November 7, 2005

November 7, 2005

Redding to Coarsegold, California

YEAR 2 DAY 143

 

Well I wouldn't have thought it possible to drive a big RV rig from Evergreen Coho SKP Park in Northern Washington to SKP Park Of The Sierras in mid-California in 3 days, but we did it. We haven't quite escaped from the rain, but it sure is a lot warmer.

Last night at the restaurant, as we were leaving, I noticed a sign by the exit door that read "food served in this restaurant may contain ingredients known to the State Of California to be carcinogenic". Huh ? This afternoon as I was leaving the parts department of a GM dealer, the sign said "automotive parts sold by this dealership may contain agents known to the State Of California to be carcinogenic". HUH ? ! ?

This morning we were awakened by a loud knock on the door at 7:00 A.M.. It was Mike, an employee of Wal-Mart. One of his responsibilities was to make the rounds of the parking lot at 7:00 A.M. every morning and advise the 5 to 15 RV's that had spent overnight in the parking lot that there was a municipal bylaw prohibiting overnight parking in shopping mall parking lots. Apparently his store manager had no objection to the practice, but Costco across the street objects, as do a couple of local RV parks. So every morning at 7:00 A.M. the manager fulfills his obligation, and advises all RV's in the parking lot that overnight parking is prohibited. Obviously, we RV'ers all appreciate that he sends Mike to make this known at 7:00 A.M., rather than at midnight. Thank you, Mr. Store Manager.

It was raining heavily again this morning. After morning routines, including an abbreviated version of Monday's preventive maintenance, we were on our way about 8:30 A.M.. We headed out of Redding, south on I-5. I stopped at a GM dealer in Red Bluff to see if they had the OEM battery cable for my truck. The original factory battery cable is a "Y" cable, running from the battery to both the starter and the alternator. I have 2 "after market" battery cables, one to the starter and another to the alternator. That has contributed to a number of problems. They didn't have stock of the cable that I need, but they did provide me with the part number and price. Tomorrow I'll look for a dealer near here, perhaps in Fresno, and order it. We stopped for diesel at Corning. The "soon to be open" Flying J listed in our directory was still under construction and not yet open. We stopped for fuel across the street from Flying J. The truck engine sputtered as I pulled into the station, and I coasted, out of gas, to the pumps. Now that's effective fuel management ! HA HA HA !

The winds were extremely strong today. Just outside Sacramento a car pulled up along side, waving frantically at us to advise us that something was wrong. I pulled over onto the shoulder and got out to look around. The 32 gallon waste tote that I had tied onto the roof had blown loose. I had it on the roof, tied securely to the roof rack at the back. It had squirmed loose in the high winds, out from under the crossed ropes, and was dangling over the back of the roof, hanging against the rear wall of the trailer, still held by the ropes tying it to the roof rack. I climbed up onto the roof, untied it, and lowered it down to Joanne. The waste tote was undamaged. The rear wall of the trailer was undamaged. The clearance light at the top of the roof was undamaged. The small amount of RV toilet tank deodorizer that I had put into the waste tote when we were finished using it at West Hawk Lake had leaked out, dribbling down the rear wall of the trailer, staining it with blue streaks. Hopefully, we can scrub that off somehow.

I put the tote into the trailer temporarily, and we drove to the next rest area, on the outskirts of Sacramento. While Joanne prepared lunch, I made room for the tote in the rear of the truck box. It meant rearranging stuff, and discarding most of the firewood that we were still hauling around. I dumped all the poplar firewood from West Hawk Lake, but kept the small amount of spruce firewood I had picked up in Jasper. HMPH ! Hauled that firewood thousands of miles all the way from West Hawk Lake, just to abandon it in a road side rest area outside Sacramento, California. Maybe I shouldn’t stock up on firewood as much as I do.

After lunch we continued south on I-5. The rain diminished as the day wore on. We stopped again to fill up with diesel, at Flying J at Lodi < singing "Stuck In Lodi Again" >. We also dumped the holding tanks and refilled the fresh water tank while at Flying J, once again creating an opportunity to continue boondocking if we chose. We continued south on I-5. The surroundings became more and more urban, and the traffic got heavier and heavier as the afternoon wore on, and the further south we got. When the highway signs said we were still about 300 miles from Los Angeles, smog became visible on the horizon. At Manteca we turned east on Hwy. 120 for a short distance to Hwy. 99. We turned south on Hwy. 99, passing through Modesta. It turned dark shortly after Modesta. We were going to stop for the night at a rest area or a Wal-Mart, but we decided, perhaps unwisely, to push on all the way through to the SKP Park at Coarsegold. We continued south on Hwy. 99 to Madera, then turned east on Hwy. 145 to Hwy. 41, then turned north on Hwy. 41 to Coarsegold.

Finally we found SKP Park Of The Sierras just outside Coarsegold. The office was closed for the night, so we had to park for the night in the boondock parking lot beside the office. We were both over tired, and communicating poorly. I had difficulty getting the truck and trailer backed in and positioned. After a few frustrating attempts, with Joanne in the dark, in the rain, behind the trailer, with the walkie-talkie, guiding me unsuccessfully, we gave up. I left the rig parked straddling the line between 2 RV parking spots. By then we were both angry and upset. Joanne prepared a quick supper. After supper I went to the clubhouse, to plug in the laptop, to do today's journal entry and accounting. The laptop battery was just about out of power, after 2 nights of boondocking, without electricity. I got online, sent and retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog.

Our condolences to Tom and Ruth Anne Huggard, whose sweet, old Scottish Terrier, Angus, died this afternoon.

DSK