California South

Our trip through California took us past Mount Shasta to Redding.  We spent the weekend there to watch the NFL playoffs then headed south.

Welcome to California

The view of Mount Shasta was obscured by clouds from the rest stop on I-5

Mount Shasta appears on the horizon

Mount Shasta

Morning frost in Redding

Sundial bridge in Redding

Statue in Redding

After Redding we spent the night at Lake Minden, just north of Sacramento.

Lake Minden

Geese at Lake Minden

From Lake Minden we went to Cordoniz campground, an Army Corps of Engineers campground north of Fresno.

Cordoniz campground on Eastman Lake

Sunset on Eastman Lake

From Cordoniz we headed to Bakersfield and spent the night at Kern River County Park.

Kern River County Park

We spent a few days in Huntington Beach before heading East to Arizona.

Bolsa Chica State Beach

Huntington City Beach

Sunset over the Huntington Beach Pier

Washington and Oregon

After New Years we started heading south.  Our first stop was in Tacoma at Dash Point State Park.  It was cold, overcast and rainy.

Dash Point State Park is situated in a forest with tall trees.  Getting a satellite signal was challenging.

Dash Point State Park, Tacoma, Washington

Satellite receiver is on a table on a slope to get a clear enough view of the sky.  I used some trailer leveling blocks to level the receiver.

Leveling the satellite receiver

After a few days in Tacoma, we headed south to cross the Columbia River and visit Portland for a few days.

Entering Oregon on I-205

The Portland skyline is dominated by Mount Hood

 West Face of Mount Hood

North Face of Mount Saint Helens

Burger Family

The A&W Burger Family used to adorn A&W restaurants across the country in the 1960's.  Each character represented a different size burger.  Today, only the Papa Burger remains on the menu.  They were replaced in the 1970's by Rooty, the great American root bear.

The A&W Burger Family

Harvey is named after the rabbit in the film of the same name.  His only purpose here is to scare children.

Harvey the Rabbit

Portland Bus Passengers

If you are looking for good pie (fruit pie, quiche, meat pies) then Lauretta Jean's in Portland is the place to go.  We've been here twice and not been disappointed.  Good coffee too.

Best Pies in Portland

We continued south and stopped in Eugene for a couple days.  Our favorite restaurant in Eugene is Bar Purlieu, a French inspired farm to table restaurant.

Bridge across the McKenzie River

The north side of the tree.

Armitage Park, Eugene, Oregon

Charcuterie at Bar Purlieu, Eugene, Oregon

Leaving Eugene to the south, you start to climb into the Klamath mountains.  We got above the gloom for a while, then descended back into it.

I-5 through Klamath Mountains in Oregon

I-5 through Klamath Mountains in Oregon

We spent the night in Grant's Pass at a nice county park on the Rogue River.

Schroeder Park, Grants Pass, Oregon

The next day we crossed over Siskiyou Summit and began the long descent to Redding

I-5 through Klamath Mountains in Oregon

Air Springs for the Truck

I have been using a load distribution to transfer some of the load from the rear axle of the truck to the front axle of the truck and to the trailer axles.

Because of the size of my trailer I ended up with a massive hitch.  The part that gets attached to the truck weighs 70 lbs and is awkward to carry.  The two bars that act as springs exert about 500 lb each onto the trailer frame.  They bent the brackets that carry them and are slowly cutting through them.  I knew early on that this was not a permanent solution.

Hitch for 3800 lb GVWR r-pod on the left.  Hitch for 8800 lb GVWR Cougar on the right 

I looked around for other options and settled on air bags for the truck.  Whereas some smaller trucks have different towing capacities with or without a load distribution hitch, my truck has a rated tongue load of 2000 lb either way.  The trailer has a 1400 lb tongue load with a full fresh water tank.  Using truck scales I determined that the distribution hitch I was using only put about 200 lbs back on the front axle (from 4600 lb to 4800 lb). 

Given all of these factors I decided to try using air springs on the truck as a way to level the load and improve handling.  I installed them while we were in Port Townsend and after one test drive was amazed how much better the truck drove than with the load distribution hitch.

The air springs make the rear axle suspension stiffer so not only do they raise the ride height but they reduced the bouncing that occurs when you go over a bump.

There are still a few related upgraded I have in store.  I have an onboard compressor that I have not installed yet.  This will allow me to adjust the pressure more easily and provide a more convenient way to maintain correct pressure in all 10 of my tires (2 spares).  I also need to replace the massive 70 lb hitch with a much smaller, adjustable one.  That way I can level both the truck and the trailer (see below).

The air springs get installed where the jounce springs used to be.

Passenger (right) side air spring

Driver (left) side air spring

Air lines are routed to the rear bumper.  Schrader valve for manual inflation.

The pictures below show the difference the air bags make.  With 5 psi the rear of the trailer is about 2 inches higher than the front.  It doesn't look dramatic, but the difference in ride quality was striking.

With 5 psi in the air springs.

The trailer is level with 20 psi, but the truck still sags a bit.  A smaller, lighter, adjustable height hitch will solve this issue.

With 20 psi in the air springs.

Hannukah and Christmas

We all met in Port Townsend and then drove to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, for Christmas and Hannukah.

Before leaving for Tofino we celebrated Aren's 21st birthday.

AJ getting Aren's cake ready

Nice hat Aren

The trip to Tofino involved two ferries, a border crossing and a long narrow steep winding road in the rain through the dark.

Leaving Port Townsend

Ferry to Nanaimo

Arriving at Nanaimo

A much better wood eagle than the one we saw in Tahoe

Hanging out with an old friend

In Tofino we enjoyed the rugged scenery and some incredible restaurants.  We had mostly nice weather for the two days we were there and were able to get out and walk around.

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Back at the lodge we relaxed with coffee and snacks by the fire.

On Christmas Day we drove back to Victoria to meet Adrianne for Christmas Dinner and to celebrate the first day of Hannukah.

This was the first time we had all been together since Christmas 2021.

Sesame Street sock reunion

Port Angeles, WA from the ferry

Back in Port Townsend we enjoyed a few quieter days together.

The third night of Hannukah.  Plus two candles for Shabbat.