Monday, June 1, 2015

Washington California

After a year and a half we are on the road again!
Destination: River Rest Campground Resort
In Washington California.
Right on the south Yuba river!


My nephew and his wife worked at this same campground for 2 years.
They were actually married there.
Two of my children and grandchildren, have camped at the
 River Rest Campground Resort, 
and say it's what you would picture heaven to be like. So I'm very excited to be moving there, and did I say it's right on the Yuba river?
We are moving to the area, site unseen, with a leap of faith.

We will be storing the RV and moving into a cabin. Right on the river!
We have been work camping since 2008 and our poor RV needs some TLC. This year we had our refrigerator go out and it's been quite a challenge living without it. It's been a very busy year and a half of work not allowing energy or the time to make the repairs.
Thankfully my daughter had brought up a small refrigerator for us to use. That on top of a few other things that need to be fixed a good deep cleaning will be a blessing after living in red clay dirt environment.

We are looking forward to being able to enjoy some of hobbies that make us happy, like fishing, river rafting (aka floating peacefully in the river.).

As well as gold panning. 


It's with a sad heart once again that we are leaving Groveland and the campground that we called home for 4 1/2 years off and on, since we started out adventures on the road. We have made many friends and learned a lot.

Keep watch for updates and photos from 
River Rest campground Resort as we start of new adventure on June 2nd, 2015.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

The North wind is blowing and there is a change coming in the air.

The North wind is blowing and there is a change in the air.
 
We long for our mountains, it is like they are calling out to us to come home.

In October we went up to Groveland to help our friends at Yosemite Pines with their awesome Halloween Party. All the way up, we had that feeling of going home, even Shadow seemed to really understand where we were going and was getting happy.
 While there everyone kept telling us that we should come back. In our hearts we felt it too.. So.. Here it is.. We are going back HOME to our park family at....

YOSEMITE PINES.
Babs and I

 
 
Let me tell you Oct to Dec 3rd seemed like it was so far away.. but here it is.. we are just days away from move day. 
 
We were unexpectedly laid off in Sept.. Then we encountered some major issues with un-Employment. I also had some union issues which I needed to get taken care of before leaving this area. Now all seems to be in order.. and our future seems bright again.  Everything seems to have a time and a place.  Let me tell you a few months without an income if a bit tuff not to mention scary!
 
 While here we have met some of the nicest people you could ever meet and hopefully we have made a few long lasting friendships as well...  Thank you to all of you who have deeply touched our hearts and renewed our faith in mankind, people do still care.
 
 
  Well that is it for now.. I will be posting more later....
 
 
 
 
 Happy Trails. Get out there, and live your dream.  Explore, and take that leap of faith..
Life is short and there are no do overs.
 
 




Tuesday, June 18, 2013

River Rats? On the Delta now. Wow!

Well here we are on the Sacramento River Delta in Isleton Ca. I never thought that we would come to work on the Delta in the San Joaquin Valley. So much flat land, and if you know us you know that we love the mountain areas.
 
The Delta is a very interesting area, There are miles and miles of waterways.
 
As a child I remember boating and water skiing with my family all over these channels and sloughs.
 

It is interesting how we came to be here, We signed up on KOA looking for KOA jobs when we came across this one. 
We came down to check it out and visit. At first we turned this park down. Not because of the park, or the people but because of Hwy 12. It goes between Lodi and Rio Vista, the main shopping area is to go to Lodi by taking Hwy 12. It is a very busy 2 lane highway which people seem to drive very crazy on.
Then one day about a month later, we received several text like messages from the owner or this park who is also the owner of a major corporation that I had heard of before. We finally spoke by phone and she convinced us to give this park a try.
 
 

We have a great site very much park like by the creek. This is an older park and most of the guests who stay here are older or tourists. So it is very peaceful.
We get what is called a Delta breeze or wind every day in the evening. Which on HOT days makes the temperatures much nicer.
 
There are only 4 of us who are working here so it does keep us rather busy. I can happily say tho, we have quickly become very close and really enjoy working with them.



 
Just down the road from us with-in a short walking distance is the Spindrift Restaurant and store.
They offer good food with a wide variety of options for your dinning pleasure. The Spindrift also has live music on the weekends.
 
 
As you can see from the above picture the Sacramento Delta is very vast! 

