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....


  



     

Sacramento

We made it to Sacramento! We went to the Old Town area and spent the day gawking. We also paid a visit tot he State Railroad Museum. The Railroad Museum is so well done, it's hard to imagine someone wouldn't enjoy being there.

   This video is actually from when we visited a few months ago. The quality is a bit low, as I shot it with my little snapshot camera and the light level was low, but you get the idea....

   Here's a few pictures of the campground we're staying at tonight.

   It's a KOA Campground just outside Sacramento....Pretty boring....no freeway noise, no trains rumbling by.......LOL. We stayed here last time we were up here. It's a nice clean campground, and the store has Ice Cream....

   It's located near a finger of the Sacramento River. There's pedal boats you can rent and I've seen folks fishing....Not catching mind you, just fishing.

   
Tomorrow we get to see "Piles of freezer doors" to see if the guy has a freezer door for our refrigerator! That should be fun!


Until next time.............





  


   

Further North!

Well, we are out of the city and into Central California. It's a nice time to be driving up Hiway 99, as a lot of the crops are still hanging on the trees, or growing in the fields. We stopped at a Campground basically because it was there. Patsy has an app on her smart phone that helps you find campsites.....The first two it directed us to didn't exist, so we gave up on that idea. we're in Riverland RV Park. "Yep, this here's what ya call an RV Park, Clark"......... It's about 30 feet from the freeway and about 100 feet from a major North / South Railroad double track. The camper vibrates gently as the train passes....It's hot so the A/C is on and we really don't hear the freeway. Here's a pic of the campsite:

  Actually parts of the park are kind of nice. The Kings River flows right past it, and you can sit on the river bank and watch nothing happen.
 
Here's a pic of Sassi trying to be cute so she might get a treat:

  Patsy is doing the dishes, and Sassi is on the overhead bed. We had Chicken, and she wanted some....
When she pouts, which she does a lot, this is the posture she assumes; front feet together, head placed on both feet, and then she does not move, but stares at you..........
  Tomorrow we should make Sacramento area and will fool around in the Old Town portion, and then head to a campsite outside Sacramento..........On Monday, I hope to get a freezer door from the guy with no idea what he has in the way of parts......
  Until next time..... 
 

Today the water heater part arrived. Not bad....we were quoted "one day" and it took five days, but we have hot water....We never found a freezer door. So, I guess we're gonna take our chances with the guy in Vallejo who "doesn't use part numbers", but "Has a pile of 'em. We'll just have to try and match it up". I hope he isn't as disorganized as he sounds....LOL

  Here's some pix of Patsy relaxing. I'm not allowed to relax. I am the repairman, photographer, driver, etc........LOL  

   The campground isn't too bad, for being in a city. There's a little patch of grass and some trees at each campsite. It's not crowded, and the rest of the campground is in real nice shape and very clean.

   Tomorrow we hit the road......

Backpacking trip

I thought I would post some pictures of my backpacking trip.  I am always amazed of the beauty on these trips I take.  This was one of the hardest trips I have been on but I think it was due to not eating or drinking. ENJOY! (I sure did)