September 25 The Hirschman Trail

 

Wednesday, September 25 The Hirschman Trail

My humans have been gone for like forever.  Where are they?  What if they don’t get me food?  How can they leave me.  Oh!  I hear them!  MEOW!

We were gone all day yesterday, and Rudy was all over us all night long.  I guess he missed us, as much as a cat will miss a human.

Spouse came on my morning walk.  We decided to head down Hwy 49 for a few hundred feet, then go up Cement Hill Rd.  Sounds pretty, right?  It is a rural road with no room to really walk.  We were just about to turn around when I saw a trail head.  The Hirschman Trail is about a 4 mile round trip.  This was originally a hydraulic mining operation more than 100 years ago.  Once that dried up, the land restored itself to what it is now.  Hirschman Pond was actually fed through a tunnel, that has since collapsed.  The pond is still there, fed by springs.  Lots of wildlife, and some interpretive signs guide us along.

As we walk, we notice through a gate, that the Elks is right across the highway.  No need to go back to Cement Hill.  This will make it easy.  It is a beautiful shaded trail.  Lots of pines, varieties of oaks, willows and some awesome, gnarly manzanitas.  The pond is a mirrored reflection of the surroundings.  Fall colors are starting to kick in.  There are some amazing trees with expressive trunks.  There are my beloved berry brambles, where we were able to get a few ripe ones without risking our lives!  Little bridges cross creeks.  It is a beautiful and peaceful trail.  It would be ok for bike riding too, but I think I prefer walking it.  We got to a fork in the road, and figured it was getting late and we needed to get going so we headed back.

Since it is a long drive home, we decided to stop at the Elks in Visalia for the night, and get back home tomorrow.  Nothing I can write will make the drive down hwy. 99 exciting, so I probably will not post anything else.

September 24 Visiting Sue and friends

Tuesday, September 24  Visiting Sue and more friends

I really like it here.  There are trees, and holes for me to sniff in, and lots of things to look at.  There is a dog too.  I don’t like that. 

Spouse started with me on our morning walk.  We found a trail that takes us to Broad St. where we can wander into town.  Nevada City was created during the gold rush in the 1800’s.  Its historic district has been preserved, with its narrow winding streets, old brick buildings and adorable historic homes.  We went through the Catholic cemetery.  I saw graves dating back to the 1860’s.  We did see one for 2024 too, but most of the graves were old, old, old.  Spouse headed back and I wandered around the town.  It is quiet as it is too early for businesses to open.  It is a good walk as there are lots of hills.  The town just oozes character and charm beyond belief.

I find my way back through the maze of streets.  We made a good breakfast for Kathy and Brian, then they headed on their way.  After we did some chores, we headed to visit our friend Sue.  We have known Sue for over 40 years.  She lost her husband Rick almost 2 years ago.  She has a beautiful property on 42 acres overlooking her pond. I was kind of planning of walking the length of their ‘driveway’, which is about ½ mile, while I grazed on the blackberries.  When we turned on her ‘street’, I was surprised to see all the berry brambles had been cut back!  Ok, this really needed to be done, but I was hoping… I am such a berry whore!

Through the years, we have met many of Sue’s friends.  We’ve gone skiing together and been together socially on many occasions.  So not only did we visit with Sue, Jim and Cheryl came and Paul cooked us an amazing dinner.  We sat outside under the twinkly lights with the geese honking in the background.  And I didn’t get one picture!  I can’t believe it.

After nearly 9 hours, we said our goodbyes.  Rudy was beside himself when we got back.  Why were his humans gone so long?

September 23 Redding to Nevada City

 

Monday, September 23 Redding to Nevada City

I like to sleep on my humans.  I like their lower paws, and then their haunches.  I don’t like it when they move though.  But I just get up and lay on them again.  I sometimes like to lay between them and stretch out.  I don’t get why they move when I do this.

I had a tough time sleeping last night.  Tossed, turned and solved all the world problems.  Hmm, no caffeine, no alcohol, I even ate decent food.  Oh well, I will not be driving today!

My morning walk included Spouse.  We headed on the trail to the Sundial bridge.  Spouse does not walk as fast as I do (which really isn’t that fast).  I walk, then I wait for him to catch up.  And so it goes.  The weekend is over and there are fewer people on the trail.  Of course, a homeless person sleeps on a bench.  A man fully dressed in a winter camo jacket and black pants walks out of the water, dripping as he walks the trail.  Our spidey-senses aroused, we both had pepper spray ready, just in case.  It wasn’t needed but the guy was definitely one brick short of a full load.

On our way back, we toured the arboretum.  They are setting up light displays for the holidays.  Lots of colors!  It will be amazing!  As we near the end of our walk, Spouse laments about how long it was…  I would have been back 20 minutes earlier if I was by myself…  I am glad he went tho.

