From Lakeview to Reno

Dec 2

Quaint and quirky places in out of the way towns

After staying at cute motel that was cheap and clean, we leave Lakeview and see a familiar name on a building where we stop to take a quick picture just because it makes sense. As we wander out of Oregon and the “Oregon Outback”, we see some beautiful country.  At the California border, see things that remind us we’re in our home state once again. The drive is peaceful and when we arrive at the State inspection area, we claim one Oregon apple and are sent on our way with a smile.

 

It’s interesting on long road trips to observe the changing landscape, going from heavy rain forests, to beautiful lush and green valleys, then watching trees get shorter and the ground rockier and drier. There are lots of red lava rocks and then the trees disappear altogether and what lies before us is a flat, treeless area rolling on for miles. It’s also interesting to note the changing rules and regs between each state. It becomes obvious by road conditions, just how much money a state puts into their highway budget for maintenance.

Lorraine and her daughter Reichel

We stopped at Susanville to send out our latest blog at a Mexican restaurant offering good food and WiFi.  It’s so time-consuming to try and make the blog that we ran out of time before loading it up.  So, back on the road to Reno, staying on the 395.

When we arrive at Reno where Louie, Rosa, Loraine and David Gutierrez are waiting for us, it’s very cold and windy. The family immediately falls in love with Howard and we all gather around a table with home cooking that fills our bellies while we laugh and talk and catch up. This is the first time we meet little Reichel, Loraine’s daughter, and we couldn’t be more impressed with her big beautiful spirit and warm, open heart. She’s heard a lot about us and she tells us she’s happy we’re there. 

Snow's a'coming

We get to see images of 8 millimeter film preserved on DVD of days when the Gutierrez’ were hanging out and growing up on “the ranch” in Calabasas. It’s the first time in many years Celina gets to see moving images of her appaloosa mare and it brings so much excitement, even more so than when she sees herself at 15 playing the guitar, as usual, at a family gathering.

We make ourselves comfortable for the night at Loraine’s but not until we have had the conversation about whether to leave that night or the following morning due to the inclement weather expected the following day. We decide to leave in the morning, taking a less challenging route.

Dec 3

Icy roads ahead

We scramble up in the morning, having a delicious breakfast prepared by sweet Loraine, little time in with Reichel, Louie and Rosa and just as we are headed to the gigmobile, it starts to snow. Not just a light snowfall, but

really coming down. 

Tonopah

So off we go on the route that is suppose to be an easier drive with no mountain passes at high elevations. We are now feeling the wind and icy road conditions as we head towards Vegas on the 95, through Tonopah and Lunin. We’re remembering lyrics from “Willin” and finally get to see Tonopah. Some of the miles were down steep lanes with high rocky walls to one or both sides and tractor-trailers accustomed to the road, passing at speeds we would never attempt in the gigmobile.  The visibility is not very good.

We finally make it out of the mountains, but now, with the weather below freezing, and icy rain falling, we are concerned about black ice. We’re fortunate and never have to deal with any of that.

Down on the valley floor before hitting Vegas, we find the Alien/UFO center (Area 51) that, by

the way, has a brothel attached to it. We venture in…TO THE AREA 51 ALIEN CENTER, and before Celina can do anything about it, Howard has been converted!!!! It’s all good fun and we grab something cool to drink and a souvenir.

Las Vegas is just like any other big city and we only want to be here long enough to take in a simple dinner, soup and salad from the local Safeway and get out of the very cold wind and threatening rain.

Django is welcome in the motel we find on the outskirts of town and we get some rest.

Dec 4

We get up this morning and grab some breakfast in the lobby and take it back to the room. What

a deal you get here in Vegas. We skirted the main part of town and we are close to the freeway so it’s easy to get on the road to Havasu, where we’re hoping to camp. The drive is fascinating, as we see our road angling down into a huge, wide valley, with miles on either side of the road that end with
walls of giant, imposing mountains. Some interesting structures, government operations maybe, and at least one solar array that blows us away! If only we could get more solar panels built into the desert – all that sun, and all of that acreage would create a very big power source.

London Bridge in Havasu City

We get to Havasu and visit the local West Marine. Howard makes friends right away when he

tells the young lady he is a 30-year veteran of the company. We catch a glimpse of the “London Bridge”, imported from London some years ago, and re-assembled in Arizona – for what reason completely escapes us.

Further South, Howard makes a right into a campground and after we

Setting up camp at Cattail campsite

take a look around, we decide we should stay the night. We quickly get the Tepui set up and make a quick soup, which we gobble up in the dark. The coyotes are very near and noisy when we make one last trip to the head. I scoop up Django and we put him up in the tent and we climb in after him and snuggle in for the night.

