Happy Easter, A Trip To Camping World and More Trip Planning

Bakersfield, CA.

52 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear. High of 84F. Winds from the SSW at 5 to 10 mph shifting to the WNW in the afternoon.

Happy Easter!!!! I hope all of you have a great day!!!

After Linda got up yesterday morning, Jim suggested that they head over to a Camping World store, not far from here. The main reason for going was to buy a new sewer hose connector to replace the one where one of the "ears" had broken off of awhile back. I also think he just  wanted to get out of here for awhile.

So, about 10:30 he and Linda took CLT and headed over there.

CLT said that it was about 11 miles over there, and it was a pretty nice drive because Jim had programed "least use of freeways" into Mabel , (their GPS unit) and she took them through a farming area on the way there and back.

Jim found what he was looking for, (and of course a few other items that he just couldn't live without), and by about 12:30 they were pulling up behind me in CLT's parking spot.

The rest of the day was spent working on the computers, watching TV, and trip planning.

Speaking of "trip planning", Jim has been working on finding suitable RV parks and Campgrounds for me to stay at on our way up to Portland. The plan is to head out to the Coast once we get North of San Francisco and then follow US 101 up into Oregon. There seems to be enough RV Parks that I can get into, but the spacing of the parks along the route leaves something to be desired.

Also, there's the question of Fuel Stops along the way. I'll have to get a drink somewhere along the coast, and if you look in the "Truck Stop Directory", that Jim has, there's not much along there. Many times there are regular stations that sell diesel fuel though and it will be just a matter of finding one that I can get in and out of.

Today, Linda is planning on cooking an Easter Dinner. She bought a ham the other day when they went to the grocery store, she's already made some deviled eggs, and is planning on having scalloped potatoes and a vegetable to go with it.

I really like it when she cooks a large meal like that, it makes me smell so good inside!!! : )

Did you know that the name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg?

Please have a safe Holiday.

Staying Here Until Monday and Plans For Next Week

Bakersfield, CA.

43 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear. High of 77F. Winds less than 5 mph.


This is probably going to be another short post. Nothing much happening around here to write about.

Jim went over to the office and paid for 3 more nights so that I can stay here until Monday. Jim and Linda learned a long time ago that it's usually not a good idea to be on the road on a Holiday weekend, so that's why we're staying here as long as we are.

Jim also called an RV Park about 100 miles North of here to make sure that they could accommodate me, and made arrangements to go there on Monday. The park sounds really nice and it's one of the parks I talked about that is right on a river. The lady that he talked to, assured him that she had a "riverfront" site available that I would fit on.

There's actually 2 reasons that Jim and Linda want to go to this park. The first one is, of course, is the attraction of having a site overlooking the river. The second reason being that this park is not far from the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, and they can use that RV park as a base to go into the N.P. to see the big Redwood trees. 

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  I'll be here until Monday. It'll be interesting to see of this RV Park will be busy or not for the Easter weekend. There's not many RVs in this short term section again this morning, and I'm beginning to think that this section of the park may be pretty empty on Sunday.

Did you know that when it comes to eating of chocolate bunnies, the ears are preferred to be eaten first by as many as 76% of people?

A Little Shopping, Empty Sites and RV Park Research

Bakersfield, CA.

39 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear. High of 64F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph shifting to the NW in the afternoon.


Not much happening around here the last few days. Yesterday, Jim and Linda did hop into CLT and head to a Walgreen's Drug Store to pick up a few items and then head back to that Food Max Grocery store that they had gone to when we first got here, to buy a few things.

Other than that, not much else going on.

As you probably remember, I'm parked in the new section of RV sites here at the  Bakersfield Palms RV Park .  This section is for RVs that are staying for shorter periods of time. In fact, it is kind of interesting how it empties out every morning, and then almost completely fills up in the afternoon and evening.

Take Thursday for instance. By about 11:00 there were only 3 of us RVs here in this section, but by 8:00 pm, it was almost completely full. That has been the norm ever since we came here a week ago, but yesterday something changed.

Hardly any RVs came into the park!! I don't know if it's because of the upcoming Easter weekend, or if it's just a normal thing, but it sure seems strange to have so many sites empty this morning. All along, I was thinking that the Easter weekend would be busy, (like it is up and down the I-95 corridor on the East coast), and that's part of the reason we are staying here until Monday, but I may have been wrong.

It's going to be interesting to see how many RVs come into the park during the next few days.

Jim's been doing a lot of research of RV Parks along our planned route from here to Portland, OR., and he's found some that sound really interesting. There are a few that are supposed to have sites right along rivers and a few others that are supposed to have ocean views.

Now, if the weather only co-operates.

Did you know that The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life?

May Have Found The Problem

Bakersfield, CA.

55 deg. clear, NW wind @ 4 mph.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 72F. Winds from the NW at 10 to 15 mph.


About 10:00 yesterday morning, Jim raised my front end with my leveling jacks so that he could get under me to check out my electric steps. Once under me, he started by checking wire connections, and one of the first ones he checked, he found a corroded pin in the connector.

After checking other connections, and cleaning the corroded one with contact cleaner, he put it back together. When he came out from under me, he opened and closed my door a bunch of times, and the steps worked every time.

I think he may have found the problem! ; )

As long as the front of me was raised up, he decided to lube all the pivot points on the steps right away too. It had been quite awhile since that had been done.

After finishing with the steps, he opened my generator compartment and checked the fluid levels on the generator. Then, as long as he was at it, he checked my engine levels too.

