El Dorado Trail – Missouri Flat Segment

On May 14, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

This past Saturday Cristy and I decided to take another Rails to Trails walk. We headed up to Placerville, CA to walk a small segment of the El Dorado Trail. We began our walk at the Missouri Flat trailhead which is just east of Placerville. This section of the trail is paved and is geared for bikers and walkers. It also has a Par Course alongside the trail so you can exercise more than just your feet.

Cristy and I tried a few of these out but primarily just enjoyed the walk At one point you cross a 100 foot high trestle that has been converted into a foot bridge. Romantics have placed locks with special engravings on the sides of the bridge. No doubt inspired by the stunning views.

We continued to enjoy our walk enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was hard to believe we were still in a suburban area.

We started to get hungry so we headed back to the truck and drove into Placerville just a few miles up Highway 50. We stopped into the old downtown area and had some delicious farm fresh food at Our Farm Table on Main St. The food was delicious and the views from their second floor were wonderful.

We spent another few hours browsing the shops downtown.

If you’re not up to hiking in the wilderness and indoor hunting is more your thing then I highly suggest taking a walk on the El Dorado Trail.

Sugar Pine Railway – Strawberry Branch

On May 5, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

Cristy and I decided to explore another railroad right of way that’s been converted to a hiking trail. Since Cristy really enjoyed hiking along the Merced River on the Merced River Trail I wanted to find another trail that ran along a river. We decided to try out the Sugar Pine Railway Strawberry Branch. We drove up Highway 108 up to Cold Springs where we had lunch first at Mia’s. Great place by the way.

The trailhead is just a mile back down 108 from Mia’s. After heading down Fraser Flat Rd, you will come to a small bridge that crosses the Stanislaus River. Park at the bridge. The trailhead is on the south east side of the bridge. It is an easy uphill hike. It’s a railroad grade so nothing too steep. There were several springs that were flowing across the trail but the Forest Service actively maintains this trail and they do a wonderful job of it. We actually ran into one of the forest rangers with a crew of volunteers who were working on diverting the springs so they wouldn’t cross the trail.

The scenery is beautiful and the sound of the river very relaxing. There were not as many wildflowers on this trail as the lower elevation trails but we did see some interesting mushrooms and the smell of the pines and firs was amazing. We only hiked up about a mile and a half of the trail. Having a full stomach from lunch may have had something to do with that. Walking back was much faster and easier as it was downhill.

I have to say we’ve enjoyed each of the Rails to Trails hikes we’ve been on. This is a wonderful program and I hope you check out one of your local trails. I’ll leave you with some photos of our hike.

West Side Rails Trail

On April 28, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn Travel1 Comment

Cristy and I decided to hike another trail made from old railroad rights of way. Today’s hike was on the West Side Rails trail which starts in Tuolumne City near Sonora, CA. The parking area is just a dirt pullout along side the road. The access to the trail is kind of hard to find; it’s a set of wooden stairs midway at the dirt parking area. The walk down the trail is beautiful. Wildflowers are still in full bloom and bush lupine makes the trail smell wonderful. I can’t normally smell flowers but this lupine is amazingly fragrant. The first half mile is wooded but then it opens up to a sparsely wooded hillside with sweeping views of the canyon and river below.

The trail is all basically downhill so the walk out is super easy. The walk back is uphill so you have to keep that in mind in deciding how far to go down the trail. Luckily the trail is graded for trains so the climb is very easy. Many sections of the track are still visible. There are signs along the trail that tell the history of the railroad and stories of the men that ran this route. Here is what Trail Link has to say about this railroad:

The timber industry in the county was in full gear at the turn of the 20th century. An impressive sawmill was built at that time, and the West Side Lumber Company constructed its own narrow gauge railroad, called the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Railway, to bring timber to the mill. In total, more than 70 miles of mainline track were constructed in the area. The initial stretch of the mainline grade, constructed without the benefit of bulldozers and loaders, was blasted into an extremely steep and rocky canyon.

If you’re in the Sonora, CA area and are looking for a nice walk and a nice way to spend a morning stop by the West Side Rails trail. Here are some of the photos we took on the trail…

Blackhawk Fly-In 2018

On April 22, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Six Chuter P3, Travel2 Comments

This past weekend I attended the Blackhawk Flyin up in Valley Springs, CA. The fly-in is put on by Blackhawk Paramotors. They offer training and sales of powered paramotor equipment. Normally the field is only open to their customers but once or twice a year they open it up to everyone. This past weekend was their Spring fly-in. I towed my PPC to work with me on Friday so that I could drive directly to the fly-in after work.

