The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Tehachapi eastward

We are traveling east on I-40 right now after spending last night at Mo’s friend’s home in Bear Springs valley near Tehachapi. It’s a little after 11 right now and finally the air is getting clearer as we get farther east in the desert. Mo is driving but soon it will be my turn. I knitted some, fiddled with the broadband card on the computer, called John and Deanna and things feel really nice and simple at the moment.

It was really cold last night and we had the heater going all night, and then at 330 or so I got up to turn on the propane heater as well. It was about 47 degrees in the MoHo by then and my nose was cold even though it was cozy under the covers.

The cats have traveled just fine but then last night they were a little restless as well, probably because I was. We had a really nice visit with Chris and Peggy and Mo’s other student Jane came up to visit from Victorville as well. Jane and Chrissy were students of Mo’s when she was a new young teacher in China Lake in 1962. It was fun reminiscing about those days and hearing about Mo back then as a young teacher. Even then she was “firm, fair, and consistent”. That was what they like about her, and they emulated her teaching style as they each became teachers in California. They both also retired with more than 30 years of teaching.

Yesterday we stopped at a big ”family” farm on HWY 58 on the way to their house and bought some pomelos, like grapefruits except they were as big as heads. We laughed a lot about them and left them for Chris and Peg.

Jane is a cat lady so we got lots of good information about my cats and what to do about Jeremy losing weight. I guess she has more than 13 cats but refused to tell any of us the actual number.

Peggy made a great dinner for us with chicken and scalloped potatoes and also insisted on sending us off this morning with bacon and apple pie, and leftover chicken and potatoes for the road. They are planning to move to the Bear Valley house when Peg retires next spring but for now it is a weekend place. The horse barn was to die for though, since they are both horse people and Chris still rides with the sheriff posse and helps with horse rescues during the fires. I kept thinking of my sister Sally and how much she would have loved that Barnmaster barn. Heck, back in the days when I had horses I would have loved it!

It must have rained here recently because there are flowers blooming all over the desert. Some reallhy pretty kind of aster that has gray foliage. At first I thought it was rabbitbrush, but it’s not the right flower. And a beautiful bunch of lavender asters was blooming out among the creosote bushes. The skyline has that desert sharpness except to the south there is smog and smoke creeping up from LA I guess, hard to say where it is from.

It’s later on Sunday evening and Mo is showering after we finally settled in for the night at Meteor Crater. We drove a long way today, 450 miles or so, and the road were good and the traffic was light, but we were still worn out when we landed. It seemed a lot later than it was because it was dark here completely at 5pm. Must be on the eastern edge of the time zone even if it is pretty far south in Arizona.

We got to Flagstaff and needed gas so got off the freeway to try to find some kind of gas station. Finally found one, but the funny thing is that here in the desert they must actually be implementing the dark night restrictions on night lighting. I have heard of this a lot in the past and thought it was a great idea. I love the dark. But trying to find your way around in a darkened unknown city is an interesting experience. Everything looks as though it is closed. Finally managed to get gas and get the next 30 miles down the road to our reserved campground, which was very nearly closed, and yet still more than very very dark. We drove around in circles trying to find the space, and then turning on the light so we could see the campground light, but then of course we couldn’t see anything at all. It was funny. I was swearing a lot at all those dark night rules!

Now, after dinner and a glass of wine it all seems entertaining, but an hour ago not so much. Music playing on the stereo, cats napping in the front window after dinner, and praise be, my wireless att card is working. Some things make life all ok! LOLOL

Traveling the Southern Routes in December

Saturday morning December 1, 2007
We are off and running on the big trip, the one we have waited for all year. This morning we left town at 6:45 even earlier than we had planned. This trip will be our maiden voyage with the cats along and it feels as though it will be just fine. Of course there has been a bit of adjustments.

Teddy did his meowing thing for a couple of hours but now it’s 930 in the morning and he seems to have finally settled down. Jeremy is here asleep in Moana’s lap feeling safe and cozy. Right away when I let him out of his cage he found Abby’s bed and decided that it felt like home. Teddy goes back into his cage for safety, probably because he likes being in those closed spaces.

It’s also taken a bit to get used to using the laptop and the wireless card. The computer kept turning off and I already broke the antenna off the card. For a bit of time, though, I had 5 bars and managed to get gas prices. We did really well, since we paid 3.19 and every thing else around there was more.

We had a glass of milk before we left and split a yogurt a bit ago, but hopefully won’t be eating all those big breakfasts that we do sometimes when we are traveling. It’s sunny and not too cold here on 99, smoggy and hazy as usual for the central valley. The highway is pretty rough in some places but here between Fresno and Bakersfield it has smoothed out some.
I can’t believe that after all these years of fantasizing about the motorhome and a tracker that I am living it right now. A whole month on the road. So many fun things ahead of us, and who knows what kind of adventures are waiting. We will be staying with Mo’s friends in Tehachapi tonight and then tomorrow will be a rather long day crossing the deserts on the way to Flagstaff. For the moment it’s still California, and still doesn’t really feel like a real trip. The leaves are off the orchards, or turning dull brown, sometimes you can smell grapes, other time fertilizers and waste plants. Trash along the highway. I am wondering just how much that will change as we cross the country. 99 certainly isn’t the most picturesque of roads, even though it has such a long history in my life, and Mo’s life as well. We have both traveled this road for close to 50 years or more. Some things change, others never do. For instance, there are only a couple of ways to get from one end of California to the other. Old refrigerators in a huge junkyard, lots of manufactured home and rv dealers, stupid people on cell phones who don’t know how to onramp the freeways. Good thing Mo is such a good driver. Cats sleeping sun in the windows, clouds over the misty sierras in the east. Onward.

Traveling West to Colorado and Utah

Transcribed from our old red leather journal in April of 2011

May 18th, 2007

Once we arrived at Edna’s place things got a bit strange for a time. Her dog got all upset about Abby being there and piddled on the floor. Edna acted like it was because of Abby, but as time progressed it became clear that the dog has been doing this at other times. It surely was a bit uncomfortable for a time though. Then the homeowner’s association had a problem with the MoHo being in front of the house and we had to move it to another area.

On Thursday we all had breakfast with Edna and Tom and visited with his mom a bit before we went for a walk with Abby in the Bear Creek green belt. Edna took a nap then and Mo and I decided to take the bikes and go for a bike ride. We left Abby in the car and of course she barked, but it was out of the way so hopefully it didn’t bother anyone. The bike ride was really beautiful, and the trail went for many miles along the creekside, though neighborhoods and around a golf course to the dam. We went back home and waited for the big dinner that Edna has planned for the family at a local restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, but very very loud and we were seated in a long table fashion so no one could really talk to anyone very easily. We were glad to get home. Mo and I told Edna that we would be leaving very early the next morning so we didn’t plan to get together for breakfast.

Up Friday morning feeling free and wonderful because we knew that we didn’t have any more people to please and that we were now totally on our own. We drove west over I-70 and really enjoyed the views of the mountains, the stop along the Colorado river and the feeling of getting back out west. We got to Torrey in the early evening and found our little camp ground with a site at the edge of the park and a view of the cliffs. We had to move the next day but that first night it didn’t matter to us. Slept like babies again in that place.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed west on 24 to 72 to go north to the turnoff for Cathedral Valley. It was a good thing I knew about where the turn was because it wasn’t marked at all along the highway. The air over the valley was pretty smoky, in fact all the west seemed fairly smoky and we couldn’t figure out where it was all coming from. Maybe southern California? The road over Thousand Lakes Mountain was much better than it used to be and I carried the gourd with Shera’s ashes over the mountain while we took photos and really enjoyed the views. The Cathedral Valley campground was completely empty and there wasn’t another car on the road in the entire area. We parked at the base of the trail and since no one was around we were able to take Abby on the hike to the mound where I spread Shera’s ashes in the perfect place where I know that she wanted them. It was a simple and good experience. Much easier that it might have been a year ago, so I was glad that so much time had passed since Shera died.

We then traveled east on the Caineville Wash road to the Lower Cathedral Valley and out again to HWY 24 by afternoon. We stopped at the Visitor Center again, and then home to a really amazing dinner across the street from our camp site at the Café Diablo. It was really fancy and fun and our food was so pretty that a tourist asked if she could take a photo of it. That was good for us since she emailed the photos later.

