The End

  We woke up this morning in the Boulder Creek RV Park in Lone Pine. We debated what we might do, and decided to g to the Lone Pine Movie Museum.
   One of Lone Pines' claims to fame is that Hollywood found it and have shot a lot of movies in the Alabama Hills, jusrt west of town, going up the Mt. Whitney Portal Rd.
   Many of the old Westerns were shot here, and some contemporary films. The Museum is a lot of fun, if you liked the old westerns. There's old automobiles that look like they were still on the showroom floor.   
  There are collections of the old weapons, clothing, saddles which are attributed to the movies.
   There's a section devoted to Roy Rogers, another to Will Rogers. All the old "Cowboys" have a little homage paid to them. Smiley Burnette, Andy DeVine, Lash LeRue, Johnny Mack Brown, Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy, Gabby Hayes, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, Hopalong Cassidy......So many of the actors had some of their things on display. Hopalong Cassidy's display included the things that any 6 year old cowboy would want. The lunch pail, a two gun rig and the whole black outfit, just like Hopalongs black outfit. I thought I was cool when I had my Davey Crockett outfit with the wooden gun! Hopalongs outfit was really something!
   At Roy Rogers display there was a small poster which outlined the rules that Roy tried to live by. It was to inspire a young cowpoke to be like him. You were admonished to stay clean, help out around the house, etc.. If you are old enough you;ll remember when your favorite "Hero" would offer some rules to live by. There's nothing around like it today, is there.......
  But we took no pictures......If you are ever in Lone Pine, I'd recommend that you stop in and have a look around.
  After the Museum, we decided to drive home. We got here about 7:00 tonight. Now all we gotta do is unload and clean the millions of bugs off the front of the truck and the camper......LOL.   

We're back in civilization, sorta

  We last wrote from Jamestown. Since then we have been to Yosemite, through Tioga pass to the Eastern side of the Sierras, and today we visited Bodie.

   First, here's some pics of Yosemite. It was beautiful there. Lots of tourists, and some rain, but we were able to see quite a bit. There was a bit of snow around, here and there. The top pic is of the rig parked in the campground, the next is Patsy and Sassi in a little patch of snow.

   The top photo in this group is of a guy we met who was trying his luck at fishing (with bait..?..) and the lower photo is Bridal Veil Falls. I don't think the photos do it justice, but you get the idea. We hiked up to Mirror Lake......It turns out it's a "Seasonal Lake". This time of the season, it's not much more than a stream running through the valley, but you can see where it fills up when the snow melts in the Spring. It was still a beautiful spot, and the stream was beautiful downstream from the lake.
  I'd guess it was about a mile and a half hike to the Lake. Guess what happened when we got there? It started raining! So, we had to hustle back to the camper and dry off. It was worth it, though. 

  Here's a shot through the windshield at the weather passing through Tuolomne Meadows. It started raining when we were in Yosemite, and it followed us all the way through Tioga Pass and almost all the way down the grade to US 395. It was pretty cold (For a Southern California couple). But it wasn't bad driving and we fared OK.
  We stayed at a little campground south of Bridgeport, and got up the next day to visit Bodie. Bodie is a Ghost Town. In its heyday, it was a town that revolved around the mining, and processing, of Gold Ore. The big Stamp Mill is there and you can take a tour of it, if you want to. At one time, it boasted a population of 10,000 inhabitants. There were two churches and 65 Saloons. Also a nice two story school house.
  Bodie was a rough town in its day. The literature reports that there was a lot of killing, fighting and "sinful living" in Bodie. The story goes that a little girl found out she and her family were going to move to Bodie, so she wrote in her diary "Good-bye God, we're moving to Bodie". The pamphlet says it became a pretty popular phrase in the old west.
   If you can imagine a town that closed, and looks like all the people just vanished and left all their belongings behind, you have Bodie. The mill last processed ore in 1938, but in the late 1800's it was a busy place. There is really too much of a story to show and tell on this blog. But we spent the day there and we were both just fascinated with the whole "thing".
   For instance, the General store still has the goods on the shelves. The school has all the desks, blackboards, books and toys for the children. The Fire House has the Hose Cart and Chemical wagon in it. The homes still have the stoves, furniture, some clothing, and we even saw a little bowl of assorted buttons in the window of a home. Lots of antiques! Sewing machines, washing machines (All were human powered). There was electricity in the town as a lot of buildings had light fixtures in them. There were a lot of outhouses, but you could see how as the "Modern age" approached some installed indoor plumbing, bath tubs, gas stoves, etc.
   I better post a photo or two, or I'll keep writing about the town....

