The weather out there is getting kind of real. I mean, for us, I realize it got real for most of you a couple months ago. Good thing we have spent so much money on new jackets. But it probably seemed colder than it really was down in the valley, what with the snow capped hills and all. This was our third visit to Del Valle, and it sure was nice to have hookups on a chilly, rainy weekend.
We left Friday in steady rain, and though it’s a short drive, it took us a little over an hour to get through traffic. This county park is about ten miles out of Livermore, up and over a climb loved by local bicyclists, and down into a popular summertime destination. The Del Valle reservoir is quite full right now due to all the recent rain, and what was once a dry river bed on our last visit, is now close to overflowing.
I definitely have a favorite site here, 32, because of the spacious and woodsy view. There are also hookups in some of the sites, so we got to live it up with lights and fridge settings. I noted that most of the sites closer to the river were closed, either because of the big puddles in the places you might pitch a tent, or because someone is worried they’ll flood. After getting set up in our site, I can report that the Marmot Women’s Essential rain jacket is indeed waterproof.
The weekend was all about the intermittent pitter pat of rain on Dory’s roof. This was punctuated only by a couple of strolls in the campground, some report writing, and nappy time. Speaking of nappy time, I received an awesome gift from a colleague who noticed that I do not dress up for Pajama Days at school due to lack of appropriate attire. Problem solved. Being easy to shop for is the BEST.
Sunday night it is supposed to snow on the valley floor. We’ll miss that, but I still got to go out for a nightly walk in my new Marmot Montreaux down jacket (complete with fuzzy faux dead thing around the hood). Richard is done with winter, but I’m still enjoying my new gear. I could do a couple more winter weekends.
Total miles: 42.3, 15.7 mpg, 1 hour 19 min. Site: 32. Full hookup site, but the dump outlet is kinda hard to reach and slopes the wrong way, so we just used the regular dump. Sites in the lower loop by the water do not have hookups but could be Doryable. No cell service. With booster, we got spotty 3G. No generators allowed in the campground. Nice bathrooms.
Coworker: What adventure do you have planned for this weekend? Me: Storms in Half Moon Bay. That about sums it up. Did that ruin the weekend? Nope. Would we have felt differently if we only went out twice a year? Probably. One of the benefits of going out so often is that there are no expectations riding on anything. So if we just want to hang out, run the heater, and watch the rain from inside, that is a perfect weekend.
I will say the winds got serious Friday night and we both woke up from the buffeting. I wasn’t worried about flipping over or anything, but you could feel the whole trailer rocking. Saturday we ventured out during a break in the rain for a romantic walk on the beach. Pro tip: romance can only be enhanced by the continuous blasting of sand in one’s face, carried by 40 mph winds. We did get a fair test of my new Patagonia Down Sweater and it kept me nice and warm. Richard gets his down puffy in a week or so, so we’ll be fully outfitted for Winter by the time Spring arrives.
Not much to report. We got take out dinner again from 
This was one well earned weekend. So well earned, in fact, that I am still quite sore. But let’s back up… Last weekend was the first of two sequentially scheduled weekends at home. What on earth could prompt something so drastic? Well, it turns out we have a bicycle problem. Or at least, one of us does, and we were finally forced to confront the situation in a dramatic way now that our son has a legitimate need for his own. 
There was no way we were going to fit another in the garage, so we rented the smallest size dumpster possible (i.e. “ginormous petite”) and planned to clear away the contents of twenty years of accumulated junk into it. Knowing we were going to have a dumpster available, we also set a Part B goal for getting rid of the twenty year old play structure. Extra credit and Part C was loading the newly repaired Subie full of toxic chemicals (mostly paint) to be disposed of at an authorized place. Couldn’t we have simply gotten rid of just one of the bicycles, you ask? Let’s just say the dumpster route was way easier.
The project went as planned, including the extra credit tasks, primarily because we told ourselves that if we finished everything in one weekend, we could earn the right to go camping the next. So when it was dumping rain on Sunday and we were out there, slipping and falling down in the mud, bashing out cedar dowels, hauling heavy beams, and sawing apart what could not be bashed, we were thinking to ourselves, “Worth it.”
