Sunsets and Sauron at Panoche Hills BLM

After leaving Sacramento we found a lovely campsite at Panoche Hills in Fresno, California. This is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and it is free and open to the public. This is what your taxes are spent on. Panoche Hills is a popular shooting range. The rest area where we camped is just short of the actual camping spots that are farther down the loose, sandy, hilly road. After a few days of camping there the rangers came and told us that we were camped in the incorrect area, but they allowed us to stay there until the next day. The rangers can also issue a free fire permit. We didn't have a campfire while we were there, but it's important to get a permit if you do so that the rangers are aware of potential for wildfires. The few days we were there we probably saw ten or fifteen different groups of people hunting or having target practice. It was a bit nerve-wracking because I was concerned that the goat might be an accidental target, but luckily we were at the top of a hill instead of in the valley where the shooters were.

On the way to Panoche Hills BLM.

The road from Fresno had lots of Monsanto orange farms, and the surrounding area was very flat. The paved road was very narrow and full of holes. We arrived at the entrance to the BLM dirt road as the sun was setting, and suddenly had to go up and up and up the twisty rutted dirt road. When we got to the overlook and began to set up we saw what looked like a rocket high up in the atmosphere. A piece of it broke off and fell down, and it made us wonder if a spacecraft had been launched within a hundred miles or so and was dumping its boosters before heading out into space. On the opposite side of our site at the same moment a bloodred moon began to rise in between mountain peaks. It looked like the eye of Sauron, and it rose so fast we couldn't believe it. We looked at the moon on the edge of the skyline, looked back at the rocket for a few moments, and then when we looked at the moon again it was already a few finger-widths above the horizon. I tried to get a picture but it's impossible to capture the moon, especially with only an iPod to work with. 

It wasn't until morning that we understood the vast beauty of the area. I never thought that the desert would be my favorite environment. I was raised at the base of the Appalachian mountains with the wet, green trees and dark brown earth. Although the dirt in the Piedmont where I live is actually bright red moist clay. And not too far away, in Wilmington where I went to college, is the beach. I never was a fan of sand, but I see now that it's the combination of sand and water that makes it undesirable to me. Water makes sand stick. The windy sea air is humid and makes sand stick to my legs and arms and in my hair and on my glasses. The desert has no humidity, so the sand just sits there. It might be windy, but the sand doesn't stick, so it's ok with me!

The camper was situated on top of one of the magnificent hills. I could tell Rosie wanted to go gallivanting all over this jungle-gym, but with all the shooting and the threat of coyotes it was too dangerous to let her run around very much. I couldn't run and play with the animals due to severe knee injury. For those who don't know, I had knee surgery six years ago due to a knee cap that doesn't like to stay where it's supposed to be. Last year the dogs were playing and they ran into the back of my knee and ripped up everything that the first surgery had fixed. At the time of the trip, a second knee surgery was being planned for December 2015, and so I spent the whole trip hobbling around the best I could. Dan was not so handicapped, though. He had a great time chasing Rosie and Piper around. Juno doesn't listen and tries to run away whenever she's off leash, so she has lost her privileges.

The view back toward the road from our site.

It was amazing to wake up and see the view from the window.

Bartleby wants Dan to come back inside.

Shooting was happening down in the valley.

I can see so far!

There were lots of airplane trails all the time.

Rosie had to make friends with the fence she was tied to.

One of my favorite Rosie pictures.

Everywhere I went I was astounded by the sunsets. North Carolina sunsets are wonderful, but nothing like what they have out West. Here are my favorite sunset pictures from three nights at Panoche Hills. I probably took over 200 pictures of the sunset!

To my Pop-Up Portal forum friends;

if this isn't a great view, I don't know what is!

While we were in Panoche Hills we decided to drive the car on up the road to see what was there. We were happy that we didn't attempt to tow the camper past the parking lot; we surely would have gotten stuck. The hills became even more impressive as we continued along, and at the top was some sort of facility. These hills are massive. They look like sand dunes, but they are solid ground.

When we left Panoche Hills to go to Yosemite we stopped at a gas station and checked our tires as usual. That's when we discovered that we yet again needed to buy a new tire. It seems that the road to the Panoche Hill rest area had some sort of metal debris that sliced into our tire. We replaced it with our bald spare and went on toward Yosemite in search of another tire.

I believe by this point we've been through seven tires.

Stay tuned for an adventure in Yosemite National Park!

Honey, We Shrunk the Goat!

The drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (California State Route 1) was wonderfully scenic. It follows the very edge of the continent. The Eastern seashore that I'm used to is much different. Rather than seeing hotels, tourist shops, and beach shanties crowding the coastline, the Pacific Coast Highway is simply the ocean on one side of the road and mountains on the other. Occasionally the road winds farther into the mountains and away from views of the ocean. It felt insane knowing that we were still only a few hundred feet from the water even though it looked like we were high up in the Appalachian Mountains. 

The seashore was often rocky instead of sandy. 

Much different than Wilmington, NC, where I went to college.

