Day 300: To Portland for Shavuos

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Ben

300 Days on the road! Today we drove the 240 or so miles North to Portland, Oregon, where we will be spending Shavuos with the community here:

We’re always thrilled to come back to Kesser! We will probably be here through Sunday, then continue North towards our summer goal, Alaska.

Shavuos is a two-day holiday, so our next post will be on Friday. Happy Shavuos from Portland, Oregon! See the trip map for today’s drive.

Day 299: Heading North

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Ben

This morning we drove about 30 miles North from Red Bluff to Redding, CA. Trish had hade a flag matching work for North and Central America:

In Redding, we used all 14 washing machines at the laundromat. We set a new record for the number of days since our last laundry stop, which explains why we needed so many machines:

Leaving Redding, we continued North for a few hours. Tonight we are overnighting at the Walmart of Grant’s Pass, Oregon. See the trip map for details.

Day 289: Slow Road Through Gold Country

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Ben

After home school we drove South from Placerville on California 49 towards New Hogan Lake. The road has an advisory for trailers more than 30 feet from kingpin to axle, but we’re only 26 feet, so it wasn’t so bad.

After filling our water at an Army Corps of Engineers campground on the North side of the lake, we worked our way around to this lovely spot on the South side of the lake. Its much hotter in California’s central valley at 400 feet of elevation than it was in Carson City, that’s for sure. Tomorrow’s forecast is in the low 90s, so we did our best to maximize the amount of shade we will have.

Our reason for being here will be revealed in the coming days. Good Shabbos from New Hogan Lake, California! See the trip map for details.

Day 285: The Mayor Has Returned

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Ben

This morning we said goodbye to our dispersed camping spot near Mammoth Lakes, dumped and filled at Convict Lake, and headed North. We waved to this helpful roadside reminder:

When I was in high school, I would sometimes wear a Bodie T-shirt to school. Apparently, this was so amusing to some that I was voted “most likely to become mayor of Bodie” by my class.

Today, the mayor has returned:

Bodie was a gold rush town in the Eastern Sierras that is maintained in a state of arrested decay, so buildings are not improved but are repaired to prevent them from collapsing. The town reached its peak in the 1880s and was completely abandoned by the 1950s.

Houses were often shingled with flattened out kerosene containers:

There was a rich guy in town:

We peeked in the window of the local gym:

These pumps are “pay inside” only:

The vault is all that remains of this bank:

The gold processing mill sits above the town:

This is the second school in town, as the first one was burned down by one of the students:

The most interesting aspect of the town for me was this structure. Electricity was delivered to here via power lines from a waterwheel attached to a generator, positioned 13 miles away. It was the first time in history that electricity was delivered over a distance via wires. The poles, some of which are still standing, are in a perfect line as engineers of the time were concerned that the electricity would fall off the wire if there was a bend in the line:

The hotel lobby:

We continued North to Reno, Nevada, where we overnighted at the Atlantis Casino. See the trip map for details.

Day 284: Little Lakes Hike

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Ben

We awoke to another beautiful day in the Sierras:

After homeschool, we drove to Tom’s Place, CA and then up to the trailhead for the Little Lakes hike. I should have checked the trailhead elevation before heading out, as it was a chilly 54 at over 10,000 feet at the trailhead, quite a bit colder than the low 70s down at 7,200 feet where the RV is parked. We were therefore a bit underdressed, but we did out best to solve the problem by hiking fast: