cutie<\/div><\/div>Back to weekday schedules, Ty has school, Ry has daycare, Chad has school, Martha has work … so I have the house to myself for long stretches and enjoy the tranquility. Coffee at Because Coffee<\/strong>, lunch at a perfectly fine Vietnamese place they never go to, Safeway<\/strong>, home. I move to the attic tonight and the next two days.<\/p>\n
Tuesday<\/h5>\n
Let’s do it again.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee, hang at the library for a while, back to the Safeway for a powerful giardia-fighting antibiotic (yes, giardia…) called in by my Reno doctor, home. They have friends over for taco Tuesday – very nice.<\/p>\n
Wednesday<\/h5>\n
And\u00a0again. Talk to the Nevada Disease Control doctor who follows up on every giardia case (a GOOD thing!). Coffee at Because Coffee,\u00a0lunch at a perfectly fine Mexican\u00a0place they never go to, finally avoid Safeway for a day, home. Tyler is between sports seasons – baseball and soccer over, basketball not yet started – so there are none of the usual practices and games to go to.<\/p>\n
Thursday<\/h5>\n
One more time.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee. I foolishly told Martha about the giardia thing and she is having a Defcon 4 freakout<\/em>. I am to sleep in the van and leave tomorrow. She is making me feel like a diseased piece of crap, but I guess I understand.<\/p>\n
Friday<\/a><\/h3>\n
Leave when the family does – actually leave right before the last family member, so they get to lock up and own the\u00a0condition of the house when they get back. I had planned to dawdle till they left, to enjoy the quiet and take a shower in peace, but they were taking too long, and I was running out of daylight and overall this has turned out to\u00a0be a much better plan.<\/p>\n
I have budgeted enough time\u00a0stop\u00a0at the yummy breakfast place they never go to and load up on carbs and caffeine for my journey.<\/p>\n
It’s been misty-gloomy for the last two days – normal Eureka weather they say, until\u00a0the last couple of years which have been unseasonably dry. My weather app shows sunny weather in the interior, and sure enough, about 12 miles inland from Blue Lake<\/strong> the clouds disappear and I have the unfamiliar sensation of sun in my eyes.<\/p>\n
Pigeon Point Campground<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: Pigeon Point Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
On a bend in the Trinity River. The main deal here is the heavily used boat ramp, I think the campground was built as an adjunct to it. Just seven sites, a couple of which are really nice.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
Busy Route 299 is only 30 yards away, so when a truck passes you hear it. Fortunately, the road is not busy after dark.\r<\/p>\n
Not quite as torrid as Redding, but still pretty darned hot until the sun goes down. <\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
My favorite site #1 is taken, but everything else is available, including #3, the palatial hilltop, 3-table, 2 parking place site by the bathrooms that has never been unoccupied in all my other visits. It's too much campsite for me, but I do take #5, which shares its parking area. The actual site 5 which belongs to my parking spot - table plus tent area - is 30 yds away down the road and right on a path. I don't even bother, but instead enjoy a beautiful waxing gibbous moon from rivermost table at the big site.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Exactly one week after my stopover\u00a0here last Friday, and the vibe is quite different. Still plenty of fishermen in the day lot, but only one campsite taken when I arrive. While I’m registering a\u00a0bunch of fisher-dudes arrive in two pickups towing a pontoon boat. They take over the lower camping area. I am very appreciative that they did that instead of taking the group site I’m hanging out at, because they are playing bad music and being happy loud. So bless them for giving me a break!<\/p>\n
Saturday<\/a><\/h3><\/p>\n
I sit and read for while at my site 5 picnic table, which commands a pretty little bend in the river. I’m so glad I did! \u00a0My campground fisherman buddies are out there in their boat, one of them paddling their little pontoon boat upstream for a while, then guiding it as it floats downstream, the other two guys casting their flies with great concentration and as fast as they can. It’s not a a very long\u00a0stretch of slow, calm water to cruise in, so they go back and forth past my spot about five times. Three small deer are nibbling the scrub brush and getting quite close, since I’m sitting quietly;\u00a0the occasional osprey or raptor cruising high above. \u00a0Thinking lovely thoughts like “that’s why I do this, for moments like this!”<\/p>\n
It’s over an hour to get from here to Redding<\/strong>, a lot of curvy driving to do before my coffee. But I am feeling just so darned perky since these antibiotics started really kicking in that I don’t care! Also, it’s\u00a0Saturday so the heavy equipment is tucked away, the Caltrans workers are home drinking beer, so\u00a0there are no\u00a0stupid roadwork stoppages!<\/p>\n
Brew<\/strong> is nearly deserted on Saturday afternoon. I spend an hour or so there, because I can.<\/p>\n
Go to Safeway<\/strong>. Get some diesel at the super-bargain place on 273<\/strong>. Endure the late-afternoon (at 3:45!) sun hammering the right side of my face on the freeway.Cruise\u00a0Red Bluff<\/strong>\u00a0a bit, then motor down Sales Road<\/strong> along the east side of the Sacramento River<\/strong> to the anomalous National Forest campground tucked away down here by the abandoned dam. Here is what I wrote the first time I stayed here, 3 1\/2 years ago in August:<\/p>\n
Sycamore Grove Campground<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: Sycamore Grove Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
A lonely outpost of Mendocino National Forest - a little chunk of federal land next to the diversion dam. The parking lots are huge, making it seem like it was full of action back when the dam was being used create the diversionary lake. Emptying the dam a couple of decades ago was sad for the boaters of Red Bluff, but great for the salmon, who were being killed off by the salmon ladder. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
This beautiful campground suffers from being too close to the town of Red Bluff. The bathroom has a security code to prevent random weirdos from moving in.<\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
Six miles from Red Bluff, yet strangely empty on a hot August Wednesday. Super nice place. A lonely outpost of Mendocino National Forest - a little chunk of federal land next to the diversion dam. The parking lots are huge, making it seem like it was full of action back when the dam was being used create the diversionary lake. Shutting it down a couple of decades ago was sad for the boaters of Red Bluff, but great for the salmon, who were being killed off by the salmon ladder. \r<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
This was tonight’s experience:<\/p>\n
Sycamore Grove Campground<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: Sycamore Grove Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
A lonely outpost of Mendocino National Forest - a little chunk of federal land next to the diversion dam. The parking lots are huge, making it seem like it was full of action back when the dam was being used create the diversionary lake. Emptying the dam a couple of decades ago was sad for the boaters of Red Bluff, but great for the salmon, who were being killed off by the salmon ladder. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
This beautiful campground suffers from being too close to the town of Red Bluff. The bathroom has a security code to prevent random weirdos from moving in.<\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
Fate brings me here on a warm November Saturday night, and it's pretty busy. The two sites nearest me are couples making a quick fire then sleeping in their small cars ... like you'd expect at a cheap-ish campground near the interstate.\r<\/p>\n
The river and the strange derelict de-comissioned dam are still awesome. \r<\/p>\n
For the first time I can see why they have a keycode on the bathroom. It's at the riverside edge of the campground, backing up to a day-use lot which contained some sketchy folks when I walked through<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>Maybe it’s the locked bathrooms, or the muscle cars rumbling past like we’re at the Big Boy drive-in in 1959, but for whatever reason I don’t think particularly fondly of this place when I’m away from it, but it’s always quite nice when I’m here.<\/p>\n
Sunday<\/a><\/h3>
<\/a>
Sycamore Grove Campground<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n
On Sunday morning another (mildly)\u00a0annoying factor presents itself, namely that the road 40 yds away\u00a0is quite busy with trucks towing boats and families going to\/from the boat launch. The outward edge of my favorite site #2 has a really pleasant vista onto the river bottom floodplain savannah, but today there’s all these darned vehicles rumbling past. If it’s true that\u00a0you can rate the quality of your life by the fineness of your complaints than I must be doing pretty good right now. :)<\/p>\n
I dawdle and read and clean the van and do tai chi till noon-ish, then get going. I berate myself mildly for not\u00a0punting some of that stuff and doing the 2-ish mile loop hike they have here, complete with pamphlet for the info-stops. But I didn’t, so here we go.<\/p>\n
