Cruise report.

We are back from our Cruise to Hawaii with friends. These are the same folks we did the Panama Canal trip with in 2010. Earlier in the year we all decided we wanted to do another trip together and this trip worked for all of us. It is a fifteen day trip out of Los Angeles with stops at four islands.

Leaving Los Angeles on Star Princess.

For the first few days the weather was cold and the seas were choppy so we confined ourselves to indoor activities. Believe me, there plenty of activities to keep us busy.

Our first stop was in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii. Thomas had rented a car so five of us drove to Volcano National Park and down the Chain of Craters Road to see the Sea Arch created when lava flowed into the ocean and wave action carved out the arch.

We also could see the large plume of steam caused by lava flowing into the ocean but it was about 4 miles away. You could hike to the lava but it was an 8 mile round trip over very rough terrain. Not possible for us because of time constraints.

Plume of steam where lava is flowing into ocean.

Arch rock.

We then drove back to see the Kilauea Crater and saw lava shooting up from a rift in the cauldera floor. We found out that a large section of the caldera wall had collapsed that morning causing the rift in the floor. As many times a I have been to Kilauea, I had never seen lava shooting up here. Pretty impressive.

Our next stop was Honolulu where we took a free local bus supposedly to the Ala Moana shopping center but it stopped at a jewelry shop first. We were a captive audience for a short time. We eventually did get to the shopping center where we had lunch and then returned to the ship.

Sunset in Honolulu.

We then stopped in Kauai where we took a local shuttle to the Marriott Beach Club where we spent a few hours on the beach. We have stayed here with friends years ago and whenever we are here we spend some time on the beach. It is free after all.

Beach at Kauai with ship in background.

Our last stop was in Maui. Here the ship had to anchor out and we had to take a ships tender in to the port. We rented a cab and had it take us to Whalers Village in Kaanapala which is about a 15 minute drive up the coast. It is where all the big hotels a located. We found a spot on the beach to people watch for a few hours then joined our friend Cay who was having lunch at a beach restaurant. Clyda and I had a lunch of Poke Tacos and guacamole. Very good! Poke is raw tuna soaked in lime juice which cooks the tuna.

After lunch we took a local bus back to the cruise dock and returned to the ship.

Our trip back to the California coast was uneventful but a little choppy. We did stop in Ensenada, MX for a day. Again we took a free local bus into town, not expecting much but from there did take a tour to a local blowhole where ocean water is forced up through a narrow opening and sprays high in the air. We had a free margarita and fish tacos for lunch then shopped our way back to the bus fending off local vendors as we went up the street.

Blowhole in Ensanada, MX.

This is the first time we have gotten off the ship in Ensenada and if we do another cruise with a stop there we will certainly repeat the experience.

We have had a couple of fairly large rain storms over the weekend with about 5.5 to 6 inches of rain so far. Very nice but we need more to fill our lakes and reservoirs.

We are now catching up on Dr appointments. Clyda for her upcoming knee replacement – replacement on Feb 23^rd and me with 2 appointments this week also. If all goes well we will leave for Quartzsite, AZ on Friday and make it a 2 day trip with an overnight stop in Boron.

All is well.

We are still alive and well here on the West coast.

We just came home from a 15 day cruise through the Panama Canal on the Celebrity Infinity with friends from Walnut Creek. It was a wonderful cruise with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, Puntarenas, Cost Rica, the Panama Canal, and Cartagena, Cloumbia. We completed the cruise in Ft Lauder dale, FL on Friday and visited the Henry Flagler Museum in West Pam Beach. On Saturday we flew back home.

I particularly like the ancient Guatemalan city of Antigua. It is up in the mountains and is UNESCO World Heritage site. That means it can be maintained but not changed. The streets are cobblestone as they have been forever.

We had perfect weather and calm seas for the entire trip.

Arriving home we hit the ground running to get all the Christmas stuff done. The outside lights are up, the tree is up and decorated, the Christmas letter is written, the packages have been mailed, but the cards remain. Those should be done in the next few days.

A very merry Christmas to all.

Another Desert trip complete.

Back from my fall desert trip.

What a great trip this year. We extended the trip by over a week so we could camp in Panamint Valley, West of Death Valley and explore those things which have been our our list of to-do’s for some time. In the past we had to drive from Death Valley which is about 50 miles by road each way.

A bonus was the military jets which used us as targets while flying low over the valley. We had parked our 4 RV’s in a row along a turnout in the road and I guess our predominately white vehicles made a convenient target for the pilots to see. We were buzzed numerous times and some at very low altitude. What a hoot! We also got some good video.

An ancient geoglyph or rock alignment.

Overview of Panamint Valley from the old townsite of Lookout in the Argus Range.

