Redding RV Park

We arrived here on June 29, 2012, and will stay here to rest for 4 days.  We are finally back in California (Redding California).  We stopped here to visit Shasta Lake, one of California's largest lakes.  The lake is full.  Last year the lake was a good 100 feet lower.  The weather here is more to our liking, 89 degrees.  I will store my sweater & jacket until we hit Lake Tahoe.  This is a very nice park.  Clean and well taken care of.  There is a small swimming pool on the property and a clubhouse that I did not tour.  All sites have full hookups and 50 amp electric.  We were assigned a pull through site which was plenty long enough, maybe 70 feet, but very narrow.  We had the widest lot in the tract, most will not accomodate a picnic table.  All driving surfaces including parking pads are asphalt and look to be pretty new, but camping pads are only 10 foot wide and another 4 to 5 feet of grass till you greet your neighbor.  This campground is located next to the 5 freeway and generates traffic noise all day and night.  They also provide free internet access which is very good.  I paid $30 per night with RPI and Good Sam discounts.  This is located in Redding with all shopping and restaurants nearby.  We dined at Olive Garden yesterday just 2 miles from the park.  I would stay here again.  I rate this park P***.

The Rogue River

On June 26, 2012, we headed south to the Rogue River to remenice about a campground we visited with our sons Matt and Keith 25 years ago.  We found it and discovered it has changed very little.  The trees seemed larger and the boat ramp was larger and finished in concrete.  They also added an asphalt parking lot for all the river rafters who put out at this point for a 4 to 6 day journey through the wilderness and to the ocean.  We arrived at Alameda County Park early afternoon and quickly found a site that was not reserved.  This is a small park with only 26 spaces.  Most campers only spent one night here to set up their rafts for an early morning departure the next morning.  We had to renew our campsite every day because you must make reservations 2 days in advance and there is no telephone reception, internet, or satellite reception from here.  The county park only takes cash, no checks or credit or debit cards.  For $19 per night you get an unobstructed view of the Rogue river and a natural setting in the woods.  We had no trouble with mosquitos and the temperatures were very comfortable.  There were no hookups here; there was a dump station here but it was not level and was only accessible to campers on the way into the park.  Too difficult to find an area outside the park to turn around our 40 footer.  We were able to dump at their sister park up the street a few miles.  We enjoyed our stay here and rate this park F***. 
We decided to take a 5 hour raft trip down the river and rented a two person kayak.  When we did this trip with the boys it was an easy float trip with a few ripples.  The river was very high for this time of the year and the water was running very fast at the rate of 36000 gallons per second.  They rated the section we rafted class 2 but the larger rapids were 3 foot waves and the first big set of rapids tossed us out of our kayak into the cold 60 degree river.  Aggie thought for sure she was going to drown, but I managed to hop back into the kayak and then pull her onboard.  We limped to a sandy beach area and Aggie wanted no more of this adventure.  She was ready to find the nearest road and hitch a ride back to Galice where we rented the kayak.  I had donated another pair of prescription eyeglasses to the Rogue River.  I will never learn, but I was able to replace them the next day at Lenscrafters in Redding, Ca.  We met a group, Dave, Tilda, & Maurice who entered the river with us on a larger raft.  They stopped to rest after that last set of rapids and kindly invited Aggie to ride on their larger raft.  Aggie is forever gratefull to them.  We arrived at the halfway point in Galice and ended our trip there.  We had enough excitement for one day. 

Concert in the Park

While at Cascade Meadows we took a day trip to Bend, Oregon to enjoy this free concert.  It was an outdoor amphitheater in the Old Mill District, and people brought their own chairs or blankets to sit on the ground.  They sold beer and wine there as well as other drinks and food.  You could also BYOB (bring your own bottle).  There is also a large shopping center attached to this park with restaurants and stores.  Buddy came along for this trip and he was in his glory.  Plenty of dogs to play with and afterwards we took him to a doggy park which is attached to this park.  There were fenced running areas for both small and large dogs.  There was also an area on the river where the pooches could pop in for a swim.  Buddy slept well that night.