Reveling in the glory of a mission accomplished ahead of schedule, we arranged to camp at a place in the foothills so that we could facilitate an Alto tour with the couple who’d planned to visit us at our house. Lake Don Pedro is just off Highway 120, the road that goes to Yosemite, and it looked like a nice spot, not too far from the couple. Friday I got home promptly after school and we were in the final stages of the hitching process when we both noticed the hitch seemed really low. We said that out loud even. Then, I looked over at the rear driver’s side tire on Bruce and it was as flat as a tire can possibly be. The culprit was obvious: a big wood screw, undoubtedly from the play structure, was jammed in all the way to the head. I must say, we moved through the stages of disbelief and/or disappointment in a highly efficient manner and just started doing things. One of the things was figuring out which number to call for roadside assistance and getting a person who knew something on the phone as quickly as possible.
As we were waiting on hold, we started emptying all of the camping gear onto the driveway so that we could get to the emergency equipment. This definitely felt like deja vu from the Subie battery incident. With everything removed, we clearly saw words stating, “Spare Tire (if equipped)” and a big huge arrow pointing to a button. Obviously, we pushed the button. Nothing happened. You can now begin to imagine the scene as we just kept pushing the button with more force, and then, with the assistance of tools in order to apply additional force. When the roadside assistance person finally picked up, we were both just barely subduing our frustration and Richard launched into an explanation of how the spare tire button didn’t seem to work. The person then silently assessed our mechanical developmental skill level and asked, “Are you sure you have a spare?” “Well, we think so?” (it seemed like something we would have thought to include when we purchased the tow vehicle). “Can you see it under the car?” We both bent down simultaneously. “Oh yeah! There it is!” 
At this point we realized three things. First, the spare is not like a full size tire we can just put on and go our merry towing way. Second, it would take far longer to wait for someone to come do this than for us to do it ourselves and try to get a new tire from Acura before they closed. The third thing we realized, critical to our decision making process, was that the button we had been pushing was actually a cap covering the bolt thingy you turn to lower the spare. Ignoring an overwhelming preponderance of empirical data, we decided to trust to our combined problem solving abilities and do it ourselves. I have to say, though we must have looked pretty idiotic throughout the process, we got er done with time to spare (get it?).
Richard called ahead to Acura, where incidentally, we’d just taken Bruce for a service after winter break and were told we should start thinking about getting two new rear tires. Sold! They were ready for me on arrival and I swear they had me rolling again in twenty minutes, with me enthusiastically signing for whatever price they wanted to charge. I was on my way, returning home by 6. I don’t usually like towing in the dark, but decided this too would be worth it so that we wouldn’t feel as though we’d lost the weekend. So all the camping gear went back in, we got hitched up again, and pulled onto the road as the last glimmers of daylight faded away.
The entire drive to Lake Don Pedro was done in the dark, so we were pleased in the morning to see that our site had a lovely view overlooking the lake. Richard went on a bike ride, recommended by our touring couple, and I spun Dory to get a nicer angle. My job Saturday was to get through three reports. It would have been two, but I couldn’t get a single thing done during dumpster weekend. I didn’t mind at all though. I was happy to type away, enjoying the lake view, while not falling in mud or swinging a crow bar around.
Sunday we lazed for a while, sitting in our swing chairs looking at the view. You can just see the snow capped mountains of Yosemite on the horizon and the weather was all blue skies and nicely warm. Eventually, we headed home and got the see the route we’d driven Friday night. I think this place would make for a lovely weekend location. There are electric and water hookups and good cell service. Site 13 is definitely a winner. Anything further along on that loop will give you a view of some kind of boat repair or storage place. I believe there is a boat launch somewhere, so it might also make a nice boating destination. All in all, we were happy, and definitely impressed, that we were able to get out there at all. Nice.
Oh yes, one footnote. Have you noticed how we use ice packs as weights for the camping mat? Great idea right? Well, just be careful if you do this because if you accidentally step on one, the cap flies off, turning it into a water bomb land mine. Richard’s shoe and sock are still wet.
