Monday was my oldest daughter Alana’s birthday. We celebrated with dinner at Bonefish Grill with a party of family and friends. Good food and fun times with great people.
Donna conversing with our granddaughter Lainey and her boyfriend Dan. Next to Donna is Alana and her boyfriend, Kevin.
Things have been pretty low key around here. As expected, rain showers started Tuesday night and we had showers off and on since then. The temperature has been cool, only reaching the mid-60s. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for a dry day with warmer temperatures.
I’m heading out on a mission tomorrow. I’ll be flying out of Sea-Tac airport to Billings, Montana. If my mission is a success, all will be revealed after I return Sunday afternoon. Until then, stay tuned.
We were up early on Friday morning and hit the road with what had to be our earliest departure ever. We were on the road by 7:30am. I’d snagged an appointment for a chassis alignment on the coach at Brazel’s RV Performance Center in Centralia, Washington. I thought I could make the drive in four and half hours, but you never know what you might encounter driving through Portland.
I decided to take the long way around on I-205 rather than going straight through downtown Portland in I-5. This turned out to be a good decision as we only had a couple of slow-downs and no drama. We made good time and I had enough time to spare for a lunch stop in Chehalis. I went to the Subway sandwich shop while Donna fixed a salad for herself. We arrived at Brazel’s at 12:30pm and dropped the trailer in a pull-through site in their RV customer lot. This lot has full hook-ups for about a dozen and a half rigs. They took the coach into the shop right at 1pm.
The alignment job was a comprehensive chassis alignment that began with weighing the four corner wheel weight of the coach. They adjusted the ride height, checked rear alignment and thrust – no issues there – and front wheel camber, caster and toe. The front toe needed to be reset. Meanwhile, Donna used their 5G wifi to get some work done in the customer lounge area. With the work completed, we rolled out of Centralia at 4:30pm.
We got lucky and kept the wheels turning through Olympia with only a couple of slow-downs. The traffic came to a standstill just past the Martin Way exit where we left I-5. Our destination was the Cabela’s store in Lacey. We pulled into their lot around 5:30pm and called it a day. We’ve stayed at this Cabela’s before. It’s a quiet, out-of-the-way stop and good for a one-night layover.
Parked for the night at the west end of the Lacey Cabela’s
I’d planned on using the Cabela’s dump station but found they had removed it! Where the old dump station was located, they had poured concrete over the dump station hook-up. I don’t know what prompted that.
Donna made a favorite for dinner – pork tenderloin medallions with a dijon sauce, sweet potato mash and steamed asparagus.
Pork tenderloin medallions
The sun doesn’t set until well after 9pm this far north at this time of year. Consequently, we stayed up later than usual watching TV. Saturday morning we didn’t get rolling again until 10am. Once again, I opted to go the long way around and took I-405 instead of following I-5 through Seattle. I’m not sure how much it helped – traffic was terrible through Tacoma before we even got to I-405. Then we had a number of slow-downs and and full stops along the way. Once we got through and rejoined I-5 in Lynnwood, the slow downs continued. I-5 through Everett is poorly designed with traffic joining the Interstate right where lane closures or exit only lanes appear. It didn’t matter that it was mid-day on a Saturday – traffic came to a halt several times.
We stopped at the Smokey Point rest area at mile post 207 and used the free dump station there. They have three lanes for RV dump stations and we didn’t have to wait. From there, we continued north to Mount Vernon where I dropped off the Spyder. The shop there had a backlog of work, so it may be two weeks before they get to work on the Spyder. It was our best option though.
Now we’re parked in my daughter, Alana’s, driveway in Arlington, Washington. Her driveway is long enough to back in our 65-foot length of coach and trailer and set up for a couple of weeks of mooch-docking. Getting the coach and trailer lined up on the narrow residential street is a bit of a chore, but we got it done. I had us leveled and connected to the 50-amp electrical service I installed here a couple of years ago when I found out I couldn’t get Dish satellite reception. I had to pull the jacks up and move forward about three feet before the satellite antenna could lock in the signal. It’s all good now, but next time I’ll try to remember to check the satellite before I set everything up.
Mooch-docking at Alana’s
The weather has been outstanding. Mostly sunny skies with the high temperature reaching the mid-70s over the weekend and should be the same today. But, this is western Washington in June. Rain is forecast to reach the area overnight and we’ll have rain over the next few days.
Today is Alana’s birthday. We’ll be going out to celebrate over dinner at The Bonefish Grill tonight. Happy birthday, Alana!
We’ve had a couple of interesting visitors here at Richardson Park.
The first was our neighbor who set up in site 39, next to us. His name was Paul Manuel and he came down from Tacoma in his National Tradewinds motorhome. He’s a bit of a traveling minstrel – he plays the flute and attends music festivals around the area. He once owned a deli and now he and his son set up a food trailer at festivals and are known for their Philly cheese steak sandwiches. They also make subs and other fare, but the cheese steak is the most popular menu item and their claim to fame.
