Zirkle's Retirement Travels: June 2016

End of April, the park is starting to thin out and it is time for us to move on. Don't worry, I'm driving the jeep behind (thus the picture), we are going to stop for fuel and then hook up.

SANTA CLARITA, CA

Our first stop is in Santa Clarita, CA . While there we took a motorcycle ride into the canyons in the area and we also went and visited the Ronald Reagan Library. It is a great library and well worth going to see. Here are some pictures.

Airforce One

We were only in San Clarita for a couple of days, so I didn't get to go to the beaches I wanted to (Venice Beach, to watch all the unique people! :-) but getting to see the Ronald Reagan Library (actually museum) was well worth the detour!

PISMO BEACH, CA

Next place we stopped for a couple nights was Pismo Beach. Fun place. We got to drive on the beach, this is the only beach in California that you can drive on. Who knew!

I"m always a sucker for some fruit and sweets!

OCEANO, CA

This is the only beach is California that you can drive on! People ride their sand machines out there, looked like a lot of fun!

PESCADERO, CA

Our next stop was Castanoa KOA Park in Pescadero just outside of Santa Cruz. We met our cousin Sherry Gumm and her daughter's family Jenny and Jared, Faith and Ryan. We also had the surprise that Jared's dad was there and he proposed marriage to his girlfriend. Congratulations James and Mary. We had a great 4 days catching up with family. Loved it.

Faith, Jared and John

Sherry, Jenny, Renee and Faith

Our great little helper! Ryan loves to help and show how strong he is.

The Pier at Santa Cruz

Lighthouse just north of Pescadero

Since we didn't think it was quite warm enough to head home yet, we decided to go to Pahrump, NV for a couple of weeks. So, back in the warm weather, we had a few more adventures. Pahrump is just 60 miles from Las Vegas strip, so we did get over there a couple of times. and visited a few other sights:

PAHRUMPH, NV

After leaving the Santa Cruz area, we decided it was still to cold to go north, so we went back down to Pahrump which is just 60 miles from Las Vegas, and the weather was still nice. There were several places for us stop visit from this location.

China Date Palm Farm

We visited the China Date Palm Farm just 25 miles from Pahrump, where they weren't harvesting dates at this time, but they had lots of date products available including date milkshakes! Didn't try it but I hear it is good. They had lots of beautiful rocks in the gift shop.

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is about 60 miles from our base in Pahrump. Spent the day going through the national park. It got up to 97 degrees before we left. Wouldn't want to visit it in the summer, it was warm enough at 97. The Salt Basin is 282 feet below sea level.

Area 51

We wanted to see if we could find Area 51 (although no one will tell you where to find Area 51 if you ask), we decided to go looking anyway. We found the Area 51 Alien Tourist store with a couple brothel's near by, but no entrance to Area 51 in sight So, we did a little more exploring on our own. We headed south on Hwy 95 and came across the entrance. There weren't any signs, but there was military guards at the exits and an interesting traffic sign that says "watch for protestors on the road". We didn't see any protestors, but we did stop to look at the gate through binaculars and they were looking back at us with binoculars! We didn't go any further, but just down the road was this Nevada Test Site Sign.

Bellagio Hotel and Casino

Mother's Day we went to Bellagio Hotel and Casino to see the beautiful atrium and the fountain. Always fun to see.

LAKESIDE RV PARK AND CASINO - PAHRUMP, NV

We really liked this park. It has a nice pond on it with lots of grassy spaces and there is a walkway all the way around the pond for walking and there is fishing in the pond. It is a Passport America resort and you can stay there for $17.49 per day Sun - Thurs.

SPARKS, NV

After spending 2 weeks in Pahrump we headed for Sparks NV. We camped at the Sparks Marina and RV Park. Very nice park as well. A little more expensive but well with it. It is also within walking distance of Sparks Lake which also has a walking path around it and lots of wildlife. IN fact you can see in one of these pictures the ducks and squirrels on the sidewalk, not phased by the walkers.

South Lake Tahoe

Spent the day driving around South Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful lake and so clear, but I would guess it is very cold. What a great place with the lake in front of you and several ski resorts to choose from you within 20-30 minutes.

Kayaking School on Lake Tahoe

Mt. Rose Ski Lodge - Lake Tahoe

Virginia City, NV

Virginia City sprang up as a boomtown with the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, the first major silver deposit discovery in the United States, and numerous mines were opened. At the city's peak of population in the mid-1870s, it had an estimated 25,000 residents. The mines' output declined after 1878, and the city declined. As of the 2010 Census the population of Virginia City was about 855,^[3] with 4,000 living in Storey County.

