Carpe Dory (2)

This three day weekend began on a bit of a sombre note for me, as it was the first time we’d been back to the Lake Solano campground since the fires of 2020. I was happy it is still there, knowing that it sustained a lot of burn damage. But the changes were unmistakable. At least to me. Richard has no visual memory, so everything is continually new to him. From that perspective, there was no sour note whatsoever. Even the burned out tree trunks lining the hillsides probably just seem a part of the natural landscape. And life is finding a way back. The birds on the river are beautiful and plentiful, and the ground is now covered in lush green grass. At least one peacock still roams the park, and I choose to imagine the others were able to relocate safely. And all the sites have nice new tables, so we shall keep swimming, shan’t we?

Our day trip Saturday sort of continued the post apocalyptic fire theme since Richard rode, and I sagged, over to Lake Berryessa. Many of the same feelings there. I did take a stop at the Monticello Dam to have a look at the “Morning Glory” spillway tube. The water levels were way too low for it to do its thing, but that must be quite a sight to see a sudden swirling vortex of water, disappearing into what must look like a multidimensional portal. No portals today and it would take a whole lot more rain before that happens.

The Turtle Rock Bar, the one with hundreds of dollar bills stuck to the ceiling, survived the fires, though it looks like it was a close call. There are homemade signs all over the area thanking the firefighters and first responders. Heroes for sure. I cannot even imagine how hard a job that must be. Our little shelter in place campground got a little beaten up, but it, too, hung on valiantly. It is my goal to get out there to camp again this spring. It’s not like there is an online reservation system though. You have to call to leave a message for Rebecca and Brandon to secure a site, so that has been added to our list of things to do.

Sunday was spent doing much lighter activities. Richard went on a long bike ride around the Vaca valley, and got lost for good measure. I got my boat in the water for the first time in a while. The weather was that nice. This section of Putah Creek is dammed at both ends and essentially forms a lake. The wildlife thriving here is just amazing. There were so many Great Blue Herons, and Egrets, Ospreys, and funny little black and white floating birds whose names I don’t know. I didn’t see any otters, not for lack of trying, but I’m sure they’re ok and out there being cute. As Richard found his way back to Putah Creek Road, I had service and was able to track him coming toward the lake. There is a place where the road runs right along side the shore and he found me and stopped. That was fun. He says he wants to try that ride again and maybe not get lost next time because it was a way bigger day than he’d planned.

One thing that sort of fascinated me was the flow of the river. It seems to have distinct times of slow current vs. calm. I could imagine some of this might be due to controlled releases of water through either dam, but that’s just a guess. I swear though, at one point I saw the current run upstream in a way that couldn’t be explained by wind, and that is still a mystery to me. If anyone out there is an expert on the Putah Creek water flows, I’m curious to hear more.

Sunday night treated us to a very nice sunset show, which Richard points out we would not have been able to see under dense tree cover. He’s good at finding bright sides. And of course, three day weekends are always nice. I do wish there were better cell service in the campground, and that got us thinking about our cell booster. We still have a whole set up, but would need a new antenna pole. We used to keep on in Dory1’s rear bumper, so that’s a goner. There is an element of no service that can be nice, as a break from it all, but generally speaking, I prefer service. Even if it’s just to shop online for telescoping antenna poles.

Gratitude to the firefighters for what was saved. Healing thoughts for all that was lost. Appreciation for the beauty that remains. Wonder at the new life that comes back again and again.

Total miles: 59.9, 17.1 mpg, 2 hours 15 min avoiding highways. Site 34 electric hookups. Nice site close to the water and can launch close by. Real boat launch across the street at the day use community park. Good dump. In fact two dumps. Practically no service unless you leave the campground or go up to the highest sites, or go out on the water past the bridge. Lots of road noise from highway 128, but didn’t care. Gate to park closes at 9pm and after that you can only exit.

It took long enough, but I think we are learning how to do Napa the right way. It does take some forethought to reserve a tasting at a nice winery, but the positive reinforcement of a truly divine Saturday afternoon will likely result in repeating this behavior in the future. Rombauer is not the easiest place to reserve, especially now, with Covid restrictions about how many people they can allow at a time, but Richard got me a nice slot at 2pm. Meanwhile, he rode the Franz Valley loop and then met me at the winery to be my designated driver. I was pretty happy sitting and enjoying the beautiful gardens, and walked out with a contented buzz and a very nice Cabernet.

When we departed Sunday, we decided to try using the dump at Skyline Wilderness RV park, on the south side of the valley. Bothe Napa does not have a dump, and the nearby fairgrounds are closed. So there are not a lot of options out that way. But this gave Richard the chance to ride the Silverado Trail twenty nine miles down the valley and that is just a spectacular part of California. You can still see the devastating burn scars from all of the fires, but the ground is coming alive with green now, so it’s a little less upsetting.

