You can't always get want you want......

 8:01 am - Saturday - June 3rd - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 56%, wind 0 mph out of the north......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2012, our first year on the road, we were riding our bikes near Spokane Falls in Spokane, WA.....↴

"You can't always get what you want".....Rolling Stones

Just before we left Thursday afternoon to drive the first leg of our trip back to Redding I got a call from A-1 Smog in Redding advising they had finally found the correct hose which connects the airbox with the smog pump, but it would not be in until noon time (via UPS).  We had reservations again at Shasta Pines Motel in Burney, and it was too late to cancel them, so we left anyway at 4:15 pm for our drive to Burney, and arrived there safely as I reported in yesterday's missive.  Our original plan, had the hose arrived before Friday, was to leave Burney at the crack of dawn Friday to be at A-1 Smog by 7 am, their opening time, get the emissions stuff installed by 8 am, get our smog certificate, and be back on our way home shortly thereafter, but you don't always get what you want, according to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but sometimes you get what you need.

That's the hose A-1 had a hard time finding, but finally did after I sent them this picture

Since we didn't need to be at A-1 by 7 am we slept in Friday morning until 7 am, had a leisurely cup of coffee, got dressed, and drove back 4 miles on Highway 299 to where it intersects with Highway 89, then another 6 miles to Burney Falls State Park to see Burney Falls.  We arrived there around 8:30 am, paid $10 to enter the park, found a parking spot, then walked down a short hill (lots of steps) to view the waterfall.....

See how long my hair was?  Check out the 'usie' down below

....we spent about 30 minutes enjoying the falls, which were flowing at maximum due to the heavy snowpack melt going on right now.  We've wanted to stop here for years, but it is about 20 miles out of the way, so we never did until Friday.....sometimes you get what you need.

We left the falls around 9:15 am thinking we would be in Redding just after 1o am, but two long construction zones undid those plans.  Our plan had been to be in Redding around 10 am to get our shopping out of the way before we arrived at A-1 at noon.  We didn't hit Redding until after 11 am, but we still wanted to get our shopping done.  Our first order of business was to stop at Trader Joe's to retrieve our $120 bag of scotch and vodka we left in the shopping basket the week before, then it was over to the local Supercuts where I got a haircut whilst TLE did her grocery shopping at the Safeway across the parking lot.  We both got done at the same time!

Next up was a stop at COSTCO to fill our now depleted gas tank at $4.13/gallon for premium.....the best we've paid in California in a while!  On a side note, ever since I replaced the four ignition coils, and 4 spark plugs in the VW the mileage has increased.  We used to average around 27 mpg on the highway, but now we're getting over 31 mpg consistently...even in the mountainous terrain which separates Alturas from Redding.  TLE needed to exchange some clothing she had bought at COSTCO the week before, so we took care of that next.  By the time we were back in the car it was 12:15 pm, and we were already late for A-1.  We arrived there at 12:25 pm, gave our keys to Sarah, one of the front desk ladies, and took our seats in the waiting room.....

Check out that haircut....much better!

.....TLE always has a ready smile....me, not so much....lol.  I was really happy we were there, and our car was being fixed, but I guess my face did not show it....lol.  Gabe said the work would take about an hour, and once the new emissions stuff was installed they would retest the car, and we would be on our way home......providing it passed.  Well, a few minutes after taking this 'usie' we got the news the car did PASS!  We paid our bill, and were on our way home by 1:30 pm....perfect! A big shoutout to the folks at A-1 Smog for getting our car fixed, and our smog certificate......BIG thanks to Brent, Sherry, Sarah, and Gabe for your efforts in making this a successful trip!

