Category: 2021 Travels

Last weekend before the summer pickup trip and we are armed with checklists! We’ve got checklists for what to bring, what to take out, what to last minute buy, we have checklists for checklists. We tried to pretend we were packed and ready to go this weekend, just to see what we were missing. I’m glad that was just pretend because we forgot a lot.

I did some Tetris-ing with the backup supplies while Richard did a trial run on wiring up a 30 amp plug for the coffee machine and projector. He plans to wire this up in Dory2 because she will have ample amp hours with her two badass lithium batteries and 440 watt solar panels. She’ll be packing power so the plan is to run the Techimpex 12V espresso machine right off the Alto system. For that to happen, we need some kind of pluggy thing that the coffee machine can connect to, a circuit that can be hijacked for this purpose, and a bigger fuse.

We thought we had it figured out by using the circuit that normally goes to a powered back bench motor, which we didn’t order. When we tested everything out, it worked great! Except we lost the light over the sink and fridge. Oops. So next we’ll try using the circuit that goes to the CO/Propane monitor. We already came up with a standalone, battery powered replacement for that because those babies seem to like going off in the middle of the night. If this works, it’ll be the first time, I think since we got Dory, that I will not have my feet resting on a 50 AH battery/ottoman.

After much soul searching, we decided not to try to put in new latches or the table slide mod on this trip. It’s just too many tools to carry. We figure we can live with it for two months. But I do really like the table mod, so I’ll probably complain every time I get up and can’t push the tabletop out of my way. #lifeishard

It was a lazy, and yet productive, weekend. We are antsy about launching and have that old familiar nervousness that something will go horribly wrong. I’ve got some amazing reservations all lined up, made in short order through a whole lot of scanning for cancellations. Once we launch, blogging will become difficult. I’ll try my best to post every so often when we have service.

When I post next, we’ll be on our way to Finding Dory2!

Total miles: 37.7 taking Taylor to Willow Pass Road. That was ok except the downtown Concord part. Took Highway 12 through Rio Vista on the way back and that is probably a good way to go if we’re avoiding the 680/242/4 Triangle of Terror. Mpg 16.0, didn’t note the time. Site 6. Good solar, no hookups, good LTE, nicely spaced from other sites.

What a pleasant place! I don’t know why we don’t come here more often. It’s a short distance from home, it’s got biking and boating, and the possibility of takeout nearby if we were so inclined. It’s also fairly easy to book, so I’ll have to raise its status in the look-for-reservations game.

It was definitely a great place to try out my new boat! I’m excited. I have been very happy with my Advanced Elements kayak and put a lot of thought into whether I wanted to trade it out for something else. The Passport has roof rails with a come hither look of, “Wouldn’t a kayak rack look nice on me?” And if I did that, I could get a hard sided kayak. Or there are the origami kinds to consider as well. Fast forward hours and hours of overthinking that I will not bore you with and I end up deciding I like my inflatable. Except…. oh dear…. now they have come out with a limited edition blue one. And it’s like five inches longer, so I hoped it might fit more behind the seat. Like the wheelie cart thing I use to get it to the boat launches, so that I don’t have to take a carrying case. I mean, how could I not get this really? For a minute I thought my green one had a leak in the hull that would absolutely necessitate this purchase. But I fixed it way too easily. So let’s just call this a panic buy and enjoy the blueness.

One thing that is different about this version is that it has a drop stitch floor. That basically means a stiffer inflation, kind of like those stand up paddle boards that look solid, but they’re inflatable. I was a little worried it would not be as comfortable a ride, but then I realized I can control how much air I put in. I was out on the water over two hours and it was quite comfy, no sore spots or anything. It makes the feel a bit tighter, if that’s the right word. I felt I was going a little faster, but that is not really a motivation I have. And it comes with a foot brace that I like a little better than the inflatable foot wedge because I can stow a light jacket in front of it. So overall, I’m pleased and this baby will be coming with us on our summer pickup trip.

While I was out paddling, Richard did a portion of the “going to the moon” ride, which travels through the “Valley of the Moon” in Sonoma. He went up to see Sugarloaf, which, last we saw, was under threat of being wiped out by fire. There was fire damage outside of the campground, but he talked to a ranger who said the fire crews worked very hard to save the observatory and set back fires. Those seemed to work very well and caused less damage than the wildfire. The ranger thought most of the those trees would return as only the lower part of their trunks got burned. But yes, there was a lot of fire damage where things clearly would not come back and that is still very sad to see.

We finished off our table project this weekend. Since the drawer slides are working so well to move the tabletop out of the way, we don’t need it to slide on its base in the track. And since we don’t want that functionality, we inserted custom cut pieces of plastic to form a solid base. Then I cut a piece of Chilewich to go on top and now we have no track to trap dirt and stuff. Plus, we have a table top that slides easily out of the way for me to sit in my corner, and pulls right back into place. Satisfying mod.

We have one weekend left before staying out for 65 days. Tick tock…

Total miles: 71.7, 15.7 mpg, 2 hours 20 min. Site 27 no hookups. It’s a pull along site going in the wrong direction for the door, so we looped around and came at it backwards. Otherwise fine site. Little bit of solar, nice shade. Good dump, but oddly located in the middle of the campground. No close access to the lake from the campground, but trails that take you a short distance to get there. The boat launch is a short drive through the park. LTE 1-2 bars for both of us.

Last year we came to this campground on the same weekend in May and noticed that we were in the middle of a large family gathering. In fact, our site sat right between two big rigs with people who were clearly expecting to move freely back and forth, through us, to hang together. We were uncomfortable with that, but established LED string light boundaries and coexisted ok. That was also during the early stages of the pandemic, so we were not ok with people contact. When we arrived this time, we saw, in addition to the dozens of associated groups, a strong showing of formerly relevant campaign flags, making big statements in no uncertain terms. One of them was right next to us. This was displeasing and caused me to question whether I wanted to keep holding onto the site for the same time next year. It would be, for the most part, the same people, since once you have a site, you can pre-reserve it, and this is a very popular campground. But the thing is, it’s a really nice view.

Come the morning, the sweet sound of the river and gentle breeze smoothed many of my ruffled feathers. Kids still walked right in front of us, with or without our physical presence outside. Richard suggested to a group of them that they maybe go around and I would like to say that helped, but I think there were so many families there together that the kids probably didn’t even know which sites were part of their group.

Richard headed out for a ride (up Prospector to Green Valley to Cool) while I held the fort. I had an unexpectedly pleasant chat with the gentleman next to us. I had formed a negative impression, based on his rather bold choices in decor and headwear, but he was friendly and harmless, probably a little lost and out of his element at an event where he didn’t know everybody. So perhaps the trappings offered him some form of comfort. I offered to switch sites with him, since his seemed to be at the end of the row and he could be closer to his people. He thanked me but said they were spread all over the place so we shouldn’t worry that we’re crashing their party. All in all, it was a nice exchange and a good reminder to me that everyone is on their own journey. So rather than pulling on my judgement panties, I can make a couple of charitable donations to vent the energy, and let it go.

After we got home, Richard called the place to see if we could switch sites for next year and we immediately got a confirmation from the management. I’m sure they don’t want us in the middle of the gathering any more than we do. We’ll see how it goes next year.

The other noteworthy news from the weekend is the fact that we installed a Magneshade system for the BFW. This is an expensive accessory and you may wonder why we would do this, so close to our pickup date for our BFW-less Dory2. Part of the reasoning is that, if we are going to lend Lola out to friends, she should be properly accoutered. In my opinion (having used it for less than 24 hours), the Magneshade makes the BFW work. Two of our three chief complaints about it are that it creates a fishbowl effect where people can look right in, and that it lets in a substantial amount of heat. This shade goes a long way to solving both of those issues. The way it works is through magnet mounts on the outside that stick to magnets sewn into the shade. It comes with an extendable pole that fits into little corner pockets, so it is pretty easy to put on and take off. When in place, you can see out, but other people can’t see in. We tested that a lot and it was only at night with the interior lights on that we could see in. As for heat, wow. It really makes a difference. We took the interior temperature before we left around noon and it was 72º inside. After about ten minutes with the shade off, it had climbed to 82º. And that was just one brief experiment. It also cuts down the glare, making the light coming through the window more tolerable and less like instant death for vampires. Since you run the risk of damaging the window if you keep the interior shade up when the sun is hitting it, we figure having this will make our time with Lola more enjoyable. In addition, it will be a good preventative measure for when friends borrow her and are tempted to keep the shade closed. A good purchase.

We are in countdown mode to summer and have just two more weekends before we head out for a much needed extended trip. We have an awfully nice itinerary planned and I am impressed with how much we were able to pull together in a fairly short timeframe. And along those lines, it is crunch time to get all the things done before launch. Exciting!

Total miles: 125.7, 15.6 mpg, 3 hours 25 minutes. Pretty good LTE and ok campground wifi. Hookups. Riverfront site with shade except in the afternoon. Steep scramble down to the water, but doable. Richard hates the dump so we dump at Brannan Island on our way home.

Hey! It’s starting to feel a little like summer! We had gorgeous weather this weekend, just a little bit inland from the coast. Those few miles made the difference between windy and cloudy vs blue skies and temps in the high 60s and low 70s.

That was enough for me to get my boat in the water for the first time in a very long time. On the last couple of voyages, I found some slow leaking due to tiny little scratches in the hull. It wasn’t ever anything major and I patched the ones I could find, using the provided patch kits. But this was the first chance I’d had to test out my job. I will come clean here: there was a part of me that was hoping there would still be leaks. You see, as we’ve been planning our summer trip, I have been looking forward to some boating opportunities. And that made me think about whether my good old inflatable would still be up for the task. So I did a bit of online looking…. and yeah. Advanced Elements has come out with a *limited edition* blue one. Dang. “New blue for Dory2” just has such a nice ring to it, don’t you think? I kind of convinced myself the hull on my current one was irreparable and I really should get a new one, just to be sure. “Add to cart” happened and before you know it, I was clicking shipping options. Plus, I was messaging with Linda with dogs and she totally encouraged me. It’s all her fault really. But back to this weekend’s test paddle, I will report that after a couple of super nice hours out on the Russian River, there wasn’t a single leak to be found. And I really looked. I guess I have a backup boat now? That’ll be our thing from now on: backup everything.

Richard rode up about 20 miles of King Ridge and then came on back. He says it was absolutely beautiful, climbing up through a dense redwood forest with views of a creek every so often. He was thinking about doing a 54 mile loop, but that was the ride where he got so horribly lost several years back that I had to pick him up at Stewart’s Point. With no cell service, we decided it would be better to maybe bite off a bit less with an out and back reconnaissance mission this time. He successfully made it back to the campground around 2 while I was paddling around, so he got to earn some nice nappy time.

Our view was pretty enough that I was compelled to do some window cleaning. I have a nice squeegee set with an extendable pole, and that is a must have for this task. After many years of washing those big windows, I’ve come to find the process that works best is as follows. First, get the fuzzy cover thing on the squeegee really wet and just run that over all the windows, then squeegee off the dirty water. Then spray glass cleaner (I use Method) and squeegee all that off in sections, getting as much off as possible. Then wipe the parts that didn’t come clean with a special Streak Free Microfiber Cloth. That should be only a tiny bit wet, practically dry. Windows are hard. There are still places where the sun will catch a streak or two, but I called it a day and deemed it ‘clean enough.’

The rest of the weekend was just fun hangout time in our Nemo chairs, staring at the river and watching families have fun. Casini Ranch is a very fun family campground. Lots of people chatted with us about the Alto and we waved and said “hey” to the kids taking “Hey Rides” around the campground in open air linked trailers, pulled by a big tractor. One thing that felt very different: as of today, our whole family is now fully vaccinated, and that meant my anxiety level around people encounters is waaaaaay down. Masked or maskless, as people stopped to chat, I was no longer mentally measuring distance or subtly noticing the direction of the wind. The difference this makes is hard to exaggerate. It feels like …. normal? Almost? I mean, indoors it’s still mask on, but outdoors it seems to be pretty safe to lower the shields. It’s going to take some getting used to, but I had forgotten how fun it is to casually chat with people in campgrounds.

And how did I celebrate this ‘full vaccination’ milestone? Haircut, y’all! It’s been a full year of growth and I said to take off as much as possible without giving me bangs. There must have been a full six inches on the floor. But the lightness I’m feeling is not just about losing hair weight. I do believe I am feeling just a bit optimistic. Hey! How cool is that?

Total miles: 95.7, 15.1 mpg, 2 hours 57 min. Site 6 hookups, pull through with shade and river view. Very nice premium site that is hard to book except way far out in advance. Wifi throughout park is very fast and reachable from the water in front of the day use beach area. Good dump. No cell service in that area until closer to Bodega Bay.

