Big Bear Lake, CA, USA - February 25-27, 2011

(Too see the slideshow, right-mouse-click on the title and opt to view in a new window.)


There are so many things to love about California:  When you travel abroad and say you are from California, everyone knows where that is (like "Italy" or "Switzerland", California is almost a country within a country); you can start a day skiing in the mountains and finish it by swimming in the ocean--not getting overly chilled with either activity;  but what I love the most about California is the storms.  In California, stormy weather will race into town and usually be done in a day, with the sun sure to follow.  We lived an exception to this pattern on our first Salt trip to the snow.  


We heard there was a snow storm coming to the San Bernardino Mountains, but having survived below-freezing temperatures in Mrs. Dash (details on that, the first time Alan & I ever pulled a trailer will be coming soon) at the Grand Canyon, we knew that the real Salt would be fine.  If we could only get to the campground before the storm hit.  


So we took off early Friday with our hearts pounding and wondering how in the world we would turn around on that windey mountain highway when the CHP pulled us over for lacking snow chains.  Yes, we left on a snow-filled weekend adventure without tire chains since the set Alan wanted couldn't be found anywhere.


I was constantly monitoring the status of our highway via the CA DOT Highway Conditions website.  So far so good.  We climbed all the way up to Big Bear Lake where we found a ton of snow already on the ground.  But our campground, Serrano, was guaranteed to have some spots open and cleared of snow.  And it sure did -- we backed in and immediately took the dogs for a romp in the white winter wonderland.


We returned, poured the sun-downers and toasted to not acting on fear:  Not letting the fear of an approaching storm stop us from our adventure.  Then the snow began to fall.   And fall and fall.  The highways closed.  The campground roads filled in.  The camp host knocked on our door to make sure we had all the food and water we needed for a "few days", causing me to freak out just a little.  OK, a lot.  I am claustrophobic after all. And have I mentioned that Salt is only 19' long?  That includes the tow bar. But back to the story:  The snow was falling so hard they were having trouble keeping the campground roads cleared so we wouldn't even be able to take the Pepper out for groceries.  Not to worry!  Having learned that food lesson, we had tons of food already on board and we had water right at the site.  The snow fell all Friday night and we awoke to a gorgeous, but still snowing Saturday.  


So we spent most of Saturday just digging the snow out of our immediate area.  Having lived in the snow before, I knew the importance of getting the snow cleared while it was still light and fluffy.  One below-freezing night and you will have a much heavier mass on your hands.  


We took the dogs for lots of walks--since there was hardly anyone around, we let them run off leash.  They returned with icicles hanging from their fur.  I didn't want to let them into Salt with the icicles because they would melt and we'd have a ton of water everywhere (and some on the bed no doubt since that's where River tends to land.)  Alan suggested we hose them off in the shower and then towel-dry them which worked out great.  And just an FYI, you cannot escape the wet-dog smell in a 19 foot trailer.


Now that we are all warm and cozy inside, it seems like a good time to make a note regarding our heater:  It pumps out heat like you can't believe.  Rosco adores the heater (or any heat source, really), lays directly in front of it, closes his eyes and lets the hot air blow his fur back.  Unfortunately, the location of said heater is directly underneath the kitchen sink.  This is great placement for keeping the pipes warm (to avoid freezing) but not great when you are trying to cook and Rosco is trying to dry off.  So quite often, I would turn the heater off until I had finished cooking--sending Rosco to his bed under the dinette. (Are you wondering if Rosco would voluntarily leave if I needed to cook his dinner?  We'll never know as they only get dry dog food.)   River, as noted early, could be found on top of the bed at any point during indoor time.


Sunday morning we woke to some gorgeous blue sky and sunshine but found that we had lost our water supply.  The faucet had frozen during the night.  So I boiled some water in the (one) saucepan and kept handing it outside to Alan.  After about five pan-fulls, the water began to flow again. 


Once we had water back, we had to start digging out again as we had gained another 12" or so during the night. Good exercise no doubt as my arms and back were still sore from Saturday's clearing of three feet of snow.  By early afternoon, the park host had managed to get the roads plowed in our area so we could hitch up and head home.  The highway was back open, although it was still caked with snow and ice.  Traffic moved slowly.  The Pepper, of course, had no trouble at all.  We strolled down the mountain, losing vast clumps of snow on every sharp curve.  


