March 25 to April 10, 2005 - Heading North in CA and OR

The Escapade was over so we drove north to Diane's sister Misty's house in Hesperia, CA on March 25th, it was 201 miles.  This time we drove on the east side of the Salton Sea, just to see that area from the road.  We were just able to make out "Salvation Mountain" in the distance while we traveled north.  We parked on the driveway at Misty's, that way Diane's parents could take off before we did:

We had a good visit and on the morning of the 28th Diane's parents took off and we moved in by the house with full hookups.  This was the first time we had the choice spot:

Simba, Misty's golden retriever, was thrilled since he loves the company and greets you as you go back and forth between the motorhome and house.

The 29th was our turn to leave so we said our good byes and drove to Bakersfield, CA.  Diane's parents had called to say they hit high wind and some snow going over Tehachapi pass on the 28th so we were a bit worried, but waiting a day the weather was fine.  After 142 miles we were parked at the Bakersfield Elks lodge with 30AMP electric:

Since this is the first time we had stopped in Bakersfield we drove around a bit and explored, but we needed to keep moving so we didn't explore very much. 

On the 30th we drove 223 miles north to French Camp Golf and RV Resort in Manteca, CA for a two day stay.  Here is our campsite:

We found the Strings Italian restaurant for dinner, a place we had tried about 10 years earlier, and it was still quite good. 

The next day we drove up into the gold country to revisit where Bill used to visit his godfather when he lived in Twain Harte, CA.  We took CA120 and hooked up to CA108 on the way out.  We didn't get as far as Twain Harte, we stopped in Sonora for lunch and then headed to Columbia, which is both a town and a state park:

Bill remembered that they used to stage bank robberies every day, but that must have stopped a while back.  Diane had also been here in her youth.  We enjoyed visiting and headed back to Manteca, this time taking CA4.

On April Fools Day we drove 150 miles to our friend's Jayne and Bill, who we met while camped in Las Cruces, NM in March 2004.  They lived in a very nice house in Paradise, CA.  We parked in front of their motorhome, which they had covered, and had to put a lot of blocks on the ground because it was so soft from the rains:

They had been sending us lots of pictures of their 4-wheeling adventures and showed us even more while we were visiting.  We were supposed to stay two nights, but the weather went really bad and we stayed three.  Here is a picture of them taken in Sept 2004 while they were 4-wheeling in Ouray, CO, they sent us this picture in email:

Whenever they talk about their adventures they got those big grins on.

April 4 the weather was much better so we said good bye and headed 225 miles to Pear Tree RV Resort in Phoenix, OR, just south of Medford:

We had been trying about every campground in the Medford area and none were that great, but this one was about the best of them.

On April 5 we drove 176 miles and camped at Cummins in Coburg, OR for our annual chassis maintenance:

On the 6th we told them the motorhome was heading to Alaska so they said they would check a few more items.  We went out and bought replacement bikes for the ones stolen in Imperial Beach, CA.  Eugene is a big bicycle city, so we knew there were plenty of bike shops in the area.  Once the motorhome was ready we were ready to camp and checked into Eugene Kamping World, which we also stayed at in September 2004.  Here is our campsite with the bikes on the back of the car:

We took the bikes to one of the nice trails in Eugene along the river and made sure we were happy and we were.  Bill's bike was the same model as he had previously with a nicer seat.  Diane's was one model lower than the one she had before.

We went out to Sweetwaters for Diane's birthday, it was good but not up to the $80 price tag. 

On the 8th we drove up to see our friend Mike and his furry friend Mac in Portland, OR.  We stopped at Camping World on the way since they had 12volt freezers on sale, something we wanted to have for our trip to Alaska.  Here is our campsite after 117 miles:

We were at Columbia River RV Resort, which is close to the airport, where Mike lives in his motorhome:

We actually drove I-5 through the city this time, we normally bypass on I-205 but the campground was close to I-5. 

While in Portland Bill installed the freezer, he had to add a 12volt receptacle:

The freezer runs on either 120volt or 12volt and switches automatically. 

We had a good visit and tried various restaurants.  We can recommend McMenamins, which is in an old school, it was quite nice.

Between rains we were able to get one good bike ride in while in Portland.

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