It’s still a favorite place, even in a non premium site. This was our first time back since January 2020, which was a whole different universe. In the interim, I had lost a couple of premium site reservations, but given the state of the world, it felt inappropriate to complain about that. I do keep trying for them, right at the exact second they open up. But it’s almost always the same: all logged in at 7:59 with the page cued up…. beads of sweat begin to form… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, CLICK CLICK CLICK!!!! … and it’s taken. Sigh. But I was able to grab 11 six months ago, and it was still nice.

I will give a win to the BFW here, with the exception that it does get quite dirty en route. With a view of the ocean, over the top of our premium T@B neighbors, I had no choice but to go out and clean it off upon arrival. But then it was definitely nice. Maybe we use Lola any time we get site 11.

We had fun meeting up with two other groups of Altoistes who just happened to be on the Sonoma coast at the same time. That is always fun! One of the groups was the extremely nice couple who had offered to let us use their 1713 this winter. The other was a couple whose Alto is older than Dory, and have been Altoistes for a long time, so it was fun catching up while they were out visiting California.

Saturday we got the first rain we’ve had in a while, and that was super pleasant. Hearing rain on the roof is still one of my favorite things. We managed to get in a little walk along the Kortum Trail during the day and the wildflowers were putting on a springtime show.

Sunday we got to really be lazy getting out. I had reserved the site for Sunday night as well, thinking (as I often do) that it would be lovely to take a day off. I had it on my calendar to take the day off even. But almost every time I do that, there is some reason that comes up to make it a really bad idea. But the consolation prize was that we did not need to evacuate our site by noon, so we could have a leisurely morning and just sit and watch the rain without having to pack up. Somewhere around midday, the skies began to clear and we enjoyed a rain free departure at about 2pm. We might have pushed it later, but we lost our view when a big rig pulled in.

For a little lunch time entertainment, we used the 12v TV for the very first time and that was really fun. It’s a lot easier to make that happen, than to set up the projector and projector screen. Plus, we could watch an episode of “Dark” without having to make the Alto all dark. Entertainment with an ocean view scores a lot of points on the Fun Time Scale.

Another high scoring activity for me is storage and organization. I am rapidly closing in on the perfect refrigerator set up and it is satisfying. I’ve also got labeled bottles with little pour spouts that fit so perfectly under the sink, I was able to add a couple items to the pantry list. Like maple syrup, which means we can have pancakes for dinner this summer. The excitement is getting real.

The only glitch to the weekend was that when we got home and got into our usual reentry routine, the Caravan Movers started to slip on the wet wheels. It was so bad that we really could not get her wheels past the bottom of the driveway. We tried a lot of different things, including pushing really hard. Ultimately we were able to line her up on the street, pointing straight toward the garage. We put two ramps under her wheels and used the winch to pull her up. That worked, but boy, the bumper was close to scraping the street the whole time. Normally, we come at the approach at an angle and only use one ramp. At least now we know we can do this and it will work. Thank god we have a winch! And two ramps. Thumbs up for overkill.

Total miles: 87.8, 14.5 mpg, 2 hours 36 min. Site 11 no hookups. Pretty good solar despite tree cover and clouds. NO cell service in campground, but 1 bar LTE for Verizon when standing on the high point of the dunes by the day use parking area. No dump. Dump in Bodega Dunes still closed. Dumped at Westside and left check for $7.

Judging by the miles long backup of cars on Highway 92 trying to get into Half Moon Bay on Sunday, we were not the only ones who were looking for some cool ocean air this weekend. Temps are starting to hint at summer, but we were thankful to be heading home and against traffic, having already enjoyed a blissful weekend on the beach. This particular site is pretty spectacular and we will be there again six months from now because I targeted the site as soon as the reservation window opened up.

What was unusual about this weekend was that it was the first time I have attempted using a sewing machine inside an Alto. I had several Alto projects hanging over my head and no energy to do them during the week. What better scenery for some sit down sewing time than an oceanfront background? Most of the projects involved sewing velcro onto various organizers that are designated for Dory2. But I also needed to fix a snap on one of Lola’s curtains, as well as add a bit more of a velcro strip to the shower curtain so that it will close properly. That is one instance where I think Safari Condo is a bit off in their measurements. The shower curtain material has some stretch and shrink depending on how hot/cold or wet/dry it is. When it gets dry and sunny, the top of the shower curtain velcro closure does not reach. A bit of a lash solves the problem, but I didn’t want to hand sew it, and thus, it never got done until now.