After work on Friday I drove up Highway 26 to Linden where I tanked up my truck and mixed up some fuel for my PPC. I continued up to Blackhawk Ranch located on the south end of New Hogan Reservoir. I pulled onto the field and found a spot on the northwest side of the field. After parking I pulled my PPC out into the sun and started walking the field checking out all the other flying machines. It was also fun to pause and watch the takeoffs and landings. Some of them showed some very interesting…um… techniques.

I ran into some friends that I fly with at New Jerusalem and talked with them for a while. Then I decided to cook dinner.

Yes, I had a heaping helping of MRE’s for dinner. If you don’t know what that means it’s “Meals, Ready To Eat.” You either love them or hate them. I think they are just fine. You can store them for years, they don’t need refrigeration, and come with water-activated heater to heat the food up. After dinner I watched the evening flights and after dark listened to the coyotes calling to each other around the valley.

The next morning I put on my thermal layers under my clothes and started warming up my PPC. It was cold and dewy outside as taxied over to my selected launch spot. I laid out my wing in the driest spot I could find. There was no wind as I launched into the air. The ground run was longer than I was used to I was coming up on the end of the field so I kicked my rudder bars a couple of times to get off the ground. When I relaxed my feet the PPC sunk back toward the ground. So I held a little rudder in until I was climbing and then slowly let it out. Climb rate was not stellar, I was just above the tree tops as I climbed out of the small valley. After a few nerve wracking moments I was comfortably above the trees and climbing over the hills.

I tried to relax and just enjoy the scenery. I’ve flown over this area for over 25 years but something about flying slow in a PPC give you time to notice details you’ve never seen before. I spent about 45 minutes flying over the lake and rolling hills.

Given all the activity at the field I was a little nervous about the landing. However, there really was no problem landing. I just picked an area that no one was in and set down there. I folded and stowed my parachute, put the PPC back at the trailer and then went to socialize some more. I also took the opportunity to change my main carburetor jet to one size leaner. I was hoping that this would give me a little better engine performance. Given that the engine temps were so cool, my RPMs were so low (only 5900 rpm on climbout) and my climb was so poor, I thought maybe the engine is running too rich.

After changing my main jet afternoon slowed down quiet a bit. Kind of a lazy warm Spring day. Spent the rest of the day napping, socializing, and then having dinner with the other pilots. The fly-in organizers put on a dinner. After dark I went back to my trailer and called it a night.

The next morning (Sunday) it was just as dewy as the previous morning. Since I really didn’t feel good about my climb-out performance the previous day I decided to sit out the morning flight and just pack up. I’d rather do my engine testing in friendlier terrain. I said my goodbyes to everyone and headed for home. Even though I only got one flight in I really enjoyed the weekend. It was great to get off the grid, fly, and do nothing at all.

Local History

On April 17, 2018April 17, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

My wife Cristy and I really enjoy driving up to Ripon, CA for lunch. Our favorite place to eat is right on Main St, Ede’s Taco Shop. They have excellent taco truck tacos but lately our favorite has been their albondigas soup. This past Saturday after lunch we decided to take a stroll up Main. We walked up one side and down the other. As we were on our way back we saw a house with an open door and a woman sweeping out front. She called out, “Our sign is missing but feel free to come on in!”

“What would your sign say if it were not missing?” I called back.

“It’s the Clarence Smit Museum!” She called back.

Well, heck, we can’t miss the Clarence Smit Museum! So Cristy and I walked in and started poking around. It was in fact administered by the Ripon Historical Society and had lots of photos and artifacts dating back to the mid-1800’s. Since I work in the medical industry I was really interested in the section they had that was donated by a local doctor. He had a pretty well-equipped doctor’s office for the time. He had some 1950’s vintage X-ray machines and other medical supplies and gadgets.

Another section had a collection of old washing machines. My son loves appliances and I know he would have really enjoyed this part of the museum. Someone was sure a Maytag fan.

There are also vintage sewing machines, tools, books, newspapers, clothes and a bunch of other things all dating back from the 1990’s to the 1850’s. It’s a really cool place to go back in time in Ripon. If you’d like to check it out it’s in the old library building located at 430 W. Main Street. Open on Wednesdays & Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Merced River Trail

On April 8, 2018April 8, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

Today I took Cristy up to Mariposa, Ca and the Merced River Trail. Mariposa is a small town on Highway 140 on the way to Yosemite from Merced. The Merced River Trail is a section of decommissioned railroad.

