Tag: adventure

Almond Valley CRC New Mexico Mission 2026

On By The Flying DutchmanIn AviationLeave a comment

The life I’ve been dreaming of for the past 15 years or so has finally begun. We are starting our travels. Now, we won’t be living full time in the RV like I had envisioned but we will be travelling as much as we can stand. It started this past July 19th as we headed down to Galup, New Mexico. The rest of our church was going to make the drive in two days but I don’t like driving that much so we broke up the journey into three days.

Day 1: Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park

This was a very short drive, only about two and a half hours from home but it dovetailed nicely into one of my hobbies; ham radio. I like to do POTA activations and this was a new park I had not activated yet. In fact, there were three parks all in close proximity that I could activate. So this was a logical (to me anyway) first night stop. If you want to know more about Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park just click on the link. Short story is it is the first town in California started by and for African-Americans. The other two parks near by were Pixley National Wildife Refuge and Kern National Wildlife Refuge. I was able to successfully activate those three parks by the way.

Day 2:

The second night we stayed in Kingman, Arizona at Sunset RV Park. A rather unremarkable, closely packed park. But, it was quiet and the guy at the front desk was friendly enough so it served as a good overnight stop.

Day 3:

We really wanted to get on the road so we kept our morning preparations kind of light, packed up and got on the road. That turned out to be a good call as we were just ahead of a huge monsoonal system that was just dumping rain right behind us on the highway. We take some time to stop in Willams to grab a cup of coffee at Brewed Awakenings. The coffee was so-so but it was caffeinated which is what I needed. It also provided a good leg stretch as we had to park about 4 or 5 blocks away down on the street next to Safeway. Coffee in hand it was back on the road. A LONG drive later and we were pulling into USA RV Park in Gallup, NM. This would be our home for the next 5 nights. I got the trailer setup and Star Link deployed and then we just crashed and napped for the rest of the day.

Pro-tip: If you have a newer Star Link dish with the kick stand or even a Star Link Mini. Don’t bother trying to orient it. Simply lay it down flat on the ground facing up and you are good to go as long as there aren’t too many obstructions directly above it. Star Link has put so many satellites in orbit that it is now no longer necessary to orient the dish in any direction. Just straight up.

Day 4:

This was day one of our mission trip. We met the rest of the church at their hotel and split up. Cristy went with the ladies to do vacation Bible school at Crownpoint, NM, while followed the guys to Fort Wingate, NM. Both are Navajo owned but not exactly reservation land. It’s a crazy checkerboard of NM, US Govt, Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni owned land. We were on Navajo land, across the street it’s owned by the US Government. Nuts. We set about replacing the siding on a parsonage at a church at Fort Wingate. The ladies did VBS in the morning and painting in the afternoon. Cristy didn’t take part in painting due to health concerns. She provided a very important service and delivered lunch to us along with an Elder’s wife.

In the evening around 4pm or so we’d all head back, take a shower and then gather at the home of a woman who used to attend our church in Ripon but then moved to Gallup to take care of her mother. She cooked us dinner each night and then we have a devotional and then sing hymns and praise songs.

Day 5:

See Day 4 with the exception of meeting at the hotel. I would drop Cristy off at the house we had dinner at and then continue on to Fort Wingate for the days’ work. My main job was to help hold tar paper and siding up while our lone contractor, Wayne, used his nail gun to tack it into place. My other job was to locate and hand Wayne the wrong tool. It’s a gift.

Day 6:

See Day 5.

Day 7:

This was our last day. We had made quite a bit of progress on the house but there was still a lot to do. There was still some siding to put up, like the fiddley bits around the doors and windows. All the corners and trim needed to be caulked. Finally I was able to do something I knew how to do! I spent the entire day Friday sealing seams and gaps on the entire exterior of that home. Feathering it all in so that the painters (of whom the legends foretold would show up at some later date… probably) would have an easy time painting it all up to make it look good. Each day I showed up I was slightly less sore than the day before and somehow we knocked it all out on the last day. Dinner that night felt really good. As did all the comradery that had built up between us over the week. We had gone from folks we see weekly at church, people who we smile and say good morning to, to a team that finally learned how to work really well together. There were no disagreements or fights, just a group of people who banded together in jovial, tired yet hopeful desperation to complete the project. And we did complete the project.

There is a third group I forgot to mention, they were out cutting diseased trees, mostly Pinon, so that the wood could be sold for firewall and/or used by the local tribes.

To show their appreciation, two of the local Navajo ladies cooked us some fry bread, meat, beans, and served us lunch on Friday. I called it Navajo pizza!

