Tag: AirstreamTravel

Emigrant Gap

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

We spent the week in Snowflower Campground in Emigrant Gap, CA. It was pretty much a noneventful week filled with lots of walks with the dog. There were young growth redwoods scattered in amongst the pines. It got cold (to us anyway) in the evenings and mornings, but the afternoons were great.

There were dirt bike and ATV trails not far from our sight. Murphy enjoyed watching them all drive past. He would get very excited for each one. Friday the 13th was uneventful, and we missed the eclipse. It was really cloudy, the light change was pretty cool, but that is about all we got from it.

We did see some interesting sights on our walks and we enjoyed our time in the woods.

After a pretty calm week, it was time for us to head further south. Ethan and Lara live in South Lake Tahoe, and we were headed their way! Aaron and I have not been to Lake Tahoe itself, just the national forest, so another new experience for us. We will also be parking in Ethan and Lara’s yard; that will be another new experience. It is called mooch-docking.

The gang will be together again, and more games of cards will be played! Look out Tahoe, here we come!

More time in Tahoe National Forest

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Driving through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range never disappoints. It is such a beautiful and varied landscape with mountains, creeks, rivers, lakes and valleys. If it wasn’t October and getting cold, we could spend months out here and just scratch the surface of all the beautiful places. It is getting colder, and we do not want to be here when the snow starts. We will be making our way south very soon!

We made it to Logger Campground just north of Truckee, CA and just 30 or so miles west of Reno, Nevada. There were very few people there when we arrived, but there were a lot of squirrels! Murphy loved being able to run free and chase them all over the place.

It is only a 5 second video of Murphy squirrel chasing (bouncing)

One night during our stay Aaron decided he wanted a glass of milk. When he took the milk out of the refrigerator a dozen eggs came out with it. Of course they broke all over the rug we have down. So, we cleaned it the best we could and went to bed. The next day I took the carpet outside and put it on the picnic table to make it easier to scrub. I put the dog on his runner (if one of us is outside he wants to be out there as well), and got to work. Murphy started barking and growling. I did not look up I just told him “Leave it!” as that is the command we are training him with to get him to not bark at every person or dog that walks by. He would not stop. I finally looked around. There was a pretty big black bear walking about 50 yards away. Luckily, he was ambling away from us. Of course I did not have my phone on me or my camera. Aaron came out of the trailer in time to see it ramble away, but by that time is was too far away for us to get a picture.

It was time to do laundry and grocery shopping, so we decided to check out Reno, Nevada. It was very close and neither Aaron or I had ever been there. We took the dog, so no casinos (this time). We did drive around and sight see and have lunch while we were there. It was Saturday, and Saturday should never be a chores only day!

We found a dog friendly Pub that had a food truck serving brunch. We also realized that gas was cheaper in Nevada. We paid over six dollars a gallon in CA. It is crazy when $5.15 a gallon seems like a deal. But that a small price to pay for our journey and experiences.

We were a bit alarmed when we got back to the national forest and saw the smoke behind our campground. Luckily, it was a prescribed fire (a controlled burn) and it was not going to affect our last night at Logger. The campground was closing for the season Monday. The campground host invited us to stay Sunday night, but we had a reservation in Emigrant Pass, just an hour south, for the next week. It was time to pack it up and start our slow move south.

We were very close to where the Donner Party was trapped for the winter. If you aren’t familiar with the Donner Party, they were on The Oregon Trail and got stuck for the winter. They turned to cannibalism to survive. Usually they consumed pioneers in their party who had died of natural causes, but they did kill two Native American guides for food as well. We will probably be back to actually explore Donner Lake and learn more of that story.

We made it to our new destination, which happens to be close to Crystal Lake (Friday the 13th is coming up). I wonder if we will run into Jason…hopefully not!

I also wonder where we will end up for Halloween! Hopefully not with Michael Myers…Happy October!

Eldorado

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

We arrived at the western edge of the Eldorado National Forest. We had a spot booked at the Dru Barner Campground. This was a really cool campground which was built and intended for equestrian campers. Just about each site had a paddock for horses, and there was manure scattered all about. Murphy thought adding horse manure to his diet was a great idea, Aaron and I did not. We were the only people there almost the entire week. We did have some distant neighbors with horses for a few days. The dog never got comfortable with them riding past our site. Luckily, the horses were not spooked by his barking!

