RV Adventure – March 2019

MAR 1, 2019 – Red Rock Canyon, NV

After a relaxing week overlooking Lake Mead and taking great walks, we headed west on March 1, once again. West of Las Vegas we drove through the Red Rock Canyon. Amazing geologic formations. It’s a one way route that was an easy drive. We then went to Pahrump NV to stay a few days before Death Valley. Our RV park in Pahrump was one of the nicest, most amenity filled places we’ve stayed. So many great sights in NV and eastern CA.

Next to the RV park was a small winery with a fabulous restaurant. It was a wonderful dinner with incredible wines, many choices with the various glasses….temperinillo, zinfandel and primitivo. Aged prime ribeye for me, perfectly very rare, and filet for Thom. and… chocolate fondant for desert!

MAR 4, 2019 – Death Valley, CA

The NPS site for Death Valley National Park was very helpful in identifying places to visit and camp. Our itinerary started out with Dantes Peak but it turned out the road was closed to RVs due to snow above 5000 feet. I would have liked to see the great views reported from there, but, oh well. Maybe next time. We did spend about 3 hours driving to see the lowest point in the western hemisphere at Badwater Basin. Also along the way we stopped for the views at Zabriskie Point, drove the one way route of Artists Drive, paused to view the large sand dunes at Mesquite Flats and stopped at Stovepipe Wells for a pit stop. Rather than boondock at Stovepipe Wells we continued on to find a campground with hookups given bad weather – cold and wind was forecast. We didn’t want to get stuck in Stovepipe Wells if the wind came up. It did. We ended up staying an extra night in Panamint Springs. It also allowed for our preferred route south to open as it was closed due to flooding. Death Valley is an incredible place and surprised me with it’s diversity and natural beauty.

MAR 7-10, 2019 – Lake Isabella, CA

We were able to leave Death Valley via route 178, once the flooding cleared. We traveled through Inyokern and confirmed the route through the mountains to Lake Isabella on 178 wasn’t too windy. We drove by the enormous Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake facility. It went on for miles!!!!

We arrived to a great spot overlooking the lake and then had to wait a few days for the rock slides on 178 to the south to be cleared!!! Once cleared we headed west again, via Bakersfield, CA.

The drive south through the Kern River valley and canyon was beautiful.

MAR 10-14, 2019 – Morro Bay, CA

On March 10 we got to the Pacific Ocean. What a sight!!! We stayed in the town of Morro Bay, at a RV park very close to the beach, the surf, Morro Rock, and a short 1 mile walk to town, the waterfront and boats, and restaurants. The weather was perfect!!! The roar of the surf was a soothing sound at night. The real treat was watching the sea otters frolic, swim and tend to their young. One of the places I’d love to come back to one day…..  Seems my post for lunch Mar 13 finally failed with the FB outage. We had a beautiful spot where we could watch the sea otters. And the largest most amazing BBQd oysters.

MAR 15, 2019 – Big Sur, CA

We left Morro Bay on Mar 15 with the hope of boondocking for a night in Big Sur. Turns out many campers were on the road and occupying the CA parks because of spring break. Mid-March. We drove Rt 1, the Pacific Coast Hwy, often pulling over to let cars pass, as the road was full of narrow s-curves and we sometimes only went 20mph. It was beautiful though. As imagined, and as seen in many photographs of coastal California.

A highlight was the stop at the Elephant Seal Rookery at San Simeon. Many mothers and pups enjoying the sunny day.

We arrived at a RV park in Marina CA as it is closest to Monterey where we will visit with our niece Charlotte Ennen. On Friday we will drive to San Francisco, park the RV, and go to DC for 2+ weeks. Looking forward to seeing our grandson Misha who is nearly 3. Can’t wait!!!!

MAR 15-22, 2019 – Marina, CA

Our spot in Marina CA is set back behind the large sand dunes. We walked into town on Sunday to wander and see what the Asian markets had to offer. We stopped for lunch and had delicious Pho. We found a great used bike store with lots of inventory, but learned that finding a large enough frame for Thom will be difficult. Decided it was time to just buy bikes and Amazon made it easy!!! And we’re here long enough to have delivery and assemble them before departing Friday.

MAR 20, 2019 – Marina, CA

Her ares the completed projects –

 March 23Flying out of SFO for 2+ weeks visiting family in DC. Hoping for nice, maybe warm!, weather and a walk around the tidal basin while the cherry blossoms are blooming.