August 8, 2010 - Happy Birthday Jennifer Torres

Today is the day we'll arrive at our home for the next 6 months or longer.  The trip today will only be about 15 miles.

 New Melones Lake between Angels Camp and Columbia.

Home, 49er RV Ranch.  Our Street, Blue Jay Lane

Deer right out side our livingroom window, only about 6 feet from The Monster.

We met with Harv, the general manager of the park and it was decided that we'd take Monday off and start working on Tuesday. 

Sunday we spent the day getting set up, taking the dogs down to the doggie run, and just generally checked out the park.  You can to by visiting the 49er RV Ranch website.

August 7, 2010 - California or Bust

Our original plans were to stay somewhere near Lake Tahoe on the 7th, but that just didn't happen.  We didn't even see it.  We'll have to plan a long weekend trip up there one day.

Miles and the pups in California taking a break.  We are now on highway 88 over the Sierra Nevada.  Very beautiful and so nice to see trees again.

Even patches of snow.

And lakes.

And hills.  Okay, they are mountains, but not like Colorado mountains.

We ended up driving to Angels Camp and stayed at the Angels Camp RV park which was a nice very nice park.  No doggie park, but lots of places to walk and run. 

There were lots of grapevines loaded with grapes growing along the fence in the park.

I sure wanted to try them, but didn't.

There was also a pine tree with some big pine cones.  I mean really big, but not as big as one's in some of Jennifer's pictures from there camping trip to California.

Lots of pretty flowers too.

Angels Camp, California is where they have the frog jumping contests each May.  The dogs and I walked up to the fair grounds where the contests take place.  We didn't see any frogs though.

August 6, 2010 - Destination Fallon, Nevada

We hit the road each day between 10 AM and 11 AM.  We estimated our departure time according to the park's check out time. 

Highway scenery along I-80. We finally left I-80 about 22 miles southwest of Lovelock, NV. The news on the radio kept reporting that traffic was going to be horrible in Reno because of the Hot August Nights car show and the construction along I-80 so we left I-80 and took highway 95 south to Fallon.

Check out the Hot August Nights website:  http://www.hotaugustnights.net/  Miles is hoping that Mike will get out here next year and they can attend it.  That is one of the items on Miles' bucket list.  Don't know what a bucket list is?  It was a movie about two terminally ill men who have a list of things to do before they kick the bucket.  http://thebucketlist.warnerbros.com/  You can create your own bucket list and share it with your friends on Facebook. 


The distance from Elko to Fallon was about 250 miles.  We had originally thought we stop for the night at Lovelock, NV and stay at the Lazy K, but when we got there the park was not the most desirable park. 

The park in Fallon was ok but nothing to write home about so no pictures of it this time around.  They did have a store and a dog park which was 95% dirt but very large so the dogs got a chance to run.  There was a horse next to the dog park which totally freaked Lola out, but not Alder.  Neither even barked at it.

August 5, 2010

Onward to Elko, Nevada.  Can you say hot?  Today we'll travel about 250 miles.

The Great Salt Lake

Some type of satellite thing.

Almost to the salt flats.

The sign says it all.

The salt flats.

Another windy and hot state, at least in August.

Iron Horse RV Park, Elko, Nevada.  Another nice park with a great doggie park with a large grassed area.

Miles taking a long deserved break from driving.

Lola taking a break after a day traveling to Elko.

Alder taking a break too.

That was it for day 4 on the road.

August 4, 2010

Our destination for our third day out was west Salt Lake City; about 190 miles.

Sights along the highway.  Lots more windmills.

Hello Utah.  Gave Jennifer a call as she was here but leaving the same day we were arriving so we didn't get a chance to meet up.

Views from a rest stop where we stretched our legs and walked the dogs so they could stretch their's.

A lake on the way to Salt Lake City.  We rain into some rain in Utah, but nothing too bad.

I had made a reservation for the Pony Express RV Resort on the northwest side of Salt Lake City.  It turned out to be a really nice park with grass. 

And a tree.

And a beautiful sunset.

And the Jordan River.

And a trail for walking, biking, or horseback riding.

Alder and Lola after an early morning walk on the trail.

August 3, 2010

On August 3rd we headed for Rock Springs, Wyoming where we planned to stay the night.  We would travel about 260 miles for the day.


There were lots of windmills along I-80 on our way to our next destination.  The weather was hot and dry most of our trip.

The Lincoln Memorial.  Okay, not the one in Washington, D.C.

It was just kinda weird seeing it out there along the highway.  Want to know more about it?  Check out this link:  http://www.yellowecho.com/travel/lincoln_memorial_highway.htm

Miles did all the driving throughout the trip and he did a great job keeping us on the road with all the high winds along the way.  Isn't he cute?

It wasn't all flat going across Wyoming.  This picture was taken along I-80 and before entering the Routt National Forest where we camped for a week during our vacation back in 2008.

We arrived at the Rock Springs KOA mid-afternoon.  It was a very nice, very clean campground.  The only drawback was it was all rocks and dirt.

The Russian Sage was beautiful and in full bloom.

The Weather Rock.  It should have been moving a lot while we were here as it was windy.  Maybe the rock was too heavy.

Maybe these were some the first RVs to travel across our beautiful country.

There was a nice doggie park that Alder and Lola had fun in.  There was also a dirt road beside the park that led up to the hills in the background and we ran up there a couple times before leaving on the 4th.

The sign says it all.

This gentleman had it all; a cute pop-up for his motorcycle.

The Monster in Rock Springs.  Check out all those rocks; must be how the town gots its name. 

Can you find "The Monster" in the park?

Thus ended our second day on the road.