Fun In Flagstaff…and other stops along the way

Journey End,

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

This morning I made the beds, returned the rugs that needed to be cleaned, and closed up Charlene until the next trip…which will be at the end of July. It’s only about 2 hours away and we’ll be going with a group of friends that we met at an airstream rally and have remained friends and camped with on other occasions. I also almost left my glasses in the trailer! Always something! I came in, told Steve that the trailer was buttoned up and ready to go when I started looking for my glasses…nowhere to be found! As he was going out the door to take the trailer to storage, I stopped him and told him I needed to make sure I didn’t leave them in the trailer. Sure enough, there they were! I have no idea why I took them off, but once again, St. Anthony was looking out for me and made sure I found them before the trailer left. Thank you St. Anthony!

Walnut Creek, United States

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

It turned out that the “storm” didn’t turn out to be much more than some light rain and some thunder. We were hoping for more of a downpour to clean the truck and trailer of at least some of the dirt that had accumulated on them during our travels. And our neighbors who had been MIA for most of the day finally arrived…one family was taking up 3 spots! They were tent camping and apparently forgot the rain fly for the larger tent…something they will I’m sure come to regret when more storms come through this afternoon! They are from the LA area so no running home to get it! I hope they can find a tarp so their camping trip isn’t ruined. We got an early start (9:00am) and set out on our return trip. This route took us through Yosemite Valley. Luckily, it was a weekday so no reservations were required. Right now only weekends and special holidays require a reservation to enter the park…too many people! After July 1 and through August, every day will require a reservation…unless you want to get up at 4:00am or enter after 5:00pm. As soon as we got on the road that would take us through Yosemite, we saw smoke off in the distance. It was not a campfire as the terrain was way to steep for anyone to take a vehicle there. It must have been a lightening strike area. I had heard that there were more than a few from the storm yesterday. Although we were barely touched by it, apparently other areas were not so lucky. The tent people next door had to drive through a lot of rain and wind on their way to the campground. We let the ranger checking people into Yosemite know about it, but apparently they already knew about it. Hopefully it was put out before it spread too far. Luckily, there was little to no wind to spread it more quickly. After that, the drive was spectacular. Going through Yosemite, even the outskirts away from the big attractions, is such a treat. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful…until we were about 1/2 from home. Apparently there was a recycling truck that caught fire on the freeway and two lanes on the freeway were shut down. That meant that the arterial roads off the freeway were now jammed as well. It took about twice as long to get from the freeway to our house as it usually does, but judging from comments that other people posted about their traffic nightmares, we got off relatively easy! But we made it! After unloading and cleaning the trailer…in 100 degree heat…for four hours I could finally come in and eat dinner. I seriously thought I was going to pass out! There was still more laundry to do and tomorrow I’ll have to put everything back together on the inside, but tonight I’m going to sleep very well!

Just an interesting bridge…

Smoke you don’t want to see!

Smoky The Bear would not be happy! If lightening was the cause, which it looks to be, there is no way we could prevent this forest fire!

Lovely mountain lake.

Waiting to enter Yosemite…bless the rangers…so many bugs!

So much snow!

Fortunately no fires have destroyed this stretch!

Another lake/stream

Yosemite

Yosemite…Another lake perfect for me and my kayake!

Yet another lake

Yosemite

What we came home to…home sweet home!

Thunderstorms in the Sierras made for a beautiful sunset at home.

June Lake, United States

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Unfortunately, today we had to get up and move our trailer because apparently our spot had been reserved for tonight. Luckily, the people in the spot where we had to move to (2 spaces away) packed up and left first thing so we got all settled in our new spot. It’s a bit farther from the lake and next to a family with little kids, but it’s one night so…oh well. What’s annoying is that it’s almost 4 o’clock and no one has shown up for the spot we left! Is it so hard to cancel so that we don’t have to go through all the inconvenience of moving into another spot?! At least the neighbors who had the spot we were moving into left very early so that we could move and get on with our day. Speaking of getting on with our day, I got out on my kayak early before the afternoon winds! There was still some wind, but nothing like what I had yesterday! I was able to make it all the way to the other end of the lake to check out what I missed yesterday. It was a lovely way to start the day. When I came in we packed up the kayak…so sad. After fixing some lunch we hit the road for Bodie…a ghost town near Mono Lake. It started as a gold mining town, then silver mining town and then back to a gold mining. At one point they had 8,000 residents. After the mining ended, so did the town. People literally just picked up and left…leaving most of their possessions behind. The houses, church and shops are pretty much as they were when they left. It’s amazing. We are now in the trailer waiting for a storm to come through. I definitely smell rain and we’re hearing quite a bit of thunder. I’m pretty happy we’re safe and dry in the trailer and not in a tent…and that I got my kayaking done in the morning instead of now!

June Lake…the Switzerland of California?

Nice pink lifejacket for the puppy!

Don’t fall in!

So calm in the morning!

Ducks like to hang out with fishermen!

June Lake Village

June Lake Marina

June Lake Hotel

Such an amazing view!

