Traveling to McMinnville

We are a little nervous being on the road during this coronavirus pandemic.  It is especially hard because we felt very safe while we were at Kartchner Caverns.  It was just the two of us in our RV.  The other volunteers and Rangers we were with were being as careful as we were.  The only possible exposure was grocery shopping and even that was done with gloves and masks and as much social distancing we could make happen.

GILA BEND

So we left with some trepidation.  But it was comforting to see that our first stop in Gila Bend went well.  When we arrived at Gila Bend KOA the gate was locked with lots of signs on it.  Only self-contained RVs were welcome.  To enter we called the posted phone number and the attendant was on his way.  He came in his golf cart – masked – talked to us only through the driver’s side window.  He was efficient with his information – and led us to an easy pull-through site.  That was the last we saw of him.  The restrooms were closed; no laundry; but the pool was open – just had to bring your own chairs.  There was almost no one else there and it was too hot to walk around so we were happily isolated for the two-night stay.

NEEDLES

Needles KOA was pretty much the same.  And we only stayed there one night.  The heat was the highest we’ve ever seen it – 107 degrees at 7:35 am.  It only got hotter.  The weather forecast for Needles was 120.  I guess it got that high but it’s probably a good idea not to actually see the thermometer when it gets up there.  It just makes you feel hotter.  Of course, it’s a dry heat – exactly like putting your head into an oven.  This is not the first time we’ve stayed in Needles.  Every time the lack of a breeze of any kind is memorable.  Maybe it’s because we got so used to the constant wind in Arizona that the absolute stillness is just remarkable.  The campground has huge cottonwoods and I looked up a few times and it’s eerie to see that not one of the thousands of leaves up there even wiggle a little.

SIERRA TRAILS

We just spent one uneventful night at Sierra Trails RV Park.  We were starting to see less and less masks.  But we just stayed on our site or in the RV.  We wore masks and gloves to throw out the garbage.  Yes, we are being careful.

COALINGA

Our next stop was a two night stay at Almond Tree Oasis in Coalinga, CA.  We didn’t see much of Coalinga.  Our campground is 0.3 miles from a truck plaza which really came in handy.  We were running low on food and tired of the same old sandwiches and dinners every night.  After we got set up, I walked over to the plaza because we didn’t want to unhitch our car.  It was hot – searing hot – but actually cooler at 100 degrees than we had been living in.  The plaza employees were all wearing masks and gloves and I was one of two customers in the whole building.  I ordered dinner from Baja Fresh and foot-longs from Subway for lunch the next day (and the next day).  The food was great and a nice treat.  The following afternoon we both walked over for a lemon icee and a few snacky things.

Our air conditioners are holding up, but we are helping by keeping the shades drawn and tolerating higher than normal inside temperatures.  We also are not really moving around much.  It helps that the temps are going down – slowly, going down.  There was a wildfire near us.  Our car was covered with the evidence of ash.

Up to this point, the traveling situation was better than we thought.  California was seeing a huge spike in virus numbers but we were in the Central Valley where we thought it was calmer. 

LODI

Flag City RV in Lodi was our stop for the next two nights.  Good site, better weather – even a little coolness.  We unhitched and had breakfast takeout at Burger King where now Doug can get an Impossible “Sausage” Sandwich and I had a great bacon crescent.  We did some food shopping and later went to Carl’s, Jr. where they now sell Beyond Beef so we both had burgers.  It was nice not to do so much cooking.  Lots of masks in sight.

Our confidence in our safety took a big hit when we watched the local news.  The virus numbers were horrible in Lodi and in fact, federal medical personnel were flown in because the Lodi Medical Center was completely overwhelmed while we were there.  We became even more vigilant!

REDDING

On Friday, July 17^th we got into our site at Redding Premier RV Resort.  Just a one night stay.  It was a nice concrete pad but very narrow.  It was right next to a huge waterpark where unmasked people were frolicking in the pools and on the waterslides.  We stayed inside our RV to make sure we weren’t exposed to the people who think being that close together in a raging pandemic was a good idea.

The trip itself, mostly along Route I-5 has been mostly uneventful.  We stop for gas, DEF, and at rest stops to eat lunch in our RV.  The scenery is beautiful!  We love going through the Rogue Valley.  Someday we will find time to travel and sightsee around Lassen Volcano and Mt. Shasta.  The golden grass covering the rolling hills and the huge evergreens is always a serene sight.  And then, we saw a metal sculpture of a cow and a calf, followed a few miles later by a dragon.  We get a big kick out of public art appearing unannounced in the middle of nowhere.

CANYONVILLE

Two Feathers Casino and RV Resort in Canyonville, OR was our next two night stay.  Although at registration we were offered all the perks of being next to a casino – players’ cards, discounts and a free shuttle that seemed to pass our RV every half hour – we almost never left the RV.  Even sitting outside we wore a mask and tried to look unfriendly.  The casino parking lot was filled; there was constant pedestrian traffic over to the resort pools; and lots of bike riding, dog walking and just people every where – NO MASKS!  The signs say to wear a mask when you enter the buildings, but I guess social distancing doesn’t matter???!!

MCMINNVILLE

Last stop until October – Olde Stone Village in McMinnville.  We’ve been here before.  It’s one of the cleanest places we have ever stayed.  There is beautiful landscaping all over and perfectly groomed grass between the concrete pads.  Doug says the sites are large but it seems crowded here to me.  Maybe I’m just not used to having so many neighbors!  It is a very busy place – after check-out you might see a site or two open up but it is invariably filled by dinner time. 

The landscapers are here about every other day – riding lawnmowers, followed by manual lawnmowers, followed by edging and then a huge street cleaner truck that doesn’t just wash the street once, but goes over it a second time.  All the trees are nicely trimmed and it’s rare to see a stray leaf anywhere.  The picnic tables are unique – they can either be in the form of a regular table with two benches or they can be split apart and form two park benches with backs.  We know they have breed restrictions here so we don’t like that one of our favorite dogs is not welcome here.  And I am sorely missing the clotheslines at Kartchner Caverns.

We are planning to keep to ourselves in strict quarantine for 14 days.  We want to be sure we are not bringing germs to our daughter’s family and we just don’t know if there was any exposure during our travels.  Julie is having her third baby in September.  It’s been a difficult pregnancy, complicated by being in isolation with Paisley who is 4 and Griffin who is 3 and Jake, her husband, who is the best husband and father, but whom, we are sure, just wants to do something fun. 

We took our first full day to get all our errands done and stock up on food for 2 weeks.  That’s it – we will be fine in our RV where we are totally self-contained.  I am continuing to do our laundry by hand.  It’s a bit of a challenge to dry it since I can’t hang clothes outside but if a do a little bit every day or so I can make this work.  We have a tripod rack which I put down on top of plastic and towels in the bedroom and keep the ceiling fan on.  It takes most of a day to dry the clothes but that works for us.  The laundry facility here is actually top-notch.  But I keep seeing folks returning to their RV with laundry baskets and they are not wearing masks.  So for these two weeks, I’ll manage by hand and then I will have the use of Julie’s really big and efficient laundry machine.  Of course, in order to use them for our laundry, I have to get her laundry done first. 

We have plenty of food so we certainly are not going to starve.  In fact, we try to go for walks because we are eating too well.  Our interactions with fellow RVers here so far has been a few waves.  This is not a good time to reach out and make friends.

So we are fine.  Yes, fine.  It’s Day 2 and Doug is bored.