Month: March 2024

Posted on

A Grand Tour

One of the things I love about RV travel is that we are not beholden to anyone.  We have no specific date or time to be anywhere (except our flight home), so, until July we can go wherever we please!  We’ve changed our mind about which direction to travel in several times already.  Mostly, due to the weather.  We thought we’d head north to the California Parks, Kings Canyon, Yosemite and on to Lake Tahoe but the weather had other plans!  So instead, we’ve decided to head east, crossed the border into Arizona and took a lesser road up to Lake Havasu and then across to the Grand Canyon.

A veritable oasis in the desert, Lake Havasu is the culmination of one man’s dream to build a town around his business, right on the border between California and Arizona.

Here’s a question:  What do these two things have in common?

The answer comes under the “who would have thought” heading.  It turns out that in 1960, the inventor and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch, (have you twigged?) sought a suitable body of water to test his boat motors, not his chain saws!  He purchased 26 square miles of barren land adjacent the Colorado River and with his friend, Cornelius Vanderbuilt (who designed Disneyland), set about developing a town around his business.  An extensive ad campaign and warmer climate encouraged many northerners to relocate to his oasis in the desert. 

What does this have to do with London Bridge?

I’m glad you asked.

Apparently, McCulloch heard that the City of London were selling their dismantled old London Bridge which had stood for 600 years.  Ever the entrepreneur, he made a successful bid for the bridge, which consisted of the ornate lampposts and 10,276 granite blocks which were subsequently shipped to Lake Havasu.  The current canal was dredged, creating the island that the newly erected bridge would span. 

The grand opening occurred on October 10, 1971, and included an “English village.”  It became Arizona’s only “beachfront resort.”

We arrived late in the afternoon and went for a walk along the canal, marveling at the pontoon boats that lined the shores resplendent with afternoon revelers and their tipple of choice, and very flash speed boats that motored ever-so-slowly up and down.

The following morning, we parked in the town and walked down to the canal and along the foreshore to the “English Village” and back.  Shorts and T-shirts were our chosen attire because by mid-morning it had warmed up to 30C.

Apparently palm trees are perfectly ok if you carve and stain them

A new movie? Honey I Blew Up the Dog. He certainly was much bigger than me!

It certainly was a change from the LA landscape we’d just left.  Palatial homes and lush gardens were replaced with bare, rocky hills, arid landscapes, pueblo-style homes and a quirky sense of humour.

Our summer attire was short-lived however, because late that afternoon as we settled into our Bureau of Land Management (BLM) disbursed campsite a short drive from the Grand Canyon National Park, the temperature had dropped to below zero.  These areas are set aside in many forests and parks for free camping and provide no services but are great bush camps where you can have a campfire.

Our temperature gauge at 7am.  The left number is inside and the right, outside and this is Fahrenheit which translates to 8 degrees Celsius inside and -5.5 degrees outside!

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon only entailed a short rim walk on the southern side because it was the end of the season, and most things were shutting down.  This visit, we said we’d do as many hikes and activities as possible.  

First up, an early morning walk along the south rim to the visitor center, museums and of course, the tourist shops.  Wearing several layers of clothes to keep the below 10-degree temperatures at bay.  We ended at Hopi Point and retraced our walk back to Joey.  We were just as amazed walking the other direction.

Hopi House is now a shop and gallery that sells jewelry, rugs, pottery, dream catchers and other items made by local native Indians. There were some exquisite pieces and I was impressed that any items not made by the local Indians were clearly marked. It’s lucky we live in moveable premises or I would certainly have bought a few pieces.

Rocking chairs were a feature on the porches of all the buildings we saw and they certainly fitted in with the decor.

The resort chalet was also build at the same time and is certainly in keeping with the rugged log cabin theme.

But what we came to see was the Canyon and it didn’t disappoint! I can’t tell you how many pictures we snapped because every time we looked out we saw a different view. The light hitting the canyon and highlighting another area, or the changing colours as the sun moved through the morning.

We even saw some squirrels that call this area home. They were quite striking to look at, unbelievably quick darting around and clearly not concerned about the sheer drop!

You can see how muddy the Colorado River is in this picture, the bridge and its shadow and the trail along the cliff edge.

There are no fences along the rim trail and many opportunities to get as close to the edge as you want. Don’t look down if you’re scared of heights!

I love taking pictures of dead trees and this one was quite striking.

The rocks on the path edge certainly aren’t going to stop anyone going over! You can see how close the edge is in some places to the path.

