Author: Alissa

What a great stop! Content warning: I will be discussing the size of my butt in this post. I will explain later, but the first two times I have come to this place, I’ve been a lot bigger. There are many ways that being smaller is a good thing, but in this particular instance, it had a very specifically beneficial effect. To calm your concerns – I have not included photos of that. lol

But before we get to that, we traversed Highway 40, all the way to the turn off for the long, 20 mile road to Hole in the Wall Campground, uneventfully. Richard got kicked out at the bottom so he could ride the rest of the way up. My mission was to secure a campsite and let him know asap that there were spots available. We get super nervous with first come first serve places. It has yet to be an actual issue. We are nervous people though, so that’s just how it goes. Leaving early, we arrived at noon, so that’s how we dealt with the angst.

There were actually only a couple of other campers there, even on Memorial Day Weekend. I got to spend a bit of time walking around to indulge the Premium Donna in me, and select the site with the nicest views. All of the sites have pretty kicking views, so I also got to factor in the super bloom decor for each site. The desert is definitely showing off right now, and I think we were treated to an unusual display this stay. All it takes is 31 atmospheric rivers, a couple billion dollars in statewide damage, but then you get flowers. Sweet. I noticed some little bushes in site 35 with just a hint of purple in them and thought that was pretty nice. I was all set up in the site by the time Richard biked his way to the campground entrance.

We took a short walk over to the visitor center, surprised to find it open. That was a first. A ranger was pointing out a large lizard thing, whose name I have forgotten, climbing around on the rocks. He said that these particular lizards hide in rock crevices and puff up their bodies so predators can’t pull them out. Clever! Then it was time for a quick Dory shot, overlooking Banshee Canyon, as I contemplated doing the Rings Trail the next day. We noted all of the blooming plants on our way back to Dory, and then chilled in our Nemo chairs until dinner time. Among the many flowering plants, we identified: Desert Marigold, Bladder Sage, blooming Chollas, California Buckwheat, Purple Sage, Purple Heather, Sacred Thorn-Apple, Apricot Mallow, and Mock Verbena. There were many others to boot.

As I opened my napping eyes, I noticed we suddenly had fully blooming bright purple flowers in our site! I was sure they were not like that when I pulled in, and went back to look at photos to verify. Sure enough, I looked them up and they are part of a “four o’clock family.” Specifically, these are called “Colorado four o’clock.” They in fact only open up their blossoms in the late afternoon, as a way to deal with hot and dry environments. We saw these all over the park the next day and noticed them closing up a little while after the sun came up. The caterpillars of the area seem to love them!

We were so giddy with the peace and quiet of the near empty desert campground, we didn’t even watch shows. We slept with the curtains open, which we normally never do, and woke with the sunrise. The stars were lovely, though you could catch a dim glow on the horizon, probably coming from Las Vegas, about a hundred miles to the north.

Our full day activity was to hike the Barber Loop Trail to the Rings Trail. I’ve done this twice before, but this time was the nicest. The skies were perfect blue all day, and the temperatures not too hot. There was a steady strong breeze coming up from the valley below, and that had a cooling effect as we took breaks to eat along the trail. Richard did get jabbed by a Cholla, so we were extra careful as we picked our way through the last part of the trail. This section resembles a cactus garden. All of the Chollas were bursting with flower buds, which I have never seen before, at least not on this scale.

As we neared the foot of Banshee Canyon, my mind turned toward those rings. This is the butt discussion, so if you’d like, you can tap out here. See, the previous two times I have hauled myself up the narrow little rock slots, using metal rings as assists, I was quite a lot larger. For the second set of rings, where the slot is barely person sized, I could literally hold myself in the chute using the girth of my derriere. This was not a bug, but a feature, you see. I did have a really hard time getting my feet to the next ring, and thus struggled to reach the next one for a hand hold, but at least I knew I would not fall. So my mind was wondering what would happen if I no longer had a built in friction braking system. Like, would a smaller me just tumble down the chute if I lost my grip? I was prepared to bail if need be, and also, not as daunted by the idea of walking an extra mile around the bottom of the canyon to avoid the obstacle.