Here's a look inside the Methodist church. The pump Organ is still there, the pews, etc.. Truly amazing!

Patsy shot this photo of a bowl of buttons sitting in the window of a home. There's some glare from the glass window, but you can make them out.

Here's a shot looking down one of the streets. There were LOTS of old buildings and homes. I have some great video of a lot of it. I'll try to post a video of the general area......

  I think this video is a panoramic shot of the area. I haven't edited anything I shot, and the preview is so tiny, it's hard to tell what it is. I think this was shot as we first got there.
  The grave yard fascinated me. There is actually three (maybe 4) graveyards.....One was the Masonic Graveyard, another was the I.O.O.F. (International Order Of Odd Fellows) graveyard, and another was the Ward (Which I took to mean the town folk) graveyard....However there was a fourth option....If you were deemed to be be too unsavory, you were buried outside the fence, and most times with no grave marker. There were a lot of graves, and some are being well maintained by someone, others are in a sad state of repair. There were a number of graves for little children.....It must have been some rough living back then.....
  While we were there, there was a couple of guys making a new grave marker and etching the "particulars" onto the stone. I mentioned earlier, that the town was abandoned around 1938....Well we saw a gravestone of a guy who was buried there in the late 1960's. So, I guess some folks who lived there, but moved away, wanted to be buried there. It really was an interesting place. Lots of old cars and machinery....I could go on, but I fear boring you.
  Let's see where we end up tomorrow.
  We hope all of you are doing fine!    

Where in the world are we?

  Tonight we are camped in the same campground we camped last night.....It's a bit of a bit of a Zoo. There's a diverse group of folks here, and there are plenty of them. The good news is we think they are all wierder than we are!....LOL.
  We drove a lot yesterday, and I was too tired to post on the blog, so let's see what I can remember.
  We left Felton and ended up in Jamestown, or Columbia...or where ever we are, but it's near the aforementioned places.
   We went to the State Railroad Museum in Jamestown, aka The Sierra Railroad. It's a beautiful facility with one of only two Roundhouse / Turntables that have been operating since the turn of the last century. I got some great video of the number 3 engine steaming up, backing onto the turntable. getting turned 270 degrees and pulling onto the lead for the track we went for a ride on. (If you like trains, that's a really cool thing to watch). They were saying the turntable may become "history" in a few more years.
   Also, almost all of the engines and some of the train cars have been in movies, starting before there were even "talkies". Over 100 movies have been shot using the equipment from this railroad! From Buster Keaton, Clint Eastwood, Michael J. Fox and Michael Landon to name a few folks who have been here shooting scenes from Movies like "The Great Chase", "The Virginian" "Pale Rider", "Eldorado" and "Back Tto The Future 3", to TV series such as "Little House On The Prairie", Petticoat Junction" and a couple others thast escape my memory.......
  Engine number 3 was called to pull our train today. It was a big deal, as this engine is seldom used. It's sort of the Queen of the fleet. It recently underwent a complete overhaul that cost $1.5 Million dollars! It was disassembled down to the last bolt and all new "everything" was installed, including a new boiler.

