Casa de Fruta...

We left Red Bluff this morning under clear skies, heading south to who-only-knows what awaits.  Arrived in Casa de Fruta (just north of Hollister) about 4pm or so, 95 degrees, Fahrenheit. Hot. Really.  Hot. Leave-the-truck-running-get-the-Flying Cloud-AC-running-now! hot.

Casa de Fruta is a 100 year old fruit stand.  They've developed into the Casa de Restaurant, the Casa de Chevron, the Casa de Diesel, the Casa de Sweets, the Casa de Wine/Deli, the Casa de RV park and the Casa de Motel. No kidding, all these are here. However, what's missing is the Casa de Rusty Farm Implement, 'cause there's about a half-million tons of rusty stuff around the perimeter. This photo of Polly and Lily pretty much sums it up...

"not sure what's up, but it's not much fun yet...just hot!" or "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot"
Maybe not the paradise, but definitely the parking lot.

We're thinking one of the full-timers left this poop-flinger behind.  Lots of full timers here, but way more rusted steel kicking around.  These people don't throw anything away.

"Okay, maybe not so bad here, I think I just saw a kitty..."

Nuts and wine, do you really need anything else? Well, yes, there's no Casa de Microbrew here yet...

Tomorrow we're off to Ocean Mesa, at El Capitan State Beach.  Looking forward to a cool marine layer. Nice place, but the dogs aren't allowed on the beach.  Last time we were there, we hauled 50lbs of oblong rocks off the beach.  Guess what's still in the box they came in...

Departure!

Well, under rainy skies and with wet roads, Lily, Polly, Liz and Jeff head south once again.  Seems to be the way that all our trips start.  I'm not posting any photos about that, as most of you already know what wet pavement and road spray looks like! We spent the night at the Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville.  Nice place, finally got our Players Card, had to go into the casino to get it.  Apparently they allow smoking there, as the place reeked. Must be the indian nation thing that makes it possible inside Oregon?

Anyway, woke up to a nice day, and headed south to Red Bluff.  Uneventful climb through the Siskyous, a far cry from yesterday's drive. Really pretty day, here's a few photos from the drive...

If you look close, you can see that this really is just a plywood cutout of Mt Shasta sitting on the overpass...California legislature sold the original to the Chinese, to try to get funding to maintain the roads.  I think they only got a buck fifty.

Supposedly, there are aliens hiding under Mt. Shasta.  Not much evidence to support that theory until today, when Liz snapped this shot!  They also appear to like grapefruit, 'cause they were confiscated at the border crossing. 

Without a doubt, this is the fullest we've ever seen Shasta Lake.  Maybe room for another 10 feet of water,  and the beaches are almost nonexistent.

So tonight we are at the Durango RV Resort in Red Bluff.  Arrived to 91 degrees, Oregon dogs and humans not really acclimated to this. There's a big rodeo going on this weekend, the place is full.  Salmon for dinner, a swim in the pool, and it's time for bed.  Oh, and a fly-by of Air Force F-18s capped the evenings activities, dogs thought the sky was falling.

On to Casa de Fruta tomorrow, one can only imagine what adventures lie in wait for us there!

On the road again!

Check back soon, as Lily and Polly are hitting' the road again soon!

Some final notes...

Home!  Today we busted out the longest leg of the trip, and drove from Yreka to West Linn in about 6 hours.  So we got home a day early! So a 29 day trip, start to finish.

As we conclude this trip, here's some facts about Lily and Polly's Airstream Adventure:

Total miles traveled: 3825

States visited: Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California.  Somehow we missed Nevada, lucky us!

Temperature ranges:  33 degrees in Durango, CO and 108 in Needles, CA.  But it was 34 this morning in Yreka, and ice on the truck windows.

Highest elevation: Just under 9000ft, outside Durango. Lowest elevation: Napa, so sea level.

Most expensive gas: Needles, CA $4.39 gallon
Least expensive gas: Gallup, NM, $3.49 gallon. Funny thing, these two places are less than 200 miles apart, so a full dollar increase by just crossing the border.  Californians are getting screwed, as they also have the worst roads!

Worst roads: California, without a doubt.  But getting better!
Best roads: Idaho.
Most terrifying road: Laureles Grade Rd., over the hills from Hwy 68 to Carmel Valley Rd.  A true white-knuckler with a 7000 pound trailer shoving you down at every opportunity.  (Note to self: if the road name contains "grade", this indicates something steep)

Best campground: McCall RV Park & Margy's front/back yard.

Sketchiest campground: The one we didn't stay in, on the way to Carmel, after the most terrifying road, see above.

Biggest bump:  Somewhere between Moab and Durango.  We launched a dishpan out of the sink with glasses in it, we're still picking up glass shards. Also busted off a galley door under the sink, also bent the stove where it hangs on the counter. Who knows what else, it heads to Airstream NW for it's bath on Wednesday, maybe they'll find something else.

The last pics...

Leaving Yreka this morning...

Your tax dollars at work, a new sign!

Going over the top, the Siskyou Summit.  Foggy and steep!

We must be home, right? Right? RIGHT?

Almost...

Home!

 Sorry there aren't more interesting pics, but it's hard to photograph stuff you've seen a million times already.

So that's it, the end of the trip. Hope you all enjoyed Lily & Polly's Adventure, we sure did. I suppose that we'll do another one of these some day...when that happens, we'll add to this blog. But until then, this is it, the end of the road, the final post!

