March 30, 2011--Salem, Oregon

Good morning everyone.

I finally am getting back to blogging about our travels.
Sunday we spent at home and did some R and R. We also did a few things to get ready for travel on Monday. We still were having rain, rain, rain and the Sacramento River is still raising to the flood stage.

Our trip on Monday began at 8 am and we arrived in Salem at about 4:30 pm. It was a long 385 miles because we spent most of the day traveling in the mountains. When you are on the interstate you do not see the visitors attractions without stopping so we hope to do a few things in southern Oregon since we will be here for a month. That time will pass quickly so we will need to plan each day so we can see everything.
Yesterday we did shopping and went to Walt's brothers home for dinner. We hope to spend more time with them when they are not working.

Here are some pictures of our travel to Salem.

When we started our day of travel we reached the mountains just a few miles north of Redding. This is a picture of a lake with the morning fog over the water. It was a very beautiful site.

I believe this is Mount Shasta and we must go around its' base to get to Oregon

This is another view of the mountains. We have not reached the snow in the mountains but we were climbing higher.



We are finally seeing some snow along the roadsides.
After this mountain we started down the mountains at a 6% grade for 8 miles.
It is a chore to keep the 8 ton rig behind us from pushing us down the mountain.
When we reached the bottom we saw a large valley with cow cafe herds. It was a nice break from the mountains.
Then we climbed up another set of mountains and when we got to the other side we were in Oregon.
We had a very safe trip.



March 26, 2011---Lake Shasta and Redding, CA

YES, WE ARE STILL IN REDDING, CA.
The weather is still a problem in the mountains. Today we got up early (7 am) to go to our routine Saturday breakfast. This week we chose the Black Bear Diner. We had done this restaurant when we were in Tuvale, CA. so we knew it would be good. Walt had 3 pancakes and he could not finish them. I got two pancakes and I did hardly eat one pancake. That means they have a large breakfast. After breakfast we came back to the park and Walt checked out what the weather was going to do today. The gal in the park office had a web site that showed the live cameras on the mountain. The cameras were showing more snow and the police were recommending chains again. So our move is off until Monday at least.

After lunch time (no eating for us) we left home and went to see some sights around Redding. Last night just before dark we went to the Sundial Bridge which is a walking bridge across the Sacramento River. It is a 26 million dollar bridge built to connect the convention center and museum with another park across the river. It is a beautiful bridge with a huge white sculptured tower holding the bridge up with thick metal ropes. It is a sculpture indeed.
Some pictures of the bridge..........

Side view of the Sundial Bridge.

View from the bridge to the mountains covered with snow. Note the flooding Sacramento River running below the bridge.

Side view of the bridge--the floor is made of a see thru material so you can see the water below. It is an awesome feeling to walk on the bridge. The water has risen in the river since we saw it last night.

The Sundial Arm which holds the cables for the bridge.


















After we left the Sundial Bridge we drove 15 miles northwest of Redding. It is a very scenic place.

View of the Shasta Lake and the top of the  Shasta dam in the background

A view of the working dam. They started leaving more water out of the day yesterday.

As we left the dam and wound around the mountain to I-5 we took this picture looking back at the dam.

After we left the dam we went back to Redding and found Joanne Fabrics so I could get some notions to finish a sewing project next week.

Tomorrow is another day of adventure. Goodnight.

March 25, 2011---Redding, CA.

Happy Birthday Jack!!!!!!
It is our grandsons birthday today.
We are in Redding, CA--------yes, we did not move. The weather forecaster gave the following account this evening----10 to 30 foot snow drifts in the mountains. The interstate 5 was closed this morning and opened later this evening. They are expecting precipitation in the area again tonight. If we cannot move tomorrow we will wait until Monday to move (we do not move on Sunday).

We did have rain and hail this afternoon.   Walt was getting a lot of cabin fever while I worked on our tax report. (I do have to get another way of doing this annual duty).

It is really bad when you can only take pictures of squirrels gathering their food for bad times.
Our neighbor scatters seeds on the picnic table every morning.

Hail, Hail, Hail!!!

Troy Aiden

Troy with his big sister Colleen and big brothers Jack and Max. Max was playing doctor on his visit to the hospital












Goodnight!!!!

