Abbey's Road

After picking DeeAnne up at the Sacramento airport on Wednesday evening, we drove as far north as we could get before I got too tired. We stayed the night in some non-descript campground, but at least it was only $12/nt and it was very convenient to the highway. On Thursday morning, we headed to Mt. Shasta city, which was a real nice little town. Mt. Shasta is by far the largest mountain in the area and can be seen from quite a distance. It's also purported to have very strong energy according to a friend of mine. I'm not sure I felt any different, but it sure was a beautiful mountain.

After sampling some of the Mt. Shasta spring water, we drove up the mountain as far as we could and then took a short hike. There was quite a bit of snow after a while so we headed back down when my toes started feeling numb.

A forest ranger gave us a good tip for a nice trail and a nice place to boondock. The trailhead was a bit of a drive up a narrow, one-lane road, but at least the road was paved. The trail was actually part of the Pacific Crest Trail and had great views of Mt. Shasta as well as some real nice wildflowers.

I have seen so many different types of wildflowers so far, but I have no idea what most of them are. After the hike we drove back down the road part way and found a real nice, secluded spot next to a stream to camp. It was the best kind of camp - real nice spot, quiet except for a running stream and free. Abbey was so worn out after the hike she didn't even want to jump in the water.

Posted by Ed at 8:59 PM | Permalink

I arrived back from NY last night. The funeral and everything went well, all things considered. It felt like I had been away more than 2 months, so it was nice to see Bob and the kids and some old friends. I also saw my sister-in-law Carol who is also Bob's cousin, and Veronica, another one of Bob's cousins. It was real nice to see both of them and spend time talking with them. I also got to spend a lot of time with the kids which was really nice. It was strange staying in Elsie's house with her not there. While I was there, I met up with Stephanie Moore, the wife of my friend Paul who died a few weeks ago. She happened to be travelling back from Buffalo and passing right by Amsterdam. We had a good long talk, and we probably could have talked longer if it weren't for her daughters who were patiently waiting with Steph's sister. I know what it's like to talk to someone who has also lost a loved one so I was more than happy to talk to her.

After cleaning up the RV and getting the frig. stocked up again I'm heading up north and back on the road again. I'm stopping in Sacramento to pick up DeeAnne who was able to get last-minute flights for an unexpected visit for the holiday weekend. We're heading up towards Oregon from there. I hope you all have a great 4th.

Posted by Ed at 2:26 PM | Permalink

I received a call from my brother-in-law yesterday morning and I found out that my mother-in-law, Elsie, passed away yesterday morning. She had a stroke a few months ago, just before I left, and had been in a rehab clinic ever since. Elsie was a wonderful mother and mother-in-law. I couldn't have asked for a better one. She will be greatly missed, though I am sure she is at peace now and back with Mary Beth. I am leaving Abbey and the RV at the Kupecs in San Jose (lucky them), and flying back to NY for several days. It will be nice to see some of my friends and Mary Beth's relatives, though I would have preferred to see them for a different reason. So you won't hear from me for a little while, but you should be used to that by now.

Posted by Ed at 2:55 PM | Permalink

Boondocking went fine last night. No one bothered us at all. Last night I heard a noise and looked out the window and saw a deer walking by. It must have known it wasn't deer season because I think that it was a favorite spot of deer hunters. There was even a small memorial to a couple of deer hunters who died, but none to the dead deer of course.

When I arrived at the park entrance I found out that the trail to Bumpass Hell was under several feet of snow. I was quite disappointed, but drove through the park anyways. I'll have to be satisfied with seeing Devil's Kitchen, Boiling Lake and the Sulfur Works. And, I'm sure the rotten egg smell would have been the same. Lassen is quite a nice park. It's much less well-known than the big name parks, so it also tends to be much less crowded. I did get to see some more steaming vents and mudpots and I managed to find a real nice hike that started down lower. It soon climbed up though and there was quite a bit of snow to walk over. It was fairly hard-packed so it wasn't too bad. It ended at a place called Paradise Meadows, which was a big meadow with several streams going through it, but right now it is still pretty well covered in snow. It was a gorgeous blue-sky day though so everything looked great. I would definitely recommend Lassen to anyone though I would go a little later in the season if you like to do more hiking.

