Leavenworth, Washington (GA619)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.
Sadly Mary is struggling with health issues. To see the latest about her situation, click here

To view past blogs, scroll to the bottom of this page and use the menu.

I’m currently in my 24th year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Lake Minden RV Resort in Nicolaus, California. I’m scheduled to depart here May 9th.

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted September 23, 2013…

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the 33 miles from Cashmere to Leavenworth Washington.

We continued traveling along U.S.Highway 2 West.

After 12 miles we stopped in the City of Leavenworth, Washington.  A Bavarian-styled setting as in the Swiss Alps. Here’s the history of how it got to be that way from their official website…

The History of Leavenworth

Believe it or not, our area wasn’t always Bavaria.  Instead, the towering mountain peaks and bountiful land was known amongst Native Americans as some of the most plentiful land anyone had laid eyes on. The Yakama, Chinook and Wenatchi tribes all hunted the same land for deer & elk, and also fished Icicle Creek for salmon.

Settlers hungry for gold, timber, and furs soon settled the area, and by 1890, Icicle Flats was born. The area exploded with the arrival of the rail line near the turn of the century. At that point, Leavenworth was a whole lot less Bavaria and a whole lot more Deadwood! The logging and sawmill business was great…until it wasn’t. When the railroad re-routed its rails and moved out of town, it almost turned Leavenworth into a ghost town. The area scuffled along for more than thirty years, always on the brink of extinction.

In the early 1960’s, town leaders had a bright idea: change Leavenworth’s appearance to draw visitors. If the gorgeous alpine hills had no equal except in German Bavaria, the city planned on completing the experience.

This was no mere facelift. In addition to completely renovating the downtown area, community leaders created a series of festivals, drawing revelers into town. From there, the Autumn Leaf Festival, Maifest, and the immensely popular Christmas Lighting Festivals were born and continue to this day.

To say the change worked is like saying you can taste a hint of cabbage in kraut.  For decades, Leavenworth has been a top tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. More than a million tourists walk our streets every year, finding Bavarian authenticity and Northwest hospitality.

Here are some of the photos that I took there…

 

 

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

Every year on the first weekend of December they have a Christmas Lighting Festival and light the city with millions of lights. I attend one of these festivals perhaps 20-25 years ago. Here’s a photo of that event from their website…

Our visit finished, I drove the motorhome another 21 miles mostly north and slightly west to Thousand Trails Leavenworth RV Resort. Mary and I are members of Thousand Trails. In doing so, we went from 1125 feet of elevation to 2250 feet elevation…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

First it’s too hot, now it’s too cold! Yesterday was a cloudy and cold day with some showers. High temperature for the day was 57 with a real feel of 50 degrees.

Forecast high temperature for today is 63 degrees and cloudy with showers.

We’ll continue our westward travel tomorrow morning.

Enjoying Thousand Trails RV Resorts is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/leavenworth-and-looking-back/

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is sunny and 81 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison

 

 

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” —Mark Twain

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2019

HOMELESS IN MURPHYS.

Son Ken spent Saturday night with me. He’s homeless. Temporarily, anyway. Their house sold. He and Laurie followed the movers to the new house in Sparks, but he still has about two months left in his Santa Clara unit. He is bunking around with relatives and friends. He came, did his wash, and took me to Rob’s for dinner.

For anyone visiting the Motherlode, Rob’s has great food, attentive but not overbearing service. Nice atmosphere. Murphys has several good restaurants and this is one of them.

We walked around town and discovered that a comedy club is coming to town. Now that excites me and reminds me how glad I am to live here.  I didn’t take down the particulars, so more on that later. We peeked into store windows, just like any tourist. Ken visited a sister-in-law in Lodi earlier in the day and met a couple from San Francisco who were visiting in Lodi. He invited them to have a look at Murphys. They got on their phone, “Oh, only 44 miles from here. We’ll do it next weekend.”  They were having a grand time. I guess we qualify as quaint.

This is a picture of Rob’s. I deliberately showed the old rusted metal ceiling. I guess that qualifies as quaint. The building is an old Gold Rush structure. There are several still left in town. Come see, have fun. Ciao.

 

TOURIST IN YOUR OWN TOWN.

I feel fortunate that I have a friend who not only brings me brownies, but will, at the merest suggestion, drive me downtown Murphys where we pretend to be tourists. That is Jan Stewart. Always ready to seize the day.

I hadn’t been to Hovey’s tasting room in ages, nor had I seen this clever sign.

Inside I was pleased and surprised by the variety of craft beers they support. The public likes wine but they also like good beer.

Another sign drew us into Frog’s Tooth, a wine I’d never sampled.

At 10:00 a.m. neither of us were in the mood for wine tasting, but they had a barrel full of good reds to be had for $12 a bottle.

Of course, because of Mark Twain, frogs are a prominent feature in Calaveras County, but what I liked here is the warmth and friendliness of the staff. A very inviting atmosphere.

