By the Numbers, Year 2

We are once again back in Arizona for the winter.  After 7 months on the road, here are some of the stats:

42 RV parks stayed in

60 National Park Sites, designation of park, monument, memorial, lakeshore, seashore, historic site, etc.
of which 14 of them were actual National Parks

21 states

1 cave

5 race tracks

5,123 pictures taken

22,100 miles driven, with RV and Jeep added together

We will be here in Arizona for about 5 months and then we will be on the road again.  This will be the last post until next spring.  See you next year.

Alcatraz, San Francisco, CA

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, CA, is most famous for the federal prison there and the belief that it was impossible to escape from there.  The fact that that prison was surrounded by water and that the water was cold and the current is strong, fueled the belief that Alcatraz was inescapable.  Many people do not know that Alcatraz was first occupied as a fort and then a military prison.  In the late 60s, the island was occupied for 19 months by the Indians of All Tribes in the name of freedom and native American civil rights. 

The federal penitentiary operated there from 1934 to 1963.  The prison was closed because operating costs were too high to continue.  Alcatraz Island is now part of the National Park Service and they offer an audio tour of the building.  The tour was well done and very informative.  During the tour, you learn about the time that the prisoners overpowered the guards and held the prison hostage for a few days.  You will also learn about the 3 men who did manage to escape the prison and swam or floated away from the Island.  But did they survive, no one knows...

Touring Alcatraz Island gives you a strange feeling, the building stand abandoned and decaying or rusting.  But at the same time, you feel like there are many stories still waiting to be told.

San Francisco, CA

Spent a day in San Francisco, CA. So much to see. First of all, drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then stopped at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Within this park, there are several more National Park sites.  We visited three of them.  I will tell you a little about each one as I share the pictures. 

(I also must say that we visited San Fran about two weeks ago, before the wildfires began.  We drove through many of the areas north of Sand Fran that the fires are now raging through.  It is hard to believe that so much beautiful land and so many homes and businesses are being destroyed.)

Golden Gate Bridge; we were fortunate enough to have a clear day and we could see the bridge.

Below the Golden Gate Bridge is Fort Point National Historical Site.  Fort Point defended San Francisco bay following the California Gold Rush through World War II.  The building is beautiful and quite large.  We were disappointed that it is only open on the weekend, so we didn't get to go inside.

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in the Fisherman's Wharf area.  There is a visitor's center and then you can walk across the street and see some of the big ships.

Lighthouse light

The last part of the Golden Gate Recreation area that we visited was the famous and infamous Alcatraz.  I am going to cover that in a different post, so stay tuned.

Bits and Pieces

We ran across many unusual and interesting things and thought we would share some of them with you.

States like North and South Dakota allow farmers to bale the grass along the interstate and use it for their cattle.

In Oregon, there is not self-serve gas.  You stay in your car and wait for an attendant to pump your gas.

In California, gas prices were sky high, we saw $4.89 for regular unleaded.

In Washington, we had to pay for bags at the grocery store and they only had paper sacks.

The speed limit on the interstate in several western states is 80 mph.

We accidentally drove with the RV through the town of Napa on a Saturday afternoon during wine harvest season.  The road was stop and go traffic for several miles.  Not fun but we made it.

Speaking of harvesting, we drove through North Dakota during wheat harvest, Washington during apple harvest and California during almond and pistachio harvest.  We also saw many crops growing and getting ready for harvest, including sugar beets, hops, cannabis, and, of course, corn.


We stayed in a RV park in Oregon that used to be a drive in movie theater.  They still show movies on the weekend for the campers.

We also stayed in a RV park in Montana that used to be a stagecoach stop.

Sonoma Raceway, California

We visited Somoma Raceway in California.  We attended a Vintage Race; vintage races take older cars, divide them into categories and they race.  You will see Porsche, Triumph, Mini, Alfa Romeo, Datsun, Lotus, Indy cars,, you name it. Sonoma is a road course, which is always interesting to watch the cars go around the corners and through the curves.  We had a beautiful day as far as weather.  And NASCAR also races at this track, so we checked it off of our list.  We have one more NASCAR track to visit: Martinsville in Virginia

Victory Lane

I Love the Minis