Panoramic view of the campsite

Dec 5

We awake this morning to lots of bird song and friendly ducks checking

Watch out for the mussels!

out what’s for breakfast. The campsite, because the camper population is so low, is quiet and so are we. A quick and simple breakfast of bagels, cheese, hot chocolate, oatmeal and coffee and we are packed up and ready to head further South.

We manage a short walk up the hill that promises a vista of the surrounding area. It is a first for us both to be in this part of the world. So much water surrounded by dry shrubs, cactus and rocks. Lots of quartz that make the hillsides appear to be covered in diamonds glittering in the sun.  How many early travelers to this place thought they’d make it rich from some would be treasure buried in the ground when they laid their eyes on the surface covered with bits of quartz?

We start our long drive South, headed to Yuma where we think we might stay, if it’s interesting enough. 

Driving through the desert, we are again struck by the vastness of space, gigantic mountain outcroppings and roads so straight, one feels hypnotized as if some hidden force seems to be at work to push you along, driving, driving, driving.

When we reach Yuma, we don’t even stop. Not a pretty place.

GIANT windmills

Instead, we continue to El Centro, very agriculturally rich and stop for a bathroom break and a quick bite to eat. We find a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant where the carne asada burrito is nothing but a large handmade flour tortilla and carne asada. We share that, a taco made of chicken and a corn tortilla– and nothing else and a cheese quesadilla made with really good Mexican cheese.

We head out again, now on the west-bound 8 pass a field of beautiful, space-age looking windmills and climb over mountains made of huge pink boulders. We wonder at the miles and miles of these enormous mountains made up of rocks the size of City blocks, piled one on top of the other. Magnificent.

We climb from 500 feet above sea level to 6,000 feet, along the ridges of the Jacumba, Carrizo Gorge and Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness areas. Finally, we reach San Diego driving right by the area of Jamul, where Celina thought she might call home a few years back.

When we arrive on the coast in the San Diego area, we check a few campsites, the first at Cardiff by the Sea where a camper van like us must pay $65 a night, just to camp. Jeesh! Then, we look at two campsites, both $45 a night and decide we can spend and additional $10 a night and get a shower, wifi and avoid the threatening rain. We find a cheap room in Carlsbad and that’s that.

Dec 6

San Onofre has gone tit's up!

Wake up in Carlsbad and have our breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, grapefruit, oatmeal and coffee. We take off to find a place to wash our clothes - easy enough. Next, we head to Orange, to see Howard’s middle brother Bill, a professor at Chapman College and the custodian of the Siwash, the family’s yawl, built in 1910.

Howard in the kitchen with brother Bill

Bill arrives at his home just as we do and it’s a happy welcome. We soon get settled and chat over a few beers while Bill prepares his famous Mexican pasta casserole. As he conjures up the flavors in each ingredient, the house fills with aromas we love and they whet our appetites. As soon as the casserole goes into the oven, we hood up (it’s still really cold outside) and take off for a walk around his neighborhood, very near Chapman and near the strip of restaurants and shops that line the busy part of this quaint town. Back in Bill’s apartment, the dinner is excellent. The conversation is endearing and later, the music is the stuff that forms memories for a lifetime. We sleep soundly that night.

Dec 7

Playing music

We wake up this morning to a soft and steady rain and an invitation from Bill to walk to the neighborhood farmer’s market. When we get there, Howard finds a dog-sitting booth where 4 very nice pet lovers happily stay with several pups, including Django, under a canopy while we shop. Since dogs are not allowed in an area selling food, they offer a very unique service to dog owners. Very nice!

We pick up some delicious salsa, chips, cauliflower and apples, all organic and local. We get back to Bill’s and enjoyed a breakfast of sprouted bread and cheese with a bit of smoothie made with fresh berries, yogurt and spinach. We then hang out and play some music. Bill’s really liking Joni Mitchell’s “River” these days and asks Celina to sing it for him while he records it so that he can learn it and play it himself.

After a few songs from us with keyboards and guitar, we pack up the gigmobile, with all of us in it and drove off to Gabby’s, a local Mexican restaurant, to meet Alan Woo, one of Howard’s college chums from the 70’s. The lunchtime reunion with Alan and Ruby Woo and Bill proves to be lots of fun, filled with stories meant to catch all in attendance up to the “now” in everyone’s lives. The “Pozole Verde” is amazing, with bits of shrimp, hominy (pozole) and tiny clams. The corn tortillas are hand-made before our eyes and the ambiance is rich and fun.

We say good-bye to Bill who is off to a meeting and when we leave Alan and Ruby, it is time to hit the road again.

