12/29 More Rambling - Driving Style

After three weeks visiting my son and his family, I am back on the road, headed for the Las Vegas area.  As I was driving today, I was reminded of trips with my family when I was growing up.  Frankly, we did not take many driving trips because we spent most summers and weekends at a cottage we owned, but we did take a couple of long trips when I was a child. 

My dad's style was to get wherever we were going as fast as possible.  Grand Canyon?  Whoosh!  No time because we have to get to California on time.  Interesting museum?  Whoosh again!  No stops for anything other than a couple of quick pictures and some sandwiches to eat in the car.  

I have learned lessons from my dad's style and tend to do a lot of stopping along the way.  Typically, I plan my travels in my motorhome needing to drive only 150-200 miles per day.  And I seldom drive more than one day at a time.  While I am one of these people who likes to have reservations made months in advance, I also take the time to see things that were not planned for.  I know of people who plan to drive 300+ miles a day, but I cannot understand that kind of hurry.

However, I have to admit that today was a 300 mile day.  I have been over this route from Napa, California to Nevada several times and am in a hurry to get to one of my favorite campgrounds as soon as I can, so I drove longer today than I really like to drive.  In addition, there are two big things which are pushing me--the first is that the days are very short right now and it gets dark early.  The second is that while I have brake lights, head lights, backup lights, and flashers, I have no tail lights or running lights, so I cannot drive after dark, or even near dark.  (Running lights are those required small yellow lights on the side and tops of big trucks.)  I like summer better when I can drive until much later if I need to.  The problem right now is that the campground I am heading to in Nevada is first-come, first-served, so it might be harder to get into on Friday. 

It is a long story why I have not been able to get these fixed, but suffice it to say that Ford dealers will not deal with stuff that Fleetwood added, and RV dealers are booked up weeks and months in advance.  I had one appointment at a Camping World in late November, but after unhooking and driving there early in the morning, the could not find my appointment and would not fix them because they were too busy that day.  (Last time I will visit that dealer!)  I really need to make an appointment somewhere in Las Vegas to get them fixed, if I can find someone to fit me into their schedule.

One thing I missed in my long day of driving today, was the ability to take long stops at rest areas.  I often stop at least two or three times during the day to check my email, fix a meal or a snack and eat it, or stop at grocery stores.  I did take one long stop today to eat, but I really needed to stop somewhere to get a new memory card for my camera, get a propane fill, and pick up some groceries, but I kept pushing myself to get where I am tonight before dark.  

What I might end up doing is making tomorrow a short day so I can stop in Tehachapi to get a few things done.  It will mean fewer days in my favorite campground, but it will be less stressful.  

My rambling point, I guess, is that I do not like to hurry, but I like to get somewhere, so I am pushing my driving past where I really feel comfortable.  I much prefer a slower and more relaxed trip.   

 

12/14 Just Some Ramblings

 Have not posted in a while because I have not really had much of anything to post about.  About the most exciting time I had last month was spending a few days at Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area, west of Bakersfield.  I had stayed there before, but it was a couple of years ago and it was almost empty and fine.  I needed a place to stay for a few days before heading to Napa, so I chose that place.

The first night I was there, it was Saturday, and the place was packed.  A group of neighbors not too far from me had a big no-mask party, with maybe 20-25 people.  I was happy when they left the next morning.  However, by then I had discovered the nasty truth about this campground--flies, and lots of them!!  Apparently, it is near several commercial dairy operations and summer and fall is horrible until the first freeze or at least almost freeze.  There were flies all over the outside of my motorhome, all trying to sneak in somehow. And the ones that DID get in were the friendly kind--you know, the ones who like to land on your face or hands while you are typing.  I was also having to keep wiping off counters and keeping food covered, also.  I killed at least 80-100 the first day and then maybe 20 each morning and another 20 each night.  Was driving me crazy.

Anyway, I was spending hours each day trying to use my electronic bug zapper wand to kill flies that made it in, I assume through cracks in the slides.  I keep a pretty good supply of big and critter control stuff, so I sprayed outside along the slides and around windows.  It helped, by even after I left there, I was still killing remnants of the fly population the first night or two in Napa. 

I am now in Napa, enjoying my fly-less time.  I intended to spend a few days here and then to to Borego Springs in southern California, than come back and spend 10 days just before and after Christmas.  However, during this time of COVID-19, California's numbers have been shooting up like crazy, so the governor has proclaimed that if any of the areas that have been defined in the state have less than 15% available ICU beds gets even more shut down than already shut down.  For me, that means that state park and county campgrounds are also shut down.   

Southern California is already shut down, so that eliminated Borego Springs, so I made a reservation to just stay here until Dec 28.  The only problem is that this park of the Bay Area is currently at 17.8, which means I could be given 4 hours to get out of here any day.  Thought i might get the news today, but so far, not yet. If I  get kicked out because they close this RV Park, I will have to head to Nevada, and miss spending Christmas with my son and his family.

Highs here in Napa have been from 55-69 degrees, with lows at night in the 30s and sometimes up to 50s.  Overall, it has been sunny, but had a couple of days of rain, which they really need.