March 10, Monday Tour de Beaches

Bob first took me to Ocean Beach where the surfers hung out. The surf was pitiful so there were only about dozen out in the waves on their boards waiting. We walked out the quarter of a mile on the OB pier that put us right over the surfers. The small shopping district at the beach was a mix of small shops and people; old busted up hippies, many young tattooed chicks, senior shuffling couples, scruffy bikers, pubescent skate boarders all laid back - California style.
Next Bob took me to Mission Beach (MB - as seen on vehicles that come from that area). Totally different atmosphere to OB. No one was in the water. It's where the military studs hang out in mass. Girls in string bikinis are the lure. Either sunbathing or roller blading up and down the "Boardwalk". Made me feel old.
From there we went to PB (Pacific Beach) which is a family beach then on to Tourmaline Beach, which was unlike any of the other beaches. Old VW vans and old guys with boards. People out kite and wind surfing along with the surfers. Folks were hanging out together in the parking lot talking about other old surfers . This was Bob's favorite beach during his 45 years in the area.

March 8, Sunday Star of India

Bob and I were the first to board the three masted barque Star of India which was built to transport people to New Zealand. In her later years she was used to transport canned salmon down from Alaska. The museum restored her to her passenger-hauling era. For more photos CLICK HERE. After walking her from stem to stern, we went to the Russian sub that was tied up near her. This also was an amazing experience. Before you could board her you had to past through a very tight circle which represented one of the bulkhead passages. It proved to be a good test because there were many such tight passages on board. The museum did a great job of refitting it with authentic Russian gear and food. The sailing vessel Surprise was the center piece for the Russell Crowe movie Master and Commander. From there Bob drove me to the place of his youth where he had worked and where he lived on a classic woody cruiser with his family. His dad was the second Commodore for the Silver Gate Yacht Club.

March 8, Saturday

Traveling 1,374 miles from La Conner to San Diego.

Happy 24th Hannah B!!

Tour of the carrier Midway

Bob lived in San Diego area until he was fifty so it was going down memory lane for him. After a quick tour of the waterfront, we struck out for the USS Aircraft Carrier Midway, which has been on display in San Diego since 2004 with over 3 million visitors. Who would of thought that the two of us could spend 3.5 hours on board crawling through the four decks, flight deck and the island. She carried 4,500 sailors and aviators and spent 47 years in service with over 225,000 passing over her decks. She was pulled from service in 1992. Besides seeing the massive vessel I was enthralled by the number of small groups of men both young and old that were touring the carrier that had served on her. The docents were very tuned to the men visiting her that spent time on her. They were great in pulling stories out of them to share with the rest of us.

March 7, San Diego

I took the first shift this morning and drove to the summit of the Tehachapi Mountains; this is done in one long steep climb and we didn’t unhitch the Jetta. We went cheek to jowl with the big trucks. Even at 45 mph timing of when to pass was a constant mind grabber. Bob then took over and took the caravan down the other side and through the hell hole known as Los Angeles. Think of Seattle at rush hour and expand it by about 30 miles and it was only 3 pm. No way am I putting into this port.
We switched after LA and I drove to outside San Diego to a nice state park on the beach – only it was the start of the weekend and they were full. “Do you have reservations?”
Pulling out of the area the main arterial turned left and I found myself in a neighborhood with streets that went vertical up the side of a ridge. “I don’t like this!!” “Come on, Ron, this is a big Ford truck engine. You can do it.” Up and up then a 4 way stop and a flat cross street, crash goes the rear bumper as we climb the next set running every 4 way stop on the way to the top…. Roar, climb, flat, crash, roar, climb, flat, crash, roar…. For five mini blocks until the top and turned to the left and stopped and rested…
Bob remembered back fourteen years ago in San Diego a state park on Coronado Island called Silver Strand; a quick call to then confirmed that they had space. An hour before sunset I pulled the rigs in and parked 100 yards from the beach. Another long day but we were going to be tied up here for at least three days.

Stats: Averaging 8.5 miles to the gallon; fuel: $3.19 to $3.39/ gallon; fill ups $77 to $122; fill ups once a day while traveling……….

March 6, Thursday

March 6, Thursday
In the morning we did what I knew would be the advantage of pulling the Jetta. We took the long narrow road up to the summit viewing point to look at the Castle Crags rock formations. Snee Oosh could not have made it.
Today was a long day moving through first the Sacramento and then the San Juaquin valleys with grapes, almonds, oranges – the bread basket of the nation.
We pulled into our first RV park of the trip. It’s not bad! It use to be an almond tree orchard so there are trees scattered throughout. Reasonable, too - $26 which included hookups.

