Stop #5 - Home Again

We got home about 6 PM on Saturday, after a six hour drive from Mt. Shasta. It was great to camp in a full-service campground for a night to dump our waste tanks, check our e-mail and shower without worrying about using up our fresh water!

We stopped for a little while in Red Bluff. Debbie's step-sister Karyn recently bought a kitchen store in downtown Red Bluff and we hadn't seen it yet. It's a real cute store with lots of goodies. She also offers cooking and food prep classes several times a month. She was out entertaining her grandkids, so we didn't get to visit with her this trip.


All was well at home, except our freezer had quit, and Debbie's sister, Susie, had found it, gotten rid of the spoiled food, and cleaned it all up. Wow! We owe her big-time!!! After poking around, we found the electrical outlet was dead, and after further checking, found that the outlet was on our bathroom GFI circuit which had popped off. No other outlets in the garage are on that circuit, so why is that one??? Anyway, after resetting the GFI, the freezer came right back on and is working just fine. Now all we have to do is replace all the steaks, roasts, chickens, veggies, etc. that we lost. Bummer!

This will be the last post for the trip. We'll leave it up on the blogspot until we're ready to leave for our next trip in mid-September, at which time We'll delete the postings and start again. Until then, it's "Ta-Ta" from us.

Stop #4 - The Rally

Sorry for the long time between posting. The Rally had “wi-fi” available but it was so slow that I couldn’t even read my e-mail, let alone post to the blog or upload photos. So, we are now in Mt. Shasta City in a KOA Campground with free wi-fi that works. We’ve checked our 85 e-mails, and I’ve posted Update #3 to the blog. You may notice there’s a second link to pictures now, called High Desert Museum. The photos of traveling to the Rally and photos taken at the Rally are posted there. To keep the trip in order, you may want to read Stop #3 - To Elkton & Redmond first, then come back to this one.

So, now let’s get on with the posting.


The 78th International Rally of the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) got started on Monday with seminars, the opening of the service center and the new motorhome displays. We attended a seminar on how to write and publish a “blog”. How about that! According to the instructors, I’m apparently doing it OK. We did pick up several tips and tricks that will eventually change a couple of things I’m doing.

As soon as the service center opened (that’s the place to sign up for repair & service on coaches and their components, appliances, etc.), we were standing in line. Of course the most important one for us were the refrigerator folks. They took our information and told us they’d give us a call when our turn came up. They provide service on a first-come, first-served basis, regardless of the problem. Hmmm!

While at the service center, we also signed up to have an occasional glitch in our satellite TV antenna fixed, and to have new “house” batteries installed. Ours are original equipment and they’re just barely hanging on. Interestingly enough, these two vendors gave us appointments for Tuesday morning. I wonder why they’re different???

Tuesday morning we hung around the coach, and around 9 AM, the battery guy showed up. Fifteen minutes after that, the satellite antenna guy showed up, and of course there was no power in the coach at all. He said he’d come back later, which he did, in about an hour. He thinks he fixed the problem by downloading a new version of software into the antenna. But the dish wouldn’t malfunction for him, so it’s a guess.

The Holiday Rambler folks talked us into taking a test drive in a new 40’ Ambassador (our model, but 4 feet longer and 6 years newer) on Tuesday afternoon. Each of us drove for about 30 minutes, and wow, have they made changes. Lots of new features, lots more money! If someone would like to give us about $200K, we’ll be glad to upgrade right now. Seriously though, we might start looking for a used one in a couple of years. By that time, it will have lost from ⅓ to ½ of its value and might be worth another look.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through the six buildings of exhibits on the grounds. It’s amazing how many things we didn’t know we needed. We made a few wise purchases, of course, but left more than we bought.