   Here's a pic of the engine as it was being steamed up. I was able to get some great video of this engine steaming yup, and backing onto the turntable and being directed to the right track to pull our train.
   We had a good time on the train and then went for a drive to the city of Angels Camp to see what we could see. We walked around town and found a Museum. It had a lot of equipment relative to Gold Mining and related industries. They had a big water wheel, and an operating model of a 5 stamp Stamp Mill. They had a collection of wagons and carriages that had to exceed 100 pieces. These are all kept indoors and out of the weather. There were LOTS of things to see.
   Tomorrow we're hoping to cross Yosemite and end up in Mammoth. It looks like we're headed for colder weather!

   Here's a video of the "Petticoat Junction" water tank....It was was removed and replaced by a tank with a roof on it....The new tank holds more water, too.
  There was a LOT of old railroad "junk" laying around. Complete locomotives were waiting to be restored. I guess the State is contemplating closing Parks like this to save money....Seems like the wrong thing to do. There are only 5 paid employees, but 250 volunteers!
  Hopefully, we'll be writing from a nice campground tomorrow night....If we find a Campground.....and if we have the Internet.......and if my computer doesn't quit again........and if something happens worth posting.......C-Ya!

  

Gotta get caught UP!

  I think we were up in Vacaville the last time I posted anything. We visited with Mike Kate and Ethan. They looked great! Ethan is a foot taller than the last time we saw him. We didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked, but busy lives will dictate schedules, sometimes  ....Well, we're in Felton now! Yesterday we found a nice little campground that is the prettiest one we've been in yet. There's lots of tall Redwoods, Berries ripening on the vines, and rain.....Because of the rain we just sort of vegged out and relaxed.

The last photo shows a Redwood Tree stump that was felled a little over 100 years ago. Trees like this are the reason the little tourist railroads exist today. They are the remains of industrial endeavors.

  Today we went to the Roaring Camp And Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad to see what we could see. The rain continues off and on, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so we decided to ride the train tomorrow.

Here's a Video of the Shay they have. It will be pulling us around tomorrow. Today it was being serviced and checked.....
   

   This little railroad has some of the most popular types of engines used by loggers and miners. The video shows a Shay, but the one thing a Shay, Heisler and Climax had in common were the powered trucks that swiveled on each end of the Locomotive. This was so these litte engines could negotiate the sharp turns required to get in and out of some of the canyons they had to work in. These engines were not fast, they only hit about 15 MPH going flat out. But they could turn sharp and pull a lot of weight.

Here is a Climax Locomotive the railroad has, and will be restoring. It shows you how little these "museums" have to work with sometimes.

   Those cylinders, which rise at an angle going to the right of the picture, are what did all the work. They are sitting where they would normally sit on this engine. The boiler is about 30 feet to the right. Doesn't this look hopeless? They'll restore it and it will run again.......

What could this complicated looking engineering creation possibly do? It's fancy enough to do something important, I bet! well check the next photo...

A long time ago, it held the door to a Boxcar shut.....

Pictured above, is the Station at Roaring Camp Railroad

Here's the water tower, which still works.






   So now, we are in the Safeway Grocery Store parking lot waiting where we can access the internet.
We ate at the little restaurant at the depot and I was surprised to find they had RC Cola! I like RC Cola! It was a nice treat!

we're baaaaaaack!

Well, we've not been able to get on the Internet for a while, 'cuz the service didnt exist....Also, we were fighting a little rainwater leak in the camper. Now we are on the Parks' I-Net, and the leak is fixed, so here we go!
   I thinl when we left all of you,we were in the "Scary Campground". It wasn't all that scary. It was inhabited by an odd collection of folks, and it hadn't been maintained since 1945, but we were able to get a good nights sleep and clean up a bit for the next day.

