Paso Robles RV Trip

On September 9, 2024 By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, RV Parks, Travel1 Comment

After our trip to Greenfield which involved a day trip to Cambria, I booked another RV trip which would involve going to Cambria again. This time a little closer, in Paso Robles. We stayed at the Paso Robles RV Ranch about 3 miles north of the city on Highway 101. Even though we were right above the highway there really wasn’t much road noise and was a quiet park. We probably won’t return though for two reasons; 1. The spaces were very tight, and 2. a nearby house likes to play ranchero music late at night, loudly, on the weekends. No bueno.

Sensorio

We drove down to Paso Robles on Thursday and after setting up we drove into town and had dinner at Catch Seafood Bar and Grill. The food was very good though portions were a little small and a lot pricey. Afterwards we headed over to Sensorio. This was a place I had heard of several years ago but it has since grown. It is basically an art exhibit involving lights, shapes, and shadows. You can also get quick bites to eat and of course wine and beer there. It’s a little on the pricey side but well worth it in my opinion.

Cambria 2.0

The next day we drove out to Cambria again. The first order of business is always coffee. Last time we stopped at Lily’s. This time we went farther down the street towards the ocean and stopped at Cambria Coffee Roasting Company. Literally two holes in the wall, one to buy coffee, the other to sit down and drink it. There’s also outdoor seating. The heat wave the coast was experiencing of 70 degree temperatures made sitting outdoors very comfortable. The coffee was delicious! Sorry Lily’s, CCC’s coffee was just better. Afterwards Cristy browsed the shops some more.

We headed back to the east side of downtown and here is where one of the odd things about Cambria happens. There can be a 10 degree temperature difference between the east side of town, and the west side. At any rate we had lunch at Linn’s Restaurant. Food was good but the service was so-so this time. The waiter obviously didn’t want to be there. Cordial but mostly absent. We ran into the owner again who is always friendly. He let us know there was more than just the restaurant; they owned a few shops up the alley. He gave us a coupon for 10% off the other shops. There was another little deli with the same food as Linn’s and then a couple of boutique shops that sold their food items and other things. Neat place.

Afterwards we headed back down to the shore and parked overlooking the beach and the ocean. There wasn’t a hint of fog and the ocean was beautiful. We stayed there a few hours and took a few walks before heading back to the trailer. On our way back we noticed that you could see Morro Rock from Highway 46 as we were heading up the pass. It was too late for me to pull over but we promised ourselves to note the pullouts and get a good photo the next day.

Cambria 2.1

The next day we went back to Cambria. We were disappointed that when we got to the spots where we could see Morro Rock the previous afternoon, the fog had covered Morro Bay so no views. We headed back into town and got coffee at Cambria Coffee Company again. After coffee Cristy checked out a few of the shops that weren’t open the day before. Then we stopped in at Artifacts Gallery and probably spent about an hour there just looking at all the art on display. The staff there were really eager to talk about the artists and air pieces there. Everything was for sale of course but they didn’t put any pressure on us to buy anything. They mostly just enjoyed talking about the art.

Harmony

We wanted to get lunch in Morro Bay because they tend to have more and better seafood than surrounding communities so we headed down Highway 1 to get there. Just outside of Cambria is the small town of Harmony, Pop. 18. They have a glassblower, a coffee shop, a pottery shop, and an ice cream truck. We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to look around. Also, though it is on the coast the sea breezes are blocked by a low range of hills and the temperature was easily 20 degrees higher than at the shore.

Cayucos

We continued down Hwy 1 until we came to Cayucos. We had never been here before so we stopped to take a look around. It kind of reminded us of Santa Cruz. Lots of shops along the beach. Cristy bought some skin care stuff at Mical Skincare and we walked out on the pier. It wasn’t quite lunch time so we moved on.

