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Campervaning in the USA.In the US they are "RV's" (Recreational Vehicles), to the rest of the world "Campervans".
© Copyright not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission of the author. E-mail All photographs ©
SONPS, Safe Overnight
Parking Spots,
or boondocking place. 
Lesser quality SONPS.
"To be fond of learning is near to wisdom." - Confucius
Crossing the border from Oregon there is a plant quarantine station where they inquire if you are carrying any fresh produce. So don't or more likely you'll have to dump it.
Petrol (Gas) is around 20 to 30 cents more per gallon in California than in Oregon, so fill up before crossing the border.
Following US101 south to Crescent City we found the Wal-Mart in Washington Boulevard, off US101, after noticing that the old Big K-Mart store was closed and abandoned, and deducing that there had to be a Wal-Mart in town to have caused its demise.
Signs in the Wal-Mart carpark indicated a city ordinance prohibited overnight
parking, but at 5 PM four other RV's were looking set for the night, and inquiries
with the management revealed that they had no objection to overnight parking,
and that many people did, and the city ordinance was routinely disregarded and
never enforced. So although I have seen the Crescent City Wal-Mart listed on
the Internet as one that does not permit overnight parking, it isn't so.
It is not usually Wal-Mart that posts the restrictions, but local government, and often they make these dumb regulations but then don't enforce them, so often you can still park overnight despite what the stupid signs say.
My advice is to check with the management in any case where restrictive signs are posted in a Wal-Mart carpark. Official company policy is to allow RVs to park overnight, and in this case and also in Henderson Nevada, we have found that the city ordinance is seldom, if ever, enforced, and Wal-Mart management want you to stay. That does not mean they want you to camp in the carpark for a month! Don't abuse the hospitality.
9/7/2002
Tuesday, Crescent City, CA. 
Seven other RVs shared the Wal-Mart car park with us, reinforcing my point that
restrictive signs should not be taken at face value. We were undisturbed. Wal-Marts
provide a safe convenient stopover on many towns. Best of all it is FREE and
the company welcomes you.
We
filled with propane for $1.65 a gallon at a Suburban brand dealer in Crescent
City. The last time we bought propane in Helena Montana it was $1.09 a gallon.
It seems that some dealers are selling at retail prices and others at their
wholesale price, as we have had to pay from $1.09 to $1.88 and these variations
can not be due to transport costs or variations in the commodity wholesale price.
It seems the only way to get a good price is to inquire whenever you see a dealer,
as the ones with the best prices, who are prepared to sell to RVs at wholesale
price don't seem to advertise, and those who post a price, as the last one did,
are looking to retail to RVs. At least we also got free water from the bastards.
"Amerigas" dealers seem to offer the best prices fairly consistently, "Suburban" dealers generally try to charge full retail or sometimes even more.
South of Crescent City and US101 follows the coast through the famous California Redwood forests. There are numerous roadside SONPS and some old road sections as well as a rest area near Lagoon Beach where we boondocked overnight with one other RV joining us.
A giant Redwood dwarfs Sharon and our RV parked alongside. These trees can weigh up to 1,200 tons.
10/7/2002
Wednesday, Lagoon Beach US101, CA. 
From a warm sunny day yesterday where inland temperatures were over 100°F,
today is cold, clouded and fog shrouds the beaches and forest. The weather is
particularly variable in the US. We travelled south on US101 through the redwood
forests State and National Parks and taking the Newton B Dury Scenic Parkway,
which bypasses a section of US101 and passes through some of the best stands
of old growth redwood forest. We stopped for lunch at the imaginatively named
Big Tree wayside park where a series of short trails explores some particularly
fine redwood groves.
1500 years old, 6.6 Meters in diameter and 92.6 M high, the Big Tree.©
As you come further south into California US101 changes from a
two lane road with little traffic to a four lane busy freeway. Just south of
the Redwood NP headquarters there is an area alongside US101 next to the beach
where RVs park that is a fee area, and dozens were parked there. It is one of
the least appealing places to stop along the road and to have to pay a fee to
do so is absurd when there are are better free boondocks a little further south.
After leaving the Redwood National Park area there are numerous roadside boondocking
spots and just north of McKinleyville further off the highway along a
side road giving beach access, there were a number of RVs and tents camped among
dunes that appeared to be a good SONPS.
At Arcata we turned east onto CA299 heading for Redding
and the Lassen Volcanic National Park. CA299 climbs over the coastal
mountains and the climate changed rapidly from the cool coastal foggy conditions
to a hot sunny afternoon.
There are numerous SONPS along CA299 and we eventually stopped for the night
just over the coastal range west of the Redwood Creek bridge. The
road proved to be much busier than we had expected with some traffic all night
and you would be better off seeking a SONPS further off the road to avoid traffic
noise.
If you want to include the west coast in your US campervan itinerary, combine Mt.Rainier and Mt.St.Helens in Washington and the Redwood forests of northern California.
11/7/2002 Thursday, CA299 west of Redwood Creek. Proceeding
east to Willow Creek we picked up some maps and tourist information at
the small information center. Petrol here was $2.00 a gallon, so remember it
pays to fill where its cheaper, we last paid $1..38 in Oregon, so the higher
state taxes, and the exorbitant small town markups you find in the US really
make a difference. We expect fuel to be cheaper in Redding which is
on an interstate freeway. We checked out the small StVincent DePaul shop for
any good secondhand clothing bargains, couldn't find any, but they had a box
of free books from which I selected a few titles. One seldom needs to pay more
than a few cents for second hand books these days, and they come in handy with
the deteriorating quality of TV, and we have never wasted money on hiring video
tapes, preferring the greater intellectual pleasure of reading. Knowledge is
power, and you save money too.
A few miles east of Willow Creek there is an isolated Mexican restaurant
on the RHS, called The Whole Enchilada, and opposite a track leads towards
the river and an excellent shaded flat boondocking spot, well off the noisy
CA299 highway. You can't get access to the river as it runs in a small canyon
and it is about 100 feet below the SONPS.
A few miles further
east of Willow Creek on CA299 is an excellent rest area with shaded parking,
picnic tables, toilets, free RV dump station and potable
water at a hose tap. California posts a regulation at rest areas
limiting parking to 8 hours, but who's counting. It seems to be just a means
of stopping people from taking up residence in rest areas, and as in Washington
state, where they post the same rule, you are most unlikely to be hassled if
you stop the night. The day was very hot, 115°F in Redding, and after
lunch we decided to stay in the rest area for most of the day as we had an area
with full day long shade, and continue driving in the evening.
CA299 follows
the Trinity River and passes several small hamlets as you head east toward
Redding. There are a number of NF campgrounds that charge $10 a night
for just a primitive site, as well as some river access points with rough 4WD
tracks down to the river. Spacious pull out areas are all along and finding
a roadside overnight SONPS is easy along this road, although you are better
off if you can get well off the road due to the noise of occasional heavy trucks
throughout the night. We eventually boondocked at a side road loop near an unoccupied
NF Skunk Point group campsite. In the morning we both went for a swim in the
river before hitting the road. It is a picturesque drive and the road though
hilly and winding is very good.
