Bridgeport

We're now camped in site #19 at Paradise Shores RV Park & Marina on Bridgeport Reservoir. We have a view of the mountains in 3 directions, with the reservoir just in front of us. 

Looking north across the reservoir right after a small hail shower moved through.

We left home around 6:00 yesterday morning, and had a pretty uneventful drive to Bishop. We'd considered stopping in Lone Pine, about 50 miles south of Bishop, but Boulder Creek RV Park sits right on the northern edge of Owens Lake, and the wind was whipping pretty hard through the park. So we kept on going, knowing that we'd be a little more sheltered in Bishop.

In Bishop, we stayed last night at Highlands RV Park, and while it was windy, it definitely was as sheltered as we'd hoped. We finished hooking up around 1:30, and by 2:00 Don was fishing his beloved Owens River. I spent the afternoon watching TV and reading; and Don came back around 5:00. Dinner was our traditional chili dogs - something I started about 8 years ago. (Don't ask me why - but it's now a tradition.) We watched some TV and were in bed by 9:00.

This morning both of us were up pretty early again, so we enjoyed taking our time to have our morning coffee together. After breakfast, we hitched up and were on the road north by 9:00. Don was worried about how the truck would perform going up the Sherwin Grade, as well as Deadman's Summit near June Lake and Conway Summit coming out of the Mono Lake valley. He knew the Dodge would have labored, and since the trailer was loaded for the summer, he didn't know how the Titan would do. It did fine!  I thought the Conway Summit would be the hardest, but we just zipped up it with no problems.

11:00 found us settling in to our site in Bridgeport, home for the next week. Don's getting ready to go down the East Walker River, and is planning some float tube fishing on the lake tomorrow if it's not too windy.  Right now it's calm.  I'm trying to decide whether to sew or read.  Tough choices, huh?!

Nasty Head Cold

The night before last I started having a few sniffles, which led me to believe that I was allergic to something in the air. (Normally, when I get a cold, it starts with a sore throat.) After breakfast yesterday morning, I went to a few places in Bishop - the Ben Franklin store for some batting, the Schat.net store for a camera-computer cable, and the Mountain Light Gallery to see Galen Rowell's awe-inspiring photography. By the time I got back to the trailer around noon, I was hoarse and clogged - Don said I really sounded awful. Within a couple of hours, I had a full-blown head cold. Last night was a terrible night - the nose kept running, my eyes were itchy and watery, and I had to keep blowing my nose in order to sleep. I'm sure Don didn't get much sleep listening to me honk and sniff all night. Today he's out at the Owens River again, and I stayed in to rest and try to shake this.


I picked up some generic Dayquil - why do they make those pills so huge? - but this must be the worst day of this cold because it doesn't seem to be helping any.

(Yeah, I know, poor, poor, Cyndi.) As my friend Sandy said last night on facebook, at least the scenery's beautiful! The mountains in the distance in the top photograph are the Sierras, and the ones in the bottom photograph are the White Mountains. Bishop lies in a gorgeous high desert valley in between the two ranges.

Today I pieced together two mini-quilts for some swaps, but since I left all my colored thread at home, I'll have to wait to quilt and bind them. So after I hit "publish" on this post, I'm going to go sit outside and read for a bit - which will probably lead to a nice nap!

Another Quiet Day

Today was basically a repeat of yesterday, though Don stayed a little later at the river than yesterday. Also, I walked to the smoked meats store and bought some of the breakfast sausages I'd mentioned yesterday.

When Don returned from the river, it was too late for a lunch but too early to eat dinner - so while it was cooking, I gave him some homemade bean dip. This recipe is easy - just throw everything in the food processor - and it tastes just like Frito Lay's version.

Bean Dip

1 (15 ounce) can refried beans
5 slices bottled jalapenos (nacho slices)
1 tablespoon brine, from bottled jalapeno slices
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. Combine refried beans with the other ingredients in a food processor.
2. Puree ingredients on high speed until smooth.
3. Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.

Dinner was Chile Colorado and Spanish Rice- one of my favorite meals and so easy to make on the road.

Chile Colorado

1 lb. sirloin, cut in small cubes
2 small potatoes, peeled and cut in small cubes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup water
1 cup burgundy

Toss sirloin and potatoes with salt and oil in a large skillet. Cover and cook over low heat - juices will come out and then cook away as the meat browns. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with chili and chipotle powders; toss to distribute evenly. Sprinkle with flour; toss to distribute evenly. Add water and burgundy; cover and cook over medium-low heat until thickened. Serve with Spanish Rice and flour tortillas.

Spanish Rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup white rice (regular or converted, but NOT instant)
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press
2 cups water
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules or 2 cubes
2 tablespoons chopped peeled tomato (this is where I use canned tomatoes that I’ve frozen individually)
⅓ cup frozen peas or mixed vegetables
black pepper

In a saucepan, sauté rice in oil over medium heat until rice is brown. Add onion and garlic; sauté another minute or so. Add remaining ingredients. Cover; bring to a boil Lower heat and simmer approx. 15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.


