Standish, CA

Oct. 25 2018

We spent 4 days at our boondocking “Sweet Spot” near Lassen Volcanic NP.  During that time we had 4 vehicles go by.  Here’s a few more pictures…

On a walk up the road.

No wonder we had good cell coverage, tower on the hill.

A little fall color,

Sunset colors in the eastern sky.

The next destination was Wal-Mart in Susanville, CA.  This was the smallest Wal-Mart we’ve ever spent the night.  The food section was only about 6 small aisles with almost no produce.  Not to worry, there was a Safeway a short walk away with a fantastic produce section.  It’s like Wal-Mart conceded their food business to Safeway.  In the same strip mall was an Ace hardware and Laundromat, all be it expensive - $3 a load.  All the people we encountered in Susanville were extremely friendly.  The guy at the Ace hardware even called around town to find an obscure part I wanted for the upcoming water heater install.  Sometime in the future I’d like to come back to Susanville and spend more time.

We stayed in the parking lot at Wal-Mart until about 11am. Our next destination was a whopping 14 miles away in Standish, CA.  What’s in Standish you ask, a little 27 site PassportAmerica  RV Park called Days End.

Days End is one of the nicest little RV Parks we've visited.  Arnie, the owner/manager/grounds crew and all around character is a little gruff at first but he's really a nice guy who runs a tight ship.  All the facilities are top notch.  We originally planned to do one of our "Drain tanks, fill water, do laundry and take a real shower" stops.  With all our chores done we were ready to leave the next day but liked it here so much we stayed another day. Oh, and did I mention the great WiFi and TV reception!

There's not much here, a gas station/convenience store (that Arnie built in the late 80's), post office and this RV park (that he built in the early 2000's).  It's basically a farming community cross roads.

Here's some pics...

Yes, That's population "85".

Sunset over Standish CA.

Boondocking near Lassen Volcanic NP

Oct. 19, 2018

After leaving Lakehead, we stopped for the night at a Walmart in Red Bluff CA before heading into the mountains toward Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park southern entrance.  More to come on Lassen soon. We’d planned to stay in a Forest Service campground but when we called, they were closed for the season. The lady we talked to suggested dispersed camping including the snowmobile staging area parking lot, unused this time of year.  We knew of some dispersed camping or boondocking spots from an app on our phones (Freecampsites.net) but we wanted to scout them first. The parking lot would be a good place to start.

We found a great place with a view, plenty of sun for our solar system AND full bars of Verizon LTE.  With a good weather forecast, we decided to stay here for a few days and just chill.

Snowmobile parking lot.

Boondocking spot.

Heading south for the winter

Oct 6, 2018

The last 2 days at McMinnville were overcast and drizzly.  We'd squeezed as much summer out of Oregon as we could.  It was time to start heading south.  Our first stop was the Valley River Mall in Eugene, OR.  Last June we learned they allowed RV's to stay in their rear parking lot for up to 2 nights for free, we planned to do some shopping in Eugene before moving on.  Everything is very official. The security guards drive by and check you in with a little note indicating the day you'll leave.  We found evidence of this practice going back to 2011. Unfortunately the security guard informed us they'd be terminating the program starting Jan. 2019.  One (but not the only) reason was a few people abusing the PRIVELAGE!

Our main shopping objective was to buy Joan a new computer. Her 17" laptop, dating back to 2012, had become more of a liability than an asset with several system failures.  Also, it's size was the "elephant in the room" in such a small living space. Well, after several stops at the usual electronics stores and some Internet research she selected a 14" laptop with a Microsoft i5 processer and a 256 Gb solid state disk drive. I'm pleased to report that Joan and her new computer (Hanna) are very happy together!

The next stop was Valley of the Rouge State Park near Medford, OR. We'd take care of our systems after 5 days of dry camping, do some laundry and cooking before moving on.

Campsite at Valley of the Rouge State Park. Fall colors.

Oct. 10

The plan is to head south into northern California, cross the mountains and check out the southern entrance to Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park before continuing south along the eastern side of the Sierra-Nevada's. We've wanted to explore that area more after passing through on our way to Oregon a few years ago.

Mt. Shasta from I-5 heading south.

First stop in California, Antlers National Forest Service Campground at Lakehead, CA.