We stopped at the local Starbucks to get two Frappuccinos (a vente mocha for moi, and a grandé vanilla bean for TLE) for the drive home.  The total mileage home is about 164 miles.  We knew we had two construction zones to pass through on our return trip, but by the time we got to the second one the workers had quit for the day, so there was no delay!  At about the 105 mile mark we stopped at a burger place in Bieber, CA called Old Mill Grill (5 stars on Yelp on 40 reviews) for a couple of burgers....we hadn't eaten all day, and we were both getting a little peckish, or 'hangry', if you will.  We both ordered their Cross Cut Burger with onion rings....very easy choice when you read the description.....

It is just that tall, and it definitely takes two hands!

.....there are probably 8 tables in the dining room...the ambiance is reminiscent of the long past logging days in Big Valley.....

.....I also had a chocolate milk shake....OMG.  If you ever find yourself in, or near Bieber, CA check this place out....amazing comfort food!

After our hour interlude we continued on our way home, arriving back at LPG&RVR around 6:30 pm.  What a delightful trip, and even though we did not get what we wanted, we got what we needed, including that elusive smog certificate, and a visit to Burney Falls....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

In sync......

7:42 pm - Friday - June 2nd - LPG&RVR - 70° F, humidity 38%, wind 5 mph out of the north by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 71° F (now past).  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were boondocking with two other vintage coaches....a 1984.5 Bluebird Wanderlodge owned by my goof friend Claude Banker, and a 1984 Newell Classic owned by my in-laws....Glenn and Laureen Parker near Driggs, ID.....↴

As out of sync as I was on Monday with the work load, I was completely in sync on Thursday.  Everything just flowed from beginning to end.  As you will recall TLE worked a full day for Office Kathy on Sunday, so now that Kathy was once again in the 'pink' of health, she worked for TLE on Thursday, giving TLE a 5 day weekend.  I've worked with Kathy before, and it is not much different than working with TLE as I do most of the time.

After staging 15 carts for Kathy I headed out to do my usual morning round of the golf course, and found everything to be copacetic....in fact, slightly better than copacetic....for the first time this season, there were no goose/duck droppings on any of the 4 tee boxes for hole #3!  I was back at the Clubhouse a tad after 9 am.  

One of the hose bibbs in the small Pavilion...#37....has been leaking quite badly for a few days, and in order to fix it we have to shut off all water to the upper portion of the RV park, which means we need to notify everyone before we do so.  We don't want to turn off the water when someone is taking a shower, or washing the dishes, etc.  Around 9:30 am Jose joined me at the small Pavilion to turn off the water and replace the hose bibb washer.  Beginning to end it took less than 10 minutes.....must less time than it did to go RV to RV to notify everyone of what was about to happen.

Next I got out one of the Stihl weed whippers to trim the grass around both Pavilions, and several of the full hookup pull through sites, which were vacant for the first time in a week.  Around 10:30 am I headed out to the driving range to clear the balls from the perimeter before running the ball machine up and down the range to pick up the rest.  I finished around 11:30 am, put the balls in buckets to let them soak until after lunch, then took my lunch break at 12 pm....unlike TLE, Kathy takes her lunch from 1 pm to 2 pm.  I only took a half hour lunch (I started my work day at 7:30 am so I could be done by 4 pm as TLE and I were making a return drive to Redding to get the aforementioned emissions work completed for our smog certificate....wow, that was a long parenthetical statement....lol!).  By the time I was back on the job at 2 pm I had just two hours remaining in my work day, but there was only the 5 Club Car electrics to wash, and not many golf balls.  I finished both tasks by 3:30 pm, and with 30 minutes to go on my work day I jumped on the large Husqvarna mower to mow three more of the full hookup pull through sites.  I finished just before 4 pm, put the Husqvarna away, and headed for home.

By 4:15 pm TLE and I were in the VW Beetle heading for Burney, CA to spend the night before continuing on to Redding Friday morning.  We arrived in Burney without incident at exactly 6:20 pm, checked into our hotel, then drove a block over to the local Subway to get a foot long sandwich for dinner.  While we were inside there was a pretty impressive cloud burst lasting about 20 minutes, followed by a brief hail storm.  We didn't get back into the car until almost 7 pm to drive back to the hotel.