As I ascended, I right away noticed that it is much, much easier to hoist a fifty pound lighter frame. On the first set of rings, the only dicey spot came at the last moment, when I wasn’t sure I would have the forward momentum to clamber the final couple of feet. Richard, thankfully, was behind me and gave me an assist in the form of a firm push on my now smaller butt. That worked; round one conquered. For the second set, I was correct in thinking I would now fit into the narrow gap with room to spare. What I hadn’t factored in was that this actually resulted in my being able to lift and bend my knees in front of my tummy, so that I could get my foot on the next ring. Because of that, this one was actually no trouble at all! There were only a few more rock steps to climb up, and we were out. I was really pleased about all of this, and celebrated with a snack size bag of Doritos, calorie counted and pre-portion controlled.

We had delicious Blue Apron meals both nights. It was too windy outside to break out my outdoor set up, but plenty cool enough to cook indoors. I had brought a nice bottle of Chacewater Chardonnay for a special occasion, and this counted. This was such a fabulous stay in this campground. I’m not sure how it could have been any better.

Total miles from Barstow: 127.6, 16.8 mpg, 3 hours 13 min. Site 35 first come first serve. No hookups. Good dump. Great solar. Ok cell service in some places, but SOS only in others.

Travel to Barstow is always reliably long. Sometimes it is wicked windy, but we lucked out this time around. As we clocked two hundred or so miles to get through the flatness of the Central Valley, we listened to “The Fellowship of the Ring” on audio. That is a fantastic way to traverse great expanses. Our journey was not nearly so exciting as Frodo and Sam’s, but we feel epic about it in our own way.

Once we started going up the Tehachapi grade, we decided we were making good enough time that Richard could get his ya-yas out by riding up Tehachapi Woodside Road. It is a ten mile climb along a winding, narrow route, more popular with bikers and motorcyclists than with RVs. I opted to jump back on 58 to meet him at the top. I easily found a parking spot with good service and caught up on blogging. Keeping current with this is always something of a challenge on long trips, but using the time while Richard is doing crazy exercise things seems to work pretty well.

We descended out of Tehachapi after getting gas and covered the final hundred miles with an arrival in Barstow around five. That suited us perfectly because we already knew the one and only thing on the agenda that we were really looking forward to was Penny’s Diner. The one side trip we made was a stop at the Borax Visitor Center outside of Boron, CA. We have passed by this many times and there was no compelling reason not to stop. The volunteers there are super happy to chat with you about all things Borax. I gather Borax is an ingredient in just about anything you can name, in addition to laundry powder. Play-Doh, for example, apparently depends on Borax for some reason. So does insulation, fertilizer, electronic devices, the list goes on and on. The museum is well done and worth the trip. 

There was one display of a huge Borax crystal, all caked in white powder. A docent, who was sort of following me around, looking for opportunities to enlighten me with Borax lore, told me that the crystal is actually a deep amber color. Apparently, during COVID, the visitor center was closed and the power shut off. The case containing the exhibit, which normally keeps the inside moisture controlled, stopped. The white crusting happened immediately. I asked if it could be fixed and she lamented, “Well, no one knows how to open the case. It has a key I guess, but no one told any of us where it is. It’s made in London I guess, so we don’t really know who to call.” It is an impressive case. I asked if maybe a lock smith could come out and open it up and she thought that was a valid idea. 

Outside the Visitor Center, you can look down and see all the comings and goings of the gigantic mining equipment. “There’s a lot of history there,” as the docents said. For breaking up a Highway 58 slog, it is worth the time. And it seems pretty safe, according the big light up sign at the entrance, announcing it has been a full 63 days since an injury has occurred at the plant. Be prepared for an unpaved hill at the end to get you to the top.

We’re getting into the travel groove now, and just like the hobbits arriving safely in Rivendell, our first order of business was to indulge in a proper feast. After a long and confusing exchange with the Penny’s person, trying to ascertain the availability of fruit flavored syrups, we determined that no, they don’t have that, but yes they do have canned strawberries in heavy syrup that you can just go ahead and put right on top of pancakes. That was amazing.

