THE DELTA

We came to the Delta area of Iselton, CA. on April 18th.  It is a little northwest of Stockton.  It is a maze of tributaries of the San Joaquin River.  There has been alot of flooding in past years because the land  has a lower elevation than the river.  The roads are just berms built up to protect the land.  As you drive down a road, the river is lower on one side. The land on the opposite side is lower than the river by quite a bit. Our park has an elevation of 32'.  The road is at 92' and the river is 86'.  Doesn't take much for flooding.  We have spent the last week geocaching, wine tasting  and sightseeing. We have never been to this area.

 

These are pictures trying to show you the differences of the road, river and campground.

 

In the first one, I am standing on the road looking down to the water. 92' elevation.

 

 

I'm standing in the campground looking up to the road.

 

 

This one I'm on the road looking down into the campground. Can't really tell in the picture, but this is quite a steep hill going out of the campground.

 

 

 

This view is from the restaurant (which doesn't open until May 1st, darn) down the river

 

 

 

Looking at the Delta

 

 

 

These are typical of the narrow roads along the Delta

 

 

 

There are more wineries in this area and Lodi than in Napa.  We went to 5 out of 88. One did a very informative thing. They listed all the grapes and how they were grown. They are all different. From the road, grapes look like grapes, all the same, but they aren't. Up close you can see the differences of how they are grown

 

 

 

We took a long scenic drive along the Delta. Closest town to us is Iselton. Founded in the mid 1800's with a population of 2000 people

 

 

 

The next town is Locke, the oldest Chinese town in CA. Founded in the erly 1800's, at one time, was exclusively Chinese. Now only 12 of the 200 people here are Chinese.

 

 

 

Our drive took us along a lot of very fertile farmland and in the middle of nowhere, a huge mansion. It was built in 1904. We couldn't go inside becuase it was closed for a wedding. Beautiful  grounds for the big day.

 

 

 

After looking back at this, it sounds like a history and geography lesson I'm giving you. Sorry about that. I just like  people to see the areas we have been at.

 

Onto Lake Tahoe tomorrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures of Bass Lake

We traveled to Iselton, CA yesterday. It is 13 miles west of  Lodi, CA, just north of Stockton. There are a maze of tributaries of the San Joaquin River, covering about 100 miles. it is called the Delta. More about the area later.

I mentioned on my last blog that my Internet connection wasn't very good, but it is back to normal here. I think it was because we were up in the mountains and trees at 3500'.  I couldn't send pictures, but here are a few of the lake and area we stayed at

 

This is an overview of Oakhust, the closest town to where we stayed. Great little town of about 13,000 people. If the weather is good, we will definitely come here again next year. Felt so at home. Could be because it is the first time we have seen anything but desert for a long time. By the end of out travels, we miss the green of trees and mountains.  

 

 

 

This is an Airstream trailer. I'm showing it because we have never seen one with a slide out. I love them, they are so retro looking, but so small inside without any slides. We were amazed.

 

 

Views of  Bass Lake. Not sure how big, but it looks  huge. Lots of boating and kayaking.

 

 

 

The pictures I took were on a cloudy days, but most times there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I took these out geocaching. We had just found a cache hidden in some rocks.

 

 

BASS LAKE/ YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

We came to Bass  Lake last Thursday.  It is a beautiful lake, 13 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite Park. We are at 3500' elevation, surrounded by trees, so it really feels like home. We met some friends here that we had spent alot of time with at Palm Springs.

Our campsite

 

Took a hike from our campground to the lake

 

 I gave up trying to upload more pictures. My Verizon hotspot doesn't work at all here, so I'm on the park's WIFI. It is a little weak. Even tho I don't have any bars, my cellphone  is working great.  Strange. Our friends don't have any cell reception at all. He has to climb to the top of the hill for anything. I see alot of people walking in the road in front of us trying to find the sweet spot for reception. We changed from Sprint to Verizon this year and have no problems at all.

 

We went to Yosemite National Park with Bernie and Diane a few days ago. Couldn't have had a more  better day. No clouds and warm weather. BIG SENIOR MOMENT!  At such a beautiful place, I forgot my camera. Diane took some pictures on her phone and she is going to email them to me. Can't believe I did that. I guess I'm going to have to get with the program and get a smartphone. I'm still in the horse and buggy stage with my old flip phone. Our house sitter saw it and said he hasn't seen one of those in years.

