Back Home, And Getting Into Gear

Monday:(10/19) Granola for breakfast. I spent the day doing office work and making blog posts, working on photos etc. BBQ ribs baked potato, with salad for dinner. Nice weather. Lou was busy with laundry and moving back out of the RV.

Tuesday: (10/20) Lou and Dawn were off early to exercise class and a party and I relaxed at home. Lou brought home fresh tomales for brunch. I finally got to work after lunch and cleaned up the shop and put away stuff from recent projects. I also started clearing the slab where Lou’s building is to be built. it’s been acting as a patio and had lots of plants that needed new homes. Lou made a nice vegetable soup for dinner.

Wednesday: (10/21) It’s another fine day. I fixed a late breakfast of home fried potatoes with sausage and eggs. I spent the day preparing a shopping list and shopping for materials for Lou’s shed. On the way I had lunch at Mi Pueblo, a nice torta milanesa. Lou and I had dinner at LUU Noodle House. Dawn was at her writers club meeting.

Thursday: (10/22) Lou and Dawn were off to class. I grabbed breakfast at Jack In The Box on my way to San Jose. I needed some salt pellets and to find the best lumber for Lou’s shed. To get usable lumber at Home Depot or Lowe’s you need to find a just opened bundle and cull out the good pieces. I also had difficulty finding kiln dried lumber. Many stores don’t have any, just green lumber that drips and is usually warped. I was able to find good 2×4 8 foot but no 10 foot. Also the salt pellet price difference was up to 100%. It often pays to shop around. My destination was Dawn’s house in San Jose. The tenant called about a broken toilet flush handle. I eventually arrived before noon meeting my “see you in the morning” promise. I checked and was off to another HD to get the part. Installation went well. Next was to deliver the salt pellet bags to the softener in the basement. They are only 50lbs each but I didn’t want to strain my back getting them there. I forgot to bring a wagon so I stopped by Harbor Freight to pickup a big wheel flatbed wagon that I’ve been threatening to buy anyway. A stop for lunch from King Egg Roll on the way back to the house. I assembled the wagon moved the salt and reloaded the softener. I had also intended to install a better discharge outlet for the sump pump there but forgot a few things so it will get one later. Cottage cheese and fruit for dinner. In the evening we all went to the Los Altos Library where day was a story teller.

Dave’s Ranch

Friday: (10/16) We spotted a Black Bear Diner in Willows and stopped for breakfast. Another stop at a thrift store and Best Buy in Woodlands. We tried one final time stopping at a Best Buy store in Tracy looking for Dawns phone, no luck again. Dinner at the Golden Corral restaurant there. We came in to Dave’s ranch from Patterson off I5. The road is nicer than the approach from Livermore or over Mt Hamilton from San Jose. The RV had some power loss problems on the way in. Something else to have fixed.

 
Saturday: (10/17) Lou made omelets with home fried potatoes for breakfast. The day was spent relaxing, chatting, hiking and dining. There were about 25 of Dave’s friends here (biking, hiking and Lion’s Club).

 
The ranch is about 400 acres of ponds, woodlands, grassy slopes with trails and historical things to see.

 
We had a pot luck lunch after a hike led by Dave around the ranch. Steve, one of the attendees gave an RC air show on the landing strip. An evening campfire capped the evening.

Sunday: (10/18) French toast and ham for breakfast. Everyone was busy getting ready to leave. I readied the RV with the major project being washing the windshield. I took a walk on a new trail I found. We departed about 1230 heading out through Livermore abd across the San Mateo bridge to home. Time to relax after our road trip. Leftovers for dinner.
GPS: 37.370352, -121.465997

Headed Toward Home

Thursday: (10/15) Bacon, potatoes and eggs for breakfast. We were on road at 0900. When we got to Arcata and had a good cell signal, Dawn bought tickets for a Prairie Home Companion radio show in San Diego this coming January. We were stopped in a shopping center that had a Chinese Buffet where we had lunch. The best Chinese Buffet we’ve had in years. We stopped in Weaverville at a book store. Another stop in Redding at a Best Buy looking for Dawn’s phone. None in stock. Hamburgers ala Lou for dinner. I looked at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store at kayaks. We also stopped at a Winco market stocking up for the weekend. A rest area in Red Bluff was our last stop where we spent the night.

GPS: 40.270603 -122.270124

Prairie Creek Trail Hike

Wednesday: (10/14) Lou made biscuits and gravy again for breakfast. We all took a walk up the Prairie Creek Trail to the Big Tree Trail where Lou and Dawn waited and I returned to get the jeep. They had walked two miles.