As I waited for him to arrive, I parked just outside the park and went through a major meal planning overhaul, by going through years of curated “Doryable” Blue Apron recipe cards. I’m on kind of a mission. Years of la la la-ing are starting to catch up to me, and the time has come to pay more attention to all things health. This includes, but is not limited to, actually knowing how many calories all of those fancy Blue Apron meals are. I must say, while “surprised” is not the word, I guess I am “impressed.” Yes, it’s good to eat lots of kale and healthy sounding things like farro and quinoa, but there is a reason it has been so delicious. The good news is that Blue Apron seems to be aware and are now providing lots more meal choices that are categorized as “Wellness” or “Weight Watchers Approved.” It’ll take some time, but I’m confident I can build back a repertoire of more manageable meals. And, you know, learn to love baby carrots again, and all that. I know some of my big landmines already, but I’m nothing if not a good planner. And I’m prepared to be grumpy. And Richard is prepared for me to be grumpy. So it’s all good.

The important thing here is that you can totally plan for wine. So as long as there are calorie free rainbows and apps that let me make Rombauer and Penny’s Diner happen occasionally, I can (grumpily) do this.

Also, we should try staying at Skyline Wilderness some time. We saw an Alto there but did not see the tow car, so the owners must have been out. It is very convenient to the more southern wineries, or the big town of Napa. I like Bothe Napa for the woodsy feel, but there is a lot of wine country out there to explore.

Here’s to rain and rainbows in California, healing the burns of the past. And here’s to shaking up the unhealthy habits and trying out new ones. In the middle of another Covid surge, dare I say I feel hopeful? Maybe that’s the Cabernet talking.

Total miles: 63.5, 16.4 mpg, 2 hours 10 min. Site 20 no hookups. Good solar. In and out service for ATT, better LTE for Verizon. No dump. Paid $30 to dump at Skyline Wilderness in Napa.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off in terms of covering the miles to line us up for this stop, but it was worth a long day and a fight to make this “crazy idea” a reality for our last night of winter break. Because we didn’t have too far to travel, we were able to get to the area with plenty of day left to dump at New Brighton, and then get a released site at Seacliff. If you haven’t ever tried to reserve this campground online, it is next to impossible to click fast enough to actually grab a site before one of the other thirty-nine million people trying for it beat you out. A better bet is to monitor cancellations. And the third way was new to me. Apparently, there are often sites that have been cancelled that get released at exactly 2:00 on the day. You can put your name on a waiting list, and depending on how many they have, and how many people are there on the list, you just might get lucky. Was it a gamble to think we’d get a place on the coast with no reservations? For sure. But it turned out there were plenty of sites getting released at both Seacliff and at New Brighton. We were doing a happy dance as we set up in the same place we started from, two weeks before.

I got to bask in extra awesome 5g while Richard did get to go on his bike ride after all. I got an IEP written so I wouldn’t be stressed getting back to work on Tuesday, and he got an eclair at Gayle’s Bakery. He also brought one back for me.

There isn’t much more to say about the fun factor of Seacliff, except this time we saw something weird in the sky during sunset viewing time. I wonder if it might be from a small meteorite because the vapor trail is so strange. If you look at the pictures, you can see how the vapor disperses into a spiral pattern. And you can see it begin, in one of the reflection shots, from above. We didn’t really notice it until it grew into a clear helix shape. Before then, it just looked like a vapor trail. Then I looked back at all the photos I’d taken and saw that it was there! I thought it was pretty cool, regardless of what created it. Maybe there is new technology out there that will let you create pretty sunset clouds. I’d buy that.

We had the best time, defrosting, un-dampening, and loving our last night of winter break. There was a walk to ice cream in the evening, of course, and we watched “Don’t Look Up,” for our nighttime entertainment. That was great. There is nothing better than waking up to that morning view of the waves, right in front of you. Meanwhile, it’s toasty warm inside and you can sip your latte and just stare. Of course, lots of people stare back, without realizing you are looking at them. But that is also fun.

We had a super great time in the desert. Of course, the highlight was meeting up with Francois. We saw some amazing rocks and some cool wildlife. We hit freezing temps and high winds a few times, but do not seem to be any the worse for wear. All in all, this was a perfect farewell to 2021 and a positive ushering in of 2022. This year’s first lesson is to take care when speaking words and notice when they are coming from a place of anxiety. If we can learn to say, “I’m feeling anxious” instead of some of the things we say instead, or at least get there a little sooner, that would be a very positive thing.

Total miles: 156.3 from Cerro Alto, 17.1 mpg, 3 hours 10 min. Site B3. No hookups. Excellent cell for both. Park very strict about being fully self contained – like they will ask you to prove you have a black tank and know how to dump it. Can only guess what horrors have transpired to bring about that level of scrutiny.

We had to check this place out. We kept passing it on our way to Morro Bay and were intrigued because it has Alto in its name. In this instance, I was looking for a place that was a little further than Bakersfield and the location was pretty good. Online reviews warned of a narrow road to the campground, but we also saw pictures of much larger trailers that had made it. I figured, if we couldn’t get a site there, it wasn’t too far from Morro Bay, with lots of possible places to stay.