   I liked how you had to battle the thorns on the Roses so you could hook up to the utilities...LOL. Lots of screaming kids and barking dogs, but someone must come around about 11:00 PM and kill them, 'cuz they all got quiet about that time....
   We left wherever that place was and headed for a Walmart at Clearlake to restock a few things. After a beautiful drive through the hills and mountains, we arrived at Fort Bragg. It's actually one of the biggest towns we've seen for a while.
   The first stop was to buy tickets to ride the "Skunk Train". While we were there, the days train was returning to the station being pulled by their steam engine........The other day, I mentioned they had a Shay locomotive, I was wrong, they don't. Also, our train was going to be pulled by a narrow gauge GP-9 diesel Engine. It would be nice to have the steam engine pull or train, but beggars can't be choosers, ya know?
   Next, we headed for the campground. It's really nice. It's the Pomo RV resort, and it is really nice. Lots of vegetation between campsites, very clean, and everything works!
   Here's some shots of the train ride

 These were shot out the back of the train.

   Still pix don't do it justice. I shot video, but haven't edited them yet.......

Here's one of Patsy and Sassi having a good time.

    The train ride was relaxing and interesting. There's a number of things the Conductor points out along the way. There's a 1,000 year old tree, and on one of the redwood trees you can see the spring board the feller stuck in it about 20 feet up. That would have been where he would have started cutting, but for some reason, the tree was never felled. There's a number of homes and cabins along the way. Some of them have no roads to them, so the residents rely on the train for supplies and transit.
   Tomorrow, we are going to head South toward Vacaville to see Mike and Kate and Ethan. It may take a few days, but we'll get there.
    Oh yeah.....The leak? I found some sealant at a locl hardware store and went on the roof to see what I could find....I found a few microscopic cracks in the plastic skylight over the bed. So, I gooped 'em up. (Along with any other suspicious looking culprit). The forecast is for a lot of rain tomorrow, so we'll see how I did......LOL 

Today, we wandered.....

   Today we had no set schedule or plan, so we thought we'd knock around and see what was on Hiway 70 west, out of Portola. It turns out there's quite a lot to see, if you like railroading and pretty scenery.  I shot video today, and Patsy took the stills.
    I really don't know where to start, but I guess I gotta start somewhere.....
   Patsy stopped at a Tourist Information "joint" and learned we were on the very route of Plumas County's "7 Wonders of Plumas County". Can you imagine our excitement?.....LOL.
   We missed a few of the "Wonders" 'cuz we couldn't find them with directions given....But we found a bunch of them.
   One of the "wonder"s we found was the "Williams Loop". It's a piece of track which goes in a circle and crosses over itself. The Union Pacific Railroad did this to gain elevation, but not end up having to climb a steep grade. Their Charter said they would never exceed a 1% grade through the Sierras. We couldn't see then entire loop, but we were able to park the rig and walk down and see what we could. There is a beautiful little river running along side the tracks. I don't remember it's name, but it might be the North Fork of the Feather River.

This is the actual point where the track crosses over itself. If you entered through the lower track, you'd go one mile on the loop, and then cross over on the upper track. They run long trains through here, and sometimes the engine crosses over the rwst of the train, right here. we were hoping a Train would come, but none did. We were here for an hour or so, looking around and waiting.

Here's a shot of the track that approaches the upper part of the crossing, Which is about 200 yards to the left of this picture. The scenery was just beautiful. There's a pond in the middle of the loop, and a bunch of forest, etc.. The pictures don't do it justice.

Here's the pond, and a shot of both tracks, after the crossing. The lower one exiting the tunnel, and the upper one crossing over the tunnel. You can see the elevation they gained without having to climb a steeper grade..

Here is a shot of one of the tributaries to the pond. I guess this was engineered to do some sort of function, but I don't know what it might be.