Morro Bay

We jumped back on Hwy 1 and headed down to Morro Bay. After battling the usual traffic and parking issues you find in any coastal town we settled on lunch a Tognazzini’s Dockside. The food was VERY good and filling. Wait staff was very pleasant and helpful. Our waitress was Jenna who was taking a break from college prior to starting her masters in mathematics! We prayed for her and then had a delicious lunch. We spent a few more hours walking along the docks watching the seals lounge in the sun. Several of them were blocking access to a fishing boat. We were talking about how difficult it must be for the crew to use that boat. Our questions on difficulty were answered pretty quickly when one of the crewmen started walking down the dock toward the boat we were looking at. He stomped his foot and started yelling at the seals to “Get out of hear, go on, git!” The seals were off the dock in half a second and he got onto his boat.

The Photo Op

Even though it would be quicker to take Hwy 47 back to 101 and go north from there, we elected to drive back up Highway 1 to 46 and see if we could get that photo of Morrow Rock from the vantage point we had seen the previous day. It wasn’t far at all and about 30 minutes later we were parked on a large pullout on the side of the road with several other people taking pictures of the now plainly visible Morro Rock. No fog in sight.

We headed back to the RV park for our last night away and enjoyed a few TV shows on the iPad before finding out that a nearby house liked to play loud music on the weekends. It only lasted long enough to wake us up. After that it was quiet and we ended our day. Sunday morning we packed up and drove home. But only after discovering the right turn signal on the trailer had stopped working. I’ll have to get that nailed down before the next trip; The Lost Coast.

RV Trip to Greenfield, CA

On August 31, 2024 By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, RV Parks, Travel1 Comment

Greenfield? What’s in Greenfield? Honestly not much. We only go there for Yanks RV park which is very nice. It’s located about midway between Salinas and Paso Robles on Highway 101. We first went there during the COVID pandemic in 2020. We’ve since been back 3 times. It makes a great jumping off point for the central coast and the Monterey Bay Area. And that’s exactly what we did on this last trip.

Cambria

We had never been to Cambria so we decided to make this our first day trip. It was about an hour and a half drive from the RV park but that’s okay. That’s a lot closer than driving there from home. Our first order of business after arriving in Cambria was looking for coffee. We ended up at Lily’s Coffee House. It’s a great place to just sit out on the patio and enjoy a good carmel latte. After coffee we went next door to The Garden Shed. It’s a great little garden store with a back yard that opens onto other artist shops, antiques, and more. We spent about an hour here.

Moonstone Beach

Next we drove down to Moonstone Beach. We found parking right next to the boardwalk which runs along the bluff above the beach. We walked down to the beach and checked out all the driftwood huts.

Afterwards we walked right across the road and had lunch at Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill. We sat out on the patio and had a great ocean view.

Hearst Castle

As long as we were in the area I thought we should take a tour of Hearst Castle. I booked a tour while we were finishing up lunch. I opted for the Big Room tour as it gave us a few hours to get there. We slowly made our way down to San Simeon. We arrived around 2:30pm and there was plenty of parking. When we got there and checked in we were told that there was a tour leaving in 5 minutes and would we like to switch to that one rather than the later tour that I had booked. We switched and ran over to the tour bus that was just getting ready to leave. Let me tell you, those bus drivers have nerves of steel. Our driver was a very thin blonde lady in her 40’s and she drove that bus like she was at a Le Mans race. We arrived up at the top of the hill and the view and Hearst Castle were both breath-taking.

Monterey / Cannery Row

Our second day trip was to Cannery Row in Monterey. What I actually wanted to see was the John Denver memorial at the southwest end of the bay. But we decided to swing through Cannery Row and do some touristy stuff. We made our way to Sea Harvest Fish Market for lunch. Let me tell you, if you want to know if a place sells good seafood, see how many Asian folks are eating there. Lots of Asian folks here and the food was, in fact, delicious. Fairly reasonably priced for Monterey too.

Asilomar

We drove down to Asilomar to check out the John Denver Memorial. On our way we made an impluse stop at El Carmelo Cemetary to look at the herd of deer that were grazing on the… well… graves. Nothing more peaceful than graveyard deer.

We parked and walked a few blocks down to the shoreline trail to look for John Denver’s Memorial. It took a while but we finally located it. They we started an ill-fated search for the Pt. Pinos Lighthouse. Turns out we had parked right next to it. By the time we found it, it was closing. Oh well.

