Visiting Family in California

I flew from Las Vegas to SFO Wednesday of last week to visit my parents and siblings.

It had been way too long since the last visit so it was overdue, way overdue.

My brother, Carlos, picked me up at SFO airport and we drove to Palo Alto where he lives with his lovely wife Ling, and their two sons Evan and Nathan.

I would spend several hours each day visiting with my folks. Then I would return to my brother's home to spend time with him and his family.

My mother, as always, went all out for our first lunch:

Interspersed with all the visiting, a lucky coincidence had one of my uncles arriving on Saturday to stay with the uncle I have here in the Bay area.... They invited the folks and I to dinner that evening.

#2 uncle on left and #4 uncle on right

Sunday, Ling and Carlos hosted a barbecue at their place, and my sister Ana, along with others.

My sister Ana Rosa

More visiting, a perusal of old photo albums at my parent's place resulted in the copying of some of them:

My siblings and I, me being the oldest

when we lived in Honduras 

Me, in mid-70s Miami, FL

First car bought with own money

'77 CJ-7

My ride while in Germany with US Army

'87 Cherokee, proved underpowered,

Replaced soon by Black version with six cylinders instead.

My parents and I

Farewell Lunch

 

I fly back to Las Vegas today....not sure where I'll be camping next.   Stay tuned.

Last Three Days of Pearce Ferry Boonndocking

Saturday, April 8 and Sunday, April 9

Much resting and laying about listening to audio books.  I did take off the intake valve cover off of Yagi's engine to confirm the lock nut remained in place:

I determined there's only one spot where the new omnidirectional antenna gets a cell signal "reliably".  At least, for this particular campsite.  Not bad considering the nearest cell tower I've determined to be 12+ miles away in Meadview!

Some photos during the golden hours

Monday, April 10

Last full day of boondocking.  It was Scarlett's turn for a ride after I swapped out her suspect battery for a new one I received from Amazon.

Hottest day of the year so far for me...91F outside/97F inside!

Down by the Colorado river

A view of Scarlett from one of the other campsites near mine.  See the area with green vegetation behind the rig?  Lori Z. confirmed it used to be under water, in fact water used to reach all the way to the campsites!

More "Golden Hour" pics:

Tuesday, I head into Meadview.  I'll be parking my VRRV and trailer with associated motorcycles at Lori Z's mom's place for a bit over a week.

I'm going to be visiting my folks in the San Francisco Bay area.  I'll be staying with my brother and his family in Palo Alto, CA.  There will be more siblings and a couple of Uncles meeting up on Sunday as well.  More to follow.

More Pierce Ferry Boondocking

Thursday, April 6 (continued)

After lunch in Meadview, I rode Scarlett to South Cove, about six miles north of town to check it out

Its main feature is a large cement boat ramp, which due to water levels, was out of operation since it couldn't reach the water anymore

I wandered about the area and found a makeshift boat ramp in use. That's about it though and I returned to the camp site:

Back at camp, I managed to break the omnidirectional weBoost antenna and so have no cell signal at the VRRV anymore.

I either get crappy connectivity at the site of the old seismograph bunker or ride six miles to the junction Pierce Ferry Rd and Pearce Airstrip Rd where I get great signal. Oh well...

I relaxed the rest of the afternoon away.

Friday, April 7

After doing a check-in with Martha and the Z's while at the junction of Pierce Ferry Rd and Pearce Air Strip Rd, I headed down the rough "road" to the air strip to see what I could see. Turns out, you can see quite a lot! Popular spot too, there was a car park there and I would soon be joined by another car with some hikers and even a small plane landed on the strip while I was there. The pilot and his passenger apparently knew there was cellular internet connectivity here at the edge of the cliff near the air strip!

Gateway Rock Formations leading to South Cove

Airstrip with the plane that showed up

Colorado River at Pearce Ferry

A bit further out view

I can't imagine the upheaval forces that caused such

huge hunks to rise and up end like this.

Can you see Umarang?

Soon enough, I headed back the way I came, stopping only another pic of South Cove's entry rock formations

I stopped at the information plaques at the Pierce Ferry campground and got this info for you to flesh things out that I've mentioned before in previous posts

I then headed over to the location of Pierce Ferry, or at least, to the boat ramp used to take boats out of the Colorado River. I didn't find any remaining evidence of Ferry buildings and such, though I did ride a back trail that led to these small rapids:

I kept looking for this spot for a Then and Now moment but this is the best I got:

I returned to camp by 1:30 PM and rested the rest of the afternoon away as the overcast skies finally gave way to partly to mostly sunny skies and warming temperatures. Here's a few pics of Yagi as the golden hour neared....