It really is a “Grand” canyon!  I don’t think you’d ever get tired of looking at this yawning abyss.  The colours, light and shade, varied rock patterns and its sheer size are spectacular.  We began our rim walk at about 7.30am.  By the time we got back to Joey in car park 3, (RVs and large vehicles always get the parking allocations the furthest away), it was after 11am!  Of course, this is still low season.  Several roads and hiking trails are still shut and road access to the north rim won’t open until mid-May.  However, many of the lookouts were several people deep by our return and not only were the 3 very expansive car parks full, but people had lined the roads, parked on dirt verges and around the perimeters of the car parks.  Note to self – make sure we arrive early tomorrow too!  It must be sheer bedlam in high season!

Because of the crowds we stayed put in the car park and had lunch, then walked the inner route, through the forest to the marketplace and the lookouts at the far end of the public access.  By 5pm and having walked around all day, we decided to catch the free shuttle bus that circumnavigates the marketplace, accommodation and the car parks.  We walked just over 16kms and felt that the canyon is so vast, we’d barely seen a fraction!

We stayed our second night in a closer campsite, determined to arrive earlier the following morning because it was Saturday.  We’d parked by 7am and planned to walk the rim in the other direction to South Kaibab trailhead. 

Views from this direction gave us better vantage points to see the mighty Colorado River as it snaked through the bottom of the canyon.  Until you know where to look, it’s difficult to spot from so high up because of it’s muddy colour.

There were already several people sporting backpacks and hiking sticks, headed down the trail, so we followed on down.  The trail snakes backwards and forwards across the cliff face with hairpin bends and nothing at all to stop your fall on the downhill side, should you take a misstep!  There were too many rough stone steps to count and not a foot of flat path!  It was downhill all the way, and you know what that means!  Uphill all the way back!

It’s recommended to take two days to hike to the bottom and back up, which means carrying all your camping equipment and tent overnight at the bottom.  We passed several hikers who had intended to make the bottom, but we were surprised because we knew what the weather held in store for later in the afternoon and following day.  Strong winds, rain and the likelihood of snow!  We hadn’t decided how far we’d hike down, but the lookout at Ooh Aah Point (yes it really is called that!) seemed like a good point to turn around.  Then we saw that Cedar Ridge plateau was actually not that much further, so we continued on down. 

Cedar Ridge is a relatively flat area with water available to refill bottles, long drop toilets and hitching rails to tie up the mules.  There were several mules corralled at the top and a lot of evidence on the trail that they’d recently traversed it. When we reached the top we saw two mules whose riders told us they were going down to Cedar Ridge to exercise them.  I certainly wouldn’t want to ride a mule down the very steep and narrow path or have to step to the downhill side to let them go past. 

What goes down, must go up and after taking time to take in the incredible scenery, we began our hike to the top.  We were quite amazed at the numbers of people now coming down the trail.  It was almost a constant queue.  Not surprising, however, were the numbers of people who were unprepared to leave the cliff side and pass on the right! The wind and cold change they forecast also arrived and on some of the switchbacks it was difficult to climb against.

Other than one brief stop on the way up for a drink, we made it back without stopping and were not out-of-breath at all.  All those morning walks have paid off!  Then we had the 4km walk back to Joey.

We saw everything we wanted to see and that was available, so we headed off along the alternate south rim road, stopping at the scenic lookouts on our way out of the park. The further we drove, the higher we got and the more snow we started to see.

We had planned to stay in Flagstaff for a day or two and see some of the sights, but the weather forecast for the Grand Canyon region reached Flagstaff overnight and we awoke to about 3 inches of snow!  Joey is unprepared to stay in below freezing conditions for lengthy periods and we are also aware of how treacherous driving in icy and snowing conditions can be.  

There was no snow here when we pulled up the night before. It all fell overnight!

Our windscreen wipers were under all that snow

Some pictures I took as we drove out of Flagstaff.

After braving the snow for photos we upped stumps and headed down from our 7,000 feet elevation to a small town called Black Canyon and below the snow line.  We found a very interesting community trail that snaked its way around the hillside in and around many cacti and succulents. 

We’ve discovered that many of the native Indian tribes’ own casinos and they are very happy to let RVs and trucks stay in their secure parking lots so that’s where we found ourselves in Sun City.  Just for something different we decided to check out the casino for dinner.  It was packed with people, most of whom were seated at the hundreds of slot machines.  We opted for Mexican cuisine.  Unsurprisingly, I opted for the salad with roast veg and Peter treated himself to the “lets eat all our calories for the day in one meal” nachos bowl. I’m told it was very delicious!

The following morning, we awoke to clear blue skies and light jacket temperatures.  We hiked two spots in the White Tank Mountain State Park, which, like most everything in this area, was either newly build (in the last 10 years or so) or currently being built.  The amount of new infrastructure here is astounding!  Housing estates, shopping complexes, an extensive road and highway system, and more gargantuan warehouses, manufacturing and office buildings than I’ve seen anywhere.  But I digress.

