Dutch Flat, CA

Odometer 39090

Trip meter  127 miles

Friday, April 11, 2014

Dutch Flat RV Park 

We got on the road early (for us) heading on up Cal route 49, continuing to travel north still skirting along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Today's route will take us  through the town's of San Andreas, Mokelumne Hill, Jackson, Auburn, and Colfax, to mention just a few.  The stretch of 49 from San Andreas and Jackson was the most challenging road I have been on since we started RVing in motorhomes.

It was hard to capture in an image how steep and twisting this road was.  Suffice to say that we did not get out of 3rd gear, nor over 25 miles per hour for the whole 16 mile distance.  But we'll try-

Tight right hander- we actually bottomed out something in the front of the bus on this one!

As we made this corner I felt like we were standing the bus on end.

They weren't kidding on this sign- I could see the back of the Honda we were towing  as we went round this one!

Un-huh- not kidding here either- the corner is square just like the sign says!

We also had a little side excursion during this run when Jeff mistook the instructions on the GPS and turned into the small historic town of Mokelumne Hill- then we noticed the sign that said no vehicles over 30 feet in length- oops.  We did get back on 49 without hitting anything- whew!

It's good that Jeff is okay with driving in these very small downtowns- because this IS route 49 and it goes right through the town. 

We wanted to go all the way to the northern end of route 49 and spend the night there, but we couldn't find a Passport affiliate park (1/2 price) there, so we took a side trip up I-80 (and it turned out to really be be UP ) to Gold Run, elevation, 3000 ft.

The Dutch Flat RV park is just east of Colfax near the small town of Gold Run and is a very nice rural park.  We got in and set up with time to take a 2 mile walk before dinner.  The temperature was a very pleasant 77 degrees and the scent of the pines was awesome.  The Honda had gotten sap all over it from our stay at the Marble Quarry RV Park- so as Joan made dinner, Jeff took a bucket of rinse-less car wash to the front of the bus and the whole car.

This was a long day for only 127 miles of progress- but we spent hours going no faster than 25 to 35 miles per hour.  It was not about speed today- it was all about the sights and scenery- man was it worth it!

Tomorrow we make our run to Medford, where we'll stay put for a few days while we see friends and relax.

Your Traveling Friends

Jeff and Joan