Edgar's Adventures

What is listed below was started in October of last year and still never got published. The recovery from my back surgery took longer than expected and life got in the way more than once! We have finally got a Wi-Fi connection that is reliable, and the back is cooperating so hopefully we can make progress from here on out. Currently I am over 14 months behind but as we winter here in Florida, I will work on getting caught up. So, enjoy what is here and look forward to the next installment.

Wow! It feels like a lifetime since I have been here and to be honest it has been tough getting here! With the limited internet access we had while travelling I swore I would get caught up once we got back to Delaware! Boy was I wrong.

Let me start by saying that getting older is not for the meek and mild and the last 10 months have been to say the least unexpected. Way back in 2022 while in Great Falls I fell and landed on my right side and evidently, knocked something loose in my elbow. The unexpected pain was terrible but if I was careful, I could live with it. Once we got home in March I got the elbow examined and by mid April I was scheduled for surgery and the results were great.

Before the surgery on my elbow I mentioned to my primary physician that my back had been causing me great pain at times. Much to my surprise I was scheduled for four weeks of PT without any type of examination such as a, Xray, CT Scan or MRI! He explained that regardless of the results of testing the first step was PT so off I go to PT. The treatments mostly stretches and such with little effect. At least until the fourth wee and the new exercise sent me over the top! The pain was unbearable, my legs decided to quit working correctly and my life took a turn for the worse.

Back to the PCP and finally I get scheduled for a MRI and the results were “Severe Spinal Stenosis” and with that I am off to see a specialist. Of course getting in is not easy and to make a long story short, I lived in pain and uncertainty until August 10. The four tier spinal fusion was extremely successful, but the pain was great and the recovery is taking a long time. Fortunately, I am mostly free of pain and relatively sure that my lower extremities are going to work properly. So I am going to try to get caught up and at the same time start writing about our adventures for this year.

When I last wrote we were in Death Valley and headed to Las Vegas. We arrived at an RV Park in South Las Vegas and started the explorations. One of our first stops was a Las Vegas show and we opted for the Blue Man Revue! We had no idea what to expect but we went anyway. If you have not seen this group you have to see them at least once. The lights, sounds and their antics were amazing.

Most people try to visit the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam while in Vegas but we only made it to Hoover Dam cause winter was coming to the Canyon region and we wanted to avoid winter. It was a pretty drive down to the dam and once we got there the tour was fantastic. Lake Meade was way so low and it was not expected to get any better soon. Since we now know that the west had one of the wettest winters in a long time Lake Meade has made a great recovery.

On the outskirts of Vegas is a park called Red Rock Canyon and to show photos here of how grand it was is rather futile. How does one photograph thousands of acres of fantastic scenery? The photos below show the diversity and some of the climbers that use this area for rock climbing training. I believe that this one park offers some of the best climbing and bouldering in the west.

We will be spending two weeks in Death Valley at Stove Pipe Wells. We are using one of 12 full hookup RV sites. The great part is, thanks to my “America The Beautiful” park pass, we are paying only $20 per day! We picked this place because it is listed as one of the top three night sky viewing spots in the country! However, we didn’t check the moon phase so most of the time we are here we will be dealing with the rising and falling of a full moon:) No we didn’t get to see the great night sky but it was still fantastic. The three photos below were taken with my S-20 phone.

There is so much to see and do in Death Valley but unfortunately getting to a lot of them is impossible. I early August of 2022 almost one inch of rain caused monumental road closings. In fact for a short while the entire park was closed. It is early November, and the list of road closings is extremely long. The park posts updates almost daily about the status of the major roads and before we will leave the park three more roads will open. Unfortunately, the road to Scotty’s Castle and the area known as Racetrack is not on the list, but the main westerly route out of the park is open and we did get to see some interesting sites. I will bet that we were not the only ones that didn’t know that there is a waterfall in Death Vally. Darwin Falls is a spring fed tributary that cascades year-round. Since this is a consistent source of water the small town of Panamint Springs, CA gets its entire water supply piped to storage tanks from the waterfalls. I have to admit that it was a little weird seeing a PVC pipe just running through the valley.

Another place we visited on the western side of the park was called Father Crawley Overlook. This was a unique area with a lot of interesting things to see. Of course the geology of the area was impressive as well as what it was used for. Since that early eras of aviation this area has been used to teach pilots how to negotiate the nooks and crannies of the terrain. Although the signs said that pilots training took place at just about any time we were not lucky enough to see any.

