California or bust!

We got a late start due to the truck tune-up but we made it half way to the Oregon coast in time to set up the camper at a vineyard. By joining Harvest Hosts and downloading their app, we can camp free at participating vineyards, organic farms or golf courses. Someone has figured out a use for all the real estate that goes unused at night. They simply ask that we arrive before their wine tasting room closes (so we might indulge and/or shop.) That’s easy. We also need to be self-contained (i.e. cooking, pottying inside without the need for electricity or water hook-ups.) That’s easy too! We were off the road in a grove of trees and the biggest noise was a cow on the farm next door. We’re doing this practice 2.5 weeks so we’ll be savvy for our 2.5 month trip to Alaska/Canada.

Found one glitch already. If you don’t Unplug the camper battery it can run the car battery down by morning. But with Judd’s foresight, he had a handy portable jumper battery
(with an air compressor attached, as well, should a flat tire be our malady of the day. ) We were off in no time.

In Bandon, on the coast, we lunched at a favorite crab shack from last year when we lived in Oregon. Unfortunately, it was a cold, rainy afternoon and not quite as fun as walking the boardwalk in summer sunshine. We did have left over crab cakes for our evening in the Humboldt Redwood Forest. The slight downside is that, even when the rain stops for the night, the drips off the massive trees pellet the camper all night, sounding much like squirrels chucking the biggest acorns they can find. But our camper kept us warm and dry.

Glitch two for the trip: we re-filled our propane tank mid-day but when we went to turn it on (we switch the fridge from battery while we’re driving, to electricity if we have hook up or to propane when we’re stationary without hook up.) The propane detector alarm started beeping. I opened the door and turned on the overhead fan, while Judd crawled upside down in the cubby to check the fitting and silence the alarm. We tightened the connection and all was good.

Glitch three: One night we were awoken by a low constant ding. Judd’s morning alarm ringtone is chirping birds so he was sleeping through the chirps. I had to wake him up to ask whether it was a smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, burglar alarm, etc. It was the “low battery” detector. It had been rainy so we’d spent the after-dinner hours inside with the light on reading and playing cards (longer than we usually use the light.) We just unplugged everything until we started the car back up in the morning and recharged

Carolyn in Santa Barbara

Ruth in San Diego

the battery. Judd is ciphering whether we need a bigger or second battery.

Judd at Pismo Beach Dunes

This wild ride took us on a massive figure 8 across California, from the Redwood forest to the Bay Area to see Peace Corps friends Wayne and Hank and a Togus colleague, Dr. Bindu. We saw old Maine neighbors the Gollihurs in Sacramento and Pete and Jack Garrity in San Diego. I visited Ruth who used to drive the car pool with my mom in 6^th grade in San Diego. She’s 86 but just as perky and sharp as ever. Visited the Gunthers and Sundahls in Solana Beach with some of their kids I used to babysit. They have their own babies now, some in college! And our last visit was with med school friends Brian and his family at Carolyn’s and her family’s home in Santa Barbara. We had a wonderful time catching up with all those dear friends and colleagues from our past. We invited them all back to Maine to see us next time.

Our in-between stops included:

Laurel Ridge Vineyard, Oregon

Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Sonoma Coast Bodega Dunes State Park

Grover Hot Springs State Park

Mono Lake Campground

Death Valley National Park

Chino Hills State Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Pismo Beach State Park

Viaggio Vineyard

Longsword Vineyard, Oregon

Glitch four: We never seem to stay in one place long enough to put up the screened tent over our lounge chairs and actually lounge. We did get through several books.

Glitch five: Siri or an old fashioned map make it look like you can get from point A to campground B. We kept seeing signs of roads still closed from snow. From Mono Lake we had to back track via Nevada to get to Death Valley. Wonder if that will get worse or better in Alaska.

Glitch six: Judd got books on CD from the local library but come to find out our new truck doesn’t have a CD player. We ended up downloading some books from Audible but went over our data plan. We’ll load up before we depart next time.

We need to work on these glitches in the next 20 days…..because that’s when we leave for Alaska!