The long journey home is underway

Joan with Brother Serra at Mission San Miguel

The great journey home began at o’ dark thirty on Monday from the resort. The alarm clock went off at 3:30 a.m., but I was already up and getting ready. It took just a couple minutes to stow the bedroom television and unplug the trailer.

Phoenix was just rising when we drove through and traffic was getting heavy, but still manageable at 6 a.m. We topped off the Tahoe in Chandler and began the short, but high climb to Tucson. Pulling our trailer from 1,000-feet in Phoenix to 7,300 feet in Flagstaff in just 100-plus miles is a daunting task.

But we’ve done it before and as I write this, we did it again. There are only about 12 miles of steep grade and it is simply a matter of putting on the flashers and taking our time (40 mph) up the grades. Usually I have a large truck in front of me going just as slow, so not a big deal.

The Mission San Miguel sanctuary

About 9:15 a.m. we pulled into the Camping World at Bellemonte, Arizona about 45 minutes early for our winterizing appointment but they were not busy and took us right away. My Good Sam membership saved me $10 on the job and we were done at Camping World shortly after 10 a.m.

It is only a quarter mile drive to the storage lot from the store and we had the trailer in place by 10:30 a.m. Then came the first of two frustrations of the day. For the short drive from the store to the storage lot I did not hook up the safety chains, but rather hooked them to the storage position on the trailer.

Me and Brother Serra

Everytime I tried to lift the trailer off the hitch it simply would not drop. We tried jumping, we tried spraying WD-40 and a little nasty talk. Nothing worked. Then Joan mentioned perhaps the safety chains in the position they were in might have been the problem.

Once removed the trailer lifted off the ball like a champ. So, again it pays to listen to the wife, even if it is damaging to one’s ego.

It took about ½ hour to go through our closing checklist, install the tire covers, remove the luggage and liquid bottles from the trailer as well as remove the battery and install a lock on the receiver part of the hitch on the trailer.

Joan at the Mission

We were back on the road and en route to Bakersfield about 11:30 a.m. for a long drive. The scenery through the Mojave desert is pretty desolate, but does have an isolated beauty of its own. With the sun sinking in the west and our stomachs growling we stopped in Tehachapi, California for dinner. We were looking for one café when we drove by La Belle Amore Italian Bistro and decided to stop there.

Only one other family was in the restaurant but we ordered a nice meal and returned to the road in about an hour.

We were using OnStar directions and they brought us to Buck Owens Boulevard in Bakersfield when suddenly everything went kind of nuts.

The directions called for me to go straight, but the intersection had been redesigned and you could only go left. That led to a number of confusing turns and then finally we were back on Buck Owens Boulevard.

William in his new home

As we approached the hotel (Quality Inn) we saw the sign, but drove by the one and only entrance into the lot. By missing the entrance we were once again forced back on Highway 99 headed the wrong way. That made me very mad, which was not helped by my massive sleep deprivation for the day.

It took about 15 minutes and some additional assistance from OnStar to get us back on Buck Owens Boulevard. This time we didn’t miss the elusive entrance and checked in.

Then it took us a few minutes to figure out how to get to our second floor room, but once inside we both showered to wash off 14 hours of road and storage dust.

How about them avocados?

Time out: 3:55 a.m.

Mileage out: 75245

Time in: (Flagstaff trailer) 9:15 a.m.

Mileage in: (Flagstaff trailer) 75530

Mileage out: 75530

Time out: (from strorage) 11:35 a.m.

Mileage in: 76014

Time in: 8:05 p.m.

On Tuesday we were up early in Bakersfield and headed for our next great adventure, a visit with our children and grandchildren in Northern California.

One last Misson photo

We went cross country through the Central Valley passing many farms and ranches as we made our way to Paso Robles and Highway 101. Highway 101, also known as El Camino Real, was at one time the major north south road in California. Now it is a secondary route to I-5 which runs through the middle of the state.

Joan, always the science teacher, was fascinated with the lettuce, strawberry, table grapes and wineries on the route. Paso Robles has become a major wine producer and we stopped and picked up a bottle for one of our children.

Joan the artichoke

As we hit 101 I saw a sign for Mission San Miguel Archangel and decided to take a little stop so Joan could finally visit one of California’s famous missions. We didn’t spend a lot of time there but she was able to visit the museum and tour the church and cemetery to get a flavor of what the many missions in California were like. I had her pose next to a statue of Junipero Serra, the  famous Franciscan brother who was a key mover in establishing many of the missions.

The further we headed north on Highway 101 the warmer it got until it topped off about 85 near Salinas. At Salinas we turned west to head to the home of Tim and Toni, our son and daughter-in-law and within 15 miles the temperature dropped from 85 to 62 as we hit the coast.

Such is the weather in California.

We spent an hour or so visiting until it was time for me to say good bye to Joan and for me to head alone to my son William’s home in Soquel, near Santa Cruz.

Joan and Jan at the Ritz Carlton

Joan had a great time with the kids and their family and it especially gave Joan a time to learn about our new granddaughter, Teri. Teri didn’t hurt her cause by whipping up a delicious homemade carrot cake for her new grandmother.

Tim and Toni put on a nice barbeque steak dinner for Joan and I took William out to dinner at the Capitola Diner on 41^st Avenue.

Up early on Wednesday I attached William’s bushes and cut them back so they won’t overgrow his home during the next 12 months. Then I fixed his bed and then we went shopping for some needed supplies for his home.

Jan and me

William’s mother and I accompanied him to a dentist’s appointment in Watsonville and are pleased that some very necessary dental work will begin soon.