One attraction that I just had to see (and is unavoidable if you drive the Pacific Highway) is Redwoods National Park. It's hard for me to imagine how our country used to look back when ALL of the trees were so massive. Before it was settled, North Carolina was covered in Tulip Trees almost 200 feet tall and ten feet wide. The Redwoods are even bigger. As usual, we looked for a free campsite nearby. The winner was Jedediah Smith National Park. Free camping is allowed in the gravel parking lots near trail heads, and there are also walk-in spots along the trails. Getting to our camp site required a drive deep into the heart of a Redwood grove, and passed over a few mountain rivers. It was lovely and paved. The trees along the road leading to our campsite were even more inspiring than the trees in Redwoods National Park. Driving through it felt as if you might see a dinosaur. The air was heavy with the smell of damp moss and earth and just the general feeling of GREEN. 

Jedediah Smith State Park

These are baby-sized trees.

We keep half a bale of alfalfa strapped to the tongue for Rosie.

The parking lot we camped in had a trail attached that led down to the river. I took Rosie and Frankenstein down the short little trail to go discovering. You wouldn't think that a cat is good to take walks with, but my cat is such a pig that all I have to do is bring along a small tin of cat food to rattle when she strays too far. There we found scattered fire rings and campsite areas, as well as piles of rocks that had been stacked up to form a sort of maze-looking-thing. Sitting on top of a pile of rocks was a soaked copy of Agatha Christie's The Clocks. It was sitting facedown and open as if somebody had put it down to mark their place and then forgotten to retrieve it. I picked it up, dried it out, and had an excellent time reading it over the next few days. 

The water was crystal clear.

I've never been to a river where the entire bottom was visible.

We made a few trips into nearby Crescent City for supplies and to search for a place to give the dogs a bath. It was a holiday and no groomers were open, and the dogs were smelling pretty terrible, so I washed them with the river water. It was cold!!!

Piper just had to grin and bear it.

Juno HATES water. Especially cold water.

Then it was Dan's turn.

 I told him the water was too cold, but he did it anyway and got brain freeze from the outside in!

In Crescent City we stopped by a farm supply store and got Rosie half a bale of alfalfa. 

She was in heaven!

This little deer mouse came up to our campsite to eat Rosie's leftovers. 

It looked like it had a large tumor on one side and a large hole on the other.

It wasn't shy of us at all.

Dan said we couldn't keep it.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Bull can be seen on the drive.

After being in the area for a few days we still couldn't figure out where the entrance to the Redwoods National Park was. Google maps kept sending us to an office building in Crescent City. So we left and headed farther South on the highway until we came across an information center. The reason we couldn't find and entrance or information about how much it costs is because there isn't an entrance and it's free! The highway actually runs right through the middle of the Redwood National Park. You can stop along the road and follow smaller trails into the woods to see the biggest trees. So that's what we did!

At the beginning of the trail I started to feel tiny. 

In case you can't tell, I'm standing in front of a chopped down tree trunk!

This is "Big Tree." It is over 300' tall, over 20' wide, and more than 1500 years old.

Look at lil' Dan!

Even the ferns are taller than us!

We didn't bring Rosie down the trail because ferns are poisonous to goats, 

as we discovered the first week of the trip.

The roots of this overturned stump look as if they might eat me.

"Hello, up there!"

As we continued our journey south, Rosie decided she wanted to sit where Piper was sitting. 

"Ummm, can you do something about this?"

Neither one wanted to give up the spot, 

and Juno couldn't let them get any attention without butting in.

The sun set over the majestic Redwoods as we pulled into a Cher-Ae Casino for the night.

Casinos make for wonderful free camp sites because they're generally free for up to three days and most of them give free soda, coffee, and hot chocolate to players. They generally have security on patrol. A lot of them also have water and/or electric hookups for free as well. All you have to go is go inside and register for their free player card. They figure that if they give you a free place to camp then you're likely to spend more money inside. (Not us!) Not all casinos allow camping, so call ahead to ask.

Coyote Valley Casino is where we met the most interesting person.

The next night we camped at Coyote Valley Casino near Navarro, CA. When we were close to the end of the National Forest we saw a strange sight and commented on it. There was a conversion van pulling a tiny horse trailer. The setup had been painted with taupe-colored house paint, and there was a little orange triangular flag coming out the top of it. When we pulled into Coyote Valley Casino it was almost dark. We started to set up, and then that same van and trailer from a couple hundred miles ago pulled into the parking lot! 

It stopped short of the casino with its headlights shining on the wall, and a man got out and began messing with the headlights. I thought it was super neat that we had seen his van all those miles ago and ended up in the same spot, and of course I just had to go tell him that! So I walked across the parking lot and approached him. I could see that the headlight lens was broken and he was using the wall to determine if he was moving the headlight beam into the right position. I asked if he needed help and he said no, and that he had just had a small accident with another car. As he pointed at the broken headlight lens I noticed neatly manicured long pink fingernails. It was chilly and he kept trying to hold his red plaid flannel jacket closed, but underneath I noticed a yellow blouse. We got to talking about solar panels and heating methods and camping, and then we walked over to our camper where Dan was trying to set up by himself. It seemed that I had gotten into a conversation with a talker.

