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| I-5 southbound, olive trees in neat rows |
Through Corning, the olive capital, the road was lined with miles of now-familiar olive trees.
I spied branches laden with bright green olives. Later we passed neat rows of fruit trees and also vineyards.
At Sacramento we continued south on route 99, parts of which were
newly paved and others the same bumpy, juddering road we remember from before.
Our home on wheels sure rattles and lurches as we drive along.
We stayed at the Lodi Elks, which was just fine for an overnight
stop. It is located in a nice neighborhood adjacent to a golf course. There was
a wedding reception at the club that evening and Michael saw the bride arriving
in a 1954 Chevy truck in immaculate condition. We ogled it when we went for a
short walk through the neighborhood.
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| driving across the flat valley floor |
The next morning we were off again, back on route 99 south bound,
then east on route 140 towards Yosemite. We drove across the valley, flat and
dry as a bone.
Eventually we approached the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas,
and began our climb up and through pretty, treed landscape. It surprised me to
see so many ranches and homes in this remote, hilly area.
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| winding our way through and around the hills |
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| I enjoy seeing old barns along our route |
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| climbing higher and higher |
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| the Sierra Nevadas up ahead |
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| pretty scenery and winding roadways |
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| entering Mariposa, one of the towns along the 49-ers gold route |
We decided to give the Mariposa County Fairgrounds a try for an
overnight. Tom Polk had recommended the fairgrounds after attending an Alpine
rally there. Hmmm... when Tom mentioned a few challenges with leveling,
had we known exactly how challenging it would be, perhaps we would have skipped
this place. The grassy area designated for RV's is next to the Mining Museum within the fair grounds. There is water and electric hookups for $30 a night. But the area is very sloped and it was difficult to choose the least sloped site. After encouraging the jacks to extend as far as they possibly could
go, and the Alpine creaking and popping as it strained to level itself, Michael
realized that the back jacks were not holding and both eventually slowly
retracted. Of course I was in a flat panic over all the things that can go
wrong including damage to the suspension. He tried leveling a second time, but the jacks protested loudly at being over-extended and continued
to retract, popping and groaning. Then they slowly retracted again. We were not able to level Alpine and also did not put out the slides. And the jacks will need to be looked at and possibly repaired or even replaced.
I was not a happy camper.
But we stayed the night, and thankfully the busy road and traffic
quieted down. We were however periodically awakened by lightning flashes and
grumbling thunderbolts throughout the night. The little bit of rain that did
fall hardly left a trace.
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| Alpine with Jeep hooked up and ready to move on to Oakhurst |
The next morning we packed up and headed on to Oakhurst to the
Elks lodge there.
It was a short half hour ride through more twisty and winding route 41. The scenery was pretty, a continuation of hills and valleys, dotted with trees.
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| the road towards Oakhurst |
The drive up to the lodge was up a steep hill, unavoidable in this very hilly region. The lower RV area at the Elks is at least more level. The rear jacks remained a problem and did not hold. Eventually both retracted, and the left back jack made its same groaning and popping noise. So, once again, we remained un-leveled, though with less of a slope this time so that it didn't feel like we were sleeping with our feet higher than our heads. We did not extend the slides either.
Our plan is to visit Yosemite National Park during the next two days,
approaching the park through the south entrance along route 41. The weather
promises to be sunny so we look forward to good views and a couple of hikes
along the trails.