A visit with Bob And Cards.

Friday.

Bob’s Place.

I got to Bob’s place around 11:30. He was working in his yard trying to break down an old stump in one of his garden enclosures.

He took a break and we sat around for a while visiting.
After  bit we went over to where he is working and he talked me through his garden plans.
He is also building a closed in chicken yard.
You can get all the details at his blog “Bobs Eyes”.

A Jeep Ride in the Redwoods.

Bob’s family has a large chunk of land that is very hilly and covered in Redwoods. There are several dirt trails winding around and over the hills.

We decided to take a jeep ride in the Redwoods.

Our first stop was at their water tanks. I can’t remember if Bob told me that these tanks held 8 thousand Gallons or 80,000 but either way they have a lot of water storage. And all the water comes from the springs Bob has developed in the hills.

 

Small Roads.

We left the water tanks and followed this narrow road.

At one place a big Fir tree had fallen . Bob just built a temporary road over the tree.

It looks a little narrow but it is passable.

Top of the Hill.

Eventually we wound our way through the trees and made it to the top of the hill.
Here we have a view of the valley where the town of Guerneville sits.

Wild Flowers.

Spring is in full bloom up here. The yellow ones are Monkey flowers.

Wild Lilac.

Back Down the Hill.

We headed back down the hill and stopped where Bob’s brother is cutting firewood.

On the way back to Bob’s house we stopped to check out Bob’s brother’s chicken setup.

Lizard Fight.

Once we were back at Bob’s place we sat around for a while and noticed these two lizards fighting.

You might notice that the darker one is missing the end of his tail. It was lost during this battle.

I left Bob to finish his work and headed home around 4:30.

It was a fun visit.

Saturday.

We invited Joanne, Dave and our friend Loraine to come over this afternoon to play cards.
Of course that meant we spent the morning doing house work.

They arrived around 2:00 and after visiting for a while we decided to play cards.
This is a different game than what we play in Quartzsite. Down there we play a game called 5 Crowns.
This game is called Jokers Rummy. It is a lot of fun.

After the first game we took a break for supper.
We all got into Patti’s car and went to Ozzie Burgers, an old fashioned burger place not far away.

When we got back home we visited for a while.
I cut up the frozen Razzleberry Pie that I baked and we had dessert.
After dessert Loraine went home. Joanne, Dave, Patti and I played another game of Jokers Rummy. J&D left around 9:15.

Another good day.

Just Puttering.

Van Breaks.

One of the things that I had to get done, was to fix the leaking break line.
Last summer I tried to fix this but had problems with the double flair on the end of the line.  After several attempts I finally got a line that fit but the flairs weren’t any good so it leaked.
At that time I decided to let it go for the winter and fix it when I got home this summer. Since the Flaring tool that I bought wasn’t any good I decided to have the line professionally made.

I took the original piece of brake line to Chucks Brake and Wheel  to have a new one made.
The guy said to leave the sample with him and come back in an hour.

An hour later I was back and they had the ends flared and the fittings on the line but it wasn’t bent to shape. One of the guys bent it while I was there but it wasn’t quite right. The long end was just slightly too long. I didn’t  know that when I picked it up.

After a lot off tweaking, I managed to get the line installed and it doesn’t leak.

I took a test ride to see if I was able to fix the high speed stuttering. I got on the freeway and got the van to about 65 mph.  I punched it to the floor and the van slowed down and I could here it missing through the exhaust noise.
It was actually running a little better than it was when I worked on it last summer so I think I am on the right track. I am pretty sure that the problem is caused by the throttle position censer.

Puttering in the Back Yard. 

We are going to have a party for Patti’s Birthday in a couple of weeks.

We are hoping that the weather is good because we are planning the party theme to be an Outside Picnic with burgers, hot dog’s and salads. Therefore I have been getting the yard in shape and getting our old grill working again.

Okay, that’s about it.

Ride to the Cabin.

The Plan

We decided to take a ride to the cabin on Friday. Joanne and Dave were to meet us up there.
We left Santa Rosa around 9:00. It was a pretty ride through the hills as everything is nice and green right now.

Stop at the Store.

We stopped at the Booneville Market to buy sandwiches to take to the cabin for our lunch. As we pulled in front of the store we saw J&D’s truck there. They were also getting sandwiches for their lunch.

Once we had our sandwiches J&D followed us to the cabin.

At the Cabin.

When we got to the cabin, the first thing we did was go inside.

This is what we found.

