LIKELY, CA TO SUNRIVER, OR

Continuing our journey north, we pulled out of the Likely RV & Golf Resort yesterday morning, destination Sunriver (Bend), OR.  We all agreed, that this hidden gem of an RV park was just about perfect for anyone looking for some peace & quiet, and if you're a golfer, it's beyond perfect.  Our route took us north on Hwy 395 through Alturas, past Goose Lake, and into Oregon near Lakeview.  North of Lakeview, we turned to the northwest on Hwy 31 for about 120 miles, before connecting with Hwy 97 at LaPine.  From there it was a short run up to the Thousand Trails just outside of Sunriver.

We passed through a few very small towns like Silver Lake, where we stopped for a lunch break.  Life in these remote small communities is centered around the ranches, with little else driving the economy.  I often think that if our modern culture could somehow return to the values of this rural lifestyle, our society would be a lot better off.  When is the last time you drove your RV through the big city, and had countless drivers wave at you?  Probably never.  But, on Hwy 31 in Oregon, it happens a lot!

It was early afternoon when we pulled into the Bend/Sunriver Thousand Trails (TT).  This is a park that we have frequented several times, and is one of our favorites.  Three summers ago, when we spent most of that time in Oregon & Washington, we parked at this  TT on 3 different occasions.  Finding a couple of sites where there was an opening between the trees for our Winegard Satellite Antennas was a slight problem, but right now, the park isn't even close to being full.

I did find a couple of side by side, 50 amp electric & water sites, where we both found a hole between the trees for satellite TV.   Nancy had to move her motor home a couple of times before finally getting the antenna to lock on to the satellite.  We're here for a little over a week, before heading toward north eastern Oregon.

Likely RV/Golf Resort - $16  Cumulative - $207.23
Miles traveled - 233  Cumulative - 1,465

A RECONNECTION

One of the reasons that our northbound route to Alaska is what I call the interior route, it's because we want to see friends along the way.  Yesterday, we reconnected with Norma Cole who lives in Alturas.  We  lost touch with Norma, when she moved away from the Gardnerville/Minden, NV area several years ago, and recently found out that she had moved back to her old hometown, where she went to school.

My relationship with Norma goes back about 44 years, when her then husband and I, were classmates at the CHP Academy.  When I transferred from the L.A. area to Santa Cruz in the early 70's, so did Norma and her family.  We lived on the same street for a couple of years, before I transferred to the Los Banos area.
 

We met Norma at her house, a few miles outside of Alturas, then drove into town, where we had lunch at the Hotel Niles.  There's a long story behind this 100 year old building, but the good news for the local residents is that after being closed for several years, it has reopened.  Norma knows the owners, and was able to take us on a tour of the building.
 

After lunch, we drove back to Norma's, and continued our visit.  We couldn't remember exactly how long it had been since we last saw each other, but agreed, it had been way too long.  Good, long lasting friendships are precious, and it was so nice to see Norma after many years.  We agreed, it wouldn't be as long before the next visit.

 Patty and Norma outside her house on 19 acres.

Back at  the motor homes, the girls decided to go for a walk, in search of the perfect sunset photograph.  When they came back, it looked like they had gone "off road", and had mud caked all over their shoes.  It took a stiff brush, and some serious scrubbing before the mud disappeared.

The sun is up this morning, and we have about 250 miles to our next destination.  We'll be pulling into one of our favorite Thousand Trails parks later today, located in Sunriver, OR, and will be staying there for a week or so.   As we get farther north, and closer to the summer solstice, the days are getting longer, and longer.  By the time we get to Fairbanks, we'll be in the land of the midnight sun!

Likely RV & Golf Resort - $16  Cumulative $191.23

BOOMTOWN, NV TO LIKELY, CA

Another relatively short drive yesterday, so we were in no big hurry to get going in the morning.  We left Boomtown, and drove into Sparks, where a TA travel center was the choice for diesel.  After topping off the tanks, we headed back west on I80 for a short distance, then it was N/B on Hwy 395.   The weather was overcast, and we drove through some rain, but nothing to get too excited about.  The outside temperature stayed in the upper 40's, so the dash heater and defroster got a long overdue workout.

Our destination was a small town called Likely, about 20 miles south of Alturas, CA.  While researching for a place to park near Alturas, I discovered this new RV park that was built next to a golf course.   To make it even more attractive, it's listed as a Passport America park.  As we drove the approx. 2 miles east from Hwy 395, then off the side road for about a mile, we were all wondering why a golf course, and RV park were built literally out in the middle of nowhere.  Still haven't answered that question, but the park is very nice, and well worth the $16 a night for full hookups.  They even have a strong WiFi signal, and the views are incredible.

Potty stop for Nancy's two dogs, Jessie & Cooper.

We're stopped here for two nights, and will be taking one of the Jeeps into Alturas today.  We have a friend who lives in Alturas, and we haven't seen her in quite a few years.  So, we'll most likely be pulling out of Likely, tomorrow morning.