America awakes to the world - maybe?
Watching American TV again last night provided further reinforcement of some of the comments that I have made about Americans, their widespread ignorance of world affairs, and the changing tone of some sections of the media, particularly PBS, on covering the Arab Israeli conflict, and beginning to show Americans why their country is so unpopular in many areas of the world.
"The News Hour", with Jim Lehrer, was reporting on how since Sept 11 American news papers and TV are reopening foreign bureaus and sending far more correspondents abroad. They openly discussed the ignorance of the average American of foreign affairs, indicating that the reason was, according to surveys, that most Americans said they simply didn't understand it, so took no interest. According to the reports the only sectors of American society that tended to follow international affairs were college graduates and the elderly.
They are even showing interviews with Arabs discussing why there is such concern over American government policy, and why it has inspired such hatred abroad, particularly the middle east. What does it mean, are the Americans actually going to moderate their troublesome attitudes? You can feel almost guilty for being critical of your hoist when you are a tourist like me, but then I'm seeing that what I have been saying, has been right all along, and America is starting to openly talk about it in sections of the media too.
To provide a broader view American public television is now carrying the BBC world news. Does it reflect a real change of government policy, and perhaps a more balanced view than the pro Israeli propaganda of the money power dominated big network TV, or is it just a few thinking and concerned Americans seizing on the awakened mood of the masses after Sept 11 to try and force some change through public education while the mood is receptive.
As I have said before, It is a tragic paradox that the worlds most powerful and meddlesome nation has had such a generally ignorant populace concerning foreign affairs and foreign policy. Hence the phenomena that policy has been set by a vocal and wealthy minority, with a disproportionate Jewish influence, supported by ignorant mass patriotism, as distinct from an informed democratic support for popular and widely understood policies. That ignorance, unique to the US in its extent among "first world" countries with almost universally literate populations, can only have been a deliberately socially engineered phenomena, designed to facilitate minority dominance and thus making a mockery of true democracy, reducing it to a charade of four yearly pantomimes.
If the mood of the masses has been awakened by Sept 11, to seek, and be more receptive to information about the outside world, and independent views on the role their country plays in it, this can only be positive for the resurgence of some genuine US democracy.
Knowledge is power, and true democracy can not be exercised in ignorance of the issues. That has been the case with US foreign policy, allowing it to be dominated by powerful minority interests, and now some Americans at least are openly discussing it.
12/7/2002 Friday, CA299, east of Big Bar, CA .
There are many small NF campgrounds along CA299 and around the several large
lakes north of the highway. All charge fees of $10 to $11 a day for very basic
facilities. We decided to explore around Trinity Dam where one publication
indicated you could camp almost anywhere, and turned off CA299 at Weaverville
to CA3 thence the minor road via Trinity Dam to Lewiston. There
are plenty of roadside SONPS for an overnight stop, but none that you would
want to spend any significant amount of time at. Along these sections of the
lake there was nowhere to camp apart from fee area NF campgrounds, many of which
were very sparsely occupied. While this area no doubt has some appeal to the
domestic tourist, it is little different to any lakeside environment anywhere
else, and hence of no particular attraction to the international tourist.
A long lunchtime stop on a short side road to the river west of Whisky Town enabled us to have another river swim to cool off in the quite oppressively hot conditions. Being visible from the road we soon had a visit from a park ranger, who wanted to know if we had plans to camp there, to tell us we couldn't, but day use was OK. The area is what they term a National Recreation Area, what seems to me to be a sort of low grade National Park, often around dams where people can camp or engage in water sports, for a fee of course. The areas usually have no particular outstanding features that would qualify them for National Park status, but provide recreational opportunities for the masses. None of the NF camping areas are worth paying to stay at in my opinion, and there are plenty of free ones further back in along the forest roads, and you should just pass through as quickly as possible, if you come here at all.
We proceeded on to Redding having spent two nights along a section of 135 miles of pleasant driving, mainly because it has been so hot that we preferred to rest in the shade rather than travel. The climate here is very extreme ranging from bitterly cold winters to unpleasantly hot summers for a couple of months. Here we soon found the Wal-Mart, a rather old and relatively small one with inadequate parking, the only one we have found so far that didn't have ample.
There is also nearby a WinCo Foods Supermarket, which we last saw in Vancouver WA, and which in our opinion is the best supermarket chain in the USA, even surpassing Wal-Mart's Supercenters, partly because of the excellent range of cheap bulk foods on sale, but overall by far the best value too. Unfortunately they are still limited to a small area of the north west on the USA in Washington, Oregon and Northern California and Nevada.
As expected petrol was much cheaper in Redding than anywhere else we have seen so far in California, down to $1.50 a gallon.
13/7/2002 Saturday, Redding CA. Heading
east on CA44 to Lassen Volcanic NP we climbed out of the oppressively
hot Sacramento Valley to around 4000 feet and a more moderate climate at this
time of year. Look for the excellent rest area perhaps half way to the NP, which
despite the no camping signs would make a fine quiet SONPS. In fact there are
many roads into the forest with no gates so SONPS are plentiful along CA44.
We stopped at a yard sale held by the local fire brigade near Shingletown, couldn't find any suitable clothing unfortunately, Sharon noted most of it was huge, remember the 80%, but I picked up a couple of hard cover books for 25 cents each. A novel "An Indecent Obsession", by Colleen McCulloch", Australian author, and an interesting analysis of the mental health system in the USA, comparing it to the Inquisition's persecution of medieval witchcraft, "The Manufacture of Madness", by Thomas S. Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Syaracuse.
You see I do have eclectic tastes, and being both an Orthodox Iconoclast and a Foundation Life Fellow of the Royal Crapological Society, I need to keep abreast of a diverse range of views, so that I am able to pontificate on broad issues, whilst maintaining a modicum of plausibility.
The Lassen Volcanic NP has no actual entrance station where CA44 enters the park, just an information station. The park is also surrounded by National Forest, where there is a mixture of developed campgrounds, read FEE areas $14 a night here, and so called undeveloped campsites that are free. Naturally the easiest to find are FEE areas, along the main roads, but if you call at any ranger station they will give you free maps showing where the FREE campsites are too.
The real piece of knowledge is that you can camp free in any National Forest for 14 days, anywhere you like, as long as you don't drive off established roads or on to ground that has not previously been driven on. So anywhere alongside any creek or road, or where anyone has previously camped and flattened the grass, you can camp FREE. I have confirmed this from the National Forest regulations on their Internet site, and by inquiry at several ranger stations.
We
first headed North East to Old Station and the Subway Cave a 1,300
feet long lava tube where you can walk through free, or take a ranger guided
free tour at 11AM on Friday, Saturday or Sunday in the summer season. An interesting
and unusual geological formation. Open May-October. Located 1/4 mile North of
the junction of CA44 and CA89, opposite the NF Cave Campground.
Inside the lava tube, Subway Cave, Lassen Volcanic NP, CA.
