And so the lovely maidens arrived at the Palm Springs Thousand Trails campground once again after dark. It was a nice campground and there were many active retirees staying there. They were even having a pickle ball tournament in the morning. Pickle ball is a cross between tennis and ping pong, played on an asphalt court about half the size of a tennis court with a whiffle ball about the size of a baseball, and wooden paddles about twice the size of ping pong paddles with the short handles like ping pong paddles.
The lovely maidens even arrived at this campground before the spa/pool closed, so they high-tailed it over there to soak in the warm water of the spa for a few minutes before heading off to bed.
In the morning when Joanne opened the curtains, she thought she saw her dad working on the motor home parked next to theirs. She could only see his back at this point, and he was wearing the same kind of clothes her dad wears on his days off, including the shoes. His hair was cut and combed the same as her dad's. The only difference was that he was about 4 inches taller than her dad. So Joanne went over and introduced herself and discovered that his name was Sam Hughes, and lived in the Portland area. Raisa took Joanne's picture with Sam to demonstrate the similarities.
After touring the motor homes that were for sale at the campground, and deciding they could not afford any of them, the lovely maidens were once again on their way back home. They decided to return to the Reagan Library once again to get some more pictures of things they wish they had gotten pictures of the first time, and to purchase some books for friends that were 50% off when they were there before. The photo ops were in places they did not have to pay admission for, and when they visited the gift shop, they discovered that the sale had ended the day before. It was just as well, since if they had purchased the items had they been on sale, they would not have had enough money to buy gas to make it back home.
While the lovely maidens were taking pictures outside the gate to the Reagan Library, suddenly they heard the voice of Ronald Reagan through a speaker saying, "Allright, ladies! Stop taking pictures and come in and see me!" They had a good laugh over it and when they were finished getting all the pictures they wanted, they headed to the library. While they were taking more pictures outside the library, the security officer that was manning the security desk came up to the lovely maidens and said, "I understand Ronald Reagan's ghost can be heard sometimes at the gate." Joanne replied, "Oh, was that you?" "Was what me?" was the reply!
They travelled all day, and their destination for the night was Morgan Hill, a Thousand Trails campground southeast of San Jose. As Joanne became sleepy, she had Raisa drive while she took a nap on the bed in the back of the motor home. At about 10:30 pm, and 15 minutes from the Morgan Hill campground, Raisa exited the highway to let Joanne drive. She pulled into a mall parking lot with limited road access. In other words, it was a trap into which one could enter, but not escape to turn left onto the road, which is what the lovely maidens needed to do. Since Joanne did not see the trap into which they had entered, she did not know how to escape it to get to the campground. She drove through the parking lot in the dark until she realized there was no outlet where she was going. Then she decided to cross the 4 or 5 lanes of the street to turn left out of the entrance to the gas station. When she was 2 lanes from the center of the road, and already committed to turning left, she discovered there was a curbed median separating the 2 directions of the road, so she had no choice but to turn left into the far left lane of traffic in which the movement was to the right. Fortunately, there was very little traffic since it was so late and she managed to do an illegal U-Turn in the 4 or 5 street lanes in which traffic was supposed to be travelling right from where they turned. They travelled another block and were able to get turned around and headed on their way. This unfortunate incident ate up about a half hour of their time, and subsequently they were 15 minutes too late to the campground to be admitted, since newcomers are admitted only until 11:00 pm.
The ranger told Raisa when she called while they were on their way, that he would let them park in the parking lot, but failed to inform them that they would need to call him upon their arrival. The lovely maidens tried for 15 minutes to figure out how to get into the parking lot, and then decided they would probably need to call the ranger to let them into the park. The ranger was not happy and was not afraid to let the lovely maidens know it! This was the only negative experience the maidens had with a Thousand Trails or Naco ranger, and they decided it was best for the sake of the park that someone in authority be told about their experience with the ranger. So when they tattled on the night duty ranger to the morning duty ranger, they were satisfied to find out that this guy had a habit of behaving rudely and things would change.
So once again the lovely maidens found themselves on the highway on their last day of travel together. When they reached Willits, Joanne discovered that one of the tires was low, so she found a Les Schwab Tire Center using her trusty iphone map application, and had the tire inflated some more.
