Hi there, welcome back. Our last
chapter concluded on Friday, July 9
th, when we arrived at
the Elks Lodge RV park in Carmichael, California, a suburb of
Sacramento. Saturday we left the park about 10:30 to go out and run
some errands and find a cache or two. We were able to get two new
caches before we decided it was a little too hot. We drove up to
Rocklin, about 10 miles north of Sacramento, to visit a Camping World
store there. We needed a few RV parts and supplies that are easiest
to find at a Camping World. After the store we went to a nearby
restaurant called Wally's Cafe. It advertised Mediterranean food and
had five stars on Yelp, which is unusual. It was a small place and
the owner, Wally, waited the tables and served the food. The first
thing you get when you sit down is a bowl of lentil soup, which was
wonderful. We also noted that even the take out orders got a to go
cup of soup. Jackie had the gyro plate, which was huge, she ended up
taking half of it home. I had the steak wrap which was also one of
the biggest and best I have ever had. For dessert we got a little
Lebanese cookie. We ended up giving it five stars on Yelp ourselves.
A great place to eat if you ever find yourself hungry near Rocklin,
California. After lunch we started back south to go home. On the
way we drove by the Roseburg Elks Lodge, which have never visited
before, but it was closed. It was not a wasted trip, however, as we
found that they have RV spots behind the lodge which, like Santa
Maria, are full hookup, 50 amp, and they take reservations! Yea, no
more worrying about whether we will get a spot in Carmichael when we
stop in the Sacramento area. After we got home we just spent the
rest of the afternoon and evening avoiding the heat by staying
inside. The weather folks say the heat will break after Sunday,
can't be too soon for me.
Sunday, July 11
th, I got the
Sunday paper, which we read with our morning coffee. We left the
coach about noon and drove to a restaurant a couple miles away to
meet Jackie's friend Julie and her daughter Bella. Julie is the
daughter of Kathy Yarbourgh, who also lives here in the Sacramento
area, and with whom Jackie worked back in the 80's in the Coachella
Valley. Jackie has known Julie since she was a pre-teen and stayed
close. Julie is now a successful mortgage broker in Sacramento. We
had a very nice lunch and spent a couple of hours catching up. We
have not seen them in a couple of years. After lunch we headed back
to the coach and spent the rest of the hot afternoon relaxing in the
coach. I got some pizza for dinner and then we watched TV until
bedtime. Monday Jackie went out for a girl's lunch with her friend
Kathy. She got back around 2:00 and we went out to run some errands.
We had to go back to Camping World to return some seat covers we
didn't like, and also had to stop at an auto parts place to get wiper
blades for the coach. Hardly ever use them, but the exposure to the
elements ruins them after a few years. After our errands we relaxed
in the coach for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Tuesday, July 13th, we had
lunch in the coach and then went out to do our laundry. We went to a
laundromat just down the street that we have been to before. Withing
90 minutes we had all our laundry done and were on our way back to
the coach. We got everything put away and made the bed, then just
relaxed for a while, cooling off. About 6:00 we went into the
Carmichael Lodge for Taco Tuesday dinner. The food was good, and
inexpensive, and we had a nice meal and some nice conversation with
some of the members of the lodge. After dinner we went back to the
coach and spent the rest of the evening with the TV. Wednesday was
another travel day. We packed up and left the Elks about 10:00 and
began the 118 mile trip north on I-5 to Corning, and the Rolling
Hills Casino RV park. We have seen this place, and it was a favorite
of our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock, but we have never stayed here.
We wanted to have at least a couple of days with full hookups. We
had no sewer at the Carmichael Elks and will not have sewer at the
Redding Elks. We got in early, about 12:30, and got set up for our
two night stay. We decided to go out for a late lunch and went to a
Mexican place called Casa Ramos. It had an interesting menu, with
more of an emphasis on dinners rather than combo plates. Jackie had
a dinner that had red chili, green chili and a chili relleno. It was
really good, but also pretty spicy, which was OK. I had the red
chili plate and it was good also. The service was good and we had a
nice meal. The place seemed familiar, and later I checked back on
our blog history and found that we went to a Casa Ramos in Chico,
California, back in 2013, and, based on what I wrote, it seems they
had much the same menu then. The family has about ten stores all in
the north-central area of California. They have one in Redding and
we may go back there next week. After lunch we found a geocache in
Corning, then did a little exploring of Corning. It is not a big
town, less than 8,000 population, and it calls itself the Olive
Capital of the United States. Olive trees everywhere you look.
