Newsletter

Then, on Father’s Day weekend (June 18-19) the State Historic Park will have a Hoedown! Saturday night is Hoedown! Dance Under The Stars night with a live band, tri-tip dinner and a “Dessert Auction”. And on Sunday it’s a special treat for all the Dad’s, the 44th Annual Father’s Day Fly-In at Columbia Airport. It’s a full day of classic airplanes, airplane rides and expert pilots precision bombing, culminating with something you won’t want to miss: they bomb a target from 3000 feet up…WITH A PIANO!

For a more comprehensive listing of all the happenings in the area, check out the Tuolomne County Visitors Bureau website events page: www.tcvb.com/eventsreport.asp. Here at the Ranch we’ve got a couple of great weekend specials to entice you to make us your home base for the fun! (Click Here to read all about it!) (Back to top.)

May brought good weather and more great groups to our Ranch. The Ambassadors, San Jose Rambling Roadrunners and the Napa Valley Coachmen arrived, each with their own agenda, ranging from visiting Railtown in Jamestown to just plain relaxing.

We even had a visit from some Paranormal experts. They were here checking out the ghosts of Columbia.

The weekend of May 20th brought frog jumping fun to nearby Angel’s Camp. We had a full house with everyone taking advantage of the fun there and the wonderful weather. We even had a ribbon winner staying here. At 5 years of age and barely a month in the states from China, little Jackson rented a frog and won! Congratulations Jackson!

Check out our Facebook page to see all the Club photo albums. Thanks to all our wonderful groups for coming to visit us. We can’t wait to see all of you again. We look forward to May and more club fun. (Back to top.)

Here in Columbia the weather is finally turning to the way I like it, cool mornings and warm afternoons. But, I know that hotter weather is on its way. One of the nice things about this area is that the evenings cool down nicely. Whereas in Northern California it stays Hot, Hot, Hot!

With that in mind, now is a great time to check your air conditioner. If you’ve covered it for the winter, be sure to take the cover OFF. A couple of years ago I learned a valuable lesson regarding my air conditioner. Weather started getting warmer so pulled my cover off and started it up. It wasn’t working. I called a mobile RV repairman to give me an estimate on repairing it. I was pretty sure that the ‘fix’ was actually going to be replacing it.

Luckily for me, I picked the right guy. He advised me that he would like to clean the coils first to see if that would help, before replacing the unit. After cleaning the unit it started working. Since I retired we have been in many areas where there was a lot of dust, dirt and junk in the air, which in turn clogged the coils. Whether you clean your air conditioner or have a repair man do it, this one preventative maintenance measure that is well worth the time. (Back to top.)

Arrival – Upon arriving in Columbia, or American Camp as it had been called, I joined a group of miners planning to construct a ditch to a creek 5 miles out of town. They expected this ditch would provide needed water to mine Columbia’s windfall of gold.

This project went well but did not provide sufficient water. A water company was formed to construct a larger system to the Stanislaus River. However, when this second project was completed, the company charged exorbitant fees for their water. Some miners fought the company over the high fees and were killed for their effort. Many of my new friends left the area or grudgingly hired themselves out to large mining companies. Others became bitter outlaws.”

The Ranch – “I avoided these conflicts by constructing buildings for Columbia’s booming population. In ’52, I met a family from my hometown in Kentucky who needed help starting a dairy ranch….” (To be continued)

To read more of Bill’s blog, click here!

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