Out across the loneliest highway in America

After Yosemite, we stop off in South Lake Tahoe.  Our intention is to spend a couple of days replenishing our supplies and taking care of some business.  But the town is very pleasant and we ultimately decide to spend four days here, enjoying the lake and the pleasant temperature.

On the way, we made a brief stop at Sutter Creek, one of the best preserved old gold mining towns in the mountains of California.  The buildings were nicely preserved, and we walked around the old town taking pictures and enjoyed an iced latte in one of the local spots.  Then it was lunch in the RV and on to South Lake Tahoe.  

South Lake Tahoe, it turns out, is hugely popular in the summer as well as the winter, and there are lots of tourists here.   There are lots of RV parks and camping places, and although we were able to find a good spot easily, many places were quite busy, if not full.  The other nice thing about this place, is that all the casinos are about 2  miles away, on the Nevada side.  (Because we are so not into the casino scene).  So things are peaceful and quiet in the evening.  

The area is basically a flat lake bed surrounded by mountains, so you have snow capped peaks in the distance and all around the town, but the town itself is pretty flat.  There are bike trails everywhere and lots of people use them, so we found that very handy for getting around.  There was a trail that went from our RV park all the way to the beach in the national forest nearby, and we enjoyed that ride very much and spent a nice morning at the beach. 

South Lake Tahoe is up at about 6,000 feet, and I began to have problems with sleeping because of the altitude.  We had brought some medication along for that and once I was convinced it was necessary I began to take it.  It eventually worked, but it was a rough four days until it kicked in.  We're glad it did, though, because our next few weeks are mostly going to be spent at pretty high altitudes,  and without sleep that could be pretty unpleasant.

Ivy has been working  on her painting whenever she can.  She's had some good results, and is starting to see some improvement. Here are a couple of photos of her work, one a scene from Gualala, and the other our friend the marmot from Yosemite.

Next, off across Nevada  on Highway 50, the so-called Loneliest Highway in America. A Life Magazine article gave it this name in 1986 and the Nevada people have adopted it with pride and made it a matter of bragging rights.  The area certainly is not very heavily populated but today the highway is pretty well traveled, steadily used by cars and trucks (and RV's)  After duly chugging along for a couple of hundred miles we arrived at Austin, Nevada where we stopped off at an RV park run by the local Baptist Church. 

Austin is certainly very remote, somewhere out past the Middle of Nowhere.  People here admit to routinely driving 115 miles to get groceries.  It's not that they don't have any stores that are closer.  There's another grocery store only 70 miles away in Eureka, and one that's 80 miles or so at Round Mountain, or one at Battle Mountain around 90 miles, but the one in Fallon at 115 miles has a Wal-Mart, plus a bunch of other services like medical and repair, parts, etc.  So they mostly stick to that.  But you want to be careful to get everything on your list when you go.  Don't want to have to go back.

The town is small but the area around it is quite lovely.   It's high up at 6500 feet, relatively cool in the summer but with mild winters.  The town has been on the decline for some time, and a lot of the buildings are closed and/or boarded up, even the churches.  It's hard to tell if this is the current economic downturn or something much longer term.  But there are some long term residents, permanent Austin-dwellers.  The businesses are often closed, even on the weekends, and there's not much tourist traffic.  But there are some gem shops and a lot of turquoise.  I was surprised to learn that much of the turquoise mined in America comes from Nevada.  There is even a local guy who has a mine that is still operating, and he brings in gems from time to time to his store in town.  We found a few trinkets for the grandkids.

We also took a drive out to an even more remote area, the Kingston Creek area.  Here's the turnoff.  You go down the road on the right for about 15 miles and there's a small town built around a creek that comes down from the National Forest land in the mountains.  Up high there's a reservoir where the local kids go to splash around in the summer.   There's also a Forest Service campground, but we thought that getting our big rig up there was more trouble than it was worth.  Still, a lovely spot. 

After a couple of nights in Austin, we were ready to move on.  Our next stop is Ely, one of the big towns on Hwy 50.  We have no trouble finding a spot in one of the RV campgrounds.  This place has real trees that provide shade, a welcome commodity in this part of the country.  The campground is half empty, and this is the middle of the summer vacation season!  What's up with that?  Are people not taking vacations this year?  I have to admit, I was a little worried when we started out, that it may be difficult to find a place to stay without calling ahead for reservations.  But when we do call ahead, they always say "Don't worry, they'll be room for you." 