All three evenings were spent just relaxing, binge-watching Blacklist, and one night I lounged in the hot tub. We also enjoyed quiet sunset walks around the park. All in all a very relaxing trip. So much so that we’re returning to the coast on our next trip. Paso Robles!

10th Annual Red Hills Fly-in

On May 28, 2024 By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Boondocking, Lance, RV Life2 Comments

Ten years ago my friend Joey Myers and I were sitting in the living room of our dear friends Jack and Myrna Moyle. They have a 110 acre ranch near Jamestown in the Red Hills Area of Environmental Concern which is managed by the BLM. Joey and I had flown in to say hello. After a bit I mentioned that his ranch would be a beautiful place to host a fly-in and campout. Without hesitation Jack said, “Well you should put something like that together.” So I did.

But before I tell that story, I need to tell the story of this ranch. Jack and his wife Myrna bouth the ranch over 50 years ago. There was one small shack on the property, no trees, no electricity, no utilities of any kind. Jack and Myrna were raising their family of 7 in a one room shack. When they weren’t working Jack and Myrna disassembled some chicken houses on another property they had purchased. Myrna pulled the nails out of the wood and straightened them while Jack was hammering those same nails back into those same boards to expand their small home. They added on three more rooms, a barn, some other makeshift outbuildings and planted a bunch of trees to keep their house cool in the summer. No utilities remember?

One day a mutual friend named Jim Hembree landed on a dirt road that ran through Jack’s property to stop for a visit. Jack was enthralled and wanted to learn to fly too. He firgured that dirt road would make a great runway to fly from. Being a heavy equipment operator by trade he expanded that dirt road and graded it and then had a runway! He bought a Piper Cub up at Columbia Airport and began getting flight training in it. He had the instructor fly him down to his runway on his ranch and teach him how to land there. After that Jack completed his pilot training by taking off from his runway, flying up to Columbia, taking his lessons, then flying back home to his runway.

Fast forward a few years and a few months and we had our first annual Red Hills Fly-in on Memorial Day weekend. This past weekend was our 10th annual and likely last fly-in. So much could be written about it but I like pictures so I will let the pictures tell the story.

We got to spend two wonderfully peaceful nights in the company of friends in a beautiful setting. You can’t ask for more.

California Super Bloom

On April 19, 2024 By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, RV Parks, Travel2 Comments

For years ever since I started dreaming of taking off on a non-stop RV adventure one of my bucket-list items was the California Super Boom. It only happens in the high desert in heavy rainfall years and this was on of those years. So I decided, why wait? 2 years from now is not guaranteed so we went this weekend!

We drove down I-5 and stopped off for lunch at Harris Ranch. We ate the sandwiches that Cristy had made that morning but once we smelled the meat cooking in the sandwich shop we decided to eat lunch there on the way home. After topping off the truck’s tank in Bakersfield we continued on up the Grapevine until we hit highway 138 and took it over to Lancaster. I hadn’t yet decided where to go see the super bloom but the last long stretch of Hwy 138 into Lancaster made up my mind for me. The wildflower just went on and on.

We finally made it to The Californian RV resort and checked in. I asked the lady at the front desk where was the best place to see Wildflowers. She said it was out on Hwy 138. Right where we spotted them on the way in. It’s just over the hill from the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve but she said the preserve was usually very crowded and parking is difficult. Hwy 138 was a much better option. She turned out to be right.

After a nice long sleep in the first day we headed back out to Hwy 138 and, well, I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

There are a lot of places you can go see the flowers but it turns out this little stretch of Hwy 138 was pretty good. The lady at the front desk was right, there was no problem finding a place to park and we were the only ones out there. It was perfect.

See you next time.

New Truck

On January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 By The Flying DutchmanIn Ram Truck, RV Life2 Comments

Well for several years now (yes, litterally over seven years) I have been researching trucks that would be capable of pulling the a 5th wheel we plan on buying in the future. I have hashed out the numbers on how much weight they can tow and more importantly, what their payload capacities are. I knew I wanted a Ram but lately I decided to give other brands a fair shake. After test driving some trucks I came back to Ram which has the best mix of comfort and towing/payload capacity.

