Heading to the Ocean!!!

9 September

After publishing the last blog we had a shop and fuel up and headed east again along the I-15. Our next destination is The Valley of Fire, a Nevada State Park about 50 miles east of Las Vegas. This a beautiful park, really isolated from the hurly burly of Las Vegas. It is an area of red rock formations. We are in a great camp with power, and the rocks all around us. Later in the day we cycled down to some petroglyphs (ancient graffiti) and some great rock formations.

10 September

We drove to the visitors centre and after a look around continued into the valley. The road ends in 5 miles and we walked about 4 miles thru great rock formations in all sorts of colours from white, gray, purple, pink, bright red and copper. There were even a couple of nice “slot” canyons. This is a nice little state park which has many of the features of the bigger National Parks. (Arches, Bryce etc) There are lots of hired RVs here mostly with European people. We think that they pick the rental RVs up in Las Vegas and this is their first stop.

11 September

Another rainy start to the day but we had breakfast outside under our awning. We headed the short distance to Lake Mead. This is a huge lake formed by the Hoover Dam. We camped at Echo Bay. It is all very weird. The lake has dropped about 80 vertical feet some time ago and everything is high and dry. There is a resort hotel which would have been on the lake shore which is now ½ a mile away. There is also a floating marina which has been towed so far out into the bay it is now virtually blocking the bay entrance. The boat ramp has been extended many times! As it is overcast the whole place has a deserted gloomy feel.

12 September

Down the lake shore road for 50 miles to the Hoover Dam. After having “Ernie” searched for explosives we headed onto the dam and across it to a parking area. The dam was built in 1935 and is now a huge tourist attraction. We walked back across the dam to the visitors centre and some statues. The centre of the dam is the state border between Nevada and Arizona. It is quite awe inspiring looking over both sides of the dam. After lunch at “Ernie” we drove back across the dam and up to the new bridge downstream from the dam. This was

completed in 2010 and has a walkway which gives a great view of the dam. It is hard to imagine the huge amount of traffic on the Interstate crossing the dam before the new bridge was in use. We drove back to our camp at Boulder Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and you would not believe Lake Mead could look so different. We cycled down to the lakes edge for a great swim in the clear warm water.

13 September

This is a relocating day. We drove a mixture of multi lane highways, and back country roads including the old route 66 towards Joshua Tree National Park. Our plan was to overnight at one of the many small towns on the route. Unfortunately they were all abandoned. We ate lunch at Amboy. This town is on our map of the USA but in reality is only a petrol station and a diner. We decided to carry on to the National Park but found that the road had been closed by flash floods and had to continue on another 20

miles to the only road open into the N.P. We eventually found our camp at Hidden Valley 15 miles into the park. It was getting quite late in the afternoon and we quickly took one of the only flat sites for an RV. The views are spectular. We are camped among huge cream coloured boulders set off by Joshua Trees. We will stay here a couple of nights.

14 September

We are around 4000ft again so it is nice and cool at night. We rode about 8 miles thru the Joshua Trees to a trail head. The walk was about 4 miles return to the old abandoned Lost Horse gold mine and stamp. It was a really nice gentle climb with great views. The Joshua Trees are really unusual. They are actually huge Yuccas and grow into weird shapes. The Mormons called them Joshua as they looked like the Old

Testament prophet beckoning them. It was a nice down hill ride back to our camp. We watched 4 guys rock climb a crack on a huge slab in front of us which inspired us to climb a big rock behind us for some views. In the cool of the evening we took another bike ride and short walk.

15 September

We had planned to drive to the other end to the N.P. and spent a night there but unfortunately the road to the camp was closed by the flash floods. Before we left the N.P. we walked thru an area of Teddy Bear Cholla.

The lighting was great for these interesting cacti. We continued on to a state park at Salton Sea. This vast, shallow, salty lake is at 228ft below sea level. We thought only Death Valley had that distinction. Like Death Valley it is really hot (around 108F) and we have the aircon running. We hoped for a swim but the water is foul so we are in the shade or inside. This is obviously a winter resort!!

