Earlier RV Trips
Note: These old stories are listed with the oldest stories at the bottom. Many of these stories seem disjointed and abbreviated. They survived migration from site to site over the years ’til I finally settled here at WordPress. I suspect some text, and certainly many photos, have been lost during the migrations. They do add some continuity to our RV adventures, and I enjoy looking back on these old adventures.
March 7-11, 2005
Exploring Salinas & Watsonville Coast Area With Rich & Juanita
We joined up with our Wally-Docker pals, Rich and Juanita, and headed for the Salinas area to just explore the area for a few days. We had no real schedule and camped where we found ourselves each afternoon.
One night we stayed at Campers World in San Martin.
Overnight at Walmart in Gilroy where we also visited factory stores.
Here we are camped near San Luis Reservoir on the last night.
March 17-20, 2005
To Oceanside, Ca to visit the kids with Lavonne…
At rest at Guajome Park near the kids’ home.
It’s clearly evident that cuteness runs in our genes.
December 11-12, 2004
To Oceanside Again
We hopped aboard the coach and headed to Oceanside to visit my son Dean and his family: Wife Melissa, son Connor and newest son, Aidan.
We headed south on Thursday, arriving Friday to visit through Saturday. Well before dawn on Sunday, we were streaking northbound, headed for home.
Six Gillespies in one photo? I’m doing my job well, and my son, Dean, is doing even better!
Parked Friday at Oceanside’s beautiful harbor facility.
The next night was to be the “Lighted Boat Parade”. We left early and spent the next night in a nearby I-5 Rest Area – I don’t do crowds! We drove on home the next day.
November 12-14, 2004
A little tour of the Sierra Foothills…
We joined our friends, Rich and Juanita for an autumn motorhome tour of the nearby foothills. It’s a wonderful time to see the hills in their fall colors.
Here we pose (L-R: Dale, Lavonne, Juanita and Rich) at the old, covered bridge at the historic little town of Knight’s Ferry, just a ways outside Oakdale. We also visited the foothill towns of Columbia and Murphys and camped one night at New Melones Lake.
We pulled over for a rest as we approached the Parrot’s Ferry Bridge that crosses New Melones Lake.
We camped for the night at New Melones Lake campground. The lake was very low, but the recent rains have greened up the foothills nicely.
My Annual Oregon Trip!
August 1 – 7, 2004
Camped at Klamath Falls Walmart for the night, heading to Al’s in Oregon.
I visited the Collier Logging Museum along SR97 in Oregon.
We managed to fish three lakes in three days, but the fishing was poor. We trolled in Al’s Valco boat, catching a few trout but doing rather poorly over the three days. Of course, the visit was the main attraction and we had a great time together.
Al readies the boat for launch at Lava Lake near Bend, Oregon. This was day three of the fishing trips. We also fished Walton Lake and Ochoco Reservoir near Prineville over the prior two days.
A beautiful lake we did not fish but drove by on our trip.
September 23-26, 2004
To Oceanside To Meet Baby Aidan!
We headed south to Dean & Melissa’s at Oceanside this week. A new baby was waiting for Grandpa and Grandma to meet. We spent the night at Frazier Park’s Flying J Plaza, then drove on into Oceanside on Friday. We try to time our streak through LA traffic about mid morning to avoid the worst of LA’s traffic. It worked again.
We visited Friday and Saturday and streaked back through LA just after daybreak Sunday morning. That sure beats the traffic!
Here’s the happy Grandma and Grandpa with Connor and new baby Aidan.
The coach stayed at nearby Guajome Park.
March 4-7, 2004
A Great Weekend With The Kids!
Here we are at Guajome Park in Oceanside, Ca., camped for a couple of days. This lovely park and lake is a beautiful setting; the small lake is natural and very scenic. We spent two nights here while visiting Dean, Melissa and Connor.
Grandpa prepares to catch his first ever toss from Connor.
Here Dean and I prepare to board an old, commercially operated biplane for a 20 minute flight over the ocean near Oceanside. This was an exciting flight, a few simple maneuvers like “lazy eights” over the ocean and the “slip” as we landed was a lot of fun.
Buckled in and getting briefed. The pilot sits behind the passengers in this old biplane.
Taking off – there was no turning back at this point!
Our first real long distance trip: To Arkansas!
May – June, 2004
Here we pose on Nevada’s US Highway 50, a very lonely highway, during our trip to Arkansas. This exciting RV adventure lasted 18 days.
May 25, our first night on the road: Bob Scott Summit near Austin, NV on “the loneliest road in America”, US50.
East Bay RV Park near Provo, Utah, a very nice place to “camp”.
Provo River Canyon, one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever seen.
View from Berthoud Pass from Colorado’s I-70.
An internet photo of the summit – and we saw no snow on our trip.
Open Kansas prairie land and a “Kansas skyscraper” in the distance.
Salina, Kansas Flying J where we spent the night of June 6.
Oklahoma storm – with winds about 50 MPH!
Note to self: Stay off state highways I don’t know! This is an Oklahoma State Highway, or at least I thought it was…
Rest area near Benjamin, TX. We spent the night here on June 6.
The high elevation landscape of New Mexico.
US 95 from Blythe to Needles, CA – 100 miles of pure desolation!
Dropping off the Tehachapi Mountains on SR58 into Bakersfield, CA on our way home. We were on the road from May 25 to June 12.
January 10, 2004
A Winter Visit to Hoover Dam – and More!
