🎵 🎵 On The Road Again 🎵 🎵

....like a band of gypsies we go down the highway.....

Looking at our car packed to travel, we do look like a couple of gypsies.  The back end is packed full of golf clubs and carts.  The back seat is packed with golf gear, bike gear, beach chairs and other car stuff.  There is a bike rack on the back with 2 bikes.  You'd think we didn't have any storage space under our coach.....we don't.  All the bays hold necessary RV stuff like tools, cleaning supplies, chairs, tables, BBQ, extra beer (yes, that's necessary RV stuff), water, cat litter (can't forget the kitty supplies) and whatever else doesn't fit inside.  Doesn't look very pretty, but we make it all fit.

Sat, Jan 19

Trilogy departure

Left on a cold drizzly morning and drove south of Portland to Portland-Woodburn RV Park.  They gave us a nice pull-thru space so we didn't have to disconnect.  We got semi-setup (as much as we do for a one night stay) and walked over to the adjacent outlet mall for some exercise.  After much walking, window shopping and no purchasing, we decided to stop in Red Robin for dinner.  Neither of us could remember the last time we were in a Red Robin so you can see it is a restaurant we don't normally frequent.  Food was good but we reminded each other that it's always very noisy at Red Robin and difficult to carry on a conversation.

Sun, Jan 20
The RV Park was convenient, but wasn't the quietest place to stay.  There was freeway noise but we expected that due to the proximity to the offramp.  What we heard all night was the train and the fire/aid trucks.  Wish we weren't such light sleepers.  We do have a white noise machine, but didn't think to turn it on.  Though it was pouring down rain, we decided to walk the short distance to Elmers for breakfast.  Used to eat at Elmers all the time when we lived in Medford.  Missed it.  Had a great breakfast to get us going for the day.  Sloshed back to the coach and disconnected.  Started the engine, turned on the wipers....and nothing.  No wipers.  They'd worked all the day before.  Dave thought it was a fuse, so put on his rain gear and got out in the sloppy rain to troubleshoot.  Not a fuse.  He started wiggling some wires and discovered 3 wires loose.  "Mr electrician" reconnected them and "voila" wipers again.  Must have hit just enough potholes to jar things loose.  Headed I-5 south to Medford.  Lots of flooding in Southern Oregon.  Parked for the night at Southern Oregon RV Park (Jackson County Fairgrounds) for the night.  The park was virtually empty.  It's a very nice park and we've stayed there a few times.

Mon, Jan 21
Relatively quiet night.  Knew we would have some freeway noise (most RV parks are sandwiched between the interstate and rail line) but it was tolerable.  No train, no firetruck, no noisy neighbors.  It was a clear and frosty morning.  We checked the weather forecast for Siskiyou Pass and it looked good.  Double checked the car and discovered a low front tire.  Dave didn't want to disconnect to go get air, so took out the bicycle tire pump and proceeded to put air in the tire.  That warmed him up in no time!  Left around 9am for Lodi's Flag City RV Park.  Pretty uneventful drive over the pass.  Road was wet but not icy, with very little snow on the shoulder.  We'd read that the roads around Shasta were icy, but by the time we got there, everything was just wet.  Yay!!  All that deodorant for nothing.
Stopped at Blue Beacon Car Wash in Lodi before pulling into our space.....car in tow!  Both were filthy.



Tue, Jan 22
We've stayed at Flag City RV Park a few times.  This was the noisiest we could remember.  Maybe it was the days of the week we were there or the wind direction or just increased traffic, but we noticed an increase in road noise and the train.  We knew the train was close by, but had only heard it early in the evening and mid-morning before.  Now we heard it in the middle of the night (maybe we're getting oversensitive as we get older??).  Anyway it was a nice sunny, but cool day so we went for a drive along the Delta levee.  Quite a narrow, windy two lane road with drop offs on both sides.  The locals weren't accustomed to going 35mph but I didn't dare go any faster.  Fortunately there wasn't 
Stopped on our way home for a glass of wine at one of our favorite wineries in Lodi:  Michael David Winery.  It's just down the street from the RV Park.  If the traffic wasn't so crazy on Hwy12, we could have walked there.  We each got a glass of wine and walked out back to view their gardens.  We'd never been behind the tasting room before and were pleasantly surprised to find a whole summer patio area, pool and tasting room outside.  Many of the flowers in the garden were still in bloom and it was warm enough (with a warm jacket on) to sit in the sun and enjoy the grounds.  We agreed that we need to stop in Lodi in the summer or fall to enjoy the outside patios at many of the wineries.

