Wine And The Rocks

Less than one week after taking delivery of the (to be named) van, plans to meet up with good friends (and fellow Sportsmobile owners) in the eastern Sierra charted our course from the coast toward the desert mountains 361 miles to the east.

Without specific destinations en route in mind, we left Limekiln State Park. The Naciemento Ferguson road is the only way to get across the Santa Lucia mountains due to the big slide closing CA1.

Somewhere between 1 and 3 hours driving is the sweet spot for a day depending on the type of roads and scenic stops we take. Paso Robles made a great stop for provisions, fuel and great facilities.

We stumbled on the Wine Country RV Resort. Wow! Hot tubs, vineyard views, wine tasting, gym, wifi, spa quality showers. A dip in the hot tub massaged the new muscles we discovered from loading, unloading, reloading, hoisting/launching/climbing into the van.

Only one night? Dang – we must come back here to enjoy more vineyards and beauty.

Even though we wanted to linger in Paso Robles, we crossed California seeing things we did not know existed in central California. Huge solar farms, thousands of pumping oil wells, massive windowless Amazon warehouses, billboards voicing desires for dams rather than trains filled the landscape.

Central California faded into desert and the tip of the Sierra Nevada. With the sun setting and fingers crossed, we approached Red Rock Canyon State Park. If the park is full, reality looked like camping roadside – not ideal, yet not a problem.

Good morning Red Rock Canyon. Tell us more about yourself

Here is some info from the park website.  “Historically, the area was once home to the Kawaiisu Indians, who left petroglyphs in the El Paso mountains and other evidence of their inhabitation. The spectacular gash situated at the western edge of the El Paso mountain range was on the Native American trade route for thousands of years. During the early 1870s, the colorful rock formations in the park served as landmarks for 20-mule team freight wagons that stopped for water. About 1850, it was used by the footsore survivors of the famous Death Valley trek including members of the Arcane and Bennett families along with some of the Illinois Jayhawkers. The park now protects significant paleontology sites and the remains of 1890s-era mining operations, and has been the site for a number of movies.”

On the road again. Time to meet up with Chris and Chris for Thanksgiving dinner camping in the Alabama Hills.

Okay, this is going to be good.

Really good! Let’s get the anchor down.