 

I have doing a lot of geocaching with Bernie. Sometimes we take the spouses, sometimes not. They aren't into as much as we are. When I left Renton, I had 115. Because I've been meeting up with a few avid cachers, I'm up to 560. When we go to Lake Tahoe, we will be visiting another couple, Bob and Lou, that are also really into caching.

 

This is a beautiful area. We really like it here. We should have made a reservation for 2 weeks instead of one. There is so much to see.  I have made reservations ahead of time until May 6th, so it would take a lot to cancel and make new ones to stay longer. There is always next year.  That is what retirement is all about.

 

We had snow yesterday. Bernie and I were out caching and it started raining. Then mixed snow and rain and then just snow. YIKES! By the time we got home, it was really coming down hard. It didn't stay long. It was certainly beautiful  with all the trees.  In a little over a week, we have gone from 90 degrees to snow.  Where we go to tomorrow will be in the mid to high 80's. Certainly getting a variety in a short time.

 

Once I get to Iselton, I'll be sending alot of pictures that I couldn't upload here.

 

 

 

 

 

Lucky, Lucky Day

We  left  Palm  Springs  this  morning  and  are  now in  Bakersfield,  CA.    Having  a  Senior  Moment,  I  was  sure  we  were  leaving  tomorrow.   I  knew  we  were  leaving  the  10th,  but  thought  it  was  tomorrow.   Denny  realised  it  yesterday  morning.   OOPS,  we  had  planned  on  going  into  Palm  Springs  for  a  little  last  minute  gift  shopping  and  looking  around.   Oh  well,  there  is  always  next  year.  The  resort  we  were staying  in  was  only  1/4  full,  if  that.   It  closes  for  the  season  April  30th.   Most  of  the  RV  parks  close  for  the  summer.  We will  be  going  from  shorts  and  sandals  to  long  pants  and  sweatshirts.  Oh well.  

 

 We  were  a  little  leery  of   leaving  today  because  of  the  winds.   The  last  few  days,  we   had  50-60  MPH  gusts.  There  have  been  a  few  semi  trucks   that  turned  over   on I-10,  above  Palm  Springs.   Also, some power  poles fell over  from strong  wind   gusts.  Today  was  still  suppose  to  be  windy  and even   less  tomorrow.   We  left  early  and  were  SO  LUCKY.   A  little  wind  but  not  much.   Very  drivable.   We  went   the  back  way  instead  of  the freeway  because  it  is  less  windy  and  a  new  road  for  us.   Indio  has  an  elevation  of  15'.   We  went  from  15'  to  4000'  going  over  Tehachapi  Pass,  down  to  875'  in  Bakersfield.   Last year  going  over  Tehachapi  we  ran  into  a  severe  snowstorm.  Could  hardly  see  in  front  of  us.   Very  scary  when  pulling  an  RV,  but  even  tho  it  was  his  first  time  in  snow,  Denny  did  an  excellent  job.   As  soon  as  we  got  over,  they  closed  it.   No  worries  this  year.

 

From  now  on,  we   are   going  to  new  areas  and  parks.   We  are  excited   over that.   So  far,  we have  gone  to  the  same  parks  and  roads  as  last  year.    Good  times  seeing  old  friends,  but  we like  to  see  new  places  that  we  have  never  been.  We  just  decided  on  this  new  way   home   when  we  were  in  Palm  Springs.   That  is  one  of  the  nice  things  about  retirement.    No  certain schedule,  so  you  can  change  itinerary  on  a  whim. 

 

Tomorrow,  Bass  Lake.   It  is  about  30  miles  south  of  Yosemite  National  Park.   We  are  meeting  some  friends  from  Indio there  to  explore the  area.

 

Coming  into  Bakersfield,  it was  very nice to see green trees and grass. We  love  the  heat  of  the  desert,   but  miss the green scenery.  We  feel  that  we  have  already  had our summer. We have  spent  the  last  several  months  in  mid 80's to  high  90 degree  weather.

Onward and Upward

We  are  leaving  Indio  on  Thursday  to  begin  our  slow  trek  home.   We  are  both  kind  of   ready  to  leave  here.   It  is  getting  a  tad  hot  and  we  are  getting  a  little  tired  of  the  wind.  Denny  is  ready  to  go  all  the  way  home,  but  it  is  still  a  little  too  rainy  and  cold  up  in  Washington.   We  enjoy  the  Palm  Springs  area  alot.   Lots  to  do  and  see.  Between  the  7 cities,  there  are  probably  between  100,000  to  150,000  people.   For  some  reason,  it  still  always  gives  me  a  small  town  feel.   We  have  met  several  couples  that we have kept in contact with.

