Wildforwers alongside Hy

They spelled sequoia incorrectly!!  :)

We drove very slowly down these roads.

Sunbathers!!!

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Suspension bridges on one of the trials.  Banner there to show contrasting bird sizes (we think).

Blue catfish dinner for local anglers we met.

Paul on the suspension bridge.  Maizy thinking about it.

Maizy still thinking.  Callie - absolutely not!!

If Callie can see THROUGH the bridge she will NOT go ON the bridge!!

These blossoms filled a tree. Don't know what it is but it smelled wonderful.

Lakeside RV park, Sallisaw.  But we were not on the side of a lake.

There was this pond 1/2 mile down the road.  Sort of situation that makes you go huh??? Cause look closely.  That's a small pond to put your pontoon boat in!!  Maybe it's REALLY good fishin in there!!  

April 20th

We are now in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  It's a lovely small city.  Home of the Razorbacks - "Woo pig, Sooie!!"  Red hogs abound.

More on Fayetteville in later post.  Prior to Fayetteville we spent a couple nights in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  We decided to bypass the cities of Tulsa and Oklahoma City to kayak in the Hog Pen area of Sequoya National Wildlife Refuge.  We knew we would have to schedule said kayak trip on the one day it was not supposed to thunder and lightening.  We had a preview of the thunder and lightening Saturday night.  Wow, scary loud.  Both dogs ran over and sat with me, shivering on the couch.  We heard later that a tornado was trying to develop but it was many miles away from us.  There was also golf ball sized hail.  We just got the edge of that storm and some heavy normal sized hail.  On the news tonight there was video of the damage people suffered to their homes and cars because of that hail.  Amazing - just shredded sheds and made the side of one woman's house look like she has been strafed by machine guns!

There was a small window between storms on Sunday so we decided to head out to tour the refuge and decide where to put in.  It was a lovely area.  It's actually farmed just to provide a feeding area for migrating birds.  We saw some unusual ducks but not the huge flocks that congregate here in the fall,  Apparently it's a favorite stopping point for snow geese at that time.  There is water everywhere.  Several short hikes with paved paths which were great since the ground is like a wet sponge right now.  At the boat launch near the Hog Pen there was a kind fisherman who gave me valuable information.  He told me that area had once been filled with oak trees.  As silt comes in from the Arkansas River it kills the trees - he doesn't even boat out in it anymore.  That concerned us since we have inflatable kayaks.  His next piece of information was a little more concerning...cotton mouths, water moccasins.  I asked if we should be worried about them because my kin hail from areas where these poisonous snakes live.  He confirmed my fears - not only are they out there, he had just seen one swim by his fishing area.  He said they were very territorial.  Paul and I both already knew (he from personal experience as a kid in Virginia, me from my parents stories) that these snakes can hang from trees sometimes.  Well, we decided the kayak trip was off because of the snags and snakes...not worth the concern and FEAR!!!  The very area we wanted to explore was a potential danger area.   Sighhhhh

No kayaking in Sallisaw but we did go to the Walmart!  :)  It's a very small town with a very large Walmart.

Sallisaw Ok down in the valley

More pics to follow of Sallisaw.

Lots of oaks and hills around this part of OK - that was a surprise

We decided to move on and maybe kayak in Fayetteville!!  We shall see.

Waco field of wildflower - lupine & Indian paintbrush

Orange flower is Indian Paintbrush 

Winecup

Field in front of RV park in Austin - mostly Indian Paintbrush

continued (because I am not being organized tonight and I STILL haven't gotten to the problem part).

When we were in San Diego Paul noticed almost immediately that we had a water pressure problem in the shower.  I hadn't...good thing he did.  He began investigating and discovered a water leak in our storage area.  Wet boxes, soaking wet carpet in storage area.  Not good.  After several calls to our dealer it was decided we should call an RV plumber.  Said plumber came, use pipe dope, tightened pipe, etc.  30 minutes later...water leak.  More calls - got in touch with the West Coast representative for Grand Design.  It was decided the whole part needed to be replaced...but this could only happen at an RV repair site ...a site that had techs who knew about Grand Design coaches.  They were in L.A. and Tucson.  We had considered riding along route 66 on this trip, but this set back changed our minds because we could get an appointment immediately in Tucson.  And as it so happened we had recently discovered that a dear friend was living in Tucson.  Another problem had shown itself during all this preparation for repair of the water leak.  Our refrigerator wasn't working properly.  Luckily we could switch over to propane so we didn't lose a refrigerator full of food.

