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


 

Out and About For a Couple of Days

Hello blog Peeps!  The boys and I took off for a couple of days for, possibly, our last run of the season.  Hoping to still get one more in, but it all depends on work, the weather, the moon and the stars.  You get the idea.  If everything aligns we're golden.  Speaking of the moon, the harvest moon is coming up this weekend. The Super Moon here. 

A dental appointment took up my Tuesday morning, and as I sat in the chair I kept thinking Miss Freedom wants to go somewhere.  Yes, yes she does.  Where would she like to go?  Oh I know, somewhere EAST because that is what comes to mind first.  OK, east it is. 

When I arrive home on this perfectly lovely, kind-of-on-the-hot-side late morning I grab my California Benchmark Atlas and choose Upper Rush Creek Campground just outside of the tiny little town of Adin, population 230 something.  I throw some things together, load up the waiting Miss Freedom and off we go.

The campground is a few miles east of Adin and two miles off Highway 299.  Once you get back there it's heavily wooded with pines and cedars and true to its name Rush Creek tumbles and gurgles along one side of the loop of 10 campsites, 'rushing' to it's unknown--to me--destination.

We choose site number 3 on the creek side, and I set up camp.  This consists of pulling out the backpacker stove, my anti-gravity chair, and the tie outs for the boys.  A pig-headed wire hair fox terrier and two rambunctious minds-of-their-own chiweenies can't be trusted to stick around.  Oh they would come back, I am sure, but I am not into the stress and worry so they must stay prisoners of the camp.  Poor things.


I notice vault toilets and water spigots.  Glad to see they have water, but I am kind of a water snob and used to drinking the best dang water ever out of my own tap at home so I brought some.  The boys aren't quite that discerning so they get creek water, and I take their bowl over to fill it up.  No water.  What the heck?  Well, it is getting on in the year, perhaps they have already shut it off for winter.  Glad I brought a couple of gallons; I'll have to share my treasure with Burger, Fries, and Charlie. 

We are the only ones in this campground!  How nice!

The boys and I take a fast paced walk consisting of them pulling me along as fast as they possibly can; have to sniff and hike and pee on everything they possibly can.  It might disappear, you know! And we take a short siesta.  Short because I hear something skittering around outside the back side window.  The boys are sound asleep which is a good thing, because I want to see what it is.  Something catches my eye on the small pine just outside the window and I wait.  Just a few seconds later a sweet little furry face peeks around the tree staring at the van as if to say what the heck are YOU doing here?  It's a Douglas squirrel, also known as the pine squirrel or chickaree, and he keeps circling the tree, hesitating every few inches on his way down the trunk until he reaches the ground.  When he gets there he just stares at the tire for a time and cautiously digs around on the ground before leaping about two feet up and onto the trunk and he is gone.  These are gorgeous little creatures with darker fur than a grey squirrel and smaller by half, and rusty red-to-orange fur on their bellies. 

I read several chapters in my book, the second in a three-book historical fiction series by Jane Kirkpatrick.  Excellent reads if you like that kind of novel. 

It's time for dinner and I gather some twigs and pine needles and build a tiny fire in the backpacker stove to cook a veggie burger (doctor's orders, no more meat.  Dang!) .

 It's pretty darn good, actually, and I like that I can eat all the starches I want.  Starch, veggies, and fruit and this girl is already losing weight.  :) 

The view from our table

 

The boys and I enjoy the rest of the dying light in our little slice of heaven by taking another walk.  It's the last one of the day beside a quick before-bed pee run, then prepare to head inside our Vome where we settle in for the evening.  And guess what shows up?  Another van!  They park two spaces up in camp number 5.  It's white, a cargo type vehicle, and has a pop up top!  Nice.  There's a bicycle attached to the back bumper.  I am going to go say hi and be nosy in the morning.  I'd love to know if they are living in it, or just on vacation.  Something tells me this is their lifestyle. 

Goodnight all.  Hope you sleep as well as I know we will.  See you tomorrow with "the rest of the story". 

Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoy my blog, please follow and comment below by clicking on the little comment  link that is below every post.  Email addresses are never published, nor are they ever shared.  Hugs, Shawna

 

Just a Few More Days and

it will officially be autumn.  The leaves are beginning to turn, and there's a nip in the morning air. So hard to say goodbye to summer, but boy is it worth it when fall sneaks in.

Hello blog Peeps!  Thanks for stopping by.

It's been awhile since I posted--life happens--but I have been super busy getting my health back and working on prepping for the colder months.  And...a little twisted ankle that resulted in a fall set me back a little, but it's all good.  Could have broken something and I didn't so I am very grateful!