Our first hike to Petroglyph Plaza and Waterfall Canyon gave us some glimpses into how spectacular the cacti will be when fully out in flower.  There are also 11 archaeological sites where the regional Hohokam Indian tribes carved into the rocks between AD 500 & 1100.  The information provided suggested holy men carved the symbols while under the influence of hallucinogens, so their meaning has remained ambiguous however, archaeologists have discovered evidence of farming crops, damming water and living in villages. 

The trail culminated in a small water pool and the very slightest trickle of water at the waterfall site, but nonetheless worth the hike.  Our second hike led us around the mountain to view Willow Canyon and views of the towns below. 

On the search for interesting and scenic walks and hikes, we found Estrella Mountain Regional Park. It wasn’t as picturesque as the White Tank region but interesting in that it was so much more arid and dry, but only a few miles away. So, the following morning we found ourselves back in White Tank Park and trekking the Ford Canyon Trail.

While still arid and rocky it was much greener with a lot more grasses, ground covers and wildflowers. The hike takes you up and over the hills, along a water course that had, in the past been dammed, and snakes around the hillsides back to car park. We had intended to hike up to the dam wall and then retrace our steps back down but instead, we continued on to complete the whole 16km loop.

Posted on

Do we have talent?

Last time we were in America we got tickets to be in the audience of two shows that were for TV.  A sitcom called ‘Til Death with Brad Garrett (the brother from Everyone Loves Raymond) and Joely Fisher and Tonight with Jay Lenno.  Both were great experiences and interesting to see what happened behind the scenes, so this trip I thought I’d see if there was anything filming.  As it turns out, America’s Got Talent (or AGT as it’s referred to) has just started season 19 and were filming their 4th session on Sunday.in Pasadena.  Fortuitously, that was the direction we needed to go through LA so I logged on, not expecting any tickets to be left and who would have thought!  I got tickets for Sunday’s 4.30pm filming.

So, off we trundled to Pasadena and found a good parking spot on a road outside a small movie production lot.  The next 2 mornings we had spectacular hikes through the adjacent suburbs and into Griffith Park, a 4,210 acre wilderness area with more than 50 miles of hiking trails.  They all involved hiking up quite steep trails, but the views were spectacular.  Before we hit the trails, we traversed steep, winding suburban roads where many of the houses were on steep gradients, and the higher and steeper we walked, the more opulent the houses became.  It was fascinating because no 2 houses were alike!  Every house had different architecture. Here are a few that stood out.

We saw some squirrels that were clearly used to people feeding them, our first coyote, spectacular views of LA and the Hollywood hills and visited the Griffith Park Observatory.

The famous Hollywood sign is on the highest peak, at 1,625feet.

The land surrounding Griffith Observatory was donated by Griffith J Griffith in 1896 and the Observatory completed in 1835. He detailed specific plans for the Observatory, including that admission would always be free.

As you can see, the views are spectacular

We discovered that Easter is not a time for decorating your house, like Halloween and Christmas, but we did see St Patrick’s day decorations in a few places.  This one, we passed on way up to the hiking trails, was brilliant!

With a relatively dry climate, we were surprised how lush everything was in LA.  There was no shortage of beautiful gardens with manicured lawns and blooming shrubs and trees.  There were also wildflowers scattered on the hillsides and this wattle tree, which made us feel right at home.

On Sunday we drove towards Pasadena centre and were lucky to find a good street park about 20-minutes walk from the venue.  Having had the experiences previously, we were aware of how long one stands in queues waiting for these shows, so we set aside the whole day.  This was no exception.  We arrived at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium at 1pm, having found Japanese sushi for lunch and read and abided by the dress code stipulations.  Only wear dark, solid colours, preferably dark blue or black!  No patterns or stripes.  “Upscale attire or business casual is mandatory”, to quote the requirements.  Tricky when you’ve arrived in America for an RV holiday, but we managed!

So, we hovered around the Centre forecourt until eventually I asked two staff where the queue was.  “Around the corner”, apparently.  We made our way around the corner and down the street to the end of an already long queue.  We also found out why they send you a “ticket” when you book, then allocate a paper ticket with your actual seat.  If they don’t like how you look on the cameras in the seat you’re allocated, they move you around! 

We were an hour waiting for the paper ticket.  Then ½ hour to go through airport-style security.  (No bags or food allowed).  Then, we were told to stand at the top of the steps in front of several large access doors.  We waited.  More people arrived.  We waited longer.  It got close and warm but still we waited and still they funneled more people up the steps.  After almost another hour, the doors finally opened, our tickets were checked, and we were shown to our seats.  It was now 4.45pm.  It was bizarre sitting in a theatre where everyone wore all black or dark blue and the odd few that hadn’t read the dress code really stood out.