This pas Fall we attended a rally for Lance Owners of America and my poor Ram 1500 barely made it up the hills to Shingletown where the rally was held. Several of the women my wife was talking to told her that I needed a new truck not only for comfortably towing the trailer but for safety as well. Well, that was the final push we needed to upgrade my truck. Since we didn’t want to go through this again we went for a Ram 3500 1ton truck. We wanted a short bed because this would be my daily driver for the next 3 years. We wanted a single rear wheel axle truck as well so Cristy could drive it and not worry about the extra width. Truth be told I didn’t want to worry about it either. We also knew we would buy a used truck because we couldn’t justify paying the prices they were asking for a new truck.

We shopped around for a bit and some of the trucks I had my eye on either sold quickly or were still too expensive. I saw a good used truck at Antioch Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and sent an email asking about it. I received back the same reply I had on many other occasions; it had been sold already. The salesman then emailed me and asked what I was looking for specifically in a new truck. I replied that I couldn’t afford a new truck and was looking for used. He then sent me a couple of new options; late 2023 models as the 2024 models were already out. The kicker was the price was LOWER than the used models I had been looking at.

We made arrangements to drive out there on Saturday to take a look at the two trucks. When we got there he told us that one had “just sold yesterday” and there was someone coming out in a day or two to look at the other one and would I be interested in taking a look at some 2024 models? I will spare you, gentle reader, my reaction. Suffice it to say my words were unkind. About midway through my tirade (yes I kept going) the salesman backpedaled big time and said, “Well, you’re here on the lot now, if you like it and want to buy it we’ll sell it to you.” He still had to endure the last half of above-mentioned tirade.

He stomped off and found the keys and by the time he returned he acted like we were old friends. We took a test drive and decided that this just might be the truck we were looking for. It ticked all the boxes I had for wants on the truck:

Dual climate control (so we don’t fight over the temperature)
8 inch display screen rather than the 12 monster some of the cars have.
Manual air controls (as well as software controls on the screen)
Cummins High Output turbo diesel
4 Wheel Drive
Short bed
Cargo and bumper cameras

So we pulled the trigger and bought the truck when we were only intending a test drive. But it was the right truck at a lower price than the used trucks we were looking at thanks to all the year end incentives the dealership was being offered. And we had an original factory warranty which we would not get with a used truck.

So what is it?

2023 Ram Big Horn 3500

For tech spec geeks here are the goods:

Engine: HIGH-OUTPUT 6.7L CUMMINS TURBO DIESEL I6 ENGINE
Transmission: Aisin AS69RC Heavy Duty
Axel Ratio: 3.73
Horsepower: 420 hp
Torque: 1075 lb-ft
MAX PAYLOAD LB: 3,824
MAX TOWING LB: 24,378

And the original window sticker.

windowsticker2023ram3500 Download

We have already customized the truck with a few minor modifications.

Roll n Lock bed cover
Weather Tek bed mat
Wheel to wheel running boards

So far we’re really enjoying the truck. It’s a great commute vehicle that is a pleasure to drive. I love the throaty growl of the Cummins engine. And the one trip we did take towing our travel trailer was amazingly relaxing. I left the truck on cruise control all the way up into the foothills and it never downshifted once. This will be a great hauler for our “someday” 5th wheel trailer.

Shingletown Lance Owners of America Rally – Part 2

On September 25, 2023 By The Flying DutchmanIn Campgrounds, RV Life, RV Parks, TravelLeave a comment

First off, sorry it took so long to post part 2 of this series. The truth is, time when by so fast, I never got a chance! In Part 1 I talked about our trip to Mt. Lassen National Park. In this posting, I’ll document what we did during the final two days of our stay.

Friday

Cristy wanted to take a drive into Redding and check out the mall and pick up some items from Sprouts. I politely asked if I could stay with the trailer. Cristy was happy to agree because that meant she could spend as much time at the mall as she wanted to. So off she went and there I stayed.

