The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Nicolaus, California

Lake Minden RV Resort 

We were able to visit some friends and family on our way out of California to spend a couple of weeks in Arizona.

THE GOOD...

The small lake here at Lake Minden is nice to walk around.

We had a couple of nice dinners.  One with Mike and Rose to celebrate Roses's birthday.

Another with Rick and Angie.

And yet one more with Scott and Nesha.  We had sushi and then went to a new brewpub.  It's part brewpub and part axe throwing called Axe Me.  Kind of a scary combo, right?  Here we are with our throwing weapons of choice.

Steve

Scott

And Nesha.  We all had our own way of throwing.  Nesha's was the most dramatic! It was lots of fun.  There are many different games/challenges you can play.  We had fun with our scoreboard names too.  Kiss My Axe, Molly Hatchet, Axe Kicker, etc.

We've been on a shrimp cooking roll.  Dinner tonight was Garlic Shrimp with Pasta and Broccolini.

Hurley waiting for his treat.

Sadly as some of you know, Hurley's tumor on his leg has spread to his muscle, nerves and lymph nodes.  He is now on comfort care.  He may have 2 weeks or two months.  So far he is doing very well and other than being a little restless at night, is back to his old self.  He is taking Prednisone to keep the swelling down and a pain pill for the night time.  It will be a very sad time when he lets us know he is ready to leave us. :-(

  

On our way to San Jose, we saw this guy dressed up in a French Maid's outfit walking back and forth along a busy road holding a sign that said, "I SUCK at Fantasy Football - Last Place".  His buddies were sitting in lawn chairs on the grass next to him drinking beer.  What a good sport!

Morgan Hill, California

Morgan Hill RV Resort

We spent a few nights at the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails RV Resort.  It's a pretty nice place and we will stay here again when visiting friends and family.

We spent some time watching Jaxon and he's still crazy about his cars and his Teddy Bear. I can't believe he'll be 3 already in March.

Back on the road a few days later and we saw these cute doggies going through the drive-through!

Driving up and over Pacheco Pass along San Luis Reservoir gave us beautiful views of the green hills and beginning of the wildflowers.  Perhaps on the way home we'll see the poppy bloom.  It ought to be fantastic with all the rain.

The water level is way up in the lake.

The sun was starting to set when we pulled into our next campground.

California City, CA

Borax Bill County Park

THE BAD...

We've been to this small park before and it is a really nice stopover.  They have a complicated fee schedule depending on if you're there during the week, weekend or holiday.  If you choose not to hookup, it's free during the week.  We had the place to ourselves.  We were watching the weather closely as the winds were up already and were expected to increase the next day.  They did get pretty crazy during the night so we brought the slides in.  The next day they were steady at 40 with gusts up to 60 expected.  We decided to move the rig in the morning so we were facing into the wind and protected some by a cement wall.  As soon as Steve was able to finish work, it was leave now or wait until tomorrow.  So off we went.  We only had a very short time before we were on Hwy 40 heading dead east.  Crazy winds but at least we had a nice tailwind that helped with the gas mileage.

The only problem was the dust and sandstorms which made terrible air quality and pockets of bad visibility.

Needles, California

Needles Elks Lodge

One last stopover before we get to a new-to-us state park in Arizona that we have been wanting to try out.

The 9 sites here are quite nice and separated by hedges and some trees.  $25 for FHU.  We had a nice time in the bar visiting with some locals. 

MORE BAD...

     As I was doing my walk-around I noticed something.  Steve verified we had a broken leaf spring.  Darn it!  We are on a tight schedule and Needles isn't the biggest town for RV repairs.  We stayed a second night at the Elks Lodge while both of us were busy calling to find both parts and someone who could repair it.  This is something that Steve would normally do himself, but he was going to be busy with conference calls all day.  We were able to find one person that had the size springs we needed and a nearby shop that had the time to put them on.  Pretty lucky.

Our new set of springs for the trailer.  We have dual axles and have had one set replaced before in our 9 years of fulltiming.  You gotta be flexible in this lifestyle.

All done and back on the road a couple of hours later.

Finally crossed over into Arizona and just a couple of hours away.

AND THE UGLY...

We are 60 feet long with the truck and trailer.  Just before the above picture was taken, that guy who was also in a truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer, passed us (we were going 65) with a car coming head on.  He did not have enough room!  Steve slowed and pulled as close as he could to the pavement edge while this idiot cut over just missing our truck.  The poor guy in the car had to go off the road into the sand.  We didn't get a chance to see him, but I think he was able to pull off without damage.  This is a busy road with many 18-wheelers.  We are all so lucky nobody was hurt.  It would've been a bad pile up!

