IRG3.0, The Third Biennial International Redwood Gathering!

Gina and I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in IRG3.0, the Third International Redwood Gathering. The Gathering occurs every two years, or biennially. I have no idea why biweekly means every two weeks, but biannually means twice a year. But it does, so biennially is the correct word.

Anyway, our trip was not easy from the start! Gina’s office does not allow two people to be off at the same time, and a coworker already had the time we needed scheduled off. She asked her co-worker, who had no special plans, so she was able to switch, although she could not get the following Monday off, which meant we had to leave a day early to come home.

I had just installed car tires on the Roadhouse, because the new axle I replaced the bent one with raised the trailer tires and effectively left me with inadequate clearance. Trailer tires come in limited sizes, while there are myriads of car tire sizes. I was concerned, because car tires do not carry as much weight, and the sidewalls are softer, allowing sway. However, the trailer handled fine!

We decided to leave on Thursday afternoon, and drive to the Las Vegas area and camp at Lake Mead. We needed electricity, because the area around Las Vegas is desert, and we needed to use the air conditioner (for the first time!). We arrived at 10:00, and the A/C worked two well! By the time I had it adjusted to cycle on and off at a rate that was comfortable, it was 5:00 am and I could not sleep any longer. So, we packed up (that took 3 minutes) and headed out.

We decided to drive through Nevada for two reasons; we had never seen that part of Nevada, and Nevada does not impose a 55 mph speed limit on trailers, as California does. Honestly, the scenery in that part of Nevada was nothing to write home about, but it was new, and that helps keep me from boredom. We crossed over into California on Hwy 266 and drove north in the Sierras, finally crossing over Tioga Pass. That is one beautiful, but very steep pass.

We arrived in Danville to visit kids and grandkids Saturday and Sunday. Then, off to Scotia to meet my brother at Stafford’s RV Park. On the way, we detoured through the redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants.



What magnificent trees!

We rolled into Pamplin Grove about 11:30 on Tuesday morning. There were already several teardrops and two Tiny Travel Trailers set up. We had been warned that camping under the redwoods themselves can be a little chilly, and we couldn’t really get my brother’s 1969 Roadrunner trailer into the meadow, so we pitched camp in a grass covered parking area outside the meadow.

It turned out to be a great site!

Dean and Joanie, our hosts, were both there, independently, within the first 30 minutes to make sure we were set and settling in! What great folks.

IRG is all about trailers, travels, and food! Most attendees are either members of the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers forum (www.mikenchell.com/forums), the Camp-Cook Dutch Oven forum (www.camp-cook.com/forum), or Tearjerkers (www.tearjerkers.net/forums). Common interests; little trailers and big black pots.

There isn’t enough time to describe this event and give it justice. There were races (The IRG Summer Nationals) where participants made 3 wheeled racers that could not exceed 4 inches in width and 8 inches in length (4x8, in honor of the original teardrops, which were almost all 4 ft x 8 ft and based on standard plywood dimensions). This was kind of like the pinewood derby of the Boy Scouts.

There was a horse shoe tournament. I don’t play horse shoes, and there were enough trailers parked at either end of the horse shoe pits to dissuade me from learning how at their expense.

There was coffee and a bit of pastry and fresh fruit every morning.

Ranger Pat gave a great talk about the redwood forest. Did you know that some of thos trees are over 2,500 years old?

There was food. Dutch oven demos, Aebleskiver demos, pit barbeque potluck, and a regular potluck, if anything is regular about one of these events! My friend Joanne and her friend Kellly were supposed to provide some expert Dutch Oven demos, but Joanne finds herself buying a new house, so Kathleen and Dave and I (you you heard it correctly, I) pitched in and gave demos. I did a double blackberry dumpcake ahead of time for samples, then did one as a demo.





Came out great, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. At the same time, Aebleskivers were being prepared by someone (I’m sorry, I didn’t catch their names, I was busy on my side of the table) and an old cast iron wafflemaker was being demonstrated by Joanie!

But the nicest thing was the people! 250 registered, and I know a few had to drop out, but I’m guessing at least 235 or so folks were scattered around the meadow and under the redwoods. We even had our little party crashed by two Model A’s from Kentucky with trailers behind them, who were on their way back from Alaska!

We were sorry we had to leave Saturday morning, but glad to get back home Sunday.

We are already planning our next camping trip, to Hurkey Creek near Idyllwild, CA.

The Road Less Traveled

This was a great weekend. Gina and I hopped over to Henderson to help our Grandson Brandon celebrate his 11th birthday, and what a grand celebration it was! We arrived about 2:30 Saturday afternoon, and our Daughter in Law, Angela, and two of our Grand Daughters rolled in shortly after. Son in law Harry had a mess of boneless pork ribs in the smoker all day, and Bob, Brian, and Corrie (friends of Harry and Kristine) all came over to help with the event! The food was awesome, as was the company!

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No, Brandon is NOT enjoying a cold one!

We headed out this morning (Monday) and while traveling down US93, we decided to pop over to the Hualapai Nation and take a peek at the Skywalk they installed recently. We had both heard of it, but never made the trek before. We were in the mood for an adventure!

We turned off US93 at Pierce Ferry Road. The signs basically told us it was a 50 trip in, and 50 miles back out the same way. Oh, well, why not? 28 miles east, and we turned right on Diamond Bar Road. What we were not expecting was 14 miles of very rough dirt road.

We finally hit the last 7 miles of paved road, albeit very full of potholes, and arrived at the bus station. Yup, you heard right, bus station. Unexpected event number 2, it costs $43 per person just to get to the Skywalk by bus. That's $86! I had to ask 3 employees to find this out. no one would answer me!

I asked what it costs to go out on the Skywalk. Again, no answer. Evidently they want you out of your vehicle and committed to the experience before you chicken out. I decided we were not prepared to be fleeced today, so we made a U turn and headed back toward home. We were still feeling adventurous, though, and made a left on Stockton Hill road to make it into Kingman via a back way. About 6 miles into this 36 mile shortcut, I felt the truck begin to pull to the right. I pulled over and gave a quick inspection, only to discover my right front tire going flat.

My Nissan issued jack was not sufficiently tall enough to raise the truck to a height which allowed the new tire to go on! Praise God, a helpful gentleman named Josh, who works for the Caterpillar distributor in Kingman, spotted us and stopped to help. With his jack and ours, we were able to swap the tires.

Note: AAA is rather worthless when you are remote enough to not have cell service.

While we were there, I spotted what I thought was a swarm of bees in a nearby tree. I trotted over with the camera, only to discover a few dozen black wasps were actually what was swarming! I took the shot, getting as close as I dared, with a camera that only has a 3X zoom.

The dark patch in the middle is one grouping, and just below and to the left is a second, smaller grouping. There were 3 groupings all together, and maybe a dozen in the air.

We finally made it home, 8-1/2 hours after we left, feeling rather blessed to have had a bit on an adventure, having met Josh who blessed us on the roadside, and having seen some beautiful countryside in spite of not wanting to pay extremely high prices to see another bit of the Grand Canyon. By the way, we have since been informed (although tis is unverified) that to actually walk out on the Skyway is another $75 per person. Then there's the helicopter tours...

Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, and Mogollon Rim Adventure

Thursday evening, as soon as Gina got home, we packed the food and took off for the Grand Canyon. We made it as far as Flagstaff and decided to find a place to camp before dark. We found a nice place just west of Flagstaff called Woody Mountain Campground.



http://www.woodymountaincampground.com/

The office was closed, and the rules said we had to pay before entering the campground. Well, not one to buy a pig in a poke, I ignored that rule and we drove in and found a nice site. We parked and walked up and paid. $33.43 a night for 2 people. An odd amount, and cash only. They got $33.50, and we were gone before they opened in the morning, so they got to keep the change. I’m glad I brought my 30 amp to 20 amp adaptor! I needed it here.

We had breakfast (just fried up some sausage, eggs, and toast) and headed out to Grand Canyon Village, where we were led to believe there was a trailer park with space available. We got to Trailer Village, and there was a big sign that said “Campground Full.” Again, I ignored the sign and we drove in and found a nice empty site. Note to self, make reservations! I parked and asked the guy next to us when the previous occupants had left. He said “real early!” That guy had a very nice, new, Shasta. He said they began making them again about 6 years ago.



I walked down and talked to the lady in the office and told her where I was and that I wanted to stay 2 nights. She let us stay one night, and said she would look for an opening for the next night. $34 for that one night, with full hookups. We used the electric and the water.

We made our Montana Cowboy Stew that night, and it was awesome as usual! Topped it off with my first pineapple upside down cake (sans cherries. I don’t care much for maraschino cherries).






The Grand Canyon is truly amazing!


Not wanting to choke this story with pictures, please look at my Picasa album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cliffneff/GrandCanyonJune2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPqkIWSwrSuvwE&feat=directlink

That night, we had some thunderstorms and hard rain. About 1:00 in the morning, Gina said “uh oh”. I said “Water?” assuming my weather stripping was inadequate. Turns out, she had not put the lid on her water bottle, and had knocked it over during the night. Boy was I relieved! No leaks at all. One thing I noticed in the morning, when I raised my galley hatch, water came backward from the hatch to the better than hurricane hinge, and flowed easily under and around it. I hadn’t anticipated this direction of travel for water, and had not sealed it. I’ve got that to do!

Next morning, we found out we would not be able to stay another night, so we rode our bikes down to Mather Campground. The ranger said we could check back around 12:00, or we could drive to Desert View, on the East side of the park. It was a 1st come, 1st served campground. We decided to give it a try, and headed out toward the East entrance to the park. In the way, we hit a pretty significant hail storm!

The rain never stopped, so we made and ate bologna sandwiches in the truck, and decided rather than camp in the rain, to seek out drier areas to the south. We decided to go to Meteor Crater by way of Tuba City, and catch part of the Painted Desert.



Meteor crater was $15 each, and having just paid only $25 to see the entire Grand Canyon, I couldn’t bring myself to cough up the cash. I am unemployed, after all.

So we headed back towards Winslow, Arizona and broke south towards Payson. For kicks, I punched in Payson on the GPS even though I knew the way. The GPS had us take AZ 99 instead of AZ 87, which was peculiar. I had never taken 99 before, and decided to risk it, even though our paper map said we would have some gravel road ahead. Sure enough, we saw a sign in the middle of nowhere that read “End Arizona 99”. 50 or so miles out, we entered the Sitgreaves National Forest, and the speed limit dropped mysteriously down to 30 mph. I saw no traffic whatsoever, and thereby no law enforcement, so continued at approximately 45 for the next 20 or so miles. At that point, the pavement disappeared and we entered the gravel road. It was well maintained, so we continued on at a brisk 30mph for the next 20 or so miles.

We were looking for a place to camp, so we stopped at several rough campsites, but all were full. So much for spontaneity. Finally, we found the Mogollon campsite, and they had a site for us. $14.00 a night, but only one water source, 1 very smelly outhouse, and we actually had to camp on the street. No vehicles allowed off the road. Still, it was beautiful! We set up camp, cooked, ate, and went to bed. The next morning I cooked up a mini Mountain Man and some biscuits.



Then we took a walk, found a fire road, and went back and got the bikes. We rode quite a while, then found a single track! This was awesome! We rode for maybe 5 miles total, but want much more! We found the trail is called the General Crook Trail, and goes all the way to Camp Verde, 25 miles total!

As we were leaving camp, we discovered we were actually on the Mogollon Rim! I had heard of it, but didn’t actually know where it was. We found a place to park, and walked to the edge. Breathtaking!



When we got home, I noticed the smell of burning rubber. I quickly inspected the trailer, and the right tire was burned to almost no tread at all. This tire has less than 5,000 miles on it! Upon further inspection, it appears I have had a bearing failure. The next chance I have (Wednesday), I will pull it apart and see if I need a new bearing or a new axle. YUK!

Update. Bent axle!

French Toast for one.

What on earth did anyone make a square skillet for?



What else? French Toast! Let’s see, 1 egg, and a splash of milk


3 pieces of whole grain bread


I’m cooking outside, because it’s a beautiful morning!


About 85º


At 7:45 am


Set the table; get the butter, peanut butter, and syrup. And don’t forget the coffee!


Yummy!


Butter goes on the top and bottom slices, peanut butter on the middle slice!


Man, that’s good! Can you see the peanut butter oozing out of the middle?


Oops, it’s all gone.



God bless you, everyone!

Camping in Lytle Creek

This last weekend was my birthday weekend, and I like to camp for my birthday. My kids and two of my sisters live in Southern California; in the San Bernardino / Riverside area (called the Inland Empire by the locals) so I looked for campgrounds centrally located in the Inland Empire to give my kids and sisters a chance to visit if they were so inclined. As my kids and one sister live in Fontana, Lytle Creek came to mind.

When I was a kid, we used to go to Lytle Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains to play in the cold, clear water. Lytle Creek was a poor kid’s playground. Lots of folks went up into the canyon to shoot, and there were several accidents, so kids whose parents had money went other places. A lot has changed over the years. There are now 2 shooting ranges, and the Rangers keep the gun enthusiasts in the ranges.

I Googled “Lytle Creek campgrounds” and came up with Applewhite Campground. I called to see if they would have any trouble accommodating us, as they don’t take reservations. The campground is run by the Ranger Service, and the ranger who answered said she had only seen it completely full once. That was good enough for me! We loaded up and headed out on Thursday morning.

When we got into the village of Lytle Creek, we stopped at the corner store for ice ($1.99 for 5 lbs!) and directions. “How far to the campground?” I asked. “Which one, Applewhite or Bonita Ranch?” came the reply. “Applewhite”, I said, then asked “Which is better?” Bonita Ranch,” he said. “They have showers.”

So, we headed back down the hill a half mile to Bonita Ranch.



The place was pretty nice, but $25 a night for water and electric, $30 for water, electric, sewer and cable TV. Applewhite was $15 a night. We asked permission to look around before deciding, and were granted permission. We found a great site (the side we chose was mostly empty, and we got an end site that was roughly twice as big as any other), and decided this place was good enough for us. The next day, for kicks, we drove to Applewhite and drove around. It was overgrown with weeds, mostly foxtails, and poorly maintained. We had made the right choice.



We set up camp and had a wonderful 2 day stay. We cooked in our Dutch ovens a lot, made a small version of the Mountain Man breakfast with some DO Biscuits for breakfast Friday morning, (my daughter came up and had breakfast with us), skipped lunch, and made Beef Stroganoff and a blackberry dump cake for dinner.





We heard there was a 90ft waterfall up the canyon a ways, so we hiked up for a look.





‘Way off in the distance, up high, you can see the falls.



We saw a little wildlife on the trail.






Finally, the falls!



We had a wonderful time, and I would recommend Bonita Ranch RV Campground to anyone!