The ranger at the nearby NF information center provided us with free maps and
advice on where to find free campsites, and we proceeded several miles back
along CA44 to the road to the Big Pine campsite, past the camp and along
the creek, where we decided to stop for a by now late lunch, and to spend a
couple of days. A number of people were camped along the creek and we eventually
decided on a fairly well shaded spot perhaps 150 feet from a caravan where no
one was about.
We had only set up our awning when along came a couple of people, the woman announced, without in any way introducing herself, "I need to talk to you. You can't camp here". She proceeded to tell Sharon we were too close to another camp, the caravan where nobody was home and which was about 150 feet away, and that we must move. I missed all this, being inside Bounder. She said she was "from the National Forest", and had a NF arm badge.
When
Sharon told me she had been told we had to move, I was rather incredulous. I
had checked the NF regulations on the Internet, and this sounded like nonsense
to me. I said we just got here, we are overdue for lunch, let's eat then worry
about it. A half hour later up comes a NF ranger truck, and the Ranger gets
out to talk to us. Sharon starts on at him that OK, OK, we are going to move,
before he can get a word out. When he finally does get a word in he says, "I
just came to tell you you can stay here, the volunteers were mistaken".
So the officious female who seemed to have been a reject from the Gestapo and
took on being a NF volunteer, so she could be miss bossy boots, was talking
complete nonsense. I'd told Sharon something like this was most probably the
cause of the incident. So miss bossy boots had also taken the trouble to report
us to the real ranger, only to be told she was completely wrong and there is
no regulation to prevent us from staying where we had chosen.
The FREE campsite beside Hat Creek, Lassen National Forest, CA. ©
14/7/2002 Sunday, Hat Creek, NF road 32N13, Lassen National
Forest, CA. A
day by the creek, a walk in the morning, time to do what you like, and bathe
in the creek during the hot afternoon. Lots of RVs, caravans and tent campers
are at shaded sites scattered along the creek, but are not at all crowded together,
all enjoying the free camping offered in the National Forest.
15/7/2002
Monday, Hat Creek, NF road 32N13, Lassen National Forest, CA. There
are fish in this little creek. We don't have any fishing gear with us, but we
have seen them caught just outside our RV by others. Nice Trout too.
Most of the campers were weekenders and have left so there is a wide choice of good campsites. This is the middle of summer, but like everywhere else, you just have to look beyond the obvious to find uncrowded idyllic spots for FREE!
There are Trout in Hat Creek. We actually saw some caught, in the swimming hole I'd dammed off with rocks the day before.
16/7/2002 Tuesday, Hat Creek, NF road 32N13, Lassen National
Forest, CA. Another
day, another Trout, we wish we'd brought some fishing gear. Sharon will be out
with her bent pin and string if they keep catching them outside our front door.
It's driving her nuts!
Well American TV continues to provide interesting news for the foreign observer. Today President Bush announces the long expected formation of the new Homeland Security Agency, to coordinate the activities of all existing government agencies in the so called "war on terrorism". He speaks as if further acts of terrorism are practically a certainty, and the media follow the same line. It seems that they want to maintain a heightened state of phobia in the populace. There is talk of vast expense to combat terrorism, the necessary curtailment of unspecified liberties, and the need to keep the nation safe for the American people.
Very seldom does any one ask, why there may be such future acts of terrorism, with what motivation, for to do so would be to open the Pandora's box to the realization that the most effective thing that could be done would be to modify those elements of US foreign policy that are the driving forces behind the extremist hatred of America. Media commentators talk of weapons of mass destruction, smallpox, and anthrax outbreaks, to keep the public in a state of terror. The implicit assumption is that madness is loose in the world, and no further consideration of causative issues is required.
If Islamic extremists really were behind the events of Sept 11th, and the Americans claim to have more evidence that they were, but strangely still won't release it for the world to see, there is an ongoing refusal to even discuss sufficiently what were the underlying issues that brought the attack about. The terrorists are simply branded as madmen, for it is simpler for the populace to accept that the act was one of madness, than one arising from some dispute, no matter how remote or intangible to the average American, to which America is even indirectly a party. * If the act were allowed to be seen as anything other than that of insane fanatics, it would begin to admit of some discussion as to the grievances and issues underlying them, and the possibility that there could be some method of resolution apart from the military one, which has always been America's response to problems, despite its rhetoric about being a peaceful defender of democracy. * Actually it isn't that hard to grasp the problem, it's called US Imperialism.
President Bush's explanation of the motives of the terrorists. "They hate our freedom". A mad explanation for the acts of madmen.
Wise men in history have indicated that in such cases it is relevant to shed some light on the matter, to ask. Who benefits?
If you want to understand the real nature of the terrorism problem, read British writer and hisoriuan Tarik Ali's book, available at Amazon.com (Yes its GWB on the cover, in Mullah's garb. Suits him don't you think?)
17/7/2002 Wednesday, Hat Creek, NF road 32N13, Lassen National
Forest, CA.
Enough
rest and we move on back to Lassen NP and south through the park on CA 89. It
is not a major NP, perhaps that's why they only charge $10 admission if you
don't have a NP pass. Although there is a small geothermal area, which would
be of more interest if you hadn't just seen Yellowstone NP, and there are areas
devastated by a major volcanic eruption in 1915, they are not very spectacular
compared to Mt. St.Helens. Most of the cars in the car parks were from California,
confirming that this is mainly a local tourism destination, not even of great
interest to Americans from other parts of the country. We drove on through stopping
only to admire a couple of views and walk the devastated area interpretative
trail.
Mt.Lassen from the devastated area.©
If you weren't going to Yellowstone NP on your RV tour of the USA (which would be a major error of omission) the geothermal area at Bumpass Hell and the Sulfur Works would be worth seeing, but overall Lassen is not particularly spectacular. We enjoyed the lava tube and camping by a creek in the surrounding forest more than the park itself.
After the southern entrance of the NP CA89 again passes through National Forest where there are ample boondocking spots, so you don't need to stay in the park's fee area campgrounds.
We followed CA89 along the south shore of Lake Almanor stopping for lunch at a rest area at the corner of Hunbug Road and CA89 in West Lake Almanor where there is a large campground described as an overflow campground with a fee of $8. Not very appealing as it is dusty and dry, better to boondock.
Along CA89 overnight SONPS or boondocking spots are plentiful. South west of
Crescent Mills there is a good shaded SONPS on the LHS just before the
bridge over Indian Creek, down a dirt track to a small very well shaded
rough parking lot, where locals park to walk down to the creek for swimming.
Further along CA89 we turned on to CA70, heading across to Reno intending to later follow US395 south to Yosemite NP and cross back over the mountains from east to west to later visit King's Canyon and Sequoia NPs.
A short way from the intersection of CA89 and CA70, immediately before the signed
"Historic Spanish Creek Bridge, 1932", a wide bitumen road
on the RHS leads down to Spanish Creek NF campground. There is no sign
on the highway indicating the campground. This is a FREE NF campground which
has paved roads and well shaded individual sites, picnic tables, BBQs and portable
toilets (that look suspiciously like Roto Rooters!). It is on the banks of Spanish
Creek with a good swimming hole. You can stay free for 14 days. It is unusually
well developed for a free campground, perhaps the reason could be the proximity
to the Union Pacific railroad main line which snakes around the hills above
the campground on the other side of the river. It is a tight curve and the wheels
of passing trains make a loud screeching sound as they round the bend. Only
two trains were heard during the night, although many pass during the day. Other
than that it is a very quiet pleasant and well set out campsite, much better
than many that charge a fee. We enjoyed a refreshing dip in the river as the
afternoon was very hot.