Michael David Winery (summer)

Wed, Jan 23

Our last full day in Lodi, we went back to Michael David Winery for one of the delicious breakfasts they serve in their cafe.  Excellent food!  After breakfast, Dave went to the driving range (he can hardly wait to get out and play golf but we didn't have enough time in Lodi).  We had researched a nature walk and headed out in the afternoon to Consumnes River Preserve in the afternoon.  The Preserve was Federal, so the parking lot and trails were open, but the Visitor's Center and restrooms were closed.  We spent quite a bit of time wandering the boardwalk trails through wetlands, grasslands and forest that were teeming with wildlife.  It would be a great place to be during migratory seasons.   http://www.cosumnes.org/

After our nature experience, we decided to explore a couple of wineries we hadn't visited before.  Our first stop was Oak Ridge Winery.  We didn't stop there for the wine, but because of the tasting room.  Oak Ridge Winery is the oldest operating winery in Lodi and the tasting room is in a 50,000 gallon California Redwood tank.  The tank was originally used for wine storage and makes the perfect place to taste wine.  We were the only customers there, so we spent quite a bit of time talking to the hosts about wine making and Lodi in general.  It's always fun talking with the locals.

Our next stop was Klinker Brick Winery.  I often pick wineries that have interesting stories or architecturally interesting tasting rooms (can you tell?).  Klinker Brick Winery is named for the highly prized Klinker Bricks that grace many of the historical buildings in Lodi.  Craftsmen architects of the 1920s used these bricks for their unique shapes and dark rich color.  "Klinker" refers to the unusual sounds made when banging them together.  The winery thought the Klinker Brick qualities of rich, deep color, density, unique and distinctive features were the same qualities found in their specialty Old Vine Zinfandels and Farrah Syrahs.  Pretty interesting analogy.  
After wine tasting we went to dinner at a downtown restaurant/winery/brewery called the Dancing Fox.  A family owned restaurant, they make their own beer, wine, bread and wood fired pizzas.  The food was excellent and we each tried one of their house made beers.  Cute atmosphere too.  Would be fun to be there on a nice warm day to sit out on the sidewalk patio.
   

Thu, Jan 24

Another travel day.  This time heading south to Bakersfield.  Nice sunny clear day for travel.  Reservations for the night were at Bakersfield River Run RV Park.  Checked in mid-afternoon.  Beautiful park and our space was a nice long pull-thru on the end with a large lawn and shade trees. How did we luck out?  Anyway....we only had a neighbor on one side and it was tight next to them so we opted to hug the paved patio/parking area.  It wasn't a high curb by any means so we hugged the curb side to give us enough room to put out our driver's side slides and not encroach on our neighbor.  Put the stairs out and bam....they slammed right into this inch high concrete pad and broke.  Wouldn't go in or out.  Damn!  How did that happen?  Neither of us thought there was enough height there to be of any issue.  We got set up and Dave walked up to the office to see if we could get a repairman out same day 'cause we were only staying one night.  He did find someone who came at dark and wasn't sure if he had the part.  That meant he would be back the next day after he finished 2 other jobs in the park.  What to do?  We had only scheduled one night in Bakersfield and were to continue on to Pahrump for 3 nights.  River Run said they could accommodate us for an extra night if we needed to stay.  Our question was whether or not we would want to to go to Pahrump for just 2 nights...probably not.  Decided to wait until we knew more about the repair.