I fixed a couple of small things on the Lance and then tried to make some contacts on the local Ham radio repeaters in both Redding (W6STA) And Shingletown (WO6P) .

There wasn’t anyone on the two repeaters I checked so I decided to take a walk. Right across the highway was Airport Rd. I checked Google Maps and there did indeed used to be an airport across the highway from where we were camping. It was about a 3/4 mile walk so I decided to go check it out. It was a beautiful walk. When I got to the airport I could see that they had closed it and MEANT IT. They had planted so many trees such that it was impossible to use as a runway ever again.

Apparently they only use it for local recreation and a once a year star gazing party. I walked all the way to the end of the old runway and the peace and silence was stunning. Then I had a sobering thought; “I wonder if they have mountain lions around here?” Now, I’m not worried about bears or coyotes. But the big cats must be respected. I had zero weapons on me except for a pocket knife. I started heading back down the runway as quickly as I could! I kept scanning the ground for cat tracks but never saw any. Nor bear tracks. Just a few coyote tracks. I also noticed zero deer tracks which is probably why no cat tracks. It was the longest runway walk ever.

I finally made it back to the campground and wandered around checking out every square inch to see what we had missed. The KOA Shingletown/Mt. Lassen Holiday Resort is an excellent park. They have a wilderness area behind the park that is actually bigger than the camping area. There is a bird watching area there with feeders stocked with food to attract local birds, there is a RC car track, there are two huge swings, an area they call “Fort Imagination” which has tons of logs, sticks, and old tractor tires to build any kind of fort the kids can come up with. Cristy’s favorite was the huge tree swing. There is even a night trail; you walk it with your flashlight and shine it around to see all of the “eyes” (small reflectors) staring back at you from the woods!

Later that day after Cristy had come back and finished her swinging we went to a pot luck put on by the Lance Rally folks. I had the best jambalaya I had ever had! I came to find out that these folks who made it live right next door to us in Salida. Well, practically next door. After dinner that night, like every night, we sat by our fire bowl and talked at looked at the stars. One night we even found fireflies! Which… weren’t fireflies. Turns out the staff at KOA a pranksters and aimed one of those laser Christmas decoration at the trees which makes a remarkably good fake firefly effect.

Saturday we just hung around the park and did absolutely nothing. We did take a short drive to look at a few properties that were for sale. Nothing remarkable to report.

Sunday we watched our church online and did much the same as Saturday. We enjoyed the park so much we really didn’t feel like going anywhere. We did drive in to Shingletown to gas up and pick up some water for the trip home. That’s when we came across Reed’s, my new favorite store. It is a combination IGA Supermarket and ACE Hardware store! Genius!

Monday morning we slept in, cleaned up, said our good-byes and hit the road. We will definitely be back but this time, with a stronger truck!

Shingletown Lance Owners of America Rally – Part 1

On September 15, 2023 By The Flying DutchmanIn Campgrounds, Lance, RV Life, RV Parks, Travel4 Comments

We attended our first Lance ralley ever this year. It was the 9th annual rally held at Shingletown/Mt Lassen KOA Holiday. What a wonderful kampground and very nice bunch of people!

Day 1

We drove up I-5 through California’s Central Valley and encountered the usual traffic along the way in Stockton and Sacramento. But as soon as we got past Woodland all the traffic just seemed to disappear. We didn’t even see the trucks leave the freeway, they were just… gone. We stopped for lunch at Granzella’s in Williams and then finally arrived at the KOA at 3:15pm.

We were warmly greeted by both the KOA staff and the Lancer’s who were organizing the rally. This rally is put on by the Lance Owners of America and is only one of many. Lance campers and travel trailers have a very small and loyal following. I got the trailer levelled and set up (with not a little help from Cristy) then went and got the T-shirt I had orderd, got a raffle ticket, and then we took a nap. Usually one of the first things we do on a travel day. The day ended with an appetizer pot-luck and introductions. We were the only new people so only we got introduced!