Free campground at Spanish Creek, CA. You don't have to pay for a nice camp. ©
18/7/2002 Thursday, Spanish Creek NF Campground on CA70, CA.
Another day of reading, writing and swimming in the creek.
19/7/2002 Friday, Spanish Creek NF Campground on CA70, CA.
We
headed east along CA70 towards US395 and Reno, a mini Las Vegas, with
less to offer in the way of variety of synthetic entertainment. If you should
want to stay there the Peppermill Casino allows RVs to stay in the south
carpark. We checked it out and stopped for morning tea, just to confirm the
report we had originally obtained from the Internet.
WinCo Foods have a branch in Reno on South Virginia street, and again we stocked up. They are by far the cheapest and best supermarket chain in the US, and they are owned by the staff. The excellent range of bulk foods is sold at prices reflecting actual cost plus profit margin, not screwing the consumer for as much as the market will bear, or pricing the bulk goods higher than packaged similar goods. They don't take credit or debit cards, only cash or cheque, to cut costs and avoid paying bank fees. A great company worthy of your support, and you'll save heaps of money too. They have around 30 stores, pity it wasn't more.
While petrol (gas) is cheaper in Nevada than in California, Reno prices are around 10 cents a gallon higher than in Carson City.
We stopped at the Wal-Mart in Carson City to inquire if they allowed RVs to park overnight, because an Internet report indicated that they didn't. The manager informed me that Wal-Mart don't mind but Carson City has an ordinance prohibiting it and occasionally the local police will hassle RVs staying the night. So it's the usual picture, if there is a problem with overnight parking it is due to local government rules, not Wal-Mart.
The manager then advised me the a new Wal-Mart supercenter was almost finished
being built a mile or two further south along US395 which was outside the city
limit and that we were welcome to stay there, which we did. The new Wal-Mart
also has a gas station with unleaded petrol for $1.39 the cheapest we have seen
in Nevada.
The Nugget Casino in Carson City also has an RV parking area, where you
can stay overnight in the center of town, where strangely the city ordinance
doesn't seem to be a problem.
20/7/2002 Saturday, Carson City, NV The
route via Nevada south and back into California to Yosemite NP is not
a very scenic one, and neither Reno or Carson City have much to recommend them
to the international tourist. We feel our tour is coming rapidly to its conclusion
in a few weeks when we have seen the last of the big national parks in California,
and will be looking for a suitable place to sell Bounder by auction on Ebay
on the Internet. It is just more rivers and mountains and dumpy towns and quite
frankly I am getting bored to death with the USA. If you are ever tempted to
do a tour and consider Europe as an alternative, go to Europe. It is 100 times
more interesting and culturally diverse than the west of the USA. You can see
the, the canyonlands and the Grand Canyon the really different parts of the
west, known as the golden circle around Utah in a month, that and another couple
of weeks for the Tetons and Yellowstone is it, and the rest is really not of
outstanding interest.
From Carson City south along US395 is boring country until
you cross into California. There are a few places where the road runs beside
a river where you can get access, but no nice campsites. The best place is a
NF river access day use area on US395 on the West Walker River, which
has shade, toilets, BBQs, tables and good river access. It's called a day use
area, but there are no signs about parking overnight, and if nobody bothers
to hassle you out, would make an excellent SONPS.
Around Mono Lake there are no good boondocks and there are few good places to camp, unless you have a 4WD and follow several rough tracks which might lead to a reasonable boondock..
Back in California we turned on to CA120 at Lee Vining a nondescript dump where they charge $2.19 a gallon for petrol, which is $1.39 back in Carson City, only a couple of hours drive away. We didn't need any. Always avoid ever having to fill up in small towns near tourist areas, the price gouging is horrendous, so let the greedy profiteering bastards starve to death, and never buy anything in their crappy little tourist traps. Even allowing for the higher tax on petrol in California the price is exploitative.
At Lee Vining we turned west on to CA120 which has not many good SONPS except for some crappy undeveloped campsites operated by the Mono County, where they want you to pay $8 a night for nothing, no better than any free BLM or NF site.
After stopping at one of the $8 campsites for dinner we decided we wouldn't
pay to stay, as the place was infested with mosquitoes, and the sites weren't
even reasonably level, and we drove further along CA120 which begins to climb
steeply toward Yosemite NP and boondocked in a roadside viewpoint. The road
was very quiet during the night and we were undisturbed. There are many wide
viewing areas, the only difficulty is to find one which is reasonably level
to park on. The best seem to be in the last couple of miles before the NP entrance.
21/7/2002 Sunday, Along CA120, near West entrance to Yosemite
NP, CA. As
we drove closer to the Yosemite NP entrance we observed several NF campgrounds
with full signs outside. There were also a number of RVs boondocking at other
view points, and any available flat ground. A good place appears to be near
an old building just past the dam a mile or two from the NP entrance station.
Campgrounds in Yosemite NP charge from $8 to $18 a night and are booked out in the summer so don't count on using them at all, plan to boondock just outside the park in the surrounding national Forests.
There
is an RV dump with potable water near the Tuolumne Meadows visitor center,
signed just off the main road. Petrol is $2.03 a gallon at the store, almost
as bad as Lee Vining. Rock climbing is popular on the dome like mountains along
the Tioga Pass Road and there are a number of hikes to lakes among the road.
At this time of year Yosemite NP is very busy, literally crawling with tourists,
the roads are busy, the viewpoints packed, campgrounds full all the time. There
is a very short season here as the road is often closed by snow until early
July. This is not like a National Park in Australia where visitor numbers are
much less, and I found it detracted from the serenity of the place to have such
large numbers of people around.
Crowded carparks at any popular viewing point. People swarm everywhere in US National Parks in July and August. Olmstead Point on the Tioga Pass Rd, Yosemite NP, CA. ©
We visited the Giant Sequoias which are a related species to the coastal California Redwoods, but are even larger, growing up to 6,000 tons in weight and living for almost 3,000 years. The Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias was to us the most interesting and unique feature along the Tioga Pass road. It is about a 2 mile round trip hike into the heart of the grove of giant trees. This makes them fare more accessible than the Mariposa Grove at the southern entrance to the park, which is perhaps even more highly visited.
As the campgrounds were full, and we wouldn't pay $18 even if they weren't full.
We left the NP at the western Big Oak Flat entrance on CA120 and only a mile
from the NP entrance, in the Stanislaus National Forest, just a little past
the Evergreen Road, at the 55 MPH sign, found a forest road on the RHS where
the gate was open, and it led to several excellent well shaded flat boondocking
spots, and we spent a very quiet night at one. The road goes on for some distance
and we explored a mile or so to see if there was a creek. We found none although
the road is good and we could have gone further if we wished.