A little history about the Delta Region:
There is a total area around 1,100 square miles (2,800 km2), around 70 reclaimed islands and tracts, surrounded by 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of levees surrounded by 700 miles (1,100 km) of waterways. The delta was originally marshland; reclamation was made by the building of levees, by Chinese laborers in the 1850s.
A typical levee was constructed as being approximately trapezoidal, 10 ft (3.0 m) above original ground level, and approximately 30 ft (9.1 m) wide at the base rock armored on the river side. The construction was a colossal engineering undertaking.

A close up of the area which we are in.
 
We are enjoying life as River Rats. It seems like we have been in nearly every type of climate in the state of California so far..  Forest-Desert-Ocean-High Desert-Mountains- now Delta.
 
 Since we have just arrived I am sure there will be more posts to come from this Delta region of California.
 


Next Stop " Gold Country Campground in Pine Grove Ca"

Nearly a year to the day we find that hitch itch is calling to us again. 
With heavy hearts we hit the road.
We had worked in Groveland for Yosemite Pines campground for a total of 3  combined years. We think of them as family and will miss them dearly.  
 
We were offered an opportunity to work in Pine Grove CA at a park which we had stayed at between jobs before as a guest. This is an amazing and fun park for campers to enjoy.

      Paradise in the Pines 

         Your Year Round Destination

       13026 Tabeaud Road, Pine Grove, Ca 95665
     (209) 296-4650
 

This is a picture that someone had painted back in the 60's of how the park looked. This park has been in existence since the 1930's.
 
It has many fun things for campers to enjoy especially ones camping with children. The accommodations include RV camping, Tent camping, Cabins and Lodge rooms.
 
 
They have a water spray park as well as a pool for those Hot summer days.
 
 
There is a really nice miniature golf park, playground, basketball court, volley ball and bocce ball court. Also they have an Arcade room, a billiards room, and a recreation room.
In the summer they have arts and crafts for the kids, skits and games.
On holiday's they have performers come in as well, like music or old western reenactment performers.
 
Pine Grove is located on Hwy 88 just 8 miles up the road from the Jackson Rancheria casino.
 
While in the area we explored Lake Tabeaud, which is a PGE water lake. People can fish in it but NO swimming or boating is allowed.
 

 
 
 
Not far away between Jackson and Angels Camp is a very nice area to play at on the Mokelumne River
 
Just off of hwy. 49 between the Calaveras county and Amador County line there is a bridge. You can stop on either side of the bridge and enjoy the river.
 


 

 
This picture below is another area that we had found that was on a road near the little town of Volcano.
 
 
 

 
 
 

We stayed here a little over 3 months. Before deciding to head down the hill to the Delta area of California. Which brings us closer to my Mom and will give us new experiences working for a KOA park.


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Back HOME at 
Yosemite Pines RV Resort
Well shortly after arriving we experienced heavy rains then snow. It had been awhile since we have actually felt winter, so this was not a bad thing.  It was such a blessing that we made it here between storms and before the big ones hit.



We are even back in our same site, which we really enjoy. Its so peaceful up here on the hill and up here we are able to keep an eye on this portion of the park.
 

We even missed the animals.


The newest additions to the park are a pair of crazy Turkeys.

The male seems to think its fun to attack the wheels of cars and RVs in the park. Well I have come to the conclusion that this crazy birds days are numbered. It's funny to watch but saddens me to think that one day he will not win. Sure gets the campers all worried not knowing how to handle a Turkey attacking their vehicle. He is brave with the autos but timid around people..  I think the Hen realizes he is a bit on the crazy side since she seems to ignore his crazy ways and goes a different direction.

We started work shortly after arriving which made us happy we were ready to get busy.
There has been many wonderful changes in the park while away, and the newest is yet to come.
We will be having a Deli here in our Recreation room.

My Niece and Nephew came and stay for a few days about a week or two after our arrival.. It was so wonderful to see them and spend time with them again. Their little Timothy is growing up so fast. This was Trina's first visit to Yosemite National park.

 I even had a surprise visit from one of my ol High School friends. He has promised to bring his wife and their RV so that we can all have a longer visit.


It's so good to be HOME.
For those who may not know this I am originally from Sonora which is about 45 minutes away from our campground. It's the main place to go for your shopping needs.
~
On the down side.. shortly after arriving my Mother's health has started to fail. She was admitted to the hospital with her blood levels all at comatose levels. They gave her several transfusions and she was in the hospital for about a week. They have sent her home where my brother lives with her. We still do not know what the cause is. One theory is that her bone marrow is not producing the blood cells.. So it is good to be back closer to her and was good timing to get here.
~

There are so many more wonderful things to share about this park, so I will continue to update as our season progresses.

