Category: Travel

Posts about my Chapter 5 travel adventures

Morning errands, including buying a folding step stool and a single serving coffee French press, followed by a beautiful hike in the Arcata Community Forest. Enjoyed playing with my “natural windows” photos! Afternoon beer at a local brewery. Chuck, Kate’s talented husband, cleaned up Addie and plugged her holes with boat-grade silicon. She’s feeling much better! Fun to hear people at the pub share their stories of vehicle scapes and bruises!

Hiking in the forest with Kate and BJ, age 9. Velo, age 11, was better off resting his joints at home today. Kate and Chuck have raised eight dogs for Guide Dogs of America. Four became guide dogs; BJ and Velo chose to stay with Kate and Chuck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good: After a beautiful drive through redwood trees, pulling over for lunch to enjoy the scenery, I arrived in Arcata to visit my friend Kate, who used to teach with me at Cal Poly, and her husband Chuck. Their home, set on an acre, is surrounded by redwoods and Kate and Chuck’s amazing garden. Kate and I took her two golden retrievers for a walk in the redwood forest.
The Bad: Going into their driveway, I cut the turn too close and scraped off the trim on the right hand side of Addie – the same side with the missing awning.
The Ugly: Poor Miss Addie! Although she is completely drivable and safe, she looks quite forlorn. Okay, I should have labeled this “The Forlorn” rather than “The Ugly!”

 

 

 

Woke up slowly, perhaps a result of the benedryl I took last night to help with my yellow jacket bites – they’re much better today! Hiked 4.5 miles at the Highland Springs Recreation Area. There’s a reservoir surrounded by what could be meadows if we had rain. Although hot – around 100° – I drank water and went slowly. Returned to camp for more water and a nap, followed by my festive lunch. There’s a nice breeze blowing, so it’s quite pleasant sitting outside, reading my book, and listening to K-Pop karaoke broadcasted from a few campsites away.

On the dam which creates the reservoir.

 

Highland Springs

 

Deer – many of them! – on the trail.

 

California…dry grass and oak trees.

 

And manzanitas!

 

Highland Springs.

 

Happy Fourth of July! Red cherries, white yogurt, and blueberries.

 

Clear Lake during my evening campground stroll.

 

The trail behind my campsite.

After “handling” the awning saga, I returned to camp. Read my book (The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah – EXCELLENT!), drank ice water, and ate cold cherries. When it finally cooled off a bit, hiked around camp – Indian Nature Trail and Dorn Nature Trail. Applied a surprisingly refreshing, although I’m not sure about healing, baking soda paste to my swollen and red bee stings. Enjoyed grilled salmon on salad while listening to my neighbors’ loud, I think Korean, music. All in all, a good day! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a tad swollen, eh?! 

 

 

Although the duct tape held overnight, I added more this morning. The RV shop was short-handed with no repair people but was open for a half day and said to bring it over and he would see what he could do. I drove the 20 miles with my outside mirror focused on the awning, which didn’t budge – yay! The two people at the shop removed the awning and put it in Addie. The rivets holding the brackets are pulling out. I need new brackets and will find a shop somewhere that can fix it. Meanwhile I’ll travel with the awning in Addie and remove it when I camp. Hopefully this will be resolved during the week.

After spending a lovely evening with Sarah and Andy, I slept well in Addie, which was parked in their cul de sac. Then I drove through Napa, stopped and walked in Calistoga, and arrived at my campsite in Clear Lake.
Clear Lake…not very clear…lots of algae, toxic to touch…hot here. Explored the campground, rolled out my awning, sat and read my book (The Four Winds). Salad with shrimp on it for dinner… All good until I went to close my awning. The brackets holding the awning are pulling away from my vehicle. I kept trying to close it, and it wouldn’t close due to the awning’s angle. While trying to close it, I was stung three times by bees! I walked over to a nearby campsite and asked for help. Two wonderful people came over and helped hold the awning up so it was angled properly and I could close it. There’s an RV repair shop 20 miles from here, which Google says will be open on Saturday. Given the holiday weekend, I don’t know if they’ll be open…I’m hoping the awning doesn’t fall completely off while I drive to the shop…. My camper van is named Addie, short for adventure… 
Update: Hoping duct tape and Benadryl cream help with the awning and bee stings.
Relaxing dinner with Sarah and Andy.

 

The awning extended…

 

That’s the creek with green algae!

 
Warning!

 

Algae!

 

Relaxation before bee stings and awning drama.

 

Uh oh!!!

 

After taking a look at Hoover Dam from the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge, I traveled to Red Rock Canyon and Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. Lots of rocky desert hikes, some surprising lush areas, and even a few burros! Ah…! 🙂

Hoover Dam from the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge

 

What a story these rocks tell!

 

Me and my red rocks!

 

I love the way colors and shadows add texture to photos.

 

Even I didn’t have trouble finding the trail with all of the cairns!

 

Top of the trail looking down on Las Vegas (to the left). These boots are doing a lot of work this trip!

 

Drew on the wall again…hahaha!

 

Greenery from Pine Creek Canyon trail!

 

Spring Mountain Ranch State Park – has a storied history with multiple owners, including Howard Hughes.

 

Burros!

Final full day in Zion! Made it up to Angel’s Landing – did the first set of chains and then decided that was enough. If you look closely over my left shoulder in the first pic, you’ll see the line of people going up the mountain holding chains. That’s what I did! Afterward, hiked several trails and saw two waterfalls. Ready for my shower and nap! 

 

 

 

Curating my photos of Bryce Canyon National Park from over 150 to my ten favorites took almost as much time as hiking several of the park’s trails! These two-dimensional photos do not do justice, though, to the live three-dimensional experience of this hoodoo-rich delight.