In the Shadow of the Mountain: McCloud, California

Courtesy of Google Maps

You know when your driving through the mountains and you see the sign, "Watch out for Falling Rocks," and wonder how many people actually get hit by one? Well, I did, and it finally happened to us.

We were driving through Bigfoot country, along highway 299 near Willow Creek, California when we heard a loud knock on the side of our van. I looked in the side mirror and saw a rock, about 8 inches in diameter, spinning on the road like a top.

When I got a chance to pull over and take a look, only a small chip off of the fiberglass running board was what looked like the total damage. We're lucky it didn't hit a window.

It's about four in the afternoon when we pull into McCloud, sitting on the southern slopes of California's second tallest mountain, 14,162 foot Mt. Shasta and try to check into our hotel room. 

I say try because I can't find a checkin counter. We explore the bottom floor of the McCloud Mercantile Building...the home of our hotel...but don't see anything. We find an elevator at the far end and take it up to the second floor.

Exiting into a ballroom, we cross to the other side and enter a kitchen and living area. The doors on either side have room names and numbers, so we've found where the hotel rooms start but still no checkin area.

Back downstairs, I'm about to enter a gift shop to ask when I see a small sign "hotel guest register inside store." OK, this must be it.

Once I go to the cash register, it goes smoothly. We're given our keys and told we'll get a $30 credit for breakfast at the diner nextdoor.

Now, it's back to the other end of the building, back up the elevator, and across the second floor to our room, the Charles Miller Suite at the McCloud Mercantile Hotel. It's always the moment of truth when we walk through the door not knowing if the room we'd booked will actually be appropriate for us.

No worries here, the suite is stunning. A wall of windows perfectly frames Mt. Shasta in the distance, veined with late season glaciers. 

A massive king size bed sits next to a small table between two antique chairs. 

Tim will call the twin bed sitting under a roof nook in the next room home for the next three nights. An antique armoir at the foot of his bed will hold our clothes.

The washroom has room to roam, a jetted tub, and two roll under sinks. The next room is a wet room with a large roll-in shower, folding bench, and toilet.

No, there will not be any problems with this room at all.

After settling in, we find our only options for dinner are taco night at the American Legion, the local gas station mini mart, or a pub up the block from the hotel. We chose the pub.

The Axe and Rose is next to the town's other big hotel. Back in the day, McCloud was an honest-to-god lumber company town. Where we're staying was the company store (and theater, restaurant, clothing store, etc), while this one...the McCloud Hotel...used to be the single men's dormitory.

I think the pub is missing some marketing options by not putting an "L" after the first part of the name and pulling in the Guns 'n Roses crowd by calling it the Axel and Rose.

Still, the food was very good and we'll probably come here again before we leave. But...the server comes over and says "are you staying at the hotel down the street?"

"Yes"

"They just called and said you have a flat tire. Would you like some help changing it?"

Oh, darn. Maybe that rock did more damage than just the running board. Or maybe it's just a coincidence. In any event, no, we didn't need help. I just put in a call to AAA and they dispatched someone to change the tire.

I'm hoping it won't cause a kink in the rest of this trip. Tonight, we'll rest up and start exploring the surrounding area, hoping the spare tire holds up until I can get the flat one repaired or replaced.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

North Coast Explorations: Heading for the Border

One more day in Trinidad. It's a tiny town and we've seen pretty much all we came to see. We've not been north of the Trees of Mystery so today we've picked a point on the map...the first town in Oregon, Brookings...and are headed there to see what's up there.

At the sleepy little town of Orick, we stop at the general store to grab a few sodas and keep going. Stretches of highway 101 go down to a narrow two lanes with giant redwoods pushing into the tarmac.

The giant Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, let us know we've reached the Trees of Mystery. Everything beyond here is virgin territory for us.

