Total camping trips in the motorhome: 153
Total solo camping trips: 90
Well, here we are August of 2024, and I can't believe I've had my Jeep Wrangler 4XE for two years, and I'm almost to the point of having worked at the California Department of Technology for 2 years. My how time flies.
Speaking of time flying, I can't believe I've been separated/divorced from Carol for 4 years. And I've had Remi well over 3 years now. But, she has been such an amazing travel companion for me since I got her. She and I have experienced a lot. She has always been at my side through everything we have seen together. She seems to be enjoying her life with me.
Early this month, my friend, Ally drove her van up to visit her family in Washington state for two weeks. She is such an amazing individual. Though the fact that she is a woman is not lost on me, I rarely refer to her as a woman, because for all the men and women that I know, she sets such an amazing example for me to be a better person, I am simply in awe of her. Her work life has been pretty rough lately. She isn't getting the support she deserves from her company or her upper management, and she has been feeling pretty down about the whole thing. So, when she told me she was heading home, I wanted to do something special for her to come home too so that hopefully she would smile. So, I loaded Remi up in the car, and we went to Target and I got a celebratory lettering kit, and Remi and I drove over to Ally's home and put "Welcome Home" on her garage door. I just wanted to do something to remind her people care about her. She is the best friend who I have ever had, who has made more time for me than anyone I have ever known, so I consider myself very fortunate.
I'm sure there are times that I do things that cause her to just shake her head... wondering what possess me to do some of the things that I do, but that is ok, as long as I feel like I still bring some value to her life, that is all that matters to me.
I had a bit of a scheduling conflict with Thousand Trails this month, I had a hard time getting into any of the parks I typically like to one week, so I had to go with my backup park in Oregon House called Lake of the Springs. I really like Oregon House, so I don't think of it as a lesser park or anything like that, it's just that the drive to the office or the shelter is two hours, and it is just a bit out of the way for where I'd like to live. However I was only up there for 1 week, and it wasn't horrible. But, Remi and I did go on a little drive to a part of Oregon House that we had never been to before. There is this out of the way area that has a little remote coffee shop. There are decorations around it that are done with old spent tires. I love what they had done with them.
One day during our stay at Oregon House, a couple of wildfires broke out near the campground. One of them was called the Byrne fire and the other called the purple fire. The Purple fire was in the same drainage as the campground. The Byrne fire was one drainage over from us and less likely to impact us. Given what I do for a volunteer gig, I wasn't going to take any chances and I loaded up the Jeep and Closed up the Motorhome and got both ready for departure incase we had to bug out. Fortunately, Cal Fire got on both fires and neither one of them got beyond 10 acres or so.
My friend Ally befriended a vet by the name of John on Facebook. He follows the Stockton shelter activities closely and I really hadn't followed him at all, but Ally told me about his sad life being relegated to a wheelchair. I went to his house one day to check out his situation, because it sounded like he needed help getting in and out of the house. While visiting John, he introduced me to his dog Mouse is a super sweet pit bull and an amazing companion to John. Unfortunately, we were not able to pull anything together yet to help John, but hopefully we will be able to pull something together in the future.
One of the things that I have always been proud of is those who have served in the US Military. I will admit that I wish I had signed up for military service in some way when I was young, but it didn't happen. I was ignorant at the time, as to all the options that might have been available to me. I was short sighted in my teenage and years of my early twenties. And though I will admit, I was a pacifist back then, and I still have no desire to hurl munitions at someone who has never done me any wrong, there are a lot of ways I could have served my country and not entered into combat... at least not as a primary role. But that is a whole other story. I fly the flag proudly from the motorhome whenever I can and when I feel the country is acting honorably. I will admit I had little desire to fly the flag when Donald Trump was in office, but once again I digress.
When Remi and I were staying at Lake Minden in the early part of the month, we were out for a walk, and I came across a 1949 vintage military footlocker that was standing outside the dumpster waiting to be reclaimed. Though it did not have the upper tray, it was otherwise in really good shape. I thought it was the perfect accessory for the Jeep, since it is sarge green, and brought back to the motorhome. I then scraped the old paint off of it, gave it a light sanding and then painted it. I also went through Etsy to get a stencil so that I could spray paint my name and phone number on the footlocker. I'm not super happy with the color I picked, so I will probably get a more proper shade mixed, but otherwise, I'm really happy with my find.