These shows have a “warm up guy” to entertain the audience before the show starts, but instead of telling jokes and being funny, he got the audience excited by offering free AGT t-shirts and getting people to post on Instagram using different # to get prizes.  We were also primed for the show and for the cameras to get all their audience shots and audio.  I can’t tell you how many times we had to jump out of our seats and clap wildly, wave our arms in the air, laugh quietly, then loudly, or gasp in amazement!  While the whole process was fascinating, from the queueing to the show, I can’t say I’ll be getting more tickets for AGT, as the email we received at the end of the night suggested.

Finally, at 6.30pm the host, Terry Crews introduced the four judges who came sashaying down the central aisle, waving and smiling at the people on the ends of the rows.  Howie Mandel (a comedian that I didn’t know), Heidi Klum (supermodel), Sofia Vergara (best known for Modern Family) and of course, Simon Cowell.  Rapturous, rousing applause went on for minutes as they took their seats, and general chit chat between host and judges was had.  Almost 7pm and still no contestants.

After more revving up the audience by the warm-up guy the first act was introduced.  A woman dressed in a tiger costume and her sidekick dressed as a tamer.  The tiger wasn’t funny, the sidekick said nothing, but stood nearby glimmering in her red sequin tails.  They were bumped off the stage with 4 nos.  Unsurprising!  The judges then chatted among themselves, but because they wore mikes we could hear them.  They drank from very large sippy cups and had their makeup attended to.  About 6 roadies dressed in black ambled onto the stage in no rush and carefully laid out a dog agility course.  Apparently last year’s winner was a handler and his dog, Hurricane who did something similar.  You can’t really blame people for trying for the 15 minutes of fame because the winner pockets $US1,000,000!

Another 20 minutes or so elapsed before a woman and her very long and low to the ground blood hound entered the stage.  Another thing that surprised me was how much chatting the judges did with each contestant before their act.  Each contestant was on stage many minutes before their 2-minute act began.  The dog was cute but also got resounding nos.

There were only 6 acts in total.  We assumed they’d be a dozen or more!  There was a boy from South Africa that did card tricks with Simon Cowell sitting next to him and you could not see how he did them.  A Russian now living in Germany that did a contortionist act that you had to see to believe!  He could put his leg over his shoulder, twist his arms backwards, do a backbend and literally look at his tush!  His finale was to fold himself into a metal box about a foot square and shut the lid!  And he wasn’t short, either!  He got resounding yeses.  Next, a Ukrainian balancing act stood on his hands, balanced on 4 glasses separated with a sheet of Perspex and stacked 4 tiers high.  The roadies in black were comical setting it up because they could not have done the task any slower!  6 guys handing each other glasses one at a time and meticulously placing them! 

His act was amazing!  He climbed up the stacked glasses, stood on his hands, balancing on a bowling ball upside down on his head, then, while still balancing on his hands, he poured a drink from a bottle into a glass and drank it out of a straw, and then he balanced on his head, on the neck of the bottle!  The gasping practice we’d had earlier really paid off!  And he also got resounding yeses.

The last act started out well, as a frumpy, shy woman who had a coffee stain on her white blouse, then trying to clean it, used a dirty rag, made her shirt brown with a liquid she also spilled everywhere, and the act went downhill from there.  She got all nos too.

As soon as she left the stage, we were told she was the last act and to say goodbye to judges who made a hasty retreat.  Done and dusted by 8.30.

Did we feel like we’d spent an interesting afternoon and evening?  Sure.  It was an experience I expect we’ll remember for quite a while!  We might even try to watch the episode on TV.  And something that really surprised me, was how friendly and chatty Simon Cowell was with the audience.  I imagined he’d be there just to judge but he frequently turned his chair around and had conversations with the people sitting near-by. 

Glad for our experiences but ready to move on, the following morning we drove out of Pasadena and camped just outside the Joshua Tree National Park. 

Last time we were here, the Joshua trees had snow on them, but not now.  We had a few minutes of rain going through Palm Springs, but otherwise the days were clear and mild.  The first morning in the park we did a long hike (7.36 miles or about 12kms) to Lost Palms Oasis, then we drove through the park stopping at all the information boards and hiking several of the other, shorter trails.  The second morning we hiked the steeper but shorter Mastodon Peak Trail, then drove across the border to Arizona (and fuel that was $US1.80 a gallon cheaper)!

It is certainly more arid here where the Colorado and Mohave deserts meet, and the geology of the landscape is amazing.  The Colorado desert is hotter and dryer than the Mohave but the best way to describe it is with pictures!

That’s Joey way in the distance

You really have to wonder how this cactus can grow in a rock!

