PLAN B

August – September 2021

The plans were to head south from Crescent City on US Highway 101, and in our roundabout way end up in Ukiah, California. From their our hope was to visit the 3 beaches near Fort Bragg, California known for having the highest concentration of sea glass in the world(!), visit the International Sea Glass Museum, and to then mosey on over to Leggett to drive through the drive through tree. Before we left, our friends John and Cheryl Williams called to discourage us from taking US Highway 101 south. They had just completed that which we had planned and reported that repairs from a landslide just south of Crescent City were causing 4-hour travel delays, and road conditions along the winding, hilly 2-lane Pacific Coast Highway, while perhaps picturesque, were awful. Forewarned is forearmed – on to Plan B!

We cancelled our reservation at the campground in Ukiah and booked a nicely-rated campground in Redding, California. We traveled back up US Highway 199 through Grants Pass and onto Interstate 5 Southbound through Medford and into California, past Mount Shasta and into Reading. The rest of the trip could, we hoped, stay as booked…Lodi and Bakersfield, and then Boulder City, Nevada and Williams, Arizona for Labor Day and a 3-week stay prior to returning to Mesa (let it cool down down there). There was a bonus for staying in Redding – it was only about 45 minutes to (check one more off the list) Lassen Volcano National Park!

So into Redding we pulled…down a busy city 4-lane with median strip roadway in what appeared to be a downtrodden section of town, to turn into a driveway past a small auto repair shop and a number of one-story motel-like apartment buildings and into a private, landscaped, clean and perfectly maintained, what-turned-out-to-be a wonderful campground! Once on property it felt like we were totally separated from whatever was surrounding us. After welcoming us the manager of Green Acres RV Park invited us to taco night…”come and meet your fellow campers!” What a great start of our time in Redding. “Green Acres Is The Place To Be!”

We mentioned the desire to visit Lassen Volcano National Park to our camp hosts, and it was suggested we check with the National Park Service due to the wildfires in the area. It was pretty disconcerting to find out that our western entry point was closed, and as a matter of fact the west side of the Park was on fire!

So onward to another Plan B…

Redding’s Turtle Bay Exploration Park is a non-profit 300-acre gathering place featuring a museum, forestry and wildlife center, arboretum and botanical gardens as well as miles of hiking trails along the banks of the Sacramento River.

The Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay is a “cantilever spar cable-stayed(?)” bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River.

In order to protect a salmon habitat on one side of the bridge, a tall support spire was designed to hold up the 700-foot-long bridge from the opposite end only without placing columns in the water. That spire forms a large sundial. 

We had hoped to drive to the top of Mount Shasta and take in the vistas, but once again the wildfires so impacted our viewing ability that we could barely see the Peak through the thick haze. The air quality was seriously impacted as well, and we decided that there was no sense irritating our lungs further. Instead, we decided to visit Shasta Dam and Lake on our way to Mount Shasta City.

But why bother with Mount Shasta City? To have lunch at Lalo’s! Why? Our 2020-2021 Box Office manager at VDO, Juan Gonzalez, aka Co-El grew up in Mount Shasta City and his Uncle Lalo…well, that one is pretty easy to figure out. We gave Co-El a call and he was delighted we were visiting. But there’s an ironic part to the story. There are many Juans in the Gonzalez family, and it took a while for Uncle Lalo to figure out exactly which nephew we were taking about! Mystery solved, we were welcomed with open arms. We also had the chance to meet Co-El’s father who happened to be at the restaurant the day of our visit.

Next stop Lodi.

Lodi is best known for wine grape production although its vintages have traditionally been less prestigious than those of neighboring Sonoma and Napa Counties. However, in recent years, the region’s wines made from zinfandel grapes have become increasingly respected.

Perfectly natural that we’d want to visit a tasting room or 2, and we thought we found the perfect way to do so – a “wine tasting jaunt.” Beginning in downtown Lodi, this is a 10.6-mile bicycle ride in which the riders visit 6 tasting rooms. The first stop was cleverly planned to be a little more than 5 miles from downtown…halfway done is a good thing if drinking adult beverages is the agenda for the ride; the last 2 stops are back in town.

Our first stop was at the Klinker Brick Vineyard tasting room. We were very warmly welcomed, given cold bottled water and several minutes to gather ourselves before considering our tasting choices. We decided to share a flight of 6 red wines, lighter to more robust varieties, and to our surprise a 7th was added – their signature Old Vine Zinfandel.

Klinker Brick made a point of telling us that their pours were generous – and how accurate that was! After sharing 4 pours Barbara turned to me and said she was done…no more wine! We did enjoy 2 of the varieties – the Old Vine Zin and a 2016 Merlot – and made it a point to find them in the local wine merchant’s stock. A purchase well made.