Highlights of the Ely, Nevada visit were the hawk's nest, the train museum and the political signs.  Right outside our RV park, there was a hawk's nest with three young and a parent.  I think that they were Swainson's Hawks, but I'm pretty bad on ID'ing the hawks.  But the young were very large and very demanding, and the parent, besides having three hungry chicks to cope with, had a pair of very aggressive Western Kingbirds who were making its life miserable.  Besides swooping down and harrasing the poor parent, these birds would actually land on the shoulders of the hawk while it was flying and peck its head relentlessly from their perch.  I even saw them take turns doing this, changing places on the fly.  

The Northern Nevada Train Museum is a unique institution, so far as I can tell.  Besides having the usual rides on antique trains, they also have open tours of the shop facilities in which they work on the partially restored engines and cars.  You get to see a real railroad roundhouse shop as it existed during World War II, and it's still very much in use, as they work on the trains.  The young man giving the tour was enthusiastic and knowledgable, and the equipment was amazing - old steam engines still working, diesels and electrics, and all the equipment to work on them.  Quite a treat!

Finally, just a quick comment on politics.  The areas of Nevada that we saw were really down at heels for the most part.  Lots of For Sale and For Lease signs everywhere, empty RV's by the dozens sitting around in open fields, closed businesses, etc.  So there's a certain amount of anti-incumbent anger going on.  My favorite was this sign, a large one, posted by the side of the main north-south highway.  It's going to be an interesting November. 
 
Tomorrow will be the real test of our RV campground luck.  We leave for the Great Basin National Park, and will try for one of the few spots there for an RV our size.  It is all first come, first served basis.  We will try to get there by 10am.  If they are all taken, we will drive down the road and stay at a commercial spot outside of the park, and drive the car in for some sightseeing and hiking. We'll stay here for 3 days.  Once again, we will no longer have cell or internet service.  Can Steve and Ivy survive under those conditions?  Speaking of, we haven't been to a movie in ages.  There is a movie theater in Ely, and Steve went to see the teenage vampire movie last night.  Ivy stayed behind, because she will sink only so low.  ...Check in later.   More to follow...

Our first big National Park outing - Yosemite

We left Healdsburg for the last time on Tuesday, July 6th, after a relaxed fourth of July weekend.  We stopped off in Stockton for the night at a very nice marina/RV camp right on the river.  The next day we headed up into the mountains to visit the Yosemite National Park, a park that neither of us had ever seen.  The first afternoon, we settled in to the RV camp, which was outside the park, and explored the cute little town of Groveland, near the RV camp.  The next morning we got up early and headed off for our first experience of Yosemite Valley.

Well, I have to say that Yosemite Valley more than lives up to its worldwide reputation.  I had never seen anything quite so grand and dramatic as this peaceful river valley surrounded by towering granite walls thousands of feet high.  It's hard to believe when you're driving in.  One vista is succeeded by another, mile after mile, until you think this can't be happening.   What a place!!!

Our first day was spent in exploring the valley a bit by shuttle.  We parked our car in the main lot and then, after a morning snack and brief exploration of the shops and museum, took the valley shuttle service around to various stops. The first goal was El Capitan, one of the world's most famous climbing challenges, a sheer wall of 3,000 feet considered the ultimate in "big-wall" climbing.  It is popular in the summer, and there are often teams working their way up the wall.

Far above us we spotted a team of climbers.  We could barely see them through binoculars and the pictures don't do them justice, but you can see the lead climber connected by ropes to the team below.  The last member, below the rest, appeared to be loose from the wall and hanging by the ropes directly.  That isn't supposed to happen, as I understand it, and we weren't sure if there was a big problem, but over time the last climber rejoined the group above and the climb continued.  You can see how challenging this wall is, and there are few or no breaks on the way up to catch your breath.  It was high noon and you can see from the shadows how the sun is beating down on the team.  Only the most experienced climbers will tackle El Capitan.  Dramatic!!
Ivy and I are not among the fearless challengers to El Capitan, and after our picnic lunch and the stress of watching our betters climb the wall, we needed a nap.  So we found a lovely path down to the river and curled up under a tree. There were river rafters going by and we determined to take that on the next day.   After awhile we went on the shuttle to the other end of the valley and started up the trail to one of the many waterfalls that are scattered around the valley.  That didn't last long.  It was blazing hot, and that, combined with the altitude, led us to declare victory, leave the field and go get some ice cream.  By this time it was late in the day and we decided to go to a tunnel turnout at one end of the valley for some good photo opportunities.  A lovely day.