16 September

We went to a town called Mecca to stock up but we were the only people speaking English. And there was only take-away food. It was a little bit of Mexico. Down the side of the Salton Sea and then west into the desert. The camp we had looked at for an overnight stop was 15 miles up a side road into the desert and as we were still below sea level and therefore bloody hot we decide to continue into the mountains.

We eventually found a great state park camp at Lake Cuyamaca where we had a great view over a mountain lake at 4600ft. We had a cool night and slept well. Sleeping with the aircon on is not great as the air dries out and you get the dry horrors.

17 September

As we are only 50 miles from San Diego we drove on to our camp. On the way we tried to shop but ended up in the wrong style of Wal-Mart. They have various types of shops but our GPS does not know the difference. This one had no fresh fruit/veg and no meat. More importantly no WINE. We are at a basic RV park on Mission Bay close to the city. After lunch we cycled a great path around Mission Bay

passing beautiful beaches, apartments and houses and the huge Sea World complex. We got lost a couple of times but eventually arrived back at our camp after about 12 mile ride. We have been away from the sea for nearly 6 months. It was great to feel the ocean breeze again. There is a lot to do in San Diego and we will stay here for 5 nights.

18 September

We set off to explore the city of San Diego. First a walk to the bus stop, a ride to the transfer station and then a trip in the tram into the city. We bought a 24 hour pass for $5 each so not too bad for price. We got off the tram near Petco Park where we bought Baseball tickets for Friday night. The San Diego Padres are playing the L.A. Dodgers. We found a bar and they put the Americas Cup on a TV for us. The barman was fascinated by the event as he knew nothing about it. Unfortunately we missed the first race that Team NZ won and only saw the second until it was blown off with Team NZ in the lead.

Back on the tram to a stop near the USS Midway. This is an aircraft carrier in use thru the Vietnam War period. You pick up an audio device and can tour the whole ship including the engine room, bridge and flight deck. It was fascinating. When you stand on the landing deck and look along its length it must have been hairy trying to land on it.

There are old pilots giving talks on the landings and takeoffs. The takeoff deck and the catapult systems were also great. They only had less than 100m to take off in! We walked along the water front passed some old sailing ships and submarines and then caught the tram and the bus back to “Ernie”. We were a bit leg weary. Funny that we can walk for miles along tracks but flag on city streets.

19 September.

As we had had no luck grocery shopping a couple of days ago we had to drive to the nearest supermarket. We found a good one quite close to the camp. We spent some time trying to follow the Americas Cup on the internet with no luck. We had to settle on written updates. Radio New Zealand has changed its live online coverage and we can no longer get it. Very frustrating!! This camp has its own beach on Mission Bay and we walked down for a swim and a sit in the sun. In the evening we went for a short bike ride to explore the large camping ground in the next bay. (research for Nicola and Gary’s trip).

20 September

After a great American brunch (eggs, pancakes and bacon) we caught the bus to Old Town San Diego and walked around this area. It was mostly Mexican shops and the early sites. Back on the Trolley and into Downtown where were found a bar but were frustrated by the Americas Cup race which Team NZ missed out on winning by one leg, due to the time thing! Back on another bus (these all day passes are great) and up to Balboa Park, an area of museums and exhibitions where there was the largest model train in the USA.

It was basically 4 model railway clubs that had combined to present different gauge layouts. Some of the layouts were a bit disappointing but there were a couple of great layouts depicting famous sections of the US rail network. We walked and bussed to The GasLamp Quarter where all the bars restaurants and night life are. The old architecture of the buildings in this area was great art deco and we walked up and down and eventually settled on a bar and enjoyed a wine watching the passing traffic.

At around 6pm we walked the short distance to the Petco Park, the baseball stadium. What a site! It is in the middle of town and holds about 50,000. We found our seats 4 stories up between home and 1st plate. The crowd built up and the atmosphere was great as the two teams (The Padres, local and the Dodgers from LA) had about the same amount of support. The Padres won 2 – nil, a bit of a nail biter at the end! Back on a crowded trolley and the bus to camp.

