Friday, October 31, 2014 (The Lakes RV Resort, Chowchilla, California)

Harry and Vicki picked us up at 9:00. There is a big storm forecast to come in later today bringing rain with snow to the higher elevations...but it was a lovely start to the day! We headed north on hwy 99 and turned east onto hwy 140, Central Yosemite Highway.

It took us through the town of Mariposa...

Yosemite National Park!

Now that would be fun with our rig!

Merced River...

Closeup of El Capitan Left, Clouds Rest, Half Dome, Sentinal Rock, Cathedral Rocks right

Steve, Vicki and Harry...

Half Dome in the distance...

The Ahahnee Hotel way way down there...we'll be going there for a look later...

Forest Fire in the distance...

Bridalveil Falls...not much water this time of year...

El Capitan....

Beautiful Fall colours...

Half Dome....

Entrance to Ahwahnee Hotel...Yosemite National Park's distinctive triple-A Four-Diamond hotel, is known for its magnificent facade and architecture. The Ahwahnee was specifically designed to highlight its natural surroundings....

That's Glacier Point way up there where we were looking down into the valley....

The Dining Room...

We wandered through the hotel...wow, very nice! By the sound of it, we'd have to win the lottery to stay there!


We drove a little further to the Village where we stopped at the deli for a sandwich...

Rain is on it's way...

We drove up Tioga Road for a bit. It and Glacier road were going to be closed a 6:00 pm due to the first winter storm on it's way today.

There were many new and old forest fire burned areas in the park...

On our way back down Tioga Road, Steve happened to notice this black bear. Harry stopped and backed up so we could take a closer look...

A little further, we saw some deer...

A slide took out the main road, so they installed a one-lane bridge on the opposite side of the valley...

On our way home it started raining...just as predicted. It was going on 7:00 when Harry and Vicki dropped us off. What an awesome day! Another thing checked off our bucket list! Thanks so very much for your hospitality, Harry and Vicki! After hugs and handshakes, we said our goodbyes. We plan on leaving tomorrow.

Thursday, October 30, 2014 (The Lakes RV Resort, Chowchilla, California)

We wanted to enjoy the sunshine today by spending some time at the pool but first we had some work to take care of. First on the agenda was to find a car wash with a big bay where Steve could wash the truck. We headed into Chowchilla and found the car wash Harry had mentioned but unfortunately, trucks weren't allowed...and we wouldn't have fit into the bay anyway. The attendant told Steve there was a truck wash at the Pilot station about 6 miles south on hwy 99.

It ended up being more like 10 miles, but we found it. It turned out to be one where they wash the truck for you. We hummed and hawed about the $45.00 cost but with little other choice and Steve wanting to get all of the Oregon coast salt spray off the truck, we went for it.

This tractor pulled into the other bay...all decorated for Halloween...

Back home, Steve continued his cleaning of the truck....windows, wheels, tires...while I loaded up the laundry and headed over to the laundry room.

It was 2:00 by the time we were ready for some RnR at the pool...

It's a pretty small pool but a nice place to cool off...









Then heat up again...

That's our rig over there...

About 5:30 Harry came over, followed shortly by Vicki, just arriving home from Oxnard. We sat outside enjoying a cocktail and then Steve grilled burgers and we went inside for dinner...

After dinner, it was Campfire-In-A-Can time! We chatted until about 9:00 and then we called it a night. Tomorrow Harry and Vicki are taking us to see Yosmite National National Park...awesome!