 

 We  are  first  going  to  Yosemite.   We  tried  to  go  last  year  about  this  same  time.   It  is  suppose  to  be  the  best  time  of  year  to  visit.   The  day  we  got  to  our  campground  it  was  beautiful.   The  day  we  left  was  beautiful.  The  day  we  picked  to  go  to  Yosemite  was  cold.   By  the  time  we  got  to  the  center  of  the  park,  it  was  snowing  and  so  foggy,  we  couldn't  see  a  thing.  This  time  we  are  staying  a  week.  A  couple  of  those  days  should  be  good  enough  to  go.   We  are  meeting  Bernie  and  Diane  at  the  RV  Resort.   We  met  them  here  last  year  and  have  spent  quite  a  bit  of  time  together  this  year.  Bernie  is  the  geocacher  that  I  go  with  alot.   They  are  from  Oregon.    There  are  lots  of  caches  around  our  resort  and  Yosemite.

 

Next  we  will  spend  a  week  at  an  RV  Resort  in  the  Central  Delta  of  the  San  Joaquin  River.   It  is  above  San  Francisco.   Never  been  there  but  heard  it  is  a  very  nice  park.   We  are  mainly  staying  there  because  it  is  still   little  early  to  go  to  Lake  Tahoe,  but  I'm  sure  we   will  enjoy  it.

 

After  a  week  on  the  Delta,  we  plan  to  spend  10  days  at  Lake  Tahoe.   We  are  visiting  some  friends  we  met  at  Parker,  AZ.  last  year.   Also  spent  time  with  them  this  year.   They  live  in North   Lake  Tahoe.   I  have  never  seen  Lake  Tahoe  and  this  is  about  earliest  you  can  go  and get  good  weather.  WE  HOPE.    They  are  also  avid  cachers.   After  7  days,  we  are  going  to  Genoa,  Nevada  with  them  to  attend an  Old  Time  Cowboy  Festival.   It  has  all  the  old  time  cowboy/country  singers and  events.   I  think  Denny  will  really  enjoy  it.

 

We  plan  to  leave  Nevada  May  6th  and  head  straight  home.   Probably  will  be  home  about  May  10th  or  so.   Will  keep  you  posted.

Sunday Drive and Noodles

On  Easter  Sunday,  we (I)  decided  to  go  for  a drive.  Reminded  me of  the old  days  when everyone  went  for  Sunday  drives. Went on the Palms  to Pines Road.  Everyone  said  it was  a beautiful  drive.  Remember  the saying,  Beauty  is  in  the Eye  of  the  Beholder?  How  true,  how  true.  It  was  very  steep and twisty with  hairpin  turns.   Denny  wasn't  driving  slow,  but  every turnout   he  had  to  pull over  to let  cars  pass.   In  a  forest,  I  was  expecting  trees. Forgot that  we are  in a  desert. No trees,  as  we  climbed  higher and  higher,  all  we  saw were  more rocks and more  rocks.  To  us,  it  was not  scenic  or fun. We turned  around  after about  10  miles.  Going  back  down was just as  bad.  Cars were going so fast for the hairpin turns.   All in  all,  it  was  a very  scary  ride.  The drive  was a  bust.

The picture below is  just  the  beginning  of  the curves.  Still an  easy road.   The  hairpin   curves   started  right  after  we  stopped  for  this  picture.  Palm  Springs  is  in  the  distance.

 

You can see  how  windy is  was up  there by looking at our hair  blowing in  the wind.  Couldn't keep  our  hats  on  or  even  stand straight  to  walk

After we  got  down, we  went  to a few stores doing  errands. No luck,  everything  was closed  for Easter.  It  was  frustrating,  but   it  was  nice  to  see  stores  closed for a  holiday.  You  don't  see that  very often  at  home.   Clerks  can  actually  enjoy  a holiday  at  home.

We  have  had  the  standard  noddles  for  floating  around  in  the water  for a long  time.  We saw some  fancy ones  at  Costco  that  looked  very  comfortable.  They certainly are.  LOVE THEM!