March 24, 2011--Redding, California

The snow bug hit us again. This morning when we awoke it was raining and windy. We did our usual things except we had to do it with a cold rain and very high winds. The wind was coming from the south so we did not hardly us any diesel fuel but we did not get to go very far. When we had traveled about 10 miles we saw electronic signs on the I-5 saying we needed to have chains for the mountains. We stopped at a rest area and there were all kinds of trucks and R.V.'s waiting to find out what was going to happen next. Walt had checked the weather forecast on the computer and it looked like it would be bad in the mountains later in the afternoon.
After about an hour at the rest area we continued north to Redding. Finally in Redding we stopped at a open parking lot across from a Tractor Supply. Before you knew what was happening 2 more R.V.s joined us. Walt went to the Tractor supply to see what they were saying about the weather. Well, the gal in the store told him that they were expecting snow and wind in the mountains by noon time. That convinced him that my suggestion of stopping at a RV park was a good idea.
We got to a park south of Redding along the high flowing Sacramento River. Then we had to put on our rain gear and set up again. This is when I wish we had a motor home instead of a Fifth wheel. It was so windy you had to hold onto your rain gear and the rain was continuous and very cold. Well, we got inside by noon. A hot lunch was eaten quickly and the heaters were turned up very high to get warm again.

Tonight we heard that they had 10 inches of snow and 138 mph winds in the mountain today. We did hear that I- 5 was opened at about 7 this evening. Down south of Redding we had sunshine for a few hours and the wind calmed down. Right now we can hear the wind howl again so what we will do tomorrow will be decided in the morning.

We are still carrying our bad weather balloon with us again.

March 23, 2011---Corning, CA.

This morning we arose early and got ready to go to the ranch for breakfast. It had rained all night but I did not think it had rained very many inches. Well, I was wrong. When I stepped out of the house I knew I was wrong because my first foot print went extra deep in the wet ground.
As we drove to the ranch it rained at short intervals, but it had rained a large amount when we saw the creeks and rivers. They were all filled to capacity. The main road was fine but when we turned on a gravel road to the ranch we had to drive through water at different spots. The creeks were overflowing and moving very rapidly.
We arrived at the ranch with no problems and had a wonderful breakfast of barley pancakes, sausage, eggs and fruit. It was a beautiful breakfast with some friendly chatter and laughter.
It was noontime when we left the ranch and returned to the park. While we were driving we finally had cell phone service so I called our son-in-law because our daughter was scheduled to have a c-section this morning for our 21st grandchild. It was a little boy who looks like his dad. Our daughter was doing fine and had walked around in her room already. This is her fourth section so she knew what to expect. She probably was a little high on drugs and hormones, so tomorrow will probably be a little different. They seem to be doing fine. Thank goodness. That makes 11 granddaughters and 10 grandsons. The Lord has been good to us. Our new baby is Troy Aiden and he was welcomed by his big sister and two big brothers.

Later in the day we went to the Olive Pit which is a olive tasting cafe. It was so much fun to check all of the olives. They had a large amount of stuffed and a few plain olives. We bought the Danish blue cheese olives and some peach balsamic vinegar. Later we came back to the store and Walt got some almonds of different flavors for healthy snacks. He loves to nibble on nuts as a snack.

Tomorrow is a day of travel--so bedtime sounds good. Goodnight.

March 22, 2011---Corning, CA

Today was a nice day of travel. We had no hills to climb but we did have some very rough roads. I- 5 can be a bear in spots. We arrived at our park at about 12:15 so we had the afternoon to spend with some friends who Walt and I have known since NFO days. They are ranchers her in the area. When we got set up and did a few daily chores we gave them a call and they invited us to their ranch for dinner. We had a lovely time and our hostess is a great cook. We had a great salad with a white crisp vegetable in the salad. I found out it was jicama. I will have to get some at the grocery. It was almost 11:30 before we settled into bed.
It seems like ranchers and farmers are the friendliest people and you can have a wonderful time together. 
Tomorrow is the day for a new grandchild. We pray that all goes well.



They have had so much rain in this area of Sacramento that the overflow lake is now full. This area is usually dry but it has been designed to handle a large amount of overflow rain to prevent other areas from flooding.
Note the railroad track which goes right through the area. More rain expected in the morning.