Day 2

The next day was a free day so we took off and went up to Mt. Lassen National Park. I haven’t been there since I was 12 or so. We took our time and stopped at the Loomis Museum and Ranger Station at the north entrance to the park. It was only a 15 minute drive from the campground. We took a walk from the ranger station down along Manzanita Creek down to Manzanita Lake. A quick 15 minute walk. Then we set off along Lassen Peak Highway.

We drove along until we came to Summit Lake and got out to stretch our legs a bit. It was pretty but there really weren’t any trails so we moved on.

We drove on and finally stopped at Kings Creek Trailhead. It was lunch time and we were ready to eat. We walked down to the creek and found some nice rocks to sit on next to a small cascade in the creek.

We continued on up the highway, and I do mean up. We took time to stop at some pull outs and admire the views.

Finally we made it up to the summit. We were determined to see how high up the summit trail we could hike. We made it from the parking lot to the sign that said, “Summit Trail” before we decided to turn back. A couple of flatlanders attempting to climb the summit of Mt. Lassen with no preparation, what could possibly go wrong. We decided that the truck was an excellent mountain climbing vehicle and we had made it as high as we were going to go. Incidentally if you zoom in on the picture on the right, you will see the foolhardy souls who opted not to drive their truck up to the summit. Also, that rocky point in the picture on the left is NOT the summit, it is quite a bit higher than that.

At this point the road finally started sloping downward. It was a very short drive to Helen Lake. I had a lot of fun telling people we drove to Helen, took some pictures. It makes more sense if you say it out loud.

Our next stop (about 500 ft away) was Bumpass Hell Trailhead. I will cut to the chase and say we did not hike all the way to Bumpass Hell but we did make it about half way until the altitude and lack of water got to us and we turned back. Still there was some beautiful scenery (and shenanigans) along the way.

Our last stop before turning around and headed back down the highway was the Sulphur Works. It gives you a small preview of what Bumpas Hell is like but without the hike.

Boiling mudpot at the Sulphur Works.

And that was about all we had energy for. We made the hour and 20 minute drive back to our campground, cooked dinner, and watched Thursday Night Football. All in all a great 2nd day!

Barret Cove Campground – Lake McClure / New Exchequer Reservoir

On June 26, 2023 By The Flying DutchmanIn Campgrounds, RV Life, Travel2 Comments

Don’t want to read the whole thing?

This past weeked Cristy and I camped at Barret Cove Campground on Lake McClure. We stayed in Loop C site 13. Good, level site. Had a huge ledge going from the paved road into the campsite if you pulled in from the wrong angle. Water, electric, and sewer. One of the few campgrounds that actually enforces quiet hours.

What, you want to read more?

My Ham radio club was having an event called Field Day this past weekend. It’s basically an event where Hams hold a contest to try to contact as many radio stations as possible. That’s not my cup of tea but it seemed like a good excuse to get away, especially since the following week at work was going to be stressful. The location was at Barret Cove Campground on Lake McClure also known to the older folks as New Exchequer Reservoir. The campground and surrounding recreation area as well as the lake is owned and managed by the Merced Irrigation District. Who by the way have a great reservation system for their campground, including a video tour that lets you see the camp sites prior to booking a reservation. Reserved campsite show up on the video with a red marker, available sites show up as a green marker. So after making reservations a few weeks before Cristy and I loaded up our Lance 1995 and headed up to the campground.

It was only about an hour and twenty minute drive from home but the roads were fairly narrow. Luckily there was not much traffic so the one lane bridges leading up there near the town of LaGrange were not an issue. We arrived and checked in and then navigated this maze of a campground. There are a couple hundred campsites, many of which are primitive but also many have full hook-ups, 30A electric, water, AND sewer. Kind of a rarity for this type of campground. We finally found our spot in the C-Loop and Cristy guided me over our two-way radios as I backed in. After a couple of back-and-forths we finally got the trailer settled in a mostly level spot. Half the site was graded up to the road correctly, the other half had a huge lip that my truck almost couldn’t drive over. That just meant that I could only pull out in one direction. I thought that might be an issue but it turns out it was not.

We got into our site and got about the business of getting everything set up: level the trailer, put down the stabilizers, extend the slide-out, and since it wasn’t windy, extend the awning. Then the most important part; taking a nap.

