Sutherlin, OR

Still here, the turkeys wandering around yesterday were kind of nifty until sun up today. They like to chat (gobble loudly) as they wander. Randy, Kristi & Devyn thought Hanna the rooster was bad, now I know what to leave in Hannas place this summer. We rode through Sutherlin, fueled the truck and washed it, and got a few groceries. Nice town and area. We walked around the park and spotted two jack rabbits but I couldn't get a decent picure of them in the sun. Judy played Po-Ke-No this evening and won lots of pennies. 70 and partly sunny today.

Sutherlin, OR

As we drove up I5 we passed 14,179 foot tall Mt Shasta covered in snow. We could easily see it more than 60 mile away and at the dam yesterday although it didn't show up in any of the pictures due to the haze. We huffed and puffed up all the mountains leaving CA and enerting OR. A couple times we were down to 35 to 40 mph but the Ford just downshifted and the Tow Haul mode did it's thing going up or down. She earned her keep today. I'll give her some diesel tomorrow and fondle the oil dipstick.

We are at an Escapee SKP park in Sutherlin, OR. We have deer and turkeys roaming around the park behind the trailer. You have these in KC too don't ya Steve? We will be able to add the OR sticker to the US map on our slide by the door tomorrow.

57 degrees at 9pm, It's Spring up here with the trees budding & leafing out; lilacs & daffodils & tulips are blooming along with the azalias and rhodedrons. Life is good. Judy won 3 times at Bingo tonight, they want her to leave ASAP.

Shasta dam

Today we visited Shasta dam which restricts the Sacramento River (plus two smaller rivers) forming Lake Shasta. Mt Shasta is 60 miles away, snow covered and not very visible in today's haze and clouds. Oh well, seeing 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. The dam is 602 feet high and 3640 feet across the top and 882 feet thick at the base. After walking across the top of the dam to a tower we travelled down inside the dam via an elevator, walked 800 feet through the dam to the power house where there are five large turbines generating electricity. The dam was built between 1938 and 1945; 14 workers were killed in the process. The dams primary purposes were to control flooding and supply a constant water supply primarily for irrigation; power generation was secondary. There are several osprey nests perched to top of power and other structures, moms were sitting on the eggs while dads fished. One flew under us when we were on top of the dam, you can see him flying over rock rubble. Click on the rock picture to enlarge it and you'll see the osprey in the center.

We had to walk back to the truck to get the camera, they weren't allowed on the tour inside but you could use them outside.

Lakehead, CA & visiting with Clayton & Scott's family

We have been busy since my last post. We are now back in the mountains of northern CA but we just barely have a Sprint signal so we are now in contact with the world. Today we travelled up the CA valley between mountain ranges to our left and right which have now closed in on us. The vineyards have been replaced with rice paddies and olive orchards earlier today. We could see Mt Shasta which is covered in snow.

We have spent time with Clayton, Scott & family. It's been quite awhile since we have seen them and Morgan & Christina have really grown up. That's how I tell I'm getting older, by seeing how much kids have grown & matured. We have pigged out on Chinese, watched Clayton & Scott work on Scott's car, explored Napa wine country (miles & miles of vineyards) and had lunch at one, Clayton has spent a couple nights with us in the trailer, helped Clayton install a new rear tire on his Kawasaki, attended a church service at the Winters CG, R&R at the CG, & explored more of CA with Clayton.

I have determined that I don't like CA, too expensive, tax on newspapers, lots of tax on everyting! ($2.80 on this CG), expressways are quite rough, drivers often exit the expressway from the left lane, crowded, etc. I'll be glad to be in OR in two days. We have been reading about lots of earthquakes, several off the coast of OR and repeaded daily ones in Reno, NV. Both of these are uncommon. Several all the time in CA but we haven't experienced any which is fine by us.

Leaving the Winters CG this morning I broke the outside cell antenna on a tree branch so that will give me something to do. Perhaps I'll only put it up when needed, which is not very often.

Winters CA

We said goodbye to our HH friends Tuesday and headed up to Winters for a few days. The CG is 10 miles off the expressway and well back into the hills and canyons. Driving through the park we took out their overhead phone wires and a 4x4 pole which were obviously lower than our 13 foot 3 inch height. No damage to the RV, the park said all their stuff was 15' off the ground, ha ha. We had to move the RV after 2 days to get sat TV reception but this is the first time in a year we don't have cell phone or internet access. I'm sitting in the truck in downtown Winters now outside the laundrymat.

Tuesday we met up with Clayton and rode with him to Scott and Nina for the afternoon. It has been quite awhile since we have seen Scott, Nina, Christina and Morgan. They have a huge house, 2 dogs and 2 horses. Scott and Nina fixed a great supper for us.

Wednesday we drove into Richmond to Clayton's place. We rode around the area to see San Francisco across the bay, the mothball fleet and of course a few of his hangouts.....liquor emporiums.

Thursday we just relaxed all day. The CG we are in is next to a rapidly moving creek, I'd call it a river. About 1/2 mile upstream we discovered, not that it was hard to see, a huge dam which has to be 200 or 300 feet tall. You can't see it from our site due to the hills, trees and the canyon we are in. The CG was almost empty but is filling up, Saturday is opening day of trout season and we understand the river will be packed with fisher people. As long as that dam doesn't break we'll be OK, now is not the time for an earthquake.

Today, Friday, Judy is doing laundry downtown and I'm sitting in the truck using the laptop and connected to a Sprint roaming signal. My updates might be sporadic due to access and more visiting with Clayton and Scott.

Olive oil tasting Jely Belly plant tour

I was impressed, very few hang overs today and we all survived margarita night!

We left this morning and went olive oil tasting, really. I've never heard of it, things are different here in CA. After that we went on a Jelly Belly tour. This was really outstanding, much better than the Budweiser tour. Excellent tour. Lots of pictures of famous people made from Jelly Belly beans. We had lunch there following the tour and then went shopping at the large gift shop. We bought several items and lots of Belly Flops, jelly bean seconds. This evening we had the farewell pot luck supper. Lots of real good stuff to devour. After last night and today's activities we all crashed early, about 8pm.

Six Flags & Margarita contest

Today we all started the day making bag omlets, it was the first time for Judy and I and they were good! Then all the Bean & Beer Rally members went to Six Flags amusement and marine park. Ca is expensive, $15 just to park the truck. Judy and I passed up all the roller coasters for our favorite ride which we did twice.....the parking lot tram. We went to see the killer whale show which was very good. On the way home we stopped at Camping World for a few odds and ends. Back at the CG we had the great margarita contest between Stacy and Rich. These two have been talking up their drinks for the last couple months and when it was over Stacy was the champ. Dave and I then brought out our beer margaritas. We based ours on Jody's Chiquita Rita Margarita recipe. I will have to say our beer margaritas were as popular as the others and gone just as fast.