This is a picture of the road we traveled to our friends ranch. It was about five miles from our park and then on some roads through the country to their lane. The lane was 1 mile long and at the end their yellow house was in front of us.











A view of the rolling hills of their ranch land--there were other hills which are very steep--they have a self leveling tractor for working and planting the crop.

The family farm is composed of acreage to accomodate a cow calf head and other ground which is planted in barley.

Their ranch is huge and it makes our farm of 160 acres look like a garden.




This is the tractor that self levels when working the heavy packed clay ground for the barley planting in the spring.


This tractor did tumble down a hill   and land on the top of the cab with the tool for breaking the ground up on top of the tractor. No one was hurt.
This is the end of Tuesday.

March 21, 2011--Santa Nella, CA

We left our campsite at the lake and traveled back to Paso Robles to head to a more northern park.
We changed our northern route to route 5 so we covered some of the same roadway as we did when we came to Paso Robles. We left the park with a heavy fog over the lake. As we left the park we started to see more mud slides and water flowing down the road. The green mountains looked like the grass had grown overnight. I have a hard time deciding upon which is my favorite mountain--the gentle rolling hills and high mountains or the rugged snow topped mountain. They have different beauty.
We did not travel any mountains today and arrived in Santa Stella at about 1 pm. We parked and the local person in the office encouraged us to go to the Andersons restaurant and have some Pea Soup. Well, we did not have pea soup but we enjoyed some other choices. My choice was a fruit plate. It was more than what I could eat so I took a doggie bag home. Walt had a meatloaf dinner. We have noticed that they all put gravy over their meatloaf while we were always accustomed to catsup.
In the morning we will move again. That's all folks.

March 20,2011--Polo Robles and Templeton, CA

I am down to the last thing on my list. I have been double tasking all day and it is almost 9 pm so I have scratched many things off of my list for today. I may be a little old fashioned or forgetful when I get a kick out of seeing on a piece of paper the things I have gotten finished for one day.
Our day today was a bit uneventful. When we got up this morning it was still raining, so we got ready for mass in Polo Robles at 9:30 am. We had to leave for mass at 9:15 and we got there just in time for mass. The roads we had to travel are very curvy and it takes a while to navigate the 25 or so miles. We passed thru water on the roads and a lot of mud slides. Neither were real severe but we had to slow down for them.
After mass we ate lunch at Margie's Cafe. The meals were so big that I took about 3/4 of my meal home. Walt and I divided it for supper and we had plenty. Good food but way to much.

When Walt and Bart took their walk this afternoon they saw 3 more deer and they were wet from head to toe.

Tomorrow is a drive to Gustine, California. It will not be a long drive so we hope to poke around in the new area in the afternoon.

Goodnight from wet California.

March 18, 2011--Polo Robles, San Luis Obispo and Atascadero, CA.

Saturday was a busy day with activities in the 3 towns in the title. We went to breakfast as we do each Saturday morning and then we visited 2 quilt shops, a mission and finally wine tasting. The two quilt shops I found on the internet were very nice. They were located in the town of Atascadero about 10 miles south of Polo Robles. I did my time checking out some Japanese fabrics, check on the batik fabrics and different patterns. It is my favorite time to be in the shops feeling and dreaming of patterns I would like to make sometime in the future. Oh, if I had more money, more time and design talents. Well I guess I make the best of my time and resources and I will stay busy.

After the quilt shops we stopped at a Mission in the town of San Luis Obispo. We had difficulty finding a parking place because the town was very busy and it was raining so you did not want to walk to far. After circling the mission a few times we found a parking spot on the grounds. The mission on a very small parcel of land in a town so parking was a premium. As we left the mission we found out there were parking garages a few blocks from the mission. That is why there were so many people walking the streets and mission.

The missions in California were the result of a blending of religious desires and political aims. Francisian Friars, especially Junipero Serra, were eager to found missions among the peaceful Indians.
The Spanish government was troubled Russian settlements and English interest in California. So Spain looked to the missions to strengthen its foothold in Alta, California.
In 1769 the Friars were more interested in converting the Indians than worrying about the Spanish Empire. They eagerly embarked on a venture that resulted in 21 missions along the California coast, including the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosia in 1772.
Fr. Serra founded the fifth mission and named it after Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, France. The mission was called Mission San Luis Obispode Tolosa. It was in the open country. The town and the county came later and they were all named San Luis Obispo.
The mission today is an active Catholic parish church.
Some pictures of the mission....
                                                                                                                         


A entrance view of the mission





Sanctuary of the Mission--which is a working parish





The wall designs were done in 1999 by a local artist. The painting behind the altar is done to trick the eye. The Stations are very old from the 18th century and cannot be cleaned because restorers will not touch them because they are afraid they would harm them, so they will stay in this condition.

