food – Page 5 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Hiking on Christmas Eve, and heading home

I ’m sitting at my desk once again at home in Rocky Point, with snow outside the darkened windows, a blazing fire in the woodstove, and all the glory of high def big screen television illuminating the living room down the hall. Seems almost impossible that two days ago I was feeling the warm sun on my body as I hiked through the Coachella Preserve in a pair of shorts. In spite of many internet searches and phone calls, we never did find a dog friendly trail for Abby, so instead Mo spent the morning relaxing in the MoHo while I took off hiking with Laurie and Odel, who graciously offered to drive. It was the first time that I have entered the murky gloom of a desert California fan palm oasis, and I was completely enthralled. The hike through the palms was less than a mile, however, not enough to even touch the 10,000 steps that are the daily goal of my hiking partners. Instead we opted for a 4 mile mostly ridge run through the desert.

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The trail offered magnificent views in all directions, and the snow frosted peaks of the surrounding mountains made everything look all the more dramatic. With temperatures in the mid-60’s, the hike was perfect, just a few short climbs to get the blood moving, and long strolls punctuated with many stops along the way to talk about all the things that we don’t blog, aka politics, religion, and of course, all the other RV bloggers that we both read and enjoy! Stopping at a particularly gorgeous overlook, Laurie commented that she thought the huge rift below us looked like a fault. Bingo, Laurie! That was the San Andreas Fault, bisecting the park, lying beneath us. The fan palms are there due to the seeps and springs coming from the fault zone, and the fabulous warm waters of Desert Hot Springs are also a result of the active fault. Lucky us! Great hiking, hot pools, palms for shade, and no earthquakes!

Back in camp, Mo and I sat outside in the sun for a long time, until the lengthening evening shadows forced us indoors. Once it was all the way dark, we strolled through the park, enjoying all the Christmas light displays and listening to the music drifting on the evening air. With only two days of brilliant sun, and that luxurious hot water pool, the trip felt like a complete success, even with the crazy weather.

We planned to drive on Christmas, hoping for light traffic and good weather, and we weren’t disappointed. Christmas morning was beautiful, with so little wind that the mighty windmills were still for the first time since we have been here in the desert. Traveling I-10, to the 210 through Pasadena (close to my birthplace in Sierra Madre), then to I-5 and over the Grapevine was completely uneventful, except for the ker-thunkety ker-plunkety road sounds that frustrated Jeremy more than any of us. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t settle down in his usual spot on the MoHo dash. The road surfaces in California in many places are very old and very tired, and nowhere more so than on these major interstates. My truck driving daughter says they are some of the worst highways in the country. I would agree, especially after just returning from Florida where turnpikes and road fees make for some highways as smooth as butter and as well lit as a videogame. Ah well, eventually the I-5 smoothed out a bit, the rain stayed north of us and we made our way to Coalinga. I spent some good phone time with each of my four kids scattered around the country, and talked with friends here and there as well. Just exactly what I would have done on this day if I had been back in Rocky Point.

Near Coalinga we passed the Harris Ranch, a huge complex of restaurant, store and inn, with an interesting history. Mo spontaneously said, “Hey, how about a steak!”. We parked in the huge lot to the west of the complex and decided to see if it was possible to get in for dinner. To our surprise, we didn’t even have to wait. Did you ever eat a 32 dollar steak in a tee shirt?? It was totally comfortable, with some folks in diamonds and glitz, and others fresh off the road as we were. The service was fantastic, and the steaks were all natural, no hormones added, grass fed beef. I had a glass of knarly oak old vine zinfandel that was an experience to itself. I wouldn’t want to drink that wine alone, but with dinner it was perfect. I swear I could taste the dirt beneath the old vine in that glass. The ambience was lovely, with a huge old fireplace blazing brightly, Christmas music in the background, and twinkly lights everywhere. Turned out to be the perfect Christmas dinner for us, and I didn’t even have to cook a thing.

