Roses 1.0 Van Life

Traveling and walking our dog has led me to encounter dog ‘breeds’ that I wasn’t aware of. This morning there was a springer doodle. Of course we all know of Cockapoo’s, golden doodles, labradoodles, golden labs. Obvious what those are. But how about a chiweenie or a ausadoodle. Ironic that most of those are recognized more readily by the public than our English Setter. It’s rare that someone knows what breed Sammy is. Just heard today that Labs are still number one in terms of numbers, but number two is now the French Bulldog. Really?

Just a note so I’ll remember next time we come, if there is a next time. This RV park is basically a flat, asphalt and gravel lot nearly full of RV’s, in St. George. The temple is not a mountain or interesting rock formation, it’s a Mormon temple. The showers were excellent, there is a pool, a game room with fusball and ping pong, an exercise room and a billiards room. The office staff were extremely nice and helpful.

Went to Zion National Park today. Man is it touristy and congested. There was only a short line to get in but once in there was NO parking. People were driving around stalking pedestrians in hopes they were leaving and freeing up a space. In fairness to the park there was a sign just before the entrance “All Parking Lots Full”. The park is beautiful and consists of a deep canyon created by the Virgin River at the canyon floor. Here’s a couple of pictures……

The pics don’t do justice to the park but you get the idea. Rugged peaks of red and white sandstone, dry desert- like land with a clear trout stream running through it. Turns out, the park is mostly a central road through the canyon following the river, and it’s closed to traffic, since the 1990’s. You park (theoretically) and then purchase a ticket for a bus that takes you through. Hikers can get off at any one of several stops. The last return bus is at 7:15. After some time and frustration we found a spot to park and walked the river trail 3.5 miles, 7 total, beautiful weather and scenery. Added 3 new birds to my life list, Golden Eagle (yes I’ve seen one before but never posted one to ebird), Scrub Jay and Spotted Towhee. Oregon Junco too, but that’s a subspecies. We won’t go back tomorrow; not into bus rides and even though we didn’t see the best views, they say Angel’s Landing is beyond description, we’ve seen enough. On to Bryce Canyon. Not sure where we will stay tomorrow. Got to get to work on that before bed. Might try a freecamping.net site.

We got back just before Croshaw’s Pies closed. We like to eat at local places and roadfood.com is one of our main go to’s for finding them. They hit the bullseye with this one. They make quiche, pot pies, and 34 different sweet pies. We had quiche, soup and a blackberry/ raspberry pie. Perfect.

one more picture

They say travel is enlightening. I got a better understanding of California by being there, however briefly. It has the highest effective poverty rate, the largest gap between rich and poor, the most homeless, the most drug abuse, high crime, poor schools despite one of the highest per pupil expenditures in the nation and diseases not seen in this country for a century are reappearing, mostly diseases carried by lice and fleas like typhus. But seeing it firsthand brings perspective. It’s still a beautiful prosperous state, on or near the coast. The eastern part and the central valley are incredibly poor. Peggy said as we drove through “I feel like we are back in South America”. It feels like Mexico. There are men selling tacos and burritos from carts on the side of the highway, people walking and riding bikes, trash everywhere, abandoned cars and homes. This stands in dramatic contrast to the coastal areas where the ultra rich entertainment industry types and techies live. I think it’s the people in between who are leaving. The family who started the ModVan company we bought from were transferred to Ca. roughly 20 years ago from Atlanta. I asked how they like it, “we like the climate” she replied. I’m reading 1984 on this trip. If the middle class does disappear the state will resemble the dystopia of that book, lots of proles and a smaller class of “the party” with little in between. Here is some of the beauty of California, the Santa Barbara mountains, a straight ridge of snowy mountains rising abruptly above the scrub, semi-desert landscape creating a separate, distinct eco-zone…….

Sitting in the ModVan for our first night of “camping”. Carpenteria State Beach was our choice. Only a 30 minute drive from the pick up site, we knew we would need time to unpack and store all the stuff we brought. We drove 4 days to get here. Planned 8 to 9 hrs/day driving time but the weather put an end to that plan. A “blizzard” near Flagstaff put us at a complete stop on I 40 just 8 miles from our hotel. Stopped at 7:00 PM didn’t move again until 7:00 AM. It was 22 degrees outside with snow and ice so few got out of their vehicles. We were fine, I feel sorry for the family with 3 children and a dog.

Here are a few pictures.

The van feels plenty big enough, while still fitting into a routine parking space. Ask us in a few weeks, we might feel differently.

Off to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, then St George Utah. We plan to see Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks.

Carpenteria State Beach

First day at Carpenteria SB was windy and cold. Reminded me of Mark Twain’s quip : the coldest winter day I ever spent was one summer in San Francisco. Still we enjoyed it. Had a chance to use the furnace, kept the van nice and warm. Guess what we had for our supper……

yes pizza, from Pizzaman Dan. About 4 blocks from the park entrance they delivered right to our camp site. This is the inside of the box, you can see my hands holding it at the bottom. Peggy framed the picture well.

We had a good night’s sleep then walked the beach and trails. So many birds! Most were the same as at home but I added about 8 life birds to my list: California Towhee, California Gull, bushtit, Lesser Goldfinch, Black Phoebe come to mind.

Peggy Calls an audible

We had planned on a 6 1/2 hr drive to Valley of Fire State park in Nevada but I offered her the option of staying at a Harvesthosts.com site We joined for a year to give us options on places to stay. There was a place almost exactly in between Carpenteria and St. George Utah, Peggy Sue’s Diner, aka Diner-Taurus. Here are a couple of pictures…..

The food was good, typical diner fare. The parking area was basically a truck stop in the desert. Peggy Sue’s is almost exactly half way between LA and Las Vegas so people going to the latter stop to eat there. They say lots of celebrities do but the only picture I saw of a celeb was of Joseph Manguella, whose claim to fame is as a Robert DeNiro look alike. I know what you’re thinking but the resemblance is amazing. I can see that there is a real need for a harvest host review blog. The reviews on the site are all very positive, obviously some editing going on there. More later, including some thoughts on California and this ultra mormon RV park we are staying in tonight, McArthur’s Temple View, a hint, the temple isn’t a rock formation.

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