Corning, California: We had another early departure - unusual for us - and left McCloud around 9a (actually before any other travelers). Dave had gone out for a bit of a stroll and snapped this lovely photo of Mt. Shasta from the south:
Again, we just traveled south on I-5. Nothing much to report except the roads are still bad. Gavin! As we traveled around/over Lake Shasta we were happy to see the reservoir is completely absolutely full! And, as we were driving over the bridge, a Bald Eagle sailed overhead. Wow! So beautiful.
No breakfast for us and a tee time at 1:30p, so we decided to pull-over for food. No sandwich supplies in our RV now as we scale-down to reach home with an empty fridge by the end of the week. We found a real gem in Corning - Bartels Giant Burger. No, we did not have the giant burger, but their regular burger was giant enough. Counter service, and you can get your burger with anything/everything. We went very bland I am afraid, but the burger was just fine - with Harris Ranch beef. Not quite In-N-Out, and more than twice the price of In-N-Out, but we were hungry and Bartles served us well.
We ate outside because there were just as many flies inside as outside. Whatever. This is cattle country - it is to be expected. The restaurant is 50 years old. It really was a fun place, filled with locals and tourists and local firefighters on a break.
After our lunch, we just had a few freeway exits until we reached our campsite for the night, at Exit 629 - Rolling Hills Casino RV Park. We have stayed here countless times and love to tell people this RV park used to sell their sites like spaces in a parking garage - with a little kiosk where you inserted a credit card and received a ticket to park anywhere for $25 - the sites were not even numbered. Well, things have changed and now you need a reservation. We quickly settled-in to our campsite and walked over to the golf course for our tee time.
I love to play this links style course because the back 9 is filled with ponds and a creek and there are usually a ton of birds - especially red winged black birds. We could hear the birds all day but never saw even ONE! So strange. After seeing a Bald Eagle fly over us at Lake Shasta this morning, we were finally treated to an Osprey flying over us on the 17th hole - fat little mouse is his/her talons - heading off to an early dinner.
While I was snapping this photo of some dumb grasses, DT said a male pheasant was crossing the cart path in front of me! Dang. Missed opportunity. At least he saw the bird! We saw so many jack rabbits on the course today as well. Every shape and size.
We had a quick round (just over 3 hours) and were back to the RV in time for Happy Hour. No Dodgers or Giants tonight. I made Chicken Katsu (with cucumber salad) and we had a rager of a Yahtzee! tournament. DT won again 2-1. He is the luckiest roller - maybe he should have hit-up the casino tonight instead of battling-it-out with his wife?
Big excursion planned for tomorrow! So excited. Check back.
Until my next update, I remain, your "I only played the par 3 & 4s today" correspondent.
Campground Information: Rolling Hills RV Park - Long full-through sites. Laundry and bathhouse, but not close to the campsites. Easy access to the golf course and casino, and a free shuttle bus will carry you to either. Restaurants/bars inside the casino/hotel. Super cheap fuel at the on-site truck stop. We paid $58 for our campsite and $40 each for our green fees, with cart, with a Stay-and-Play package.