Fri, Jan 25

Kern River

We decided that if we could have the repair done and on our way by 10:30, we would continue with our reservations to Pahrump.  We saw our repair guy go by about 9:30 enroute to his other job.  We waited and waited.   Finally decided if the park could accommodate us, we would stay 2 more nights in Bakersfield, cancel Pahrump and add 1 extra night on the front end in Las Vegas.  Bakersfield was no problem.  Lost our deposit at Pahrump and couldn't get in a day early in Las Vegas.  Went back to Bakersfield River Run and added one more night.  Our repair guy showed up after noon, replaced the stair motor and $270 later we're good as new.  The weather was nice and sunny, mid-60s, so we BBQd for lunch and went for a walk.  The park was on the Kern River with a walking trail just outside the park gate.  From the looks of it, the Kern River hasn't seen water for many years. The trail was dirt and pretty overgrown, so we opted to walk out toward the street and see what was around us.  Dave said his lounge chair and a beer were calling him, so we went back and sat around enjoying the sun.

Sat, Jan 26
Because we weren't in a hurry to pack up and go anywhere, we had a leisurely morning.  We grabbed an early lunch and headed out to the Kearn County Museum.  The museum focused on the history of Kern County and one of the prominent features was a self-guided tour through 19th Century Pioneer Village featuring over 60 historic buildings on 16 acres.  

             
Black Gold:  The Oil Experience was an exhibit devoted to development and operation of the oil industry in Kern County.  A movie, interactive exhibition and outdoor oil pumping exhibits gave an overview of how oil is created, different methods of discovery and extraction throughout history, and the changing role of industry workers and their families.  Another exhibit, Bakersfield Sound was a collection of memorabilia from some of the most influential voices of the era called "Bakersfield Sound".  Stage costumes, sheet music, instruments and other memorabilia from such artists as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Red Simpson and Bonnie Owens wee displayed.  One of the most noticeable structures at the museum was the Beale Memorial Clock tower.  The clock tower was originally constructed in 1904 in the center of downtown Bakersfield.  It was destroyed in the 1952 earthquake and rebuilt at the museum site in 1964.  We spent over 3 hours at this museum.  Well done exhibits.

Headed downtown for Happy Hour at Tower Craft Bar and Grill.  Once the First Baptist Church of Bakersfield, the building was built in 1931 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In addition to a fine restaurant and bar, the landmark building also houses offices.  Had some great food and wine.  The bartender was delightful and gave us the history of the building as well as information about the area.  Nice find.


Sun, Jan 27

Golf day!  The weather was in the mid-60s, so we headed out to North Kern County Golf Course.  For our first outing of the year, we decided on a laid back kind of course where we wouldn't embarrass ourselves too bad.  The drive took us through Oildale with all of it's oil pumpers and derricks.  Pretty stark country.   We weren't sure what to expect of the golf course, but it turned out to be a decent course with rolling hills and mature tree-lined fairways. The only bad part about this course was that we were paired with a young couple that didn't know how to play golf and had no clue about the rules. Don't get me wrong. Everyone needs to get out on the course to learn to play, but preferably after lessons and lots of time at the driving range/putting green. They were sharing clubs, hitting everything but the fairways (or correct fairway) and after just a few holes we were at least 3 holes behind the group ahead of us. The poor group behind us must have finally complained because the Marshall came out on about the 5th or 6th hole and told us to pick up the pace. I don't think they even knew what that meant. We had planned to play 18, but Dave said it was way too painful and we quit at 9.  Tomorrow Las Vegas.

Mon, Jan 28

Travel day to Las Vegas.  We debated about where to stay in Las Vegas and everyone said stay at the Oasis.  The thing about the Oasis is that it is a barrier-wall behind the freeway and right on the flight path for Las Vegas airport.  We decided that sounded too noisy, so decided to try the KOA at Sam's Club.  It was not a bad park.  Adjacent to the hotel/casino, free shuttle service to the "strip", across the street from Walmart and pretty quiet.  Nothing fancy...just a gravel parking lot, but pretty adequate.  The front desk told me that they were running a "stay 4 nights, get one free" special and she changed our rate for us.  That's good customer service!  

