Day 3 – Redding, CA

This might be a tough blog entry to do today. Don is distracted by election returns, and I’m a little overheated by the weather, so I may not be making as much sense as I usually do. The heat is a real consideration; even though my “puppy cut” relieved me of much of my once-generous coat, I’m still very sensitive to high temperatures. So please excuse any lapses in the usual soaring qualities of my writing today.

My walk with Don this morning was second rate, to say the least. He took me to a clearing in the brush next to the river, where the locals had started a farm of sorts, growing corn, cabbage, and other veggies which have little appeal to me. He told me that I was not allowed to irrigate them, too. I just poked around, trying to find something to interest me, but without good results. It’s just as well that we went back to the rig fairly soon. Don had his own share of bad luck when the drive shaft disengagement mechanism on the truck failed to disengage while he was hooking up for towing. He had to get his grungies on, get under the truck, and do some adjustments on the controls. So, we didn’t get out of Betabel until about eleven, and we had to make a stop in Gilroy for fuel. We were finally on the road over Pacheco Pass to catch Highway 5 about 11:30.


The main thing you can say about Highway 5 in the southern part of the Valley is that it’s terminally dull. Geri went to the bedroom for a nap, I laid down in front of the air conditioning and crapped out, and Don was left to his own devices of piloting us through tedious territory. Fortunately, Geri had seen fit to provide me with my lunch while we were in Gilroy, so I didn’t miss a meal. When Geri and I rejoined the land of the living, we were in greener territory. Don wouldn’t tell us where we were, but a sign provided the information that Sacramento was 20 miles up the road. We both wondered if Don was going to pull a fast one on us and proclaim Sacramento as our end point of the day, but he kept on going.


The day was getting hotter and hotter, and the dash air conditioner wasn’t doing much good for us. We found a rest area, and Don pulled off to stretch his appendages. He also started the rig’s generator, and fired up the two air conditioning units. By the time I had finished my dalliance with the family of a handsome Bernease, we returned to a coach that was cooling down nicely. Thanks, Don! Geri and Don determined that Redding would be our stop for the evening, and that we would head for the RV Park that we had stayed in several times previously, but couldn’t remember the name of. Geri looked through our collection of RV Park brochures, and found several from Redding. They agreed that most likely the one they wanted was the Premier, but there appeared to be two Premiers in Redding. It all got sorted out, we found the place OK, and got placed in one of their new “super sites”, which are made to order for rigs like ours.


Our evening was spent cooling down from the heat of the day, desultory dining on scraps, and half-hearted blogging. We hope to be heading for cooler climes tomorrow. I will let you know how it works out. Ciao, baby!