Author: harrylange

Homoliva State Park – Winslow, AZ – Friday May 29, 2015

We are in site 32.

There are 53 sites in this campground and only 12 sites are being used. Of that 12, 5 are for one boys youth group.  We stayed here on September 14, 2011 and at that time there was only a couple of people here.  It is really a nice campground with 40 to 50 feet between sites which are level and paved with electricity and water.

Today’s drive was 429 miles.  We were on the road by 6:30 a.m.  and got to Homoliva at 4:00 p.m.
I had planned a stop in Flagstaff to do our grocery shopping at a SuperWalmart however that did not work out so well.  I have read a lot of blogs about how unfriendly Flagstaff is to RV’ers and they again proved it to be true on all accounts.   It was difficult to find the store because of no signage.  We saw a large brown building with a large parking lot and figured it to be the Walmart.  When got right to the turn lane we could see the four foot high Walmart sign at the parking lot entrance.  However, I could not see a good path into and out of the parking lot.  One of the challenges of pulling a car is you can not back up.  If I get myself into a place where I can not make a turn I’d have to stop unhook the car and then backup.  I actually have had to do this once.  We were on Hwy 50 (out in the middle of nowhere) half way across Nevada when we stopped for lunch at a pony express historical site.  The parking lot was empty and I thought I could make a large circle and make it out the only entrance point.  I was wrong, unhooked the car, backed up three feet and made the turn J.  Back to Flagstaff Walmart, the parking lot was so broken up the curbs and light posts I was not sure I could get in and out with all the tight turns and other vehicles in the lot.  After driving around the area looking for a place to park we decided to move on down the road.

Here is a Google Earth view I got after we arrived at Homolovi.  It doesn’t look to bad until more cars and a few motorhomes are added.

Flagstaff was also a scheduled  pee stop for Hank so he went 5 (FIVE) hours without a pee (poor traveling Hank) we usually stop every two hours.
Nice day with a temp of 92 here.

 

Calico Ghost Town Regional Park – Barstow, CA – Thursday May 28 , 2015

We decided to stay here for one more day and look around the park/ghost town.  This will give us a 410 mile drive to Winslow, Az on Friday.
The campground is about a half mile down hill from the town.
Some of the information about  the town points out the town is on one of the many ground faults.  This is not a very good picture however you can still see how the rock is twisted.

This picture is looking down onto the town.  It was interesting and Jean and I had a good time.  Spent the afternoon enjoying the heat, 95 I think was the high.

Calico Ghost Town Regional Park – Barstow, CA – Wednesday May 27, 2015

We took our time Wednesday morning and drove to Calico Ghost Town Regional Park a couple of miles outside Barstow, Ca.   12 million dollars worth of silver was taken out of this town and 20 million total for the surrounding area in the late 1800 and early 1900.
We are in site A8 and part of A9.
There is only 25 to 30 feet between the power and water poles.  The park information says they have 265 sites and we are one of 5 people tonight.   The park ranger said they should be sold out this weekend.
We have reached summer, it was 95 today and I got a strawberry drink.

Lone Pine, CA – Tuesday May 26, 2015

Campsite picture:

This county park you pick where you’d like to stay and that’s your campsite, $14.00 a night.  No numbers, no designated areas, it festival seating of camping.  It is really nice during the week but this place has got to be a zoo on the weekends.

Another California first, having to pay to dump the holding tanks after paying for a campsite.  I can see this moving north as a way of increasing fees without telling anyone they are going to be paying more to camp.

Note on the instructions you have 60 seconds to get your hose into the dump after you’ve paid the $10.00.  If you don’t get the hose in within the 60 seconds you get to pay again.    You get 15 minutes to dump, thus making it difficult for two people to dump on the same $10.00.

Weather is great, 84 this afternoon and should be 85 to 92 over the next week.

 

Yosemite National Park – Monday May 25, 2015

Here are some pictures from our trip into Yosemite.
This is a picture from Google taken from Olmsted Point.
This is what we saw, looking at the cracks on the rocks I think they are close to the same point.
Look at the trees growing out of the side of the center rock.
Important big rock.
Tioga Pass on the way home, sticking on the road.

Snowed for a while at camp.
We still had a great time and we can say we have been to Yosemite.

OH Ridge Campground – Yosemite Natl Park – Saturday May 23, 2015

This morning we drove over Hwy 120 into Yosemite Natl Park.  It was a really  nice drive however from our visit I don’t see what the big deal is about Yosemite.  It looks just like visiting Mt Rainier lots of clouds and see about 1/4 of a mile everywhere you go, it also snows at Yosemite.

Really the weather was not good but we had a nice ride.  In Yosemite Valley all we could see was the car in front of us and once in a while maybe a quarter of a mile.  I did take some pictures when it stopped raining for a few minutes.  I’ll post them tomorrow.

We had snow on Tioga Pass (sticking to the road) and it snowed for a while here at the campground starting at 6:00 p.m..  Quit about 7:30 and was melted by 8:30 however it is still 37 degrees out ( the motor home is warm).

Have a GREAT evening.

OH Ridge Campground, June Lake, CA – Thursday May 21, 2015

We decided to make to the long drive to our weekend campsite on Thursday rather than Friday.
Here is Thursday’s drive, up at 6:00 a.m. and on the road at 7:00.  I wanted to dump and fill with water so we didn’t have to depend on California for water.
This is a closer look at our drive for the day 398.5 miles which is beginning to be a long day for us.
This is our camping site for the weekend.  We were the only people in this loop and only one group in each of the loops next to us.
It ended up being a cool night however I’m glad we decided to drive down on Thursday.
This is our path so far this trip. At this point we still do not know where we’ll go after June Lake.  We’ll be here at least through Monday night.

Goose Lake State Park, Lakeview, OR – Wednesday May 20, 2015

The weather is cool in the mid 60’s with a snow level about 1500 feet above where we are camped.

This is site 41.

Did an on line chat with DISH TV this afternoon and they changed our location so I can watch the season end of Survivor.  We can not get ABC, NBC or CBS because DISH and the three networks will not let us see the network stations over satellite unless you are at our home address (FCC makes the networks provide DISH with the feed).   One of the challenges is I have to have a specific address to get the feed and most state parks do not make there street address available.  I got on Zillow and found a house just down the road which is for sale and used their address.
We had some rain today and may have more tomorrow.
Interesting things about Goose Lake, 10 miles wide, 29 miles long, average depth 8 feet, deepest point 24 feet.

 

LaPine State Park, OR – Tuesday May 19. 2015

Tuesday we moved farther south, LaPine State Park just south of Bend.
Site 76

When I want to register I looked at the posted list of reserved sites. A Diana Sorens had reserved 14 sites for the night.   They started at site 77 which is just across the street from us.  There were two guys (in site 77) in a large hunter’s tent setting by an outside fire enjoying themselves.   What we found out was these two guys had come out the day before as the advance crew for three 5th grade classes from Amity public schools.  Two small school bus and one large bus drove up about 15 minutes after we had camp set up.  This was the first day of a 3 day outdoor camping adventure for these kids, all 75 of them.  Plus adults it reached 90 people.   Two of the teaches came over and filled us in on there trip.  They do this rather than going to paid camp like the 6th graders do from Enumclaw.

The other day I commented on the price for a campsite at Maryhill State Park $45.00 a night for water, sewer and electricity.   As a comparison our site at LaPine has water, sewer and electricity for $26.00 a night.  I will not comment on why difference in cost other than it is not the quality of site or location.