile 6 (of 8), bells started ringing. The dashboard message said that we were overheating. Seconds later, steam started pouring from under the hood, and coolant started dripping from under the truck. I immediately pulled off the highway and stopped. A passing tow truck driver stopped and suggested we let it cool for at least an hour, and then refill the coolant. We immediately called an emergency service we have, and asked for some coolant. (Who carries coolant as a matter of course?)

After a bizarre 20-minute conversation with the receptionist, wherein she could not get anything right, and an ensuing 30-minute wait (which was less than predicted), a very nice guy showed up and delivered the needed coolant---and we were on our way without further problems with the truck.

Then we arrived at the RV park we had booked---the Golden Terrace South RV Park in Golden, Colorado. What a dump.
We need to tell the booking service about this place. It was totally unacceptable. Surprisingly, they gave me back our deposit, even though that’s against the rules of all RV parks. We decided instead to stay across the street, at the Dakota Ridge RV Park. It is much nicer, and far more expensive, of course.
As nice as they were, they first assigned us to a site that was already occupied, and then took more than a half hour to find another site for us. Oh well.

Tuesday morning, I decided to have the truck brakes checked, due to some very intermittent vibration that has recently occurred. The brake person diagnosed the vibration as being due to some hairline cracks in the rotors, which he agreed was minor, and not a safety risk. He did, though, recommend a number of things, but finally agreed that there was really no reason to do anything for the time being. I was very relieved. He also confirmed that the brake pads had thousands of miles left on them. (They are original, and have already gone 170,000 miles. I have no idea why they have lasted so long.)

We also had one of Becky's boots fixed at a local shoe repair shop on Tuesday, dropped her camera off at a camera shop to be repaired (the zoom feature no longer works), bought a duplicate camera to use while the first one is in the shop and then to keep as a backup, bought a new toaster (one that does not, by itself, use up the entire 15-amp circuit that serves the kitchen and living room, thereby hoping to prevent constant circuit breaker throws), went to Camping World to buy some goodies for our trailer, dropped off our comforter at a local laundry to get some of my blood removed (somehow I bled all over it last night from a teensy cut in my left elbow, which I did not even discover until noon), got Becky a new pair of reading glasses at Lenscrafters (I got my eyes checked but did not get new glasses because my prescription had not changed sufficiently), filled up the truck with diesel fuel, and, finally, hit two nearby Walmarts to reload groceries and get other stuff. Altogether, it was quite a productive day.

On Wednesday, we visited Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.
Estes Park is one of the most beautiful spots we have ever seen. We had a terrific lunch at the historic Stanley Hotel (the site of “The Shining”). It remains a fabulous place.
Rocky Mountain National Park (the eastern entrance is right next to Estes Park) is a beautiful place, as well. Much of it is still emerging from a very snowy winter.


On Thursday, we had a nice lunch at Mimi’s Cafe in Golden with Bert and Karen Cook, whom we met on our last South American trip two years ago. They alternate between homes in Florida and Colorado. It was fun seeing them again.


Friday was our night for dinner with Dennis and Jackie Dexter. We hadn’t seen them since 2000. Dennis was a fraternity brother of mine at UCLA. The Dexters have a very nice home in the Country Club section of Denver (so named because the area's south boundary is on Speer Boulevard/1st Avenue, which forms the north boundary of the Denver Country Club). As usual, Jackie put on quite a spread. She is an excellent and creative cook. We had a wonderful time with them.


On Saturday, we had dinner with Patra Attig at Luca D’Italia, on Grant Street in Denver. Patra is an interior decorator who worked with us when we moved to Denver in 1998, and again in 2000, when we moved to Pasadena. She’s a delight. The restaurant was very chi chi, and expensive, and more than a bit pretentious, but the food was delicious. I'm glad we went.


On Sunday, we went to Boulder to spend the day with Ed and Connie Clancy. Connie went to high school with Becky.
We took the dogs and our bikes. (My bike was not working properly---an out-of-true rear wheel---and I had to get an emergency fix Saturday afternoon afer Connie announced that we would be riding on Sunday.) We pedaled into and around central Boulder and fought the crowd on the Pearl Street pedestrian mall. We also visited the Bike Park in Valmont Park that just opened this week. It’s huge, and well-done, and will be a Mecca for all kinds of bicyclists.
Becky had a flat tire and a front brake problem along the way, barely 50feet from a bicycle repair facility that abuts the bike trail. Very lucky. We had lunch and dinner at Connie and Ed’s, and played a number of table games (Mexican Train, Farkle, and Don't Peek, Ethel) with them. It was a great day. Daisy and Ramsey were good troupers all day, and were exhausted when we got home.