Dirty dishes all over the counter. The floor looked like it hadn’t been swept in the six months we were gone. There was mouse crap everywhere.
It was pretty disgusting.
We know who the culprits are, it’s the owners son, Leon and his buddies.
They are a bunch of slobs and have no respect for anything. They leave garbage in the cabin and in the dining hall. They leave tools laying around outside. They even stole one of my Colman lanterns.
Unfortunately there is little we can do since he is the owner’s son.

About all we can do is clean the place up so we can use it.
We spent most of the day picking up stuff and cleaning

This is how the cabin looked after Patti cleaned up.

This is how we like to see it when we arrive. We don’t like to have to spend a day cleaning up other peoples crap.

Okay, that was our trip to the cabin.

The New Water Heater.

Buy a Water Heater.

Around 9:30 Patti and I drove to Home Depot and found the water heater we wanted. The space where the heater goes is very tight so we had to get a small unit. The one we got has a 29 gallon tank, four more gallons than the old one.
The space where the heater will go is only 18 inches wide and the new water heater has a 16 inch diameter. Perfect!!
We took the heater home in the back of Patti’s Trailblazer.

The Installation.

The installation went pretty well. I only had to make two runs for parts.

My Grandson Harvey was visiting so when it came time to lift the water heater I enlisted his help. I am glad that he was here because I couldn’t have lifted the heater by myself.
By about 4:00 the heater was hooked up and making hot water.

Okay, that was the water heater installation.

Broken Stuff.

 

First Thing.

The first thing that I did when we got home on Saturday was to turn on the: water, gas and electricity.
Next I lit the pilot light on our very old water heater.

I think this water heater is the original one that was installed when the house was built 67 years ago. The new ones last about 10 years if you’re lucky.

I lit the pilot and the heater started like always so I went about my business.

The Next Thing.

A couple hours later I decided to get the TV going. We always have to reinitialize the receiver after being gone for 6 months. We also have to call Direct TV to have them set up the local channels.

I picked up the remote to turn on the set but it didn’t work.
“Dead battery”, I thought so I put new batteries in the remote. It still doesn’t work.
What the heck?
I thought about it for a while then went to the RV and got the remote we use there; it’s a Direct TV remote so I figured that it would run the receiver in the house.
The remote worked on the receiver but it won’t control the TV. That’s ok because we can use the TV remote for that.
Okay, so after calling Direct TV and getting the local channels programed we were good to go. I’ll have to get another remote.

Sunday Morning.

When I got up Sunday morning and went to take a shower I found that the hot water wasn’t very hot. If I only turned on the hot water it was just warm enough to take a shower so I went ahead and showered.
When I was dressed I went to the garage and took a look at the water heater. The Pilot light was off. I tried several times to get the pilot to work but no go. It will light but as soon as I try to start the burner the pilot goes out. I found that if I use a propane torch I can get the burner to light but as soon as the water gets up to temp and the burner shuts down the pilot also goes off.
I think it is about time to change the water heater.

Checking out Water Heaters.

We went to a couple places to look at new water heaters. Man, they have gotten pretty expensive.
For a 30 gallon heater it runs from four to six hundred dollars and they only have a six year warrantee.
We decided which one we wanted but didn’t buy it at that time.

Need a Stand.

The new code for water heaters states that they have to be 18 inches off the floor. I will have to build a stand to put a new heater on.
I spent Monday on that project and here is the result.

It’s all painted and ready to go.

Today (Tuesday) we are going to get the new heater and I will see if I can get it installed in one day. There is a lot of stuff that will have to be modified to get it installed.

Okay that is where things stand as of this morning. I’ll let you know how this works out.

Winnemucca to Santa Rosa.

Easy Drive.

We got out of the Model T RV park in Winnemucca about 9:00.
I stopped at the Flying J to top up the gas tank and we hit the road.

The drive was pretty easy, not much traffic and the weather was fine.
Even the traffic in Reno moved along nicely.
We stopped at Boomtown just to top off the tank again.

One more stop at a rest area on the west side of the Sierras for lunch and a short break.

The traffic wasn’t to bad until we got west of Sacramento  then there were several slow down’s for no apparent reason. We got home around 4:30.

Okay that was the trip home and I’m glad it is over.

Ely, NV to Winnemucca, NV.

Leaving Ely.

Becky and Dennis left Ely around 8:00 Friday morning. They wanted to get as far north as possible.
Patti and I had planned to spend one more day in Ely.
We sat around for an hour or so. We checked the weather forecast again and found that if we didn’t leave Ely today we would probably have to stay in Reno for about three days as there is another storm coming to the Sierras. We were on the road by 10:00.

The Drive.

We drove north on 93 from Ely to Wells. You can see the snow on the mountains that has accumulated over the last couple of days and the clouds that are dumping more.

It was kind of windy and we got nocked around a bit but by 12:00 we were in Wells, Nevada.  We filled the gas tank at Wells and got on I-80 heading west. Our plan is to spend tonight in Winnemucca and drive from here to Santa Rosa. It is about an eight hour drive.

Okay, That’s it for now. My next post should be from home.

Heading Home. A day in Ely, Nevada.

Ely, Nevada.

We are spending a couple of days in Ely, Nevada .
Yesterday was very cold and windy. We spent most of the day indoors.
Around noon we took a ride through Ely just to have something to do and looking for a grocery store.

We drove through the town on Highway 50.

When we got to the end of town we took a right turn to go around the block. At the next cross street we noticed this Saloon and Brothel.

We continued around the block and drove back on 50.
When we came to Hwy.93 we turned east. A few blocks down the road we came to Ridley’s grocery store.
We stopped and shopped.

When we walked out of the store we walked into a small snow storm.

We drove back to the RV park…

and spent the rest of the day indoors and keeping warm.

Supper.

We went to the Prospector Hotel’s restaurant for dinner. Everyone enjoyed their food.

It is Time to Go.

There are a couple of storm’s coming through and we have to decide whether to leave today (Friday) or wait another day.

After checking the weather it looks like we should leave here today, spend the night in Winnemucca and try to make it from Winnemucca to Santa Rosa on Saturday.

Moab, Utah to Ely, Nevada.

Weather Issues.

Our plan was to drive from Moab, Utah to Ely, Nevada on the first day. Then we would continue on highway 50 to Boomtown, Nevada.

Unfortunately the weather forecast for the Ely, Nevada area was calling for high winds, rain and snow.

Leaving Moab.

We met Becky and Dennis at the Lyons Park at the north end of town.
From there, we drove north on 191. Eventually we came to I-70 where we headed west.

I saw a sign that said something about a reef. I assume this is what it was referring to.

Here is another view of the “reef”.

I-70 goes over about three passes that are over 6,000 feet. The rocks and canyons that the highway goes through are pretty cool.

From the summit of the last pass you get a nice view to the west.

As you come down the grade you can see the highway laid out before you.

Snow in the Mountains.

The mountains to the west are snow covered.

Ely.

We arrived in Ely around 4:30 PDT. A drive of about seven hours. We were all pooped.
We pulled into the Prospector Hotel, Casino and RV park’s RV park.

We found two spots that would fit our RV’s so we settled in. Once we were hooked up we went into the hotel to register.
After registering, we went into the restaurant for dinner. Patti, Becky and Dennis had hamburgers and commented on how good they were.
I had a Chimichanga. It was also very good and the prices were very reasonable.

The wind has been blowing hard the whole time and is forecast to continue to blow for the next couple of days. Patti and I decided to stay at least two nights in Ely to let the weather improve. We may stay longer if it doesn’t improve by then.
Also, I am pretty tired of diving and could use a day off.

Okay that was the ride from Moab to Ely.
When we leave Ely we will probably drive north on 93 to Wells, Nevada, get on I-80 and follow it home as there is still snow forecast for the mountains on highway 50.

Onion Creek and Thompson Canyon.

The Trail.

This ride will take us on two trails. Onion Creek and Thompson Canyon. The whole ride is very scenic.  The views start as you leave Moab and don’t stop.

Getting There.

We gathered at the north end of town and headed north on 191.
When we got to the intersection of 191 and 128 we turned onto 128 and followed it Northeast along the Colorado River.

 

We followed the river for 22 miles to the turnoff for Onion creek.

We stopped to air down and then headed into the canyon. On this ride we will cross the creek 28 times.

This canyon has some really nice rock formations.

A Great Spot for a Ranch.

You come out of the canyon a see this large cattle ranch in a high valley.

We drove along the edge of the ranch enjoying the views.

Thompson Canyon.

We turned off this trail and onto the Thompson Canyon trail. We climbed a steep hill and started down the other side through a set of steep switchbacks…

into another beautiful canyon.

The Hideout.

Along this trail is a place called the Hideout. I don’t know who hid here but the place could use a little renovation.

More Views.

We left the hideout and continued our scenic drive.

In the Trees.

Eventually we climbed high enough that we entered a zone of pine trees.

From here we has a superb view if the peaks of the La Sal Mountains.

From up here we can see into the valley where the ranch is.

As we climbed higher we encounter some snow on the side of the road.

Lunch and a Break Down.

We stopped for lunch at a cross road. If we turn right it will take us through Castle Valley and back to Moab if we turn left it will take us to a place called Polar Mesa.

As we pulled onto a flat spot we could hear some loud squeaking coming from Dennis K’s jeep.
It turned out that the front universal joint on the front drive shaft had gone bad.
He decided to remove the joint and tie the front drive shaft up once we got to the pavement.

We had our lunch and headed down the road that will take us back to Moab.
Eventually we came to the pavement at a large turnout where there was a restroom and a nature trail.

We pulled into the parking area and Dennis K. got under his jeep and pulled the universal joint and tied the shaft up out of the way.

Dinosaur Tracks.

While Dennis was working on his jeep the rest of us aired our tires up, Patti took a walk along the trail and found this sign.

Not far from the sign she found the Dino tracks.

Castle Valley.

Once Dennis had his driveshaft taken care of we headed down through Castle Valley.

This is Castle Rock.

Eventually we were back on 128 heading for Moab.

That was an awesome Drive.

The Last Supper.

At 5:00 we all gathered at the Sunset Grill for our last meal together.
The food was good but a bit pricey. We all enjoyed the meal and at the end said our goodbyes with vows to meet again in Quartzsite in the Fall.

Flat Iron Mesa.

Getting There.

We met at the Shell station at the south end of town and by 9:00 were on the road.
We drove south for about 15 miles.

We drove past the Hole In The Rock.

On top of the rock is this mock Jeep.

A mile or so past the rock we tuned west onto a dirt road. We stopped to air down and hit the trail.

The Trail.

Flat Iron Mesa is another of the trails that the Easter Jeep Safari runs so it gets pretty tore up.

It starts out pretty nice but before long we start getting into the tough stuff.

There are some steep up hill climbs…

with nice views from the top.

And steep down hills with loose rocks to keep you on your toes.

Some of the trail is smooth sandy road.

At other places, there are some steep rock climb challenges.

And scary downhill slick rock.

The Shoot.

The first major obstacle is called the Shoot. It is a very steep waterfall.

There was no way that a jeep without front and rear lockers has a chance of making it to the top of this one so I took the bypass.

This Time I Get to Tow Other Jeeps Up the Falls.

The other guys lined their jeeps up at the bottom.

The women got out and climbed up the shoot to watch.

We hooked the strap to the back of my Jeep and once the guys got as far as they could I would pull them over the top.

Dennis M was first and almost made it without any assistance but couldn’t quite do it.

I had to tow him the last little bit.

The next one to try was Bill, he didn’t get quite as far as Dennis before I had to tow him up.

Then it was Dennis K turn.

He got a little farther than Bill but still had to be towed.

It is kind of fun towing someone else for  change.

More Nice Trail.

After leaving the shoot we got onto another stretch of smooth trail.

Back in the Rocks.

Of course it wasn’t long before we were back on the rocks.

The trail goes up and to the left.

A steep down hill and Dennis is out checking the trail.

It looks good so down we go.

Another interesting climb.

Lunch.

It was a nice bright day but the wind was very cold so we found a place out of the wind to have lunch.

Nice Views.

After lunch we continued on. We got some nice views of the canyons along the trail.

Here is a view of the La Sal Mountains.

Many, Mo and Jack.

Patti called these three rocks; Larry, Mo and Curly.

Easter Egg Hill.

Here we are going through the squeeze at the top of Easter Egg Hill.

After the squeeze is a steep rocky down hill grade.

The Intimidator.

The next major obstacle is called the Intimidator. And believe me, it is intimidating.
It is a very tight squeeze around a rock on a very narrow shelf with about a thousand foot drop on the right.

I spotted for Dennis M and he made it look easy. Then Dennis spotted for the rest of us.

Here is Bill’s turn.

Then Dennis M.

Then it was my turn.

You can see the drop off  to the left of front passenger tire.

That was the last major obstacle.

The Ride Back to the Highway.

From the Intimidator it was a fairly easy ride to the highway.
Just a few small ledges to slow us down.

All the way back we could see the beautiful La Sal’s.

Once we were back to the highway we aired up the tires and headed for Moab. The plan is to stop at the Moab Brewery and have a couple of beers and snacks. Which we did.

Another interesting and fun day.