Nothing inspires a shopping spree like discomfort. Since our winter in the desert, we have purchased additional Smartwool base layers, insulated hiking pants, super warm long sleeve hoodies and pullovers, 2 down jackets, plus a down parka that comes down to my calves and has faux fur trim on the hood. All of this for next winter because weekend temperatures around where we live are really not that cold. We got to test some of the new gear this weekend in Napa and felt overheated, proving we had the right stuff.
So, we gave up, figuring this was beyond our skill set, and it would be better to call a tow truck anyway. Sadly, by the time the tow truck actually arrived the next day, it was pick up time at an elementary school of 800 students. Apologies to all those blocked in while the green Outback was getting hauled away to Subie Urgent Care.
The Historical Trail in Bothe Napa State Park will take you from the 
I have to say, it was pretty cool. Not a place to be if you have Celiac disease because the dust of freshly milled flour filled the air. They sell bags of it as part of their historical society. It was a nice historical park and not too far from the campground. The trail goes up and then down through lovely oaks and across a stream. We had to step carefully because of the recent rain. All told it was a little over a mile each way.
We finished out our holiday break with a long stay at a familiar campground. We’ve come to really love the area around Morro Bay, as it offers hiking, biking, kayaking, plus full amenities and great restaurants.
The campground looks fine and is just a tiny walk to a nice sandy beach. Only possible downside is again the proximity to the train tracks. We’ll tuck that one away for the future.
We used the generator many times and even used the Barker twice. These two items have given us the ability to be essentially limitless in terms of resources. Propane we had to refill once and we ran the heater a lot, even over night. There’s a fine line somewhere on the temperature setting vs. Richard’s ability to sleep without waking up to the sound of the heater kicking in. In general, we ran it as low as I could tolerate and learned that “off” crosses that line for me in a nasty way.
On one of the five days of our stay, I ventured into San Luis Obispo on a mission. This trip has taught me one thing: I am inadequately prepared for cold weather. This extends to emotional preparedness, but more specifically, I need better clothes. That part I can fix and I went to see what was available in stores in an attempt to fix it quickly. In the third of three outdoor clothing stores visited, I was able to locate a nice Patagonia fleece pullover and another set of Smartwool long underwear in a heavier weight. Speaking of heavier weight, I will again bemoan the lack of availability of outdoor clothing in larger sizes. I have also ordered a Marmot jacket online that is basically a sleeping bag you can wear. This jacket screams, “I am not messing around here.” It should be waiting for me when we get home and I’m very excited. This foray into winter wear brought up many questions and much advice seeking on the topic of cleaning down things. We have much to learn.
Our last day of winter break brought steady rain starting at about 11 am. I made the decision to leave the awning up because I wanted to see how it fares now that we have the center pole. We spent the day inside, baking cornbread and watching as pooling water created pockets in the shape of huge inverted boobs. There does appear to be an upward limit to the size of the boobs though, as eventually enough water will collect that it creates an escape channel and most of the water tumbles off the side. Or a gust of wind will come and the awning will puff up, evacuating any remaining pools. This is fairly entertaining to monitor on a super lazy day. Weather said the winds were going at 15 mph and it held up. I did add two additional stability points using tarp clips and guy lines at the sides of the arc pole to keep it from blowing inward. It jiggled and flapped, but did not collapse.
Once we started to reconsider our reservations in Joshua Tree, I jumped online earlier in the week and reserved a “Plan B” site in Morro Bay for five whole nights. We tossed around other ideas, but ended up not wanting to try any of the national parks during the chaos of the shutdown.
I took way too many pictures, as is my way, and had a hard time deleting any. Linda pulled in just at the tail end of the show and we gathered again in her little big rig for one last New Year’s toast.
Oh right, there is also a train that runs immediately next to the sites. Some might think this would make sleeping difficult, but on the contrary, Richard got his best night’s sleep in days, apparently lulled by the sound of the surf, periodically punctuated by the roar and rumble of the Amtrak express. We’d stay there again on the way from here to there because you really can’t beat the view. Thanks for the recommendation Linda!