Total miles: 324.4, 17.8 mpg, 9 hours 15 min with two hour stop in Tehachapi and a stop at the Borax mine. Normal KOA experience except lots more people with ATVs because of Memorial Day Weekend. Dropped Richard in Keene so he could climb 10 miles to Tehachapi.

Does anyone else hear the “all systems go” voice from Space Mountain in their heads when they are getting ready for a big trip? No? Just me? Well fine. I hear the countdown check in my mind right up until we are ready to finally roll down our street at the start of a long vacation. I hear “check” and “go” until my foot hits the gas peddle. I half way expect us to shoot forward into a dark tunnel, wind whipping through my hair, all set to Space Mountain music. It is never quite that exciting, but it is exhilarating nonetheless.

We will be away from home this time for over two months as we make our way to the 25th anniversary Grand Rassemblement for Safari Condo, held in Quebec. Dory’s birth place. All of the Dorys and Lolas come from there and our initial pick up journey was dubbed a “once in a lifetime” experience, going all the way across the country and back. Then there was the 20th anniversary Grand Rassemblement, and well, we had to do that. I mean, come on. There were dear friends, and a Beatles cover band, and little plastic snails on complimentary cocktails. Who’s not going to go to that?? This time around was a bit of a sell to Richard, but then we hung out with Francois, our Safari Condo family member, at Xmas, and he said something about dinner and a nice bottle of wine if we made the trek. So, here we are. Launched.

We are planning to see lots of our bestest friends along the journey, and will head through a part of the country we have never been to. Graceland will get a stopover along the way, and we have a whole Elvis film festival downloaded. We will cover over 8000 miles on the journey and spend 74 nights on the road. We have reservations lined up, except for a couple of first come first serve locations. And we have cool tours reserved. Should be super fun.

At the rally, we will hook up with lots of our Alto besties, and we have a little (well, actually, the opposite of little) surprise prepared to show our love for Safari Condo. All we are lacking is a bubble machine. I thought about it. But 2 things: 1) takes up even more room, and 2) crazy (er).

We follow the same route we have many times in the past, by spending our first night at San Luis Creek Campground, with a lovely view of O’Neill Forebay. Then we trek over the Tehachapi Pass to get to Barstow and the much anticipated Penny’s Diner. We’re excited. Then we’ll head along 40 and stop a couple nights in Mohave. From there, it will start turning into some new territory. Stuffed Dory will make appearances all along the way until she returns to her spawning grounds.

In the immortal words of the Peter Pan ride: “Here we goooo!”

Total miles: 104.6, 18.0 mpg, 2 hours 53 min. Site 4 hookups. Dump on left better than dump on right. It has a bar going across the opening so you can’t put the hose down too low, but it’s fine. Strong cell for ATT but not Verizon (SOS only).

Well this was a much better weekend. Having warm, summer-like weather certainly helped, but it also helped that the inside remodeling work died down a bit this past week. Less stress, no break downs, happy box.

We did get off to a rough start, so it is a testament to our capacity for problems that this didn’t result in a scene. We had trouble with the Caravan Movers at the bottom of our driveway and got stuck for a while. We often have to retract and engage the rollers (the metal spinny things behind the wheels) several times before the one on the driver’s side will seat properly. This time required three full sets of move-them-in, move-them-out before the yellow check mark showed that it was fully up against the wheel. That process requires patience because it takes a long time for them to move back and forth and complete their cycle. But then, the passenger side rotor would not spin at all. We could hear the click at the control box, indicating the signal was being received from the remote control, but nothing was happening at the rotor. We then tried moving the rotors out again to start over, but this time, the driver’s side one did not move out. So each one was not working, but in different ways. Puzzle.

