Highlights of Our First Three Weeks

We've been on the road for over three weeks. So far our trip has been fabulous. At first it was hard not to   think about home the whole time but we are getting into the groove of travelling. The RV is working out     really well. We feel like we’re playing house.    

On the Road Again!

                                             

We drove a few extra miles just to stand by this sign!!!  

Our fist stop at the ocean.

We took the I5 down to Portland and then headed towards the coast. We drove through farmland and then slightly mountainous terrain until we reached Hwy 101 which runs along the ocean.  The ocean views are magnificent. We drove through the Redwood Forest. This was a wonderful scenic drive.

The trees are massive.

One of the camp sites we stayed at is right at the mouth of the Klamath River. We biked down there to check it out. The estuary was an awesome sight.  The tide was coming in so the river and ocean meld together. There were tons of fishers and sea lions - all after the returning salmon, with thousands of seagulls above. It was a beautiful interplay of sea lion, salmon, fowl and humans, all at the expense, of course, of the salmon.  An interesting adventure for us city slickers. 

The campgrounds we are staying at are not bad. We stay at a lot of private RV parks because we are Passport of America members which allows us to camp for half price. They tend to be less treed and more side by side camping but we do have full services, which is nice.   

We have met some interesting people. One night we were camped between two ‘self proclaimed’ redneck Americans. Both couples in their 70’s had a gun with them in their RV’s. They were telling us that they would not go to Canada without their guns but the border guards had confiscated their guns when they tried to enter. (They were allowed to have them back when they reentered the States.)

Another night a worker came to our fire (yes, we had a fire!!) and told us all about his military family and we had the dubious honour of discussing his thoughts on the benefits of war, or lack thereof.

                     

Travelling along Hwy 1 can be treacherous but the views are magnificent. There are mountains on the east side of you and the ocean on the west.  It’s a steep climb and very curvy. At times all you have between you and sure death is a 2 foot guard rail. Peter did a great job driving the beast. I would never in my life want to drive an RV through some of the sections we went through. That stretch of  Hwy 1 is listed in the 1000 Things to See Before You Die.  (But it isn't listed as the last thing you do before you die and thankfully it wasn't - PR)

We spent a lovely afternoon touring a vineyard.  We drove in and parked and walked down to where they were working.  A manager came up to us and offered to give us a tour. Very interesting! We went for a wine tasting after the tour and the lady there told us that no one ever gets a tour. I guess we lucked out!

We spent a good part of a day in Monterey.  The place is famous because of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. This was very interesting to walk and bike through.  It has the typical Fisherman’s Wharf and then the street called Cannery Row which is where in the early 1900’s they had a very active sardine industry.  Some of the old buildings are still intact although they are now commercialized.  We went to a museum which told the history of the area starting with the natives and ending with life on Cannery Row. We definitely should read Steinbeck’s book now.

We also visited the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa - dedicated to an artist who has touched the lives of almost every one in North America.

Is this my encore career?

We have been staying at state parks along  Hwy 1. A few nights ago the campground was full so we stayed in what they call Enroute Camping.  This means that you park in the day use parking lot.  It doesn’t sound great but in reality it turned out to be a real blessing.  When we came in we parked behind a motor home with the license plate GEOHeartROS (with a symbol in the middle).  We, of course, commented on that. They also had a bumper sticker that said, “Grace Happens”  Hmmmm!!       Anyway, they end up parking in front of us along the forest.  It was a nice spot after all.  We started chatting to them.  She was a retired teacher so you can imagine some of the things we talked about.  The next morning Peter went over to talk to George and asked about LA.  He took down some notes of things to see and places to stay.  We go on with our business of getting on the road when suddenly George comes to our door and says, “I have another idea.” We got the surprise of our life when George said, “You can say in our house and use our car as long as you want when you are in Escondido.” We can visit LA and San Diego from there.  They have a place to store our RV in their complex as well and they have a pool.  Talk about generosity and trust.  He gave us the key and some instructions and then they headed north and we headed south.

So now we are spending a few days in a 55+ complex, giving us the chance to catch up on emails, set up this website, and other things.  The place is called Champagne Village and is next to the Lawrence Welk Resort just north of Escondido.  We spent the last two afternoons at the pool along with some ladies and gents who were almost all 75+. How ironic! Tonight we took a few minutes to tour the Lawrence Welk museum.

Note from Peter: I am imagining numerous comments re our being at a seniors place started by none other than Lawrence Welk; - enjoy.  I'm just thankful that no one under 55 knows anything about who we're talking about.

I (Mabel) will leave you with this :)