The end of the journey.........

Rather like the horse heading home to the barn, the coach started pulling us toward our destination!  Actually, we did consider Asheville, a neat little town in southern Oregon, famous for its Shakespeare Theatre, and Medford, for the tour of the Harry and David facility, but the campgrounds there did not get good ratings, and it isn't Shakespeare season, so Clem found a very nice campground in Salem, only an hour from the townhouse.  On the  long trip, we like to stop short of the destination to do some housekeeping, and pack up everything that needs to go to the house.  And this time, we can't pull the MH up to the front of the building, as roads are too narrow, so Clem loaded everything in the car at the campsite, while I was cleaning and packing.  Rather like moving!

Now back, the car unpacked, and at least the groceries stowed away, Clem is asleep on the couch, and the kitties are exploring the surroundings, as I finish up the 6th cross country blog!  It was a great trip, outside of the worry of tornados, and we saw a lot, and yet had some time to relax, which was nice.



Several new touches to the coach, including a little lamp, added to the feeling of coziness.

 And the boys enjoyed the bright new colorful bedding I added to spark up the interior decor! 

I even had a little  fun with lighting in Little Rock for Memorial Day! Loki thought it was great! 

 We leave our little house on wheels to await the next adventure!

Mount Shasta

The mountain teased us by popping in and out around the bends! So beautiful! And Shasta Lake was a huge aqua beauty, too!

Yosemite National Park

El Capitan was our first view of the park after entering at Arches Entrance, in itself amazing, as we drove through an arch of granite!

 Several waterfalls dot the face of the particularly hard granite, which has been able to withstand glaciers and erosion.

So funny to see waterfalls, and not hear anything!

But if you check out the dots, which are cars,  along the trees at the base, you can see why!  

John Muir said it best!  To take full advantage of the park, one should probably hike and go out on the water and really enjoy it, but I was happy to be able to see it.  

We did hike to the base of Yosemite falls, the largest in North America, with a few hundred other people!  Maybe not that many, but because it was a Sunday, way more than I would have liked! Although I did get a huge kick out of this gal and her puppy.  Not sure he appreciated the view!

Again, check out the tiny dots on the rocks at base of falls, and see the guy at bottom left....gives an idea of how big a drop just this lower section of the falls is! 

The entire fall is 2450 feet, and quite a sight. 

I have to say, this park was nowhere near as organized as the Grand Canyon, and things were not always clearly marked. The free shuttle bus only goes to three sights, and the rest of the 21 stops are all lodges and delis, and one housekeeping area, which I am still a bit confused about!  We got on the bus to go to our car, and ended up being on for 1/2 hour when we were confused about parking areas, and had to go through all 21 stops!  Would have been much faster to walk! But at least we were in the AC on such a warm day.  

Ahhhhh....

Pulled in, set up, and sitting outside in what seems a blessedly cool evening at 81 degrees! We stopped at a rest area and ran into a couple who had stayed at the same campsite in Redding, CA last night, and she said they just stayed in their coach, it was so hot! We had gone out for a walk when the sun set, and it was still too hot for comfort, and we too retreated to the AC!

We had stopped for lunch and she approached and said I was her hero! She saw me driving in yesterday, and wondered if I had to take over the driving or something, and could I even reach the pedals?! Haha! No...and sort of, I told her. I drive because I like it, and manage to reach with a pillow behind my back!




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Traveling California

Pistachio trees, apricots, rice fields, olives.....and how many millions of oleander plants must there be?! They were with us all day! Highway speeds annoyingly reduced to 55 for those towing and trucks. And the trucks are obeying, so I figured I better follow suit!
The landscape became progressively more pleasant today, and Mt Shasta in its snow peaked glory came into view.

Still hot, hot, hot! 99 as I write this at 7:30 pm and our third stop in California with soaring temps!

A light meal after Yosemite

We don't always eat Italian! But it is always best home made, and Clem needs a regular fix, so I always try to have something on hand for our trips. But after a warm day outdoors, this hit the spot.