He sat on a picnic table in the center of the park and played his flute – he’s very good. Donna went over to compliment his playing and then invited him to visit with us for a while. He has a six-acre hobby farm in southeast Tacoma and invited us to park at his place if we’re ever in the area. He left yesterday around noon, but will return for the music festival in Veneta July 12 -14th.
The other visitor came by around noon yesterday. His name is Mike Justice – a blog follower that has a farm near the park. He came bearing gifts – he brought hazelnuts from his farm that he roasted and seasoned with a barbeque salt and they are delicious. He also gifted us with two bottles of double IPA from Pelican Brewing on the Oregon Coast. I paired it with last night’s dinner of shrimp over cauliflower rice. Nice. Thanks, Mike!
Pelican Beak Breaker Double IPA
Any time you see the word “double” in a beer description, it means the recipe has been kicked up a notch – just like adding “imperial” to the name. In this case, the beer has a higher gravity with a 9% ABV. Of course, to offset the maltiness of such a high gravity brew, additional hops are used for bittering.
With the afternoon temperature hitting 95 degrees, Donna took a floatie tube to the beach area of the lake and cooled off. I passed on going in the water as I have a small spot of dermatitis on my right foot. I took a short stroll down the path through the woods from our site to the marina area of Fern Ridge Lake.
A variety of boats at the marina
There’s a nice grassy park next to the marina and a host with a 5th-wheel trailer set up there.
People picnicking in the park on the left – another marina on the right
Richardson Park is surrounded by working farms. There’s everything from hazelnuts to strawberries growing around here. We even have a cherry tree in our site that’s bearing fruit. I could hear a farm implement at the edge of the park and wondered what it was. It turned out to be a hay baler.
Baling hay next to the parkTrail through the woods from our site
Source Engineering phoned in the afternoon and told me the sway bar links arrived. We made arrangements to have them installed this morning at 9:30am. Donna booked another night here, so we’ll move on Friday morning.
It only took about an hour to have the old links removed and new links with new bushings installed. What a difference proper tension on the sway bar makes – much better cornering and a smoother ride.
The sway bar is a “U” shaped steel torsion bar with the lower portion of the “U” flattened and elongated. The lower part of the “U” – a straight section – is attached to the front axle. At either end of the “U,” there’s a mounting point where links join the ends of the sway bar to the chassis frame rails.
Front sway barSway bar link
Here’s how it works – picture making a sharp right turn. Centrifugal force will cause the body and chassis of the coach to roll to the outside of the turn. In this example, the body rolls to the left, compressing the suspension on the left side while extending the suspension on the right side.
With a sway bar attached to the axle and frame rails, as the chassis tries to roll to the left, the right end of the sway bar is pulled up. Meanwhile the left end of the sway bar is being pushed down. This creates a torsion – a twisting force – on the length of the sway bar attached to the axle. Of course the steel torsion bar resists this force and lessens the amount of body/chassis roll. It greatly enhances vehicle handling.
Today the high temperature should reach the mid-80s. Tonight should be cool with a low in the mid-50s and tomorrow should be sunny with a high around 80. We plan to head out tomorrow morning. The wind is forecast to be fairly calm and it should be a good day for travel.
My laptop has been giving me fits, so I haven’t posted for several days. I thought my hard drive was about to crash. The cursor would suddenly freeze and the laptop would become unresponsive for long periods of time. A couple of days ago, when it started working again after about 40 minutes of no response, I found Malwarebytes was running in the background. I ended the task once the laptop resumed working and the laptop seemed fine. Last night it happened again. This time I uninstalled Malewarebytes and the laptop has been fine. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
The weekend weather was nice in Sutherlin – temps climbed daily from 70 degrees on Friday to mid-70s on Saturday and Sunday, hitting the 80s on Monday. Saturday morning we disconnected the 50amp electric service, water and sewer and battened down the hatches for a short drive into town. Les Schwab called around 9:30am and said our tires had arrived.
We pulled behind the shop and were directed to an outdoor covered work station. I checked the codes on the new tires to confirm the production dates – they were all 1419. As I wrote in my last post, tires have Department of Transportation (DOT) codes on the sidewall. The codes are alpha-numeric. The letters indicate the factory that produced the tire and the numbers are the calendar week and year of production, so 1419 means these tires were made the 14th calendar week of 2019.
DOT code on the new tires
Having fresh tires on an RV is an important consideration. Tires begin aging soon after they’re made – especially if they’re exposed to sunlight. Our old tires had lots of tread left – the tread depth was 13/32″ deep. Tires aren’t considered worn out until the tread depth is 3/32″. But, our tires had aged out. I found weather checking on the sidewall of two of our tires.
Weather checking
The checking was wasn’t deep and we would most likely be okay for a while longer. But I don’t like pushing such an important safety issue as tires. A blowout on a motorhome can be a catastrophic event.
The guys at Les Schwab did a fantastic job and had all six tires replaced in about an hour and a half. I had Equal Flexx brand balancing beads put in all six wheels. New shoes and a smooth ride!