Thank you for your patience!  We just arrived back home from our Redding trip around 6: 20 pm, and after putting our things away, I took a nap, then typed this blog post for your reading pleasure.  Stay tuned for Friday's eventful day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Clubbed.....

 6:14 am - Thursday - June 1st - LPG&RVR - 43° F, humidity 72%, wind 1 mph out of the northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I arrived near Driggs, ID at a wonderful boondock site on the Teton River with a view of the Grand Tetons......looking forward to a return engagement some day.....↴

Before I could stage the golf carts I needed to wash the two Club Car electrics (#'s 3 & 4), which were returned after 5 pm Tuesday.  Initially I staged 10 carts (5 Club Car electrics and 5 Yamaha gassers), and later in the morning the final 5 Yamaha gassers.  All 15 were rented over the course of the day, and at 5 pm 3 were still out on the course, so I'll have those to wash first thing Thursday morning.

It has been a while since anyone cleaned the 8 sets of rental golf clubs (6 adult, 2 child with 2 of the 6 adult being of the left handed variety).  Over time the clubs get switched around, and eventually we had one set of adult clubs with 3 drivers, and no fairway woods.  Anyway, after making my first round of the course I pulled them out of their storage closet, and took them to the Cart Return station to sort them out, and then clean them.  Most of the sets are called Strata, which are made by Callaway for just this purpose.  Of course, we do not actually rent them....if someone wants to play golf, but they don't have their clubs with then we loan them a set for free.  I spent about 90 minutes redistributing the clubs between the bags to be sure each set is complete as possible.  I found left handed clubs mixed with right handed clubs, which is not good.....lol.

I finished with that task around 11 am, and put all the clubs away. I'm sure we'll have to do that once, or twice more this summer.  Next up it was time to begin mowing the tee boxes I am responsible for each week, so I pulled out the small Husqvarna and headed off to the 10th tee boxes to mow around them.  Part of this job involves mowing in areas where the larger mowers cannot go, which includes quite a bit of grass between the Clubhouse, and the 10th tee area, plus around the practice putting green at the Clubhouse.  It took me close to an hour to mow all that grass, but I finished just before it was time to give TLE her lunch break.  After her lunch, and then mine it was 2 pm, and time to mow the rest of the tee boxes (#3, 15, 16, 17 & 18).  I left the Clubhouse around 2:10 pm, and returned around 3:40 pm with a lot of grass mowed in between.  

By this time 12 of the 15 carts had been returned, so I began the task of washing them, and putting them away finishing around 4:40 pm, which was the end of my 8 hour shift (I go to work at 7:40 am).  Another busy day in the books!

I practiced my putting while TLE closed the Clubhouse office for another day, and we were home by 5:15 pm.  After another long, hot shower TLE and I were out on the 'Viewing Deck' enjoying a balmy evening.  The day began with heavy cloud cover, but by late afternoon the sun had come out making for a very pleasant early evening.  We tarried there with our adult beverages until after 6:30 pm before heading in for the night.  Sunset is now around 8:37 pm each day, and it will get later, and later until the summer solstice in about a month.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - We'll be driving back to Redding Thursday afternoon, and be back at LPG&RVR early afternoon Friday.  I'll write about Thursday sometime Friday afternoon.

Busy, busy.....

 6:18 am - Wednesday - May 31st - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 93%, wind 1 mph out of the north by northwest.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were enjoying a pitcher of Payback Porter, and amazing fish tacos at The Classic Cue in South Lake Tahoe......miss that place......↴

We were on the job by 7:40 am, and I still had 6 five gallon buckets of range balls to wash, and dry, plus all the things I normally do on a Tuesday like a lot of mowing!  Before any of that can happen I needed to head out for my daily first round of the golf course to see how busy the geese/ducks have been on the #3 tee boxes, then check the four sand traps for weeds, and rake if necessary, and look for any flags downed by the overnight wind.  Speaking of wind overnight, we don't always feel it here in the RV park, but out on the western edges of the golf course it can get quiet brisk, and almost every time I make that first round I find at least one flag down....it is never the same flag.....it can be #5, #14, #15, #6, #7, or even #8.  I'm glad we don't always get that kind of wind in the park, or we'd be stowing our awning all the time.  Anyway, there was one flag down on this date....#15...all the other aforementioned flags survived, and remained in their holes.

