We had been cracking ourselves up all day mispronouncing Yosemite, Yo-Sum -Ite. We thought it would make a good SNL skit or Weird Al video to have a rapper named Yo-Sum-Ite, kicking sick beats about conservation and growing up in the hills of Yosemite National Park. We tried in vain to freestyle the lyrics on the way to the park. If we could get three words to rhyme we were doing good.
The drive to Yosemite was pretty. The California hills are golden and pocked with fruit orchards. The highway medians are lined with flowering oleander bushes. Cali was experiencing a heat wave, a gut punch to Texans fleeing West for milder climates. We stopped at local fruit stands. We had two nights booked at the Yosemite Pines RV resort in Groveland, Ca. It is only 20 miles from the park, but the mountain roads make it slow going. Yosemite park was by far the most impressive spectacle of nature we have ever seen, not like the Grand Canyon, which was so massive your mind went numb. We ate lunch in a gorgeous meadow in the shadow of El Capitan, watched a bear run a picnicking family off a beach, and drove to Glacier Point. Do not miss Glacier Point, it was well worth the drive. If you are short on time, and can't snag a spot inside the park, make sure to enter from the west. The major points of interest are located here. We took a break from RV food and went to the historic Iron Door Saloon for dinner. We had a jukebox war, to see who's song would inspire a reaction from the patrons. It was a tie between my selection of Tennessee Whiskey and the college son with In Hell I'll be in Good Company by the Dead South. The older son wanted to hide under the table when his little brother selected Driver's License. We took an evening stroll around Groveland. My youngest and I found a geocache. My older son and wife act like they don't know us, when we are geocaching.
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Lone Pine sits at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It has a film museum, commemorating a quite sizable list of movies made in the area. We had been discussing going to Yosemite by way of Tioga Pass. This would drive us past Mammoth Lakes. After talking with locals and doing a bit of research, we decided against this. We did not feel comfortable driving the RV with tow over the pass.
Our decision to go around the mountains took us South to Bakersfield, CA and up California's Hwy 99 through Fresno and Merced. This was city driving, not beautiful but fast. Our destination was Sequoia National Park. We spent two nights at Three Rivers Hideaway RV Park. It claims to be the closets campground to the park. We took the jeep to Sequoia. If you have a larger RV you definitely need a tow vehicle. We almost left without one, because I was trying to save money. We bought a hitch plate, Blue Ox tow bar, light harness, drop hitch and Patriot 3 brake system (bot). The brake bot makes me angry every time I hook it up. It looks and feels cheap, and for the price seems like a rip off. However, brakes are important and it serves as an emergency brake in case you lose your tow. Sequoia National Park was ok, not our favorite. There was no wildlife and most views were obstructed by tall brush. You go here for the trees and they did not disappoint. It takes a while to reach them. When you finally do you are transported to different world. It feels like you are in a Jurassic Park. They are enormous at 260 feet tall, 3000 years old. We just wish there were more of them to view. We imagined a huge forest filled with the giant trees. We ate dinner, played some games and got ready for the trek north to Yosemite. Ready to get out of the Vegas heat, we packed up early and hit the road. We headed north on 95 toward Area 51. I don't know if you believe in UFOs, but lately the "little green men" have gone from tabloid to mainstream news. I wanted a pic of the Dogebago at the gates of Dry Groom Lake.
