Rest stop along I-5 near Cottage Grove, Oregon
When we returned to Oregon thirteen days ago, the trees were glorious - filled with orange and gold leaves. Now the leaves are falling. Like it's their job. With the time change, it is now dark by five o'clock.
I am happy to report we left our house only thirty minutes past our ETD. Our housesitter, Brandon, is in charge of The Manor assuming he returned from his weekend in Los Angeles for the Oregon v USC football game for the winter.
In my next life, I want to come back as our housesitter.
While we were driving today, we completely changed our travel plans. This is the advantage of traveling in your own house. We had an idea of heading to Berkeley for the Oregon v Cal game next Saturday. But game time is now scheduled for 7:30p and I just really, really, really, really hate do not like the ancient (built by Caesar hisownself?) stadium in Berkeley (porta-potties!) and have just never had a positive experience at that venue... even though we won every game I attended. Now, we really don't know where we are going - except possibly Indio, California. We know a campsite there that is pretty dang sweet.
Seven Feathers RV Resort.
RV Lasagna, but this time I tested the new oven-ready spinach lasagna sheets - made in Italy by Delverde.
amazing difference between regular v spinach lasagna sheets. It was a delicious, vegetarian and super-easy dinner for our first night on the road. (I also have many-many sheets of spinach lasagna noodles in my RV pantry for future experiments...)
I have named this tour after a Jimmy Buffett song - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. Latitudes is easy to explain. Attitudes is hoping DT can finally relax as his work with the 2012 Olympic Trials is nearly finished, his daughter has married... and then there is a certain little Washington Redskins fan we need to visit...
Leo is 15 months old
Until my next update, I remain, your Don't Forget to Vote correspondent.
RV PARK: Seven Feathers RV Resort. I always say this, but Seven Feathers is one of the nicest RV parks in the country and we usually use it as an over-night stop as it is only 4 hours from our house. Everything is top-notch here - especially the indoor heated pool and spa. The resort is across the interstate from the tribe's casino, hotel, convention center, theater and restaurants, and is about a quarter-mile up a hill, so no freeway noise to interrupt your slumber. Canyonville is really small, but has a decent grocer and a few good restaurants if you want to stay away from the busy casino. There is also a full-service truck stop/coffee shop. We paid $35 - a great deal - for a paved pull-through 50 amp, full-service site. Their wifi is fast.
Lisa is classy. Her crockpot is on the counter. I am trailer-trash - mine is in the kitchen sink.
We had a very routine day, driving about 275 miles south on I-5. Just trying to keep moving south. Only stopping a few times for a rest and lunch, we had incredible weather. It is so hard to believe this is the same snowy stretch we covered two weeks ago!
Mt. Shasta (snapped through the windscreen with my iPhone) has very little snow.
I dressed this morning in jeans, an undershirt and a sweater. We left Canyonville with the dash heater blasting. By noon we were using the air conditioner.
Around Lake Shasta we were treated to breathtaking vistas of orange-yellow oaks in the pine forests. So beautiful!
Lake Shasta
We decided to stop for the night at another of our frequented campgrounds, the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park. Two casinos in two nights - yet we never step inside! The campground no longer has a self-serve check-in kiosk (boo!), but it is still only $25 for a full-service site with free wifi. Sweet deal.
When we crossed the border this morning, the State of California agricultural inspector confiscated my limes! Dang. I needed lime juice to finish my crockpot Chicken Chile Verde. The kind agent allowed us to pull-forward so I could juice the limes. He only wanted the rinds - key limes from Mexico are prohibited at this time for entry into California due to some-sort of disease/fungus. Crisis averted.
It couldn't have taken five minutes for me to put our dinner together this morning. The recipe is happily very adaptable, as I didn't have an onion so simply omitted it. Jalapenos are fiery-hot this time of year, so I only used one... and so what if I only had chicken thighs? I love this recipe! If your RV has an inverter, place your slow cooker in the kitchen sink and let dinner cook while you are down the road. You may notice from the top photo, my teeny 3 quart crockpot has a stretchy safety strap. Unfortunately, my slow cooker is so dang old, it is no longer available, but Hamilton Beach now produces a 6 quart crock pot with a snap-on lid
that may work for your kitchen sink! There is enough Chicken Chile Verde left over for our lunch tomorrow!
Until my next update, I remain, your "we voted" correspondent.
RV PARK: Rolling Hills Casino RV Park - I wish there were more RV parks like Rolling Hills. No nothing, except full-service pull-through campsites. No pool, shuffle board, bath house or laundry. Just a convenient, low-cost spot to pull-over for the night. We paid $25. They offer no club discounts. The campground is behind a big casino and hotel, and there are several restaurants to try, and they also have a truck stop and convenience store.