We only planned to stay here overnight.  After setting up I noticed a little drip under the camper that shouldn't be there.  I traced it to the water heater and eventually to the fitting on the hot water outlet pipe.  It was just a small leak around the threads, no problem I'll just remove the fitting, put some more sealant on it and put it back in.  Well... the fitting was plastic and as I was "unscrewing" it, it didn't feel right.  Yep, you guessed it, it sheered off. 

I removed the water heater from the camper and tried to remove the broken off part with various tools including a Dremel with tiny bits similar to dental tools, no luck.  The plastic threads were some how fused to the aluminum tank.  I later learned you never use steel or PLASTIC fittings on these aluminum tanks.  With 20-20 hind sight I'd have tried some radiator patch epoxy from an auto parts store.

So, what started as a minor leak has turned into a new water heater. Oh well, it was a 9 year old water heater but it was working just fine. The installed price from various RV repair shops is about $1000.  I found a new one online for $369 and feel pretty confident since I'd already removed the old one. We're shipping it to Lone Pine, CA, where we planned to spend some time anyway. In the mean time we'll heat water the old fashion way, on the stove. 

We really liked Antler CG so we stayed 3 days while sorting out a plan for the water heater.

Day 2 at Antlers, about 5 hours of good solar per day

Our weather window for crossing the mountains had closed-in with heavy winds warnings for "high profile vehicles".  Also, Joan needed some heavy duty WiFi to finish setting up her new computer so we moved to a full service campground on the other side of I-5, Lakeshore Inn and RV park.

Lakeshore RV Park campground.

Making home made apple sauce with apples from Beaver Creek trees.

The lake in Lakehead, CA is Lake Shasta, drawn down for the winter.

Antler Campground is on the other side of I-5.

What was supposed to be an over night stop turned into 5 days at Lakehead, CA.  C'est La Vie, when life serves up lemons, you make lemonade or in our case, apple sauce.

Spruce Goose VIP tour

SPRUCE GOOSE TOUR - for $29.95 up to 4 people can take a guided tour of flight deck and cockpit. Keep in mind the Goose is 98% wood, even structural members that look like medal, are made of wood.

Here's some picture...

Looking aft. Notice 6' mannequin at center right.  The flat surface above is where the wings come together.

Looking forward. The production model would have had clam shell doors for loading tanks and other cargo.

The wings are large enough to service the rear of the engines.

Engineers would sit here monitoring test equipment during the test taxi/flight.

Looking forward from the pilot's seat. One of first "heads up display".

Looking out the pilots side window.

Joan peeking out the pilots roof hatch.

Smile for the camera! Cockpit photo is included with the tour.

Views of  the wood structure.

The edge on the right is the outer skin of the fuselage.

Coming next, Heading south for the winter.

Spruce Goose and Evergreen Aviation & Space museum

Oct. 2018

Our first stop after leaving Beaver Creek was the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, OR.  They allow RV’s to stay in their parking for up to 2 nights and they have the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’s famous flying boat (see links below)

H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose)

The Spruce Goose and its journey to McMinnville OR

Spruce Goose VIP Tour

The Evergreen museum does a great job and I highly recommend it if you’re an aviation or space buff.  There’s 3 building. The Aviation building  houses the "Goose" with most of the other aviation exhibits tucked in under it’s massive bulk.  The Space building chronicles the history of manned space exploration along with some aviation overflow. The I-Max theater building where 4 movies are shown at various times during the day (some in 3-D).  The grounds also have some planes on display and some works in progress in the rear parking lot where the RV’s stay. The buildings also house various work shops including a model airplane section.

There’s over 200 volunteers who basically run the museum floor and also work on restoring vintage aircraft. They're constantly adding, removing and moving planes around.  A few planes that were in the parking lot the previous evening were moved into the museum while we were there the next day.

Each plane has a sign explaining the history of the model with some basic specs and the history of that particular airplane on display.

We bought a 2 day pass, saw all the I-Max movies and stayed 3 nights.

Here’s some pictures…

Interesting photo submitted to www.tripadvisor.com by gdc4u2 (Oct 2018). 
 Wish I'd taken this one myself.

Joan and one of the massive 28 cylinder Prat and Whitney engines. 

Di-aroma showing construction of the Goose.

Coming next, The VIP tour.