Orland, California

The trip went well. Steve came by and watched while I got everything ready to go and hitched up the 5ver. Actually he did some small jobs inside that needed to be done and then he watched me work! By the time I had successfully hitched the RV, on the first try, I was ready to hand over the keys and have him drive. He only got me out of my space at Cal Expo because they were working on the driveway to my side of the park and there were red cones everywhere, greatly narrowing the space to drive through. He stopped by the office and I went inside to say goodbye, then started driving, with Steve following in his car. No problems - Ms. Garmin led me through all the turns to get on I-5 North, and from there it was easy. It isn't an exciting drive - flat land with orchards and a vineyard or two, and farms and cattle. We arrived in Orland about 12:30, found the Parkway RV Resort, unhitched and got the hoses hooked up, slides out, etc. Steve backed into the space for me; technically it's a pull through but it worked better backing in and there was more room to maneuver.

After getting that taken care of we drove to Orland to have lunch - found a nice pizza restaurant, and then drove around some of the town. It is a small town with very wide streets. None of the town looked at all seedy, and it's the kind of place I wouldn't mind retiring to - of course, that is just from first impressions. I'll get to know more about it during the next few weeks.

I have a very nice site on the end of a row, with a large circular area of grass and a picnic table just outside the door. I set the mat out and attached the dogs to the picnic table legs, and just relaxed in my camp chair. After all the gravel and pavement at Cal Expo, Lady is loving all the grass - she gets on her back, four legs in the air, and wiggles & squirms through the grass just like horses love to do. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue with puffy clouds here and there, and a slight breeze. Tomorrow I will drive into town and line up someone to do some jobs on the 5ver, see what it good at the bakery, and check out the price of tires at Les Schwab. Steve checked the pressures this morning and said the tires on the right side were holding the pressure but showed some signs of dry rot. I'd rather get that taken care of now than somewhere in the wilds of Lassen, or on the road back east. Also some day soon I need to go check out the Black Butte Lake Corps of Engineer facility & campground nearby. My kids all want to come up for a camping weekend and I'd prefer to get an area where we could be more to ourselves and not disturb anyone in case we get rowdy!

I don't know whether to go back outside and enjoy the breeze, or to just kick back on the couch and probably falling asleep within minutes. I'll be back with more about Orland tomorrow. I have some pictures to post but can't seem to do much in Vista, so I will drag out the desktop soon and download my pictures.