Granite Flat NF Campground – 2018

Granite Flat National Forest Campground, Truckee CA

We first found Granite Flat Campground back in 2015…we stayed there four different times that year.  We had just bought the 2014 the Dynamax Isata due to a RV Storage fire taking out our Jayco, and hoped to go to Alaska in 2015…but ran into some problems with the Dynamax that needed to be addressed, including the rebuilding of our slideout.  Since Sacramento is hot, and Truckee is mild during the Summer, we came up here to test it out, went over to Tahoe, came back.  We came back two more times that year, sometimes staying a day or two, other times staying up to a week.  We did go to Alaska in 2016, and skipped Truckee, but came back last year for a visit on our way to Sacramento.  We just LOVE this park...

Site 54 is our favorite site because as a ADA site, it is flat while some of the others are not.  Many of the sites can be reserved, but they have some that are first come, first serve. 

   

This time of year, everything is first come, first serve, but reservations start this weekend…and today is like we have the park to ourselves.  The campground opened on May 17th this year, and during parts of the summer, especially weekends, it can be full.  Price is still $11 per night with the lifetime senior discount card that you get through the National Parks for $80 if you are 62 or older…we are lucky in that we got our card back in 2012 when it was only $10 (advantages of marrying a gal just a wee bit older than you)

The campground is right along the Truckee River with access to the water at a number of locations.  Normally we cannot see the river from our campsite, but it is so high this time of year, I got this shot right from outside the front door. 

   

Only thing about today….too much overcast, even a few showers, so the solar is not putting out as much as we need…but that is why we have a generator, and I doubt we will get any complaints since there is virtually no one around.

Back in Citrus Heights tomorrow…it has been a great three weeks, and we plan to head out from Citrus Heights again around June 11, three weeks from today, for around five weeks in Southwest Oregon, ending up near Santa Rosa California for my oldest son’s wedding.  In the mean time, we have my parents 70th wedding anniversary to celebrate in early June. 

Last Heat Wave – Heading to the High Country

I can clearly remember some HOT September days growing up in Sacramento.  Although most of my classes in grade school were in air conditioned rooms, there were also some which were in the dreaded School Bungalow classrooms…today I think they call them “pre-fab temporary learning centers”, so something like that.  Back then they were made of wood, no air conditioning, windows on one side, and to bring in a breeze one would have to open the door across from the windows.  Every September we seemed to have a few of these hot days…as we would in May or very early June.  So each year we would have three to six or more days of 100 degree weather during the school year. 

     

I can still remember the “duck and cover” drills in case of an Atomic Bomb going off nearby.  By Junior High a teacher showed some atomic bomb blast films, talked about the destruction zone, the fire outside of the total destruction zone, and it did not take long before a student, not me, ask, “Why do we have these duck and cover drills when there won’t be anything left of us after the “bomb” hits the state capital?

The outlook for Tuesday and the next ten days is HOT HOT HOT, especially for the next seven days.  Tomorrow dad has a doctor appointment in Sacramento which I am going to drive him to.  Mom has her after surgery check-up tomorrow morning, and I think the surgeon is going to be very pleased about things.  So we will be putting up with one HOT day…

…but Wednesday morning we are headed up to the 6,000 foot level…which will bring us back to the Truckee / Donner Lake area.

In anticipation of being in a National Forest Campground for a week to ten days, I loaded both of our Kindle Fire HD-7’s with Amazon Prime movies to watch.  Last time we were up there we watched two movies “on-line” and ate up 8 gigs of our 40 gig aircard for the month.  This way we will watch movies “off line” and just occasionally bring the Kindle online to communicate with Amazon.  Once you start a movie, you have 48 hours to watch it…then Amazon needs to “talk to” your Kindle to verify that everything is ok…then you take it off line again.  “IF” we want, we can go to the McDonalds or the Public Library and delete items off the Kindle and load new ones on. I have items in a “want to watch list”, so downloading is all I will need to do…which depends on the speed we get.  

So back to Granite Flats National Forest Campground we go. 

Now those temps we can handle”! 

Donner Pass Area, We are Off to a Good Start

After a wonderful weekend and excellent Father’s Day, one in which I spent with Dad, Mom, Marcia (wife), Michael (oldest son) and his girlfriend Ana, sisters Sandy, Patti and Donna along with Arny (Sandy’s husband) and his mother Euleda.  Also talked to my daughter twice and my other son.  But today was the day we were awaiting….take off time for short trip number 1 to see if all the bugs are worked out or not.

Our destination was about 90 miles from Arny and Sandy’s house, and this rest area was just about half way.  Looked everything over….

   

All of the indicators on the dash show normal working temps and pressures.  The tire pressure gage showed that the tires were all inflated and no high temps.  Turned on the generator as soon as we pulled in and it purred like a kitten.  Checked the battery system for the motorhome, and the engine is charging the house batteries.  So far, so good!

I have driven this portion of I-80 so many times over the years I could do it in my sleep…except that I respect the danger which is equated with this road, especially in inclement weather.  I have driven cars over it during snow storms, high winds, rain and sleet.  Today however, it is a wonderful blue sky, light wind, easy traffic, and a beautiful drive.

Don’t believe me?  Just ask Skruffy.  There was some construction along the way, which slowed us down enough for Skruffy to stick her head out the window.  She loves this…but we only do it at slower speeds.  Of course, how fast can one of these Class C’s go towing a car for a 7000+ foot climb?

I have two favorite parts of this drive, Emigrant Gap and Donner Summit/Lake areas.  It is a wonder that people got their wagons over these mountains…and of course, Donner area taught us that not all made it, that’s for sure.

Here we are at the scenic area of Donner Summit, and you can see it is pretty high up, especially considering that Sacramento is almost at sea level.

Our destination today was Granite Flat National Forest Camp Ground, $11 per night with senior discount, no hookups at all.  We have never gone without hookup with this motorhome for more than an overnighter at a rest area.  We plan to be here for two nights, then over to South Lake Tahoe or North Shore for a couple of nights with hookups, and then back to Truckee area for a few more days of no hookups.

My original idea of going south to the Calaveras Big Trees got nixed when I saw that Ebbetts Pass had restrictions of 25’ and under…which makes us 3 feet too long and would have included unhooking the car. 

Funny how things worked out…there ended up being a Forest Fire.

 

This forest fire sprung up a few days ago due to lightening, and would have been near highway 4 on our way from Tahoe to the Big Trees.

   

Granite Flat National Forest Camp Ground is not empty, but darn near empty.  I am sure there are lots more campers here over the weekend…but early week like this is wonderful.  Found us a nice, level site far away from everyone else.  Yes, you do here highway 89 traffic noise, but at night the traffic is light, and during the day it is not that bad.  We are using our solar panel for the first time while we camp, and it is holding the battery steady while we use our two laptops and run the aircard and the booster.  We don’t have any TV stations, but we do have 4G with 2-3 bars, so we can stream in something to watch later, perhaps on one of our Kindles.  So everyone is happy so far…

   

(hold you mouse over the doggie pictures to see what they think)

Tomorrow we are going to explore a bit around Donner Lake, including the new visitor's center at the State Park.  Should be very interesting, although a bit heart touching too...we will see.