27 September 2015

The Rest of the Story...at Upper Rush Creek

OH NO!  The other van is gone.  They must have been up and at 'em rather early.  At least earlier than we cared to be.  They were still there when I took the boys out for a quick potty run, but then we snuggled back under the blankets for a bit.  I should have been bold the previous night.  *sigh*.

The boys gobble their breakfast. I savor mine and linger over another cup of forbidden coffee.  Yeah, the doc wants me to give up the java, too.  I can cut down, but not sure I can quit altogether.  The meat and dairy are a cinch compared to that insult. 

Breakfast, second cups, and a little tidying done we go for a walk.  The boys must have slept well; they are raring to go and we head the way of campsite number 5.  Look at that!  This one has easy access to the creek.  I cut the walk short and we head back to our Vome, and I pack up. We snag number 5 and get settled in.  We again attempt a walk and make it a long one.  The boys are ready for a nap but change their minds once we walk down to the creek and I set up the tie outs.  They have access to the water and begin checking it out.  Charlie likes the water!  I doubt he has ever seen a creek, being a former city street dog.  You don't know the story of my rescue pups, do you?  We'll have to change that this winter. 
 Charlie
 
 Burger
 
Fries (from Small Fry).  Fries just goes so well with Burger, ya know?                           
Fries is curious as to why the other two are so fond of the water.  He's not one to be cold, so he's content to watch.

We do take a short nap after their romp in the creek, then another walk.  The air is scented with the smell of dry--very dry--pine, fir, and cedar.  As we finish our long, leisurely walk and are heading back to camp we hear a vehicle coming up the road.  It's the Forest Service, and I wave as he slows down and passes us.  We catch up to him as he is finishing his inspection of the vault toilet. I comment on the fee being waived for this campground.  He says it's because there is no water, but they are working on getting it repaired.  He tells me they were always running out of water in this campground and found out someone was stealing the camp's water to irrigate their marijuana patch.  And they caught him!  For now they are considering the campground dispersed camping, hence no fee.  We chat a bit more and the nice gentleman heads out.  We head back to our spot by the creek and while away the rest of the afternoon.
Our view from the van

The air quickly turns cool as the sun goes down.  Although there is a fire ring and some firewood someone left, I do not build a fire.  It's just too dry.  I know others do, but I just do not want to risk it.  We live in California, known for it's wildfires, but we are in a four year drought on top of that.  Too risky for me.  We went through the hell of fires threatening our little town of Burney, burning homes in nearby Hat Creek and up on Day Road last year. They should forbid campfires here as they have in Oregon.  Too many careless people.  The devastation is not worth the comfort and ambience of a campfire at this time.  Just my opinion folks.  The boys and I stay out as long as we are halfway comfortable, go for another walks before we lose what light remains, then we head inside.

The evening is spent reading, studying the Benchmark Atlas for future trips, making lists, and watching a movie I downloaded onto the Kindle to view offline.  It's an excellent, but sad, selection.  Rabbithole  if you are interested.

It was colder last night than on Tuesday night.  I had to grab for an extra blanket in the wee hours of the morning and you couldn't get The Chiweenie Brothers out from under their warm, snug lair if you wanted to.  Burger isn't one for  being undercover, thankfully, and he's too big even if he did think it was his right.  He curls up into a ball on top of the covers and snores away.

It's the usual morning routine of coffee, breakfast, and--um--more coffee.  I walked the boys earlier and staked them out so I could get packed up.  Everything is cleaned up and put away.  It didn't take long.  We are ready to go, but I am not ready to leave.  I look over at the boys and Fries is worrying something.  I go take a peek.  A hedgehog!  Fries has a hedgehog!  No, not a real one, a stuffed one.  But he thinks it's real and he is fierce in his determination to subdue this interloper.  Go Fries!   Funny the things you find.

Finally, I can put it off no longer and we must leave.  No real reason to actually have to be home, but there are things I need to get done and I don't want to wait too long and end up being on the road after dark.  I grab the boys, take one last look around, and we are off. 

The scenery is pretty flat once we get back onto Highway 299 and head west toward home.  Lots of big and small farms and ranches in Big Valley;  some gorgeous and well kept, some dumpy but still alive, the effort put into the constant outside work not on the house. 

The leaves are turning!  I stop to take a couple of photos.



Just before we reached this pretty little scene, there were some metal sculptures that I wanted to photograph so I walked back from the only safe spot to park Miss Freedom to get them.  The boys waited patiently in our Vome






Thank you for stopping by Two Dogs.  Hugs, Shawna


 

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like a very relaxing time!

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  2. It was! Can't wait to go out again.

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  3. We definitely need to plan a camping trip next summer! Thanks for taking us with you on your adventures! :-)

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