Car fixin, Move helpin, Bird watchin, Parking lot sleepin

Wednesday (Nov 19)

Alternate title for this trip could be: “Parking Lots of the Central Valley“. Partly because it gets dark before 5, and partly just the this trip, worked out I spent every one of my eight nights sleeping in a parking lot or on the street. The one street was a nice street, a happy, quiet cul de sac which is Martha’s new home. A couple of the parking lots were pleasant – Harbin is awesome, and Oak Bottom was nice, but the rest of my overnight stops were very, very low on the ambience scale … that is to say your basic crappy, overlit, unscenic, noisy parking lots.

There were two reasons for this trip:

1. My van is past time for its 50,000 mile service, and my choice of mechanics is Santa Rose Mercedes.
2. Martha is moving to a new house and my van would be very helpful.
3. … and as long as I’m at it, maybe I can squeeze in a Harbin dance night.

So on Monday I made an appointment at the Mercedes place for first thing Thursday morning.

On Wednesday I packed up and out headed over the mountain, destination the Mercedes dealer parking lot. No coffee at home or in Reno, rather I drove the 40 miles to Wild Cherries in Truckee for my first caffeine of the day. When I left Wild Cherries those fat, snowy raindrops that go splat on your windshield were falling. This caused me a little anxiety, but it the precip didn’t last very long and there was thankfully no drama driving over the pass.

I hit Sacto about 3:30, the traffic patterns were in my favor – which is to say that there was a big backup going the other direction of drivers escaping the city for the eastern suburbs. but smooth going for me heading into the city. I got through and out the other side to West Sacto 4-ish. I have birds on my brain. I plan to visit the wildlife refuges along I-5 later in the week, and am seriously entertaining the idea of kicking off the bird tour by stopping at Yolo Bypass right now.

Yolo Bypass is a very nice stop and I’m happy to be doing it. I exit the freeway and drive under it to get to the south side, then take the gravel road up and over the levee. It’s kinda cool to stop on the levee, because you’re visually at the level of I-80 but about 1/3 mile away, which for some reason feels very cinematic and dramatic. I recommend it! I started onto the auto tour, but … it really is getting late, so I cut it short and get going (see next paragraph). There was a very fit couple out there jogging with their large dog. Good for them for being so healthy in such a pretty place, but I don’t think it’s cool to give your dog the run of a wildlife refuge.

I rejoin the traffic stream, then exit it at Route 12 North. This takes one on a pretty comprehensive tour of Sonoma County. It’s getting pretty dark, and I was blindly following the Route 12 signs. I didn’t realize the Maps route left 12 to bypass downtown Sonoma until almost too late. I pulled over and figured out my own bypass. It’s all very quaint and scenic … except that it very, very dark. My pleasant half hour on the edge of nature at Yolo meant a not too pleasant half hour driving in the dark in deepest Sonoma … no free lunch, life is full of tradeoffs, etc etc.

As discussed above, my final destination is just crashing in a parking lot, so no point in getting there earlier than bedtime. I have therefore asked the app to direct me to the downtown Library in Santa Rosa. Kill time there till 8pm closing time, then grab a bite somewhere, then go to bed.

Turns out the library is smack in the middle of busy downtown Santa Rosa, very near Santa Rosa State. Lots of traffic, difficult parking, and generally humming with activity. But I execute. Hang at the library, walk my laptop back to the van, do a walk-by on a few blocks of restaurants, walk back to the super-busy brewery, FAIL because it is too busy, then walk to the less busy brewery, and have a pleasant and enjoyable fish and chips and half pitcher of their tasty, fresh IPA. That worked out well! I wish I remembered the names of the places.

Thursday

Set my alarm for 7:20 so I can be first in line. By disappearing back to the van  for just one second I still manage to be second in line … sigh. This was not a great day for Matt my service guy, or for me. He did $850 worth of stuff (yikes), took too long, forgot to do the little things I asked him to. All in all, not a great service. I may try the Reno Mercedes dealer next time.

It had been raining off and on all day. It rained very hard most of the way to Calistoga. This is the first big rain after a ver dry summer, so even though it’s been pouring for hours, there’s still just a trickle of water in the little roadside creek. It’s getting soaked up directly by the thirsty soil.

Harbin bureaucracy really is annoying. The rain stopped around Calistoga and stayed stopped, which made the Harbin stay nearly perfect – the coolness and freshness of the rain without water landing on your head. The dance was a lot of fun tonight, good DJ, good crowd and I was feelin’ it!