Day 8:

By now we’re up to Saturday. The bulk of the group was driving back to Ripon after an overnight stay in Kingman. We decided to head on a little further to Santa Fe since we’d never been there. It was about a 4 hour drive from Gallup to Santa Fe Skis RV Park on the southeast side of the city. We stayed 3 nights so that we could have two full days to explore the city. The first half of the first full day there was set aside for a (you guessed it) POTA activation. I activated Santa Fe National Forest and Hyde Memorial State Park simultaneously. Later we drove down into the city and let Cristy do a little shopping therapy.

Day 9:

No ham radio this day. It was straight to Santa Fe’s historic downtown to find parking (not easy in a one ton pickup) and then just cut Cristy loose on the shops. I spent most of my time in Santa Fe Plaza, the historic central square of the city. Cristy and I met up and had lunch at.. can’t remember. It was good though. Especially if you like green chilies because New Mexico puts green chilies in EVERYTHING. We also checked out Loretto Chapel and its famous circular staircase. No visible support but it’s been standing for well over 100 years. On the way back home we stopped off at Kakawa Chocolate House. Cristy got some sipping chocolate which was VERY good and I got frozen hot chocolate. Don’t know how they do it but it literally tasted like a hot chocolate Icee. A quick word about Santa Fe Skies RV Park; it is a great place to stay if you’re in the area. The park was clean, quiet, lots of space between sites, and one night they had a couple that were singing on the patio next to the main office. The singer was really good. She did several covers of Linda Ronstadt songs and her voice was practically indistinguishable from the original.

Day 10:

Well… boo! It was time to start heading back. We had to get back home in three days so we could watch Angela’s dog for her while she went on vacation. We drove from Santa Fe to Flagstaff the first day and stayed at Woody Mountain Campground and RV Park. The folks in the front were very nice, if not a little baffled by their own computer system. The layout of the campground is a little confusing; lots of little roads going everywhere. It took me three times to find my pull through campsite! But once we were settled in it was a nice place! Cristy met up with a YouTube health coach she’s know for a few years and she came back so energized and happy after having some girl talk finally. Like a best friend you’ve never met before.

Day 11:

This was another long drive from Flagstaff to Tehachapi where we stayed at Mountain Valley RV Park. Imagine my surprise when I found out it’s located at the Tehachapi Airport! I think only one airplane took off the whole time we were there. It was a glider tow airplane warming up the oil before the day’s tows begin. I didn’t get any pictures of the park because I was just plane beat by this time (misspelling is intentional). We had a geat pull-through spot on the edge of the park that borders the airport property so we had an unobstructed view of the runway and the hills beyond. It gave the place a very open feeling. They only have 30A electric and water but they do have a dump station right by the office.

A word about the Star Link dish. In short, this device was the MVP of the trip. We were able to set it up quickly and have plenty of internet bandwidth to check email, attach our phones via WiFi calling, and stream videos in the evening without worrying about the crappy park WiFi offerings.

Day 12:

This was the hardest drive day of all. That last stretch through Bakersfield and up Hwy 99 to Modesto. UGH! I hate that drive, even when I’m not pulling a trailer. At any rate we made it home in a little under four hours and called an end to our trip.

But not an end to our travels. Because the very next day we had to drive to Pinole to attend the funeral of Cristy’s aunt Tita Miniang. Then the graveside internment. Then the reception. Which was actually a beautiful venue; Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood Restaurant. An expense her aunt would never have approved of in life. It was a beautiful warm day, hot by Bay Area standards and the view was wonderful! We ended up staying at the Hilton right next to where my sister Melanie used to work.

Our next big trip is coming up next week when we travel to Hardin, Missouri so that I can FINALLY pay my respects to my parents at their grave. See you in the next blog entry!

Red Hills Fly-In 2026

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Travel2 Comments

RIGHT AFTER we got back from Paso Robles I just had time to drop Cristy off, get some fresh clothes, some food, a decent shower, and a comfy night’s sleep in my bed at home before jumping back in the trailer the very next day and heading up to the Red Hills to my friends’ ranch. Every year on the weekend leading up to Memorial Day I put on a fly-in and Jack and Myrna Moyle’s ranch just outside of Chinese Camp in the Sierra Foothills. If you’ve ever driven to Yosemite on Hwy 120 you will come to Yosemite Junction where you have to make a right turn to continue up to Yosemite. Just as you get to the railroad tracks and over the hills to your right is my friend’s ranch.