After our exploration we went back to the casino and went inside to
game a little. They had very few poker machines, which is our choice
of slot machine, and they were VERY tight. After we both lost $40 we
said enough and left. It is a nice enough place, but is currently
undergoing renovation and expansion and is kind of a mess. They have
a large casino, two hotels, a big truck stop, a golf course, and the
large RV park. Kind of a one stop resort property. After gaming we
picked up another cache near the casino, then went back to the coach.
We spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Thursday, July 15th, we went
out after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching in Corning. Our
first stop was a city park for the weekly farmer's market. It wasn't
real big, maybe a dozen booths, only a couple of which were actually
farm products. We did buy some really nice looking artisan sourdough
bread and a little crumb cake, as well as a few veggies. It was
interesting to note that even this small weekly market had a booth
for giving Covid vaccinations. After the market we did some
geocaching. We were able to get six new finds and no DNFs in the
course of 90 minutes or so. After the caching we headed back to the
coach and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Friday was another travel day. Today was a short trip, just 55 miles
north on I-5 to the Redding Elks Lodge. We did stop for fuel on the
way. When we arrived the RV park was almost empty and we got our
choice of spots. We took the only spot that had parking right next
to the coach for our car, which means we will be able to charge it
after we drive it. We got set up for our five day stay here, had
lunch and then left again to drive down to Anderson, about 7 miles
south of Redding, to the UPS Customer Service Center to pick our
mail, which we had sent from Pahrump. After we got the mail we
stopped at a beauty supply place so Jackie could get some new nail
polish, then we headed back up into Redding and went to a Great Clips
so Jackie could get a haircut. While we were waiting for her turn to
come up we did some grocery shopping at a store in the same shopping
center. Once Jackie had her haircut we went back to the coach.
About 5:00 we went over to the Elks Lodge for a cocktail. We had a
couple of drinks since the lodge bought our second drink and had a
good time talking to the bartenders and the members who were at the
bar. Although we stay at the Redding Elks RV park all the time, this
was the first time we have spent any time inside the lodge. We even
got a couple of home grown tomatoes from one of the members who had
brought some in to give away. We mentioned we were having scampi for
dinner and could use a nice tomato, so he gave us two. After our
drinks we went back to the coach, made scampi for dinner, then
watched TV until bedtime.
Saturday, July 17
th, we left
the coach about 9:30 and started a 70 mile drive east into the
foothills of the Sierra to the little community of Mineral to spent
the day with our friend Peggy Bullock. Regular readers will know
that we met Peggy and her husband Vernon on our Alaska trip back in
2009 and we have been close friends ever since. Although they
traveled a lot in their motorhome, the Bullock's maintained their
house in Mineral, what they call “the cabin.” When they bought
the place in the 90's it really was a two room cabin, an old Forest
Service cabin. However, over the years they expanded it into a two
story, 3,000 square foot house. It is really a nice property and
they live there in the middle six months of the year, before the
snows come, since it is at 5,000 feet elevation. Mineral itself is
very small, mostly a small store with a lodge and an RV park. The
population is about 200 or so now.
We first came up to Mineral in 2013
when the Bullock's put on a 50
th Anniversary party. By
this time we also knew a lot of their other friends, mostly RV
people, so we took the coach up there and stayed a week in the RV
park. The party was a huge success and they continued to host a big
party in July. We missed the one in 2017 because we were traveling
to the East coast and they didn't have one in 2018 because all of us,
including the Bullock's and several of the other regular guests, were
in Wyoming at an FMCA rally. In July 2019 Vernon died suddenly at
home, just a few days before the annual party. At first the party
was canceled, but Peggy and her kids decided to go ahead with the
party as a celebration of life for Vernon, so we went up there again.
The party in 2020 was canceled because of Covid, and Peggy had
planned to have one this July. However, the house, which she decided
to sell not too long after Vernon's death, went into escrow and they
had to cancel the party because they had to clean out the house. We
canceled our reservations at the RV park in Mineral, because it is a
crappy park and a tough climb to get to it from the valley, but since
or travel plans still had us in the Redding area in July, we stopped
for a few days just to be able to see Peggy and also see the cabin
for one last time before escrow closed.
We got up to Mineral around 11:00 and
shortly after the three of us left again and drove to Lake Almanor,
about 20 miles East of Mineral, for lunch. There is a really nice
restaurant on the lake called Plumas Pines, and we like to eat out on
the deck overlooking the lake and have lunch. We had a really great
lunch, then drove back to the house and spent the rest of the day
talking to Peggy. We have not seen her since we left Yuma in April.
