On the Road Again

In December, I published a post about some of our New Year Aspirations. So far, we've been able to do all the fun stuff we hoped. We left town, knowing that much of the westward journey would be boring.

Our first night was a nice boondock spot just outside (about 600' from) the south side of

Joshua Tree National Park. It was easy access from the highway, but far enough that road noise wasn't an issue. There were just two of us when we pulled in, but the next morning when we left I could count reflections of five other rigs scattered across the desert.

We left Joshua Tree about 8 a.m. with the idea that we would try to minimize traffic across Los Angeles by getting there right after the morning rush hour. I was more than a little shocked to experience this overwhelming traffic on the 210 as we approached the 215 interchange.

It was especially nice to have BJ with her moving map display working in concert with Kate, our British voiced Garmin Nuvi, to keep track of where we were and which lane we needed to be in.

Traffic did come to a full stop for about 15 seconds one time in Pasadena and got a bit messy around Hollywood, but it really was wildly better than I anticipated.

Home for our second night on the road was the Rincon Parkway Campground north of Ventura. There is a string of County Park along the beach here offering cheek-to-jowl dry camping for $40 per night. Rincon is 42' marked parking spaces along the old Pacific Highway where the spaces are priced at $28 (plus a dollar for Turk.) Nothing is cheap along the coast route, but we're making a game of seeing how cheap we can do it.

Here's a view looking north with the beach, rip-rap banks, RV parking, the old highway, and then the train tracks. Did I forget to mention the train tracks? Further to the right is the four lane Highway 101. Amazingly, the prevailing noise was the waves breaking on the beach.

The sky was quite overcast until about 5 p.m. when the sun and the blue sky made themselves known. Depending on the state of the tide, the beach can be quite narrow.

We had time to wander on the beach, keep BJ's Fitbit happy, and find a few caches.

And most importantly, we got a chance to enjoy our first ocean sunset of the year.

Next up, Monterey or there about - a lot of crooked miles - the best kind!

Crafty

While I was in Lee's Ferry a few weeks back, BJ was busy with a project she dreamed up for the Scamp. We've gone through a couple versions of signs for the Scamp that we use when attending molded fiberglass trailer gatherings. She has a neat idea for a fabric sign.

She was starting on the border of the sign when I got home so there aren't any pictures of the creation of the actual picture.

I love the way she incorporated southwest into the framework as well as the picture.

When she showed it to me this time, I thought it was essentially done, but no...

The sign was finished off with a binding and hanging loops using more of the green material.

We had to go out and test the fit. It hangs nicely on the same cup hooks that hosted our version two sign, but this one looks MUCH better and it will store better, too.

Now all we need to do is figure out how to get the trailer out of the garage and on the road to the Northern Oregon Gathering (NOG) someday soon.

When we attended the NOG a couple years ago, they asked us to bring sunshine, which we did. Now I'm hoping that they'll consider turnabout fair play and provide the sunshine for us!

Paddle Fest

We headed out Carefree Highway with Gordon Lightfoot's song running through my head. The plan was to see how many of our paddling friends showed up at Paddle Fest at Lake Pleasant. It's clear across the other side of the Phoenix metro area, but miles never bothered us.

Many of the active members of the paddling community and vendor reps had camped the night before on the beach. There were all sorts of boats to try out - everything from rafts to sit-on-top creek boats to ...

When we got there about 9:30, there was 25 minute lineup just to get through the park entrance. I'm pretty sure they'd evaluated all their seasonal volunteer staff and put the slowest person available to work by themselves at the toll booth. It didn't make any difference - the beach was awash with people and paddle craft.

I thought the Arizona themed stand-up paddle boards were especially colorful.

Folks of all sizes were waiting their turn to take a canoe, kayak, raft, or stand-up board for a spin.

Many (most?) had no experience, but were having lots of fun.

Even Susie Too was there, still sporting some Colorado River mud from the Grand Canyon trip that she'd completed the day before. Susie didn't come alone - Helen was there, too, which was the main reason we drove out. We wanted to hear about her Grand Canyon trip. Sounds like it was another really fun trip.

I took lots of people pictures but this was one of the few that made the cut. I loved James' shirt. Pretty much sums it up!

Even Kathy's granddaughter came out and had to check out Susie.

Parking was a bit of a hassle with the crowds. Even the deputy had a hard time hitting the spot that had been reserved for him.

We did see several people that we haven't seen for years, so the day was well worthwhile. Glad we took the time. Now to finish loading...