Attendance was low last year because two years ago Jack and Myrna said they didn’t want to host any more fly-ins, as it had become too difficult for them to manage the cleanup. So everyone made other plans for last year. At the last minute they told me that Hannah and Tanner, their grandson and his wife, had offered to take over set up and tear down for the fly-in. A few were able to change their plans and show up. It was disappointing to them. But they understood after I explained to them that people simply made other plans because they had said, “no more!”

This year they made sure that I understood that the fly-in was back and and to be sure to get the word out. We still had lower turnout than in previous years but it was better than last year. We had over 20 people show up and 10-15 airplanes either fly-in to camp, or just visit for a while and then leave. As usual I took my travel trailer up there because I’m done sleeping in tents. There were also more people this year because I extended the invitation to the guys up at Lincoln Powered Parachute Field just north of Sacramento. Many expressed interest but only three showed up. However, the photos and trip reports they shared on Facebook with the rest of their group will ensure that more show up next year. I know them because I went to LPPF to have my powered parachute inspected and for some flying tips.

I show up Friday and set up camp as did the powered parachute guys. I greeted everyone but spent much of the afternoon up at my trailer setting up Star Link and the antenna my friend had loaned me for my POTA activations. I got the highest number of activations ever because I was able to work far into the night. Using my friend’s antenna I also got some of my most distant contacts; two in Ukraine, one in France, and one in Russia.

More folks flew in on Saturday with the intention of staying for Saturday night’s potluck and to camp overnight. Unlike last year there was too much food this year! We could have easily fed double our number. The next morning, Sunday, Hannah and Tanner invited everyone to the house they are building on Jack’s property. It’s already mostly built but with their new addition, Brinley, they are adding more bedrooms. Tanner assured me he’s only adding TWO bedrooms, one for each child. I joking said he could always buy bunk beds. He unjokingly told me Hannah had already said that to him! 🙂 Hannah made us her delicious sourdough pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Again, too much food!

After breakfast folks started packing up and heading home to celebrate Memorial Day with their families. The last one to leave was myself, around 2pm or so. This year I got a question about Red Hills merchandise so I developed some. Here is the logo I came up with for this year’s fly in.

Initially, I’m going to offer two or three hat colors and a men’s and women’s T shirt. We’ll think about mugs in the future.

All in all a great fly-in. Looking forward to 2027.

Here are this year’s highlights:

Birthday Trip to Paso Robles

On By The Flying DutchmanIn HAM, RV Life, TravelLeave a comment

Since I had a conflicting event on Cristy’s birthday we decided to celebrate a few days early by taking trip to Paso Robles and more importantly, Cambria. Cambria is Cristy’s favorite town in the world and would live there if she could. If she did live there, I’d visit her as often as I could. I can’t stand fog. At any rate we hitched up our Lance travel trailer on Sunday morning and headed out.

We left around 9:30 am which put us in Coalinga around 11:30 am, my lunch time for the past 40 years when I was working. We pulled into Harris Ranch and parked in their large gravel lot just adjacent to the Harris Ranch Airport. We took about a 45 minute break to make a sandwich and just relax for a bit. After eating and stretching we got back on the road. With the wind at our backs we got good gas mileage and it was only an hour and fifteen minute drive to Sun Outdoors Central Coast Wine Country Resort. Such an easy to remember name. There were three other RV’s checking in when we got there but it was a short wait and soon we were backing into our site. We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing. Ah, retirement life. For dinner we headed into Paso Robles and got some great food at Mediterranean Spice. I got a personal pizza and Cristy got a beef shawarma platter. It was VERY good.

The next day we made a bee line to Cambria and, more specifically, Cambria Coffee Company. This little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop serves the best coffee in Cambria. They are located in the West Village closer to the shoreline than much of the rest of town. There are lots of boutique shops lining the streets in the West Village and is Cristy’s happy place. After coffee I left Cristy to explore all the shops while I headed down to Moonstone Beach, a part of Hearst / San Simeon State Park. I wanted to do a Parks On The Air activation of the State Park. I also wanted to try out a couple of different antennas that a friend had loaned me. After spending a couple of hours making FT8 contacts on the beach Cristy texted that she was done. I cleaned up all my radio equipment and drove over and picked her up.

We had lunch at the West End Bar and Grill. It was nothing to write home about but it did the job. We headed back down to Moonstone Beach where I had done my POTA activation and took some time walking on the beach. Cristy really enjoyed hunting through the tiny moonstones on the beach.