Boondocking in Stanislaus NF, near Yosemite NP, CA. ©
22/7/2002
Monday, Stanislaus NF, CA. We
returned to Yosemite NP along CA120 and headed for the Yosemite Valley,
the heart of the park and where the most famous scenery is to be found. The
roads in the park are often old and narrow and in places in atrocious condition,
with rough surfaces, potholes and badly broken edges. In addition although there
are 25 to 45 MPH speed limits a lot of drivers travel far too fast for safety,
and there seems to be no enforcement. The park newspaper refers to a $4 billion
backlog of capital works in the US National Park system due to government under
funding, and it shows. This is another of the top ten US National Parks, and
it's condition reflects neglect. How much better if the US government spent
more on these assets and saved on the new Homeland Security farce that will
do nothing to stop any isolated random acts of terrorism, because there just
isn't any way to do that, and it's all a piece of theater for the populace.
El Capitan, 3000 foot tall rock face in Yosemite Valley. Climbers take 5-7 days to scale the cliffs. ©
If we thought the Tioga pass section of Yosemite NP was busy, then the valley is literally crawling with the great proletarian masses, and this is a Monday, not a weekend. To me there is no doubt that the National Park experience is diminished by the presence of too many people. It's more like visiting a theme park than a national park. Praise be to Allah that so far Australia has not become so overpopulated. But it won't be long, with all the immigrants that praise Allah that we have imported, and who breed like rabbits, before we suffer the same fate. Why is it so? Because companies can make more money with more people, so they pressure the government to bring in more rabbit people.
This
is a very scenic area, huge 3,000 foot towering cliffs overshadow the valley,
populated with the remnants of the Giant Sequoias, that seem to be doing OK
again, with lots of young ones that hopefully will still be growing in the year
4,002. They have a half baked shuttle bus system operating that is inadequate
in some respects. Inadequate numbers of busses, no marked routes on the NP maps,
lack of clear indication as to where stops are or where each buss is going,
and excessive waiting times. Whoever is running it needs some instruction from
the folks at Zion NP as they know how to run a shuttle bus service really efficiently.
The Yosemite Valley, from Glacier Point. Yosemite NP. CA.©
There
are a number of waterfalls in Yosemite NP. The most easily accessible the Lower
Yosemite Falls, close to the valley visitor center may be quite spectacular
when there was more water coming over, but at this time of year with only modest
flows, despite their great height, are not so spectacular as to justify all
the hype about them. The Nevada Falls which are only accessible by a
longer hike (and are also visible at a distance from Glacier Point are
far larger and would be well worth visiting
.
The Indian Museum, free admission at Yosemite Valley NP visitors center. Interesting artifacts and history. The costume isn't very authentic,but he tells a good story.©
We left the park by the western El Portal entrance to find a place to
boondock along CA140 and the Merced River, close to the NP as we intend
to return tomorrow to visit the southern part of the park. There are numerous
no parking signs along the road but a mile or so past El Portal there is a wide
open area that has been used for road construction material. We stopped there
for the night. There was little traffic and we were undisturbed.
23/7/2002 Tuesday, CA140 West of El Portal, CA.
Leaving before breakfast we drove back into the NP and took the road to Glacier
point overlooking the Yosemite valley. In sections it is just as bad as the
valley roads. The views into the valley are very clouded with haze and probably
also with air pollution from the large amount of motor traffic. Photography
would be better from Glacier Point later in the day when the sun illuminates
the valley more completely. We decided to wait until lunch time and walk back
to Glacier point, and we were rewarded by much clearer views of the spectacular
scenery. Other than climbing Half Dome this is probably the best view
available of the Yosemite valley, and the surrounding mountain ranges with some
peaks over 13,000 feet high, and you can drive to within a few hundred yards
of the view points.
Across the valley can be seen Nevada and Vernal Falls which at this time of year had vastly more flow than the Yosemite Falls.
As we were leaving the NP by the southern entrance we called at the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. RV's over 23 feet and cars towing trailers are not allowed on the 2 mile road to the trailhead between 9AM and 4PM. There is a shuttle bus, but we don't have details. From the end of the road you can walk into to some of the big trees within about a mile, but the round trip to take in all is around 7 miles. An overpriced tram takes tourists around for $11.00 a head on a rather rushed tour that takes about 50 minutes and operates once an hour. Better to walk and get the exercise and save the money. You only need to walk about two miles round trip to see some of the biggest trees anyway. If you have seen one of the other groves and are short of time there isn't much point in going to more than one. We preferred the setting of the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias which is off the Tioga Road near the north west entrance to the NP.
Some of the trees in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Yosemite NP. CA. ©
Leaving the park south on CA41, after some miles we fond a side road in the
National Forest leading to a motorcycle sport staging area where free camping
for 14 days is allowed. Look for the sign to Lone Sequoia Staging Area
on the RHS going south, 2.2 miles down a fairly good winding gravel road, OK
for medium sized RVs. The campsite is dry and has only one really level site,
has a toilet and stone fire place, and mosquitoes. Only an overnight stopping
point, but free.
24//2002 Wednesday, Lone Sequoia Camp, Sequoia NF, CA. We
followed CA41 south to Fresno the temperature rising as the elevation
dropped. By mid afternoon it was 105°F in the shade, if you could find any.
This area of California has a very extreme climate and one is puzzled as to
the best time to visit. Because of the high elevations some of the mountain
passes don't open until June or July, by which time it can be unpleasantly hot
in the valley below. While Yosemite NP does have some spectacular scenery we
noted from the car registrations that most of the visitors were from California,
unlike the NP's in Utah which draw a much wider cross section of interstate
tourism.
Fresno is a city of almost half a million and has a wide selection of
shops, while still not being too big to be easily navigable in an RV in most
areas. Wal-Mart's car park provided the usual overnight hospitality.
We discovered that the best place to get a free phone line for connecting your computer to the Internet is at a chain of shops called Kinko's that provide copy and computer printing services. They have over 1,100 locations in the US and we have only just discovered them. There is a local Ethernet connection available at some Kinko's shops and if your computer is equipped for this type of connection, you can connect direct to the Internet without having to have your own ISP and dial up account.
They will also allow you to connect your own laptop to a phone line and make local calls to your ISP for free. Local calls are generally not charged in the US. They hope you will use their printing services to print out copies of documents, but if all you want to do is download and upload files, collect e-mail or browse the Internet, it doesn't cost anything. They are open 24 hours a day and seem happy to let you use one of their plug in points for as long as you want. They have a free location directory booklet. WE have found that most public libraries do not have phone lines available for you to connect your laptop, and often there is a long wait to use one of their computers to get e-mail, and of course you are very limited with what you can do downloading and uploading. Kinko's solves all those problems, and the service is free, as long as you don't use their scanning or printing services.
You can have an ISP like AOL (America on Line, $23.95 a month unlimited time, or $4.95 a month for 3 hours plus $2.50 and hour would suit a traveller) that has nationwide local access numbers, as you can't make long distance calls from Kinko's. However if your computer has a LAN port you don't need an AOL account, just use Kinko's LAN. Unfortunately not all Kinko's shops have a LAN port connection available.