The new part  for the leak arrived on Saturday and we departed on Monday.  We were told the part for the refrigerator would be available in Tucson.  So far so good.  Arrived in Tucson Monday night,unhooked, set up,  hoping as had been told to us, a tech would come to us and do the repair at our site.  Nope...we had to hook up and drive to the shop for our 8:30 appointment.  We left the RV and went shopping.  Later that day it was repaired and we moved back into our site.  It turned out the part wasn't the problem, it was a hose.  So we spent $ on the repairman in San Diego for nothing.  Oh well.  Then new complication...part for refrigerator had not arrived and no promises that it would arrive within 3-4 days.  We had MORE phone calls to make.  Luckily our west coast rep, Jordan, was a good guy.  Not only had he made the Tucson arrangements while he traveled for his Easter trip to Lake Arrowhead, he now started talking to midwest reps to help us out in Texas.  We were told we would be able to take the coach to Buda, Texas for repair of the fridge.  After our visit with Paul's mom in Austin that's exactly what we did.  It was a day of appointments and guess what, it all flowed perfectly.  While the coach was being repaired we had the truck tires rotated and then had an oil service.  As soon as that was done, the call came that the fridge was done.  Murphys Law did not apply that day.  Thank goodness.

We moved on to Austin for a 4 day visit with Paul's mom.  Next post I'll share pictures of TX wildflowers.

April 17, 2015

To continue the discourse on traveling and unexpected "events"....after Pinnacles and Joshua Tree we settled in to a 3 week stay in San Diego.  Got to see our kids and babysit our granddaughter!!!  She (of course) is the cutest baby IN THE WORLD!

Leena Jenae  5 mo  Easter Sunday

Home sweet home, Joshua Tree

Sunrise view from campsite Joshua Tree

Blossom on Joshua tree

rocky crags at Pinnacles where condors breed

Joshua Tree

Palm Springs at night from top of the tram

trail at Pinnacles

Yes, these pictures are not grouped well, but I am tired and I keep trying to do better but for now this is how they are.  :)

April 14, 2015

Traveling always brings adventure.  We have been on the road for six weeks (which has flown by) and have had some "issues".  Our spring excursion began in Pinnacles National Park in Northern California.  The park was lovely and not too hot.  We did some hiking in hopes of spotting a condor's nest, however, knees and heat prevented us from hiking as far up as was necessary to see nesting condor's.  Down in the campgrouind we were able to spot condors riding the thermals every day.  This was not as exciting as a nest but was good nevertheless.  The condors have wingspans up to 9.5 feet so they are a sight to behold even from a distance. Since we visited in March the park was green and cool.  Wild flowers dotted the trail as we climbed up the rock strewn path.  It was a lovely place to visit.  When I have downloaded pictures I'll add them to the blog.

After Pinnacles we journeded down to Joshua Tree National Park.  Those trees are strange and wonderful and many were covered either with open blooms or buds ready to burst open.  I didn't even know they had blossoms.  Joshua Tree is a roughin camping area - as much as you can say we "roughed" it in an RV.   There were no hookups.  We discovered that we can exist about a day without hookups.  At one point we attached power to the truck battery so we could run our furnace.  It got pretty cold at night.  We had a portable battery powered lantern so we got through our evenings without power.  However, no battery power = no water pump = visit to public showers/bathrooms.  Not my favorite thing to do.  So camping without hookups is not my ideal situation.

Joshua Tree is an interesting geologic area - so many amazing rock formations to see.  Again, not a place to visit in the summer.  The campground was a challenge as there is no such thing as level spaces and the roads inside the campground were poorly maintained.  An interesting area but not one I will clamor to visit again.

More soon....the truck is ready and I've gotta go....