Friday morning and we bid farewell to Millpond Recreation Area/Campground/Pavilion as our time here has drawn to an end. Our host job is done and it’s farewell until next spring. I will miss the quiet, the misty green entirety of the park, cool nights/tepid days, the absence of flittering biting bugs and slithering serpents, our grumpy but entertaining neighbor, a picture-perfect back yard, relaxing strolls and Mr. Toads Wild Golf Cart Rides through the campground. One thing for certain, I will not miss cleaning all those damn toilets!
Pulled into Hi-Way RV Park for the night. Lady who was work-camping at the front desk was from The Woodlands, same park where we held our open house when we first bought our motorhome…small world!
Love the concept of this RV Park. All sites are within eye sight of a drive in Movie Theater screen and we got a front row seat. Bought black truffle popcorn in anticipation of the Western movie playing that night. More than a bit disappointed when I found out they don’t show movies in the rain, which had just begun as dusk approached. Way to cool to pass up so we will return, even if just to watch the movie from inside our motorhome.
For the next few days the Oregon coast will be slammed by heavy rains and storms that will drift inland just about the time we leave Oregon. Sprinkles started as we left Eugene after having the motorhome’s wheels aligned. Weather wise, our timing couldn’t have been better. In the morning we are California bound.
Cold and wet start to our day, passed up the rain and ran headlong into Grants Pass fire smoke. Over the border in California the hills lost their green and within an hour we had Mount Shasta in our sights.
Late lunch at the original Black Bear Café, packed when we arrived but so worth the wait. They serve breakfast all day so I got a yummy veggie omelet and John had a burger. The counter chairs all had sayings on the back, the entire café covered with bears and fun bear country décor. A refreshing alternative to Denny’s.
Overnight in Santa Nella California, on the road early. Past the foul-smelling holding stockyards, a golden straw landscape covered the land as live tumbleweeds turned into dead piles clinging to barbed wire and weathered wood fencing.
Curious sighting along the freeway, hundreds of tomatoes lined the sides of the road. John spotted a few pallets of tossed off, still in the wrapper, loaves of bread. We finally spotted the reason for the roadside tomatoes scattered everywhere but never found out the cause of the forlorned bread.
Cotton fields melding into California produce lands fed by the Aqueduct.
The California Aqueduct supplies water to southern California. Over pumping the ground water has decreased the permanent aquifer-system storage level to a loss. The 701 mile aqueduct runs from San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta down to serve the Los Angeles Basin. It is truly an amazing feat of engineering. Although taxes paid for the Aqueduct, signs boarding the highway spout displeasure of the additional money’s the state is demanding of those areas receiving the water.
Hellacious road, I-5 in California, from South of Santa Nella to Las Angeles. Horrid porpoising, rumble stripped steep highway, pushy totally unfriendly truck drivers and passing through so much smog that the road was only clearly visible a mile or so ahead. Hwy 5 is always under repair and currently the truck lane is torn up and scraped, ready for recovering. Had to slow to 45 mph so LilyPad didn’t shake apart.
Arrived in Canoga Park Elks Lodge RV park in the afternoon for a short visit with my aunt and sweet elder fur pup Jay Jay. We were welcomed into the cool shade of the back yard and relaxed under the orange scented trees. John happily removed some of the sweet juicy fruit to take on our journey.
KatieBug enjoyed her visit with Jay Jay who followed her around in awe of her curiosity. Jay Jay’s dog door was foreign to KatieBug so when she stuck her head in, one woof of warning was all it took to keep a distance between the door and KatieBug. To have the luxury of visiting relatives at will and still be close to home fills me with warm fuzzy feelings.
Perfect wedding weather and we are off to Vegas to meet up with the kids and celebrate two becoming one at a Vegas wedding with friends.
Our choice for lunch was Peggy Sue’s Nifty 50’s Diner. Ever start a conversation with someone that sounded cutesy when you first began but ended up being irritating after a few minutes? We had Ms Betty Boop for our waitress, a nice, efficient, friendly lady but her voice got less and less pleasing throughout our meal. By the time we finished, we were ready to leave and grab something chocolate to sooth our nerves.
This was our second stop at Peggy Sue’s and what a fun break in the hours of boring desert drive leading to Las Vegas. Burgers, curly fries, shakes, 50’s decor and waitress that look like Lucy when she worked as a waitress.
So many movie autograph photo’s, old film star posters, full size replicas of Elvis, tables set in 50’s ware and so much to look at we returned just to visit the memories of our youth and the burgers are juicy and tasty.
In the gift shop are the most elegant unusual wall clocks and I want one! Musical Seiko and Crystals from Swarovski movement to music in a wall clock. As soon as I can figure out how to talk John into an unnecessary wall clock that will need to be carefully wrapped and put away each time we are in motion, I will give one of them a home.
Into the desert, passed naked hills and valleys full of tumbleweeds, rocks and scrub brush so even the scenery was unfriendly as we began our slow rise into Las Vegas. Bill Boards lined the highway advertising the approach of Las Vegas as ostentatious casino’s emerged from the vast desert sands.
