Archive for June, 2006
June 7, 2006 at 7:00 pm · Filed under Places to go
We’re all glad we decided to stay another night here. Rich C and I had lighter work days, and we all took off to the tiny town of Chester to explore. It’s a cute little town, populated with people who work for the National Forest Service and people supporting the influx of campers who occupy this place seasonally. But other than getting a haircut, dropping the mail and picking up some groceries, our visit to town was pretty quiet.
Walking along the abandoned railroad tracks that pass the campground was more fun, in a way. The tracks lead past a place where eagles and turkey vultures circle overhead all afternoon, looking for dead carp by the shoreline. Then the view opens up to the expansive Lake Almanor, with fly fisherman and mountains in the distance.
Lake Almanor feels like the northeast forests of home. We can imagine being in the Adirondacks, except that the pines are much bigger (ponderosa pines), towering over us like redwoods. It’s a pleasant place to be, except for the thick yellow pollen that has coated everything. (Fortunately it doesn’t seem to be bothering Eleanor unduly.)
We’ll be leaving tomorrow, to start heading west to the coast. We’ve decided to make an overnight stop at a National Forest campground about 100 miles from here, and then spend the weekend at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We may be out of touch again due to limited cellular coverage, but I’ll update as soon as possible.
June 6, 2006 at 8:30 pm · Filed under Places to go
It is beautiful here, but I hardly saw any of it today. Neither did Rich C. We spent the day hunkered down in front of our laptops, working on various projects. My major breaks were taken when I had phone calls; then I was free to wander around the campground while talking.
Emma was working too. She was practicing reading with Eleanor, and around lunchtime she came and read me a short silly story about ducks in a tub. So we all made progress on something.
We did get a nice family walk (with Rich C) along the shore around 7 pm, after grilling some dinner outside. We saw eagles soaring in slow circles above the shoreline, and watched the beginning of the sunset over the water. This really is a great and peaceful place to camp.
Given that (a) it is gorgeous here by the shore of Lake Almanor; (b) we’re having great weather (dry, sunny, 70s); (c) we aren’t in any hurry, we have decided to stay one more night. Tomorrow I hope my phone won’t ring much and there won’t be any problems with the website or store … so I can take a day off to explore the nearby town of Chester and get you some photos of this really great spot.
June 5, 2006 at 3:30 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We pulled out of Mountain Family RV this morning. Staying with the crew there was fun but we are heading northwest toward our eventual rendezvous with friends at the International Rally. So it was time to start moving again.
I forgot to mention that practically next door to Mountain Family RV is a famous old hot springs resort, called Steamboat Springs. This part of Nevada is riddled with hot springs, and this resort is a great example of the old-time style that went with “taking the waters.” I can imagine dropping off an Airstream for service at the dealership and then riding over to the mineral baths for a relaxing soak. We didn’t do it only because we were busy … although I have to admit a $16 bath seemed a bit expensive.
A blog reader asked today to tell a bit more about our wi-fi range extender. I’m using the Linksys WRE54G. It’s about $90, and I’ve seen them at Staples, OfficeMax, and Wal-Mart. It needs AC power, which is a shame, but otherwise I love it. You just take it within range of the wi-fi hotspot you want to extend, press one button, and it locks onto that network. Blue lights on the top tell you when it is locked on. That’s it. The wi-fi hotspot will appear exactly as it should, only with a strong signal. With this, I can easily get onto networks that would otherwise be out of range in my trailer.
The only catch other than the need for AC power is that it doesn’t work very well with encrypted networks. It can be done, but it’s a pain. I recommend it only for extending networks that are “open” (unencrypted). I’m using the repeater today, since my Sprint cellular Internet system doesn’t work here, and Rich’s Verizon Internet system is working.
Where is “here”, you ask? We are in a very nice campground at about 5,000 feet on the north shore of Lake Almanor, under towering ponderosa pine trees. The lake is a striking blue (from a distance), ringed by green mountains with snowy caps. The water in the lake is frigid, of course, but who cares? It’s beautiful. We were going to stay one night, but since we have Internet and phone, we’ll probably stay longer. I’ve got work to do but at least Eleanor, Emma, and Rich C can have fun. Right now they are at the water launching boats made of driftwood. I’ll join up tonight for the cookout.
June 4, 2006 at 7:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Two of our favorite things are meeting happy new Airstream owners and meeting blog readers. Today we had the pleasure of both. Blog reader Ned came by to talk about his plans and ideas for post-retirement travel. He’s already got an Airstream (Safari 25) but not enough time yet to go where he wants to go. Still, he had a few good ideas for us, which we will check out along our route tomorrow.
Ned signs the guest book
Emma spent much of the day bouncing down the giant inflatable slide with a bunch of other kids. Running up the steps to the top is serious work (I know, I did it a few times myself). So while she had a great time, she came back completely wiped out.
Then we met this happy family, who just bought a new Airstream Safari Special Edition 25FB at Mountain Family RV this weekend! They’ll be taking delivery on Wednesday. We spent an hour talking to them about everything Airstream related. (I’m embarassed to say we never got their last name — so when you guys read this, be sure to send me an email, OK?)
Thus winds down our visit to Mountain Family RV, and to Reno. We’ll be heading into California tomorrow, with Rich C leading the way. We’ve discussed a few campgrounds we’d like to visit, and he’ll pick one out as he drives through the Plumas County area, since he will be hours ahead of us. We’ll try to rendezvous at the end of the day.
June 3, 2006 at 10:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve had a great day here at the dealership. Early this morning a group from the local WBCCI unit (Sierra Nevada) showed up to help out with Mountain Family RV’s sales event this weekend, and they brought all kinds of stuff: photo albums of old rallies, cookies shaped like Airstreams, and even a diorama featuring little Airstream models.
They were set up on tables in the center of a circle of Airstreams for sale, right next to where we and Rich C have parked for the weekend.
The Sierra Nevada Airstreamers proved to be an interesting group, and ready to talk. Most of them eventually migrated over to our trailer to see our floorplan and the upgrades we’ve done on the trailer. Nobody had seen the Safari 30 “bunkhouse” model before, and several people were surprised to see a two-bedroom Airstream. They also liked the new window we installed a few weeks ago, especially on this 86-degree day.
Rich holding court with the other Airstreamers. Click for larger
Rich C was kept busy all day. Once people found out he had written a book about mobile technology for RVs, they peppered him with questions. I think he sold half a dozen copies of his book, too. He mentioned that talking all day was exhausting him, and I warned him this was just a warm-up for the International Rally we’ll be at in a few weeks.
Emma and Eleanor were gone most of the day, unfortunately. Eleanor needed to go pick up her new glasses at the mall, and with a few fitting problems, it ended up taking hours. Rich and I scooted off to the local Apple store to buy me a new “backup hard drive” (A.K.A. a new iPod), but for the most part we were here to chat up the Airstreamers. We’ll be doing more of the same tomorrow.
By the way, since I know some people will ask: I bought the iPod 60 gb model. I immediately loaded it up with a full backup of all my laptop’s documents, email, over 500 contacts, my calendar, over 1,000 songs, and about 3,700 photos from our Tour of America. It’s a very useful device, providing both backup and easy access to a lot of data that I use daily.
Our trip planning for the next three weeks is roughed out now. On Monday or Tuesday we’ll be heading to Nevada City CA, then Lake Shasta, then Eureka (Humboldt County, by the redwoods), and then north along the coastline to Oregon. We also want to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Crater Lake National Park, but both of those destinations are still largely snow-bound and both roads and campgrounds aren’t yet open. We’ll have to take it day by day — if the snow melts earlier than expected, one or both of those parks may be added to the schedule.
June 2, 2006 at 11:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Camping at a dealership is always an interesting experience. Today everyone was setting up for a big sale they are having this weekend, so I went out this morning and lent a hand with chairs and giant balloons. I also “tested” the enormous inflatable slide they have set up for the kids.
Rich Charpentier arrived this afternoon and we parked him right next to us. We’re sharing a 15-amp power circuit. Neither of us have a water hookup because the water here is not potable. Fortunately, we always arrive with a full fresh water tank.
Dr. Leary and his new license plate
I met this happy new Airstream owner today: Dr Leary. I bet you can’t tell what model Airstream he just bought…
Rich was busy drooling over the new Safari Special 25FB that the guys parked right in front of our trailers. He even went to the point of asking Jon Whipple, the owner, about it, but less than an hour later it was sold to someone else. Sorry Rich, gotta move faster next time!
The wind here is fierce. The people at the dealership say it is typical. South of us is the Washoe Valley, and the winds are funnelled up the valley regularly. When we came in yesterday, there was a sign saying “Strong crosswinds: Campers and Trailers Not Advised”. We had no trouble, but since then we’ve been told that often the road is closed to high-profile vehicles due to wind. In any case, we’ve had to keep our awning in the short “rally” position, and close it at night.
Eleanor and Emma went out shopping for a while. Eleanor needs new glasses and Emma needs new shoes. I hung back to do some work. We’ve got wi-fi here courtesy of the dealership, and I want to make the most of it. I’m using the wireless repeater that I bought in Myrtle Beach, to extend the signal from the main building, and it is working well.
Tonight’s movie: Chicken Little. I made the popcorn. We also spent some time planning the next few weeks of our trip, and I hope to have that nailed down tomorrow. I’m emailing people along our route tonight to get suggestions and courtesy parking. With all that, the great Uno re-match that Emma and Rich C have been waiting for has been postponed to Saturday.
June 2, 2006 at 6:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I’ll do a more comprehensive blog of our day later, but for now I just want to mention that I have had a chance to update our photo album with dozens of new photos. We’ve got images from Zion National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Sedona, and other western spots. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/airstreamlife/sets/.
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