Winery pictures...

The entrance to the Eberle Winery-they had very fine wines and a wine cellar under the hill. (See wine cellar below)

Needless to say, after Walt had done wine tasting in 5 wineries he needed a designated driver. We arrived home very wet from the rain and Walt was very happy.







March 18, 2011---Hearst Castle and San Simeon, CA.

Well, today is Sunday and my task for the day is to catch up on 3 days of the blog and do the necessary paperwork to send our tax reports to the accountant in Ohio. It seems the time has come up real quick for taxes. Since we are traveling all week we will need to get the paperwork in the mail ASAP.

We went on a very enjoyable trip to San Simeon along the coast on Route 1. Route 1 is the famous highway along the coast in California. We went to the Hearst Castle which in the same area. In fact the Hearst family owned the whole area at one time. They owned 350,000 acres at one time. After seeing the elephant seals along the coast we went to the castle. I had gone on line Thursday night and purchased 2 tickets for 12:40 pm and we were fortunate to get an earlier tour at 12.20pm. It was a great tour except when we left the truck I grabbed the camera and not an extra battery. Needless to say, I ran out of power just as we were entering the castle. I got a few pictures but not what I would have like to shoot. One good thing about the problem is that I really got to see everything and pay attention to the tour guides lecture. She was very informative and had done this tour for more than 15 years. She was very entertaining.

Here are some pictures of the day.---

When we left the park we had 17 miles to go to the coast as the birds fly. Well, we had to go south to Palo Robles and then west on 46 to route one and then up north again. It took us an hour to reach San Simeon. This is the view we saw at the first viewing area. Note the black pin dot to the left of the middle in the smooth blue water near the cliff. That is the head of a elephant seal in the surf.

Can you find the elephant seal?
 He is there. I think it is a "he".

The elephant seals resting while the tide is out. They winter on San Simeon and have their young. Notice the seals in the water and on side of shore.


When we were watching them in the ocean there were hundreds of them out there.

This is the visitors center at the Hearst Castle. You could not go past this point--the tours were guided with bus rides up a curvy road to the top of a very large hill. The Hearst's called it the Enchanted Hill and originally used it as a summer camping area.

The visitor center was busy and the food was very expensive. They had a  trapped audience.

The white marble pictures and statues were everywhere. The castle is rather overdone, unlike the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. I believe I liked the Biltmore much better for a home.

This is the smallest guest house. It is 3600 sq. feet on three floors. Bob Hope and his wife spent some time in the house and had use of all the bedrooms (fancy) and baths, living rooms, etc.

From the house you can look over the outdoor pool.

The famous pool that I bet you saw somewhere. It is used every year by the family and the staff also can use the pool at certain times of the year.

Another view of the outdoor pool.

It took 28 years for the building of the Castle and other buildings on the top of the hill. William Randolph Hearst changed his mind so often that he built some areas 3 or 4 times. He worked in conjunction with Julia Morgan. She was 48 years old at the time. Julia was the first women archtect to graduate in California.

The front view of the castle. It has two large towers over the roof. We only saw a few of the rooms on the first floor (Living room,  Dining Room, pool room, inside pool)

Picture of the dining room. Does it remind you of Harry Potter. Well, the people who made the movie came and took pictures and drawings of the dining room as research for the movie

We stopped at a winery at San Simeon and when we left this was one of the houses in the town.

The coast line near the town of San Simeon

The rolling hills as we went east on Rt. 46 back to Paso Robles.

A wonderful pastural scene we took on the back road to Lake Nacimiento Resort were we are parked.

I believe I will blow this picture up for a nice wall scene.

