Hello California!

Ray rousted me before sunrise this morning. I may not survive the trip! It was so cold at Canyonville, and colder still in the showers. The showers themselves are lovely, all grey tile, nice tiled bench to sit on, a potty, a sink and a heater which has a timer. At a temp below freezing, the tiles feel every bit as cold as the air, if not colder. But there was plenty of hot water and a nice shower head, so we survived showering. We used their showers because we were afraid our water hose would freeze solid and so we didn't hook up anything but electric. It was so cold the electric heat pumps could not find any heat to pump and so we used the propane furnace to heat us toasty warm all night.

At leaving time all went smoothly until it was time to retract the levelers. One of them apparently had no intention of retracting, but Ray knew how to get it retracted manually, so all was well after slight initial alarm. Off we went into a foggy morning.

It was fog off and on until we were clear of Mount Shasta. Her head was wreathed in clouds and her feet in a fog bank. It was an impressive sight. Just as we cleared Sexton Mountain Pass, where it was sunny, we had a wonderful view of the valley below. The valley was filled with thick fog, as if someone had laid a large piece of batting down there. It was a breathtaking view. As many times as we've been up and down this road, we'd never seen a thing like that before.

The motor home has a large windshield, as they all do. Great for seeing the magnificent scenery in the Siskiyous and the Southern Cascades and also great for letting the sun in. Wow, did we get hot when we finally got out from under the fog!

We stopped for lunch at the Kalama River Rest Area. It's river front for sure. The picnic areas are along the river and it's so pretty. We had a view of the river and lawns as we ate our lunch. We both agree that having spent the night with the "wings" of the motor home unfurled that it seems a whole lot more cramped in here during the day. Funny, until today we thought it was plenty of room with wings furled.

 It was so quiet there at Seven Feathers, not so quiet here. We are just a block off Highway 99 here in Corning, California. Olive City, the signs say, but we will not have time to find out. We made good time here today and pulled in before sunset. Makes set up lots easier, I must admit. It's so much warmer here, and nicely dry. I used the convection/microwave for the first time. Managed not to overcook the tuna casserole. Plus we have leftovers for lunch. We are making a list of all the things we forgot to bring. And we thought we had all we'd need! No tv because we forgot to bring a coax cable. But we have plenty of dvds if we ever have enough energy to watch something.

We had about 8 miles per gallon today. Pretty good for mountains! Of course, we saved gas going down the mountains, we just coasted.

Tomorrow is all flat but it's a very long day. We'll be stopping in Bakersfield, California tomorrow, probably well after dark. I've got left over chili I can microwave quickly.

Norman is busy being the absolute best motor homing dog and I suspect he will do that again tomorrow He really seems to be enjoying the trip.