After many cycles of turning things off and back on again, searching Altoistes, googling and watching videos, pressing buttons in a different order, and standing in different locations when pressing buttons, Richard was finally able to use a tool to manually back the driver side rotor off just a bit. That allowed us to disengage it. Winning! At least we could then use the winch to keep lowering her down. Now all we had to do was figure out how to use what we had to get her over the low spot between the rise of the driveway, the gutter, and the upward curve of the street. In addition to the aluminum ramps we have always used, we recently purchased (incredibly heavy) gutter guards to keep the non ramped wheel from sinking so low and going through runoff water. That sometimes makes the rotor slip against the tire, but the gutter guards solved that problem.

We jury rigged a way, using both sets of ramps and gutter guards, to winch her all the way straight down the driveway and not get wedged on the street. We thought that would enable us to bypass using the CMs completely. So, I don’t know if you have ever tried to push a 2,000 lb trailer any distance, but it turns out, once she was on level ground, it was actually impossible for us to shove her anywhere. I started trying to figure out if I could use the one working CM to do a 180º spin to at least get the hitch facing the street. Then I’d be able to grab her with the car.

Once we were in that zone, it became clear it was time to bug Randy. And wouldn’t you know, he is such an incredible mechanic, that just texting him fixed the problem before he even had a chance to answer. That’s how good he is. Or maybe it was Richard jiggling wires behind the rotors that did the trick. But I choose to believe it was the telekinetic effect of Randy thinking about Dory that prompted her to get in line and stop screwing around.

Anyway, all systems were working so that we could spin her and get her hitched up. We were off, about an hour and a half later than we are usually rolling on a Friday, but we didn’t have too far to go, and the sun sets late enough now that we were going to make it before dark.

We have not been to this campground since the Shelter in Place happened, back on March 16, 2020. We were lucky enough to call this place our quarantine home for about two weeks, and it was a weird juxtaposition of natural beauty, eerily set against a background of global armageddon. But it was dear to us in a way no other place could be. We later watched in horror, as the fires of 2020 came roaring through. We saw video footage of the lake being engulfed by flames, and I had little hope that our personal sanctuary had made it. We drove out one day, to view the remains, and though the campground itself had been spared, the entirety of the landscape all around was nothing but a charred and barren wasteland. It was devastating to see, and probably why I could not bear to come back out for this long.

Healing happens. Especially if you add a whole butt load of water. The drive out, through Suisun Valley and Wooden Valley, revealed a rebirth of green. Hillsides that were black, are now blanketed in new grass and wildflowers, while valleys flourished with rows and rows of grape vines, offering the promise of future wine. Little shrubs and baby trees are starting to grow. And Lake Berryessa itself is higher than it has been in a decade. Oh lord, that lifted my spirits! Yes, you can still see forests of standing dead trees, skinny and black against the skyline, but at their feet are flowers, and the reflection of blue skies on the surface of the swollen lake.

I had tried to reserve the same site we occupied during the lockdown, but it seems all the campsite numbers have been changed since then. The camp host was kind enough to help us find a nicer site, since “58” is now off to the side and in a field. We set up in 98, which was actually a far better choice. It gave us views of our spot across the water, but also views of throngs and throngs of people partying in, around, and on the site I had tried to reserve. So the one that is now 122 could be lovely, but only in a global pandemic where there is no one else in the campground. Important asterisk there in a campsite review: “Only nice if all other people in the world have disappeared.”

We were both so tired Friday, we slept like the dead. Saturday’s plan included getting Richard out for a do-over bike ride and me getting my boat in the water. His ride went great and he is enjoying wearing dark sunglasses finally. He says that Pope Canyon, which was once apocalyptic, is now all green and looking MUCH better. My boating went fine, but it’s been a long time since I’ve set the thing up. There was a lot of rearranging that had to be done with the inner air chambers and then I had to walk it down to the boat launch. I gave myself workout calories for all that. Sheesh! I figured that had earned me a margarita with dinner.

And speaking of dinner, I finally got to pull out the grill. That too has been in stand by mode for quite some time. I had previously purchased a very nice carrying bag, with pockets for tools and such. I had forgotten about the little cast iron pot I put in there, but that came in super handy as a way to pickle a red onion while I was grilling steak and toasting bread for a panzanella salad. Delish.

