California

Made it to California today, end of trip tomorrow. We've seen a lot of this the last two days, you gotta know there's NASCAR racing in California this coming weekend.
Check out this weird house has saucers around it too. Kinda looks like a big golf ball, doesn't it.

New Mexico

We are in New Mexico now, this was taken of the wide open spaces in Texas. Today we should reach Arizona. Weather has been great and I-40 has had a lot of work done on it and is much smoother than it used to be.

Halfway there

These are the states we passed through so far. We are now in Oklahoma, getting ready to leave tomorrow or the next day. It rained like crazy just before we arrived but since then it has been hot, hot, hot!!! More pics to come.

Headed west

While camped in New Jersey, we made trips into New York where we sampled Nathan's Famous HotDogs, overpriced and give ya gas.

We also stopped at White Manna, they were listed as #13 on the top 20 hamburgers in america. However did that survey needs to have their taste buds examined. It was cute, it was unique, it was small, but surely wasn't anywhere near a top twenty burger. Oh well, at least we didn't get sick.

We went to Rutt's Hut also, famous for rippers, that's a hotdog that they deep-fry until it rips open. They were great, we'd eat there again.

We have left that area now and are slowly headed west. In Hershey, PA for a bit, guess we'll go check out chocolate town and the Renaissance fair.

New York

Proof positive we went to New York. We ate at Lombardi's, the first pizza parlar to open in the US in 1905. Pizza was excellent, now we gotta go back to try a bagel and a Coney Island hot dog.

In Virginia

Here we are behind our friends Jim & Carol, leaving North Carolina heading for Virginia. They will split from us at Richmond and we will see them again when we move to New Jersey in a few weeks.

While in North Carolina, I took my motorcycle and rode the tail of the dragon, whew, what a ride.

In Virginia, I was out for a ride and spotted this parked on the side of the road, a Texas sized cooker. So I stopped and found the Something Different General Store, They roast their own coffee as well as peanuts and almonds, they also make some wonderful BBQ Dan, the owner tells us all about it. Coffee anyone?? Look closely, the cream is served in little milk jars. And don't forget, it is a general store in case you get the craving to shop. Dan told us it's not a restaurant, but they do have 5 stools at a bar where you can order food and eat. And it is excellent, just about the best BBQ we have ever had. If your ever in Pine Tree, Va stop in and enjoy.

North Carolina

Here's our campsite at Forest Lake Thousand Trails. We have a great view of the lake and a spot where satellite is in also. Rode the "Tail of the Dragon" while here and also went to Hiddenite and mined for emeralds, we got two small ones as well as quite a few other semi-precious stones. Spent a couple of days going to race shops and also RCR winery.

Update

Haven't been updating as I should, we stopped in Florida to watch the shuttle launch. It was fantastic. We are in Georgia now, will be heading to Charleston today, then on to Hiddenite, NC to look for emeralds.

Florida and Sunshine

We left Oklahoma a while back, made a stop in Conroe for a few days, visited with our friends Tanker and Girlfriend. We held a refresher course of "Wino 101", which they passed with flying colors. I think they have been doing some overtime research, we had a graduation ceremony and moved them to "Wino 103" skipping "Wino 102" completely. I think "Wino 103" is going to very tough on them because it is mainly a red wine course and Tanker and Girlfriend are really into late harvest reislings. We also were visited by our 'adopted daughter', Lisa, who lives just across the border in Louisianna, she brought a some shrimp and a Louisianna care package. Next, on our way east we stopped at Lisa's as we crossed into Louisianna and the next day visited New Orleans for a couple of days. We always head to the french quarter and have beignets and chicory coffee. For lunch we had a muffaletta at Frank's, it's next door to Central Market and their muffaletta's are better we think. From New Orleans we headed northeast to Alabama and visited with my Uncle Jim, he had been in a car accident and we wanted to not only visit but check on him for the family. After a brief visit we headed for Florida, where before going to Key West, we will have some warranty work done here in Wildwood.

A peek of sun

Got to Oklahoma but the sun didn't follow us. It peeked out for a minute yesterday so I took a quick pic of our campsite.

A new direction

After spending almost a year on the west coast, we are off in a new direction. We are headed east, Key West, Florida as our destination. We will be stopping along the way to take care of business in Oklahoma and visiting friends also. We have friends spread out in Oklhahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. Because of the time frame and having to be in Key West for "division week" we won't be spending as much time visiting our friends along the way as we wanted to, later for sure. You'll notice that our pic has changed. Another new direction, we traded in our '03 Beaver Monterey for an '07 Beaver Patriot Thunder. Man O Man, what a difference. I think this will be our last upgrade, sure is nice and seems to have everything we want.

It's Race Time

Here we are lined up on the track for our infield camping spot

That's us in the middle. Folks in front of us are from central Calif.

The folks next to us have a class C and two huge St Bernards.
We are right next to Nellis AFB and they fly all the time.

Go East Old Man

We have finally completed our task in California and are headed east. First stop, Las Vegas, for another NASCAR race, we'll be meeting Harley Rodg and Becca Biker there too. Here's the world's largest thermometer in Baker, CA.

Did you notice on an earlier post about Frank getting the Killer Tomato? Well he did it and we've made a couple of rides together. We had a great time and Frank is thrilled with KT.
Here's Frank and the sign means it, and Frank is an animal.
This was the track at Fontana, our last race. Will post pics of Vegas track next.

Internet Satellite

Here's our satellite set-up. It's really working out well. Set up is extremely easy, I think mainly because of buying and using the Birddog satellite finder. With the LNB for dish network attached it's really nice to hve the tv and internet on one antenna.

We're experiencing some very heavy rain here right now and tv and sat are both up and running.

School Time

First week back in college, taking 3 classes, having fun.

Go Frank

C'mon everybody, cheer Cousin Frank on, he's thinkin' of buying a GL1800 Goldwing. Go Frank, Go Frank, Go Frank!!!

Back in Morgan Hill

Here we are, back in Morgan Hill. Gonna do some riding with cousin Frank and his granddaughter Chelly this Sunday. Weatherman says it should be good weather.

End of San Diego visit

Tomorrow will be our last day here in San Diego. We're having the coach and trailer washed in the morning and then we'll decide whether to head out afterward or to wait until the next morning. I'm kinda looking forward to moving cause I want to see how easy or hard it's going to be to re-establish a link with starband.

San Diego

We are camped at Pio Pico, it's in south San Diego County on Telegraph Canyon Road, actually in Jamul. Weather has been perfect. Food has been perfect. Ate at Filippi's, Old Mexico Cafe in Old Town, had lobster in Puerto Nuevo, and just this afternoon, Ponce's on Adams St. Also was able to find by favorite store to get my own carne asada, which is now in our freezer.

Trouble?

Seems I've encountered some problems trying to cross over to this new format. Now maybe I've got it fixed, let's just see with this posting. If it works, I'll start some updates.

Turtle Beach

Been at Turtle Beach for a couple of weeks, much nicer campground than we've been in since arriving in California. New elec, good sewer, good water, great staff. It's been kinda cold the last week but we are hoping to head south soon.

Hangin out

Just Hangin out at Lake Minden, gonna put a new chain and sprocket on Cuz'n Frank's bike today, sure am glad the sun is shining.

Have you ever heard of these eateries and watering holes? "Al the Wops", Wimpy's, Giusti's, Isleton Joe's, Lost Isle.

Well, here we are, all set up in the Sacramento Delta. Cuzn Frank, Jim and I mount our bikes and head for a ride to Mt. Diablo. You can see San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento Valley from there. If the smog were to clear from the valley you could see the Sierra Nevada's also.

About time

Guess it's about time I update this blog. Since July we have traveled across the country to the west coast. Spent some time in Oregon, fishing and crabbing and attended the family reunion. We have been hanging out in the Sierra Nevada's for the last few weeks and are now headed for the Sacramento Delta for 10 days then to Palm Springs.