Sunday morning we decided to go south to the Burr Trail and headed down HWY 12 over Boulder Mountain and the spontaneously decided to take the Devil’s Backbone road back into the mountains. It was a great ride, and we came out into Escalante and drove back up HWY 12 to Boulder where we had a great lunch and met an Italian couple on their honeymoon. They were traveling all over the US and Polynesia for several weeks and were lots of fun to talk with. We drove down the Burr Trail, now paved of course, so it’s much easier than it used to be. Then took off on the side spur to Upper Muley Twist canyon and the Strike Overlook. It was my first time at the strike and I hiked up there without Mo and Abby since there wasn’t any place that was shaded enough to leave her in the car and it was pretty hot. When I came back down however, there were no more people any where around so Mo and I hiked back up to the overlook with Abby and that was great because then Mo got some photos of me up there. She laughed and said that there are a lot of photos of me on high places sitting on a rock.

We drove down the switchbacks and then back up the NoTom road over all the washboards, checked out Cedar Mesa campground and then one more time through the park headquarters on HWY 24. We then went on a great hike out behind our area and found a good place for walking without worrying about Abby being on the trail. Once more we had the place all to ourselves, which is pretty amazing for Memorial Day weekend!

Monday morning we left via HWY 72 to I-70 and then back across Nevada to Ely where we stayed at the KOA campground just out of town. We went in to town to try out the casinos and I won50 bucks almost immediately. That was fun. Then trying to buy a salad at the local McD’s was interesting. I guess most of Ely is reservation and the accents were really hard to understand. The town itself looks as though it has seen better days as well. But Cave Lake and Cave Creek were really beautiful, with a lovely dry camp campground that we would like to stay in sometime. The sites were level and the trails were really nice as well. Abby like the stream and the whole area was really pretty.

Tuesday morning we made the short trek from Ely to California. We found a Scenic Byway to the Lunar Crater and took a side trip there and had fun hiking and looking for desert things and driving the baby car on the flat smooth salt flat of a dry lake. Over the mountains we decided to unhook the baby car so the MoHo wouldn’t have to work so hard and drove the eastern portion of HWY 120 west to 395. That was a really beautiful drive with open space and roller coaster humps and no other cars. It came out in the vicinity of Lee Vining and Mono Lake where gas was 4.18 per gallon. The highest on the trip. We spent the night at June Lake in a campground where the owners were full of rules and all snooty and put us in a crummy site, but it didn’t really matter because we were headed home in the morning. Drove home over Tioga pass after unhooking one more time, and then go to Jamestown early afternoon. Great trip with no problems at all, and only one close call with Abby.

Teaching in Lincoln and visiting Branson, Missouri and my son

Transcribed form the little red leather journal in April 2011

May 14th, 2007

While we were in Lincoln I worked during the days and Mo checked out the town. She found Pioneer park where we rode our bikes one evening after work. She found another lovely park with a lake where Abby got to go swimming until Mo later saw the “no swimming” signs. Then at Pioneer Park Abby went swimming again, although for Abby it really is more like wading.

One evening we went to dinner at what used to be the Fireworks Grill and had steaks with Charlie (a fellow teaching soil scientist) but it turned out to be a real disappointment. Evidently the real Fireworks place has moved out of town on the south end somewhere and we never could find it. Bummer. I ended up eating out with the survey people several nights, including a night at the Cajun place, a night with Doug and Jim and Doug’s wife at the Italian place, Mo and I had pizza at Chicago Pizza and that was really great! Mo also got a chance to see the Haymarket park and sculpture downtown and to visit the capitol.

When the weekend came, we decided to leave for Branson on Friday night so that we could get there early enough of Saturday to get settled in before time for our shows. I got off work at 530 and we took off south towards Missouri. We got to go into Iowa as well on the way so we could get another state on that trip! I drove a little bit but got tired and went into the back to rest. Loved that part, although it was pretty bumpy and I finally got up around midnight and Mo said she was looking for a place to pull over. Those roads in southern Missouri don’t have much shoulder so it wasn’t easy to find. We were really surprised when we turned a corner and there was a Wal-Mart just waiting for us! Mo said, hope there are some rv’s there and as we drove around the parking lot we found a lineup and we pulled in and settled in for a good nights sleep! Thank goodness for Wal-Mart. In the morning we had a MacD’s breakfast since it was right there and then decided to take HWY 65 all the way south past Branson to Arkansas so we could get that sticker as well. The gas by the border wasn’t too expensive. Back to Branson to find our campground and we were really glad that we had switched since the other one I had originally wasn’t nearly as nice. In spite of the chain link fence, it was a comfortable place.

