As most of you know I am a planner when it comes to our travels. One of the things I hate more than anything is pulling into a RV park or campground and being told that there is no room at the inn. So I plan our stops and 95% of the time we have made a reservation so we don’t run into the hassle of trying to find a place at the last minute.
I had tried to make a reservation at Travis AFB some time a go and they wouldn’t make one for us. The gal that works in the park said there were so many people there that they couldn’t figure it all out so they just stopped taking any reservations. What? We think they need some adult supervision.
Our friends Rick and Patty Stills are at the Dixon May Fair RV Park so we called them to see if any sites were available there. Rick said there was plenty of room so Joyce jumped in the car and headed down there while I finished getting the rig ready to go. We got a site right next to Rick and Patty’s with full-hookups for $30 a night.
April 2, 2017
Yesterday Joyce and I had breakfast with Joe and Lori Martin at Bud’s Bar and Grill here in Dixon. Joyce has known Lori for many years and Joe and I go back to our days working together at the 60th Airlift Wing Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation at Travis AFB. It is always fun to meet up with them.
April 4, 2017
On Sunday we made the move back to Calistoga with me driving the RV and Joyce driving the Honda. We’ll be here for four days this time and then head back down to Dixon for a five day stay.
Yesterday we picked up Joyce’s mother and went out to her brother and sister-in-law’s home in Conn Valley outside of St. Helena. Joann made a delicious chicken enchilada supper and then we had one of her famous cherry pies for desert. Not loosing any weight here that’s for sure.
April 8, 2017
Our stay at Calistoga went by way too fast as always . On Thursday the 6th we left the RV park around 9AM and made our way back to the Dixon May Fair RV Park for another visit with Rick and Patty Stills.
The day before yesterday I bumped into the control panel for our inverter system and the darned thing quit working. This exact thing happened a few weeks ago and after doing some trouble shooting, I finally removed the panel from the wall, disconnected the data/power cable, waited a few seconds and plugged it back in. The panel rebooted and everything worked good. This time I did the same thing and had no luck getting it working.
I called Magnum Power’s technical support and they had me doing some additional troubleshooting as well. Rick and I went down to the hardware store and I got a new cable, took the controller out to the inverter and plugged it in, bypassing the cable into the rig. It still didn’t work so we believe the controller is bad. Ordered one through Amazon Prime for shipment to Beale AFB, our next stop.
Last night the four of us along with Rick’s son Matthew went down to Bud’s Pub and Grill for supper. Joyce and I used to go there a lot when we were living in Vacaville and have enjoyed their food. Last night’s supper was outstanding.
April 13, 2017
On Sunday the 9th, several of Rick and my Air Force buddies came by the park for a visit. We had a great time telling stories and just enjoying seeing each other again. Hope we can do that again next year.
Johnny Patrick, Rick Stills, Tim Nichols, Fergie Ferguson, Klint Ramsey and yours truly.
Rick, Terry Stenz and Me.
Monday morning Rick and Patty packed up and headed out for their trip back to their home in Rathdrum, ID. Joyce and I were sad to see them got but we’ll see then again in the fall on our way up to Glacier National Park.
On Tuesday it was our turn to leave Dixon and head up to Beale AFB near Marysville, CA. The run up was fairly easy in moderate traffic and we’re now set up in the Famcamp with a full-hookup site for only $18 a night.
The inverter control panel was waiting for us at the office when we got here and I got that installed. However, three of the little buttons that are used to setup and adjust the inverter system had fallen down below the face. I can turn the system and charger on and off but I can’t fine tune the inverter. I got on the phone with the company that supplied it to Amazon hoping that they would just ship me a new one but that didn’t work out so good. The solution was to just order a new one from Amazon prime and then send the this one back for a refund. That will all happen today…hopefully.
Yesterday we drove over to Nevada City to visit our friends Jerry and Marilyn Howlett at their beautiful home. We met them nine years ago at the Oregon State Park’s Host Orientation in Salem and have been hosting with them at Smith Rock State Park every year since.
After visiting for a while and having lunch they took us on a tour of the area which included a stop at the Empire Mine State Historic Park where they volunteer two days a week.
Jerry and Marilyn gave us a fascinating personal tour of the mine and grounds.
The owner's cottage.
All the gold that was taken out of the mine would have fit in this square.
This is they was the miner's were tansported into the mine.
After the great earthquake in San Francisco, the mine's owner bought all of the rail lines steel and used it for shoring. This is a picture of a small portion.
More (and better) pictures of the Empire Mine: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=empire+mine+pictures&qpvt=empire+mine+pictures&qpvt=empire+mine+pictures&qpvt=empire+mine+pictures&FORM=IGRE
After we left there we stopped at Marshall’s Pasties in Grass Valley to get one of them. A Pastie (pronounced “Past-e”) is a traditional food brought to the mining areas by the early Cornish settlers from Cornwall, England. They are flaky baked pies that are rolled and crimped and filled with fresh vegetables, including potatoes, onions, parsley and a meat. And yes, at first I pronounced the word a tad differently.
To top off a wonderful day Jerry and Marilyn took us to dinner at Casa Las Katarinas. Thank you Jerry and Marilyn for the wonderful day.
April 17, 2017
On Friday the 14th I drove over to Penn Valley and met up with Mike and Sylvie Kemp. Mike and I were stationed together in the 7th MAS at Travis AFB for many years and he now is a flight engineer for 10 Tanker, the company that flies DC-10’s that drop fire retardant. Mike said it's fun. Hmmm......
On Sunday we packed up and headed north to Win-River Casino in Redding, CA, a place we have stayed several times. The RV parking is pretty much a large parking lot with hookups but it works for us,
After getting setup we went to the casino’s restaurant for their Easter brunch. The food was just OK and way over priced at $27 each. Won’t do that one again.
This morning we left Redding about 10AM and made the trip in off and on rain to Valley of the Rouge State Park near Rouge City, OR. Joyce and I have stayed here several times and in fact, we hosted at the park several years ago. Using our Oregon Disabled Veterans Pass our stay here is free with only an $8 registration fee. By-the-way, Oregon extends this benefit to all disabled veterans, not just to Oregon residents. Learn more and how to apply here: http://oregonstateparks.org/?do=v.page&id=19
Michele and Family, Harold, Skyler and Abigail, Easter Sunday.
Barry & Joyce