We get Artee ready and drive over to the dump station.  As I sat in the truck, Rudy decided he wanted to explore and jumped out the window.  Really?  I calmly got out of the truck and grabbed his little black ass!  Then I got a leash and walked him around while Spouse was doing RV duty.  Rudy really loved it here, but dumping his humans?  For shame…

We start our drive towards Nevada City.  Since Spouse updated our GPS, she is doing much better.  I think I still prefer Google Maps.  We are doing both and so far, they have ALMOST been exact.  Down I5 we go, then pick up 99.

Then… Spouse sees a sign for cheap gas.  There is no containing him.  I become his ‘Gas Buddy’ bitch.  But Gas Buddy doesn’t have this one gas station.  As we pass all of these easy access stations with low prices, it is just not enough.  Then we see a billboard to take the next exit.  We drive… and drive…  3 miles later, we get to the gas station.  We take about 25 gallons for a bit over $100, then drive off.  I get a text that $300 was charged to my credit card?  Really?  We turn around and march into the station.  What they do when a credit card is used at the pump (I RARELY do that), is they automatically charge $300 until the card is verified, then they refund what you didn’t use.  They said there was a sign outside that explains this (there wasn’t).  Spouse took it upon himself to inform everybody at the pumps.  Then he called the police (like what are they going to do?).  It’s just the way it is.  He got over it, but we will be watching our credit card!  Why, oh why must he make getting gas so difficult!

The scenery is beautiful; rolling hills with oaks and sycamores.  Farms and ranches spread out widely.  As we get close to Grass Valley, more pines and manzanitas.  We pull into the Elks in Nevada City, and park next to our buddies Kathy and Brian.  This was not a coordinated visit with them.  They are visiting their relative, and we are visiting our friend Sue, but for tonite, a wonderful Thai meal and a few games of Rummicube.  I did win one of the games ending a long drought…

And Spouse is reveling in the fact that he got inexpensive diesel that was NOT bio deisel.

September 22 A great bike trail

 

Sunday, September 22 The Great Bike Trail

I really like it here. Lots to sniff.  My maternal human took me for a long walk.  I got to roll, and sniff, and jump on things to explore.  Did you know my human can run as fast as I can?

Although it was in the 90’s here yesterday, it cooled down nicely overnight.  The Elks is right on the Sacramento River.  We walk ½ a block through the parking lot of the senior center and we are on the bike trail.  To our right, you can pedal 14.5 miles to Shasta Dam.  To the left is the Sundial Bridge, about 1.5 miles.  So we headed left.

It is a beautiful trail with the river flowing easily on our right.  On our left is a nice park, with benches, some with statues sitting on them.  It is shaded and very serene.  We walk under the railroad trestles and there is a dam.  They have built fish ladders and there is a viewing area with big windows where you can watch any salmon that might be heading upstream.  We didn’t see any. 

At this point, Spouse headed back as he had to figure out what is going on with the truck.  He has his suspicions, but has to know for sure.

I continue on.  The trail wanders a teensy bit from the river, which is now framed with native oaks, sycamores, grasses and even my beloved berry brambles.  There are a few bicyclists and people walking their dogs.  It is easy walking which ultimately takes me to the Sundial Bridge.  It looks like a sundial, thus the name, probably acts as one too if you were to position yourself right.  The bridge is lined with foggy glass panels the color of the water below.  There are fisherman enjoying their Sunday.  It is beautiful.  Across the bridge is a small farmers market.  Ohhh…  those little pies look good… but I have no money… Ugh.

I head back over the bridge where there is a botanical garden.  It is mostly native plants, with a peaceful water garden, bee gardens, a butterfly garden and such.  It takes me back to the river trail and I head home. 

I have been gone so long, Spouse has been to Auto Zone and back and has diagnosed and fixed the truck.  But I don’t want to leave now!  Let’s get on the bikes and go towards the dam!

Thus, we will stay another day!  We get on our bikes and… WTF?  Mine is only charged to 80%???  Well, too late now.  We will go as long as we are comfortable then turn around.

The river is now on our left.  There are a few homes set back from the trail with nice views.  For about 200 feet, we leave the trail in a subdivision, then pick it up again.  No big deal as it is remote, with no cars.  We are heading into the dry rolling hills dotted with trees.  The trail goes up, down, and left and right.  It is a workout (as much as you want your ebikes to work!).  It is closed ahead, but we will act like the locals we see and disregard the sign and continue on.

