Swimming and Bike Supports

Here is my new exercise regime.  I am doing a fearsome dog paddle.  Notice how the fingers of my right hand are together and curved, making the perfect paw.  It's an unbelievably inefficient way to propel oneself through the water.  I did 7 laps today, and walked back and forth in the 4 foot depth of the pool.

 

Perfect form, eh?

 

Last April, we ditched our huge bike rack and bought two of these.  The main advantage over the welded big one is that these fold up.  See the spring at the bottom?  That pushes against the back wheel of the bike when you roll them in.  This rack works beautifully on a concrete floor in a basement.

 

They don't work so well outside when it's windy, and the bikes are covered with a grill cover which is acting as a giant sail.  The first day we were back, everything went over.  So, we weighted the racks down with cinder blocks, and used bungie cords to push the bikes against the back of the rack.

 

Then we became concerned with what happens if they go over anyway?  The cinder blocks will not be good for the paint.  That train of thought resulted in buying pipe wrap and padding the edges of the blocks.  Note the mitred corners.

 

So now we look like this.  Hopefully it will be good enough, because I really don't want to buy and discard a rack every winter season.

 

Speaking of the foot, here it is this morning.  The scabs are off.  It's better, the frequency of the electrocuting pains is down.  There's still a fair amount of swelling in my toes, the ball of my foot, and the top of my foot.  I'm still not wearing shoes, it's too fat.  It's going to be a longer recovery time that I had hoped for.

 

Enough clouds have come in to give us a little bit of a sunset tonight.

This is all I have to report, maties.  Hope things are good where ever you are these days.

Back in Tucson

We're back.  Jim has the tire covers on the RV, the rope lights are deployed and the mountain bikes are out of the pickup truck.  It's not as warm as it has been in past years, but it's supposed to climb back in to the 80's soon.

 

I'm four weeks out from surgery.  The sharp stabbing pains appear to be winding down.  They're phantom limb pain, from the removal of two nerves.  I can't comprehend how bad it would be losing a limb. The stabbing pains have made me yell out loud (scaring Jim to death on the freeways).   I'm glad that part of the process is winding down.  My foot is fairly swollen and it's still painful.  I'm still not better off than before surgery, which is my standard for a successful procedure.
Once it warms up a little, we're going to go down to the pool and dog paddle vigorously to get some cardio.  I might do water aerobics with the ladies, Jim just gives me a bug look when I suggest that he join me.

Yermo, CA to Quail Run RV Park, Quartzsite, AZ

Would someone PLEASE teach the California DOT that bridge decks should be at the same height as the roads on either side?  Please?   Today's route was I15 to I40 to CA95 to I10.  Most of I40 was awful, particularly the aforementioned bridge decks.  The noise level from the road surface was just debilitating.  The northern half of CA95 was fun, the road surface was good. The road follows the nap of the earth with dips and rollers.  However, all good things come to an end and by the end we were back on crappy asphalt.
A lovely view of the desert.

 

So we're staying in Quartzsite.  It's an amazing phenomenon.  For 10 months out of the year, it's a small wide spot in the freeway.  However, come January and February, close to one million people come here for the weather, the boondocking, the gem shoes and the flea markets.  Think about that, one million people.  I'd kind of like to see it, but not badly enough to brave the traffic.  Many of those people will boondock.  They drive into town to the RV Pitstop to dump and take on water and propane.

 

We're at the Quail Run RV Park.  It's not terrible.  Interior roads are paved, sites are gravel.  They have good gravel.  There is a concrete pad between sites.  Our site is very level, no HWH required.  Satellite and Verizon Jet Pack are working well.  Basically it's a giant field with roads and gravel.  Our site is long enough that the truck could stay connected to the bus.  The people who run the park are very pleasant, and they take you to your site.  It's not a pretty park,  but for an overnight it's fine.  I didn't get a picture, sorry.
Given how poor the road surfaces have been in California, I don't think we'll do this route again.  I think I'd rather return from Harrisburg via Utah, or the East Coast, than do this again.

