Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, CA (Oct 14th) 2010

We were looking for something just for overnight on our way further into California and we stumbled by these fairgrounds.  They were very neat and located near Lancaster, CA.  For only $20/night we had electric and water and very nice restrooms with showers.  They also had full hook-ups (sewers) for $25.  Of course we were on a cement pad but it was good for one night.  They had casino horse racing (Turf Club) on the fairgrounds and a motorcross area  and they are open year round except for the month of August.  During August is the actual fair and the 4H'ers take up the campground during that time frame.  Went into Lancaster to check out the town and do our laundry.  The next morning we headed westward.
If you need a place to stay as you are passing westward on US 14 through the Antelope Valley of California, their website is: www.avfair.com

Fort Independence, CA (Oct 6 - 14th) 2010

Fort Independence Campground is located between Big Pine and Lone Pine, California.  Lone Pine is where the Alabama Hills are located, home of the good ole western moviies.  Lone Ranger, Maverick, Rawhide and even the Tremors movie filmed in these parts of the Alabama Hills.  Actually there were over 400 movies and TV shows that have been filmed here.  The Alabama Hills is one earth's oldest (85 million years) geological formations made of granite and was quite a site to see.  We rode into the hills and found the arch which was where we took the picture that was on our address change postcard.  We stopped in for the annual Lone Pine Film Festival held over the weeekend.  Crowds were way down according to the locals -- again another sign of the poor economic times and maybe even because the western era is disappearing.  The backdrop to the Alabama Hills is Mt. Whitney (14,497 elevation).  After driving to the Mt. Whitney Portal which was 8,360 ft. up the mountain, there was a trail that is hiked by many to the mountain top.  So as a challenging birthday (October 12th) adventure, Mike and Jason decided to conquer the hike up the mountain.  2:00 a.m. they were up and getting ready for their climb.  After getting their gear ready and driving to the portal, they started their journey at 3:30 a.m. in the dark thin air.  They switched back and forth up the mountain and saw some beautiful scenery with lakes, meadows, streams and waterfalls.  They continued through the canyons on a trail that has been built and maintained by numerous volunteers for over 100 years.

Heading towards the snow covered mountaintop, they hiked with heavy backpacks.  By two p.m. they were at about 12,000 ft. but decided to turn back because my flashlight quit working for some reason just at day break and he did not want to not have light coming down the mountain at night time.  Plus the fact we were not really prepared for an overnight camp trip on top of the mountain.  We thought they could do the 22 mile trek in one day and realized it was not going to happen due to their not having the proper equipment for the conditions.  Jason continued another couple of miles as I turned around to continue back down the mountain.   We both decided they would be back to conquer the whole trip someday.    Maybe backpack to the top, camp overnight and then come down the next day.  WE'LL WILL BE BACK!!!!!  The next adventure took them to the gold mines in the Paramint Mountains.  They thought they were going to be panning for gold but realized they needed flashlights to see into the mines that went in  100 yards or more and then split into more tunnels.  With pick and shovel in hand they did discover that the mines were still open and you could enter them.  No luck there.  But they will be back with more tools and of course those flashlights!  The day after the hike we decided to soak in the  Keough Hot Spring pools and enjoy the Hot sun south of the town of Bishop, CA.  Just south of our campground was a national historic site called Manzanar.  This was the location where during World War II,  all the Japanese descendants were brought to this site due to our government's fear of the enemy living amongst us.  More then 10,000 Japanese/Americans were brought to these 504 barracks to be housed.  It was called a relocation center and here there were schools built, a hospital, a post office, gardens etc. -- like a mini city.  They lived here until after the war was over in 1945.

On our way out of the area, we stopped at the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery in Independence.  It was a very sturdy stone  building on 40 acres of land with a fish filled pond and is run by volunteers.  It continues to be a  California state treasure as committed by the California Fish and Game Commission. 

Enough for one week; time to move on towards Los Angeles to seek employment for Jason.

              For More Information Go To: www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/
                                                            www.nps.gov/manz

Nevada Drive-thru (October 5th-6th)

We left Salt Lake City, Utah heading to California -- westward.  We stopped along the way at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah just to drive our motorhome/car over the salt covered desert and check out what was going on there.  Not too much activity but there were a few brave souls willing to test out their vehicles for the Grand Nationals.

As we passed through Nevada without many campgrounds,  we chose to camp overnight in the Pony Express Rest Area along the freeway surrounded by mountains -- another night of free boondocking.  Made it thru Nevada in a day and a half.  Way to go Mike!!!!

Salt Lake City, Utah (SOC Convention) (September 28 - Oct 5, 2010)

Salt Palace Convention Center

The Send Out Cards National Convention lasted 4 days (Sept 29 - Oct 2nd).  It was held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.  Very large convention center -- made COBO Hall in Detroit look like one of its dwarfs.  Heart wrenching -- happy -- motivational -- inspiring were only some of the descriptive words for this convention.  Met some wonderful people and just was a good time for all!!!  Send out those cards and " MAKING A DIFFERENCE "was the theme.  It was nice to see that Send Out Cards also supported two children for the Make a Wish Foundation and also raised over $18,000 at the convention for the Foundation.  That is what makes this company so successful -- it is about caring and sharing for others with a card, a gift or just sharing the opportunity of the company.  We were able to tour the company's facility where the cards are made and sent out and that was a pretty interesting place and amazing for it to be a debt free-company. You can tell they truly do care about their employees and really make them a part of the team.

