After breakfast on Sunday, I wrote my post and watched the Moto GP race from Mugello, Italy. It looked to be an exciting battle between hometown favorite Valentino Rossi and his team mate Jorge Lorenzo. Unfortunately for Rossi, he suffered a rare engine failure and did not finish the race.

I then got started on preparations for travel. I moved our Sea Eagle kayak to the right rear of the trailer and installed a D-ring to secure it in its canvas duffel bag. This is much better than leaving it on the floor, plus I wanted to redistribute some of the weight in the trailer. I did the usual tire pressure checks and lug nut torque on the trailer.

I made a run to Safeway – the Safeway store in Susanville has a good selection of craft beer. I picked an old favorite – a bottle of Lagunitas Equinox oat pale ale. Then I found something that looked interesting. It was a bottle of beer from Sudwerk Brewing in Davis, California. Sudwerk only brews lagers, not ale. This brew was called Rye of the Lager. The label claimed it was brewed with heirloom rye from Germany and hopped with simcoe and amarillo hops to give it a west coast kick.

Rye of the Lager

At 7.0% ABV, they call it an Imperial pale lager. It was over-hopped in my opinion. The lager doesn’t have enough malt body to carry 70 IBUs of hoppiness. I was disappointed.

Meanwhile, Donna prepared a stir-fry with flank steak and assorted veggies with a spicy sauce. It was very tasty.

Spicy beef stir-fry with sesame seeds

On Monday morning, I loaded the Spyder in the trailer, dumped and flushed our holding tanks and made final road preparations. We left Susanville a little past 10am and headed west on CA36 (map). Our route took us on the same road we took to Westwood on the Spyder. It climbs immediately outside of town and tops out at Fredonyer pass at over 5,700 feet above sea level.

We dropped elevation and hit a few rain showers as we passed through the Lake Almanor basin to Chester. West of Chester it got interesting. The road winds through the Lassen National Forest. It climbs with sharp curves and no shoulder through pine forests. We topped out at 5,750 feet at Morgan Summit, then began to descend. Some of the downhill grades were steep – 7% or more. The road twisted with many speed advisories for turns marked 30mph and a couple at 20mph.

Ozark the cat wasn’t enjoying the twisty ride and ended up losing her breakfast in her crate. Donna cleaned up the mess as best as she could and then placed Ozark in her lap where she stayed for the remainder of the ride. That was a first. In the past, when Ozark was out of her crate, she would become over-stimulated by all of the motion of travel and run around in the coach. That’s why we started putting her in a cat carrier for travel. But she is almost a year and a half old now – maybe she’s settling down.

It was a downhill run all the way to Red Bluff where we hit I-5. We were about 500 feet above sea level at that point. We took I-5 south about 15 miles to Corning. I knew there was a Blue Beacon truck wash off South Boulevard in Corning and I saw it from the Interstate. We pulled off so I could have the coach and trailer washed – it was so dirty from the rain in Susanville and the drive here. I’ve had mixed results at Blue Beacon truck washes, but I have to say the crew in Corning did a great job. The coach and trailer are all shiny again.

We pulled into the Rolling Hills RV park at the Rolling Hills Casino a few miles south of town. I had checked out the entry to the park on Google Earth to find the best way in. Their signage is good, but the entry is a little different. We entered through a truck stop and found the casino’s travelers’ center at the back of the truck stop parking area. I checked in and paid for 10 nights. They told me the sites were 70 feet long and to drive into the park and take my pick.

We drove through the park and could see the sites weren’t all 70 feet long. They were all pull-throughs, but some were longer than others. We thought we would just take a lap or two around the park before we chose a site. The park host caught up with us in a golf cart. I stopped and he told me which sites were the longest. He suggested site 71, right next to where we stopped. Donna liked the view and it’s at the western end of the park – farthest from the road.

The park host advised me to drive out of the park and turn around in the truck stop so I could re-enter and be oriented in the right direction for site 71. This was good advice and we pulled into the site without any difficulty. We were set up in no time.

The weather forecast for Corning showed 0% chance of rain when I checked on Monday morning. By the afternoon, it was showing 15% chance of rain. While I was out putting on the windshield cover, the camp host stopped by and said they were now calling for rain for sure before nightfall. Great, I just had the coach washed.

Windshield view – rain in the hills to the west

Donna went out for walk to explore the area. Later we sat in chairs outside and read while enjoying a cold one. It’s surprisingly quiet here given the proximity to I-5.

Clean coach and trailer in site 71

The rain passed to the west of us and we didn’t get a drop. This morning it’s cloudy. The weather guessers are calling for a high temperature in the mid-70s today with a 15% chance of rain. We’ll see how that works out. Corning is about 300 feet above sea level, located in the northern end of California’s central valley. It’s billed as The Olive Capital. Olive, walnut and almond orchards surround the area. Northern California is also home to many large cattle ranches. Corning has a population of around 7,500 people.

We plan to make a few trips to Corning and also over to Chico. That will be fodder for another post.

The sign says The Olive City

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!