Today started out cloudy and mild, but the sky cleared as we drove.
We did quite a bit of chores this morning before leaving the Spirit Mountain Casino RV parking lot. First we drove over to the sani-dump station and dumped our waste holding tanks. Then over to the freshwater refill station to refill our fresh water tank. Then over to the casino's Travel Center fuel station to refill Lanoire with diesel and refill a one gallon container with fuel for our little generator.
We drove a mile or two back to Hwy. 22 and headed east to Hwy. 99W where we turned south. As we entered the small village of Rickreall I noticed a sign advertising a Sunday farmer's market and decided to stop and take a look. Rarely do we stop at a farmer's market without finding something worthwhile. And today was no exception. Two elderly ladies were selling ... WOO-HOO ... freshly picked, wild Chanterelle mushrooms. I have seen Chanterelle mushrooms only in pictures. And have read about how wonderful they are. Today was my chance to find out. And I wasn't disappointed !
After buying the Chanterelles we continued south on Hwy. 99W to Corvallis where we found our way ... with a bit of difficulty ... to PetsMart to use a 15% discount coupon that expired today, to buy some dog food. And ... in the same mall as PetsMart there was a ... wait for it ... WOO-HOO ... panaderia ! Si, si, we bought muchos pan dulces. We ate lunch in the shopping mall parking lot before hitting the road again.
From Corvallis we headed a bit more east, on Hwy. 34, back to Interstate 5, and then continued south. At Eugene I saw a Cabela's ( massively huge sporting goods store ) and was certain that Santa wanted to get some stuff at Cabela's ( tax free ... still in Oregon ! ) to put in my Christmas stocking. HA HA HA ! To get to the Cabela's which was on the opposite side of the freeway was rather difficult, requiring taking the next freeway exit and manoeuvering around a series of complicated interchanges to head back north, and then exit again and manoeuver around another series of complicated interchanges to get to the mall where Cabela's was located. Getting back onto the freeway heading south afterwards wasn't exactly a piece of cake either ! AND ...
< sniffle > ... I didn't find what Santa was looking for. So ... to console myself, I bought four fishing flies. HA HA HA ! Cabela's fishing flies are much better quality than that cheap shit I buy at Surplus Herbie's in Williams Lake, BC . HA HA HA !
Our destination for today was the Escapees RV park at Sutherlin, but when we arrived at Sutherlin there was still about an hour of daylight left, so we continued driving south, heading for "Plan B" ; the Seven Feathers Casino at Canyonville. We arrived at Seven Feathers Casino at 5:05 PM, at dusk, and after selecting a parking spot in their RV parking lot we immediately took Bo for a walk. By the time we finished our walk at 5:20 PM it was completely dark.
We put Bo into the camper then Joanne and I went to explore the casino. We wandered around the large casino, and after checking out the buffet restaurant decided we would like to have dinner there tomorrow evening, so we'll spend two nights here. We returned to the camper where we shared supper preparation duties. Joanne cooked shredded Brussels sprouts with onions while I sautéed Chanterelle mushrooms, then breaded and fried a couple of Cutthroat Trout fillets that I caught in the Similkameen River at home a month or so ago. The Chanterelles were exquisite ! And the Cutthroats were pretty good as well ! Very nice supper !
Monday ; Seven Feathers Casino
Cloudy and mild. Today was a lazy, leisurely day of a few chores and lots of relaxing.
We slept late. After a slow start to the day I did a teensy bit of preventive maintenance on the truck. We drove across the street to the casino's Travel Center and refilled with diesel. We drove to and through the casino's upscale RV park. That's not where we are. We're in the casino's free overnight parking lot for RV's. "Casino camping" ! We refilled the camper's fresh water tank from a spigot in the dog park at the freeway rest area sponsored by the casino. We drove into the nearby small village of Canyonville and bought a few grocery items.
Back at the casino RV parking lot I did some work on the computer, including reconciling October's month end financial statements. Joanne gave herself a manicure, and worked on Sudoku puzzles. We went with Bo for another one of today's many leisurely dog walks. We found and identified mushrooms. I read and napped.
Late in the afternoon we went inside the casino to gamble. Last night we had joined the casino's Player's Club, and our cards were loaded with $5 of "free play" each. To access the "$5 free play" one had to load a real dollar into a slot machine. SO ... we each loaded a dollar into a slot machine and played until our $5 free play was used up. My one dollar became $3.58 and Joanne's one dollar became $7.11, for total winnings of $8.69. HMPH ! Pretty good ! Enough to pay for one of our two dinners at the buffet restaurant, which is really the only reason we stayed here today.
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant. Surprisingly ... it wasn't all that good ! Casino buffet restaurant meals usually range from very good to stupendous. This one was ... one notch below mediocre. < shrug > Oh, well !