I will admit, my life isn't anything like I envisioned it even just 5 or 6 years ago, but I have a good life. One of the best things in my life right now is my good friend Ally. And for those who see all of the videos that she and I do together for shelter dogs, "No, we are not dating.". I've had at least 3 people come to that conclusion. Don't get me wrong, I wish I was 20 years younger, but I've never had a friend, male or female as wonderful and supportive as she is. The truth is, I don't want to screw up the friendship that I have with Ally, so I will just be thankful for what she and I have these days. One of the extra bonuses to having Ally as my best friend, is to be able to spend time with her dogs Wallace and Raider. They are just a couple of the best dogs you could ever ask for. I am honored that she will let me take them for rides in the car sometimes and that she trusts me so completely with them.
As you know, I had intended to go camping last month, but when the Park Fire broke out in Butte County, I put that trip off and went and worked the incident. Ally and I were supposed to go camping this month, but work has just been too crazy for her and so she couldn't go on this scheduled trip. But, I needed to get out of town for a change of scenery and with it being Labor Day weekend, I decided to make the most of it and headed up to Siskiyou County any way, with Remi and go visit some of my favorite places. There are just too many places that I enjoy up there and I could go multiple times a year and still not get bored with them. So, on the 30th of August, Remi and I packed up the Jeep and headed north to Castle Crags State park. Our first stop was the Sundial bridge in Redding which is adjacent to the Turtle bay Aquarium.
After checking out the Sundail Bridge, we then continued our trip northward to Siskiyou County. The last time I was up this way, I stopped and visited the Siskiyou Humane Society in Mt. Shasta where I know some of the staff there, and I helped a long time Resident Milo get adopted. This trip, I wanted to do something for Rescue Ranch, so I bought 3 large Pizza's to drop off there for the staff to enjoy. This visit allowed me to catch up with many of the staff that I know there. One of my favorites is Rick Formaneck who is the shelter manager up there.
After visiting the staff at Rescue Ranch, Remi and I headed back torwards Castle Crags to set up camp. The state parks system has done a marvelous job of rehabilitating this wonderful state park. The roads and camp sites are in good shape. And thought the bathrooms are older, they are well maintained. It was so nice to set up the tent, complete with Air mattress and then once camp was set up, just sit in my camp chair and stair up into the sky. Though there is a lot of trees at the park, you can usually find a place in the spacious campsites to set up the solar panels to charge your electronic equipment.
One of my favorite places to visit in this area, is actually in the park it self. It is the view point where you can stand in one spot and not only see the Crags, but also Mt. Shasta as well. This location does afford a more optimal view of the Crags than Mt. Shasta, but the viewing opportunity is super cool.
On Saturday, Remi and I loaded up into the Rescue Wrangler and headed off another of my favorite locations here in the area MacArthur Burney Falls. I first visited this place many years ago with Karen and Mike and then later Carol, Scott and Cheryl. I absolutely love this park, and thought the bathrooms are relatively new, the camp sites are a little more on top of one another, so I prefer the Castle Crags Campground. None the less, you can't beat the view of these majestic water falls.
On our way back from MacArthur Burney Falls, Remi and I stopped and explored the Castle Lake area. This lake is north of Castle Crags, and it is also up in altitude a little bit from the valley floor. It is very popular with the locals, but because of it's fairly large size, everyone can find a peaceful place to hang out and enjoy the peace and quiet of this lake.
After we finished exploring part of the shore of Castle Lake, Remi and I returned to the campsite at Castle Crags, and I prepared some chicken and broccoli for dinner and then relaxed in my Camp chair during the early evening before the Mosquitos came out.
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for August of 2024. Check out next months blog for the remainder of my trip up to Siskiyou County.
Here is this months VLOG
Safe Travels all!
Eric and Remi too!
