This morning my neighbor in the RV park was outside while I was disconnecting my water and electric. We got to visiting. It turned out that he was the former mayor of Visalia. I told him how beautiful we thought the city was and how we had enjoyed our stay there. He and his wife have been living in Arkansas for a few years caring for her parents. They were back in town for a visit.
After getting everything secured and ready for travel, we drove up to the park office. Shirley, our hostess came running out to see us off. She was very nice and friendly. We asked her if she would get some mail out for us and she was more than happy to do it. She hoped we would return again one day. I told her we would give the park a good review online. It is the Country Manor park for seniors. It was very neat and clean.
I had looked online the night before to see if there was an RV supply place nearby. I found a large one in Fresno. Last evening I decided to dump our waste tanks to have that out of the way. My primary hose had sprung a very small leak a day or two ago. The man who sold me the RV said the red one in the box was his spare. So I pulled it out and hooked it up. Darlie was at the dump end and I was at the RV ready to pull the gate value to let her go. The gray water tank was nearly full because we had taken showers and done some cleaning. When I pulled the gate value the water gushed out. My red sewer hose looked like a lawn sprinkler. Water was shooting up everywhere. First you hope no one saw it. Thankfully it was the soapy water and not the poopy water. I needed to get a new sewer hose, heavy duty.
We got on highway 99 headed towards Sacramento. Most of the length of 99 that we have been on is lined with beautiful oleander. We enjoyed our ride through the San Joaquin Valley. So much of our nations fruit, nuts and vegetables are grown here. It is groves, vines and plants as far as you can see.
The weather stays very warm here all year long. Sacramento is as far north as Washington, DC and we saw palm trees growing there. It seems incredible they grow this far north.
I found the RV supply place right next to the highway. It was an easy on and off the freeway. I bought the best hose they had. I don’t want any more surprises with the waste dumping.
We kept passing by Carl’s hamburger places. I remember Johnny Carson making jokes about Carl’s years ago. We had to stop and have a Carl’s hamburger. They had one of the biggest varieties on their menu of any hamburger joint I have been into. It looked impressive. Sadly, however, the hamburgers left much to be desired. Darlie had a portobello mushroom burger and I had the standard Carl’s colon cleanser. :-(
I turned off on to Rt 26 to go out into the countryside. We like seeing the small towns and farmland. Rt 26 turned out to be very narrow and winding. It took all my concentration to drive. Darlie enjoyed the scenery though. We came to a small town named Spring Valley. There was a man selling fruit alongside the road. Cherries are in season here right now. We stopped and bought a large basket full. While there he told us about a nice US Corp of Engineers campground just up the road. He said there was a lake and lots of spaces for a rig as big as ours.
Shortly thereafter we arrived at Hew Hogan Lake campground. We have a site up on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake. While sitting outside we discovered a pair of blue birds have a nest in a tree right next to the RV. They come and go feeding their young without paying much attention to us. Three hen turkeys and a gobbler were next to pass our site. The gobbler was huge. He kept fanning his big tail out and gobbling. The hens paid him no mind, just like humans.
Next, a long eared jackrabbit hopped by. Watching him made you laugh out loud. What an awkward critter they appear to be. We will sit out there this evening and see what else happens by. This is a great place to camp.
We will do some chicken on the grill later. It is cool and sunny. What a perfect day. We love California. The people have been real nice too.
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