21 September

After a lazy morning we cycled around Mission Bay to Pacific Beach. As it was Saturday people were picnicking in large groups all around the whole bay area. This beautiful bay is truly the playground of San Diego.

There was a refreshing ocean breeze at Pacific Beach. The bay and the beach are separated by a narrow strip of land with older holiday homes. The beach reminded us of all the Beach Boys songs 

with many people swimming, surfing, playing volleyball and generally having a good time. There was a lot of weed in the water making the swimming less than perfect. On our ride home we passed 2 weddings set up overlooking the bay. In the evening we met Brenda and Daryl Gates from Waikanae. They had bought an RV 2 years ago and gave us some great advice. We will publish this tomorrow before heading north up the coast towards Los Angeles. This will be the second last blog!

Death Valley - Las Vegas

3 September


I managed to borrow the right sized allen key to adjust the side door. It has been bugging me for 5 months! After a quick shop and a top up of the LPG (big built in tank) we headed east towards Death Valley. We had debated which road we would use to get us to the ‘395’. and ultimately into Death Valley. Unfortunately we chose the shorter (according to the map) route which turned out to be a long drag up and down several huge mountains. It took us about 4 hours to negotiate the various mountain passes we encountered. The old couple at the camp were divided as to the best route. The old guy thought the mountain route was easy but the old lady thought the longer route was better. Next time always listen to the old lady!!! We are now about 24 miles from the entrance to Death Valley at a RV Park in Olancha with power and a swimming pool. We have a RV site with power for aircon booked about half way thru.

4 September

Into the Death Valley National Park. The first 30 miles was up and down into Panamint Valley. We thought this was Death Valley but were wrong and climbed out of this valley and up a steep pass and down into Death Valley. Our overnight stop was at Stovepipe Wells. We had run the aircon in the cab for the first time and were relatively cool until we stepped out. What a shock. The air temperature was around 115F or 46C with a strong wind. The best comparison is the hottest sunniest day you can imagine but then standing in front of a fan heater running at

full bore! Death Valley is famous for being the hottest place on the earth (57C in July this year) and the lowest point in the USA (-282ft below sea level). Stovepipe Wells village is at sea level. We checked in and are parked in a gravel area with full hook-up. (power, water and sewer) We are the only ones here! There is a lodge (full) and a general store. After lunch (inside with the aircon on full) we ventured out to the rangers station to get our pass and a map. The surprise was that we had access to a great cool swimming pool which we lazed around in the afternoon. (in the shade). We went to the saloon for drinks and chatted to various people. After tea we went back to the pool around 9:00pm with the temperature down to a balmy 100F (38C).

5 September

This place is quite a unique experience. Apart from the heat (an experience in itself) the isolation and the scenery are awesome, therefore we have decided to stay another day in Death Valley and will drive to the only other accommodation which is 25 miles away at Furnace Creek. In the night we turned off the aircon but soon turned it on again! The early morning was cooler and we even had breakfast

outside. After checking in at Furnace Creek we drove down a side road to Badwater (17 miles). This is the lowest part of the N.P. (and the USA) at -282 ft below sea level. Back to our camp for lunch and the relative cool of “Ernie”. We are camped at -218 ft below sea level but do not need breathing equipment or are suffering from the bends. The pool at this camp is big but not cool enough. Nevertheless we spent the afternoon in it. It is a bit hotter today around 118F (47C). There is a museum here and we looked at the exhibits, mostly to do with the mineral mining in the area. We enjoyed another swim before bed.

 

6 September

We left the aircon on all night and had a better nights sleep. Getting a cool shower is a bit of a problem as the cold water is hotter than you want! After a stop at a great view point showing the various

rocformations of D.V. we head out of the park and a 80 mile drive across the desert to Las Vegas. There is a AAA Baseball finals game tonight between Las Vegas 51s and the Salt Lake City Bees so we called in and got tickets before going to an RV park which is handy to the stadium. At 6:00pm we caught a taxi to the stadium (7:05 first pitch.) The stadium was not huge but we had great seats behind home plate. We had been to a baseball game in New York with Lynne and Paul and this was on a smaller scale but it still had a great atmosphere (lots of yelling at the teams and umpires, with the home team winning 3-2 and everyone on their feet cheering the final strike out. We ate a thing called a “Fat Tuesday” (a variation of a huge hotdog with all the trimmings) and drank $1 beers. A great night!

