What: Jackson Airstream Rally Where: Jackson Rancheria RV resort When: October 5-10th 2017 Probably the biggest rally for the relatively unstructured Northern California Airstreamers. The group is very casual, no officers or dues. A wagonmaster volunteers to host a rally, they do all the legwork to make reservations, gather names and registration fees, and deal with the inevitable changes and cancellations. Because they want to. An amazing group of folks.

What: Annual Family camping trip Where: Mcarthur-Burney Falls State Park, Burney, California Stops: Durango RV Resort, Red Bluff, California When: May 23-30th, 2017 Description: My wife’s family has been doing an annual camping trip on Memorial day weekend for over 50 years. When I started going, I didn’t really call it camping, because the park has bathrooms and showers. I was really more interested in camping in remote areas that I’d use my 4wd to trek into.

We arrived at our final stop Friday, the Airstream Rally at Pinnacles National Park. We’d planned to stay here 4 nights, but Sydnee got really sick. She spent Saturday in Serenity with a fever, all the covers, and the dogs. We left first thing Sunday morning. Good thing, she got sicker on return, saw the doctor to get some strong cough medicine and an inhaler, and nearly caught pneumonia!

Campground was tight, muddy, had people coming/going late and early, and a development right next door was getting roofing installed. At 7am. With radios and compressors. And one of those inconsiderate neighbors that for some reason needs to start their loud diesel truck in the morning, and run it for 30 minutes, not hooked up to the trailer. What is up with that? Also, not cheap. Might have been the most expensive KOA on the trip.

We’d been a stone’s through from here before, on day two, when we stayed at the Barstow KOA (which is closer to Calico than Barstow). Got here early so we could spend the afternoon at the “Ghost Town”. Helpful hint, admission is free if you camp at their campground! The campground is huge, mostly dirt, clean bathrooms. Sites vary a lot, from not too shabby to packed in. If the campground were full, it’d be unpleasant, but there were only a handful of other campers while we were there.

I’d never been near the Salton Sea. Saw it on travel shows, where everything looked dead and falling apart, and locals looked like folks who’d moved there, then couldn’t leave. That was not what we found. Yes, the water-oriented businesses were closed and abandoned, but there were a lot of newer well maintained houses, a lot of residents, but obviously 1/10th or less the potential population, the roads and layout were designed for way more houses.

Visited my sister, niece, step-nephew and great nephew. Good times, camped in front of my nieces’ house, which was convenient. Had a great visit hanging out, visiting town, sampling beers. I have remarkably few photos, will have to look into that. All I took was a picture of food! Also, got to eat Sushi!

Drove through rain all day long. Found a spot just outside Yuma, in Winterhaven. It was crowded, lots of long-term folks, was really soggy, sites were small, and one trailer had something beeping 3-5 times a second for our entire stay. Had to play the stereo at night to help drown out the beeping. Oh, and the mens restroom, just down the way, was out of service when we arrived. Was working again when we left, probably rain related.

Stopped by to visit relatives in Mesa. Had a lovely visit, fun dinner, great breakfast, then we hit the road again!

Had a great time visiting with Frank and Steph. Good and cheap margaritas at the KOA Cantina Plus, they had a decent selection of Pinball! They took us to the Sonoran Desert Museum, a place we’ll have to return to. Raptor free-flight, two aviaries, tons of native plants. So much to see and learn, in a really well laid out park. The cafeteria was surprisingly good too. Really well made evolution sculpture:

Day three – Barstow to Tucson – 9 hours, 494 miles We got a great spot at the Tucson KOA. Had a gas fireplace, a nice table, and two adirondack chairs. The campground was clean, really well run, had a fitness center, a Cantina with decent and reasonably priced food and a great happy hour for drinks. Also lots of varied activities, including live music. It also has 400 sites, which we thought would be crazy, but the layout and organization made it a non-issue.

Day two: Fairfield to Barstow – 6.5 hours, 430 miles The door issue meant we had to do two long travel days, with no side trips, so today was just a long drive, and an after dark arrival. Campground was convenient, but we didn’t really time to look around. One note, the Chevron near here, by Calico Ghost Town, is convenient, but had the most expensive fuel we found on the entire trip.

