December 11, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Honoring a Commitment

It has rained on and off for 9 straight days as of this posting. If I would have done more research, I would have realized that this is the norm in this area for this time of year, and actually we were extremely lucky to have such beautiful weather the first two weeks we are here. I also realize we could have it much, much worse. Our friends Jo and Ben are in Reno and they just got 8 inches of snow, Deb and Steve are with family and they are dealing with cold and snow, so definitely I will take the rain over those conditions any day. Kelly and Bill are working mandatory overtime at Amazon, five 10-hour days of labor intensive work. The rain is better than that, although they are doing well and in the home stretch. I tell myself these things to try to put the weather in perspective, but the rain is not great. It can start to be a bit like Chinese water torture with the constant drip-drip-drip. Sleeping at night has been tough for me, since the rain on the bedroom slide-out has been particularly loud and I have always been a light sleeper. Even when the rain stops, it’s still dripping under the trees, and although I got about 15 minutes of sun when I drove to Fortuna one day, other than that it has been constant gloom. And to be clear, part of me is like “boo-hoo, suck it up cupcake”, but the other part of me that envisioned an unrealistic life of constant travel and near perfect weather is a bit disgruntled. Part of the major appeal of this lifestyle is the ability to pick up and move on if things aren’t working out. That might be the number 1 reason Lee loves it so much. But the reality is although you can always leave theoretically, numerous factors can get in the way of that.

If we had not made this volunteer commitment we would absolutely be gone. Down to Monterrey, our next stop, a little early, and in the sunshine. With the rain the campground traffic has slowed to a crawl and if we asked I am sure they would release us early, but again, we made a commitment. In our old lives this would be a no-brainer. You are living in an area with people who know you and your reputation follows you. Now we are moving around and it is extremely unlikely we will ever see these people again. I like the Redwoods, and so glad we had the first two weeks, but I don’t think I would take another work kamping job here. Too dark for me, and not enough sky for Lee. Plus it is a volunteer position and doesn’t volunteer by its definition include choice?

There seems to be a spectrum for how people feel about leaving a work-kamping job. At one end of the spectrum are people who have given their word and will honor it no matter what. On the other end are people who feel that this whole lifestyle is about freedom and they always have a choice regardless of the circumstances. Most people’s comfort zone seems to fall somewhere in between and their attitude on the subject doesn’t always line up with how they behaved in their prior life. I know people who were 100% dedicated to their professions and wouldn’t have dreamed of not honoring a commitment who now feel completely different. I’ve talked to others who would stay and endure conditions that I certainly wouldn’t in order to do what they said they were going to do. Most people though seem to fall somewhere in the middle and the decision is very situational. Most people for example feel that if a work kamping job is not as advertised or the employer is not keeping their promise it is totally fine to move on. I feel that way and frankly for me that’s an easy one. When my employers in the past broke their agreements, I was being handsomely compensated and had a family depending on me, so I often accepted it. For work kamping the compensation is generally low and I no longer have children to support or a mortgage to pay. So under those circumstances I draw that line at being lied to or taken advantage of in any way. That’s my line, and like I said, a pretty easy one to establish for myself.

But where it gets tricky, at least for me, is when things aren’t so pleasant but it’s not on purpose. The weather is not good, the people are not nice, the workload is more than expected, and/or we run out of fun things to do in the area. In those circumstances the itchy feet start to kick in and the desire to move on is strong. In those circumstances, you get to decide whether to stay or go. There may be budget/campground availability considerations for early departure, but aside from that the only thing keeping you in place is whether or not to honor the commitment. By the way, most people don’t flat out say “I am leaving because I don’t like it here” to their employer. “Family emergencies” arise that give people an easy way out without a confrontation. But the reality of the choice they made still exists no matter what they tell the boss. And honestly I don’t know if this is something you could decide in advance without being in that position. You may think you are a person who would always stay or a person who would always leave, but who knows? All this freedom and choice can be heady stuff for those of us who had precious little of it in our previous lives. If you never had it you don’t know how you will react when you do.

For us thus far we have fallen back on “we can tolerate anything for short periods of time.” And this has largely been true when the length of our stays have all been under 10 weeks. What will that look like when the commitment is longer? I don’t know, and for that reason we have been trying to stay away from season-long commitments as much as possible. But looking ahead, in order to make enough money to afford this, that will likely be required. I know I want to be a person who always honors her commitments, but I also want to be a person who feels free and has choice. Those two statements right now feel like they are in direct contradiction with each other and it’s troubling. Still, for right now it’s only 7 more days and even if it rains every one of those (which I don’t think it will) I can handle it and that’s the immediate. The future will need to take care of itself for awhile.

