Travels: Red Bluff, CA to Rogue River, OR – 213 miles (835 total miles)
Accommodations: Bridge View RV Park; full hookups
We left our beautiful Walmart site at 8:30am, full of granola, canteloupe, and milk, beds made, trailer clean, a Walmart trip completed, Starbucks in hand, and tank full… on the way to Redding.
Mason still had a fever but was handling it wonderfully. Driving gave him time to nap. It was a short drive to Redding where we stopped at Trader Joe’s to get some necessities – the nicest people! Then, we stopped at a Barnes & Noble for Internet reception so we could find a campsite on Shas
ta lake. Our grand plan was to make a short drive and spend the day playing on the beach at the lake, hiking, relaxing… turns out Shasta doesn’t really have a beach; it is a “beautiful, boater’s lake†I was told, so we scratched that plan and decided to push through since the kids were doing so great. We stopped for lunch at a vista point to view Shasta, which was beautiful, full, deep green, and surrounded by trees. The drive was fun crossing all of Shasta’s fingers and all the bridges. Some highlights from the drive: green expanse, Sacramento River, trees, snow covered Mt. Shasta, Castle Craggs, Dunsmuir,
the Klamath River, and into Oregon (who knew?) with the snow peaked Siskyou Summit welcoming us. Oregon was 83 degrees, cloudy, and green before it started to pour and drop into the 60s.
Again, after locating a Starbucks in Medford for Internet we decided to stay at the Bridgeview RV park on the Rogue River. It was a typical RV park – sites lined up side by side, close together – but it was very clean with a great view of the river. We had a yummy dinner of Sphagetti
with homemade tomato sauce and Italian sausage, salad, cookies, and milk, followed up with five tired heads hitting the pillows.
Kids: Mackenzie is reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle, “Ralph will take the ride of his life!†as will we.
Mackenzie, “Why don’t you disconnect the pee and poop tube? Are you being lazy?â€
he boardwalk and pier with Kenz on scooter, sick Mason in the stroller (he woke up with a 102 degree fever) and Marin running and being carried. We saw fish being caught, dolphins, seals, and an otter.
hich meant we drove through part of San Francisco with the 8’ wide trailer – kissing homes, bright colored paint, a bus that said “Fort Masonâ€, the street cars, Stern Grove, Golden Gate Park… the kids loved it! I loved it! Dave may have been a bit on edge. Finally, we got to the Golden Gate Bridge – it was a bit foggy – we couldn’t see the top but stunning all the same. The kids loved it! I loved it! Dave may have been a bit on edge! The Golden Gate crosses into Marin County – we got sweet Marin’s name after endless deliberation when Dave saw a Marin bicycle (from Marin County), so it was fun to see all the Marin signs.
The rest of the day held a drive through part of the Napa area, a trip to Camping World in Vacaville after some sketchy direction giving from myself, and some more driving that landed us in the Walmart parking lot in Red Bluff at 9:30pm. Exhausted and excited about the prospect about free parking lot sleeping compared to the
previous $55 night. Rather that falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves, we enjoyed the sound of at least one rowdy Walmart patron honking his way through the RV section.
We arrived in Santa Cruz around 6:30pm. We were planning on camping at New Brighton State Park, but it was full. So ended up at our Seacliff site at 7:20pm, just outside of Santa Cruz in Capitola for a whopping $55 without hook-ups. It was camping on asphalt piled into a parking lot BUT it was right on the boardwalk with nothing obstructing your view of the ocean and an old pier with a wrecked ship at the end.
May 17, 2010
Travels: Rogue River, OR to Eugene, OR – 160 miles (995 total miles)
Accommodations: Armitage County Park; full hookups
Mason woke up with no fever, which was welcome. We had a leisurely morning eating breakfast, scootering, Dave did some work, etc. Then, we loaded up and headed out to Eugen
e – an easy three hour drive. Still more green and trees and some good steep hill climbs making us more glad we had the truck instead of the Suburban! We got to Eugene and heard out about the Armitage County Park where we decided to camp. I cannot say enough good things about Armitage – $25 a night for full hook-ups, spacious sites backed up to a huge green grass area, set along the McKenzie River, c
lose to everything in Eugene, great for kids, quiet, amazing, plenty of space to scooter, a wonderful little loop to jog, and helpful camp host (he brought Ranger tattoos, a “Kids at Play†cone, great conversation, free firewood – even some tools and a hand with a minor trailer repair).
I cannot say enough about Armitage, but the greatest part about E
ugene was catching up with some old friends – Chris and Kristin Daradics. We hadn’t seen them for 5 years – crazy how time flies! We enjoyed a yummy dinner at McMenamins, frozen yogurt, and great conversation.
Kids: Marin prays, “Thank you truck, God, day. Amen.â€