Valley of Fire, SP

When planning our trip to Death Valley, we decided to visit Valley of Fire State Park out side of Las Vegas.  This is a Nevada state park and it looked interesting.  Camping is on a first come basis, so we could not make reservations before we headed down.  We avoided downtown Las Vegas by taking the SR215 North Los Vegas bypass and made our trip so much easier.  About 35 miles east we took the turn off and headed out into nondescript desert.  We climbed a hill and at the top, looked out over the most amazing landscape; red rock jumbled in rock chaos.    

The park is really nice and the campgrounds have been some of the best we have visited.  We opted for full hook-up due to the problem with our 40 year old refrigerator, it wasn't staying cold on gas and needed shore power. We had nice hot showers every day after getting hot and sweaty hiking all day.  The camp sites had a nice shade structure and great fire pits.  Our first stop was the Visitor Center for a hiking map.  We found one and spent an hour learning about the geology, flora and fauna of the Valley of Fire and the history of the many ancient people who lived there.  From the Visitors Center we went up the spur road to where most of the trails are located.  The first hike was to the "Fire Wave" and I never found the exact place where you can photograph the wave.

    

There are several relatively easy hikes in this area.  Nothing was over 2+ miles and most were a combination of sand and some scrambling over rocks.  We could bring the dogs on a leash and always had water.  It was warm in mid- February and would be downright hot in the summer. I don't think you can take a "bad" shot in VoF, every scene is breathtaking.

Petroglyph Canyon

Desert Big Horned Sheep

"White Dome" hike had the "narrows," a slot canyon you can touch with your arms extended and the ruins of an old movie set.  "Mouse's Tank" is also called petroglyph canyon and the number and complexity of the petroglyphs is fantastic.

George and Lani in the Narrows

Phil hiking down "White Dome" trail

This park has some of the most photogenic places I have ever been.  These photos have NOT been photoshopped!  The colors through the day were amazing.  The reds, oranges, yellows were crazy.  I took hundreds of pictures and  have only cropped them.  The contrast between light and shadow was difficult but also created some fantastic shots.  Some of my favorite shots I took this trip.  I hope you enjoy them!

Fire Canyon

Atlatl Loop

Well we picked up the Airstream from Paramount RV in Reno NV, they installed our new solar system.  We added:
2- 200 watt solar panels
2-AGM 120 amp hour batteries
300 wat solar inverter
Solar converter
remote sensor controller 
and a plug-in to add portable panels

Death Valley here we come!  Planning on staying at Bailey's Hot spring in Beaty NV, then dropping into the valley on the 1st.  With this system we should be able to keep the camera,iPad, iPod and phone charged.  When did it start to be so complicated to travel.  The Kindles hold a charge for weeks, so they are not the problem.  Excited to try the new system out and see how everything works.  We have a lot of dry camping planed this year.

Finding the Airstream

RV’ing vs. camping is quite a personal decision.  We were die-hard tent campers for most of our lives.  My family took me camping when I was two years old to Havisupi Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Colorado River.  We took packhorses in and spent a week.  I had to take a shovel and go dig a hole, so that was before pit toilets.  I remember the fire falls in Yosemite.  During the day a big bonfire was lit and hot coals were ready to be pushed over the edge at Glacier Point.  George is an Eagle Scout and spent most of his fondest backpacking/camping memories camping out.  So it was a HUGE discussion on whether to buy a RV.

After much discussion we decided a smaller trailer would suit us well. We started to look for a trailer small enough to get into National Parks and Forrest Service campgrounds, but big enough to get out of inclement weather when camping.  We looked at all of the new ones, but nothing struck our fancy.  We were driving up highway 1 at Pismo Beach and saw….Airstream's!  Had to check them out.  After recovering from sticker shock at the price of new ones, we knew what we liked but wasn’t sure if we could afford it.

I started haunting Craig’s List and looked for “vintage” (another term for old) Airstream's.  We found online forums, several pages devoted to older trailers and finally a friend found a 1962, 26 foot Overlander and was in the process of remodeling it.  We were hooked. 

We finally found our 1975, 25 foot, Safari Airstream, extremely clean inside with original interior in Rogue River Oregon.  When we answered the ad it was exactly what we thought we wanted.  It is comfortable, and everything we need fits but after a year, I decided I hate “Country Blue” décor, time to redecorate!

