And Back Home Again

We left our friend's house after having a lovely breakfast of Baked Cinnamon French Toast and a last round of video games in the morning.

The drive back to Tahoe was mostly uneventful, if very hot >102F most of the way, apparently >110F in Sacramento. 

The main excitement was that the propane tank emergency pressure valve blew somewhere in Sacramento. We think the temperature in the propane compartment may have exceeded 130 degrees based on some temperature readings that we had seen at lower outside temperatures (road heat, plus tyre heat).

We got home about 8.30 - just about the 6.5 hours we guessed it would take.

A quick emptying of all the food out of the RV and then bed. Sunday we would have to empty most of the RV because on Monday at 10AM, its off to the shop with a long list of repairs.

This will be another pause in our adventures....

Marina Beach Day 2

 We had another wonderful day on the Beach.

we found a teeter totter...

 and other people were doing exciting things!

Marina Beach

We stayed at the Marina Beach RV Park. 

This was plan B as our friend's RV had not arrived as promised, so rather than staying inland where it was too hot to camp, we went to the beach.

We made smores, had a wonderful dinner, nice afternoon on the beach.

We set up the gamer's tent net to the RV for the boys.  The boys had a great time

The long and winding road - Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park

 We left the cousins around noon and took a very long and winding road to get to Kings Canyon. It dropped quite a distance, with some up and down. We saw evidence of the fire that had evacuated our relatives and an abandoned high school.

Arrived at the park n the afternoon and finally discovered why it is Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. They share at least one entrance. Not unlike Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.

As planned we drove down to the designated parking lot for the shuttle and took the shuttle around the park. 

The super impressive entrance sign.

If we thought the road to the park was long and winding, it had nothing on the road in the park.

That very narrow road caused problems as there were poles for the snow right off the edge of the white line, and while most of the poles were three feet high, one of them was six feet high and hit our rearview mirror. Which then wacked into the passenger window and scared Paul (as well as shattering). Fortunately, it did not break the passenger window.

Giant Trees everywhere,

Forest.

After driving a while, we left Kings Canyon and entered Sequoia NP.

And there were even bigger trees.  We saw General Sherman - the biggest tree. and hiked around the loop and saw lots of other big trees.

Then, having timed it just so we had seen everything just as the last shuttle left, we returned to the RV and drove out of the park the way we came, and headed off to the RV Park.

On the Road Again

 After enjoying visiting friends on the 4th, we set off on our summer vacation RV trip. 

Goals: visit the cousins, visit Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia National Park, help our friends get acquainted with their new RV. 

A week before we left we discovered that a) our friends RV was delayed so would not be available, b) it was going to be 102+F at the campground, and c) we could get a couple of nights at the Marina Beach RV park near Monterey where it was going to be almost 70F.  So plans change....

We were late getting on the road, as usual, and arrived at the cousins at 10.30 PM, far later than planned, but we had a couple of hours visiting with them anyway.

Note to Readers

This is a chronological blog written mostly after the fact, but I've also started from the present (in progress), so to read the story in order, which is recommended, skip down to the first entry:

Friday August 17, 2020
The roads go ever on...

There is currently a ginormous gap between the start and the present, but eventually the story should meet in the middle..

So, to begin....

It's 2020. Toward the end of Summer. In consultation with our children, we have decided on on-line school as the best option for 2020-21 as we have only intermediate confidence in regular school running smoothly. Both of us have worked from home for years, so our work location is, well, anywhere. Now with school location also indeterminate, what's keeping us home?

Day 260 - The Grand Canyon II

We had dinner in the park, at a nice restaurant at one of the lodges where we scored a table by the firepit outside, and because it was late, we didn't have anywhere else to go, the main parking lots we were told both don't close, and did not (like some of the others) have a "no overnight" sign,. On top of that the morning buses started at 4.30 AM for sunrise,  so we parked in the main RV section. By 5 AM we were no longer alone. 

Stephanie woke up early and saw the sunrise.

We thought about taking the Red bus line again and going all the way out, but defcide that we would better sepond the time making more stops on the way out of the park. We probably were not wrong to do this. It was a whole different part of the canyon where we could see the river. At the ___ lodge stop, We saw two Condors who had nested in a cave/overhang and were flying around. After a while they stopped, and one of them walked out to a sunny spot and spread its wings and was sunning itself doing a good impression of a German coin. Stephanie went a ways down one of the trials toward the old copper mines.

At another stop, we met four young women coming back from the University of Georgia to home in Del Mar. From that vantage point, we could see rafters floating down the river.

The final stop was the old watchtower.

Then we said goodbye to the park and headed towards the Four Corner's monument (closed) but we could sort of see it from the highway (no good picture of this sadly). Then it was Arizona and Colorado in very quick succession. 

Surprisingly we noticed that although on a map it looks like the placement of the state boundaries is somewhat arbitrary (that long straight line thing) both in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, there was a sudden change in geology and plant life within a mile or two of where we crossed the border, indicating that there was some clear reason that those straight lines were put where they were. The states look different almost immediately. Even when a river doesn't run through it.

We proceed to Cortez, Colorado where were are to stay for the next three days and mostly see Mesa Verde and get work done. The RV park is right in the middle of town so we should be able to walk to dinner, and only 20 minutes from the park. It is pretty well shaded and not too packed together. Amazingly its is well before 5 when we arrive and there is plenty of light and we are able to get some stuff done before dinner. Stephanie is wiped out from getting up a 4 to see the sunrise so she takes a nap.

Later Paul and the kids walked over the family-run brewpub/restaurant that is only 4 blocks away. Alas, they are unexpectedly closed for a staff holiday. The next three restaurants are also temporarily closed for various reasons. No one is actually hungry, so we have Taco Bell (which is open), walk to Safeway for eggs and tea, and then go home.