During our slog from Barstow to the Tehachapi Pass, we stopped at a rest area, like you do, and I noticed the cover for the dump hose holder was off and dangling by its leash. This caused me to wonder if we still had a dump hose, and the answer was no. Somewhere on Highway 58 there is a used blue dump hose. But this meant we really needed to get a new one, on New Year’s Day. Luckily, we were heading towards Bakersfield where there are lots of camping supply places and we called to verify that Camping World was open and had dump hoses. Not a huge detour and now we have a new hose with one of those clear elbows. That’s kind of ew and not something we ever really wanted to get, but we only needed something that would get us home.

After that stop, I wanted to keep going but didn’t have a strong commitment to any particular campground. I wanted to get over closer to Highway 101 for a possible stay on the coast the next day as a last hurrah. And I knew taking 46 over the small pass between the central valley and the 101 valley was quite pleasant. We remembered seeing the army of oil derricks in Lost Hills and Google remembered that we asked what that was the last time we went through. Some day we will need to stop at the Lavender Gardens and I’ll bet it’s amazing when everything is blooming.

Just out of curiosity, I aimed for this little forest service campground outside Atascadero and set a course. We arrived around 4, so we were cutting it close with remaining daylight. It was only a mile of road off of Highway 41, but as soon as I turned, I saw what the negative campground reviews were talking about in terms of the narrowness of the road. Nevertheless, I pressed forward, really hoping no one would come the other direction. I got nervous about getting stuck, but we found someone out walking who gave us beta on the road up ahead. He said there was a turnaround loop at the end, big enough for a big trailer, so we kept going.

After a narrow, winding approach, and several tent sites along the way, we came to the main part of the campground. There were maybe a dozen sites, and not all of them could have accommodated Dory. Plus, most of the sites were already taken, so it was not looking good. Thankfully, the site I had stopped at, with a reserved sign clipped to its post, was not reserved for that night. Richard found the campground host and confirmed that it was ours if we wanted it. Sold!

It’s actually a lovely, peaceful little campground. There was a babbling stream right behind us, and lots of forest canopy to create a really pretty ambiance. There was a very long trailer in the site across from us and I can only imagine them making that narrow drive. But there they were, so clearly it could be done. The rest were vans or rooftop tent campers. We saw people in tents on our way up, but it hit freezing temps that night, so I was sure glad not to be them.

This is the part of the trip where we often hit relationship potholes. It’s like clockwork. As soon as we start to track back home after a longer trip, we usually experience a day where there is some kind of miscommunication that escalates way farther than it should. This is usually directly connected to how many hours we’ve spent in the car that day, which usually increases as we’re making tracks back home, and is of course completely related to the internalized realization that we are going home. Anyway, on this day, it went from, “Would you like to get in a bike ride in the morning around Morro Bay?” …yada yada… “Maybe we should just go home and never camp again.” Or words to that effect with lots of words in between.

There is no need to worry. We figured it out and it’s all good. But we are going to try to get better at noticing signs of vapor lock. Like when one of us is saying irrational things and we are heading back home, the other one is going to try to notice that and stop listening to the words coming out of that person’s mouth hole. Because it’s probably just crazy vapor lock talk. And we are both going to try to get better about noticing those moments in ourselves and maybe say, “I’m feeling anxious.” That might reduce the time spent unwinding everything after the fact. But then, it’s sometimes good to work through tangles. We always manage to come out more connected on the other side.

When we got up in the morning, we still didn’t really know where we were heading that day, but we knew it was freezing cold in Cerro Alto and that we could figure out the rest of the day on our way. Like so freezing that there was ice on the windshield and frost on everything. (People in actual cold places just rolled their eyes.) Richard was trembling hard hitching up, but he was also wearing shorts, so…

My impression of this campground is maybe skewed. I’m not sure I’d go back. For one thing, it’s close enough to Morro Bay that if I knew I was going to be in the area, I’d want to go there. For another thing, unless I knew I could get a site that would fit Dory, it would be risky. I know #16 works, and you can reserve in advance on recreation.gov, but even a longer Alto would hit a slope in the pad that would make leveling a big challenge. The max RV length listed is 25′ but I think that’s a stretch. It’s a pretty campground, with the stream and all, but that likely only runs in the winter or spring. There is a hiking trail you can do, if you have time, that is supposed to offer great views of Morro Bay. We were lucky getting an open site on a gamble, but I’m not sure I’d try that again. I would either try to reserve 16 (or others I could verify would work), or I’d push on. But, all things considered, it was a needed stop, in more ways than one, and I was grateful for it.

Total miles: 270.8 miles from Yermo, 16.8 mpg, 6 hours 14 min with a stop in Bakersfield Camping World. Site 16. No electric. Water spigots could not verify potable water. No dump. Very little cell service for both. Sometimes moments of 1 bar of LTE, but then others of no service. 10 or so miles down Highway 41 from Atascadero, then 1 windy mile of narrow campground road.