There was so much snow on Salt that, even though we were driving in bright sunshine, there was still snow on top when we pulled into the Spice Rack nearly four hours later.


Although a thoroughly enjoyable trip, I learned that there is a limit to how much time can be spent in Salt's confines.  Our adventures into non-fair weather climes will have to be sprinkled between trips where we are happy to spend most of our time outdoors.  Also, some cross-country ski's would come in handy.


-K

Shaver Lake, CA June 3-8, 2011

(For photos, right-mouse click on title and opt to open in a new window.)

On this, our sixth official Salt & Pepper trip, we incorporated all of our lessons learned on previous trips and added an ingenuity-of-the-day award.

We started out on Friday planning to drive half of the way to our ultimate destination.  Utilizing our experiences from before, I had packed groceries enough to carry us through at least three days as well as the all-important, driving day dinner (DDD).  Such a lesson learned is that one!  Driving always takes us much longer than anticipated and there is nothing worse than pulling into a site hungry and tired and having to actually cook something.  Plus, this trip started in Irvine at 3:00 pm and required driving through LA at rush hour, so we had the additional requirement of needing to eat while still driving.  We set off with chicken sandwiches, raw carrots and fennel, and lots of water.  (Click here for the full trip meal plan.)

Our second lesson-learned invocation came in the fact that we were only going to drive for three hours which should put us half the distance to Shaver Lake.  I had found a KOA in Visalia for our stop-over night.  But our three hours turned into more (due to the aforementioned LA traffic) and we pulled into our level, full hook-up, pull-through spot around 8:30 pm that night.  Quite a nice KOA with the requisite store and showers (which we didn't use) plus a lovely fenced dog run (complete with agility equipment, on which Rosco, who has been trained in agility but only works for treats, refused to perform having surmised that neither Alan nor I were packing at the time.)  Terriers!

But we did pick up a new lesson on this day (I have stopped numbering them, by the way):  Don't pay for the additional cost of electrical hook-up.  With our great solar panel, we have no need to plug in unless we want to watch extended hours of TV.  But TV is really uninteresting when you have a fire ring--as we did this night.  Alan got a fire going while I poured the sun-downers.  A quiet, peaceful evening, even though the KOA was quite full.

It was a short drive the next day to Shaver Lake (invoked the DDD lesson again and I had packed a frozen lasagna to put into the oven when we parked.)  Our campground, Dora Belle (National Forest Service), didn't have any hook-ups (standard for an NFS site) nor a dump station.  So prior to arriving in Shaver Lake, I utilized my new favorite webpage rvdumps.com to locate a dump station nearby.  (Those of you who knew me when I was earning six-digits selling SAP software in my Armani suits are having a good laugh right now!)  We were planning on being there three nights and knew we'd like to dump our tanks before heading down the mountain.  We found one at the marina and drove over to check it out.  $20 fee to dump there if you aren't a guest of their campground, but it would work.  So we returned to check into Dora Belle at a great arrival hour of 2:00.

The check-in lady asked if I had been to Dora Belle before and I said no.  She then went on and on about how we had the best site in the whole campground (I had chosen it from the website because it looked to be the furthest away from everyone -- my main site selection criteria.)  Site 41, she said, was impossible to reserve all year and she just didn't know how we had managed to get it.  (This conversation was repeated to us every time we saw one of the [very nice] camp hosts.  I kept wanting to say, "we managed it by clicking on it from the website two days ago" but I refrained.  They were so nice.)

So we headed to the famed site 41.  And what a gorgeous site it is!  At the end of a loop with easy access to the lake and wonderful, huge sunny rocks on which to sit and enjoy a morning coffee.  But, we hadn't parked yet!