On Monday, we finally got to Le Central, our old favorite French restaurant. (We used to go there at least once a week when we lived in Denver.) As usual, we each had a huge bucket of Mussels and a never-empty plate of French fries. And, of course, a bottle of Chardonnay. Absolutely delicious.


We finished our Denver feeding frenzy by meeting Barbara and Clark Gates for dinner on Tuesday at Cucina Colore, an Italian restaurant in the Cherry Creek North shopping area. The food was delicious and attractively presented. Becky worked with Clark at Union Bank. We last saw Barbara and Clark many months ago at their Massachusetts home. (They alternate between Massachusetts and Colorado.) They are a lot of fun to be with.


Tomorrow, we start on diets.

Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5, 2011: On the Way to Denver:
The first stop on the way to Denver was at Craig, Colorado, asserted to be the Elk Hunting Capital of the World. (Who would challenge that lofty status?) Craig is a larger town than I had expected. As planned, we left early for the 270-mile trip, all of it on US40, which was uneventful, thank you, and arrived before 1:00pm. On the way, we passed through Vernal, Utah, purported to be the only city of any size in Utah that was not founded by Mormons. It also is supposed to be the only city in Utah of its size that does not have a railroad running through it. Impressive distinctions, huh? We are staying at Craig Campground, which was a KOA until very recently. It's still nice. I picked up a pizza for dinner. Delicious.

On Sunday, we slept in because the next stop (Steamboat Springs) is only 40 miles away. We are staying at the Steamboat Campground, another nice former KOA.
There is a water runoff problem in the area due to the heavy snow and rain this winter. The Elk River, which is adjacent to the campground, is very high, and running very fast, and part of the campground is actually under water---as is a lot of the nearby farmland. We were assigned to a site on high ground, fortunately.
We stopped in Steamboat Springs solely to spend some time with Bette Carlson, who was my boss for several months in the HR office at Zion National Park (and who, very coincidentally, attended the same grammar school I did in River Forest, Illinois, and the same high schools I did in Oak Park, Illinois). Bette was waiting for us when we arrived. We spent the next six hours on a wonderful tour of "The Boat" and had a lovely Thai dinner at Sambi, on the main street in town. I'm glad we came.

Thursday, May 26, through Friday, June 3, 2011: At Heber City:
The 130-mile trip to Heber City was pleasant and uneventful. Utah is a beautiful state, with majestic mountains, stark canyons, lovely valleys, and serene farms. We passed through, among other places, Provo, the home of BYU and a very civilized place. We are staying at the River's Edge At Deer Park RV park, a nice, conveniently located place.


We are about 10 miles from Park City, where our daughter Donna and her family live. We are here mainly to attend the high school graduation of our granddaughter Meghan on June 2.

We vegged out on Thursday, and, on Friday, went to Sandy to a Lenscrafters to get Becky some new reading glasses. It turned out she is a week or so away from getting a new pair for free under some Lenscrafters program, so we passed--and had lunch at Mikado, a nice sushi place across the street, followed by a little shopping. On Saturday, Emily and Meghan drove to our campground and Donna and David rode their bikes over. We had a load of snacks and then departed for dinner at the Bear Dance Cafe in nearby Midway, a small village originally settled by Swiss farmers in the mid-1800s. Terrific food, spotty service.

It has been drizzling (when not raining outright) and quite cold most of the time we've been here, and we decided to take Sunday off and just relax---but for a trip to Park City to buy a new Dream Catcher. (Our old one is too big for our new bedroom and Becky thinks it's "full" anyway, since she's been having some strange dreams lately.)

Monday started out cold and wet, with snow at elevations only slightly higher than where we are, including at Donna's---where five inches fell overnight. We were scheduled to have a Memorial Day barbeque at Donna's, which we did---although we ate indoors, of course.

Tuesday was clear and, in the morning only, cold. I did nothing all day, while Becky ran errands, including buying a dress for Meghan's graduation.