That is it for today

March 17, 2011---Paso de Robles, CA

Happy St. Patricks Day---well, we did not drink any green beer or any reuben sandwich but we survived the day. Our travels today took us from Tuvale to Paso de Robles in about 3 hours. Our last few miles were the most exciting part of the day. We had an address but when we saw the sign for the resort the GPS said we had many more miles to go to our destination. This is a state park and things always get "dicey" with the size rig we have in a state park. We did turn at the right sign and as we progressed up the winding hill the road got more narrow by the foot. We came to a park entrance but we saw not human being but we did see a mule deer in the woods next to were we had parked. Walt called the number we had and he walked around the corner while he talked on the phone. After a while I was about ready to go search for him but he eventually came back to the truck. We were in the area and then we finally got to an area which was a circle with sites off of the circle. There was only one spot were we could fit our rig in without being in the driveway.
After Walt directed me on backing the rig we finally got into our spot, but we were unlevel, so I pulled forward and he but a layer of blocks under one set of wheels on the door side. We finally got snugged into our spot and we were ready to stay here until Monday.

After we at lunch we went for a drive and we found out how far we were in the boonies. There is a lake formed by a dam just around the corner so there was no real roads that took us across the hills. After driving for a fairly long distance we finally found 101 and a small family winery. Walt did some wine tasting and then we drove to Paso de Robles for a few groceries and then back home again for our supper. It is pitch dark around us and there are a few other campers in this area but there is no one in a RV. We have t.v. and internet so we are in the comforts of home.

Here are a few pics from today's travels.

When we were about 1/2 way on our trip we started seeing green hills which were fairly high.

This area had a flat spot and the cattle were grazing on the range.

This is a sample of the hills we drove through.

The hills with the yellow flowers was quite stunning.

 A view of Lake Nacimiento which we have as our home for a few days.

A picture of the many vineyards in the area.













Tomorrow the Hearst Castle. Goodnight

March 15, and 16, 2011--King Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

Tuesday was a very busy day. We left home at about 10 am and arrived  back home at 8 pm. Bart has been very accustomed to long days of not going out to do his thing. He has done very well but today (Wednesday) we have been home all day to give him some special time with us.  It has been a day of rest and preparation for travel which we will do tomorrow.

Our trip to the mountains and the BIG TREES was very nice. The trees size are mind boggling. I wonder if our ancestors thought the same of the large trees in our area when they settled on the land. I am sure they were not as large as these trees but I am sure they were large enough for them. We have seen pictures of trees which had the base of the tree diameter which was taller than a normal size man.

View of some of the orchards as we drive up into the mountains.

View of the foothills.

View from Kings Canyon National Park

First picture of King trees.

Our first glimpse of real deep snow

A clump of large trees

Tennessee tree--To Survive after severe fire damage is one of the remarkable characteristics of the sequoia.
The living tissue or camblum layer of a tree lies just under its bark. So long as some of this thin, living tissue connects the leaves above with the roots below, the tree will continue to live. If undisturbed by people, or more fire, this living layer will eventually heal the fire scars so evident here.

The General Grant Tree---
     46,608 cubic feet
     1700 years old
     107 feet in circumference
     40 feet in diameter
     4.5 feet is the largest branch in diameter
     129 feet--first branch
     268 feet high
     1254 tons---weight

Other trees in the area

The California Tree

Beauty of the snow covered mountain tops













Walt throwing a snowball in short sleeves





Up above the clouds.

The high snow we saw-----today they had more snow in the mountains. The farmers love the snow in the mountains because it means more melt off and water for the crops.

The General Sherman Tree
The Largest Tree on Earth

275 feet tall
52,500 cubic feet
36.5 feet in diameter
1385 tons--weight
103 feet circumference
2,200 years old
13.7 feet diameter at 180 feet off ground
6.8 feet diameter largest branch

One of the large trees in the growing mist at the top of the mountain.

We drove between these two trees. Note the size of the tree trunks compared to the road we could drive on only one way.

We started to hit some very serious fog and suddenly we saw a car parked on the road in front of us.
There had been a sign about road work and that there may be some delays for 1 to 2 hours. It was about 5 pm and we were hoping the delay would not be to long.
Well, it ended up to be 20 minutes and we followed a large amount of cars down the mountain. The road was made up of many hitch backs and it was very slow going. We finally made it to the bottom without any trouble.

The river which flows from the mountains when the snow melts.

















Tomorrow we travel so look for us in a new town.  Goodnight.