Friday

I’m not as fixated on making it to breakfast (no more orders after 9:30) as I used to be. I missed it today, didn’t even try, and I had more fun anyway. I took the next step this time and did NOT order way overpriced coffee drink from their stuck-up coffee bar. I brought my cup and my teabag up the hill with my book, notebook, and towel and had a nice green tea with their hot water. Yes, they do at least keep the hot water dispenser going all day.

45 minutes at the pools and it’s time to go. No Harbin ticket, and no further bad vibes from the Harbin bureaucracy.

As is my usual habit, I stopped at the Foster’s in Lower Lake. I very much like their grilled chicken sando. The hot fudge sundae is also ok, and I also had my first coffee of the day. The other charm of the place is the clever and nice Asian chicks who are always behind the counter. Daughters of the owner I imagine. 

Cheapest diesel in 30 miles is right across the road, so woo! Make the familiar but never boring trek on Route 20 east to Williams. This time I do NOT stop at Granzellas to overnight in their parking lot, rather I continue on through Colusa to overnight in the Colusa Casino parking lot. There is a Warriors game tonight, and I know Granzellas never gets them on their tvs, so maybe the big time casino will do better.(*)

(*)At the end of the trip I had a similar FAIL at the Blue Lake Casino, and I now realize the error of my ways. Here it is: Indian casinos do not have sports betting, so they don’t care about sports tv! It has no more interest to them than Simpsons, so they are perfectly happy with whatever the local cable feed is. The nether reaches of the Central Valley were I have been hte last few days are in the Sacramento Kings broadcast zone, so Warrior games are blacked out – aaargh.

They do not. Warriors is a FAIL, but I have a good enough time hanging in the casino bar. It’s Friday night, so I watch the dj set up, then sit through about 2 1/2 “songs” enough to determine that he is way too loud, and I hate his playlist, so back to the parking lot. The pavement ends, the amping area is unimproved gravel – gooey sticky muddy gravel that is very annoying to be parked in, and to track into the van. To further my annoyance, with the whole mostly empty lot available to park in, a dumpy little station wagon with two dumpy little women parks RIGHT next to me. They fiddle for a while then go into the casino. It occurs to me later that maybe they were working women, giving me a chance to notice them for a little commerce even before they go in. I’m slow on the uptake sometimes, a good thing in this case.

Saturday

It was a dark and stormy night. Also very windy and wet. The van shook with the wind and there was that lovely pitter patter of fat raindrops on my metal shell.  I love these nights. Out around 11, I plan to do the Colusa NWR tour before breakfast, so off I go.

There like 8-10 cars at the Wildlife Refuge today! The are all clustered in a goofy traffic jam at the first open water on the right after the parking area. The famous falcated duck is here! I looked at pictures later at the Sacto Refuge, and thought I saw it, but on later review, I probably didn’t(*) … sigh … but let’s jsut say I did! I saw plenty of the usual suspects – spooners, pintails, redheads, a few hawks and that excellent colony of night herons across the creek on the way out. Not an epic visit, except for the way too hyped up birders :), but a good visit, glad I did it, and I am ready for coffee and wifi at Granzella’s.

(*) apparently there’s only one, and there was a flock of what I saw. Maybe I saw Greater Scaups?

Spent an hour or so at G’s, eating and hanging out. Got a big ole sandwich for later. Then time for my second NWR of the day. I drove the non-freeway the 30 miles or so north to the Sacramento NWR. It was a little later than I wanted, or rather darkness was sneaking up a little faster than I wanted, but I did everything anyway.

• Visited the Visitors Center to ask about the falcated duck.
• Took an abbreviated version of the nature hike. This was disappointing, most of the area is apparently being rehabbed in some way, restored to another habatat or something, whatever, it’s all ripped up by bulldozers, devoid of wildlife and walking through a construction zone.
• Getting dark, but started on the auto tour anyway. Again the usual suspects bird-wise, same as above plus a few redtails and that big flock of snow geese that hangs out at the corner. The Big Payoff was getting to the observation platform right with the evening migrations were starting, It happens every night, but it’s still epic to be there in person. The water is reflecting the purples and magentas of the sky, clouds of birds are wheeling around in the distance and you can hear their sad cries in the silence.

Really nice, but now here I am, pretty much pitch dark (no moon tonight), no campgrounds near by, so … looks like a Walmart night … sigh. I follow the old road north about 40 miles to the town of Willows (not to be confused with Williams, 60 miles south). Take a left at the only light, go over the freeway and there it is,  the Walmart parlking lot, home for the evening.

I was a good Walmart citizen and went inside and asked. They said park over on the far, far south side. There 4-5 rigs parked on the near north side, but I obeyed and drove around to … an interstate truckers rest area. 6-7 big rigs were parked and either idling or off. I picked a spot on the edge, right under one of those huge arc lights (better than next to it), literally about 30′ from the cars screaming off of I-5 on the exit ramp. As mentioned earlier, it was not very high on the amenities scale, but was ok really. Giant truck engines would rumble past 10′ from my head at all hours, but I slept ok anyway.

