Category: Blog Entries

More Images from Sonoma County >>

Arriving into our Thousand Trails Russian River preserve we made our way to a perfect RV site…or so we thought. It was wooded yet had a view of the sky for our satellite dish, grass just outside the door for the dogs. But it was on a slope that caused the tow hitch to drag and get lodged in the pavement to the point we could not go forward or backward and in the struggle to get in we scraped the side of the coach on a tree as well. This was not a good start to our stay. We however did get out with the help of our new found friend Georgia Ann (to whom I still owe a dollar to 🙂 She figured out a way for us to get unstuck and pointed us in the direction of an even better site.

We were excited to get out and explore nearby Cloverdale. To our luck it had both a thai restaurant and a brewpub in the small town. The first night of we just went to Ruth McGowen’s Brewpub. It was a cool low key pub. The bartender and her sister were very nice, actually everyone in the place was very friendly. The soup was great, they hand make all of their soups. While there we learned brewpubs were all over this area, almost every town had one. This was going to be a fun place to be for the next four days!

The following evening we went out to eat were Georgia Ann and her companion Kathy. They were great people, and we enjoyed the time we spent with them and hope they stay well and travel safely and enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle.

We met another nice couple they were staying in the site next to us. They were older full-timers and helped us find a good route to get back to I-10 to get back to Pensacola. Some things for work came up they help steer us to a decision of needing to get back before July 3rd. This gave us around 2 weeks to travel 2500 miles. Which was possible, it just required us to push ourselves faster than we like.

But before we headed out of wine country we had to explore it. We took a full day to go out and visit as many vineyards as we could handle. We had a list given to us by a wine distributor in Claremont we met. Russian Hill, and DeLoach were two of the vineyards listed that we intended to visit starting out, but first we ate lunch at the Bear Republic Brewpub in Healdsburg. The had a pale ale that was my favorite there.

Russian Hill was alright but noting special. We managed to work in the guy’s name from Claremont, but they never heard of him so we would try again at DeLoach after sharon purchased a small bottle of port. Deloach had a great tasting room and the vineyards were gorgeous. Exactly what we imagined a vineyard in Sonoma should be like. They girl presenting the wines to us was so nice, and the wines were incredible. Their Pinot Noirs were the best we had anywhere. We wanted to purchase one, but funds were running low. We intend to join their wine club when we settle down soon.

We managed to only have time to hit one more winery, the Martinelli Vineyards. They had some good wines as well, but the main ones we wanted to taste were not available. The girl hosting the tasting for us was from back in Northwest Florida originally and told us we could get Martinelli wines at Chan’s in Destin which we will try to do when we go back that way.

The day finished with me causing us to run out of gas in the Jeep. I immediately got out and began running for the nearest exit ramp.Partially so we would not have to sit on the side of the road long, and to hear Sharon tell me a “I told you so” 🙂 Because she did tell me to get gas earlier and I blew her off, like an idiot. So there I was running to an exit I was not sure even had a gas station at the end of it, or one even close. Fortunately for me someone stopped to help me just a small distance after I started running, he knew where a gas station was nearby because there was not one off the exit. He dropped me off there and went on his way. I went in to buy a gas can but they wanted $15 for one. So I just bought a big gatorade, went outside drank it and then put $2 of gas into it and took off running back to the Jeep. When i arrived at the Jeep less than 30 minutes had elapsed and Sharon had already cooled down, she was not really that mad at me anyway I found out. What an ending to a very nice day.

Note: When your wife tells you to get gas, get gas!

Our last day in the area we wanted to spend checking out the redwoods at Armstrong Woods in Guerneville. The redwoods were incredible. Walking through the forest was so quiet and peaceful, the sunlight filtering through made it truly magical. All the sounds of the forest are muffled by the soft bark material and needles on the ground, long with the dense vegetation. I could have walked for miles in this forest. Sharon and I were amazed also by the very large size clovers. She was determined to locate a four-leafed clover. Come to find out in the end they were not in fact clovers but some other similar form of vegetation.

On our way home we spotted yet another brewpub. The Stumptown Brewpub. We sat out back on the deck over looking the clear flowing Russian RIver in rocking chairs enjoying good beer, I had a black ale and Sharon had a pale ale, both worth mentioning as top notch brews.

And so our journey across America came to a symbolic end, but not our journey on a bigger scale, because that never really ever ends, or so we hope it doesn’t. It was now time to boogie back to Pensacola.

Side Note: I added to the one shoes in the world when a flip flop slid off my foot in the Russian River rapids never to be seen again.

More photos from San Francisco >>

Well upon entering San Francisco we took 19th ave. over the Golden Gate bridge with the CruiseMaster through heavy downtown traffic, but it was well worth it to see the city. We could barely see Alcatraz out in the bay due to the heavy fog. It got very sunny and warm at our RV park in Larkspur. What kinda freaked us out a bit was we were just over the channel from San Quentin State Prison. It was so close, we could not believe it. At night was the eeriest time to view it, it was lit up so bright and it seemed so quiet and calm, totally sheltering the outside world from the dark awful happenings on the other side of the wall.

We had time on our first day in S.F. so we decided to track down a dog park. We found one in Sausalito that drew us in from their welcoming website. Seeing we have had a couple bad run ins lately we figured this park might be better. It was in an upscale community and the dog owners were proud of their park enough to create a well-designed website and even had a board of directors for the operations of the park.

We were not disappointed. The park was very nice, well-kept with pretty much mulch and some grass. The people and dogs were great. We made friends with a couple of people and chatted with them while the puggles played with whistle (a small jack russel mix with endless spunk). One of the people we met was , he is one of the board of directors and the website creator. He and his friends told us of the Marin Brewing Co. Brewpub which happened to be just down the road from where we were staying. Perrrfect. Time to head out for beer:)

We figured we would eat at the brewpub but as we neared it we saw our dream restaurant row. On the right of the pub was a sushi bar, and the left was a THAI place!! We were in a happy place. So we had awesome thai food followed with a great beer to follow. I had a San Quentin Breakout Stout, so appropriate I thought 🙂 We met a great guy at the pub who gave us a lowdown on things to do and places to see around San Fran. Thanks Steve!

So the day was upon us, one we had been waiting for a couple of years now, a day of exploration around San francisco. The day started with an old fashioned chocolate donut while taking a ferry from Larkspur to the Ferry Plaza downtown. We cruised by San Quentin, still as eerie as ever even in the daylight. It is still so wild to think of the people that are behind those walls and the horrible acts they have committed on other human beings. The next landmark wouldn’t you know it to pass by was Alcatraz with the Golden Gate Bridge visible in the far distance. It was a bright and sunny day, we were so lucky to get such beautiful weather in mid-June. No fog at all. It was quite chilly on the water though but once on land in the sun it felt great.

While we rode the ferry we observed a family on the lower deck break out wine and cheese for the ride over and we thought it would be a great idea to find a bottle of wine for the ride home and do the same. Would make the ride home a good capping off on what was to be a great day. We probably should have grabbed a ferry schedule to see when the last ferry was scheduled but we checked the board and it was 5:30.

So once we disembarked we caught a streetcar to the Fisherman’s wharf. Sharon came up with the idea to eat our way around the city and I was all for it. The first food came at The Crab House on the second level in the form of a bowl of crab chowder. It was alright, but not like Maryland crab soup like we were craving, but it worked. We had a view of the bay and the sea lions perched on their manmade platforms. The highlight of the restaurant was their Crab House Pale Ale, it was great. Highly recommend it!

Next on our agenda was Dim Sum in Chinatown. We grabbed a cable car to get there and actually got to hang on the outside from the handrails, it was something I always wanted to experience. I was like a little kid again with a goofy smile that would not go away as I watched the streets of San Fran go by. One of the many moments from our journey I will never forget.

Chinatown was even more crazy than I had seen on TV. I felt as if we had just been transported to the other side of the world. It was awesome. But where to eat dim sum was not going to be easy as it was at every restaurant. And as always I was looking to score a solo shoe photo, especially in San Fran to commemorate the day. I wanted to go down a few alleys thinking that would be the best spot to find one. As we strolled down one we saw a small sweat shop turned fortune cookie factory and had to stop and get some cookies. I did not know they came in chocolate! Well we were getting hungry so we settled upon a place for dim sum. Being a little leery of eating mysterious dumplings from a small hole in the wall restaurant at $5.95 all you can eat we opted for a nice establishment. We had great little bites of chinese cuisine and then dashed off. We paid of course first 🙂 No dine and dash these days.

We were now going to head to Japantown but had to do some shopping first. We strolled around for a bit and decided that Japantown was too far and we might miss the Ferry back so we decided to just mosey back to the Embarcadero and maybe eat some and shop some and get the 5:30 ferry back to Larkspur. We ended up taking an electric zero emissions bus back to the Ferry port. As we got off and were walking to the Ferry, I spotted a shoe, finally! It took me a bit to get the right angle and lighting but it was barely 4:30 so we still had plenty of time. Or did we? Had we had a ferry schedule we would have noticed the 5:30 was for Sausalito, the Larkspur was scheduled to leave at 4:30!!! Holy shitake!! We are going to miss our boat, we ran, but it was tooooo late. It was just pulling out. The only time something runs on time for us is when we need it to be delayed 🙁 Of course it was the shoe that was the cause of this, had I not found it, we would have been there in time to catch the 4:30 ferry. Damn shoes.

The attendant at the ticket booth was great, she refunded our money and gave us information on when and where to grab the city bus to get back to Larkspur. We had 10 minutes to get 4 “real” city blocks, as she called it. “You probably don’t need to run, but I would do a brisk walk” she told us. Our brisk walk turned into a full sprint at the end. We did not see the #80 bus anywhere when we got there. Finally after some help from another bus driver we saw it, it was getting ready to leave! We ran full speed with panic faces and just caught the driver’s eye so he waited for us. Thank god, because a cab would have been over $40 bucks I bet.

So there we sat, going through all of downtown SF, making stops every 10 seconds. It was our fifth different form of public transportation today. But we were still having fun, we got to see all of the city now. As luck would have it, the bus stopped right in front of the RV park. Now all we had to do is grab the dogs and go for a short walk to the ferry parking lot to get our jeep. It was still early and we could go to the coast at Muir Beach to catch the sunset so off we went.

Traveling to Muir beach was a beautiful 30 minute drive over Mt. Tam. We witnessed a rental motor home take off a mirror of a car traveling in the oncoming lane, close call!! Muir Beach was really cool, tall steep granite cliffs sourounding an almost black sand beach in which dogs could roam off-leash. The puggles had so much fun running in the surf, they just love the beach. It always make us feel good to see them having so much fun after being trapped in the motor home all day. We realize we are crazy dog owners, but hey what can we do, we love our dogs. I found an old soft sided suede winter boot down there sitting half buried in the sand, perfect for a great sunset beach shot.

We thought about stopping at the pub by the beach for a beer but we were worn out, It was an long awesome day of sight-seeing. Sometimes it is fun to just be a tourist running around a city just soaking it all in. It was, as we like to call it, a diamond day.

We thought about staying longer but we needed to move on to Russian River, and we decided it was time to speed up the process of getting back east, we were dying to see our family and friends and share our stories with them.

Before leaving out we did meet a nice family that has been full-timing on the road for a while. We enjoyed sharing experiences with them, so if you should happen to read this blog we wish you safe travels.

Note: I could easily live in Larkspur or the surrounding communities if I got rich 🙂

More photos from Big Sur >>

Well the time has come to fulfill a dream, my dream to drive highway 1 from Monterey to Big Sur. And this was one dream realization that did not disappoint. It was beyond words. One must see it to understand. I fell in love, I never wanted to leave.

The day started by driving over the Santa Cruz mountains and descending to highway 1 to start the journey in Monterey. There was not much on our “to-see” list in Monterey except for the 19 Mile Drive. We finally found the drive but realized it would cost 9 bucks just to drive a road past a bunch of ultra-rich people’s homes and a golf course I did not wish to see anyway so we took a skip card on it. It proved to be a wise decision we found out from several locals.

