2nd: We
ended up spending a second night at the RV campground. Rainy/windy weather made us reluctant to
pack up to move, and then unpack and re-settle in the elements. Missy went and got the cable box we’d
refused when we thought we’d only be one night. Not much good programming on Sundays,
though. I made use of the extra time in range and
greatly enjoyed extra sessions of Draw Something with MMG!
3rd: We
divided and conquered chores. Missy did
laundry and I went to the grocery store.
I called Millenicom with the intent of ordering the Verizon wifi (to be
shipped to general delivery), but the employee was skeptical that we’d get
coverage where we were camped. So we
nixed that.
We got on the road around 1 pm. Nice, sunny weather for moving. Unfortunately, we had some troubles getting
back into our spot. Despite taking on
the steep learning curve (pun intended) of driving the RV, we still always
manage to be in for nasty surprises.
This time in the form of a heretofore unnoticed rock coming out of the
mountain side, which forced me to go off the course I had so carefully
plotted. But, we muddled through. I also managed to scrape the sides of the
rig pretty badly going down the driveway.
Blech.
4th: I biked with Cassie to an officially signed
junction of the Rincon Trail. Missy
had done a bit of this previously, having to turn back earlier than hoped for
due to hot weather and not enough water.
Luckily, I had partially cloudy skies with a nice breeze. I still planned ahead and brought plenty of
water for myself and Cassie. This hike
is tough! Steep grades with gravelly
surfaces made for a slippery hike But
the scenery was fantastic. On one of my
breaks, I was happy to see some deer bounding across a gulch. I even got some pictures of a buck as it
stopped partially up a facing hillside to stare at me. About 10 seconds later, I heard the sound of
pounding hooves…and 2 baby deer came booking down the trail. It seemed like they didn’t see me at
all. I kinda let out a little squeak
of surprise as they got within 20 feet of me.
Then they changed course and took off down the gulch. Just after that, Cassie came trotting down
the trail. Thanks to Cassie, for
scaring me up some wildlife!
5th-6th: Lazy days, spent enjoying reading and
relaxing in the sun. Also enjoying the
usual air show. I love those jets! Also, we had some scavenged wood campfires.
7th: Missy wanted to take a drive to check out
some of the drops on the Kern River.
There’s a cool picture of some teacup drops in our book. However, after she wasn’t certain she’d be
able to find the put-in exactly, we changed our plans. Instead, we drove up river to Brush
Creek. This is described in the book
as the quintessential California creeking run: smooth granite slides with 10-15
footers into pool drops. What made it
a good hike for us is that there is great parking access and a trail. (Apparently most of the good CA runs require
some heinous hike-ins). It was
bittersweet taking this hike. On the
one hand, it was great to see some whitewater (although low). We could just imagine how challenging and exhilarating
this run would be. On the other hand…it
made me really miss kayaking. Some days
it feels like we’ll never be paddlers again.
Sniff.
Around 4 pm, we got busted by the po-po. A sheriff deputy knocked on the rig
door. Neither dog managed to bark at
the vehicle’s approach. Nice guard
dogs. Sheesh. He wanted to advise us of the 14 day
limit. I said I was a little curious
that they’d enforce that when clearly there is no demand. He said that it was partially so people
wouldn’t dump their tanks into the creeks just so they could stay longer. Gross.
Anyway…from what we gathered…the actual authority on enforcing the limit
is the National Forest rangers. So if a
ranger comes by, we might have to leave.
Otherwise, we’ll just keep on keepin on here at Clearing Creek. Oh, the Sheriff warned us about not
leaving our genny out. He said genny
thefts are common, and said bolt cutters could make easy work of our genny
lock. Great. He also said this area is known for
hooliganism. He seemed surprised that
we hadn’t come back to camp sometime to discover someone had shot up our
camper. Odd. We haven’t seen anything toward like that at
all. Of course, this little exchange
was enough to fuel many of my anxieties.
Grrr. I liked it better before
knowing these unsavory facts.
8th-9th:
Lazy days. We tried to do some
discussion of future plans, but it’s hard to do with only an atlas and no
internet. I’ll have to do some research
on tomorrow’s trip to the internet café.
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