This is the first photo I took at the western end of Eight Mile Road and H&H [formerly Helen & Herman's] Marina, now owned by Houseboats.Com. It shows the Venice Island Ferry, a cable ferry, returning to the the island to pick up an auto waiting to be ferried to the Stockton side of the waterway. Note in the left center that the sun had recently set behind Mount Diablo and a few high thin clouds.
[Click once or twice to see bigger images.] Mount Diablo domination of the skyline to the west brought back memories of similar views on housboating trips of years past.
The second shot is from the dock at the back end of the cafe where we often gassed up or landed if there were other boats already docked in front of the cafe. Of course, when newbies were at the controls they sometimes misjudged the closeness of the dock, perhaps spilling a cup of coffee or two in the cafe. I didn't notice a fish-cleaning station to the right when I walked down to the dock from where I parked my rig on the levee.
The third shot is of the picnic area between front of the cafe and the store.
And the fourth and final shot shows some of the larger houseboats moored at the docks to the left of the store.
Woodward Reservoir County Park is located in the rolling hills to the west of Oakdale [Stanislaus] County Road J14/26 Mile Road and is the most senior-friendly RV park/campground I've encountered so far. Seniors get a full overnight hookup for $10. Rates listed by Tom Stienstra in his 2010 West Coast Camping were $15-23 per night.
Just as I/we had driven past the Woodward turn-off without investigating, I have also driven past the turn-off to Knights Ferry many times without driving down to what is called the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi.
Here's a close-up. Obviously the original boards have been replaced several times since the bridge was originally built. But the reason for covering a bridge was to increase its life by shielding it from the elements. [Don't believe there's a covered bridge at Knights Landing further north in the Sierra foothills, but the two locations are sometimes confused.]
Took this shot of two large birds in the top of a tree near the covered bridge using the zoom so that I could see what color their beaks. The white or yellow confirms that they were buzzards or vultures -- which one invariably sees when driving from Sonora to Oakdale.
When I asked a young fellow at Burger King if there were any RV campgrounds on SR108 other than at Sugar Pine he said that Sonora Fairgrounds had an RV Park. Apparently the Mother Lode Fair Association is trying to derive some additional income from the vacant fairgrounds when it's not fair season. Cost was $20 for a partial hookup (electricity); if I understand correctly, it costs $25 to connect to water, which is at each side. But the additional $5 covers use of the dump station.
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