Listen. When you’re on the road for a while and you’ve been out of cell service or wifi for a lot of that time, it can take a toll. Sometimes all you want is a safe place, out of the wind, with cell service, decent wifi, and maybe hookups so you can live it up. So here we are.

We have reached the point in our trip when we have to start making tracks back home. It was not a terribly long drive from Death Valley to the Barstow area and we had a plan. We were going to stay again at Calico Ghost Town, but instead of getting a site in the upper part of the campground, behind the cell blocking hills, we were going to ask for one down low that would surely hit the cell towers. We didn’t have reservations, but I mean, come on. We did call just to verify there was plenty of availability, and there was, so no worries. Here’s what we did not know: New Year’s Eve is a huge event for OHV people. The hills around Calico are chock full of off roading trails. Add those two pieces of information together and you’ve got yourself a jam packed campground in the big rig pull through section down low. Everyone down there was whooping it up with their giant flags, blinky light up OHVs, and 2-3 bars of LTE. Damn them.

We tried to make an up-the-hill site work and went as far as doing a complete unhitch and set up to try it out. Here’s the other thing: it was super windy. So part of set up included using the Caravan Mover to spin Dory into the wind. It was a lot. And once we were done, despite the fact we’d gotten 1-2 bars from the car, there was no service in Dory. We sat there for like a minute and I pulled the plug.

Before relocating 3 miles down the road, we did drive down and verify that: a) there was cell service, and b) there was less wind down there. With both requirements met, we went back up hill, unspun and re-hitched Dory, and moved.

For having dissed the Barstow KOA in the past, I must formally apologize. They have a lovely campground, with strategically planted, wind breaking trees. And enough LTE to upload pictures for the blog. And they are even closer to Penny’s Diner than Calico. We were happy campers who repented our snooty ways. Super thank you to Jessica, who was working at Penny’s all by herself on New Year’s Eve and made us the absolute best breakfast for dinner. Happy New Year!

Total miles: 173.1 from Furnace Creek, 15.0 mpg, 3 hours 56 min. Site 2. We had dumped on arrival at Calico, before realizing that was not going to work out. Dump at KOA not good so did not dump the next morning. Great LTE for both and wifi easy to hit from the sites. Right by the highway, whatever. Close to gas and Penny’s so it’s a win.

We were pleased to wake up to minimal wind in the morning. Our route out of the Las Vegas valley took us up Highway 95 through lonely, sandy countryside, dotted with Mesquite shrubs and billboards suggesting we were near Area 51 (we weren’t). We cut south across highway 373 to Death Valley Junction and then made the descent into the valley on Highway 190. This route is a very calm and beautiful way to enter the park, with stunning views and no terrifying drop-offs (like the western section of 190 between “Father Crowley Overlook” and Panamint Springs).

Before we got set up in our site, we saw signs saying the campground dump was closed. There is another one, used for the Sunset and Texas Springs campgrounds, but the line was long and the rinse water ran slow. We were there for a while before coming back to unhitch. The Furnace Creek campground has nice amenities and even some sites with hookups. Ours did not, but we were fine. The first item on the list of things to scope out was whether there was still wifi at the Visitor Center. That is a nope. And though both our phones showed 4 bars of 3g, it barely counted. Nothing internetty would load, and though you could text, it took 8-10 minutes to send. So it was going to be another 3 days with little to no service. Oh well, that’s camping for you.

Right as we entered the campground, I spotted the unmistakable shape of an R-series Alto. Of course, we had to go say hello and make sure we knew the owners. In fact, it was a couple we’d camped with at another Altogather, and know well from the Altoistes group. They were going to be heading over to Valley of Fire next and were aware that overnight temperatures would get below freezing. We traded thoughts on pipes and temperature thresholds and generally agreed that Altos can take a lot. They had an impressive antenna set up for ham radio signal. Richard and I actually both have ham radio licenses, but we haven’t used our radios in years. I started to wonder if that might be a great solution for communication in these no service situations. I wonder where those radios might be….

Having a couple hours of daylight left, and knowing that rain was coming, we decided to hit the 20 Mule Team Road. That is another E ticket ride and I can’t decide whether I prefer that one or the Artist’s Drive. Both take you through some of the most colorful canyons in the park, through twisty turny paths that make you feel like you are on a Disneyland ride. All that is missing is the music and animatronic singing animals. 20 Mule Team Road is unpaved, but the conditions are good enough for pretty much any car to manage. Maybe not a Ferrari. Don’t take your Ferrari. It is not a washboard, jiggle your teeth experience, like some of the other trailhead roads. There are tight corners and it’s not like I would recommend bringing a trailer along, but as long as there has not been recent rain, it’s a very easy and fun road to drive. We had a few minutes of sun, which we watched disappear behind clouds at Zabriskie Point. Then it was back to Dory for dinner and a movie.

