Traveled on May 17 from Oakhurst to Sacramento after saying goodbye to new friends, Ken and Vicky Tripp. Cornered Sierra Nat. For, through Mariposa, pop 1179, and skirted the south end of Stanislaus NF. Up-down 900’ to 3000’. At Merced, back to 140’ with purple and yellow wildflowers. Ranch homes, horses, tan hills with few trees, a ranch with white metal fence for miles are sights we see. A creek with green grass in the small valley it makes, sheep, different shades of green trees and good asphalt road. Back to the tan hills with shades of beige and champagne, tan. Pistachio trees, possible turkey raising sheds.
Then into cropland with lots of irrigation,corn, grapes, a sign for dried plums, fresh cherries $1 box. 90 degrees F on the bank marquee.
You hardly ever see a passenger train anymore. This one had 5 cars.
Oleander - (not roses as reported earlier) is prolific and planted along highways and separates the highway lanes going each direction. Beautiful!
Near Livingston, we get a shredded tire – luckily the Pressure Pro went off and the tire went quickly down as we coasted to a shady spot under an overpass. Glad it was on the right side as the heavy traffic whizzed by. Quickly got it changed and back on the road. Turlock was only 6 miles ahead and there is a Discount/American Tire there – good luck! They also found the left side front trailer tire also shredding…they were replaced in TX earlier this year…so they replaced them both for $30 – renew warranty fee. Egads. Finally back on the road at 3:15 pm. Wheat fields, corn higher than knee high. Stopped at Stockton Elks to dump our tanks as neither Oakhurst (where we had been nor Sacramento Elks where we were going had dumps available to us.) Finally I-5, alfalfa fields, grapevines, hay and straw bales waiting in the fields. 6 pm at the Elks and set up. No hookups here, and the RV was hot, so cranked up the generator….didn’t start! After Jerry’s fiddling around with it, determined the brand new fuel pump (purchased and installed while in Tucson and run only 1 hr since) had failed. Called Simonton’s where purchased and they will mail a new fuel pump to Petaluma Elks and we will return the bad one.
Cousins (Vinall side – Carolyn and Dave Thomas) who live in Sacto came and got us and took us to a wonderful neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant. We had a nice catch-up chat.
Saturday morning I woke up with bad allergies or a mild cold. Stayed in Sat. and Sun and took zicam in case it was a cold. I was some better on Sunday, so we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Tasty food although Jerry’s was really salty. We ate outside on their patio and enjoyed the refreshing breeze.
Tuesday I was better so we did a Walmart run and stocked up. Also picked up a couple of RV parts at Allied RV for minor repairs in the rig. After that we went to Carolyn and Dave’s for happy hour, met their granddaughter, Jill, a high school sophomore – a real cutie. Then they took us on a short trip through the delta area (south of Sacto where the river flows through the countryside.) Very peaceful with wineries, grapes, pear trees, the river with it’s varied boats, drawbridges. Drove to Locke, a real old Chinese town where the buildings are right next to the one-lane, one block street and the street signs are in Chinese and English. We stopped to eat at Al’s, the Wop, a bar/restaurant, but they weren’t serving on Tuesday. What a conversation piece!
On to Walnut Grove, a nearby village where Giusti’s reigns supreme in a decrepit building on the banks of the river. The front area is a bar with thousands of billed caps has hanging from the ceiling. Soon our table was ready and we experienced it’s renown food. First minestrone soup to die for. (not tomatoey, but a rich broth base.) Then French bread and caesar salad, bean salad (to die for) and thinly sliced salami. (I could have stopped there…lol). My salmon and baked potato were perfect, as was Dave’s pesto pasta, Carolyn’s calamari steak and Jerry’s prawns.
Luckily it was cooler today with the ”delta breeze” very brisk. Thank heavens since it has been near 90 every day and no electricity to run ac.
Goodbye’s and we were back by 9:30 pm. Wednesday, 5/22, back on the road for a 2 hour trip from Sacto southwest to Petaluma. Saw a sign in one small town, “undulations ahead.” New one to us! Past beige-green hillsides, straw-hay and grapevines, the Sonoma Raceway and then a glimpse of the bay as we descend from the hills.
Amusement park in Vacaville – wow – what a roller coaster. Through a small valley with a business, “Sleepy Hollow Dairy” –peaceful as it’s name!
A bridge over the Napa River.
A sign before getting to these old, shaggy trees warns “Trees Falling.” Another first sign for us!
Petaluma city limits – an elementary school with a “green, growing roof” of all colors. Wow! Found the Elks easily and got set up. Yummy leftovers for supper!
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