Well, we had come this far so Brian asked if we could ride by the other tasting rooms on the way back. We found 4 of the remaining 5.

The night before our ride Barbara had a glass of wine and Brian a delicious locally brewed cream ale (7.7% ABV) as we listened to music in the delightful courtyard of a downtown hotel. Just happened to be brewed by the Five Window Beer Company.

Let’s see – what else is in the area?…

How about touring the Jelly Belly factory?

By the way – Jelly Belly was President Ronald Reagan’s favorite candy, and was given as gifts to visiting dignitaries.

…or a self-guided tour of the shrine at Wat Dhammararam – a Cambodian Buddhist Temple.

There were several regional Atlas Obscura recommendations that sounded just too good to pass up.

The Eggheads are a series of five ceramic sculptures by artist Robert Arneson scattered around University of California, Davis’ campus. 

The Sacramento International Airport was kinda sorta on our way back to Lodi. We found a pretty cool sculpture of an airplane, but in baggage claim at Terminal A there is a 23-foot pillar made up of more than 350 pieces of luggage.  The baggage dates from the early 20th century to present day, representing the whole period in which air travel has been possible. At the base of the luggage towers are very large white carts, which clearly signify the luggage carts used by baggage handlers to transport suitcases across the tarmac to the aircraft.

The “Dragon House” was a must stop.

From the minuscule, highly detailed landscaping to the building’s ornate tile work, each detail contributes to the kitschy feel of this private residence. The side of the building is adorned with a massive mosaic dragon weaving between the windows, and an intensely staring white tiger seems almost ready to pounce. The tiles that make up the exterior of the home take on countless shapes, sizes, and colors, depicting fairies, owls and frogs. Kinetic sculptures in the yard and every inch of the home are covered in lovingly handcrafted original designs reflect the owner’s whimsical imagination.

And how about a 15-story mural of Johnny Cash? Cash’s gaze in the mural stares out toward Folsom Prison, the infamous state penitentiary just up the American River from Downtown Sacramento. The country music star played over 30 prison concerts in a 20-year timeframe. But his interest in prisons went beyond playing within them—he also advocated for prison reform and better inmate treatment. The mural honors the 50th anniversary of his At Folsom Prison recording. 

Or the monument honoring the hotel considered the birthplace of the pony express.

And who knew that at one time there was a Sacramento underground? Sacramento once stood 10 feet lower than it does today and was very prone to flooding. In the mid-19th century, the city was raised to higher grounds – all but this one courtyard in Oldtown Sacramento that is a reminder of the original street level.

It was 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Bakersfield when we pulled into our campground. We set-up, turned the air conditioner on and headed out for supplies – honestly it was just too hot to consider doing much else. We were staying just 1-night.

Next morning, we were on our way to Boulder City, and about 10 miles east of Bakersfield a car pulled in front of us and slowed way down. Thinking there was something wrong with the car we moved into the left lane and passed, only to have the car pull up alongside us and yelled out the window that the jeep had a flat. The tire wasn’t flat – we had no tire! The body of the tire was gone, and we were riding on the bead! We hadn’t noticed anything different in drivability, didn’t hear the tire “blow,” and were just merrily motoring along. We have no idea when, how or what happened. And just imagine if our Good Samaritan hadn’t alerted us to the problem – a true catastrophe just waiting to happen.

We pulled to the shoulder of the road, and it took an hour or so for service to come and change the tire. We had bought the tires at Discount Tire, and there was a shop in Bakersfield. 2 hours later we were back on the road. However, while waiting for our new tire to be mounted and vehicle checked (amazingly nothing else was damaged!), we realized that we were running terribly late and would reach our campground in Boulder City after dark.

Time for our next Plan B. We decided to cancel out of Boulder City and travel just a little way past Barstow on US Interstate 40 to camp for the night. In the morning we’d make our way to Williams, Arizona. Newberry Mountain RV Park was just off of I-40 and gave us our 1 night of sanctuary after a very difficult day.

It was nice to pull into Railside RV Ranch the next afternoon. Kinda like coming home again. Wonder what adventures we’ll have before returning to our winter home in Mesa in 3 weeks?

Having a Plan B isn’t always the worst scenario in an active nomadic yet planned lifestyle. It gave us the chance to see and do and explore places we’d never been, and in this part of our journey started so long ago wasn’t all that far off our original Plan A.

The unexpected is always a possibility. For Brian learning to stay flexible was growth. For Barbara, well, she just loves the process as well as the end result, and always has that wonderfully positive attitude.

Barbara and Brian

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.“ – Henry David Thoreau