We made it to the north end of the park and it was still fairly early. Neither of the campgrounds at that end looked all that nice, so I finally decided to check out a few outside the park. I went to one on Lake McCumber that sounded like it might work, but when I got there it looked like there were only walk-in sites. Since we were at a lake (reservoir actually) I got Abbey out for a walk. When we walked up further I saw that there was a nice little campground for RVs as well. So that is where we're spending the night. Tomorrow I plan to head into Redding, the nearest decent-sized city, to hopefully get on the internet to take a look at some possible alternatives for our next destinations. I know I won't get any sympathy from anyone, but that is one of my few stressors I have - figuring out where to go next all the time. It does end up taking a fair amount of my time, but I guess it's a small price to pay and I'm willing to deal with it for the benefits.

The other thing I have to do is figure out a place I can have my mail sent in the next week. I haven't had it forwarded in 3 weeks. Hopefully I don't have any important bills or anything waiting. Such is life on the road.

Sulfur Works
Lassen Peak
Hat Creek on way to Paradise Meadows
A Glacial Erratic

Posted by Ed at 2:20 PM | Permalink

This morning we headed out of camp fairly early to drive up to Lassen Volcanic National Park. There was a layer of fog still on the water which made for some good pictures.

Miraculously, I remembered to call my father for Father's Day while I still had cell phone coverage. I'm usually out in the woods somewhere with really weak coverage. Before getting to the Park, I took a slight detour to take Abbey on a hike since she can't go on the trails in the National Parks. This has me a bit perturbed since horses are allowed on trails, but I better not get started on that subject. I won't let Abbey get started either. Anyways, we hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail which is supposed to go from Canada to Mexico, but it has a number of breaks in between. I'm sure the section we hiked (2 miles out and back) isn't one of the more significant stretches of the PCT, but it was fine for us and got Abbey out for a bit. On the way back she was a maniac. I thought for sure she smelled a bear or something, but we never saw anything. So we then drove to a remote entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Most people have never heard of this park in northern California, but from what I've seen so far it is pretty cool. The Lassen volcano last blew in 1914, but before Mt. St. Helens it was the last eruption in the contiguous US. I've never been to Yellowstone, so my perspective probably isn't the best, but the geothermal springs, boiling lakes, mud pots and steaming fumaroles were very cool (actually they were quite hot and smelled like rotten eggs.) I saw Boiling Lake which was like this turquoise green color and you could actually see it bubbling ...
... and I saw Devil's Kitchen which had a lot of steam coming out of holes in the ground and the streams were steaming as well.
Technically, there aren't any geysers, but it's still a cool park. And I've only seen one small part of it so far. Tomorrow I'm going to drive around to one of the main entrances and check out a place called Bumpass Hell. With a name like that I've gotta go see it. Poor Abbey will be relegated to the RV once again.

Tonight I am boondocking it in Lassen National Forest. Boondocking, for the uninitiated, just means I am camping outside of a campground or RV park with no hookups at all. Most of the time in the campgrounds I don't have hookups so I figure why pay for the campground. Plus I finally found a good place to do it. Haven't had a chance in a while.

Boiling Lake

Posted by Ed at 1:44 PM | Permalink

Yesterday, I finally headed out of S. Lake Tahoe. I had one slight casualty on the way out of town. There was a bike race going on so we had to pull to the side of the road. Well, I got too close to one of the snow poles on the side of the road and it nailed the mirror on the passenger side. Luckily, it only cracked the corner of the mirror. Since it was a rainy day we didn't do much besides drive to the next campground. We headed to the Lakes Basin area of the northern Sierras. I decided to stay at a campground on Sardine Creek. Not bad, but nothing special. In the morning we took a short walk over to Sand Pond. There's a boardwalk that takes you over a marshy area that was pretty nice. After breakfast we headed out to find a good hike. We ended up doing 2. The first one went by Big Bear, Little Bear and Cub Lakes, and Long Lake. They are beautiful alpine lakes surrounded by pine trees and mountains. It was still pretty cloudy, but at least it didn't rain. It was a great hike for us, about 2 ' miles, with quite a bit of snow, which of course meant that Abbey got to roll in the snow a lot.
Not bad for a couple of gimps. We did so well that after lunch I decided we needed to do another hike. I found a mile long trail to Smith Lake. It didn't have any snow and was a little steeper than the previous hike but it was a good way to finish off the afternoon before getting back in the RV to drive to our next campsite. I decided to stay in a campground on Lake Almanor because it sounded pretty nice, but also because it had an RV dump station. Ah, my priorities sure have changed. The bummer was, though, that I found out in the morning that they charge you $5 to dump your tanks. It was still a nice campground though. We picked out a campsite with its own beach. It had a nice view of the lake which I enjoyed with a glass (read plastic cup) of wine from the dinette while I was waiting for the fire to kick in. This is the good life.