There's been minimal work done on Miss Freedom but there are PLANS being made.  Solar is going to happen before autumn bids us adieu so looking forward to that. Maybe one last trip before winter sets in.  I have a lead on a part-time job.  YIPPEEE.  Praying this works out; just going with the flow folks and taking life as it comes.

One thing that I want to make part of the blog is a little feature on astronomy.  When the boys and I "get out there" living the life I anticipate many evenings gazing at the sky.  I have always wanted to know more about the stars and planets and learn the constellations so let's learn together.  What do you think?

To start it off here's a little article  I found about why we have seasons and a lovely photograph by Manish Mamtani Photgraphy for you to enjoy.   It's the same photo on the site, but that one is bigger and pretty darn spectacular along with other beautiful shots.  Enjoy!

 

 

 If you are an early riser, check out Venus in the east about an hour before sunrise tomorrow.  She will be her brightest. 

Elastomeric

Previous changes in our Vome are working well, and I will most likely leave everything as is for a few weeks--Baahahahahah! So what to do, what to do; I decided to tackle putting the Elastomeric coating on the top of  Miss Freedom's roof for a little more comfort factor when the sun beats down on her. You know how hot vehicles can get, and a 15-20 degree difference in temperature is significant.
There is a perfectly designated area on the top of the fiberglass high top marked by a small "step" down toward the front of the van before the roof begins the very pronounced slope toward the windshield. I masked off the area  leaving a two inch border around the perimeter of the roof so the white Elastomeric cannot be seen unless you are really, really tall or hovering in a helicopter.  I was dreading the "skunk" look and doing the top in this fashion and not taking it all the way down the slope of the roof solved the problem.

Out comes the step ladder, roller, paint pan, open can of "goo" and I am ready to roll :-)  Elastomeric is thick, like whipped cream, and there really is no danger of it dripping off the paint roller, but I still took a deep breath before I brought the roller up to the top of  Freedom's roof and began the process.  I was more than tickled when I got that first coat on without any problems.  I let the first coat dry then rolled on another coat in the opposite direction as per instructions.  Thrilled to have this done!

One other tiny detail, but major factor in safety for Burger and The Chiweenie Brothers, was fixing the door lock and window button on the passenger side so when the boys want to stick their heads out the window they do not inadvertently step on one of those buttons and cause things to happen that shouldn't happen. Some plastic rigid packing foam, double-sided carpet tape, and a piece of rubber mat cut to size did the trick.  No more worries about the window going up or down at a most inopportune time.  Enjoy the wind in your adorable furry faces boys!

Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.  We appreciate your interest in our blog.
Hugs, Shawna

Fowler Falls Day Two

No matter how hot the days, nights this time of year usually cool down really well.  REALLY well.  Like into the low 40s.  The last two nights were no exception and even without a  roof top fan to cool Miss Freedom down during the day, by early morning hours it's downright chilly.  I hurriedly took the boys out for their just-woke-up pee then we scrambled back into the van where Burger curled up in his front seat nest and The Chiweenie Brothers once again snuggled under the covers while I made some coffee.  The water was already hot as I had boiled some the night before and stored it in a Stanley thermos just to have an easy cup of joe while still stumbling around half asleep. After making coffee in the Melita, I too jumped back under the covers and read for a solid two hours before taking a little siesta. After that it was time to get up and get this day going.

We will have to head home, but not before checking out Upper and Lower Falls. I begin breaking camp, and the dogs need a longer walk than this morning's offering. Things get packed up and put away, and the boys are raring to go.

A leisurely walk around our campground and the river trail is just what all of us need. The late morning air is warmer; soft and inviting.  This walkabout is where the boys really shine and show how well they are learning the lessons of not barking at certain times.  We stop often to take in the view of the river below us.  It's so low!  California's four year drought has taken its toll.

Click on photo(s) to enlarge

Once back at our campsite all that is really needed is to load ourselves up and go.  It's hard to break away, but I do want to see the other two falls. I get the boys settled in the van, drop our garbage in the bin, and we are off.

It's not far to Lower Falls.  It's just as pretty as Middle Falls, but with a different flow pattern.  And it's easy to see just how much water is NOT spilling over --- it should have many, many more CFS than this, but still beautiful.

 Lower Falls

Nearby 14,179 foot Mt. Shasta

We head back the way we came in order to get to Upper Falls, another beauty with another, different look.  It is also evident here just how much more water should be flowing down the McCloud.  The drought has sucked away Mother Nature's precious resource without putting anything back.

 time and force have worn holes into solid rock

Sadly, it's time for us to head back home and dream about the next adventure. We head out toward Hwy 89 and head south, pointing Miss Freedom's nose toward home.  

This is gorgeous country we are so fortunate to live in.  If you haven't been to northern California ---far northern California, come for a visit. You'll be blown away.  As always, thanks for stopping by Two Dogs. 

