The sequel - November 1 Ghost town then home

 

Friday November 1  Heading home     

I got to go outside again, and then some stupid dog started looking at me.  I stared him down…

Once again, it was MY morning walk.  I get to enjoy the views while listening to my true crime podcast, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Will we be able to hook up?  Spouse works his magic.  Yes, we can hook up.  But when we get home, we will have to get this fixed proper.  Considering that we almost came home right away, we ended up having a decent trip!

We headed south on Hwy 95, then turned left through the desert to the town of Nelson.  About a mile or two past the tiny speck of a town is the old mining town.  It has a defunct gold mine and a few buildings like most ghost towns.  A couple of people do live there now maintaining the history.  For $1, you can walk around and look at the… stuff.  This is an incredible eclectic collection of… stuff.  Old RVs, a crashed airplane (I didn’t look inside!), old metal works, bottles, a phone booth and all sorts of … stuff.  It is definitely worth the visit as it is just so odd.

We met a couple that do pet sitting as a hobby.  The deal is, they do it for free, but they live in your house while you are gone.  They will use your car.  They travel all over the world doing this.  They pay their own way.  The sweet thing for them is they have a home and a car so they can explore whatever area they are in.  They showed us pictures of the home in Las Vegas…  Nice.  They are from Quebec and are obviously good with animals – cats, dogs, horses, chickens and whatever else fits the bill!

The road here goes all the way to Lake Mohave.  If we weren’t towing, I would definitely check that out.  When we use to camp at the lake, we always wondered how an occasional car we would see got to where they were.  Now we know!  Next time…

For now, home is next.

The sequel October 31

 

Thursday October 31  Biking and Tookie

My human let me out without a leash.  He sat right there so I couldn’t go far but it was fun.

Today it was MY morning walk.  We have stayed here before and I enjoy walking the bike trail overlooking the lake.  One could go for miles and miles.  But since we are going for a bike ride, no need to go to long.

From the campground, the bike trail follows the lake for a couple of miles.  The lake is very low.  They had to move the marina several years ago so that it could stay at the water edge.  The launch ramp looks like it is a million miles long!

At the visitor center, we veer left onto a dirt path.  It takes us through old railroad tunnels, ultimately taking us to the parking lot for Hoover Dam.  We lock the bikes, then venture to the dam.  Spouse wanted to do the tour, but we both had pocket knives…  alas, we were persona non grata!  I am not sure why airport type security is needed, but that’s the way it is these days. 

It is a beautiful day, temperature in the low 70’s I’d say, and sunny.  On the way back, Spouse stopped at an outhouse.  Talk about timing… no sooner does he close the door, the septic guy shows up to pump it out…  he had to wait a bit!  Spouse came out to an audience!

Once we got back, we cleaned up and headed to Tookie’s house.  Tookie (her real name is Deloris) and I worked together starting in the late 1970’s.  We hated each other at first, but somehow we morphed into forever friends.  She is almost 90 now but still has her marbles!  She has been living in Henderson for about 20 years now, so we try to visit when we come this way.

The Sequel October 30 The Skywalk and the DODGERS!

 

Wednesday October 30, The Skywalk

My maternal human puts something in her paws and splashes water on her muzzle.  The water goes in a hole.  I like to jump up when she does this.  I chase the water down the hole.

Today, we are doing the Skywalk.  We thought of doing it via helicopter.  But they told us we only get 2 hours if we go by helicopter and that might not be enough time.  We could do a small plane, but that didn’t seem as fun.  So we drove the 100 miles.  Starting down hwy 95, then we turn into the desert for about 50 files.  We go past a little town, turn on another road.  Here we pass through an enormous Joshua Tree forest.  Joshua trees are so unique.  They all have a story to tell with their twisted little arms.  We would have never seen this from the air.