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December 10, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Thoughts on our Park System and its Rangers

Since it’s been raining almost continuously for the last several days (apparently we are setting some kind of a record), I thought I would take a few minutes and talk about our park system. Although Full Timers come in all political varieties, one thing I think most of us agree on is the importance of our National Parks system. The parks contain the beautiful places we want to go, but they also provide work kamping opportunities and in general really nice places to stay. Initially as a person who hadn’t camped, I found the system pretty confusing. But since I am a curious person by nature over time I think I have cobbled together some understanding of how it all works and I wanted to try to explain that here. At the top of the park system food chain are the large National Parks like Yellowstone and Glacier. These parks are well funded and well maintained, often charging up to $30 a week for access. Since these are all definitely places to visit eventually, we recommend an America the Beautiful pass ($80 a year or a lifetime membership for $10 after you turn 62) as a way of mitigating those costs. Most people know about those places but many might be shocked by the cost, I know we were. Along with the well-known parks, however, there are numerous lesser known national parks. These vary in cost from the $30 above down to free, and include everything from wildlife areas to historical monuments. Kitty Hawk for example is a National Monument and cost $4 for entry. Although these parks do vary based on location and funding, in general, they are well maintained and range in size from the very very large to the very very small. Outside of many of those federal parks are state parks. In general, the federal parks seem to have the “A” locations and the state parks have the “B” locations close by. There are also many amazing state parks that are nowhere near a federal park. Many state parks have a park pass of some kind and those vary wildly from state to state. Unless you plan on spending a lot of time in a state with such a pass, its really not worth the money to buy them generally. They are designed for the state residents who frequently go to the parks. The state parks vary wildly on quality based on funding. Some have “day use” fees, a charge to use the park for the day particularly common when there is a lake, others are totally free. Next there are county/city parks and although these are less common some really nice ones exist across the country. They are a little harder to find, mostly just used by locals, and on occasion have “day use” or vehicle entrance fees. The public land that is not managed by one of the aforementioned groups generally falls under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. BLM manages millions of acres across the country and has the most opportunities for free or nearly free camping. I knew next to nothing about BLM when we started full-timing, but our work kamping job in Susanville was for BLM and we got somewhat educated on how the process works.

What I have found interesting about northern California is Federal, State, County, and BLM parks all exist very close to one another. It is very easy to cross the imaginary line between one park into another here and unlike other areas they all seem to hold some prime real estate. Thus these different agencies need to work in close proximity with one another, sometimes even sharing office space, and although their goals are the same (protection of the land and its resources) their methods and chain of command are somewhat different. As with any other inter-agency interaction there is some conflict, made worse by extremely limited government funding. I approve of these agencies working together, and I definitely approve of elimination of unnecessary funds, but after seeing the vast scope of the ranger’s responsibilities I am a little concerned about the long-term viability of our park systems. Here in this portion of the Redwood Forest they have just four rangers covering 52,000 acres 24×7. That’s 81 square miles. To put that in perspective, Toledo, Baltimore and Kansas City are all 80 square miles. Initially, I thought “How hard can it be?” The land largely takes care of itself and the campgrounds and visitors centers bring in some money. Perhaps that was true when we were children, but the world has changed and the job is much more complicated. The two major threats this park system faces are drug cartels and poachers. Apparently the Redwood climate is perfect for growing marijuana and the Mexican drug cartels have created large farms inside of the more remote portions of the forest. When I discovered this I was incredibly offended. This is public land and my tax dollars are paying for this and the thought of drug cartels using this land for such a purpose just makes me angry. Not only do these cartels cut down trees and steal precious water resources for their crops, but they also engage in turf wars that occasionally end up with dead bodies. When I inquired about whether the DEA gets involved, I was told only if it is a huge farm, but the smaller growers are handled solely by the rangers. All four of them. They use some pretty creative techniques to discover these grower locations, which I won’t get into, but are very philosophical about the fact that they can only do what is possible with the resources they have. As a matter of fact, they are very philosophical about the job in general. They take the world as it is and do what they can, always with a real dedication to protecting the natural resources.

The second issue here is poaching of the Redwood trees which makes me even angrier than the drug cartels. These full grown trees are worth between 2-3 million dollars each on the underground market! So despite the logistical challenge of cutting down a tree and getting it out of the forest, attempts are frequently made. Sometimes they leave the tree and just cut off the burls, which have a high “street value” as well and are used to make clocks and other decorative wood items. The local population is extremely helpful when it comes to reporting suspicious behavior and the rangers themselves are well-trained and dedicated to protecting the trees. All that being said, with so few of them it does happen and the thought of a 1,000 year old tree being taken really sickens me. Yes they are just trees but they are many many hundreds of years old. They have survived fires, loggers, and floods to exist today and they deserve to be protected for future generations. Along with these park-specific issues, the rangers have the standard duties of coordinating volunteers and park aids, overseeing the campgrounds, law enforcement in the park area, overseeing maintenance of the facility, and of course, educating the public. We have all seen park rangers and thought, what a great gig. I know I certainly thought that. But we see only about 10% of what they do, and some parts of the job are not so great. Not that one person I have talked to has complained. They are proud of what they do, despite the long hours and what I am sure is relatively low pay, it was clear to me it was just not so much a job to them but a calling. I don’t want to over romanticize the rangers, but the ones I have met have been pretty impressive.

So, I went back and forth on whether or not to write this post. In general, I try not to get political, because that is not what this blog is about. But since these parks are such an important piece of what we do as full timers, I felt it was important enough to write about. We are all concerned about our taxes, and everyone wants to get the most value for the money we pay. For me, the value of these parks is incalculable. That doesn’t mean they should get a blank check by any means, but the next time you hear about funding for our parks system, please keep in mind all the things that they do. I know I will.