After my nap I put out our chairs, set up the Blackstone and grilled up some chicken for dinner. The weather was perfect. We opened up all the windows, opened the door, and with the vent fan running it was the perfect temperature inside the trailer. We could feel an occasional cool breeze blowing through which made my nap even perfecter.

There was a large group camped across and in the next two sites so there were a lot of children running around but at least they kept to the street and their own sites. I parked the truck strategically to give us a front “wall”. We were already thinking that we probably wouldn’t be getting a good night’s sleep but miraculously they all quieted down at 10pm. Like a switch had been flipped. Quiet hours are from 11pm to 7am but like most parks we didn’t think they would enforce them. But every night the park ranger came past our loop at about 11:15pm to check on everyone. Nice to see a park actually enforce the quiet hours. We had our chicken dinner, watched some YouTube and then fell asleep in a very quiet campground!

The next morning was peaceful until the surrounding kids all woke up. There was a flurry of activity from about 8am to 10am for breakfast until they all took their boats and headed for the lake. Then it was dead quiet for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We had already decided that we were mostly going to just hang around the trailer and relax on this trip and that’s just what we did. We did take one trip down to Robert’s Ferry Nut Company about 30 minutes away. Cristy bought some almonds for her mother and I got bag of almonds for myself and one of their almond-butter milkshakes. Which did nothing but raise my blood sugar I’m sure but it also raised my happiness level exponentially. We also stopped by a lavender farm where Cristy bought some soap and some honey. You are also invited to go out and cut your own lavender but first, you must understand the relationship of bees and lavender. I can’t remember the name but it’s just east up Highway 132 on the right side of the road a short distance from Robert’s Ferry.

We came back and had a salad for lunch and then just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. When the sun started to set (on both nights) I lit our propane fire-bowl and we sat in front of it to keep the chill off off and talked. A Filipino family walked by so I struck up a conversation in my VERY LIMITED Tagalog. They were suitably impressed so I called Cristy over. I told them I had been teaching her Tagalog and I wanted them to evaluate how much she had learned. 🙂

We chatted for a while and even though we had already eaten hamburgers for dinner, they invited us over for leftovers. We had lechon kawali (chopped pork), pinakbet, and rice. It was delicious and I was now officially stuffed. But you never insult a Filipino by turning down food. The entire family was very warm and welcoming and really filled Cristy’s heart. I even got my very first “mano po” from one of the kids. They insisted we exchange contact info so they could invite us to their future get-togethers and camp-outs.

We headed back home to sit around the fire some more and listen to the wild turkey’s tuck themselves into bed for the night. Apparently they fly up to the highest branches they can reach and hunker down for the night. This was about 40 feet up in this tree.

On Sunday morning we woke, had breakfast and listened to our church, Almond Valley CRC, online. I was a little concerned on how I was going to get out of the camping spot with all the kids and boats and everything near us. However, by the time church was over they were mostly packed up. By the time I finished dumping the tanks and walked up the road to say goodby to our new friends, everyone near our campsite was gone. We finished hitching up and drove home.

All in all it was a very restful weekend in spite of all the noise from the kids. Cristy felt recharged and regenerated, especially after the warm welcome from the folks up the street. I felt rested to and ready to take on the stressful week ahead. Soli Deo Gloria.

The Refrigerator Saga

On May 22, 2023 By The Flying DutchmanIn Boondocking, Lance, RV Life, TravelLeave a comment

Last January (2023) I noticed some cracking on the interior plastic of my refrigerator. The fridge still worked but I hated looking at the cracks and at the time we had no clue as to what had caused them. Knowing that I want to sell this trailer some day I decided to replace the refrigerator. Watching the videos on YouTube showed that it wasn’t that complicated. So I ordered a refrigerator and then had it shipped to my house. I hired a mobile RV tech and we gave it a go.

