When I got home in the last week of September, I was in the grip of a really nasty respiratory virus that left me breathless from the simplest of exertions. So my first week back I did none of the things I thought I would to celebrate my return. Mostly I just concentrated on getting my breath back. For a number of weeks I was just glad to be home, doing my regular things in my regular place, sleeping in my regular bed, watching my regular round of tv and catching the occasional show.
But after about a month I started getting the itch again. I want to see the family – daughter Martha, her guy Chad, nine year old basketball and video game fiend Tyler, Rylan the two-year old terror that gave me that awful viruslast summer, and little Tula, who was just developing enough to have a personality the last (and first!) time I saw her.
I was planning this trip when the election happened. Then the cliche – in the morning of November 9 everything was the same, but everything was different. I hope I am wrong, but I think it is very possible that whatever the world is in four years it won’t be recognizable to us today. The American Century will be over and the world will be a grim place.
REAL, tangible, dare I say eternal, things like family become even more important. Getting away from Twitter and cable news is even more beneficial. I am working myself up to a family trip.
Tuesday (Nov 15)
Since the election I have a baseline level of gut-wrenching dread, and my sleep patterns are messed up. Basically what happens is that I wake up to pee in the early hours – the usual old guy thing – and instead of falling back to sleep I remember that Trump is President-elect and I get a knot in my stomach and sleep is gone. So I fiddle on devices for a while then nod off again for a few hours, getting up for real around noon or 1 pm. Showing up at the Jungle for “morning coffee” at about 1:30 pm is pretty normal for me.
Anyway, last night was the same ole thing, but I have plans today so I don’t let myself nod off. I am up and at ’em and reasonably perky at 9 am! I finish up my packing rituals and get going. First stop is the Downtown Library book return and US Bank drive-up ATM; handily located on either side of a drive-thru on Liberty. I deposit books into the former and extract cash from the latter then head up Center St to the freeway.
Next stop is breakfast at my hidden favorite – the Westside Grill – then pick up a sando and beer at the Safeway. Then off I go for real, plugging myself into the I-80 westbound traffic stream around 1:30-ish.
It’s sunny and clear with high lenticular clouds when I leave Reno, and clear and pleasant all the up I-80 and north in CA 89 to Sierraville. When I turn westward on CA 49 at the T junction in Sierraville I am still in sunshine, but the mountains ahead looking across the southwest corner of the Sierra Valley are encased in low clouds and general gloom. By the time I get to that overlook halfway up the mountainside it’s raining, and by Sierra City it’s a full-on downpour.
It’s still pouring at Downieville. The weather looks like it will keep me in the van all night, which this time of year is about 6 pm to morning. So I might as well enjoy my remaining daylight in civilization instead of the van. I park and grab my umbrella and walk the small yown looking for a place to have a cupof coffee and a piece of pie or somesuch thing just be out and about for a while longer. It’s a FAIL. The only place open is a new restaurant that doesn’t feel very comfortable, and isn’t into the pie and coffee concept. I predict they won’t last long. But at least I’ve walked around town for ten minutes, and it will be dark soon anyway.
WHUFU page for: Rocky Rest Campground
on the South Fork of the Yuba River. very crowded in August. There is an excellent, deep pool in the river right here. The river is shallow and kinda boring at the next campground west - Indian Valley. Sites 6,7,8 are the best, right on the bluff overlooking the river.
Best sites: 7 and 8 are on the river, 6 is best site and most private yet convenient to the bridge.
tonight:
Unlike the other campgrounds along Route 49, this one does not have a gate, so it's open all winter.
No one else here, so get my pick of the primo spots that are always taken in summer.
I take the corner site with a great view up the Yuba. Fat lot of good it did me today, it rained hard all afternoon. Sunny and cold in the morning!
So … back in the van to drive the last fifteen minutes to my campground, where it continues to rain for what’s left of the afternoon. Whatever plans I had for enjoying the Yuba and communing with nature will have to happen tomorrow if at all. Basically I spend 16-17 hours straight in the van – arriving at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, and cracking the door on a beautiful Wednesday morning 10:30-ish. It was actually quite fun.
Wednesday
I wake up in the daylight, no more rain. It is clear … and cold. I stomp around for awhile, walk across the footbridge and enjoy the beautiful Yuba River, then hit the road.
It’s a really lovely winter day after the rain. I don’t have a very long drive today, so I decide to take the back roads. It will be interesting and I will avoid Yuba City/Marysville. I leave 49 on the Marysville Road, which is still a pretty good road since it is the main route to Bullards Bar Reservoir. After crossing the dam at the reservoir the road gets way curvier and slower. AllStays tells me there is a campground near the dam, but I drive around a while and cannot find it.