We are still in need of workcampers so if you are interested please contact:
http://www.guestfirstrvresorts.com/employment.html
Yosemite Pines RV Resort & Family Lodging
20450 Old Highway 120
Groveland, California 95321
yosemite@yosemitepinesrv.com



Leaving Ventura Beach RV Park




Well it is time to hit the road again. We ended up staying here in Ventura far longer than we had expected. It is a Beautiful area. There is so much to see and do. We are scheduled to leave here on March 15th, 2012.


While here we visited Grant Park. In 1782 Father Junipero Serra founded the San Buenaventura Mission. Soon after, a large wooden cross was placed on a neighboring hillside as a guidepost for travelers. Over the years, the original cross and a series of replacements were lost to the elements, but locals never gave up. The current cross has stood atop its circular stone pedestal since 1941.
The view from here is Amazing!


While working here as the Events coordinator I had the pleasure of meeting and working with some living legends. Iron Butterfly AllStar Band. 3 of the members are from the original 'Iron Butterfly Band' from the 60's and 70's.
They are some very talented guys. Crazy and lots of Fun to be around. I am proud to call them friends.
Just before leaving Ventura Beach RV Park I learned that they had just been signed and that they will be soon be cutting a new CD, as well as they will be touring again.

We worked with some wonderful people and had a lot of fun. I do have to say that this has been the most continuously busy park that we have ever worked in. We had plans to see Robert's parents more often while here but with being so busy it was so much harder for us to accomplish this.

We started out our travels at Yosemite Pines RV Park in Groveland CA and went out to spread our wings to gain more experience working in other types of campgrounds. What we found is that we really missed our home in the hills. So after being away for 2 years we are returning soon to Groveland and Yosemite Pines RV Resort.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ventura Beach RV Resort.

Oh, MY what a difference, going from high desert to what looks like it could be Hawaii.

We arrived here on June 1st not knowing whether we were vacationing or going to be working. A quick meeting with the Manager with a planned meeting to talk in the next couple of days. Wow.. Am I sleeping? Pinch me.. LOL


After a quick set up, we were hungry and decided on pizza.

I looked up pizza on my Droid and found a highly rated Pizzaria.. called Tony's. It was NOT pizza hut  but was like a real Hut.
 The pizza is different than what we were used to but it was really good and the ambiance of the place was like being in Hawaii. 
BUT Wait....
We missed the Pizzaria at first .. then tried to find parking well the street which is next to Tony's that we turned on, just so happened to take you to surfers point beach.. OMG I was not in heaven. We decided to stop and walk around a little while so that I could take some pictures.. OK Robert stopped so he could shut me up.. LOL I was more than a little excited to be at the beach and so close there was no way that we were not going to stop for a few minutes. :)
I am so glad my husband loves me..

After we left the beach.. sighs it was so nice.. We went to Tony's Pizzaria (hut..)


We were fortunate enough to actually meet the owner.. He is rarely seen and just happened to be doing an interview while we were standing by the fire waiting for our pizza.  He stopped for awhile from his interview to greet us. I have to say he was a delight and added even more to the day. Tony is 86 years old and he opened his pizza hut in 1958.. why does that seem familiar to me?? It's the year that i was born.


We took 2 days to settle in then on the 3rd day i spoke to the manager.. on the 4th day i was working.. Robert started a few days later.
I work in the office/store, assist with Sunday Breakfasts, and also am in charge of the Resorts Face Book page and Website page.  I have yet to have a day off but then again most days i am only working 3 hours.  Robert is working four 8 hour days right now in Security. Which is different for him, since it is not like military security.

We are within a short walking distance of one of the beaches, and a little more of a walk or drive to another nicer beach. The ocean is a very nice place to relax and unwind and heal the soul.

I really love my jobs here and the area, but I am so terribly afraid that we are going to wake up and find ourselves in yet another nightmare.. Lord please no.. I am not sure i can with stand another of those right now.

We should be here until October 2011. We want to leave before winter sets in when they have flooding in this area.. Also Salt air is not good for autos or RV's.

We will take this one step at a time and savor this area and the time we spend here. And the MOST IMPORTANT reason for being in this area is to be near Robert's parents.

More pictures to come later.

www.venturabeachrvpark.com