With the Spyder down, we had nowhere to go and not much to do all weekend. Donna took the time to make a few dishes of “comfort food” so we would have some leftovers – we plan to boondock for a few nights as we head north. She made a Greek pork stew that was tasty and a big pot of pea soup.
Greek pork stew
Monday morning we hitched up the trailer and I pulled it into the street. I tried to back the Spyder into the trailer with its wounded engine thumping on one cylinder, but it wouldn’t go up the ramp without stalling. Luckily, a couple of guys were working nearby and helped me push it up the ramp into the trailer.
We drove about 15 miles up I-5 and exited near Anlauf. From there we hit a county road called Territorial Highway. This was a twisty road with lots of short, steep climbs and downgrades – and no shoulder in parts. All along this route, we saw signs for wineries. If the Spyder was operational, I could see us taking winery tours in this area.
Our destination was Richardson Park – a county park/campground on Fern Ridge Lake near Veneta, west of Eugene, Oregon. I had an appointment set for Tuesday morning at Source Engineering in Veneta – about 10 minutes away from Richardson Park.
Last summer, we had a cooling fan failure on the coach. The cooling fan is driven by a hydraulic motor. The speed of the fan is regulated by a wax-valve thermostat. The wax in the valve expands with heat and drives a tapered piston into a seat where the fluid bypasses the fan motor. When the piston fully seats and closes the bypass, the fan runs at its highest speed. When the wax is cold – meaning the coolant is cold – the valve is open and fluid bypasses the hydraulic motor and the fan doesn’t turn.
When our wax-valve failed, the only replacement parts I could find were in England and would take a week to arrive. So, I had a stop-gap repair made that was intended to be temporary. I had the line for the bypass capped off so no fluid could bypass the hydraulic motor. This meant the fan always ran at full speed regardless of temperature. This really wasn’t harmful – the coolant temperature in the engine block was regulated by the thermostat in the coolant passage. But it has drawbacks – it takes horsepower to drive the fan. The amount varies with engine speed, but it takes an average of more than 30 horsepower to drive the fan. This in turn reduces fuel economy. Also, there’s the wear and tear of running the hydraulic motor full-speed, full time.
Later, I found out that Source Engineering had the Sauer Danfoss wax valves. They make a conversion kit to retrofit the mechanical wax valve system into late model coaches with electronically controlled cooling fan motors. The electronic control units have a high failure rate – I often hear newer Monacos or Holiday Ramblers with their fans running at high speed at start up as they leave an RV park with a cold engine. The mechanical wax-valve system rarely fails.
On Tuesday morning, we left the trailer in our site and drove to Source Engineering’s shop. We arrived at 8:15am and they took our coach in straight away. It took about an hour and a half to get the hydraulic lines uncapped and sorted and the new valve installed. They also added a restrictor to the bypass line so the fan will always run at a minimum of about 800 rpm. This is a good idea – regardless of temperature, the fan will draw air across the charge-air cooler and condenser and if the wax valve ever fails, the fan will provide some cooling. At full speed with the wax valve fully closed – this occurs at 198 degrees of coolant temperature – the fan turns at 2,500-3,000 rpm.
In the service bay at Source Engineering
I had another issue for them to look at. Our front sway bar bushings are worn and the sway bar is loose. I tried to tighten it, but it seems the loose bushings allowed the bar to rub and damage the link rod threads. I couldn’t tighten it. They checked it out and confirmed the links needed to be replaced. The bad news was, they didn’t have the links we needed in stock. The good news was, they could get them from Roadmaster in Vancouver, Washington and have the parts in a day or two.
So, we extended our stay at Richardson Park until Thursday, possibly Friday. Richardson Park isn’t a bad place to be stuck. It’s a beautiful park with paved sites and grassy areas and lots of trees. And it’s right on the lake. Fern Ridge Lake is a reservoir on the Long Tom River. It covers over 9,300 acres and is a little over four miles long. It’s a popular spot for sailboats, power boats, water skiing and fishing. In the summer, the prevailing wind from the north is strong in the afternoon making it ideal for sailing. There are boat clubs and marinas on the lake.
Site 38 at Richardson Park – 50 amp electric service and water
Before we returned from Source Engineering, we made a detour to hit Walmart in west Eugene – about 12 miles away from Veneta. Donna needed to pick up a few items to meet her menu plans for the rest of the week and I took the opportunity to stock up the beer supply.
Between the Spyder, the sway bar links and my laptop troubles, it seems like everything is going down at once. We’ll get it sorted. Next week I’ll drop off the Spyder for repairs while we visit family in Arlington, Washington.
The weather here has been unusually warm. Yesterday the high was 91 degrees – about 20 degrees higher than average. Today will hit the mid-to-upper-90s before things start cooling off. Mid-70s should be the high by the end of the week.
We’ve been without wheels since the Spyder came up with a dead cylinder Sunday afternoon. I detailed my diagnostic process in the last post. The new ignition coil module was supposed to come in on Wednesday, but when I checked with Valley Motorsports in Eugene, they told me the part wouldn’t be there until Thursday between 11am and 1pm.