This customer is wearing a shirt from a tasting room in  an old school-house, I believe she said in Grass Valley. It reflects the grammar school punishment of writing on the black board over and over again, I Promise Not To Hit Tommy, or some such. Cute.

Town was loaded with motorcycles, all coming for the “Jumps”, as they relate to the Calaveras Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee. Nationally famous after its small beginnings. I remember a picture of Little Flower, Governor LaGuardia who attended the Jumps as fascination with jumping a frog spread far and wide.

Both bikers, the guy on the left hugged Jan and said,”I know you!”  He is her chimney sweep. His buddy said, “If anybody had told me I’d be a biker with multiple tattoos on my body, I’d have said yer crazy.” I had to laugh to find they are locals from Murphys. Tourists just like us.

I liked this gal’s leathers and took a picture and she said, “No, no. You caught me with a phone and I’m constantly pushing people I know to put their damned phone away and look up.”  So, she posed for me on her bike.

Creative. Guess we can call her Spider Woman, and, by the way, she is from Murphys.

She looked askance at the big hogs lining the street and said, “If one of these guys tips his bike over, he will not be able to pick it up by himself.”  We concluded they are for show and pride of ownership as well as performance.

There were some out-of-towners.

I wanted a picture of this guy’s curled mustache because it reminded me of Joe Cardoza, a former neighbor and local character who grew his curled and waxed mustache about seven inches long for the local Whiskerino Contest. He had too much to drink and went for a haircut. Jack, the barber was a known prankster and cut half of his mustache off, I expect with Joe’s consent. I thought it was cruel, even so.

There were street musicians.

The Murphys Hotel hired a band. The courtyard was packed with people eating, enjoying the music and even getting up to dance in the tight space around the musicians.

A couple local vets told us they placed 400 flags on veteran graves with Memorial Day coming up. They do it every year.

Among  those who served I knew Norm Tanner and a couple others. Norm was a good friend to my husband. I’ll be sure to remember those close to me who were vets; I may not get to a grave, but there will be a knot in my heart has I put out the flag on my deck.

BUILDING A COOP AND A VISIT WITH DAO SANG.

On Saturday and Sunday past, Doug, Virginia, Cedric and a helper, Mark Peel, built a chicken coop. Mark on the left, Doug in middle and Cedric  up top.

Meet the chickens, a white leghorn, red mirren mix and a barred rock red mirren mix. Two out of three, Blanche, Della and Cora another leg/mirren is out of sight.

Virginia helped me build feeders that do not spill grain on the ground. No waste.

Two of these will keep three chickens fed for about 3 weeks. The watering tank on the left, showing one nipple will last almost as long. The lay 1 and 1/2 doz. eggs a week on average.

The roof and door are not on yet, but we teased Doug about his taj mahal design. It is a pretty fancy coop that I will paint with enamel later. So far, having chickens is fun. Organic eggs in a store are about $4.50 a dozen. Calculated costs on-line for purchased organic mash, or GMO free mix your own organic feed, run $3.36 cents a doz. A couple cents more for the mash, a bit less for mix your own.

Since that is more eggs than I can eat, I hope to find one customer who will buy one dozen a week for $4.00 to help lower the cost of  eggs. Of course, I’ll never sell enough eggs to pay for the taj mahal. But, then, it is fun to have your own live chickens. I’ve owned chickens at every house I’ve lived in since 1962, except this one. But, for the many chickens I’ve raised, dozens, I’ve never kept them in a coop before. They always ran free in my city yards and my first house in Murphys. It will be interesting.

My friend Dao Sang came to visit and we spent an afternoon together. I hadn’t seen him since 2005. He has lost 40 pounds he can ill afford to lose and has been ill.  But, the first thing he did was peek in my garage to see if I was still driving my Prius. Yup!! We laughed. He needs special cars because he is 6 foot 9 and can’t fit into just any car.

Lunch at Grounds in Murphys is always a good choice. The day was balmy and beautiful. When we stand together, my head fits under his arm. I asked him why he wasn’t wearing his robes and he said, “I’m enough of a tourist attraction with my height. I only wear them when I’m teaching or at temple.” People do stare at him as he walks down the street.

We stopped and looked at the changes happening around town. And, wouldn’t you know we found a statue of Buddha in a store, for only $7,400. Yikes!  Buddha would be horrified. Anyway, sure enough, a guy in the store looked at him and said, 6′ 5? 6’7?  Dao mumbled, “6′ 9.”

I see what you mean, I told him. I lost my husband in 2000 and my dog six days later. Dao’s dog Daisey died and 6 days later he lost his mother. He remembered that about George. He and some other friends spent my first Thanksgiving with me, after George died, at the local free dinner in downtown Murphys.  So, our reminiscing had some sadness to it. In two weeks he, his two sisters and his three daughters will deliver her ashes to Sea Ranch near the Big Sur . I love the Buddhist religion. It is all about kindness, helpfulness and love, a true reflection of Dao’s personality. As Gus Dalsis, he became a Buddhist after his discharge from the Marines as a young man. He was ordained as Buddhist Monk, Dao Sang in 2004.