Now, over the course of the trip Dan and I discovered that we each have different kinds of... talents I suppose you could call it. Dan has a knack for attracting never-ending talkers. People tell him all sorts of in-depth details about their lives that they probably shouldn't tell to strangers, and he gets trapped in conversations that are inescapable for hours. My thing is that people tend to give me stuff. It doesn't matter who they are or how little or much they have, when I talk to people and tell them our story they just give me things. I'm very grateful and this little tidbit has been enormously helpful in the past.

As we talked to this person it was revealed that our camp stove had sprung an irreparable leak and we had been without a safe way to cook food for the past week. Our new friend invited me back to his van and said he had something for me. That stuck me as stranger danger, but with Dan watching like a hawk from our camper I followed him over. Sitting in the front seat of the van was an ancient black chow named Bear. I looked inside the very-lived-in van to see makeup and jewelry and the rest of the general stuff. Out of the stuff came an old propane burner. The kind that screws directly on top of a small propane canister. "Now," he said, "You'll have heat and a way to cook things."

So we took the propane burner over to the camper, which Dan had mostly set up by then. We attached it to a cylinder and lit it up to test it and it seemed to work so we put it inside with Dan to heat the camper. After we shut the door Dan said it started spouting flames from the wrong places so he quickly put it out before it could blow up. Then he came outside and we continued to chat.

It was getting very, very cold and I was wearing flip-flops. We had started this conversation around 8pm and it was getting close to midnight, so I tried to break it off. I shook his hand and asked his name. He paused and said, "The government says my name is David, but I prefer to be called Cindi, with an I." I smiled and said, "Nice to meet you Cindi, I'm Fred."

Cindi is one of the most admirable people I've ever met. With only two or three years of elementary education, Cindi has been living on the road between Crescent City, CA, and Lake Havasu, AZ since the age of 17 and is around 50 now. Little traditional education did not prevent her from being intelligent and learning in other ways, however. She told us that she had taken computer courses and carries around encyclopedias and college textbooks. She learned how to read a map and locate coordinates without the use of a GPS or the internet. I don't know anyone who can do that anymore. 

The law does not like vagrants. The law also doesn't like people who don't fit in with "regular" type people. Cindi had been chased away from overnight parking spots in the past and I could definitely understand why she would want to appear as "normal" as possible in front of people who might try to make life even more difficult.

 

Morning at the casino.

The next morning as I was walking the goat I saw Cindi strolling the parking lot enjoying a cup of coffee in her blouse and skirt. I felt happy that she was comfortable enough to be herself around us. She saw me and apologized for the long conversation the previous night, explaining that she has difficulty picking up body language cues and determining when to stop bugging someone. I knew we'd have another long conversation but I didn't mind at all. Dan hid in the camper because he didn't want to get stuck in this long conversation. Again, my lucky charm paid off and Cindi gave me a pack of cigarettes for Dan. I am simply amazed that someone who is on such a tight budget can give so freely. In this conversation we also picked up the biggest and best hint, which basically would be the lifesaver for the rest of our trip.

Cindi said that she makes her way up and down the coast one casino at a time. If you register for the player's club (which we already did to get the free camping), most casinos put $5 or $10 of "free play" money on your player card. You can play slots with this money and keep whatever you win. Generally you make about even, but $5 at each casino can add up. And you never know when you might hit a jackpot! That made us love casino camping even more, and I slowly began to enjoy playing penny slots. As long as I didn't have to spend any of my own money, of course!

The next morning we said goodbye and a big THANK YOU to Cindi. I got her phone number and kept in touch, comparing gas prices in different parts of the country. I wanted to meet up with another friend nearby in Sacramento. Originally we wanted to see San Francisco, but we were low on cash and the tolls were expensive. Not to mention I wasn't looking forward to towing a camper and finding a place to park in that hilly, crowded city. I met my friend Rachelle when she was in dog training school at the canine training facility I worked as kennel staff at back home. After completing the program she went home to Sacramento. She recommended a casino nearby called Red Hawk Casino. We camped there for three days, had supper with Rachelle at a Chili's, and I got my first glimpse of a HUGE casino.

All of the casinos we had been to so far were small Indian casinos on reservations. These casinos do not allow alcohol, as alcoholism is a huge problem in Native American communities. This casino was also an Indian casino, but it had the magnificence of the Vegas Strip. 

We were camped way, way out at the back of the parking lot with the rest of the RVs.

The sunset was excellent.

I  got some excellent pictures of Dan.

Look at him, being all photogenic!

I was simply astounded by the bathroom. I'm easily impressed.

When we called the casino to ask about camping, they told us we could stay for five days. After two days, security came around and told us that the limit was 72 hours and that we were not allowed to leave the camper there without the vehicle. They had noticed the camper there with the goat in her crate outside (even though we put a tarp over her because it was chilly) and said that was against the rules. We told them that we had been driving up to the casino to play since it was so far away. (It was halfway true! We did that once or twice!) The next morning we packed up and headed on down towards Bakersfield and Los Angeles!