The Merced River Trail is an ungroomed, mostly dirt trail that follows the unshaded banks of the Merced River within the Merced River Recreation Area. Ideal for horseback riding, mountain biking and hiking, the trail offers many stunning overlooks and great natural scenery. – From Trail Link

Prior to hiking the MRT we decided to stop in Mariposa for lunch. We stopped off at High Country Health Foods & Cafe. They’ve got a great selection of organic fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods and also a great cafe. They have gluten-free and dairy-free options for breakfast and lunch. Cristy had a salad and I had a sandwich, both were delicious.

Afterwards we continued on up Highway 140 until we reached Briceburg. We turned off and crossed the one lane bridge over the Merced River. We drove about 6 or 7 miles down a one lane dirt road with beautiful views of the Merced River and the myriad of wildflowers in full bloom.

We finally arrived at the Merced River Trail trailhead and started walking down the trail. For about a mile it looked just like the road we had been driving on. But soon we to the trail itself and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon’s hike along the river. This is one of the most peaceful and scenic afternoons we’ve spent in quite a while and it left both of us feeling rejuvenated. There really isn’t much else to tell so I will just leave you with some photos of the hike.

If you made it this far… here’s a bonus video too.

Resurrection Day Weekend

On April 1, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Faith, Opinion, TravelLeave a comment

You call it Easter, I call it Resurrection Day. We all celebrate Christmas as the be-all end-all day in the Christian faith but I believe it should be Resurrection Day. The day my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ defeated death. He paid the price for our sins once and for all. If we believe that He died for our sins then all our sins are forgiven. This sounds like mythical nonsense to the unbeliever, but to those who believe, it is our guarantee of our salvation. Our guarantee of eternal life in the presence of our heavenly Father.

Okay, sermon over, pass the collection plates.

So how did we celebrate this Resurrection Day weekend? Well Saturday morning I headed out to New Jerusalem and took a nice long flight in my powered parachute. I didn’t take any video or pictures of the flight because sometimes I like to just live in the moment and enjoy it for myself. I was joined by a powered paraglider pilot friend. Always good to have company.

I flew around the San Joaquin river between Highway 132 and the City of Tracy here in California’s vast Central Valley. The engine purred without any hiccup or flaw during the whole flight. I kept my RPMs right at about 5400 RPM. This put me in a slow climb. I flew around for about 40 minutes enjoying the butter smooth air. ZERO turbulence. I made my way back to New Jerusalem airport. Made one pass over the field to check my windsock and then set up to land. I made a slow power-on approach and let my machine drift as far down the runway as it wanted to. I wanted to make this landing a smooth one and I wasn’t disappointed. I held in just a bit of brake pressure on the parachute and smoothly applied full brake just as the wheels were touching down. I killed the engine and kept kicking the break pedals and the chute fell down behind me. Perfect. My PPG friend took another flight and I paused to watch a while before leaving.

I packed up and headed home to pick up Cristy so we could head up to Jack and Myrna’s place in the foothills, Red Hills Ranch. This has become a tradition for Cristy and I. On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter/Resurrection Day they hold a potluck for family and friends. When I had my airplane we would fly in but now we drive up. Much easier on Cristy.

So here’s something for people who know about flowers. I know nothing about them. So if you do, can you help me identify these? They are EVERYWHERE up at Jack and Myrna’s ranch.

Flower 4 – The white ones, what are they?

Flower 5 – What are the bright pink ones?

Flower 7 – The purple ones with the white tips. What are they?

That’s it for the flowers. Would love some help identifying them.

We enjoyed our time up with the Moyle’s. We’re always treated like family. Can’t wait to visit again.

Sunday morning we all got up and went to sunrise service then later in the morning we picked up our son and brought him to the 11:30am service. Cristy made ham, potatoes, and green beans and for dessert, apple cobbler!

All in all a wonderful weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate our Savior’s victory. I hope your weekend was as good or better.

The Dream Is Still Alive

On February 3, 2018 By The Flying DutchmanIn Ram Truck, RV Life, TravelLeave a comment

I haven’t written much about retirement plans lately because there isn’t much progress on that front except for the slow crawl of getting through the years to get there. After starting with my present employer I found out that to receive the pension I must put in 10 years of full-time non-probationary employment with them. As our probationary period is 1 year I have to work 11 years total before I can retire and get my pension. At this point I am at the 8 and 1/2 year mark.