Aaron had a busy work week, and I had a very quiet one with lots of down time. It was so quiet and peaceful there. It did my mind and soul good to just rest and listen to the stillness of the forest. We did have a few stressed nights worrying about the possible government shutdown. Our next planned stop was also in a national forest and if the government had shut down, we would have had to scramble to find reservations elsewhere. Fortunately, for us, the shutdown did not happen.

Murphy tried to be Aaron’s assistant, but his typing skills left much to be desired. We enjoyed some nice walks, a good bike ride, and exploring our surroundings. There were some pretty big pinecones, a praying mantis, and a cool stump with some weird markings on the exposed wood.

After our quiet week in Eldorado, it was time to head east and a bit north to the Tahoe National Forest. October was coming, and we were preparing ourselves for some colder weather before we head south and slowly east.

Look out Tahoe, here we come!

More Family Time in Iowa!

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

Aaron and Murphy dropped me off at the Sacramento airport and, my brother, sister-in-law and their dog, School Bus (Bus for short) picked me up from the Cedar Rapids airport in Iowa. It was time to pack up our dad’s apartment and get him moved to a facility that would meet his health needs. This was not an easy thing for our dad or for us, but it is the best thing for everyone.

My older brother, Sean, drove up from Atlanta, and the team was back together again. It had been over a year since the three of us spent anytime together. It felt great to have my brothers there with me. We were so busy that we did not get a photo together, so you all get to see our early 90’s looks. Sorry, not sorry!

My uncles were there too!! I had seen my Uncle Steve (on the left) when we visited the ranch he and my cousin have in Oklahoma last March. I had not seen my Uncle Darrell (on the right) in a few years. It was wonderful to have bonus family time! We had a lot of laughs and great conversation catching up on everyone and everything. Mom had a house full of family! She was thrilled. We should have named her house The Burns-Almack Bed and Breakfast. It was so special.

My brothers and I worked very hard to get Dad transitioned and settled. It took a lot out of us emotionally, physically and mentally. This picture is from our time together at the Indy 500 a few years ago.

Mom was really good about knowing when I needed a break. We even went to a classical chamber music concert one afternoon. It was an oasis of peace in a very busy week and a half.

Aaron and Murphy did OK without me. There were lots of deer and squirrels for Murphy to chase and watch. Murphy really enjoyed my bed while I was gone. Aaron sent lots of pictures of him enjoying his naps. They worked on training, and Murphy is responding better to verbal commands and is becoming a well trained camping dog.

It was a difficult two weeks but the support of our mom and our spouses, Aaron, Brenda and Angie made all the difference for Sean, Chris and myself. Thank you all for being there and supporting us!

Aaron, Murphy, and I have settled into the Eldorado National Forest for the time being. It is good to be back to our wandering life.

Shasta Lake

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

My time in Iowa was up and I was ready to get back to our wandering life. After a flight cancelation and a scrambled rebooking, I made it back to California. We had one more (for Aaron) night at Orland Buttes and then we packed up and headed north to Lake Shasta.

About half way there, Aaron realized that we had left one of our Ring cameras behind. This is a frequent mistake, but we usually remember in time to turn around and go get it. This time, we were too far to justify going back. We set up camp and ordered a new one to pick up in Redding in a day or two. And I am really, really glad we did! We had a visitor the very next night.

A bear decided to check out the Airstream

When I woke up the next morning, there was an alert that a person was spotted on one of the cameras. Of course, I looked to see who was lurking around our campsite at 3 or 4 in the morning. Ummm, not a person, and I’m pretty sure it was a grizzly bear. Needless to say, we stayed very alert, and the bear spray was never far from reach.

The campground started filling up Friday and was completely full by Saturday night. It was Labor Day weekend, and people were having a great, noisy time. Monday came around, and we had the place almost to ourselves.

We were also able to enjoy a few quiet, rainy days.

The rest of our week was quiet. Murphy swam a lot, Aaron worked, I piddled around. Then, I got a call from my younger brother. It was time to move our dad from assisted living to a skilled nursing facility. He had been on a wait list for one, and there was finally an available room. I began to book my flights back to Iowa to meet up with my brothers and get him settled into his new home.

Murphy decided that he really liked swimming

Aaron and I loaded up and moved to our next destination, Bidwell Canyon State Park. On the way, we did laundry and grabbed groceries. We got there, got set up, and settled in. The next day, I packed my bags, watched deer wander by, and then after a good night’s sleep, it was time to head back to the Sacramento Airport and back to Iowa.