Back on the road for one short hour of hard driving rain and wind before we found a little KOA at the San Luis RV Resort near Gustine, where we had reserved a space by phone earlier in the day. The site was pull-through, and it just took a few minutes to hook up in the rain. We lit the flameless candle, turned on the flickering snowman, pulled all the shades, and were suddenly in our own little heaven, safe and warm, watching Christmas shows till bedtime. I love that part about RVing, the quick changes, the variety, and then the nesty safety of it all. No suitcases to lug around, to fluorescent lit front desks to deal with, just pull in, plug in, and you are home.

We spent the once again sunny Sunday morning driving to Redding along I-5, again just out of reach of the hardest rains until we landed in our little boring Redding RV Park along the freeway. There was enough time left in the day for a quick trip up the hill to Mo’s uncle living in Shingletown, so we made a quick call and left for the hills. Uncle Don was a World War II pilot, and then a commercial pilot, married to his sweet Maxine for many decades. Maxine left the world a couple of years ago, and Uncle Don is on his own now, and doing absolutely great for a man in his 80’s. We had great fun visiting and listening to airplane stories, and playing with his little Boston Terrier, Spike. Down the mountain in the dark, and before long we were again safely tucked in to our little haven. We spent our last night on the road for our big cross country trip here, and now we are here again. I would imagine we might use this park quite often, since it is just a mile or so down the road from where we store the MoHo. At $15.40 cash only with the CampClub USA card, it’s a deal.

This morning was easy. We found a place to fill the propane, and a great self service car wash big enough for the MoHo to get her all cleaned up for a few weeks in storage. Have you ever heard of a coin car wash that takes credit cards?? It was great, no quarters clinking away and no bells beeping. We just washed till we were done and paid the bill. $7.25 a steal for sure! By eleven she was tucked away in her berth and we were on the interstate driving north toward Klamath Falls. Somehow that last 150 miles seemed soooo long. For one thing, we were in the baby car, not the big cushy leather seats of the MoHo, and the cat couldn’t figure out where to be and the dog thought the cat was in her space and wasn’t happy about it. Jeremy, who is really a sweetheart most of the time, reached around the seat and slapped Abby for no good reason at all. Reminded me of a couple of kids in the car fighting for space.

Now here we are, all settled in at home. The car is unloaded, the laundry is running, the dog is sleeping at Mo’s feet and the cat is sprawled out on the back of the sofa. Just like we never left. Amazing to me how that happens.

Soup on a Monday night

The last few days have been mostly about snow. I got tired of putting up photos of snow and more snow, so decided to take a break from it. The photos, that is, not the snow. We got more than a foot again on Saturday night and spent almost 3 hours Sunday morning shoveling, plowing, and running the snow blower. I still managed to put up some Christmas lights on the big front porch, and take down a few Christmas things to make home all bright and cozy. I’ll be leaving on the 9th, and with the exception of the short space of time between my flight’s arrival at midnight in Medford, and our departure the next morning by 7 or so for Southern California, I won’t be home until after Christmas. I’m thinking I need to find a small little something to take with us in the MoHo. When we traveled during December in 2007 we had a nice wreath on the grille. Guess I can do that again, at least.

Today I went to work, but I must say, the sweet commute was anything but sweet this morning. The temperatures haven’t been above freezing for many days now and the road was icy and treacherous. In town it was just plain cold. Klamath Falls is in a basin, and the fog sometimes lies in thick during the winter. It’s ugly. My least favorite weather is cold, icy, gray fog, with steely, leaden skies. Ick. When I got home tonight I cooked up some great soup, a bit of a break from all the Thanksgiving leftovers. It made a nice supper for us while Mo watched the 49’rs do their thing and I escaped to the computer room to write and play with photos.

Zuppa Toscana Soup is one of my favorites. I think there are several recipes out there attempting to copy the famous Olive Garden soup, but my friend Maryruth of course, found the best one. I wonder if all that fresh kale offsets the Italian sausage, bacon, and cream. Hmmmm. Maybe I should get shoveling again.

After Rick showed us how to put a video in our blogs, I thought I would share this clip of Abby running through the pathways made by the snow blower. I couldn’t seem to get the clip under 15 seconds, however, per Rick’s suggestion, but 44 seconds is a lot better than the 3 minutes of video that I started with. Just like Rick’s dog Rylie, Abby gets all excited about playing in the snow. She loves it when she thinks we are heading out for a walk. She also loves the paths, and thinks they are made just for her. Sometimes an occasional neighbor dog will come down to try the paths out as well, much easier doing your business on a nice path than in the deep snow, right?

