Our next foray was back up to my beloved Sierras for a Memorial day trip. Taking advantage of the 3 day weekend, we stretched it into 4 days. Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to take more trips to this lovely area of God's green earth and every year time gets away from me and the camping season is over before we can make a return trip. There are just so many things that we enjoy that it's difficult to attend to each of them with the amount of time that we would like to dedicate. Between camping, motorcycle trips, fishing, hunting, etc., I'll tell you it's a wonder that we find the time to work for a living. Anyhow, back to the subject. On this particular trip, my oldest son and his wife headed up to Upper Sage Flat with us. If you have followed this blog, you will know that this campground along Big Pine creek is one of my favorite places to camp. Not only is it one of the most ruggedly beautiful spots in the southern eastern Sierra, it also holds great sentimental value to me. The first time I laid eyes on it, I was about 10 years old. Since then, we have shared many, many campfires with my parents, our children, and our friends. Anyhow, Chris and Florica usually go with us on Memorial day weekend and this was no exception. It's always wonderful to have them along! They are tent campers - at least for the moment. Here is a shot of their campsite from the front of our site.
I was the guy that made the reservations for this trip. Usually, we stay at the downstream (east) end of the campground, but on this occasion I was determined to get us close enough to the creek so that we could be lulled to sleep by the natural sounds of running water. We accomplished that goal, but it caused two things. Number one, it made we want to . . . well . . . um . . . go number one. But more importantly, it put us in a tight campsite, perpendicular to a very narrow road that was basically a small loop. Why is that important? Have I mentioned lately that BoldlygoII is 30 ft. long from bumper to hitch? Have I mentioned that our truck is a quad cab diesel 4x4? Have I mentioned that when the two of them are put together they are almost as long as a cross country freight train? No? Well, let me tell you that this combination is not particularly well suited to fighter pilot like cuts and turns. As a matter of fact, it harks back to an old country song that I remember as a kid . . . "give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around, it's the easiest way that I've found . . . " Thankfully, Chris was already there so that he could help guide me into our (extremely tiny) spot. "But" you ask, "how come Sandy didn't help you back in"? Simple. After a long and tiring journey, neither of us is usually very relaxed upon arrival, which generally assures that I will get annoyed with Sandy's backing directions and she will begin to think of me as a jail sentence. So, since I enjoy continued living and she didn't want to go to jail, she very tactfully suggested that Chris help me back in cuz SHE WASN'T DOING IT. So anyhow, we got the trailer backed in and set up. Thank you Angel. you're the bestest! Of course, all of this is tongue in cheek. Here's a nice little shot of our campsite.
From there on out, it was just a nice relaxing weekend. Here's Sandy still in her jammies:
And me getting ready to play lumberjack (sans high heels):
Somehow I ended up the weekend without getting a picture of Chris and Florica. Sandy probably did however. Maybe I should learn to steal her pictures for this blog too? :-)
Did I mention that it snowed? Well it did. My brother and sister in law, along with their beautiful chocolate lab - Bocephus - were camped with us also. Here's a picture of our sister Carol along with Boey and a pretty good flurry of snow:
Hmmmm . . . snow at the end of May. I'm thinking that Al Gore dude is full of poo. We cut the trip a bit short because of the weather and headed back home. Overall, it was a great trip. We didn't do a lot of fishing but we had a blast anyhow, attending Mule Days in Bishop and just hanging around camp.
Next, we headed up the California coast for Father's Day. This has now become an official tradition for us. On Father's Day weekend, there is a HUGE car show in Pismo Beach, CA. Among our other loves, Sandy and I really love old cars. I'm not sure why it is . . . maybe it takes us back to a simpler time in our lives. Maybe it's because the lines of the older cars had real character, as opposed to the boxy new stuff wandering the streets. But maybe it's just because they "don't build 'em like that anymore". Whatever the draw, we love the feel, the atmosphere of a car show and this one is the best we've ever attended. On this occasion we stayed at the Pismo Coast Village Resort. Not much of a resort if you ask me. We are still looking for some of the better places to camp in that area. On this trip, we took our motorcycle for the first time. Here we are all loaded up and ready to go with the bike in the back of the truck:
I didn't bother taking any pictures of our RV "Resort". It was little more than a gravel field with an electric post and a hole in the ground for our sewer hose. Guess you'll just have to use your imagination, creating a mental image that matches your thoughts on what an RV Resort should look like. Besides the lack of any real character, the campground had a LOT of kids running around. Now, I love kids. I raised three of my own and anyone who really knows me knows how I feel about kids. But these weren't just little kids having fun. These were kids making a nuisance of themselves, running through our campground, hitting the truck and trailer with their balls . . . um . . . like basketballs and tennis balls, etc. Anyhow, I felt like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. "Get off my law . . . I mean, get off my gravel"!! But, the car show was great! Here's Sandy's favorite part - a bumper sticker on one of the show trucks:
I can just imagine Sam Elliot saying that in his own inimitable way. Love it . . .
