Vacation stories/pictures thread

WOW! You're not wasting any time accumulating miles between the Florida panhandle and Wichita Falls, Texas. Got my atlas and following your trip. Keep us up to date and safe travels as you continue your journey.
 
Johali said:
We arrived safely at the Lake Arrowhead State Park in Wichita Falls TX this afternoon. 30 miles East of Dallas we ran into a huge thunderstorm that lasted until 25 miles NW of Fort Worth. When we passed the Texas track we could see some haulers and Cars/Trucks in front of the gate. It was raining too hard to tell anything about them.

It's been raining here so much this year that the lake is out of it's banks and a mess. But we're relaxing and enjoying ourselves.
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Knowing how you do things, I doubt this will help much, but if ya get in a tight and need options?

BTW they have pay sites listed also

https://freecampsites.net/
 
We just got set up at the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo TX. A couple of brief storms on the way here but everything else went smooth. About 11pm last night a bad ass storm hit us and rocked us around but that's life on the high plains. Nothing to block the wind but grass. We'll be here until Saturday morning visiting the wife's family.
 
Johali said:
We arrived safely at the Lake Arrowhead State Park in Wichita Falls TX this afternoon. 30 miles East of Dallas we ran into a huge thunderstorm that lasted until 25 miles NW of Fort Worth. When we passed the Texas track we could see some haulers and Cars/Trucks in front of the gate. It was raining too hard to tell anything about them.

It's been raining here so much this year that the lake is out of it's banks and a mess. But we're relaxing and enjoying ourselves.
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IndyCar is here this weekend.
Damn I wish I'd know you were in town. Could have stopped for lunch. If you are coming back this way, def let me know.
 
Magnethead said:
IndyCar is here this weekend.
Damn I wish I'd know you were in town. Could have stopped for lunch. If you are coming back this way, def let me know.
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Will do. I don't know when we'll be back that way but It's a deal.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
On the way home, Johali will stop in Junction --- it's less than 2 hours from my home. I may run down there and meet them.
I can stay the night in Junction and go home the next day --- no big deal.
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Ah, well if that's the case, he won't be near me then. Unless he takes the extremely scenic route of Hwy 377 up here. (Did you know - 377 covers the entire state from Del Rio to Gordonville)
 
Clutch said:
Are you going to meet up with TRL?
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We're going to try.
TexasRaceLady said:
On the way home, Johali will stop in Junction --- it's less than 2 hours from my home. I may run down there and meet them.
I can stay the night in Junction and go home the next day --- no big deal.
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Yep. We'll try to work out the logistics as it gets closer.
 
Magnethead said:
Ah, well if that's the case, he won't be near me then. Unless he takes the extremely scenic route of Hwy 377 up here. (Did you know - 377 covers the entire state from Del Rio to Gordonville)
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After going all the way to Oregon on the east side of CA and back down the Pacific Coast Hwy to Junction and on home I'm sure that we'll be scenic routed out. But we'll catch up Next time through.
 
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We just arrived at Bluewater Lake State Park Campground in New Mexico. It was a long but uneventful trip. The uneventful bit was the best part. Like most State and National Park Campgrounds where we stay this one is clean and well kept. It's on a high ridge (7,200' Elevation) between a large and beautiful lake and a very large and deep canyon. Settled in and kicked back. :D
 
Just arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park AZ. We're set up in the Trailer Village RV Park inside the NP just off of the South Rim. No problems today but the constant altitude above 5,000 to 8,000' the last few day's is working on this old system of mine. We'll be here until Tuesday Morning doing the tourist bit. Damn we're having fun.
 
Tuesday we left the Grand Canyon after a great time of doing and seeing everything and arrived at the Kodachrome Basin State Park Campground Utah. We had no cell phone or internet service there which was really nice for a change. There are a ton of great things to do and see there, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Red Canyon etc. The front brake pads on the truck squeaked once as I expected from all of the mountainous traveling we've done. I took it to a local shop attached to a NAPA parts store to get the pads brushed and deglazed or changed and the rotors brushed or turned just to be on the safe side. 45 minutes later I was presented with a bill of $348.41. New $50 heavy duty pads were listed on the bill at $109.54, $194.75 labor the tax, supplies and even a credit card fee were added. I just smiled, paid it and went on my way. We're on vacation and wont let rip off artists spoil it for us.
 
Yesterday was day eleven of our trip. We arrived at the Fletcher View NP Campground on Mt. Charleston NV overlooking Las Vegas. Our camp is at 8,000' elevation and there's still snow on the mountain. Yesterday we went sight seeing on the mountain and on this side of the valley and also had to make a stop at a Walmart to restock our supplies. It was 39 degrees at 5 am this morning. We're going to do the tourist thing today, Hoover dam, Vegas itself and of course stop at a Casino that locals frequent to lose a couple hundred bucks at a blackjack table. I'm having trouble downloading pictures to this laptop, I'll post them when I can.
 
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We just arrived at the Berry Creek Rancheria Campground in Oroville CA. We've been up in the Sierra's for a few day's and out of touch with everything but Satellite TV. We've seen and done all there is to do and see and are having a great time. A huge grin is probably permanently implanted on our faces. :booya:
 
Johali said:
We just arrived at the Berry Creek Rancheria Campground in Oroville CA. We've been up in the Sierra's for a few day's and out of touch with everything but Satellite TV. We've seen and done all there is to do and see and are having a great time. A huge grin is probably permanently implanted on our faces. :booya:
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Lake Oroville is the one of the best bass fishing lakes in the state (but now has algae blooms). It is also the 2nd largest lake in CA on volume. I went on a vacation up that way to Don Pedro Reservoir 2 Summer's ago near Yosemite national park, beautiful area. So peaceful and relaxing.
 
Johali said:
We just arrived at the Berry Creek Rancheria Campground in Oroville CA. We've been up in the Sierra's for a few day's and out of touch with everything but Satellite TV. We've seen and done all there is to do and see and are having a great time. A huge grin is probably permanently implanted on our faces. :booya:
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WHAT!!??! No pictures? ;)
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Whizzer, he said he's having trouble downloading the pics to his laptop.
I'm sure he put them up when he can. I'm anxious to see them, too.
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I was just busting' chops a wee bit. ;) Really enjoy reading of Johali's travels and his thoughts on the places they visit.

Isn't Oroville where they had issues with the dam during flooding last year or so?
 
We left Oroville CA yesterday morning. We wound our way up to Grants pass Oregon and back down to Crescent City CA. Everything is going as planned and we're still having a ball. We were tourists all through the Redwood Forests today and my wife got her first look at the Pacific Ocean. She was duly awed. Early in the morning we'll be leaving for Napa CA down the Pacific Coast Highway and Sunday's race. I've had my fill of narrow ass winding mountain roads for a while, a long while. It'll probably take all day to get to Napa because we'll be tourist gawking all the way down.
 
I tried to download some pictures to the laptop again but no dice. I guess that I'll have to wait until I get home.
 
We arrived in Napa late Saturday but in time to watch the truck race. We Left the Campground at 6 am yesterday morning and parked the truck in the lot at Sonoma Raceway at 6:25 am. As usual we like to arrive early to beat the crowd and take our time looking around. It sure is nice having the merchandise haulers back. We really enjoyed ourselves like we always do when at a track. The race was over at 3 pm local time and we stayed until 5 pm to let the crowd thin out. The traffic jam was still bad going east so we took the uncluttered route on back roads through wine country and did the tourist bit. We're doing the tourist bit again today on the coast and in San Francisco.

Since we first entered California we've picked apricots, nectarines both white and yellow, peaches both white and yellow, three types of plums, oranges, three types of cherries and Halos from the trees with our own hands. With the exception of the oranges this is the first time in many years that I've tasted these the way that they are supposed to taste. Absolutely delicious.
 
Johali said:
We arrived in Napa late Saturday but in time to watch the truck race. We Left the Campground at 6 am yesterday morning and parked the truck in the lot at Sonoma Raceway at 6:25 am. As usual we like to arrive early to beat the crowd and take our time looking around. It sure is nice having the merchandise haulers back. We really enjoyed ourselves like we always do when at a track. The race was over at 3 pm local time and we stayed until 5 pm to let the crowd thin out. The traffic jam was still bad going east so we took the uncluttered route on back roads through wine country and did the tourist bit. We're doing the tourist bit again today on the coast and in San Francisco.