For our first full day in the park, we headed south, toward Badwater Basin. Richard rode all the way from the campground around Artist’s Drive, and I caught up with him at the end, after he’d gotten about an hour head start. I’ve done this drive a couple of times, and it never gets old. The colors of the rocks look very different, depending on the light, so it’s worth repeating. From there, we drove on a couple miles until we saw the dirt road leading to the Natural Bridge trail. This road was super bumpy. But the trail was nice, and only about a third of a mile to see the huge rock bridge. Then we continued down to the lowest point in the park. At 282 feet below sea level, the Badwater salt flats attract lots of visitors. The parking lot was overflowing, and I was curious about Badwater Road continuing south, so we just drove on down the road for a while.

Eventually we came to the turnoff to get to Sidewinder Canyon Trail. This is a slot canyon we’d heard about, but knew very little of in terms of how difficult a hike it would be. Richard talked to a couple of hikers and read the informational kiosk, and I tapped out. It sounded like a lot of scrambling and a big, technical hike to see the impressive bits. Also, the rains were ever threatening, and a slot canyon is not where you want to be during rains in the desert. Richard passed too, and instead we drove back on up. Maybe some day we’ll think about it again, but I’d need a lot more information.

For our last day, we went the other direction, up to Stovepipe Wells. There we got much cheaper gas than was available in Furnace Creek (over $6/gal). Richard was really excited about that. We also hit the Mosaic Canyon Trail. This is also a slot canyon, but with a far more accessible trail. It is a steady and fairly steep walk up, but those are my kinds of trails, because I’m always fairly certain I’ll be able to get back down. We call them “reverse Grand Canyon” trails. The unique feature of this canyon is how there are millions of water polished rocks embedded into the walls. It looks like some kind of high end, decorative concrete. Then right next to that, there are multicolored rock walls that sort of resemble finely layered pastry. The striations run in large bands, with finer micro layers within each. After you’ve walked about a mile and half up, you come to the “boulder fall,” which is exactly what it sounds like. It is passable by “adventurous hikers” and continues just a little bit before becoming even more tricky. Richard climbed over the first hurdle to check it out, and called it a day when he saw the second. Then we turned around and had an easy walk back to the car. We walked out a bit on the sandy Mesquite Dunes and called it a day.

During our stay, we could see thick cloud cover on the surrounding mountains, but we didn’t really get much rain on the valley floor. We heard it on Dory’s roof the first night, but it was never a deluge. What glimpses we could get of the mountains through the clouds, suggested there was a lot of new snow up there. That is all good news for California. Winter in the desert is a lot more fun than the hundred degree heat we experienced in early spring. When we come back to visit, it’s a pretty good bet it will be in December. Death Valley is a huge park and it would take a long time to see it all. So far, we’re enjoying our little dips.

Total miles: 145.8 from Red Rock, 17.4 mpg, 3 hours 27 min. Site 57, no hookups. Dump closed. “3g” but it didn’t do much unless it was after 9pm or before 7am when not many people were trying to use it. Water spigots. Dump at Sunset campground was not so great, but usable. Potable water, but it runs slow.

Weather reports showed wind advisories and winter weather alerts for the next two days. I was hoping the travel day would cut under the wind, but could definitely feel the buffeting as soon as I hit Highway 15. I am frequently thankful for the Avoid Highways feature in Google Maps, and used that as soon as we could. On our way out of Valley of Fire, we saw hoards of people lining up to come in. We were feeling pretty smug about how nicely our plans fell into place. The purpose of Red Rock was to be in a place outside the big city, with lots of cell service, and proximity to stores where we could replenish food supplies and catch up on all things civilized. It was also touted as being pretty, so again, we were doing the “We are the Smart Party” dance. In retrospect, The Hitchin’ Post might have been the better choice.

We took Highway 215 in from the western outskirts of Vegas, with a stopover at Walmart. The winds were ever present, with warnings of a bigger storm coming in. The Red Rocks Campground does take reservations, which we had, which was lucky, because they were full to capacity, with many signs saying so. When we got to our site, there was a car parked in it. Richard went and alerted the camp hosts, who shook their heads in exasperation, saying, “I know exactly who it is.” They immediately jumped in their official looking pickup, with big orange lights flashing on top, and came straight over. Apparently, there was a family of three who, all week long, had kept setting up in vacant, but marked as reserved, campsites. They had a small tent set up in a walk-in tent site, but it’s a long haul from the parking area to the tent area, so they just really wanted one of those sites closer by, with a covered shelter. The camp hosts had had enough with them and kicked them out of the campground at that point. We felt bad watching them have to pack up all their things and lug them over to their car. We wondered what their backstory was, but we could tell they had pushed through multiple warnings and were not going to be given another chance. Their car was a Mercedes, so I tried not to worry about them too much.

To my deep and abiding dismay, there is no cell service whatsoever in the Red Rocks campground. Like on the road before the turnoff, there was decent LTE, but as soon as you drop down just a bit, the road goes behind a hill, which blocks everything. To get a signal, you can walk up a short path to a high point behind the loop, or drive a quarter of a mile to a pullout near the entrance. But from the site, nada. This was frustrating, because it was my plan to sit inside and do service things while the rain was happening. I was looking forward to that a lot. I thought for sure we’d get service, being right outside Vegas and all. And I’m sure that is true of every other freaking place, except this campground. Campendium even says there is 4g, but they lie. Or maybe there are specific sites out on the RV loop that can hit a tower, but not site 20, that’s for sure.