We arrived in Stove Pipe Wells RV Park and instantly start enjoying the desolation. In rather close proximity to the camp site is a camp store with gas station allows us a good view of the people travelling in the park. On one morning I heard some motorcycles and I realized they were all over 60 years old! The riders were participating in an antique bike rally, unfortunately it was the last day they would be there.

Death Valley is so diverse in terrain, ranging from valley floor over 260 below sea level to mountains several thousands of feet above and we got to see both. In a higher part of the valley, we went to see the Charcoal Kilns about 6000 feet up and in about two inches of snow. The kilns were built to supply fuel to the smelters that were used to refine the silver that was being mined in the area. Although the supply of trees was abundant the kilns only operated for two years. Due to the arid climate and the difficulty of getting to them the kilns are in remarkable condidtion considering their age.

On another trip we ended up in a place called Badwater Basin! This is the lowest point of land in the valley at 282 feet below sea level and one of the best places to walk out onto the arid terrain. As we were driving to the basin we passed another attraction called the Devil’s Golf Course and was an example of the diverse terrain.

We have been home since the end of March and still my blog is in Californina. I have finally conceded defeat to Death Valley and now realize writing about it is futile! In order to move on I will simply state that if you ever have a chance to visit Death Valley by all means do. I am going to post a lot of photos and try to caption them and share them with those of you who are following. Hopefully I will be able to move on with my posts.

Hopefully this will give you a slight glimpse of all we did while visiting Death Valley. This may not have been the best place we went to but it is by far the most diverse and unusual. From here we are heading to Las Vegas stay tuned there is more to come.

From San Francisco we are heading south with our first stop being at Moro Bay. Although we have been running down the interstate highway Judy decided that we needed to get off and drive down the scenic Pacific Coast Highway also known as the PCH. I figured that we can give it a try and get back on the interstate if it is too bad. Unfortunately access to the PCH is extremely limited and we are driving down one of the crookedest roads I have ever been on for the next 65 miles! I am now comfortable operating a 41 feet long RV while towing a full sized SUV on just about anything. Well, maybe not some of the streets in San Francisco.

We are stopping Moro Bay for a few days and this is known for a huge rock called Moro Rock. Evidently it is a well known landmark. I have to admit it was pretty impressive and except for a few shops and eateries it and the beech the rock was the best attraction.

We close up the camper and move inland a little way to the town of Paso Roble and it turns out that this little town has a lot of things to do! On day one we discover a museum that has military airplanes, antique cars and some other interesting things. But the biggest surprise was a sign hanging over the counter in the gift shop that said there was only two seats left in “Beatty’s Biscuit Bomber for the following Saturday! Almost instantly Judy and I agree that we have to sign up for this! The ride will be in a 1944 C-47 twin engine troop transport airplane. I guess I will continue to write about the ride and then come back to the rest of the museum. We arrive in plenty of time, watch the volunteers go through preparing the plane for flight, meet the other passengers, go through the obligatory safety talk and finally we get to board the plane. This plane is a bare bone, tail dragging military transport and I never thought about how much the floor tilted when the plan was not flying and for me it was not comfortable! Once we are airborne it is a different story and all in all it was a rather smooth and quiet flight. The initial plan was to fly west from Paso Roble past Moro Rock out over the Pacific Ocean and finally swing back east to return to the airport. Unfortunately just as we neared the coastline that ever present Pacific fog managed to show up again. I barely got to see the coast as we turned to go inland to a clearer view. As the land disappeared into the fog and the water, I was carried back to 1944 or possibly 1945 when the plane was carrying troops from Britan to the mainland of Europe. I wonder what thoughts a soldier may have had as he watched the plane fly out over water knowing that when it was over land again there would be enemy soldiers and planes shooting at him.

Now back to the museum, they had military airplanes, antique cars and other military artifacts. I don’t think I can describe it so I will just show photos.

This area of California is a very big wine making region and we were lucky enough to go to a winery which is owned by former Penn State football player Gary Eberle. Gary played at Penn State when Joe Paterno was an assistant coach, but I believe he told me that he finished with Joe as head coach. We were too busy enjoying ourselves, so we didn’t get any photos but if you want more info go to their web page at www.eberlewinery.com.

