California here we come

May 1st

127 miles and we have crossed back into California.  We stay at Mad River Rapids Rv Park in Arcata.  It wasn't a long drive down the coast but there were a few hills and we have picked up a bit of a shutter in the brakes.  We take it easy our first night, have a really good Mexican dinner and let Chris know we are in Arcata.  I have been looking forward to the chance to meet Chris' girlfriend and we get the chance.  We meet them at the Plaza Grill and get acquainted over a really nice bottle of wine and some steaks.  Picture?  did anyone remember to take a picture?  No.

Two events while at Mad River Rapids:

1.  We got the Lake House Washed.  We had talked about washing her, and we looked into places we could wash her, but it just didn't get done and now 10 months old and the road has been very buggy.  While at Gold Beach we found an RV wash and were going to use it, but when I called Mad River Rapids and asked if they had facilities to wash, they told me we could wash the rig in the park or there was a young man who hires out to wash RVs.  I really liked the sound of this (you did read CaptDans post about his falls).  So the first morning at the Park John come knocking and we agree to a full wash.  That young man showed up with a very tall ladder and all the tools he needed and 3 hours later we had a sparkling clean home. That young man earned his $180 and the best part was we didn't spend 3 days recovering from the process.

2. We take time to meet neighbors.  Some folks pull in across from us and when they start to set up we have to go watch, this is a unique little trailer and we have to see how it goes up.  Jim and Diane are really nice and we just feel like instant friends.  As we chat it turns out that they worked in Aerospace with a classmate and good friend of Dan's, its a small world.  We hope to see them again down the road.

For the RV enthusiasts, this is a TrailManor and it reminded me of a hard side tent trailer, but not.  Jim has to lift inside walls and snaps and Velcro and slide/lift/pull/pop and they get their home set up for a couple of nights and we have a chance to get acquainted.  Jims pride in his trailer is matched by his pride in getting 16-18 mpg.  That is something we will never see.


The next day it is time to deal with the brakes, so we find Les Schwab in Eureka, arrange for some new brakes on the front of the truck and head down the street to get breakfast.  The phone call came in as we finished up, they found a loose hub.  So we walk back to Les Schwab and the hub is really in need of replacing.  Now we walk the other way and find WalMart.  I was looking for some tension rods to help hold the dishes in place.  Its the smallest WalMart and they don't have the size I need.  Oh well we got about 4 miles walking in and 4 hours later the truck is done and CaptDan wants to find a tattoo shop in Arcata to get a very special tattoo in honor of his mom

 

May 4th we pull out of Arcata and head into the heart of the Redwoods 

189 miles and we give the new brakes a test, but more of a test to narrow roads and tight corners.  We dropped of Highway 101 and onto "the Avenue of the Giants".  What an absolutely beautiful drive! The deep shadows, the shades of red and green are breathtaking.  Its been a long time since I was on this road and it wasn't with 39' of 5th wheel behind,  we do find a very wide spot to pull over for a picture, but it also had a big mud hole so we will have to take a hose to the front of our clean home.

We pulled back up onto 101 after about 10 miles, it might be because I was jumping onto CaptDans side of the truck every 90 secs., Some of those old trees are trying to reclaim the road bed, I swear they jumped right out at me.

We did keep the windows rolled down and Butter was sucking in every new smell.

Willits found us ready for some lunch and the exercise of finding a place to park started.  A lumberjacks had a large parking lot, and not a lot or cars, it was 2 o'clock and we figured it was doable.  Had a nice "early bird" dinner and when we came out just the right cars had left and it just took a little jockeying around to get us out and on our way.  The turn off to highway 20 came up and our destination was very near.  Aurora Rv Park and Marina.  Clear Lake proved to be anything but.

This was pretty much what we had for 3 days, the thunder and lightening was pretty impressive on the first day, and we had a little rain everyday.  Butter never minds the rain, especially when she gets to go take a swim.  We just took a somewhat relaxing time here, one afternoon we drove around the west side of the Lake and found a great little shop in Lakeport for Chai and scones.  AWESOME scones  I recommend Angelina's Bakery and Espresso if you ever find yourself in Lakeport and it isn't a Sunday.  We chatted with the server as he was making waffle cones, and we had to take a cinnamon roll for breakfast the next day.  If I had known how good it was we would have taken more then 1.   We did take time to find another hardware store and CaptDan mounted one of our Wine racks.  He took a simple rack from Ikea, fabricated a catch for the neck of the bottle and we now have a travel safe rack for 4 bottles, and another waiting to be mounted down the road. 

We dined out on the last night at the Boathouse grill.  CaptDan says the best fish he has ever had, Red Snapper in a sauce with lemons and capers, it disappeared too fast to get a picture, but I did manage to get one of the strawberry shortcake.

Three days and we are back on the road.  This is sort of the plan, drive a few hours then stay put for three days, after all we are retired.

 

So off to the east side of the Lake and we head into the Valley.  We talked about lunch at our very favorite Mexican Café in Woodland, it really isn't much of a detour and we have some confidence we can find a place to park so we head into Woodland and after circling the block we do find a place to park.  I found this little jewel of a place the last time I took my sister out to lunch as she fought to come back from Chemo.  She lost the fight, and I will always have the memories of sitting here and laughing with Erin and sharing a bowl of chips and salsa.  The Pollo con Mango y Chipotle was just as great as I remember. 

  We finish out our 125 mile drive as we pull into Gold Country RV Park in Auburn.  Now this time we are staying put for a few weeks to visit with family.