Another project I am quite proud of is my fix of the privacy curtain rail. I had put a lot of energy into replacing only the little damaged bit that was the result of a roof closing debacle that happened to the previous owners. I was able to cut a new piece to fit, but could never get the remaining track to lie flat against the ceiling and the curtain hangers snagged a bit when they went through the track. But now, you see, we are imagining handing Lola over to other people to enjoy for a while and it’s important to me that things are in as good a shape as we can get them. So, voila, all new track, and I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The other thing that is bringing me an extreme sense of satisfaction right now is the new cooking supplies container system. This is for the purposes of long trips, like the one coming up this summer. I plan to again do Blue Apron re-creations on the road and having modular containers for all of the pantry ingredients will be super helpful. Getting stacking containers with square shapes, means more storage efficiency. It also means I don’t have to always buy the tiniest containers of things. I will be able to stock ingredients at home and fill these guys as needed. If I run out of something on the road, I can always fill as much as possible and throw out any excess if I need to. It is not easy to find just the right size containers when you’re Walmart hopping and playing Storage Tetris. I also found some perfect containers for blueberries that fit perfectly next to the pantry box inside the fridge. For the curious, the pantry list includes the following:

That’s about it for now. Richard went on a spectacular bike ride while I was sewing but he took no pictures. We got takeout from Ark Indian Restaurant in town but were too lazy to walk down the street to get Churros from Tres Amigos. Maybe in six months when we come back.

Total miles: 51.7, 16.0 mpg, 1 hour 53 min. Site 32 hookups, premium, definitely one of the best sites. Great solar, great cell, great dump.

It was our eighth visit to Doran Beach, but this time we had a birthday girl along with us for the ride. We made reservations six months ago, for the campground and for the nicely nearby Bodega Bay Inn, not knowing whether we would be able to keep them. Happily, vaccinations have occurred for the whole family, and for some of us, both shots. Therefore it was decided that a stay in an inn would be safe and fun way for our daughter spend a birthday weekend.

One thing I must say about Bodega Bay is that it is not very pedestrian or bicycle friendly. Because we were staying close by in the campground, we were able to help her out by bringing her takeout and dropping her off at the beach for some solo contemplative time.

Meanwhile Richard did a new bike ride out to Dillon Beach, which neither of us had ever visited before. What a spectacular road Valley Ford Franklin School Road is, especially now, with all the spring greenery and colorful wildflowers. The bucolic narrow road was not very busy at all and meandered up and down pastures all the way to a hard right at Dillon Beach Road. There, you get one small climb and big descent down into the cute little bay town.

We discovered a huge private campground there, called Lawson’s Landing, which I must have noted and dismissed a long time ago because it has not been on my radar as a place to reserve. It boasts something like 1000 sites, though many of them are simply slots right next to each other, divided only by a line of paint on the dirt. The sites that weren’t empty were filled with conspicuously large rigs for the most part. This is clearly a popular destination for family hangouts and big groups. It might not be exactly our speed, but there are some nice places near the water (sites in the 6 and 7 hundreds) that would be worth trying out.

Meanwhile, summer planning has commenced in earnest. It is rather late in the game to be booking sites, so right now we are grabbing anything we can get that is in the general vicinity of where we think we might be. We wouldn’t normally plan a trip that intentionally places us in the southwest in the summer. But Dory2 is already waiting for us in Durango, CO, so we might as well explore some of the area we whizzed past on one of our cross country trips. Last time we were there we melted our real wax LED candles, but we have since replaced those with plastic ones. We’ll see what else we can melt this time. Let’s hope it’s not me.

It was a beautiful windy weekend at the beach for us. Our daughter rates it an “ok” on her meter of places to hang out. She acknowledges the natural beauty, but prefers places where she can walk more. She did note that every place would rate higher without a pandemic happening so that she could actually go into stores and the like. I told her I tried to get her Non Pandemic for her birthday, but Amazon wouldn’t ship it. Maybe for Christmas.

Total miles: 81.1, 13.8 mpg (windy). Site 42 no hookups, great solar, nice views. You no longer have to pay for the dump. And Bodega Dunes dump is still closed.