Modesto Reservoir, CA
One year ago I left Jim Tripp's spread near Castroville and drove north; because I had never been to the Napa Valley I headed for Calistoga. Since then my travels have taken me through parts of the southwestern states, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah as well as Oregon.
One of my primary goals was to visit as many National Parks, Monuments, etc. as possible along with state parks where the costs seemed reasonable. Will include some of the photos I've taken along the way like the one to the right taken on 23 April of El Capitan from the floor of Yosemite -- a place I visited for the first time this year despite making numerous backpack trips all around the populous valley floor.
During the 12 months I've been on the road I've put over 26,000 miles on my new Ford F250, a 3/4-ton pickup. And I've learned how to use virtually everything in the camper except the shower, for which one needs to be as thin as Twiggy. [Yes, there's an outside shower attachment for which one can presumably heat up the water, but I eschewed that also.]
The ski area on top of my mountain north of Tucson, Mt. Lemmon. [Actually it's name after amateur botonist Sarah Lemmon, who was largely responsible for the selection of the Golden Poppy as California's State Flower.]
The entrance to the "lowest golf course in the U.S.A. No, that doesn't mean everyone shoot under par, but rather because it's located in Death Valley National Park. [One can only wonder what the sand traps are like!]
Since California and Oregon received above-normal rain and snowfall last winter, poor Zion N.P. only had "skinny waterfalls" like the one above my camper.
Unless the stock market continues to fall, forecasting even more contraction in the economy, gasoline price seem stuck around $3.50/gallon for unleaded. Hence, my plan for the next 12 months is to spend more time in one place, particularly if I can dry-camp (aka, boon-dock) for free or at a campground where I get half price.
The eastern side of the Sierra Nevada from near Independence on 1 April.
Though I have to be back in California for a Lemmon Clan reunion in Fort Bragg in July or August, I plan to spend the rest of the summer in the winter wheat belt, which runs from Texas up to Montana.
A neck-bending look at the biggest tree (by volume) in the world: the General Sherman Sequoia.
There's also a possibility that the Santa Cruz High School Class of 1957 will have a 55th Reunion next summer.
Another massive tree: a valley oak in California's Indian Grinding Rock State Park.
Finally, I hope during the next 12 months to update all of the genealogy web sites I created and/or maintained.
Most people would give an incorrect answer when asked where the only U.S. Army general was killed during the Indian Wars. No, it wasn't Custer, who was temporarily a General at the Little Big Horn, but rather it was Gen. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby who was talking with Captain Jack of the Modocs under a white flag of truce in what is now the Lava Beds National Monument. Captain Jack and two others of his band were hanged shortly thereafter.
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Links:
- Wikipedia article on Gen. E.R.S. Canby
Sa 19 Nov Actual Route: Dos Reis County Park - Stockton - Linden - Woodward Reservoir
Su 20 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Reservoir - Oakdale - Woodward Reservoir
M 21 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Reservoir - Oakdale - Riverbank - Modesto - Modesto Reservoir
T 22 Nov Actual Route: Modesto Reservoir - Waterford - Modesto - Modesto Reservoir
W 23 Nov Actual Route: Modesto Reservoir - Waterford - Modesto - Riverbank - Oakdale - Woodward Reservoir
Th 24 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Reservoir - Oakdale - Woodward Reservoir
F 25 Nov Actual Route: Woodward Reservoir - Oakdale - Sonora - N.F. Tuolumne River
Sa 26 Nov Actual Route: N.F. Tuolumne River - Sonora - Frogtown RV Park
Su 27 Nov Route: Frogtown RV Park - Angels Camp - Murphys - Angels Camp - San Andreas - Valley Springs - New Hogan Reservoir Campground
M 28 Nov Actual Route: New Hogan Resv CG - Valley Springs - San Andreas - New Hogan Resv CG
T 29 Nov Actual Route: New Hogan Resv CG - Mokelumne Hill - Martell - Sutter Creek
W 30 Nov Route: Sutter Creek
Finding Campgrounds:
- RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
- Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com
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