It was cold up there.  This year, the snow is very slow to leave the Sierra's.  In fact, we had reserved at Huntington Lake for this trip, but the campground hadn't opened by June 3rd which is what made me scurry back to the on-line reservations and grab Dora Belle.  So it's cold and rainy and, since Alan is driving, I am the designated back-in coach.  Here is where we made use of another lesson:  Walkie-Talkies.  Oh my lord, what a difference they make!  No more yelling back and forth "turn right, now a little left", "what did you say?" and (often) me, when it is late and we didn't want to disturb people, running up to the Pepper's window and back to Salt's rear again and again and again.  But not this time!  (Everything is more fun with walkie-talkies.)  So out I jump with my Northface Women's Grace Jacket and walkie-talkie to coach Alan in.  We did it perfectly the first time!  Even remembered to remove the sway control bar before we started!  Only trouble was that the pitch was not nearly level.  We have not yet purchased leveling chalks (I think that's what they are called), so my wonderful problem-solving husband looks around, grabs a large flat rock, places it behind Salt's tire and reverses up on to it (great picture of this work in the slideshow) and Voila! we have our ingenuity of the day award!  Quite level now, we chalk up the tires and begin setting up.

We went full set-up this time, opening all the awnings, or trying to.  Our main awning in the front gave us some trouble.  Very frustrating as Alan had opened it at Oceano Dunes all by himself, but now, even after both of us reading the manual (see how frustrating it became?  We read the manual!) we couldn't get it right.  It was hanging down at a very odd angle making it difficult to walk in and out of the door.  We took a break, and Alan returned to it after awhile.  While watching him, I saw the issue:  We had been trying to hook one of the poles to the wrong part of the awning arm.  Once we got this straightened out, and added a little WD40, it went up like a charm.  I'd say we'll never forget that again, but I have learned to never say never--I refer you back to the RV Dump Site versus Armani suit exchange, above, as well as my comment in "How It All Started" vis a vis never buying an Airstream.

We had a great weekend:  Dogs running free in the alpine meadows, catching fish (2 for Kit, 1 for Alan, I am just saying), campfires every night, a wonderful thunder and lighting show, lots of hiking around the lake, and even an NBA playoff game streamed through Alan's phone (which we enjoyed by the fire.)

We left on Tuesday so we could stop at Pyramid Lake on our way home.  Our campground there, Los Alamos, was empty, dusty, full of flies, but a nice stopping point anyway--just over half way home.  We checked out Pyramid Lake (about 2 miles from the campground) on our way out.  It is really only good for boaters--no shoreline to speak of, and the "beach" is very small.

We were back at the Spice Rack (Baker RV Storage) by early afternoon.  Gathered up the little food that was remaining, the towels and clothes, disconnected Salt (always our least favorite part) and headed home.

After all that talk from the camp hosts regarding our ability to get site 41, I couldn't help but give it a try when we got home.  Would I be able to reserve that site again?  Apparently not, it appears to be the only site booked throughout the season.  There was some Loml Luck in this trip!

-K

Our very first trip . . .

(Photos available, right mouse click on the post title and select, "open in a new window" )


Having lost all faith in our local Airstream dealer, we purchased Salt from Sky River RV in Paso Robles, California, in January 2011.  Paso Robles is a good 5 plus hour drive from Laguna, incidentally covering some of my favorite California countryside-- especially if you take 101, but a long drive none-the-less.  


To set the scene just a little:  Prior to this trip, we had only rented a trailer (Dubbed Mrs. Dash [salt substitute]) for two weeks over Christmas.  We had never rv'd or trailer'd before.  We have a lot to learn--


We decided to drive up Friday night and stay in Pismo Beach then get Salt first thing Saturday morning (including our two-hour introductory "walk-through".)  On our way to Pismo, we wanted to check out some RV sites as possible stopping points on the way back.  We drove to the ocean and found Oceano Dunes where the patient park attendant explained that yes, really, you can drive right down on the sand.  Yes, even with a trailer.  Yes, even for an overnight.  So we paid $5 and drove out with Pepper that night to check it out.  What a great scene!  You can drive for miles along the ocean--fantastic!  So we decided that Saturday we would pick up Salt and return for our first night on the 'Dunes.


We overnight-ed Friday in a small motel - beggars can't be choosers when you are traveling with two terriers.


