Upper San Joaquin Valley - Feb 2022

There is an old saying, "The city never sleeps at night."  Likewise, California farmers never rest in the winter. We are on a short trip, not venturing that far from home, but into an area we haven't spent much time other than passing through to get to somewhere else. 

 The air in the northern San Joaquin Valley is quiet and peaceful, and with rain evading us again this season, it is sunny and cool. I don't think there is a more pleasant time of year to be here; most commercial crops are between seasons, there are lots of root crops growing, and not too many tractors out and about.

 Nobody is spraying or spreading fertilizer. Cows and horses keep track of the comings and goings. And the late afternoon sun is as rich as butterscotch on the white picket fences, enhanced by a backdrop of bright green foliage.  

Our first night out, we traversed all the way out to Oakdale. We are staying at Willow Creek Farm, a Harvest Host location. The owners, Keith and Cindy are sweet. Keith has just retired as a High School English teacher, and Cindy is a psycho-therapist. We are staying in the back field where she used to practice equine therapy, but since hurting her back, the horses were taken out of the therapy sessions. 

They are now growing produce for local restaurants and vegetable subscribers, and letting harvest host members park in the back pasture.  There is a chicken coop just downwind of us, the hens are keeping us company.

Our hosts put together a selection of veggies they are currently harvesting for us, including kale, broccoli, turnips, and carrots. Phil is working these into the dinner plan. Yum!

Our hosts are brand new Harvest Host members, but they have been airbnb hosts for awhile, renting out an in-law apartment. They need a little coaching to get into the Harvest Host groove; no emergency contact forms, no health care contact forms, just sell us some veggies and we'll be good, and we'll leave quietly in the morning. I'll write to the hosts and fill them in on the fine points of hosting rv'ers (lol).

We then headed the van from Oakdale toward Ripon, stopping at two different cheese shops on the way.  The first was Oakdale Cheese and Specialties. 

Such a nice place, with great gouda cheeses and a petting zoo too!  

Porthos loved this stop.

We picked up some aged gouda, and some garlic and basil gouda, and a piece of their renowned cheesecake. Yum!

We then moseyed down the road to another cheese shop, called Stuyt Dairy. Both of these shops also house the cheese manufacturing plants, also both of whom were owned and run by families from the Netherlands. Both featured gouda cheeses. Stuyt was a slightly smaller operation, and we chatted away with the daughter of the founder in the sales shop/office room. We bought some aged gouda, and also gouda with cumin seed. I had forgotten how we used to get cheese with cumin seed in it, when we lived in Holland. Tasting it instantly brought back memories of cumin cheese sliced on toast, then covered with apricot jam. This was a favorite of mine when we lived there. What a rush, to have that memory instantly flood into your head! It was delightful! I thanked the shopkeeper for helping me relive this wonderful memory.

Onward to our next Harvest Host location, the Dutchman Vinyard, hosted by Carla and Sam, almond growers and vintners, and Sam also works with sheetmetal fabrication in his spare time. Oh my, these hosts know how to make you feel special! They had water and electricity available for us, a heated private bathroom, a flat pad for us to park on, vineyards to run in and let Porthos run in, and they invited us to join them for a private tasting of their one wine variety. And it was delicious. 

We bought two bottles, and look forward to enjoying these for a special event. Yum!

It was frigging cold in the morning, but I still got Porthos out for a good walk thru the vineyards, and snapped some shots.

Can you see our van at the end of that row?

Sunshine!

The vines were so tidy and tucked in for the winter. But the almonds were blooming everywhere throughout the area. This a region known for almonds. 

After breakfast, we headed south, our destination for the evening was the Harvest Host site of Corbin Cash Spirits in Atwater. On the way, we stopped at the Castle Air Field Museum, a huge outdoor collection of Air Force jets from World War I through to the F14 Tomcat from the Vietnam war.

We were there for a few hours, there were so many planes to see. 

Then we rolled in to Corbin Cash Spirits. Today they were not open to the public. So we had the whole tasting room to ourselves. So nice that they give RV visitors such royal treatment!

The production room was adjacent to the tasting room.

We tried their Rye Whiskey, and then their fortified rye whiskey. Oh my! We were sold, the fortified stuff was absolutely splendid! We bought a bottle, plus a bottle of sweet potato liqueur. We're done for the night.

We then went and set up the van taking in account the sun and wind direction, and positioned Lexy facing an alfalfa field next door. Here is our view from the loo.

Next morning, we leisurely took in some sun to melt the chill in the air, then headed south to the San Luis Wildlife Refuge.

 We took in a short hike, and were the only ones there within miles. 

The wetlands looked pretty dry, so we did not see the plethora of birds that are usually there when water was plentiful. This is scary, since we are here in February, which should be a high-water marker time of year.

The Refuge has a lovely Visitor's Center, with nature trails and such a nice layout of landscaping. Unfortunately the center was closed (covid), but it was still a nice place to visit.

Onward! South through Los Banos, we picked up a few groceries, filled the propane and gas tanks, and then head westward to San Luis Reservoir.

Driving up to the campground, we saw an elk.

We checked into our campsite in the Basalt campground, what a nice site! The campground had a dump station and fresh water, but no electric hookups at our campsite. I think we're good though, with clear blue sky and a solar panel on the roof.