Because we are entering the Christmas season there are displays everywhere but right down the road from Eberly Winery there is a display like nothing I have ever seen. I don’t believe that it is Christmas specific, but it was so beautiful it helped to put us in the spirit of Christmas. The display is called Sensorio and their website is Sensorio Paso Robles | Bruce Munro: Light at Sensorio. I will post one of my photos but to see how large it is go to their website. I believe we were told that at this year’s light display at Longwood Gardens has a similar display.

From Paso Roble we are heading inland again to Porterville, California to spend some time in and around Sequoia National Park. By the time we get done this trip we will have been exposed to so many huge trees! In fact this is the location of General Sherman the largest tree by volume in the world. There may be taller trees but none containing more wood in its trunk.

Not everything in the park is trees there are some really tall rock formation. The biggest one is called Moro Rock. Yes, I know we just left Moro Bay and there was a Moro Rock there but I guess that they had their reasons for the same name.

From here we are heading inland toward Barstow and working our way eventually to Los Vegas. We stop at Desert Springs RV Park for a few days to see what is in the area. There is a 50’s theme eatery nearby, a recreation of a ghost town and of course Barstow, CA. Barstow was just one more small town and the most interesting part I saw was the photo below. Yes, I know that there are a lot of activities in the area, but nothing was going on the time we were there!

Although it is a restored area, and it has several vendors the ghost town was actually the results to save an actual ghost town! The little town sprang up when silver was discovered and died down almost as quickly when the lode dried up. Touring the town was interesting and well worth the time it took to get there!

When we leave this area we have one more stop before we arrive in Vegas, but it is for two weeks in Death Valley which should make a post on its own!

Welcome to San Frisco said nobody as we set up in a RV park in South San Francisco. When one thinks of Frisco there are certain things that come to mind, and we are going to see all of them! Since we have heard all kinds of horror stories about the drivers in the city, we are going to try public transit to get around. This should be an adventure to say the least I suspect that to get from South San Francisco to any of the sights in town we will have to ride through several ethnic, or economic regions.

Our first day took us to Fisherman’s Wharf and where does one start when it comes to describing the Wharf? It was crowded, it was noisy, the aromas floating through the air were unbelievable and the experience was fantastic! By the time we arrived it was way past lunch time and deciding what to eat was not easy, finally we both opted for the clam chowder in a bread bowl. It was hot, it was filling and since I tore a hole in my bread bowl it was very messy. Later in the day I was surprised to see so many sea lions lounging around at the end of the pier, pictured below are just a few of them.

While at Fisherman’s Warf we got to see Alcatraz which was the next stop on our list to see. Pictured below is just a few of the photos I took while touring the “Rock”.

What would a trip to San Francisco be without cable cars or the Golden Gate Bridge? Well, it would be missing something and although we didn’t get a chance to ride a cable car, we did get to see one being turned around for the return trip. I didn’t think about it, but the cable cars operate quite a bit like a ski lift does except the car has to disconnect from the cable pulling it and get turned around manually.

The next day is chilly and rainy, but we went sightseeing anyway. This day Judy decided she had had enough of public transit, so we drove into the city. Since we didn’t feel like paying the toll to drive across the bridge, we did find a place to park and at least see the it. The second photo below shows just how big the cables supporting the bridge actually are. I never gave it much thought to just how big the cables had to be.

After leaving the bridge we found one of steepest streets in the United States. I could not believe just how steep it was and how tricky it was to drive it or even walk down it. Unfortunately taking photos or videos of the trip was rather difficult.

That pretty much covers our visit to San Francisco so we will be moving further south I’m pretty sure we are headed to Moro Bay.

Just a little note about the present. Everyone talks about spending winters in the southwest and I guess it may be pretty nice, but I can’t vouch to it. For the last three days we have been staying in one place because of blowing wind and this morning we woke up to SNOW! Yes SNOW, not much but any snow is bad. Thank goodness we are in southern New Mexico because up north they are getting almost a foot of the white stuff.

Finally, I have decent internet access and no particular place to go. Although we are nowhere near northern California right now it was the next stop in our wonderful journey.

The first stop in Redding, Cal took us to Elk Country RV Park and yes there are Elk everywhere. The only problem is that they are never in the RV Park while we are. We hear them bugling off in the forest and see all of the hoof prints they leave while passing through camp. To tell the truth I am okay with that. I can’t imagine how Edgar would react to an animal the size of a mature Elk.