Carmel-by-the-Sea was the next stop. But before we could explore we needed to get some warmer gear. I parked and found a great deal on two jackets for us and we were ready for the cold foggy Carmel. We had read earlier about the Forge in the Forest restaurant so we tracked down its location and went to be seated. We read it was dog-friendly, but we did not expect it to have a totally devoted patio just for dog owners. It was so nice to find this kinda of acommodation. Also we spoke we other people in the section and made a few friends, which if we had been without the dogs, we would not have mingled at all. The dogs seemed to bond us instantly with the other dog lovers and we began speaking. It was a great lunch, and in the process learned that Carmel beach allows dogs off-leash.

It was chilly in Carmel but that always seems to energize the puggles. They had a blast on the beach, it was beautiful. This just made Carmel even more appealing. And I have not even mentioned the art galleries at every turn. This was an artist’s dream community (expect maybe the cost of living 🙂 I hope we can get back there again to more fully explore the rich artistic community. But we were limited on time so we headed on to Big Sur.

It did not take long to be in utter awe of the coastal landscape. The fog gave way to blue skies and I snapped so many pictures along the way but I am not convinced they do it any justice, it was truly one of those places you have to personally experience to understand. There were huge rock cliffs and crashing waves around every tight turn. We saw many beaches that looked great to hike to and finally settled on one that had a great looking trail leading down the cliffside to it. It was perfect, we were the only ones down there (except for weird naked guy, but he kept his distance thank god 🙂 The dogs got run and play to their hearts content and Sharon and I just enjoyed being together on a beach with our each other. It was truly a magical place. We stayed as long as we could but it was getting late and we had a ways to go to get back to the park and we saw a restaurant on our way to the beach that we felt would be awesome to stop at for wine and an appetizer…and it was that and more.

The Rocky Point Restaurant was something we could not have dreamed up any better. It was situated on a rocky cliff overlooking a view that was too good to be true. The wine was great and we highly recommend the calamari. It was mouth watering and unlike any calamari you will ever have! It was from this point that I got on of the best photos I think I have ever captured to date. The light was perfect, the golden light that photographers always speak of. I was truly blessed and fortunate for great timing by mother nature. I hated to leave this magical place…I hope to return someday, perhaps maybe live within driving distance so i can leave all of the real world stress far behind and just weave down highway 1 in search of another mystical beach on which to spend time with my lovely wife and two great dogs. I will never forget that day, it is burned into my memory until the day I die.

More photos from Santa Cruz >>

I gotta start this blog with stating that this is a place I would love to settle down for a while. It is the best place to live for our lifestyles. Too bad we will never be able to afford to live there 🙁

We just had time to tour around and visit a dog beach for a bit. The place was so alive yet still had a true beach town identity that I love. People were very friendly. The beaches were gorgeous. I got the California bug. I understand now why Californians love to live there. I am jealous.

We sat and watched surfers catch great peeling around a rocky point by the surfer museum. I was hypnotized by the breaking waves and watching the surfers take them all the way in, carving it up the entire ride. If it wasn’t for the cold water, id love to be a surfer 🙂 But if we lived here, we could bike redwood forests one day and play volleyball on the beach the next day. I think this is what is commonly referred to as “California Dreamin’”

More photos from San Benito>>

NOTE: The hill past San Luis Obispo is a long steep climb for a motorhome towing a vehicle.

Once again we found ourselves heading into the rural landscape of California to stay at a Thousand Trails at San Benito. But instead of farm land it was VINEYARDS, lots of them! This county is home to a wine trail comprised of 7 vineyards open for public tasting. This was going to be a must for us to experience since it was only a mile away from the entrance:)

So the next day we got ready and headed out to blaze the Wine Trail. The first stop was the Calera Wine Company. They had 5 wines to sample for free and a premium sampling for $5, a small price to pay to try five different $50+ bottles of wine. We ended up purchasing a Pinot Noir. A quick in and out. On to the next stop.

Pietra Santa was the next vineyard stop. It was beautiful. To get to the wine tasting room you have to drive through the perfectly manicured vineyards. The architecture of the building was old spanish mission style. Just a gorgeous building surrounded by rolling hills filled with rows of grape vines. Just stunning. Upon entering the inside was done as well as the outside. The tasting area was upstairs complete with balconies overlooking the vineyards. This vineyard was clearly a level above the last one, at least in aesthetics.