Since we first entered California we've picked apricots, nectarines both white and yellow, peaches both white and yellow, three types of plums, oranges, three types of cherries and Halos from the trees with our own hands. With the exception of the oranges this is the first time in many years that I've tasted these the way that they are supposed to taste. Absolutely delicious.
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It sounds like you are having an awesome time. When you pull out of the tracks main entrance and turn right and go about a mile down to that intersection at route 37 is where that girl ran that red light at 70mph last year and t-boned and rolled our rental car twice on race day. None of us would go to the hospital so they had us go to the tracks medical center to get are cuts taken care of. We still had the car ready for first round. "The rental car not so much".:) You have a safe drive back to Florida. I am leaving the Norwalk OH track about 8.30 tonight heading to Epping NH.
 
Nitro Dude said:
It sounds like you are having an awesome time. When you pull out of the tracks main entrance and turn right and go about a mile down to that intersection at route 37 is where that girl ran that red light at 70mph last year and t-boned and rolled our rental car twice on race day. None of us would go to the hospital so they had us go to the tracks medical center to get are cuts taken care of. We still had the car ready for first round. "The rental car not so much".:) You have a safe drive back to Florida. I am leaving the Norwalk OH track about 8.30 tonight heading to Epping NH.
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That's the way we left the track yesterday. The other way was bumper to bumper for miles and miles.

I remember you talking about that wreck. It's a wonder that it wasn't a disaster.

Have a safe trip bud.
 
Highway 37 is a joke. I understand there's water on both sides but they've got to find a way to make that less congested for NASCAR/NHRA/IndyCar etc. I've had great luck all weekend going back towards San Rafael to go to San Francisco (or Richmond-Oakland) for the night or taking the Lakeville Road exit back to the wineries/backroads.
 
We got up at 3 am Tuesday the 25th after the Sonoma race and being tourists in San Francisco on Monday. We left the Napa campground at 4 am to try and beat the traffic going through San Francisco and It's a good thing that we did. From Napa through the city it was heavy but steady traffic Southbound in all lanes. Once we passed the City center at 5 am the Northbound traffic was gridlocked in all lanes for the next hour until we drove out of it. Damn I like living where I do.

Bumper to bumper Northbound gridlock into SF at 5 am.

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I recall driving in Chicago around 1:30 in the afternoon with my motorhome pulling a Jeep Cherokee and the traffic was stop and start. Got on the c.b. radio to try to find out what the holdup was and some guy said, "It's rush hour traffic."
Naive me commented, "rush hour traffic? But it's 1:30 in the afternoon?!"
The trucker replied, "yeh! Rush hour here is from six a.m. until eleven p.m."
I thought Chicago traffic was bad until I drove through Atlanta.
I lived fifty miles west of NYC, five miles south of I-80, and they have rush hour traffic but not like those two cities.
 
Johali said:
We got up at 3 am Tuesday the 25th after the Sonoma race and being tourists in San Francisco on Monday. We left the Napa campground at 4 am to try and beat the traffic going through San Francisco and It's a good thing that we did. From Napa through the city it was heavy but steady traffic Southbound in all lanes. Once we passed the City center at 5 am the Northbound traffic was gridlocked in all lanes for the next hour until we drove out of it. Damn I like living where I do.

Bumper to bumper Northbound gridlock into SF at 5 am.

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See!! And people think you've been enjoying yourself all this time on the trip. :rolleyes:
 
Whizzer said:
I recall driving in Chicago around 1:30 in the afternoon with my motorhome pulling a Jeep Cherokee and the traffic was stop and start. Got on the c.b. radio to try to find out what the holdup was and some guy said, "It's rush hour traffic."
Naive me commented, "rush hour traffic? But it's 1:30 in the afternoon?!"
The trucker replied, "yeh! Rush hour here is from six a.m. until eleven p.m."
I thought Chicago traffic was bad until I drove through Atlanta.
I lived fifty miles west of NYC, five miles south of I-80, and they have rush hour traffic but not like those two cities.
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thanks for reminding me.
 
It was the same deal going through Los Angeles, up at three and on the road by four. Everything went smooth as far as the trip and fun went but there was one bobble in the road. I lost a large filling out of a molar that I had gotten while in the USMC over 55 years ago. Two nights later I awoke at around 12 am to the pain of an abscess. I called my Dentist and he made arrangements for me to pick up some medication at a Walgreen's. It made it bearable until we arrived back home and he could take care of it. All good now with a brand new crown. The biggest downside to the tooth thing was we had to cancel dinner with @TexasRaceLady . We'll make it next trip.

A few pictures.

Sunset at our first stop
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The GTO Judge we saw.

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High water in the Tyler Texas Campground.

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