May 24 -26

From our kayak trip around Santa Cruz we set our sights on leaving the coast and headed to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. For the next three days we would stay at two United States Army Corps of Engineer Campgrounds – Tule and Codorniz.

Tule is situated on an artificial lake in Porterville, CA – Lake Success – formed by a damn on the Tule River. One night stay here and it was a bit noisy with highway traffic not too far away. In contrast our next two nights were in the serenely quiet setting of Eastman Lake in Raymond which is also an artificial lake formed from the impressive dam on the Chowchilla River. Both of these campgrounds are monitored by the National Forest Rangers – however, they were built and maintained by the USACOE.

Since the beginning of our trip, we have made several camping reservations through recreation.org, and I took little note of the origin of the campground. What I mean is some are maintained and designed by each state in conjunction with the National Park Service, the National Forest Service – and many – especially those around artificial waterways – are designated as Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds.

I was curious about the USACOE, so here’s a little history about the United States Army Corps of Engineers. In 1775, George Washington designated a unit of the Continental Army to worked as topographical engineers. A brief timeline of sorts may give you an idea of their role in helping to build this country, which begins with the construction of fortifications at Bunker Hill during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, surveying the Great Lakes and construction of the Panama Canal to having a hand in the Manhattan Project testing and supporting NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. Not to mention their more present day role in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act – hence the civil works projects managing water. So from being combat engineers – to a military construction company to routine civil works – the USACOE has a presence in all 50 states.

Eastman Lake near Raymond, CA approaching sunset

With an extra day to explore and enjoy Codorniz Campground at Eastman Lake – we swam, hiked and biked our way around this almost three square mile artificial lake.

The rock formations were remarkable. However, little did we know how blown away we were about to become by the spectacular sights and roaring sounds of the rushing ice melt at Yosemite!

We had hoped to hike to see sequoias at Mariposa Grove, but we just had too much fun cycling around Yosemite – we just ran out of time. We headed east to see our niece and her family in Mountain View – and made it to her lovely home after sunset. Before we arrived at her place, we needed to get a bit more charge and found what we thought was a solo Chargepoint location.

However, it turned out to be the engineering headquarters for Chargepoint! Seriously, an industrial park location with prototypes of their chargers for testing. How lucky were we to see these three engineers on the patio after hours! They swiped us in to use the restrooms and then literally sprinted across the parking lot to key in their newest prototype. They loved the truck and we had a fun visit “nerding out” about the trials and blessings of EV travel.

Brooke gave us a morning garden tour after a scrumptious breakfast – take a look at her artichoke plant! That bloom though!!!

Proof we are keeping the rubber side down – until next time – when there will be more news about my favorite mandolin man prepping for his ride across the country! Until then… California Dreamin’ from Julie and Rob