Marty & Debbie's RV Adventure: April 2006

Photos - Tucson, AZ (April 2006)

Photo - Grand Canyon

More Photos - Grand Canyon, AZ (April 2006)

Photos - Grand Canyon, AZ (April 2006)

Photos - Oatman, AZ (April 2006)

Trip Update #2

Greetings All!

Please forgive us for it has been 6 weeks since our last confession. This update is a little longer than the first, so bear with us. We will make more of an effort to stay better connected.

After we left the Santa Barbara area we headed down the coast and camped at Carpenteria State Beach, which is unique in that it has natural asphalt seeping out the base of the bluffs right on the beach. This was one of the more challenging places to get our 33-foot trailer parked as it was essentially a parking lot with hardly any space between you and your neighbor. Needless to say our backing skills are improving rapidly…you quickly understand how many of the California state parks were not built for the bigger rigs that have become more popular over the years. We bought a pair of Motorola radios, also known as “marriage savers” that have helped considerably when backing the trailer – I think other campers have probably appreciated the reduction in yelling (go left!, straight back!, etc.).

Heading further south towards Ventura, there are several dry-camping areas and county parks right on the ocean…we stayed at one called Faria Beach, about 5-miles north of Ventura. The trailer was backed up to a riprap berm about 20 feet from the high tide line with panoramic views of several of the Channel Islands and the Santa Barbara Channel north and south. This was also our first real experience with dry-camping (without hook-ups) in the trailer. The Honda generator (2 KW) works great and is very quiet – we noted several other campers had the same one. It had no problem running the microwave, TV, and lights simultaneously. We had never explored the Ventura area before…it has a lively downtown area, and beautiful wharf/harbor area – one of the things we will do during a future summer visit is take a boat ride to one of the Channel Islands. For you civil engineering and construction types: the Navy Seabee museum in Port Hueneme is worth a stop if you have an hour to spare.

We have found one of the fun things about RVing is that you are always scoping out places to stay on your next trip and making mental notes. Generally speaking, we found that February is a great time to camp along the California Coast. The weather, though it can be stormy, is generally nice enough to enjoy the beaches. We lucked out with a high-pressure system that lasted several weeks. The big thing is that there are not so many campers. This lets you be more spontaneous with your travel/camping plans…having to worry about making a reservation somewhere isn’t as much fun. We had our pick of campsites, especially if we set up camp between Sunday and Thursday.

From Ventura we made the mad dash across L.A. to Temecula to stay at Brian’s “roadrunner ranch”. (Brian was the best man at our wedding if you made it there). It was dark and had been raining for about an hour, when we rounded the bend just downhill from Brian’s place preparing to make the final ascent up the slickened road (decomposed granite can get pretty slippery after a rain). Marty had phoned Brian from below and he came out with his halogen headlamp in the rain to meet with us to strategize getting our 11-ton beast up the hill. For some reason we could only get the truck in 4-high, so we gave it hell getting up some good speed and made it about 2/3 the way up the hill before spinning out on the steepest pitch. The truck and trailer were sliding a bit towards the inboard side of the road. It was raining pretty good now. Brian grabbed a shovel and dug down to some drier soil under each wheel. This time we were able to get it in 4-low (operator error). We gave it hell again and made ten feet or so of progress – Brian dug down again. The ever-resourceful Debbie, utilizing her East Coast snow-driving skills, pulled out Zoshia’s litter box, and proceeded to scoop out and sprinkle the kitty litter under each of the four wheels to get some traction. Keep in mind this was kitty litter that was currently in use (yuk!). We gave it hell a few more times, inching up the slope slowly but surely. For as long as Brian’s been at his new home in Temecula, he’s had this rather thick, long steel cable laying around the yard. Brian got his truck on a flat spot at the top of the slope and we connected that cable between his truck and our truck and with both of us gunning it, wheels spinning, and mud flying, we were able to creep up the rest of the slope and park the trailer. Whew! What an adventure, Debbie went to wash her hands, Zoshia got a litter box full of shredded newspaper, we had a couple of drinks and celebrated our triumph! Brian’s friendship has always meant a lot, and that night was just one example why.

We stayed in the trailer at Brian’s for about a week and a half running a lot of errands, laying in supplies for our upcoming desert adventures and fixing or improving various things. This included getting satellite TV so if we want to watch television we are not restricted to campgrounds with cable. Marty built three shelves in the kitchen and bathroom closets in order to make better use of space. We also had some Firestone air springs installed on the truck to help carry & level some of the weight of the trailer. They seem to help with the ride and take some of the load off the leaf springs. We had a great time visiting with Brian, Lauren, & the kids, enjoyed our bike ride through wine country and lunch at Zia & Annie’s hacienda in Fallbrook. Thanks Zia for the bushel of avos and citrus you sent with us – we enjoyed every last one. I am still trying to get Debbie to develop a taste for the “green stuff” but its an uphill battle.

Okay, so the journey continued to Joshua Tree National Park, located in the Mojave Desert. This destination was new to the both of us and really made an impression, with all of the Joshua trees (obviously) and rock formations that become a jungle gym for all ages. Marty felt guilty having lived in San Diego for over 3 years and never made it to Joshua Tree, only a few hours away. We stayed 6 nights here dry-camped at a commercial campground, located outside the park, in which we were the only campers…needless to say it was very quiet. The weather was quite chilly and windy (early March at 4,000 feet elevation), we even had the pleasure of snow flurries. We ended up having a string of good days to hit the trails and climb around on the rocks.

From Joshua Tree we headed northeast a couple hours drive to Mojave National Preserve – we learned that a National Preserve permits hunting, whereas a National Park does not. There is a whole lot to see here and we limited ourselves to 4 days. It doesn’t get the crowds that Joshua Tree and Death Valley get, so we liked that aspect, too. We camped at Hole-in-the-Wall campground, which is in a picturesque setting against these rhyolite cliffs that have been hollowed out by wind and rain. There is a very unique trail that takes you through a slot canyon in these cliffs where you have to grab ahold of steel rings embedded in the rock to lower and raise yourself. Our only regret was that the trail was too short! We managed to take the tour of Mitchell Caverns at Providence Mountains Recreation Area that had spectacular caves and climbed to the highest of the Kelso Dunes (second highest dunes in California).

Debbie took her first crack at towing the trailer from Mojave Preserve to Baker en route to Death Valley and everything went smoothly. Boy oh boy, what a one-horse town Baker is! We managed to find the one laundromat in town, which was a dilapidated shack with 6 washing machines, of which two actually worked. The rest either had been vandalized to steal the quarters or were filled with all sorts of trash and nastiness. One of the two dryers worked, but it was rather inefficient. Needless to say, it took us 3 hours to do 2 loads of laundry…we actually had about 6 loads to wash, but 3 hours in Baker seemed like an eternity. We also made a trip to the “general store” in Baker, in an attempt to re-supply prior to going to Death Valley. It was a convenience store…we walked out with one can of tuna, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and a carton of milk that expired the next day!

We headed north through some of the most beautiful desert landscapes you could imagine…a series of ancient lake beds, dunes, and mountain ranges. Because Death Valley is such a large park, we camped in the Furnace Creek area for 4 nights, then moved north to Stovepipe Wells and stayed there for 4 nights. We’ve come to the conclusion that only about 30% of our miles traveled are towing miles, mostly because of all the sightseeing that presents itself plus running errands and such. We had a blast in Death Valley, despite some pretty windy conditions. There is a ton of hiking trails there and the park is truly one of a kind. The cameras have sure gotten a workout with all the scenery. Marty said watching March Madness in Death Valley made getting satellite TV all worthwhile! Debbie had been practicing up on Blackjack with a casino video game we play on the computer, then we played several hours with cards, taking turns being the dealer. Debbie said 3 weeks of dry-camping was enough, lets go to Vegas!…so on to Vegas we went.

We stayed at the Hitchin’-Post RV Park in North Las Vegas to use the Good Samaritan Club discount. Some people that we talked with referred to the surrounding area as the “Hood”, but we didn’t have any problems…nor did we go looking them. The one slight annoyance was that the Hitchin’ Post is located directly on the flight path of departing military jets from adjacent Nellis Air Force Base. Thus, we were subject to the “sound of freedom” (as Marty likes to say) on a frequent basis. Our intent was to stay 3 or 4 nights in Vegas and then move on. 15 nights later, having exhausted our life savings (just kidding), having visited nearly every casino on the Strip and Downtown (not kidding), having eaten numerous buffets (our favorite was the one at the Bellagio), and having played many hours at the Blackjack table, we left the city of lost wages even steven. Back to the desert.

After a short drive, we landed in Valley of Fire State Park (Nevada’s first state park)…if you haven’t been here, its about an hour northeast of Las Vegas and only a few miles from Lake Mead. We were camped in a fantastic campground (Arch Rock) in the park, literally surrounded by towering, flaming red sandstone formations that have been sculpted and hollowed out by wind and water. We spent four nights there and loved every minute. There are several trails with Indian petroglyphs and we saw many different lizards here including Chuckwalla, whiptail, and desert iguana. The park roads here are great to bicycle. Lake Mead is only 15 minutes away, which is a nice option when it gets hot…the lake level was very low, with several boat launches closed due to low water…must have been another year of below-average snow melt. Deb and I both agreed that this is definitely a place we would like to return to – hiking, camping, biking, and boating opportunities galore. We left Valley of Fire yesterday and drove to Hoover Dam, where we dropped the trailer in the visitor center parking lot and got in line with the masses to visit the dam (low and behold it was Good Friday). After that we picked up the trailer and drove south down US 95, a lonely stretch of road, and over to Laughlin, which is where we’re at now.

That’s all for now.