I was back around 9:30 am, and immediately began to wash the golf balls.  How this works is I soak them in soapy water (Dawn works best) for a period of time....usually for just a few hours, not overnight.  Then I pull about 1/2 the balls at a time out of a given bucket, clean them, rinse them, then put them in one of the wire baskets from the ball machine to air dry for a few hours before pouring them into the 55 gallon barrel in the Clubhouse.  I can do 25 gallons of balls in about an hour.  On this particular morning the outdoor temp was in the high 50's and the water felt colder....lol.

Both pavilions had emptied overnight so I headed there next to mow both of them, then mowed the parking lot grass, the large grass area next to site #30, the large grass area at the group fire pit, and then 6 of the full hookup pull through sites, which were also unoccupied, plus 2 of the employee lawns.  I'll get the other two on Wednesday, or Thursday.  In all I disposed of 5 trailer loads of grass cuttings by 4 pm.

We only rented the 5 Club Car electrics on Tuesday....quite a contrast to Monday!  They were not all back  at 5 pm, so I had to return after 6 to at least plug them in for the night. I'll wash them Wednesday morning.

We got rain on and off all afternoon, and another of those 30 minute 'toad stranglers' around 4 pm.....it rained well into the evening, and was still coming down when we went to bed around 10 pm.  In spite of the rain I got the range balls dried, and put away before the serious rain began.  

In between the showers

This Spring has been different from last year when we got snow 8 times before Memorial Day.  We've only gotten snow 3 times this year, but it has rained, and thundered much more than this time last year.  The mosquitoes are out there, but not bad yet, and most of the deciduous trees have leafed out.

TLE and I were home by 5:15 pm, and barely got inside before the rainfall   began in earnest once again....thanks for stopping by!

Behind the '8 ball'.....

 6:15 am - Tuesday - May 30th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 89%, wind 0 mph out of the west by southwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I hiked to the top of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island, ME (near Bar Harbor)......↴

There are some days when one just never gets into sync with the workflow, and Monday was one of those days for me.  I felt like I was behind the proverbial 'Eight Ball' from the moment I arrived at the Clubhouse to stage the first 15 golf carts, until the moment I picked up TLE from work just after 5 pm.  There was a lot to do Monday, it being a National Holiday, and LPG&RVR being exceptionally busy anyway.  In addition to the initial 15 golf carts I later staged an additional 9 carts, of which 6 were rented, so 21 went out.

Monday was also the day we clear the driving range of golf balls so it can be mowed, and due to the busy Memorial Day weekend the range ball barrel was all but empty, so that meant there would be an enormous amount of balls to retrieve.  In all I filled 6 five gallon buckets with range balls.  I began around 10 am to retrieve those balls around the perimeter using the 'Shag Bag', but before I could use the ball machine to pick up the rest TLE called me to advise there were a couple of issues in the park which needed attention, which only further served to put me out of sync. By the time I returned to clearing the driving range it was almost 12 pm, which is when TLE normally begins her lunch hour, but DeWayne was going to mowing the range at 1 pm, so I had delay giving TLE her lunch break until I finished with the range at 12:40 pm.

I really needed my hour lunch as I was already tired from the hectic morning, so I didn't get back to work until 2:40 pm, at which time I found 13 of the 21 golf carts had been returned, plus I still needed to get the balance of the golf balls soaking in soap and water.  Once the golf balls were in water I turned to begin cleaning all the carts, which took me until 4:40 pm to finish, and I still hadn't cleaned the balls.  At that point I knew there was no way I was going to get 6 five gallon buckets of balls cleaned, and dried in 20 minutes, so I decided to defer that job until Tuesday morning.  I managed to get 20 of the 21 carts washed before 5 pm...the final cart did return right at 5 pm, so that will be added to Tuesday morning's tasks.

