Sunshine and waves!

Sunday December 7th, 2008 55* and mostly sunny
Haven't posted for a few days so I better catch up. Our good friends Tony and Charlotte arrived on Friday afternoon to spend the week with us. Was great to see them again we missed them a lot! They can't stay here on the beach as there are no hookups and they are not using their RV but are staying in their sons travel trailer down at the State Park. They invited us down Friday for dinner, Brian (Tony's son) had smoked some TriTips, (hell I didn't know what it was either!) which is a roast type cut of beef. MMMMM was it delicious, he cooked 2 of them with Jalapeno peppers which I didn't try, I stuck with the fail safe smoked :). Brians wife Rena had made some homemade Salsa that was also fantastic! So lots of eating and the guys gathered round the campfire and spoke of only serious true stuff as we always do and the women I am sure were telling stories! :)

The one thing we noticed is that the State park in Morro Bay which is a mile or so inland is one hell of a lot colder than been here on the Strand Beach. The ocean must work like a geotherma heater as the water was reported at 52* and the temp so far has not fallen below that by much. While at the park the other night for dinner it got well down into the 40's.

Tony was a camphost here at Morro Bay for 6 years and just recently decided to give it up as it was consuming too much of his time. So him and his wife moved into the valley to take care of his dad. He and Charlotte will be moving back here to Morro Bay in January though with a view of the ocean but not as a host.
































Saturday was spent doing some odd jobs I have been to lazy to do cause it was too cool. But being here on the beach and the temps in the high 60's it motivated me to get them done. So I went to the hardware store picked up some goodies and had at it! Also did a little straightening in the bay to make it a little less messy.

One of my projects was to add a new switch to my auxillary fuel pump on the truck. In almost 2 years I have never had a problem but going through Arizona the valve failed to shut the pump off and it continued to pump fuel which eventually leaked out and covered the bottom of the truck and the rv with diesel. WHAT A MESS! Hence the couple of hours spent in Winslow Arizona on the way here to get the pair of them powerwashed. Now I have installed a momentary switch that will only pump fuel as long as I have my finger on it. If I let off it shuts off the pump. Much safer and cleaner :).

Saturday night we went and had Chinese for dinner down in the bay area, a lot of restaurants down there of all types and shops. We went back later on that evening to watch their annual xmas boat parade, where these folks full of (spirit probably both kinds ) decorate their boats and parade them thru the harbor for an hour or so. Obviously a big deal as it was CROWDED! We had parked in a lot that seemed like a good idea at the time, but when we came back and saw how stupidily people will park in a frenzy to get a spot. Well I knew we were in trouble when I saw a guy parked 2 spots away in a short bed pickup have to maneuver multiple times to get out! He finally did and I had to have Deanna get out and watch all sides of the truck as I tried to get us out sometimes with only inches to spare. After a few backups I was able to get it out but it was the tightest I have ever been parked and if not for Deanna watching I am sure I would have had to wait till the lot emptied out.

We got their early before dark so had plenty of time to kill so we did some shopping in the stores there and we ended up buying Deanna a sterling silver ring with a blue shell type stone. Really cool and reflects the light kind of like a mother of pearl thing. (By the way, those are MY dirty fingers displaying the ring in cause you were wondering :) )
















I took some photos of the boats but a lot did not come out due to it being so dark and the speed some of them were going. There were only a few that were really cool, the others I think were decorated while they were drinking and one didn't seem to have anything to do with xmas as it was a green alien and some kind of crazy music! Californian's! Go figure! We pass a kid leaving the bay area that can't EVEN be described in words! Wearin all black with chains and crap, a stupid type of hat that had one of those curtains that hangs off the back to protect the back of your neck and waking like a spastic sumo wrestler! And that doesn't even begin to describe how it actually look!

















SO today Tony and Charlotte are coming over and we will find something to get into so I'm closing for now! Enjoy the snow back home!
Here is a video I took the other day.

Later in the day edit:

We went with Tony and Charlotte down to the bay to eat, we had fish and chips and was eating outside on the deck. There were some seals swimming around barking a and some pelicans that came to visit!





















I also shot some of the setting sun this evening.

AHHHH AT LAST, THE BEACH!

December 3rd, 2008 Wednesday 65* Sunny!

Aerial view of where we are!

Our first sunset back on the beach!

