Finally Camping After a 1st Birthday & Mom in Hospital

We made it up to Truckee yesterday...here for four days (on our second day right now), and then headed to Golden Coach RV Resort in Cromberg, 15 miles outside of Quincy.  More on the camping later...first...

Addie had her first birthday in mid-July.  Mom, who had been fighting another UTI attended it and had a very good time.  Also there was Marcia, Michael & Anna (parents of baby), Shelley (my first wife and mother of my children), and my daughter Stephanie, who had a birthday just a couple days later.  I have many pictures of the day, but the parents are very 'shy' about letting close-up pictures out on the Internet due to hackers who use such photos to do nasty dirty things to them.  We all had a great time, and watching her eat her first watermelon, which was in place of a birthday cake (sugar is not yet one of the foods she has had yet...once you go down that path there is no end to it, says my son.)  She finally held it, took a bite, then made Michael take a bite of his...they have these games they play.  Looking at pictures of her dad at year one, Addie is a spitting image of him. 

The very next morning the Assisted Living Home could not get mom out of bed, or even very alert.  They called an ambulance which took her to Sutter Hospital.  Test after test, looking for signs of stroke, heart, cancer...it all came down to her having a UTI.  Click on this Google Search "UTI Delirium" and you can see how a UTI can make an elderly person very 'out-of-it', to say the least.  They put her on a IV drip for antibiotic and when the culture came back that it was a E. coli variety of a UTI.  A person's body contains  E. coli bacteria that normally live in the intestines of healthy people ... most types of E. coli are harmless.  When they get into the urinary tract, well that can hurt anyone, and can kill an elderly person.  Five or six days later and she went back to the group home.  Seems each UTI puts a dent into her memory, so her dementia is getting worse with each one, and with each month that passes by.  She is 93, pretty much the last of her generation.

So, here we are up at Granite Flat, one of our favorite campgrounds close to Sacramento.  Good Verizon for the aircard (only two bars, but we are seeing speeds in the 10-20 Mbps range, good enough for our needs.)  We liked it better when it was all 'first come first serve', but that changed a few years ago.  First about 2/3rds of the park was by reservation...now all of it is.  However, 'if' you come in on lets say a Monday, and find a spot which has no reservation until Friday, you can pay for two nights, then go online and pay for the later two nights...which is what we did.  $11 a night with the America the Beautiful Lifetime Senior Pass.  We are closer to the highway 89, but the noise never seems to bother us much, especially at night when there is very little traffic.

One of the things we wanted to do was to get away from the Valley heat.  It is 84 here near Truckee, it is 97 in Citrus Heights.  Our low tonight will be around 46, Citrus Heights will be around 65.  Since we have been out this year, the weather could not have been better for the month of June...then July came and Citrus Heights hit a high of 109 and 105 or over about 4 other times.  A few nights got down to the low to mid 70's, and we had to sleep with the A/C going all night.  One thing about RVing, the AC is very loud and it can be hard to get a good nights sleep with it circulating on and off all night.  

A few times in the past we spent a bit of our summer in Quincy at Pioneer Park.  They were full for the number of weeks we wanted to stay.  But Golden Coach RV Park, just 15 miles to the east in Cromberg, is about 800 feet higher than elevation than Quincy and 1,200 feet lower than Truckee.  So Cromberg will be a bit cooler than Quincy, a bit hotter than Truckee, but way cooler than the Sacramento Valley.  And they have a monthly price of $625, and she (the owner) prorated the rest of our stay through Labor Day at the same rate, just under $20 per night for our stay.  And it is full service, which means electricity, water, sewer, along with showers and pay to use laundry.  "IF" we need to run our A/C, it won't be needed at night because the lows will be around 50 degrees.  And as Verizon goes, the owner said they put a new tower right across the street from!  Verizon is great, AT&T is not...so we will be in Internet fast zone for sure!

Our original goal was to go up to Southwest Oregon to spend 6 weeks or so at Huntley Park.  The same day mom went into the hospital, a fire started just outside Agnes and this fire has grown to over 22,000 acres and is only 3% contained.  The fire is now 5 miles from Huntley Park, but we axed the idea of going there when it was 14 miles away and only 4,000 acres.  So plan "B" is what we are doing, and we feel we are going to like Golden Coach RV Park as we did Pioneer Park in Quincy.

Could not resist few more picture of Addie...she is opening up her first book delivery of her book subscription that her proud grandpa (me) and Marcia provided for her birthday, along with a kid friendly book case, one in which she can sit on as she gets older, for these and other books she will get.

Grandma Shelley and Great Grandma Dorothy.