Big Bear Lake
Long Lake

Posted by Ed at 1:17 PM | Permalink

When I first drove around the lake I thought it was beautiful, but not really spectacular. I guess it had been hyped up so much by so many people that I wasn't as awestruck as I expected. But now I am changing my mind. Besides Lake Tahoe, there are hundreds of small alpine lakes that are equally spectacular (OK, so I admit it is now.) There is still a lot of snow so most of them aren't accessible, but at least I've been able to get out and see some of the other lakes.

Unfortunately though, hiking was a no-go for today. My ankle is way too sore so I'm just hanging out. It is my turn to limp now, so I probably won't be hiking for at least a few days, if not more. I didn't rest completely though. I found out that there is a trail from the campground to Fallen Leaf Lake so I took Abbey over for a swim and a walk. Then after icing my ankle for a while, I decided I wanted to see Echo Lake even if I couldn't hike the trail. There was still a lot of snow up there, but it was plenty warm and a beautiful day. The walk down to the lake was a little treacherous, for me at least, but we made it without any catastrophes. Abbey got to swim in the lake and roll in the snow all within 200 yards of each other. I decided I really like the campground, and I need to rest my ankle so I'm going to hang out here for a few more days. I'll probably head up north for the weekend.

Sorry, if you're tired of all the lake pictures, but here's a few more. They are probably all starting to look the same in pictures, but in person they're all amazing.
Fallen Leaf Lake
Echo Lake

Posted by Ed at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I got going fairly early this morning so I could get to the Eagle Falls Trailhead while there was still parking available. With the RV, parking is always a bit more challenging. When we got to the parking area Lake Tahoe was still covered in fog which made for a nice picture.

Abbey and I had a nice hike up to Eagle Lake, about a mile of somewhat steep climbing. The trail is really well-maintained, though, so it was pretty easy for both of us. The lake, with the snow-capped mountains in the background, was beautiful. We took a few side trails around the side of the lake until it got too rocky for Abbey to continue. It was so nice I just stayed there a while and enjoyed the scenery.

I was in no rush because after we got back down I headed into town to do laundry ' my first time doing it in a laundromat in years. They haven't changed much. Later on I took a drive around Fallen Leaf Lake to check out a trailhead and to find a place to let Abbey in the water. The road around the lake is a one lane road that was the busiest one lane road I've ever been on. It's not really meant for an RV. I'm getting the feeling I should've gotten something smaller and more rugged because I tend to take the RV on roads that it wasn't really meant for. Oh well, I'll have to get by with it for now.

I found a new campground, Fallen Leaf Campground, at the south end of the lake closer to the trailheads where I may hike tomorrow. I say "may" because while I was making dinner tonight I stepped on the edge of Abbey's bowl (which is ceramic) and it flipped up and hit me in the ankle. It's swelling up pretty good so hiking may be out for tomorrow. I am still going to try because I was really looking forward to a nice hike, after getting Abbey out for a short walk and possibly a swim. The scenery around here with the alpine lakes and the rocky peaks is one of my favorite types. I'll just have to figure something out.

Yesterday, I stopped at a caf?? with internet access and updated the blog, but I ran out of time and didn't get to post this recipe. Steve Kupec requested my chili recipe (actually it was Mary Beth's concoction). I had made it while at their house to take with me on the road and I left some behind for him. The recipe leaves a lot of room for experimentation and adaptation to your own tastes. The secret to it, in my mind, is the special types of chili powder that I got from Central Market in Austin. Hopefully, they will last me a while. If you know anyone in Austin, ask them to send you some.