We got going early the next morning so Richard could ride the Scenic Drive before the weather arrived. It was already very windy though. In order for me to not perseverate, we put Dory’s roof down before we left, with a plan to turn her into the wind when we got back. That would make her as aerodynamic as possible, and protect the crescent windows from any loose flying objects while we were away. Arriving at the kiosk entry to the Scenic Drive, there was a man checking for time designated reservations, which we had, which was lucky, because they limit cars to keep crowds down. I am not 100% sure of this, but I think the man in the kiosk was the dad of the family who got kicked out for being in our site. He was masked, so I could be wrong, but he said something to me, which I didn’t hear (hearing impairment strikes again). I thought he was asking me if I was “law enforcement.” He then gestured to what I think was the campground reservation tag on our mirror. I was just confused, and said, “No?” He sort of smiled then, like he’d made a joke, and that’s when I wondered if it was the same guy. Still confused, I drove on through. I still don’t really know what he said, or whether it was a joke, or whether it was him. Oh well.

Richard started riding the thirteen mile road and I sagged. Oh my god it was windy. And cold. I didn’t even want to get out of the car at the viewpoints. But whatevs, crazy husband, you have fun. I’ll turn on butt warming and crank Sirius XM. There was one other biker out there and I could tell people in cars were feeling sorry for them both, or were simply shaking their heads. I followed close by. Eventually, with about two miles to go, when the wind was practically blowing Richard over, he bailed. No shame in accepting the reality of weather.

Back to the campground we drove, and spun Dory into the direction of the wind. We checked weather reports before coming back and there were wind advisories, specifically for the Red Rocks Canyon area. Reports predicted 30-40 mph winds with gusts up to 60. Here we go. After we’d oriented and set back up, we blasted the heater and strapped in. We then noticed four young men trying to set up in a tent site. It was painful to watch. All four of them looked as clueless as you can get. They had cotton hoodies, no rain or cold weather gear, and took turns at not being able to set up their lightweight, fragile little tent. We were hard pressed not to go over and help them. The help I was more than prepared to offer, and surely would have eventually, was to hand enough cash that they could go get a hotel room. Until it reached the point of rescue, we watched the drama unfold. Three of them seemed really excited about camping. Perhaps the tent had been a Christmas present? One of them looked cold and sad, and kept gesturing over to the ominous clouds. They tried many times to set up that tent, with their sleeping bags and gear spread out on the ground, as it started to rain. Finally, they sort of kind of had the poles in the right position and the tallest one looked pretty happy to see it standing upright. Just then, a huge gust of wind collapsed the entire thing in upon itself. I think the young one was maybe crying at that point. Thankfully, they all seemed ready to accept the inevitable and began tearing down the few pieces of equipment they’d managed to get out of the storage cases. We were so relieved watching them pack up their cars and drive out. Probably, the whole campground was.

Meanwhile, next to the kids, there was a full grown man with a somewhat sturdier looking tent, who was there when we arrived. We saw him come out a few times and I thought he might be bailing. Instead, he was adjusting his rain fly and I guess anchoring things down. Then he disappeared and he either had gone inside his tent, or had left. Richard and I were hunkering inside, running the generator outside to top up the batteries, and trying hard to not pay attention to the sounds of the gusts. Dory was rocking, but way less so than I know she would have if she weren’t nosed in the right direction. Then there was a really huge gust. I can only guess how fast it was, but it felt like a wave hit us. I heard a thump outside that panicked me. It turned out it was the cover to the electrical outlet, flipping up, and it was fine, but I was thinking something had blown off. We both looked outside to assess any damage and we noticed the older guy’s tent was simply demolished. Parts of poles stuck up on the sides, but the whole upper structure was destroyed. We looked for signs of him coming out from under the canvas pile, and saw nothing, so we figured he must have left when things got real.

One by one, the remaining tent campers bailed. We watched some of the other RVs reposition themselves or put their tow cars in front of their rigs to take some of the wind. All the while, the campground hosts made periodic rounds to check on how people were holding up. We told them about the kids, and the guy with the destroyed tent, and they said they were worried about the kids too and were coming to offer a more sheltered site. By morning, there were only two tents that survived the onslaught and stuck it out. We think the people in them were rock climbers because they were decked out with all kinds of technical gear. We later looked up the brand of their tents and found out they each cost $900. That was money well spent, and that night was a good endorsement for the quality.

The wind storm was over by 3am and Dory had not a single sign of any damage. Altos are extremely well built little buggers. Wind is not my favorite thing, and I was prepared to lower Dory’s roof at any moment if it seemed like things were getting worse. Luckily, besides that one blast, it was less extreme than the “bomb cyclone” we survived in Half Moon Bay. One thing that helps: loud music. Second thing that helps: lots of wine. Anyway, we made it and were fine to head out to our next stop along the way. I hope that family is fine, wherever they are, and I hope those kids get to try camping again, maybe not during a wind advisory.

