Yummy Oranges and OH NO, THE TOAD!

This is going to be a quick post just to let you know the crew is still here. I have so much to share with you. Remember that last blog post? You know, the one where I said I wasn’t sure where we were going next but the “One thing I do know, I’ll have internet!” Hahahahahahaha, I’m sooooo funny. I really need to stop putting my foot in my mouth.  Well, guess what?

You guessed right. A few hours after we left Bakersfield I heard the battle cry, “Mommmmmm, I can’t get any Internet!” Yep, we did it again, left the Internet zone. And phone signals soon followed. But let me just say, it was SO worth it! Let me back up a bit a share what we’ve been up to.

We rolled into Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, California and nestled ourselves between rows and rows of fragrant orange trees. I could literally pick oranges from my seat in the RV! It was a drastic change from the rock and scrub brush of Death Valley. And the temperature was a nice 65 degrees.

The view from my RV window

As I stated in my last post, Bakersfield was only a pit stop. It was a place to get all the laundry done, plan out the remainder of our stops in California, stock up on groceries and fill our bodies with lots of Vitamin C. The last part was a nice added bonus!

Each RV is allowed to pick one bag of oranges. And they were definitely ripe for the picking. The crew has never picked oranges before so that alone was worth staying here. The taste of a fresh picked orange cannot be beat. They were scrumptious!

We made the decision to push forward towards Yosemite. This was always on my list of stops. However, I grew increasingly concerned about the weather and nixed both the Grand Canyon and anything too far north in California.

And like the Grand Canyon, this just became something I felt I had to do. While at Death Valley, I talked to a ranger who used to work in Yosemite for a couple of years.

He said, “You don’t want to miss Yosemite, it’s so beautiful”.

I replied, “If I decide to go, I’ll be staying outside of Yosemite near Groveland. Do you think I’ll have to worry about snow?”

His reply, “If you’re staying outside of Yosemite in the lower elevations, you won’t have to worry about too much snow”.

I figured, he’s the expert, having worked there for several years. So, I decided to add that back on the list along with San Francisco. Boy, oh boy, am I glad I did.

While the destination was worth it, the trip wasn’t totally without incident. There were plenty of steep grades and winding roads, which always make for a tiring trip. But when we were about an hour from camp,  I made a wrong turn. Oops, no problem, right? Unless you’re driving a big ole’ girl like Perl. Makes turning around a tad bit more complicated.

I pulled over onto a nice big shoulder. I size up my turning radius. No problem she looks like she’ll do just fine. I proceed, we hang to the left, we clear any ditches in the road and just as I’m about to make it back onto the road in the right direction………uh, oh. I’m not going to make it without taking out the street sign. Where the heck did THAT come from!

We’re at the bottom of a hill and my toad is blocking the one and only lane.  I look at my brother and shout, “Oh no, we have to go unhook the toad, I can’t back up with it attached!!” I go flying out of the RV and try to start unhooking. The pins are stuck and won’t come out. I run around to the back and get the hammer. I pound and pound on the pin.

I see a car come down the hill. Thank goodness it sees us and goes around. Luckily, we’re not on a busy road. The pin is painstakingly slow as I pound away to try and dislodge it from the tow bar. I get in the car and move forward a fraction of an inch, hoping the pin will loosen up. No good. I move back a bit, still won’t budge.

We continue with the hammer and moving forward with the car. Finally the pin breaks free. We manage to get the tow bar pushed up and all the cables and pins put away. My brother hops in the car and I race back to the RV. Phew, disaster averted once more. That was a close call.

We twist and wind our way through the rest of our journey and pull into camp just as it’s getting dark. We end up staying at the Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes RV Resort. Nearly all of the campsites are inaccessible due to a power outage that messed up all the electric boxes. We were directed to a few spots up on a hill.

The campground was okay for what we needed. Essentially a place to park Perl while we explored Yosemite. But it left a lot to be desired. They’re in serious need of gravel. There were ruts in the road everywhere. The campgrounds were mud pits. Just a little gravel folks, just lay down a little gravel.

Campground aside, we made it safe and that’s all that matters. We ate dinner, relaxed and got all settled in for the night. After all, we had to rest up for our big adventure in the morning, Yosemite awaits. Come along with us and see what amazing things she had to offer.

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Yummy!

{HUGS} from the Crew!