Thankfully, half the park's occupants departed on Monday, and the rest will leave on Tuesday, so the course will be a little less busy, and being that I will start Tuesday still behind the 'Eight Ball' that will help me somewhat in catching up.....I hope.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sunday well lived.....

6:16 am - Monday - May 29th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, humidity 73%, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F, and rain this afternoon.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were in Spokane, WA for a wedding....we visited the grave of my mother, Virginia Gale Hockwald for the first time since her death a year prior (think Wuhan Flu).....here I am with my two brothers......↴

Left to right:  Philip, Dwyer, and moi

TLE and I finally 'slept in' until after 7:30 am Sunday.  That was nice!  I was so involved in how nice it was to 'sleep in' that I walked out to the salon, poured a cup of coffee, and sat down in my recliner, never even thinking about writing my daily blog entry....lol!  Which goes to explain why it was not posted until 12:10 pm, when I did finally remember.  Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

Office Kathy was still under the weather, but another LPG&RVR worker, Lynn, offered to open the office and take care of business so TLE would have at least one day off work before beginning her next 4 day work week.  I spent time in the garage (trailer) repairing the ball washer for our golf car, which TLE nearly scraped off the side of the golf cart when she got too close to a dumpster whilst dumping a bag of trash a while back.  I used some two part JB Weld to put her back together, then remounted it on Club Car Villager #20.

I did a little weeding in our yard, swept a weeks worth of leaves off the 'lido deck', 'lower deck' and 'viewing deck' turf, and then took another MTB ride around the perimeter of the golf course.....

....just as the day before, I got sprinkled upon about half way around the course.  I was getting a little overheated as I was climbing one of the hills near hole #5, so the rain was a welcome interruption in my 25 minute ride.

Our grass was mowed while we were in Redding/Klamath Falls, and it is looking almost dandelion free after just a few weeks......

.....the 'lido' and 'viewing' decks are looking great, and that tilting umbrella on the 'viewing deck' does a great job of keeping the sun out of our eyes when we sit to watch the sun slide to the western horizon, which we did shortly after I took this picture.....

.....we sat on the 'viewing deck' until after 6 pm, then TLE got out those filet mignons she bought at Fred Meyer for me to grill on the Sea-B-Que, and we had another delightful 'lower deck' alfresco dinner to close out Sunday's festivities.  We didn't head inside until after 7 pm.....a nice, relaxing day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some worked, some did not.....

 12:10 pm - Sunday - May 28th - LPG&RVR - 68° F, humidity 40%, wind 7 mph out of the south by southwest.....mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I rode our bicycles to Simple Simon's in Riverside, CA for breakfast.....↴

TLE and I only managed to 'sleep in' until just after 6:30 am....oh well, there are always naps, right?  Office Kathy continued to be ailing, so TLE left the Newell around 7:45 am to open the office and take care of business, which was quite brisk due to the Memorial Day long weekend.

I, on the other hand, had no where to be, and all day to arrive there.  I only put out our Stars and Stripes on National Holiday weekends, so after typing yesterday's missive, was the first thing I did.... 

....rain was forecast off and on most the day, and we got quite a drenching around 11 am.....think 'toad strangler' type of rainfall....for about 30 minutes.  I'm sure there were more than a few drenched golfers on the course, as we had most of our golf cart fleet rented on Saturday.

I fell asleep for my nap of the day watching the latest PGA event being held near Ft. Worth, TX.  I think I slept for over an hour.  Upon awakening I decided to do something I have not done for quite a while, and not since we arrived at LPG&RVR back on April 13th....I rode my Haibike SDURO MTB around the perimeter of the golf course, and was pleasantly surprised at my level of fitness....