We drive through Crescent City, the county seat of Del Norte County. This is the farthest northwest county in the state. The city is named for the shape of it's beach and bay. This geographic anomaly also means it's susceptible to tsunami damage and has been hit a few times, most recently in 2011 when numerous docks and boats were damaged or destroyed when 8 foot waves originating from Japan from the earthquake that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The city looks like a miniature version of Eureka and we'll make a quick stop here on the way back.

Next is the small town of Smith River and then the border which welcomes us with a big cannabis shop and hardware store.

Not long after that, we arrive in Brookings which is full of traffic and what seems to be more cannibis shop on each corner.

We can't really find anywhere we want to eat and the gas prices were actually cheaper at an Indian casino we passed back in Smith River.

I walk out to Chetco Point while we stop for a bathroom break. The scenery is very similar to Trinidad with rocks scattered about the bay except for the giant sewage plant taking up the space on top of the bluff.

Nothing's calling to us here so we head back. We stop for a rest at the friendly bar at the Lucky 7 Indian casino in Smith River and gas up with their cheap gas.

We look for a place to eat in Crescent City and end up at a hot dog truck, Shruggie's, in downtown. The food, while basic, is very good. 

A transient is sleeping on a nearby picnic bench. He soon rolls over and falls to the ground. EMT's show up to check on him. He yells at them to leave them alone. They shrug it off and join in by getting some hot dogs of their own.

I buy a few baked goods at a local Hmong club's bake sale then we get back in the van to go.

It's been a so-so day and drive to Brookings. We did enjoy the food in Crescent City and the little time at the casino.

One last thrill, though, was the traffic jam caused by a herd of Roosevelt elk crossing the road a few miles north of Orick. After that, it wasn't much longer back to the cabin where we spent one more night watching the wifi TV in our room.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Oregon Ale Taste Off

It's Oktoberfest season and here at The World on Wheels we're celebrating by focusing our Cocktail Hours on beer...

Tim and I are back again, this time tasting two Oregon produced ales.  Why?  Because this is what I found in the clearance basket at Albertson's!

The first ale is Drifter Pale Ale, produced by the Widmer Brother Brewery of Portland.  They're more famous for their hefeweisen and I'd never even heard of this ale before.  According to the brewery, there is supposed to be notes of citrus in the flaver.  It's an amber colored brew with a slight off-taste, probably that citrus essence they're going for.

Watch the Video!

The second is Dead Guy Ale, produced by the Rogue Brewery out of Newport.  A cloudy, golden ale, this was made in celebration of the Mayan Day of the Dead.  The skeleton on the label makes it popular with Grateful Dead fans.  Smooth, and tasty, we liked this one the best.

Cheers!

-Darryl

North Coast Explorations: The Lighthouse Walk of Trinidad

Trinidad is very compact. As the crow flies, it's less than a mile from Trinidad Head Lighthouse to the freeway exit for the town. This will come in handy as we can just park and see everything we want today without a lot of driving.

Next to the foot of the town's pier are about a half dozen handicapped parking spots. We take the one closest to the pier, which is also the widest one, allowing us to deploy the lift to unload Tim.

There's a highly regarded seafood restaurant here, owned by the local Yuroc tribe. We'll come back and try that later. First, we're going for a hike.

Back at the entrance of this lot, there are accessible restrooms and what looks like the top of a lighthouse. This is actually a replica lighthouse, built in 1949, and now is a memorial to locals who were lost at sea.

A plaque with their names is attached to the back.

Next to this faux lighthouse is the trailhead for today's walk. We'll be heading out to the real lighthouse. The trail is about a mile and a half, each way.

A house sits here, overlooking the pier and the pretty bay. We find out it's a vacation rental. Not accessible, though, but you can see the details about it at this link. There's probably not a more picturesque place to stay in the area.

A few feet further on, a chain across the road blocks access. It's not locked, though, so I just unlatch it and let Tim through.

We stop for a minute to take in the view below.

Just a bit further up is an overlook to the beach on the other side of the point. Here is where the trail forks. A dirt path to the right and the paved (accessible) path to the left. They both meet up again later.