Tue, Jan 29

Today's itinerary was Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  We took a scenic drive along Lake Las Vegas and Lake Mead before arriving at the dam.  

We'd driven across the dam once before, but hadn't stopped for any length of time.  Since we'd been to the dam last, they completed a brand new by-pass bridge to reroute traffic off the dam.  Heavy Hwy 93 traffic (including heavy commercial trucks) mixed with pedestrians was way too dangerous, plus with the increased national security risk, a way to limit traffic was necessary.  The construction of the by-pass bridge began in 2003 and was completed in 2010.  The bridge was the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge in the western hemisphere towering 890 feet above Colorado River.  It became the 2nd highest bridge in the United States.  The bridge approach offered an overlook and a walkway for pedestrians to walk out onto the bridge to view the dam.  We took the opportunity to venture out and get some photos.  
  

After, we went down to the dam and got a view of the bridge from the dam side.  There is now a security checkpoint to drive thru before arriving at the bridge.  Because we had so much “stuff” in the back of our car, we had to pull over into the inspection line where they opened up the back end to look at our golf equipment and scanned the back seat piled with hats, jackets, chairs, etc.  All clear, we drove over the bridge to the parking area.  We decided not to take the $15 Powerplant tour (Dave said he’d seen enough dams in his career).  We were going to go into the Visitor Center, but that was $10.  Decided to take a few more photos and because it was so clear and sunny, try to hit sunset at Red Rock Canyon.

elevator doors

Of course Red Rock Canyon was on the opposite side of Las Vegas from Hoover Dam.  It took us about an hour.  Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (196,000 acres) was right in the middle of Nevada’s Mojave Desert, just west of Las Vegas.  Known for many geological features like red  sandstone peaks, petroglyphs and the Keystone Thrust Fault, we were really disappointed because the clouds moved in and we had absolutely no sun (or sunset) while we were there.  We went to the Visitor Center and learned about the history, geology and wildlife of the park and toured the inside and outside exhibits.   The park featured over 2,000 rock climbing routes and 26 hikes and trails.  There was a 13-mile one way scenic drive, but we couldn’t see much point in taking it as late in the day as it was and with no sun.  Our photos were all flat and blah.  We decided we’d come back another time when the sun was shining. 

Wed, Jan 30

Neither one of us are gamblers, so we weren’t interested in hitting the “strip” for gambling, but just to see the over-the-top hotels and restaurants.  We walked for hours!  What a fun day.  We stopped at the Bellagio, Aria, Cosmopolitan, MGM Park, Caesar’s Palace, Paris, Planet Hollywood, New York New York and shops and restaurants along the way.  A lot of the hotels were celebrating the Chinese New Year & Year of the Pig with exquisite lobby décor.  We stopped at the Paris hotel and sat in their outside restaurant overlooking the iconic Bellagio Fountains across the street.  Of course being on the sidewalk, we also saw all sorts of humanity go by.  Quite a dichotomy:  street people pawing the garbage cans for survival and folks dressed to the 9s, carrying shopping bags from the high-end exclusive stores that line Las Vegas Blvd.  We did a lot of people watching.  One of our last stops of the day was at Eataly at the MGM Park.  It’s the largest Italian marketplace in the world with more than a dozen authentic Italian eateries and hundreds of high-quality Italian foods and products.  It was like going to a public market only it was inside, shiny bright and new.  There were stalls selling pastries, fresh fish, meats, cheeses, wines, pastas,  If we hadn’t had such a late lunch, it would have been a great place to eat.

Downtown Las Vegas street now a covered mall:

Shops at Crystals (Aria Hotel) Las Vegas Strip:

Aria Hotel Lobby:

Chocolate Fountain at Bellagio:

 

Conservatory at Bellagio:

Thu, Jan 31

Today was Dave’s golf day at Durango Hills Golf Club, an executive length 18-hole course.   He golfed with 3 retired FBI agents.  He said they had a great time cracking jokes and ribbing each other.  

I was going to go, but two days of hiking did me in.  I stayed back at the coach and got caught up on domestic chores.  When Dave got back we did our usual prep for our early departure on Friday for Phoenix.