Beautiful Downtown Redding, CA

 After three months of staying home, we couldn't stand it any more and fired up the motorhome and went bye-bye! The excuse was that the motorhome systems needed to be exercised after the long rest, so we combined that with a combination of Donna's Birthday and our wedding anniversary (54 years, I might add!) and came up with a trip to Redding.

We've been through Redding any number of times, it being one of the major cities on I-5, north and south through California (or to borrow a phrase: Taxifornia). So, two hundred miles north we found the Premier RV Resort. In a previous life this was a KOA from the look of the buildings and the narrow roads. However, the roads are paved, and, depending on the rv, at least part of the campsite is concrete. Nessie just barely made it onto the concrete, which left the tow car an a sloped approach to the site. Site 105 was nice, and on a warm summer day would be an extraordinary place to sit in the shade of the tree. There is a nice grass area with a patio table and some very bumpy paver bricks. The electrical connection is a bit worn from so many rv's hooking up that it took a few tries and a couple of good smacks to make it work, but all in all it's a nice park.

Redding's claim to fame is the Sundial Bridge across the Sacramento River. It was beginning to rain the first afternoon we were in town, but we wanted to see the bridge and take a bit of a walk through the adjacent park. Donna and Sasha were a bit tentative about waking on the glass surface!

The bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava, a famous architect, and built in 2004. The pylon is 217 feet tall, and despite it's resemblance to a sundial, only is accurate for four hours a day, and only in the summer! Without boring you with statistics, let me just say: It's impressive!

For some insane reason, the next day we decided to drive to the northern coast of California and visit the quaint little town of Eureka. The drive penciled out at 159 miles to Eureka. Dumb. I didn't think about having to return.....

The drive on highway 299 was nice, but with a lot of traffic. After three hours of driving, we arrived and started looking for a restaurant with clam chowder. What else? Yelp led us to three local restaurants known for their seafood, and every one of them was closed! We did get a nice look at town. It had been more than thirty years since we visited, but guess what....It's just about the same, including the famous Ingomar Club, which was at one time a lumber baron's home.

We eventually found a barbecue restaurant that was recommended by a couple of the local police officers, and chowed down a couple of sandwiches from the Porter Street BBQ. Good stuff! Donna ordered her usual pulled pork, without a bun, and I had a Heart Attack. No, the sandwich, not the event. It included a hot link on a bun, covered to the top with smoked tri tip! I made it last for two meals. More on that later.

As you may know, we go to great lengths to avoid traveling on the same roads twice, so leading Eureka we drove south on US 101 to CA 36 and turned east. This picturesque road winds through stands of California Redwood trees and mountain passes. It's a scenic drive, but should be done early in the day.

As dusk turned to night, we approached CA 3, the road to the burg of Hayfork, which in itself is a tourist destination, being the home of the Fightin' Kelly's from the Discovery Network program Bering Sea Gold. If you're a fan, you'll know why we wanted to at least drive through town. If not, check it out sometime.

Unfortunately for us, we missed the sign regarding roadwork on highway 36...just west of the turnoff to Hayfork, the road was closed! At that point we finally saw a sign that indicated the road was only open to escorted vehicles four times a day, and the last "tour" was in 45 minutes. It was beginning to rain hard. We were cold. Sasha was bored. And we were hungry. Ah ha! The last of the barbecue appears and at least one of the problems is solved. So now we wait.

Eventually we were escorted through a construction zone that was some twenty five miles long. We were so discombobulated by the time we exited the work area that we missed the turn to Hayfork and ended up on a very lonely, narrow, twisty road, headed to Red Bluff, CA, some thirty one miles south of our home. So, I'll cut to the chase: Three hundred and twenty eight miles and ten hours of driving later, we made it back to the motorhome! Remind me to check the route before we leave next time....

So we drove the motorhome four hours to Redding, drove three hundred-odd miles the next day, and then drove the motorhome four hours back to our winter home. There are words for people like us....but we got out for a bit, saw some pretty country, and warmed up the vehicles. Scoooorrrrrr!

Now we are at home. Waiting.