5 Star Walmart

Whoops, posted these wrong.  This post comes before the camping one.

The next day we drove from Eugene up over the Siskiyou pass and into California.  We stopped at the Redding Walmart in late afternoon, but they had No Overnight Parking signs everywhere so we continued on to Red Bluff, where we found the ideal 5-Star (*****) Walmart. 

There were no no parking signs.It was close to the I5, but not close enough to hear the traffic.  There was a rail line nearby, but not near enough for the trains to wake us up.  The store closed at ten (not ideal if you have to use the bathroom after midnight) so there was no activity in the parking lot.  We slept like babies.  There were 2 other RVS in the parking lot.  The store looked fairly new so maybe the word hasn't got out yet.

Camping at Last

You're probably wondering what the point of this trip is if we're just travelling from Walmart to Walmart.  Don't they look the same everywhere?  Indeed they do.

But there's no point in stopping if the weather's still cold.  Well, when we arrived in Redding yesterday we hopped out to 18 C temperatures.  It felt balmy!  Time to take off the down jackets.

So today we headed for Westgate Landing Regional Park on the S. Mokelumne River, part of the Sacramento River delta.  It's Friday today so we worried that the park might fill up for the weekend but that doesn't seem to be a problem.  There were only 3 parties camped and just after we arrived a large motorhome pulled in beside us. And started their generator, grrrr.

There's only about 12 sites and some picnic tables and a dock and empty moorings for boats.  We're in the middle of farmers' fields

with a dyke between us and the river.

We walked along the dyke;

 there's tons of birds here, waterbirds, lots of overwintering sandhill cranes and brants, blackbirds, northern harrier, , and species we don't see up north like black phoebe, red-shouldered hawk and northern mockingbird.  We saw 24 species, not bad for an hour walk. 

Leo took this great picture of a green heron so we'll call it the bird of the day.

We ended the day with this spectacular sunset.

We're on our Way

First night, Costco parking lot.

We're off to California.  We lucked out weatherwise, bare and dry roads all the way and beautiful snowy peaks all around us.  In fact, it was so beautiful around Chilliwack, we wondered when the last time was that we drove through the lower mainland without rainclouds covering them up.

We did some last minute shopping in Chilliwack, then parked at Costco for the night a stone's throw from the Sumas border crossing.  It was a cold night but we slept undisturbed.

The next morning we had a grouchy customs' officer, but he let us in and we high-tailed down the I-5 to Eugene, Oregon.

I'd heard of a mall that lets you park in their lot right on the river's edge and next to a bike trail that runs along the riverside.

So we were able to go for a walk along the river

before eating supper at a nearby Indian restaurant.
Unfortunately, just as we were turning in, security stopped by to tell us they weren't letting people park overnight anymore so off we went in the dark to find another spot.

We found another Walmart where we had an undisturbed sleep, only to wake up in the morning parked next to a sign that said "no overnight parking."

So we are thankful to their security for presumably letting us sleep on.  We have to revise our Walmart sleeping strategy from now on.

Weather continues bright and sunny.

Hockey Night in Canada

Leo and the men's choir sing O Canada with some minor hockey kids.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xgX8fCCgtoDQ9jpH7

Before and After

Before:

After:

Living Room

Hallway

Dining Room

Our new floor has been finished for about a week but we still haven't got everything back in place yet.  You can see the green masking tape where another coat of vara thane still needs to be applied.  Leo is chucking out his old recliner and hasn't purchased a replacement yet.

In other news, Leo has been recruited to sing in a trio called Celtic Connection that performs in all the retirement homes in town.  It's been challenging learning all the tunes in their large repertoire.  Last month they sang for Robbie Burns day.  This month it's Country and Western and Frank Sinatra (Fly me to the Moon).

He's also getting together with some bagpipes and practicing the chanter and hoping to eventually get back to the bagpipe.

Meanwhile, the lead trombonist in Connie's swing band has retired so Connie has had to step up and play some solos and high notes so that's a new challenge.  Fortunately we don't have any performances planned for a few months.

Fall Canyon and Ubehebe Crater

Our early rising strategy worked a trick today when we were the first at the parking lot for the Fall Canyon hike and didn't see a soul till halfway back on the return trip.

We were rewarded with 3 kinds of blooms on the trail to the canyon mouth.

Then we saw 5 birds fly overhead.  Lots more plants in this canyon, even some fairly sizeable shrubs!

Alas though we heard a few birdcalls, it was pretty quiet.  We were told to look for bighorn on the cliff sides but not today.  Eventually the hike ends at an impassable 25-ft high dry falls.

 So we ate our lunch in a sunny spot and hiked back out.  It took 3 hours to hike 6 miles return.

Just as we were leaving the crowds arrived, including a hiking group of about 15 people.  We checked for chuckwallah sunning on the rocks but didn't see any.  Finally we identified a couple of rockwrens.

Since we were halfway already we continued up the highway to Uhehebe Crater.

This was very impressive, set in a moonscape of black gravel humps.  You could walk down into the crater but we like our reward to be at the top of the hike so we can just coast back down afterwards.   So we elected to do the 2-mile hike around the crater, with a side trip to Little Hebe Crater.

 There were golden poppies blooming in Little Hebe

along with masses of a little flower

that turned the walls of the crater pink.