Very proud Aunty Stephanie. (Addie is looking at a book that was already in her collection. The girl loves books, she is going to go a long way, such a smart child.)

And this girl here celebrated her third anniversary being adopted into our home on July 4th.  She loves to growl at all the people that she hears and sees passing by our campsite..but so far, no barking.  She is a good little girl for sure.

Made it to Sacramento Area - a 3,700 Mile Trip

 

A 2,800 mile trip which turned into 3,700 mile trip.  Left on Tuesday June 22nd, in what normally would be a 7-10 day trip, turned out to be a 6 week 2 day trip.  But it included a visit with Marcia's brother and sister-in-law, visit with her friend of 60+ years, seeing my entire family (children & first wife) with the wedding celebration of my youngest son, meeting my daughter-in-laws entire family, a dinner with Marcia's cousin, lunch with Marcia's niece, and some extended stays at a northwest Georgia RV park, Cleveland Fairgrounds, and introduction to the Amana culture in Iowa.  Had some hot weather, some hot and sticky weather, some hard rains, little bit of hail, high winds, low humidity and extreme fire weather.  Other than having to replace a toilet, and losing our Microwave/Convection Oven to an Atlanta pot hole, our motorhome worked flawlessly, and we are thankful for a safe trip...despite the many patches of rough roads which made driving a bit uncomfortable.  

Dad, it is SOOOO nice up here...there are SO MANY birds and little squirrels, and so far I have seen EIGHT other dogs.  Do we REALLY have to leave?

Yes Indy, we do...but I promise you, you will LOVE Sandy and Arny's backyard...you can run, you can smell, you can ... ummm ... do your business in MANY different places, AND you get Arny treats in the morning and Sandy treats in the afternoon.  And I am sure Patti will bring Parker over for some cousin time now and then too.

OK dad, but I am telling you, it has been a LONG LONG LONG trip so far...I hope we don't have to leave too soon once we get there.

Well Indy, the plan is to stay through Thanksgiving...that is nearly FOUR months from now!  And when we go home, we will be taking the shorter route for sure.

Oh Dad, YOU were so right...I just LOVE this yard, and I can still smell things that I smelled last year when we left...and I think Bubba left something way over in the corner of that old shed over there {snicker - snicker}.

Well, I don't think Bubba left anything like that, but you might still be able to smell Bubba, Skruffy, Parker and Charlie, along with other dogs that have visited Sandy and Arny's backyard over the years.  

Hey, gotta go...I think I see me a squirrel to chase!

The 'famous' Naked Ladies

On Wednesday a new fire started up just north of I-80 which we wondered might close the Interstate down...but the wind blew it north and northeast...it was not a problem for us on Thursday, but it sure did blow up fast and do damage (still doing damage) to the area.  We had an easy trip down the mountain to Sandy and Arny's backyard and by noon we were all settled in.  

Indy RAN and RAN and RAN all over the backyard, and loved seeing Sandy and Arny until they came up to the motorhome where her instinctive reaction is to protect us from intruders.  That, we hope, will change real soon.  This morning she went up to the sliding glass door and looked in hoping for her morning treat of pork.  Once she saw someone moving, she barked...was a bit shy at first when Arny came out, and enjoyed the treat when he gave it to her.  This afternoon (and yesterday) she enjoyed Sandy's afternoon pork treat too, even sitting down when Sandy asked her to.

Mom and Patti came by Thursday late afternoon, and I took mom back to her facility...then picked up Marcia and my dinner meal from Jimboy's Tacos (2 taco salads), the first of many meals we will get from Jimboys while we are here.  

It is nice to be back with family...

Truckee California ... Now THAT'S What We're Talking About!

 

Camping along the Truckee River

With CLEAR, BLUE Skies!

With some Snow Geese riding the river looking for food...

Just enough solitude that you can forget the passing cars going up and down highway 89, knowing that as night falls, the amount of traffic dwindles down to an occasional vehicle which can't pierce your good nights sleep.

 

It is even quiet enough that you can hear the river from inside the motorhome if you listen hard enough.  With temps in the high 80's, humidity at a paltry 17%, it feels nice...it feels like you never want to leave until the bitter cold and snow forces you away.

But for one of us, it is her FIRST TIME here at Granite Flats Campground just outside of Truckee, California, along highway 89.  She wants to see everything...she wants to see the other dogs, the other people, the young kids running along the campground road, the little chipmunks, the splash of the water and the sound of the geese.

And when dad goes out capture a picture of the geese, she whines at the doorway to get his attention.  Hey, did you forget something here?  Hey DAD!  I am still behind this door here!!!!

