The mission to Modoc County was a success

   POINT RICHMOND, California - The Red Writer rolled to Modoc County in late October to visit the Lava Beds National Monument.

Pizza night at Indian Wells

     The mission was to check out the lava beds and caves where a Native-American Modoc Chief and a relative handful of warriors held off the U.S. Army in pitched battles. The area is also likely to be part of the backdrop for some chapters in my newest novel being drafted, Sons of Covid. 

     The trip was the first major foray for The Red Writer since the pandemic hit. A few local trips were accomplished earlier. But this sojourn was a major haul, up Interstate 5 right to the Oregon border.

     It included a stay in the Redding, Calif. driveway of a host who is part of the Boondockers' group.

     Nothing like a free RV stop for the night to start the trip off well.

     The campground at the monument is fabulous - if you like quiet and star gazing. At one point I heard the flapping of wings - a hawk overhead.

It's first-come, first served. But except for holiday weekends, there is lots of space, park officials say,

     Because of COVID-19 restrictions, part of the Visitor Center was closed off but the park rangers were very helpful with my research about Captain Jack, the Modoc Chief who led the tribe during what the history books call The Modoc War.

    I would have stayed longer but the nighttime temperatures were dipping into the teens.

     That said, The Red Writer will likely be heading there again in the spring - after the snow stops falling.

Campsite at Indian Wells

South Entrance Road - bumpy

North Entrance Road - much better

Damage from a recent fire

More fire damage

Some caves were closed

The monument covers 46,000 acres

Pandemic prompts local & driveway camping

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - The long-planned grand adventure of traveling to Oregon & Washington, then east across the northern U.S. and eventually to the Maritime Provinces of Canada has been downsized.

Camp set up at Olema

     Maybe a better description would be miniaturized.
     Thanks a lot, coronavirus!
     Instead of thousands of highway miles, The Red Writer for the balance of this summer will likely do mostly local travel, going to places like Olema, Calif., adjacent to the Point Reyes National Seashore.
    We did one foray there to shake down the rig last week. Another four-day expedition begins Sunday.
     How local is Olema to Point Richmond and SF Bay?
    Thirty miles.
     But last week's trip proved that 30 or 3,000 miles doesn't make any difference in enjoyment.

Biscuit searching for gophers, moles and voles

     We camped among the trees at a private campground. Our Yorkie pup Biscuit was able to run free. And Admiral Fox and an amiga made it to nearby Limantour Beach for a hike while I stayed at camp and practiced the ukulele with Biscuit as canine critic.
     I think Biscuit would have preferred to go to the beach with the ladies, but he was a good sport.
     The only real excitement came a 2 a.m. the first night when we were visited by a hungry raccoon. He got in the tent and absconded with a ripe avocado, passing up a tray of apples and bananas.
     Because the campground is in Marin County, his choice of foods is not that surprising.
     The state parks in California are slowly re-opening, filling up campsite reservations as soon as gates open.
     Once Labor Day is past however, campgrounds will be mostly empty and The Red Writer can expand our travel radius with plenty of places to stay.
     One arguably big trip is being mulled.
     A few days ago a newspaper story about Modoc County in California caught my eye.
     It's a last-frontier kind of place. Kind of wild west. Undeveloped wooded property there is pentiful and relatively cheap. Maybe buying a few acres might be worth considering.
     Might have to break out my cowboy hat to wear on that trip.
     Oh! And Modoc County has not had a single case of COVID-19.

Downtown Alturas in Modoc County, Calif.

The tent has a footprint as big as the inside of the trailer

Test campsite - at our condo in Point Richmond

Plotting escape for when the storm door closes

   POINT RICHMOND, Calif. - It's gotten to be a very familiar question from friends and neighbors.
     So, um, when are you leaving on your trip north and east?
     The answer is equally familiar.
     The minute we can. The minute we can.

