Lake of the Springs / Concord

24 September 2011
It was a long day's drive from Salem to Lake Shasta. We are headed for the Thousand trails LOTS Preserve near Marysville. We did stop for rest several times and had a good lunch at the Seven Feathers rest and truck stop and Casino in North Canyonville. It was a very nice complex. The dogs enjoyed the enclosed dog run. We arrived at the Lakeshore Villa RV Park in Lakehead, CA near Shasta Lake. We had a nice view of Mt. Shasta on the way. It was a bit overcast, warm and muggy most of the day. It stayed warm all night.

25 September 2011
Today we drove about 3 hours to the LOTS. It was rainy and misty all day. We had lunch in a little cafe near Oregon House before setting up camp. We tried to find a site where Joe could get his satellite TV, but it is quite woodsy here. We set up in a site in the A section close to the laundry, etc. But no TV for football! And no sewer connection! The lake and trees are beautiful. Deer are roaming around. Bob and Hedy rented a kayak and had fun rowing.

26 September 2011
Bob and Hedy had to leave this morning. We did laundry and sat around in the sun. After the misty day yesterday, today was warm, sunny, and dry, just perfect. Then we decided to move to a sewer site in the X section, but we were still unable to get TV. Joe suffered from not having Monday Night Football! Also, there is no WiFi, 3G, or cell phone service. It seems we want the beauty and peacefulness of nature and the amenities of the city! I took the dogs for walks to the lake and will do more tomorrow. There is supposed to be WiFi at the lodge, so I may walk up there tomorrow.

27 September 2011
Another perfect day! Leah took the dogs for long walks around the park and to the dog beach. Samantha played in the water a little, but I was afraid to let her off leash. She is still unpredictable. We enjoyed a champagne brunch in the motor home. We sat outside reading, talking, and doing needlework.

28 September 2011
After I took the dogs for walks in the morning we had our champagne brunch in the motor home. We then walked up to the lodge. Here we were able to get WiFi and catch up on e-mail. But there was still no cell phone service. The day became quite hot so we spent a little too much time indoors in air conditioning doing needlework, reading, and Sudoku. What a lazy life!

29 September 2011
Another hot, lazy day! I took Samantha to the dog beach again, and took Arden around part of the lake to the dam. We went up to the lodge again for WiFi - it was very slow today. The later afternoon was too hot to be out.

30 September 2011
We drove to Jean's today. We set up at Sunny Acres RV Park, then Jean picked us for dinner at Tahoe Joe's Steak House. After a very big dinner we visited in the RV. Jean met Samantha for the first time.

1 October 2011
Jean picked us up and we went to Pinata's for brunch. Then she took us to the opening of a photographers' exhibit in Hayward. We met several very accomplished photographers and admired their work. We had supper at Mimi's, then visited more in the RV.

2 October 2011
Joe wasn't feeling well this morning so Jean took Leah to Mass. We came back to the RV, picked up the dogs and went to Jean's. She made us a breakfast of bacon and eggs, and Joe could rest and watch football. We enjoyed hanging out and talking. Samantha was hyper and had to be kept out on the patio most of the time. Jean then made us delicious BLTs with avocado. We had to say "good-by" until Thanksgiving.

3 October 2011
We left Concord and drove about 135 miles to the Apricot Inn in Firebaugh off I-5 for lunch and to buy apricot pies. We intended to go to Kingsberg on Hwy. 99, but somehow missed Hwy 180 connecting I-5 with 99, so we ended up going a little further to Hwy 198 and stayed in Tulare at the Sun & Fun RV Park. We had a quiet evening.