Traditions....

 7;35 am - Thursday - April 23rd - Bishop, CA - 39° F, humidity 23%, cloud cover 9%, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were having our customary/annual first dinner at Lake Tahoe Pizza Company.....

....right across the street from Tahoe Valley Campground where we worked for 4 summers.  The best Anchovy Pizza ever!

Speaking of traditions, TLE and I have this tradition when in Bishop, CA to walk over to Eric Schat's Bakery on Main Street for pastries and coffees our first morning.  We pass through Bishop twice a year now....when we're going south and when we're going north...usually in October and April of each year.  As I have written more than once over the years, US-395 is our 'mother road'.  We have driven it from Hesperia, CA all the way to I-90 in Washington State more than once.  Our favorite section of this US Highway is the 147 miles stretch from Bishop, CA to Carson City, NV.  In years past when we worked at Tahoe Valley Campground we always drove US-395 to Tahoe.  It is not a fast way to get to Lake Tahoe, but it is the most beautiful way to get to Lake Tahoe.  On this day we began our walk over to Eric Schat's Bakery around 11 am.  It's about a 10 minute walk at the most.  Typically it is standing room only, but on this day it was very uncrowded....

....usually you have to wait for a table.  TLE changed things up a tad Wednesday by getting a scoop of Lemon Gelato to go with her House Brew coffee, but I stayed with my long time favorite....Apple Fritter....

Two more apple fritters in the bag for Thursday and Friday

....on our walk home we stopped off at Reagan's Sporting Goods to check out their 50% off sale, but did not find anything without which we could not live.  We were back home by 12:30 pm.  As we walked down the entrance road to the fairgrounds I noticed there was snow on the White Mountains too from the recent storm.....

.....around 2 pm I headed outside to wash, for the first time in 6 months, the Newell.  I wanted to wash her before we left TWW, but the 7 mile drive out to US-66 is very dusty, and felt like I would be wasting my time. Being here in Bishop for 3 days was the perfect opportunity to put a smile back on her 'face'.....

.....TLE took a couple of pictures of me near the end of my work.  For the first time in 6 months she looks beautiful....

....in all it took me around an hour to wash off 6 months of dirt and grime, but I got her done without feeling exhausted....lol.

Around 4 pm TLE and I walked over to 'Upper Crust Pizza' on Main Street down near the Smart and Final Iris grocery store.  TLE didn't partake in pizza on this day, but chose an appetizer of Chicken Wings with a side salad.  I ordered their standard pizza (sauce and cheese) adding anchovies, black olives, onions, mushrooms, and pepperoni.  As happens to me from time to time I neglected to memorialize our dinner, but it was great!  This is our second time dining at this pizza place.  They make a mean thin crust pizza.

We were home by 6 pm after a quick stop at Smart and Final Iris to pick up some milk, and cheese.  For the next hour+ I napped off my food coma....I ate half of that medium pizza....lol.  For evening entertainment we watched another episode of 'Survivor Season 50', and were in bed by 10 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

The story I almost forgot to tell....

 7:56 am - Wednesday - April 22nd - Bishop, CA - 36° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 17%, wind 6 mph out of the north by northwest.....mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 66° F.  On this date in 2025 TLE and I were overnighting at Fort Amargosa.....

....on our way north to Likely Place Golf & RV Resort for our 4th season.  We were just there yesterday!  The view this morning....

.....lots of snow on the Eastern Sierra this morning.  They got 8-9 inches at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort....a lot for late April.

Before I begin today's post about Tuesday I feel compelled to relate a story from the day before we departed TWW.  As of Saturday morning (April 18th) I had been missing a 10 foot extension cord for about a week which I use to power our Toro blower.  It was a minor thing, but I don't like losing stuff....does anyone?  Next I found I was missing a large Phillips head screw driver.  I remembered using it recently, but could not remember where.  I figured I'd come across it before we left TWW, but again, I HATE losing stuff.  The final 'nail' in the coffin, so to speak, was I misplaced a hammer I was using that very morning to pull the spikes out of the ground which affixed the numerous artificial turf pieces on the 'lido deck' to the ground.  I was trying to retrace my steps that morning, but could not find that hammer.  I have several hammers, so it's not a big deal, except I really HATE losing stuff.  Now the number of missing items had reached 3, and I was beginning to question my ability to function as a mature adult male....my memory seemed to be betraying me.  I told TLE about the missing stuff, so she could be on the lookout for any of those 3 things.

We had been talking about moving the two wheel chocks we have screwed into the trailer floor to show us where to stop when inserting the VW.  We used to have a bike rack on the back of the Beetle, but removed it last winter, and left it in the garage at TWW.  Without the bike rack we felt we could move the VW back 18-24".  We did some initial measurements of the VW, and then repositioned the two chalks.  Now it was the day before our departure, and we wanted to see how much more room would be available at the front of the trailer, so I suggested we walk over to the VW to measure from the middle of front tire to the very front of the car, and then mark the floor, so we knew how much room, for sure, that we had to begin stowing things in front.  We walked over the Beetle to do just that, and what do you know?  I found the Phillips head screw driver sitting on the top of the license plate.....doh!  Well, good, one of three things found.  We then walked over to the garage to get something, and as we were exiting I saw the missing extension cord hanging on the handle bars of one of our bicycles....cool....2 things found.  As we walked back to the trailer I, pointing at the roof top solar panels, telling TLE we needed to stow them first thing in the morning.  As I glanced over at the roof top solar panels I saw the missing hammer resting on top of the stowed patio awning where I had left it earlier that morning.  So, within a 10 minute period I found all three items thereby regaining a little of the self confidence I had lost over the past few days....LOL!  TLE and I laughed for a few minutes.  My frustration turned into joy in just a few minutes!

Now, let's talk about Tuesday, okay?  High winds were forecast along our route Tuesday from mid morning on, so we had decided Monday evening that we would be on the road northbound no later than 7 am in order to be as near to Bishop as possible before the winds got over 20 mph.  All night long the winds blew, and when we awoke at 6 am to get ready to leave they were blowing quite hard, and we wondered if we should spend another day at Fort Amargosa.  I rechecked the forecast and saw the wind was out of the south, which meant we would have a tailwind for the first 160 miles of our 240+ mile driving day.  Within seconds we went from staying another night, to 'let's get dressed, and leave ASAP!  We were on the road by 6:40 am cruising north with a 25 mph tailwind....it doesn't get much better driving wise.....

....with a tailwind there is almost no wind noise, and you can hardly hear the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 purring at the rear of our Newell.  As the morning progressed we began to realize what a great driving day this would be.  With that tailwind the need to downshift on hills almost disappears, and all you find yourself doing is hanging onto the steering wheel, and enjoying the view.....

So many long, long stretches of straight highway with views stretching miles and miles into the distance

Soon the Eastern Sierras came into view with their snow capped peaks

....we passed through Beatty, Goldfield, and finally Tonopah where we took a 20 minute break before continuing our drive north to US-6, which would take us over the mountains to Bishop....

Beginning the long uphill on US-6

.....as we crested the summit around 10:30 am the wind hit us full force from the left side, then mostly head on for the final miles into Bishop, but that was only 47 miles out of 240+ miles we drove that day.  We arrived at Bishop RV Park (Tri County Fairgrounds) around 11:30 am, and were in our site for three days by noon time.  We have water and 30 amp electric, which usually means we have be careful what we turn on electrically, but  I bought this special adapter a few years ago to use specifically at Bishop RV Park.  They have rows of 30 amp receptacles enabling me to use two of them and boost our amperage from just 15 amps per leg to 30 amps per leg enabling us to NOT worry about overloading either circuit.  We rarely use 20 amps per leg at a time, so this adapter allows us to live 'normally'....

