Anza Borrego

We woke up and put the camper in traveling order. Our night's sleep was restful, but we still had concerns about our fluid leak. I looked under the truck before we pulled out; no oil spots were on the ground. Linda gave me directions and we were on our way to celebrate Christmas at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The drive was much easier than our past routes. We mostly traveled on the freeway but finished with very slow, curvy two-lane roads. We had to negotiate 9 miles of steep switchbacks on the final descent into Borrego Springs. It was a bit of a white knuckler. We kept it in low gears and went very cautiously.

At the check-in gate, we were informed that we could not check in until 2:00PM. It was 1:33PM. We drove to the Discovery Center, ate a sandwich, and then returned to the park entrance and got in line. We were glad to be at the campsite where we would spend some rest days, so all was good!

Anza Borrego was one of Linda's family's favorite spots for getting away on family adventures when she was young. The area brought back so many memories of the adventures they experienced. They were a huge part of her youth. I wrote about some of her thoughts in the blog post from our first visit.

We spent our time there hiking, resting, relaxing, reading, and enjoying this special place. We stayed three nights. On Christmas day, we packed up and drove out of the park. Our final stop was the lot in Yuma, where our neighbors, Steve and Jodi, awaited our arrival.

Desert sunrise.

Roadrunner, beep, beep!

Our clean little camper, ready for our winter stay in Yuma

Almost Trouble

Our drive today was approximately 234 miles. We started by wandering through some very curvy hills and then cruised onto I-5, joined by a million vehicles. When we were snaking along the twisty blue highways, we were much slower than non-RV-type vehicles. Being slow does not mean that I am more relaxed. I still have to grip the wheel and keep us on the pavement. When we were on the freeways, we were much faster than through the hills, but I still had to fight the traffic and maintain our progress. It was not an easy day.  

We arrived at the Elks RV park in Merced, CA. Linda had reserved a spot for the night a few weeks ago and the park host was ready and waiting when we arrived. After signing in, Linda went for a long walk and I unwound by taking a little nap.  We played cards and had a good meal then went to bed. Funny how tired you get sitting and driving all day. We have one more day of travel before getting to Anza Borrego State Park for a few days. This is a very special park to Linda (as written about when we took our trip to Queen Valley, AZ a few years ago). We've really been looking forward to visiting there again.

The next morning we awoke to find that there was a weather advisory out for a heavy fog layer in the direction we needed to travel. Linda made a great judgment call to sleep in an extra hour and a half. This gave the fog a chance to dissipate before we hit the road. It was also nice to sleep in the extra time.

Loaded and ready we set out for another day of traveling south. Our path took us through Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield. Not the most scenic travel route, but it was freeway driving, straight and at a good speed.

Our night's campsite was at Los Alamos Campground at the top of a pass near Pyramid Lake. We arrived at about 2:20PM and set up the camper. As I prepared for the stay, I noticed oil on the foot of the rear driver's side camper leg. My heart started beating. I walked to the truck door and lowered myself onto the ground and spotted an oily substance dripping from the engine. This time my gut hurt and my nerves clenched. We have an oil leak!

Linda walked back from talking to the camp host. I met her with the bad news. We immediately went into emergency mode. Linda got on Google Maps and started calling repair places. After several calls, we had an inkling that we were in trouble. It was Saturday, December 21, and everyone we spoke to would be closed through the Christmas holiday. A little more desperate, Linda dialed a small repair place in Gorman. She talked to a gentleman named Alex. He said if we could drive down to him, he would be there until 4:00 PM. He would be happy to look and maybe diagnose the problem, but he wouldn't be able to work on it til Monday if it was something major. We were not too far away, so he gave us the address, and we headed to his shop. We were not optimistic even though we had just had a ton of work done and money spent to make sure all was well. But we had no choice. We couldn't continue with the way things were. We told the camp host we would have to forfeit our money because we would probably need to be in town. We told Alex we were on our way!

Gorman was a spit of a town fifteen miles back the way we had come. The truck was running fine and none of the dash lights had come on, so we drove to the repair place.

When we turned the final corner, we spotted Alex standing and waving his hands. We both sucked in our breath. The shop was nothing we were expecting. There were cars everywhere in a million stages of repair. It was quite the junkyard. Alex guided me to park on the street in front of his shop. Alex greeted me, wiped the oil off his hand, and immediately said, “Pop the hood!” He checked up under the hood and then dove under the side of the truck. “I think I found the problem,” Alex said. In 5 minutes, he figured out that it was a transmission fluid line that was loose and dripping. That transmission fluid line had been replaced before we left home. 

With a few twists, Alex tightened it up and then replaced about a quart of transmission fluid. He was very confident that that was the problem. We were so lucky. If that had come all the way off, we would have lost all our fluid and ruined our truck. We can't believe how this turned out. Linda gave Alex a huge hug (after she asked if it was ok). We asked him what we owed him. He asked for $10 for the fluid.  He didn't ask anything for his work. We gave him another $20. He was our Christmas angel 😇. All he asked was that we rate him online. He also said to call him if anything else came up or if we had questions. We thanked him profusely, wished him a happy holiday, and drove back to our campsite. We are still stunned.

Stops and Starts

Our travels on the next leg took us from Eugene, south to a county regional park just outside of Crescent City, California. The drive was harder than the last two days due to some stretches of very curvy roads. I got tired by the time we stopped at 1:30 PM. 

It rained hard all night and we woke up early enough to enjoy a cup of coffee/tea as we packed up to explore the fourth leg of the trip. After many years of camper life, we have gotten as good as a NASCAR pit crew at hitting the road. 

Our first stop was just down the road at a local Safeway grocery store. The early departure called for a warm breakfast sandwich, and we like to try the local deli. Linda and I walked up to the counter and chose the breakfast burrito from their list of delicacies. The lady asked for our order, and we gave it to her and she said, “We can't make the burritos today, we have no tortillas!” We paused and looked at each other, and then we both looked around the store and replied, “No tortillas?” The attendant shook her head. It seemed to both of us that one of the four counter clerks could go to the Spanish food aisle and grab a package of tortillas to sell some burritos. They must have had their reasons. We purchased our sandwich and went on our way. We ordered the breakfast sandwich instead. As she prepared the sandwich, four customers ordered the breakfast burrito and were told the same thing, “No tortillas.” Each time Linda and I looked at each other and then around the store. I leaned into Linda and asked, “Isn't this a food store? Don't they sell tortillas?” Linda replied, “I know” and shrugged. We didn't say anything. Maybe it was store policy.

Just south of Crescent City on Hwy 101.

The road we were following, Highway 101, took us along the ocean and then dipped inland, aiming southeast to our next campground at Clear Lake State Park. It was a curvy, very hilly two-lane road most of the way, and we had to go very slowly in many places. By the time we arrived at camp at 2:45 PM, I was road-beaten, and Linda was ready for a walk. Linda went for a long walk, and I fell asleep.

Clear Lake is California's largest natural lake. The campground was well-maintained and had a nice feel. We were one of four vehicles camping in the park so it felt like we owned it! Linda and I planned to have a layover day and allow our bodies to rest. This site had no hookups, but the campground showers were close by and clean. 

At our spot at Clear Lake.

Getting used to the table clutter.

Second Stop

It rained all night, but we slept like logs and woke up ready to get on the road. Our next leg took us to Eugene via I-205 passing around Portland to I-5. We arrived at the Sollingers at about 1:00 PM and got all set up in their driveway. After everyone had gathered and chatted for a while, Diane, Al Dee, Linda and I loaded into their car and we drove to the Eugene Fairgrounds where we met Alayna at the main entrance to an event called Glow. 

Glow is a traveling Christmas light show. It is popular because of its many beautiful lights and the fact that it is held entirely under cover. That was the key that evening because it was pouring buckets outside. We walked through various countries of the world-themed displays and enjoyed the tens of thousands of lights each area contained. After the Glow walk, we picked up some dinner at their local WingStop and returned to the house to eat and play SkipBo. That was our first experience with WingStop. We thought it was delicious. I continued my reign of terror through SkipBo. I won again!

South

By the end of October, the weather in our area gets freezing and gray. It is hard to keep your spirits up as the rain and wind knock all the beautiful bright-colored leaves to the ground. We have always tried to add a little adventure south into warmer climates to help us through the winter months. It lifts up our spirits and gives us something to concentrate on.

We've been busy getting ready for our next adventure. We've packed clothes and removed stuff we don't use from the camper. We've evaluated each item and decided whether it's going or staying. This includes finding a storage location for our items and packing them away. Our lists grew and then got shorter as we made decisions. We're almost ready to hit the road!

Our truck should be in tip-top shape for this trip. It cost us some savings to get it ready, but they were items we deemed necessary for our peace of mind. We also have confirmed our house visitor's schedule, and the place will be in great hands once we leave. Thanks to all of the folks who will be helping in this endeavor. It's so nice to have someone taking care of the home front.

Weather-watching has become an obsession. Ideally, we would like a window with a slight warm-up and no precipitation called for, but that will probably not happen. We will leave when we feel safe from ice on the roads. A little snow is manageable until we get past the Tri-Cities and closer to Eugene.

Finally, the day of departure arrived. Leaving Post Falls at about 8:00 AM, we drove to Ritzville, turned south, and followed Highway 396 southwest, turning west on Highway 84 to Boardman, where we fueled up.

Remember the weather window we were watching? Well, we hit it! As we left Post Falls, snowflakes slid gently down the truck window. When we hit Spokane, the snow had stopped. When we stopped at the rest area by Sprague Lake, the sun came out, and we had beautiful weather the rest of the day.

We continued downriver on Highway 84 past one of our usual spots, Arlington, assuming we could boondock at a flat gravel bed called Rufus Landing. When we arrived, we found that the site was closed until April 1st. Linda did some quick map reading and Googled up some options. Continuing on down the Columbia, we chose to spend our first night at Deschutes River State Park on the Deschutes River.

We chose site 21, a very nice spot just yards from the river. It was an easy day and our adventure has officially begun.

Below is a map of our travel route down to Yuma. I will update our progress the best I can so bookmark this post and enjoy the ride!