I still haven’t had my coffee! There’s not much in the way of amenities out here in the back country, so when I saw a sign for a bakery at the little crossroads town of Bangor I stop.
What an interesting place! It was a real working bakery, staffed entirely by women in Mennonite garb – covered heads, long calico dresses, no makeup. I swear one was making eyes at me! I’m sure she was just amused that I was making eyes at her :) Their baked goods were tasty, and I got some cashew brittle that was just amazing.
I took the road due west. The terrain evened out a little and soon I was in the descent out of the foothills, where the view suddenly opens up to the entire Central Valley, a pretty dramatic sight, especially on clear, sparkling days. Eventually I made it to the flatlands and turned north on Route 70 for a few miles, then jagged west again at the Gridley turnoff.
It’s real scenic over here. Driving west from Gridley, Sutter Buttes are very close to the south, and Gray Lodge Wildlife Area is even closer.The road runs due west till it comes up against the Sacramento River, where I jog south to follow the very un-busy River Road till it crosses the river at the northeast corner of Colusa.
Very welcome late breakfast and wifi in Colusa at the Market Street Grill. They close at 3 pm, and I got in under the wire at 2:45, so I was very happy. Then to one of my favorite stops:
WHUFU page for: Colusa NWR
Warm, clear fall day. Mostly pintails, with a sprinkling of shovellers and American wigeons. Some snowy egrets and one great heron.
There was a large flock of snow geese in their southeast corner. The tolerated me until I was about halfway past, but then somebody spooked and they took to the air by the thousands.
The night heron posse was at their usual hangout on the east side of the creek on the way out.
I got a good long l;ook at some kind of raptor. I'm guessing red tailed, but maybe a Cooper's hawk - it was more gray-ish than reddish ...
tonight:
No notable sightings, just the usual shovellers and pintails. The Night Herons were in their corner. There were a lot of snow geese and Ross's geese. I save walking on the trail to last, and was rewarded with a couple of eruptions of hundreds of geese heading to whatever field that will be their dinner table for the night.
The report above pretty much says it all. Since I’m sleeping in a parking lot tonight it worked perfectly to dredge the last bit of sunset color on the viewing platform at the end of the little hike by the marsh. This is livin’!
WHUFU page for: Colusa Casino
RV parking is way in the back of the parking lot ... That part of the lot is still gravel there and quite muddy in the rain.
Casino is cozy and not unpleasant. Restaurant and bar are just fine. Wifi is terrible except close to the coffee shop.
tonight:
I scored the best (to me) spot in the RV area, at the farthest corner with no other vehicles between me and the orchards. Had a very pleasant stay.
Partied pretty good tonight! The Warriors are playing on the East Coast (in Boston), so the game starts at 5 pm. And since the Warriors are really good they are on national television, so the game was on ESPN at the casino bar. I ordered the Mediterranean steak salad. Everything else on the menu was pretty standard bar food so this kind of leapt out at me. I reasoned that since the casino is in the middle of an olive orchard this might be the secret house special. It was excellent!
Thursday
Too much fun last night, I’m a little bleary today. Drive to the front of the casino for coffee, then off to the next wildlife area:
WHUFU page for: LLano Seco Unit
Infrastructure is all new they say. Pretty happening little spot on a warm November Sunday afternoon. Eight-ish vehicles there when I arrived. There's a bathroom and a viewing area at the parking lot.
There were lots of birds right there - mostly pintails, widgeons and shovellers. Also in the distance snow geese, the other goose, a flock of cranes overhead, and across the road, a flock of swans!
Then there's a short, 1/3 mile walk out to another viewing area. Pretty sweet little spot. On hte walk was a group of grazing curlews that were kind enough to not fly away as I walked pretty close.
I thought I was doing just a drive-by on my way to the main Sacto NWR auto loop, but this was so cool I spent the afternoon here.
tonight:
My fun spot for the day. I do the little nature walk out to the man-made mound with a picnic table on top, then I hang out on the viewing deck. So I did everything one can do at Llano Seco!
No interesting birds, just the standard Shoveller/Pintail mix. Still quite nice though.
After that, my new everytime Chico spot, Tin Roof Bakery – cool kids, good food and pastries, free refills, easy parking, and wifi. That’s all the checkboxes on my list! Then the usual off-highway drive north to Red Bluff to:
WHUFU page for: Sycamore Grove Campground
A lonely outpost of Mendocino National Forest - a little chunk of federal land next to the diversion dam. The parking lots are huge, making it seem like it was full of action back when the dam was being used create the diversionary lake. Emptying the dam a couple of decades ago was sad for the boaters of Red Bluff, but great for the salmon, who were being killed off by the salmon ladder.