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Northern California Coast

We have been here in the fog, but even so, the town of Eureka seems rather drab. There are a lot of interesting people walking around, people who look like they have been in the same mode since the 60’s. Last night we decided to take an evening tour of the local co-op. North Coast Co-op has a huge mural on the street side facade, and is bigger than most major grocery stores. I love natural food stores, and while it wasn’t Trader Joe’s, it was bigger than some and filled with amazing stuff. Mo is at a loss in this environment, so I walked around explaining some of the lingo to her and some of the reasons for buying this or that instead of the everyday brands you get in a regular grocery store.

The produce was fantastic, and if our refrigerator wasn’t full I would have hauled tons of colorful stuff home. We can’t eat enough to support all the temptations so gorgeously displayed. We managed to get out of the store with some great looking green tea from China and two bottles of “Our Daily Red”, an organic red table wine with no sulfites. Keeps the migraines away for me. I love a good red wine, but will certainly settle for a daily red glass of this good stuff full of antioxidants and other good things. It was a fun way to spend a dark rainy evening in Eureka.

Today we are going to try out the Samoa Cookhouse, the last surviving lumber camp style cookhouse in the west, built in 1893. The meals are all served family style and breakfast today will be French toast, sausage, and who knows what else. There is a lumberjack museum with the cookhouse that should be entertaining. Another treat will be breakfast company, with some soil scientist friends of mine located at the Arcata Soil Survey Office who have agreed to meet us there this morning. Looking forward to it.

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Later:

Our breakfast was wonderful, and visiting with Sue Azman made it even more so. I’m not sure if Mo enjoyed all the soil survey talk as much as I did, but we all had a good time talking about kayaking the coast. Sue is an avid sea kayaker and we had fun talking kayaks and possible trips. Back to camp in plenty of time to button up and we actually left the park at 12:01. Gas in Eureka was a whopping 3.35 per gallon, and we knew that in Fort Bragg it was only 2.99, so we only put 50 bucks in the MoHo to get us on down the road. Again, our travel day was a short 130 miles or so. BUT! What a trip it was!!

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We traveled south on 101 for some distance before turning off on the alternate highway that travels 32 miles through the redwoods, called the Avenue of the Giants. It was a leisurely, meandering drive through huge trees and narrow roads, but with no traffic at all. Stopping at several of the auto tour sites for photos, and some short walks in the forest was refreshing. Once more, Abby wasn’t welcome on the trails, even on a leash, so Mo stayed in the MoHo so I could walk through the forest a bit and take pictures. I had been enjoying the subtle light on a pale yellow vine that seemed to be in many of the trees and wanted to photograph it. Closer inspection revealed the bane of my California soil survey life, poison oak! It was creeping at least 40 feet high into the trees, and covering the forest floor, mixed with the ferns and oxalis. Poison oak is ubiquitous in the Mother Lode where I worked, but I had no idea it was so prevalent in this high precipitation redwood forest. Ugh! I am extremely allergic and had to do a couple of hospital visits while working in California. It was one of the main reasons I was so glad to finally retire and get back home to Oregon.

At the terminus of the Avenue of the Giants, it wasn’t far to our turn west from 101 to Fort Bragg. Although Highway 1 is famous as one of the most beautiful scenic byways in the country, this part of “one” crossed the last of the coastal ranges via an incredibly curvy and steep road before arriving at the ocean cliffs a few miles north of Fort Bragg. I think this may have been the curviest road we have driven in the MoHo, and I’m glad Mo was the one doing the driving. Jeremy wasn’t too happy about the curves either, and he insisted on riding on the dash board, twisting and turning and trying to get comfortable. I tend to get car sick when it’s bad like this, but on this trip I remembered to bring my “sea bands”, wrist bands with knobs that create pressure on meridian points on the wrist. I was starting to get queasy when I put them on, and was afraid they wouldn’t work, but they did! Amazing little tool, these wrist bands. On the way down the hill we saw a flare and then a rolled over car with several people trying to turn it back upright. It all seemed a bit strange because there must have been eight people there and only 2 cars, the rollover and another car. Hmmm. Which car had that many people in it? They all looked a bit sheepish, and a bit strange. We didn’t stop.

