Tag Archives: California

Relaxing in Redding (RV Series #14)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

The words jumped out of my mouth without asking permission: I’m so sick of hotels. What? I asked myself, Who have I become? Just three short months ago, I’d never overnighted in a fifth-wheel. Now, I was missing my rolling house? Wishing to check-out of a hotel?

The RV’s broken axle didn’t seem to be the only part under repair. My softened heart and appreciation for this trip, with all of its up and downs, began affecting my thoughts and words. Amazing change for a girl who swears the Ritz Carlton club level is the standard for family travel. Continue reading →

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Napa Know-You-All (RV Series #13)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

On our last full day in San Francisco, John called the RV repair shop to verify that the rig would be ready for pickup the following day. When I saw John’s shoulders fall during the phone call, I knew it wasn’t good news. The manufacturer sent the WRONG part?!? And no one called to tell us?!?

If you’re a Bob Newhart fan and watched his spinoff show, picture the eccentric neighbor brothers who introduce themselves the same way every time they make an appearance at Bob’s Vermont Inn. The older, wiser brother does all the talking, “Hi, I’m Larry; this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl.” We were dealing with them in real life.

The correct, driver-side axle was to be overnighted to the RV repair shop. With the weekend days and their backlog of rigs awaiting repair, we had another week to wait. My patience was wearing thin. Continue reading →

Singing in San Francisco (RV Series #12)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

San Francisco makes my heart sing. It’s a city worth singing about. Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco and you can’t help but sing the Rice-A-Roni jingle when you hang off the steps of the cable car. It’s “The San Francisco Treat!”

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Alek and Aleyna hanging off the Cable Car

But the cause for my singing this week lay in knowing that our RV was getting repaired. While I show the kids the bright lights of the big city, the fifth-wheel axle would be made new. After sitting sidelined in tiny-town, CA for ten nights awaiting RV parts, we decided to forge ahead without the rig. Continue reading →

Wheel of Misfortune (RV Series #11)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

Well our Yosemite revival didn’t last long. Halfway to San Francisco, stranded on the side of the highway, I considered tying our master sheet to the broom handle and waving it from the roof of the fifth-wheel. Two hours ago I resolved not to surrender. What happened?

We were merging back into highway traffic from a fuel stop when the center of the fifth-wheel’s three rear axles gave way partially releasing its tire. Smoke streamed from the back of the rig. Continue reading →

Yosemite Blues (RV Series #10)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

Relieved from leaving the Malibu cliffs, we pulled into Oakhurst, CA, a mere forty-seven miles from Yosemite Village. It’s the closest town with RV hook-ups to the national park’s southern entrance. Don’t read between the lines and think that closest means nicest and full of amenities. Nope, none of that.

Fond memories of the Oakhurst, CA RV Park

Fond memories of the Oakhurst, CA RV Park

Our site was decent. Large enough for our two vehicles and our forty-three foot rolling house. Unlike Malibu, we could enjoy campfires, but only if we were willing to share space with stray cats, less than desirable neighbors, and views of metal carports and storage buildings. Fortunately, our plans include driving into Yosemite National Park most days, which means I won’t spend many daylight hours in the landfill RV Park. Continue reading →

Cliff Diving in Malibu (RV Series #9)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

Malibu, CA: The city on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Malibu RV Park: A higher cliff overlooking the city that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Malibu RV Park on a cliff

Our rig at the Malibu RV Park on a cliff

Oh yeah, there are gorgeous views to enjoy if your brain ever relaxes from the imminent danger of sliding or shaking off the cliff. Before we ever left Dallas in mid-January, I had a dream (nightmare) that an earthquake tore most of California’s coastline away from the continent and our RV slid into the ocean. I’m not prophetic and I’m not a Nervous-Nelly, but this “dreamare” nagged at me.

So when we awoke on the second morning to what felt like an Alaskan black bear vigorously shaking our rig to empty it of its contents, I was alarmed. I nearly threw John out the front door in his underwear to assess the situation. Within seconds of realizing that the skies were calm, and hungry, wild animals weren’t attacking, it hit me. An earthquake!

I’d never before experienced the earth quaking beneath me. I didn’t want to ever again. I clamored for idevices checking reliable sources on Twitter and Facebook for confirmation that we were about to pull away from the continent and be dumped into the ocean. Continue reading →

San Diego R & R (RV Series #7)

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(Our family is on a five month RV trip. We are journeying West from Dallas, TX and making our way up the Western US coastline finishing in Washington state before we streamline our way back to CO for the summer.)

We’re just five weeks into our five-month journey. We’ve only hitched the fifth-wheel to the F-450 four times including the day we drove it off the sales lot. Essentially, we got our forty-three foot house set up in Phoenix and didn’t move it. We are rookies.

Now the real RVing adventure begins in California. We will RV Park hop every week or so to a new location beginning in San Diego. That includes driving in California traffic, maneuvering down narrow streets lined with parallel-parked cars, and weaving through tree-lined RV parks to back into our assigned site. We are apprehensive but excited.

I was exhausted from deep chest coughing and blowing my nose. After John and I returned to Phoenix from Colorado, I crawled to Urgent Care with bronchitis and laryngitis. The doctor prescribed me Augmentin and coughing pearls remarking that the nasty stuff was going around. I didn’t have the heart or the voice to tell her it was probably a symptom of the major stress in my life.

My sentiments exactly

My sentiments exactly

Aside from emptying a box of tissues, the drive from Arizona to San Diego was uneventful. Continue reading →