I took pictures of the trailer with the snow-covered mountains in the background, but have left the camera-to-computer cable at home. I'll see if I can find a spare tomorrow - I'm going to drop Don off at the river and go shopping in Bishop.

On the (Windy) Road Again

Phantom Ship Island in Crater Lake Crater Lake National Park, Oregon 2009
(NOT where we are now!)

WINDY - as in WIND. We left home at 5:30 and had a nice breakfast at Arthur's in Mentone. (Why are their breakfasts so HUGE? They let me order off the senior menu because it had "smaller" portions - my French Toast plate had 2 thick pieces of French toast, 2 eggs, and 2 pieces of bacon - I didn't even eat it all.) By 6:30 we were on the road north. As soon as we got to Adelanto on the 395, we hit the wind. A system had come into California and was causing winds all through San Bernardino and Inyo Counties. We were heading right into it, so while we weren't ever in much danger of toppling over, it forced us to drive at 55 and below - mostly below. We used up 3/4 tank of gas just from Pearsonville to Bishop.

But we made it, and Don said he felt like he'd been run over by a semi from maintaining control of the truck and trailer for so long. So he took a 2 1/2 hour nap - and still was able to sleep last night.

Dinner was hamburgers and fried potatoes - comfort food. We either have hamburgers or chili dogs on our first night out - it makes it feel like "camping." We had no difficulties setting up the Carryout dome, but had to call DirecTv to get the receiver activated again. We'd replaced that receiver in the living room with a DVR, and told them we'd use the old receiver in our trailer. It was a simple matter of dealing with the overly-friendly computer voice, and it was fixed.

We're staying at Highlands RV in Bishop - it's on the 395 after you make the big left at the Highway 6 turnoff, and it's next to the smoked meats store. If you've never had the smoked meats, you have to try them. Really, really smoked. My favorite is the breakfast sausage - links that are about an inch in diameter and 4 inches long. I haven't seen an unsmoked version of these anywhere. I plan to pick up a few while we're here.

Highlands RV is Don's choice of campgrounds mainly because it's close enough to the fishing on the Owens River. He goes to the campground just below Pleasant Valley Reservoir dam, and has a 4-5 mile stretch that 's open year round. He walks the whole length and loses track of time - sometimes he doesn't come back until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, after leaving at 8 am. One time he forgot to take water, and was nearly sick by the time he got back here.

Highlands is what I call a parking lot campground. It's completely paved; most of the the sites are side-by-side pull-throughs. There's no tenting here - and of course, no grass anywhere to pitch tents if you wanted to. There are a few full-time residents along the far wall and in the back, but this is a clean, well-kept park with nice bathrooms and laundry, free wi-fi, and a friendly manager. It's right on the highway, but you can't hear the highway noise at all. About a mile up the road is the Paiute casino - we've never gone there because we've been too busy doing other things, but we might go this time just to spend a roll or two of nickels.

Right now Don is on the Owens. I did some sewing for a little while, and now I'm catching up on reading blogs, checking email, and tending to Wanderlust.

I'd like to welcome my 4th follower - Margie! Margie works on two blogs - one is Bruce and Margie's Full-Time Journey, and the other is My Healthy Living Through Weight Control. My husband's uncle Bruce, who died 2 years ago, was married to Marge - so these two names just go together in my mind. I plan to visit Margie's second blog a lot, since I need to keep working on being healthy. As I get closer to retirement, I don't want any weight/diabetes-related issues to slow me down.


Last week I did some work in the trailer that I want to share. First, we had taken the doors down to the bedroom - the track for one of them had come loose from the ceiling, and we discovered it was held up only by a few flimsy nails. Stupid designing, in my opinion. We took the doors out before our summer trip last year, and Don didn't like the glare of the sun coming in from the front door when he was taking a nap. So I made some curtains, which we hung on small tension rods. I got the fabric, a heavy duty household fabric, from JoAnn's, and used a large scrap to recover our ottoman/storage cube.

Before






After






Next, I replaced the foam in the cushions on the sofa sleeper. The old cushions were soft and thin, and rested right on the base of the sleeper part of the sofa sleeper. They were horribly uncomfortable. JoAnn had some heavy-duty 5" thick foam, which I cut to the right shape using my electric knife. Since it was impossible to stuff that back into the zippered upholstery, I made some "pillowcases" out of cheap muslin. This made the foam cushions slip right into the upholstery. Don went to the hardware store and got a piece of 1/2" plywood, which he cut to fit underneath the cushions. It's almost too hard now, but a small pillow under my thighs makes the couch a whole lot more comfortable to sit it than before.

Another Day Closer...