There are about eight 30 am plugs I can plug into, and with very few people here it is not problem

The 50 amp plug from the Newell plugs into the adapter just like a pedestal

.....rain was forecast for late Tuesday in Bishop and it came right on schedule.  It didn't last long, but it was nice to hear rain our our aluminum room again.  While it only rained for a short while here it snowed up at Mammoth Lakes for 8 hours, so I would imagine when we head up Sherwin Grade Friday morning we will still see some snow on the ground.

Thanks for stopping by!

On the road early.....

 3:26 pm - Tuesday - April 21st - Bishop, CA - 62°  F, humidity 37%, cloud cover 37%, wind 21 mph out of the southwest......windy, partly cloudy with a forecast high today in Bishop of 61° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I took a rest stop in Tucumcari, NW.....

....on our way to Maine for the Summer.  Two years before this it was a functioning grocery market.

First of all, please accept my apologies for posting my missive about Monday, April 20th.  TLE and I had reviewed all of the available weather data and concluded it would be  best for us to be on the road before 7 am Tuesday to get ahead of the wind.  We were out of bed at 6:10 am, and on the road by 6:40 am heading north on US-95 which runs north and south through the state of Nevada, hence no time for the blog, but here I am at sometime after 3 pm Tuesday catching you up on our activities from Monday.

We were in White Hills, AZ at the TA  (Travelcenters of America) Monday morning, and our goal was Fort Amargosa, north of Las Vegas...about 150 miles from our location.  We wanted get through Las Vegas mid morning, so we were on the road before 8 am heading north on US-93 to Las Vegas.  We ran into more bad highway initially, but within 25 miles the road smoothed out, and it was clear sailing into, and through Las Vegas.  Last year we drove the entire distance from TWW to Fort Amargosa, and that put us in rush hour traffic through Las Vegas, which was terrible.  We were determined not to repeat that mistake this year, hence the overnight stop in White Hills, NV.

As hoped, the mid morning traffic was very light, and much less stressful for us, especially me, the driver.  By 9:30 am we had transitioned from US-93 to US-95 northbound, arriving at Fort Amargosa by 11 am, which was perfect.   We left early to avoid the forecast winds which materialized at Fort Amargosa about 12 pm, and were they ever bad.  Our coach rocked and rolled all afternoon, so another good decision to end our travel day early to avoid the wind.

US-95 north of Las Vegas is a divided highway with 2 lanes in each direction until the final 25 miles into Fort Amargosa, but by then the traffic was almost non-existent making for an easy drive.  If it hadn't been for the forecast winds, which did arrive on schedule, I could have driven all the way to Tonopah, NV putting us 130 miles closer to Bishop, but it is what it is.  

We spent the afternoon reading, and napping (me) being thankful not to be in the cross winds on the highway.  For dinner TLE prepared meatloaf, smashed potatoes, and a side salad, which was the perfect ending to an enjoyable travel day.  Now it was only 240 miles to Bishop on Tuesday.  Stay tuned for that adventure.

Thanks for stopping by!

Egress.....

 7:11 am - Monday - April 20th - White Hills, AZ - 66° F, humidity 12%, cloud cover 8%, wind 11 mph out of the south by southeast....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 88° F, but we shall not be here to see that.  On this date in 2025 we had just dropped the trailer tongue on the Newell hitch.....

....almost exactly one year to the date we left this year.  The next morning we would begin our journey north to LPG&RVR.  The view this morning.....

....at the TA truck stop in White Hills, AZ.

Our Jello goal was to be on the road exiting TWW around 12 pm, so when we arose from our nightly slumber around 7 am we had 5 hours to do the last 'few' things.  By last 'few' things I mean move our two 330 watt solar panels which charge the Bluetti battery which powers trailer over to Phyllis' Newell to help keep her batteries charged throughout the summer, strap a 10 foot, 3" diameter pipe to our trailer roof which we will use to hard plumb our black tank to the sewer connection in site 55 at LPG&RVR this summer, put the Predator 5000 into the passenger side engine bay, lock up everything on the property, park the Cushman, and Yamaha Rhino in the barn for the summer (new this year), disconnect the coach from our permanent sewer line at TWW, disconnect the coach from shore power, finish securing the final few things in the trailer, put everything we are not taking with us in the garage, and finally back the Newell out of her site for the first time in 6 months, then drop the trailer tongue on the Newell hitch.  Always way more than you think on the final day.