…and speaking of rocks…

As the day wore on, the crowds in the park increased.  We read that March and April are the most popular months for visiting Joshua Tree because as summer approaches it becomes unbearably hot for hiking.  We stopped at all the walks between Cottontree ranger station and Cap rock but by late afternoon, and with more than a 50-mile drive back to our camp spot for the night we decided we’d experienced enough of the park this time.

Cholla cactus garden

The famous Joshua trees

Obviously one of us had to climb up and strike a pose!

I just wanted to see what was on the other side!

The aptly named heart rock

Many, many more Joshua trees

Joey at Jumbo Rocks

The Mastodon trail, which was our second mornings hike, was named for the mine whose ruins are still visible.  An old gold mine operating between 1919 – 1932, and with a shaft of 75 feet only a small amount of gold was mined and now the abandoned shaft is home to a colony of small micro bats.

Somehow these plants not only grow, but thrive in these rocks

While walking early we heard a surprising number of birds. This was one of the few I managed to capture.

We also saw lots of small skinks but this lizard was quite striking. There are 18 species of lizards in the park. This was one of the more commonly found Great Basin fence lizards.

These gum trees were at the base of the mine where a watercourse wound its way nearby. Although dry and sandy due to the infrequency of rain, when it does rain, it buckets down and fills the creek beds briefly until it soaks into the ground.

Posted on

Say hello to Joey

Today is the day we arranged to meet Dave and Claudia to go through everything on the RV (which we named Joey) and make sure we knew how it all worked. We spent another great afternoon with them and they asked us out to dinner that night to a little Mexican restaurant they frequent. The food was wonderful and the company even better!

Joey is a 2002, 32 foot long Fleetwood Bounder. Over the last 20 years Dave and Claudia have travelled widely and created wonderful memories in the Bounder. Hopefully we can continue their legacy and forge our own in the next few years.

One thing I love about staying in an area for a bit longer, is finding the weird and wonderful but always interesting hidden gems we come across when walking around new areas. Since we’ve been in Camarillo (pronounced Camareo) we’ve walked a different direction each morning. We’ve walked into the hills and past very majestic, homes and estates, through the coastal areas and also through Old Town. It’s a region of California that for many tourists, would be on the way to somewhere else. North to the much promoted Santa Barbara or Solvang, for example, which we certainly did, but Camarillo has an interesting history.

Here are some of the things we’ve found interesting:

While the history of the indigenous Chumash peoples of this region can be traced back 1,000 years, its recent history saw a 10,000 acre parcel of land granted in 1837 and then sold to Juan Camarillo. He is remembered as a strong community leader, businessman and philanthropist. His son Adolfo, who succeeded him upon his death in 1880, was only 16 but also followed in his fathers footsteps. He developed the Camarillo White Horse, (all born with pure white coats and pink skin but brown eyes), and that are still bred today, provisioned for an education scholarship which also continues to this day and gave his time to very many non-profit organisations.

This area is also the fruit bowl of the region, containing orange, lemon, walnut and avocado orchards and also growing strawberries and tomatoes. Many suburban houses have fruit trees in their yards and they are all covered in fruit at the moment.

The wild avocadoes I picked, and that we were unsure would ripen, have ripened already. Peter said the one he had with his his lunch today was very tasty.

Sometimes, walking around the suburbs you just see fascinating and quirky things.

These carved stone plinths were quite exquisite and as tall as the roof of the house.

These tiny houses and lighthouses were arranged in a front garden. They filled the whole yard and were incredibly intricately painted.

Under the “only in America file” these cars, which are road legal here would give monster trucks a run for their money!

A bronze statue of the actor Joel McCrae (1905-1990) inviting you to come sit with him a while. Who is he you ask? (I didn’t know either) IMBD tells me he was a very popular leading actor in American westerns and an accomplished horse rider. He bought large tracts of farmland in Camarillo and became one of the cities most generous benefactors.

We’ve really enjoyed our time in this little corner of California. We’ve driven to the coast and hiked through the hills; each night we’ve parked in the Walmart supermarket carpark so it’s been a short walk to get groceries, the Home Depot (think Bunnings) is right next door, and only a short walk. There’s Target, TK Max, Ross (just like TK Max) and Michael’s which is a huge craft store. Did I mention the Outlet stores? We spent quite a few hours visiting them too and bought a few things!

Finally Friday arrived, the day we needed to take our hired RV back. We left early in the morning to miss the traffic and drove the 70 miles in around 2 hours. Then we had the trip back. A walk to the bus stop, via Starbucks for a coffee. (I’m not a fan)! After the bus ride we walked to the station and caught a train.

