Our first real trip

Sunday, August 17, 2008

We left today for the first real “outing” since buying our rig. We went to Sol Duc Hot Springs, in the Olympic National Park, for a camping trip with Marilyn, Gene, Jeannie and her kids. Jeannie went early in the day and found 3 great camping spots all together for us. We arrived last and just backed into our level spot. So easy!

Sol Duc is a great place to camp. The resort has three pools of hot water to soak in. There’s also a big pool for swimming. This pool was very warm this time…pleasant to swim in on somewhat cool days. The boys are great swimmers, and Natalie is comfortable now, so we had lots of fun playing keep away with them. We’d swim, then soak, then swim, then soak….
There are also lots of good hiking trails around, although most are pretty rugged. We just did easy ones, to the falls (l mile), and a longer one (2.5 miles)…then soaked again. Hard life.

We had great weather until Tuesday night, when it poured rain. Our rig was very comfortable, but it did leak a little in the bathroom vent. So nice not to be in a clammy tent! Jeannie had to go home Wednesday to get Nick registered for high school, but Justin stayed with us for the next leg of the trip.

We left Wednesday morning to go west around the peninsula. We haven’t been that far west in Washington for ages. We stopped in Forks for gas and groceries. Forks is a tiny little town that has become a tourist destination because of some teen books about a vampire romance. Fun to see signs about characters in the books around this little town. We drove down 101 to Pacific Beach. The camping spot there was right on the beach. Good thing it was an RV camp, because even the pavement had puddles of water on it. But RV campers don’t care! We’re warm! We’re comfortable! We can cook, eat, play cards, even watch movies! Such decadence…We also walked along the ocean beach, enjoying the wind and waves. Harris, Gene and Justin did some geocaching in the area.

Next morning, Justin asked to travel in our van with us. We said sure, but warned him it would be a bumpy ride in the back of the van. No problem for a 12 year old, he almost enjoyed it! We only went a short distance this day to a county park near South Bend. It was a nice little park on a bluff above the beach. The guys went geocaching again, and Marilyn and I set up all the tents the kids had used in Sol Duc to dry them out. Next morning we headed to Fort Stevens state park in Oregon., where Jeannie, Nick and Natalie rejoined us, and Jeff, Mary and Samantha were able to come for a long weekend.

Fort Stevens is an incredible place…huge….and we were glad Marilyn had made reservations as it was full, full, full. We actually parked outside the yurt Jeff and Mary slept in as an extra vehicle, while Marilyn and Gene shared their spot with Jeannie and kids. We set up Mary’s tented gazebo and played cards in between all other activities. Fort Stevens has miles of paved trails for bikes, and we borrowed Marilyn and Gene’s bikes for some rides. Wow! It’s been years since we’d done that…as our muscles reminded us the next day. The camp is at the site of a military fort that was used in WW2, and was actually fired upon by a Japanese sub. We were lucky enough to overhear a tour by a park guide on one of the bike trips. We also biked to the beach and enjoyed a couple of sunny days here. On Sunday it started to rain, but we were leaving so didn’t care. BUT! The drive home was through some of the worst rainstorms we’ve ever been in! Took us several hours, and we were glad to be home again.
Camping with Marilyn and crew always means good times and good food….and now in our little home away from home, it also means we’re dry and warm. What a great trip!

August 12…Tuesday…A long day. Up before 6, hit the road, ate breakfast at Glacier Point in Yosemite. Beautiful views of Half Dome and other peaks, and a couple of loooooooooong waterfalls across the canyon. They were so far away the water looked like lighter stone. You could barely make out it was moving. But, even so far away, it sounded like jet planes roaring around overhead. We wondered what it would sound like close up! We then drove partway into the valley for some awesome views of El Capitan…just like the picture postcards, imagine that! The roads are very steep and winding, so it took a long time to do just that little bit. We drove out on highway 120, which was even more winding, if that’s possible. We drove through Calaveras (where everything advertised had a jumping frog in it….shades of Mark Twain), and Sutter’s Creek, but didn’t stop to pan for gold. This was supposed to be the scenic route, and it is prettier than the freeway, but nothing like our mountains in Washington. Dry, and brown, full of pine trees, sorta like eastern Washington. We finally headed back to I-5, Sacramento, and beyond. Didn’t make it all the way to Redding, but that’s OK. Stopped at a cheap RV park just to get some sleep.