     But when that minute will arrive all depends on when shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted and it seems safe to travel.
     Exactly when that safe-to-travel time will come is a topic of much conversation at our house - and everywhere in the nation, of course. I know, I have been reading and writing about the coronavirus, infection rates, flattening curves and how efficient protective masks are against COVID-19 almost endlessly for at least the last month.
     But eventually - we hope - the virus storm door will close and we can safely head out.
     So yesterday Admiral Fox, Biscuit and I pulled The Red Writer out of storage a mile away and brought it home to clean it up, stock it up and test the systems for quick getaway.
     There's a couple of days worth of things to do - along with pondering routes to take.
    When we're done, we will be ready to be On The Road Again - Play It Willie!

San Francisco to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia...?

   POINT RICHMOND, California - Spring brings out the maps, calendars and dreams of summer travel.
      And after several summers of criss-crossing the U.S. from San Francisco to New England, Adm. Fox and I are considering pushing the envelope a little further (or is it farther?).
     That further - or farther - is Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, a camping/touristing paradise by all accounts.

     It does mean a drive of more than 4,000 miles - each way. But the mighty Toyota Tundra still has less than 200,000 miles on it. And The Red Writer trailer is now rejiggered and ready for Canadian wilds.
    Note that in paragraph two above the operant word is 'considering.' Given how crazy things are getting with the coronavirus (and life in general), it's hard to make solid plans until we get closer to May when we would begin a trip.
     And that 4,000 miles? Well, add a 1,000 or two miles more because on the way to Cape Breton, we have plans to stop in Portland, WA, extreme Northern Michigan, and various Finger Lakes and upstate NY locales on the way.

     Just yesterday, R. Biscuit Fitzfox, Assistant Navigator and Morale Officer was cleared for limited duty by his doctor after his broken leg episodes. By May Biscuit should be certified 100 percent fit for travel, we hope. 

   

     Below are some of the sights he'll be taking in with us.

New axle, tires and personality for The Red Writer

   POINT RICHMOND, California - The wizardry of Sean Keown, master mechanic at Vogel's RV in Ukiah was clearly demonstrated Wednesday.

Waaaaaay higher off the ground

     He skillfully - and quickly - installed the new axle and boondock-style tires on The Red Writer, boosting the trailer's ground clearance dramatically.
     The new tires and higher ground clearance make the trailer look, well, much beefier.
     But an unexpected outcome from the retrofit was that the rig is much more comfortable to drive. Bumps in the road are just bumps and no longer feel like craters. On the test drive on a bumpy section of Highway 101 outside Ukiah, I hardly felt anything.
     Just amazing, really.
     The one downside to the whole change is that because the trailer is higher, I need a taller stepladder to put on the trailer cover when The Red Writer is in storage.
     Maybe the solution is to keep traveling and not put it in storage at all.
     Now there's a thought.

New axle installed...

Tougher tires, too

The day before leaving to get The Red Writer retrofitted

Home the next day with new tires and axle installed

Spring renovations & maps for The Red Writer

   UKIAH, California - For the last few seasons, The Red Writer has occasionally gone where no T@B 320 probably should go.
     There was that rutted goat trail in Oklahoma and then 'W' Road in Tennessee.

Thank you CSAA for the maps... And the rest I will order

     And so it is that next week The Red Writer will be handed over to a mechanical magician named Sean at Vogel's RV to swap out the axle and tires on the trailer with those normally used on a more beefy unit called the T@B Boondock model.
     With the modification The Red Writer should be about 6 inches higher off the ground - a ground clearance boost that should make my off-roading less stressful.
     Theoretically.
     Pix of that axle-swap operation and the finished install will be posted sometime after Wednesday.
     The other innovation for this spring/summer/fall travel is the addition of paper maps to the navigation department.
     Yes, paper maps. You know, those things that used to fill up your car's glove compartment because you couldn't get them folded back the right way.
     While my Rand-McNally Road Atlas (Big Print Edition, thank you very much) is useful, it lacks sufficient detail for, well, the boondocking I have inadvertently done and some that I want to do - on purpose.
     Today 14 maps arrived from the California State Automobile Association, a good start on the hardcopy map library. Already I spotted some less-traveled roads in the Midwest and East that are likely candidates for this season's travel.
     Two of the maps are for Canada, by the way. Brrrrr...