I should also mention that a lot of the trail (maybe a quarter mile) up to this point is rather steep. Tim had no trouble with his power chair but I can see manual chair users or their pushers having quite a go of it here.

We continue up the paved side, stopping now and again to take in the spectacular views of Trinidad Bay.

We're almost to the end, where the lighthouse is, and the last 50 feet or so of trail is loose gravel. Tim finds it easier to roll on the adjacent lawn.

The lighthouse is only open to the public for a few hours one Saturday a month, which is not today. It's rather small by lighthouse standards, only about 20 feet tall, so we take a few pictures and take in the view.

Going down is much easier than going up. We build up a bit more appetite by walking out to the end of the pier, waving goodbye to some fishermen as they head out on an afternoon party boat.

The Seascape restaurant sits right at the edge of the beach and we get a great window table in the patio.

I'm not much of a seafood lover so I get by with a bacon grilled cheese sandwich.

Tim ops for the fish 'n chips...

...and my wife goes for the crab salad and clam chowder.

It's all very good, satisfying, and relaxing.

Afterwards, we go back to the cabin, pop open some wine, and enjoy heaps of junk food while watching stand-up comedy on the inn's Tubi channel.

Tomorrow, we'll take a little drive up to Oregon. We'll see you then.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

North Coast Explorations: Trinidad, California

I've been exploring this state for over 6 decades and, yet, there are still wide swaths I have yet to see. I may have been up this way when I was a child but, if I was, I don't remember. As far as I know, Trees of Mystery...near Klamath...is the farthest I've been up the northern California coast.

At the request of my wife, we're going to be spending three nights in Trinidad, about 30 miles north of Eureka, and seeing what this area is like.

It's a six and a half hour drive from our home. We'll stop along the way in the Colusa County town of Williams to have lunch at Granzella's and gas up the Love's truck stop here to get the cheapest gas before heading over to the coast where the fuel costs will increase considerably.

I was told they close the office at our inn at 6pm so I push as hard as I legally can and arrive at 5:59. They actually go home around 7:30 so I could have taken it a little easier.

The View Crest Lodge is actually five miles north of downtown Trinidad...a small city of just a bit over 300 souls...and sits just across the street from the beaches of the Pacific.

We have a nice, clean, and a bit spartan two room cabin. A queen size (my wife calls BS and says it's full size) bed sit's in its own small room. This room is not really considered wheelchair accessible.

The living room, however, is much roomier and has another queen size bed (this one does meet my wife's approval). A ramp leads to the deck and the back door of the cabin, giving access from the assigned parking spot. 

There's a large bathroom with a bathtub with bars. It'll be a bit of a challenge but I can get Tim on the fold down bench for a wash.

The room also includes a full kitchen with utensils. I'll make use of this to cook breakfast which will help with this trip's finances.

A cozy living area completes the setup with a large TV that is limited to whatever we can get with the Tubi channel on the hotel's sometimes spotty wifi.

There is no dresser so we'll have to live out of the suitcase. We drop it in the bedroom and head into town for dinner.

In the morning, I get into the groceries I'd brought along for cooking breakfast. I had planned on making chorizo and eggs but packed some Italian sausage instead by mistake. Oh well, improvise...I cook it the same way and we have sausage and egg breakfast burritos instead.

It's a cool morning but devoid of the fog that usually hugs this coast in the mornings. It makes for a nice time to sit on the deck, hot cup of coffee in hand, and listen to the sea lions bark on the ocean rocks across the street.

I take a little walk around the property and the area surrounding to just soak up the views, reveling in the cool air, while my wife and Tim get ready for a day out.

We're going to spend the day in downtown Trinidad and go for a little hike there. That's coming up in the next report.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

WE'LL NEVER FORGET...New York, New York

Please say a prayer for the world today.

Traveling in 2022? The Era of The Road Trip...