Tuesday was beautiful. We went to the dentist for cleaning, a non-event, and followed wth lunch in Midway at the Homestead Resort & Golf Course, which features a crater holding warm water which is used by scuba divers and other sports. Lovely resort. The crater has been a local attraction for 125 years.

Wednesday was a day to relax, in preparation for Meghan's graduation---which we knew would be a long day. We dropped off the dogs Friday morning at 7:45, came home and changed clothes, met at Donna's at 9:15, headed for the graduation---which took place in Salt Lake City at Abravanel Hall (a very large auditorium) at 11:00.
We got there at 10:00 so we could get good seats. The ceremony started on time, and we were given programs. Surprise! The "Senior Address" was to be delivered by Meghan. I don't know how they pick valedictorians at other schools, but at Waterford the members of the senior class select the person to deliver the commencement address. Kudos to Meghan. Her address was wonderful, and very well received.

She also received a departmental excellence award for her work in theater.
We went from the ceremony to the school for a reception,
then to the Porcupine Restaurant (in Cottonwood Heights) for a delicious lunch, and then to Donna's to unwind. It was a wonderful but exhausting day.

Friday morning, we picked up Daisy and Ramsey then had a nice breakfast at The Hut in Heber City. We spent the rest of the day preparing to leave Saturday morning, heading for Denver.

Tuesday, May 17, through Wednesday, May 25, 2011: Heading to Heber City, Utah:
The 150-mile trip to Reno was just fine---until we neared the Donner Pass. We started to see posted weather warnings. "Snowing in Donner Pass; Carry Chains" gave us pause. I had thoughts of repeating the fate of the Donner Party. Fortunately, when we got there, there was snow falling, but it wasn't sticking and chains were not necessary. It was harrowing, though, because the road was wet and the visibility was less than ideal because of fog. We made it to Reno, and settled in at the Shamrock RV Park. It's an in-city/older park, with small spaces and lots of asphalt. But it will suffice.

Almost as soon as we arrived, the wind started---gusts up to 45 mph. Scary. We comforted ourselves by having dinner at Ichiban, the sushi restaurant at Harrah's Casino/Hotel. Very tasty. Tuesday evening, the rain started, and lasted until mid-morning on Wednesday. No big deal.



Wednesday was my day to relax and Becky's day to have lunch with Lillian Frank, a friend from her banking days. They moved to Reno when her husband (Steve) retired as president of the Southern California Gas Company.


We decided to leave Reno a day earlier than originally planned so we could take a detour and make a stop at the Great Basin National Park. Our first stop on the way was Winnemucca, Nevada, on Thursday. The 160-mile trip to Winnemucca was a breeze--straight out I-80 from Reno. I was last in Winnemucca in 1950 when we moved from Los Angeles back to Chicago. Surprise: I don't remember it at all---except that I know we first heard of the beginning of the Korean War while we were in Winnemucca. It's strange what one remembers. We're staying at the Hi-Desert RV Park. Very nice.


I always wonder what one main thing supports the creation, or continued existence, of a small town. (This one has a population of 8,300.) In this instance, the railroad was the reason for the creation---Winnemuca is halfway between San Francisco and Salt Lake City. Now, however, it has the distinction of housing the largest potato dehydrator in the country. In fact, ALL Pringle potato chips are produced in Winnemucca. Quite a distinction. It also has some gold mining.

We celebrated Becky's birthday on Thursday at a local favorite restaurant---Ormachea's Dinner House---one of the 3 Basque restaurants here. A lot of food; very good. Not inexpensive. There are 33 restaurants here, including 3 Subways.


We watched "127 Hours" Friday. Good movie. We didn't do much else here. Saturday, it was off to Wells, Nevada, on our way to Ely---the gateway to Great Basin National Park.



Wells is also a straight shot on I-80, 170 miles from Winnemucca. We arrived just before noon and had our pick of sites. We are at the Mountain Shadows RV Park. Small; nice. The weather is also nice. In the low 70s, some clouds.

Wells is not exactly a booming community. It has about 1,400 residents, and hasn't grown substantially for years. Its claim to fame seems to be that it is simply an intersection of I-80 and US 93 (coming north from Las Vegas and south from Twin Falls, Idaho). There are truck stops, RV parks, motels, and not much else. We did find a Chinese restaurant next door to our RV park, though, and had a nice dinner there. Our waitress, who was also an owner of the restaurant and of their attached motel and small RV park, was a hoot. Very personable and fun.