 

 

THE OLDEST PROFESSION

My  friend Jan, and I, took a ride out toward Jackson to see a rugged wall of wild flowers along the river. We tripped on seven miles more into Jackson to be tourists for a couple of hours.

We stopped to read the above plaque embedded in the sidewalk which refers to the wild west type of politicking, rough and deadly. Jackson is in Amador County, but at one time Jackson was part of Calaveras County. Mokelumne Hill is still part of Calaveras Co. The two towns are across the Calaveras River from each other.

The plaque reminded me of other heart-shaped plaques that lined the Main Street of Jackson commemorating a more shady history of the gold rush, the buildings that were once bordellos. The idea being the plaques would  bring more tourists to town. Some people thought it was too risqué and a little war raged over the plaques until  they were removed and peace reigned. I was surprised when Jan had never heard of them. Nor had the owner of the olive oil place.

She met the owner of this business, and visited her ranch a long time ago. We asked several business owners on the street and the answer was “No way!”  “Never heard of it.”

We walked along looking for where there might have been a plaque and found several scraggly heart-shaped sidewalk patches, but none quite as obvious as this one next to the Jackson Hotel. The owner, Sam, was a supporter of the plaques and it is possible the plaque is still hiding under the patch. ONE hotel employee knew of the plaques and told us to go to Fargo, the bar across the street. They saved a plaque that now hangs on their wall.

It might have been the ERECTIONS word that offended some of the towns people, instead of saying erected in 1968. But, this one is the only one left in town. Another is in a restaurant and bar in the town of Volcano, nine miles from Jackson.

Fargo flaunts their former history.

This is a portrait of Miss Kitty. I have no idea if the history they flaunt is accurate or not, or if there was a Miss Kitty. But, the bartender at Fargo knew all about the plaque’s history.

I thought this is a good time to publish pictures of my coin collection. They are for sale at the Bathroom Machineries Store in Murphys. I thought they were fun.

I don’t know if any of these coins came from Jackson Bordellos, but they were definitely used during the gold rush. One I have is from nearby Placerville, or Hangtown as it was called then.

When you hang out with Jan, you are bound to get in trouble. She said, “Let’s sign our names to this one.”  Yeah, sure. I’m not bailing you out of jail when you get arrested for defacing property.

She didn’t sign her own name, but I can honestly say the rains will soon take care of the graffiti. And, there probably was a “girl” name Mary in one of those places. It is an old name.

 

We shared a beer at Fargo. Tasted some delicious, flavored olive oils. Looked at pretty stained glass. Tourists to the core. Jan reminded me about visiting a gold rush town in Alaska that had a shop called “The House Of Negotiable Affections.” (Where men and fish spawn for sperm.) Hey, its life.

OLD CHINA ON THE RIVER LI

We board our boat, that looks much like this one, for an 83 kilometer trip up the River Li. Ten thousand people a day tour this river to see mystical rock formations. The river bank is thick with blooming acacia; its fragrance fills the air. I would point out that both of these boats are in motion.

The vendor has hooked his boat to the tour boat and hands off  fresh vegetables and fish to the kitchen. The kitchens on these tour vessels are at the back of the boat in the open air.  We watch fascinated. The vendor is precariously balanced as he hands off his product.

The cook can be seen cutting up a chicken or duck.

The much vaunted rock formations everyone comes here to see are smooth, rounded hills and spears treasured for their mystical appearance and ever shrouded in mist.  I’ve seen professional aerial pictures of them that are beautiful, but I find my photos disappointing. They just don’t seem to have that same mystical effect. It doesn’t matter anyway, life along the Li is a glimpse of Old China and fascinates me.

The Dong people are known for their bamboo boats, houses and flutes. It looks like this boatman is offering a ferry service to get a bicycler and his package to the opposite bank. You can click on these photos to make them larger.

People live on their boats. The house boats we see are put together from whatever scrap can be  garnered.

Cows appear to be free ranging, but if you look closely, you will see their tether rope.

People carry heavy bundles. There is little mechanization.

They hand carry water up from the river the old way.

Water buffalo enjoy cooling off in the river. Notice the one with its head underwater; he is grazing.

Up he comes with a green morsel to eat.

These men have harvested and are preparing some type of green to sell. In China, everyone eats multiple types of greens.

A floating garden held up with oil cans. The bamboo fence and net protects the garden from ducks and flying birds.

People from the villages come down to the river to wash their clothes.

So many make their living from the river and work from their boats.

This fancy ferry boat has a motor. The boatman uses his petrol sparingly and prefers to paddle whenever possible.

We are passing a popular Chinese tourist area.

Everyone walks along the river.

The big draw here is an abandoned Yau village with beautiful 200-year-old buildings. People left here 120 years ago because they were persecuted and moved higher up the mountains.

Maybe the lucky ones are those who live on the river. We see villages of children watching and watering their water buffalo; dogs and pigs roam freely. Whole families living on sampans and all around the storybook shapes of the mystical hills.