The downside of this week in Panamint valley was the 2.5 days of wind which piled up sand around our rigs and got into every opening. We eventually spent a day at the Ridgecrest Elks club blowing the sand out of everything with my air compressor. Every lock, window, under all the truck hoods, door hinges, etc.

While in Panamint Valley we explored the town of Darwin (people still live there), drove the back road from Darwin to China Springs and back to Panamint Springs Resort in Death Valley. A very nice trip.

One day we drove to the Owens Valley, West of Panamint Valley and visited the mining camp of Cero Gordo located at 8200 ft above the valley. We had made arrangements for a guided tour from the care taker. Many of the old buildings still stand and some are being refurbished by the present owner. The Silver and Lead mined at Cero Gordo were the predominant reason for the growth of Los Angeles. Eighty Six pound ingots were hauled by mule teams to Los Angeles for trans-shipment to smelters in San Francisco for processing. The freighting was done by Remy Nadeau of 20 mule team fame.

We moved to Calico Ghost Town near Barstow for 2 days so we could explore Inscription Canyon and all of its many petroglyphs. This involved about a 100 mile round trip, most of it off highway. We also visited the NASA display at the Barstow train station and well as the railroad museum nearby. Both worth the visit. We also got to see the worlds second largest meteor (6000 lbs) at another Barstow museum.

Ancient petroglyph in Inscription Canyon.

Petroglyph of Big Horn Sheep in Inscription Canyon.

We moved on from Barstow to the BLM area near Tecopa, CA, our usual stopping place after spending a night behind the Mad Greek restaurant in Baker, CA. The BLM area allows us to circle the wagons as it is not an organized campground.

From Tecopa we visited Saratoga Springs along the Harry Wade 1849 exit route out of Death Valley. We have been here before but this time we wanted to look for ancient Indian village sites as well as check out the mining areas. We did all of the above.

What 1.5 inches of rain look like at Tecopa BLM.

Armagosa River in Southern Death Valley crossing Westside Road.

We planned to visit Galena Canyon in the South end of Death Valley but a day of rain raised the level of the Armagosa River making it too dangerous to cross with 4x4 vehicles so instead we drove to the Ashford mine trail head and hiked 2.2 miles up canyon to the mine site. Soon after we arrived it started raining so we took shelter in the mine kitchen and had lunch. The rain stopped shortly thereafter so we explored for a while before going back down the canyon to the vehicles. This was my third trip to the Ashford mine and not one I was planning to do this year.

Ashford Mine in Death Valley.

Tim exploring Phinney Mine in Nevada North of Beatty.

King of the Hill!

Old telegraph wire and pole on the line from Bullfrog to Skidoo.

No trip to Tecopa is complete without a stop at China Ranch Date farm for a date shake and we did that twice this year. The second time was so son Tim could checkout a geo-cache high atop a mud hill near the ranch.

Eventually we moved to Death Valley and continued our exploring of mines, ghost towns, and Indian relics and then ended up attending lectures and events connected with the Death Valley 49er days.

DBRC (Desert Balloon Recovery Crew) haul of mylar balloons (33).

Campfire at Furnace Creek Campground.

On Sunday Nov 13^th we again drove back to Baker, spending another night there before driving home on the 14^th. We never drive from Baker to Barstow on a Sunday afternoon as the home bound Las Vegas traffic is a night mare. Much better to drive home on Monday.

 One of many great sunsets on our trip.

Yes, I am still here.

I picked up the RV from the repair shop and put out both of the slides here in the yard so I could check the closet up front and the pantry in back to see what supplies needed to be added for my fall trip. After that they came in just fine and the big living room slide seemed to work better than ever.

I have been working on menus and food lists for the trip. Also doing some yard work, etc. I am down to the last week before I leave so my to-do list has something on it for every day until I leave.

Tomorrow the truck gets a smog check. That happens every 2 years and is a joke. They check to see if I have messed with the truck computer or added anything to the engine. That takes about 10 minutes for which they charge $75. The only reason it has to be done is because people with strictly gas rigs complained that it “isn’t fair that we pay and they don’t”. Also, state officials wanted the extra revenue. The whole smog check thing is a joke as all the new cars really don’t need checking anymore but still must get checked for the revenue.

I made pizza tonight using a store bought crust in a can. It was thin crust which is what I like but it is awful to work with. Craig wanted to do his on a pizza stone in the oven. That didn’t turn out to well because once the crust is rolled out you can’t easily move it to the stone. He cooked his on a cookie sheet on top of the stone.

I put my crust on a grill mat and then transferred the mat to the BBQ on a cookie sheet. That worked fairly well but the crust cooks very fast so the bottom was very dark and crusty. Crusty is OK, dark not so much. Mine was Canadian bacon and pineapple. I want to do this for one of my meals on the fall trip. I just need to keep and eye on the crust cooking time.

Short post tonight. Mainly I wanted to let people know I am still kicking and looking forward to the fall trip.