High Desert Museum

This was a very interesting and informative museum.  It somewhat reminded me of the Cody Museum in Cody, Wyoming.  There were many exhibits on the life of local indians and lifestyles of the early settlers of this area.  There were live and stuffed animals.  We observed a live bobcat, lynx, porcupine, otter, and bald eagle.  A currator would discuss the habits and lifestyles of these animals at different exibits at scheduled times.  We toured a 1900's style logging mill and actors dressed in period clothing answered questions from tourists about lifestyle during that time.  The grounds are situated in the forest and you are welcome to bring your lunch or dine at their restaurant inside or under the trees.  Plan on at least 3 hours to complete this tour.  Notice the unique fence made of little branches.

Cascade Meadows

On June 23, 2012, we headed south down route 97 toward Bend, Oregon.  We have traveled this route before and it is a pleasant drive along large farms that grow mostly hay and grass seed.  We passed through a very severe thunderstorm on this route, but managed to pass without any complications.  We stayed at this membership park located about 20 miles south of Bend, Oregon on highway 97.  This park is located at the 4000 foot level and was cold and rainy every day - welcome to Oregon.  We ran our heater all night as the temps dropped to 40 degrees.  We refilled our propane tank when we left.  The pictures of this park do not do it any justice as it looks like motorhomes are parked in a pasture.  They are, but the sites are level, full hookups with 30 amp electric, and huge sites.  Notice the distance between sites.  The area between campers is our site.  We paid $10 plus tax per night with our RPI membership.  It is located right along the highway so there is a little traffic noise.  There was a pool on the property and I noticed some kids swimming in there.  The outside temperature was 65 degrees----buurrrrrrr.  I won't go in my pool until temps reach 90 degrees.  I rate this park M***. 

We spent 3 days here and visited the High Desert Museum and went to a free outdoor concert in Bend, Oregon.  (separate posts)

Columbia River

After leaving Seaside, we decided to head east in search for warmer weather.  We headed northeast to Portland, Oregon; and followed the Columbia River east.  This is a huge river and acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington States.  We planned to stay at an Army Corps of Engineers park (Le Page).  We called in advance, but they were too busy to return our call to tell us that the park was full.  It worked out to our advantage as we found great FREE camping on Army Corps on Engineering property just one exit west of this park.  We camped under some very large, mature trees which provided lots of shade and I was still able to get satellite reception.  We had a full tank of water and all holding tanks were empty.  We parked on a level, paved asphalt street and I did not have to level the coach.  I rate this park F***.  I would definitly stay here again; the price is right.  We just relaxed here and took Buddy for a few strolls along the river.

Tillimook Chese Factory

This was an interesting day trip from our stay at Seaside, Ore.  There is a self guided tour and we were able to observe workers on the assembly line cutting and packing cheese for shipment.  Virtually all the dairy farmers in this area provide milk to produce Tillimook cheese and Tillimook ice cream.  Most farmers in this area date back to 1909 and the farms are passed from generation to generation.  This facility produces 167,000 pounds of cheese daily, 7 days per week.  The cheese is produced into 40 pound blocks and cut into resale sizes from 8 ounces to 32 ounces.  I also noticed 40 pound packages being prepared for shipment.  They make 16 varieties of cheese and we were able to sample six of them for free.  There were no free samples of ice cream though and judging from the tourists visiting today, they really enjoyed the ice cream.  I did purchase some cheese to take on the road, (something with jalapenos in it).
A few other factoids:  A newborn cow is 69 pounds, after one year it weighs in at 600 pounds and after 5 years weighs about 1300 pounds.  A cow drinks a bathtub of water daily and the cost to feed and maintain the cows costs 50% of total income from milk production.  Cows are milked twice daily and there is no rest for the farmer.  His day starts at 3:30AM, milks the cows from 4 to7AM, eats breakfast,  then cleans and sanitizes milking equipment, mends fences, breaks for lunch and at 4 to 7PM milks the cows again.  It is no wonder they have so many kids, someone has to do all this work. 

After this tour, I tasted some wine at a separate wine and cheese tasting retail establishment.  They had farm animals here which included goats, an ostrich, miniature donkeys, alpaca's, chickens and more.  I did purchase three yummy bottles of wine.  None of them had grapes in them.  One was cranberry, one cherry, and one rhubarb.  We also stopped at a wholesale beef jerky factory.  I purchased four pepperoni sticks.