Next week it's back to the mundane; a post about the elastomeric I put on Miss Freedom's roof.  :)
Hugs, Shawna

Fowler Falls Adventure

The boys and I couldn't stand it --- we had to plan another camping trip.  This time we stayed a bit closer to home selecting Fowler Falls Campground about 40 miles north west of Burney off Hwy 89 near the town of McCloud.  Soon as Burger, Fries, and Charlie see certain items heading out the door they begin the excited happy dance :); well, maybe twirling and whirling around like demented little dervishes would be more accurate.  They do love to go! Me, too!

The Fowler Falls/Cattle Camp Campgrounds are no reservation, water, and vault toilet sites.  It's a popular tourist area, but many just drive in to see the Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls never planning to camp, and there were lots of empty sites to select from. It's also the week before school starts so I am sure that had something to do with it, too.  Very warm, sometimes too blasted hot, is normal for afternoons around these parts this time of year so we chose a site with plenty of lovely dappled afternoon shade. 

 Click photo(s) to enlarge

Despite our first outing through Lassen Park and on to Susanville (read about that HERE,) this one yielded even more insight on some things that need to be changed, things that need to be added, or things that can be left home.  I will be changing how I pack the Cube Cooler, changing up the storage drawers to make things more convenient, as well as putting my cooking items in a different spot.  The anti-gravity chair is going to stay home. I need to find one of those old fashioned webbed chairs to haul around instead.  I have never been very comfortable in the big lounger, it bothers my neck.  If I need to put my feet up I will find something from nature to use.

 
The boys and I hiked the short, 1/2 mile trail to Middle Falls

This trip was also an excellent opportunity for the boys to get in some more socialization practice.  My little Charles Barkley is a former street dog who had a broken jaw, and he's not used to other dogs coming near "his" area. Some people are given the stay away message, too. He lets them know when he doesn't care for their demeanor. He's learning there's a time for the alarm, and a time he needs to be quiet. Slow progress, but he is learning.  Burger, the stubborn wire hair, eggs him on.  Charlie had never seen a deer either I am sure, so he was pretty freaked out when one tried to creep through the trees and through camp to get down to the water.  All in all though they weren't too terribly bad, and our last day there yielded some really good behavior from him and the other two who are also rescues with varying degrees of abuse problems to work through. They all made progress in those areas this trip.

I couldn't wait to try out the backpacker's stove I bought a while back.  Looks like I need a bit more practice with it; it got a lot hotter than I anticipated, and I burned the hot dogs on one side and they weren't cooked enough on the other.  The fuel used was small twigs. Burger and The Chiweenie Brothers didn't mind the charred parts of the samples they received, though :-) ---keep 'em coming mom!

Next morning's breakfast eggs were cooked using a cast iron skillet and canned fuel.  It took longer than anticipated to cook, but the heat was more even.  And I was so happy to have a decent meal I forgot to take a photo.

 Part Two of our Fowler Falls Adventure coming up tomorrow
We  leave you with a shot of the McCloud River (it's really just a little creek now) meandering sweetly toward Lower Falls.

Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs!  Hugs, Shawna

Rearranging the Back of Miss Freedom

Good day!  Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.

This past couple of weeks have been busy. I spent several days working on our Vome. Van + Home = Vome. I stole this word from a fellow van dweller.  Don't you just love it!  It's perfect, isn't it?

When the boys and I got back from our first little adventure I jumped right in to tackle those things I had made note of that I wanted to change.  Mostly it was re-organization but two of the main things I wanted to accomplish were moving the three drawer plastic storage unit from being secured along one of the side doors to having it backed against the bed, and doing something different with the storage area at the back of the van.

Moving that three drawer plastic unit  means I can once again open both side doors.  I realized this needed to be done that first night out when, after a full day in the sun, the van was sweltering inside and it wasn't cooling down.  Being able to open both the side doors should make a big difference.

The second thing ---doing something different with the back.  It was organized, but I didn't like the way it looked.  I am not opposed to making do and  I make do quite often, but once home I experienced an epiphany. I removed one of the shelves from a four shelf plastic shelving unit I have in the sun room and replaced the board and mickey-moused  wood cube I had in the back supporting the plastic Sterlite drawer units that give me so much storage.  So it went from using this

( sorry, in my excitement I didn't get a photo of  "before" You'll have to use your imagination for how this looked with the drawer towers on it. and one shorty unit to support the right end of the board) To this

 It's organized and looks good too, I think.  The area underneath the shelf will give me room for the two AGM batteries I will need for power storage from the solar panels, and because I bought portable panels, they will have to be stored when we are on the move. Their dedicated space will be right in front of this storage area. 


 DONE! DONE! AND DONE!  

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Trails!  Hugs, Shawna