We have not been here since 2017...and things have changed.  There are no more "walk-in, first come-first serve sites, at least not this time of year.  If you have a tow car behind your motorhome, it says it cost another $5 for an extra vehicle, but they did not charge us for the car. (If you have a truck pulling a trailer or 5th wheel, you only have one vehicle and you don't pay the extra $5 either...so it makes sense.)  The campground road is in desperate need of improvement...it is full of potholes, bumps (frost heaves perhaps), and it is pretty hard to get into without a reservation during the Thursday-Sunday time periods, unless you plan way in advance.  They still charge a reservation of fee of $8, does not mater if it is for one night or 14 nights (good luck getting a site for 14 days straight).  Overall, it cost us $30 for two nights with our senior pass ($11 per night plus $8 reservation fee).  When we first stayed her back in 2013 or 2014, it cost us $7 per night, you did not have to reserve.  

We were on the road by 6:30 this morning...both had an ok sleep at the Welcome Station RV Park.  It is really a good park for a one or two night stay...but with little in the area to see without a long drive, it really is just a place to crash and recuperate.

With the highway speeds of 75 mph, the only thing we passed all day was this wagon train!  This one is outside the California Trail Interpretive Center just west of Elko.  Had a few road construction spots, but nothing that slowed us down much. 

Of course, we always have made fun of the BIG "BM" on the mountain outside Battle Mountain as kids, still do today too. 

The smoke from the California and Oregon fires was very evident...had me a bit worried about how it would be in Truckee even though I looked at about a dozen online cameras the past few days.

Here is someone riding in her bed in the back, taken through the rear-view mirror.  Boy, she looks like she has had enough of this driving!

We finally arrive in the Golden State, given the nickname because it takes Gold the pay the taxes they extract from you each year!  (lol)  We had driven the remaining 345 miles into California with stops for gas twice (have to get that cheaper (barely cheaper) Nevada Gas while you can, a stop at a rest area for breakfast, showers and dumping our tanks, and a few more rest area stops tossed in for the bladders. 

It is always nice to see my ancestral home name on a road sign indicating just how far away we are.  Let's see...Sacramento is 125 miles away, Truckee is 19 miles away, so we have about 100 miles left when we leave here on Thursday morning to get to Sandy and Arny's house in Citrus Heights.  But for now...we are going to sit back and chill...after having a nice lamb burger from one of our favorite Burger Stops, "Burger Me", which is just 2 miles down the road.  YUM...and we get to eat there again tomorrow night too!!!!!

Granite Flat Campground, along Truckee River, California

I don’t know what it is that brings us to Granite Flat just about year after year since we first found it back in 2013…or was it 2014.  It is right next to fairly busy, busy at times, highway 89 to Lake Tahoe.  On the other side is the Truckee River, which can be running real high, like this year, or real low, like it did the first year we were here.  But we get use to the car and trucks…the trucks are the loudest, passing by, and many times when we use it we have few neighbors.  Also, the $11 per night (golden pass rate) is real nice, but other then water spigots where you can fill your tanks, there are not other services…no dump station, pit toilets (we always use our own toilet anyway) and no  showers (again, we always use our own showers too).  I think what we like about it is that the weather, in the summer, is so nice.  Today, while Sacramento is at 107, giver or take a degree…we are at 89.  By 8 pm we will be at 78 while Sacramento will still be at 100.  Mind you, we will have to face those hot temperatures tomorrow…but for tonight, we will bask in the cooler temps, and with lows in the 40’s, close windows and use blankets.

    

June 26, 2015 above, June 22, 2017 below

    

WOW, the Truckee River is really high this year!   I read a news report about a month ago that said that by Federal Court Order, dating back nearly 100 years ago, that Lake Tahoe could only reach a certain height, and that they ‘had’ to release water at the dam into the Truckee River (only river that exits Lake Tahoe) to bring it down to that level.  Well, they have been releasing lots of water for nearly two months now, after Lake Tahoe finally filled up after the drought conditions over the past few years.  Perhaps they need to have the Federal Courts re-exam that court order issued so long ago….

    

Every year we have been here they have had signs about bears in the area…but unfortunately we have never seen one.  This year they have added Bear Proof containers at many of the camp sites.  Although motorhomes, campers and trailers don’t need them, tent people sure do.  Now in Lake Tahoe there are MANY cases where a bear had gotten into a car in the middle of the night just to get to a candy bar, or grocery bag which has been left in it.  The results are ‘not good’, to say the least.  (Sometimes these break-ins are in the day time too!)  However, most RVers will awaken and scare the bear off if they try to get into a motorhome, trailer or camper.  A good honk of the horn, or a barking dog, normally does the trick.  Good thing they have installed these bear proof containers, unless it makes RVers a more likely target now….

