California - Here We Come!

A scene like this one from our garage door made the decision to head south a very easy one. After close to fifteen inches of snow and ice, we were glad to see the thaw. Christmas was delayed at our house due to the storm which left us with a reduced amount of time to get ready to go south.

The other picture shows what makes the decision to leave town for three months a difficult one, particularly in grandma's view. The grandkids seem to grow up so quickly.

After an unexpected two inch snowfall on Sunday

night before we left, we were wondering if we
would get started out of town on time. However, by morning all the snow had melted and we departed in our motorhome with Diane's sister, Joyce, and her husband, Jim with their fifth wheel trailer.

We were eager to escape the snow and rain and drove to the Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville for our first night. If you ever get there, don't forget to ask for the "billboard special" in the restaurant. It is an excellent value and a great ribeye steak dinner. It would only cost $7.95 if you could stay out of the casino. It cost us a little more than that.

We suffered our first equipment breakdown when we stopped for gas in Canyonville. As Tim went to exit the coach, the stairs gave a noisy snap when he stepped down and the stairs hit the ground. Needless to say, the automatic steps are no longer automatic. It took several bungee cords to get them into place for travel. Our RV is beginning to look like "cousin Eddie's". Sam is pretty upset as the jump into and out of the coach is too much for him to handle and he has to be lifted in and out.

The trip over Siskiyou Summit was a walk in the park this year. There was snow beside the road from the base of Mt. Ashland to the town of Yreka, but the pavement was dry and the drive was uneventful. We enjoyed a pleasant stay at the Mountain Gate RV Park in Redding, CA, but headed out early the next day.

We continue to follow our policy of just going 200 miles per day, and drove on to the Kit Fox RV Resort in Patterson, CA. This was a nice park (close to a Starbucks for Tim), but it lost a lot of its appeal when we discovered they didn't have cable TV or wi-fi. Bummer! We certainly won't be back there until they fix those situations.

Our next stop was at one of our favorite places - the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, CA. The oranges were ripe and Diane picked our normal dozen to take with us. This is always a fun place to stop, as they encourage you to pick the oranges and even provide the fruit picking pole with basket.

It seems strange this time to head straight down the highway at a 200 miles per day clip with no side trips or things to see. We already said that, on the way home, we are going to take a little more time.

We did arrive at Golden Village Palms at mid-afternoon on Friday to temperatures in the high 70's with more warm weather expected. It feels as though we never left here. Diane went for two hours of sand volleyball first thing Saturday morning while Tim opted for pool volleyball. When tomorrow comes we'll determine who was in the worst physical shape as we try to get out of bed. Samson opted for a good old-fashioned nap in the warm sun. It's good to be back.