Are We There Yet?

Oddly I never thought about asking that question, but we have made it to Felton, California. Where I left off from last time, we were in Lovelock, Nevada, on September 8th. We left Lovelock Thursday morning and headed west again for a short distance to Sparks, Nevada, which is right next door to Reno. We were planning on only staying one night, but after finding out that they had a hot air balloon display, it was something we wanted to see, so we ended up staying Friday and Saturday, September 9th and 10th, at the Sparks Marina RV Park. This RV park was the most expensive among all the places we have stayed, and with that, we got to see many costly homes on wheels. It was nice, but to us, it was nothing special. Actually, it was more like a parking lot with just some fake grass. Oddly it is places like this where you mainly see these high-dollar rigs. Friday at 3 am, we get up to go to the Reno hot air balloon race, although I don’t know why they call it a race since there is none. We got to the Rancho San Rafael Regional Park on the northwest part of Reno around 4-4:30 am, and after arriving and looking at the weather radar, things were not looking good for balloons with rain off to the horizon. Around 5:30 am, the announcer called the event off for Friday after some flashes of lightning, so we headed back to the RV. Saturday at 3:00 am was a repeat from the day before, although arriving at the park, we were greeted with a lot more spectators. I was fascinated that thousands of people were interested in getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning to see some hot air balloons. The event was enjoyable and educational because you were up and close to the balloons and how they inflate them. Some interesting facts that I learned were that the engine, the heating device that heats the air or one burner, produces enough hot air at a per hour rate to heat 120 three-bedroom homes comfortably or 12 million BTU’s per hour.

Reno was also enjoyable because I won 60-something bucks at the casino, and Rebecca, sadly, lost a little over the past two days. On Thursday evening, we went to the Sierra Resort, and on Friday evening, we went to Circus Circus. Both days we spent a couple of hours at each casino and had fun.

On Saturday, September 11th, we left Sparks and headed roughly 160-miles to Dixon May Fairgrounds. Since we had success at the fairgrounds back in Iowa, we figured we would give the Dixon fairgrounds a shot. Dixon, California, ended up being a great place to relax and to enjoy a little bit of country in the center of California. Somehow, it actually felt like we could have been in Iowa with how laid back, quiet, and peaceful the town was. We loved seeing the lemon and orange trees and even got a fresh lemon off the one. The campground area was really nice in that it was easy to park the RV with ample parking for the truck and trailer. I even got to wash the RV and gave it a quick polish that made me really happy. It bugged me that we had dirty vehicles all along the journey, but I also knew it would happen. As for the truck getting washed, it will get done sometime after we settle in.

The journey from Lovelock to Sparks to Dixon has been uneventful, and everything worked as it should on the vehicles. Even the generator didn’t give us any issues. I did remove the air filter from the generator back at Lovelock, which had gotten oil-soaked from the past issues we have had with it. Even with the uneventfulness, my worries turned to Rebecca and whether she would handle the crazy California drivers. I knew she didn’t like driving the truck with the trailer attached, and adding multi-lane highways in poor condition didn’t help. The only good thing that eased a little tension is that all trucks and vehicles pulling trailers have to go 55 mph here in California. Throughout the whole trip, we mainly stayed at 65 mph so that Rebecca could cope and, in the end, helped a little with fuel costs. The area that made me the most nervous was when we got off the main highway and onto highway 17, the last stretch to Felton, California. Highway 17 is a winding road that goes up and down the final mountain before hitting the Pacific ocean. Because of the sharp turns and the narrow road width, the road is not designed for trucks and limits you to only doing 35 mph even though it is a four-lane highway in sections. I am proud of Rebecca and the challenge she took on. I knew it would not be easy for her, but with a little faith and determination, she pulled through. I can almost say she is as good as some of those pro truck drivers, almost…

Sunday, September 12th, around 3 pm, we arrived at Smithwoods with welcome arms from the fellow work-campers and happy knowing that we completed a once, and I mean once, in a lifetime journey. I will elaborate more later on my thoughts about the trip as they soak in. We are still getting situated here at Smithwood’s, so more on that later as well. One of the bigger adjustments we will have to make is not having a Walmart close by. Where we are located, it’s going to take 40 minutes to get to the closest one…

I will add some additional photos of the balloon festival once I get a chance. The photos of the “parking lot” RV park are from Sparks, Nevada and the other photos are from the Dixon fairgrounds…