The drive was nice and the cockpit AC was working well. We were rested, fed and in good spirits. The most interesting things along the way were tumbleweeds, dust devils and Creech Air Force base. I made note of how few planes were on the base and wondered if it is a drone base. Google confirmed. The Area 51 Alien Center is a gas station with alien themed swag. It is forty miles from the secret base, an unfortunate distance for a photo op. We topped off the tanks for the journey through Death Valley and picked up a few trinkets and ice cream. Hwy 190 would take us on a short tour of Death Valley before hitting the Sierra Nevada mountains. Death Valley proved to be our biggest challenge yet. We did not expect the steep decent down into the valley. The temperatures rose to over 118 degrees, signs advised motorists to turn off their AC to prevent overheating. The Dogebago's engine might not overheat but the family and brakes were definitely getting hot. When we finally hit the bottom of the basin, the seriousness of the situation came to light. My eyes toggled from road to temp gauge. The 1.5 hour trip took close to 4. We emerged near Rainbow Canyon, aka "Star Wars Canyon". We met two Doge fans, and a nice man who told us about the jets that fly through this place. We spent the night at the Boulder Creek RV Resort, in Lone Pine, CA, at the geocached and played cards. There was a medical emergency next door, which required attention. In addition, there were three DogeCoin fans we met and talked crypto. They took pics of the Dogebago. It was a good day, albeit scary, I never had the opportunity to travel to Sin City when I was younger. The family was excited to see "The Strip". Well, all of us not including my wife. The Vegas life is not her thing, she prefers nature. We left the South Rim and drove straight through. The drive was nice. The boys took turns in the copilot seat listening to their music. I'm not always a fan, but it is fun to discover new tunes. The trip to Vegas was almost ruined by an oversight on my part. I had hooked up the jeep, did my final walk around and was about to pull out. Right before I did, my oldest son Evan asked, "Did you put the jeep in neutral?" Crap! I had forgot. This would have destroyed our tow vehicle's transmission, and probably our will to travel. I'm a big fan of the book "The Check List Manifesto" by Atul Gawande. It's a smart book about the power of documenting routine. Just because people read books, doesn't mean they put it into practice. I should have made a check list before we left, but we were in a hurry to leave. Being in a hurry is the #1 reason oversights lead to catastrophic failure. There is now a checklist on the steering wheel. We pulled into Vegas at six in the afternoon and took the Dogebago down the Las Vegas strip, checking out iconic casinos: The Mirage, Bellagio, New York New York and the pyramid shaped Luxor. My youngest son is huge into FortNite and wanted to stop by and see the E-sports arena, but it was closed. My oldest son (college) asked if we could go to Area 15 and see an art exhibit called Omega Mart we agreed and rolled into the parking lot after dark. Huh... holy shit. I was not in the mood or ready for The Omega Mart. I went to college and read Fear and Loathing. I did this scene in my 20s. The ganja and other substances were hitting the young people around us hard as they tripped on the sensory overload of this place. All I wanted was to eat and see some of the real Vegas. It took us over an hour to make our way through. The constant rhythmic thumping of techno music was giving me a headache. After escaping Omega Mart, we hit the Las Vegas Strip for some good food, and the Bellagio fountain show. Both of which ironically never came since we nixed food to view the last Mirage fountain show (11pm). We mistook it for the Bellagio's. Our faces said it all realizing we gave up food in a hot crowded Vegas strip for a show we never intended to see. Luckily, my amazing wife offered to go get the jeep and pick us up at the Bellagio so my youngest could finally get video footage of the "Blinding Lights" fountain. It was a real spectacle to say the least. My youngest son had an amazing time recording the sights and snapping pictures of Lamborghinis and Audi R8s that sped down the strip. We finally made it to our RV spot after waiting 45 minutes for the best Wendy's fast food midnight feast, but the Dogebago's air conditioning unit could not keep up with the blaring Las Vegas sun. It took well passed midnight to get the RV cooled down enough to rest. It was miserable and we couldn't wait to get out of Vegas onto friendlier places like Area 51 and Death Valley. We missed the sunrise hike. I have to admit, I was not sad about it. I'll take a good sunset over sunrise, 10 out of 10. We made our first real breakfast on the road, pancakes and eggs and headed out for a hike around the rim. Before this trip, if you had told me to close my eyes and imagine The Grand Canyon, I would have imagined Clark Griswold staring impatiently at it. I guess 80s movies made a big impression on me. Clark should have nixed Wally World and stayed put. The Grand Canyon is incredible. It's one of those views which is so vast it defies logic.
We stayed at Trailer Village RV park, thanks to my wife. She's the planner and as soon as we hit the road, she was on the phone checking for cancellations. The RV site was fun, we met some very nice people, but sadly only a few people knew what Doge is. There seem to be a lot of older retired people in RV parks. The mule deer at Grand Canyon are every where and lumber like cows. We hiked the Rim a few times, took buses to lookout points. There was an empty amphitheater and our family took some time to get on stage and clown around. All meals were in the RV. I don't know if it was the time of year or Covid, but there were very few people at the park. Fine by me. The highlight of the two days was watching the sun set at The Watchtower with my family. If you go to South Rim, do not miss going to this place. Next we are taking the Dogebago to Las Vegas. The next morning we drove to Bandura Volcano and Ice Cave. The hike to the caldera was fast, and the Ice Cave cooled you off on the hike down. My son was excited to take his drone in the air, but apparently it broke in the rolling earthquake (RV). To say he was bummed is an understatement. A freak hail storm hit, which was fun.