Lost luggage, delays, missed flights, canceled flights, security delays…what used to be rare is now very common in air travel. With this in mind, we’re avoiding airports and planes for awhile and will be focusing more on destinations we can drive to.

2022 is the Era of the Road Trip for the Musick family.

Earlier this year, we spent a few days at one of our favorite beach towns, Morro Bay, in Central California. It was a nice getaway and helped to get some of these pandemic-induced travel cobwebs cleaned out as we hiked oceanside trails and ate some great food.

While we love Morro Bay, it would also be nice to stretch our legs and get to someplace we’ve never been, so we make a Basque-themed trip through the wide open deserts of Northern Nevada.    

Elko is a nice town that served as a railroad hub for the area. We had some great Basque food and got in some steps with a pub crawl while we were there.

Winnemucca turned out to have one of the best Basque restaurants we’ve ever been too, and we’ve been to a lot. Plus, we actually came out slightly ahead at the casino there, although we had to walk out of our original hotel when the accessible room was anything but.

While we were in the area, it wasn’t too hard to make a turn north and spend a few days in Boise, Idaho. Another pub crawl and a visit to the blue football field of Boise State University were a lot of fun.

Next up will be two trips…one for my wife’s birthday and another for my birthday pick.

My wife has chosen Trinidad, way up on the northern coast of California for her birthday pick. It’s about a 6 hour drive from home.

I’m choosing a destination that’s a short 4 hour drive, McCloud, which is a tiny town in the shadow of the massive Mount Shasta.

They may be a long drive but it won’t be near as bad as flying is these days. Stay tuned for that.

Darryl Musick - Copyright 2022

All Rights Reserved

Traveling in 2022? Let's Think About That...

We like to travel, as you can see by browsing our site, but let's get one thing straight...we travel to have fun. If it turns out to be more of an ordeal, we'd rather skip it.

So, what about travel during this post-Covid year of record travelers to the world's destinations? I think we'll pass for this year and here's why...

It seems that everyone wants to satisfy their travel urges and want to do it right now! At the same time, airports, airlines, car rental companies, hotels, and more are having staffing shortages and trying to train new hires while this travel boom is going on.

I can't think of one friend who's traveled recently that didn't complain of long lines, serious delays, lost luggage, no car available for their reservations, and more. Add that frustration to someone who has to travel in a wheelchair and that doubles the pain.

We've already heard stories of people waiting for hours on a plane waiting for the access crew to show up and get them off. Or booked, confirmed, and guaranteed accessible hotel rooms given away to someone else before you showed up (this has happened to us several times in the last couple of years).

Let's also add to the equation that we're experiencing the highest levels of inflation in four decades plus fuel costs have skyrocketed beyond belief. Travel...in addition to being more of a pain than fun...has gotten rediculously expensive.

On the other hand, we don't want to just hunker down in our house until these hard time are over so we've come up with some other strategies, starting with finding fun things to do in our own neighborhood.

Within an hour of our home are several county fairs...Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Sacramento, and San Joaquin Counties...plus the California State Fair where we can go out and have fun in a carnival atmosphere for a day. 

In addition, there are several other festivals to attend...the Ragin' Cajun Festival in Valley Springs, the Grape Festival in Lodi, the Smokechasers Fair in Plymouth, the Italian Picnic in Sutter Creek, the Homecoming Festival in our local town...where we can see great local exhibits, eat great food, and have a drink while watching a great local band (if you're counting, that's 10 weekends right there...almost enough for an entire summer).

(While we are concentrating on Northern California, you can find a fair or festival near you here)

Speaking of music, we also support local live music as much as we can. We follow local musicians on social media and find where they'll be playing...often for free (but make sure to tip your musicians)...notably a local winery, brewery, bar, restaurant, etc. This makes for a very inexepensive and fun outing.

(See Tim's take on our local music scene)

Beyond fairs, festivals, and local concerts there's always just getting outside and enjoying nature. Take a walk along the beach or go for a hike. No matter where you live, there's certain to be some public space like a state park nearby which will probably be free or have a minimal entrance fee.