The dream is to be able to get out from under the crush of “stuff” we have and travel. Since full-time travel won’t be a viable option for at least 9 more years we can still travel part time. And we can still get out from under our home and the crush of “stuff.”

My brother is doing just this. In fact he blantantly STOLE my idea of living in an RV full time and travelling. (That’s humor folks, don’t get upset.) But you did read it here first! It was MY idea. NO one EVER thought of this before me! 🙂 He and his wife are selling their home and embarking on a journey to Texas this week in his Airstream travel trailer. Good for them. I hope they enjoy this new chapter of their lives.

The Trailer

But as this post is titled, we haven’t given up the dream yet. This past year we have struggled over whether to get a smaller trailer and take shorter trips while having a small “home base” to return to. My wife has been looking at homes both near and far for several months now. This past two weeks have been a game changer for her. We went to look at the smaller trailer we were considering. I asked her to just spend some time in it with me. After 30 minutes or so she needed to get out. I then asked her to imagine spending a rainy weekend in that small trailer. Not a pleasant thought but the weather isn’t always sunny when you’re camping.

When we got home I showed her a slightly larger (yet oddly, less expensive) travel trailer. The Grand Design Iagine 2670MK Travel Trailer. It has a much more spacious floorplan and a desk which was a feature we loved! It was easy to just sit in the recliners and either nap or read. It alsoWe could see ourselves spending time in this trailer. The only thing we really didn’t like about it was how cramped the bedroom was.

The salesman that was showing us the unit told us that they had a 5th wheel with a similar floor plan but had a bigger bedroom. Now, we really didn’t want a 5th wheel but it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. We walked across the lot and he showed us the Grand Design Reflection 320MKS 5th wheel.

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Now… this was more like it! It had all the same features; desk, outdoor kitchen, but it had a bigger bedroom WITH a closet! The kitchen had a larger refrigerator and a large pantry. Cristy was sold. We spent quite a bit of time in this trailer. There were some things we liked about the Imagine travel trailer better but the Reflection just seemed more rugged and spacious. Cristy almost fell asleep in the recliner.

If you’ve followed my blog you know that we’ve changed our minds several times. That’s the beauty of dreams! But this is the dream at the moment.

The Truck

Trailers don’t pull themselves, you need a tow vehicle. When we were going with the Lance my RAM 1500 was enough to pull it. The moment we decided to go with a larger trailer the decision was made for us that we had to scale up the truck. I want to stick with RAM trucks so that part of the decision was made. The only thing we needed to decide was to go with a RAM 2500 or 3500. While the RAM 2500 is enough to pull the Reflection 5th wheel, that’s really all it could do. There would be very little load carrying capacity in the truck beyond the hitch weight of the trailer. Therefore it had to be the 3500. It would EASILY tow the trailer and anything we could cram into it. Decision made.

So… when can all this happen? We think it’s best to make this all happen while I’m still earning money. After retirement we’ll be on a fixed income. So step one is to finish paying off my current truck. Then we’ll trade it in and buy the new truck. A few years after that we’ll buy the trailer and hopefully get it paid off before retirement. We are also talking about selling our house prior to retirement and just living in the trailer in the final few years before retirement. But dreams are cheap and easily changed.

We’ll see.

Three State Dash

On October 26, 2017October 26, 2017 By The Flying DutchmanIn Six Chuter P3, Travel3 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog at all (and if you care) you’ve read about my engine woes. I burnt it up when trying adjust my carb settings trying to get rid of an area of throttle movement that caused the engine to bog down. I sent the engine back to the manufacturer and it was rebuilt. Then as I was breaking in the new engine it burnt up again. I sent it back to the manufacturer and they rebuilt it AGAIN. This time recommending we try a different carburetor and two-stroke oil. To ensure it was done right I asked that the engine be sent back to Six-Chuter and that they do the break-in.

The engine was sent to Six-Chuter’s engine guru, Rolando Santiago who lives outside of Vancouver Washington rather than at the factory in Wenatchee. I loaded up the airplane into my trailer and (with my wife who graciously offered to come with me) hit the road. Bear in mind this was a day and a half after we got home from our anniversary trip to Hawaii. Also bear in mind that the Pacific NorthWest was about to be hit with a huge wet storm.

The drive up was nice. We listened to the radio, talked about our Hawaii trip, how amazing it was that we were just there, and now we were here. Our goal was to make it to Cottage Grove, OR the first day. We did. Unfortunately we were delayed by 2 hours due to a jacknifed big rig about half a mile ahead of us on the freeway. The rain had started and apparently this rig was not able to handle the tight turn at his chosen speed. We were supposed to arrive at Cottage Grove at 6:30pm but didn’t get there until 8:30pm. Driving in the rain and dark on mountainous roads was not what I had planned.

