California – My Side of the Adventure

“AGM” – American Girl Mine Road

Dispersed camping along American Girl Mine Road, better known as “AGM” amongst nomads, is good in the winter. It is about 20 miles west of Yuma (in southern California), so it’s not a good summer destination, unless you’re a snake, lizard, or scorpion.

I helped a little with a “Homes on Wheels Alliance” caravan here (a group camp set up every couple months or so). Except for some wind, we had nice weather. There was a surprising number of wildflowers, which is always of interest to me.

CALIFORNIA. FEBRUARY.

Big River, CA & Bouse, AZ (again)

Although I am not a desert person, since I have to spend each winter in its warmth, I try to look at the positives. Among those are the beautiful light and the clear night skies, illustrated in this photo set.

There is a great deal of dispersed camping in southern California (“Big River” community) just across the Colorado river from Parker, Arizona. Parker is a small town but has most all needed amenities. After I stayed in this area, I headed to Bouse, Arizona, with folks I met at Big River. I had been by Bouse a couple times but had never camped there. One must go there already well-supplied since amenities are few, but the area is beautiful and the hiking opportunities abundant and interesting.

More info in captions.

CALIFORNIA/ARIZONA. DECEMBER/JANUARY.

Travel through (and Celestial Events from) Four States

CALIFORNIA/ARIZONA/NEVADA/UTAH. DECEMBER-APRIL.

After my stay in Tucson, I headed back to the Yuma area and then up to Quartzsite to volunteer for a charity I support, Homes on Wheels Alliance. After that, another stay in Southern California to rest up from the busy volunteer days. Friends invited me to stay at their Nevada home for a while and then it was off to Apple Valley, Utah, to camp with a friend’s group.

My photos from these stays ended up being mostly of weather and celestial events–at least until I got to Utah. It was a pretty part of the state that I had not visited before. After that, I decided to head to Texas for an event I’d been wanting to attend for some years.

(more info in captions)

Lassen Volcanic National Park

First, a few more sights along the way and then back to California to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen is small but packs in a lot of variety and beauty. One day, when I drove into the park from our nearby campground to get a signal, I was very excited to see a cinnamon black bear–a first for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, but took a few shots and video with my phone, both of which are below. The Park features mountains, lakes, wildflowers, mud pots, and snow in July!
Still photo gallery first, followed by a few videos.

Videos:

Smith River NRA/Panther Flat CG

I traveled north from the Redwoods intending to make it out of California sooner rather than later. It ended up that I stopped at Panther Flat Campground in extreme northern California and enjoyed views of turquoise-colored Smith River National Recreation Area along the way. (I just learned something; I thought all NRAs were a part of the National Park System, but this one is National Forest)
The camp host couple at Panther Flat was extremely kind. First, they let me park at the cg entrance for several hours on multiple days so I could get sun for my panels (most sites, including mine, were/are shaded) and then, they stopped on their way out of camp to ask if I needed anything from the store. They later returned with the milk for which I had asked and wouldn’t let me pay them. It had been 10 years since they started hosting and they were retiring right after they trained the new couple (who was camped one site over from me). I’ve met a lot of nice people on the road.
See captions for more info.
Next up: Oregon.

Redwoods SP/NP Area

Certainly, the Redwoods state and national parks and coastal areas are beautiful but unfortunately, my bad California luck continued in a big way here. The memories are still fresh several months later, so I will not choose to record those unfortunate events here since the goal is to ultimately forget what happened. Instead, I’ll only mention the good–and usual beautiful–parts and then we’ll move on. (More info in the photo captions.)

California Travel

This post is about miscellaneous sights as I traveled north through California.

More information in several of the photo captions.

Point Reyes & ff

I suspended my posts a few months ago – possibly from burnout, possibly because at this point, I had multiple, stressful problems with my rig.
After almost losing a trailer wheel, for a time, I was stranded right next to a busy road while I waited on a non-responsive wrecker service to pick up the trailer. When the wrecker finally showed up, the driver was unfortunately rude and chauvinistic. And, the mechanic to which I told him to take my trailer on the weekend would not service the trailer when Monday came. Long story short, a mechanically-knowledgeable nomad friend drove several hours to come fix the problem (replacement of the entire wheel hub). His kindness was deeply appreciated. It was such a relief to get back on the road after all my problems. Mechanical problems are a part of nomad life, of course; however, they can be tough.
There is no doubt California is a beautiful state (I love all the trees and the green), but it doesn’t hold particularly good memories for me because of this and other incidents while there. I will simply have to make some better memories here later.

Bodega Head and Stump Beach, CA

I had forgotten to pull images from my phone, so I’ve included a few more here from Bodega Head, but the majority are from a really nice hike in the Stump Beach area. I highly recommend a visit here–especially in April of the year. Although I didn’t include many photos of them (long story), the wildflowers here were amazing.

I decided to try something different for this post and make a video instead of creating a regular gallery. I’m interested in feedback on video vs still photos. Thanks!

One NV stop / three CA stops on the way to Bodega Bay & Point Reyes NS

I went to meet a friend in California to travel to Bodega Bay. These are sights and adventures along the way (as always, more info in photo captions). (EDIT: forgot I made a short video of what I think were brittlebush blooms. It is at the bottom of this post, below the gallery).