McCloud, California: I have no idea how we ended up here in the middle of nowhere ten miles east of I-5, but DT booked this site months ago. The campground is fine - rustic - but busy with stragglers from a weekend chili cook-off rally. Country music blaring all afternoon - thank you very much (not) - but they did turn it off at 7p.
Our morning began back in Valley of the Rogue State Park with cloudy skies, but no rain thank goodness. Dave rode his bike for about 90 minutes this morning, while I prepared the RV for departure and prepped dinner in advance. It was so cold and I felt a bit sorry for the tent campers packing up. How cold were they last night? June in southern Oregon. We needed to get out of Dodge a bit early today as we had a 120 mile drive - huge compared to the teeny mileage we have been traveling the past few days, but between Rogue River and the California border are two fun places we used to stop at all the time, so we wanted to visit again. Today was Sunday, but both stops were open!
Our first stop was to The Rogue Creamery in Central Point, a real gem of Oregon cheese-making since 1933. They are famed for their blue cheese and smoked blue cheese - smoked over Oregon hazelnut shells. (You can find their cheeses at Murray's Cheese shops in many Kroger stores across America.) Anyway, Dave and I have enjoyed this cheese for years and years and I hope you all have been able to try it as well.
We bought Rogue Blue Cheese, Smoked Blue, and a chunk of rosemary cheddar. We can only find the blue in La Quinta, so finding the smoked blue was a treat for us. Our next stop, just a bit down the road was to the famed Harry & David gift shop, which can either be a bust or a treat. You never know what they are going to have, and traveling south on I-5, the California border looms and the agriculture inspectors love to confiscate fruit and veg. Back in the day, Harry & David divided their fruit displays between what was accepted to pass through the ag station and what was not. Those days are gone and, honestly, the ag inspectors are there less than half of the time anyway. (The California agricultural inspectors mostly/usually are looking for fruits/veg grown on home farms, not stuff you buy at the grocery store... but they have previously asked us to give them the nubby bit from the top of our avocados, and once wanted our limes, but let me juice them first and give them the rinds. Margarita priority.) NOTE: Ag station was not open today when we sailed through.
We will be having the grandkids next week, so did pick up a few treats - especially Moose Munch, the addictive chocolate + cashew + almond + caramel corn mixture. Harry & David also had one of DT's favorite wines on sale, so he bought the four remaining bottles. Score! Previously, Moose Munch was dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Today we noticed, S'more, Salted Caramel, Mini M&M, and then a few that didn't sound so great... cheddar cheese... caramel sweet and spicy.
Yes, Harry & David have pears and apples in season (and even off-season), but they also vend jams, candy, crackers, baked goods, tinned fish, frozen foods, fresh vegetables/fruits, wine, kitchen gifts, sweets, frozen cakes, teas, coffees and anything else you could imagine.
Continuing south, we made a sandwich in a great rest stop with a fabulous view of Mt. Shasta - today with a halo of clouds - then continued south to McCloud, California.
No one was in the office at the McCloud RV Park when we arrived, but we found our reservation information for site #3 in a folder. A pickup truck was parked in our site. We were 99% sure the vehicle belonged to the 5th-wheel parked in site #4, but didn't want to disturb the two huge dogs leashed outside the trailer. We circled around again, phoned the office and they told us to camp in site #2 instead. Didn't make a difference where we camped, the blaring country music was prominent at every campsite. (I don't care if it is Jimmy Buffett, rock, or classical - keep your music to yourself, people!)
We still ventured outside for cocktail hour - enjoying treats from our morning tourist-shopping:
(center) cheese crackers from Harry & David
As I wrote above, dinner was prepped this morning before we left Oregon. I boiled a few small potatoes and one egg, chopped red peppers, red onion, baby tomatoes, cucumbers, Kalamata olives and shredded romaine. This composed salad was topped with a tin of Spanish Yellowfin tuna belly in olive oil.
The salad was dressed with a house-made vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, black pepper, tarragon and mayo. Forgot to garnish with parsley. My bad.
Until my next update, I remain, your golfing tomorrow correspondent.
Campground Information: McCloud RV Park - We can see Mt. Shasta from our campsite! They seem to have everything here - tent sites, RV sites, cabins, full/partial hook-ups. Bath house, laundry, wifi/cable TV. Bear frequent this area. We paid $74.
My stepson is the worst for having music blaring in a campsite. I sneak around and turn it off when he’s not looking! 🙂 Keep your music to yourself no matter what variety!