Summary: 14 Days 2876 Miles driven 54 Hours driving 12.5 MPG average (14.7 MPG Max, 8.5 MPG Min) 53 MPH average General driving observations: California roads are terrible. Just terrible. Other states would post “rough road ahead” on nearly every California highway. Drivers in any semi-urban area are terrible, are always in a great hurry, and you can predict them cutting you off and slamming on their brakes to take an exit, rather than losing 2 seconds and doing it safely.

We’d been seriously looking at trailers and RV’s for about 3 years. We’d gone to RV shows, and realized there were a ton of trailers, all more or less the same. Then, there were Airstreams. A lot of things, like appliances and fixtures are identical, there was something just a bit more special about them. But, part of them being special was them being twice the cost. So, we just kept looking, didn’t expect we’d get anything soon.

Every Memorial Day weekend for the last 43 years, my wife’s family has gone camping. It started as a Sportsmen’s club event with her Dad, and became a family tradition. At some point, the location her family settled on was Burney Falls State Park. A lovely park with hiking and tons of stocked fishing nearby, perfect since her whole family love to fish. Mostly catch and release, but a few trout are eaten as well.

Went for breakfast with my daughter, ended up taking her to get a new tire for her car since one had gone flat. Great breakfast, then off to home! Had a great trip, but was ready to be home again. Road trip Summary: Days on road: 21 Driving days: 14 Miles driven: 6640 States visited: 11 States I’d never visted before: 5 State border crossings: 17 Oil changes: 1 2+ day cities: Austin, New Orleans, Santa Fe Cans of Red Bull consumed: 15 Food/beverages called Hand Grenades consumed: 2 BBQ meals consumed: 6

Had breakfast in Ely, then off to Reno. Another great drive across the Great Basin today as well. And, did a quick stop at the shoe tree on Hwy 50. Stayed at the El Dorado in Vegas, nice inexpensive rooms, sushi with my daughter and her roomate at a great local sushi place. Then an early evening, heading home tomorrow…

Have done the drive on 93 several times, love heading up through the Great Basin, huge open areas, no towns or houses to speak of. Looking forward to the drive again, light driving day, heading to Ely for the night. Got to Ely, a 2 block area entering town was having a big snow flurry, the rest of the town, sunny. Made for a dramatic entrance to the town… Got a great room at the Nevada Hotel, large, comfortable.

Packed up early from Kanab, looking through the places to visit, decided to go to Zion, another park I’d never been to. Met the CIO of Osprey packs when having Sushi in Durango, and he’d suggested checking it out as a great 1/2 day trip (or 5 day trip, depending on if you hike in and enjoy the other parts of the park). Great visit, and got their early enough to get in a couple hikes before it got crowded in the afternoon.

Heading east from Durango today, drove by Mesa Verde, and decided it’d be a great time to visit! Ended up being perfect weather, and again, very small crowds. Only one dwelling was open, so it was a bit crowded, but a great visit. Had no idea there were so many ancient settlements located inside Mesa Verde’s boundries, ended up being an educational visit. Spent 1/2 a day or so at Mesa Verde, then continued to head east so I could get a bit more 4 corners siteseeing in.

Stayed in Walsenburg overnight, heading south to avoid the incoming snowstorm up Colorado Springs way, heading east to get to Durango for the night. Only storm touched part of the route was Wolf Creek pass above Pagosa Springs. The pass got about 8″ of snow that day, temps in the mid-teens at the 10,000 foot level, pass is at about 10,800 feet. Hadn’t driven in weather like that before, very limited visibility, windy, icy.

Headed out early from Santa Fe. Checked with a friend in Colorado Springs (@mgion on twitter), and he told me a big storm was coming in, and I should check the weather and roads to decide if I wanted to head up. Looked like if I went up north, then came back down south, I’d avoid the biggest part of the storm (possibly 10-20″ of snow). Colorado’s had hardly any snow this season, so they need it!

Started with an early lunch at Tia Sophia’s, an amazing place frequented primarily by locals. Had the green chili stew, which is just wonderful. Got there at 11, when they start to serve lunch, by the time I left, there was a line.Casual day of touristing in Santa Fe, took pictures of lots of the cool art in the galleries. Dinner at Atomic Cafe, which was a bit of a mistake.

Breakfast, since it’s complimentary and from an actual resturant across the street, and then I’ll go the day without having to stop for lunch, since it’s going to be a long driving day. Been gaining weight with the BBQ crawls and New Orleans food, so need to cut back anyway! Slightly long haul to Santa Fe, but time for a few stops, want to get into town early enough to see the Singing Waiters at La Cantina, part of La Casa Sena, they play at 6:30, the website says, so I should make it.

Through Memphis for BBQ. Checked Yelp, picked the closest and best reviewed place, had a chopped pork sandwich, it was quite yummy. The, drove by Graceland, how could I not? Took a couple pictures, and picked up a tacky gift for our Sushi Chef/Elvis fan. All day drive into Oklahoma. No .real stops along the way, or pictures.Entering OK, it gets windy, very windy. 40-50mph windy..Stays that way alll day and night (and the next day).

Going with the advice I’d gotten yesterday, I started the day with a walk through the various streets of the French Quarter. Got some coffee from “CC’s”, the local institution (coffee here, btw, is quite good, and 1/2 the price I pay at any botique coffee shop back home. Black and Cafe O’lait are the top sellers). From there went to the New Orleans Cooking school. For 2-1/2 hours, you get entertaining stories from your instructor, ours was a history major, and told us all about the history of the region, especially as it related to food.

Visit Tobasco factory on the way to New Orleans. Great 1-2 hour sidetrip, fun history, and a beautiful island. You can separately visit the bird sanctuary (I didn’t want to spend the time), but that looks like a good addition to the sidetrip. You get a short walkthrough on the history, then a quick walk past viewing windows into the working factory, and then visit the large store with a variety of tobasco themed merchandise, taste a variety of foods/sauces and get a small lunch if you want.

Visited the Cathedral of Junk in Austin. Spent the early afternoon with friends who moved to Austin. Went to Lockhart, the BBQ capital of texas. My first stop, Kruez, was my favorite. Wonderful BBQ. Next I went to Blacks. I found their meat too greasy for my taste, but it’s a popular spot, and really nice folks. Finally stopped by Smitty’s, but they closed at 6, and it was 7ish at this point.

Winny Texas to Austin Texas. Drove straight through today. Very foggy as I left, then the rain started, rained light-to-medium the entire 4 hour drive. Fredricksburg is wall-to-wall people. No pictures today given the drive to get to Austin, and the nasty weather. Got to the room, really cute, but 40ish and kinda chilly. Couldn’t enjoy the patio.

Blah breakfast at hotel, mucked about in Bisbee for the morning and got some gifts. There was an elder tour in town, so the shops were pretty crowded, even though town wasn’t, so I didn’t spend a lot of time shopping with the crowds. Bisbee’s a very cool town, interesting architecture, and built on a hill, very interesting to get around. Next, started the long drive to Austin. A lunch stop in Douglas for a good TexMex lunch, Mole was a little too sweet for my tastes, saw the Mexican Border for the first time ever.

Headed out for Oatman first thing, knew nothing would be open, but figured I’d take some pictures, and wasn’t interested in buying stuff anyway. An interesting turn of the century town, much seemed original, slightly touristed up, looks like it’s quite the town during tourist season, a fake gun fight kinda town.Made me think of a much smaller and less remodeled Tombstone. Clarke Gable and Carole Lombard stayed at the Oatman hotel on their wedding night, and visited on occasion.

Was going to go to SXSW, but had time on my hands being between jobs right now. I decided I’d combine heading to SXSW with one of my favorite things to do on my own, take a road trip. I had one place I wanted to visit again, since on a prior road trip, I only got to visit a short time, Bisbee, AZ. Headed off about 7:30am after coffee and some cold pizza (breakfast of champions) with my wife, @rabbitroodle.