While there, we motorcycled over to Arroyo Grande, a very historic little town on the east side of highway 101. There are a lot of neat little shops and antique dealers here. Here's a picture of some fat guy hanging out in front of a guitar shop:
When I was a kid, my maternal grandparents lived in Grover City (since re-named Grover Beach). We visited them often and on one such trip, we went to the beach. We took a walk along the pier and I remember being afraid. Now, give me a break here . . . I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. There were huge gaps between the wooden slats that made up the 'boardwalk' of the pier and I was afraid to look at the water below. I remember my grandmother leaning down and sticking her fingers between the boards and telling me that there was no way I could fall through there. I'm not sure that consoled me but come to find out, my fear was not terribly unusual. Sandy got some of that same feeling while walking out on the pier. This car show is so large that it spills out onto this pier and that's the reason we were out there. She took a picture of the object of her discomfort:
When I was in kindergarten, my parents decided to rent out our house in Norwalk, CA and move up to Grover City. I'm not sure what their reasoning was, but I have to assume it was mostly so that my mom could be near her folks. Regardless, we moved right after the start of my kindergarten year. Dad owned an auto shop up there at the time - this would have been 1961 or 1962. I very well remember walking from my afternoon school session to my dad's shop. From there, dad would close up shop and take my brother and I home. Dad would occasionally put us to work cleaning parts, or sweeping - most anything to keep us busy and out of trouble. Side note: I really have worked on cars almost my entire life - and I still love it. Anyhow, mom nor dad could ever remember exactly where that old shop was. Since losing my dad a couple of years ago, memories like this have become even more precious to me. I always figured that if I could find my school, I could find dad's old shop location. It was down to the first corner, turn right and down the street on the left. 49 years later and I still remember my route. In 2010, we looked around a bit for the school but came up empty. This year, while on our way from our campground to the freeway to head home, we took a little different route and, much to surprise, we bumped into a school that looked very familiar. Hmmm . . . turn left here in front of the school, right at the first street and down the street on the left. Oh my gosh!!! There it is!! After so many years, his old shop is not only still standing, it is still an auto repair shop! It doesn't look like much I suppose, but it brings back precious memories. Here it is:
Our next trip (in August) was a little different. Instead of taking BoldlygoII, we decided to take a motorcycle trip to Big Bear. So we packed a duffle, strapped it to the bike, made a reservation and off we went. But first, a little fuel:
We're there dude!!
Parking so we can get some lunch:
This is where we stayed. No, we didn't stay in the covered wagon. I had enough of that when we immigrated on the Oregon trail :-)
Looking positively radiant!
Here we are, packed up and on our way home. If you look closely, there is a miniature broom strapped to the top of our duffle bag. Sandy found that little thing in an antique store and thought it would be perfect for students at school - it was just the right size. So we strapped it to the back of the motorcycle for the trip home. We had to wonder if people passing us on the highway though that the broom was our spare tire . . .
October found us back in the Gold Country of northern California. This time, we stayed in a very nice RV park in Coloma, CA., site of John Marshall's gold discovery back in the mid 1800's. What a great place. We spent quite a bit of time in the surrounding hills and towns and even made a day trip to Sacramento to see the state Capitol and Sacto's "old town". Unfortunately, I don't have any of our photos on my computer at this time. I may come back later and update this particular set with some pics.
Well, there you have it. Now you're all up to speed on the adventures of D&S along with their trusty traveling home BoldlygoII. Until next time, so long!