Nice trip today and a short jaunt. Only 130 miles. Yesterday we drove 400 miles to make Bakersfield and had a campground picked out but had not called them previous. I don't know what happened but the gps took us to the right address but we never found it, so we picked another nearby, NADA not there! So back on the highway and decided we would drive till we saw another sign for a campground, within 5 miles there it was ! So we take the exit and drive to the campground, pull in only to see a sign on the door that says OUT OF BUSINESS! So we are trying to decided where to go now, it was getting later in the evening and the fog was terrible, so while sitting there a guy pulls up and says "Looking for a place for the night?" We said YEP! HE said well they went out of business 2 weeks ago but the power is still on! Your welcome to stay, there are quite a few folks here and you don't wanna drive in this fog! So with hesitation we decided to pull in. We packed up early and left by 7 in the morning. It was a koa and gotta say after paying $40 the previous night at a KOA, I didn't feel to bad about using it.

So we went for our first walk on the beach and the first thing we come across is this giant blob of jello! I said " Could that be a Jellyfish?" Hell we didn't know cause we never saw one. So I stopped 3 girls walking by and asked them. "YEP! You can touch the top but don't mess with the bottom." I told them they could take it home to put in their aquarium and save it's life but no go!













Took the Metal detector out around the campground and so far I have $3.61 and a 1929S wheatie penny along with a Hot wheels rolls royce car!












Interesting yesterday when we reached a town we stayed in last time out this way called Tehatachapi, elevation is 4000', when we hit the town the temp was 76*, half way thru and going down in elevation we saw this huge cloud of fog almost like a smoke cloud. Well by the time we left that town the temp was 45* just that quick! We never left the fog till today, and that was just 10 miles from the beach, suddenly the sun broke through and it was beautiful!

Well time to kick back and listen to the ocean! We can hear it roaring even with the windows closed! Its cool out now down in the lower 50's.

Seligman Arizona

December 1st, 2008 Monday 61* sunny

Aerial of where we are

Our Current Location

Didn't make our destination of Kingman today as planned due to an unforseen incident. We had some fuel spill from the tank and coated the underside of the truck and rv WHAT A MESS! We sat in Winslow Arizona (yes there was a song about that place :) The Eagles sang it) waiting at a truck wash to get the bottom powerwashed to get it all off. Thankfully we don't have TOO much smell inside. I think I have some real cleaning to do when I get home!

Anyway we still made 400 miles today and we passed through an area we had been through before where there is a huge lava field from a volcano, its called Bandera volcano and here is a link Bandera Volcana . Lava stretches for over 20 miles and is all pushed up in piles along route 40. Really cool to see.

We attempted to stop at Meteor Crater but was too late in the day, it is only 6 miles off of the highway and we drove back to it, but it costs $15 per person and we didn't want to spend $30 for an hour. So it will be scheduled on our next trip this way and we will also hit the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert and Petrified Forrest again.

This little town of Seligman is best known for being the Historic birthplace of Route 66. A barber in town hated to see the town and the route die so he started a campaign and got all these owners together to save the historic route. Here is a link There is a restaurant in town called Snowcaps and there are some old cars there. Those old cars are the basis of the cartoon "Cars" as it was this area the movie revolved around apparently. I did not see the movie.

We are slowly getting warmer, today it was in the 60's and suppose to get down to 30 tonight. Back home they got a coating of snow. We did see some mountains again today snow covered and hit an elevation of 7200 feet!


HEY PATTI! We found trees in Arizona! Of all places Flagstaff!! LOL

Albuquerque, NM- Day 3

November 30, 2008 Sunday 58* WINDY

Aerial view of park

Well I could not get a signal on the aircard to do so. Wasn't much to say anyway. We covered about 525 miles so it was a long day. We spent the night at a park called West 40 Rv park on Route 66 in Shamrock Tx. When we arrived we were the ONLY people in the entire park :) , while setting up a motorhome showed up so 2 of us ended filling up the park. We slept in a little late and didn't get moving till almost 9 but it made for a nice causal day. Winds were terrible last night, gusts up to 49mph. I had the satellite dish set up and the wind blew it over and broke the arm LOL!! Another project.

Fast forward to today, we did about 400 miles today to get to the west side of Albuquerque so we would not have to deal with the morning traffic thru town. We are in a campground called Enchanted Trails and fortunately it is a Passport America affiliation so it was only $14 a night.