....we had 40 putters signed up for our weekly putting contest.  I, as has been my habit this season, went out in the first round, essentially beating myself with poor first putts on the first and 5th hole.  I was tied entering the 5th hole, but, as I said, hit a poor first putt, and just missed my 2nd to remained tied.  It was a fun afternoon enjoyed by all.

TLE finished closing the Clubhouse office a few minutes before the putting contest ended, so good timing there.  We were home in a couple of minutes, hoping to sit outside for a while, but the rain returned, and came and went into early Sunday morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

The TJ's faux pas........

 7:16 am - Saturday - May 27th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 74%, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest.....partly cloudy today with rain forecast for this afternoon around 2 pm, and a high temperature of 68° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were at Pope Beach near South Lake Tahoe, where we had ridden our bikes....it was a cold, blustery late May day......↴

The sun began to brighten the large window in our Shilo Inn room around 6:30 am, and as is always the case, we began to regain consciousness after a wonderful night's sleep on that California King pillowed mattress.  By 7 am we were up, and getting dressed for our 2+ hour drive home.  By 8 am we had hauled our luggage down to the VW, and were on our way to Fred Meyers to top off our tank, then pickup a few items in the store.  It's been a while since we've fueled up in Oregon, and I forgot that civilians are not allowed to pump their own gasoline.  At any rate we took on about 5.5 gallons, then parked the car, and went inside the store to buy a few food items....TLE found two beautiful filets on sale for $17.99, so she bought them.  I needed a new beard trimmer as the bear trimming portion of my Norelco shaver had ceased working the day we left for Redding.  I found a nice Braun on sale for $19.99, and bought it.

We were back in the VW around 8:30 am and on our way cruising southward to the California border.  The drive was, for which we always hope, uneventful, and we arrived back in Alturas around 10:20 am where we made a quick stop at the Holiday Market to buy another week's supply of produce.  We don't buy our produce in Oregon as it creates a hassle re-entering California.

We managed to arrive back at LPG&RVR just before 11:30 am, and while we were putting away our groceries, and alcohol TLE discovered that the single malt scotch and vodka we had purchased at Trader Joe's in Redding were missing.  It was no where to be found....doh!  There was over $130 worth of liquor in that bag!  TLE called Trader Joe's and found a good, honest person had turned the bag full of liquor into the store manager, and that they would hold it for us when we return next Friday to get the smog work done on the VW....whew!  Crisis averted....lol!

After putting away our groceries we decided to drive the golf cart over to the restaurant for lunch.  I ordered their bacon cheese burger, and TLE their grilled chicken...we chose an alfresco table on the deck overlooking the putting green....

.....while we were enjoying our lunch TLE found out that office Kathy, the Kathy who shares TLE's office job, was not feeling very well, so she offered to take over for her at 2 pm for the last 3 hours, so I ended up home, alone, after that taking a long nap.  I woke up around 3 pm, and decided to take my seemingly defunct Noreclo beard trimmer out to the garage workbench to see if I could disassemble it to see what was wrong, and if it was fixable.  There were just two allen screws affixing the cutting blades to the plastic assembly, so I removed them, and found that it was something I could fix, so I did, and reassembled it.  It worked!  Now I have an extra beard trimmer, which I can take with me on overnight trips.  I've had the Norelco for probably 6+ years, so I'm happy I was able to extend its life....

That's the shaver head in the stock photo

.....around 4:50 pm I walked over to the Clubhouse to use the putting green, while TLE closed down the office.  I putted for probably 40 minutes and managed to sink a hole in one on each of the 5 holes, then on #1 I sank three consecutive hole in ones. I've never even come close to doing that well, ever!  

By the bye....while I was putting I got a call from Brent at A-1 Smog in Redding that he had sourced all the parts we'll need to restore our emissions systems to visual inspection condition, and that it will only take 1 hour to install them.  We will drive back to Redding next Thursday via an overnight, again, in Burney, then arrive at A-1 at their 7 am opening time on Friday. If all goes well we'll be back in LPG&RVR by noon time Friday.....we hope!

Finally, TLE was done around 5:30 pm, and we headed home for the night.  We sat on the 'viewing deck' until after 7 pm, before heading inside for the night.  We watched the series finale of 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'.  It is not often I like finales, but this one was perfect, and we both appreciated the choices the writers, producers and directors made.

Thanks for stopping by!

Foiled again.......

 7:11 pm - Saturday - May 26th - LPG&RVR - 69° F, 46% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast (passed) 73° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE was directing traffic at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) at gate #2....one of our best seasonal gigs ever......↴

We were up before 5 am Friday morning in Burney, CA, and on our way covering the final leg to Redding, CA and A-1 Smog by 5:40 am.  The drive was uneventful, and we arrived at A-1 20 minutes before their 7 am opening with Starbucks coffees in our hands....

Mt. Shasta from the south on our way to Redding Thursday morning

....our car was the first car taken into the shop, and within 20 minutes we had passed the emissions test, but FAILED the visual test.  While our emissions was performing as it should, several emissions hoses, and a pump had visible cracks, and damage, so to pass we must get all that stuff replaced...doh! We arrived with no check engine lights, but were foiled by the visual inspection!  Instead of hanging around town all day, which we've done before, we asked Brent, the owner, to source the replacement parts, and call us when he had them ordered, and received.

Around 8 am we headed over to Trader Joe's to get our fix of things we only buy there, which includes potato vodka, and Finlaggan Single Malt Scotch, and a few other food items.  Apparently, while we were putting those items into the hatch of the VW we forgot to pull out the bag containing 4 bottles of the aforementioned Finlaggan, and 2 bottles of potato vodka, and left them in the cart (about $130 in value).....double doh!  That faux pas was not discovered until we got home Friday morning.....more on that later.

From there we headed to COSTCO, completely unaware of our mistake, to fuel up at $3.89/gallon, and then into the store at their opening, 9 am, to buy a few things we only get at COSTCO.  We did not leave anything in the cart that time....lol!

From there we headed north on I-5 to Weed, CA where we merged onto California Highway 97 to Klamath Falls, OR....

Mt. Shasta from the southwest off I-5

Mt. Shasta from the west

Mt. Shasta from the northwest

You've got to have at least one picture of Weed, CA, right?

Mt. Shasta from the east

.....once again the drive from Redding to Klamath Falls was uneventful, but extremely beautiful.

We arrived in Klamath Falls around 11:30 am, and headed directly to The Falls Taphouse for some more great brews, and for moi more BBQ.  TLE got The Octoberfest Hot Dog from the hot dog food truck.  For our brews TLE ordered their 'Blonde', and I their 'Amber Ale...both brews went well with our orders.  We sat outside this time, and the temperature was perfect....

....we lingered over our lunch enjoying the food, the ambiance, the conversation, and the view for over an hour.

We had reservations at the local Shilo Inn (across the street from The Falls Taphouse)...

....and there she is inside that red circle.

Before we checked into the Shilo Inn we had several errands to run, and began with a stop at Holiday Jewelers where I had left my Nixon watch the week before to have a new battery installed, and to fix one of the small hands, which had fallen off its post.  The watch was ready as promised....

The hand inside that red circle had fallen off its post

....next we picked up a few things at Walmart, then headed over to the local Goodwill where both TLE and I found a few things without which we could not live.

We checked into the Shilo Inn just before 3 pm.  We managed to get a room on the top floor (4th), and had a nice view of Klamath.  We played a bunch of Backgammon games of which I managed to win just 2 (I think we played 7, or 8)....it was just not my night....lol!

We were in bed by 10 pm, and slept like the dead....the bed had a pillowed mattress, and was of the California King variety......so comfortable.

Thanks for stopping by!