  We continued on 70 West, looking fo more wonders. We came to the Keddie Wye. It's named after the Surveyor who climbed and hiked through this area, long ago, to plan the route of the railroad through the Sierras. There's a little town named Keddie, but it is all but dead.
  This is a place where the track splits. On one leg it goes toward Quincy and Portola. I'm not sure where the other leg goes, as I haven't checked a map yet. The most interesting thing about this wye is that it is all built on supports, like a Trestle. As our luck would have it, when we found the Wye there was a train on it, taking the left  fork. The view of the wye snuck up on us quickly, and there was no where to park, so, by the time we got turned around, and got back, the train had just finished crossing the wye. But we did take some pics, without a train......
 

Although I couldn't see the approach to this Wye, I think it must come through a tunnel. I think that may be what forced them to construct this wye over the canyon. It would have neen really hard to accomplish in a tunnel, using manual labor.....Like I said before, the right fork heads to Quincy and Portola. Down in the canyon, at the base of the supports was a house. It looked like someone lived there. I wonder if they work for the railroad?
 At the bottom of the canyon was another beautiful river. This was a pretty scenic place, for sure!
  On to the next "Wonder!

  The picture at the top is a pic of the river that runs under this "Wonder". This is an unusual happening, as there is a bridge on the road that crosses the river, and a bridge where the train crosses over the road and the river. So the claim to fame is the triple layer of train, car & river.

When we got out of the mountains we were in farm country. we drove by fields of Rice for 20 miles, at least. Farm machinery shares the hiway with regular traffic, and it moves sloooooow. We were lucky. All the farm machinery was going the other way.

  We ended up in Williams, at a seedy little Rv / Trailer Park. But it's better than a Walmart parking lot, and we're only here one night.
  Tomorrow we should get to Fort Bragg and camp a few days before we ride the Skunk Train from Fort Bragg to Willits. But really we don' have to be there until Monday.... With luck, it will be pulled by a Shay Locomotive. No biggy to most of you, but Patsy's Dad and I both know what a weird little engine a Shay is.....LOL
So, that's about all the news that's fit to print.....I won't tell you what happened to Patsy in the shower this morning.......
   

Day 2 at the Train Museum in Portola

Hello!
  We went back to the train museum in Portola to walk around and see what they had there. They give you pretty much free rein of the place. "If it's open, go in it" seems to be the only rule. They have a LOT of rolling stock. I couldn't even figure out what some of the cars were!
  There are no operating steam engines at the museum, but that will change, as they are currently restoring a 0 6 0  switch engine that was built in 1919.

   Believe it or not, this is a steam engine! They've taken it apart to rebuild all the various parts. You are looking at the end that the Engineer and Fireman would ride. That hole is where the fireman shoveled the coal. The cab is inside the building, being repaired.

This is the front end of the engine. The front piece has obviously been removed for repairs. All those holes will eventually be filled with new, steel tubes running front to back. The heat and smoke from the fire pass through the tubes to heat the water and make steam pressure. It really is an involved process getting a steam boiler recertified. When they're done, it all has to be inspected and the welds must be X-rayed or checked with a Sonigram for perfection.

This photo looks mildly like a steam engine. The wheels are all inside getting worked on.

Here is one pair of drivers. There's three pair for this engine. They are about three feet tall.

Here's the cab. They are replacing rusted steel and filling unnecessary holes by welding in pieces and grinding them smooth.

Here's an old Ford they're working on. IT RUNS! It lacks a radiator, but when they get one, they'll throw it on the rails and off it goes! We talked with the guy working on the mechanicals and he said he was surprised when he went to the local NAPA Auto Parts store and they had 4 spark plugs for it!....LOL.

Here's Patsy (and Sassi) standing by a Domeliner. This one was part of Western Pacific's fleet and was part of the California Zephyr. It ran from Salt Lake City to the San Fransisco Bay area. She remembered riding in a car like this "back in the day". She rode the Santa Fe Super Chief to San Diego with her Mom and Brother. She remembered the Porters wearing their white uniforms, and how beautiful the train was inside. Before planes got efficient at moving people, trains were the way to travel. Fancy China and Silverware, Linen table cloths and the Porters were there to ensure you had a comfortable trip, and were well cared for....Ahhhhh the good old days!

