Refugees Still

Another winter storm in the mountains will keep us here in Redding until Monday.  We will then try to get as far as we can on Monday.  We are in a good park close to Redding and took a trip to Safeway today and will return on Sunday to fill the truck with gas and have dinner at a Red Lobster.  There is a Chevron station here that had regular gas at $3.99 on Friday, and we noticed that it was $4.09 today (Saturday).

Anyone Else Wishing for a 30 mpg Truck?

Since we found a Safeway gas station in Redding with gas at $3.83, and since we have lots of Safeway points, we will fill up there on Sunday night.  We have not yet paid $4.00 a gallon for gas, and want to postpone it as long as possible.

Wish us clear roads and safe travels for Monday,

Neil and Pamela

Redding Refuge

Another day, another couple of hundred miles.  We had a good trip up I-5 with some rain and some wind, but nothing torrential--that waited until we arrived in Redding.  We are parked at Mountain Gate RV Park, just north of Redding.  We arrived in early afternoon and set up just before the next wave of rain and wind arrived.

See That Green Band Over Redding?  That's Where We Are

We were planning on staying here just one night, but there is a winter storm watch on the Siskiyou Pass that will probably keep us here an extra day.  There are chain requirements for both the truck and trailer in place right now, so we will probably wait until Sunday to make the trip over the pass.  There have been waves of Pacific storms that have been rolling in from the Pacific, and in the interest of safety, we need to wait until the pass is clear for large RV trailers.

There are a large number of RV's here in the park who are also waiting for the pass to clear before they head north, so we are among the RV refugees.

This is What We are Trying to Avoid on the Siskiyou Pass

Once we clear the pass, we will make the best time we can to Molalla, Oregon but will take as much time as we need to make a safe crossing of the pass

Neil and Pamela

Waterlogged in Lodi

Wow!  We thought that it could rain a lot in Juneau.  We just rode out a big Pacific storm that came ashore in Central California and rained a couple of inches and blew at nearly 50 mph.  We were fine here in the RV park in Lodi and only had a few things blow around outside of the RV, but there was not any damage.

We did go into Lodi for breakfast and to get some RainX and cleaner for our windshield wipers--it looks like we will be dealing with some more rain on the way north.

In this Radar Picture, the Rain Is Over Us in Lodi--South of Sacramento

Things look much better now than they did last night and earlier today, so we plan to pack up and head about 200 miles to Redding, California tomorrow.  From there, we will check to make sure that the Siskiyou Pass is open and head to Canyonville, Oregon on Saturday.  We have chains and four wheel drive on the GMC, but hope that we won't need either one.

While this weather makes us wonder why we are heading back to the rain and wind, we are looking forward to getting back to Oregon and heading home to Alaska.

Neil and Pamela

Stuck in Lodi - Waiting for Better Weather

We had a good night at Lost Hills and got on the road towards Sacramento through some rain and winds.  There were wind warnings on I-5 and we did notice some wind on the trip, but it was not anything worrisome to us.  As big as the Fiver is, it is a lower profile than the big trucks.  We stopped at a rest area and saw some metal sculptures that were pretty interesting.  The pig made us think of our friend Jim Hauck who has some pig sculpture in his garden.  Sorry Jim, too big to bring home!

These Metal Pigs Were Over Six Feet Long

I'm Not Sure We Want One of These In Our Garden

Anyone remember Credence Clearwater Revival?  They had a song called "Lodi" that went like this:

Just about a year ago

I set out on the road

Seekin´ my fame and fortune

Lookin´ for a pot of gold

Thing got bad things got worse

I guess you will know the tune

Oh ! Lord Stuck in Lodi again

Rode in on the Greyhound

I´ll be walkin´ out if I go

I was just passin´ through

Must be seven seven months or more

Ran out of time and money

Looks like they took my friends

Oh ! Lord I´m stuck in Lodi again

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River Album

We made it to our planned destination today; Lodi, California.  We wanted to make sure that we missed the Sacramento rush hour traffic, and our next planned destination is Redding, California.  Some of our family has been calling our travels the "HagaFinn Apocalyptic Tour" since we have had monumental rain, winds, an earthquake, tsunami, and now it looks like a major snow storm will slow us down.

The Siskiyou Pass on I-5 is forecast for heavy snow and high winds over the next couple of days.  As a result, we are spending an extra night in Lodi (hence the song lyrics) to give the storm a chance to blow through.  We now plan to leave Lodi on Friday to get up to Redding for an over night.  We still hope to get to Molalla by Sunday, but we will stay longer in Redding if the pass is still icy.

Rainbow Over Lodi, California

We hope that the weather where you are is good.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Headed North - Lost Hills California

We have begun our trip north from Norco, California to Molalla, Oregon.  Our one-day delay was a good idea as it allowed the snow to melt on the passes.  We took I-15 up to highway 138 over to I-5.  The weather was great with sunshine and temperatures up to the low sixties (but lower in the mountains).

"Disney Like" Hills on the Way Up Interstate 15

There were a couple of high passes along the way, but the GMC pulled like a champ and there were no problems at all.  We did get passed by some of the big diesel RV's but that didn't bother us any.

Our GPS Registered about 4250 Feet at the Pass

We did see some of the snow that had come down the previous couple of days, and saw several vehicles with several feet of snow still on their tops.  We crossed into the San Bernadino National Forest along the way, and it was good to see evidence another national forest on our travels.

Leaving San Bernadino NF Sign on I-15

Once up on top, it was smooth running all the way to Little Rock, which was our lunch destination.  Pamela's cousin Gordon told us about a Hungarian Meat Market and Deli, and we stopped there for lunch and to pick up some specialty meats for our travels north.

Lunch in Little Rock--California That Is

We had one more pass to make it over today--Tejon Pass near the Grapevine.  Since we climbed up highway 138, we entered I-5 at about 3500 feet, and only had to climb a bit before the down slope run north towards Bakersfield.  The only part of the trip that was at all tense was getting lined up with all of the big rigs for the down hill run in the slow truck lane.  No problems, but it was a bit crowded!

Filling Up with Gas in Lost Hills, CA

We found a little RV park in Lost Hills (it really wasn't in any of the RV park guides) that was pretty handy for us, since we did not want to go any further north.  It is in walking distance to Denny's and isn't very busy at this time of year.  They did have an interesting speed limit sign!

We leave here on Wednesday for Lodi, California and an overnight in an RV park.  Then on to Redding to await the Siskiyou Pass to clear.  There is a winter storm going through it right now, so we will keep an eye on the traffic cameras and DOT reports before we leave Redding.  All is well, and thanks for visiting.

Neil and Pamela

Last Day in Anaheim - Getting Ready for a Run to Oregon

We have had several good days with Neil's family here in Southern California, and have delayed our trip north to Oregon by one day due to a big rain and wind storm coming into Southern California this past weekend.  It had heavy rain and winds, and snow in the mountain passes.

So we spent time in Anaheim and Norco, California with family.  The Fiver is parked in Norco at Shannon and Dave White's place, where we will pick it up on Tuesday morning for the trip up highway 15 and 138 over to I-5.  We don't plan to linger on our way north as we want to get to Oregon for some appointments before we head to Vancouver Island.  Our plan is to get to Molalla, Oregon by this coming weekend, but will go faster or slower as we need to.

We are looking forward to the trip North and seeing Spring arrive in Oregon and up Vancouver Island.  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela