On The Rocks !

Kim and I went down to look at the river but it got kinda slippery getting back to land....(Make sure you have your volume turned up before viewing this one).

Kings Canyon Movie

This is a movie I took with my Droid from the Kings Canyon overlook turnout that shows part of the immensity of the canyon.....waaay off in the distance to the right lies Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain the the lower 48 states.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Kim and I took our first extended trip with our new 5th wheel to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. It's located in central California east of Fresno and Visalia in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The trees are much much larger than the coastal (and more famous) redwoods located in Northern California which are taller. These are older. Those are taller. These are much older as well. Some of them are in the 2,000 to 2,500 year old range.

This is an example of how old these trees are. This one was outside the visitors center in Three Rivers (if you click on the photo, it will enlarge for you).

We took so many photos that it is difficult to put just a few here so a number more are posted here where you can view them at your leisure.

http://picasaweb.google.com/100376105788369441882/SequoiaAndKingsCanyon?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPcl_ix0fCDpgE&feat=directlink

Here are a few more .....

General Sherman tree with Kim in the foreground.

Kim right in front of Sherman tree. 36.5 feet in diameter (the tree not Kim).

President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed it the "Nation's Christmas Tree" on April 28, 1926. On March 29, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared the tree a "National Shrine", a memorial to those who died in war. It is the only living object to be so declared.

Looking up at Grant tree.

A vista point. We are headed waaaaay down there. This is a small part of Kings Canyon.

Finally...the Kings River and valley floor.

We also took some time to take other photos.

Early morning view of the Kaweah River right outside our RV.

As always, I could not resist getting in the water.

Proud Papa, youngster and Mom.

Nattie's favorite driving location.

Paul Bunyan carved out of one of the 2,000-year old fallen trees.

Well, that's it for this adventure. I hope you get to see all the other photos at the link above and remember, you can click on the photos to get larger images.

Bye for now....next trip is to Florida in December !

NOW...where do we put this thing ?? !!

Swell, we got an RV...finally. Even went on a trip with it....but now it's sitting in front of our house looking for a home. I know, let's put it next to our house in the side yard. After all, that's what that area was designed for.

Wait, there seems to be a couple of obstacles in the way....like two tall birch trees, uneven ground, a fence and a lawn. Now what? Well, I got out there with an axe, then a hatchet. That must've looked funny....like a mini-Paul Bunyan.Fortunately, my neighbor across the street came across with his chain saw and, together, we cut them down.

These are the two remaining trees. We cut down two the same size

This is the After photo...Kim and I spent the next two days chopping all of this up.

...about one quarter of the branches we took to the local dump.

One tree trunk at the top. The other at the bottom.

...the second tree trunk....trying to cut this down to ground level was not easy.

So, after cutting down the trees, chopping up all the branches what's next?.

Ah, that fence and uneven ground.

Done with the fence...about 12-feet wide.

We had 1 and 3/4 yard of gravel dumped.

Time for a beer while washing down the dusty gravel.

Ready for the RV now.

 This side yard is about 12-feet wide. Take away the PGE meter next to the house and our rain gutters it becomes about 11 feet. Our RV is 8-feet 2-inches wide....kind of a tight fit. Well, here goes....time to back it in.

We were going to sell ticket to the neighbors to watch, but most had gone to work already.

back, back ,back...no...more to the left !

Watch out for the house !

Kim was on our walkie-talkie giving me directions and we got it in the first time.....good teamwork.

boy do I look relieved

Like ET said..."Hoooooome"

It's quite a tight fit, but we can get in and out just fine to start filling up all the inside spaces.

Becuase the winter is coming on, our trips coming up will probably be down south to Death Valley, Mojave Desert...places like that.

Thanks for following...next blog will show our new gate.

First Trip !

Well, after 3 days of packing the RV with supplies, clothes, food, etc, we finally headed out at 9am Monday the 4th to Lake Solano Park for a few days. This trip is meant to be a "shake down" cruise where we find out how to use all the systems and see what's it's like to live in an RV (versus all those years in a tent).

