My last post left off at Las Vegas. We finally made it to California and hit a string of campgrounds with either lousy or no wifi. First was Wilderness Lakes in Menifee, CA
I am filling in my camping map:
Menifee was not my first choice to stay and I will elaborate later in the post as to why. Since there was nothing to really see or do in the area (Menifee appears to be a bedroom community of San Bernardino) we caught up on laundry and food shopping. There was wifi, but at that point there was nothing for me to blog about.
Next stop was Soledad Canyon in Acton, CA. No wifi here and we were literally in a canyon bordering the Angeles National Forest. Cell signal was really spotty. Sometimes in a pinch I can use my cell phone as a mobile hotspot. I don't care to do it frequently as it can eat up your data quickly.
From this campground we were able to get to Los Angeles in an hour.
After Soledad Canyon we came to San Benito in or near a town named Paicines, about fifteen miles south of Holister. A wifi signal at a cost of $3 a day.
Next stop was Yosemite Lakes near the west entrance to Yosemite National Park.
A very beautiful setting however no wifi, and zero cell phone service. This was a six day stay and our next stop was one week at Anthony Chabot Regional Park near San Francisco's East Bay area.
Once again, a beautiful setting but zero wifi and minimal cell service.
Next it was Morgan Hill and again no wifi. I was going to post from here but I was down to 10 percent on my cell data so no dice.
We did take advantage of the winery that was adjacent to the campground:
Now we are back at San Benito which meets all of our needs. Good cell service, wifi ($20 for two weeks), large shady site close to the restroom, and a clear view of the southern sky for satellite reception. An hours drive to Monterey and 45 minutes to Gilroy. Wildlife also.
So now we are here in San Benito for two weeks. Normally we only stay for four days per stop but that was taking it's toll on Doreen and even myself. The reason for the four day stays is due to the restrictions of our Thousand Trails membership which stipulates any stay longer than four nights the member cannot stay at a affiliated campground for seven nights. In other words you can go from campground to campground as long you do not exceed four nights. I was definitely getting my usage out of it and California has 18 affiliated campgrounds, or what they refer to as preserves. When you calculate the cost of a per night stay at another campground of even $40 a night my Thousand Trails annual membership fee of $565 has more than paid for itself.
That brings us back to the reason we are spending so much time in California: medical issues related to my melanoma I had in 2015. Back then I had a large tumor removed from my shoulder and ever since I see the dermatologist twice a year at the Watson Clinic and without fail she removes several moles for biopsy. That is what I did before leaving Florida on May 10. I had an appointment on May 8 and she removed two moles. I now realize we should not have left so soon after the appointment but I was anxious to get on the road. A few weeks into the trip I received a call that the biopsy was not negative and I would need to have more of the moles excised. That of course was a problem since we were two thousand miles away. I had to come up with a plan incorporating reservations near a dermatologist in an area where I could use my camping membership.
I selected an area near our week long stay in the East Bay section of Frisco. Two, Thousand Trails preserves 40 miles apart near the towns of Holister and Gilroy: San Benito and Morgan Hill. I could bookend the week long stay at Anthony Chabot with the two and use up to 14 days on either end.
A perfect plan right? not so fast. I found a doctor in Gilroy. I could get in on June 20. I did. He could do the job after reviewing the reports from my doctor in Florida. Perfect, Gilroy was less than an hours drive. One wrinkle: he only did surgery at his office in Monterey. That is over two hours from our base in the East Bay!
Well long story short, he cut me on July 9 in his office in Monterey
and I'll have to go to Gilroy on July 18 to have the stitches removed. That is why we are back here in San Benito for two weeks.
Thursday, Bloody Thursday
I am not the only one to have a complication to the itinerary: Doreen had an accident on a bus! Luckily she did not sustain any broken bones or serious injuries. She did have to go to the ER via ambulance to be checked. CAT scans and x-rays were negative and she passed all concussion protocols. She got a nasty bump or two and a few cuts, that is it other than broken glasses.
On Thursday July 5 we took BART from Castro Valley into San Francisco
Once in town we took a Muni bus, #28 up to the Golden Gate bridge:
We had time constraints as we were going to meet Doreen's cousin for dinner back in the city at 5:30 so I suggested we take a different bus back; the Golden Gate Transit bus because it makes fewer stops and we would get to where we needed to go quicker. Also there was a large crowd waiting on the #28 to go back into Frisco so we boarded the #4 bus near the Golden Gate toll:
Of course Doreen was on her scooter and the driver loaded her via the deployed lift and secured the scooter in the wheelchair area opposite the mid bus door. A few miles into the route the driver took a sharp bend from Lombard St. onto Van Ness St. and Doreen flew off the scooter head first down the steps into the door. I was gazing out the window when I heard a scream and, as I looked over I saw her in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stair well.
I was worried the door would open and her head would be exposed. Frantic screams from passengers for the driver to stop went unfulfilled it seemed, until he eventually did. Three of us passengers strained to pull her from the depths of the steep steps. We were able to get her back on her scooter and she was conscious and alert. The driver asked if he should call 911? Of course you idiot!
She was able to drive the scooter off of the bus to the awaiting ambulance. The paramedics carted her off to St. Francis Hospital about a mile away on Hyde St. I drove the scooter to the hospital to meet them.
By this time it was approaching 6 PM. I knew we were going to have a problem getting back to the campground in time. You see the gates to the campground are locked at 10 PM each night and there is no way to get in. I figured we were at least a half an hour from the Powell St. BART station, then a 35 minute ride on that to get back to the Castro Valley station where the truck was parked, and then about a 25 drive to the campground. Eight-thirty was the cut off time in my head to get out of there.
I know, that is about a two-and-a-half hour ER visit. Not likely. And of course it wasn't, but it was close. I was very surprised we got out of there at about 9:15. We hustled to the BART but alas another detriment to our desires: the elevator at street level going down to the platform was closed. The signage directed us to Montgomery St. Well, after all is said and done we finally got back to the truck and a $55 ticket, (I forgot to pay $3 to park at the kiosk when we pulled in) at the BART parking lot. We drove to a flea bag Econolodge to get a room for the night and got back to the trailer the next morning.
We pulled out the next day and everything is back to normal; almost. Now we have to file an insurance claim with the bus company's insurance carrier who has already been in contact with us.
That entails e-mails back and forth and documents to print and mail. Of course I don't have a printer in the trailer so that is another inconvenience.
Now I am caught up today, July 13 already! Nine weeks on the road and enough troubles I hope to last for five road trips. And just for good measure my electric tongue jack took a crap way back in Albuquerque and I finally had my fill of hand cranking so I replaced that the other day.
Amongst all of this stress we did get to see some beautiful scenery and do some fun stuff. I will get all that in on future posts.
Happy Trails!!!!!!!!!
I really hope you both recover quickly. It is the bumps in the road that make each trip 'special'. lol
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