This beautiful campground suffers from being too close to the town of Red Bluff. The bathroom has a security code to prevent random weirdos from moving in.
tonight:
Surprisingly crowded tonight. Perhaps the word is out? My usual spots under the trees on the outside of the loop are all taken by what look like long term folks. I end up on the inside of the loop in a different part of the loop. This has the usual defect of being on the inside, namely that I am looking right at somebody's big firepit party, and they are looking right at me. Made my night less enjoyable that it would've been.
Stayed in a different part of the loop, didn’t like it much. Much less privacy on the inside of the loop.
Friday
New neighbors have appeared in the far side of the loop. They have this odd, three-part 30′ long tent. They’ve been working hard at setting up something in there, power tool noises going on all morning. Maybe just an electric air pump, but it sure was going a long time.
Things got kind of stupid for me when it was time to leave and I could not find my car key. I have a spare, because this is the kind of dumbass thing I will do every now and then and I need to be prepared, but I was determined to find the main key before I drove away. But after flailing around for 20 minutes I had to declare failure and head out and hope it’s in the van somewhere. [spoiler alert, I found it hanging on the dishtowel hook a few days later – what a dumbass I am sometimes!]. I was evidently a little rattled, because I backed out straight over the flexible pole that marks the campsite number. I heard the awful noise, so I went forward, and it sprung back up and put a nice little dent in my back door. God what a clusterfuck of a morning.
Anyway, I’m finally on the road, heading to Corbett’s for late breakfast. My waitress gives me the bad news, that Route 299 is completely closed due to landslide – aaargh! If I had known this morning in Red Bluff I would have just taken 36. But now I have driven 40 miles north and will have to go back to 36. My awesome day continues :<
The Maps app gives me the option of County Route A16, aka Platine Road which slants diagonally the way I need to go, from Redding back down to Route 36, through the godforsaken hamlets of Igo and Ono (really!). It was a very pretty drive, a ridge drive with fantastic views as opposed to a canyon drive like 299. But it was winding and tiring. I was relieved when I finally got to 36. Ha! Joke was on me. That County road was Easy Street compared to how winding and tiring 36 turned out to be. What a grind.
Once I got to Eureka, my day got way better. The reason I HAD to make it tonight is because we are all staying at the Eureka Inn tonight!
Chad’s band – Cliff Dallas and the Death Valley Troubadours – has been having serious band drama (the last incarnation broke up because of old girlfriends and egos, this time it is creative differences about how fast to play and how loud the drums should be … oh band drama!). Anyway, tonight they are playing their very last show here at the Inn. Martha had the brilliant idea for us all to chip in for a room!
It was excellent! Chad’s mom Gale came, old band members came, much dancing and general whoopin it up ensued, and we all went to bed happy! … Or at least I did.
Saturday – Monday
I of course woke up later than everyone else. I’m sure Chad wanted to sleep in also, but dads of young kids don’t have that luxury. Anyway, they’ve all gone home. I get up, check out of the hotel and walk downtown to Los Bagels for breakfast. I stop at the Library to copy a few Puzzle Pages, then I too go home. Watch Warriors on the laptop tonight.
The next two days are basically hanging out with the family and enjoying the simple pleasures of small children, just what I came for!
Tuesday
Driving Eureka to Reno in one day is not my idea of fun, but the weather forecast and the holiday schedule dictate that I do just that today. If Thanksgiving wasn’t in two days I might just stay on this side of the mountains for a while, and if there wasn’t snow forecast in the high places tonight I would definitely stay in one of my usual spots and cut the drive into two pieces, but neither is the case. I really don’t have any options if I want to be home for Turkey Day.
The day starts with a little family biz, driving Tyler and his buddy to Ariel’s hair salon at 10 am for a stylish haircut. Kinda fun :) Then back at the house I study the ominous forecast and make my decision. I should leave today, and if I’m leaving today I should leave now! No dawdling, because I will drive the last coupla hours in the dark as it is.
I get going around 11:30. 299 is open again, but I am kinda afraid of a long wait at the landslide. Not a problem as it turns out. It really is quite amazing what they are doing there. Earth movers 2-300′ up the slope, at improbable angles, chained to something to keep from sliding craaazy.
I fortified myself for the second half of the trip at the Redding In’nOut. Hat Creek was heartbreakingly beautiful in the snow and gathering dusk. I really wanted to stop, but that’s not the plan today and time’s a-wasting. By the time I got to Poison Lake it was dark. Fortified myself again for that last boring 80 miles at the Susanville McD’s. The rest of the trip was kind of a grind, but I got home around 6:30 and actually felt pretty chipper. Nice trip!