7 September

After buying a 24 hour bus pass we walked to the bus stop and caught a local bus to the “Old Vegas Strip”.

This is in Freemont St and is the original strip of casinos with a new huge roof over the whole area. It was quite busy for a Saturday morning with bars on the street and everyone wandering from one casino to another. We were keen to see the first races in the Americas Cup. There are thousands of TVs everywhere but no one was willing to change channels for a yacht race. Most people had no idea what it was, even. This is the first weekend of the NFL and all TVs were on that. Eventually we resigned ourselves to missing it, so went for lunch at “Denny’s”. The kind lady there changed one TV to the Americas Cup. Great!! We sat and watched both races. What a result! Back to “Ernie” for a swim and dinner before catching 2 buses to the “real” strip. What a sight the Las Vegas Strip is.

About 5 miles of all the named and themed casinos. We booked tickets for a Bee Gees concert tomorrow night (I suspect it’s not really them!) before wandering the strip and people watching. The crowds, noise, lights etc are all a bit much for us poor country folks. The Bellagio

Fountain was really great. The music was Michael Jackson’s “One.” We had a beer at Caesars Palace before catching a bus back up the strip and a second bus home.

8 September

It drizzled all night and we forgot to put the chairs away therefore they are wet. By lunch time the day had cleared and we set off back on our bus rides to the Las Vegas Strip. We got off at the north end and

walked the entire length. Walking down the strip is not all on footpaths as many times you are forced to walk thru shopping malls and casinos. There are overhead walkways to cross the strip and its side roads The Strip looks different in daylight.

Eventually we arrived at the Excalibar Casino at the south end where the Bee Gees concert we had booked yesterday was. It was a smallish venue where everyone sits at tables. The show was great! It may have not been the real Bee Gees but the singing, lighting and staging were identical to Bee Gee concerts. Even the performers looked the same. They played all the favourites and the crowd (mostly our age) boogied down. We walked back along the strip for our last look at the Bellagio Fountain before catching the bus back to “Ernie”. We have enjoyed our short stay in Vegas but it was long enough!

Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

19 August


A bit of rain this morning at Lake Tahoe. It did not come to anything. We spent the time cleaning and doing some washing. We eventually got online at the office and published a blog and changed our library books. The E books have been great this trip. After lunch we went back to our beach for a swim and sunbathe. While we were having our evening drinks a couple of ladies, (Valerie and Pamela) from Reno stopped for a chat. They were both originally from England. And were interested in what we were doing and NZ.

20 August

We left the camp and continued down the west side of Lake Tahoe. We had planned to stop at another beach but the parking all became a bit hard and we ended up in the touristy shopping area of South Tahoe where we checked the tyre pressure and got out asap. Back down the road to the cute little town of Markleeville and a short detour to Grover Hot Springs State Park. We are camped in a huge pine forest. We hoped that we could get a California State Park pass which would halve our camp fees in these parks but unlike all the other states we have been thru, they do not have one. Just our luck! After lunch we cycled a great track to a waterfall. The waterfall was not great but the track reminded us of the tracks in Hanmer. We scampered back to “Ernie” as the clouds had built up and there was quite a bit of thunder. You take electrical storms seriously in the USA.

21 August

Back to Markleeville and the road south towards Yosemite National Park. We drove over a couple of passes and joined the main road (395) before turning onto the 120 and climbing the Tiago Pass which is the start of Yosemite. We had decided to stay in a forest camp close to the top of the pass at Ellery Lake. We got the last RV site in the small camp at almost 10,000ft!! We took a short walk to and along the lake. It is very rugged and isolated. It is also COLD. Fortunately we had bought a second “comforter” (duvet NZ or dooner Aussie) at Walmart when we last shopped and we sure needed it.