 

We are experiencing some high winds lately. It is always windy here, but when the weather report says high gusty winds, you  know  you  are  in  for  it. It has been going  on  for a few  days,  but  the worst  started   yesterday   afternoon around  3 PM.   It  lasted  all  night  and  didn't  end  until  around  noon.   The  RV  was  a  rockin'  and  a  rollin'.    I  bet  it  was  about  50  MPH.  Denny  hasn't  been  able  to  do  any  grilling  because  the  wind  blows  the  fire  out.  We  went  on  a bike  ride  around  the  park  yesterday,  just  after it  started, and it  was  very  hard  to pedal.  

UPDATES FROM PALM SPRINGS

We  have been   so  busy  lately  that  I  haven't  been  able  to  do  my  blog.   Here  are  a  few  things  that  have  been  happening.

 

A  neighbor  of  ours,  Mike,  took  Denny  on  a  ride.   This  tricycle  is  $32,000.    Most  trikes  we   have  seen  have  1  wheel  in  front  and  2  in  the  back.   This  has  2  in  front,  1  in  the  back.    Looks  pretty  nice  to  me,  but  he  wants  to  sell  it  and  upgrade  to  a  better  one.    Mike  lost  his  wife  last  year  and  travels  around  by  himself.    The  2nd  picture  is  his  motor home  and  trailer  that  he  hauls  the  trike  around  in.   No  car.   He  is  from Spokane  Valley.  We  plan  to  keep  in  touch.

 

 

 

This  is  a  strange  setup  for  an  RV.   When  I  took  this  picture,  we  had  never  met  the  people.   Since  then,  we  have  seen  them  a  few  times  to  chat.   They  have  been  traveling  in  it  for  5  years.   She  is  tired  of  it  because  it  has  no  slide  outs  and  is  crowded.   I  certainly  agree  to  that.   She  wants  a  bigger  RV  with  slide  outs.    They  also  tow   another car  behind  the one trailered. To us, it  looks  alot  like  the   Beverly  Hillbillies.  If you are older, you would remember the TV series.   Looks can be deceiving.  He was a race car driver, owns a plane and is a pilot.    The  back  of  the  truck  is  where  they  set  their  table  and  chairs.

 

 

 

One  day  last  week,  I  went  on  a  bike  ride  with  Bernie  to  find  some  geocaches.   He  said  it  would  be  around  a  5  mile  trip.   HE  LIED.   By  the  time  we  got  back,  we  had  gone  10  miles  in  90  degree  heat.   I  refilled  my  water  bottle  twice  and  was  exhausted.    It  was  quite the  unique  ride.   Because  I  didn't  think  I  could  ride  up  a  fairly  steep  hill,  we  took  our  bikes  over  3  sets  of   railroad  tracks,  TWICE.  It  is  highly  illegal,  so  lucky  for  us  there  were  no  cops  or  trains.   Kind  of  dangerous.   On  the  way  back,   there  was  a  car  going  a  little  faster  than  I  thought.   I  was  pedaling  as  fast  as  I  could  and  made  it,  but  my  heart  was  certainly   going  pitter  patter.   Kind  of  scary  AND  dangerous.   Then,  the  worst  thing.  In  an  intersection,  I  went  thru  the  only  mud  puddle  in  Palm  Springs.  I  don't  know  where  it  came   from  because  it  hasn't  rained  since  we  have  been  here.   Under  the  puddle,  there  was  a  crack  in  the  road.   My  wheel caught  the  crack  and  with  the  water,  I  was  hydroplaning  and  went  down.   I  was  very  lucky,  nothing  was  broken,  at  least  not  me.   I  landed  on  my  left  hip.   I  was  sure  it  would  have  a  big  bruise  the  next  day,  but  no.   It  is  sore,  I  can't  sit  or  lie  down  on  my  left  side.    At  first,  my  right  thumb  was  so  sore  I  couldn't  even  touch  it.   Also  it  was  useless,  no  strength.   You  can't   imagine  how  much  you  rely  on  your  thumb  until  you  can't  use  it.   It  is  getting  better.   Not  sore  anymore,  but  stiff.   All  in  all,  I felt  lucky.   The  bike  is  another  matter.   I  broke  my  gear  shifter  and  a  few  things  had  to  be  twisted  back   into  shape,  but  everything  is  good.  I  was  able  to drive  it  back.   Ironic,  because  I  broke  the  gear  shift  on  my  bike  a  few  months  ago.   Didn't  have  an  accident,  it  just  fell  over.  I  didn't  secure it  good  enough.   I  was  riding  Denny's  bike  when  I  had  the  accident.