Total miles: 78.4 from Valley of Fire, 14.6 mpg (wind), 4 hours 58 min (because stopped at Walmart along highway 215). Site 20 no hookups and no damn cell service. No dump. Water spigots. Awesome camp hosts. 

Best Christmas Ever. On a last minute crazy impulse, we decided to hitch up and see if we could get a spot for one night in Valley of Fire for Christmas night. Richard has an app that shows how busy things are in parks and it looked like we just might have a shot. Worst case, we could simply come back because we’d already paid for that night at Echo Bay. And plan C or D could be to join the boondockers on Snowbird Mesa. So we had options and tried to maintain low expectations.

We waved farewell and Merry Christmas to Francois, grateful for the special time together, hitched up, dumped, and headed up to the park a little before 11. Again, our fears were unwarranted and we found the Arch Rock Campground to be all but vacant. We had our choice of sites and picked a beauty, right up against the red rocks. I got in my fill of taking pictures of Dory, and then we spent the rest of the day on the trails. 

First we tried the White Domes trail. This is at the end of the road that runs through the most spectacular part of the park. When we passed through here a few years back, it was during the summer and it was just a one nighter for us, so we hadn’t even seen that road. We had no idea how impressive a place it is. I’m surprised it isn’t a national park actually. The colors are crazy, like if this was part of a movie set (which is has been, many times), you’d say it was unrealistic and probably roll your eyes, thinking, “Yeah right.” The White Domes trail is pretty easy, though the first part is a steep descent down a rocky, sandy notch. You come to a place that is marked with an information kiosk listing the movies it has been used for. There is a partial structure remaining and if I knew the movie “The Professionals” it might look familiar. I am quite familiar with “Beastmaster,” and I must say, nothing was bringing back any memories about any of the scenery. There was this one arial shot where Dar (from Ar) was swinging his big sword around on top of some random rock, in what could have been this area, for reasons of … training? The location in that shot didn’t seem to really jive with the rules of movie continuity for the rest of the movie, but “Beastmaster” is a super high quality film, so I assume there was a logical explanation. Anyway, that scene could have been Valley of Fire. Where they shot the scenes with the blind witches or the Jun hoards or the weasel creatures stealing the naked Tanya Roberts’ clothing while taking a bath, I do not know. See? Now you need to see “Beastmaster.”

There were lots of people on the trails and in the parking areas, and when we got to Parking Area #3 for the Seven Wonders Trail, there was a car that was very very stuck on a big rock. They were probably trying to create a parking space where there wasn’t one, but we both took a moment to be thankful for AWD and high clearance. This trail was just as jaw dropping as the other, with signs marking a rock formation called the “Fire Wave.” All of the rock formations could have had names and I refrained from taking pictures every ten feet. This hike took longer than we anticipated because there was apparently a rock fall on the part of the loop trail that returns toward the parking area. This was not marked at all, and was alarming to not only Richard, but to another couple using a GPS map app. The park had placed trail marker posts up ahead and eventually had a sign pointing the new route, but when you are really locked into your GPS app, and it tells you to go up the pile of fallen boulders because that’s where the dotted line is, that’s where you go. We did not, but the other couple did. They were ok, and we met up at the end, but that was more exciting than we expected, so we called it a day.

We had a delicious dinner of Chicken Cordon Blue, thanks to Barber Frozen Foods and the Omnia oven. We paired that with sautéed asparagus with olive oil and balsamic and it was absolutely fabulous. Life is good. All is right with the world. Merry Christmas to all. This one will be tough to top.

As an update: we did later watch “The Professionals.” Meh. I guess I’m not a western fan. But that sure was Valley of Fire! You can even see where they built the set for Raza’s village in what is now the parking area for the White Domes Trail.

Total miles: 22.8 from Echo Bay, 15.1 mpg, 59 min. Site 16 Arch Rock Campground. No cell service at all. You have to go up to the White Domes road or out to Fire Canyon Lookout to get good service. No hookups in this campground, but there are hookups in the Atlatl campground right next to it. It’s all gravel roads in the campground loops and the turns are tight in Arch Rock. It’s not for big rigs, but an Alto fits into most sites. Good dump (also quite photogenic) and potable water.

The Vegas/Lake Mead area was the ultimate destination target for this winter trip. We’d never been to the area, but knew there were many opportunities for camping and we wanted to scope it out. We watched weather reports closely and had backup plans with hookups at The Hitchin’ Post RV Park, in downtown Vegas, in case overnight temperatures dipped too low. But conditions aligned, along with the stars, so that we got to meet up with a very dear friend in Echo Bay.