After sunset we went out to enjoy the cooler night and our neighbor who told us about reaching the park joined us for a nice chat. They are on the road most of the year, but have a house in Florida where they are from October to March. It was fun trading stories with them, and I added a few things to my list, and suggested a few for theirs!

A fortuitous morning walk!

As has happened before, my morning walk resulted in more than exercise, and today was a huge bonus!! I encountered a gentleman sitting outside with his coffee who was full of not only great information, but a spirit of travel and adventure that I loved! We got to chatting and I told him about our decision to skip Yosemite, and he said they had taken the car from our campsite yesterday, that unless you wanted to hike a lot, you could do it in a day! Now I was getting excited! Never in a hurry he said, they had left at 10AM, toured and were back at camp by 6:30!
So we extended our stay, and are on our way! Let me just say that it is NOT a road for the MH! At least not ours! We did pass a KOA a while back, but I saw shorter vehicles, and the road here has a 45 foot length restriction. The road is full of twists and turns, steep cliffs on either side, stark and beautiful. Can't wait for what lies ahead!

Carol
Dance like no one is watching!

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Chowchilla

Campsite in Mohave proved great birdwatching!

Not a new puppy we added, but rather where we spent the night!  Originally headed for Yosemite, Clem is nearing his end, and I was feeling happy to oblige, and along with that, the roads to the park are not a simple matter when driving a 40 foot vehicle.  We felt we would need several days there to do it justice, so have decided to save it for another time.

Also a challenge was finding a nice park for the evening, but Clem really scored one after pouring over the listings and ratings, and we pulled into the  gated entrance of The Lakes RV & Golf Resort around 5:30.  The good news, gorgeous, landscaped lots (for sale, by the way!) , ours facing the pond and pool, and free golf!  The bad news.....97 degrees!!  Seems it is a heat wave!  We thought we might stay another night and play some golf, but with today headed for 99, I think we will just move on.

our site at The Lakes RV & Golf Resort

California is not all Hollywood, Muscle Beach, or the rolling green hills of the wine country, and we saw brown, dry dusty, and some terrible rundown areas along this route.

We did, however, enter the agricultural area and Selma, the raisin capital of the world, and miles of grapes, and so many orange trees, that it caused me to ponder who produces more oranges!  Siri assured me it was Florida!

Clem wanted to buy me dinner at a nearby pub, but I was just as happy to stay in, and we had a nice tortellini dinner.  Photo especially for David.   :-)  Sometimes the food at "home" is better than the restaurants!  

And while we HAD that dinner, the clown boys decided to try out the little island cabinet that I can pull out, but have not thought to use much.  Hey, mom....this is pretty neat!  What are you eating over there?  

....don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow.....

Of all the towns along the Route, I think Seligman offers the most, but we had seen it, and missed Kingman on our first trip, so that was the stopover today.  The Museum in Kingman tells the story, not only of the road, but the folks who traveled that same path before, when the drought and depression lead thousands to leave the midwest and head for California for a better life.  Some walked, some loaded all their belongings and families on trucks and set out on a muddy path, most not finding anything better.  

The green thing sticking out the window of this old Studebaker is air conditioning!

 

In addition to the museum and some historic homes and buildings, there is the requisite diner and steak house, and another museum that looked very interesting.  My traveling companion, however, was feeling the effects of altitude and allergies, and getting tired, so we decided to move on.  Oatman would have been one more good stop, an old mining town with the descendants of the donkeys roaming the streets, and shoot out reenactments, but the road there is treacherous and we would have to have left the coach and done it by car.  So we headed toward California, and believe it or not, have camped for the night just outside of Barstow!  Right in the middle of the Mojave Desert, we pulled in at 5pm, with temps still reading 97 degrees!

I HAD to have my picture taken with Smokey!!

Some of the literature and museums say people are enamored by the romance of the old road, and I have to admit I am one of them!  