We spent only one night in Wells (Why stay longer?) and headed for Ely, Nevada, Sunday morning. The drive was short, only 140 miles, and uneventful, and boring. There's not much in this part of Nevada. Or in most parts of Nevada. We arrived at the Ely KOA kampground early. It's a nice park. We settled in and relaxed. Late in the afternoon, a huge hail storm hit. It was really quite spectacular. And, like most hail storms, short. It was cold enough to leave piles of hail all around.


It rained off and on all evening and night, but we woke to sun Monday morning.

Ely has four times the population of Wells, but is still not much of a town. It boasts, though, what was the tallest building in Nevada, the Hotel Nevada, built around 1929. It's still operating as a hotel and casino---the only casino in Ely with table games. (All the others have just slot machines.) It's kind of dumpy. No surprise.


We didn't trust the impending weather, so,even though we would go by Great Basin National Park on the next leg of our trek to Park City, we visited the park on Monday to take advantage of the surprisingly nice weather that day. It was a 120-mile round trip. The park is very big, but encompasses only a portion of the Great Basin---which touches several states. One significance of the basin is that none of the water that is created there, and it is a lot, drains out. It is all absorbed into the ground or evaporates. In essence, then, it is one huge meadow surrounded by mountains.

We had a tire issue on the truck Tuesday morning, so we got a late start on our way to Fillmore, in west central Utah. And we had a little rain. But the 185-mile trip to Fillmore was otherwise uneventful---except that, upon arrival, we discovered that two large glass serving bowls had flown out of the cabinet above the stove and shattered into a thousand pieces all over the surounding area. It took us (mostly Becky) more than an hour to clean up the mess. We were on US 50 most of the way. US 50 is known as The Loneliest Road In America. There was only one gas station along the road (on the Nevada/Utah border) and nothing else. It was eerie to feel so alone.

We are staying at the Fillmore KOA kampground, which, like all KOAs, is very nice (though comparatively expensive).


Fillmore, the county seat of Millard County, has 2,250 people, and is a typical small Utah town. Tidy. Friendly people. Wide streets. I got the tire fixed and washed a lot of mud off the truck. We mounted our Tree-of-Life tapestry, which we bought nine years ago in Mexican Hat, Utah. Otherwise, we didn't do much in the two days we spent here. Very relaxing.

The final leg of the trip to Heber City will be on Thursday. Heber City has nice campgrounds and is close to Park City, which is where we will be visiting family for nine days.

Thursday, May 12, through Monday, May 16, 2011: At the Ponderosa Thousand Trails Preserve:
The Ponderosa Preserve is between Coloma and Lotus, not far from Sacramento. It's very rural, being in the gold country (what the local flacks call "The Mother Lode Country"). We have a site mere feet from the South Fork of the American River---a class 2 river where kayaks and rafters float by all day. It's very nice.



We didn't do any sightseeing until Saturday because early on Friday morning I took the truck to Folsom (32 miles away) to investigate the reason for a "check engine" light that appeared sporadically on Wednesday and Thursday. It turned out to be a major problem that would take until Monday to fix. I rented a small car (at the dealer's expense) and drove back to the RV park. Whereupon, Becky announced that we were going on a 175-mile sightseeing trip on Saturday---with the dogs. Since the car was going to be too small for the dogs, I contacted the dealer, and he arranged for me to pick up a van to replace the Honda I had rented. So I made my second trip of the day to Folsom to pick up the replacement car.

On Saturday, we visited several well-known spots in The Mother Lode Country---primarily Jackson, Angels Camp (we missed the annual Frog Jumping Jamboree by a week), Columbia, Placerville, and Murphys. The highlight was Murphys, where we had a delicious lunch at Murphys Grille (which should be "Grill" instead of "Grille" I believe, since I once learned that a "grill" is what you cook on and a "grille" is what's on the front of your car). I had a gorgonzola burger. Yum! Murphys is one of the ten "coolest" small towns in the U.S., according to Frommers. Placerville was a disappointment. Surprise: Placerville is the county seat of
El Dorado County, not Placer County; Auburn is the county deat of Placer County. Columbia was interesting, being the remains of a gold mining town that has been turned into a state park.



We also realized that this is wine country, as well. There are wineries all throughout the area.