It’s funny for me to talk about Safari Condo with anyone not familiar with the company. Yeah sure, they manufactured our Dory, but they are so much more. We have become friends with our sales reps, as well as the founders of the company. They were 100% there for us when we lost Dory1. Not only did they put the build of Dory2 at the front of a 2 year line, but Francois our sales rep for Dory2, co-conspired to have the exact same “Just keep swimming” decal placed on our new trailer as the one that was lost in the crash. Understand, this meant our BFF Linda ordered it in the US, shipped it to Quebec to get mounted in precisely the right spot, where it then made the journey back to Durango, CO. Those are some outstandingly good people, and seriously great friends. Plus, Francois was the one who arranged the photo shoot with stuffed Dory during the build process. So when we caught wind that Francois was out in the US southwest, we would have gone well out of our way to find him and give him a great big hug.

We kept touch while he was whirl-winding his way all over the place and found that the Las Vegas area would work for a meet up. This was not all that easy, since he is kind of crazy and dives like 8-10 hours in a day in his fancy Safari Condo van. He had been traveling with some guys from Quebec, one of whom is a well established travel blogger. They picked up another nomad from Quebec along their way, from a random meeting in a park. Meeting up with people on the road is the coolest part of traveling. The guys had peeled off to head back to Quebec, but Karine, a remote fitness coach, showed up in her van along with Francois. We had a wonderful dinner at the picnic table all together that night, sharing stories of travel and life. As we chatted and drank, a little Kit Fox kept coming right up to us, looking for a handout perhaps, or berries on the ground under our table. 

We spent the next day in Valley of Fire State Park, while our Quebecois friends went into Las Vegas to get gifts and shopping. Richard rode all the way into the park from the campground and I did a quick spin through the state park campgrounds up there. Those are also first come, first serve and we weren’t sure how busy it got at Christmas. There were some sites open, but ultimately we decided to stay where we were because there is no cell service in the park. It would have been way too hard to transfer over and communicate with our friends, so we moved on to get gas and a few groceries in the town of Overton. On the way, we spotted lots of boondock areas, like Snowbird Mesa and Poverty Flats. Those could also have been backup plans, if necessary.

On Christmas Eve day, Karine had to move along. We got to spend the whole day with Francois. We had never seen Hoover Dam, so we all drove out together. My Grandpa George always told stories of there being bodies buried in the concrete during the construction of the dam, and I’d always assumed that was his own crazy tale. It turns out this is the number one question asked by tourists: How many bodies are buried in the Hoover Dam. The answer of course is zero, but the fact that it continues to be rumor is kind of amazing. After taking some photos and some selfies, we left the crowds and found the Owl Canyon Trail over at the western edge of the reservoir. This is a 2 mile, out and back trail. through a slot canyon that is apparently home to many owls. We saw evidence of nests and some concentrations of bird poop, but no birds. They could easily have been hiding in any of the wind carved holes in the rock walls, but we didn’t see them.

Christmas Eve was simply the best. Francois came over and we hung out in Dory. We drank and talked, while I made Ham and Swiss crescent rolls in the Omnia, with a few asparagus spears stuffed inside to make them “elevated.” We laughed a lot and shared stories. It was one of the best Christmases I can remember. All that was missing was Linda with dogs, but we raised a few glasses to her. For our evening movie entertainment, we watched “Return of the Jedi.” Because Christmas. Our son texted from Oregon to share his “Die Hard” joy (and get the Vudu password), dissing our nerdy ways. I simply replied, “Yub yub motherf…” He responded, “Now I have a lightsaber. Ho ho ho.” Good times.

On Christmas morning, Francois needed to hit the road again, and we were pleased to learn he was able to hook up with Mike and Ele, the owners of Four Corners RV in Durango, for Christmas night. What an adventure he is having! Meanwhile, we took advantage of the good weather and decided at the last minute to try a crazy plan and bring Dory to Valley of Fire to see if we could get a site. Spoiler: we did, and that will be the next post.

I was surprised by how beautiful the area is around Lake Mead. I simply had no idea. All the variations in rock colors that you see in the other national parks, like Zion and Grand Canyon, are also here in Lake Mead. It makes sense if you think of this as the lowest level of the whole Laramide Erogeny event, which is responsible for the geology along the Grand Staircase. You can totally tell that the rock layers were once underwater and the the beautiful rainbow effect is just the process of revelation due to erosion over time. I was also surprised at how uncrowded and remote it felt once we left the westernmost resort areas. It’s also huge. It takes about an hour to get from Echo Bay to the entry point near Henderson. What a beautiful drive though. It seems very much like a national park road is well maintained. We mostly even had service.

It was wonderful to add a new area to our repertoire, but more than that, it was so special to get to share Christmas with Francois. When people ask, and we have to lead with something defining, like, “He’s our trailer sales rep,” we will finish by saying, “who has become family.” Cheers, Francois, wherever you are.

Total miles: 187.0 from Hole in the Wall, 17.5 mpg, 4 hours 21 min. Site 142 in the Upper Loop campground. We checked out Lower Loop and were unimpressed. Also, no service down there. About half the campground is closed, no idea why. There was hardly anyone there though, so lots of open sites. $20 per night. Good service for both. Water and good dump. RV campground across street with full hookups.