The lovely maidens finally arrived at Joanne's house in Brookings after dark, and unpacked as much of Joanne's stuff as she needed for the night. Raisa slept in the motor home, since she is allergic to cats and since that is Joanne's spare bedroom. In the middle of the night, the shrieking carbon monoxide alarm went off AGAIN, and again, Raisa didn't know how to get it to quit. She apparently didn't think it would ever happen again. But this time, Joanne was in her house in bed, and so she just waited for it to quit, which it eventually did.
The next day, Raisa packed her car and headed for home while Joanne went back to work. Joanne was proud of Raisa that she was able to make it home in one day, since her disability from her career in nursing makes it difficult for her to drive. It is a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive from Brookings to Roseburg, and Raisa used to only be able to drive 45 minutes at a time.
The lovely maidens had such an enjoyable time on their trip that it was difficult for both of them to adjust to regular life, and they wish they were on a permanent roadtrip. They thank you for reading their story and wish you as much fun and adventure as they had on their roadtrip.
The End.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Christmas 2009 Roadtrip Part 1
And it came to pass in those days that a decree came out from Arizona that Joanne's niece, Ashley, should be married on the 2nd of January, 2010. And so, due to the dreaded criminal-like treatment peace-loving Americans receive from the TSA, Joanne decided to avoid aforementioned treatment, instead embarking on a 2 week long road trip in her 23 foot motor home to attend the wedding of Ashley and Frank.
In the process of describing the planned trip to her friend, Raisa, who lives in Roseburg, OR, the question of when we would be leaving arose. A fine companion was Raisa, as well as secretary, navigator and photographer (while Joanne was driving).
Being cautious and prevention-oriented, Joanne spent a month making the motor home roadworthy. In so doing, it was discovered that the water pump needed to be replaced, so she had that done. The microwave door was dragging on the plastic moulding below it when it was opening and closing, so she had that raised a little. Unfortunately, the repairman failed to test the microwave after doing the repair, and just before leaving, Joanne discovered that it did not work, so she brought hers along, as well as her toaster oven, in case the oven didn't work either. Later it was discovered that the microwave would work if one held the door closed tight. But who wants to hold the door the whole time something is cooking?
Joanne also knew that the refrigerator did not work, and had that checked as well. She was advised that it was completely kaput (a little German lingo there) and would need to spend $1300 to have it replaced. She wisely decided that $1300 would be better spent on something else, so decided to use the motor home refrigerator and freezer as a cooler. Since she is so astute, Joanne realized that if she just put bags of ice in the refrigerator, eventually there would be bags of water dripping, then eventually pouring onto the floor around the refrigerator. So she devised a scheme to prevent this undesired outcome: Tupperware and/or Rubbermaid-like containers to contain the ice and the water that the ice eventually becomes. Almost daily, the lovely maidens found it necessary to purchase more ice to replace the melted ice.
After spending half the day packing the motor home, the departure occurred on December 19, early afternoon. The lovely maidens had no want for food, as there was enough food packed for nearly 2 months. This relieved Joanne's parents in the unlikely case of becoming stranded for whatever reason.
The lovely maidens traveled south on Hwy. 101, and were able to see "Big Tree" in the Redwoods. They decided to take a short walk on a path there which was labeled as a loop, and approximately 1/2 mile long. After much walking, and definitely longer than 1/2 mile, they decided that the trail really was not a loop, and hoped they didn't get lost in the Redwood forest. The trail eventually came out to the road, and after many more steps, and the intuition and agreement that the motor home was in a specific direction from where the trail met the road, they made their way back to the motor home, about an hour later than they wanted to.
Since Joanne is a member of Naco-Thousand Trails (through her parents), the maidens were able to stay at their campgrounds for free. Their first night was spent at Russian River, in the Napa Valley. There was not a single night that they arrived at their camping destination before dark, so they were not able to see their surroundings until the light of the next day.