Picked up Salt at 10 the next morning, did our walk-through, wrote the check, and headed out around 1:00 p.m.  Back to Oceano Dunes!


We paid our fee again (I think this time, since we were staying the night, we paid slightly more--maybe $20) and proceeded to pull Salt onto the sand.  We crossed the small estuary with bated breath, splashing salt and sand on our baby's new skin - but that was nothing compared to what was ahead.


We drove down the beach for a few miles looking for an out of the way place.  Found one and drove up into the sand a bit to ensure that we would not be caught when the tide came in.  Drove up into soft sand.  Tried to turn around and the wheels just kept spinning.  Deeper and deeper the Pepper went into the sand.  We would get out and shovel the sand away from the wheels (with frisbees) and try again and again.  Sometimes cramming the frisbees under the front wheels in an attempt to gain some traction.  The park warden was parked comfortably up on a dune watching, undoubtedly joyfully, as the newbies in their fancy rig proceeded to bury their first vehicle up to it's axle in the sand, while covering the second with the splatter.


Frustrated, stressed and scared as the sun was hanging low in the horizon.  (This near sun-setting time is a hard time for me.  I tend to get very antsy if I don't know where I am going to sleep--happens when we are backpacking too.  I really need to be parked and/or tented by the time the sun starts to set or a I freak out a little.)  So I am freaking out a little over the sun's position and we are both freaking out that we look like fools and are afraid we are damaging our new shiny toy.  And we are hungry.  And it's past sun-downer time.  And I am sure the dogs were whining to get out.


After about 20 minutes of this, a nice couple pulled up in a Dodge 350 or something like that.  He asked if we would like a tug out.  Thankfully, Alan had just read about a tool in the Pepper that is used to create a tow-hold in the front of the car--otherwise I fear we wouldn't have been able to tell him where we could tie up.  So Alan put in the tool, we hooked up to the Dodge, and in about two and a half seconds, this nice stranger pulled the Pepper and the Salt up onto hard sand.  


We have met some of the nicest people out rv'ing -- and, by the way, they are much more quiet at night than any hotel (5 star or otherwise) in which I have ever stayed.  But back to the story . . . 


Being almost completely stressed out now (and exhausted physically from all the digging), we were tempted to re-cross the estuary and hit some pavement for our first night.  But Alan, ever the more adventuresome of us, convinced me we could stay.  But this time, I walked up to higher ground testing the sand before we drove into our final spot.  


Our background photo on the main page is that spot.  What a great night.  We built a fire, made the bed for the first time, and enjoyed our sun-downers even if just a little late.  


I could hardly sleep I was so concerned about the tide coming in.  But awoke in the morning to the lovely sign of the high-water mark about 10 feet from our fire ring.


The adventure began . . .


-K

How it all started . . .

Alan and I were sitting in a cafe in Madrid, the fall of 2009, when we came up with the idea to live for one month in all the major cities of Europe.  But as we discussed it further, a couple of issues popped up, mainly:  (1) Transportation, we like to hike and enjoy the mountains, so renting a place in the middle of Madrid with no car (and two dogs) would make that difficult; and, (2) Moving our stuff--thinking about packing up and moving every four weeks made me sick to my stomach (I do not deal well with packing and having stuff out of place.)


So we came back from vacation that year with the idea of traveling around Europe buzzing in our heads.  But no clear path to that goal.  The following March (2010) we were enjoying two Bohemia darks on the beach south of Playa del Carmen (south of Cancun) when we had the idea of driving an RV around Europe.  It solved the moving issue for me (no packing and the space is so small everything had to remain in it's place.) 


We returned home and began looking at RV's.


A few months later, my brother Chris suggested that we tow a trailer rather than driving (what we learned were called) a Class B motor-home.  This ensemble would give us the freedom to drop the "house" and hit the trail-heads.   The idea also had the benefit of us being able to drive the Pepper which we adore.


So began the long journey of looking at and learning about trailers.  This deserves another posting by itself . . . suffice it to say it took over six months and we had various discussions, not the least of which began with me saying, "There is no way we are ever going to buy an Airstream--they are so ugly."  I had never been inside one . . . 


-K