We are really close to the coast, but it isn’t like any east coast beach at home. Finding a big sandy beach to walk on is the rarity. However, we did manage to find one and we anticipated some really pretty sunsets, unfortunately we were not afforded such because almost every day we were socked in by fog by 5:00 PM.

In northern California highway 101 is called the Redwood Highway and trust me the name applies perfectly. Without much effort one can find a park not too distant from Highway 101 that has a stand of redwoods. Our first exposure to Giant Redwoods was in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park and I wasn’t ready for just how big the trees are.

Just a short way down Highway 101 we entered the Redwood National and State Park which is the home of the Lady Bird Johnson Grove which was dedicated in August of 1969 as a result of a bill passed by congress to establish the Redwood National Park. The hike from the parking lot to the actual grove was a fantastic experience. The size and numbers of giant redwood trees is something to encounter. I was amazed to learn how tenacious redwood trees are. They continue to survive regardless of what they are exposed to. However due to climate change and some rather aggressive woodpeckers they are dying off at a rather rapid rate. I hate to think of a world without these giant trees.

From here we traveled to Lake Shasta and the severity of the current drought the state of California is experiencing was blatantly evident. I was not prepared for how low the water was. Part of the tour is a boat ride across the lake to the entrance of Shasta Caverns. When the water levels are near normal it is a short walk to the dock where you board a boat which takes you across the lake. On our visit we had to board a bus which took us to a temporary pier. Once across the lake it was a pretty good hike back up to the entrance of the cavern! Since most caverns are created the same way, I really didn’t take too many photos, but I did get a picture of graffiti in this cavern. Yes, it is graffiti and no they will not do anything with it since it was put there by the first two visitors into the cavern.

While in Redding, CA we came across a city park that had a bridge that used the support to create a huge sundial. The enormity of the design made it somewhat difficult to use to tell time, but the concept was unique to say the least. If I remember correctly, it only worked accurately on the first day of summer.

Our next move is over the mountains into the interior of the state finally stopping east of Sacramento in Groveland, CA. This will be our home base while visiting Yosemetie National Park and other places of interest in the area. Yosemite has three entrances, a western one, a southern one, and an eastern one. Since we are on the west side of the park, we will start each exploration through the western entrance. The first day we are going to the central village of the park and the first attraction we come upon is El Capitan! It is a daunting rock formation that beckons rock climbers from around the world. This is one of those things that photos taken by armatures cannot reproduce what we see with our eyes! Although we spent the entire day in the park, I didn’t come up with too many photos. I guess the scenery was too big for my little smart phone.

As one nears the western entrance there is a turn off that goes to Hetch Hetchy Lake and O’Shaughnessy Dam. The hydroelectric plant provides Los Angeles with 1% of its electricity. The road back into here was crooked, rough and interesting.

Another day we decided to travel all the way through the park just to see what was on the Eastern side of the park. To our surprise we ended up at Mono Lake, which is just south of Mono City, CA. Although we are only a few miles from Nevada that will have to wait until a later adventure. Mono Lake is an unusual lake and very much like the Great Salt Lake it is a dead lake with no outlet to release water and minerals the lake became very salty. The only life the lake supports is brine shrimp, which in turn becomes food for over two million migrating birds that will stop there to feed. While exploring the shoreline of the lake we noticed a dark formation on the water that upon closer inspection we discovered it to be alive! The formation was a mass of Akali Flies or brine flies and according to google they have an unusual life cycle where three of the four phases is spent under water. Just like the Great Salt Lake the shoreline is encrusted with a salt like coating and a not too aromatic fragrance.

After exploring the lake, we ventured into the town of Mono City where we stopped at a convenience store to get a cup of coffee and it was good, we didn’t need fuel.

There are two well-known rock formations in Yosemite Park, one being El Capitan and the other being Half Dome. The first time we were there we didn’t get any photos of Half Dome but finally we did and here it is! On the way back from the southern entrance we stopped at a point of interest that had a scale model of Half Dome in bronze. I realized that if I stood at just the right place, I could get a photo of the model and the real thing in one photo.

One last thought about our visit to Yosemite was this interesting sign that was posted at one of the visitor’s centers. I guess you cannot feel too threatened by the chipmunk. However, according to the sign below one should be really careful around them!

We will be heading back to the coast for a while with our next stop being San Francisco.

Currently, we are in New Mexico and are actually headed East. I hope that I can get some more updates posted but I won’t make any promises. Somehow, we manage to find so many interesting things to do or absolutely the worse cell or internet service.