Once we finished the convention,  we were able to visit Utah's State Capital and The Kennecott Utah Copper's Bingham Canyon Mine.  This mine has produced more copper than any mine in history -- about 18.1 million tons.  It is 2 3/4 miles across at the top and 3/4 of a mile deep. New haul truck cost about $3.5 million and can carry from 255 to 320 tons of material in a single trip. Not Bad!! This mine is so big it can be seen by space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the U.S.  The plan is to extend the life of this mine for another 20 to 30 years.  It is one amazing site.  The Visitor Center provided educational, hands-on and up-close experiences to help you better understand how metals and minerals are an essential part of our everyday life.  Surely a great place to visit.
That evening we road on the TRAX trolley through the City of Salt Lake which we had been watching run through the city all week.  Of course we rode through the "free-zone" only and we were ok with that!!!
Our plans have changed from south to west as we seek full-time work for our son Jason. He's the one navigating now!! OH Boy!!  Here We Go!!!

If You Like To Learn More. Please Go To: www.sendoutcards.com/kohut    OR   www.kennecott.com

Jordanelle State Park, UT (September 23-28, 2010)

After leaving Starvation State Park, UT we were hoping their state parks got better in that they at least offered electric -- especially as we were getting closer to Salt Lake City.  So the first one we stopped at was Wasatch State Park in Heber City, Utah.  It was nestled on the side of the mountain, but the sites were way too small to accommodate our 32' motorhome.  So we moved on.  Before leaving the area, however, we visited Soldier Hollow, where the nordic Olympic skiing took place in the 2002 Olympic games.  Across from Soldier Hollow was a beautiful golf course with a log clubhouse.  The original park I was headed to was Jordanelle State Park between Heber City and Park City, Utah.  It is Utah's largest campground; whereas Wasatch was their first state park.  We loved it when we saw it.  It overlooked the Jordanelle Reservoir where the Jordanelle Dam was built on the Provo River as a water storage area for the Central Utah Project.  The campsites were built into the hillside overlooking the reservoir where you could swim, boat or fish.  We had water, electric, BBQ grill, fire pit, WI-FI and clean nice bathrooms.  There was even a laundry on site.  All for $20/night.  What a bargain after the last few nights of what we went through.  Visited Park City on our first day -- very nice town with lots of rich looking homes built into the Mountainsides.  And a lot of imports!!!  Could not tell that the economy was affected here.  Our 2nd day there, we decided to visit all three ski resorts in Park City to obtain ski maps.    They were Deer Valley, Park City and the largest was The Canyons.  We cannot believe how much ski lift tickets are nowadays.  Something like $87/day.   WOW it has been awhile since we've been out west skiing.  Anyways, the first highlight of our visit to Park City was the Utah Olympic Park.  This 400 acre park gave us a close look at the nordic ski jumps, freestyle pool,  and the bobsled, luge and skeleton tracks used in the 2002 Winter Olympic games.   We also visited the George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum where we relived the 2002 Olympic Winter Games through visual highlights and artifacts as well as history of all the disciplines  in the intermountain region through interactive touch screen displays, videos, virtual reality ski theater, games and topographic maps.  For the public, they offered Bobsled rides, ziplines, and an alpine slide which we did not participate because they were only offered on the weekends and we were there on a Monday.  There are  guided tours offered every day and you could take your own walking tour of the grounds which we did.  We loved watching the Freestyle training pool where young athletes were doing their freestyle skiing and landing in a 750,000 pool featuring a bubbling device that softened their landings.  Very interesting park to visit.   The website for this park if you need information when you plan to visit is:  www.olyparks.com
Our second highlight of our stay here, was our visit to Sundance Ranch.  What a beautiful serene place.  No wonder Robert Redford made this his home.  And speaking of Robert Redford.   At Sundance Ranch they have a chair lift that operates in the summer by taking visitors up the Mountain to see the terrific scenery, to hike the trails or to mountain bike the trails or just to ride back down.  As we were getting on the chair lift, coming down on the chairlift was Robert Redford himself.  And we know it was him because a mother had asked Mike to take a picture of her and her two kids of which he obliged and she told him Mr. Redford was at the top of the mountain doing some hiking and he was due back down in about 10 minutes.  So of course we went to get our lift tickets and that is how we knew it was him.  Sure didn't look 74.  He was with a woman whom could of been his new wife but we were not sure.  That just added more excitement to the most beautiful setting we have ever visited thus far.  Plus it is a ski mountain in the winter months -- smaller then usual but manageable.  There was a log lodge to stay in,  and mountain cottages that were rustic and enhanced the surrounding landscape.  There were 4 restaurants and a deli, a spa, conference and meeting rooms and an art shack.  Sundance is dedicated to the balance of art and nature.  Each January, the Sundance Village features 40 screenings during the Sundance Film Festival held in Park City, Utah.  Also there was a babbling stream that went through the village which just made it very serene and it was just a nice quaint place to visit and Mike begged us to leave him there.  Surely a place to visit in Utah and their website is:  www.sundanceresort.com
Now on to our Send Out Cards Convention in Salt Lake City.