Oh and I forgot to mention they also get involved in community events. Here at the Visitors Center they have annual tree lighting ceremony and Santa stops by. This year Santa came in a Ranger truck that was really cool. I got to talk to the volunteer who helped with that this year and he was an incredibly nice man named Scott. He is a retired police officer, brand new full-timer (May 2015), and despite not having raised any children was the perfect man for the job. He was a little nervous before he started, but was a natural. The local choral group also came and sang and the ranger’s and volunteers made cookie and punch for everyone. It was a really sweet small town event, and since the nearest mall is 1-1/2 hours away, possibly the only chance some of these kids will have to get a picture taken with Santa and it was nice to see the park system give a little back to the local community.

All the stuffed animals were decorated

They really cracked me up

My absolutely favorite was this weasel

June (back right) is 95 years old and still volunteers frequently. She's awesome!!

June (behind desk) is 95 years old and still volunteers frequently. She’s awesome!!

The rangers were singing along with the choir

Santa came in on the back of a rangers truck

And he lit up the Christmas Tree

The kids all had a really great time

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You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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December 6, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Exploring the Redwood Coast

Friday, Lee went back to Abalone Point in Shelter Cove and Needle Rock to get some drone footage. I stayed back and did some work, which was not the best decision since it turned out to be the nicest day and he saw a herd of over thirty Roosevelt elk, including some bulls with huge antlers, at Needle Rock! He did get some absolutely amazing footage though in both places, and has edited and uploaded the videos if you want to take a look.

Saturday I had planned a full day of exploring based on the weather forecast which showed that although it would be windy it was the only clear day forecasted all week. Well. they got part of the forecast right, it was windy, but unfortunately we barely saw any sun at all. Still it was good to get out under the sky and we did see some beautiful places, but I sure wish I had also gone out the day before. I am feeling a bit sun deprived. My route took us along the Redwood coast north of Eureka. We did make a couple of stops along the way at Burl Country (still looking for that perfect piece of wood to make a tabletop) and McDonald’s for my favorite breakfast sandwich (bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with no cheese). Although Burl Country is a little run down, they had tons of wood slabs there and the owner was very interested in helping us find what we needed. We went back into the wood shop and dug through piles of wood slabs (we are looking for a piece that is roughly 22.5″ long and 10.5 “wide to fit on our small end table next to the couch), which for some reason is an incredibly hard size to find. We could get a larger piece and pay to have it cut down, but that would increase the cost and I would lose the natural edge that I am so fond of. We have spent a lot of time looking for this piece of wood and I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to force it. If we find it, we find it, but I will say I really appreciated how nice and friendly they were at Burl Country and would recommend a stop (even though it’s a little chaotic in there) because they took the time to educate us on the process.

Burl Country Woodworking shop

Our next stop was the farmer’s market in Arcata. I love local farmer’s markets, but in winter the only one open was in Arcata. I didn’t expect much, but was pleasantly surprised. Not only was everything made locally (you could tell by the assortment of available items) , but it was also located in a really cute town square surrounded by a thriving downtown. I spent $9 on a beautiful head of broccoli, a huge leek, and some spinach, and I really liked the town. It’s sort of “upscale hippie” and I mean that in the best possible way. It had some very cool unique shops, but was very clean and we didn’t see many of the omnipresent wanderers we have seen in other towns. Again, to be clear, I have nothing but respect for anyone who is hiking a portion of the coast, but not so crazy about the amount of panhandlers and hitch hikers we have seen. Many serious hikers and bikers have stopped in our campground for a $5 a night tent site and they are a really great bunch of people. The itinerant wanderers/beggars, not so much. Anyway, it was a nice little town and I particularly liked Jacoby’s Storehouse which has some shops on the bottom floor, a restaurant in the middle, and law offices on the top. Great use of an historic building and reminded me of the Colony Mill Mall back in Keene.

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Arcata town square

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Inside the door at Jacoby Storehouse

Big beautiful two story tree inside

The tree was so big these santas and ornaments were all large size

Stopped at a great little Italian shop while there

Stopped at a great little Italian shop called Pasta Luego where they sell their own homemade sauce and noodles.

After Arcata, we traveled a little bit up the coast and stopped at Luffenholz Beach County Park. When we go to a new area, I initially research using a “Top Things to do in my area” search, but as we start visiting places I pick up free magazines and pamphlets about the area. I was looking in the Top 100 things to do in Humboldt Country magazine and found this beach as number 86. It states it is a “secret spot” with stunning views of Trinidad Bay. I thought it was worth a shot and this should definitely be a higher number on their Top 100 list. Or maybe not, since then everyone would know about it!! It is located on the scenic drive (put Luffenholz Beach in your GPS) between Trinidad and Westhaven Moonstone and there are a couple of small pull off areas where you can park. We stopped at the first one which had a sign stating Houda Point + Camel Rock. There was a picnic table and stone bench with amazing views. From the bench there is a very short easy walk to this spectacular view.

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Camel Rock is the two rocks in the back and they are a protected monument because they used to be part of the California coastline and provide a unique ecosystem. If you are physically able though I highly recommend taking the steps down. The path splits three ways. to the left it goes down on some rocks close to the ocean, the center takes you up on a hill where there is another stone bench, and the right takes you down to the beach where you can walk around at low tide. Although the stairs are steep, the views were amazing and we walked every single inch.

View to the right

View to the left

Lee standing on rocks on left side

Center left view

Center right view

Stairs

Little stone bench at top of center path

Stairs to the rocks on the beach

At the bottom

Beautiful skies wasn’t even noon yet

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It’s so beautiful you have to be careful not to stay too long and have the tide cut off your exit

Loved taking pictures of the birds

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Surefer in full wet gear heading down the path

Surfer in full wet gear heading down the path

Surfer heading into the eaves

He had to fight these waves to get far enough out

Catching his wave

Really fun watching him

The best part was there was only one other person there, and I walked along the beach for quite some time taking pictures of birds and the waves. That perspective at the base of the rocks was really cool, and made for some great waves. I was very surprised though as i was heading up when a surfer came down in a hurry. I stopped and watched him battle the waves around the rocks for while thinking “I am no surfer but this seems like a bad idea.” Finally though he caught a wave, and certainly seemed like he knew what he was doing. I re-looked at the sign on the way up and it seems like a popular surfing spot. While I was taking pictures (which unfortunately do not capture how awesome the place was because of lack of sun), Lee took some drone footage. His footage does a better job of showing how great this place was. I love when you find a little hidden gem like this and if you are in the area I would definitely recommend a visit.

After Luffenholz Beach we drove up the coast a little to the town of Trinidad. It’s a nice little coastal town with a terrific beach where we stopped for another few minutes.

Very cool drift wood chair at Trinidad beach

Trinidad beach

Trinidad neighborhood overlooking the ocean

Very cool marina and docks

Next it was Patrick Point State Park, which is a very large state park near Trinidad. Normally there is an $8 day use fee, but we got in free because we were volunteering at Burlington. It is a large park with numerous campsites, Agate Beach (where you can hunt for agates at low tide), hiking paths, Patrick’s Point, a recreated Indian village, and Wedding Rock. I think it would be worth the $8 since there is so much to do, but of course was glad for the extra perk from our volunteering job. First we went to Wedding Rock and Patrick’s Point. Patrick’s Point is a short, beautiful walk through a lovely path that shows great views of the ocean. Wedding Rock has a steeper path which takes you onto the rock itself and again great views. I recommend both if you are physically able and bring your longest camera lens because some cool birds hang out on the rocks outside of Wedding Rock.

Lee thought this rock looked like a skull

Path to Patrick’s Point

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View from Patrick’s Point

View of Wedding Rock from Patrick’s Point, taken in one of our few sunny moments of the day

View on the Path to Wedding Rock

Winding Wedding Rock Path

Top of Wedding Rock

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Coastline view from Wedding Rock

I loved this rock with tons of Pelicans. Wish I would have had a longer lense.

Pretty sure this was my first Black Oystercatcheer

I think this was a Western Grebe

By the way, I do struggle with bird identifying, so if anyone has a talent for it, please feel free to take a look at my birds page and tell me if I have gotten anything wrong. After Wedding rock we drove down to Agate Beach campground and looked at the beach from the top of a cliff. It is a VERY steep climb up and down to the beach and since it was getting colder and windier, I just didn’t have it in me. Definitely want to come back on a nicer day though and see if we can find any agate’s.

Agate Beach

I wanted a spot out of the wind to eat, so we decided to check out the re-constructed Yurok plank-house village. This area was created by Yurok tribes members out of Redwood materials with traditional methods. Lee and I liked it, in particular the hand made canoe and the plank houses which have a pit dug inside as the living area.

Handcarved Canoe

Piece of wood prior to being made into a canoe

Plank House

this is the doorway

Lee climbing out to give you perspective…tough to get into

Stairs down to the living area

Fire in middle with smoke hole in ceiling above

The logs were secured with this vine

Sweat lodge

We had a nice lunch after seeing the village and then because I was pretty cold decided to head back towards the campground. I think Lee could have kept going, but we packed quite a bit into the morning and I was pretty pooped out. We did make one more stop on the way back though at the Loleta Cheese Factory. This little production facility/store is right in the middle of farm country (not that far off 101) and they had lots of great cheese which was reasonably priced. I was even more exited when I saw the trim bin. These are pieces of cheese cut irregularly off the end of a roll, so are available at a reduced price. I picked up quite a few packages for only $21 and since they are all end dated through May, I definitely know we will use them up in time. You know me, love a great bargain and I had never seen this before. So now we have plenty of cheese for Quartzite Happy Hours and I learned something new to be on the lookout for. We finally made it back to the campground around 3:00pm and I was so tired I laid down and took a nap. Definitely would like to go back to Agate Beach when the weather is nicer and then there are more places up the coast to explore. We have 10 more days before moving onto Monterrey and hopefully the weather will cooperate enough to give us a couple more nice sunny days to explore!

The Trim Bin

And finally, here’s one more drone video that Lee took of some parts of the Eel River near where we are work kamping.

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December 4, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

November 2015 Budget

We did pretty good this month, well under budget with $3,071.22 in expenses. We did go over in a few categories, which I will discuss below, but work kamping in a beautiful place definitely seems to keep the budget costs down.

November 2015 Budget

Campground Fees – Paid for one night in Napa on the way to the Redwoods (hence the crazy price) but it’s all we have spent in two months so trying not to let it bug me too much.