Donna talked to our neighbor, Mickey, and found out that he and his wife were going to Roseburg Thursday morning. They said they could drop me off at Enterprise Rental Car in Roseburg. I called and reserved a car for pick-up Thursday morning.
I picked up the car around 9:30am and headed north – it was about an hour drive to Eugene. I had checked a map of the city and had a plan. First I stopped at Costco where I bought a few items including a new camp chair. It’s a folding director’s chair with a folding side table – not something I could easily carry on the Spyder, so I took advantage of having a car.
Next I went to the west side of town and checked out the Walmart. I wanted to see what the overnight parking situation looked like and I also needed to pick up aluminum drip pan liners for the Weber Q. From there I went to the Elks’ Lodge to see what it looked like for an overnight spot. The west side Elks’ Lodge is a no go for RV parking. The lot is tight and shared with several other businesses. I was hoping to find a place to dry camp Monday night so we could be close to Source Engineering in Veneta, Oregon where we have an appointment Tuesday morning.
After a quick stop for lunch at Taco Time, I found Valley Motorsports at 12:30pm. They said they would call when the part came in and I hadn’t heard from them yet. I checked at the parts counter and was told the day’s parts shipment had just arrived and was being checked in. I was going to sit in the waiting area and read a book while they did that, but a guy came out with my part after about three minutes!
I was 99% sure the ignition coil was the culprit for the lack of spark in the rear cylinder, but there was a small chance that it could be a fault in the Engine Control Module (ECM) which sends a signal to the coil pack. I couldn’t test for this signal without the proprietary B.U.D.S. computer program that’s only found at Can-Am dealers. Ignition components are not returnable once they’ve been installed. I rolled the dice and paid for the $170 coil pack.
An hour later, I was back at Timber Valley SKP Park and got to work. Mickey stopped by and offered to follow me to Roseburg when I returned the rental car. I told him that with any luck we’ll use the Spyder to get back from the rental car agency.
Well, my luck ran out on me and my roll of the dice was a loser. The coil pack didn’t fix the problem. I have no choice now but to take it to a dealer where they can interrogate the ECM and run through the diagnostic protocol to see why the rear ignition coil isn’t receving a signal. I know the primary voltage and grounds are good and the coil is new, so it must be a loss of signal to fire the coil that is the root of the problem. I took Mickey up on the offer to pick me up at the rental agency in Roseburg.
I have a coil pack for sale!
We’ve extended our stay here until Monday. Tomorrow morning I’ll drive the coach to Les Schwab in Sutherlin and have the tires replaced. Monday we’ll move to Richardson Park Campground on Fern Ridge Lake, just north of Veneta. After we have the work performed at Source Engineering on Tuesday, we’ll head north. Our original plan was to go to the coast, but now that’s changed.
We plan to get to my oldest daughter, Alana’s house in Arlington, Washington by the end of the week. From there, I can have the Spyder transported to the dealer in Mount Vernon and we’ll hang out in Alana’s driveway until it’s fixed. Sometimes the best laid plans go awry.
The days here have been warm – in the mid-80s until yesterday. Yesterday, the high was in the low 70s and a few rain drops fell in the afternoon. It rained overnight and showers continue today off and on. I need to bicycle into town at some point to pick up a general delivery package at the post office. We’ll be mostly homebound until we get the Spyder repaired. We’d hoped to check out some of the wineries and other sights around here, but that’ll have to wait until next time.
No post is complete without a dinner plate photo. On Tuesday, Donna prepared tortilla-crusted tilapia. This time she served it over a smear of avocado puree on the plate before she added the fish and salsa. She served corn with cilantro on the side.
I mentioned in my last post that the upcoming weekend was a “free fishing weekend” in Oregon. So on Saturday morning, Donna and I loaded the tackle box and our fishing poles and rode the Spyder up to Cooper Creek Reservoir – about four miles away from Timber Valley SKP Park just east of Sutherlin.
The west end of the lake was crowded with fisherman – they had a youth fishing event scheduled there. So we went to the east end of the lake where we had scouted out another fishing access point. There were only a few people there. We didn’t have much luck. We spent about an hour and a half there and I only caught two small bluegill that I released. Meanwhile, Donna was skunked.
In the afternoon, Donna took the Spyder to the grocery store in town and bought a few things. She made salmon cakes for dinner, but she used a different recipe. This recipe was a little more involved than what she usually makes – it included capers plus chopped red peppers and red onion sauteed in butter versus the usual mayonnaise. She served an arugula salad on the side with the apple cider dressing we bought the day before at the farmers’ market. Tasty!
Salmon cake plate
On Sunday morning, after I watched the Moto GP race from Mugello, Italy, we went back to the reservoir and tried the west end this time – it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the day before. Even though it was free fishing weekend, we still had to pay $4/day to park at the reservoir. The Cooper Creek Reservoir is a long, narrow body of water stretching west to east then southeast. It’s large enough for water skiing and we saw a water skier and few people tubing behind powerboats.
West end of Cooper Creek Reservoir
Once again, the fishing wasn’t too hot and we were both skunked. We only saw a couple of fish caught although a dozen or so people were fishing.
