Doheny Beach State Park

Last day at Doheny Beach State Park.  Found a Baby sea lion on the beach, did some geo-caching, took a long walk on the beach and ended with a great dinner and fire on the beach.  Had a really great time and managed the dry camping thing pretty well.  We also figured out how to make coffee in an electric coffee pot without electricity.  Whoever said "Necessity is the mother of invention" was so right.

San Juan Capistrano

We spent a great day at San Juan Capistrano Mission.  The pictures are of the mission, the Old Stone Church ( the first tall building in California) which was destroyed in the 1812 California earthquake, the grounds and the altar in the Father Junipero Serra chapel with lunch afterwards.  It was really beautiful and very informative.  We really enjoyed the audio tour.  Found out that this is where the California wine industry started- very important factoid.

Another great day at Doheny Beach State Park.  We spent some time on the beach this morning. As you can see we have a great view from our front window.

This dry camping thing is working out so far.  Only one glitch.  Park rules say you can't run the generator until 10AM so no power to any outlets.    We have an electric coffee maker so no coffee until then.  Oh the sacrifices you have to make.  Now I wish I would never have gotten rid of the old drip coffee maker that we had when we were tenting. Will have to see if we can find an acceptable non-electric substitute.  Gotta have that coffee!

It is certainly a small world., Dave Alison and Hayley are staying about 8 miles up the road at Laguna Beach. They came down and spent the afternoon with us. It was nice to spend time with them and catch up. Funny that we were able to meet up so far from our homes.

Lancaster CA

We have been spending the last few days with Jeff and family.  Moved our camp site Friday to the AV Fairgrounds in Lancaster.  Here we have a phone connection, internet and satellite.  Yes we did get the satellite figured out.  Gary ran a cable directly from the dish to the receiver and it worked.  So we either have a bad cable or a bad splitter.  Today we are leaving for Dana Point to camp at Doheny State Beach. Jeff, Vicki and the boys will be camping with us.  Our site is right on the beach and the weather will be in the 60's. We will be dry camping as there are no hook-ups.  But...we do have the generator so will be able to connect long enough to charge all the batteries.   This is our first experience in "dry camping" since the days of the tent camper.  So we will see how all the "self contained features work.  We are still light years ahead of the Tent camper.

Yesterday we celebrated Justin's seventh birthday by playing Mini-golf and having pizza and cake.  A good time was had by all.  Today we went to Camping World to pick up a few things and several dollars later, we are now set with a rack for our bikes that is so much easier to use.  As an RV owner, going to Camping World is very dangerous.  There is a million things that you just can't do without.  Today was another beautiful day with sunny skies and temps in the 70's.  Barbecued chicken with the Plendls tonight and probably another rousing game of Ticket to Ride.

Another sunny day in California.  No intent here to make our WA and OR friends feel bad but ... sunny and 75 today.  However, we still can't get the satellite to work.  Ran errands yesterday which is not much different than being in Olympia except we have to use the GPS a lot.  Played games and helped Justin put a rocket together.  Its amazing the way he can look at an instruction sheet and translate that to the project construction.  This one required nuts and bolts.  I know an adult or two who still need someone to translate an instruction sheet.  We also got major information from Garret on toads and rocks.  And we ended the evening with games and a little TV with Jeff and Vicki  .Enjoyed a new game called Ticket To Ride. Lots of fun-  I won both games.   Today we are celebrating Justin's birthday. kmp

Acton CA

Have safely arrived in Acton CA.  Met up with Jeff, Vicki, Garret and Justin. Being on I-5 yesterday felt like we were experiencing a 10.0 earthquake.  There was so much rattling and clunking and shaking due to the bad road surface.  But we are settled into our site at the KOA in Acton.  Our site faces a lovely view of the hills and a small creek.  Oh and yes the train tracks that are about a 100 yards away.  The most frequent one is the Metro Link but it is all good.  It is nice to be stopped for a few days. Planning on doing a few housekeeping chores today and working on getting a satellite connection.  I haven't had any problems connecting until we got to California. Go figure.  And just to report - all the California Plendl's are doing great.   kmp

Los Banos CA

This is the 3rd full day of our adventure and we have landed in Los Banos,CA. Arrived this afternoon around 3pm after a lot of hills again from Willits,CA to I-5(105 miles) and then south on flat and wonderfully boring I-5. Karen drove from Williams,CA and got her baptism driving with the tow dolly from Williams, especially around Sacramento with the multiple lanes and many fast drivers. No rain today, lots of sun but have found way too much wind here in this area(about 77 miles south of Fresno). There are lots of signs around here with dead fruit trees(Staged I believe) the signs say "The Dust Bowl Created by Congress", not sure what that is all about. Each day we learn something. Ttoday I talked with a guy from British Columbia who was headed home after spending a few months in Yuma and Mesa,AZ. If travelers stay longer than 183 days the USA requires them to pay Income Tax here even though they are retired,, pretty crazy I thought. I am sure I learned more than that today but that stood out plus I really got a good idea for a bike rack for our RV. Will see if Jeff and I can make it work this week. We should be at his house tomorrow afternoon. We went out for dinner tonight and found a GREAT Italian Restaurant in Los Banos called "M&M Italian Restaurant", our first dining out on this trip. We would highly recommend it to anyone if you are ever in this area on your way to Yosemite National Park.

Just an addendum about my driving today. I advised Gary that the perspective is a lot different on the Navigator side and I did not want to hear any gasping or yelling if he thought we were too close to the edge of the road. I did notice a lot of leaning to the center but rest assured I was safely in my lane. He also learned that there is a lot of responsibility that goes with that side of the vehicle. Checking weather, gas buddy prices, location, obtaining snacks and drinks and adjusting environmental controls. There is really no time for napping.

Willets CA and Redwoods

Here we are on the evening of Day 2, St Patricks Day 2012 at the KOA in Willits,CA.  We got here around 7pm a little later than we had hoped. We have decided to stop earlier tomorrow.  We left Coos Bay,OR around 8:45 this morning and had a very nice trip, lots of sunshine and NO RAIN.  We made a -very  good stop at the Trees of Mystery and Sky Trail in Klamath,CA.  Saw lots of interesting Redwood Trees, got a little walk in, all in all very enjoyable and educational along the way.  We road the tram above the canopy which was great, especially with the view of the ocean.  www.treesofmystery.net , 16 miles south of Cresent City,CA.  The drive was very pretty, lots of great scenary and of course hills and valleys and more hills.   It is 44 here right now, no rain and a low of 30 for tonight so it will be chilly.  That is a quick summary of today.  Not sure where we will be tomorrow night....closer to Palmdale,CA.

First Stop Northbend OR

After several years and of thinking about this and several months of anticipation, we have embarked on our Great Adventure.  We left home base this morning at 10:00 after spending the last several days preparing the house and stocking the RV.  This all done between rain storms and wishing to be in better weather.  We had sunshine most of the day but as soon as we reached today's destination , it started to pour.  So we are sitting just outside of North Bend in a KOA listening to the pitter-patter on the roof.  Thankfully we have a pull through site and did not have to unhitch the tow-dolly.  Have decided the next vehicle will be a car that can be flat towed.  First attempt the get the oven to work and recognized that we need an oven thermometer.   Learning a lot already.  One tank of gas down and countless more to go. Destination tomorrow is Willits CA. 90% chance of rain but no snow.  Yippee.

The adventure begins!

In six days... stay tuned...