 

Boomtown KOA RV park - $35.23  Cumulative - $175.23
Diesel at TA Travel $3.72 Gal - $177.89  Cumulative - $537.89
MPG Avg - 7.6
Miles traveled - 172  Cumulative - 1,232

GRASS VALLEY TO BOOMTOWN

The only thing on the agenda for our last morning at the Grass Valley Fairgrounds, was a tour of the narrow gauge model railroad, located in one of the fairgrounds buildings. The exhibit is a representation of the railroad that existed in Nevada County until 1942.  It was indeed an impressive layout, taking up most of the entire building.  The amount of time it took to build something like that is beyond mind boggling!

Since we only had a short distance to travel yesterday, and we were waiting for a storm cell to pass to the north, we didn't pull out of the fairgrounds until 11am.  We traveled east on Hwy 20, then connected with I80, before passing over Donner Summit.  The rain showers were hit and miss, with several stretches of dry roadway.

The drive over the mountain was pretty routine except for the false readings I keep getting on the Tire Traker tire monitoring system I purchased at the FMCA rally last January in Indio.  I had the pressure pro system, and due to age, the batteries in the individual tire monitors were starting to die.  With an individual tire monitor replacement cost of about $350 ($35 ea. x 10 tires), I decided to get the Tire Traker system for about $100 more.  It has a few more bells & whistles, and the tire monitor batteries are replaceable.  It wasn't a hard decision to change systems, but it's kind of become the little boy who cried wolf.  There are so many false readings, I almost don't pay attention any more.  I did pay attention to the right front monitor yesterday, as the alarm went off, and I watched the pressure reduce from 110 to 90, then down to 81.  At the first pull out, I got out, checked the pressure which was 112.  When I unscrew the monitor, then put it back on, the system usually returns to near the correct pressure.  I need to find out if this is happening to other Tire Traker systems, or if mine is just a lemon.

We stopped just inside Nevada at Boomtown Casino, where they have a nice RV park, that's now part of the KOA system.  We don't usually stay at KOA's, but this particular KOA gives discounts to retired military, police, and firefighters.  We had to walk up to the Casino, since the shuttle wasn't available, but in retrospect, after all of the eating at the rally, we needed a little exercise.  We had a late lunch in the Casino, then walked over to Cabellas.  The collection of dead animals in these stores is always pretty impressive.  It's worth a visit for that feature alone.

From here,  this morning we're heading a little farther east on I80 into Reno, then north on Hwy 395.  Driving the motor home, or my Harley on the east side of the Sierras, is always a treat, as I've always liked the high desert, sagebrush country.

Grass Valley Fairgrounds RV park - $30  Cumulative $140
Total miles - 82  Cumulative - 1,060

BIG TRAINS & LITTLE TRAINS

Our third rally day started in the meeting room with the usual morning coffee, fruit and muffins. At 9:30, we car pooled over to Colfax, where we got a short talk on the history of Colfax, and the building of the transcontinental railroad over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.   With almost perfect timing, at the conclusion of the history presentation, the W/B California Zephyr AMTRAK stopped just outside the visitor center.  I won't mention that I had predicted it would be late, but contrary to my prognostication, it arrived right on schedule.  How come when I ride AMTRAK, it's never on time!

I've ridden the E/B California Zephyr 3 times, once as far as Denver, and it's truly an incredibly scenic route over the Sierras.  I often wish I could go back in time, and watch how this very difficult section of the first transcontinental railroad was built. I think another long distance ride on AMTRAK is in my not to distant future. 

From Colfax, we drove down I80 to Auburn, where we were the guests of our chapter president,  Kurt Simon, and his wife Betty.  They have a beautiful home just outside of Auburn, and more specifically, Kurt has an incredible HO gauge model railroad that's all computer controlled.

Kurt (pictured above), says that he's been working on this project for about 10 years, but most of the electronics, which includes an elaborate local area network (LAN), is mostly done.  The scenery, the supporting infrastructure like people, buildings, & vehicles, and the artwork are still a work in progress.

I can relate to the sign above Kurt's head.

With the time, and resources, Kurt's model railroad is an example of what can be accomplished, and simply put, it is indeed impressive!

Today is departure day, and we've had a great time with our friends.  Dan & Betsy St.John have done a magnificent job of organizing all of our activities, and the bar for future rallies has been set at a very high level.  We thank them for all of their work at putting this event together.

We have awakened to rain this morning, but despite the not so pleasant weather, we're still headed over the Sierras today, where the wet stuff isn't supposed to turn into the white stuff.  But, I was wrong about AMTRAK yesterday, so here's hoping I'm not 2 for 2!

Grass Valley Fairgrounds RV park - $30  Cumulative $110

GETTING THE GOLD

Having lived in Jamestown, CA for 15 years, Patty and I had a large, working gold mine in our backyard, up until the late 1990's.  The Jamestown/Sonora area was on the southern end of what was, and is still known as "the mother lode".  Our first stop yesterday was the empire mine state historic park, located in Grass Valley.  This gold mine is at the northern end of the mother lode, and was one of the largest in the world, operating continuously from 1850 to 1956.  During that time period of over 100 years, approx. 5.8 million ounces of gold was extracted from an underground tunnel network that was 367 miles in length.