Apparently it was the B Line. Then we caught another bus to LAX and walked to the terminal to catch our final bus back to Old Town Camarillo. The last bus took over 1 1/2 hrs because of the traffic but we finally arrived at 4.30pm! Then it was just a short 40 minute walk back to our new RV, parked in the Walmart carpark. What a day!

Saturday morning we met with Dave and Claudia again and as happens with friends, (which I hope we can call them) we spent several hours chatting. Finally, after almost 2 weeks, we were ready to leave Camarillo and explore some more of America.

Posted on

America 2024, the adventure continues.

Our first stop was Santa Barbara then on to Solvang, a quaint little Danish village which is very much like Hahndorf.

All the parking along the Santa Barbera seaside and the inland side streets was 90 minutes so that restricted our sightseeing but we were lucky to park our beast on the main road between Sterns wharf and the marina.  Built from timber in 1872 as a commercial jetty, there are several restaurants, cafes and shops at the end and a natural history museum and aquarium.

This intrigued me.  The sign read Madame Rosinka, Palm Reader.

The marina, like many we’ve visited in Queensland, caters to very many different types and sizes of boat, including fishing boats who unload their catch on the docks.  On Saturday mornings some of the fisherfolk sell their catch on the main access jetty and I was interested to see what they had caught.  Everything was freshly caught and live, waiting in tubs to become someone’s dinner.

There were massive spider crabs, and large mud crabs, lobsters, abalone and halibut but the most fascinating were the sea urchins.  Very much like our crown of thorns star fish, the vendors, wearing very sturdy gloves, broke them up, cut them open and scooped out the inedible parts.  The delicacy, I was informed, was the roe (think caviar), a yellowy, mushy looking blob inside the thorned shell.

Did I mention all the seafood was live?  These sea urchins or uni were moving as they pried them apart, and as they cut out the inedible parts, and as people bought them, sprinkled them with a sauce and ate them!  And, even after having their insides completely cleaned out, the spines on all those discarded shells were still moving in the bin!  So creepy!

Time to retrieve Peter from the chandlery (or like Bunnings for DIYers, the toy shop for sailors) and move our RV before our 90 minutes was up.  Next stop was Solvang which we remembered from our last trip as having Xmas shops all year round.

On the outskirts of Solvang we stopped at the Santa Ines Mission, built in 1804 and then walked into the town.

Being a Saturday and a beautiful day, it was packed with people and most of the accommodation we saw had no vacancies.  There were many shops to browse through, including the obligatory tourist gift shops, several Xmas shops and of course, the bakeries of which there were 5!  Everything was Danish, the gift shops had beer steins and cuckoo clocks and every type of clog you can imagine, and the bakery choices were mostly Danish butter cookies or Danish pastries.  Who would have thought?

Solvang have taken the quaint Danish Village theme to the next level though because it isn’t only the one main street that’s themed but all the streets, shops, buildings and houses.  There was even a trolley bus that gave guided tours of the town. 

But it isn’t a Disneyesque themed town as first appearances might suggest.  It was founded by 3 Danish Immigrants who bought 10,000 acres in the Santa Ynez Valley for farming.

The Lutheran church was the first structure built in the traditional Danish architecture in 1928 and within a decade, everyone was incorporating medieval style Danish architecture in their dwellings.

After visiting too many shops to count, Peter indulged in a custard-filled chocolate Berliner, but I’m not a fan of the Danish pastries so I shared some very nice aebleskivers (Donut balls with apple) and cream cheese. Very yummy!

LA is one of the more difficult places to find a spot to park an RV.  There are some nice RV parks along the coast (which are exactly that, a parking spot for an RV) some have optional power and effluent connections, but everything costs here.  One that we found on the way back from Solvang wanted $US75 for a night! Just to park by the coast with no amenities!  Needless to say we kept on driving and found a nice spot adjacent the ocean on the “old road” for free.

The next morning, I found a trail called Baron Ranch which looked like an interesting walk into a valley between two hills.  We even found some wild avocado trees and I managed to tree climb enough to grab 4.  They’re hard as rocks so time will tell if they’ll eventually ripen and be edible.  The week before we arrived here, they had a solid week of rain, and it also rained the second day we were here.  Consequently, a lot of the trails are still wet and muddy, and the creeks and waterfalls are flowing.  Which is what turned us around after only a couple of miles, and with shoes caked with a thick layer of black mud.

Still keen for some walking, we found a reserve at the end of a suburban street in Santa Barbara that was planted with Monarch butterfly attracting trees and plants, including a large area of eucalypts.  Just as we started up the trail a local walking his dog stopped to ask about the RV.  Not missing a trick, when he asked about our water situation Peter said we needed to find water.  “No problem, I live in the two-story house just down the road and my garden hose will reach.  Just pull up after your walk and you can fill it up.”  This is the kind of wonderful hospitality we’ve experienced everywhere we’ve been, so after our walk, which meandered through the butterfly area to the coast and back, we stopped at his house, and he happily dragged out his hose so we could fill up.  He said, “I don’t know anything about RVs but just let me know if there’s anything else you need, and I’ll help you out.”  I do wonder if it’s the Aussie accent that does it?