First we had to back into our spot. I did real good backing in...got it just where the water and electricity hookups were. Wooo wooooo. BUT, when I went to put out my slides....oooops....too close to the hookups...they will not go out. Rats. Sooooo, pull forward and put it 6 feet away.

Wrong way !

That's much beter

NOOOOO....too close. Can't extend my slides.

Finally I got it right and here's our spot for the next 4 and a half days.

All backed in nicely now.

Our awning

With the slides out. One for the bedroom and one for the living room. Adds so much space inside

We took walks every morning and took photos. Kim took most of these....gorgeous river and lake views.

I also took flora and fauna for all the nature lovers !

...and this shows Mr. Retirement Man at rest.

We have a tradition of taking self portraits by holding the camera at arms length in front of someplace we want to remember. We have dozens in our collection..

awwww...how cute.

I trust you all are enjoying our blog....thanks for following. 

Loading up "the coach"

We've spent the last 4 days trying to get our RV filled up with the necessities for our upcoming shake-down cruise and man, there is a LOT of stuff that needs to go in there...and we can't just take it out of the house and leave it in the RV. Like tools, for instance. I'm looking into getting a nice, neat tool kit at the local hardware store just for the RV. Otherwise, every time I need my hammer, it's, "is it in the coach? or in the garage"?

I've included three photos. One of our living room, our bedroom and the hallway looking from the bedroom towards the rear of the coach into the living room. We have two slides, one large one in the living room that really expands that living space and one small one for the bed to slide out a foot or so. 

Living Room. (Notice the beer bottle to the right.)

Hallway. Sink to the left. Bathroom/Shower to the right. (That's Nattie, one of our cats, scoping it out.)

Bedroom. We have "pillow windows". Allows for a nice breeze in the evening.

Today is Sunday and we're really hustling to get it all packed up because tomorrow we're heading up to Lake Solano for 3-4 days to try out all the systems before taking it out for an extended trip up towards the Redwoods on Highway 101.

Nice to hear all the comments from you that have responded. Thank you. Keep 'em coming!

Brand New Truck and RV !

What a week !

We started on last Saturday at a local RV show about 70 miles away to "look only" at some Arctic Fox 5th Wheels. After looking at EVERY ONE, we decided to buy the Silver Fox Edition you see in the photos. It's a 2006 29-footer that has hardly been used.

But....we don't have a truck to pull it with! Quick...look online to find a truck...oh wait, it can't be just any truck, it has to be an F250 extended cab, long bed and, white (Kim's favorite car color - it's safe). They cost around $56,000 new and that's waaaaay too much money for us to spend.

I found one in Brentwood, about 60 miles away. I called and arranged to go see it. Monday off we headed out the door early and drove down to see if this one could be The One. Turns out the salesman and I went to Alameda High School together, about 4 years apart so we spent a bunch of time talking about mutual friends.

The truck was a 2008 with only 12,000 miles on it and a great price so we went into his office and, an hour or so later, walked out the the paperwork for our new addition. I drove it home and Kim followed behind me....wow...it's huge...and looooong.

We drove down 70 miles yesterday to have the tow package put in the truck and to get a "walk around" indoctrination of our new RV. We were at the dealership from 9am until 3pm. Driving home in all that traffic was pretty interesting. We got 19.8 mpg going down (empty) and 10.8 coming home (towing)...not bad.

A number of our neighbors came over that evening to see what is this beast in front of our house so we gave them the outside and inside tour. I think we'll have an RV Party this weekend so we can celebrate. We've been looking at an RV for over 6 years at least. We've gone from a 14' tent trailer for $8,000 all the way up to a 40' motor home for $350,000 and back down again. This is the one we've decided was right for us.

So...loan papers, new registrations, more paperwork, RV clubs to join, towing package to be put in....pant, pant, pant...time for a cold one!