We had been busting our butts for a few days to get everything ready for our trip to Alumafandango.  18 days away.  5 nights up, 6 nights there and whatever nights are left for the way back.

Our granddaughter stayed the night one evening close to our departure and we put her to work washing the trailer the next day.  This is the first time she, or Roxie, had helped washing the trailer.  They did not know what a chore it was.  They found out!  It took us 1 1/2 hours to do it which is less than me doing it alone.  Roxie said she was beat the rest of that day.  Welcome to my world!!

We had most everything ready to go last night.  We just had to put in the food and hookup.  We got our at our ‘normal’ time of 10am.  I drove a leisurely 60mph on the freeways and we took 99 all the way to Stockton.  99 will give you a real beating but I just wanted to take it for a change of pace.  Plus at my speed everyone usually passes you anyway.

Around Merced we were thinking it was time to eat.  As we had done previously in Los Banos and Hollister, we started looking for a park to stop at.  On the freeway we noticed a sign for Applegate Park which is where the Merced Zoo is.  We headed there.  The park was sparsely populated and we were able to find a shady spot for lunch:

The weather was very nice on the trip.  It was low 80’s in Merced for lunch and never got higher than 91 on the trip.

We made it to Chico and the Almond Tree RV Park about 5pm.  We disconnected the truck and hooked up the trailer to all the amenities.

One of the things we remember vividly from Chico (Roxie and I lived here when I was a student from 1980-1983) was the Burger Hut.  We loved the burgers there and the ambiance.  But at that time we didn’t know we loved the ambiance.  Things change in your memory as you get older.  The Burger Hut we frequented was on Nord Ave but that one closed about 1 month ago so we had to go to an alternate one.  Burgers still tasted the same, the condiment bar was there but it didn’t feel the same.  Darn.  I guess it is hard to go back…

We drove around Chico a bit and will do so more tomorrow.  Roxie said it really brought back some memories.  We saw the old crappy apartment we started in at $175/mo and then the fancier ones (perception) that we moved ‘up’ to for $250/mo.  Ah the memories.

The truck did very well, no fuel issues.  With the minor exception of running the tank almost dry (22 miles left).  It was over 310 miles here today and the fillup was $100.

An odd thing happened when we got here.  We hooked into the 50 amp service and had power (my little added light was lit) but some outlets weren’t working when others were?  I reset all the circuit breakers in the trailer, no dice.  I reset the breaker outside and viola!  Everything started working.  Hmmm….  Have to keep an eye on that one.

That’s all for now.