Was great to see the mountains again, we forgot how beautiful they are! It interesting to see the landscape change as we go farther west. At one point we picked up a hitch hiking tumble weed! It snagged itself on the landing gear of the rv and rode with us for about a 100 miles. Not sure what the penalty is for transporting tumble weeds out of their home territory! Other interesting thing is to see all the old houses and in a couple cases towns that are just left and delapating in the weather, probably well over a 100 years old. Where did the people go and who owns the property now? Kind of sad to think about it. Also some of the homes you see out in the middle of a mass of land with nothing around and MANY miles from town.

I did see a pronghorn antelope along the way, at first just thought it was a big dog. It had its head down eating and when I was able to see the front of it I saw the horns. He was all alone and wandering kind of like a lost rv'er LOL!

We hit an elevation of 7050 feet today and saw snow on the mountain sides. Hoping we don't have to see any of that stuff falling although we saw some flurries when we took off yesterday morning in Missouri. We are going to try to get thru Flagstaff during the day when it is warm, we don't want to risk spending the night there and getting snow! We could possible make Morro Bay on Tuesday but most likely will make it Wednesday.

SO you are up to speed with us. Maybe tomorrow I can post another update.

Starting a new trip Day 1, Destination Morro Bay, California

November 28, 2008 39* clear sky's

OUR CURRENT LOCATION

Aerial View of Park, Spanky lane

Well we got away about 8am, made a nice time to start, not to early and not to late! Made pretty good headway as we went about 520 miles and are currently north of Springfield Missouri about 70 miles or so at a little park called Glen Oaks in Waynesville, Mo. $21 for the night with full hookups so makes for a good overnight stay. Below is the weather forecast as we make it across the west and our approximate stops along the way. Temperature was about 32-48 as we made our way across. Oh, Deanna thought she saw a bear in the woods a ways back! That is cool! Other than that no real excitement, so I will post again tomorrow night.

Waynesville, MO, US

Nov 29 Sunrise ( 5a - 7a )

39°F Feels like:37°F Precip: 10% Wind: From the East at 3 mph See local events!

Shamrock, TX, US Nov 30 Morning ( 7a - 9a ) 35°F Feels like:28°F Precip: 0% Wind: From the Northwest at 8 mph See local events!

Gallup, NM, US Nov 31 Morning ( 7a - 9a ) Hi: 48°F Lo: 17°F Precip: 10% Wind: From the Northwest at 12 See local events!

Kingman, AZ, US Dec 1 Morning ( 7a - 9a ) Hi: 61°F Lo: 43°F Precip: 0% Wind: From the North at 15 See local events!

Morro Bay, CA, US

Dec 2 Sunrise ( 5a - 7a )

Hi: 72°F Lo: 50°F Precip: 10% Wind: From the North at 5 See local events!

Turkey Day

November 27, 2008 Thursday Cloudy 36*

We had dinner at Deanna's mom's today. Was a a nice dinner and dessert! Lots of turkey and dressing with mashed potato's! Chocolate pie for dessert!

Tomorrow morning we leave on our trip to the west coast, destination Morro Bay to see our friends Tony and Charlotte. We will hang out on the beach for about 10 days before heading to the desert. This trip will be about 6 weeks.

Hope everyone had a great day today, We love ya Patti! :)

Vacation has come to an end!

October 4th, 2008 Saturday 65* Sunny








Well, good times have come to an end and it's time to head home. We got up early and got loaded up. Joe cut down a small tree yesterday that created us a lot of grief getting in so having it gone made it a breeze getting out! We said our goodbyes to our great friends and thanked them for their hospitality and invited them to the states to visit. During our visit they would not let us pay for anything as they said it was their treat, well that is real nice but I felt bad about it so Deanna and I got them a couple of certificates for the restaurant they took us too and loved so much, thought they could take their daughter who was not able to go with us that day. Before she got the certificates she had to go on her own treasure hunt like she sent me :) I hid 5 silver coins and each gave a hint to the next location which lead her to the final location of the certificates. She was quite taken back as she did not expect any of it!
Here is her first clue!








Trip was uneventful and took us about 9 hours with stops for dog and eating. 420 miles and we arrived home about 5:30. Would have loved to stay longer but needed to get back so Deanna could get caught up on laundry and such and I could get rested up for work. I have included some pics of the sunrise that morning, probably the best morning of the visit~! Thanks guys, we had a great time and will be back!