Sunday

Up and at ’em about 10am. The Willows Airport is right across the road. I had to drive into it to effect a u-turn, and noticed a likely looking breakfast place, parking lot full on Sunday morning. Eureka airport and the Petaluma airport also have good breakfast places — wonder if this is a thing?!? I coulda, maybe shoulda eaten here, but I have wifi on the brain so I press on to Orland, stopping at a quickie mart on the way for my beloved Pink Pages puzzle section.

A very nice day. The old road paralleling I-5 is arrow-straight, due north, the interstate visible a mile or so to the west drive. I zip past a few forgotten little towns,  The main drags go east-west between me and the freeway. They have an Old West feel, or rather the feel of the set of a 1950’s movie depicting the Old West. :) . Yelp directed me to a quite refined pleasant breakfast in old downtown Orland. I caught the end of the Sunday after church crowd, all dressed up and feeling semi-formal, to continue the 1950’s time warp feeling.

Mt Lassen peeking over the eastern hills, mighty Mt Shasta looming in the far distance straight in front of me, due north. today Shasta was creating it’s own weather, swirling clouds around it. Really a very scenic drive, and I was glad to be driving 45 on a little country road rather than 70 on the interstate to enjoy it.

Then more straight up driving, past the Olive Pit. A few miles later, my alternate route petered out, so I had to join I-5 for  the last 30 miles, through Red Bluff to Anderson to 273 to Buenaventura Parkway to 299. Finally I am getting to where I enjoy the beauty of 299 (especially the Trinity Canyon part) more than I stress out the curves, thence finally to Blue Lake.

I was kind of excited about overnighting at the casino, but that ended quickly. Inside it was terminally boring, even by Indian casino standards. Also very anal – first you have to go over to the farthest right side to security to register as a “player” and get your player’s card. Then you hoof over past the farthest left side to the hotel desk to show your player’s card to get a permit for your windshield for exactly one night’s parking. By now I have lost whatever love I had for Blue Lake Casino.

They did not get tonight’s Warriors game, the Mad River Brewery was too busy to even ask. The Logger Bar did not get the game either. I stuck with the Logger Bar because it was by far the most congenial of the places to hang out in. The bartender, Nicholas, was real nice, they have a little Sunday night pot luck thing I was able to buy into, and it’s only a one low-risk mile drive back to my parking lot, so I had a nice evening there.

Sleep in the parking lot wasn’t too bad. 

Monday – Tuesday

Monday is moving day for the kids! Martha doesn’t want to meet till 1-ish, so I use the coupon I got with my Players Club membership (arrg) on breakfast at the casino restaurant. Typical casino, the place had the veneer of extreme fanciness,  but execution was strictly bush league. My waiter was the most incompetent boob I’ve been afflicted with in years – got the day offto kind of an annoying start.

I met them at the storage unit in Arcata, we took a small load, then Chad and I got just about everything in two giant van-loads. The van holds a lot of stuff if you pack it to the rafters.

Tuesday was unpacking day. I no longer remember the details.

Their new house is quite a big roomier and nicer than their first Eureka rental. Also it is in a nicer neighborhood; the neighbor doesn’t bring his dogs over to poop in their grass. Also it is on a cul de sac, so bangers in muscle cars aren’t zooming by at 40 mph. There is an attic where I can sleep inside, and a garage to tore their stuff, and a little outbuilding where Martha can do her business. All in all, quite an upgrade.

Wednesday

Dawdle till 3-ish (too late!), then take a leisurely drive to Oak Bottom. I kinda thought I would drive on past there into Redding, watch the Warrior’s game at a bar somewhere and sleep at the Walmart, but when I got to Oak Bottom I felt like stopping, so I did. It was a very, very good decision! I was fine listening to the game on KNBR, it was way more awesome to sleep next to Whiskeytown Lake than at a Walmart, and in the morning I did van winterization stuff like drain my water system for the winter. So all in all a great stop.

Thursday

Thanksgiving Day!  I’m actually pretty happy to be here as compared to anywhere else. It was kind of a trial finding coffee and some kind of breakfast in Redding on the holiday. After milling around for a while I ended up at the Jack in the Box, sigh. It was kind of festive at that!

The rest of the drive was uneventful, home by 3-ish. I am just settling in to enjoy a beer on the deck before the Niners-‘Hawks game, when my neighbors kindly invite me over for T-day dinner with their visiting family. It was very kind of them and very nice, marred only by the fact that they are from Seattle and the Niners sucked that night.,