We finally arrived and the front desk called the restaurant and had them stay open for us. They were closing but they were very nice to us. We stayed at the Village Green Resort and Gardens. The grounds are lovely but we couldn’t see them in the dark and rain. The rooms are kind of dated but the grounds more than make up for it. The next morning it was still raining but we could at least get a look at the grounds before breakfast and hitting the road again.

This time it was only a three and a half hour drive to Rolando’s house. Most of the drive was unremarkable except for the gorgeous scenery. 🙂 All except for the drive through Portland at lunchtime, in the rain. (I need to stop typing “in the rain” because it rained non-stop while we were there.) Rolando meet us at a gas station near his house and then showed us to his super-secret hidden driveway. My trusty truck slogged the trailer up into Rolando’s yard and I unhitched the trailer and left it in his capable hands. He and his son would do the engine install and breakin and then call me when it was done. My wife and I were free to go explore.

Because of the rain and our fatigue from all the driving the only thing we wanted to explore was our hotel room. We crashed and took a nap at the Red Lion Inn which was right on the Columbia River. We had dinner and then crashed again afterwards. I found our room number amusing and somewhat ironic due to the fact it was a non-smoking room.

The next morning we wanted to take a look at Portland and get some coffee. We pulled up just past the coffee place and a homeless man began lounging on my truck. >:-( I asked him in a rather ungracious way to please remove himself from my truck. He started to walk away then turned around and started screaming at us. I told Cristy that coffee in Portland was a bust. We headed for Vancouver WA instead and found a great little coffee place called Pines Coffee House. I can tell you after comparing both towns I can see what Vancouver insisted on a river with drawbridges between them and Portland.

We had lunch at a great little Thai restaurant called Thai Orchid. They have a great mix of Thai food and sushi, which, surprised us a little. However the food was good and was a great place to stay out of the rain. To help Cristy relax a little I found her a boutique called Not Too Shabby. Boutiquing helps Cristy decompress after travelling. Right about the time she was finishing up we got the call that the engine was done.

It was 2:30 in the afternoon and by the time I picked up the trailer and airplane it would be 3:30pm. I knew we wouldn’t get far but at least we could get south of Portland! We loaded up and made it as far as Salem. It was pretty stormy the whole way. Probably the heaviest rain I had driven in for quote some time and pulling a trailer to boot. We got to the Red Lion in Salem and hit our room and collapsed on the bed. We took a quick nap before dinner and a long nap afterwards.

The rain abated somewhat overnight. When we got on the road at 8:00am it was only drizzling. It had stopped raining by about Roseburg, OR and by the time we climbed the big grade out of Ashland and pulled into Calfornia the clouds were starting to break up. It’s amazing how the rain just stopped at the California border. I guess we’re not paying our rain bill or something. Before I go on I have to say I had the best gluten-free muffin I have ever tasted in my life at The Stars and Dreams Gluten-free Bakery. They also sell gluten-free breakfast sandwiches and hamburgers.

There were very few clouds as we drove past Mt. Shasta except for the standing IMG_20171022_134715 lenticular clouds at it’s summit. As we drove down the grade into Redding there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We finally pulled into home at about 7:30pm, my first vacation from work, and our 30th anniversary trips finally done. What we learned is that we really enjoy travelling and if we could drive shorter distances and had a travel trailer with us that we would enjoy travelling even more.

Someday soon…

30 Years!

On October 23, 2017 By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

I just got back from a trip to Hawaii, the Big Island. The occasion? My wife and I celebrated our 30th Anniversary! Yep, 30 years ago she took vows with me. We’ve had our share of ups and downs but this trip was definitely one of the ups. Five years ago we went to Maui with our family for our 25th Anniversary. This time around it was just Cristy and I.

We landed at Kona, rented a 4WD Jeep and drove up to the North side of the island. We stayed at a B&B in Kukuihaele about 1/4 mile from the Waipio Valley. The house was basically a studio bungalow and the scenery was absolutely stunning. The house is set on the side of a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

For 5 days we gorged ourselves on fish and fruit, visited beaches, gardens, waterfalls and ate more fish and fruit. The reason for the 4WD Jeep was so we could visit the Waipio Valley and beach. The drive down the road was quite a thrill. Steep mountain road grades in the Western US are like 6-8%. This road was a 25% grade!

Since pictures are worth far more than words…