By the time all that was done it was around 11:20 am.  We then pulled the trailer out of its site about 70 yards in order to insert the VW in the trailer.  By the time we had strapped down the VW, and locked the trailer for travel it was 11:40 am, and time for my departure shower in the house, and I needed one....lol!  By 12 pm I was sitting in the driver seat, turned over the big Detroit Diesel 6v92, and began our egress from TWW.  The north/south arterial dirt road is in really, really bad shape right now, and we were only able to average about 7 mph for the 7 mile extraction, so it took us about an hour to get to pavement....US-66.  Wow....that was brutal, but we made it, and began the hour long drive to Kingman where we would pickup US-93 northbound to Las Vegas.  

Our plan was to take on fuel for the Newell to top off her tank for the drive north, and then spend the night in the TA truck stop parking area in White Hills, AZ.  US-93 out of Kingman is a road in need of new pavement, and it has been for 15 years.  The first 25 miles was 'shake, rattle and roll', but we finally hit smooth pavement about 20 miles out from the TA (Travelcenters of America) where we arrived without incident around 3 pm.  The pump price for diesel at this station was $6.279/gallon....ouch!  But wait, there's more.....we have the Open Roads discount card which turned this horrifying price into a much more reasonable, although still way too high, $4.544/gallon.  We saved close to $100 before transaction fees.  Our discount, before fees, was $94.99.  Instead of paying $351.90, we paid $266.82 (after $10 in transaction fees were deducted)....  

.....it's always noisy in truck stops, as you can imagine, but we slept well all things being considered, and now I sit here finishing today's post, and getting ready to hit the road to Amargosa Valley where we will spend the night again as we did last year.

Thanks for stopping by!

The final push....

 6:54 am - Sunday - April 19th - TWW - 44° F, humidity 13%, cloud cover 57%, wind 7 mph out of the east....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 75° F....and thus begins our final hours at TWW this season!  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were touring the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.....

....in Washington D.C. We revisited this museum 2, or 3 times.....so much to see!

TLE and I were dressed and out the door by 8 am Saturday morning knowing how much we had to do in order to be able to haul anchor sometime Sunday.  It was cold, and a little breezy making it feel even colder than the 39° F which greeted us.  TLE headed to the burn barrel to do her final burn of our paper goods, and cardboard, while I headed into the trailer to secure the gun safe, and anti gravity chairs.  Then it was outdoors to help Charles unload that 'new' IBC water tote we would install later at the north end of the barn to catch the barn roof rainwater and snow melt in the future.  

There were a hundred little things to do, and slowly but surely as the day progressed the list was getting smaller and smaller.  I next removed all of the metal spikes we use to secure the artificial turf pieces to the ground so they could be rolled up, and either put in the trailer to take with us, or leave here for next winter....

Removed this propane splice into our system

We're leaving four of the artificial turf pieces here

Propane bottle disconnected, and then reconnected to our onboard propane

Predator 5000 is disconnected for the first time in 6 months

Half the artificial turf removed

Sun shades, solar lights and hoses stowed in the new Rubber Maid

Wheel covers off the Newell and trailer

Bluetti solar panels off the trailer roof, and folded

.....after helping Charles install the new IBC water tote TLE and I turned our attention to our last black tank dump, and fresh water refill.  We could not stow the 175' of fresh water hoses in the new Rubber Maid until this was done.

Once the two lithium house batteries had reached full charge I began to disconnect the Bluetti portable solar panels I had installed on the trailer roof to boost the charge going into those batteries.  It took way less time to pull everything apart, than to set it up originally.  By the time 3 pm rolled around we had been at work for 7 hours, and we were beat, but we got it all done.  Now all that remains is to disconnect the Newell from shore power (Bluetti battery bank), back the Newell out of her site, then drop the trailer on the hitch.  We're only driving about 108 miles Sunday, so we don't have to be out of here at the crack of dawn, but more like noon time, so that final few things needing to be done will be done Sunday morning at a leisurely pace.