There are occasional benches where you can sit to enjoy the scenery.  The trail is gorgeous.  Geese honk at us as they fly by.  Ducks quack at us as they go by.  The hawk doesn’t make a sound…

We come to a bridge that crosses the river, and we continue to the dam.  Damn… I notice I only have 43% power…  we will not make Shasta for sure.  Spouse is at 39%.  The Keswick dam is just a half mile up, so we head to that as our destination.  In the middle of nowhere, the Keswick dam is a huge concrete monster.  We watch the water spiling through on one side, and we watch the calm waters waiting to get through on the other side.  Rolling hills for as far as the eye can see.  There is almost no traffic.  The trail is ours for the most part.  It’s another 10 miles to Shasta, which is not something we want to try with our power diminished.  Thus, we turn around.

I was at 43% when we made the turnaround… when we got back to our base, I was at 42%, hmm… go figure.  We decided to pedal to the Sundial Bridge.  I got the mini pies…  2 apple crumble, 2 boysenberry.  (It was 4 for $20 so I had to support the economy).

Back at Artee… Rudy loves it here.  He wants to check everything out.  I follow him all over.  Good thing he is on a leash as he really wants to wander.

We decided to take the rest of the day off.  And we split one of the boysenberry pies.  Oh yum!

Tomorrow, we will head for the Elks in Nevada City.  There, we are hooking up with our friends Kathy and Brian, who happen to be there, and then we will visit with our old friend Sue in Grass Valley before we head home.

I have to say that this is one of the best bike trails we have ridden.  I would schedule us up here again so that we could make it up to Shasta.  This was a wonderful treat!

September 21 Starting towards home

 

September 21  Starting towards home

Let me in!  Let me in!  I know she is using the hole with water and splashing her muzzle!

We stayed in a business area in Grant’s Pass.  So, our walk took us about the streets, looking at this, looking at that.  We weaved our way around and stumbled on a corvette show at a local car dealership.  Old and new, lots to look at.  I recently had to retire my car with my beloved stick shift, and I was amazed at how many of these had automatics.  What a bunch of pussies!  Some of the old classics were manual and in primo condition.  I looked at one yellow one.  It had a helmet and harness straps…  Hmmm…  I think this one was above my pay grade!

Spouse headed back and I walked some more.  I listen to podcasts when I walk.  Normally they are true crime podcasts.  I heard this screaming and it didn’t fit into my podcast, did it?  Again…  Oh crap, there is a creature buried in the bushes having a hissy fit that I am walking the sidewalk…  I hurried on, with my headphones only on one ear so I can keep aware of things.

With the time we spent at the corvette show, we got a pretty late start.  It was about 11:30 when we hit the road.  Our GPS has been doing better.  She isn’t perfect, and I know that only when I use my phone too, but she is much, much better.

Grant’s Pass is in a wee valley surrounded by forested mountains.  It is very scenic, and stays that way as we continue south.  When we get to Ashland, Spouse wants to top off the gas tank.  Odd, the gas station does not have high clearance, so we follow the road around.  And around… and down… and around.  It is a cute college town with a bustling downtown area, and adorable homes.  Lots of action on this Saturday.  After a gazillion miles, we finally get to a gas station.  The beauty of this… it is full service!  Somebody actually pumped our gas and washed our windshield!  And Spouse saved a boatload of money filling up here.  Oh, so grand!

Crossing back into California on I5, we have forested mountains guiding us.  Then the mountains fade a bit in favor of the rolling hills with oaks.  Then more forested mountains.  And so it goes.

We stopped at a rest stop and switched drivers.  Spouse has a bit of a hard time letting go…  Shut up and let me drive!  Spouse, what is that light there? 

Oh crap, that is a ‘check engine’ light.  Can we still drive?  For now… we will see later… 

I hate when I drive and there is road construction.  It seems that the k-rails make the road tiny.  I find myself sucking in my stomach to make us skinnier… AS IF! 

On the horizon is Mt. Shasta.  Its peak still has snow on it.  We cross over Lake Shasta.  Hmm… quite a large bathtub ring.

We ended up at the Elks in Redding.  It is on the Sacramento River.  It is quite warm, in the 90s, but after the punishing cold along the coast, it feels good.

In tomorrow’s episode, we will find out if the truck is driveable, and where we go from here.  We would like to visit our friend Sue in Grass Valley, but only if we are not going to break down!

Rudy’s numbers for his diabetes are still elevated but not horribly so.  We only inject him about every other day, but we only have a few needles left, so we do need to head home.  And he is obsessed with helping me wash my face in the morning.  The only problem is that there is not enough room for him to help…

September 20, 2024 Visiting a dear friend

 

Friday, September 20  You Gotta love this RV park!

It is my duty to mark my humans as my territory.  I do it in the morning when I think I hear them breathing differently.    I go to their faces with my whiskers.  If that doesn’t move them, I turn my purr box on high.  Then I start pawing them until they turn so that I can sit on them. I curl my paws on them and rub their muzzles with my muzzle.  I do it hard!  I try to do it to both humans, but sometimes I only get one.

We love this RV park.  We are a bit north of the Humboldt redwoods, but there certainly is not much around us.  The RV park is a bit funky.  There are a lot of full timers.  What makes it so amazing is the mystical qualities around.  There are little cabins that have been painted to blend into the forest.  One has incredible dogs on it.  Then there is the cabin that is built inside an old redwood stump.   Turns out a lot of this creativity comes from a retiree from Disney.  He did a magical job. But the WIFI sucks…

Our morning walk took us out onto the street passing gazillions of wild blackberries.  The homes here are on huge properties.  The properties are all overgrown, with their own stands of redwoods.  There is a horse ranch, tons of gardens.  Who knows how far this road goes, but we ultimately have to head back.

We ready Artee, and start heading north on hwy 101.  The marine layer is thick.  The fog blocks our views.  We know the ocean is to our left as we can see the foam of the waves.  I believe there are redwoods to our right.  The road is small and windy.  The road is open and easy.  As we come into Eureka, the freeway ends, and we get to enjoy a few miles of stoplights.  Then things pick up. As we get to Crescent City, the sun is shining, but it is windy and cold.  Spouse fills up on gas, we get a few things at a grocery store then catch hwy 199, heading towards Grants Pass Oregon.

Our intent on going to Grants Pass is to visit with an old friend of mine, Joellen.  We worked together starting probably in the ‘70s.  Her husband passed away earlier this year and I had to come here to give her a hug.

Hwy. 199 is a heavily forested highway that follows the Smith River. The road is small and windy at times, then open and easy. We have been so fortunate that the traffic has been light.  When we get to a small town, Spouse sees a Dairy Queen…  oh he cannot help himself.  He must have a blizzard!

We are in Oregon now, and Spouse is writhing in pain as he sees gas for more than $1 cheaper per gallon.  He has a full tank and he is agonizing. Why, oh why did he fill up in Crescent City?  (because we would have run out of gas, but he was beside himself!).

As we near Grant’s Pass, we found an RV park that is close to Joellen’s, and set up there. It was still only about 4:30, so we went to Jo’s for a visit.  Went to dinner and I can’t tell you how good it feels to reconnect with someone that is so special.  I was able to give her my hug.  Mission accomplished!

September 19 North on Hwy 1

 

Thursday, September 19  North on Hwy 1

I see them out there.  They pop their heads out of the ground, then run.  I want one!  I will try to catch one if my human lets me!

Yesterday, when we returned from our pedal ride, it was not only overcast, but the fog was creeping in.  It stayed overnight.  On mornings like this, it is sometimes hard to get myself going.  Normally, I get up, have a bit of coffee and head for my walk.  But since I am rehabbing my knee, there are a whole lot of exercises I need to do before all my normal stuff.  That means sometimes getting a late start.  Since we are leaving today, I really don’t want to fiddlefart around so off I go.  Spouse goes with me as we walk the ‘hood’.  Spouse brought a plastic bag with him so he could harvest some of the wild blackberries.  You gotta know just when they are ripe, nice and juicy.  If they don’t come off the vine easily, they are not ready.  Some times, they are black out front, but still red behind.  Don’t let them fool you

Back at Artee, while Spouse is getting things ready, I walk Rudy.  There are some burrowing critters here and Rudy wants one.  He runs to a whole in the ground and waits… and sniffs…  Why won’t it pop its head up?  Sorry, Bub… time to go.

Spouse reloaded our Garmin to see if she works.  She does I think, but I don’t trust her.  We turn north on Hwy 1, heading to the 101 north.  It is about a 45 mile drive to the intersection.  Hwy 1 at this point, does not have the perilous drop-offs like the more southern part of it. It is curvy at times, and not at others.  The ocean is on our left, when we can see through the fog.  On the right, there are rolling hills some heavily forested, others with stands of Pampas Grass.  Pampas Grass grows wild up here in the north.  You can see their pink feathery heads on rocky walls as well as open fields.  The last half of the drive is through a redwood forest and the road is quite curvy.  The road is in good condition so it is ok to navigate.  But, when you see lots of motorcycles on the road, that means we who are towing are not enjoying it!

Ultimately we make it to 101.  It is a two lane highway here, but it opens up after a bit, then gets smaller for a bit.  It winds, then it opens up for good.  We did try and go to a campground off the road, but turns out it was closed.  The roads are heavily forested.  We cross a river, we pass through a redwood forest.  We may have only gone 100 miles today, but it was a long ride and we were both a bit tired.  It was already close to 3 so we saw a sign for RVs and turned off the hwy.  We are about 27 miles south of Eureka.  Stafford RV park is a mom and pop operation.  It is not a modern park, which suits us just fine.  There is a huge apple tree that gave us some of her fruit.  The park has its own redwood grove with tent camping sites.  There is a truly magical cottage built coming out of a redwood stump.  Total charm!  We are just going to overnight here, not even disconnecting.