Camping at Dennison State Park - only ones there

The rain clears as we easily pass through South Central L.A. , on to Santa Monica for our Coast route North. We pass the beach homes on PCH, the Malibu Pier, Pepperdine, Zuma, Bass Rock while checking out Santa Cruz Island 20 miles off the coast.  We arrive in Ventura at a local Motel 6 and we can’t stress enough that you should NEVER get a room there. The first room we are assigned has a bed that was unmade and smelled like someone had left a smelly one in the bathroom. Upon expressing our dissatisfaction, we are assigned another room where the television doesn’t work. Our third room seems ok, so we unpack and decide to take in a movie and finally get to see “The Hunger Games - Girl on Fire”. Wow, that is a great movie! When we get back to our room, we realize we are right next to some drunken bikers who are in town, we later learned, for a huge motorcycle rally and flea market at the Fairgrounds. To top it off, the heater in the room is outrageously loud when in use and therefore, we have to keep it turned off and because it was a cold night, we were chilly at best.

Dec 8

Overlooking Ojai valley

We leave there and head to Ojai, looking for a little campground we had read about in a few books and on-line.  At the top of a summit overlooking the Ojai valley, we set up the tent on top of our flying gigmobile, With our trusty hound at Celina’s feet, under the blankets, we are warm enough and even though we know it will be chilly tonight, our bellies are full of yummy soup made on Andy’s surplus cook stove and when we awake, we will be off to breakfast with Howard’s cousin, Caroline Lieber. G’night, sleep tight…

Dec 9

Howard and Caroline

The morning at the campsite is easy going as we organize and pack up once again. We find that setting up and breaking down camp becomes easier with practice.

We are headed to Cousin Caroline’s home in Ojai and we can’t wait to see her. She and Howard share important memories of a childhood with family, sailing, birthday parties and more. She’s easy for us to find and she’s waiting with hot coffee, muffins and fresh fruit salad. All three of us are chatty and cover all the bases, talking about what her plans might be for her new path as a New York transplant as a well respected professor in the field of genealogy. She lives in a beautiful, old California style adobe in a very wooded part of an Ojai neighborhood, abounding in succulents, cactus plants and pepper trees.

After a lovely visit, we head to Santa Barbara proper to have lunch at the Cajun Kitchen. The jambalaya and red beans are out of this world and we are satisfied and fortified for the next leg of our trip, to the Hollister Ranch, just North of Gaviota.

Gate to the Ranch

We arrive at Gary Groth-Marnat’s place, tucked away in one of the many canyons on this cattle cooperative where some of his neighbors are known internationally as celebrities in the film, music and publishing world. It’s a place where both Gary and Howard have surfed in their younger days and where Gary has built a beautiful Southwest style home, off the power grid.

We get cleaned up and after a look around and quick visit, we head to

Santa Barbara where we eat a delicious meal at a Japanese restaurant before meeting up with his lovely partner, Robin, and head to the Granada theater to see Rick Steves give a lecture on his latest book, Travel as a Political Act. It’s really cold outside, but super warm indoors as we find our seats and watch and listen. This guy is soooo natural in front of an audience and his message is loud and clear. We are entertained, educated and encouraged to travel and get to know what’s really going on in the world.

At the Grenada Theater, Howard, Celina, Robin, Gary

Gary's new boat Brisa

The next day we have a slow start and enjoy being in this amazing home, designed and built with love. Gary drives us to Santa Barbara where we board his new double hull power boat and

take it out for a spin. Santa Cruz Island seems so close and the sun is bright and warm. Gary and Robin recently took this beautiful new baby up to the Northwest and British Columbia to cruise and tour the area. Arriving back home, we entertain with a few songs that Howard plays on his portable lap sized piano keyboard, which he plugs into his computer for sound, amplified with two small external speakers. The fire is warming up the room and now it’s time to eat. We have a delicious meal of salmon and veggies and then more music. When we step out to take Django to do his thing, the stars are amazingly bright due to the remoteness of the ranch. We are happy to be here. Thank you Gary and Robin for your hospitality.

Dec 11

We leave at around 11am and we decide to head home to take care of some business in Santa Cruz and Moss Landing. When we get home, it’s the Blue Bossa that takes us in and warmly embraces us. Howard makes a DELICIOUS soup and we watch a movie, then close our eyes, grateful for the adventure and the place we call home.

Dec 12

We are so happy to be home. The time spent on the road flew by so quickly and didn’t seem like almost a month. We are planning how and when to do it again. We’re looking forward to a new and creative musical venture with some friends who, like us, have made it their intention to branch out and secure some phat gigs in new areas.

Thank you to all the generous hosts along the way, friends and family we love and appreciate. Thank you to all the folks who have read and enjoyed this blogging experiment. We know we have a lot to be grateful for and we understand the value of sharing our happiness with all those who want the same in their lives.

Until next time,

Happy Trails from Django, Skylark and the Flying Gigmobile