The Great Van Caper

The Great Van Caper
August 9, 2008. Harris and Judy buy a van. This adventure started several years ago, when we were looking into buying a used tent trailer. Nothing seemed to suit, so we continued looking. I don’t remember why we started looking at class B vans, but we went through several makes and models, getting progressively more expensive until we ended up with this one. A diesel engine 2005 Sprint, made by Pleasure Way. Harris found it on Craig’s list (where else?) a couple of weeks ago. He continued to look at it, think about it, and finally made an offer. Then, in the space of 2 days, we decided to go for it. We flew to Los Angeles at 6 AM today, drove the van from the airport to the RV park with the owner, and bought it! We know nothing about owning or operating an RV! So, I guess we’ll learn by doing.
We filled the tank, bought a few things at Target and Camper World, and left LA. What a big city! It took over an hour to get clear of it. We drove north, and stopped just outside Sequoia National Park for our first night. We’re in a private RV park, not bad, and can hook up to electricity and water so we can see to unpack our stuff.
I really wanted to see Sequoia and Yosemite, since I’ve never been to either, and figured now was as good a time as any. So, I got to pick the route home so far. Don’t know what I was thinking. Central California in the summer??? It’s been 100+ degrees today! It’s fine in the van, with the AC going, but we’ll see how the night cools off, or if we’ll have to have the AC going all night.

Aug 11 (pt 1) or “Honey, Did we make a mistake?”
During the day, we were going up and down incredibly beautiful (but incredibly steep) stretches of road. All of a sudden, the check engine light came on and stayed on. What do we do? What did we buy? How badly were we taken? That really was a too-good-to-be-true deal! Reading the manual while other not printable thoughts ran through our minds found these words (amongst many others) “You may experience a lack of power when the check engine light comes on” Not very soothing words when you are going up 7000’ mountains and then down them… It was Sunday and we were three hours from a Dodge dealer that was down the road that only vehicles under 23 feet were allowed. We crossed our fingers, watched the temp gauge, and looked in case an oil light or a “You ruined the car/engine” indicator light blinked on and continued onward to our next camping destination ever thankful that we didn’t experience that lack of power…
Aug 11-(pt2) The First Night “Dry Camping”
Dry Camping means that you are not hooked up to the grid…no power (for the air conditioning !!!), no water, no sewer hookup. Last night we found a cheap ($22) RV park that we were able to run the AC, not worry about using up water and were able to take showers in the main building. Tonight no such luxuries… We were on our own, off the grid, masters of our own destiny. Luckily, we were at 7000+ feet of elevation which rendered the lack of AC moot. We opened the windows and found ourselves early in the morning spooning like honeymooners due to the fact that we brought only 1 light blanket with us. The only causality was the door mat we left later in the day after stopping in Sequoia National Park for lunch after a hike.
(sidenote: on the 10th, we hiked up to Moro Rock….actually climbed the stairs…400 stairs to gain 300 feet of elevation…great views from the top, but a little too hazy to see the Coastal Range to the west. Some of the way was very narrow, only allowing one person at a time to pass…which made for interesting people-blocks, some going up and some going down.
Then we continued on the shuttle bus to Crescent Meadows, and did a short hike to Tharp’s cabin, which was made long ago inside the fallen trunk of a Sequoia tree. Fun to see. Back to the shuttle, back to our van, continue on to find a camping spot. On the way, we saw a big back up of cars on the side of the road, which usually means wildlife. Sure enough, we saw a mother black bear and 2 cubs.



Monday Aug 11th Or what’s that saying about the warranty running out right when…
The check engine light mysteriously went out today when we started the car. The mileage read 35,849 miles. Fresno, the next (and only) large city on our way to Yosemite, was 80 miles away. The warranty says 36000 miles. Do we figure it was a fluke and carry on? Or should we check it out? Duh, we decide to check it out. The day was spent driving out of Sequoia national park to Fresno, trying to find a Dodge dealer, waiting 3 hours to be told the light wasn’t that important. The temperature gauge in the front of the car was malfunctioning, and not covered under the warranty since someone else had already fixed it. So we have to find out if that person was a dealer, and if so, get it fixed again. But at least we know the engine won’t just die on us! (knock on wood). Rest of the day spent driving to Yosemite National Park, finding a campground that didn’t require reservations, and setting up “camp”..which is so much easier than setting up a tent, et al!