We returned to our camper in the almost empty RV overnight parking lot to find that some a*****e from California had parked right beside us, and was running his generator with the exhaust pipe right below my bedroom window. What would inspire this California a*****e to park right beside us in an almost empty, huge parking lot ? ! ? And you wonder why we generally dislike Californians ? ! ?
Tuesday ; Canyonville, Oregon to Red Bluff, California
Today started out partially sunny and mild, became very foggy as we drove, becoming sunny and warm in California.
Today was a day that just didn't go well. Nothing really significant, but a lot of petty annoyances. This morning we prepared to depart the Seven Feathers Casino RV parking lot and drove across the street to their Travel Center to refill our fresh water tank at a water spigot at one of the fuel islands. The fuel island that I chose had a malfunctioning water spigot, so that by the time I got the camper's water tank refilled,
I was soaked. Before leaving the Travel Center I turned on our cell phone and discovered a message waiting on voicemail.
The message was from an RV storage facility in Okanagan Falls, BC. It was important to me to return the call, because that particular storage facility had referred me to a customer 3½ years ago that turned out to be my most lucrative trailer towing client ever. I tried repeatedly to return the phone call using our cell phone, without success. HMPH ! International dialling drama ! After wasting fourteen minutes of our expensive "pay as you go" cell phone minutes, I abandoned the cell phone. I drove back to the casino's RV parking lot and attempted to make the call using Skype on the computer. HMPH ! Internet connection drama ! By the time I gave up on the computer / Skype attempts, I had wasted a total of an hour trying to return a phone call ! ! ! I was mightily pissed off and stressed out when we finally hit the road.
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped in Grant's Pass to finish our Oregon tax free shopping. While Joanne went shopping at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart
I connected to the Internet using a Wi-Fi signal from a nearby McDonald's, and finally returned the phone call.
We continued southbound on I-5 to our planned destination for today, an Oregon state park between Grant's Pass and Medford. We were hoping for a pleasant, warm afternoon, with a campfire. When we arrived at the state park, we were surprised by how expensive their overnight camping fee was, and chose not to stay. We continued south on I-5, and into California.
At Redding we found our way, with considerable difficulty, to Win River Casino. As soon as we arrived at their RV parking lot, a security guard on a golf cart approached us to advise that their overnight parking fee was ... wait for it ... $26 ! Are you ****ing kidding me ? ? ? Goodbye ! ! !
We stopped for the night, about an hour after darkness, at a rest area north of Red Bluff. We made and ate supper. We took Bo for a walk, and realized ... the place was spooky. There were ... shadowy figures skulking around in the darkness. We felt unsafe. I decided to leave. We drove about another ten miles south to the city of Red Bluff and found our way to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Much better than the rest area.
I raised the camper's roof top TV antenna, plugged the TV into the inverter, and we watched election coverage on a local NBC station. How disgusting !
Wednesday ; Red Bluff to Coarsegold, California
Sunny and warm. It's like summer time here in central California !
Joanne slept poorly, and very little. She was upset and disgusted by the results of the election. And consequently felt depressed all day today. And fatigued from little sleep !
We left the Red Bluff Wal-Mart parking lot this morning and drove a very short distance to an ARCO AM / PM fuel station to refill with diesel and refill the camper's fresh water tank. As I was refilling Lanoire with diesel, the rocket scientist in front of me drove away from the pump with the fuel hose still in his truck's fuel filler. He ripped the hose right out of the fuel pump ! Then stepped out of his truck, hollered an obscenity very loudly, got back into his truck, and drove away. < shrug > Welcome to California !
When Joanne went inside to pay for the fuel purchase, she was charged an additional 35 cents for using a debit card. Are you kidding me ? ! ? HMPH ! That is NOT allowed in Canada ! Merchants in Canada are prohibited from "upcharging" customers for the use of credit or debit cards. Welcome to the good ol' U.S. of A. !
We continued southbound on Interstate 5. We stopped for lunch at a rest area on the north side of Sacramento. After lunch we drove through Sacramento, and at Stockton we switched from Interstate 5 southbound to Hwy. 99 southbound. On the short connector road between the two freeways we stopped to shop for a new fly fishing rod and reel ( for Santa to bring me ) at Bass Pro Shops. Didn't find what I wanted !
We drove a long distance today. And spent most of the day listening to election analysis and commentary on NPR ( National Public Radio ). A couple of hours before our planned destination ... SKP Park of the Sierras near Coarsegold up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we saw a billboard advertisement for ... WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ... CHUKCHANSI CASINO ! My favourite casino ! A mile or two away from the Escapees RV park, it closed two years ago, embroiled in controversy. Two disagreeing factions of the Indian Band that own and operate the casino. We were VERY glad to learn that Chukchansi Casino has reopened. We decided to boonodock overnight at Chukchansi Casino instead of at the SKP park as we had initially planned.
