We are now officially in California. We are south of all of the rain storms that are sweeping the Pacific Northwest this week, and it is warm this afternoon; a high of 70 degrees at our coach.
Our camping experience was a little strange today. We have always been richly rewarded when we stop by the Corps of Engineer Campgrounds. Not so today with Kyen Campground on Mendocino Lake on US 101, near Ukiah, California. This campground was old, small and crowded with narrow, crooked roads with posts and concrete bollards guarding every corner. We tried in vain to stuff Arcturus into two different stalls, and each time we were blocked by overhanging trees and guard posts.
We finally threw in the towel and went about 5 miles back up the road to the Coyote Valley Casino. This is an interesting place! It is housed in two huge vinyl tents. Beyond the front parking lot is a lot of stirred up ground with foundations for a nice new building. The hostess admitted that the current tents were just temporary. However, the economic downturn caught them in mid expansion and the whole project was shut down. We were invited to stay over in the parking lot. So we went back in and tried their new player special, hamburgers for $1.99. Then we attempted to donate our mandatory $20.00 to the jackpot.
Would you believe it? We actually walked out with $4.96 in cold cash. Put with that the lucky penny we found in the parking lot and wow! Not only are we warm, we are winners. As you can probably see, it doesn’t take much to keep us entertained.
Today Judy took over driving for an hour. Highway 101 in California is a series of 65 mph freeways interconnected with cow-paths that meander through the redwood groves at 35 mph. In many places the guard rails are right on the fog-line and they are bolted to big redwood trees. She took over on a freeway and I settled in for a little nap. When I woke up we were back on one of the cow-paths, and as soon as Judy could find a wide spot, she handed the driving back to me.
Tomorrow we will tackle the San Francisco Bay area traffic. It is one of our least favorite routes that we travel regularly. Perhaps I can get Judy to drive I-680 tomorrow.
Well greetings and goodnight to all from Mendocino county.
Gary and Judy