We settled in and didn’t have much time to get ready for our 3pm Broadway show. Decided to leave Abby in the motorhome rather than the kennels and I made sure all the windows were closed in the MoHo and we took off. Turns out that I opened the window instead of closing it and when we got back Abby had jumped out of the truck, was running around on the highway until someone found her and brought her back to the park. She was down in the kennel barking like crazy! What a horrible feeling that was. Just too close, too close to losing her. She was pretty contrite after that and we could tell she was a bit depressed and even more worried than usual.

The Broadway show was really good with lots of great costumes and fun singing. We enjoyed it. We came back to the MoHo and settled in after the trauma with Abby and got ready to go for our evening show which was “that 70’s Show”. Well, what a shock that turned out to be. The venue was a crummy old restaurant in a Ramada Inn that had been converted to a dingy bar, exactly like the 70’s. We knew something might be wrong when a tall thin woman in a very bad blond wig and heavy makeup waved us in from the parking lot. There were probably 20 people altogether in the audience. Funny thing, though, with the free cokes and popcorn and the campy entertainment, it actually turned out to be fun, with some good singing and lots of comedy. We ended up really enjoying ourselves.

Our next show wasn’t until 11 pm at the downtown Owens’s Theater. We walked around early and watched the fireworks on the River Front but when we got to the theater, the show had been cancelled. We were pretty tired anyway and so it wasn’t too hard to just go home and crawl into bed after that very busy day!

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for my son Johnny and his wife Linda to arrive, cooked a good breakfast and sat out on the covered deck overlooking the Branson trees with our morning coffee. A really lovely moment. The kids got there around 10 or so and we had a great visit. Took them first to the Duck rides. It was great fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. Then Johnny drove us around the different places where he had lived and played as a young boy and we went to the little town of Harrison? For lunch. We ate rather boring food at the Olde English Pub restaurant and then just went back to the campground and visited until they headed back for Joplin.

Mo and I got ready for our big night out at the Mickey Gilley show. This one was interesting, and kind of fun, but the people were really really old who were there. It was country music from the era after the Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Jr time and before the current time so we didn’t know the music that well, but the entertainment was still fun. Sort of campy Branson kind of entertainment I guess. I would imagine that you have to have tickets for the special appearances and special shows, some of them were already sold out when we ordered our tickets so the shows that we saw were more ordinary. After the show we walked down to the riverfront area and really enjoyed seeing how nicely they have upscaled everything there. I could definitely spend some time in that place for sure! We were really lucky because while we were in Branson it wasn’t too hot and didn’t rain or anything unpleasant at all.

Monday morning we got up and had cereal for breakfast, broke camp, and headed north by traveling across HWY 65 through the Ozarks into Oklahoma (another state) and along the eastern border of Kansas on what was called the Military Road. It was interesting to see Fort Scott and the restored buildings where 160 people lived at what was once believed to be the final frontier of the west. Back to Lincoln that evening and off to work the next morning for the field day with the students.

Tuesday evening was our chance to ride our bikes at Pioneer park and it was really lovely. Cool and breezy and very pretty and green, with a truly wonderful paved bike trail. Mo finally figured out that we could put a muzzle on Abby and she does ok in the car waiting for us. The muzzle seems to keep her calmer than when she gets herself all worked up and barking.

Wednesday morning I worked, met with the lab people, and managed to get out of the center at 11:30 when Mo picked me up in the MoHo. We bought a taco on the way out of town and headed west to Edna’s house. The trip was fairly uneventful, with clear skies and some cloudiness as we approached Colorado, but we managed to miss all the big rain storms that Edna was getting.

