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Thursday, May 2, 2013

We're Home again

When we drove to the Valley of Fire we came through Las Vegas and entered the park through the West entrance.  We decided to leave by way of the East Entrance and drive through part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We didn't see much of the lake, but the surrounding mountains were quite interesting if you like a muted earth-tone pallet of color. We liked their names: to the East were the Black Mountains and to the West were the Muddy Mountains.

We didn't stop to take pictures. We had many miles to cover to get home.

We drove south on I-15 and west on CA-68, and stopped for the night at a quirky little place called Bakersfield RV Travel Park.

Being somewhat new to the RV world, we were surprised and delighted taking an after-dinner walk down the shaded lanes of this small, vintage RV community. Almost every space was occupied. At least 90% of the rigs were occupied by long time, permanent residents. 



Craig regretted that we didn't have the camera on our walk, but by the time we thought of it, it was already getting dark. The above picture is a quick shot of our nearest neighbor taken in the morning before we pulled out.

By looking at the renewal stickers on a few of the license plates, we were able to guess how long some of them had been there.  They were probably old even then. The oldest sticker I saw was 1992. Twenty-one years since it was legally registered. Who knows how long it had been there before that! But the amazing thing was that most were very clean and looked "loved." Many had attached tent rooms like the one at the left in the picture above. Most had collections of chairs, grills, and plants in their yards, but not a lot of junk. As we passed by, one couple was removing a tarp from over a very nice, full size pool table for an evening game.

We were the strangers, but everyone we passed by nodded or greeted us. We stopped for a chat with one nice man who noticed Craig's Oakland A's hat. After the usual exchange of "where are you from?" he asked if we were planning on staying there permanently. It felt a bit unreal.  A bit like something from a Ray Bradbury book.

This trip sure was a potpourri of stops: Walmart parking lots, a gated golf resort, a national park, a state park, and finally a vintage park.  

Home is where you are parked.

Tonight the Alfa is once again parked in her place on our land, waiting for the next adventure.

15 comments:

  1. Welcome home. I love those quirky things the best! They often make me laugh, and always make me thiink :-)

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  2. Glad you had a great trip and are home safe and sound. I'm thinking you are now somewhat rejuvenated and ready to tackle a few more projects.

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  3. There are so many neat little places to stay with a lot of history and story behind it. I always look at rigs and residents and wonder what their story is....

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  4. Glad you made it home safely. It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

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  5. Too bad this journey had to come to an end, but I look forward to your next adventure!

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  6. So glad you had a wonderful time! We love the Grand Canyon...have one more day here! Thanks again for all your great posts!

    What's the next project?

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  7. Nice that you found such a friendly tree-shaded park for your overnight. Sometimes the "locals" in those smaller residential parks are not so friendly to overnighters. Glad you had a grand adventure and made it safely home - now get to work haha!!

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  8. We have also stayed at some very unique RV parks in our travels. And the vast majority of them have really been fun places. A few - never again - places but not many. Glad you're home safe but sure am looking forward to your next adventure.

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  9. An amazing trip, start to finish. Just think, soon, there'll be no "return" trip, it'll go on and on! :c)

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  10. Love the variety in your trip! Welcome home and now....get back to work! lol

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  11. I've been scrolling back and catching up...

    I saw two of my favorite things...Schlotzsky's & Date Shakes!! YUM!

    Amazing pics of the Grand Canyon. We spent 14 yrs in the desert and never made it over there. Guess we need to go back, LOL!

    ps. thanks for posting about the bell. That's the first time I've read about it.

    Cheers! ~M

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  12. You had such a good trip, I enjoyed following along with you. It's good to get home, though, isn't it?

    And now, which project is next?

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  13. A friend and I were at Valley of Fire a few years ago and your post really brought back the memories! No actual beach anymore at the 'Lake Mead Beach' but we didn't know that until we drove there. Hope you are having fun and keep up the sharing--it warms the hearts and stirs the wanderlust of those of us who can't live the dream that you are, but wish we could!

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  14. Merikay, we appreciate getting your comments on our blog and seeing them show up on our Yahoo email. However, when we try to respond, we always get a failure notice because your "animalhead" address is unavailable, even though that's the one you use to write to us. Have you emptied the inbox recently?

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  15. I'm glad you had such a terrific run! We once wound up in a campground/RV park much like the one you describe. It was in the Stanislaus National Forest, but I can't remember the name--Golden Glow, Golden Ember, something like that. A lot of long-time residents, a lot of makeshift rooms/extensions, and a lot of fire pits and sheds. Showers and rest rooms, but man, more spiders (Wolf-type) than I've ever seen in one place. The bathrooms were skittering with them.

    I'm excited for you and the wonderful days you're having! How are your legs feeling?

    Kris

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