We had our final communal meal with Charles and Phyllis....

....we had creamed eggs on toast....one of my all time favorites.....thank you Phyllis and TLE!  You'll notice that our plates are scraped clean!  Charles and Phyllis will return to Phoenix Sunday morning, and then it will be just us saying our 'until next times' to TWW!  Oh, by the way, power was restored to Seligman mid morning Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Change of plans....

 6:52 am - Saturday - April 18th - TWW - 41° F, humidity 10%, cloud cover 23%, wind 13 mph out of the east by northeast.....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE was "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona"....

....."and such a fine sight to see".  The view this morning.....

We had no where to be Friday morning until 10:30 am so we slept in until after 7 am.  We had a leisurely morning, and by the time I posted my daily missive it was just 8:30 am giving us 2 hours before we had to be on our way to Los Algodones for 'temporary crown day'.  It was nice not to have to run around packing our clothes, getting them into the car, and then quickly walking around the room to be sure we had not left anything.  Instead we began leisurely packing around 9 am, and had everything in the car by 9:50 am.  We were in the car just before 10 am, and were parking our car in the Quechan Border Parking Lot by 10:10 am.  By the way, the daily parking fee is now $10, up from the former $6 per day.

We made the walk over to Dr. Urena's office in less than 10 minutes arriving there at 10:20 am to find that there was an ongoing power outage in Los Algodones....DOH!  No power for lights, or anything requiring electricity to function, which is most things in a Dentist's office.  My first thoughts, of course, are it will be out all day and we'll have to stay another night in Yuma, but within 35 minutes the power returned and life went on.  I was in the chair to have my temporary crown installed (good for 6 months) by 10:50 am.  We had already paid for my dental work, and crown on Wednesday, so by 11:30 am we bid our adieus to the staff, and were making the walk back the border, and were through customs in less than 10 minutes.

By the time we were back in the Explorer it was 12 noon....exactly the time we had figured we would begin our return drive to TWW.  In the end it all worked out as it should. I drove the leg from Yuma to Quartzite where we took a bathroom break, and then TLE took the wheel into Havasu City where we refueled for the final 120 miles home, and also bought a couple of Frappuccinos (mocha for moi, and vanilla bean for TLE) for the road.  I took over driving duties from there.  It was about 3:15 pm at that point, and we figured we would be home before 5:30 pm.  We made it by 5:25 pm without incident.  As we pulled into the circular driveway we saw that Charles and Phyllis were, unexpectedly, there.  We weren't expecting to see them again this season, so it was a very nice surprise.  They had arrived about an hour before us, and with them they brought another IBC water tote to use to capture water off the barn roof now that we've sealed it.  We also found out that from them that Seligman has been without power for a day, or two due to big crash out on I-40 which took out several power lines that run over the Interstate.  In fact, power was out between Kingman and Ash Fork.  No gas is being pumped, and everything is closed....WOW!  The nearest services open are in Williams, AZ....

The Interstate was closed both directions beginning around 5 am on Thursday with power restoration set for sometime Saturday.  As I write I do not know if power has been restored, but it doesn't matter for us....we are off grid!

While TLE and I unpacked Phyllis made scrambled eggs with cheese for all of us with a side spinach salad....perfect!  We talked about our plans for departure, which we have moved up to Sunday from Monday.  We're supposed to have another wind event beginning Monday, and we want to get out of here before that arrives, so now we are compressing two days of final site takedown into  one day.  Will we get it done?  Stay tuned and find out!

Thanks for stopping by!

The 'crowning touch'....

 7:26 am - Friday - April 17th - Yuma, AZ - 63° F, humidity 13%, cloud over ZERO %, wind 13 mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2023 we had a lot of snow on the ground.....