More Ducks

A line of seagulls

There’s Bodie!

An outhouse I would not want to have to use!

Heading back to June Lake

Well hello there missy! It’s an open range but she is the only cow we saw all day!

Thanks for stopping by…

I see these abandoned buildings and wish I could know all of the history behind them.

Storm is coming!

June Lake, United States

Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today was our last day at the RV park from hell. Yesterday we thought we were granted a reprieve when a large group pulled out. Apparently, there was either another group there that we weren’t aware of or another group came in. Either way, there were kids running everywhere which means Daisy had to stay inside. I will admit that it wasn’t all bad…the location was great for me to have access to a beautiful lake and we had electricity. They did advertise that they had wi-fi but it was rarely…if ever…working. I took a shower last night…just because I was too lazy to clear out all the stuff we have stored in our shower…and it was pretty bad. We paid quite a bit to stay there and yet had to pay to use the shower! There was a meter for the water…4 quarters for 5 minutes. I did my hair and then finished off the rest hoping to “beat the clock.” Well, it turned out that it didn’t shut off at 5 minutes…it just kept going! Yay for me! The shower, though, was pretty gross so I wasn’t inclined to stay in there for too long. At any rate, we were finished with that and were moving on to our spot at June Lake. We have to change spots tomorrow, but just two spaces away so not too big of a deal. It was only going to take about an hour or so to drive there and when we got there we found that the people occupying our spot hadn’t left yet…they had until 12…so we went to the corner store and had “Real Milk” milkshakes. They were quite tasty, but definitely didn’t agree with my digestive system! Oh well, it was worth the misery! After we got the trailer set up, we blew up the kayak and took it down to launch it at the lake. There were so many people! They’ve had to shut down the beach because of too many people! Luckily, there were still spots left when we got there but we had to pay $10. Tomorrow we’re going before 11:00 and that way we won’t have to pay. Despite all of that, it was still wonderful to be on the water. It was soooo windy! I was working really hard against the wind and waves, but it was still lovely. The dogs had a great time with Steve while they were waiting for me. Daisy was diving for rocks and Lilly was trying to make friends with some birds. With all the time they’ve been spending in the car, they really had a good time running free!

Scenic view from our trailer…

Another scenic view from our trailer

Lilly is so sad that the bed is preventing her from getting in between the bed and the wall.

Creekside RV Park

What do you do when you get to your site too early and the people who had been using it haven’t left yet? Why, you get a chocolate shake with REAL milk!

View from our first site before someone moved in.

Heading to June Lake

June Lake

This guy actually did get up on a foil, but not when I could get a picture. There were a LOT of falls. I admired his persistence!

Love my kayak!

Steve watching Daisy collect rocks. Lilly took off for parts unknown!

This was a parasailer having a challenging time. There were times I was worried the sail was going to land on me!

Bishop, United States

Sat, 22 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today we woke up to see that our party people were packing up and leaving today…yay! I got out on my kayak once again and I actually found more waterfalls I hadn’t seen yesterday! After that we packed it up to be ready for our next stop. We had lunch and then drove to June Lake to see if there were any availabilities. We did find a site with no electricity or water, but for two days we’ll survive. Plus, it’s near a beautiful lake. The place we are now wasn’t the best, but it put us in one spot for a couple of days and near a beautiful lake. I’ll call that a win!

South Lake…so many waterfalls!

A fisherman and his dog, Leo. So adorable!

Hi Leo!

Bishop, United States

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today started out much better than yesterday! I think some of Steve’s good karma from his previous camper rescues worked for us because he was able to find us an RV park with full hook-ups within an hour of where we were yesterday but up in the mountains so it’s much cooler. The park is quite rustic (and quite frankly, I’m not sure how the heck Steve will get the trailer out of here since spaces are VERY close together!), but it’s a spot and we’re going to be here tonight and tomorrow night. After that we should have better luck finding spots since the weekenders will all be leaving. Again, fingers crossed! Well, maybe the good Karma was just so-so. The campground turned out to be party central for a group of families so there were kids/dogs and adults running , barking and just having a great time for them…just not the rest of the campground! The highlight of the day was getting out my kayak and taking it out on South Lake. It was spectacular. Mountains all around with waterfalls everywhere from the snow that is still melting. Paradise.

Bishop at 8,000 ft.!

South Lake…LOVE my kayak. I think I might have said that a time or two!

Such clear water!

One of many waterfalls!

Bishop, United States

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Flagstaff, United States

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Flagstaff, United States

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today was an ambitious day. We got started with a walk through a lava field and then continued on to another set of ruins. Amazing views! After that we had lunch and headed back to camp where I had a lovely, hot shower! Such a luxury! The winds calmed as promised and we had a lovely cocktail hour followed by a perfect fire by Eagle Scout Steve. After all of those positives, we ended the day on a very sour note…both dogs peed in the trailer! So guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow afternoon?!🤬🤦🏼‍🤦🏼‍♀️

Lava Rocks

Centinel Granite

Pueblo Dwellings

Marilyn, Bob, Steve, Me

Good Night Moon

Flagstaff, United States

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Steve is becoming the hero of our campground! This morning our lovely next door neighbor from Florida came over. Seems after 2 hours of packing up his car, he found out the battery was dead! He had cables but he would have to unpack the car to get them! Big Steve to the rescue! He had them on the road in no time! After he was finished with his hero duties, we took a drive up to a ski resort. They have gondolas running to give you awesome views but unfortunately they only run on weekends! It was still a beautiful drive though. When we got back it was time for our friends to arrive and we had a lovely afternoon catching up. One downside was horrendous winds we were having! Fortunately today is supposed to be the last of that!