AOL also have a 1-800 number which you can call free from anywhere in the USA, (such as Flying J truck stops where they have some tables in their restaurants equipped with jacks from which you can call 1-800 numbers. Strangely you can't make local calls, even though they too are free.) AOL charges an extra 10 cents a minute to your account when you dial in through the 1-800 number instead of using a local access number. You can get a free 3 month trial subscription almost anywhere in computer shops for AOL, and only then do they start to bill your credit card. Just don't forget to cancel before you leave the USA.
25/7/2002 Thursday, Fresno, CA.
Cool nights and unpleasantly hot days is the pattern of weather in the San Joaquin
Valley at this time of year. Spending the morning at Kinko's downloading stockmarket
data and updating this website and part of the afternoon trying to sort out
a banking problem, and shopping meant that we spent the whole day in this nondescript
US town that looks just the same as any other nondescript US western town. Sprawling,
bad commercial same, same, architecture, huge carparks, shops you can't find
as they are so far off the road. Lots od little boxes that pass for houses,
all the same, all small, most dreary, RV parks that I wouldn't stop in overnight,
but people live there! It seems that only the middle class relativly well to
do take even modest pride in their houses in the good old USA. Yes there are
some nice houses, but there are an awful lot of "dongas" to coin an
old Aussie expression. America isn't all she's cracked up to be.
No decent supermarkets in this part of Fresno, WinCo and Wal-Mart Supercenters are so far ahead of the others there is no comparison. Here they are either overpriced Von's (Safeway) or smelly as if something has gone bad in a fridge, which wouldn't surprise me as we saw a chest freezer with chicken drumsticks stacked 150mm above the top of the freezer wall, never mind the load line that is usually 75mm below!! No wonder the place smelt worse than an Asian open air meat market at the end of a very hot day.
American FOX TV, "The Pulse" - Debunking some of the Internet rumors about 911.
Fox TV (Fresno, 24/7 ) in a program called 'The Pulse" was attempting to discredit the Internet as a source of unfounded rumors concerning the terrorist attack on America. (Part of the information war.) They featured four stories, two of which I had read on the Internet news groups last year. Two dealt with emails that had been circulated alleging that Arab employees of a fast food chain store in one case, and of a small independent ethnic restaurant in the other case, had reacted with cheering and dancing when the attack occurred. Both were claimed to have been proved false, using security camera tapes. The fast food chain had employed public relations firms to rebuild its reputation, but the small independent had suffered a major loss of local patronage for many months.
The next story concerned a widespread claim that about 4,000 Jewish employees of companies operating in the World Trade Center had been warned not to go to work on September 11. The implication being that Israel knew of the attack in advance, or was directly involved in it. It was said that this story is widely believed in the Arab world.
The last story concerned a photo of a man standing on one of the WTC towers, with an aircraft in the background about to crash into the tower. This photo circulated like wildfire on the Internet, and was said to have been recovered from a camera recovered from the rubble.
Of these four stories the only one with what might be called profoundly serious implications, were there to be any substance to it, is the one about the alleged warning given to Jewish employees. The others might be classified as malicious racist rumor mongering in the two cases about the claimed cheering dancing Arabs, and as a prank if false, an oddity if true in the case of the photo, not of any real importance.
The photo story was soon widely rejected on the Internet as a fake photo long ago, but FOX TV went to considerable lengths to prove that it was faked, even locating and interviewing a young eastern European computer worker, who created the composite picture on a computer and emailed it to friends as some sort of weird joke.
FOX also conducted interviews with the persons affected most directly by the restaurant cheering dancing Arabs story, and showed snippets of security tapes in support of the contention that the claims made were a total fabrication. Generally a fairly convincing report.
In the case of the Jewish warning story, they also interviewed an Israeli diplomat, who of course denied the story, and stated that in any case there were not 4,000 Israelis (not Jews) working in the WTC. The amount of time devoted to this most important of the four stories was I think less than any of the others. Considering the implications of the rumor and the amount of information that one would have thought could have been brought to bear on it in rebuttal, by competent investigative journalism, the report could only be described as superficial. Yet the importance of the claims was attested to by FOX's "The Pulse" reporters themselves, that the story is widely believed internationally, particularly among Arabs. Surely this would be the one story of the four, the others being relatively trivial matters that not only FOX TV, but America generally would want to nail down conclusively.
There have been many stories appearing on the Internet, some well presented sites raising a number of unanswered questions about 911, serious matters ranging from government incompetence, defense system tardiness in reaction times, ignored warnings, even direct government involvement etc, some have been proved to have had some substance, with recent admissions by President Bush on lack of effective reaction to intelligence information. What ever has been admitted by the government appeared first on the Internet, showing that despite the fact that there were many unfounded rumors, that there is also substantial truth intermingled with the nonsense. It seems a reasonable claim that what government admissions that have occurred, were in large part forced by widespread disclosure on the Internet, in most cases almost immediately after the event, although the admissions by the government have only begun to trickle out 9 months or so later.
The fact that a program of this nature is aired at all on US television shows that there is concern at the effect of Internet stories in undermining the official propaganda about the terrorist incident. Otherwise why not let sleeping dogs lie?
The clear intent of the program was to discredit not only the particular four Internet rumors featured, but also to discredit the Internet in the public mind as a source of any reliable information. This is one small battle in the Information War. The Internet provides an unprecedented medium for the dissemination of information and can not be easily censored or controlled, hence it is the preeminent danger to the mass acceptance of official propaganda. Certainly it provides the same opportunity for the dissemination of nonsense and rumor, as it dose for the exposure of truth. The difficulty is to view it with a critical mind and seek corroborative information in a process of filtering out substance from rubbish.
I believe that factual information, which is undoubtedly available on the Internet, and is dangerous to the credibility of governments like those of the USA and to the power of the ruling elite, concerning any globally significant issue, is being hidden like the proverbial tree in the forest, by the dissemination of misinformation on the Internet consisting of contradictory and divergent explanations to confuse issues, make the task of filtering out the truth more difficult, and attempt to discredit the Internet as a source of any reliable information in the mind of the brainwashed public.
The really substantial claims, contradicting aspects of the official propaganda about 911, that appeared on the Internet soon after the event, were not touched on at all by FOX's "The Pulse", and three items that were featured were trivial matters, easily proved to be false or nonsense by some basic research, which "The Pulse" did. The one important story of the four, in my opininion only scratched the surface of the claims made therin, and while the truth of the rumour was certainly denied, there was no real in depth follow up, which it warrented.
I have commented in our Europe 2000 report on this site, in relation to matters surrounding WW2, that the more momentous a world event is, the less likely it is that the public will be told the whole truth concerning it.
I believe the same is true of the WTC attack on 9/11/2001. The ruling powers fear the Internet as a threat to their control of information, and thus to their control of the world. When I see a strangely illogical display like the FOX TV "The Pulse" program, concentrating on the trivial while ignoring the profound, I ask.
Why is it so?