We did not get site 54, our favorite site…it is a handicap only site, but some else had it today.  So I picked this “first come-first serve” site along the road for two reasons….don’t have to unhook the car, and it has had shade the entire time we have been here.  For one night, it is very doable…better than a Walmart or even a Cracker Barrel…although the later we are able to go inside and get a good meal at.   Tomorrow, before it gets too hot down in the valley, we will make our way to Sandy and Arny’s house…I am sure “someone”, namely Bubba, will be very happy about that!

Two Weeks for a Concussion, 1,100 Miles Later

Two weeks ago, Saturday late morning, we are camping at Granite Flat N.F. Campground just outside Truckee California.  Daughter, who had a hit on the head with a surfboard just seven days earlier, has been admitted to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray Utah, which has a Level I trauma center.  Although I never asked, I am sure that many of their trauma patients are from auto accidents, rock climbing accidents, and ski accidents….not so much from surfboarding accidents.  Apparently Stephanie had fallen at her apartment Friday, passed out, and was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center….her third visit to a hospital in a week!  Sunday we arrived, and camped out in their parking lot with electrical hookups for the next twelve days.  She went from hardly being able to talk, not able to stand or walk, to being able to speak fairly fluently, and she walked out of the center on Friday just a few hours after we left to start our trip back to where it began.  Can’t say enough about how excellent Intermountain Medical Center is….all the people, the level of care, the facility are all top rated in my book.   So “Yes”, we are back to Granite Flat….arriving here around 1 pm today.

Of course, if we are headed back to Truckee, we are “probably” going to eat at Burger Me…and this morning mom and dad called to tell us that they are going to meet us at Burger Me for lunch….and what time did we think we could be there.  Well, we were still 200 miles out, so we felt 1:30 would be just about right. Then we decided that they should just meet us at Granite Flat…so when we pulled in at 1:00, there they were waiting for us.

Did not take us long to set up, and we all drove over to Burger Me for a nice leisurely lunch.  We sat outside, enjoyed the sun, little wind, and pesky little “meat bee”.

This little fella (the picture is from Internet….not the same meat bee) just would not leave Marcia alone…and then it went after mom’s burger too.  Well, I finally laid it to rest with a napkin….  After all, a “meat bee” is not really a bee…it is a wasp…a yellow jacket, and the sting can really really hurt you.

Mom and dad made back safely down the mountain to Citrus Heights, and we are just going to kick back for a couple of days before we head back down to the valley ourselves.  It will be strange going back down to near sea level after being above the 4,000 foot level for so long….over 5,000 feet here in Truckee.  But as they say…”It is all down hill from here.”

Escaped the Heat, Found Cold Nights

Here we are in the same camping spot at Granite Flat NF Campground that we have been three times earlier this summer.  We did drive around, and there were a couple of spots we almost took….but here we are shaded, yet lots of sun to our backside for the solar panel. 

If you look closely in the bottom right of this picture, you can see the solar panel.  I have to rotate it three or four times during the day, and this was taken as the sun had just gone behind the hill to our west.

   

The campground has less than half the campers that it had last time we were here, and these folks are mostly our ages…although one Airstream trailer has three young kids in it.  As Marcia was taking her afternoon nap, I started to hear this noise that sounded like a bird or squirrel playing with a plastic bottle cap. 

These little creatures (Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel) are running all over the place…but they are so fast it is hard to get a good picture of them.  I had wondered if one of them had found something under our RV.  So I quietly go to the door and found it was those three kids riding their little scooters with plastic wheels on the loop road. 

   

Had Skruffy out on the table for awhile and she was having a hard time keeping up with these little critters herself.  When she did lock in on one, she would give this low whinny growl of hers…she really is doing so much better about not barking all the time.

You may have noticed something new on, or should I say under, our motorhome.  Picked up three of these Camco Tri-Levelers.  Three because I think most of the time we only need two…but if the site is way off to the right or left, I want one under both rear tires along with the front tire.  I store them behind the driver in the HHR because they just take up too much space in the motorhome. 

Other than going to the Grocery Store (nice Safeway in Truckee) we did little else.  The temps were in the low 40’s last night, we turned the generator on for coffee and heating for an hour, and by 10 am it was 70 degrees.  The high was around 88, and right now, 7:15, it is down to 72 again headed for 40 again.  Far cry from the triple digit temps down in the valley, that’s for sure.