Donna fishing for fish
When we came home, Donna hit the ice cream social at the park – she had a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream. After she came home, I fired up the Spyder to run an errand and trouble struck. It was only running on one cylinder. I did a cursory check, then decided to leave it for Monday morning. It was hot out in the direct sun and I didn’t feel like getting too involved with it.
The afternoon temperatures have reached the low 80s for the last few days and we run the air conditioners in the coach in the afternoon. Donna made a simple dish for dinner last night – spaghetti squash topped with beef ragu and shaved parmesan.
Beef ragu over spaghetti squash
This morning, I got to work on the Spyder. The first step, as always, was to peel the onion. To do anything mechanical on the Spyder, body panels have to come off. In this case, I had to remove seven panels with numerous fasteners. It’s tedious work.
An internal combustion gasoline engine needs a few things in order to work – you need fuel and air in the proper ratio, compression and a spark for ignition at the right time. For some reason, one of the cylinders wasn’t getting fuel or spark. To get to the spark plugs, I had to remove the air box. Everything is packaged so tightly on the Spyder, this job is easier said than done. After about an hour, I could finally pull the spark plugs.
I grounded the spark plugs and cranked the starter to see if I was getting a spark. No spark on the rear cylinder, good spark on the front one. I switched the plugs in the leads and tried again. No spark in the rear cylinder. This told me it wasn’t a problem with the spark plug. Next I switched the ignition wires at the coil and cranked the engine again. Still no spark in the rear cylinder. This told me the ignition wires weren’t the problem.
Without the specialty diagnostic equipment to check further, I relied on deductive reasoning. The ignition coil is a dual-coil unit. Both coils get primary voltage from the same source. Since one coil worked, it’s not a primary voltage problem. Since the ignition wires and the spark plugs were good, it left the coil as the most likely culprit. It’s possible that a fault in the engine control module could be preventing the rear coil from receiving a signal, but I don’t think that’s it. I’m putting my money on a bad ignition coil.
I checked around and the nearest dealer is in Eugene – about 60 miles away. I had them order a new coil assembly for $170. I found one for half that on Ebay, but it was sold “as-is” with no warranty and no returns. I didn’t trust it and I also didn’t know how long it would take to get. The dealer can get one in two days. I’ll have to rent a car and drive up to Eugene to fetch it. I put the plugs back in, the airbox on and reassembled most of the body work leaving off only what I need to access the ignition coil assembly. I spent a total of about two and half hours at this point.
Meanwhile Donna went out on her road bike for about an hour. After lunch, she went back out again on her beater bike – I call it that because it’s a rigid frame mountain bike she bought used for $25 – to town for a few items at the grocery store. When she returned, I commandeered the bike and rode to town. I stopped at the Les Schwab tire center to inquire about new tires for the coach. Our tires don’t have much wear after 40,000 miles, but they’re aging out. Our tires were manufactured in 2013 and after six years they’re beginning to show some checking – small cracks – in the sidewalls on at least two of the tires. I was hoping to get seven years out of them, but I won’t push it.
At Les Schwab, I asked Jeremy at the counter for a quote on replacement tires and I also wanted to know the DOT date codes on them. The Department of Transportation requires date codes on all passenger car and truck tires. The codes indicate the calendar week and year of manufacture. He called their warehouse and they had six Toyo M154 295/75 x 22.5 tires with DOT codes of 1419. This means they were made calendar week 14 of 2019 – two months ago. We were good to go.
I wanted to replace the tires here in Oregon because there’s no state sales tax here. On a $3,200 tire bill, that means a significant savings. I ordered the tires and we’ll have them installed on Saturday – oh, I should mention that we extended our stay here in Timber Valley SKP Park until Monday, June 10th.
The forecast calls for a couple more warm days, then much cooler on Thursday and Friday with a chance of rain on Friday. Hopefully I’ll have the Spyder project done by then and dry weather when I take to the coach to Les Schwab on Saturday.
*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!
We pulled out of Rolling Hills RV Park around 10am on Wednesday and headed north on I-5 from Corning, California. We intended to go to Lake Shastina to boondock on BLM land at a free campground there. The terrain soon changed after we passed through Red Bluff as we left the Sacramento Valley and started climbing. We drove past Shasta Lake which appears to be at full capacity – no more drought conditions here!
We climbed a series of summits ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level – some of them were 6% grades. Along the way, Donna researched a bit and found some depressing news. Lake Shastina campground had been closed to overnight camping in August of 2017. We only spent one night there before and were looking forward to spending several days there this time. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Lake Shastina campground, with no camp host or enforcement, was closed indefinitely last week after it had turned into a party pad for young locals.”
I also read that overnight restrictions were strictly enforced. This raises a question in my mind. If you can vigorously enforce a “no camping” restriction on public land, then why can’t you enforce alcohol restrictions instead of locking everyone out? Maybe it has something to do with the development of high-end housing nearby in the Lake Shastina community. Sounds like someone has the local powers-that-be in their pocket. No camping in the campground – what?
We pressed on to Yreka, California where we stayed at a Walmart several years ago – I wrote about that in this post. I wrote about how we ran into Clarke and Elaine Hockwald (Whatsnewell) at that time. We arrived at Walmart and were foiled again. Apparently, Yreka has banned overnight parking. We regrouped and went to the Rain Rock Casino which opened in the last year or so on the east side of I-5 in Yreka. There we were welcome to dry camp overnight.
After a quiet night at the casino, we were back on the road 10:30am Thursday. Our new destination was Sutherlin, Oregon. We stayed on I-5 and hit the Oregon Border just before mile marker 797. That’s right – I-5 traverses the length of California from the Mexico border to Oregon – nearly 800 miles! About four miles into Oregon, we crossed Siskiyou Pass at 4,315 feet above sea level – the highest point on I-5.
After climbing the steep grade up Siskiyou Pass, we had a six-mile steep downgrade, descending 2,300 feet in that distance. The Interstate through southern Oregon is in the Siskiyou mountain range and has several steep climbs and descents. It’s only two lanes for the most part and I had to stay aware of slow trucks climbing ahead of us and fast moving cars coming from behind. I tried to judge the closing speeds so I could maintain momentum and pass the trucks which were only going about 30-35 mph while we maintained 50mph. I was able to shoot gaps in the car traffic which was moving at closer to 70mph.
We found the Timber Valley SKP Park in Sutherlin. This park is only open to members of the Escapees club – we’re members. We booked a week on full hook-ups for a bargain rate of $132. At check-in, the clerk suggested site 10 – she said it was large and had good satellite reception. We walked over to look at the site.
Site 10 is about 50 feet wide with a concrete pad in the center and a garden shed in the back. The rear of the site is bordered by Cooper Creek, making the rear boundary irregular. The depth of the site varies from about 50 feet to 75 feet. We agreed it was a great site for us. Walking back to the office, I noticed a Nexus class A diesel coach that checked in just ahead of us. They had disconnected the car they towed behind it. As we approached, the guy put the coach in gear and reversed with a bang into the car! I don’t know what he was thinking – maybe he thought he was in drive, not reverse. I guess he’ll have two insurance claims!
We dropped the trailer on one side of the concrete pad and set up the coach on the other side. It’s a nice site with lots of room.
Timber Valley SKP park site 10
In the evening, our neighbor in site 9 came over and introduced himself. His name is Mickey Thompson – I said, “That’s a famous name.” He said, “Yeah, he has all the fame and money, I have the good looks.”
We also had a visit from the Welcome Wagon here at the SKP park. Sandy gave us a few local brochures and a couple of gifts – two fabric coasters hand made by park members.
Donna grilled shrimp, bok choy and a medley of asparagus, baby bella mushrooms and peppers for dinner.
Shrimp and veggie plate
When we stayed here a couple of years ago, we dry-camped for one night only. At that time, we found wildlife in the park – wild turkeys and jack rabbits. They’re still in the area and I was told that bobcats and bears have been seen in the park at night. Donna was surprised to see a deer lying out in front of the clubhouse in the late afternoon.
This morning, Donna and I took the Spyder out and explored. We found a Visitor Center that was loaded with information and free maps of the western states. I like paper maps – most of ours were several years old though. I gathered a handful of new maps to replace them. We also found a small farmers’ market. However, fresh produce won’t be available here for another month or so, unlike northern California where the farmers’ market had plenty of local produce. We did pick up a jar of homemade apple cider vinaigrette after tasting a bit at the market.
We also took a ride out to Cooper Reservoir to check out fishing spots. This coming weekend is free fishing weekend in Oregon – no license required. The reservoir was stocked with 2,000 legal size trout last week. I think we’ll give it a try if I can figure out how to haul our fishing poles on the Spyder.
The weather is beautiful – afternoon highs near 80 degrees, clear skies and overnight lows in the 50s. The forecast calls for more of the same in the coming week. I’m thinking we might want to extend our stay beyond a week. I have an appointment to get some work done on the coach near Eugene on the 11th. So, we need to stay in this area until then.
I have a rack of babyback ribs on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill as I type this. We bought the ribs at the store in town and they weren’t trimmed very well. After removing the membrane from the underside of the ribs, I had to trim a fat cap from the meaty side – about a quarter-pound of fat. It’s all good now though and I’m looking forward to tonight’s dinner.
*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!
We didn’t do anything exciting on Sunday. I watched a couple of races on TV and other than a trip to the grocery store, I had a lazy day. The day was cool – the high temperature was only 65 degrees – but it ended with a spectacular sunset.
Sunset at Rolling Hills RV park Sunday evening
Monday was Memorial Day. This is a day where we honor those who’ve given all in service to our country. Last year we went to a memorial service in Kentucky at the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This year we went to a service at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Corning. The service was hosted by the Tehama County Veterans and the local American Legion. Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops participated along with the Corning High School band. I was impressed by the band – they were quite good!
