Once Upon a Time on the Left Coast

Today I was at the doctor's getting checked out for injuries I suffered while in Santa Barbara two weeks ago. We had a lot of fun most of the time we were there. We had arrived on Tuesday afternoon, checked into the motel, and Claudette did some laundry before we went exploring. We stayed in the same motel as we did in '07.  After the laundry was done we went down to the beach and drove along until we took a right on State Street.  We were going to the same restaurant we visited five years ago. Susie, that's the name Claudette gave the GPS voice on her phone, guided us there.  It was amazing; we were once again on State Street for market day.  Each Tuesday the city closes two blocks of State to traffic, and farmers and other venders put up their stalls for selling. It was almost a carnival atmosphere with colorful stalls, merchandise, and musicians, as well as scores of slim, tan people with sunglasses, some with bicycles. Such a cocophany of sound and color!  There were, of course, what appeared to be students handing out flyers advocating "throwing off the enslavement by large corporations".

We enjoyed our sandwiches of roast turkey with vegetables served by a slim girl in short shorts and abbreviated t-shirt.  She was slightly pierced and had Mauri inspired tattoos. I had a new beverage, a blackberry juice concentrate with sparkling water in an icy long-necked bottle. The Natural Cafe lived up to my memories, although I don't remember the small birds flying in to pick up the dropped crumbs. After eating and shopping we retired to our motel.

The next day for breakfast Claudette was ecstatic about finding a Sambo's Restaurant. They were a chain when she lived in California many years ago. On the walls hung reproductions of pages from the Little Black Sambo storybook we had as children. The Sambo's in Santa Barbara is the only survivor of the chain. Claudette said the breakfast was not as good as she remembered.  After  breakfast we kicked back in the motel, awaiting the arrival of family members from San Diego.

They joined us in our visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.  It's a a very good museum for a city of ninety thousand. There was an exhibit of Van Gogh to Munch which was quite good.  I was surprised to see so many Monets in the permanent collection. There  was also a photography exhibit depicting California's love affair with the automobile. The Asian exhibit was very interesting also and was predominantly Japanese and Indian. I'm not real sure about the significance of the voluptuousness of the Indian female form. A favorite of mine was a full set of Samurai armor and a collection of  katonas. Many of the swords were short, and there was a collection of guards. Shades of The Last Samurai. 

After about two hours in the museum we ventured over to the Spanish style county courthouse, completed in 1826 and considered one of the most beautiful in America.  Its great halls are decorated with paintings of colonial California. The courthouse and its grounds are often used as a site for weddings and other events. While we were there a graduation exercise was being held.  But there was not  cannon in sight and Saint Barbara is the patron saint of cannoneers. A sign of the times no doubt?

That evening we had dinner at a tapas restaurant, Alcazar.  Although it was located in a strip mall near Highway 101 the food was outstanding. Dates wrapped in bacon and fried are one of my favorites. No one complained about this food. After an enjoyable breakfast the next morning we said goodbye to our family and headed east.

About my tumble. We were returning to the motel and were walking by the pool when I tripped and kissed the sidewalk. The tall brown Brazilian women cavorting by the pool in extremely brief bikinis had NOTHING to do with my fall. And according to the x-rays, I suffered no broken bones.

You Never Know What You'll Find in a RV Park

While we were staying at Lou and George's in the mobile home park for a few day's visit, when our host asked if we wanted to go see their son, John.  "Sure, why not?" we answered.  George drove us to the RV Park about a quarter of a mile away and across the highway from the lake. The first thing I noticed about the RVs was that many of them, if not most of them, were no longer movable. Some had no wheels or had permanent structures attached to them. George stopped the car beside one that looked as though it had been used in the movie, "Independence Day".

We were met by a man in his mid-fifties with medium length gray hair and beard. He smiled, showing crooked teeth and sparkling hazel eyes. "Hi, I'm John," he says in soft Californian.  "Welcome to my castle. Let me show you around." We step into the kitchen of the now immobile motorhome.  To the right there are curtains over the windshield and a female manikin with red hair in the driver's seat.  "That's just Margie," he says.  "I got her when I bought the motorhome after my wife of twenty-six years left me after saying that I was no longer necessary for her pursuit of happiness."

The kitchen is crammed with almost everything except cooking equipment, although there may have been a stove or refrigerator under the tools and computers and model cars. John was quick to point out a Hot Wheels car, The Red Baron, which he said was valued at $1500.  "A friend of mine restores Hot Wheels," he says, "but that destroys the value." Could toy restoration be a new fad on the west coast?

I notice a flat screen TV and ask, "You got cable?"

