Lucy's 2018 Western Adventure

[A W Warn]

Interesting photos and commentary. I appreciate you sharing your experiences!

You have been through some of the hottest areas of the US. I'm guessing some days have been 100F+. Care to comment about the hottest temperatures you have encountered along the way, and on the performance/comfort of the single AC unit in your trailer?

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by A W Warn

Interesting photos and commentary. I appreciate you sharing your experiences!

You have been through some of the hottest areas of the US. I'm guessing some days have been 100F+. Care to comment about the hottest temperatures you have encountered along the way, and on the performance/comfort of the single AC unit in your trailer?

Hi Alan,


The hottest day that we have had so far on this trip was 108 Degrees in Roswell, New Mexico several days ago. Lucy's single air conditioner has been able to keep up. Our routine when we travel in very hot conditions is to pull into a campground, get the a/c going, and go do our shopping and some looking around. When we come back to Lucy, she is becoming bearable inside. When traveling in hot invirons, we keep the sky light, street side picture windows, and bedroom windows covered with that silver reflective insulation material. This has always worked for us.


Brian

[Jarrod White]

I visited Palm Springs this past fall and thought the architecture was great. I enjoyed driving through the neighborhoods and taking in as much as possible. And I stumbled onto the Robo Lights Garden. I

[moosetags]

We missed these guys. Tanks for sharing.


Brian

[Hittenstiehl]

If not to late for a Palm Springs recommendation, Sherman's restaurant for a GREAT New York style deli meal. The desert counter is lovely to look at and taste.

[AirMiles]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Hi Alan,


The hottest day that we have had so far on this trip was 108 Degrees in Roswell, New Mexico several days ago. Lucy's single air conditioner has been able to keep up. Our routine when we travel in very hot conditions is to pull into a campground, get the a/c going, and go do our shopping and some looking around. When we come back to Lucy, she is becoming bearable inside. When traveling in hot invirons, we keep the sky light, street side picture windows, and bedroom windows covered with that silver reflective insulation material. This has always worked for us.


Brian

I have the same result with my single AC. I've traveled all over the south in 100+ degree heat and, like Moosetracks, abide in the hot and humid State of Florida where we frequently camp during the summer. We have always been able to keep our Airstream comfortably cool. Even when we travel in 100 degree temps and boondock in retail blacktop parking lots, we just fire up the generator, turn on the AC, walk into Cracker Barrel to eat, and come back to a comfortably cool Airstream to sleep. The single AC is working great for us.

Thanks Brian for sharing your photos from this trip. We are hoping to continue our interrupted summer travels in early July! Keep the photos coming so I can live vicariously through your photos.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

If not to late for a Palm Springs recommendation, Sherman's restaurant for a GREAT New York style deli meal. The desert counter is lovely to look at and taste.

Thank you so much for the tip on Sherman's. We are already back at Lucy for the night, and we plan to tow Lucy to Los Angeles tomorrow. As luck would have it, we had a great lunch at Sherman's today. We did look at the desert display. Even though very tempting, we only looked as we were stuffed.

A picture of Sherman's will be featured in tonight's post to the trip thread.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy is still camped in Desert Hot Springs, California. We spent another day touring Palm Springs. We took in the Downtown area, and had lunch at Sherman's Delicatessen, in Palm Springs since 1954.
We spent the rest of the day looking at more of the Palm Springs mid-century architecture. We toured a neighborhood of homes called Twin Palms. This subdivision of ninety homes was built in 1957. All of the homes originally had the same floor plan. They were made different with various roof lines and varied external architectural effects. When each home was completed, the developer provided two palm trees on each property. Therefore, the name of the subdivision became Twin Palms.

We also went to look at some of the early small hotels here in Palm Springs.

We came back to Lucy early to start preparing to move on tomorrow.

Tonight's Pictures include:


- Sherman's Delicatessen in Downtown Palm Springs.
- Colorful Twin Palms home.
- Another fine example in Twin Palms.
- One of the original model homes in Twin Palms.
- Twin Palms home.
- Twin Palms home.
- Twin palms home.
- A fitting address marker for one of the Twin Palms homes.
- The 1951 Holiday House Hotel in Palm Springs.
- The sign for the 1947 Del Marcos Hotel in Palm Springs.


Brian

[OTRA15]

Great photos starting in Post #79. It is as if you have been on a 1950's movie set, and Lucy and Desi would be coming out of a front door waving, and welcoming you inside for visit. Remember their film "The Long, Long Trailer?"

Thanks for bringing us along. Have fun in LA!

Peter

[moosetags]

We actually carry a copy of The Long, Long Trailer along with us. Lucy has become our time machine, seeking out a kinder, gentler time in America. These trips are so much fun that we sometimes have to pinch ourselves.


Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp this morning In Desert Hot Springs. It did not go as smoothly as usual. While we were dumping Lucy's tanks, the water suddenly went off in our section of the campground. This added about an hour and a half to Lucy's departure. We had to move Lucy to another campsite on the other side of the campground, and hook her up again. While doing all of this, it was 103 degrees. We finally got on the road and headed toward Los Angeles. It was only a hundred mile trip, but we were slowed on several occasions by the heavy freeway traffic.

