Ready, Set, Go! (Snow-birding Days 1-3)

WE ARE DOING IT!!!  We are finally trying the long-awaited RV mode of travel.  Sedona and Phoenix, AZ here we come!  We are looking forward to visiting friends and seeing natural wonders, including the Grand Canyon of course.  On Tuesday (1/20) we picked up our Newmar Bay Star from Guaranty RV in Eugene and drove it home to Brookings.  Mission completed!  We made it home very uneventfully and felt more confident each mile we got closer to home.  Once in Brookings we spent the next day loading all those items we felt necessary for a four week trip with our pups Teddy, Otis, and Pippa.  We were assisted by wonderful friends who are loaning us a portable BBQ, an outdoor rug, chairs, foldable dog fencing, etc, etc.  Did we think of everything? Oh yes, we have that electric heater that was a must according to Joop & Ine's RV experience.

DAY 1:
Bright and early on Thursday 1/23 we were ready to hit the road.  We had been warned about the difficulty of navigating Hwy 199 with an RV but we did not want to head down the coastal route. We figured that if we went through the "narrows" before the sun was up, we could use our emergency flashers to warn others, specifically semi trucks, that they were about to come upon novice motorhome drivers, and that they would possibly need to give us more than our share of the road to prevent complications.  LOL  Some healthy fear was definitely at work as we headed towards our first hurdle.    Truck traffic was pretty heavy for such early hours, but as we proceeded into the narrow stretch of the road, very slowly I might add, it was as though someone had waved a magic wand and made all traffic disappear.  We had the complete section of the "narrows" all to ourselves.

Our first stop was breakfast at The Teapot on Wheels, a new little restaurant we discovered just weeks before outside Gold Hill, that has great RV parking across the street.  After filling up on delicious food we were now ready to leave our own backyard.  In planning this trip we allowed for potty breaks for all five of us every couple of hours.  The one for this leg of the trip happened to fall just outside of Weed, CA.  Unfortunately we had our first "incident" there.  We had parked the RV, leashed our pups, and were walking to the doggie area when a lady with a male pit-bull broke lose from her grasp, knocked her down, and charged our dogs.  First Otis, who barked and yelped wildly, and then, without notice the pit-bull turned to Teddy,  grabbed him by the throat, and tossed him to and fro like a rag doll.  The owners and we alike attempted to loosen the dog off of Teddy.  John eventually succeeded, but not without Teddy having multiple puncture wounds in his neck.  Needless to say we had to take Teddy to the closest vet, where drainage tubes were inserted in the biggest holes, stitched up, and sent on our way.  We were grateful that the owners of the pit-bull were very sorry and did all they could to make things "right."  They followed us to the vet and they did pick up the $400.00 bill.

Needless to say, we got to our Redding destination later than expected.  Teddy was on my lap, still somewhat sedated.  When I got up I realized that Teddy had lost bladder control, wet through not only the towel he was laying on,  but my pants as well. Pff.  What a way to start the vacation!

On to the positive... the camp space that we were assigned in Redding was a "back in" space surrounded by trees, lamp post, and other RVs.  This was our first test.  Could we back this baby up without hitting anything?  YES WE CAN! It takes two to complete this task; John and I make a great team!

DAY 2:
The next morning we hit the road heading for Sacramento.  Rather than staying at an RV park we opted to park on the street in-front of Nolan and Anneliese's new home.  Thank goodness this was an uneventful day!  We spent the rest of the day visiting with our kids, walking Otis and Pippa (Teddy is to not walk much for a few days), eating at the Indo Cafe in oldtown Sacramento, and going to the movies.

DAY 3:
Another uneventful day, yay! We left Sacramento at 9:00 am, stopped for an hour coffee break around 11:00, and arrived in Bakersfield around 2:30pm. We chose to use CA Hwy 99 which is apparently under construction.  In many places the shoulders were "closed",  lanes were narrow, and truck traffic was heavy. This made driving the RV a bit more stressful as there were just inches between our mirrors and those of the semi trucks next to us.  We took Otis and Pippa for a nice long walk once we were settled in our camp site.  This was refreshing for all of us.  Dinner tonight... a salad with chicken that John had deboned before we left home.  Brrr. The evening is getting cold outside here in Bakersfield.  That heater is coming in handy already.  Better to use the electricity that comes with the hook-up fee than having to pay for propane fill-ups. Thanks Joop & Ine.

Teddy says that the view is nice from the driver's seat.