We got the old refrigerator out of it’s cubby hole and then tried to get it out the front door. We couldn’t. There is a sharp, narrow 90 degree bend to get around the kitchen cabinet and out the door of the trailer. Try as we might we just couldn’t do it. I helped him put everything back and gave Lance Parts and Service a call. The appointment was 3 months away and I had to ship the fridge down to Lancaster, CA where they were located. That turned out to be another whole blog post. Let’s just say, I finally got it down there.

We told them we would be arriving the night before so we could be there in time for the 7am appointment. They said we could stay in their parking lot where they had electrical and water hookups. We took advantage of the electrical, didn’t need the water. The drive down was fairly exciting, just a normal day on Highway 99 and the Tehachapi Pass.

We spent the evening in their parking lot but they have wonderful landscaping so it felt more like an RV park. Also, the temps were low enough that we didn’t need the AC. We sat out in the grass and enjoyed the cool evening breeze before turning in. We dropped the trailer off at the service location which is basically the delivery entrance for the manufacturing plant. It took an hour to get it all checked in. The lady at the service counter said she’d call me when it was done.

It took them longer than they expected because the fridge was the same width but slightly shorter. They didn’t want to give it back to me with a gap above the fridge so they had to fab up a new piece to close the gap. That meant it would take an extra day.

Sidebar: The lesson I learned was that I should have ordered the replacement refrigerator through Lance. That way it would have fit the existing cutout. I tried to save a few bucks by doing it myself and ended up paying more. Lesson learned.

Cristy and I had to stay at a hotel over night so we chose one next to food and shopping down in Palmdale. I have to admit it was kind of cool to see the Lockheed Skunkworks hangars. I thought they would be a bit more secretive. The two Lockheed Martin hangars dominate the landscape. The next morning at breakfast I got a call from the Lance service department that the trailer was ready. That was good news as I thought we wouldn’t get that call until late afternoon. We finished breakfast and drove back up to Lancaster.

When we went to pick up the trailer we found they just left it right outside the gate. Barely any room to maneuver my truck to hitch up. No place to turn around. They expected me to back out past two parking lot entrances and out onto the main road. With the way people drive down there I told them no way. I asked them to turn the trailer around. They ended up moving it out into the turn lane in the center of the street.

So what are my thoughts on the whole experience? Lance did swap out the fridge and did a good job fabbing up the new wood surround. The fridge was the same width but a bit shorter and they finished it off nicely. The door swung the wrong way. I asked them why they didn’t go ahead and reverse the door swing so it would match the old refrigerator. I basically got a “not our job” answer from them. They then told me the door isn’t reversible anyway. Uh-huh. I reversed the door this morning with zero experience. Took me about 30 minutes. They could have done it in 10. Not a huge deal but geez.

I also asked them to look at the gap between the bathroom wall and the ceiling. They said it didn’t look right but didn’t look like a huge problem either. If I want them to investigate why it happened I’d have to bring the trailer back at another time and leave it with them for a day while they measured things. Okay, we may do that. I’m also going to take a picture of the gouge they put in the door frame when they swapped the fridge. They can fix that next time too.

So I guess I expected more from them. Maybe I expected too much. I feel like it was the same service level I get at the DMV. Just… basic stuff. No going out of their way to make the customer happy. Just doing EXACTLY what the customer asked and no more. Okay. That’s fine.

I really like our 1995 travel trailer. We enjoy travelling in it. That being said the customer service is lackluster. We will probably not be a repeat customer. We will be wanting something bigger next time anyway.

First Camping Trip of 2022

On January 13, 2022 By The Flying DutchmanIn RV Life, RV Parks, Travel3 Comments

It’s been a couple of months since we got to get out and camp and this past week we finally got out again. We went back to an old favorite, Jackson Rancheria RV Park. We never go to the casino, we just use the RV park as a jumping off point to explore the Jackson/Sutter Creek area. We pretty much visited the same old areas we always go to. We had coffee at Choc-O-Latte in Sutter Creek, we shopped the shops in Sutter Creek and old town Jackson.

THE Choc-O-Latte, served with a chocolate dipped Oreo

We had lunch at Cavana’s Pub and Grub in Sutter Creek. There really isn’t much to tell about this trip except that we really enjoyed getting away and the sunsets are awesome!