All is well with the world this weekend and we don’t have any more reservations before we launch for the summer trip. I am super excited about all of the people I will get to see along the way this year! Thanks for bearing with me through the rough posts. This one is a plain old happy camper weekend entry. Oh, and the Caravan Movers magically worked flawlessly when we got home. Thanks Randy for using the Force to remote fix her. You should definitely charge extra for that.

Total miles: 67.8, 17.3 mpg, 2 hours 28 min. Site 98 (all the site numbers have changed). Nice shade and view of lake. Good cell service. Pretty good dump, but you can’t get too close.

Know what? Remodeling is hard.

Yes, it is still fantastic getting our daughter into her own place. She is set and happy. The immediate direct result of finishing that project, however, was that all of the people constantly irritating Richard moved their activity back into the main house. He’s been doing his best to be cordial, despite the constant interruptions. But it’s been really, really hard.

This weekend, Richard was hoping to do a long ride around the lake, instead of doing our local Grizzly Peak Century ride. It rained all night on Friday and he was not into riding wet roads. We did our best to regroup and instead went on a long walk through and around the campground, which was fun and very pleasant. The lake is super full right now and I always like seeing full lakes.

When we got back in the afternoon, the conversation turned toward remodeling and, I won’t sugar coat this, Richard had a complete break down. All of the stress, and frustration, and worry tumbled out onto the floor, in one big dramatic explosion.

It was a long drive home on Sunday, but that was a good thing, because it gave us time to collect ourselves, and each other, and come up with some productive next steps. We put a few little things into place to address the interruptions, and we called for a meeting with the contractors to get on the same page regarding the remaining costs and action items. That felt good.

But probably the most therapeutic thing was that we were finally able to take showers in our brand new primary bathroom. And you know what? We have an absolutely gorgeous shower. So that was a concrete and palpable benefit from all of the remodeling woes.

Remodeling is hard. Showers are good. It’s going to be ok, but we will need to have breakdowns along the way. This weekend was one of them.

Total miles: 116.2, 16.6 mpg, 3 hours 31 min. Site 75 no hookups. Some solar. 1-2 bars LTE or 5g for both of us. Good dump, no fee. Took 29 all the way to Lower Lake. Windy but lots of passing lanes and road in good condition.

It has been a long and exhausting couple of weeks since Spring Break. Last weekend was the first time we were able to get out, and now is the first time since the weekend that I’ve had the potential mental energy to write it up. But I’m quickly losing information about which restaurants we ate at, so I’d better get it posted before it’s all lost to the winds of memory loss.

Beginning with the post break Lola project, Randy had Dory2 spiffed up and ready to bring over right after we got back. He brought Dory over himself and left after installing a new winch, taking Lola with him as part of the trade. That was a sight, having one Alto back out of the driveway, and then another winched right back up. Randy about gave me a heart attack when he used the Caravan Mover on Dory. I didn’t know he had the remote and thought she was rolling down the street. He’s funny that way. With the swap completed, now we really truly have the “Heir and a Spare” dream set up. Should anything ever happen to Dory2, Lola is now fully outfitted and could be ready to go with a lot less effort.

Given that the trade occurred on a Thursday evening, I didn’t have it in me to go out that weekend. I can’t remember where we were supposed to have gone, but we cancelled that one and did projects on the ADU instead. The next weekend we fully intended to go out, but construction literally got in our way. One of the final phases of getting the ADU move in ready was to lay a new sewer line. As is always the case in home construction, nothing goes according to plan. We ended up with giant piles of dirt on the driveway and enormous trenches all around the front and side of our house. The camping savvy among you might already have noticed that we now have a clean out at the top of the driveway. That is the only upside to the chaos involved in finding the line in not the place anyone thought it should be. I am just hoping Magnolia and Lace Leaf Maple survive the trenching. My hand laid (by ME, twenty years ago) flagstone pathways were not so fortunate.

