Attention! In the Delhi tonight we have....

Delhi?! Yes, that is where we are tonight. Delhi, California.  As I write this it’s 5:45pm local time.  Dark out there, but still almost 16 degrees C.  Our windows are open and we are enjoying it.  It's definitely been nice to hit warmer weather.  We have stayed toasty warm in the moho but a couple of days ago Jen discovered that all the towels we had stored in the little cupboard below our bathroom sink were saturated with water.  No, nothing's leaking - it was just condensation that gathered on the moho wall in the cupboard due to lack of insulation in the walls and the differences in inside and outside temperatures to date.  Come to think of it - not unlike life at the farm -  but I digress (but more on that later).  

We are in an RV park tonight, so not the most scenic of locales, but every once in a while it seems like the best option.  Let me explain.

Last night we stayed in the Mendocino National Forest, just outside Red Bluff CA in the northern Sacramento Valley, in a lovely gov't run campground. Other campers were super-friendly and welcoming (hope you found the blog, Suzie and Lynette!), and it was a lovely quiet spot to lay our heads.  There were nice trails to walk with the dogs this morning, which we did, and then we hit the road.  On the advice of Suzie and Lynette, whom we met at the campground, we got off the I-5 at Red Bluff and came south on Highway 99, which was a great deal quieter and funner, at least ’til Sacramento.  We drove through orange groves and prune plum orchards, and miles and miles of groves of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios right along the highway.  It was fun! The farmland of California.  I tried to take pictures from the co-pilot’s seat but they all look the same - like blurry trees and not at all as cool as it felt to be driving through such a neat area.  :(

We bombed through Sacramento (Jen at the wheel - driving LIKE A BOSS!) and stopped for lunch and coffee and provisions at a random-perfectly-timed Trader Joe’s on the outskirts, then continued on south.  We saw the Gnarly Head Winery! It’s HUGE! I couldn’t even count all the giant vats as we passed by.

Last night we researched our stopping point for tonight, which we thought it would be Caswell Memorial State Park.  We pulled in, and while it was pretty, it was also pretty expensive, even in November ($30 for NO services, which we somehow missed or thought irrelevant in our research.  This is apparently typical in California State Parks, which is too bad.  Given the great experiences we had with Washington and Oregon State Parks, we were expecting so much more in California) so we carried on south to Delhi.  Hence the RV park - much less scenic but for $5 more than Caswell, we have full services (water, power, free WiFi, cable TV (which is useless to us), sewer dump, laundry and showers if we want them).  We will take the opportunity to fill water, drain grey and black tanks, charge up our little vacuum and clean some of this wet coast sand out of the carpets, and charge our various electronic “necessities” like phones and iPads, laptop and iPods, and the mifi box.

The dogs are awesome traveling companions! (Well, so is Jen, but I expected that! With the dogs I wasn’t so sure what to expect!) They have settled in to the rhythm of our travel, and are eager to get out and explore each new place we stop, be it a rest stop off the interstate or a glorious forest trail. Seeing as they have gotten used to living at the farm, where it’s pretty quiet, I was worried that they would be hyper-reactive on this trip.  But they are taking most everything in stride.  A young man walking a husky past our site earlier tonight set Kinka off barking a bit, but Rem just watched them pass.  (Kinka’s eyesight is failing her, so I expect her to be a little more jumpy.)  Much as Jen is enjoying the beers, and I am enjoying the wines, Rem is enjoying sampling the poo delicacies all along our route.  Annie G is also an extraordinary traveling cat - she has proven herself trustworthy of freedom so we let her roam in the moho while we travel.  She uses the litter box like a champ while we bounce down the highways at 60 MPH and wanders from window to window taking in the sights. 

Tonight we are feeling like setting a goal of completely escaping the Saskatchewan winter may have been a little overachieving.  Perhaps it’s a bad case of “the grass is always greener” (especially because in Saskatchewan, it’s clearly NOT greener right now) but we are both missing home, friends, neighbours, family and routine.  And we are both enjoying seeing new sights and places, but we are getting tired of being on the road every day.  To date there has not been anyplace we wanted to stay longer than we did.  Tomorrow are are headed for Bakersfield (where I am told, I can PICK MY OWN ORANGES! RIGHT OFF THE TREE!!!), then on to the Joshua Tree National Park.  We are hoping to spend several nights at Joshua Tree, weather permitting (it’s boondocking, so depending on the temps, we will have to monitor our batteries and holding tanks for conditions and stay accordingly). I am really looking forward to exploring the area, and also to putting down roots, such as they are, for a few nights if we can.