We met a really nice Irish woman who now lives in Santa Cruz and was quite a hoot, she had done a lot of tasting if you know what I mean. But she was not obnoxious, but rather quite funny. Our tasting started when we met our wine guide, we’ll call her Lupe. (Name has been changed for anonymity). She was so nice, we talked and tasted wine after wine after wine. We had a zinfandel paired with raspberry dark chocolate truffels that was to die for! I remember a great cabernet, but it was out of our price range. We sat at that tasting room for two hours, tasting over 12 wines. After a while they all blend in and remembering what was what became impossible. Just before closing time the party that we heard laughing and screeching downstairs came upstairs to purchase wines. It became chaos, it was all women who were a wee bit too tipsy. We waited until they finished and we purchased the zinfandel but forgot to get the chocolates. But once in the Jeep we inspected our bag closer and it seems Lupe was looking out for us and placed some chocolates in our bag 🙂 Thanks LUPE! We really enjoyed meeting you and your family, good luck in life. We will always remember you and Pietra Santa.

Now time to move further into Wine Country 🙂 🙂 🙂

We had only one evening in San Jose but it was a really good one, I will let Sharon write this one because it was her cousin we met up with. But I want to give a thank you to Greg and say that it was awesome getting to spend time with you and getting to know you better, I hope we can hang out for a beer in Oregon someday!

Sharon: Randy was sweet enough to give me the pleasure of writing this blog entry. While in Morgan Hill, CA we found out that my cousin Greg was going to be in Santa Clara, CA for a few days, which is only a 30 min drive for us, a perfect place to all meet up.

Growing up, Greg was like a brother to me, but he now lives in Washington State with his family. Now we only get to see each other every few years or so. I was so excited to find out we would be able to meet up and grab dinner together. Since Randy and I have been on the road, we have had many diamond days and this was one of them. We had a great dinner in San Jose at a very nice seafood restaurant, where we had a great meal and wonderful conversation. Greg has grown into such a great man and it was so wonderful to get to know him again. Randy and him really seemed to hit it off, which made the night even better. After dinner we grabbed a few beers at a local pub and laughed at Greg’s stories. We Would have loved to hung out all night, but those darn dogs make us come home early or else 🙂

Nights like those don’t happen as much as we would like, but when they do we treasure them in our memories forever.

Greg, thanks again for dinner and we will make it up to you in blue crabs when we get to MD, we promise 😉

More photos from Santa Barbara >>

Driving up from L.A. was pretty awesome as far as scenery. The coastline on the West Coast is so different than Florida’s coastline. Huge Mountains going right to the edge, big rock islands and ocean cliffs just inspire me.

The only drawback to the mountainous terrain is…the mountainous terrain. Just because we are in a motor home and it is rough going up and over mountain passes. The pass we had to climb over from Santa Barbara was pretty big for us, we took the car off this time and the hill was not so bad. The RV park we were going to, Thousand Trails Rancho Oso preserve, was set far back into the valley, we thought “Where the hell are we going” as we winded up and through valley hills until 20 miles later we reached the park. It was a gorgeous site descending down to the park overlooking the sprawling horse pastures that made up the Horse Ranch attached to the park.

We were surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Los Padres National Forest. I was so excited to get out and explore them. Our first experience in the forest was hiking to a waterfall near the park. The trail was great and the waterfall was small but beautiful as it cascade over granite rock boulders. The wildlife was abundant, ground squirrels, coyotes, wild turkeys, deer and a lot more. The puggles were crazy with their hunting instincts taking over. Walking them became a chore as they were just tugging and tugging trying to get at a squirrel or rabbit. It worked as doggie TV as they sat for hours just staring out the windows watching the squirrels dart from hole to hole.

The second experience in the forest was one we will never forget. We decided to participate in a three hour trail ride on horseback to the top of a ridgeline across the valley. It was so incredible to be riding these horses through rivers and up narrow cliff trails. The switchbacks both terrified and electrified my spirit. We were both in heaven, it was almost like a dream. It was so beautiful at the top. I took photos but photos do not do justice to the large expanse of beauty we saw before us. The ride down was just as great. I did want it to end. Once back at the ranch we tried to get the horses to gallop but Sharon’s got spooked and almost bucked her off. It scared the crap out me, I cannot believe she held on! We were exhausted after the ride, we had no idea horseback riding would take so much out of us. We would like to formally thank our guide Lisa for a wonderful trip! You made it awesome.

The following day I set out to take on the mountains on my bike. I scoped out a trail to ride that sounded great. The Cameusa connector trail was its name. It was a pretty brutal uphill that seemed to keep going up and up, getting steeper and steeper. The trail guide claimed 2 miles but it was closer to three. Once I got to the connector trail it was all singletrack from there. It had a little of everything that makes mountain biking fun, tight twisty singletrack that just flows and flows with downhills and uphills mixed in for technical and aerobic challenges. I was once again in heaven. This may have been the best trail I have ever ridden!

Santa Barbara was a place that if Sharon and I could afford it (which we probably never will) would love to call home. It had it all, sunny warm weather, mountains and beaches. It had abundant culture, great restaurants and beautiful aesthetics. The brewpub in town however turned out to be average, the beer was alright but nothing spectacular. And we never made it to a dogpark 🙁

Santa Ynez was quaint small town with a lot of personality. We ate a good yet very overpriced Italian place and got a good, yet once again, over priced beer brewed by Firestone. I guess they did not already have enough money they decided to produce beer also. Their double pale ale is a good beer though. We were disappointed because we could not locate the Cold Spring Tavern that night.

NOTE: Either carry a map or reference one before you explore a place you have never been.

Rancho Oso was a great Thousand Trails Preserve that was very apparent the staff there took great pride in keeping nice. If in the area it is a must go-to-preserve.

More photos from L.A. >>

The drive into L.A. hit a glitch with a blowout on the 10. If you have never been to California they refer to all their highways as “the”. For example we took the 10 to the 605 to the 105. Luckily it was a rear tire and we have two on each side and we were able to limp to an abandoned store parking lot to work on getting back on the road. It actually was not a huge setback. We located a tire place was just minutes away and the tire was half the price we expected to pay. After only 90 minutes we were back on the road.

We were greeted by a very “active” RV park on Dockweiler Beach, which was literally a parking lot that was converted into an RV park by adding hookups. It was full of old motor homes of all shapes and sizes. We noticed there are so many old class c coaches parked all over the place in Venice and Santa Monica. Seems like the RV has been a hosing choice for many Californians for some years now.

The park was right on the beach, but it was cold and grey! Not what we expecting for June being so accustomed to the warm sunny weather in Florida at this time of year. We have come right at the beginning of what locals refer to as “June Gloom”. Perfect timing right? 🙁 Also no dogs were allowed anywhere near the beach.

The first night we had a great time hanging with my long-time friend Sean. Sean is a fellow photographer who I have been close friends for over 20 years! It was so great to see him and spend time with someone we know. That has been one of the hardest things on this trip is the isolation from good friends. Sean also introduced us to his girlfriend Gina who was a wonderful person, but we did not expect anything less from someone Sean who choose to share his life with. We highly recommend if ever in the Santa Monica area to go enjoy the Farmer’s Market on Sunday. There is great food and produce. You can get a wonderful breakfast there. From Crepes to Sausage sandwiches, they have it all! It was a great call by Sean to go.

The dog park in Santa Monica was not a great experience, so I am not going to go into detail. We are started to be soured on SoCal dog owners. Not all are bad at all by any means, just quite a few bad ones that are not making dog parks there a good experience. Self absorbed attitudes seem to abound in SoCal but that is not news for most I am sure 🙂

We would like to thank Kelly and Alex for a very fun evening on their roof patio eating and sharing time with good friends. It felt so good to feel like we belong somewhere again where people know our name.

The diamond day came when we got the tour of the area by Sean. He took us all over Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. He gave us a tour that many would pay big money to get. We got to have excellent Thai Food at Toi on Sunset Strip. Touring the hills of Hollywood was a blast. The homes were unbelievable, I just cannot imagine how so many people have made so much money!