Off to Lincoln, Nebraska, to teach Basic Soil Survey

May 10 2007 Thursday

We left Jamestown traveling east to Winnemucca Nevada. Drove to Jackson via HWY 49 and then up 88 over the mountains. It was a great day with beautiful weather. The pass was open and the highway was clear. Abby did well on the trip and everything seemed fine. In Winnemucca we found our space, and even though it was near the highway with traffic sounds, we slept well. We made dinner in the motor home, pretty sure we had hamburgers but I am sure that we didn’t eat out. We then went for a long walk through town via the highway. It was sunny and warm and the wind was blowing hard. We walked back behind the tracks and found the street where the Basque restaurant was that we saw last year. Quiet uneventful and delightful evening in the MoHo for the first night out

5/11 2007 Friday

We got up early and had cereal and coffee before filling up with gas at the Maverick right in town. Our next destination to be Evanston, Wyoming. The day across the rest of Nevada was fun and then when we hit Utah the salt flats were really really what Melody calls “white hot nothing”. The Utah pavement couldn’t hold a candle to the Nevada pavement, though, and the bump bump bump was a pain. We stopped at a small rest area and made tuna sandwiches and took photos of the salt flats. There was an interesting piece of sculpture along the highway that at first looked like some kind of radar tower, but as we passed it, we could see that it was some kind of intentional art. Completely out of place out there in the desert. Then, as we crossed the Nevada-Utah line we saw signs for Drug Dogs Present and all kinds of cop cars and random drug stops. Laughed to notice a few cars stopping and turning around before they got in the thick of it. As we went through it didn’t seem to be that big a deal, but the signs evidently did their trick.

Later we managed to get through Salt Lake traffic without much hassle and the real hassle was driving over the pass up to Park City. It was long and steep and the MoHo really felt the pull. Finally on top as we reached Wyoming, things leveled out and got really pretty. Our little campground in Evanston was fine except for the owner who was a very old man and accidentally charged me 313 instead of 31.30. I got it straightened out later, but it was a big surprising when I found the ticket. We found a walking trail just a couple of blocks from our camp and took Abby on a nice long walk to town. Evanston was a sweet little town, with lots of museums and restored buildings all around. The park had a bandstand and the river walk was paved and signed well and full of flowers. Walking through the town was interesting, people were all lined up trying to watch an old theater being demolished that had burned. We asked what was going on and the people lined up on the sidewalk all said, “I don’t know”. Funny. Another quiet and peaceful evening in our little MoHo.

5/12/2007 Saturday

Up early since this was going to be a long day over 500 miles to North Platte with a stop in between to visit Mary Ann and Gail in Laramie. Wyoming was really lovely until we hit the over thrust belt where there were a lot of refineries and gas and oil wells. Then it got pretty again as we climbed up toward Laramie. We crossed the continental divide a couple of times and wondered how that happens. The best part was what we called the meringue mountains which was actually the back site of the Uinta range in Utah. They were really dramatic and lovely and I took a photo of them as we passed. Mid day we arrived in Laramie to visit with Mary Ann and they took us to lunch in town. Laramie was also quiet and clean and altogether enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing Mary Ann again, since we have been friends for more than 15 years now.

Leaving Laramie at 2 we headed on east into Nebraska toward North Platte. About half way there we dropped down a few extra miles to get into Colorado at the little town of Julesburg just so we could put our Colorado sticker up. We had great fun adding the stickers to the MoHo window. Arrived in North Platte to another fairly simple and nice campground and made dinner again in the MoHo before a good night’s sleep.

5/13 Sunday

Mother’s Day. I wasn’t using my phone much so I didn’t talk to the kids on this moms day. We got up early again and had eggs and potatoes this time, cooked outdoors over the camp stove and set out for our adventure to the Sand Hills of Nebraska. It was a nice drive, although we had to turn east on HWY 2 and didn’t have time to really explore all the way up to Valentine. Decided that it might be nice to try that sometime. We enjoyed the trip, but the winds of Nebraska are something neither of us will forget! Buffeted the old MoHo around pretty badly along HWY 2. Nebraska was pretty flat and boring, but we managed to find a small town along HWY 34 that we took to avoid the I-80 traffic and trucks. Looking for something to eat for Moms Day we found this great little Midwest place and had a moms day buffet. Just in time. There was corn fed amazing pork, fried apples, really really good corn on the cob and all sorts of goodies for 10 bucks each. Turned out to be really really fun and nice. A surprise.

On in to Lincoln along that back road and found our campsite at the CampAway park right by the freeway. It was a really nice place as well, with good facilities, close to town and lots of parks and grass for Abby to play right outside our site. Even with the traffic of the freeway, the huge trees muffled the sounds and the wind sounded wonderful. I slept great there. The park was full of huge trees and green grass where Abby could play ball in the afternoons with Moana. There was a big park across the street that had Frisbee golf and we walked there one evening and watched people playing. Abby loved the walks.