Ever on the hunt for walking and hiking trails, that afternoon I found another hiking trail that followed a creek up into the hills.  We parked on the side of the road, just up from the trail head for the night and set off after breakfast on Rattlesnake trail.

The creek was flowing briskly and there were numerous cascades as we wound our way up the hillside.  Some of the track was wet, but relatively easy to bypass.  Not so the half dozen creek crossings!  The first, and most challenging, saw us shimmying over the creek on a fallen tree! 

Subsequent crossings were easier, although we were still very careful.  It was a very crisp morning and the thought of ending up drenched in what I’m sure was freezing water, did not appeal!

Pick a spot to cross

After hiking, rock-climbing, and traversing the creek, all uphill for 3 miles or about 5kms, we reached the road, and it was downhill 5 miles (8kms) all the way back!  The road was as steep as the trail and wound its way around the hill, providing some fantastic vistas all the way to the coast and interesting views of many of the houses that were perched up on the hillsides in some of the most precarious terrain.

You can see all the way to the coast

We’re all set to purchase our new Bounder tomorrow (Tuesday), so we’ve been making our way back to Ventura.  This afternoon we stopped in the Santa Barbara foothills and discovered, quite by accident, the Santa Barbara Monastery, founded in 1786 and complete with the ruins of a dam, aqueduct, kiln and washing basin built in the early 1800s. 

Mission dam

Adjacent the monastery, which still has a holy order of monks and provides religious services, was a lovely grass park with a rose garden, fountain, and well maintained gardens.

Another search for hiking trails led us to our current park for the night at the Jesusita Trail head.  Certainly, popular with the locals, while still daylight we’ve seen more than a dozen runners, some with dogs, heading off down the trail.  They’re clearly not concerned about the recent warning that’s been posted on the trail map!

Apparently a mountain lion has been spotted recently in the area. And they say Australia is bad for it’s venomous creatures! We figured if the locals weren’t deterred by the sighting, then we shouldn’t be either. So the next morning we set off on the Jesusita Trail and again, were faced with several water crossings. After the first couple, we were a bit over the precariousness of the rocks with the creek water rushing past and scouring the banks to try and find the least likely crossing to cause us wet shoes, or worse. Eventually we decided we’d had enough and backtracked to take an offshoot trail. The Arroyo Burro Trail was fantastic to begin with, winding its way through woods and open meadows until we came to another seemingly uncrossable creek. At least, we weren’t prepared to cross so again we backtracked to the trail that went into the town….and another creek crossing! Really!! There’s got to be another way, so we followed the shoe imprints in the mud on the bank by the creek until we came to a steep section which we managed to clamber along until we got to a small dam wall and managed to cross onto the other side. A short few hundred meters and we were on the bitumen again and trekking back up the road to the RV, with very muddy shoes, AGAIN! But, the countryside is lovely and the sound of the water cascading down and birds chirping meant our treks were worth the effort.

When hiking, we’re both very aware of our surroundings, particularly in rough, steep or slippery terrain. These trails ticked all three of those boxes so we were frequently watching the trail for the best place to step. This is how I managed to see the largest animal footprint I have ever seen! I put my hand down for size reference. There were lots of dog paw prints but this was huge! Remember that warning sign about the mountain lion that had been spotted recently in the area? You can draw your own conclusions, but It was very strange!

Posted on

America 2024, the adventure begins.

So far so good! We had a very non-eventful flight from Adelaide to LAX via Fiji with time enough in transit for Peter to devour a rather nice looking Fijian pizza!  Our luggage arrived unscathed, we found our bus to the hire car site, collected our car and were on our way. Remember, KEEP RIGHT!  Wait, where are we going? A quick google. Nope, that’s right, we need a US phone SIM card.  How much we rely our phones these days! Quick, ask the girl who organised our car before we leave the lot.  “Sure, I’ll Google a T Mobile store for you”, she said, until she realised she’d left her phone – somewhere!  “Just wait there, ‘til I find it.”  She arrived back shortly after with the address of the closest T Mobile, “just head on out left, you’re gonna take the first left, then you’re gonna take the first right and you’ll see it right there.”

Left, right, left – KEEP RIGHT!  Left out of the car park and onto the road, think RIGHT!  Wow! For lunch time the road’s awfully busy!  But, we made the left, right, left and found the T Mobile.  Now armed with phone and data coverage we googled the hotel we’d booked for a night until we collected our rental RV,  headed out of the car park, and kept right!