It was also sad, because I had managed to snag a lakefront site at Scott’s Flat Lake, which is hard to book. They have a 14 day cancellation policy and I thought we would just be out the money. Luckily, Richard is good at this stuff and he was able to tell the person about our sewer woes. I think he even offered pictures. The guy told him he always likes a good sob story, so he issued a partial refund. Still, no lakeside site, no camping, no move in for our daughter. We were collectively bummed.

I think we’ve all been pretty good sports about the ADU project, none more so than our daughter. The delays have worn us all down to our cores, and I put in a 911 call to the main contractor on Monday, pleading with him to do whatever he could do to make the move in happen for the next weekend. He got it, saying, “You’re so over it?” OMG dude. So over it, yes. He and the guys made a big push, and did come through. Our daughter was finally finally able to move her things in after we departed on Friday and that was one joyous moment, I can tell you.

It is impossible to overstate how monumental an event this is for our family. We all needed this Big Time, and when it finally came to it, everything is now just perfect. Well, except later there was a shower leak that poured water onto the ground inside and outside, but that got fixed quickly, so it’s all ok now. And that doesn’t matter. All the time, pain, displacement, money, disappointment on timelines, lack of personal space, all of it. It is all worth it now, in retrospect. She has an absolutely beautiful home that she can call her own. She made all of the interior design decisions, and boy did she ever knock it out of the park. We have gone from one to three bathrooms and can now be comfortably out of each other’s hair. Literally. We could also all pee simultaneously if we wanted to. We are all breathing huge sighs of gratitude and relief.

Meanwhile, we celebrated by living it up in Half Moon Bay as our daughter placed new things into new cabinets. We ate out both nights and grabbed freshly made churros from Tres Amigos on our way back to the campground. We looked forward to the sweet, crunchy, warm and gooshy in the middle joy all week long. We were not disappointed. We tried a new to us place called Ciya that was highly rated. The food seems simple, but it is crazy delicious. I don’t know what they put in their seasonings, but it’s like a drug. It’s so good. The portions are not too big and the staff are very attentive and friendly. Thumbs up.

Saturday, Richard rode out to Pescadero and I met him at Arcangeli. I picked up a BBQ Brisket sandwich with three different deli salads, all fabulous. Afterwards, we went on a hike along the marshes near Pescadero Beach. I was familiar with the area due to fifth grade camp formerly being held there, but it was fun to walk around without having to supervise a bunch of pre-teens.

We headed back to Dory, stopping along the way for Richard to show me a pretty impressive super bloom on one of the little roads he biked on. I’m not sure what kinds of flowers these are. Photos tells me they are radishes, but…. really? They were beautiful and numerous, whatever they are, and the deer seem to like them.

We went out again for dinner Saturday night at Spice Me Thai. We got spring rolls, soup, and drunken noodles, and it was all delicious. We followed that with another stop for churros on the way to Dory. My LoseIt app said I was within my calorie budget given all the walking, but I don’t really believe it. I also don’t really care. It’s been rough, you guys. The fact that I haven’t been sipping Chardonnay through a straw 24/7 is a pretty big accomplishment as far as I’m concerned.

When we returned home on Sunday, I texted our daughter our ETA, as a joke. We always do that so she has a chance to mentally prepare. But this time, for the first time ever, it wouldn’t matter. She now has her own private space and can’t even tell whether we are home or not. She offered us a post move in tour, and expressed her heartfelt gratitude for making this happen. She also offered to break in her new kitchen by making us cupcakes as a thank you gift. She did, and they were perfect.

This was a mile marker event on a journey that started after Dory1 crashed back in November of 2020. From figuring out what we were going to do with her, to finding contractors willing to do it, to stalling for months waiting for permits, and then through all of the construction stress, it has been a big deal. The next phase begins the outside process where we can actually begin thinking about getting Dory1 home. But the addition of the ADU was the top of the list, and it has happened for real. That is a very good feeling. Though we are maybe not technically Empty Nesters, we are certainly Empty Adjacent. And trust me, no one is happier about that than our daughter. And we could not be more thrilled for her.

Total miles: 51.9, 17.5 mph, 2 hours 22 min. Site 49 hookups. Same as always with great service, good dump, lots of solar.