The next day we brought the bikes in to the park on the back of the Geo.  We parked in the same place and took a bike tour around.  The valley itself is very level and the bike paths go for some miles back and forth along the river.  A highlight was a trip to Mirror Lake, a small lake at the upper end of the valley, popular with families - you can see why.  We also spotted a family of mergansers there - how they managed to stay near the lake with so many people jammed into it was a mystery to us.  But the little ones were very cute.



After that we went down to the place where you rent river rafts in Yosemite.  The only real drawback to the park is its enormous popularity.  We had to wait in line for almost and hour and a half to get a raft.  So I went to get a sack lunch while Ivy waited in line and then we sat by the river and ate before we launched our raft.  The trip is very nice - it's three miles long and mostly quite smooth, but there are enough baby rapids to keep you alert and there are four bridges to pass under.  It was a beautiful day and there were stunning views on all sides as we floated along.  


The next day we decided that we had had enough of the crowds in the Valley, which only get worse on the weekends.  So we headed off to the "other" Yosemite Valley, the one with the unlikely name of Hetch-Hechy.  This valley was the subject of a mighty battle between enviros and politicians many years ago, which the enviros eventually lost, resulting in a huge dam that blocks the valley and provides many millions of gallons of water every year to the San Francisco area.  The valley is lovely, but there is little to do there if you're not a serious backpacker, as there are no roads. 
For Ivy and I, the highlights were the trip down there through the Stanislaus National Forest and the Tuolomne river valley, and a hike from the park entrance up to lookout point over the dam.  The hike was only a mile and half, but the heat and the elevation gain made it a challenge.  But we eventually got there, and the view was terrific. And on the way, we ran into a small group of blue-gray gnatcatchers and a kinglet-sized bird that I wasn't able to identify, a nice find out there in the mountains.

The next day was our last in the park and we decided to head over to Tuolomne Meadows, famous as one of the largest alpine meadows known.  On the way we stopped at Olmstead Point, where you get a view back down the Yosemite Valley from above.  You can see Half Dome very clearly.  A lovely young couple who were our neighbors at the RV park were climbing the trail to Half Dome from the Valley that day, so we sent them our good wishes from our upper vantage point.  There was a friendly marmot and some salamanders on the trail with us, so we snapped a couple of pictures. 

The meadows were lovely and well set up for tourists - not as crowded and crazy as the Valley.  We took a short hike into the meadows over to Soda Springs.  There were endless marmots on the trail, not the least bit scared of us.  And the local breed of ground squirrel, always on the alert.  And we saw some deer. 

The meadows don't have the dramatic granite walls of the valley, but they are amply provided with snow-capped peaks and the views are quite spectacular.  We had a great day in the meadows.  Our only pet peeve was the visitors who wouldn't stay on the trails and went trampling off across the meadows, walking right by the signs that said to stay off.    But what are you going to do?  If you're Ivy, you yell at them, but it didn't do much good.

So after a nice afternoon nap for me and some sketching for Ivy at Lake Tenaya down the road, we headed back to our RV camp and made preparations to get on the road again.  

Reflections on Healdsburg and Sonoma County

We have finally left Healdsburg after almost two and a half months there.  I had promised myself that I would use the blog to reflect a little on what we see going on around the country as we travel, and Healdsburg provided a good opportunity to see a different part of the country and watch what's happening during the Great Recession.

First of all, you can clearly see that the whole economy of Sonoma revolves around wine and vineyards.  I was surprised to see, after not visiting for some years, how completely the area was converted to wine production.  Fields that used to be regular farms were all endless rows of grapes.  There were wine tasting centers everywhere, some very opulent.  Just in downtown Healdsburg, there had to be ten or twelve.  One of Chris' friends confessed to having worked to install over 5,000 acres of vineyards in his career.  Many of the people we met earned their living working in vineyards or service industries around them.

Well, the local wags have some wisdom to share.  Q. What's the best way to make a small fortune in the vineyard business?   A.  Start with a large fortune.   It seems that the vineyards are often funded by people who made lots of money somewhere else (like Silicon Valley) but now dream of living a different life in the country making fine wines in the sunshine.  It doesn't always work out, but in the current downturn it seems to insulate the vineyards somewhat from collapse.  Many of the backers are very well off, and can afford substantial losses before they fold up. 

So on the surface, at least, the vineyards are still doing fairly well.  There were some out of business and some bulldozed or for sale, and some wine tasting centers were closed, but on the whole the area looked prosperous and rather normal.  The papers reported that wine demand nationally is holding up, although international demand is down, and average prices for a bottle of wine have fallen.  The big multinational vineyard companies have had substantial layoffs locally.  Weekends in central Healdsburg are still quite busy, with lots of tourists coming in, though not as many as before.  People that we talked to were often nervous and concerned, and the housing crash has definitely affected Sonoma County, where property values went sky-high and have imploded.  But so far most people we met are getting along. 

