Brannan Island (9)

Well, here we are. Another month has passed between camping posts. Some was planned for home projects, and some was due to weather related cancellations. There has been an irritating pattern of lovely weather during the week, with downpours happening very specifically on the weekends. But we’ve managed to stay busy. Richard built a very nice redwood picnic table, we got new longer ramps for Alto departures and arrivals, thus minimizing the need to use the Caravan Movers and mostly rely on the winch. This will save us a lot of frustration over Caravan Movers just not quite engaging all the way. They work fine on flats, but do not stand up to 17% driveway grades. The new ramps mean we can go straight down and straight back up without having the bumper hit the street.

The ramps arrived on a big wooden, unexpected, pallet. We made that into a weekend project by upcycling it into a planter for our daughter. We also spread 4 yards of mulch onto the hillside to try to get that under some level of erosion control. There are plants everywhere now, all California native, so I’m excited to see them establish. We also put the pond onto its own drip system, so we can keep it topped up even when there is evaporation. And to get even more sophisticated with it, we put up a Pond Cam so we can monitor water levels when we’re away for the summer. I must admit, I love Pond Cam. I watch it from work sometimes to listen to the waterfall, and I check on it at night where its night vision mode captures all of our mosquito eating fishies. I even saw a frog in there, but they hopped away. There are lily pads in there, so I am hopeful one day I will see a frog sitting on one. We had a nice trip planned to Folsom Lake, but weather and a nasty abscess on kitty’s head made us bail. He had to be a sad, coned kitty with a half shaved head for a few weeks. He’s fine now though, and seems no worse for the wear after our weekend away.

This weekend’s trip was a short drive to one of our standby places. Dory2 is still with Randy while he works with Truma to fix the heater/water heater. We don’t know at this moment which Alto we will be taking on our summer trip. We figure we’ll be fine with either one, since the majority of our reservations will be in the Pacific Northwest where it probably won’t get too hot. Heat is one thing where we really do not like having a BFW. But if it’s Lola for the summer, we’ll be fine.

Our main goal for Saturday was to ride the Delta Loop together. I absolutely love my E-bike! Love, love, love it. Richard has talked about this loop many times in the past, so it’s awesome to be able to experience these rides with him. It was a very windy day, so he got a good workout. I really don’t get much of a workout on this bike, but I’m also not complaining. We went a good 22 miles in heavy wind, and I could have done a lot more. The battery got down to just over 60%. I can now start getting a feel for how many miles I can push it on one full battery. Super fun!

The Delta Loop takes narrow, winding levee roads, past old resorts, marinas, and newer resorts. Most of the houses near the water are build up on support beams, or lower stories, so the main house can be at river level. There are boat docks all along the way, and occasional farm animals. It is a lovely ride, even in the wind.

We got back to Lola and chilled for the afternoon. I made a grilled cheese dinner with a nice marinated pear and cucumber romaine salad. The only thing missing was the planned margarita because I neglected to top up the tequila. I swear, now that we aren’t serial camping every weekend, we’re losing our touch.

The next post will be in two weeks, after we’ve hit the road for our two month summer trip. You’ll just have to wait in suspense to see if it’s a Dory summer, or a Lola summer. It’s fortunate (and legit crazy) that we have this option to even consider. The school year is wrapping up. This year was a doozy, so I’ll be in hard core vacation mode in two weeks. Note to self: DO NOT FORGET THE TEQUILA.

Total miles: 38.2, 16.7 mpg, 1 hour 44 min avoiding highways. Site 94. No hookups. Great cell and solar. View of water. Great dump, $8.