Williams, AZ....the gateway to the Grand Canyon

Williams is also the last town to be bypassed by Rt 40, fighting mulitple legal battles before giving up.  A young man in a great store called Addicted to Route 66, sporting a 50's shirt and slicked back hair, told us that the town did suffer, but as of the 90's, has started to make a comeback.   

They make the most of their heritage with old fashioned street lamps, the old shields on the lamp posts, and tons of places to buy souvenirs.  Addicted to Route 66 had some actual old shields that were selling from $1-3,000 dollars!  

Probably the neatest place in town had a car on top, and a smoker out front billowing BBQ flavor, and we succumbed to an early dinner.  Food was pretty good, not great, but the ambiance was terrific!  Live music on the patio accompanies lunch and dinner.  

While we always encounter many Europeans and often Asians at the parks, this town was amazing!  I felt like we were the only Americans at dinner!  

We stopped in a grocery store for a few odds and ends on the way back to camp, and when the couple in front of us were obviously foreign, I just had to remark to the clerk,  Always, he said....they come to see the Grand Canyon.  He had told his wife that he learned to say eggs in Chinese, and then demonstrated pointing and cracking motions to explain how the woman had apparently communicated with him!  Very cute!  

We had overheard a couple explain they were English, but lived in Amsterdam, to two other couples who explained they were from Austria.  The whole world comes to enjoy the beauty our great country has to offer.  

Can't forget our campground...this is the entrance.  I accused Clem of picking it for obvious reasons!  Actually an original Route 66 motel, a couple from California bought it, added an RV park, and several train cars that you can stay in, in addition to some cute cabins.  

Williams is also home to the old steam train you can ride to the Canyon, but since it is a two hour ride each way,  Clem preferred to drive the 45 minutes in the car.  A woman I chatted with who had taken the train said it was wonderful, however.  

How do they know???

Somehow they can now tell the difference between stopping for lunch or gas, and stopping to register at camp site! Loki takes the front seat, Sas on ledge or table. Smarties!!

Lasagna!

The long drive from Tucumcari to Williams left me too tired to even want to go out to dinner! But we had a special home made treat in the freezer for such an occasion. And boy did it taste good with a little of the red!

Where next, Mom?

Loki supervising the blog and route plan!

Interesting people

Last year we had seen a small museum in Utah dedicated explorer Powell, who made multiple explorations of the Colorado River in a wooden rowboat!  You can imagine them taking the rapids in that!  One of the rapids we saw from an overlook rated an 8 out of 10.  A monument nearby was erected to Powell, who traversed below.  

Teddy Roosevelt, champion of the National Parks, visited, and was photographed by the Kolb brothers. 

Very interesting story of an English immigrant named Fred Harvey who vastly improved railroad food and service, and built many hotels along the train routes.  He hired and trained thousands of young women, The Harvey Girls, who were trained in service and manners, wore uniforms, signed contracts to not marry for a year, and lived in the upper levels of his hotels.  

 Mary Coulter, once a teacher, became a famed architect, and in 1901 started working for Harvey, creating landmark hotels, including many in the park, and this rest stop.  Listed on the National Register, her work reflects Pueblo Revival, Spanish, Mission, and streamline moderne, as well as craftsman.....very interesting.  Two huge fireplaces, here and in one of the lodges, reflect the land, with layers of rock, like the strata of the canyon, and make me think of Frank Lloyd Wright and his work as it relates to the  countryside.

Canyon Sights and Vistas

Approaching overlooks, people look like mere dots, giving some perspective to the giant hole that is the Canyon!  Sometimes as wide as 20 miles, it averages 10 miles across.  

 One of the fist stops was The Kolb Studios, where brothers created a photography business in the canyon in the early 1900's.  Braving the depths and the river, they shot stills and early movies, and ran mule trips from their studio, perched on the side of the canyon.  

We hiked between some of the overlooks, then hopped back on the bus to the next, being 9 in all.

 One could take a million photos and still not capture it. 

 Sometimes along our hike, we were along an edge, and knowing Clem would not pose for this spot, I snapped this couple.




Photo to left was first glimpse of the Colorado River.....tiny beautiful aqua streak on left!