I snag my Sunday Chronicle at only the third gas station mart I stopped at! This is very pleasing because it means I don’t have to stop at any more gas marts!\u00a0I take back roads about half way to Chico before plugging into busy, straight, speedy Route 99E<\/strong>, the backbone of the east Central Valley<\/strong>. The back road was fun – surrounded by miles of walnut orchards where were a pretty golden yellow. Also I fell a little in love with the tiny town of Tehama<\/strong>, right at a quiet bridge over the Sacramento. It seemed like a perfect little all-american place on this quiet Sunday.<\/p>\n
Chico<\/strong>, ate breakfast at Martha’s favorite place, the Sin of Cortez<\/strong> (whatever that means). It’s a veggie-healthy kind of place, so the only recognizable item was the paleo breakfast<\/strong> – eggs, nice fat sausage, and steamed zucchini instead of potatoes, pretty good!<\/p>\n
<\/a>
viewing platform at Llano Seco<\/div><\/div>The Facebook page of the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge<\/strong> complex has been pimping the Llano Seco Unit<\/strong> – not a new band, rather one of their many chunks of land up here to which\u00a0they have recently added an upgraded viewing platform. It’s on the way to my actual destination, the Sacramento NWR, so I check it out. It’s pretty rockin’, and as it turns out I spend the rest of the day here, and am happy to have done so.<\/p>\n
LLano Seco Unit<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: LLano Seco Unit<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
Infrastructure is all new they say. Pretty happening little spot on a warm November Sunday afternoon. Eight-ish vehicles there when I arrived. There's a bathroom and a viewing area at the parking lot. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
There were lots of birds right there - mostly pintails, widgeons and shovellers. Also in the distance snow geese, the other goose, a flock of cranes overhead, and across the road, a flock of swans!\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
Then there's a short, 1\/3 mile walk out to another viewing area. Pretty sweet little spot. On hte walk was a group of grazing curlews that were kind enough to not fly away as I walked pretty close.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
I thought I was doing just a drive-by on my way to the main Sacto NWR auto loop, but this was so cool I spent the afternoon here.<\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
Infrastructure is all new they say. Pretty happening little spot on a warm November Sunday afternoon. Eight-ish vehicles there when I arrived. There's a bathroom and a viewing area at the parking lot. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
There were lots of birds right there - mostly pintails, widgeons and shovellers. Also in the distance snow geese, the other goose, a flock of cranes overhead, and across the road, a flock of swans!\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
Then there's a short, 1\/3 mile walk out to another viewing area. Pretty sweet little spot. On hte walk was a group of grazing curlews that were kind enough to not fly away as I walked pretty close.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
I thought I was doing just a drive-by on my way to the main Sacto NWR auto loop, but this was so cool I spent the afternoon here.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>
<\/a>
sun almost set<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n
I stayed on the platform quite late into the sunset, talking to a friendly old fellow from Chico. I would learn way more if I was\u00a0less solitary and more chatty when I’m out and about, but my style is to keep to myself, so that’s what I usually do. The two guys I yakked with today upped my birder game a notch and filled in some local history. Chico seems like a nice place to live this time of year … summer, not so much.<\/p>\n
When I left there were still a few rays for the first part of my drive, to\u00a0pick up a little color on\u00a0the flooded fields to the west of me, but the rest of the trip, a straight lines south, then west over the Sacto River at Butte City, then south again\u00a0was dark. Dark is a good way to arrive at the Colusa Casino parking lot.<\/p>\n
Colusa Casino<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: Colusa Casino<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
RV parking is way in the back of the parking lot ... That part of the lot is still gravel there and quite muddy in the rain. \r<\/p>\n
Casino is cozy and not unpleasant. Restaurant and bar are just fine. Wifi is terrible except close to the coffee shop.<\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
Fall this time, not spring. Still a long, cold walk to the casino, still no Warriors games on their teevees. Appear to be installing new lights - ugh.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
It’s actually pretty comfortable here. I always manage to be close enough to the edge to have an unobstructed view of the orchards next door – peach, pecan? Pecan I think.<\/p>\n
Monday<\/a><\/h3>
<\/a>
new lights at Colusa Casino<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n
Oh sigh… The little construction zones sprinkled around the parking lot are new streetlights\u00a0every 40 yards or so. That’s gonna suck.<\/p>\n
If\u00a0the snow wasn’t supposed\u00a0to be flying in tomorrow\u00a0I would hang around here another day and do the Sacto NWR auto tour, but that is is the forecast, so the better part of valor is to head over the passes while the sun is still shining today. First to Granzella’s<\/strong> for coffee and wifi, thence to one more refuge:<\/p>\n
Colusa NWR<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
WHUFU page for: Colusa NWR<\/a><\/b><\/p>
\n
Warm, clear fall day. Mostly pintails, with a sprinkling of shovellers and American wigeons. Some snowy egrets and one great heron.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
There was a large flock of snow geese in their southeast corner. The tolerated me until I was about halfway past, but then somebody spooked and they took to the air by the thousands.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
The night heron posse was at their usual hangout on the east side of the creek on the way out. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
I got a good long l;ook at some kind of raptor. I'm guessing red tailed, but maybe a Cooper's hawk - it was more gray-ish than reddish ...\r<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>
<\/p>tonight<\/b>:
\n
Warm, clear fall day. Mostly pintails, with a sprinkling of shovellers and American wigeons. Some snowy egrets and one great heron.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
There was a large flock of snow geese in their southeast corner. The tolerated me until I was about halfway past, but then somebody spooked and they took to the air by the thousands.\r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
The night heron posse was at their usual hangout on the east side of the creek on the way out. \r<\/p>\n
\r<\/p>\n
I got a good long l;ook at some kind of raptor. I'm guessing red tailed, but maybe a Cooper's hawk - it was more gray-ish than reddish ...\r<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
It was quite dramatic and beautiful when the snow geese took off. I wondered how many total calories of bird energy were burned when\u00a0that one goose bolted\u00a0and thus caused his ten thousand or so buddies to launch into the air.<\/p>\n
I’m really enjoying the quiet and beauty, so I stay here in ‘leisure mode’ till about 1:30, when I switch to ‘getting home mode’. It’s about a three hour drive, so I know it will get dark on my high up I-80. But the roads will be clear.<\/p>\n
I stop at my local Safeway, the forecast has me spooked enough to do my thanksgiving shopping tonight on the way home. I bought a frozen duck!<\/p>\n
<\/a>
my new kayak<\/div><\/div>The weather forecast gives me\u00a0one day of moderate temperatures, which I use to winterize my van – drain the water system then crank up the air compressor I use once a year for this and blow the water out of my pipes. After that it got pretty effing cold \u00a0and nasty. My side of Wingfield Island froze hard enough to walk over. Also, I pumped up the kayak I bought a couple of weeks ago. I hope to be describing many adventures with it next year!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am\u00a0squeezing in one more trip with a functioning\u00a0water system before I drain it for the winter. The idea is to get out of Reno before it got too cold and head over the mountains to balmy California. This plan … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nor-cal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Tuesday<\/h5>\nLet’s do it again.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee, hang at the library for a while, back to the Safeway for a powerful giardia-fighting antibiotic (yes, giardia…) called in by my Reno doctor, home. They have friends over for taco Tuesday – very nice.<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/h5>\nOne more time.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee. I foolishly told Martha about the giardia thing and she is having a Defcon 4 freakout<\/em>. I am to sleep in the van and leave tomorrow. She is making me feel like a diseased piece of crap, but I guess I understand.<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/h5>\n
Let’s do it again.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee, hang at the library for a while, back to the Safeway for a powerful giardia-fighting antibiotic (yes, giardia…) called in by my Reno doctor, home. They have friends over for taco Tuesday – very nice.<\/p>\n

Thursday<\/h5>\n
One more time.\u00a0Coffee at Because Coffee. I foolishly told Martha about the giardia thing and she is having a Defcon 4 freakout<\/em>. I am to sleep in the van and leave tomorrow. She is making me feel like a diseased piece of crap, but I guess I understand.<\/p>\n