The big weak spot in the local economy seems to be commercial real estate.  The vacancy levels in Sonoma County are dramatic, averaging 24 per cent for commercial buildings.  Worst is in Petaluma, where a lot of the computer firms set up shop some time ago and are now cutting back.  That rate is closer to 40 per cent.  Healdsburg is at the low end with about 16 per cent, but even in Healdsburg the vacancies were very noticeable.  Walking through the central part of town, you could see For Lease signs frequently, even in the most desirable areas of town.  You have to think that if this vacancy rate doesn't improve, the commercial real estate people will be in trouble.  And there's no sign of improvement yet. 

And government is not going to be much help.  The papers are full of the budget cuts being  made at every level, state, county, local.  Budget woes in California are worse than in most places, and nobody seems to have an idea what to do.  

We had dinner with a couple who live up the road in the town of Cloverdale.  Healdsburg has built a reputation as a cute tourist town, and business is holding up there, but in Cloverdale, as the woman said, it's 1935.  She has also recently returned to working for others after having her own business for many years, and she commented on the WalMart-ization of employee/employer relations these days, compared to what it was years ago.  Business people today, she thinks, are obsessed with getting more out of their employees while paying them less.   It makes the job environment oppressive and scary for people, with layoffs always lurking and no place to go. 

But I have to say that on the surface, at least, Sonoma County looked good.  It was a pleasant, sunny area with lots of activity, very busy, and people looked prosperous and reasonably well off.  Houses were lovely and well kept, cars were big and shiny and noisy, and traffic  heavy enough to be annoying.  Individually, people often had pressing issues that were keeping them from being optimistic or up-beat, but then, there are always things to worry about.  I guess my assessment of what I saw was that people were holding together, but a bit fragile.  They have survived the first big wave of the Great Recession, but if a second wave comes along there won't be much in reserve to fall back on. 

Adventure in Gualala - June 22 - 30

On Tuesday the 22nd we headed over to the coast for a short stay (we thought) at Gualala  Redwood RV camp, a lovely spot by the Gualala river.  The campground is deep in the redwood forest near the coast, right on the banks of the river.  Every campsite has redwood trees as part of the site, and they're pretty impressive, so the campground is great.  My sister joined us with her two dogs and spent the night in our RV, our first overnight guest.  We did a lot of hiking and visited the Park Facing South beach, one of brother Chris' favorite spots.  There must have been a lot of fish running, because there were swarms of osprey and pelicans all over the area.  There was one lone fisherman, who was chagrined to find that he didn't do nearly as well as all those birds. 

After two nights of very pleasant stay, we started off back to Healdsburg.  We made it about two hundred yards, and then the engine died on the RV and we couldn't get it started again.  Uh-oh.  There we were, stuck and blocking the RV park exit road so that no-one else could get by.  We were able to get the RV started again and move it a short distance so that it was out of the way, but it wouldn't run for more than a minute or two at a time.  A fairly major crisis.  Gualala is not exactly a hub of services and we were quite concerned that we wouldn't be able to get it fixed.  We had roadside towing service as part of our insurance plan, but where to tow it?

After about an hour and a half on the phone with the insurance carrier, we had still not been able to find a garage that would take it within the next two weeks, even in cities a couple of hours away like Ukiah and Fort Bragg.   Then one of the local RV park staff stopped by on their go-cart and suggested that we contact "Junior", the local mechanical wizard.  A call to Junior and he agreed to look at it the next day in his garage, but he had limited room and we couldn't tow it in until the next morning.  So we spent the night in a vacant campsite at the RV park and the next day I took a bus back to Healdsburg to pick up our little car, while Ivy waited for the tow truck to come from Ukiah. 

To make a long story short, we were able to get the RV repaired after about a week.  Junior turned out to be a skilled diesel mechanic with a lot of experience, and after two separate repairs, the RV was back on the road and running fine.  We made it back to Healdsburg the next Wednesday, after a week in Gualala.  But the setback, besides costing a princely sum, consumed a week that we had hoped to use finishing up some work at Chris' house.  But we are sticking to our schedule, and after the fireworks on July 4th, we'll be heading out on the next stage of our adventure.  We are really looking forward to being on the road again, even though we're a bit more nervous about the potential for mechanical disasters.  We hope to be in Yosemite by the end of next week.