Update to post, here is a terrible picture of the park.  Sorry about the reflections, too lazy to go outside!

Sommerville, CA to KOA - Yermo, CA

Today's route was one of woe and aggravation.  I5 between Coalinga and the cutoff to CA58 is just beyond bad.  Every bridge deck is below the grade of the road. I think that stretch of highway alone is enough to make us swear off this routing.
After Barstow we headed out CA58 toward Tehachapi Mountains.  It goes from being really unattractive scrub desert to a better looking part of the state.

There is a significant grade up east bound.  Going down the other side it was a gradual descent.  It's really pretty out there.  Unfortunately this was also another section of terrible road surface; again enough to make us swear off this route back to Tucson.

Look at the lower right hand corner.  Look how serpentine the train is.

There was a lot of train traffic.  There were two trains waiting to go in the other direction.

Here we are, in Tehachapi.   There are a ton of wind turbines.

We're at the Barstow Calico KOA, which is actually in Yermo.  We'll have to backtrack to get on 40 to head to Needles in the morning.  It's not a terrible KOA.  The surface of the park is 5/8 inch rock.  Sites are level, no HWH required.  Satellite and the Verizon Jet Pack are working well.  The utilities are where they ought be.  We have a picnic table, as well.  Jim rates the laundry room as squeaky clean and very nice.  There are oleanders between some of the sites, but there's no real separation between RVs.  There is some freeway noise, but it's not obnoxious. It's a good park for an overnight on a transit. We were able to pull through and leave the truck hooked to the RV.

With the exception of the Tehachapi Mountains, this is an unlovely drive.  The first part of the day was through agricultural land, complete with blowing dust since it was windy.  After that it becomes unattractive desert. 
Tomorrow we're staying in Quartzsite, and after that we will be in Tucson.  Yay!

Orland, CA to Sommerville RV Park - Coalinga, CA

Today was an uneventful drive down I5.  I would mention that the road surface in the Stockton area appears to have been carpet bombed, but other than that the roads were not too terrible.
We're at the Sommerville RV Park.  This is a good one night stop when you're doing a transit.  The man who runs it is very nice, he and the dog lead you out to your site and park you.  All sites are pull throughs.  We're on 67 which is very level, no HWH required.  Satellite and the Verizon Jet Pack are working well.  They offer Tengo WiFi, but we didn't bother with it.  Interior roads are paved and sites are packed dirt/gravel, with grass in between the sites. There used to be a lot of trees, but after one fell down in the wind, most of them were taken out. It's an easy park to get to, and to get in and out of.

 

If you're here in the spring, the trees surrounding the park are in bloom.  We're pretty sure they're almond trees.  The scent is over powering.  Actually the scent is from the orange groves across the street from the park.

 

Jim is so happy to be in warm weather again.

 

Tomorrow we're off to Barstow.  Do we know the good areas or what?

Canyonville to The Parkway RV Resort - Orland, CA

Today we drove from Canyonville, OR to Orland, CA.  We're staying at the Parkway RV Resort in Orland.  It's a fairly long day.
Before reaching Mt. Shasta, there is a range of low passes in Oregon.  Then there are the Siskiyous, which are higher.

 

Despite what the Mountain Directory West for Truckers, RV and Motorhome Drivers says, there is a lot of descending in California past Dunsmuir.  It seemed like we went down hill forever.  It was slow driving, there are a lot of trucks and other motorhomes.  There are many curves and places where one must slow down.
This is Shasta Lake, which is unbelievably low.  The bottom is visible on parts of the lake.

 

The Parkway RV Resort is an ex-KOA.  It's not a terrible park.  Interior roads are dirt and gravel, sites are dirt and gravel as well.  We're on A5, which is very level.  We didn't have to use the HWH.  There are trees, some sites have over hanging branches.  Satellite works on our site, and the Verizon Jet Pack is working well.  There are side by side hookups, but they're not exceptionally close together.  The people who own the park are very nice.  They're busy doing upgrades on the park buildings.  There's no freeway noise.  We would stay here again on a transit that started at Seven Feathers.