Oh yeah, Best Shower: Home!

Homeward bound...

Last night had to be the hardest rain that we've seen in quite awhile...and loud, being inside a glorified beer can!  The rain started about 10pm, and just came down harder until 2am, when the wind started.  But by morning, all had passed and we woke up to a clear, blue-sky morning.

Today we hit the road north, with the thought that we'd stop in Redding.  Well, we arrived about 1pm and decided to keep going to Yreka.  We think that we'll get home Thursday, one day earlier than planned.  Alyson, how's that lawn look?

A few pics from the day's drive...but first, where's Waldo?  Can you spot the Airstream?  An island in a sea of fiberglass?  An oasis in a desert of plastic? (How's that for metaphor usage?) I've even uploaded a larger pic so you can look closer, click on it to get a larger view. This is RV park in Napa, at the county fairgrounds. Make no mistake, this is not a campground, it's an RV park, a place to park your rig while you go off in search of the perfect wine.

It's there, look close!

Shasta Lake is nearing full...but probably dumping water now to make room.

A wet day, from Redding north...

We had snow in the rain as we drove over the pass...39 degrees.

Yreka, see the snow in the hills above town?

Tomorrow we head home, to West Linn.  One more day of the open road,(I-5, really?) the wind at our back,(more than likely not!) the road less traveled,(again, I-5, us and the trucks) yadda, yadda, yadda!

And then it began to rain...

Well, we left Monterey, with the rain on our tail.  Literally, we could see the storm coming, and while it was clear when we left, it was raining when we arrived in Napa.  Lily and Polly are thinking that this is not cool, wearing the raincoats, we're not far behind that thought.

We did one quick visit to a winery yesterday, but the bulk of our wine tasting was today.  After a great breakfast of huevos rancheros ala El Frijol de Plata, we started about noon today, wrapped it up at 5:30.  Liz was the designated taster, Jeff the designated driver.  The dogs were the designated riders, and they must truly think this is a total waste of time, as they got out of the truck in the same place they got in, but five hours later. Okay, we let them out a couple times, but no tasting for them, as much as they wanted to.

And on to the pics!

Monterey beach, rain is coming!

As always, a stop at Pezzini Farms in Castroville!

Liz's all-time favorite produce store!

101 to the 680, then 780, then 980, then 480, that's how you do the hokey-pokey...

These raincoats really suck!

The French Laundry garden...all for one restaurant!  Make your reservation now for next year!

Our frog has a brother, and he's at the Peju winery!

Huge table, all one piece, cut in 3...redwood.

There's grapes, we must be wine tasting!

Spent the kids inheritance here, really nice wine!

Tonight we had a great dinner at the Fish Story restaurant.  We had eaten here a couple years ago, every bit as good this time as last.  This is the same restaurant that served the crab with harissa.

So tomorrow we hit the road home, the final stretch.  It really doesn't seem like we've been on the road as long as we have.  Could we keep going, we think so, but life is calling in West Linn.  Redding Wednesday night and Canyonville Thursday, West Linn on Friday! This won't be our last post for this trip, so check back, no doubt we'll find something to share! Tonight we turned on the heater for the first time this trip!

El Capitan to Monterey...

In an effort to get caught up, here's another post with more photos of the trip so far.

Last night we had a great dinner with Ken in Santa Barbara, on the waterfront/marina. Lots of stories about boats and the like...

Today we left Ocean Mesa (El Capitan) and ventured off to we thought would be Carmel.  But let me backtrack a bit...Ocean Mesa was a lot of fun, it's right next door to the El Capitan Canyon Resort, which is a collection of cabins, tents, yurts and the like. Sort of an adult summer camp, but with plenty of kids and stuff.  We did take a hike along the beach, sans dogs.  Unfortunately, there are some oil rigs offshore and they must be leaking a bit, because we came back with tar all over our shoes.

So after leaving El Capitan, we drove north along 101 and headed out to Carmel...up and down one of the most steep, winding roads we've ever taken the Airstream. 10% grades up and down...and curves to boot.  No pictures of this, too busy white-knuckling our way. Some beautiful views of the California coastal hills. (or so I'm told, as I was not able to look...)

Tonight we are in Monterey, at the Marina Dunes RV park, which is just south of Monterey proper, in the small town of Marina.  We've stayed here before and for whatever reason, we've seen more Airstreams here than any other place, today was no exception.  One from Sacramento, and one from Alabama.  Took Lily and Polly down to the dunes, a nice afternoon, not much wind.

Okay, now the pics...

El Capitan State Beach, near the turn-around point of our walk, we started at the far left of the pic.

This is what was behind me when I took the above pic, tide was headed out...

The Silver Bean rolls along!

Jax at our dinner table!

Those pepper ristas might dry one of these days...

The barn at Alisal...not changed a bit.

Pepe the lizard...lots of these guys running around, all named Pepe!

The California salad bowl, just south of Salinas

El Camino Real, or 101 as it's known here.  You have no idea how many times Liz tried to take this shot...

They grow 'em big here...

Lily & Polly's big adventure...on the dunes

All the girls on the dunes!

The view out our back window...the fog lifted minutes later.

So that we could see this!

 Tomorrow we hit the road again, off to Napa Valley and the rain, or at least that's what's forecast. Guess we're getting acclimated to coming home, one day at a time.