It rained all of Saturday night and much of Sunday, so we took it rarther easy on Sunday, heading for the Gringo's Mexican Cafe across the street for a simple, but good, meal and a tasty margarita.

I picked up the truck in Folsom Monday morning. All is well---except for my bank account. We decided to go a whole mile from our RV park to visit the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. It's the actual site of Sutter's Mill, where James Marshall discovered gold in 1848---starting the gold rush that led to California's becoming a state in 1850.



Then we started to plan our exit Tuesday---heading for Reno. We knew it wasn't going to be easy to get there, since the gold country is quite remote. There is a "direct" route on California Highway 49, leading to I-80. But we've been warned that 49 is treacherous for RVs. Not believing the naysayers, we decided to take a partial dry run in the truck. After 15 miles on 49, we decided to agree with the naysayers after all. Much of it is quite twisty and steeply downhill, so we would be on our brakes all the way---not a safe thing to do with 7 tons of trailer behind you. We found an alternate route that will take us about 40 (safe) miles out of our way.

Saturday, May 7, through Wednesday, May 11, 2011: In Chico:

We made the trip to Chico in fine fashion.  We are staying at the Almond Tree RV Park.  Very nice place.  We came here mainly to spend some time with John and Nancy McCrady, who live in nearby Durham.  John was a fraternity brother of mine at UCLA 50+ years ago.   They live on a 5-acre property with a walnut grove.


We went to their home Saturday afternoon to watch the Kentucky Derby and have a few margaritas (and one mint julep, to stick with tradition).


That evening we went to a very nice restaurant in Chico (Spice Creek Cafe) with the McCradys and some friends of theirs, Jim and Beverly Beeghly.  We had a great time.  Jim and Beverly are fellow 5th wheelers, though not full-timers.   During dinner, a couple walked by on their way to the bar. They looked familiar.   It turned out that they (Garth and Valerie Gregory) were on our trip 2+ years ago when we went to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands.   We had a nice reunion with them.   Garth is a radiologist in Chico.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Chico State campus to see "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" which is a musical version of the film that starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin.  For a student production, it wasn't too bad, but the acoustics did not allow us to hear much of the dialog.  It was also going to be quite long, so we left at the intermission.  That night we had a cookout at the McCradys.  Their son, Michael, and his wife, Libby, were there, along with their two sons, Christopher and Michael. We hadn't seen Michael and Libby since their marriage ten years ago.  They live in Durham, too.


Monday, Becky took Daisy to the doctor for some follow-up blood testing regarding her slight kidney problem.  She is doing better, thank you.  Then we met the McCradys for lunch at the restaurant attached to the Sierra Nevada brewery.   Michael joined us.   Beautiful place; excellent food.


Then we had an early cocktail "hour" at Michael and Libby's home, before going home and crashing for the evening.

On Tuesday, we had a nice breakfast with John and Nancy at Sin Of Cortez, a sort-of-Mexican restaurant just down the street from our RV park, then went to Lassen Volcanic National Park, about a 150-mile round trip.   The park is essentially closed due to a huge buildup of snow,


but the visitor center is open.   So Becky was able to get her National Parks passport stamped and we were able to see a good 20-minute film about the park---mostly about the large number of volcanoes that exist there.

Tuesday night we headed for a local Thai restaurant---something to which we had looked forward for three days, only to discover that it was closed on Tuesdays.  We went to the Papa Murphy's next door and picked up a pizza instead.  Not a bad substitute, all things considered.

On Wednesday, we went to Costco to reload, and Becky went for a walk with the dogs and Nancy at Bidwell Park, a huge local park (the 3rd largest in California).  That night we had a farewell dinner with all the Durham McCradys at John and Nancy's home.   But that wasn't enough.   The next morning, we stopped by their home with the rig, and had breakfast.
 
Since we did a lot of eating with the McCradys, we probably gained about 25 pounds (collectively) during this brief stay.

Thursday, May 5, and Friday, May 6, 2011: At Lake of the Springs:
This is a huge preserve (more than 900 acres, quite lovely) the nearest city to it being Marysville.
We will stay here only two days, since it's just a stopover on our way to the Chico area. The trip was an uneventful 170 miles through some pretty country. Though we are a bit isolated, we get cellphone, satellite TV and radio, and internet service, so we will survive quite nicely.
We don't expect to do much while here. And we didn't. Daisy and Ramsey did have fun playing together in an off leash park near the lake!