Camping and having fun can be hard work! This past week we met Glen, Barb, Cody, Patrick and Bryce and one of their friends, Derrick, at the State Park at Clear Lake California. The first two days were rainy, but that went away and we had lovely sunshine and temperatures up to the mid seventies for the rest of the week.
Several of us spent some time birding and we identified 26 species including a couple first time observations for us. We walked and fished and canoed. Judy and I rode about 130 miles this week. The local roads are quiet and the locals are very patient. One day on our route we met a lady and her miniature pony enjoying the sunshine. We leaned over the fence and petted Stormy and chatted for half an hour. We then made it a quarter mile down the road and found a motorcycle three wheel chopper on a flat bed transporter truck. We stopped to admire this wonder and the gentleman who had built it trotted out with his sandwich in his hand to tell us all about it. That took us another half hour. Photos are below.
Glen, Barb, Cody, Patrick and Bryce and friend Derrick all fished while we were riding. The fish that got away were simply awesome, but we didn’t get to eat any fresh fish this week. The lake was at flood stage, and one of the campgrounds here was closed with water over the roadway. It has taken all week for the water to go down three inches. It has to drop another foot at least before all facilities can reopen here. With the high level, however, Judy and I were able to canoe a mile up Kelsey Creek. This turned out to be really exciting. We flushed out a pair of Wood Ducks. They are very elusive and very beautiful. No, we didn’t get a photo of them, but we kept flushing them out as we paddled up the stream. They would go 100 yards and then find some cover. We finally reached the place where our speed through the water just about equaled the current in the stream, so we turned around and made our way back to camp. Once in a while we are able to justify hauling that darn canoe all around the continent.
The rest of the troupe headed out this morning. Now it is just Ma and Me and the quiet is deafening. Tomorrow we are heading for a rendezvous with some old friends in Chico California. We will be attending the Escapee’s spring “Escapade” and making lots of new friends and probably renewing friendships with others we have met before.
I, for one, need a little time to recuperate. I smacked into the awning brace and rolled the tongue wheel of Glen’s pop-up tent trailer over my toe this morning. I am now a little cross eyed and gimpy. Sometimes I think I never will learn to duck.
Judy and I send our love to all of our relatives and friends back home and from along the way. Good bye for now.
Gary and Judy from Clear Lake California.
