So… now we are heading east.
We left El Capitan State Park, north of Santa Barbara on September 23rd
and started our eastward (homeward) trek.
On that day, we were heading for Lake Isabella which is near the Sequoia
National Park. After staying at state
campgrounds, I needed one with all the “amenities”, hookups, wifi and
especially a laundry. Lake Isabella KOA
fit the bill. We usually avoid KOA’s
because they tend to be more expensive than other campgrounds in the same area
but this was the only campground in the area that was not “primitive” so we
headed for it. We passed through miles of orange groves with the oranges ripening on the trees. The Sierra Madre mountains were in the distance and soon we were crossing them.
As we approached Lake Isabella, we noticed that like Lake
San Antonio, this lake was very low. We
talked to locals about it and they said they had never seen the lake so
low. It was too shallow to canoe
in. The campground, however, was lovely
and we set up the R-dome and got busy doing a lot of maintenance like laundry,
defrosting the refrigerator, cleaning, etc.
One of the nice things about this campground was that they had a pool
and a pub. We didn't use the pool but we enjoyed having an evening beer/wine at the
pub. One thing we noticed here was that
there were several “rental” campers here.
It seems that many Europeans come to the West Coast and rent a camper to
tour the western US. The bartender told
us the Europeans are amazed at the long distances without any towns – very
different from Europe. We talked to a
couple from Holland who were touring in a rented RV with their two small
children. They talked about how Europeans have much more vacation time than Americans.
The next day we decided to see the Sequoia National Forest
which was about 1 ½ hours away. We
hadn't planned on touring that since we were kind of focused on getting the RV
straightened up but Bob talked to the bartender at the pub while he was watching
Monday night football and she insisted that we needed to see it. So on Tuesday morning, we quickly finished
our maintenance tasks and then set out, with Poppy, to see the sequoias. As we drove, it was interesting how the terrain suddenly changed from sparse and desert-like...
To green with lots of trees...
We were headed for the “Trail of 100 Giants”
and the road to reach it was twisted, steep and very beautiful. By then we were used to those kind of
roads.
We stopped at a little store on
the way up and got some sandwiches and when we reached the Sequoia National
Park (this was before the government shut-down), we parked and headed for a
picnic table with our sandwiches and a beer.
The weather was perfect, sunny but breezy, so it didn’t feel too
hot. After lunch, we started walking the
Sequoia trail. The trees were
magnificent – pictures can’t really do them justice. I was really glad we had decided to come up
here.
These are the roots of an upended sequoia:
When we got back to our truck, we saw a car with a Google
StreetView logo on it. There was a young
man there, donning a large camera pack and planning to head into the Trail to
photograph it for Street View. We talked
to him for a bit and got some pictures.
On the way home, we stopped at a place on the Kearn River and let Poppy
swim a little. I was a little afraid she
would get swept downriver by the current but she did fine and had a great time.
On Wednesday, we left Lake Isabella and headed west for
Death Valley. Bob had wanted to spend a
night in Death Valley but when we did some internet research on the campgrounds
in the area, we decided not to stay there but to head on through into Nevada. Driving through Death Valley was really
interesting. We were being really
careful about gas and topped off our tank whenever we passed a gas station
because they were few and far between.
As we approached Death Valley, we started seeing lots of Joshua trees.
We ascended to over 7,000 feet, then
we started descending.
When we reached
sea level, we saw the Stovepipe Creek campground where we had thought of
staying – it was nothing more than a big cement parking lot with no hookups
(i.e. no air conditioning or shade).
Since it was very hot, we were very glad we weren't planning to stay
there. We did stop at a rest area nearby. You can see that it is truly desert! Poppy was having a hard time peeing on gravel. She is used to grass but there wasn't any to be found.
We then continued descending to
-275 feet at the lowest point and the outside thermometer in our truck read 95
degrees.
The terrain was very beautiful,
in a stark, desert-like way. One of the
things that has really fascinated us on this trip is how many different types
of terrains there are in this country that are amazingly beautiful.
Soon we were crossing into Nevada. Bob’s cousin had told us about a campground
in Pahrump, NV that was located at a winery and was very inexpensive. We headed there and were very pleasantly
surprised to find that it was only $20 per night, had full hook-ups, laundry, a
POOL and a HOT TUB. It also had an RV
wash station which we sorely needed. To
add to the fun, the winery was right there and offered free tours and wine
tastings. What a treat!
We arrived there about 1:00 PM, got set up and went for a
swim in the pool and a soak in the hot tub. J Then we went for a tour of the winery which
was fascinating. We started in the vineyards,
talking about the different types of grapes
and then moved on to the room where
the grapes were fermented, pressed and stored in oak casks.
Our tour guide described the wine-making
process in detail. Then we tasted seven
wines and, of course, bought some (that’s why the campground is so cheap). In the evening, we went to a Mexican
restaurant for dinner and had a great meal.
The next day we headed to Boulder City, just outside of Las
Vegas. We were planning to visit with
Bob’s cousins (and our good friends), Dennis and Elaine Gruenberg as well as my
friend Liz, who grew up next door to me in Long Island, was my childhood
playmate, clubbing buddy in my early college years and the maid of honor at my
wedding.
We stayed at a campground in Boulder City and, after getting
set up, went to Henderson, NV to visit with Dennis and Elaine. We had a great time catching up with them and
visiting with their grandkids. Then we
all went back to Boulder City, visited some more at our camper and went downtown for a great
dinner. Boulder City is a neat little town with great restaurants and shops.
The next day, my friend Liz (actually she is OUR friend
since Bob dated her before he dated me!) came by to visit. She has been in the western US since she
traveled to Colorado Springs with me in 1968 after Bob and I were married. Bob was stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado
Springs, preparing to go to Viet Nam. Liz
(she was Betty back then) was ready to get out of Long Island and accompanied
me in my VW bug with “Pikes Peak or Bust” written on the back of it. The bumper sticker says, "McCarthy for President" (I wonder how that worked out??)
We had no car radio – just a battery operated
record player but the only album that we had that we both liked was the Mommas
and the Poppas, so we listened to them all the way across the US. I went home to New York after Bob shipped out
for Viet Nam, but Liz stayed out there and has been in Vegas for many
years. Anyway, we had a great time
reminiscing with her and then we all went to downtown Boulder City again and
had another great dinner at a sidewalk café. We walked around the town for a while
and then Liz drove us down to see Lake Mead which is just outside of Boulder
City. It was really great to see her.
The next day, Saturday, September 28th, we headed
for Arizona to see Bob’s brother Jim
and his wife Alice. More about that in
the next post.
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