Groceries – Spent $280 in dry goods at a Walmart before entering the Redwood area. Those items will last into December and theoretically we would be under in December, but it’s unlikely with our daughter staying with us a week in Monterrey and the need to stock up again before heading to Quartszite. The local purchases of fresh vegetables etc were pricey, but when Lee told me this week that he has lost 15 pounds this year I didn’t mind the overage so much. Yes, some of that weight loss is increased exercise, but it is also fresh, healthy meals and reasonable portions. That is a good enough reason to go over budget in my book.

Fuel – We were over in local travel and under in relocation so it was a bit of a wash. We have taken several day trips in the last two weeks and although we are getting great gas mileage at 16 miles a gallon, the fuel is more expensive here, and it does add up. We will see how this turns out this year overall and more importantly what happens next year when we have a full year with only one vehicle.

Entertainment – We spent less than $50 in entertainment which was great because the last two weeks have been packed with activities. Almost everything we have done was free though, and we have been really good about not spending money on mementos. I did buy one t shirt and a magnet, but other than that we have done well in this category.

Cell Phones – We went over in data last month which was charged to this month. A big part of that was related to Lee’s videographer job and although we can deduct part of the cost from our taxes, I am not going to break out the additional charges here. Since going on the road we have only gone over on data twice, and we both agree twice is too much, so we continue to monitor closely (Lee keeps a daily data usage log).

Home Improvement – Rainy days led to some home improvement projects and even though those costs individually are small they do add up. I can’t complain though because Lee added 3 new outlets, hid all the wires from the WeBoost in walls and cabinets, fixed the bathroom door, and fixed a squeaking noise we had inside the truck. Also we spent $60 in Tiki fluid which we are using to help light our camphost sign and combat the gloom here a bit so I am not going to feel bad about that either. All of those little things have improved our quality of life , but this category continues to be a challenge.

Gifts – We spent nothing although this month we had birthdays for my mom, sister, Cori, and Kelly. It really sucks not having the budget to buy presents, and I came really close to buying Kelly a “survive Amazon hell week” care package. But as Lee reminded me things are different now. Maybe I should have that same conversation with him about the home improvement budget. Well, it is what it is. Presents for kids and a mothers and fathers day present for my parents…that’s it. Maybe I should go back to making stuff. We did that when the kids were small and we didn’t have a lot of money, and those presents were great.

Propane – You may be wondering why no propane expenses. We received a $100 check for propane from Susanville and just received a free propane fillup at our site in the Redwoods. Both nice little perks for the volunteer positions and have actually helped recoup some of the propane overages from when we were in Glacier. Because we have three electric heaters, we rarely use propane to heat while on full hookups and try to spread our showers and dishwashing out so we can work off the electric heater. Every little bit helps and propane can be VERY expensive in remote areas plus it’s a hassle to remove the tanks and take them to get filled unless its on a travel day.

Postage – I had a lot of mail because of my separation from my company that had to be sent quickly to me this month, so it was a one month aberration hopefully. I do want to take a serious look at this category though and see if there is something we can do to reduce costs for next year.

Overall I shouldn’t complain, we did really well, but (at least for us) it’s all about constant vigilance and continuous improvement. Actually, doing this monthly accounting and completing this post helps keep me honest, so I am going to continue doing it into next year. Look for the December numbers and then an annual summary for Year 1 sometime in January.

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December 3, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Shelter Cove

After experiencing the north part of the Lost Coast, we were very excited to see the southern part. The weather unfortunately was not cooperating with a rainy forecast for all week, except Tuesday which was cloudy with a chance of rain. Since this was our best shot at decent weather we got up early and headed to the coast. This time we followed the easier route on our map, but at some point we made a wrong turn and ended up on another crazy, twisty road. Lee was getting a little tense, because there was no cell coverage and the GPS wasn’t working right, but I said we aren’t lost so much as misplaced so let’s see where it goes. The road was poorly maintained and through extremely dense forest, but suddenly we ran across an old gas station. Weird right? On top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere was this.

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So of course I had to get out and take a picture and it looked so real I completely took it at face value. Then Lee got out and walked behind and this is what he saw.

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It was a dressed up set piece in the middle of nowhere. I immediately started wondering if they had shot a movie there (the road would have been perfect for a bootlegger movie) and left the set behind. Then less than 100 yards away we saw a sign for Marshall farm. Now my brain was really cooking. Penny Marshall, Gary Marshall? Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea because it isn’t in Roadside America and I couldn’t find anything on the web. I will say the Marshall farm is a huge piece of land with some amazing views, but we never saw a big house or anything. Well it’s a mystery unsolved, and we had fun with the rest of the drive which opened up and we got some amazing views.

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The twisty, turny, VERY bumpy road

Finally the road let out on a place near my map and we were back on course for Shelter Cove. The Shelter Cove Road is not RV friendly. Tons of switchbacks and it’s on the rough side, so I don’t recommend it unless you have a second vehicle. There is a turn off that says for RV’s and trucks but we didn’t take that route so I can’t really attest to how it is. There is only one place to get gas or groceries in Shelter Cove and we stopped to pick up some bread for sandwiches. Unfortunately all they had was fancy artisan bread (northern California is a bit health food crazy), but I did enjoy the cat on the counter when we walked in.

Lee was horrified gas was $3.09 a gallon. Luckily we tanked up before the journey

Kelly thought you would enjoy this, made me think of you

After stopping we continued to travel down the VERY steep road and finally made it to Black Sands Beach. Black Sands beach was really pretty, looked like something from Hawaii, but unfortunately we couldn’t figure out how to walk down from the parking area. So we took a couple of pictures and moved on to the next place on our route.

Black Sands Beach

Our next stop was Abalone Point. There are 4 nature conservation areas along a loop in Shelter Cove but they are not that easy to find. The parking in all of them was very limited, so I would definitely recommend visiting during the week if you are able. On an overcast Tuesday, we had most of the spots to ourselves which was nice, but it was tricky getting the truck in and out of a few of the spot. Abalone Point had a couple of picnic tables and a dog area. The view of the rocks were great with wild surf, tons of birds and even a little sea cave. It was windy though, so bundle up and they have built houses up all around it, which was a first for us in this area.

Abalone Point

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Sea Cave

Next was Seal Rock and we were thrilled to see Harbor Seals on the rocks. They had positioned themselves to stay out of the water on both sides and seemed to be enjoying the limited sun. Lee got really good at spotting them in the water, and we got to see one slide into the ocean (using the waves to its advantage) and then climb back up which was a first for me. We stayed there for quite some time watching them and got some great shots, many of which were Lee’s.

The whole group on the rocks which protect them from killer whales and white sharks

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They really blend in while in the water

This was my favorite shot…Lee took it

Seal going in the water

Starting to climb back up

Rested here waiting for a big wave to help push. See how the flippers are spread out

The last bit was done with just the flippers and some wiggling. The look on his face is like ..”Dude, I’m climbing here.”

Finally, we move on the Mal Coombs Park, the last stop on the loop. Mal Coombs has a lighthouse and a really cool man-sized statue along with great views. Across from it is the marina and the only RV Park in town (so their must be a way for RV’s to get down here) and another grocery store. It was still very windy and cold and I was not looking forward to eating my cold sandwich in the truck, when I saw they had a glassed in room with picnic tables for their customers at the RV Park store. We went in and they had a full kitchen and were doing quite a little business. On the spot I asked Lee if he was ok with eating their and so for $20 we got fish and chips (The Atlantic Cod was excellent) and Clam chowder in a bread bowl which we shared. We had our own drinks and the little room was empty while we ate in it, which was nice. I will mention here that we are trying to take lunches on these day trips, but sometimes the circumstances don’t give us a great place to eat them. Since lunch is always cheaper than dinners, I don’t mind buying lunch out as much and we usually find something local and inexpensive. But I do wish we had this lunch thing more under control. WE are working on it, keep tweaking, but neither one of us is crazy about a cold lunch to begin with and a cold lunch in yucky circumstances…not so great. After we ate our lunch we drove down to the boat launch near the marina and it was really beautiful down there. We were out of the wind and got to watch a cute dog named Callie run and fetch a ball out of the ocean. She was beautiful and having a good time.

Mal Coombs Lighthouse

Beautiful view, and I do mean Lee’s butt 🙂

At the boat launch

Callie having a great time

It was still pretty early when we finished the loop, so we decided to give Needle Rock a try. It is in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and one of the rangers at our station had mentioned that a herd of elk hung out around the ranger station. So with some directions from the RV Park camp hosts we headed out. I cannot even describe how challenging this road is. It is dirt in a lot of places and very bumpy plus too narrow for more than one car in all the spots. The right side is a sheer drop down into some very tall trees and I wouldn’t even look that way when we were driving. I tried to take a couple of pictures and Lee even mounted a Go Pro camera on the truck but nothing really captures it. All I can say is be prepared and the drive is so so worth it when you get to the end.

The road, it’s worse than it looks.

When the road opens up this is what you see.

They have several “hike in” campsites along the water

Cool tent that fit on a car

And bonus, as we were driving in Lee saw an elk. When we stopped and got out there was a whole family of them, moms and babies, and they let us get pretty close. What I read later was after mating season the harem kicks the male out so the females and the babies can focus on bulking up for the winter. The males hang out in small groups by themselves. and we didn’t see any of them, but the ones we saw were really amazing. These are my first elks in the wild and they were really beautiful animals.

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So we finally made it to the camp host cabin/visitors center and introduced ourselves to John and Susie the camp hosts. He is a retired Forest Ranger and they stay here some months for a vacation from their sticks and bricks. No cell, TV, or internet but the front yard view is amazing. Really nice people and the little cabin in the back half of the visitors center was nice. The only communication they have is a CB radio and they have gotten trapped back there when there are mudslides and had to dig themselves out, but they seem to love it and I can totally see why.

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The camp hosts front yard, not to shabby

After talking to them we walked down to the big tree and took a few pictures. It was huge.

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And finally we made it to the cliff. I was impressed by what we saw on the north side of Kings Range, I enjoyed black sands beach, but the area near Needle Rock may be the most beautiful coastline I have ever seen and that includes a helicopter ride in Kauai. Seriously so beautiful that if we had brought a tent would have pitched it and spent the night. And I am really not a tent kind of girl. Plus there was much less wind and the sun was completely shining. So, I sat on the ground and watched the ocean for a really long time.

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This rock has tons of pelicans on it

So here’s my advice. If you do nothing else, make the drive to Needle Rock. Yes the road is rough, but nothing a couple of Advil the next morning won’t cure, and even if it isn’t the prettiest coastline you have ever seen, I will bet it’s right up there with your favorites. Plus elk!!

Here’s a video of the road shot with out Go Pro when we left. The drive out took about 16 minutes, but the video is sped up 600% so it takes about two minutes. Because of the Go Pro’s super wide-angle, even the video doesn’t really show how narrow the road is, and how tight the turns are, and how the ground just drops to nothing at the edge, but sped up it sort of gives you an idea of how scary it is.

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December 2, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Downside to Our “Hub and Spoke” Approach

We travel using what I call the “hub and spoke” approach. We go to a central point in an area and stay there and explore from that location. This is different from how many people travel, moving every few days or every week, and there are pros and cons. Since we are in a fifth wheel and like to deploy our outside stuff (chairs, rug, etc) staying put in one place makes that extra effort worth it. We feel more “at home” and we minimize travel days, which are still not my favorite. There are many advantages to this method of traveling, which I have talked about quite a bit, but there are also some downsides which I should probably explore. When we come to a new area there is a feeling of excitement and adventure. So many places to see and the newness of it all is a lot of fun. When we stay in a place for awhile though, no matter how great, eventually the bloom starts to come off the rose. The little things start bugging us. Traffic, lack of services, bugs, the general unfriendliness of people, and of course the weather. Weather is so much more a factor for us now than it was in a sticks and bricks. I barely registered the weather when living in New England because I largely went from my house, to car, to work, to car, to home. Sure I would smile on particularly nice days, or be concerned with huge snowstorms, but I hardly spent any time in the outside at all so it didn’t matter so much. Now we are outside all the time and most of the things we want to see are somewhat weather dependent. My favorite part of seeing the sites is taking pictures and this is no fun to do in rainy conditions. If it’s too cold we can bundle up, but I have personal limits on that sort of thing, especially when it’s really windy.

When we come to an area I make a list of things I want to do. I try to combine bad weather activities with outside ones, but frankly the bad weather activities are far less interesting and they generally cost money. The very best things to do are almost always outside and free and consequently the bad weather items on my list are usually much shorter. Again, this is very different than living in a sticks and bricks. We had all the creature comforts in our house, and if we wanted to wander out in bad weather we had our favorites restaurants, movie theaters, shops, etc. That’s not the case now, and that’s fine, because this life isn’t about all that, but you can’t do the cool outdoor things every day. Well, to be fair, you can, but I am simply not that hardy. When we come to an area the bad weather days happen, but the need to get “settled”, catch up on errands, or other chores make it OK. I actually appreciate some of those days. But once all those things are done and we’ve been in a place for awhile, the bad weather days are not so great. We start to get on each other’s nerves. We get a little snippy and the inside space, which normally is just the right size, starts to feel a little small. We have been doing this long enough now to recognize we need to give each other some space under these conditions, but where? Outside is somewhat off limits and inside feels confining. Either one of us could jump in the truck and run some errands, but that almost always involves spending money. So it’s a big challenge, and one we are still trying to work through, and I wanted to mention it, because it rarely happens when we are new to an area. Probably because just getting acclimated is an activity in and of itself and that can be done regardless of the weather.

So I recognize the pattern, but let me talk specifically about this “hub” of the Redwoods. We have been here a couple of weeks and had great weather (comparatively) most of the time we have been here. The average rainfall in November here is 11 inches and we have gotten nowhere near that, but even when it’s not raining dark falls very, very early. As I have mentioned the high canopy almost completely blocks the sun and it is dusk by 3pm and pitch black by 5pm in the trees, even on a full moon night. We’ve been battling the gloom with an almost constant campfire (wood is free for us here, and a great advertisement for selling more so why not?) and that helps, but by 9pm I feel ready to go to bed every night. In the mornings it doesn’t get light inside until well after 8am and really it’s not truly daylight until close to 10am. So that’s a short day in the groves. When we travel farther afield it’s different of course, but we are living here and work, meals, and the desire to experience the groves themselves keep us inside the forest. We have started to think of it in those terms. There is inside the groves and outside and it does feel like two totally different worlds. Throw in some rain and it can lead to a wet, miserable day. The first week we were here we thought the rain was neat and charming, now not so much. (See? The bloom is off the rose.) If our pattern was moving frequently, we would simply move on, actually we probably would have moved on before it even became an issue, but we are committed here and it’s very important we don’t start to feel like we are stuck here.

“Being Stuck” is an emotion I felt often in my previous life and not one I ever expected to have to deal with on the road. My house is on wheels, for heaven’s sake, and we can always move on, that’s sort of the whole point. When dreaming about the lifestyle that’s exactly what many people envision, but it’s not always that simple. Budgets, family, work, weather, and availability of campgrounds can conspire to keep you in a place longer than you want to be. Every single person I have become close to has experienced that feeling at least once. The good news is you do have more choice than you had previously, but at least for myself and all the people I know it is not a 100% footloose and fancy free lifestyle. So that leaves us with figuring out how to combat those feelings. I imagine this is going to vary completely based on individual personalities and the unique situation and to be honest we are still figuring it out. After a year, we now recognize when we feel that way, which is a good thing, but we don’t always know what to do to fix it, short of moving, which isn’t always possible. But we have learned a few things to help lighten the pressure a bit so I thought I would pass them along.

