Touristy | CasaRodante - Our House on Wheels

We were at our house during Thanksgiving but the day after we headed to the SF bay area to visit our family there. As usual, the issue was finding a place to stay with the trailer. Our go-to location is transitioning and only have 2 spots now that would fit our trailer. We opted to stay in Pacifica at the SF RV Resort. The last time we were here, RV’s could back up to the cliff and hear the waves crashing. Things have now changed. There has been such erosion that area has been closed off due to safety concerns. We were only there for 3 nights.

We headed south from there to Paso Robles. This is another location that we have stayed at many times and there used to be only one major RV park there, Wine Country RV. This time we tried a different one, Vines RV Resort. It is a very nice park and, as a bonus, a Passport America participant. We were able to visit some of our usual locations in that area while we were there. Here is a sunset from there:

After 4 nights there we headed to our next stop, a favorite, Catalina Spa and RV, in Desert Hot Springs. This leg was over 300 miles, which we try to avoid, so we decided to break it up. We did an overnight stop outside of Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park. It was a nice place for an overnight but a bit pricey and, alas, the oranges were not ready to pick!

We stayed at Catalina for 8 nights and took advantage of Passport America with them also. We always have a good time in the Palm Springs area and we were biding our time for an upcoming event. The mountains got some snow on them while we were there:

Our next stop was Van Nuys. We were heading to the Hollywood RV park, we knew it as Balboa RV park. We have stayed here also and like its’ proximity to many things to do.

We primarily came here because we had tickets to a filming of Jeopardy. I love Jeopardy and have always wanted to see it taped so I decided to get tickets. Roxie thinks I should go on it sometime but I KNOW that would be the episode where the questions were about Opera or English monarchs!

Unfortunately we got a phone call that the Jeopardy taping had been cancelled but they offered us seating at a Wheel of Fortune taping. We accepted. They put us on the production guest list for a different date. It was OK with us even though I would have rather seen Jeopardy.

Prior to the day of the taping, we met up with our friends the Chens. We met them at the Sriracha factory in Irwindale CA for the factory tour. They have wanted to go to this tour for a while and we are always willing to on one. The story of the founder of Sriracha is really great, you should read it here. Here are some shots from the tour:

We then drove to their house but stopped off at the California Yuan Yung Buddhism Center. It was nice and serene with good views from the hills:

One night while we were down there, we went to eat at Lawry’s Prime Rib. I remember going there once as a child and seeing them carve the prime rib from a hunk of beef in a cart. They do this right at your table. Not much has changed. The food was very good, the ambiance was great and the service was fantastic!

The next day was the Wheel of Fortune taping. We first went into the wrong gate at Sony studios but since we were early it didn’t matter too much. When we went in the right gate, we couldn’t fit the truck in the parking structure and had to park on the street (meters). The assistants started lining people up and we were taken first (remember we are on the production guest list) and this was a good thing! I forgot that my pocket knife was in my pocket. This is a no-no. I had to walk/run back to the truck, then back.

I made it back with plenty of time. They brought all of us into the studio and seated us. They gave us instructions on when to clap, when to be quiet, when we can go the bathroom, etc. They taped 3 episodes that day. There was a LOT of clapping that you were supposed to do and follow the assistants. I figured out that we were cheap labor for the show. There is a possibility that we will be seen on one of the shows. Our shows are being shown on Feb 7, Feb 8 and Mar 13.

After our 7 nights in SoCal, and 24 nights total, it was time to get back to Visalia for Christmas time.

We left Albuquerque with a specific destination and time in mind. We had reservations to do something, but we still had one night before we could arrive. We headed north and a bit east and were going to stay somewhere around Farmington NM. I had heard of Farmington before but had no reason why. One thought was just a Walmart for overnight but Roxie found another option. A small campground in Aztec NM, east of Farmington. The Ruins Road RV park.

The park was relatively cheap. We took a walk around it and they said they had spots by the river. We didn’t opt for one but found out where they were on our walk. It appears at one time there were spots down by the Animas River and they are trying to bring the campground back. There were, as always, many ‘permanent’ residents and it was right next to a mobile home park, with the requisite barky dogs!

But the real find to this location was just down the road. The name of the RV park gives a hint. Ruins. Specifically the Aztec Ruins National Monument! We did not know it was there until we parked. I had never heard of it before. It was a very nice stop when we took off the next morning. We hooked up the trailer and parked it in their parking lot to tour the ruins. We didn’t have too far to travel today anyway.

The name Aztec Ruins is a bit deceiving. Aztecs were never this far north but the Spanish didn’t know that and called all Natives, Aztecs. The name stuck. This was one of the best ruins that we had seen. The ceremonial location, a Kiva, at this site was excavated and recreated. You can go inside it also: