Palm Desert to Merced River – 13 May 2022
It was a relief to escape the baking hot weather in Palm Desert as we started on our return trip back to Canada. This was going to be a tough slog as we needed to be back a little earlier than originally planned so we could attend to Furever Clean’s new dog wash building and deal with a support issue on one of the machines. We had a straight run of about 12 days in front of us consisting of 1 day stops with the exception of Sacramento where we planned to stay 2 days.
Our first stop was the Minter Air Museum were we had arranged an overnight stay as part of our Harvest Host membership. We arrived just after lunch and were directed into a parking spot on the side of the Museum and then asked to join their tour. The tour was led by a docent who was an ex signal man in the war. He had some fascinating stories to tell about the museum which was originally an airforce training school for pilots.
We were parked in between two RVs and ended up sitting outside all evening swapping stories with one of the RV owners. They had been travelling fulltime in their Reflection, Grand Design RV for 3 years and really enjoyed the lifestyle. They were originally from Pacifica, where we had stayed in San Francisco. Their dog and Jax both sat outside with us and eyed each other out the whole night from a distance. Finally, at the end of the evening the two made friends and started running around and chasing each other.
Next stop Castaic and the Valencia Travel Village. We had a lovely swim in their pool and then took Jax for a walk at Castaic Lake. The weather was hot and scenery not very exciting, so we didnt walk for too long. In spite of notices of how toxic the water in the lake was, there were several people fishing – some just beyond the signs??! That night we sat outside and watched a lunar eclipse which turned the moon blood orange. Unfortunately I couldn’t get good photos of it with my phone.
Onto Visalia / Sequoia National Park KOA Journey. I was looking forward to this visit as I wanted to go and see the giant Sequoias. However I was beginning to get very concerned about Minnie Min. She was going through a bad spate of vomiting and was getting very thin. She was also eating very little and that morning appeared to be staggering. While I had booked a vet appointment the day after we arrive back in Canada, I knew she would not last if we didn’t get her to a vet right away. Unfortunately it was the weekend so we had to go the Emergency hospital route $$$$$ Well after a battery of blood tests and XRays and a day waiting for her to come home, we found out that she has probable Kidney disease which is quite prevalent for cats of her age. Poor thing! We returned home with a bag full of medication and kidney food. While we were waiting for her at the vet, we purchased a new water fountain to encourage her to drink. We knew from the past that she really liked them. So that was basically our day in Visilia done.
Our next stop was good old Merced River RV Resort. Our third trip there but Merced is always a good, reliable place to stay with friendly owners, and well spaced shady sites. Not much else to do around there but walk Jax and shop. Picked up some groceries and worked. Derek in the meantime disconnected the new Inverter that was not working properly. So many things not working and we are still waiting for Norcold to approve a new fridge. Its hard to get these things fixed when the manufacturers are hard to get hold of and also we are not staying long enough in a spot to get things replaced.