While winding up Mulholland Drive I spotted a great shoe perched in a perfect spot, and I mean a perfect spot! The hollywood sign was in clear view right behind it, I could not have set it up any better unless I had a f-me pump. But this shoe was almost just a good. Check it out here. We continued to go down Sunset Blvd. to Rodeo Dr. We could not be there and not go down that road. It is so funny to actually see first hand the Paris Hilton wanna-be’s walking down the street. This was right after she went to jail just down the road. We passed by someone who had a “Pray for Paris” sign hanging on a yellow jumpsuit dangling from a tree in their front yard. Good stuff!!

After we got back to the coach the sun was actually breaking through the gloom and lighting up the clouds for our first sunset over the Pacific ocean. We watched it go down with a glass of Shiraz we picked up in New Mexico, bundled up in our Mexican blanket from San Felipe on Dockweiler Beach. It was so awesome. Sharon even spotted a seal that had beached himself for a bit and then he slid back into the surf. Very surreal! Overall we had an awesome time in L.A. area but it was time to move northward.

The traffic gods looked down on us and gave the CruiseMaster smooth passage to Claremont. We stayed at a very nice KOA at the Fairplex in Pomona. We did not have much time to check it out as my Claremont Exhibition was later that day and I had stuff to get ready.&

It was a great location that Shoes That Fit had procured for us to exhibit at Sonja Stump Photography. Sonja was very nice to us and made us feel at home with great hospitality. It was the best looking exhibition we had set up to date. And I took NO photos!! I guess we were just having too much fun. We really enjoyed ourselves and met some great people including Michele, Ronnie and Lee from Shoes That Fit. We want to thank everyone who made our evening a great time. We did not get the traffic we may have liked but it was quality over quantity.

Special thanks to Lee for taking us for a nice breakfast at Walter’s.

Since we were only staying one night we did not get to see much of the area but what we did see we found to be great. The downtown area was alive and had a small town community feel. Everyone we met was very friendly. DR Grubbs is a great place for a quick bite with gourmet food. To fit in with our theme we went to Heros for beer with over 20 on tap. And the Claremont pooch park where I had to help a little girl by literally fending off some huskies who were attacking her little beagle puppy. And the owner was just going to let it happen. Coward! Overall it was a nice park, very well kept and maintained.

NOW OFF TO LOS ANGELES!!

The Fisherman’s Retreat RV Park in Redlands was a mixed bag. At one end of the park there was lush landscaping and well-maintained buildings. The sites were small but level and cement. We were assigned a site along one of the three lakes, we really liked that view. The other side of the park was totally opposite. It was the permanent sites and was filled with a few very well kept sites but mostly was old deteriorating motorhomes and trailers. Pit bulls tied up outside, trash piled everywhere. It was squaller living one might say. Pretty scary over there.

The park was next to foothills and offered numerous mountain biking opportunities. It was so nice to just ride from the motor home out into the hills for great riding. One of the highlights was riding to the top of one of the higher peaks and looking out over the valley as the sun was beginning to set. I saw two coyotes out there and the hawks were screeching overhead, it was quite surreal.

Another small drawback to the park was its close proximity to the railroad tracks and they proved to be quite busy. Probably a train every five minutes or so would rumble by drowning out the TV and any phone conversations we were trying to have, but somehow they did not bother us much when we slept. The nights were still cool so sleeping was still primo 🙂

While riding the hills on mountain bike on evening I came across several solo shoes and even a large pile of discarded shoes that numbered over 20 with only a couple of complete pairs in the mix. I thought it would make a good “find the solo shoes” type of photo. This was the largest pile of shoes I had come across to date.

One day we tried to go into Claremont, which by our calculations would take 45 minutes to get there, but took much longer. In fact we never made it there as we hit bumper-to- bumper traffic 20 miles out and we decided to cut our loses and bail out to head home. We did stumble on a good thai restaurant though after getting off the highway 🙂 The traffic stressed us out because we knew in a day we were going to have to navigate it with the Cruismaster towing our Jeep.