Flagstaff Ski Resort

One way to keep the dog out of the dirt!

Flagstaff, United States

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today was a breeze compared to the day we had yesterday! I made sure I took a shower before we left figuring it might be a while before I had another one! Our next stop was only an hour away so there wasn’t a big rush to take off. We got to the campground where we will be staying for the next few days and got everything set up. We’re right next to lava fields and a crater so we decided to check them out. It really is fascinating. Then we went to see some Pueblo ruins. One thing I can say is that Spencer would have had a very hard time see the ruins because the doorways were soooo short! On the way back a young man flagged us down and asked if Steve could help him get his car unstuck. He had taken his car in an area not designated for traffic so that he could get a picture of a volcano! He had also flagged down another person. An hour later he was on his way and we were eating dinner at 9:00! Steve got some good karma though. Another fun thing about today were all the people we met. There was a couple from Waterton, NY, one from Southern California and one from Florida. Everyone has a unique story to tell!

Williams Campground

On to Flagstaff

Pueblo Dwellings

Enjoying the pueblo dwellings with Steve. If you squint, you can see him up there!

License plate of the person Steve went to help get out of the dirt…just in case Steve didn’t come back!

“Ruff” day on the road!

Williams, United States

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Today the word of the day was “pivot” or “flexible.” Our plan was to have 4-5 hour drive days which would have put us in Needles. Sounded like a good plan until the temperature was 117 degrees when we arrived at 12:30! That’s where the pivoting comes into play. We opted instead to keep driving another 3 hours until we got to Williams, AZ which was 88 degrees when we arrived. Since we pulled out of Edison at 8:00 a.m., it made for a long 7 hour day! What made the drive seem even longer was the fact that Lilly had a bit of an accident in the car so we had to smell dog urine for 3 hours!I did manage to get some interesting pictures though. For some the quality wasn’t so good because by the time I read the sign or figured out what I was looking at we were almost past it! In fact, there were several pictures I missed altogether. Very interesting sights to be seen out in the middle of nowhere. We’ll stay here for the night and then move on to the place where we’ll be for several nights and where we’ll meet up with Bob, Marilyn and my nephew in Flagstaff. The campground is rustic to say the least but it does have full hook-ups, showers and laundry (so that we can clean the dog cover in the truck). Note to self…no more Arizona meet-ups in the summer!

On the road again!

What I thought was evidence of a fire was actually volcanic rock!

More volcanic rock…

Different perspectives…

What the dogs do when traveling…

Abandoned buildings…always curious as to why and what they were originally.

Sketchy packing job!

More lovely scenery

A push me/pull you truck

Love the rock formations

Lovely scenery

Change of plans! Too hot to stay here in a trailer!

Felt pretty nervous behind this guy!

If it’s good enough for the aliens, it’s good enough for me!

This guy took a wrong turn!

Get your kicks on…

Heating up.

A car to follow!

Military landing craft

Moon during the day

That says “Walnut Creek” in case you can’t see it…obviously I almost didn’t!

Where we dropped the dogs…

Our fine dining entertainment.

Bakersfield

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:20:00 -0700

Baking in Bakersfield Today we set out for stop #1 on our way to Flagstaff…Bakersfield. Actually, we were a bit outside of Bakersfield in Edison. Either way, it was just plain hot! I’m guessing they named it Bakersfield because you are literally baking in a field! We were getting warnings as we were driving that our tires were getting hot so we were crossing our fingers that we could make it to our camping spot before the exploded or melted. The outdoor temperature was 102 degrees. Thankfully we did make it and got the air conditioners going full blast and took off so that we could give the a chance to cool things down and get some gas. It took 2 air conditioners about 4 hours to get it cooled off and they were blasting all night! My impression of Bakersfield…not a place I’d like to spend any time in. Perhaps we were just in the wrong side of town but it was kind of a depressing place to be. Most of what we saw were pot dispensaries, vape rooms, hookah dens, bars and the like. Where we are going to today is supposed to be even hotter! We got going at 8:00 a.m. in an effort to get there and get the AC going before it gets too hot!

Traffic heading out of town!

On our way…through the Mojave Desert!

Trying their best to stay cool!

Baking in a field…

Can’t say that I’ve seen oranges grow like this…we are in Orange Grove Campground though so I guess anything is possible!

Not a huge demand for camping sites when it’s 102!

Very unique pruning…Steve says it’s legit though.

So hot!

Solar farm…not sure who picks the sun rays.