22 August

Over the Tiago Pass and into the Yosemite National Park where we found a camp site at Tuolumne Meadows. As we have little show of getting a site in the valley, we have decided to stay here 3 nights and explore the high areas of Yosemite. We have been in the valley with Lynne and Paul in 2007. After lunch we caught the free shuttle up the road and set off for a 3 mile climb up to Lembert Dome, with spectular 360 degree views of the area, and then on to the beautiful alpine Dog Lake. Bad name for a great lake!

In the evening we went to the Ranger’s campfire talk. These are very interesting and tonight’s was on owls. Boy its cold though!

23 August

 We packed our lunch and caught the shuttle in the opposite direction for a hike to Cathedral Lake. The first 2 miles was uphill thru the forest before we levelled out above the snow line with the sharp peaks all around. The Cathedral Lake was beautiful with a cold wind blowing across it. There is a huge forest fire outside the park and the sight of the smoke rising 1000’s of feet into the air is a bit chilling. It may disrupt our plans for the next week. Just have to wait and see. Back at the camp and the smoke has reached us so we are inside away from it. The strange thing is that most campers are still lighting camp fires and adding to the smoke. We used the heater for the first time this morning as it was about -2C when we woke.

24 August

We packed our lunch and set off for an easy walk along the banks of the Tuolumne River. The ranger told us we could walk for 8 miles up the river but we lost the track after about 3 miles so retraced our steps, found a nice place to sit and have lunch and enjoy the view of the river and the spectacular peaks. The free shuttle took us to the other end of its run to Olmsted Point where we could look down into

the Yosemite Valley and Half Dome. After dinner we went back to the ranger’s campfire for a talk on Lake Mono which we had passed a couple of days ago. Interesting but not as good as the first campfire chat.





25 August

We left the Tuolumne Meadows camp and headed towards the valley (and the fire). Several roads are closed but the route into the valley was not interrupted at this stage. The last part of the 50 mile trip was a

steep decent from 8600ft to 3600ft. The temperature change was huge, an average of 15C warmer in the valley at all times of the day and night. The decision was made to front up to the camp booking office and see if there were any cancellations. The fire had caused many people from San Francisco to cancel so we got a site for the night. The forest fire is now the 20th largest ever in the USA but still burning miles away from this part of the N.P. We watched them loading helicopters with fire fighters to ferry them into the fire. There are some great cycleways in the valley and we followed one to the

visitors centre for some info. In the afternoon we cycled most of the valley. The valley floor is about 1 mile across and flat but the peaks rise straight up on each side. Quite awesome! We locked the bikes and climbed up to Vernall Falls. It was a bit of a gut buster. The trail was about 2 miles up climbing over 1000ft. It was however, well worth the effort as the falls were the best we have seen in the US.

26 August

It was a long drive thru beautiful forest (and a tunnel) to exit the Park. The road descended and eventually we were at 350ft. This is the lowest we have been since leaving Phoenix 4 ½ months ago. We are now at Fresno (pop 500,000) in an RV park for laundry and internet. On the way in we shopped for supplies to get us thru to Las Vegas. We had a nice meal in an Italian restaurant to celebrate our 42nd Wedding Anniversary in a couple of days. This RV Park has great internet so caught up with all the family at Nicolas 40th birthday celebrations.

27 August

We headed east and into the hills of the Sequoia and Kings National Park. After a climb we went to the visitor’s centre where we discovered that “Ernie” was too long (25ft) to negotiate the road out of Sequoia to the south. We decided to visit Sequoia first and then retrace our route back to Kings. This was all made more complicated as this weekend is Labour Weekend and everyone wishes to camp for the last time in the summer.

We drove the 1 hour down to the camp at Lodgepole where we found a camping site. In the afternoon we walked to the visitors centre at Lodgepole and checked out the walking trails. We had found some firewood so we bought some marshmallows and lit a camp fire and enjoyed so ‘smores’.




28 August

We packed our lunch and caught yet another free shuttle into the park to explore the Giant Forest of the Sequoias. The first trail is very popular and well used. We passed all the biggest Sequoia trees (most of which are named) including the General Sherman Tree which is supposed to be the biggest tree (by volume) in the world. Tane Mahuta in the Waipoua Forest is certainly bigger around the girth but

  not as high as this one. We continued our walk away from the crowded trail and followed a nice loop track passed many spectacular Sequoias. These trees can only release their seeds from the cones during a fire. Most of the big trees have been burnt but they still survive and often there are huge hollows or even tunnels thru them where the fires have burnt. Some of the fallen hollow trees are so large that they have been used as cabins by the settlers. The shuttle dropped us back at the Lodgepole village where we bought an ice cream and walked back to “Ernie”. Another camp fire and smores tonight.




29 August

Back on the shuttle with our lunch to explore another part of the park. After a look in the park museum we headed out on a 5 mile loop track thru the forest again to a look out at Moro Point. The last climb to the lookout was via a series of 300 steps built into the rock. A great view from the top.

We followed a trail back to our starting point around Bear Hill. The lady back at the visitors centre told us that we were certain to see bears in Sequoia but look as we might, we still have not seen one since Grand Teton N.P. Back at camp we cooked our dinner over the camp fire.




30 August.

We set off back out of the Sequoia area and into Kings Canyon. This involved 2 hour trip. The road into Kings Canyon is a long and windy. As this is a “first come first served” camp we were anxious to get a site for 3 nights to cover the holiday weekend. We had no trouble as there are 3 large camps in this area. The road into Kings Canyon is a dead end so we biked the last 6 miles from our camp to the “road end”. Most of it up hill! We returned to our camp via a little used gravel road on the other side of the river that runs down the canyon. There is a total fire ban in this camp, the first we had come across. In the evening the camp slowly filled up, many people coming from as far away as L.A. - a 5 hour trip. We have heard that the road going thru Yosemite is now closed due to the fire.

31 August.

A short ride on our bikes to the start of the trail up the Lewis Creek, to an overlook and down Hotel Creek trail. The first part was a 2 mile up hill slog (1500ft), followed by a pleasant walk thru mountain meadows to the overlook where we had lunch. The views were great both up and down the Kings Canyon. The ranger had advised us to do the round trip in this direction (good advice) as the down hill Hotel

Creek trail was a series of steep zigzags. The walk along the valley floor to our bikes seemed to take forever. The round trip was 8 miles. We were so hot on our return to our bikes we joined the locals for a swim in the river (fully clothed!) A nice lady gave us a slice of watermelon which we enjoyed. In the evening we went to a ranger programme which was a guy telling stories. He was very good.



1 September

Back on the bikes for a ride back up the canyon to Zumwalt Meadows (5 miles) where we walked a nice flat track up the Kings River to the end of the canyon. After eating our sandwiches we climbed up one of the tracks heading into the mountains for a view before following the track down the other side of the river and back to our bikes. (7.5 mile trip). It is a toss up whether our boots will last for this trip.

They are just about bugger!! The camp is really full with many family groups however the sites are huge, all under the shade of cedar trees. A surprising number are either Hispanic or Asian. The temperature is great around 30C during the day and 20C at night. As this is the end of summer the whole area (camps, shop and ranger station) closes in a few days. Seems strange as the weather is beautiful.



2 September

We must be late risers as when we went out for breakfast the camp is now only half full with many groups leaving as we eat. It was a long drive back out of the canyon. The road is amazing considering it is a dead end. Although most of the people had gone, we still had to stop many times to let traffic past. Over here no one gives a friendly honk or a wave of thanks, which is not typical of the friendliness of the Yanks. The last part of our drive was thru citrus fruit and vegetable growing area. We have stopped at a Motorhome Park in a city called Visalia. (pop 125,000) There seems to be good internet, a laundry and a pool. What

more could you ask for! We will publish this blog from here. Tomorrow we head east again towards Death Valley and Las Vegas.