The rest of the day was spent just doing "stuff". You know, doing laundry, reading, playing with the computers, taking naps and taking a walk around the park.

Did you know that in Los Angeles it's against the law to lick a toad?

Don't Know What To Write About

Bakersfield, CA

48 deg/ clear, no wind.

Forecast = Clear in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 77F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph shifting to the NW in the afternoon.


Today is one of those days when I really don't know what I'm going to write about. Probably, I should just skip posting, but if things happen as in the past, as I start writing, things just come to mind.

Jim didn't sleep well Sunday night, so he was tired all day yesterday, that is until he took an almost 2 hour nap. : ) After that it seemed like he was doing better cause he went outside for awhile.

Maybe it's because we're in the "city", but for the most part, the people who are here don't seem to be real friendly. Oh, they'll say "Hi" or wave when Jim says something or waves to them, but most of them seem to be on their guard.

I've noticed this before, when we're close or in a highly populated area. : (

My steps didn't get checked out yesterday, but Jim seems to be determined to check them out today. He'll need to raise my front end a little with my jacks so that he can get under me better to see. Hopefully he'll be able to find the problem and won't have to call the repair guy.

CLT took Jim and Linda to a Denny's restaurant near here last night for dinner. Jim had the pot roast and wasn't very impressed. He said that it was OK, but not the best he's had. Linda had the chicken fried steak and said it was good.

After they came back here, they watched TV until the early (10:00 pm), news was over, and then went to bed.

Oh, Jim did work on the trip plan from here to Oregon. He's now working on an alternative route that we could take if the weather doesn't co-operate out on the coast.

I guess that's about it for today. Maybe I'll have something more interesting to write about tomorrow morning. ; )

A Point to Ponder : Goals are dreams with deadlines.

More Trip Plans and Steps Working Now?

Bakersfield, CA.

46 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecasts = Clear. High of 68F. Winds less than 5 mph.


Jim has been refining our trip plan from here up to Portland, Oregon to see Jeff and Heather. (Jeff is Jim's son). 

As you can imagine, seeing Jeff and Heather is the main reason for this whole trip.  The last time Jim and Linda have seen them was when they were out here way back in 2008 and both agree that it's been way too long!!!!!

The trip plan right now, shows us heading North from here, then somewhere North of San Francisco, heading West over to US 101. Then, following it North up through the Northern part of California, into Oregon and all the way up to Astoria, where we'll turn East and head to Portland.

Now, that's the way Jim and Linda would like to go. That doesn't mean that that's the way we will go. A lot will depend on the weather along the coast. In 2008, they were going to come South on 101, but the weather was so bad out there, that they ended up heading inland to I-5, and heading South on it.

The weather right now is not too good out there, but the hope is that by the time we get up there, it will improve. We're actually too early in the year though, so it's hard to tell what it'll be like. : (

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I've never been out there along the coast and I hear it's beautiful, so I'd really like to go.

Jim watched the NASCAR race on TV yesterday. I think he enjoyed the race, but was kind of disappointed in how the last few laps turned out. : ( 

Then, when it was over, he took a nap.  ; )

Oh, I don't think I told you, my electric steps started working again!! There's evidently a bad connection or something and today, Jim's going to try to find out what the problem is. If he can't find out what's wrong, he got a recommendation for a mobile RV repair service from the gal up at the office, and will call them to see if they can come here to the park to find the problem and repair it.

On another note. I received a comment the other day that the park looks empty. Well, lots of people stop here for the night. That photo was taken in early afternoon and the overnighters hadn't come in yet. Usually this part of the park is about 1/2 to 3/4 full by the end of the day, but then clears out in the morning again.

Did you know that Bakersfield is one of the cities with the most number of clear days in the U.S. (averaging 191 days a year)?

Grocery Shopping and Some Rain In Sunny California

Bakersfield, CA.

47 deg. scattered clouds, W. wind @ 4 mph.

Forecast =  Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 63F. Winds from the NW at 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 30 mph. Chance of rain 20%.


Although they were forecasting rain for yesterday, most of the day was just great. The rain didn't move in until the evening, and then it got really nasty with rain and strong winds with gusts around 40 mph. : (

Being that it was so nice earlier, Jim and Linda decided that it was time to find a grocery store and buy some groceries. It had been a long time since they had done any major grocery shopping, so I knew that whey they returned, they'd have lots of stuff.

And, I was right!! Bag after bag after bag!!!!  : (

But, in a short time, they had it all put away, and were relaxing.  : )

Oh, Jim also took some photos of the Park yesterday. I've got a few more than I've posted here today, and I'll post some more of them here soon.

This first one is of the sign you see as you approach the park. If you look closely, you can even see CLT and me.

This next one is of the area where you park as you come into the park and the office.

This is the new area of the park where I'm located. All the sites are pull-through and it's intended for RVs that are staying for a short time, (Less than a month).

This photo, taken from the rear of my site, shows the cement pad I'm parked on, the utility hookups, and the patio area of the site next to me, which is the same as mine.

Like I said yesterday, this is a nice park, however it does have some drawbacks. Probably the one thing that would bother the most folks is that about a block off to my left, there's a railroad track and there are lots of trains running on it. They almost never blow their horns though, but you do hear the trains as they rumble past.

Don't know of any plans today. Jim wants to watch the NASCAR race on TV, but being that we're 3 hours behind the east coast, where the race is being held, the race stuff starts here at 9:30 AM and by 2:00 PM it'll probably be over already.

That's OK though. That way Jim can get his nap this afternoon. ; )

A Point to Ponder : The most important thing about goal is having one.