26/7/2002
Friday, Fresno, CA. We
headed east towards King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Stopping
at the NF ranger station we obtained some maps and information on where to find
free campsites in the Sequoia NF.
Outside the station was a most interesting relic of the timber industry in the area from 1904 to 1917, a Dolbeer Donkey Engine. Invented in 1888 by a retired sea captain, using the principles of an anchor winch, it was used to haul logs by means of a capstan winch powered by a steam engine. Restored to working order in 1974 it was again sadly lapsing into a state of decay.
The Dolbeer Donkey Engine. ©
More
big trees were seen in the Grant Grove in Kings Canyon NP. A good
place to see them, if you haven't been to too many already. Every bit as good
as the groves in Yosemite NP. Good descriptive trails among the giant trees.
There is also a huge fallen giant hollow log, that over the years has served
as a house, stables for the US army when they ran the parks in the early 1900's,
and as a refreshment stall for travellers. An interesting oddity. I think we
are sort of -filling in time now as we aren't seeing anything different that
we didn't see in Yosemite NP.
General Grant, a Giant Sequoia, called the nations Christmas tree, Kings Canyon NP, CA. ©
Later we followed
the road past Hume Lake down to CA198 where there were some free NF camp
grounds. They were full and we didn't find any place to boondock along the creek
so after a little navigational confusion that took us back to the entrance of
the NP instead of south along CA198 to the Big Meadow road where the
NF ranger had indicated there was free camping along a small creek at Big Meadow,
about 4 miles in from the main road junction.. Once we found the right place
there were numerous campers and small RV's encamped among the pine trees. Some
sites aren't level but there are a number of quite nice shaded places, and it's
FREE. 14 day camping limit. Being at an altitude around 7,500 feet the climate
at this time of year is much more pleasant than in the stifling valley below,
where towns like Fresno and Redding often reach temperatures of well over 100°F
in the summer.
27/7/2002 Saturday, Big Meadow (free campsite), Sequoia National
Forest, CA. Another
day of rest an relaxation, a walk by the creek for a picnic lunch and the afternoon
spent reading and working on the website.
28/7/2002 Sunday, Big Meadow (free campsite), Sequoia National
Forest, CA We
returned along the road via Hume lake, to go north along the Kings River to
Kings Canyon. CA180 is in generally good condition all through the National
Forest, until you enter the NP where it deteriorates noticeably. Many of the
free NF campsites south of Hume Lake that had been full on Friday were now vacant.
Even in mid summer if you get a bit off the beaten track and avoid the weekend,
you can find a free camp, even in California.
Taking CA180 east through the Kings Canyon National Forest the road in places
follows the river and there are a number of good boondocking spots with good
access to the water. There is a free NF campground at Convict Flat, which
has a few good flat shaded campsites, although it is high above the river, not
affording good water access.
Kings River Canyon, along CA180. ©
Further
east there a number of roadside camping spots with river access before you enter
the National Park again. Some good SONPS are where a creek joins the river a
mile or so west of Grisly Falls picnic area, and there are several more
just after it. Fishermen park at these spots but there are no restrictive signs
(because it is in National Forest) and they make excellent SONPS. The road dead
ends in the NP so there will be minimal nighttime traffic to disturb you.
We drove to the end of the road in the Kings Canyon NP, but considered that the best river scenery was further west along the road in the National Forest section. Wilderness hiking and trail riding on horseback are popular activities from the end of the road. Smoke from distant forest fires caused a heavy haze which obscured some of the views although there are excellent canyon views to be had all along the road, not only in the section in the National Park.. Backtracking along CA180 to the NF we boondocked in a large well shaded turnout beside the river.
29/7/2002
Monday, CA 180 Kings River, Sequoia NF, CA. Another
day of rest and reading beside the Kings River. Many rapids create quite a roar,
but otherwise it is a peaceful well shaded spot and there is a rock pool for
bathing in the river, out of the rapid flow of water.
Boondocking beside CA 180 on the Kings River.
30/7/2002
Tuesday, CA180 Kings River, Sequoia NF, CA. Kings
Canyon road (CA180) is a dead end so we returned along it to Grant Grove and
thence took CA198 south towards the Giant Forest. Extensive roadworks are being
undertaken this year in the National Park, and not before time. CA198 is in
awful condition, uneven, potholed and with broken edges, like many of the US
national Park roads. In the NF sections of CA180 there are numerous places to
boondock along the road close to the river.
CA198 goes south through the Sequoia NP and the Giant Forest which contains the General Sherman Tree, officially the largest of the Giant Sequoias, and the largest living thing on Earth.We stopped to take photos. The Giant Forest has probably the most extensive groves of Giants of any of the areas we have seen, and would be one of the best places to visit, particularly if you wanted to select only one location to see Sequoias.
South
of the Giant Forest the road is the subject of advisory notes on the
NP map against taking vehicles over 22 feet along it. We had previously asked
a NF Ranger her opinion on this and were told that as we were experienced 4WD
drivers we would have no problems. The road is steep in many places, rapidly
dropping over 6000 feet, we needed to engage first gear for most of the descent,
and there are innumerable tight hairpin bends, but the road is in generally
good order and not too narrow. We had no problems in our 28 foot Bounder, but
larger campervans particularly if towing a car may have some difficulty. There
are spectacular mountain views, although they were badly obscures by smoke haze,
and it is an excellent drive to take as long as you are confident about mountain
driving.
Lots of tight hairpin besds along CA198, south of the Giant Forest.
There are free RV dump stations in the two NP campgrounds, near the Giant Forest and at the foot of the mountains.
After leaving the NP CA198 passes through some areas shown as
National Forest on maps, and follows a river, but there is no access as it is
all private houses along the river. There is one rather unappealing recreation
area where you can get to the river to swim, but no camping is permitted. There
are several FEE campsites along CA198, one charging $16, and there are several
old road loops off the highway where you could boondock for an overnight stop,
but no attractive free areas where you would want to stay for any longer time
once you leave the NP.
We proceeded on to Visialia and found the Wal-Mart to boondock for the
night. The valley is again unpleasantly hot with temperatures close to 100°F.
31/7/2002 Wednesday, Visalia CA. Intrusive
noise from highway CA99 combined with trucks coming and going awakened us periodically.
After a visit to Kinko's to update this site and attend to some urgent business,
we headed south along CA99 towards Bakersfield. No point in using the
back roads here, this is the sort of country you just want to get through as
quickly as possible.
Lets start another war boys!
The TV in Bakersfield California is war mongering again tonight, posing questions to the audience about the US invading Iraq to "GET, Sadam Hussain". They are doing a phone poll to ask, "Should we invade Iraq"? Yes. Which was running at 46% support, or "No, because it isn't worth the risk of American lives"? Running at 56% support.
What struck me was the implied assumption that the US has the right to invade Iraq, or for that matter anyone whose politics don't suit them. They go on, and on, about how he has "weapons of mass destruction" and "chemical/biological weapons", conveniently ignoring the fact that the biggest possessor of weapons of mass destruction is the USA itself. It is also the only country in history to have actually used nuclear weapons (of mass destruction) in war, and against civilian, not military, targets in Japan at that. Apart from that, many other countries also have similar weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, and or chemical or biological), the UK,France, China, India, Pakistan, Russia, probably some of the ex USSR republics, and of course Israel. They keep reminding the populace, "He has used them against his own people. He'd use them against us", maintaining the terror, the external threats that have been the core of media propaganda this year.