Upon their arrival at Russian River, Raisa thought she heard some activity being made by the refrigerator and suggested they turn it on to see if it would work after all. So against her better judgment, Joanne succumbed to the peer pressure and turned the refrigerator on. The maidens heard a lot of noise being produced by the refrigerator and thought they were going to be saved from the necessity of buying ice every day. After about an hour, Joanne wanted to get something out of the refrigerator, and upon opening the door, was practically asphyxiated from the monumentally horrendous (and every other strong and nasty, negative adjective you can think of!) odor of ammonia, which is what a kaput refrigerator emits when it is running. The monumentally horrendous odor of ammonia then triggered the shrieking of the carbon monoxide alarm. At this time, it was about 10:00pm, and the only way to remove both problems was to open all the windows and door, thus disturbing the neighboring campers. Fortunately for the lovely maidens, there was only one neighboring RV, and the occupants did not emerge from their vehicle. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for the alarm to disengage, and of course, it was necessary for the refrigerator doors to remain open until the odor dissipated, which took a couple of hours or so. The lovely maidens immediately switched off the refrigerator, and did not ever attempt to restart it.
There was another incident later in the trip when the carbon monoxide alarm shrieked in the middle of the night. Since it was next to Raisa's bed, it was incumbent upon her to silence the alarm, something she had been instructed about, but not thinking she would ever need to do so, she did not pay close attention to the instructions. She didn't remember what to do, so she tried to rouse Joanne, who was sound asleep and didn't hear anything since she sleeps with earplugs in her ears. Raisa shook Joanne to awaken her to no avail, since Joanne is used to sleeping with her cats, who walk all over her during the night, so Raisa just waited for the alarm to disengage, which took 45 minutes to an hour. The whole time, Joanne never woke up!
The second day the plan was to visit a tech museum in San Jose, but due to the size of the motor home, there were no parking spaces available, so that idea was scrapped. It was just as well, since they didn't arrive at the next campground, Morgan Hill, until after dark as well.
The next day, the maidens embarked upon their journey at an earlier hour than before, since they had to travel a few hours to the Hearst Castle, where they participated in 2 tours, one during the day, the other in the evening. Joanne was looking forward to seeing the painting that was used for this year's Madonna and Child Christmas stamp, but the maidens were too busy snapping pictures that they didn't keep up with the tour guide, and missed the painting. The castle was very beautiful, and the ceilings were quite ornate. Each room had a different sculpted ceiling. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous, creating a festive atmosphere. The evening tour even had actors playing the parts of guests to the castle during the time of Mr. Hearst's residence there. Mr. Hearst always had guests, for whom it was a great honor to be invited. If one ever declined an invitation, they were never invited again. Two people who were invited, but declined the invitations were Shirley Temple, because her mom thought it inappropriate, and Kathryn Hepburn, who at the age of 17 didn't know why she would want to go to a ranch. She later said refusing the invitation was one of her deepest regrets.
To be continued...
In the process of describing the planned trip to her friend, Raisa, who lives in Roseburg, OR, the question of when we would be leaving arose. A fine companion was Raisa, as well as secretary, navigator and photographer (while Joanne was driving).
Being cautious and prevention-oriented, Joanne spent a month making the motor home roadworthy. In so doing, it was discovered that the water pump needed to be replaced, so she had that done. The microwave door was dragging on the plastic moulding below it when it was opening and closing, so she had that raised a little. Unfortunately, the repairman failed to test the microwave after doing the repair, and just before leaving, Joanne discovered that it did not work, so she brought hers along, as well as her toaster oven, in case the oven didn't work either. Later it was discovered that the microwave would work if one held the door closed tight. But who wants to hold the door the whole time something is cooking?
Joanne also knew that the refrigerator did not work, and had that checked as well. She was advised that it was completely kaput (a little German lingo there) and would need to spend $1300 to have it replaced. She wisely decided that $1300 would be better spent on something else, so decided to use the motor home refrigerator and freezer as a cooler. Since she is so astute, Joanne realized that if she just put bags of ice in the refrigerator, eventually there would be bags of water dripping, then eventually pouring onto the floor around the refrigerator. So she devised a scheme to prevent this undesired outcome: Tupperware and/or Rubbermaid-like containers to contain the ice and the water that the ice eventually becomes. Almost daily, the lovely maidens found it necessary to purchase more ice to replace the melted ice.