(Need information on accessible hiking trails in California? Check it out at hiking at The World on Wheels)

Even with so much to do near home, we do also want to get away and see some new scenery now and then. While we'll be avoiding the crowds at major destinations and flying, we'll still do getaways. For us, in 2022, that means it's the age of the road trip.

Let's talk more about that next time.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

The Cocktail Hour - Hurricane

Below is the video for the Hurricane but read the recipe at the bottom for an extra ingredient that made it much better.

The Hurricane is the classic New Orleans drink.  Sold in take-out windows so you can drink while perusing the French Quarter, it's a very tasty thirst quencher.  It's also quite potent.  Many of the recipes I found called for up to six different spirits (yikes!), so I experimented a little before coming up with this lighter version...that is if you can still call something with two shots of rum in each drink light.

In the video above, I used a different grenadine than I usually do.  It was weak and wouldn't hold its color so the drinks came out orange.  In the recipe below, I added cranberry cocktail.  It not only gave the drink its usual red color but also boosted the taste considerably.

HURRICANE - Two Drinks

2oz - light rum
2oz - dark rum
1 1/3 oz - lime juice
splash of passion fruit syrup
1/2 oz simple syrum
1/2 oz grenadine
2oz - orange juice
1oz - cranberry cocktail

Mix all ingredients in a shaker 1/3 filled with ice.  Strain into two old-fashioned glassed half filled with ice.

Cheers!

-Darryl

CLASSIC TRIP: Leaving Liberia

On arrival to Daniel Ober airport on Thanksgiving, after the melodious tones of the flight attendants noting that we have many options that they appreciate us for flying Alaska Airlines, a more jarring , male and official voice comes on over the plane's PA system with a local accent.

"Be advised that before leaving Costa Rica, there is a mandatory twenty eight dollar exit fee that you must pay before checking in, therefore it is necessary that you arrive at the airport no later than three hours before your flight time to allow time to pay this fee."

Wonderful.

It's been a week of adventure, ripoffs, exploring, meeting people, and enjoying the unspoiled beauty of Costa Rica. Now we have to leave early to get to the airport. Also, because we had such a hassle at the rental counter when we arrived, I'm allowing two hours to allow for any necessary arguing or fighting at the rental agency when we return the car.

I'm kind of dreading that part the most.

We also notice that we haven't bought anything in the way of souvenirs.  Not that we really want too much from here, Tim and I already have our t-shirts from the zip lining park, but we would like to take home some of that great Costa Rican coffee.

Driving around our hotel, we've noticed signs for Sun Burst Coffee with tours and store in the "doit" center. We decide to stop there on the way back to buy some.  Following the signs, we come to realize the the "doit" center is actually the Do It Hardware store center and the tour is just a slide show and some exhibits on the counter there.

There is a roaster and many coffees available for sampling and sale. I particularly like the dark roast but they don't have any in stock and are unloading the raw beans from a truck as I'm there so I settle on some French roast to take home.

It's good but not as good as the Trader Joe's French roast I have back home as a later taste comparison test will reveal.

At the Alamo rental agency, the turn in of the car goes smoothly. I find the agent that I dealt with at the beginning and he comped the GPS unit rental in the car, which came within eight dollars of negating the $120 of insurance I was forced to buy and had no need for, so I'm letting that issue drop.

Now, it's four hours til flight time, we're at the airport, and we're told that Alaska Airlines won't open their counter for at least another hour and a half. It takes all of two minutes to pay the exit fee and now were stuck in the non-airconditioned ticketing hall until the Alaska crew shows up.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Bernal Saborio under CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Eventually they do and two of them even recognize us from our arrival last week and make sure everything goes swimmingly from there.  We make it through the easier-than-TSA security, have a nice lunch in the air-conditioned gate area, buy some duty-free Nicaraguan rum (better than the Costa Rican stuff, in my opinion), and take an easy flight home.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved