9/28 - 10/6/05 Gold Country Days - Third Voyage Begins |
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9/28 - Lake Shastina has changed a lot in 5 months. We're back at the Lake Shastina Recreation Area, overnighting on our way to Sacramento for a family affair. The lake is waaaay down -- there are cattle grazing where folks were catching crappies & bass last April. All the grass here & all along the I5 corridor is a baked yellow-brown. Mount Shasta is nearly naked; its spring snowpack long gone. The landscape has taken a distinctive autumn look, with reddish shrubs, oaks taking on a brown cast & maples turning gold.
The rec area was almost deserted today, not surprising given that the lake attraction is gone. There are a few folks here, drawn perhaps like us by the free camping. I spent a half hour this evening picking up 3 bags of junk & outright garbage that prior occupants had left behind -- all kinds of crap, including used diapers! Allow me to vent for a minute... What kind of creepy people behave like this? How long do they think the good folks of Shasta County will continue to welcome campers if they treat the facility like a dump? How hard is it to walk 100 yards to the dumpsters with your %$#$@ crap?? I guess the empty liquor bottles say a lot. OK, I feel better. But I hope that you folks will also take a few minutes to help clean up after the thoughtless jerks that ... here I go again.
After Sacramento Timmy & I plan to spend a few days in California's gold country, then the Sierras if the weather stays nice, before heading south & east to Zion & New Mexico. We're looking forward to our first full winter as snow birds.
We had a scare on the Ashland grade today. Both eBoy's engine & transmission were getting hot, but there's no place to pull off for about the first 5 miles, so we just kept going. Finally we got off & as we were coming to a stop, the oil pressure dropped to nothing. Not good! Keep the engine running to allow fluids to circulate & cool & risk siezing the engine? Turn it off & bake the fluids? I let it run for 3 or 4 minutes, then shut 'er down & waited, certain that we were going to have to call for a tow. After a half hour, I crossed my fingers & started up again. Yes, we had oil pressure! Big relief! We stopped again before topping the grade, but it looks like we're in good shape. I will probably change the transmission fluid soon though.
10/4 - We've got a bit of catching up to do. After the wedding festivities
in Sacramento ended early Saturday afternoon, we departed for the Gold
Country. We were headed for the South Yuba River BLM campground north
of Nevada City. The drive on SR49 from I80 was nice, winding through
the pines of the lower Sierra foothills. Dark clouds overhead seemed
menacing, but they were all bluff. The county road north of the city
was very slow going, quite hilly & very winding for 10 miles. Then
we were met with a sign warning against vehicles over 4 tons. Hmmm,
that left us out & we never did see a sign for the campground, so
we turned back.
Plan B was the Nevada County Fairgrounds in nearby Grass Valley. A
couple of sites were still available, despite the fairgrounds hosting
a Celtic Festival for the weekend. We slipped in & enjoyed the festival
music wafting through the trees. Sunday we explored farther up SR20,
but the only suitable camping area was a state park already closed for
the season. So we have settled into the fairgrounds for a few days.
It's pretty quiet now that the festival is over. Tall pines & a
nearby pond enhance the setting. A resident rooster spends his nights
in a nearby pine tree & announces the dawn a bit earlier than I'd
prefer.
Sunday we also took a walking tour of old Nevada City. The town has retained much of its old architecture & still has a very old-time feeling. Parking is a problem with the narrow hilly streets, but it's fun to walk around & window shop.
Today I visited the Empire Mine State Park in Grass Valley. This was
the richest gold mine in California, operating clear into the 1950s.
They tunneled 11,000 feet down through some pretty hard rock in that
100 year span. The exhibits are very interesting & the grounds are
nice - take it in if you are in the area.
The camping fees here are reasonable, but over our budget. So we'll be moving on tomorrow. I plan to spend some time in the area north of Mono Lake before heading farther east.
10/9 - OK, what we have here is a case of travel interuptus. I was informed following routine service of eBoy the other day that my transmission (only 15,000 miles since last overhaul) is failing. Options: spend another $2,000 or so to have someone in California do it over or take it back to the Eugene shop that guaranteed their work for 24,000 miles. Short answer, we're back home & will be here another week with Gypsy waiting for us in the Sierras. We'll restart this voyage next weekend with a slightly revised itinerary & a fresh adventure.
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