Time to post a little something extra about our stay in Coarsegold, CA. Since our visit to Yosemite, we haven’t really been doing all that much exciting. We were due to leave on June 23rd, but after calling ahead to a couple of campgrounds we wanted to visit, they were full and nothing was available until July 15th. Some of that was due to the Fourth of July weekend. We needed a good place to stay anyway, so extending our stay here at the park until July 15th was a good idea. We have a great site, with some shade. Handy on the days that are reaching 100+ degrees, plus we have fellow RVers to visit with. Being a fulltime RVer really give us the option of just taking our time about moving around and can relax as long as we feel like it. We have been going to the ice cream socials on Sunday afternoons and meeting more great people. I love the flavor of the ice cream they serve! Umm… We have taken a few walks but it is so hot and also with steep roads that the walks have been rather short.
For more amusement, we have taken a few 30 mile drives to Fresno and Clovis, CA, about once a week.
The northern end of town has all the big box stores and other chain stores you find in any other good sized city. The drive to town goes from open hills and plains to instant buildings and green grass as if somebody took a pencil a drew a line to separate the two. So we take advantage and stock up on groceries at Wal-Mart, etc. Doug had to see a doctor for prescription renewals and found a walk-in clinic in Fresno. That turned out to be quite a day! I won’t go into all of it but we waited two and a half hours before he was seen, then it took a couple of trips to Wal-Mart and back to the clinic to get everything straight! We left our park at 10:30 AM and didn’t get home until 8:00 PM! Just glad we were able to take care of things before being somewhere out on the road. On the way home late in the evening, we saw a coyote close to the park. Always a treat to see an animal like that in the wild. Plus we stop each time at a local fruit market about half way between town and our park to stock up again on the California Bing cherries. They are so good! And they are good for you as well. One nice benefit of where we are is the convenience of the Chukchansi Casino. The dinner buffet is 2 for 1 Monday through Thursday for either $10.99 or $12.99. Can’t beat the price for 2 people so we have been taking advantage of the special. Yes, I played the slots just a couple of times, but when I am up to $3.00 and not winning I quit! I hate to give somebody else my $$$!
While at home in the RV, we have been having fun feeding and watching the humming birds from our feeder we hung on the awning. The are so cute, tiny, and colorful. They have really been drinking that sugar water with all this hot weather. I take most of the pictures through the window because they are so skittish.
This year’s drought is still so very severe. While here in the area, there have now been 3 wildfires that were a bit too close for comfort for me! One was 50 miles away, 35 miles away, and 60 miles away. The first picture was the Merced fire, then route 168 fire, then the south end of Sequoia National Forest fire. All in June. I will be glad when we do leave this area. Scary! We have been near fires before in our travels and it still is very un-nerving!
Here is a picture from a fire in the Rocky Mountains that came within 14 miles of the park outside Loveland, CO, in 2012, where we were staying. We were so close to one fire in Las Vegas, NM, many years ago before we were RVing, that we even watched the fire come down the mountain next to the mountain where our cabin was. Now THAT was very frightening! Those pictures were taken with my old film camera. The 2nd picture was taken in the Teton National Park in 2006.
Hopefully the rest of the “fire season” here in California will pass by very quietly…… So we are here relaxing and being lazy for a couple more weeks….
Just relaxing and enjoying the life is a good thing. At least for awhile and then hitch itch sets in. With all the rain we're getting we don't have man fires yet but the potential for them is growing along with all the grass and underbrush. But we aren't running our air conditioner yet which I am enjoying.
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