We had a great visit and will see her at least one more time before
we leave Redding. We left the house and started back to the RV park
about 4:30 because I didn't want to have to drive the mountain road
back to the freeway with the setting sun shining in my eyes. We got
back to the coach about 6:00, had a cocktail and spent the rest of
the evening with the TV.
Sunday, July 18th, I went
out and got the Sunday paper, which we enjoyed with our coffee.
After lunch we went out to a nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi
and I could get my toenails trimmed. After the salon we did some
geocaching, getting two finds and two DNFs before we decided it was
too hot. We then went back to the coach and spent the rest of the
afternoon inside staying cool. After cocktails and dinner we watched
TV and then went to bed. Monday we left the coach about 11:30 and
went to In N Out for lunch. After lunch did a Costco run and then a
Walmart run. We had to get enough vodka at Costco to get us through
the next six weeks because we will be traveling in Oregon, Idaho and
Utah, all of which have very high liquor prices. After our shopping
we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Monday we spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the
coach. About 3:30 we headed out for a planned BBQ at Peggy's son
Matt's new house out in the country east of Redding. We had made a
big salad and had a couple of nice steaks all packed. Just as we
were getting ready to leave the RV park Jackie got a call from Peggy
that the dinner was canceled. There is a large wildfire called the
Dixie fire that is burning about 30 miles (as the crow flies)
southeast of Mineral where Peggy lives. It is a big fire that is has
been growing over the last few days. Up until today it was burning
south and east, but the winds shifted and it is now burning more
northeast. They issued evacuation warnings for the Lake Almanor
area, including the Plumas Pines resort area where we had lunch the
other day. Peggy decided that since the fire was burning more or
less in the direction of Mineral, she would stay home and get her
motorhome, which is parked next to the house, packed up, closed up
and ready to roll at a moments notice in case they get an evacuation
warning up there. She said Matt was coming up to help, so there
would be no BBQ. Since we are leaving tomorrow we won't get to see
Matt and his wife Roxanne's new place. We had the big salad we had
made for supper by adding a little chicken to it and spent the night
with the TV.
Wednesday, July 21
st,
another travel day. We had another short trip today, only 66 miles
north on Interstate 5 to Weed, California. We arrived at the
Friendly RV Park about 11:30 and had to wait about 40 minutes to get
checked in. We had lunch while we waited. We finally got parked and
got the coach set up for our two night stay. Although we only have
30 amp we do have sewer and it is not as hot here, under 100 degrees,
so one air running will be OK to keep us comfortable. After we got
set up we went out and spent an hour exploring Weed as we have never
been here before. Weed is a small town of just under 3,000
population and is at about 3,500 feet elevation. It sits in the
shadow of Mount Shasta, which rises over 14,000 feet just to the east
of town. The town takes it's name from Abner Weed who founded the
town in the late 1890's as a timber town. In the 1940's the town
contained the largest lumber mill in the world. Although many of the
old mills remain, most have closed or relocated and Weed has become a
tourist stop on Interstate 5, which runs right through the middle of
town. US Route 97, which runs north into and through Central Oregon,
also comes off of I-5 in Weed and runs through town. We will be here
for two days before we ourselves head up US 97 into Oregon. After
our tour of the town we went back to the coach and relaxed for the
rest of the day.
Thursday, July 22
nd, we went
out after lunch to do some geocaching. We were out for a couple of
hours and got a half dozen new finds and two DNFs. In the course of
our caching we went to the the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden.
Peggy had recommended this to us when she learned we were stopping in
Weed. The Memorial is on the northwestern slope of Mt Shasta, 13
miles north of the City of Weed, on Hwy 97. It is situated on 136
acres of land provided by the USDA Forest Service, which were
replanted with tens of thousands of trees by countless volunteers.
The trees are living tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives
in war. The sculpture garden is considered a place for reflection &
remembrance, healing & reconciliation and pays homage to all
honorable veterans, in conflict and in peace. The Memorial was
founded by a group of veterans in 1988. Today, the Garden is proudly
sponsored & maintained by the Kiwanis Club of Weed/Lake Shastina.
There are eleven different metal sculptures scattered around the
grounds, all depicting some part of military life. There are also
several other granite memorials on the grounds. It is a very
inspiring place. We also stopped at a local souvenir shop and we
both bought Weed tee shirts. Who can come to a town named “Weed”
and not buy a shirt. We stopped at a local market, then headed back
to the coach where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening
relaxing.