The Dogebago's propane was low. This was stressing me out. Hot water, cooktops and refrigerator rely on it. I have wanted to see Meteor Crater in Arizona for 30 years. An impromptu college road trip had the crater from the 1984 movie Starman as our final destination. Sadly, this road trip was cut short. I had talked this crater up so much to my family over the years and today I was finally going to see it. It felt to me like a pilgrimage. It was going to be a stop along our route to Grand Canyon RV Park. The crater was a huge personal let down. The crater itself is incredible, but the center is over commercialized. It is now a space museum, with 4D movie. Now that my kids are older, I try to avoid 4D movies. Why is there a space museum commerating astronauts where a rock struck the Earth at 27,000 miles per hour? I think the answer is so they don't feel bad charging $20 a person. My family was not impressed, and they teased me a bit. I realized perhaps there is more beauty in leaving some things left undone. We stopped at RV Country Flagstaff for supplies and propane, and we were met by two Doge fans taking pics of the Dogebago. They told me their sons had big stakes in crypto. We finished the drive to Grand Canyon RV Village and set the alarm for a 4:00 am sunrise hike. Day 2 ‘Too much Texas and Grants KOA”
We woke up with a single goal, get out of Texas. We love our state, but too much of a good thing is bad. New Mexico was the next stop on our drive West. We aimed the Dogebago toward Route 66 by way of Tucamari a town that inspired Radiator Springs in the movie "Cars". My boys were super fans of the franchise. Anytime you find yourself on the road to Cali, by way of I-40 take every opportunity you can to pull through the "Historic Route 66" side roads. Ruins of hotels and diners are relics of the road's golden past. We also met some nice Doge fans who came up to get some pics with us. We had reserved a spot at Grants KOA. As we drove we noticed a lot of black, jagged rock. My oldest said they were basalt fields (volcanic). He gave us a short geology lesson on how the area was formed. This was unexpectedly cool. This was our first time overnighting at a KOA. The staff here are very nice and helpful. They met us with fresh Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. We set up in record time, played Phase 10, and cooked dinner. It was the first time we felt like real RV'ers. Our home base is Deep East Texas. We have to drive more than four hundred miles to get out of the state. Annoying. We have done this before in cars and vans, but the RV is a new experience. I'm constantly worrying about whether or not I hooked everything up right, and if our tow car is ok. The Dogebago, is a "gasser", so it is not as smooth and quiet as the "diesel pushers" which pass us. Fine, those nice RVs don't get the fist pumps, honks and waves like the Dogebago. I thought we would get a few, but was not expecting the reaction. When we stopped at Buc-ees, the cell phones came out so people could get pictures of the Doge Shibu. Route 66 to California is the plan.
Last night we learned a lot about camping in an RV. The Sweetwater Lake RV park was not exactly what we expected. The kids said the camp host looked like a "byeah" from Grand Theft Auto. Huh? I looked it up, they were right. Unlike the useless GTA randos our host was very nice and showed us how to hook everything up. The police were at the park checking out an abandoned car. After meeting the host and seeing the police, my boys decided it would be smart to look up Sweetwater crime statistics. Mistake one. Our host said the car had been there a week, nothing to worry about. The owner had dropped his only key-fab in the fire and left the car. Parts had started disappearing and now the car was on jacks. We did a short hike up a dam to see a lake. It was not far, but up very steep, loose gravel. It did not look treacherous when we set off. Mistake two. Our host said a man recently tumbled down the dam injuring himself. Also, climbing it is illegal. Sweetwater is peppered with hundreds of giant lumbering windmills. These were the same windmills that iced up and failed in the recent Texas freeze. We did our first black and grey water dump, which was oddly satisfying. Back on the road was a little slow. It takes us a while to get our butts moving in the morning. My youngest son is geeked up with anticipation and can't sleep, my oldest college age son only sleeps. See ya down the road DogeArmy. The Dogebago is getting equipped for the trek from Texas to SoCal. Graphics are ordered. We hope to be setting out on the journey next week. More to come.
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