Repurposed gift: Randy adorned Lola with this when he delivered her to us two xmases ago. Being a teacher during the holidays means you can totally pull off this look while directing parking lot traffic.
Happy Winter! It is a two week break for me, so we headed south to the deserts. With construction going full swing at home, it is super nice to give Richard a break from the banging, sawing, scraping, and hammering. And it is good to give our daughter a break from us. Soon, very soon, things will be a lot more comfortable for all. But in the meantime, we have no regrets hitting the road.
Tower of Essentials
We have basically completed our big Lola Project. The plan here was to outfit the backup Alto with enough of the essentials that it would actually work to grab her and go if need be. The “essentials list” for us is rather extensive. So I’ve been re-finding and re-purchasing the same things I got for Dory, over seven years ago. Surprisingly, almost all of the things I got, way back when, have remained as staples. The fun part of this project is that Dory2 gets a whole bunch of new xmas presents, which we switched out for the old ones. Now we have a massive (but well organized!) pile in the dining room. The biggest ticket item is the replacement of all of the bedding. We use a 2 inch thick wool mattress topper, wrapped in a flannel duvet cover as our bed. Over that, we have 2 flat flannel sheets (to make frequent washing a whole lot easier), a comforter, and a fleece blanket. All of that gets rolled into a giant Hoho. The Hoho simply unrolls for bedtime, but otherwise makes an excellent back rest for sitting.
Nice place to get a two week start
Travel to our first stop was uneventful and we realized we really like this campground. There were zero other campers there and we had a nice waterside spot. Before dinner, we did a little hike, and then it was time for comfy heater hours before dinner, shows, and bed.
Deliciously soft, fluffy, and oh so warm
The new bed is crazy soft and super comfortable. I highly recommend getting new bedding every seven years or so.
Los Banos Reservoir at sunset
The only thing I will note about this campground is that there is a low point in the road, seemingly designed to be a water release wash type thing below the reservoir. Driving through this puts you in a couple of inches of water. Just something to know. I remember Richard biked through that the last time, so it seems to be a permanent feature.
Hope you are all healthy and enjoying some winter cheer out there! Someone gifted me a tower of Godiva chocolates, so I will be savoring those over the next two weeks. Jolly times!
Total miles: 112.1, 17.0 mpg, 3 hours. Site 1, no hookups. Ok service this time. ATT could hit 1-2 bars of LTE. Verizon same. No dump, or water. Porta potties available.
Enticing
It’s basic, but pleasant.