Friday, July 23rd, another
travel day. We left Weed about 9:30 and headed north on US 97,
destination Crescent, Oregon. We crossed into Oregon after about 50
miles and generally had a good trip. It was fairly flat and not too
hot, so overheating was not an issue. When we passed through the
Klamath Falls area there was a lot of smoke from the Bootleg Fire,
which is burning to the East of Klamath Falls. According to the news
it is the largest wildfire in the country right now. We passed
through the burn area where the fire started, and had the road block
for a day or two, but the fire is now burning a dozen miles east, so
it was not a factor in our travels. We arrived at the Big Pines RV
park about 1:00 and got checked into our site. Although this park is
in the middle of nowhere, it is a very nice park. We have a nice,
level site with full hookups and 50 amps and even though we are in
the trees, I was able to get satellite. We are at about 4,500 feet
elevation, so it is a little cooler too, only 82 degrees when we
arrived. We got parked and set up, and were going to drive into the
nearby little town of Crescent, but when I unhooked the car I found
the battery was dead. This is the third time in a year that we have
arrived somewhere and had the 12 volt battery be dead. It is
annoying and we will have to take the car to a Ford dealer when we
get home in September. I was able to jump it from the coach and put
the charger on, so we should be good tomorrow. We spent the rest of
the day in the coach just relaxing.
Saturday, July 24
th, we left
the coach about noon and headed out to have lunch and then do some
exploring and geocaching. We went to a cafe, actually the only cafe,
in Crescent called the Mohawk. It was a large old building and the
interior was all wood plank and the walls were floor to ceiling with
shelves containing the largest collection of collector whiskey
decanters and Avon collectibles that I have ever seen. In addition,
there were hundreds of taxidermy animals. Apparently the original
owner was a collector. It was quite the collection. In addition,
the food and service were pretty good. After lunch we went out to
explore Crescent and the surrounding area. It is a small,
unincorporated town of about 6,700 that was founded in the late
1800's primarily as support for the logging industry. The adjacent
community of Gilchrist, population of less than a thousand, was
founded in 1937 as a company town for the Gilchrist Timber Company.
The town was sold and privatized in 1992 when the mill closed and was
the last company owned community in Oregon. The area is now a
tourist stop for the surrounding Cascade Lakes region of Central
Oregon. We drove around a bit and did some caching, getting six new
finds and a DNF in a couple of hours. After caching we went back to
the RV park and stayed in the coach for the rest of the day.
Sunday July 25
th, was
another travel day. We didn't leave Crescent until 11:00 because we
are only going 66 miles north to Redmond, Oregon. We arrived at the
Expo Center RV park about 12:30, but they wouldn't let us check in
until 1:00, so we found a place to park in the Expo Center parking
lot and had lunch. We have been to the Redmond Expo Center on a
number of occasions as it used to be a favorite location for big FMCA
Conventions. For whatever reason FMCA hasn't come back in at least
five or six years despite it being a great venue. At 1:00 we got
into the park and got set up for our two day stay. After we got set
up we went out to do some shopping. We hit both the Fred Meyers
store and the local Walmart for some supplies. One of the things I
bought was a lithium battery powered portable jump starter so the
next time the car decides to crap out with a flat battery I can jump
it without running cables. After our shopping we went back to the RV
park and stayed in for the rest of the day. Jackie made a nice chili
relleno casarole for dinner and we watched TV until bedtime.
Monday, July 26
th, we went
out about 12:30 and went to a local Chinese place called Cindy's
Chinese Garden. I had the orange chicken, Jackie had the kung pao
chicken, both from the lunch menu. For $9 you got soup, rice, one
egg roll and the entree, and there was a lot of food. We both took
home leftovers which is unusual when ordering a lunch item. After
lunch we did some geocaching, getting six new finds in a little over
an hour. One of the caches was at a historic home near downtown
Redmond which now belongs to an artist. There are all kinds of cool
looking metal sculptures around the property. After our caching we
stopped at Bi-Mart, which is a membership discount chain in the
Northwest. It is not a bulk place like Costco, more like a tiny
Walmart Supercenter, with everything from food to clothes and
sporting goods. They sometimes have some pretty good deals and it
didn't cost us anything to join a few years back and the membership
never expires. We like to visit them from time to time. After
shopping we headed back to the RV park and relaxed for the rest of
the day. The park is really starting to fill up since the County
Fair, which is at the Expo Center, starts this week. They had
already spent most of the day putting up the rides for the carnival
and it was starting to look like a fair. '
Tuesday, July 27
th, another
travel day. Today we went 132 miles north to the Columbia River,
which is the border between Oregon and Washington. It was raining
lightly when we got up and we drove most of the way in a light rain.