.....at Likely Place Golf & RV Resort.....our second year there.  It snowed 7 more times before Memorial Day that year.

TLE and I were up a little after 6 am Thursday to get ready to make the 10 minute drive over to Los Algodones, Mexico for my dental appointment at 8 am.  We were just here 3 weeks ago, at which time I had my lower right wisdom tooth extracted.  During the extraction it was determined that the molar next to it, which has a crown that was installed back in the 70's, had some decay, so it was decided I would return in 3 weeks to have that cavity filled.  Since Dr. Urena had to cut into my gum to get that wisdom tooth extracted it needed time to heal before she began the work on the molar.

We arrived at the border parking lot just after 7:30 am, and were at Dr. Urena's office just before my 8 am appointment.  I was in the chair by 8:10 am.  In order to repair the cavity the old 50 year old crown had to be removed, and she had that out of my mouth within 5 minutes.  Once the old crown was removed it became obvious how large the decayed area was, and the Doctor wasn't sure if it could be repaired, or would need to have a root canal.  After a series of XRAYS it was determined that it could be repaired, and have a temporary crown installed to see if that repair would hold over the next 6 months, or if it would not necessitating a root canal.  Fortunately, it is what is called a long term temporary crown ($100), and I can wait until October to have the permanent one installed if the repair holds. Obviously neither they, nor I want to install an expensive permanent crown ($450) only to have to remove it, do the root canal, and then install a new permanent crown, so I liked that option.

I was in the chair for about 2 hours while the Doctor cleaned out and filled the cavity, and then prepared the tooth for the temporary crown, which will be installed Friday morning.  We arrived back at the hotel around 10:45 am, extended our say for one more night, and then went to our room where I took a nap.

Since we had the the whole afternoon without anything to do we decided to head out to downtown Yuma to refill the Explorer tank for our drive home Friday, do some shopping at Walmart, and then see a movie.  I think we've only been to the movies once since the Wuhan Flu fiasco back in 2020, so it's been a long time.  There aren't a lot of good movies out right now (my opinion), but we did want to see 'Project Hail Mary' with Ryan Gosling as we had heard good things about it, and had pre-purchased tickets for the 1:45 pm showing at the Harkins Theaters over on Pacific.  We arrived at the theater about 1:35 pm after getting gas, and doing our shopping....perfect.

The theater was pretty empty....just folks in our age range there....may 15 people in all, including us.  I'll not go into the storyline of the movie, but will say both TLE and I enjoyed the 2.5 hour movie.  It didn't feel that long, which is a good thing, right?  The writer, or story teller, did a great job with a very unique concept drawing us in to the storyline emotionally.  I'll let it go at that.  I would, however, be interested in your impression of the movie if you have seen it.

In the same mall where Harkins is located there is a large 'food court' on both sides of the entry road which includes a Chili's Bar and Grill, which is one of our favorite restaurants.  The last time we ate at Chili's was last winter (November, or December of 2024) in Kingman. AZ.  I've been dining at Chili's since the 90's and always order 'The Oldtimer' burger.....it is a classic.....

'The Oldtimer Cheese Burger' with frieds

TLE's Santa Fe Chicken Salad

....to which I added a 22 ounce Blue Moon replete with an orange slice.  TLE had their Santa Fe Chicken Salad.  We both love the consistency of their food from restaurant to restaurant, and over the years.  We were on our way home by 5:30 pm, but not without a quick stop at the local Starbucks to buy some dark roast coffees for Friday morning, which we would reheat in the hotel room microwave.  It was a lovely afternoon spent doing what we wanted to do.  I can't remember the last time I had a hamburger, fries and beer two days in a row....lol!

We were home just before 6 pm, at which time I took another much needed nap.  The doctor had to cut back a little of the gum around the molar in preparation for the temporary crown installation Friday, but there has been no pain whatsoever.  We'll head over to Los Algodones around 10 am for my 10:30 am appointment and crown installation, and then be, hopefully, on or way home by noon time Friday), or earlier...."God willing, and the river don't rise".

Thanks for stopping by!