EPISTLE SEVEN
Well, we last sent the epistle from Bakersfield Ca without mentioning how we got there. Not that it is a big deal, but Elsie is clamoring for me to finish this little literary attempt. So, to keep peace in the house, and that now the Christmas madness has subsided, I will fill you in on our return to the Wet Coast and home.
We left Mesa Az (Depends South) and headed for the coast. One spot of interest in Arizona that we passed through is Quartzite, a very tiny group of houses set in the desert. Every January, it goes wild with a Gem Show that attracts over 1 million visitors, all of whom dry camp in the desert along side the road. Apparently, it is quite the sight to see, and we thought that next year, it might be a place to check out. So many places to go and so little time!!!
Just as soon as we entered California at Blythe, we headed north to Laughlin Nevada. Anytime we get close to a site with gambling, Elsie starts to twitch and continues until she has a chance to tithe to the casino. The drive from Blythe through Needles to Laughlin was on a very narrow and very quiet highway. All around us was a lot of nothing .... sand and more sand. This was not one of the scenic routes of the US. By the time we got to Laughlin, we found out the Campsite we had chosen was on an Indian Reserve right in front of a very large casino. Now, those who know me well, understand my reluctance to stay there, but as we were very tired from the drive, we just checked in. It took Elsie about 10 minutes from when we finished setting up, to cover the 350 yards from the Folly to the casino. I baby sat the dogs and read. I'll let Elsie tell you how she fared on the one arm bandits
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The weather was fantastic. In the day it got to 82 and at night it dropped to 44 degrees Fahrenheit. The furnace and fireplace came in very handy as you can imagine. Unfortunately, the campsite was set in the desert and sand was everywhere. When we pulled in, I had to support the right wheels of the Folly with a 2 by 6 board to stop it from settling in the sand. The site had free cable vision so out I went with our cable to hook it up. Now this I really do not understand ... the hookup was split at each site so the next door RV could share one cable. In order to do this, a $3.00 splitter had to be present. Ours was missing. I went down to the office to inquire about this and was greeted with ... Oh S**t, not again. Apparently, these splitters go missing very frequently and the campsite had to replace them with annoying regularity. Imagine, someone pulling in with a $100,000 + RV and stooping to steal a $3.00 splitter. Go figure ....
We stayed three nights in Laughlin and then set out for Bakersfield Ca. What a change in temperature as we headed west. From the high 80's to the low 50's in one day. To make matters worse, the LA smog was being blown north, and it was captured and blocked by the mountains. Yech .... where was the sun ????
After one night in Bakersfield, we headed north for Sacramento. We had promised Bill Herold in Akron that 
we would visit the birth place in Sacramento of his Kamado BBQ. This BBQ is quite the deal. You can smoke food, BBQ food and do all sorts of other things. It really is the Rolls Royce of BBQ's. Unfortunately, he has had some problems with the outside of his "baby" so we said we would drop in and see how they are made. As we headed north, we chose a Campsite in West Sacramento from out Campsite "Bible". We had no idea, where the site was and where the Kamado Factory was. This time our luck was holding as we asked at the campground where the address we had gotten form the Web was and were told that it was within a couple of miles of us. So we did our "thing" there and started out for Oregon.
Our next stop was Medford Oregon. Initially when we were planning this run home, we were worried about rain. Setting up and getting ready to leave in the rain is no fun. Being cold and drenched can cool the ardor of the most ardent RVer. So, you can imagine our delight that we were hitting dry weather -- albeit smoggy in the south of California and foggy all the way north. We missed, in fact, most of northern California as the fog intensified at night and never really did leave during the day. But, as we had driven that road many times, it really did not bother us very much. We spent two nights in Medford and for the first time encountered night temperatures well below freezing. Now, the Folly has the "Polar Pack" option installed which gives us more insulation, a bigger furnace and a more powerful Air Conditioner. Just how the later fits into a Polar Package kind of baffles me, but it must make sense to someone .... The only problem is the water hose.
When you set up, you attach your drinking water hose from the Folly to the tap at the side of your site. This works well as long as the temperatures remain reasonably warm. When it freezes, the hose will freeze and there will be no water available until it thaws. Thawing the hose can be a lot of work if the temperatures remain unfriendly during the day. To get around this, I had to go out before bed and remove the hose and bring it into the Folly's shower. Not a big deal, you might think? Well, as I am getting older, it becomes very difficult to remain in bed all night without my little trip to the WC. Not having water available makes it necessary to carefully plan before you go to bed. The next morning, out I go to hook up .... and gawd is it cold. Ah ... the trials and tribulations.......
After spending one day wandering around Ashland just south of Medford we headed north again. For those of you who are not familiar with Ashland, it is a University town that has developed a world class Shakespearean festival in the Spring and Summer. The town is really quite quaint with lots of funky stores and B&B's on every corner. This would be a neat place to return when the festival is on. Yet, another place to visit ....
After Medford we headed to Kelso/Longview Washington for one night. This was unfortunate as the campsite turned out to be very nice. Grass between each site and a cement ... and very level ... pad on which to dock the Folly.
Our next stop was Burlington Washington where we will spend 5 nights before we cross into the "True north strong and Free". The campsite was really good. It boasts of having the only indoor, campsite swimming pool the Pacific North West. Not that we cared ... we can't go swimming without first notifying Greenpeace for Beluga protection ....
As this was the American Thanksgiving Weekend, the site was jammed with RV's. The weather was cool, dry and mostly foggy for the entire time. While there, we planned to visit Whatcom Meadows, the place where we were thinking about buying a campsite to store the Folly. It was only about 20 minutes north, so we wandered up and had another good look around. We had phoned the place where we bought the Folly in Vancouver to make arrangements for us to take it there for some warranty work and to repair the damage we had done over the past three months. They told us that they were swamped with warranty work for people who wanted to head south so that they were unable to get to ours until the first of January. This was indeed bad news until they said that they would store the Folly on their lot until they could get around to it. Boy, was that good news! No pressure on us to immediately find a storage spot ....
Anyway, we decided to buy a lot at the Meadows and will take the Folly there whenever they fix the damage we did and do all the warranty work required. More about the Meadows in later epistles.
We left Vancouver on September 3rd and re-entered BC on December 3rd. Three months to the day .... Foolish consistency is truly the hobgoblin of small minds.
We had a GREAT time on this voyage of discovery and now that we have survived it, we are making plans for the next. Where to go .... back to Quebec City???? what about the Maritimes and this time include NFLD???? more time in the central states???? more time in Snowbird country ?????? re-visit Moosimin and do some Paynter research ?????? more time on the Oregon Coast ????? Napa Valley ????? Alaska and the Canadian north ????? Mexico and the Baja ....????
As I said before .... some many places and so little time!!!!!! I do know that the next 10 years will be fascinating ..... Keep tuned for the next series of Epistles from where ever we get to ...
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If you want to get in touch with us, 
Joe and Elsie