On Tuesday we headed BACK to Cambria, have I said yet that this is Cristy’s favorite place in the world? We got coffee at Cambria Coffee Rosasters again and then made a quick dash to Cambria downtown to Linn’s Easy As Pie Cafe. Linn’s is probably the best restaurant in Cambria. We met the owner last time we were there and he is a very personable guy who loves his customers and his restaurant. The Easy As Pie Cafe is a place to grab quick bites to eat as well as slices of their wonderful pies. We just stopped in to grab a jar of Olallieberry Jam.

Afterwards it was on to the main thrust of the day. Cristy let me have one day to do some more POTA activations. We stopped at three places where I was able to activate:

  • US-1157 Harmony Headlands State Park
  • US-3418 Cayucos State Beach
  • US-3480 Morro Strand State Beach














After the first two POTA stops we drove down to Morro Bay to have a late lunch at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant and then on to Morro Strand for the final activation. Cristy enjoyed a walk on the beach while I did my nerdy ham radio stuff. On this beach we discover tons of a jellyfish-like creature called a “By-the-wind-sailor” or Vallela vallela.

Wednesday belonged to Cristy. We slept in and I made scrambled eggs for Cristy’s breakfast. She wanted us to drive down to San Luis Obispo so she could spend some time doing indoor hunting (shopping). We stopped off for coffee at Scout Coffee Company, arguably the BEST coffee we’ve ever had. So good we bought Angela a bag of their Ethiopian blend. After coffee Cristy perused the stores while I read the news on my phone. We had lunch at a “nothing to write home about” Mexican place there in SLO. It was very “fast-foody” and the fish tacos were only okay. After lunch Cristy had pretty much seen everything she wanted to see so we decided to head back to Cuyucos since we really liked the laid back beach there. It must have been what Avila Beach was like about 30 years ago. We had dinner at Duckie’s Chowder House in Cayucos. At least it was better than the place in SLO. But being before the season really opens, they just didn’t seem to have their hearts in it. We wanted to watch the sunset on the beach, however, the fog started rolling in. I could see it was coming from the south so we drove north back towards Cambria. We had to drive up to San Simeon which is only a few miles north of Cambria before we finally beat the fog. We found a beach access road just next to some hotels and pulled in to watch the sunset.

Overall we really enjoyed our trip to Paso Robles and the coast. However, one thing I should mention. Calfiornia had just had several days of high winds. When we got to Paso Robles our allergies started kicking in from all the grass pollen that was being blown off the hills into town. We couldn’t wait to get to Cambria and SLO to get away from the pollen but our allergies were just as bad on the coast! The ONLY place we got relief from our allergies was when we were standing on the beach. Not near the beach, not in the parking lot, ON the beach. That all being said we loved it there and it was a great way to celebrate Cristy’s birthday!

Hip Camp – A New Way to Camp

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Campgrounds, Hip Camp, RV Life, TravelLeave a comment

Well at least for us it’s new. Hip Camp has been around for several years. It’s a service that offers alternative places to camp rather than just RV parks or campgrounds. It combines both home- and landowners as well as some RV parks to offer alternative places to camp. We have tried it out twice now at a camping spot in Sonora, California. The name of the spot on Hip Camp is Green Acres.

Green Acres has two spots to rent. One is a large destination trailer that has permanent hookups for sewer, water, and electrical and is rented out as part of Air B&B. The second spot is an RV site that also has full hookups. We’ve stayed there twice now and the first time there was no one else there but us. It was so peaceful. The second time there was a renter at the Air B&B next door but he was pretty quiet and we only saw him once.

Air B&B Destination Trailer

Our campsite was a little off-level, and somewhat challenging to back into but we got settled and plugged in.

It was still such a quiet and peaceful place to camp and we really enjoyed it there.

We camped here two times over the last 3 months and both times we would drive into Sonora for coffee at the BEST coffee shop in California; Revive Coffee. We order their coffee beans and grind them at home for my morning coffee. Afterwards both times we paid a visit to the Sonora Farmer’s Market which is about half a block away on Saturdays. Both times we also visited Nature’s Whole Food Depot which has a great array of groceries (many of which are guten-free specialty items we can’t find elsewhere), and homeopathic supplements and medications. It’s one of Cristy’s favorites.

This last time we were there we also took a morning hike on the West Side Trail, a railroad bed that has been converted into a hiking trail. Because it was graded for freight trains it has a very gentle grade both up and down. I was quite proud of Cristy this day for hiking BEFORE breakfast! It was going to be a hot day so we took our hike earlier in the day. Once we got back I made her breakfast.

We really enjoyed our stay at Green Acres via Hip Camp. Since this is a nationwide service we’ll start checking for Hip Camps in any area we travel to. And that travelling is coming up very soon!

Until next time…