At the bottom of the hill, a pickup in front of us pulled over and a poor girl jumped out and got sick right there. I realized then that I wasn’t sick at all! Not a bit. Thank you wrist bands! The last few miles of the route followed curving cliffs along the Pacific. The fog had lifted, and the clouds were heavy but not raining. On the horizon of the ocean, the light caught in a brilliant band among all the grays of sky and water.

We arrived at the Pomo RV Park and Campground around 4:30, and settled in to our very private, very quiet spot at the upper end of the campground. Here again we have good TV, good Wi-Fi, and power and water. All this excitement for a whopping 40. per night! No discounts here except Good Sam, which we don’t have. This park is also on the Camp Club USA list, but there are so many restrictions that we probably won’t manage a visit here when we could get a discount. Camping sites on this part of the coast are few and far between, and most consist of a parking lot surrounded by ugly stuff. Even the state parks are all 35 per night and don’t have the amenities. Tomorrow we will drive around a bit and see what is here. The prediction is for hard rain tonight and tomorrow but sun on Monday. Perfect! We can check everything out and plan for another kayak adventure Monday morning. Again, we are staying 3 nights. First night to settle in, then two days to explore before we move on to the next horizon.

Of course I took a gazillion photos, and even managed to delete a good number of them. You can see them linked here.

Our new kayaks are delivered!

I was so impatient to get on the road today, that I could barely sit still. We were supposed to meet the trucker delivering our boats at exit 33 in Medford between 11 to 12 AM, and Mo didn’t really want to get there too early and have to sit around waiting. The weather was perfect, in the high 40’s, no frost, and clear sunny skies. Our pass to Medford over Highway 140 had some remnants of snow at the summit, but the pavement was bare and dry with hardly any traffic.

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The driver was tremendously accommodating and agreed to meet us in Medford by changing his route to I-5 instead of Highway 97 through Klamath Falls. It was perfect timing for us. We arrived in Medford to find him waiting patiently at the Pilot station, having arrived at 6AM!. He delivers high end boats all over the country, and his rig was loaded up with 60 foot racing rowers and some kayaks made in China and Peru. Our kayaks were bundled up in bubble wrap and plastic, and after many thank you’s and hand shaking, we transferred them to the baby car top rack, tied them down, and headed west.

The biggest reason for buying new boats had to do with weight. I couldn’t believe it when the driver and I hoisted that boat to the top of the rack. I could have done it one handed! Our older boats weighed about 49 pounds and the new ones top out at a featherweight 34 pounds of Kevlar-Fusion. It is amazing what a difference 15 pounds can make!

We continued our route north on I-5, grateful that we didn’t have to stay on that busy highway, and turned west at Grants Pass. One thing about living in this part of Oregon is that there are just a few ways to the coast, and none of them really is a direct route. Highway 199, west and south of Grants Pass meanders though the beautiful Illinois Valley, through Cave Junction and then along the magnificent Smith River to the coast. Mo had a condo in Brookings for several years and we were used to driving this road, but I forgot how beautiful it can be. The fall colors were magnificent with brilliant yellow and gold big leaf maples lighting up the dark green forest. Here and there are some red trees, but most of the native trees are shades of brilliant yellow. It isn’t east coast, of course, but it is still breathtaking. We took turns driving so we each could enjoy the views. Once we reached the Smith River the road narrows and follows the high gorge of the river. “Road Narrows” is a big joke to us. It’s a repeated refrain along this part of the coast. On a very narrow winding road, that is already quite narrow, appear signs that say “Road Narrows”. We are never quite sure how a paved major highway with two lanes can get more narrow!

