Vista del Lago and noisy pipes

Driving through the LA area to our next stop from Morongo Casino, we knew it would be a longer leg than we preferred, so we planned a stop at Vista del Lago Visitors Center. It had a beautiful view of Pyramid Lake.

Vista del Lago Visitor Center view from back deck.

It is run by the California Dept of Water Resources. We enjoyed the many varied displays and seeing how they are managing the water in this drought situation. I learned more about the geography and locations of things in California which had been pretty vague. It made a great stop to eat, rest, and see something interesting. And they had enough parking space for us!

     By the time we arrived at Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, CA, it was clear that a hole had developed somewhere near the front of our exhaust system. It was quite loud! We made a stop at a handy AutoZone for patching materials and Jerry got out the tool box and went to work. He was visited by a fellow RVer offering help as well as a security guard who wanted to talk about Washington weather and said we could stay and long as we wanted to.

    The patch helped tone down the noise, but by the time we neared Fresno, it clearly was not working any more and the sound was deafening! We had to yell in order to be heard. So we made some calls and ended up at A to Z Muffler who got us fixed up and back on the road in a couple of hours. If our rig had been as much as 5" longer, it would not have fit on the lift. It was a little unnerving to see my rolling home lifted up in the air, but interesting to be able to look underneath. When we left, it sounded SO much better!

   We were relieved to be able to pull into Park Sierra in Coarsegold, CA and stay for a few days. It was so much fun for me to pull in and have a site with a view of trees!

Hwy 41 north of Fresno, CA on the way to Coarsegold

The drive from Fresno was beautiful and it was fun to see the different trees and rolling hills. It reminded me of the South Salem area and the oak trees of the Willamette Valley. I did find out that many of the trees in the area are Blue Oak.

Our boondocking site at Park of the Sierras.

We got the full tour of the park and met several really friendly people. I made good use of their laundry facility and shower as well as visiting the library.

Standing in front of the Coarsegold creek. Because of the drought the water level is very low.