  We hope you enjoyed this brief, small representation of this train museum. It is really a LOT bigger, and these aren't even the high points. But this is nothing more than a snapshot of what they are doing.
   We hope all of you are well, and we're thinking of all of you......

Tomorrow, we're traveling across California to Fort Bragg to ride the Skunk Train!

Train Day in Portola!

  A few Christmas' ago my daughters bought me an opportunity to operate a real diesel locomotive. Being a train "enthusiast", that sounded like a lot of fun. Today Patsy and I made it to Portola to the Train Museum there, and I got the chance to operate a GP-9 Road engine. So did Patsy!
  Charlie was assigned to be our babysitter. We went through the pre-trip inspection, and soon we started the engine up and let it idle to build up air pressure for the brakes and a few other mechanical devices on the engine.
  They let you rent the train for an hour, and you get to operate it over 1/4 mile of rail. There's straight track, curved track, and a crossing, so you really do get to have some fun blowing the horn, ringing the bell and controlling your speed.
   Here's a few pix just for fun:

The Engine is a Southern Pacific EMD GP-9

It's powered by a HUGE 16 cylinder engine

Part of the pre-trip inspection is opening every door around the engine and checking the oil in a number of places, then you do a walk-around to check the brake shoes and a few other things. Charlie did the checking and I pretended I knew what he was doing...

  Once we had it running, and everything was checked, it was time to ROLL! In the 5 minute school they give you, you learn to remember to change the headlightswitch so the headlights are lit to point  the direction you are going, to operate the bell and horn at the crossing, to operate the horn when changing direction, and try to stay on the track! Also, a lot of technical "How to make it go and stop" stuff...
   So, the pic above is me looking like I know what I'm doing.....

  Here's Patsy looking like she knows what she's doing.....The guy who was babysitting us is really a great guy. He had been with the museum  for 9 years. He said he knew nothing about trains when he joined up with them.

   This sign names the place we started and finished our trip. I think it's aptly named....

Here's the view out the passenger door of the Engine. This is the point of your operation where you'd stop and reverse direction. See the train in front? If you mess up, you hit it! Lucky for the museum we were able to avoid a collision.....

 
Here's me!

Here's Patsy and Sassi!

Lastly, here's Charlie and me. It was a fun way to spend an hour.

Tomorrow we're going back to see the rest of the museum. They have a LOT of rolling stock there!

C-Ya,

We're in Truckee!

  We're here. This morning I went to fire up my "confuser" (computer) and it didn't act right. It locked up and refused to budge. So, I had to force it to off. I tried to reboot it, but nothing. Just a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. Nothing more. So I forced it to off again. Then, it turned itself back on. I forced it off, and it came back on again! So, I pulled the battery and figured it needed a repairman to tickle its innards.
   Just for grins, about a half hour ago I replaced the battery and started it up. It booted up fine and is working as if nothing happened. I hate confusers........

  We were told that Truckee was about a hal mile walk to the Old downtown portion...So, like fools we decided to walk. I think it was between 3 and 4 miles to town and back. (By the way it's uphill all the way to Truckee and back to camp). Patsy did fine, and I did too, but I did had some grumpy knees when we got back.

  Apparently we got there too early, as most of Truckee was closed. So we walked around and looked at things through the windows. It's a pretty town. There is a major railroad right of way right past Truckee, so we were able to watch a few loooooooong trains cruise through. One Amtrack Passenger train stopped and dropped off a couple of people. Sorry, no pix..

   I have to admit, the part of Truckee we saw is a bit of a tourist trap. Lots of Artsy Fartsy stuff and Wine Tasting stuff, etc..... Not exactly our Cup of Tea. But, the day was beautiful and we were having fun. Someone restored an old "Flying A" gas station and they sell clothing out of it, but it was nice to see an old building not given the Bulldozer Treatment. Here's a few Pics of it:

   

  We fooled around until a little before lunch and then ate at "Burger Me". It was featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" last July. Patsy had the Bison Burger and I had the Turkey Burger. You can pick and choose whatever you want on the Burger, including a Fried Egg! There was also Chili and a wide assortment of "stuff" for your Burger. I had Onion Rings and Patsy had Sweet Potato Fries. It really was pretty good. There's another place here that was featured on the same show. It's called "JAX". It's an old fashioned Diner with "Comfort food" on the Menu. If we were going to be here another day, we'd probably try it out.
  Here's a pic of "Burger Me" it's a converted warehouse and pretty spartan inside. But you'll have to come here to see the inside 'cuz I only took a pic of the outside.....

It doesn't look like much, but the folks that run it are pleasant and the food is good. What else matters?
So, until next time......That's all folks!

Once upon a time in a land far away................

there were some Happy Campers. They were happy to be on their journey to parts of California they had never seen before. All of a sudden, there was a loud cracking sound and parts of their Freezer Door fell to the floor....It had broken and was no longer usable. Not to be swayed in their endeavor, the Happy Campers thought "We'll just buy a new one!". Such a simple thought, but it turned out to be a terrible problem!
  The Daddy Happy Camper felt it was his obligation to make the repairs and he set out to call many, many different RV Parts suppliers in a search for a new Freezer door. He thought that with the millions of Dometic RV Refrigerators on the road, some one would have the part on their shelf.....But NO! It was not to be! The Daddy Happy Camper was a little less happy......
  It seemed no one had one, but all vowed they could have one ranging from  "A few days" to "It won't ship 'til the 26th". One guy said he could have it in "One day"! That was great! Except for the fact that he told the Daddy Camper this news late on Friday, which meant "One Day" was Monday.......
  The Daddy Happy Camper thought maybe he could call ahead, to some of the towns they would be passing near in a few more days. Using the Internet, the Daddy Happy Camper found a beautiful Website. It looked very official and was very informative! "Eureka!" He exclaimed. "I found it!". There was even a phone number to call! The call was placed and a funny sounding Troll answered at the other end.....The Daddy Happy Camper asked about the Freezer Door and even said he had a part number......The Troll simply said "I don't know nuthin' 'bout no part numbers. I have piles of doors. We'll just have to see if we can match it up". It sounded foreboding, and a bit odd to the Daddy Happy Camper. But he was out of better ideas.
  So, The Happy Campers embarked on a 400 mile trip to see the Troll with the many Freezer Doors. The Daddy Happy Camper began to wonder how it was that the Troll had so many Freezer doors and so many. many other people had none....He wondered if there was some sort of Sorcery involved.....But actually, it mattered not as the Happy Campers had to see the Troll to solve their problem.
   After many days travel, they arrived at the door of the Trolls lair.....Here is a Photo....

    Look how many locks the Troll used on the door to his lair! The Happy Campers wondered if once they entered, could they escape?.......Soon a short, hairy, odd little troll answered our knoock and I explained our quest to him....He remembered speaking to me on the phone, and went right to a pile of Freezer Doors and handed one to me!. He was a kindly little Troll after all! I feared the cost would be exorbitant, as I had explained how difficult the doors were to find, but he was merciful and only charged me $20.00! Not bad! I had been quoted anywhere from $90.00 to $120.00 for the ones no one could get.....
   Soon the Daddy Happy Camper was working hard installing the new freezer door. After a small battle he emerged victorious! The new door was installed, the water heater had been repaired a few days ago, so there was nothing left to do but continue on to Truckee, where we will spend a few days, doing whatever folks do in Truckee.
    Here's a pic of the Campsite:

So, all in all an eventful day. We were satisfied, the Troll was satisfied, and we ended up in the Sierras. Not a bad day!

Until next time....