Oh, by the way,,,,, Clyda is in Lynden, WA for a week to help niece Dawn celebrate her daughter Samantha’s first birthday which was yesterday.

She will be home Wednesday evening.

Signs of fall are in the air.

The weather has turned cooler, especially in the morning when I walk but warms up nicely by mid morning. Working outside during the day has been quit warm. I need to take frequent breaks from the heat or is because I’m old and need breaks! Probably both.

I got a call this week from the RV shop and they think the hydraulic ram for the living room slide is bad. If they can get it out it will be replaced or rebuilt if it isn’t replaceable. With an older RV, the possibility of finding replacement parts is a crap shoot.

I also had the water softener people out to check why the softer is recycling every other day and they couldn’t reset the timer. It is mechanically shot. I guess for being 28 years old, that isn’t too bad. It was only serviced once in 2003. The real bad news is the cost for a new one. PRICEY! They will install it on Wednesday.

This week I started my fall yard trimming by attacking all of the front yard plants first followed by 2 days of trimming in the back yard. I also cut down the dead orange tree. That one is a real loss but it was also 50 years old. I shredded all the trimmings on Friday which amounted to two garbage cans full which I will let compost in the cans for a few months. That is the lazy mans way of composting.

Poor orange tree.

Shredding orange tree.

I am still finding things that are missing from my new computer but have slowly worked my way around them. Painful in the least but doable.

I am working on food lists for the upcoming desert trip as well as shore excursions for our November Panama Canal cruise. All of this takes lots of time of course.

Things are moving along.

Finally, after more than a week of trying to fix the problem with my email, I got it to work on Saturday. It seems I neglected to check one box in the email server panel. After checking that box and trying a couple of password possibilities, it downloaded my email.

I spent much of today continuing with the setup of more software, etc. It is a never ending process it seems.

Last Saturday we had a nice family get together at the beach. The weather was just perfect and it was really nice to spend time with family who we sometimes only see at Christmas time.

On Wednesday we took the RV to a repair facility in Arroyo Grande. Friends had highly recommended this place so we shall see. I need the rig much earlier than I had planned because of some changes to the desert trip. More on that at a later date as the plans get firmed up.

Saturday night we attended a wedding reception for Clyda’s second cousin. They actually were married a year ago in New York State but decided to have a reception locally for friends and relatives who didn’t attend the wedding. It was a very nice party held at a local restaurant.

Sunday we drove to Nipomo with friends Don and Bev to celebrate Don’s and my birthday with friends Budd and Brenda and their daughter Kori and her daughter Jessica. We had a nice lunch at Figueroa Mountain Brewing CO.

The weather has turned cooler today. I don’t think the sun even came out at all. I may need to resort to Levi’s instead of short pants. I’ll see what tomorrow looks like before I get that drastic.

I thought I would add this photo of this trumpet plant in our side yard. It really has put on a lot of flowers this summer.

 

Frustation!

Total frustration the past 2 weeks with our internet. It has been up and down and almost useless. I have called so many times to the help desk that I think they cringe when they hear who it is.

They finally came yesterday and replaced my modem with a high speed modem and router combined and thought they had corrected all the problems. So, the same thing today, up and down, like a yo-yo.

A speed test shows speeds less than I had with the old modem. I called again and was cut off part way through the call. I gave up and went on to something else more productive.

I am slowwwly cleaning up some things around here. I worked on the shed behind the garage for two days, then moved on to the workbench in the garage. Two days barely made a dent in it.

One of the things I have been doing is getting rid of all those boxes you save from computers, printers, etc which I have kept "just in case". I took a bunch of those I had flattened to the recycle center today but my recycle bin is filling up again.

I have given up on trying to fix the slides out on the RV after putting them in and out several times and changing the fluid each time the slides were in. The bedroom slide works fine but the living room slide will go out just fine but won't budge coming in.

I have made an appointment to take it in next Wednesday. I suspect it needs a new pump. Pricey!

Adding to my frustration has been the failure of my desktop computer. It just wouldn’t turn on. All of my trouble shooting efforts and Google help did no good. I eventually went to Costco and bought a unit similar to the one that quit only more powerful and with the Windows 10 operating system. This of course has it’s own frustrations. I have managed to get most things working except for my Verizon email. It rejects my password and Frontier who took over for Verizon can’t seem to figure out what I want.

Frustrating.

I am not without email as I have my laptop and Microsoft does have Outlook with Windows 10 as email which I HATE!

Anyway. On to better things for now.

Tomorrow we will meet some of the relatives for a small get together at the beach. I am sure it will be crowded because of the Labor Day weekend. I hope the weather stays nice. It has cooled off in the evenings now. Days are still nice.

It is time to start thinking about the desert trip. I need to work on meal planning and cooking assignments. I usually get that done before October so everyone can plan meals.