HalfdomeHyjinx 5

[Calstate361]

No, the 5er jack is still not fixed.  Sal has tried again to get it jacked up and the car jack moved again and did damage to the front of the trailer.  Broke through the wood flooring of the front compartment where the generator is and tore the fiberglass.  Of cousrs, the after marked insurance we have will only cover the jack, not the damage.  I will probably file a claim with the car/truck insurance.  UUUGGGGGHHHH!

Anyway, glad you found the soup.   I did't like it but glad you do.  I don't do spicy stuff.   :sombraro:

Even if no one signs up next year we will probably be there and you are always welcome to join us.  It will still be fun with just the two of us.

Joan

[calstate360]

If anyone wants to attend, we need to know by Friday so we can make the deposit or release the sites.

Sal

[Calstate361]

OK, It is Friday and no one has signed up for this Rally.  All extra sites will be cancelled.

Joan

[calstate360]

The day has arrived. We will be leaving in the morning
and return on the 5th. Talk to you then providing I survive
the 3 Grandkids we are taking with us.  And if I don't kill myself
on our new mountain bikes.:sombraro: You all have a great Holiday!!!!!
Sal

[Gwenzilla]

So how was it?  Did you survive the grandkids?  Let us know, since I'm tethered to home and work the only escapeism I can enjoy is through other peoples stories.

[calstate360]

Untether yourself.

 

Well where do I begin?
 Stopped in Manteca at an Exxon station to gas up the one empty tank at that point. As we pull in we hear a crunch. It seems the dipshit **Edit** owner has decided to paint the islands black. He has also decided
 to set three 18 inch tall 2inch diameter pipes in the ground to protect his black painted islands. The pumps are of course 4 foot from the end of the island and raised 2ft. high. Scratch one battery compartment door which was ripped off, and three feet of sheet metal in front of the driver side tires which had to be straightened out before we could even move. Then this ass comes out and proceeds to give me grief about it. When I used to be the west coast regional director for Exxon. After a phone call to the company when I returned home, I doubt the putz will have much to complain about to anyone.

:mad:

Once again I lost a tire on the way up. 2hrs later 3-A finally shows up. Driver said he was told we were on highway 120. 3-A was told we were 7mi. past China camp on the Groveland side. If they had sent a truck from Groveland it would have arrived in 1/2 hr. :mad:  A nice couple from Virginia stopped and gave Joan a ride to the phone. When she returned she accidentally let the cat out of the truck, who preceded to explore the countryside as he had upchucked in the truck, and wanted no part of any more traveling at that point.

 

Some time after the tire incident the basement door popped open and my tool box with $1,000 worth of Snap On and Craftsman tools flew out. Including a brand new 12 ton jack still in the box. Of course We did not find out until some time later when we spied the door open in the mirror.:mad:

 

Arrived at the campground, around 6 pm. The superhost sites have been moved from Sun Valley To the D section which is west of Sun Valley where there is more air flow. Fire restrictions went in to effect the day before due to the Lake Tahoe fire. Propane only, Of course we had a Webber kettle 30 lbs of charcoal and 1/4 cord of firewood for the fire pit. :mad: Luck was with us as we had 70 gals. of propane on board for the 5er and camp stove.

The next day I preceded to find out all that was lost due to the basement door fiasco, such as all the black water connections and other assorted items. Oh well thats what the plastic cards are for. Ever purchased essential
 connectors at a campground store? Or tried to find a pair of visegrips to purchase in a podunk town like Groveland? :mad:

Or were expected to buy gasoline a $4.00 per gallon when it's $2.99 down the road?
 I swear everyone in this town looks alike and is related by marriage to first cousins, and they make a once month trip to Sonora on the hay wagon, pulled by the tractor to get supplies and see the city. The rest of the group arrived and had a good time I suppose. I was in a mood that I could have cared less. Spent all my time with my sat dish and riding our new mountain bikes around the campground.

 

On to the grandbrats, did I ever mention just how much I hate kids? The boys were a royal pain and will not go camping again untill they learn to behave. We had them both kissing trees on time outs every day.

Had to make a quick trip to Walley World before we left to replace fishing poles that disappeared from last year when we bought them new ones. Yuppy dammed parents can't keep anything that is not for their own use. I suppose we were supposed to replace their bicycles that we got them 3 years ago that still looked new? Not a chance!!! Fishing poles are now in an extra rod case that will stay at grandpa's. If their parents want to take them fishing they can buy their own!!!

 

Went to take them fishing. 24 mi. off 120 past Hetch Hetchy power plant. 2 hrs. later we spy water. Oh my god it's a lake! Completely man made from granite boulders that must have been blasted from old priest grade. So I proceed to set up rods so the kids can fish. After 3 hrs. I am still setting up rods and replacing hooks and weights, (remember granite boulders) using up worms that I had to purchase at home, because you can not buy them at Yosemite, and in Groveland they must use them for food as they look at you like your nuts for asking about bait. :mad: on to another 2hrs to go 24 mi back to the main drag of 120. Fighting rangers and power utility trucks that seem to think that 20 mph. speed limits apply to everyone but them on curvy dirt and gravel roads. 30 min back to the campground and my dog who still
 loves me despite being locked up in the trailer with the afore mentioned stupid cat.

 

So we take the super brats to Yosemite. They seem to think I must be important as I flash my open wallet at the gate and we get in with no charge. On to the grand tour, well every thing seems to be going well. The kids take a ton of pics and seem to be having a great time.  We take them to BridalVail falls and proceed to head south east. towards the south entrance, so they can ride the tram with grandma, and see the sights. Oh No the boys decide to fill up a quart zip lock bag with breakfast. So a quick turnaround, took them to Half Dome instead. They thought that was pretty cool after I told them that their Dad had climbed it the year before he got married. Headed to the valley and they finished the tour. We spent the rest of the trip at the campground. The brats went through 25 lbs of bird seed, feeding chipmunks, birds, and squirrels.

Landed home around 6pm cleaned up the children and returned them home, as our granddaughter was headed to L.A. in the morning, to spend the rest of the summer with her father. Returned home had a snack for dinner
 and collapsed. 735 mi. 10 days and the Yosemite era is over. I will no longer return and will no longer Superhost at this campground. :sombraro: I have better things to do with my time and nicer and closer campgrounds to spend my time in.
 
  Sal
 
 

[wavery]

Landed home around 6pm cleaned up the children and returned them home, as our granddaughter was headed to L.A. in the morning, to spend the rest of the summer with her father. Returned home had a snack for dinner
and collapsed. 735 mi. 10 days and the Yosemite era is over. I will no longer return and will no longer Superhost at this campground. :sombraro: I have better things to do with my time and nicer and closer campgrounds to spend my time in.
 
 Sal
 
[/center]

So SAL.......you forgot to tell us.....did you have a good time :confused:





 :J

[Calstate361]

GEEZZZZ, what can I say.  That about says it all.   Sal didn't mention that, if you remember (those of you who have been there) there is a so called river running through the campground.  It's more like a creek because the water was only about knee deep so the kids had a ball.  I took them to play every day except when we went to Yosemite.  Danny the 7 year old was the worst as he is the one that "knows it all" and has to have the last word.  He was timed-out more than the other 2.   One day he was in a tizzy and kept crying the fake tears and screaming he wanted to play.  I had him timed-out because he can dish it out but can't take it.  Every time he would splash his older sister (Alexis the 10 year old) would splash back and he would start whining and crying.  I put him on time-out and he kept it up screaming that he wanted to play.  I told him that the whole campground could here him and he was crying like a little girl, which started him screaming again that he wasn't a girl and wanted to play.  I told him that once he stoped crying/screaming he could play, but he kept it up so he sayed on time-out.  The other 2 kids played for about 2-3 hours and I think Danny only got to play about 5 minutes the whole time because of his tantrums.   Alexis said that Mom and Dad ground him all the time, but he is just stubborn and doesn't learn.  I told him:  like father, like sone, like GRANDPA!!!!   I also told him that we would only bring the other 2 camping with us and he would get to stay home.  Nothing worked with that stubborn kid.   Oh well, we survived and did have a good time.

When I got back to work on Monday, the person who is my back-up didn't do anything so I had tons of stuff waiting for me.  It took me until 3:30 on Monday to get through all the e-mails waiting for me.  

I don't care any more because my countdown to retirement on August 30th is only 38 working days left.  They are going to be up S--t creek if they don't hire someone soon because I can't train the new person in one month.    They still have not told me if I can come back as a Retired Annuitant or not.  As a Retired Annuitant I can come back as long as I don't work over 960 hours (9 months).  I can get my full retirement pay, plus the pay for any hours that I work.  I figured I could come to work 2-3 days a week and just be off when we want to travel.  It would work out great for us because I would get may retirement salary, plus what ever I worked and it would go for extra money for our travels.

By the way, I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night because after I got home from work yestrday, Sal decided he wanted to work some more on cutting down the half dead tree in our back yard and fell off the ladder.  I talked him in to going to emergency.  Fortunately, nothing was broke, but he did pinch a nerve in his back so he can hardly move, besides all the bruises.  We got home about 11:30ish and I finally got to sleep at midnight to get up at 4:30 to get ready for work.  This is going to be a LONG day!

Well I have to get back to work.


Joan

[calstate360]

In retrospect except for my tools, and the trailer damage yes I had a good time. The experience of seeing Yosemite through the grandbrats eyes was fun.Now if we could just get the boys to behave it would make it a lot more fun.

Sal

Pic of the kids is here.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2862848840098329825xjNXVY

[Gwenzilla]

Untether yourself.

 

Well where do I begin? ...etc...etc
 
 

Wow, Throw in a couple of comedic scenes and I think you may have written the sequel to the movie "RV".  

What an experience!  At least you stuck it out and continued with your trip (I'd have probably folded up and went home).  

Yea kids can make things difficult and sometimes near unbearable, but in the long run you'll probably remember those trips long after other trips have faded from you mind, and find that it wasn't as bad as it seemed when you were "in the moment".  Plus now you have great stories to tell when people start talking about how bad their brats are/were.

Sorry about the lo$$ of your tool$ - ouch!  

You'd better talk to your local witch doctor (bar tender) into conjuring up some good juju (whiskey) to help you deal with the string of bad luck you're having.

[Calstate361]

Thanks George, I am going to have to conjure something up to get us throug all this STUFF!    :banghead:

Joan

[wavery]

In retrospect except for my tools, and the trailer damage yes I had a good time. The experience of seeing Yosemite through the grandbrats eyes was fun.Now if we could just get the boys to behave it would make it a lot more fun.

Sal

Pic of the kids is here.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2862848840098329825xjNXVY

Those look like 3 perfect little angels to me :sombraro: .......how much trouble could 3 little darlings like that be??? :Z  OMG....the little guy in the middle looks just like Macaulay Culkin (movie "Home alone"):yikes:

Just kidding...........I know..........."Gramma!!!! He's looking at me".........."Granpa!!!!!she's touching my stuff".........."Look what Danny's doing" ....................."I want that".............Oh ya..........

"ARE WE THERE YET" (add winy voice)

[Calstate361]

Yes, you got that right!    :yikes:

 
They do look like little angles but that was just a warped picture because you couldn't see the horns sticking out of the boy's head! :Z

Joan