"No," he says, "let me show you my dish set-up." He leads us out of the motorhome and to the rear where there is more  junk, or perhaps materials to be repurposed.  There was a ten foot tower with a dish antenna atop it. "Built the tower myself," he said, "but I may have to move it.  It depends on how tall the plants grow.  My neighbor has a permit to grow medical marijuana.  The state will let you grow up to 100 plants, and that will take up this whole cleared area." He moved his arm to indicate the area between the RV park and the base of a hill.

"Really?" I ask.

 "Me and some of the guys in the park are gonna help him out with the cultivating and harvesting.  He aint't got no money to pay us, you know, but we'll get paid," he adds with a wink.  "That's the tour, but I know you came to see my boat."

We walked back to the front of the RV where George was talking with a big man whom he quickly introduced as Joe and continues talking. I overheard some electrical terms: amps, watts, discharge, and such as John led us to the ten-foot-long pedal boat sitting on a less the substantial wooden support.  But the rickety support elevated the boat to waist level to make it easier to work on. The faded red and white boat no longer had a paddle wheel or pedals.

"George had sold his boat and had the motor left and it was easy to install. I just put it in where the tiller was. It fit right in. Then we used an old broken paddle for a keel to kinda make it go straight.  When  I got SSI there was a guy in Santa Rosa who had some solar panels for sale and I bought six," John said excitedly as he walked around his creation pointing out various features. "Joe is going to help us hook up the solar panel to charge the battery, he's a retired science teacher and knows electronics."

"When will you get it into the lake?" I asked.

"Sometimes next week, I think.  You gonna be around to see it? I'll take you for a ride."

"No, we'll be back in South Carolina by then," I said.

We said our "goodbyes" in the RV park and were soon on our way through the walnut groves and vineyards in the direction of San Francisco.

Essential Travel Gear

This piece of gear is useful, nay essential, no matter what kind of traveling you do.  It is the headband lamp or head light. Once a part of the miners equipment all over the world a new improved version is now right at home in my travel gear. It's been with me camping throughout the United States and on our travels in Europe. Why do I consider a headlamp a necessity you may ask.  Because I have found them irreplaceable in our travels.

      

          Here are a few  occasions I have found a headlamp helpful. 

1. Unloading gear at a campsite at night.
2. Reading in bed in a motel that doesn't have a good reading light.
3. Finding you way to the bathroom at the end of the hall in an inexpensive hotel in Europe. 
4. Writing or doing drawings when both hands are needed in evening light.
5. Changing a tire on a car or other automotive repairs at night.
6. Cooking in the evening when camping out.
7. Anytime I need light when both hands are being used.

The kind of headlamp you buy will depend on a two factors.  How do you plan to use it and how much are you willing to pay for it. If you are going to use a headlamp the way I do, which is basically for emergencies while traveling, an expensive lamp isn't necessary. Looking at the features will help you decide. For me, I wanted something that was light weight, comfortable to wear and would illuminate an area of about twenty feet. Also, I wanted  the light created by a light emitting diode, LED, rather than a conventional bulb and use regular alkaline batteries. I found exactly what I needed for under $20.

About the features of headlamps.

• Almost all all use LEDs for light source (more dependable and less power required)
• Lumens is the measure of how much light is emitted, the higher the number the more light
• Beam Distance (m.) is the distance the beam reaches and retain usefulness
• Run Time (hours) is how long the lamp will operate on one set of batteries.

Headlamps range in price from $10 to over $500. The more expensive models are designed for more rugged outdoor activity such as mountain climbing or spelunking. There are many places to buy them.  I bought mine at Mast General Store in Greenville, SC. Most major sporting goods stores  have them as well as online retailers such as REI and Campmore.  There are some great info and videos at the REI site. Headlamps by the French company Petzl are featured on their website. With whatever kind of headlamp you purchase don't forget extra batteries. 

Kickin' Back in the Sierra Nevadas

We decided to schedule our trip to Yosemite National Park in the spring before the peak of the tourist season.  It was a good decision.  There was a considerable amount of traffic this early in the season, and there were waiting lines of vehicles to view the popular attractions such as Bridal Veil Falls. However, for those of us with a disdain for crowds, there is a location from which the most popular attractions are visible. Just before the tunnel on Highway 140 there is an overlook from which you can view Bridal Veil waterfall, El Capitan, and The Half Dome.  After a few photos here we continued on to the Wawona Hotel.