The real problem isn't that Sadam has or is building such weapons (of mass destruction), it is that he isn't under the thumb of the US government, like all the other good little tyrants around the world that they have installed, toppled or supported over the years, must be. As such he is a symbol of resistance to US imperialism, and for that alone he deserves annihilation, by the divine providence embodied in the USA, in the view of the US government. Supported it seems by 46% of their ignorant brainwashed and blindly patriotic populace, at least in Bakersfield California. Perhaps it is a good sign that 56% are afraid of bleeding too much to actually go and do it.
I think some Americans really do see the US as an instrument of Divine power, able to decide the rights and wrongs of the whole world, and to force their opinion on to everybody else. They don't care about killing any number of foreign troops, or civilians either for that matter, but are afraid to spill their own precious blood to do it. The more I see, and hear, of such attitudes the more antagonistic I become toward the foreign policies of this country. They are the worlds greatest terrorists, having bombed I believe 27 countries for various reasons since the end of WW2. Bin Laden is a rank amateur in comparison. Bush is more dangerous to the world at large than Saddam could ever be.
"A
war ON terrorism", is a nonsense. - War IS terrorism. 
1/8/2002 Bakersfield, CA. Another
rather noisy Wal-Mart carpark, as the highway traffic goes all night, and even
though its not that close the noise is noticable. It seems that the closer you
get to Los Angeles the bussier and noisier everything becomes. It is also noticable
how few white Americans there are in these towns, and how many of them are grossly
overweight. This town looks just the same as all the rest, of absolutely no
interest whatsoever. We only stopped here as a transit point on our way to the
Grand Canyon, which will be our final destination before preparing to
sell Bounder.
As it's getting to the end on the week the petrol prices start rising a few cents each day. We eventually find petrol for $1.49. We take CA58 east towards Mojave and Barstow. Most of the few trees along the road are one of the many varieties of Australian Gum Trees, able to withstand the harsh desert conditions. I wonder what they did for trees here before they imported them, maybe they didn't have any. After climbing several thousand feet through dry barren hills we reach the Mojave Desert. Boring and barren, of no touristic merit at all, the only reason were here is to get to the other side. The few small towns are poor rundown and dusty looking dumps, not much different from lots of other small desert towns in the US. The highway is often littered with trash, where no volunteers have taken on the task of litter collection, of a two or three mile section. The state seems to do nothing to clean up the roads, and if there aren't volunteers the litter just goes on accumulating on the roadside for years. . There is only one rest area about half way beteen Bakersfield and Barstow.
The only notable features along the way are the literally hundreds of wind turbines generating electricity and the airfield at Mojave where hundreds of airliners, from jumbo jets down, are stored awaiting a new owner or a resurgence of air travel to find a use again. This is a really hot and unpleasent climate, I can't imagine why anone would choose to live in such a place. Barstow is a much bigger town, lots of fast food outlets and motels, no individual character, we drive slowly through, to take in just how featureless it is.
We
take I40 east from Barstow and after 20 miles come to a rest area, just
past Newberry Springs, where there is the first decent shade seen all
day, so although it is only 3.30PM we decide to stop, as the next is another
80 miles, and maybe has no shade. We are running the aircon all the time we
are parked even in the shade in this climate as it must be well over 100°F.
Even after dark it is still opressivly hot and we have to run the generator
and aircon most of the night until the desert finally cools in the early hours
of the morning. There are the usual signs about staying for no more than 8 hours
but really, no one is counting, it is just to stop people living in the rest
areas. In these remote areas there would be no serious security problem, which
may require more caution about overnighting in a rest area near a large city.
Newberry Springs rest area on I40, only shade for a hundred miles.
2/8//2002 Friday, I40 rest area, Newberry Springs, CA. Along
I40 we note signs, brown tourist information signs at that, to "Historic
Route 66". We decide to take it, thinking it might be an interesting diversion
from the freeway. Don't, it's not. It's just a dilapidated old road, potholed
and badly cracking up that runs beside the freeway. It was many miles before
we could get back on to the main road. This isn't a tourist attraction it is
just a very bad old road that needs to be abandoned. There is absolutely nothing
along it in this section to see or do. Tourist hype about nothing.
The next rest area near Essex is not as large and there is little shade for your RV compared to the one near Newberry Springs, so if you want to stop for a long rest, choose the Newberry Springs one. The country side is just flat desert and some rocky barren hills strewn with volcanic lava, not very interesting. Loads of litter along the road, the desert is a garbage tip for the most revolting class of peasants, and there aren't any volunteers out here to clean up their mess, so it just lies there and accumulates.
We noted the last gas station in California was selling unleaded petrol at $1.89, and the first in Arizona only a few miles away at $1.36, so it is well worth knowing the patterns of gas prices in the US. Proceeding on to Kingman the remaining rest area along I40 was also deficient in shade, so Newberry Springs is the only good one all the way from Bakersfield. We got gas in Kingman for $1.33 and later saw it near the Wal-Mart for $1.29, the cheapest we have seen for months.
There is a tourist information office and I inquired about taking the old route 66 north of I40 towards Williams, because it was marked on our map as a scenic route. Apparently it isn't really any more scenic according to the information office, nothing more interesting than along I40, although it is, I was told, maintained in Arizona, as it is still use to connect to several small towns, unlike the dilapidated cracked up mess that it is Route 66 back in California. So I think 'Romantic Route 66" is, at least in these parts, just another example of tourist hype, and falls into the same category as the fish that John West rejects.
I inquired at the Wal-Mart about RVs staying overnight and confirmed that there was a city ordinance against it, which was occasionally enforced, but that Wal-Mart management have no objection to you staying. A report on the Internet had alerted me to this, and the manager said it had resulted from an incident some years ago where someone was killed there, presumably an RV overnighter. In any case there is no decent shade in the car park, and it was still hot in the afternoon, so we decided to press on towards Williams, where there was National Forest along the highway.
There are no rest areas at all along I40 from Kingman to Williams,
and although the scenery is a bit more interesting than the preceding flat desert
country, and you get more vegetation as you climb to around 5000 feet approaching
Williams, it is hardly a scenic drive. Thunderstorms were soaking the parched
area for the first tim in a long while as we drove along. Finding no rest areas
I eventually turned off at Ash Fork to look for a SONPS but found the
town so poor and rundown looking, and saw no appealing spots, that we went back
on to I40 and after a few miles into the Kiabab NF turned onto Devil
Dog Road a small side road off ramp into the forest, where we found a clearing
to park in, just far enough from the freeway to reduce the noise, and had our
best nights sleep since leaving the Kings Canyon NF.
"The injury of prodigality leads to this, that he who will not economize will have to agonize." - Confucius [B.C. 551-479]
Photos ©. Taken with a Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera. More route maps still to be added.
Next - Part 11 Grand
Canyon AZ
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