Huge flag flying from a firetruck ladderMemorial service
Memorial Day is much more than beer and barbeque. Donna and I try to respect the meaning of the holiday.
Monday was also birthday girl day. It was Donna’s birthday and also my youngest daughter, Shauna’s, birthday. We celebrated with dinner at Timbers – the steakhouse in the Rolling Hills Casino. It’s probably the best restaurant in the area. Donna enjoyed a braised lamb shank while I went for the 14-ounce prime rib cut. We shared a nice bottle of sangiovese with dinner.
Fabulous at 59 birthday girl
We were hanging out after dinner when Donna met a woman walking her dogs by our site. Her name was Carol and they hit it off. They had a glass of wine together and talked while I puffed a cigar. Carol has property she’s developing into a resort in Canby, Oregon. She invited us to stay at the property – we might take her up on it as we’re heading into Oregon soon.
Today I need to pick up some packages at the post office. I also need to organize the trailer. We’ll be pulling out of here tomorrow and plan to head up to Lake Shastina for a few days of boondocking on the lake.
We’ve had a few late afternoon showers along with a passing overnight shower or two. Today is forecast to be much warmer – mid-80s. The warmer temperatures should hold up for the rest of the week. Lake Shastina should be a few degrees cooler. We’re at an elevation of only around 250 feet above sea level here – Lake Shastina is close to 3,000 feet above sea level.
The Rolling Hills RV Park is only a few miles from downtown Corning. The city has a population of about 7,500 people and the town itself is quite compact. We rode the Spyder into town on Thursday and our first stop was the Olive Pit. This is a familiar place for us – I usually make a stop there any time we pass through this area. The Olive Pit, as you can imagine, specializes in olives. They have every type of olive including some unusual combinations. I sampled the blue cheese-jalapeno stuffed olives this time and they were great! They also have a good selection of wines and craft beers.
Donna bought some lime gose beer. Gose is an unusual beer that has gained popularity lately. It’s slightly sour and salty and very refreshing on a warm afternoon. It’s usually brewed to a relatively low strength with the ABV under 5%. I chose a couple of sour beers as well – a nectarine saison and a sour IPA.
We made a stop at the post office where Donna had a general delivery package sent by her sister, Linda. It was an assortment of olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Tarpon Springs, Florida – a birthday present for Donna. On the way out of town, we made a quick stop for a photo op at the giant olive on the city limit at the intersection of South Avenue and Hall Road.
It even has a toothpick
Back at the RV park, Donna prepared a dish called saucy chicken. She sliced chicken breasts lengthwise – she uses the Spyderco Sentoku chef’s knife I bought for her to do this. It works like a charm on slicing chores like this. She marinated the chicken in a garlic-soy marinade and browned it in a pan, then a sauce with white wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, mustard and thyme. It was a bit of a complicated dish. It was tasty and she served it with sweet potato mash made with Greek yogurt.
Saucy chicken, sweet potato mash and asparagus
On Friday morning, we rode the Spyder through Corning and went northeast through the small town of Tehama where we crossed the Sacramento River. We followed CA99 north until we found Bianchi Orchards. We were there to learn something about walnuts and of course purchase some of them.
This walnut tree outside the Bianchi barn/store is over 100 years old
A barn on the property has been converted into a store/gift shop. We learned that more than a dozen English walnut varieties are grown in the area. California has more than 40 varieties in total but the most popular are Chandler, Hartley and Howard.
Chandler walnuts were developed by the University of California – Davis in 1978. The Chandler variety is the most popular and produces a large, well-sealed nut. The meat is a golden honey color. They are very uniform in color with a thin skin on the meat. Some people say they are on the bland side, but I found them to be creamy without any of the bitterness sometimes found in darker walnut meats.
California produces 98% of the walnuts consumed in the USA – 40% of the world’s consumption! The area from Tehama to Red Bluff is mostly walnut orchards, although we did see some pistachio groves as well.
Inside the Bianchi store, they have an interesting countertop/bar. It’s made from a flat-sawn walnut tree trunk. The finish on it is beautiful and somehow they managed to preserve the bark.
Walnut bar – note the bark on the edgeBeautiful surfaceWalnut countertop at the back of the bar includes a walnut backsplash
We bought a three-pound bag of shelled Chandler walnuts for $15 – a deal!
Back at the park, I was sitting outside after dinner reading a book and puffing a cigar. I felt the wind pick up and when I looked up, I saw large, dark clouds approaching. No rain was in the forecast but it felt like rain was imminent. I looked at the Radar Express app on my phone. We were being straddled by two storm cells!
Our location straddled by two cells
I quickly covered the Spyder, moved the chairs and table into the trailer and stayed in the trailer to finish my cigar. Within minutes, I heard sharp strikes on the roof of the trailer. We had hail! It was the size of large blueberries with some of the hail more like cherry size.
Hail outside the trailer
This wasn’t in the forecast, but I was glad I checked the radar app and got things put away.
Saturday morning we rode the Spyder back to Chico for the farmers’ market. In the past, we found some of the best produce and unbelievably low prices at this farmers’ market. Donna found the best looking baby bok choy we’ve ever seen and a large bundle was only $2.00!