Be extra nice to each other. No, seriously, extra nice.
Feeling stuck is a state of mind, not being. Recognize that and try to mentally adjust your attitude a bit.
Breathe through it, it does pass.
Get out and do something. Even if it’s not optimal or a thing you normally would do, just getting out is enough. Be careful though with this, because if you spend a lot of money frivolously, that could actually make it worse.
Work on a project. We all have things we have been wanting to get to in our home. Deep clean, build something, reorganize. Just be careful here to not bite off too big of a project or you could feel more resentful.
Spend time with people. Arrange to see friends on the area or put yourself out there and meet new people. Social interactions aren’t really weather dependent and can add a level of newness to a place that is becoming stale.
Take the first decent weather day you can and take an all day trip to a new place. Just the drive can reignite your excitement in the area and it can evoke the feeling of newness you had in the beginning.
Try new things you wouldn’t normally do. Volunteer somewhere, take a free class in the area, try a new craft. There are endless possibilities and you might just land on something special.
Remember it’s temporary. The feeling will be gone when you move to the next place.

Our most recent day to try to combat the “stuck” feelings was spent visiting all the kitschzy little shops up and down the Avenue of the Giants. Many of these attractions have been here since the 50’s and most have seen better days, but they usually cost just a few bucks each and they were a good rainy day activity. It didn’t totally cure the feelings, but a couple of them were a lot of fun and we successfully avoided the trap of buying stuff we didn’t need in the gift shops. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see any of them, but they were fine for “filler” activities, because unfortunately every day can’t be exploring the Lost Coast.

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Looking up from the inside was really cool

Here’s the view

The legend of Bigfoot store had some really cool locally made stuff

Dede you would have loved this place

The bigfoot carving was fun

Loved the sign in the middle

I adored this sign…would have bought it but didn’t like the material it was made from

Really cool, unique birdhouses

Lee loved the little wagons

I was so tempted by this hummingbird feeder made locally but $33 was too pricey

The One log house was great and only $1 to go inside

Front door

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I think this was originally the bathroom…so weird with the curved wall

The gift shop had these cool pieces of redwood

I picked this one

Lee had an idea to try to take a piece and attach it to our table in our living room. Loved the idea and at $20 for the above piece not too pricey. Update: Unfortunately the piece was too small and when we went back the next day no piece was quite right. They were kind enough to give us a refund. We went back to the Burl n Drift wood shop and even walked through their storage barn but still couldn’t find the perfect piece. The owner talked about cutting a piece down for us, but then we were looking at around $150 and after their process you lost a lot of the natural look. A cool $20 idea was quickly turning into a much more expensive proposition, plus the owner was pretty condescending. I get excited about wood, but obviously to him he is less artist and more businessman and treating me as the “little woman with the goofy idea” is not going to separate precious dollars from my wallet. If he would have seemed at all enthused by the idea, I would have been happy to spend a little more.

Confusion hill

Largest free standing wood carving in the world

The place was pretty beat up

Lee trying to stand up straight

The house is built on the hill in such a way gravity appears to do weird things . Unfortunately it was too cheesy even for me and simply not worth the $5 each

Chandelier tree was one of the drive through trees

Beautiful tree and unlike the other one we saw very much alive

The car is completely inside the tree and totally hidden

For only $5 a car this was well worth it and the grounds are large and very pretty

See how small the car is coming out the other side

No way our truck was fitting in here, but you can walk it. For only $5 a car this was well worth it. The grounds were large and pretty and they even had a little pet area. Plus you can’t go to the Redwoods without seeing a drive through tree!!

Lessons Learned

When dealing with “feeling stuck” try some of these things. Nothing is a silver bullet solution but they can help

Be extra nice to each other. No seriously extra nice
Feeling stuck is a state of mind not being. Recognize that and try to mentally adjust your attitude a bit
Breathe through it, it does pass
Get out and do something. Even if it’s not optimal or a thing you normally would do, just getting out is enough. Be careful though with this, because if you spend a lot of money frivolously, that could actually make it work.
Work on a project. We all have things we have been wanting to get to in our home. Deep clean, build something, reorganize. Just be careful here to not bite off to big of a project or you could feel more resentful.
Spend time with people. Arrange to see friends on the area or put yourself out there and meet new people. Social interactions aren’t really weather dependent and can add a level of newness to a place that is becoming stale.
Take the first decent weather day you can and take an all day trip to a new place. Just the drive can reignite your excitement in the area and it can evoke the feeling of newness you had in the beginning.
Try new things you wouldn’t normally do. Volunteer somewhere, take a free class in the area, try a new craft. There are endless possibilities and you might just land on something special.
Remember it’s temporary. The feeling will be gone when you move to the next place.

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Lakeside

Honoring a Commitment

Thoughts on our Park System and its Rangers

Exploring the Redwood Coast

November 2015 Budget

First Time in Shelter Cove

Downside to Our “Hub and Spoke” Approach