Wednesday morning I grabbed the laptop and headed for the wi-fi area to update the blog, but the connection was lousy and I couldn’t get the pictures uploaded and the blog published before a seminar we were particularly interested in, “RVing to Alaska” was to begin. We had just settled in when the cell phone went off and the refrigerator guy was on his way. Leaving Debbie to take copious notes at the seminar, I took off on my new folding bike (yes, that’s one of the purchases we’d made) to meet him. Our problem was a faulty igniter which was rapidly replaced. The tech checked the whole refrigerator and pronounced it in good shape, so I hopped back on the bike and got back to the seminar just after it was over!! We wandered around the exhibits again for a while, but it was really hot (about 92º) so we headed back to the motorhome to fire up the generator and get the AC running. As the sun went down, a nice breeze came up, and cooled things off for the night.


Thursday, the last day of the rally, we went back through the exhibit buildings and made a few more purchases we’d decided that we couldn’t live without. We sort of lost track of time, so I missed a seminar I’d decided to attend, but oh well, another rally will come along before long, I’m sure.

Debbie’s decided we’re going out to dinner tonight (a rather common theme since we’ve been here) so we’ll miss tonight’s entertainer, Tony Orlando. Yes, he’s still around. We saw him at a rally about 4 or 5 years ago, and probably won’t miss much by missing his performance tonight.

Tomorrow morning we’ll hook up the car and head for home. It’s around 550 miles to home, so we’ll probably stop before we get to Redding, since it should be cooler in the Mt. Shasta – Dunsmuir area. Maybe we’ll find a wi-fi spot that works, and we can publish this and the previous post before we get home. We should have an easy ride home on Saturday.

Debbie’s back to work on Monday, and we can complete the planning for our next trip which begins a month from now.

Stop #3 - To Elkton & Redmond

The view from our campsite

We discovered Elkton, Oregon on last year’s camping trip with Jackie, Linda, et al. We had just spent five days on the Oregon coast fighting strong winds 24 hours a day. We gave up and headed inland and found Elkton, with an RV Park right on the Umpqua River, three wineries in town, and Tomaselli’s Pastry Mill & Café. We had such a nice time that Debbie & I decided to spend a night in Elkton on the way to Redmond. We got to the RV Park about 4 PM, settled into our campsite by the river, then walked the two blocks to Tomaselli’s. Last year we had breakfast there twice, but not dinner. This year we decided on dinner. We didn’t realize that on Friday night, they have a fixed price special that changes each week. The special this week was roasted duck breast with a blackberry and fresh ginger sauce, wild rice pilaf, fresh green beans and a roasted red potato-cherry tomato-walla walla onion salad with a light pesto dressing. Yum!!! For dessert we had chocolate cheese cake. More Yum!!! Actually, since Debbie doesn’t care that much for duck, she chose from two alternate entrees, New York steak or oven roasted scampi. She chose the scampi, and it was as good as the duck breast. Then on our way out-of-town the next morning, we had a great breakfast, and took two gigantic orange-cranberry-walnut cinnamon rolls with us for a later meal.

We got to Redmond about 11 AM on Saturday, and were parked almost immediately in our space for the week. There were no rally activities on Saturday or Sunday, but beginning on Monday there are seminars, crafts, entertainment, new coaches from almost every motorhome manufacturer and several hundred equipment and supply vendors.

On Saturday evening we drove the 14 miles to Bend and had dinner at the Deschutes Brewery Pub. We had to wait long enough to down a beer, and then we enjoyed very good pub food.

Sunday morning we drove again through Bend to the High Desert Museum which was fabulous! Wonderful exhibits of art, high desert wildlife, plateau Indian history and early pioneer living.
The pioneer cabin reproduction



Beautiful dragonfly vase in the art exhibit

We spent almost the whole day there, and then stopped in Redmond for pizza on the way back to the coach. We’re having a problem with the refrigerator refusing to light when running on propane. Since we’re dry camping with no hookups, that’s a problem. We run the generator for a few hours a day to keep the batteries charged and to run the AC in the afternoon. The refrigerator runs fine on the generator, but last night Debbie heard the refer alarm go off at 2:15 AM and at 5:15 AM so she got up and fussed with it until it started. I checked the burner this morning and believe the problem is in the piezo spark lighter that’s supposed to light the burner. Fortunately there are Norcold techs here and I should be able to get them to fix it in the next day or so. At least we’re thinking positive thoughts.