After the appointment William and I did some more shopping and then watched some of William’s favorite programs on TV after a fine dinner at Zelda’s down on the beach in Capitola.

On Thursday morning I was up early and headed down to pick up Joan for a trip up the coast and lunch with a very dear friend, Janet. Janet and her husband Norm visited Joan and I in San Antonio, Texas a few years back and then sadly, Norm was diagnosed with cancer and died just a few months later.

Toni and Teri

We love Jan and always try and make a point of seeing her when we are out west. She shared her new home with us and took us on an adventure to the nearby Ritz Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay. We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and then toured the swanky hotel grounds after lunch.

It is wonderful that Jan has a  very nice new home and we look forward to the next time we are all together.

After lunch Joan and I headed south and spent the rest of the afternoon with William before heading back to Marina for dinner with the whole family at the Kula Steakhouse. We had 11 people on hand including our two sons, our daughter-in-law and two granddaughters for dinner. William’s mother and stepfather also joined us for dinner. It was a very special gathering.

The blurry photo taken by the waitress

We visited with Toni and Tim at their house before going to bed there and then got up early to being the long road home.

Time out: 8:59 a.m.

Mileage out: 76480 (We forgot to log in our miles from Bakersfield to Marina)

The Friday trip was a relatively short one with a quick visit to my cousin Cynthia in Danville, California where we sat on her patio and visited for about 90 minutes before heading to our Friday destination in El Dorado Hills.

Joan, Liz and Kenny

A former Atherton Police Officer and one of my very best friends, Ken, lives in El Dorado Hills in a gorgeous home with his girlfriend Liz.

We shared laughs and good times and Ken and Liz put on a great steak dinner for us that was truly outstanding.

Outside we watched a gorgeous sunset and after visiting some more we finally checked in to our beautiful guest room.

In the morning Ken whipped up his patented sour cream with green onion scrambled eggs and too soon it was time to head out for our next destination – Reno, Nevada.

With a couple long drives ahead of us, we took it easy for this first leg so we wouldn’t start out too tired.

My turn with Liz and Kenny

Time in: 2:55 p.m.

Mileage in: 76694

We departed Kenny’s house and began the short drive to Reno up the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was a truly spectacular day with wispy clouds and bright sunshine the whole way.

On the way we did one short tourist thing when we stopped at the Emigrant Memorial Museum, which has a wonderful account of the famous Donner Party.

We spent about 90-minutes touring the museum, watching a film and then taking a short hike to the cabin site where many of the Donner Party waited out a miserable winter after getting stuck on the wrong side of the Sierras due to an early winter.

Sunset at Kenny's

The hike was beautiful and took us next to a stream carrying snow melt down from the mountain.

Joan is doing much better with her walking this year and it was fun to see her enjoying herself on a hike.

After the museum tour and hike we continued on our way to Reno this time on the down side of I-80. We made a rest stop at the Donner Pass rest area and got a kick watching all the Californians playing in the snow that is still in great supply at the top of the mountain.

Joan at the Donner Memorial

We arrived in Reno to our hotel and did a little laundry so we have enough clean clothes to get home to Michigan without having to do laundry again on the road.

After the laundry duty we headed downtown so we could have dinner and so Joan could try her skill at beating the odds. This time we did not beat the odds, but we both played a long time on not too much money and Joan had a great time. She especially enjoyed her time at the El Dorado Casino. It was fun to see  the old (and now very much out-of-date) Cal – Neva Casino that I remember from trips there back in the late 1960s.

Time in: 1:45 p.m.

Mileage in: 76827

I should mention that we stayed in the Days Inn Reno on Sunday night and it was a good thing I made reservations in advance. The place was packed with high school students in town for a volleyball tournament, a wrestling tournament and a big jazz festival.

Reno sign

The kids were pretty good at the hotel, which is more than I can say for the loud mouthed adults who were loud and boisterous outside until the wee hours of Sunday while we tried to get some rest.

The morning brought cold temperatures, but sunny skies in Reno and we headed out fairly early to get some miles behind us.

Just for fun we listened to “Radio Classics” on the XM channel and we were able to hear some of my favorite segments. While listening to a “Boston Blackie” episode the bad guy, who had kidnapped Blackie gave one of those great radio lines.

Crossing into Nevada

Boston Blackie asked the bad guy what the score was in his effort to get away.

The bad guy said: “What’s the score? It’s two to nothing and you’re the nothing.”

Love those old radio lines.

The wind was blowing a gale today so I was very glad I was not dragging the trailer today. We stopped for gas in Winnemucca, Nevada, a place I stayed with my parents back in the early 1960s on a trip to Nebraska.

We also made a quick pit stop in Wendover, Nevada before starting across the salt flats in Utah. Joan has never taken the northern (I-80) route so she was really impressed with the change of scenery that we experienced today.

Crossing into Utah

As always the drive across the salt flats is long and monotonous, but with the new 80 mph allowable speed limit, it doesn’t take so long to put it behind you.

After checking into our hotel we headed out to dinner and found that most of the restaurants in Salt Lake City were closed. We did find a little Chinese place where we had a fine little inexpensive dinner. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and took a couple photos outside the main Mormon Temple downtown, but this trip is pretty much an express trip home so not much time for tourist stuff from now on.

Joan at the Mormon Temple

Time out:  8:25 a.m. (PDT)

Mileage out: 76830

Time in: 4:35 p.m. (MDT)

Mileage in: 77349

(Note: Just because I took 129 photos in the last week I have put a bunch of them in a post below this one in case you are interested). So simply scroll down to see more of our exciting photos.