So I had absolutely no idea what to do inside an Airstream.  I have a modest budget but I don’t want to get carried away.  So I did an Internet search…wow.  So many ideas and not too many I was interested in.  There is an Elvis theme, a Route 66 theme, Yogi Bear, vintage camping and others color schemes and an infinite amount of themed trailers.  Then there are the Airstream's that have been gutted and turned into film studios, apartments, hotel rooms, dressing rooms of celebrates and portable offices.  The new Airstream's have been the canvases of famous designers and sold for thousands of dollars.  If you are ever in Cape Town South Africa, The Gran Daddy Motel has seven Airstream's designed by local artists as hotel rooms.

So we decided to re-carpet, upholster the gaucho couch and update the roller shades.  Sounds simple right?  I am cross-eyed from looking at upholstery samples, who knew!  Finding what I like is so much harder than I thought..  So the plan is find material for the couch then a coordinating fabric for the fabric covered roller shades I have committed to making.  After that pick a carpet that makes the colors pop but not show too much dirt, it is a trailer after all.  Easy Peasy… hahahaha.

There is a one-inch track that originally had colored plastic, which over the years has hardened and cracked.  What to do?  I found adhesive tiles from Home Depot, “Smart Tiles” and cut them in strips and threaded this into the track.  It looks fantastic, like real tile and makes the colors pop.  We found discount upholstery fabric from an online place, New Toto.com.  They were great and I highly recommend them.  They will send you free samples.  You tube provided instruction on how to make a fabric covered roller shade.  New carpet, we decided hardwood flooring was too cold for us, and the face lift was complete.  George spent this time buffing the exterior and working towards a mirror finish. 

We wrapped up the redecorating last year and went on the road to Grand Teton/ Yellowstone.  We thought we were the best looking trailer in the campground.  So I am posting my redecorating photos.  This year we are putting solar panels on the top and will be self sufficient for dry camping.  Will update when we get them on.

 before pit toilets

 Country Blue

 The new print.

 Looking towards the back bathroom

 My kitchen

Welcome to my view of the world

Welcome to my blog.  I thought all last year about starting a blog because I post photos of our trips on Facebook and have quite a local following.  I kept getting busy and procrastinating.  So here is a new year and I have a bunch of ideas I want to post here but…

Let me introduce myself and give you (and me) an idea of where I want to go with this blog.  I am Linda Robinette and have been retired for 2+ years from the State of California.  I have a degree in Nursing, Political Science and have worked in Law Enforcement, Nursing and Emergency Medicine.

I moved to Lassen County California, Susanville, the day before I started High school and didn’t know a soul.  After a rough start in Susanville, I never really left for long and now count myself a “local”.  I love Susanville and Lassen County and I think the idea for this blog came about from me trying to promote all of the fantastic things to do here and in the region.

My husband of 36 years and I have raised four boys and if you frequent the Lassen Ale Works, you have probably met a few of them.  We were involved in the local schools and the local Boy Scout Troop.  That was probably one of the ways we started getting out in the wild and visiting some of the fantastic local areas.  When we were young and broke, we took the boys out rock hunting.  We collected crystal points at Peterson Peak and fire opal in Virgin Valley NV.  I love rocks.

About ten years ago, we got kayaks and this opened the world of lakes.  Neither of us fish and we just didn’t go to local lakes.  When we started kayaking we started to explore.  I tell people there are about 20 lakes within 50 miles of my front door.  I think I am close but this year I have something in mind.

In 2015, I am planning on visiting every lake with water (an important distinction in a drought, with so far no end in sight), kayak and photograph them all.  I took a map and drew a circle 50 miles out…. That is a lot of area.  It’s going to be great!

We have also decided to do more local/regional camping this year.  We are the proud owners of a 1975 Tradewind Airstream.  This year George put on solar panels and now we are off the grid and ready for “boondocking”.

So other things I do: Gardening, canning and preserving food, make beer and wine.  I also make sausage out of wild game, and practice Charcuterie (look it up) and fine cooking.  I am enrolled in a jewelry class at Lassen College and have a small workshop where I make jewelry and teach myself metalwork.  We are owned by a Shiba Inu and an Akita (dog breeds).

George and I are travelers.  I make lists of places to visit and George does all the driving to get there.  I love to take photos of the beautiful and interesting places we go to.  There are not many photos of me, I am usually behind the camera.  I love macro shots and the small details.  I have taken quite a few underwater shots that I simply love. We are both scuba divers and try to make diving one of our trips every year. I will write a bit later about our trip to Bali Indonesia.  It was fabulous.

 I am sure I will want to add to what I have posted, but this is a start.  I hope you enjoy this.

Linda