March 5, Wednesday

March 5, Wednesday
Today we went over the Siskiyou Mountains today and rather than having Snee-Oos pull the Jetta up and over, we broke the combo up at Roseburg so I saw Bob only and hour today as we drove at our own pace. We had a nice stop for lunch in Ashland and met the local Public Works staff in trying to find a dump station at the sewer plant. (Great pickup line: “Could you tell us where the sewer plant is?”
When we reached the other side of the mountain range, we connected the two vehicles and continued on down to Castle Crags State Park.
There is snow here and pretty cold. There is one other RV in the campground and us.

Launch

Ron’s Circle Tour

March 4, 2008 Monday
The Launch
Days before leaving for eight months I had pretty much resolved that I was not going to have someone stay in my little downstairs apartment. An email from Don changed that mindset. Rather than packing to leave for a long period of time and now had to move out for Don. So those last few days were packed with tight schedules and check off lists. (This a “Ron trait”.)

Fortunately for me the Skagit Bay Search and Rescue trip to visiting the US Coast Guard Station/ Bellingham the day before my leaving was canceled thus giving me another day to finish things off.

Under pressure from my circle of friends I threw a “going away/ see the RV” party in the local marina parking lot. Over three hours good friends from thirty years of living in the valley stopped by to linger, share stories and to wish me luck. The record was nine people in the 29-foot RV at one time; only two of us were standing and the rest were comfortably seated.

Monday was a typical northwest marine day, overcast and drizzle. But before leaving somehow my sister from Taos persuaded Hannah to meet her at the Seattle airport and drive her to Vancouver, BC to spend the weekend at Rebecca’ daughter’s house. Hannah jumped at the chance to visit her cousin so on Monday on their way back both of them detoured off of Interstate 5 to La Conner for a quick visit over breakfast. Joan joined us to participate in the two-generation banter of growing up. There were laughter and tears.

Right at departure time Bob and Martha showed up with all of Bob’s gear for his two weeks of being my indispensable road buddy. But wait – we had a stowaway. Patsy’s daughter had driven up from Portland for a visit and her car had broken down. She stashed her gear and came aboard, too. To top off our leaving the Skagit my friend Melanie drove down from Bellingham for hugs and goodbyes. Time to cut the docking lines and shove off.


Roslynn’s job is working for a large progressive company that does college coaching for freshman for universities. It requires her to be on a computer all day. Pesto out came my new laptop with headphones and a wireless broadband connection. It was such delight to look up in the rearview mirror and seeing Roslynn being gainfully employed. She was thrilled that she didn’t miss a day “at work.” Bob and I could see the wheels turning inside her head “I could do road trips and still do work. Wow!!”
At lunch time we pulled off the interstate at the Nisqually Delta Wildlife Refuge and spent the meal watching ducks on a swamp.

Portland appeared on the banks of the Columbia/Willamette Rivers at rush hour but since we were heading into the city there was no problem. I called Caitlin’s partner Will to clear a landing stripe for our forty foot RV /Jetta .
After Will took Roslynn home and Caitlin appeared on her bicycle, we sat down to a superb meal created by Will.

Our first night out on The Trip was spent tied up to the street curb. I didn’t realized the body stress of driving the RV. I felt it in my arms as I burrowed into the blankets in the queen size bed (which is bigger than my bed at home) and Bob set up his domain in the “crew’s quarters” in the cab over.


March 4, Tuesday
After a lazy breakfast and a walk of the neighborhood, we hit the road again after putting $125 into the monster’s belly. Ouch. And many, many more to come.
I-5 is a moving community. You setup an identity with the truckers around you and they become your de-facto road buddies too.
We took an hour break in Eugene to see my old friend from Concrete days, Greg Estes, and then back out into the metal vehicle stream of I-5 South.
We try to halt our travels around 4 o’clock so about 3 we start looking at the map to see what’s ahead. Sometimes it’s zero like this afternoon so we’re in a small interstate rest area just north of Roseburg. It was a right pick because of parking layout. Rather than parallel parking lanes as found on most rest areas, it’s all of us lined up along a long curb bumper to bumper so that we don’t have a refer truck to our right or left. It wasn’t much of a long day on the road. (I can't get the photo to appear at the bottom.)