Baby bok choy
Saturday evening, Donna lightly coated the fresh bok choy with sesame oil, then salted and peppered it and put it on the grill. Likewise, she prepared some baby bella mushrooms from the farmers’ market by lightly coating them with olive oil. After cooking the mushrooms she added a light dash of salt and pepper. By the way, I find the name baby bella confusing. These small mushrooms are called portabella – but they’re known as portobello when they’re full sized. They’re also known as cremini when small. They are full of nutrients and all I know for sure is these were delicious! Donna served leftover pork tenderloin kabobs over brown basmati rice with the fresh take from the market.
Outstanding mushrooms and bok choy
Rain showers developed again after dark Saturday night. We had showers off and on throughout the night and into this morning. We stayed indoors all morning – I watched the Formula One race from Monaco. I have the Indy 500 on the tube now.
The skies are supposed to clear this afternoon although it’ll remain cool – around 70 degrees. Tomorrow should be warmer for Memorial Day. We’ll pay our respects to those that sacrificed all while serving our country. Tomorrow is also Donna’s birthday – which coincides with my youngest daughter, Shauna’s birthday. We have dinner reservations at Timbers to celebrate tomorrow night.
The weatherman’s promise held true and we had mostly clear skies on Wednesday. The official high temperature here in Corning was 79 degrees. After a couple of wet, rainy days we wanted to get out and do something. So, how about a trip to the National Yoyo Museum? That’s right, there’s a yoyo museum in Chico.
We rode the Spyder out of Rolling Hills RV Park a little past 10am. It’s about a 30-mile ride to downtown Chico – we took a backroad route to CA32 which took us right into town. We parked the Spyder on Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets and took a walk through the area. There are numerous restaurants and cafes in the area and some cool shops. Chico is home to the California State University – Chico campus. The vibe downtown is trendy, youthful and fun.
I thought there was a Wednesday farmers’ market nearby – there used to be a few years ago. We walked by the farmers’ market lot and found out it’s Thursday and Saturday. We’ll go back on Saturday to check it out.
We walked back to 3rd and Broadway and found the Bird in Hand shop – that’s where the National Yoyo Museum is located. The museum is nothing more than a handful of display cabinets and a flat-screen video loop of competitors. The displays had memorabilia from national championships dating from the 1930s to 2017. I had no idea that yoyo championship competition was a thing.
Museum in the rear of Bird in HandPhoto in upper right of this diaplay is from the National Championship in San Diego from the year 1956 – the year I was bornThey had jacket patches from championships all the way up to 2017Donna with the world’s largest yoyo – it weighs over 200 pounds
The video was running on a loop and it showed competitors in different categories strutting their stuff. These guys were like magicians making their yoyo’s float through the air and creating complex geometric shapes with the string – all while the yoyo kept spinning and they were able to reel it back in without touching anything but the string. I guess it’s kind of like hoop dancing – you don’t think much about hula hoops until you see someone who knows what they’re doing perform. These guys and gals with their yoyos were unbelievable.
The Bird in Hand shop is a rather unique toy and game store. It has the feel of a circa 1960 toy store. Lots of stuff there that you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else.
While we were in Chico, we went into the Broadway Heights building and had lunch upstairs at a restaurant with the same name. I ordered a 10″ brick oven-fired pizza while Donna had a salad bowl with wild salmon cakes with a Thai vinaigrette. The food was very good and we left with a slice of lemon-ginger cheese cake baked by our waitress, Dawn. She’s worked there for 17 years and it’s obvious that she loves her job. She bakes all the desserts for the restaurant.
The wind had really picked up and the ride home was rocked by a few gusts that were over 30mph. The Spyder is really stable, but the crosswind on CA32 had me weaving a bit in a couple of places where there were large, open fields with nothing to block the wind.
I should mention some of the trees in the area. The city of Chico itself has what they call an urban forest. The city was designated as a “Tree City USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Trees on public right of ways in Chico date back to the 1870s when General John Bidwell founded the city.
Outside of town, there are large groves – mostly almonds. As we headed back toward Corning to the west, we rode through a few vineyards and walnut groves. As you get closer to Orland or Corning, the groves change to olive trees. Olive and nut farming and production are big business around here.
Donna whipped up a teriyaki baste and put together kabobs with pork tenderloin pieces, pineapple, portobello mushrooms, onions and cherry tomatoes. She grilled these on the Weber Q. She also sliced a Mexican gray squash – a summer squash similar to zucchini – and grilled it. My kabobs were served over white rice with the squash on the side – Donna opted for no rice.
Pork teriyaki kabobs over rice with Mexican gray squash
After a warm, sunny day, a few clouds rolled in before sundown. I thought we might get an unexpected rain shower as the dark clouds passed overhead. But it stayed dry and cleared up again right after sunset.
Clouds at sunset
I don’t have a plan for today and that’s okay. We’ll definitely hit the farmers’ market on Saturday. We’ll see what else comes up.
*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!