ON THE ROAD!

Our next stop was to be Ashland, OR, but our motor coach had other ideas! About 1 mile out of Susanville, we lost air in our front airbags, which lowers the coach and automatically puts the brakes on! NOT GOOD! Especially on highway 36 which is a one lane each way highway. We pulled off the side of the road, barely wide enough for our coach, and called AAA. John figured out what was wrong, so we were able to pass that information along. About 1/2 an hour later, with big trucks rushing by us, a man from the local tow shop came to help us. We obviously couldn't tow the motorhome with the brakes on, so he was able to refill the airbags long enough for us to make it to his shop which was just 1.1 miles down the road, we couldn't have gone any further without the brakes coming on again! God has really been watching out for us as we travel. If it had been any sooner or any later, we could have been in a much worse situation. The tow guy (who happened to be the owner of the shop), told us to spend the night in his parking lot and he would get us fixed up the next day. Oh, did I tell you it was Sunday afternoon, so everything was closed down! :-) Yes. And true to his work the next morning he had 2-3 people working on getting us back up and running. As we went on through the mountains, we were so grateful that it happened where it did, it could have been such a bigger deal. Two grateful travelers were back on the road!

ASHLAND, OR

So we made it to Ashland, OR on Monday night instead of Sunday which wasn't a problem. We go to have dinner with John's cousin and her husband, Pastor Don and Kati Baldrica. What a fun time catching up with them, they were soon to be grandparents, and so excited. The baby arrived just a week after we left. Proud grandparents and lucky grandson!

While we were in Ashland, we stayed at Emigrant Park, a county park, very nice and only $30 per night. Good value, great view and great grassy spot on the lake for kids to play. You can see the boat ramp at part of the grassy park in the first picture across from the coach. We stayed here just one night and then went on up to Myrtle Creek, by 7 Feather's Casino where we had booked a few more nights at a Passport America park. Nothing fancy, but good prices and clean park.

EUGENE, OR

We stayed just a couple days in Myrtle Creek, because we decided to get a little work done on the Coach up in Junction City, so we moved there and spent 4 nights over the Memorial Day Weekend. We had fun exploring the Eugene area and took a nice motorcycle ride up to the Corvallis area and explored the beautiful countryside. This area is called the seed capitol of the world, and for good reason, lots of grasses, and much sneezing on my part! I don't think I could live there full time, but it was beautiful countryside. We also got to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, called Ciao, and italian restaurant and our favorite thing is their calzones which are baked in their wood fired oven you can see right in to. Here is a picture! And, they give you break with dipping sauce. Yum..

While in Eugene, we also go to attend the first of the girls softball playoffs in the new Oregon University stadium. Really nice stadium, and we got great seats, we bought off someone at the gate. It was a sell out game with standing room only tickets for $11 and we paid $10 for two prime seats! It was fun, and they won the game we were at, lost the second two. They played the LA Bruins.

ROCKAWAY BEACH, OR

At Rockaway Beach, we caught up with sister-in-law Ruth Zirkle, and her parents Dick and Arlene Dyke. We had a great time at the beach, the weather was amazing for the Oregon coast in June. The sand was so hot you couldn't walk on it barefoot too long, and the wind was only 3-5 knots the while time we were there, so I couldn't fly my kite! Crazy! We took a quick trip down to Tillamook which is only 17 miles south on the 101 and had our routine ice cream cone and bought some cheese. Love them both. This was Dick and Arlene's 69th wedding Anniversary! Great day and we stopped at the Oyster Company on the way back and had Oyster Stew, and fish and chips. Wonderful.

Can you see Arlene in the window with binoculars?

Gabriel, Ruth, Arlene and Dick

Nephew Gabriel

VANCOUVER, WA

Almost home! Stopped in Vancouver for a couple of days. Had dinner with a couple of my Aunt and Uncles, Max and Carol Holder and Art and Nancy Lemke.

Sunday morning we got to catch up with nephew Michael and his wife Jennifer and nephew Gabriel. Jen fixed us a great brunch and we had a great time of catching up.

After brunch we went over and toured Gab's house project. He's got great ideas for this place can't wait to see how it turns out.

Then we got to spend our last night on the road with John's brother Glenn at their place on the Columbia River just under the I-205 bridge. What a great view and it was a beautiful weekend, so I got in the river! This old car is a Packard.