After spending half the day packing the motor home, the departure occurred on December 19, early afternoon. The lovely maidens had no want for food, as there was enough food packed for nearly 2 months. This relieved Joanne's parents in the unlikely case of becoming stranded for whatever reason.
The lovely maidens traveled south on Hwy. 101, and were able to see "Big Tree" in the Redwoods. They decided to take a short walk on a path there which was labeled as a loop, and approximately 1/2 mile long. After much walking, and definitely longer than 1/2 mile, they decided that the trail really was not a loop, and hoped they didn't get lost in the Redwood forest. The trail eventually came out to the road, and after many more steps, and the intuition and agreement that the motor home was in a specific direction from where the trail met the road, they made their way back to the motor home, about an hour later than they wanted to.
Since Joanne is a member of Naco-Thousand Trails (through her parents), the maidens were able to stay at their campgrounds for free. Their first night was spent at Russian River, in the Napa Valley. There was not a single night that they arrived at their camping destination before dark, so they were not able to see their surroundings until the light of the next day.
Upon their arrival at Russian River, Raisa thought she heard some activity being made by the refrigerator and suggested they turn it on to see if it would work after all. So against her better judgment, Joanne succumbed to the peer pressure and turned the refrigerator on. The maidens heard a lot of noise being produced by the refrigerator and thought they were going to be saved from the necessity of buying ice every day. After about an hour, Joanne wanted to get something out of the refrigerator, and upon opening the door, was practically asphyxiated from the monumentally horrendous (and every other strong and nasty, negative adjective you can think of!) odor of ammonia, which is what a kaput refrigerator emits when it is running. The monumentally horrendous odor of ammonia then triggered the shrieking of the carbon monoxide alarm. At this time, it was about 10:00pm, and the only way to remove both problems was to open all the windows and door, thus disturbing the neighboring campers. Fortunately for the lovely maidens, there was only one neighboring RV, and the occupants did not emerge from their vehicle. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for the alarm to disengage, and of course, it was necessary for the refrigerator doors to remain open until the odor dissipated, which took a couple of hours or so. The lovely maidens immediately switched off the refrigerator, and did not ever attempt to restart it.
There was another incident later in the trip when the carbon monoxide alarm shrieked in the middle of the night. Since it was next to Raisa's bed, it was incumbent upon her to silence the alarm, something she had been instructed about, but not thinking she would ever need to do so, she did not pay close attention to the instructions. She didn't remember what to do, so she tried to rouse Joanne, who was sound asleep and didn't hear anything since she sleeps with earplugs in her ears. Raisa shook Joanne to awaken her to no avail, since Joanne is used to sleeping with her cats, who walk all over her during the night, so Raisa just waited for the alarm to disengage, which took 45 minutes to an hour. The whole time, Joanne never woke up!
The second day the plan was to visit a tech museum in San Jose, but due to the size of the motor home, there were no parking spaces available, so that idea was scrapped. It was just as well, since they didn't arrive at the next campground, Morgan Hill, until after dark as well.
The next day, the maidens embarked upon their journey at an earlier hour than before, since they had to travel a few hours to the Hearst Castle, where they participated in 2 tours, one during the day, the other in the evening. Joanne was looking forward to seeing the painting that was used for this year's Madonna and Child Christmas stamp, but the maidens were too busy snapping pictures that they didn't keep up with the tour guide, and missed the painting. The castle was very beautiful, and the ceilings were quite ornate. Each room had a different sculpted ceiling. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous, creating a festive atmosphere. The evening tour even had actors playing the parts of guests to the castle during the time of Mr. Hearst's residence there. Mr. Hearst always had guests, for whom it was a great honor to be invited. If one ever declined an invitation, they were never invited again. Two people who were invited, but declined the invitations were Shirley Temple, because her mom thought it inappropriate, and Kathryn Hepburn, who at the age of 17 didn't know why she would want to go to a ranch. She later said refusing the invitation was one of her deepest regrets.
To be continued...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
