Day 32 - Mission Accomplished!

Got up early this morning to get ready to leave. Just one problem....the water lines froze overnight! It was in the low 20's this morning at Diamond Lake, Oregon! Thank goodness David fixed his coffee pot the night before or he would have had no coffee. I broke out the hair dryer and he got our lines thawed.

We pulled away about 9:00 a.m. Really hated to leave this place...it was beautiful and peaceful. SIGH....

While we were still in Oregon a HUGE coyote crossed the road in front of us. I was on the phone with a friend back home and started yelling "Deer! Deer! Deer!" They were all standing on the side of the road. We saw lots of small animals today, too.

Saw a coffee place called "Moody Brews." Thankfully I have the Moody Blues on my IPod so I don't get another song stuck in my head.

Speaking of songs, remember when Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel went to California? They were riding along singing "California Here I Come." No, I didn't break out into song in the truck; only in my head. See...now you're singing it, too.

We reach California at 11:30 a.m. We have now seen all of the lower 48 United States over the last eight years. It's been wonderful, but we have more to see and places in those 48 we haven't seen yet. Wish I'd kept track of all the National Parks and Monuments we've visited over the years.

We haven't bought gas here yet...saw it for $4.79 and $4.83. We'll need to buy gas tomorrow....SEND MONEY! LOL

We passed a sign saying "Prescribed Burn- Please Do Not Report." Later we could see smoke in the distance on the right and left. Those two fires are not prescribed burns.

We've been seeing a huge snow-covered mountain. As we get closer, we know it's Mt. Shasta. We stopped at an overview and got some great pictures. I could have stayed there all day

Someone suggested to us to visit Lake Shasta. We crossed it several times. The water is almost gone on one end and it's low over the entire lake. Still, it was a beautiful lake.

We had planned to spend the night in Redding, but decided to move on and now we're in Corning, CA. "Smoke From a Distant Fire" keeps running through my mind. Our the front window of the RV, we can see a HUGE smoke cloud. This is the Humboldt Fire. Paradise, CA is being evacuated. We have winds of up to 25 mph and they say we'll get the ash later. We've been watching the local TV station and they keep updating the evacuation procedures. Many homes are burning and it's very sad.

We got to the campground and the temps in the 90's. I really should have entitled the whole blog the Fire and Ice Tour! LOL We stopped at a rest area about halfway here and took off the sweatshirts and finally got to wear short-sleeved t-shirts. What a change! Even Chrissy isn't cold anymore!

David cooked fried chicken fingers outside on the electric skillet. The park owner drove up and wanted to know what he was cooking. David told him and he told David he didn't know how good it smelled! A few minutes later, the wife drove by, too. David also made gravy. I made herb and butter rice and English peas. After dinner, David took the leftover chicken and gravy to the office. The owner said if anyone complained about us while we were here that he'd say "Who?"

A knock at the door! The owner brought us some locally grown olives! I don't care for them, but David does. There are olive trees everywhere here. Didn't know they were grown here.

We'll head out early tomorrow for Manteca to meet another online friend and her husband. We're hoping one more may join us!

See ya down the road!

Jenny :)