Next on the list was to find the nearest Walmart armed with our list of requirements for living in an RV for the next 4 months. Bedding, towels, dinnerware, Kitchen utensils, etc. etc.  An hour later and totally ravenous we found a Japanese Ramon noodle place for a very late lunch then headed to Target to get the things we couldn’t get at Walmart.  It was almost 8.30pm when we finally arrived back at the hotel with almost everything we needed and without forgetting to KEEP RIGHT!

The jet lag must have kicked in overnight because my first hint of wakefulness arrived to a very bright sliver of light from outside and the clock telling me it was just after 9am!  Another full day was on the cards.  First up, head to the RV rental location and offload all our bags and purchases.  Next, deposit the hire car then walk the 2 miles (have to get our head around miles and feet distances) back to the RV rental, which also went off without a hitch!  Are we cooking with gas or what! 

Our hire RV

With all our worldly goods loaded up and only a “there you go, see you in 10 days” from the hire guy, we headed off, keeping right!

We collected our hire RV on Tuesday and headed north towards Fillmore where Peter had earmarked 3 RV’s to look at.  Our first overnight was at a lovely camp site at Lake Piru.  We arrived well into dark so had no idea what was around us.  The morning was crisp and overcast but we had an interesting walk around part of the lake.

We can’t wait to get the tedium of purchasing an RV and organising ourselves over with so we can get out into the countryside and explore.  This was a stunning spot with only a couple of other campers.  Considering the size of the camping site I imagine they’ll be a hundreds more campers when the summer season begins.

Maybe because of the lack of people, the critters were out and easy to spot.  We saw several eagles, deer and squirrels.  But the clouds rolled in and we had RV’s to look at so we rolled on.

It was tricky messaging people and waiting for replies, not knowing whether they would respond or not, how long to wait for a response, killing time or drive on to the next one?  As it turned out, the first RV was already sold, the second RV was at the upper limit of our budget and although it ticked all the boxes the guy selling it just didn’t give us a good feeling.  We didn’t doubt that his ownership and sale was legitimate, but his father was a car salesman and the owner was, well, car salesmanlike.  Enough said!  The third RV was our last in this region so we were very hopeful that it ticked all our boxes. We decided it was a yes as soon as we met the owners.  Dave is a retired GP and his wife, Claudia are the loveliest people.  They’ve only just stopped travelling in their 32 foot motorhome, after travelling all over America in RVs.  They walk every day, people after our own heart and they love sailing!  We spent a wonderful afternoon with them, exchanging travel experiences and have bought their motorhome.  Third time lucky and meant to be because the brand is a Bounder and their logo is a cartoon hopping kangaroo!

It’s the weekend now, Saturday, we’ve been in the US 6 days and have come to some conclusions:

LA is expensive!  We can’t comment on other regions but everything from food to clothes to fuel (or gasoline) and random things like movie tickets are dearer than home.   In fact, they’re actually about the same price but the exchange rate means we’re paying 50% more, although it is improving slowly for us here.

Americans, for the most part are very polite.  They’re very quick with thank you, or I’m sorry, or pardon me and so incredibly helpful. 

Those we’ve spoken with so far are amazed that we live between an RV and a boat and that we have 4 months to spend here.

Everything has sugar in it!  I’ve spent so much time in the supermarket reading food labels and trying to find the healthier foods.  On the plus side, though, everything also has a very clear label listing ingredients (even if most of them are different types of sugars and preservatives) and everything has a calorie count listed (helpful but scary). This morning for example, I went to buy bread and I must have read the labels on 20 different loaves of bread before I found one without sugar!  Even the wholemeal, seeded supposed healthy bread had sugar.

Chocolate hummus
Note the “extra brown sugar” in the baked beans.

Everywhere seems busy. Lots of people, lots of traffic.  It’ll be interesting to see how it is here as we move towards summer because this is the low season.

And finally, a sad indictment of the current situation here, I think.  The larger and more expensive containers of washing liquid in some Walmarts were behind locked glass cabinets.  I assume so people can’t steal them, but it also occurred to me that maybe they’re using them for another nefarious purpose?

While we wait to take over our Bounder and since we’ve pre-paid for our RV mileage we decided to do some sightseeing.  We headed north along the coast on the El Camino Real, which translates to “the Royal Road” a 600 mile long route that links 21 Spanish missions from San Diego to San Francisco.  It began as a path that enabled missionaries to traverse between the missions in the early 1800s but now is a major highway.  There are iron bell markers along the entire route at approximately 1 -2 miles apart that were originally installed in 1906.  By 1913 there were 450 bells.  Between 2005 and 2012 a restoration project was undertaken to replace any missing bells and now there are 585 bells in total.