Chili con Carne

2-3 lbs. of ground turkey or beef (or a mix of both)
garlic minced
olive oil
3 bell peppers chopped (I usually use red and/or yellow)
3 large onions chopped
4-6 stalks of celery chopped (optional)
1 28oz. and 1 15oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 or 2 cans red kidney beans (depending on your preference. I usually use 1)
1 can black beans
1 can white beans (great northern or similar)
1 lb. tofu cubed (optional ' if used, then use only 2 lbs. of meat)
1-2 tsp. of chili powder (to start and add more as desired)
?? tsp. chipotle powder (it's hot, so add more or less to your taste. Can substitute another hot chili powder if you can't find this. Cayenne pepper might also work)

Saute a lot of garlic in oil in a large frying pan, and then quickly add onions and saut??. Put in a large stock pot and set aside when tender. Add a little oil, if necessary, and brown meat. Add to stock pot. Saute peppers and celery and add to the stock pot. Then add the tomatoes and beans to the pot and mix well. Then add the tofu and chili powder and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour, and adding more chili powder if necessary. When serving I like to add a few spoonfuls of sour cream, lowfat yogurt or cottage cheese on top.

Emerald Bay
From Nevada Side

Posted by Ed at 7:57 PM | Permalink

It started raining Tuesday night and it was still raining when I got up this morning. In fact, it rained all day Wednesday on the drive over to San Jose from the coast. I started out early but had to cross the coastal mountains so that took a while. Once I got to the central valley the road was much better. I made it to Bullards Bar Reservoir around 3:30. I found our campsite in the rain and we pretty much parked inside the RV the rest of the night. The Gibbons were late (not unlike them) and they ended up camping at the farm where they left Laura's horse. If I didn't mention it already, they came out here because Laura had to do a rating to achieve her next level in the Pony Club. Anyways, they pulled up early the next morning, much to my surprise, and we found 2 new sites that were better than our original choice. And then we ate breakfast. It's the most people I've had in my RV so far at one time, not to mention for a meal.

We had a real nice weekend and had some great meals and after getting a terrible example of soft ice cream, we found a place that served huge helpings of homemade hard ice cream. We got in a little hiking near the Downieville River (I'm sure you've all heard of that). Those are kayakers plotting their descent, in case you're wondering.

We had a great time and as a bonus I got to listen to several of Laura's hilarious stories, which if that wasn't the highlight of the weekend, I don't know what was. Now, I'm at Lake Tahoe and hoping to do some nice hikes. There is still a lot of snow up in the mountains and the crowds are already descending on the place, but I think Abbey and I will find a few good ones. We found a nice place to camp, thanks to Dan G., at Sugar Pine Point State Park. More soon, including my chili recipe which I promised Steve Kupec.

The Gibbons Family

Posted by Ed at 8:57 PM | Permalink

On Sunday I drove up to San Francisco to see Tom Masino, a friend of my brothers' from our old neighborhood, and his family. I hadn't met his family before so it was nice to meet them all. Luckily Steve suggested I borrow his car so I didn't have to drive the RV up the SF hills. Tom and Elaine have a real nice house in the Haight-Ashbury district. They made a real nice dinner and we finished off a bottle of Elaine's merlot, which was very good. Elaine started up a vineyard a few years ago on land that's been in her family quite a while in Sonoma County. So if you see Elaine Maria Merlot or Sauvignon Blanc in the store make sure you try it.

Yesterday I drove back up to San Francisco after saying goodbye to Mimi & Steve and the kids, but this time I just drove through it to go over the Golden Gate bridge. I stopped at Muir Woods National Monument and took an hour or so to walk through. It's a forest of giant redwoods. It's a beautiful place. Everything is so lush and green there. I could have taken 50 pictures and I still wouldn't have done it justice. You just can't capture the beauty of those trees on film - at least not with my camera. Poor Abbey had to wait in the RV cause they don't allow dogs there. Not one of her favorite places! We then drove up a really windy road to the top of Mt. Tamalpais and on a short hike saw a great view of the entire Bay Area. On the way back down I took probably the windiest road yet before reaching Highway 1, which pretty much runs the entire coast of California. We found a nice state park that was in a redwood forest. Abbey loved the smells there and it was really cool since it was so shady. Unfortunately, it looks like California state parks have really increased their rates - $25/nt with no hookups! I guess this is part of Arnold's answer to the budget crisis.

This morning we started off at Point Reyes National Seashore, which is pretty spectacular. We took a couple of short beach walks there. It wasn't quite as enjoyable for me because Abbey found everything from seaweed to dead sand crabs to try and eat. I gave up trying to stop her after a while. I figured if she got sick, it would be her own fault. She also decided that rolling in the sand worked almost as well as in the grass or snow. Luckily, it shook right off of her. Afterwards, we got back to Highway 1 and headed up the coast. The scenery is beautiful here with so many small little beaches to choose from. We found yet another one to walk, but this one was covered with real small stones instead of sand. It almost hurt to walk on, but it was still worth it. I stopped a little earlier than I expected because the windy road (I'm starting to make this a habit) was wearing both of us out. We're staying tonight at Gualala Point Park. There are redwood trees and some other kind of tree that is pretty cool looking and grows in clusters. It feels like we're in the tropics almost. The mosquitoes (first ones of the year) help to give that impression as well. Tonight for dinner I had some artichoke ravioli I got at Trader Joe's with some of my pesto sauce I made the other day. I wasn't as happy with this batch of pesto, but it still wasn't bad for camping out. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of driving. I'm going across the state to Bullards Bar Reservoir near Marysville to meet up with Dan & Bonnie Gibbons, and their kids. They are old friends from Kingston, now living in Colorado. We'll be camping there together for several days.
Golden Gate
Muir Woods
More Muir
Point Reyes - Limantour Beach
Point Reyes
Sonoma Coast

Posted by Ed at 8:37 PM | Permalink

Being around the water here gave me a new idea. So I traded in the RV and bought a sailboat. What do you think? Don't worry, I have a life jacket for Abbey, and she's not allowed to walk too much right now anyways.

It'll change my plans to visit a lot of the national parks and forests , but I'm sure the scenery will still be great.

OK, I probably haven't fooled anyone. The boat is Dennis'. He needed us to hoist him up the mast to make a few repairs.
He bought an old boat at an auction with a partner and they're working on making it seaworthy. Should be ready soon. For our troubles they brought us a great lunch.

Posted by Ed at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I think I've put on 5-10 lbs. this week. For those of you who know the Kupecs and their penchant for good food and drink, this probably won't come as a surprise. I did cook dinner for them one night, which gave Mimi an idea. She said I should post any recipes I find, or use along the way, on the blog. So below is the recipe I made for them. It's one Mary Beth and I used to make. It's given as an appetizer, but I double it(or more) and serve it with rice or pasta. I also made a big pot of chili and froze it so I'd have something in my freezer when I don't have time to cook. Since I was in a cooking mood and Trader Joe's had a good deal on basil, I made 2 batches of pesto - one for me to take with me and one for them. They already ate most of it making appetizers for dinner on Friday night.

Sauteed Scallops in White Wine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Garlic

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
12 oz. large sea scallops
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons thinly sliced drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (I use the dry ones and rehydrate them in hot water)
1/4 cup whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 scallions
6 slices bacon

Cook bacon until crisp and set aside. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add scallops and cook until brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Put scallops aside and keep warm. Add garlic, scallions & sun-dried tomatoes to pan and saute til tender. Then add wine and scrape any brown bits from bottom of pan. Add cream and boil until mixture is reduced to sauce consistency, a few minutes. Remove from heat and add butter and whisk until melted. (This can be rich so you can skip the butter if you're worried about fat.) Crumble the bacon and add to the sauce. Serve the scallops over pasta, or on the plate with rice, and spoon the sauce over.

Posted by Ed at 2:32 PM | Permalink

Abbey had another setback this week. I was only walking on a hike/bike path in the neighborhood and she started limping again. I took her to the vets on Thursday. He said he thinks she just strained it so he gave me some anti-inflamatories to give her and said to rest her for a week or 2. So she's been resting and I've been catching up on some shopping, doing tax stuff, getting the oil changed and other fun stuff. I did go down to Santa Cruz on Thursday to see a chiropractor and Abbey and I checked out the beach. Then we met Steve, Mimi and Dennis at the Crow's Nest, a nice restaurant on the beach. Dan Gibbons, a good friend I worked with at IBM in Kingston, was also in town and met us down there as well. Poor Abbey got stuck in the RV for the evening, but I did feed her first. Friday night, William and Nellie Leong and their kids came over for dinner. We all knew them from Austin, but they moved out here several years ago. We had a real nice time catching up with them.

I've also enjoyed their hot tub a few times, but it's almost time to move on. Sunday I'm going to go into San Francisco for the day to see Tom Masino and his family. He's an old friend of my brother's who grew up in our neighborhood. Then we're moving on up the coast north of San Francisco for a few days.

Posted by Ed at 10:36 AM | Permalink