At Madera we turned east on Hwy. 145, then about half an hour later, as it turned dark at 5:15 PM, we turned south on Hwy. 41 for the uphill, winding, mountain road drive to Chukchansi ( and SKP Park of the Sierras ). We arrived at the casino about 6:15 PM. Joanne immediately began to prepare supper, earlier than we usually eat dinner. She was tired and despondent. She is REALLY upset by Trump's victory. We ate supper then went into the casino to see if it had changed and ... of course ... to check out the buffet restaurant. My favourite casino buffet restaurant ! OKAY ! LUNCH ! MONDAY !
We returned to the camper. Joanne washed dishes and went to sleep at 8:30 PM !
Thursday ; SKP Park of the Sierras
Sunny and warm. What a perfect "June 18" day !
This morning before leaving the parking lot of Chukchansi Casino we made a complaint to Security about the dog that was tied up to the fifth wheel trailer parked beside us.
A female Golden Retriever, she howled all night and barked all morning. It appeared as if the fifth wheel trailer was vacant from the time we arrived yesterday evening shortly after 6 PM until we were leaving this morning shortly after 10 AM. Last night she snarled at Bo and I as we walked by, but this morning I was able to slowly gain her trust and she allowed me to approach and pet her. I was so pissed off at her being left alone for at least sixteen hours, tied on a short leash to the trailer's steps, that I contemplated stealing her.
We drove the very short distance, just a couple of miles, from the casino to SKP Park of the Sierras, the most beautiful of all the Escapee RV parks, in our opinion. We checked in, settled into our assigned site, then spent the rest of the day relaxing. I napped after lunch. We sat outside in folding chairs in our site enjoying the fine weather. We took Bo to the dog park where he met old and new friends. We walked. We went to the clubhouse and checked out the bargain table and the library.
In the evening we binged on cable TV ! HA HA HA !
Friday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S.A. )
LEST WE FORGET !
Sunny and warm. Another lovely "summer" day up here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California.
This morning we had a private and personal Remembrance Day "ceremony" on our RV site, observing a minute of silence "to remember" at precisely the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, followed by us together reciting the poem "In Flander's Fields".
We drove north about twenty miles or so through the village of Coarsegold to the town of Oakhurst to refill with diesel and buy some groceries. Surprisingly, the price of diesel was higher in Oakhurst than it was in Coarsegold. But by the time we had arrived in Oakhurst Lanoire ( the truck ) was so low on diesel that we didn't even have enough to make it back to Coarsegold. I bought twenty dollars worth of diesel in Oakhurst, then refilled the tank completely as we passed through Coarsegold on our way back to SKP Park of the Sierras. While in Oakhurst we refilled our five gallon water jug and replenished groceries at Vons.
When we arrived back home we were having a late lunch when our friends Joe and Alene, and their sweet little Dachshund Lucy came by for a visit. Joe and Alene live here during the summer, and are our neighbours across the street at our winter home at Kofa Ko-op in Yuma, Arizona. We visited with Joe and Alene and Lucy and after they left we drove to the clubhouse. Joanne went into the laundromat to do laundry and
I took Bo to the dog park. There were more dogs there this afternoon than yesterday. Bo met and played with old friends Parker and Callie, and new friends Autumn, Chloe, Buddy, and Jack.
For the third day in a row, Joanne remains extremely upset and "off the rails" by the election results.
Saturday ; Sunny and warm. Another very lovely day.
This morning a grey, long haired, female cat showed up in our site, to sit up high and look down on the main road below us. Joanne went outside, and slowly, with considerable patience, convinced the cat to come over to her. Once the cat was confident and comfortable with Joanne, she was eager to be loved up. And she was very vocal. The cat, not Joanne. HA HA HA ! Eventually I went outside and joined in the cat love ups. I miss having a cat, so it was a very pleasant experience to spend some time loving up this cat. She hung around for quite awhile, just "talking" to us and following us around as we did some work outside in the yard and around the truck and camper. As Joanne was petting the cat she discovered a couple of mats in the cat's long hair. So ... she got a pair of small scissors, and cut the mats off. HA HA HA ... we wonder what the cat's owners are going to think when their cat returns home with two small "bald spots" where Joanne cut out the mats. HA HA HA !
We decided, somewhat on impulse, to give Bo a haircut this afternoon. He was in need of a haircut. It had been our plan to give him a haircut soon after our arrival in Yuma, but ... decided that doing it here, today, made sense. After giving him a haircut we went to the dog park and joined in today's daily "dog party". Everyone there was very surprised to see how different Bo looks after a haircut. HA HA HA !
I barbecued a huge, thick steak for supper. With tiny potatoes barbecued, "smashed", and smothered in cream. MMMMMM !
DSK
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