Uh oh. We are liking this Christmas in the desert thing quite a lot. So, it seems, are the offspring. This may become a new tradition. In all of these campgrounds, and during all of our desert hikes, we are cognizant of how horrible it could all be in the summer heat. We are being careful about freezing temperatures overnight, but winter hikes make all the difference in terms of enjoyment.
We left Red Rock and made a stop at the Barstow Home Depot. You gotta love Barstow for being an oasis of services conveniently located in the middle of a huge expanse of nothing. Our goal was to pick up pipe insulation and zip ties because we didn’t get to that project before we left. So, on Christmas Eve Day, we found ourselves in the plumbing aisle, looking up files and posts in the Altoistes group about what size we’d need if we wanted to protect the water pipes against freezing. Every winter, there are dozens of posts about this, as people who live in other areas have to winterize their trailers. I brazenly ignore all of them. I understand the concept, but that’s about it. Thank God for the Facebook search feature and for Altoistes who are willing to talk to us even when we’re being obnoxious. Really, we were just looking for overnight low protection and figured we could dump the fresh water if need be by leaving the outside drain valve open. In any case, we left Barstow with a full gas tank and a couple lengths of insulation in the car.
The Hole in the Wall Campground is first come, first served and is accessible only from the south, off of Interstate 40. There are long stretches with no services, so do be careful out there, people. Filling up in Barstow left us with just over a half a tank of gas by the time we arrived, but there is one other gas station slightly closer, plus it’ll be mostly downhill when we leave, so I think we’ll be ok. On December 24th, the campground had people, but there were still multiple sites available. We even got to choose between a couple of really nice ones. Again, the desert landscape is just gorgeous, and again, we were overwhelmed by the nighttime starry sky.
Christmas Day brought us the gift of a friend, but a bit of dehydration for me. It’s easy to lose track of drinking water when it’s cold, but the air is very dry, and the wind and heater blowing on me all the time really will deplete a body’s moisture. Also it doesn’t help if you sip wine all evening and don’t alternate that with water. Richard went and checked out some of the shorter hikes, but I opted to replenish and do some thank you cards. 
Linda the full timing Altoiste pulled into the campground in the afternoon and got set up in the site right next to us. For dinner: another Omnia experiment with an adorable tiny ham, green beans, and fingerling potatoes. We just placed everything inside and cooked for 30 minutes, since we couldn’t really rely on steam. At that amount of time, everything was reheated and cooked nicely except the potatoes. We just cooked them another 5-10 minutes and they were done, but in the future, I think I’d cut them up smaller. It was lovely to entertain for Xmas in Dory!
We tackled one of the longer hikes on Wednesday, taking the Barker Peak Loop Trail about 6 miles total. This is a well signed trail and the only tricky spot was finding the gap in a barbed wire fence, because it was hard to see. The geology is pretty diverse, with sudden protrusions of white rock making Flinstones-like neighborhoods on the side of the mountain. Much of the rock is volcanic and the holes were apparently formed by pockets of trapped gas, covered by ash and then buried. There was also a surprising section with shimmering Opalite stones covering a small area of hillside. 
The hike down the western side of the loop took us through what looked like a professionally designed cactus garden. From there, it was a scenic and gentle descent through a valley and up to the decision point for whether to take the “Rings Trail” or go another mile around the base of the mountain back to the Visitor Center. Richard had tried it and gave me good beta. The two important pieces of information were: it’s easier than the ladder of the Notch Trail, and you only have to go up, never down. 
So I went for it and I concur that it was not scary because you are kind of wedged in the rocks and the rings make solid hand holds. The only trouble was one place where it was a serious stretch to reach the next ring and this apparently is a common complaint amongst the vertically challenged. But I made it! And did not have to go down.
The south side of Mojave is really quite remote and anything town-like is at least 60 miles away. We needed to replenish some groceries and we also wanted to fill up the gas tank, so we spent the day Thursday going to Needles. There is a high priced gas station 7 miles down I-40, but it doesn’t have 91-grade gas and is priced for the desperate. We weren’t quite there, so we kept going. Needles lies in a wide valley with several other little towns. There is full shopping to be found if you’re willing to drive. We opted for the dependability of Walmart, just across the state line (Colorado River) in Arizona, and got groceries as well as other odds and ends. Then back to Dory for some generator time before quiet hours.
Friday we did a few housekeeping projects before gaining another Altoiste in the campground. We’d been keeping a close eye on nighttime temperatures and decided to go ahead and insulate the drainpipes. The process was straightforward, but logistically challenging. First off, it’s pretty tight lying under the trailer and I was conscious of how much I was relying on the sturdiness of the leveling blocks and chocks to keep me from getting squished. It was also really tricky to shove the insulating material over and behind the axles and wiring harnesses. One of them came out pretty good, but the other I couldn’t cover fully without interfering with the caravan mover housing. So I just did part of it. I also could not get to the pipes that go from side to side under the trailer because they seem to be hidden in R-series trailers, either under the holding tanks, or inside the axle cover. In the end, I think what I got to is pretty secure and good insurance for surprise overnight lows, but when we know it’s going to go below 32, we’ll do what we did: turn off the pump, open the drain valve, and leave open interior faucets. It seems to have worked but we might have been ok doing nothing. Better safe.
The other project of the day was to dump the grey tank using portable grey tank #3. We officially approve of this one. There was no spillage dumping from Dory and we were able to tow the thing all the way on a rocky, unpaved road to the dump station. The lower location of the outgoing dump valve makes for an easy operation and good rinsing. I recommend getting a dry sack to carry the two dump hoses after they’ve been rinsed, just to have somewhere to put them. Thumbs up on the Barker.
That night, the second Linda arrived and we got to hang out and celebrate an early Happy New Year together. That put three different models of Alto in the campground, with the 2114 being the clear winner in terms of space. It was comfortable for the four of us to gather around her front dining table while her three dogs sprawled out on the rear king size bed. She kept the heat nice and balmy, helping take off the chill from the freezing winds outside.
Saturday we all decided to go for a road tour (and propane run) in the heated cars. We took Bruce, while the Lindas went together in the dog-runner truck. Mojave is a huge park, so just driving from one side to the other will push close to 100 miles. It’s 20 miles just to get from the campground to I-40, then another 20 to get to Kelbaker Road, which runs North-South through the middle of the preserve. Along the way, we stopped at the Kelso Dunes, so now I’ve seen in person the desktop image for Apple’s Mojave operating system. There you go. 
There is also a Visitor Center not too far away at Kelso Station, but it was closed due to the government shut down, leaving a long desperate line of people waiting for the two-stall bathroom outside. Richard does so enjoy visitor centers, so it was too bad to miss the standard informational movie. The rest of the drive up to Baker, CA took us past cinder cones and Joshua Trees where we’d occasionally stop to snap some photos. We all wound up at the propane filling place so we could be assured of lasting another couple of cold nights, then we all filled gas to ensure we’d make it back and be able to tow ourselves outta there. Distances between services are quite far in the desert.
Sunday was our final day in Mojave and since the cold and windy weather had eased up, Richard got out for a bike ride. I met him up at the CA State Park, situated at the tippy top of an impressive climb. Here is where you can book tours for the Mitchell Caverns and we were lucky to get two spots for the second (and last) tour of the day. I think this is the third cave system we’ve been to now, and we do enjoy them. I am getting to know the terms: speleothem, shield formation, and soda straw. The interior of the cave system maintains a consistent 65 degrees and represented a nice warm shelter from the cold winds.
Following a night of early Happy New Year toasting and giggles, we all woke to a snowstorm. Well, ok, maybe storm isn’t quite the word. But it was legit snowing. I mean, it was frozen water that came out of the sky. Flurries were gathering on the ground. Well, maybe not flurries so much as dozens of unmelted particles, visible for a short time on the step. Listen, we were impressed.