 We then took a short hike up a knoll adjacent to our spot. We could see the San Luis reservoir as well as the O'Neil fore-bay. Yay! There is water in the reservoir!!

Look at this beautiful tree!

...and from the sunny side:

and, halfway between:

We'll call this my Tree Observation. 

What a beautiful day!

Back at camp, we indulged in the cheesecake from the Oakdale Cheese Shop. It was delicious, just as everyone said it would be. But, I think it is time to acknowledge that my sister Cyndy makes the most absolutely best cheesecake in the world. Oakdale's was beat out by Cyndy's cheesecake, by far. I don't think we'll find a better cheesecake in all the land.

2/25/22 Good Morning!  It's Friday, and we booked two nights here at the San Luis Reservoir, so today is a lay-over day, so we get to be ridiculously leisurely about everything today. We finally were out of bed around 10am. It is a beautiful, sunny day, and our morning walk with Porthos was just beautiful. San Luis Reservoir is surrounded by rolling hills which were still green from the December rainstorms. The campground has scattered trees, which then open up to wide open hills and blue, blue sky. We saw a herd of elk grazing in the distance, and the trees at our campsite were full of birds.

At one point, our side door was open, and a bird flew in. With all the windows, he had trouble finding the door again, flopping around inside, trying to find a way out. We opened the back doors, and that frightened him back toward the front, and finally he found his escape out the big side door again. Poor fella.

After lunch, we drove around the southern shore of the reservoir. We saw a coyote perched over a gopher hole, and wondered if he chased the gopher in, or was waiting for the gopher to come out. He seemed quite intent, which was fine with us, as we drove a little further up the road before getting out of the van for a hike. Once we did park, we took in the grandness of this space.

We then went up to Goosehead Point and opened a bottle of our Dutchman wine. Delicious! Sipped with a taste of jalapeño gouda cheese, and life is just so sweet!

This was a great time and perfect place to give a toast to my Dad, whose 92nd birthday would have been today. We miss you, Dad! But we know you're still watching over us.

Next morning, all bright and sunny, we headed around the reservoir to see the boat ramp, and Pacheco Park. This was the longest boat ramp I have ever seen.

I have to imagine, it is paved all the way down to the center of the lake. 

The hills were so scenic here, so iconic of California early spring.

Pacheco Point Park has beautiful hikes. Too!

The only challenge is that the entrances to these sites are left turns across a very busy 4-lane highway. You have to wait forever for traffic to clear to get across. My nerves are still shot.  I'm glad Phil was driving!

Traveling westward, we pulled into Gilroy and stopped at the Walmart at the edge of town. Having gone to a number of smaller local markets for a few common items without finding them, we bit the bullet and dove into the superstore. And, they had everything we had been looking for, wouldn't you know it. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find potato salad or prune juice, but there you have it, Walmart provides. I get a big kick out of the sign by the exit door, "Thank You for shopping at Your local Walmart!"  Tisk, tisk, there is absolutely nothing local about any Walmart stores, they do not purchase local produce, local goods, really what a cheap shot to give the indication that it is a local establishment. Maybe the labor is local, but beyond minimal wages paid to the local employees, every penny of profit otherwise goes to the Waltons, in a world far, far away. Hmph. But I digress.

With potato salad and prune juice in hand, we head to our next destination, Mt. Madonna County Park. We are now in the coastal hills covered with sequoia and other fir species.

This park is gorgeous! It is fully in the forest, but has lots of facilities and activities like a busy city park. But standing in the campground, you'd never know it was quite that developed. We even have RV hookups, and the setting looks like a nicely wooded primitive setting. And it costs less per night than a state campground without hookups. This is becoming a favorite park for me.

 Our eyes are still adjusting to the change in ambient light; we both notice that our eyes were playing tricks on us while walking on trails in the forest. There are shadows that look like rocks that we step over, and there are rocks that we miss, and stub our toes. Looks like we'll need a day's adjustment. More hiking in store tomorrow!

I just love this park! Today is a lay-over day, so we lollygag with a late breakfast, and then go on a walk in the woods. This park has lots of very short hikes (1/2 mile round trip) and some nice longer hikes (6 miles). We opt for a short hike or two, circling around the top of the "mountain" (the summit is 1800ft), where Henry Miller, land owner and rancher-premier in the area built his summer home and cabins for the extended family.  The houses were abandoned when he died, so we were walking through stone foundations and landscaping structures, but it is easy to see the grandness of what used to be.

This is such a great park! We hiked all the short trails circling the summit, through a relatively young redwood forest. More Miller historical sites are scattered everywhere, a large fountain structure, more cabin foundations, and then the recent park amenities with so many lovely areas for picnicing and family gatherings. Truly, this is a gem in Santa Clara County!

We found a great solution for increasing our floor space in the van when we're stationed at camp: We put Porthos' bed in the driver's seat. Porthos loves it!

The next day was our final stretch of the trip. After a leisurely breakfast, we head out.

Just a few miles from highway 101, we were quickly sailing northward, homeward bound. We were home before lunchtime. Wow, all these great places to go, and so close to home! Duely noted, when we want to get away for a short trip, we know just where to go!