The rain cleared up by the time we arrived at the Corps of Engineers
Park in Le Page, Oregon. This is a small park located on a little
wedge of land where the John Day River enters into the Columbia. We
have stayed here a number of times and it is a nice little park right
on the river. Although we had reservations for a back in site, when
we got there we learned there was a pull through site available.
Turns out some of the pull through sites are first come, first
served, so we took it. The biggest difference is that the pull
through sites are parallel to the river, so when you walk out your
door you are right on the riverbank. Very scenic and pleasant. The
sites are nice, 50 amp with water. We are only here for three days,
so not having sewer is not a big issue. We got set up and spent the
rest of the day relaxing. The car battery was dead on arrival again,
proving that it was time to replace it. I think I will try that the
next big city we stay in later on in the trip. Where we are right
now is very rural. We don't even have phone data service in the
park, although the phone does still have one bar service. We had
country ribs for dinner which had been cooking in the crock pot all
day.
Wednesday, July 28
th, we
left the coach after lunch to do some exploring and a little
geocaching. We drove about 30 miles east on the interstate to the
city of The Dalles, Oregon. The Dalles is the largest city on the
Oregon side of the Columbia river outside of the Portland metro area.
The population is around 16,000. Our first stop was a city park
right on the river where we just parked and spent a half hour on our
phones catching up with internet stuff. We are so used to being
connected 24/7 that it is hard to not be able to instantly access
anything. We then did some caching, getting four new finds in about
an hour. We drove around and explored the area for a bit, then drove
to the Elks Lodge only to find it boarded up and abandoned. We had
been to this lodge probably five years ago or so, but now it appeared
closed. Jackie did some more checking on the web and found a site
that said the lodge was still in existence but had moved in with the
Dalles Eagles Lodge. We drove there and found the building had two
signs, one for the Eagles, one for the Elks. We went inside and had
a cocktail and chatted with the bartender who told us that both
groups were on the verge of going out of business because of the
pandemic and they met and agreed to move everything into the larger
Eagles building and share costs. She said both groups are now doing
well and the cooperation saved both. We were even able to get an
Elks pin. During our exploring of the city I saw a Ford dealership
and just on a whim stopped and talked to a service writer in the
service department just to see if they could fit me in to replace the
failing 12 volt battery in the car. I had stopped at a NAPA auto
parts store to check on getting a battery, but it was a special order
item. To my surprise the service guy said they could get me in
tomorrow afternoon and the parts department had the battery in stock.
The cost estimate was about $200 total, which is only about $20 more
than what just the battery would have cost a NAPA. I made the
appointment and we started the drive back to the RV park. We spent
the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing in the coach.
Thursday, July 29
th, we left
the coach about 11:30 and started back toward The Dalles. We had
spotted a Mexican restaurant called Casa El Mirador that had good
reviews. We had lunch, which was quite good, as was the service.
After lunch we still had a little time before our appointment at the
Ford dealer, so we stopped at the Fred Meyers store, which was only a
few blocks from the Ford shop. We got the car into the shop a little
before 2:00 and they got it right in. Within an hour they were
finished and the bill was $203 and change and Maxie was all better.
After we picked up the car we drove back to the park and spent the
rest of the day inside. Friday was another travel day. We left the
Corps of Engineers park about 10:30 and continued east on Interstate
84 to the City of Umatilla, about 75 miles. We arrived at the
Umatilla Marina RV park, which is owned and operated by the City,
about noon and they got us checked in. We park and did the basic set
up, then got in the car and drove 30 miles north into Washington and
the UPS Service Center in Kennewick, Washington. We had asked our
UPS store to forward our mail and it had arrived yesterday. The UPS
place was not open on the weekend, so we wanted to get the mail
today. After we picked up the mail we stopped at the Firehouse Sub
place for a quick lunch before heading back to to the RV park. After
we got home we finished setting up for our five day stay here in
Umatilla. We relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.
Our arrival in Umatilla marks about
three weeks since we last published, so we are going to close out
this episode and get it online. Until next time, remember the words
of the great Dr. Seuss, “Be who you are and say what you feel
because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t
mind.” See ya soon.