 
The above interesting tree is where they waited for me. It’s odd because of the zig-zag growth pattern of the wood and bark. Gee, I wonder if this is the source of the name if the zig-zag trail rather than the routing of the trail.

We then drove up Cal Barrel Road a road going up into the redwood forest. After a while we went down to Orick for lunch at the service station on the South end of town. They had gluten free sandwiches for Lou and Dawn and I had a homemade tamale and a cup of chili and a great milkshake. We examined a burle shop then returned home. I snoozed the rest of the afternoon. Lou cooked salmon with artichoke, chicken, rice and a green salad for dinner. Then we packed up all the outside things getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.

A Long Road Trip

Tuesday: (10/13) For breakfast a corned beef, corn and cheese omelet with fresh fried blueberry muffins that Lou baked last night. We started with a stop at the National Park Visitor Center in Orick where I picked up a map and asked some questions as Lou and Dawn walked on the beach. I thought today would be a good drive day and considered driving back roads to Etna for a late lunch but it was getting so late we decided to Drive up to Creaseant City for fish and chips at the Chart Room then continued North on Highway 199 to Obrian, Oregon where we caught a back road down to Happy Camp then South on Highway 96 stopping in Somes Bar for a walk and snack and on to Weitchpec where we caught the Bald Mountain Road over the hill back to Orick and then to camp arriving about 2140. At a stop on the top of the mountain we got a great view of the stars and Milky Way. Leftovers for dinner.

Coastal Trail and West Ridge Trail

Monday: (10/12) Lou made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. About 1020 they dropped me off on the North end of the park at the Coastal Trail trailhead.

 
I hiked down about half a mile to the beach and immediately began to wonder about today’s plan. There wasn’t much beach just a lot of water and waves, a bluff and some rocks. I tried to get by on the bluff side of a lagoon but couldn’t get past some rocks on the far side. Fortunately there was a sand bar on the ocean side of the lagoon with the high tide waves occasionally rolling over the top. I didn’t really count waves and got about half way across as I noticed a bigger wave coming in which rolled a bunch of water over the top. I didn’t make it back before the wave got my shoes wet, about 6 inches deep. OK, no need to worry about wading now.

 
The rest of the 1.5 miles of similar beach were no longer a concern. I stayed close to the bluff, scouted for a high ground escape path and dodged waves and rocks. Note to self, check the tide charts before taking this trail again. When I reached the South end of the bluffs and there was some higher ground, I climbed up the 10 feet to the high ground beach prairie only to find myself almost in the middle of an elk herd, All the does scattered off up the hill but the bull was giving me a look that concerned me. I scampered off South away from the heard and mean looking bull elk. Shades of an experience I had a number of years back when a bull elk made me run for the cover of a tiny tree. No trees around this beach.

 
Another mile South and I was at the West Ridge trailhead. Just before I arrived at the trailhead I heard coyote calls. They continued long enough for me to get my phone out and record the sounds as I did the last 1/8 mile to the trailhead. (I since managed to loose the recording) I had been following what I thought were coyote footprints on the beach as I came down the trail. This part of the West Ridge Trail was the wettest part of my hike a couple of days ago. I repeated about 2 miles of the same trail today. It wasn’t as wet today because of no rain. Still a little wet due to fog and dew.

 
I came down off the West Ridge Trail on the Zig Zag #2 trail to connect with the Prairie Creek Trail that follows the creek back to camp. But, at the bottom of the Zig Zag #2 trail where it connects with the Creek Trail, there was a crew working on a bridge and a sign that said “Trail Closed”. Being a good boy, and because I have been complaining about how little maintenance they seem to be doing on the park trails, I stayed off the trail and walked about a mile on the park road and connected back to the Prairie Creek trail at Zig Zag #1 Trail. I had forgotten how nice this area is even though it is right near the roadway passing along the creek through magnificent redwoods. I made it back to camp about 1630. A 14.3 mile hike today. Lou and Dawn were off to Arcata today. Dawn found a potential job in Arcata that they are going to check on. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Here is a link to the GPS track.

A Day Back To Eureka and Arcata

Sunday: (10/11) Granola and bacon for breakfast. Its a fogging morning after our heavy rain last evening. Fortunately it was a thin fog and the sun rising over the mountain displayed interesting rays through the fog. The fog burnt off almost as the sun was all the way up. We were off to Eureka today with Phil and Meia. They are headed to Arcata Lou and Dawn need to visit a big rummage sale at the fairgrounds today. An interesting rummage sale but nothing we needed. We did a little shopping at Winco and stopped back in Arcata where Dawn browsed a couple of book stores while Lou and I did the laundry. On our return Lou fixed smoked ribs with corn and baked potatoes. It did a good job of drying out today. Another hike tomorrow.

Here we are with Phil and Meia.