In 1975, approx. 20 years after the mine closed, the State of California purchased the property, and it has been open to the public as a state historic park ever since.  The Bourn family were the original owners of the mine, selling their interest to the property in 1929.  The 4,600 square foot mansion that they called a "cottage" was opened for our group, and it was indeed impressive to see many of the original furnishings, and how the wealthy lived back in those days. The primary Bourn residence was south of San Francisco, and that estate, famous for it's gardens, is known as "Filoli".

 A group picture in front of the "cottage".

 

After touring the cottage, and the recreation building which had a tennis court, bowling alley, billard room, and much more, we moved across the grounds to the actual mine.  The main incline shaft went down over 4,000 feet, and we were able to go down a short distance.  Not a good idea for those that have even a mild case of claustrophobia!

We had a picnic lunch at a park outside the Grass Valley Mining Museum, then toured the museum.  The highlight of that tour was the world's largest Pelton water wheel.  Using a high pressure spray of water, these wheels were the generating force that ran mining pumps, compressors, and later, electrical generators.  

 

Our day concluded with a pot luck dinner back at the RV park, where we sang happy birthday to Ed Price, who was about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his 39th birthday.  After dinner, we had our chapter business meeting, and watched a slide show of previous rallies, that was put together by Barbara Westerfield.  It was a busy day, and there's more of the same today.

 Ed Price flew B-29 Bombers during WWII.

Chapter President Kurt Simon, presiding over our business meeting.

Grass Valley Fairgrounds RV park - $30  Cumulative - $80

NEVADA CITY RR MUSEUM

The center of activities these several days, for our Golden Spike RV Chapter, has, and will be the Nevada City Fairgrounds.  All 18 motor homes are parked in a group at the fairgrounds RV park, located just outside one of the gates.  We have use of an activity room, complete with kitchen and a nice deck under the pine trees.

We left the fairgrounds yesterday morning, carpooling to the Nevada City Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, located in Nevada City.  From the late 1800's up to 1942, a 22 mile railroad connected Nevada City, and Grass Valley to the transcontinental railroad main line in Colfax.  An all volunteer effort has kept much of that history alive at this really nice museum.  Even though there is no track left of the original railroad, the museum has a small amount of track in their yard, where they are able to run a small rail bus, and some other equipment.

 

 This small locomotive was built from scratch by the volunteers.  It is powered by a steam generator rather than a high pressure steam boiler.

Inside the museum, we took some pictures in front of one of the steam engines, and checked out all of the other displays.  Our group has it's business meeting tonight, and whenever we visit one of these railroad museums, or tourist railroads, we typically donate several hundred dollars.  Many of these entities are run by volunteer labor, and most are funded by an admission charge and/or donations.

We had lunch at a Lefty's Grill in downtown Nevada City, then visited a small museum in the original firehouse building.  It was focused primarily on the local Native Americans, and the Chinese immigrants who settled in the area, and played a big part in the building of the transcontinental railroad.  The young lady who gave our group a short talk is a descendant of the local indigenous people, and it's shameful how those folks were treated.  Perhaps now, with a long deserved change of attitudes, and many successful casinos, our original Americans are finally getting the respect that they deserve.

We ended the day with dinner at a Grass Valley Restaurant, completing a day of playing tourist, and enjoying the two gold rush towns of Nevada City, and Grass Valley.  More of the same today.

Grass Valley Fairgrounds RV park - $30   Cumulative - $50

ATWATER TO GRASS VALLEY, CA

 Merced Elks RV Park, a couple of miles from Nancy's house.

The first order of business yesterday morning, before leaving for Grass Valley, was to drive the short distance from Nancy's house, to the Elks Lodge.  The holding tanks were in need of some relief, and this is where that was going to happen.  Never having  been to this particular Elks Lodge, I was impressed with the 27 space RV park, each with 50 amp electrical & water hook ups.  The dual drive through dump station was our destination.  For Elks members with RV's, this is a great facility.

When we were finished, it was back to Nancy's, where we hooked up our respective Jeep Liberty's, and set sail for our first stop, the fairgrounds in Grass Valley, CA.  It was only about a 3 hour drive, and when we arrived at the fairgrounds, we found ourselves almost in the middle of a gas line rupture that had just occurred.  Fortunately, our rally hosts, Dan & Betsy St.John, were out in front of the Fairgrounds, and directed us into the RV parking area.  It was a little tight maneuvering through the trees, but we made it, and got parked with the rest of our Golden Spike family.

 

There's 18 motor homes at this rally, and according to the next 3 days itinerary , it looks like we're going to be kept pretty busy.  There's no train to ride, but our first stop today is the Nevada City Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, and it's pretty much non stop from there.  

Parked in the pine trees at the Grass Valley Fairgrounds.

Total miles = 171  Cumulative = 978