Crossing the Colorado River.

We pulled into our lovely site at Lake Alamo State Park as the sun was setting.  Our truck hit 200,000 miles as well.   It's a 2013 Dodge RAM one ton dually that we bought new in 2014.  It has pulled us all over the (contiguous) US, every state, in the past 9 years that we have been Fulltiming. Hoss is getting old but still hauling like a champ!

Biking the Sutter Trail & Hiking the Phantom Falls Trail - CA

Nicolaus, CA

Minden Lake RV Resort

It's so nice that the storms have taken a break and we can enjoy some blue skies and sunshine.

Before we left, I visited my parents.  Bonus was my Uncle Danny/Godfather was there too.  I haven't seen him for one reason or another since Covid started.  We had a very nice visit.

This park is ok.  The sites have decent room.  We're in the D20, W/30a.  What I like about it is there is a lot of open, flat space to ride your bike or walk and get away from the trailers and other people. It's a nice place to be in the spring when it's green.  In the summer it gets very hot here!

There's a large path around some of the fields.

It's a nice mile walk around the field.

There is a good-sized lake/pond that you can also walk/ride around.

The Sutter Bike Trail runs between the towns of Sutter and Yuba City.  It's a 5 mile rural area on the former Sacramento Northern Railroad right of way.  Since Steve is still healing, we took it easy on this flat path.

You pass olive and walnut orchards.

The Sutter Buttes in the distance.

There are rice fields and ranches.

This is a Boer goat which is a typical goat raised for meat.

Cute name for a ranch.

There were cattle and horses too.

At the Sutter end are the graineries.

This area is also a huge flyway for migrating waterfowl.  Ducks, geese and cranes can be seen everywhere.

The ravens like to roost at the tops of the trees at night.

After our ride we came home and made some Pasta & Shrimp in a light creme sauce.  Yum!

Another night we finally had a chance to catch up with friends Scott and Nesha.  Dinner at the Ranch House was delicious.  Hopefully we'll see them again before we leave the area.

And my favorite part of our 2 weeks here was the hike to Phantom Falls.  I had wanted to hike in the Buttes but they are private property.  There is a conservancy that offers a few hikes but they were booked.  Second up was North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve which is 3,315 acres in Oroville, CA.  Our friends Rick and Angie live near here and mentioned it too.

Table Mountain was formed by ancient lava flows of basalt rock which holds water resulting in spectacular spring wildflowers and waterfalls.  The falls only flow for a very short time, especially after heavy rains.  Each person must have a Lands Pass to enter the area which was $5.  This mighty oak is at the trailhead.  It's mostly open, rolling, rocky rangeland with a few oaks here and there.

This is a 4.2 mile out and back trail.  Some flat and some hilly.  Luckily most of the mud has dried up.

Just a couple small stream crossings.

We got very lucky with the sunniest day yet and no wind.

Ravine Falls is visible first.  You see it in the distance and then hike down the canyon to the base of the falls.

It's a short downhill section.  It was very smooth and grassy with a few trees down.

Ravine Falls

Ravine Falls singing her song.

Then it's up the other side of the canyon which is a bit steeper.  Steve did very well and we took our time.

Looking back across the canyon at Ravine Falls.

It's not wildflower season just yet but these tiny yellow flowers called Glue-Seed or Yellow Carpet are beginning to bloom. It's obvious why they call them that.  Some sections were blanketed with them.

As you get close to the Phantom Falls you can see the huge canyon that opens up with panoramic views.

The hillside here is covered in oaks.

Little Phantom Falls.  You can hike around the rim for different views, but across from it is best. You can see people above for scale.

Phantom Falls will be on the left with Little Phantom Falls to the right.

This view is deceiving.  It looks like falls go into a pool but that is actually shade from a shelf that you see.  The falls are about 165 feet.

The view of the canyon from here is amazing!

The gap between North and South Table mesas with the central valley beyond.

Time to head back.

Steve checking out the roots of a huge recently fallen tree.

The cows and calves were happily grazing on our way back.  Don't worry, this is zoomed in.  They are used to seeing hikers but best to keep your distance as Mama Cow is watching.

Thank goodness the bulls are on the other side of the fence.

One more climb and a field to cross and we'll be back at the parking lot.  What a great hike!  I can't wait to come back for the wildflowers in a couple of months.

As we pulled into camp we noticed this long skinny cloud.  It seemed to stretch from the valley all the way up to the mountains.  The only cloud in the sky.  Pretty cool looking.  Especially reflected in the lake as the sun set.

Our day turned out to be a long one.  We stopped by Rick and Angie's for some pizza and a couple of drinks.  I'm sure we'll see them again before we head back to Placerville.