The distance from home to our first park was a measly 146 miles. After our usual 300 mile plus days last trip, it felt as though we arrived almost too quickly. We are staying at the Hiouchi RV Resort in Hiouchi, California, about 10 miles east of Crescent City on Highway 199. Just down the road is the magnificent Jedediah Smith State Park and the Stout Grove of giant redwoods. The resort allows Camp Club USA discounts only in the months of October, November, April, and May, for seven nights maximum. It is a really lovely park, especially here on the north end along the creek where it doesn’t feel anything at all like a typical park. We have space and privacy, with our own little bubbling creek outside the door, a clean cement pad with a nice picnic table, big trees for shade, ferns and ivy for landscaping. We have excellent WiFi, full TV cable service, water, electric and sewer for just fifteen bucks. No taxes, no other fees. I guess there is a bit of traffic noise from Highway 199 on the eastern edge of the park, but it’s not really obtrusive.

We arrived before 2 in the afternoon, and settled in to our site, made some snacks and opened a bottle of wine before taking the kayaks down and unwrapping them. It was an exciting moment, marred just a little bit by a couple of flaws in my boat that I didn’t expect. I immediately emailed the owner of Swift Kayak in Gravenhurst. I have no idea what the result will be. Hopefully the rim that is cracked slightly can be replaced, and he will let me know how to go about it.

Once the boats were again loaded up on top of the Tracker, we headed in to Crescent City to find an old restaurant on the Citizen Dock where Mo had dinner with her brother and his wife. She remembered it being at the end of a pier with lots of barking sea lions to accompany a decent fish supper. We drove all around the harbor, but the restaurant never appeared. It turned out to be a good thing, though, because the place where we had dinner was fabulous. The Northwest Inn is next to a motel and is a place we would have never stopped if we hadn’t read a little blurb in the RV Park map about the fabulous fish served there.

The restaurant isn’t pretentious at all, with a rustic, but comfortable decor and casual staff. The fish, however, was fabulous. Mo had fresh sole done up in butter and I had fresh snapper stuffed with crab and shrimp served over an amazingly well sauced pasta. It was rich without being heavy at all, and the fish was fresh and sweet.

The drive back to camp went quickly, in spite of the curves. The road between Hiouchi and Crescent City curves through the thickly forested state park, with huge trees right next to the pavement. It’s a beautiful road, and each time we pass through we are enthralled.

Eating in Torrey, Utah

When Mo and I traveled through Torrey in 2007, we discovered a great restaurant just across the street from our RV Campground west of town. Cafe Diablo boasts “southwestern cuisine”, and the first time we went there, it was a quiet place, fairly new, and nearly empty. Our meal was a fabulous treat, completely unexpected in a place like Torrey, and we were excited about eating there again on this trip.

Cafe Diablo is open seven days a week, and since we wanted to eat in the patio, I called for reservations just after five. Even that early, on a Sunday night, the place filled up before we even placed our order. The gardens were gorgeous, the menu was filled with fabulous creations, and the wine list was huge.

A special treat included complimentary tapas, fresh vegetables from the garden, marinated in various delectable flavors, presented beautifully. As the evening wore on, however, and the place filled to capacity, our server was too busy with larger tables of four to pay attention to us.

Our meal took forever to arrive, behind other diners who arrived much later than we did. When it did arrive, it was great, actually a fascinating piece of edible art, but then again, we were ignored for much too long. Considering the price range for entrees, we did expect better service. It took more than an hour to get our after dinner coffee, and when Mo asked for the check, the waitress basically ignored her.

We had looked forward to this particular dinner, so were pretty disappointed with the service. We won’t go back.

In contrast, another place in Torrey, just a half mile or so down the road, is the Capital Reef Inn and Cafe. I first found this place in the early 90’s, and always manage to stop in at least once when I am in Capital Reef. There is a small motel adjacent to the restaurant, and beautiful stone paved gardens filled with native and non native plants. The small store in the restaurant has canyon stuff, including maps, guidebooks, tee shirts and sweat shirts, the usual, but it is all so much fun to look through. In the dining room is a large mural of red canyons, and my favorite little treat is a display of dozens of vials of various colored sands collected from throughout canyon country.

What makes all this even more worthwhile is the fabulous, fresh, healthy tasty food, all at completely reasonable prices. I have had breakfast and lunch at this great inn, and last night I wished I had tried dinner there as well! The service was fast and efficient, and usually friendly.

There are other restaurants cropping up in Torrey, and some smaller establishments associated with newer hotels are appearing. But for me, the Capital Reef Inn is the perfect compliment to my time in Torrey.