The Wawona dates from the 19th century when tourists were delivered by stagecoach. The hotel has 104 rooms and is comprised of several buildings.  Our room was in a building constructed in 1919, and it was small and furnished with period marble topped dresser and night stand.   The two story building had wide wraparound porches with dozens of Adirondack chairs, which were great for relaxing beneath the giant trees.  There was a large common room with tables and chairs and a huge stone fireplace. Since many rooms in this building do not have private baths, including ours, the common bath was well appointed. The main and initial structure for the hotel had all the appearance you would expect of an old hotel of the 19th century: wide full width porches, high ceiling lobby, and posh dining room. We enjoyed our lunch on the front porch.  The cool mountain air had the slight odor of the pines. Claudette had a panini, and I had a smoked turkey with gouda on ciabatta. The food was good and the Stellars Jays provided entertainment. 

Wawona is all about relaxing. There  is a golf course, swimming pool, and tennis court. But we found relaxation in the comfortable chairs beneath the giant trees near the fountain - a great way to pass the time. Later that evening we had dinner in the dining room. There is a quiet serenity as the sun sets in the Sierra Nevada  and long shadows become twilight. It is quiet in the candlelit dining room with only the hushed voices of the diners and the slight tinkle of silverware. The lush lawn and fountain are visible through the huge multi-paned windows as we order our dinner. The  choices are varied with entrees in the twenty-five dollar range.  We made the decision after much deliberation to choose meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli.  When our food arrived we were happy we had opted for the $5.50 fee for splitting the dish.  It was a huge amount of delicious food. I chose pine nut pie for dessert, while Claudette chose her favorite, bread pudding.  It was my first experience with the fruit of the pine tree and must say it was delightful.  But he huge scoop of vanilla ice cream insured my delight.  Claudette’s bread pudding was equally good, she rated it a “10”.

On our way out of the park we stopped by Mariposa Grove.  The parking lot as quite crowded. We walked a marked path through part of this preserved forest of giant sequoia trees.   Many of these trees are over 3,000 years old.  They are truly awesome. 

We followed the signs toward Fresno and our destination of Bakersfield.

The Haunting of Raisin' Hell

RF-8 Crusader

In the town of Atwater,CA, at the abandoned Air Force base, is a good collection of aircraft from WWII and later. At the Castle Air Museum, as you enter the twenty-two acres of display area, immediately visible are the most common planes of World War Two: the B-24, the B-25, the B-29, the B-17, and the AT-6.  These planes were produced in greater numbers than any others. But, this is not why we have come, and we begin our search for that “special” aircraft.  Along the way we see some historic airplanes such as the C-47.  There is an interesting story behind the development of this airplane, affectionately referred to as the “Gooneybird”. When Bill Boeing built an airliner for his airline, American Airlines, the owner of Trans World Airlines, Howard Hughes, asked Boeing to build some for him. Boeing refused, not wanting to supply the competition.  Douglas Aircraft designed and built the DC-3 for Hughes, and Boeing’s plane immediately became obsolete.  This plane became the workhorse as a troop transport during WWII and later in commercial aviation. 

As we wandered among the airplanes I pointed out to Claudette an RF-8 Crusader.  It was the first plane to fly into the projectiles fired from its own cannon. That’s pretty fast!  I recounted to her that late one afternoon aboard the USS Intrepid I had seen a Crusader land so hard the nose wheel was torn off.  There were no injuries, but the aircraft mechanics had a lot of work to do. 

We stopped to take a closer look at a B-47 bomber.  The B-47 was the first jet powered bomber of the U.S. Air Force. After the United States had developed the atomic bomb there needed to b a vehicle to deliver these bombs.  The B-47 was fully capable of delivering tactical nuclear weapons. Actually, it was a little too good at delivering them.  In 1958 a B-47 accidentally dropped an atomic bomb on a small town near Florence, South Carolina.  It created a crater but did not detonate.  There are some good old boys who would say that the Yankees are still trying to get us, but I don’t believe it. 

B-29 "Raisin' Hell"

We finally found the plane we were looking for: the B-29 Superfortress.  But, not just any B-29.  It’s the “Raisin’ Hell”.  It didn’t do anything historic or anything.  Why, it was created from three other damaged B-29s. Why was I interested? I asked the docent,”Tell me about the ghost?”

He responded, “I can’t say anything about that.” 

“Why?” I queried.

The last thing he said was, “No  comment”, as he walked away.  

This is the story.  As the plane was being restored a passerby noticed the green and red navigation lights were operating  on the plane.  When he called the museum he was told that that was impossible...the plane had no electrical power. At another time a mechanic was working in close quarters in the cockpit of the plane and asked the man working with him to hand him  a wrench, which was placed immediately into his hand.  But, when the mechanic  looked a minute later, he saw his work mate outside the aircraft! These incidents have been investigated by paranormal organizations. 

We enjoyed looking at the fifty-four planes and the indoor museum as well. It is a great display of historical American air power. I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder at “Raisin’ Hell” as we left.  What if?

B-36 "Peacemaker"