Trona Pinnacles

The garage sale is over, Thank God. Sold some things and gave more away. It is a relief to have 50 years of stuff gone and my sister and I can move on.

Now free to scratch my hitch itch, I am heading north on 395. I have wanted to visit Trona Pinnacles for a while now and this is the trip to do it.

Nice quite spot with a nice view of the Tufa Spires

25,000 to 10,000 years ago this area was a large lake where the Tufa Spires were formed on the lake bottom by thermal vents.

This alien landscape has been the location for many movies. Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V, and Planet of the Apes to name a few. 

As RVer's like to say, the road is an adventure, and I had yet another one. When I went to start Serenity nothing happened. The starter did not even click. I called my road side service expecting them to tell me they would not cover a tow from my remote location, but thankfully Coach Net came through. 

Pro Tow out of Ridgecrest accomplished  a difficult extraction over rough terrain without one ding to Serenity. 

Warren's Automotive has a good yelp rating, so I had them drop me there. The next morning, Thursday, Tina said they could not get to me until Monday. She then said they would take a quick look to see if they need to order any parts. Two hours later they found the relay for the starting motor was missing.

Further investigation revealed that the clip on the right side of the fuse block was detached. 

I believe this allowed the fuse panel to vibrate while traveling over the washboard road out to Trona Pinnacles. The vibrations ejected the relay. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

The relay was available locally, I mounted the fuse panel correctly and was back on the road by noon. Warren's Automotive did a great job with a quick turn around. Greatly appreciated.

Family Time

I am up in wine country visiting my brother. The best camping spot in California. Perched on a hill with a fantastic view of the vineyards.

Hors d'oeuvres on the veranda.

Oh that yard sale : We hired a professional estate sale person to set up and execute the event. She is doing all the work, so I headed north. Great call.

Everything Goes

Our parents bought our home in 1962. I was in high school and shortly moved on to college. My younger sister continued living here until her retirement this year.  If you weren't counting, thats' 53 years of stuff. Her retirement plan is to relax on the playas of Puerto Vallarta, MX. It does not include shipping the household goods to MX.  I have been helping get things ready for our mega garage sale.  All  this in LA's triple digit heat wave.