We were on the road for eight days, trying in vain to find some warm weather. It seems that wherever we went, cold air and winds greeted us. But finally, on the last two days, we cruised through Southern California and on home in pretty nice conditions.
The awesome view of the dam as we drove down the very crooked roadway for the visit. No TV documentary, of which I’ve watched several, can prepare one for the magnificent structure that is Hoover Dam.
We pose overlooking Hoover Dam.
Our RV buddies, Rich and Juanita, met us at Lake Havasu City, Arizona on day two of this trip. We visited Hoover Dam, Nevada Landing, the Rexhall Industries factory in Lancaster and made several overnight visits to Wal-Mart parking lots.
The visit to Lake Havasu included spending the night here. No doubt the local RV parks lobbied for this city ordinance which Walmart does not enforce, and apparently neither does the local PD. In many towns, such ordinances are passed only to give the police better leverage in kicking out those who would try to live at Walmart.
We met our friends, Rich and Juanita, at Lake Havasu City in Arizona. We spent the night (our coach far right) with them (2nd from right) at the Lake Havasu City Walmart. We should form our own RV group and call ourselves the Wal-Mart Wagoneers or The WallyDockers.
Many photos of this trip were lost during the move of this website from the closed down MSN Groups site.
Death Valley Visit With Rich and Juanita
November 17-22, 2003
My ol’ fishing buddy, Rich, and his wife Juanita, Lavonne and I boarded our motor homes for a Death Valley Tour and a visit to Las Vegas. We spent five days and six nights on the road, taking our time and avoiding any kind of schedule. Death Valley’s desolation is hard to describe even with photos but the photos were lost during site change.
An Autumn Visit to Apple Hill
October 21-22, 2003
This month’s RV trip was a two day trip to the Apple Hill area of the Sierra foothills. Near Placerville, CA, local apple growers present their wares this time of year. There must be about 30-40 growers organized for this annual event, and we visited four of them. The Apple Hill tour is an annual event for many folks.
Able’s Orchard Store, one of the larger stops on the tour. The second coach from the right is ours.
High Hill Ranch, another of the larger stops. This one even had trout fishing!
After our short tour, we drove down to the Jackson Rancheria Casino near Jackson and spent the night in their very secure lot. They have a huge construction project underway, and the walk from their parking area to the casino would be a long one. So they offer an endless stream of small buses to and from the casino and the lots. We gambled away enough money to figure the stay was paid for – but still beat the cost of an RV Park.
To Colorado via US 50!
Note: This was our first RV trip to visit our kids, Allen and wife Nancy, near Denver, CO for the first time. Unfortunately we have no photos of the visit, and very few of the trip itself. This story had been on three different sites over the years, and seems very disjointed compared to travelogues since. Perhaps some text and photos were lost during the migrations from site to site.
August 31, 2003
It’s official: Highway 50 is the loneliest road in America!
Our trip was very pleasant. For a change of scenery we took the old Highway US 50 from Sacramento to where it meets I-70 in Utah. They call it the “Loneliest road in America” and it must be. It’s also a beautiful drive for several hundred miles. From Fallon, Nevada to Utah it really is lonely, but we liked it. We’d drive for miles and miles and seldom see even a shack on the landscape. And we probably saw fewer cars on that stretch than we’ve ever seen on a highway.
We spent the first night on the road at Bob Scott Summit on US50 in Nevada – in the middle of nowhere!
We spent the second night of the trip at this beautiful rest area along I-70 in Utah.
We took I-80 home, traveling through the grasslands and emptiness of Wyoming. While I-80 is the typical interstate, it is also a long, lonely highway that we greatly enjoyed.
We made a quick stop at the Lincoln Memorial on I-80 during our first day of the trip home. This is the highest elevation along I-80 at 8,640 feet.
En-route home, we spent the first night at Great America in Wyoming. They are very RV friendly and it is a beautiful and well equipped stopover.
And it’s good to be back home! This week I’ll be fishing for those big ol’ salmon that are now heading through the Delta. I’m anxious to get my first salmon of the season and this may be the week I catch it!
July 14-19, 2003
Our First Interstate Trip
Other than a shake-down overnight trip to an Indian casino not far from home, this RV adventure was our first adventure with the new coach. We went to Oregon to visit my ol’ high school chum, Al, and his wife, Juanita.
We spent the first night at a beautiful rest area along US97 in Oregon.
We drove up Interstate 5 to Weed, Ca and took U.S. 97 to Bend, then state hiways to the small logging town of Prineville. On our return home, we took State 31 and U.S. 395 through central Oregon’s rugged Outback.
We pose at Al & Juanita’s home, with jacks down alongside their house.
This was a great first trip for us, and I’ve made many more to this destination since.
A view from the back of the coach with jacks down and awning extended.
We took Oregon’s SR31 to US395 known as Oregon’s Outback en route home. It was a beautiful drive with very little traffic. And it was hot!
A convenience store somewhere along the emptiness of US395 in Kalifornistan.
We had driven for miles and found no rest area or RV park. It was a very hot day and we ran the generator and air conditioner late into the night. Even so, we were comfortable aboard our coach.
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About FishWisher
Over the years I have posted many exciting fishing and boating stories here, but now in my seventies, it was time to sell the boat and find less demanding pastimes. All the fishing stories are still here! I will now post my travels aboard the motorhome and other activities. I hope y'all will still enjoy the fishing and boating adventures and perhaps peek in on my post-boating activities on occasion. Thanks for dropping in and I hope you enjoy your visit.