We finally arrived at the campground in San Dimas at about 2:00 PM. We got Lucy a really nice campsite at East Shore RV Park. We were really glad to be here. It was 84 Degrees when we arrived. We got Lucy all hooked up, and headed out to a local RV factory in nearby Montclair.

We drove over to the Lazy Daze Factory where we looked at their RVs. Lazy Daze is a small manufacturer of Class C RVs who sells from their factory only. We spent a couple of hours going through their RVs. We are not interested in forgoing our beloved Lucy, but like to look at other options.

From there, we went out to dinner before returning to Lucy for the night.

Tonight's pictures include:

- Large windmill farm outside of Palm Springs.
- Large solar array out in the desert.
- Lucy and Lilly at their campsite in San Dimas.
- A new Lazy Daze RV just off the assembly line.
- A 1966 Lazy Daze that they have at the factory.
- Los Angeles freeway mid afternoon traffic.
- These blooming purple trees are over the place. What are they?
- Palm lined back street in San Dimas.
- This skunk was hanging out with Lucy when we got back.

Brian

[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by moosetags

<<snip>> These blooming purple trees are over the place. What are they? <<snip>>

I think they are "blue jacaranda tree". Those are also in southern FL.

[Hittenstiehl]

Yep Warn is correct in AZ we just call them Jacaranda, sub tropical, very showy blooms.

[moosetags]

Thank you for the tree information guys.


Brian

[moosetags]

Today we went into Los Angeles and did some touring of the big city. First we made our way to 1755 N. Main Street. This is an industrial area north of downtown. This the address where the original Airstream Factory was located. The original brick building is still there. We next went to see the Angel Flight in Downtown Los Angeles. The Angel Flight is a narrow gauge railway that carries passengers about 300 feet up a steep incline. The Angel Flight has been in operation since 1901.

We also drove down to Santa Monica to do some looking around. We went by the Pier and drove along the beach. We made our way back to Lucy at the campground and got settled in for the night.

Tonight's Pictures include:

- Jacaranda lined street.
- Entering the City of Los Angeles.
- The Old Airstream Factory.
- The Los Angeles River.
- Downtown Skyline.
- The Angel Flight.
- Looking up the Angel Flight tracks.
- Walt Disney Concert Hall.
- The 1936 El Rey Theatre.
- Santa Monica Pier.

Brian

[rjbrown99]

If you are still in San Dimas and are coffee people, give a try to the Coffee Klatch. Best micro roaster in the area and that's their main location.

Also if you are into dry camping for a night, the Santa Monica Civic Center allows overnight parking for RVs. Walking distance from the pier. Also quite safe as it shares a parking lot with the police station.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by rjbrown99

If you are still in San Dimas and are coffee people, give a try to the Coffee Klatch. Best micro roaster in the area and that's their main location.

Also if you are into dry camping for a night, the Santa Monica Civic Center allows overnight parking for RVs. Walking distance from the pier. Also quite safe as it shares a parking lot with the police station.

Thanks for the tips. We will have to save them for next time. We are getting Lucy all packed up this morning to head out. We are moving over to Santa Paula to visit with relatives in Ventura County.

Brian

[TheOhioSean]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We next went to see the Angel Flight in Downtown Los Angeles. The Angel Flight is a narrow gauge railway that carries passengers about 300 feet up a steep incline. The Angel Flight has been in operation since 1901.

Though it should be noted it hasn't been in continuous operation since 1901. It was closed in 1969, reopened in a new location a block away in 1996, closed after an accident, renovated, reopened, closed after an accident, renovated, and reopened again. So it has actually been in operation for only about eighty years.

[rmkrum]

And one of the best food malls in los Angela is right across the street at the Central Market. Keep it on your list for next time...

[moosetags]

Lucy broke camp this morning in San Dimas and headed west. We had to travel back through Los Angeles and its considerable traffic, this time towing Lucy. It was a little white knuckle, but not too bad since it was mid morning. Once we cleared the melee, it was an easy drive the rest of the way to Santa Paula which is in Ventura County. As it was only a hundred mile drive, we arrived at the campground around 1:00 PM. We got Lucy settled in a really nice campsite at Mountain View RV Park. It was early enough that we decided to take in some of the sights.

We first drove over to Fillmore, California which is about ten miles east of Santa Paula. Fillmore is a small town that was established in 1914. We toured the town and took a bunch of pictures.

We drove back to Santa Paula through the countryside which is covered in orange groves. We got back in time do do a little touring of Santa Paula. We found one really interesting fact about this small town. Santa Paula is where the Union Oil Company of California was founded in 1890. The company's original headquarters building is still here. We looked around at some of the historic buildings before heading back to Lucy for the night.

Tonight's pictures include:

- Very large cans of Miller Lite on the way out of Los Angeles.
- Lucy and Lillian at their campsite in Santa Paula.
- Orange groves along California 126.
- Art Deco Fillmore sign.
- The 1918 Towne Theatre in Fillmore.
- Fillmore City Hall.
- The 1926 Tower Theatre in Santa Paula.
- The ornate entrance to the old El Paso Department Store in Santa Paula.
- The original 1890 Headquarters of the Union Oil Company of California.
- The 1887 Santa Paula train Depot.

Brian