We arrived around 10 am.  Shuttle buses take folks to the skywalk, and to Guano Point for exploring.  As we approach the Skywalk, it doesn’t look real impressive.  I am not sure what I expected but it seemed small… from this angle.  We enter the building.  A line weaves around but it isn’t too long.  It maybe took 30 minutes.  All your belongings go into a locker – no cameras – except for the paparazzi on the skywalk that will take your picture, for a fee.  For us, we didn’t want pictures, we had to navigate around all the paparazzi antics with people posing on the glass, jumping, making faces…  etc. You must wear little booties on your feet to protect the glass.  Along the edges, the glass is frosted, but in the middle, the view is clear… 4000 feet down.  Birds are flying 1000 feet below you.  I found myself grabbing the railing a couple of times.  It was definitely a show!  We walked it one way, then doubled back to enjoy it again.

Then onto the bus to Guano Point.  Here, there once was a guano mine.  A cable car carried stuff across the river and back, until a small airplane crashed into the cable and ruined it for everyone!  Lots of trails around and rocks to climb with unobstructed views of the West Grand Canyon.  No railings…  watch your step…  you’ve been warned…

We ended up spending almost 4 hours here.  A helicopter would not have worked.  And we would have been stressing about time with the airplane so it worked out that we drove.

Then we headed to the Elks for the ballgame…  Oh what a game… Dodgers win the World Series!  Oh yes!

The Sequel October 29, Lake Mead Bound

 

Tuesday, October 29 Let’s go to Lake Mead

Human…  Human… are you awake?  Helllo????  Are you awake?  Puurrrrr… 

It is a cold morning, threatening rain.  Our walk took us past the golf course and through a neighborhood.  The Elks is on a hill overlooking the golf course.  If you don’t want electricity, you can perch yourself on the hill with a great view.

Since Spouse felt we could disconnect, we considered doing a bike ride in Zion, but it was cold, and looking in that direction, definitely threatening rain.  Ok, maybe we can head towards Lake Mead.

We start on I15, but then cut over to take the back road around the lake.  We go past the Valley of Fire and head to the Elks in Boulder City… but the Inn was full so we headed to the campground at Lake Mead.  We fought with their reservation system but got a site for 3 nights… so we thought…  We really only had it for two nights but they let us stay.  Seems we aren’t the only ones that fell into this trap.  To book 3 days, you actually have to enter 4 days… can’t anything be easy?

We set up, held our breath and disconnected.  Seems to be holding… I gotta watch the ballgame… we headed to a restaurant and they had a TV, but it kept cutting out as they didn’t pay the bill.  So we headed to the Elks.

The Sequel October 28 Can we Connect?

 

Monday October 28, Can we connect?

My humans let me walk all over today.  I even went potty outside.  That is special.

We started our morning walk.  We didn’t get far when we started to feel raindrops.  Hmm…. Will we be able to connect?  We really had to lower the landing legs to stay in this spot comfortably.  Was it a mistake?????  We rushed back to Artee and worked to connect. 

I hate hearing when the leveling gear beeps.  That is NEVER good.  Beep… oh shit… beep… oh shit…  We were finally able to get into position and connect, and we sure felt lucky!  If we couldn’t get it done, it would have been one expensive endeavor to get a tow service to help since we were technically off the road. 

We rewarded our success with a breakfast at the local lodge.  I think the lodge and the gas station are the only businesses in Jacob Lake.  And the lodge had fresh cookies… Gotta love that!

We then braved the wind, and headed to the Elks in St. George, Utah.  We were able to stay connected.  Spouse did some things to improve our success at disconnecting then reconnecting.  Hmmm… we shall see…  I was hoping to be able to watch the ballgame, but our TV antenna got eaten by some tree.  We had to go inside the Elks and eat, and drink and watch.  We suffered terribly…

The Sequel October 27 The North Rim

 

Sunday, October 27  The North Rim

Meowt!  Meowt!  Smells good!

Our morning walk was along the dirt road with our bright orange bicycle vests on.  I know we are in the ‘no shooting zone’ but no sense in taking chances.  I love walking through forests like this.

After breakfast, we headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We pass a huge burn scar, then come upon a huge meadow surrounded by pine trees.  Not just the lodgepole pines and such from the south rim, but Christmas trees!  Douglas firs and Noble firs mixed with bright yellow aspens follow the road all the way.  One would normally expect to see wildlife… but not with hunting season in progress!  It has snowed recently as there is a thick layer along the tree line.  Otherwise, it is dry.

Once we pass into the Grand Canyon, the road is not so nice.  We found the campground.  I have looked at the website and thought of booking a site supposedly suitable for our size.  NO WAY!  The sites may be big enough, but there is no room to maneuver.  And just because a site is long enough, it does not mean you would be open your sliders.  Good thing we made this a day trip!

Technically, the park is closed, so no visitor center, no hotels, restaurants, etc.  But the views are totally open!  Fall colors enhance the views.  Oh my… it is beautiful.  We hike here… we hike there…  We went to the North Kaibab trail.  This connects to the South Kaibab trail for those hiking rim to rim…  7 miles down to the river, 7 miles up from the river, then you come back.  It is about 1 pm, and we talked to many that were completing the entire trip. 

Since my surgically repaired knee is still healing, I figured I could do about ½ mile without doing harm.  The trail on this side of the canyon is far more forested.  It is a soft dirt trail, and of course, steep.  Easy loping down, lots of work coming back up.  Stunning views with gorgeous fall colors are intoxicating.

Once back, we explored a couple of the areas by car.  We ended up at Imperial Point.  At 8803 feet, it is the highest point for viewing.  Alas, time to leave this spectacular scenery behind and head back.

At Artee, I had enough service where I could keep tabs on the Dodgers on MLB.Com…  And watch the replay of Freddie Freeman’s game winning grand slam home run!  Yes..

The Sequel October 26 Jacob Lake

 

Saturday, October 26 Let’s go to Jacob Lake

My human took me to a big dirt area with plants.  I got to roll and I got to sniff plants. Shh… I ate a little of one of the plants.  But I didn’t throw up!

We did our walk exploring the East View area.  Lots of views of the Grand Canyon.  There are faucets with spring water for you to refill your water containers.  It is a nice area, and it is not nearly as busy as other parts of the park.

We leave out the east to the town of Cameron.  I believe this is hwy 89.  We turn north.  We then take the road that goes to Jacob Lake.  Maybe that is 89, I don’t have a map in front of me.  I guess you just have to believe me!  This is a lonely two lane highway that takes us across reservation land.  We are basically in the middle of nowhere!

We come upon a bridge across the river.  We pull over and actually find a spot we could park in this small lot.  We hike across the bridge which offers some stellar views of the river. 

Back on the road, it becomes a bit windy through piney woods.  We ultimately arrive at the Jacob Lake RV park only to find it closed for the season.  Hmm… we see another sign for RV camping, so we follow the signs down a dirt road…  closed for the season.  Gee thanks…  If you were not going to post signs that it was closed, you could at least have a spot where we could turn around!  Well, we have no choice but to continue down the dirt road.  Soon, we see a couple of other rigs parked in the forest.  We see a clearing with a fire ring.  Maybe we can stay there?  It isn’t easy, but we are able to make the turn (unbeknownst to us… the trees ate our TV antenna).  We tried to position ourselves, but it was just not level enough for our taste.  We saw a spot early on when we turned on the road, so we headed back.  We pass a sign that says ‘no shooting for the next mile’.  I guess that’s a good thing for us!  When we got to the spot, there was a truck, but they were only there for lunch so the spot was ours.  We positioned ourselves, then…  can we disconnect…  we did disconnect, but I am not sure we should have.  But alas…  It is the first weekend of deer season.  At least we are in the ‘no shooting’ zone!

Pine trees tower above us and we have a nice fire ring.  This is perfect!

The sequel October 25 -

Friday October 25  The Grand Canyon on a Weekend?  Really?

My humans let me walk outside, but my paws got wet.  I wanted to roll but changed my mind.

Our morning walk was down the dirt road, up other dirt roads, around the forest and back.  The campers we saw back there yesterday are gone.  It was only 30 degrees when we woke up! 

After breakfast, we headed up 180 to the road that would take us to the Grand Canyon.  I, personally, think heading there on a Friday is a waste of time.  Last year, we were here about one week later, and the campground was almost empty, and we had no problem getting an RV site.  But as we got near… based on the traffic we saw, we figured this wasn’t going to happen, and we were right.  So when life deals a lemon, make lemonade!  We headed to the East View at the east exit.  There was room to park, beautiful views, ice cream… what else does one need?  At night, we were all alone and it was DARK!  What a night sky!  Absolutely amazing.

MMMM, this lemonade was quite fine!

The Sequel October 24 Biking

 

Thursday, October 24  Nice bike trail

Humans, can I go outside?  MEOWT!

We readied the bikes and headed to the trail we found yesterday.  The canal apparently runs for miles, accompanied by power lines.  On one side of the canal is the paved bike trail.  On the other side is a dirt walking trail.  There are people enjoying both sides, but it isn’t crowded. 

The trail winds around, goes through a tunnel and past the botanical gardens.  We cross into Tempe.  We pedal around a local park with a lake with a few fishermen out enjoying themselves.  It really is very pretty.  We go roughly 5 miles in this direction, then doubled back, past our starting point for about another mile, past homes and neighborhoods.  This was such a pleasant surprise, but time to end it and hit the road.

Back at Artee, we were able to hook up, so we figured we don’t need to come home, yet…

We decide to head up to Flagstaff, up I17.  Then we decided to try going up hwy 180 towards the grand canyon.  This was kind of iffy, as it is high altitude passing ski areas.  Should we be towing?  We looked at some online chats and decided it was worth a try.  This is exactly why we don’t make reservations.  We rarely know what we want to do and where we want to go.

The ride up I17 is pretty.  Picking up 180 in Flagstaff is a bit tricky.  Oh, no way we can turn that corner while we are towing.  We could be towing a VW beetle, and wouldn’t be able to make the turn.  We figured out how to get on the highway and soldiered on.  It is a nice, easy highway through high elevation and lots of pines.  You can tell it rained recently as the dirt roads are quite wet.  We would love to explore some, but not in these conditions.  We did find a nice spot where we could turn out for the night.  We turned our chairs around to face a beautiful snow capped mountain.  Yes…

Our turnout is at the head of a dirt road.  The fragile gate is closed, but you can easily open it as long as you don’t mind wading through water.  We can navigate walking, but NO WAY would I risk taking the rig back there.  We walked down the dirt road in this crisp air.  We stumbled on folks in their rigs back here.  Brave in my book!  Great for walking tho.

The sequel October 23

 

Wednesday, October 23 Look what I found!

My humans keep poking me.  I don’t like that.

Our morning walk took us around the neighborhood.  At the end of the street, we found a really nice bike trail!  There is a canal, and walking trails.  Oh, yeah, we will do this before we leave.

Rudy’s diabetes has been acting up.  We are constantly sticking him, and he is so tolerant.  What a great cat.

I really can’t remember what we did this day.  I might have confused yesterday with today, but the gist is we found a bike trail… 

And, we got one more night of volleyball hell.

The sequel October 22 Is it fixed yet? The sequel to the sequel

 

Tuesday, October 22  Is it fixed yet?  Another sequel…

I like this place.  I don’t smell any predators.  My humans took me for a good walk.  I even got to go in a tree.  Yep, I like it here.

Our morning walk took us around a sports complex.  There is an archery range, looks like a baseball field and more.  It is a nice walk on open land with views of the rocky crags.  This is part of Papago Park.  There is a botanical garden I would like to see in the spring with the desert blooms.  It is a pretty area.

Back at Artee, we got it ready and hopped back on the freeway to the RV repair.  Welding, pounding, tapping…  testing…  Ok, good to go.  We decided we better head back to the Elks, just in case.

We held our breath, but we were able to disconnect.  Did we trust it?  Not really, but it seemed ok for now, so let’s go play.  We headed over to an RV dealer that handles Outdoor RV.  We are thinking of downsizing, but only if we can find a smaller rig that is of good quality.  Turns out, Outdoor RV is made by Arctic Fox, just like Artee.  We are looking at a bumper pull trailer, instead of a 5^th wheel.  As much as we love Artee, she is big.  She is wide.  She is tall.  A bumper pull trailer would not tow as nicely as Artee, but given our propensity to drive through the forests and campgrounds where the overhead is low, it would probably be a little better for us.  We did see a couple of workable models, and filed that in our little brains for now.

We then headed over to Usery Park.  It is a county park with great RV spaces.  But… it is in the desert.  There are lots of hiking trails.  It is not hot, but it is too warm to start the trails for us today.  Definitely a November through March place.  Although since many baseball spring training camps practice there, we were told those months for next year are already booked.

We then got to listen to volleyball antics once again…

The sequel Oct 21 - Is it Fixed?

 

Monday October 21  Is it Fixed???

Human?  Are you awake?  My bowl is not full.  Let me sniff you.  My purrbox is on loud.  Human?

Spouse found someone who could fix Artee.  We took our morning walk, then said our goodbyes to Lynn and family and hopped on the freeway.  We no longer trust our usual GPS so we have our phone.  Phoenix freeways are busy…  way busy, but we found the spot.

After about 2 hours, we were good to go.  Since we weren’t sure if this fix would hold, we decided to go to the Elks in Scottsdale.  The Elks are very accommodating to their members.  If we could not disconnect, not only would they be ok, we could go inside and have a drink!

We pick our spot and then take the plunge… we unhook…  oops!  Oh, that is not holding at all.  How are we going to get it high enough to hook up again?   I told Spouse to go fuel up while he was not connected then we would see what we could do.  When he returned, he got out jacks and started jacking Artee up.  This one there, and that one here.  Spouse is struggling.  Why he didn’t call AAA since we have RV coverage is beyond me.  I guess that would have been too easy!  We finally got Artee positioned to try and hook up.  It took a couple of tries but we got it.

Spouse then called the repair guys and let them know to expect us tomorrow. 

At least we can now open the sliders and enjoy ourselves.  Kind of….  Right outside are volleyball courts…  Until about 10 PM, some type of tournament was happening.  The screams and yelling of the peeps was not annoying, but the music was pretty painful.

The sequel October 19

 

The weekend of October 19   So Long Jake    

My human let me walk outside.  I got to roll.  OOOH that feels good!

Our morning walk is through the desert.  Just a block away are all sorts of trails through the saguaros, past the chollas and over those beautiful rocks.  Oops, a few of those rocks jumped into my waistpack.  Shhhh… The weather is cool so this is a truly nice adventure.

This weekend is all about Jake and Lynn.  Jake passed away in July after what turned out to be a 2 year battle with cancer.  Jake’s son and daughter-in-law have been staying with Lynn, and a bazillion friends came to pay respects, including every neighbor within a mile from their house!  The celebration started at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and ended at Lynn’s. 

We visited, played cards, and I watched some of the Dodgers playoff, but people were more interested in Football.  Go figure…

On Monday, we need to see if we can get Artee fixed.  So, we either soldier on, or, we head home… what will it be…

The sequel 10/18 What was that?

 

Friday October 18  What was that???

There are other felines here.  I want to go outside but I don’t think they will like me in their territory.  I must be careful and stick close to my human.

It is pretty windy this morning.  My morning walk is now ‘our’ morning walk as Spouse joins me.  In these hellacious winds, we head down the street and turn left on the dirt road to walk along the river…  with the dust blowing… and the tumbleweeds flying…  Did I mention the dirt flying?  And we are going to drive in this?  Towing?  Ought to be fun…

We headed back to Artee.  We did not disconnect so we were ready to go.  In the truck we go… then…  SPOILER ALERT!  What happened next pretty much paved the way for our trip…

As we pull away, we hear, and feel a thud.  Spouse looks at me and asks ‘What was that?’.  I know this is hard to believe but I calmly gave the most profound answer…  ‘Why don’t you get out of the truck and check it out?’  Right?  Sheesh…

Then I heard the ‘oh shit’.  Ok. I gotta see this…  Although we did not disconnect from the truck, Spouse put down Artee’s landing legs up front for more stability. Normally, he puts them on these bright yellow chalks, but since we were on grass, he didn’t do that.  And, he forgot to raise them… one was ok, but the other… not so.  This means, we would not be able to disconnect! 

We made a few calls to RV repairs in Quartzsite, but nothing was going to happen today and we had to get to Lynn’s for the services.  Spouse did some magic and got the leg up so we could drive.  Once we get to Lynn’s, we do not have to disconnect as we stay in front of her house.  So this is what we do…

2024 The Sequel

 

The Sequel…   

On October 19, we had a celebration of life for our dear friend Jake, in Phoenix.  So we figured we would do a bit of a road trip while we were there.  I forgot our laptop, so I could not blog.  Sooooo, I tried to remember stuff so I could, at some time, post the adventures at some time.  And yes…  there are stories to tell!

I won’t be too precise on dates and such, but I will get a few things out there starting with our departure on 10/18.

Not a whole lot to say about travelling the I10 freeway.  As it gets closer to the state line, it gets bumpy.  Wow!  What a revelation!

We stayed at an RV park on the Colorado River.  We have stayed here before.

Spoiler alert…  this was our easiest day…

September 25 The Hirschman Trail

 

Wednesday, September 25 The Hirschman Trail

My humans have been gone for like forever.  Where are they?  What if they don’t get me food?  How can they leave me.  Oh!  I hear them!  MEOW!

We were gone all day yesterday, and Rudy was all over us all night long.  I guess he missed us, as much as a cat will miss a human.

Spouse came on my morning walk.  We decided to head down Hwy 49 for a few hundred feet, then go up Cement Hill Rd.  Sounds pretty, right?  It is a rural road with no room to really walk.  We were just about to turn around when I saw a trail head.  The Hirschman Trail is about a 4 mile round trip.  This was originally a hydraulic mining operation more than 100 years ago.  Once that dried up, the land restored itself to what it is now.  Hirschman Pond was actually fed through a tunnel, that has since collapsed.  The pond is still there, fed by springs.  Lots of wildlife, and some interpretive signs guide us along.

As we walk, we notice through a gate, that the Elks is right across the highway.  No need to go back to Cement Hill.  This will make it easy.  It is a beautiful shaded trail.  Lots of pines, varieties of oaks, willows and some awesome, gnarly manzanitas.  The pond is a mirrored reflection of the surroundings.  Fall colors are starting to kick in.  There are some amazing trees with expressive trunks.  There are my beloved berry brambles, where we were able to get a few ripe ones without risking our lives!  Little bridges cross creeks.  It is a beautiful and peaceful trail.  It would be ok for bike riding too, but I think I prefer walking it.  We got to a fork in the road, and figured it was getting late and we needed to get going so we headed back.

Since it is a long drive home, we decided to stop at the Elks in Visalia for the night, and get back home tomorrow.  Nothing I can write will make the drive down hwy. 99 exciting, so I probably will not post anything else.

September 24 Visiting Sue and friends

Tuesday, September 24  Visiting Sue and more friends

I really like it here.  There are trees, and holes for me to sniff in, and lots of things to look at.  There is a dog too.  I don’t like that. 

Spouse started with me on our morning walk.  We found a trail that takes us to Broad St. where we can wander into town.  Nevada City was created during the gold rush in the 1800’s.  Its historic district has been preserved, with its narrow winding streets, old brick buildings and adorable historic homes.  We went through the Catholic cemetery.  I saw graves dating back to the 1860’s.  We did see one for 2024 too, but most of the graves were old, old, old.  Spouse headed back and I wandered around the town.  It is quiet as it is too early for businesses to open.  It is a good walk as there are lots of hills.  The town just oozes character and charm beyond belief.

I find my way back through the maze of streets.  We made a good breakfast for Kathy and Brian, then they headed on their way.  After we did some chores, we headed to visit our friend Sue.  We have known Sue for over 40 years.  She lost her husband Rick almost 2 years ago.  She has a beautiful property on 42 acres overlooking her pond. I was kind of planning of walking the length of their ‘driveway’, which is about ½ mile, while I grazed on the blackberries.  When we turned on her ‘street’, I was surprised to see all the berry brambles had been cut back!  Ok, this really needed to be done, but I was hoping… I am such a berry whore!

Through the years, we have met many of Sue’s friends.  We’ve gone skiing together and been together socially on many occasions.  So not only did we visit with Sue, Jim and Cheryl came and Paul cooked us an amazing dinner.  We sat outside under the twinkly lights with the geese honking in the background.  And I didn’t get one picture!  I can’t believe it.

After nearly 9 hours, we said our goodbyes.  Rudy was beside himself when we got back.  Why were his humans gone so long?

September 23 Redding to Nevada City

 

Monday, September 23 Redding to Nevada City

I like to sleep on my humans.  I like their lower paws, and then their haunches.  I don’t like it when they move though.  But I just get up and lay on them again.  I sometimes like to lay between them and stretch out.  I don’t get why they move when I do this.

I had a tough time sleeping last night.  Tossed, turned and solved all the world problems.  Hmm, no caffeine, no alcohol, I even ate decent food.  Oh well, I will not be driving today!

My morning walk included Spouse.  We headed on the trail to the Sundial bridge.  Spouse does not walk as fast as I do (which really isn’t that fast).  I walk, then I wait for him to catch up.  And so it goes.  The weekend is over and there are fewer people on the trail.  Of course, a homeless person sleeps on a bench.  A man fully dressed in a winter camo jacket and black pants walks out of the water, dripping as he walks the trail.  Our spidey-senses aroused, we both had pepper spray ready, just in case.  It wasn’t needed but the guy was definitely one brick short of a full load.

On our way back, we toured the arboretum.  They are setting up light displays for the holidays.  Lots of colors!  It will be amazing!  As we near the end of our walk, Spouse laments about how long it was…  I would have been back 20 minutes earlier if I was by myself…  I am glad he went tho.

We get Artee ready and drive over to the dump station.  As I sat in the truck, Rudy decided he wanted to explore and jumped out the window.  Really?  I calmly got out of the truck and grabbed his little black ass!  Then I got a leash and walked him around while Spouse was doing RV duty.  Rudy really loved it here, but dumping his humans?  For shame…

We start our drive towards Nevada City.  Since Spouse updated our GPS, she is doing much better.  I think I still prefer Google Maps.  We are doing both and so far, they have ALMOST been exact.  Down I5 we go, then pick up 99.

Then… Spouse sees a sign for cheap gas.  There is no containing him.  I become his ‘Gas Buddy’ bitch.  But Gas Buddy doesn’t have this one gas station.  As we pass all of these easy access stations with low prices, it is just not enough.  Then we see a billboard to take the next exit.  We drive… and drive…  3 miles later, we get to the gas station.  We take about 25 gallons for a bit over $100, then drive off.  I get a text that $300 was charged to my credit card?  Really?  We turn around and march into the station.  What they do when a credit card is used at the pump (I RARELY do that), is they automatically charge $300 until the card is verified, then they refund what you didn’t use.  They said there was a sign outside that explains this (there wasn’t).  Spouse took it upon himself to inform everybody at the pumps.  Then he called the police (like what are they going to do?).  It’s just the way it is.  He got over it, but we will be watching our credit card!  Why, oh why must he make getting gas so difficult!

The scenery is beautiful; rolling hills with oaks and sycamores.  Farms and ranches spread out widely.  As we get close to Grass Valley, more pines and manzanitas.  We pull into the Elks in Nevada City, and park next to our buddies Kathy and Brian.  This was not a coordinated visit with them.  They are visiting their relative, and we are visiting our friend Sue, but for tonite, a wonderful Thai meal and a few games of Rummicube.  I did win one of the games ending a long drought…

And Spouse is reveling in the fact that he got inexpensive diesel that was NOT bio deisel.

September 22 A great bike trail

 

Sunday, September 22 The Great Bike Trail

I really like it here. Lots to sniff.  My maternal human took me for a long walk.  I got to roll, and sniff, and jump on things to explore.  Did you know my human can run as fast as I can?

Although it was in the 90’s here yesterday, it cooled down nicely overnight.  The Elks is right on the Sacramento River.  We walk ½ a block through the parking lot of the senior center and we are on the bike trail.  To our right, you can pedal 14.5 miles to Shasta Dam.  To the left is the Sundial Bridge, about 1.5 miles.  So we headed left.

It is a beautiful trail with the river flowing easily on our right.  On our left is a nice park, with benches, some with statues sitting on them.  It is shaded and very serene.  We walk under the railroad trestles and there is a dam.  They have built fish ladders and there is a viewing area with big windows where you can watch any salmon that might be heading upstream.  We didn’t see any. 

At this point, Spouse headed back as he had to figure out what is going on with the truck.  He has his suspicions, but has to know for sure.

I continue on.  The trail wanders a teensy bit from the river, which is now framed with native oaks, sycamores, grasses and even my beloved berry brambles.  There are a few bicyclists and people walking their dogs.  It is easy walking which ultimately takes me to the Sundial Bridge.  It looks like a sundial, thus the name, probably acts as one too if you were to position yourself right.  The bridge is lined with foggy glass panels the color of the water below.  There are fisherman enjoying their Sunday.  It is beautiful.  Across the bridge is a small farmers market.  Ohhh…  those little pies look good… but I have no money… Ugh.

I head back over the bridge where there is a botanical garden.  It is mostly native plants, with a peaceful water garden, bee gardens, a butterfly garden and such.  It takes me back to the river trail and I head home. 

I have been gone so long, Spouse has been to Auto Zone and back and has diagnosed and fixed the truck.  But I don’t want to leave now!  Let’s get on the bikes and go towards the dam!

Thus, we will stay another day!  We get on our bikes and… WTF?  Mine is only charged to 80%???  Well, too late now.  We will go as long as we are comfortable then turn around.

The river is now on our left.  There are a few homes set back from the trail with nice views.  For about 200 feet, we leave the trail in a subdivision, then pick it up again.  No big deal as it is remote, with no cars.  We are heading into the dry rolling hills dotted with trees.  The trail goes up, down, and left and right.  It is a workout (as much as you want your ebikes to work!).  It is closed ahead, but we will act like the locals we see and disregard the sign and continue on.

There are occasional benches where you can sit to enjoy the scenery.  The trail is gorgeous.  Geese honk at us as they fly by.  Ducks quack at us as they go by.  The hawk doesn’t make a sound…

We come to a bridge that crosses the river, and we continue to the dam.  Damn… I notice I only have 43% power…  we will not make Shasta for sure.  Spouse is at 39%.  The Keswick dam is just a half mile up, so we head to that as our destination.  In the middle of nowhere, the Keswick dam is a huge concrete monster.  We watch the water spiling through on one side, and we watch the calm waters waiting to get through on the other side.  Rolling hills for as far as the eye can see.  There is almost no traffic.  The trail is ours for the most part.  It’s another 10 miles to Shasta, which is not something we want to try with our power diminished.  Thus, we turn around.

I was at 43% when we made the turnaround… when we got back to our base, I was at 42%, hmm… go figure.  We decided to pedal to the Sundial Bridge.  I got the mini pies…  2 apple crumble, 2 boysenberry.  (It was 4 for $20 so I had to support the economy).

Back at Artee… Rudy loves it here.  He wants to check everything out.  I follow him all over.  Good thing he is on a leash as he really wants to wander.

We decided to take the rest of the day off.  And we split one of the boysenberry pies.  Oh yum!

Tomorrow, we will head for the Elks in Nevada City.  There, we are hooking up with our friends Kathy and Brian, who happen to be there, and then we will visit with our old friend Sue in Grass Valley before we head home.

I have to say that this is one of the best bike trails we have ridden.  I would schedule us up here again so that we could make it up to Shasta.  This was a wonderful treat!