More on the Rally later.

Stop #2 - Trinidad

We arrived at Sounds of the Sea RV Park, about 5 miles north of Trinidad and about 1 mile south of Patrick's Point State Park, on Sunday, August 5th. It's a great park, and we camped in three of their "Super Sites" which gave us lots of room around each RV, a patio or deck at each site, and a view, if distant, of the ocean.

Of course our fishermen were anxious to get their gear limbered up and head out. The rest of us rode into Trinidad to check out the pier, the local smokehouse for some salmon, and the local groceteria for a few needed items.

On our second day here the dauntless fishermen struck out again while the rest headed for a look-see at Eureka. There are lots of interesting buildings and shops in the historic downtown. After purchasing a few goodies, an ice cream refreshed us enough to head back to our camp.

By the 3rd day, the fishermen were ready for a little sightseeing also, so we headed up the coast to Jedediah Smith State Park and Fern Canyon, which is at the end of a 5-mile dirt road. It was beautiful and we understand a part of Jurassic Park was filmed in the canyon. Looks right, anyway. From there we stopped at the Little Red Schoolhouse south of Orick to see the elk herd that lives around there. They were off shopping or something, 'cause there were none to be found. There is a nice RV Park there though, and we got information for a future stay. They also bake awesome blackberry pies there, so we purchased one and ate it on the spot! Yum! On the way back home we stopped at Patrick's Point and walked down to Agate Beach. Monte was the only successful prospector, but we all had a good time looking.

Dick & Linda headed for home early on the 4th day, while the rest of us will stay another day. The girls went to town to catch up on laundry while Monte read and I made sure the bank is processing our bills properly. Just as I was working on pictures for the blog, the girls got back with bushels of clean clothes.

On friday the rest of us will head out; Monte & Jackie heading home to Oroville and Debbie & Tom heading into Oregon for the RV Rally which opens on Sunday.

More to come later.

Stop #1 - Westport

We left home in the motorhome on Wednesday, August 1st, at about 10:30 AM. We had about a four-hour drive, including a fuel stop in Ukiah, to Westport Beach RV Park, about 5 miles or so above the tiny town of Westport. We were camped just a short walk from the beach, and the weather was overcast. Our friends, Jackie & Monte, and Linda & Dickie arrived shortly after 5:00. Jackie & Monte have a new dog, Molly, a young black & white sheltie who previously belonged to Monte's daughter. Molly is a great dog, very calm, obedient, and friendly with everyone. After setting up camp, we got down to the serious business of evening cocktails & dinner. Hamburgers, fries & onion rings were the food of choice since it was a travel day and 'prep' time was short. Food will get fancier as the trip progresses.

The next day we spent time wandering around the streets of Ft. Bragg, seeing if there were things there that we couldn't live without. Of course a trip to Ft. Bragg has to include a stop at Glass Beach to see what treasures could be found. For those who don't know about Glass Beach, it was, for years, the city's dump site into the ocean. That, of course, was discontinued many years ago, but the ocean keeps spitting up bits of colored glass, tumbled in the sand until the sharp edges have been smoothed out. Clear, amber and green glass bits (not surprisingly, the colors of most beer bottles) are plentiful, but blue, red and yellow can also occasionally be found. After a window shopping trip through downtown and a bowl of clam chowder at a Noyo Harbor restaurant, we returned to camp to find that the sun had come out and the weather was beautiful!!!

The next day included a little fishing for Dickie & Monte who are both avid fishermen, and a little too much sun time for all. By the end of the day, we were busy finding as much shade as we could, even though the sun had lost most of its sizzle by then.

All too soon, it was time to pack up and head for our next stop, Sounds of the Sea RV Park just north of the town of Trinidad.