We’ve had a wonderful time here at the Escapees Park of the Sierras, and this is one area that is very high on our list of places to come back to. We had hoped to do some exploring up along Highway 49 in the Gold Rush country while we were here, but we just ran out of time. But that’s okay, we know we’ll be back someday.
As I said, we’re leaving today, and I still don’t know where we’re going. Well, I know where we’re going – the Oregon coast. I just don’t know yet how we’re going to get there. I have been tossing around two options. The first is to take State Route 99 to Lodi, pick up State Route 12, and take it west through Napa to Santa Rosa, and then pick up U.S. 101 and follow it north to the Russian River NACO preserve near Cloverdale. That’s about a 275 mile trip, and a good driving day. Then we would follow 101 north into Oregon in a day or so.
The second option I am considering is to take State Route 99 all the way to Nicolaus, a little north of Sacramento, and stop at the Lake Minden NACO campground. That’s about 210 miles, and that’s where Greg and Jan are headed. If we did that, we could then go on to Yuba City, pick up State Route 20, and follow that west to pick up U.S. 101 just north of Ukiah in a day or two. Greg and Miss Terry keep asking me which way I’ve decided, but I have at least 100 miles before I have to figure that out. 🙂
Yesterday was a good day. Our friends Rick and Laurie Phillips had asked us to meet them at the Chukchansi Gold Casino, a mile or so from the RV park, for the lunch buffet. As it turned out, Laurie was under the weather, so it was just Rick, Greg, Jan, Terry, and me. We had not expected the long line, since on our previous visits to the buffet, we had walked right in. But because of the holiday, they were really busy. But that was okay, we stood around chatting and watching people lose money at the slot machines until it was our turn to get a table.
When we got to the cash register, the lady on duty asked me if I was a veteran, and as it turns out, the casino was giving vets a free meal! How nice is that? As always, the selection was huge, and the food was excellent. We had a very nice visit, and all five of us waddled out to the parking lot, stuffed.
Many casinos around the country offer RVers free overnight parking, and the Chukchansi is no different. The have a designated back-in RV parking area that looks like it would accommodate most RVs, and we also saw a couple of big rigs parked along the curb on the far outer edges of the parking lot.
In yesterday’s blog, I told you about our excellent meal at the Taste of China restaurant, and that the owner is an RVer. We had promised to bring him back a copy of the Gypsy Journal, so when we left the casino, we drove into Oakhurst so I could drop it off. Terry, the owner, wasn’t there, but his wife took the paper, and then gave me a bag of delicious almond cookies! Can you see why I want to come back to this area? They feed me for free! 🙂
Back at the motorhome, Greg put our plumbing bay back together from the repairs we made while we were here, and then we retired to our RVs for the night. Terry and I put together a bunch of orders that had come in, so I can mail them out today, and I made a new post to my self-publishing blog.
Later on, all that food from lunch wore off, and I got the munchies. I had a slice of Miss Terry’s decadent caramel and pecan kringle, with a cold glass of milk. Yummy!
And that’s about it for this blog, and for our visit to the Park of the Sierras. I’ll have more tomorrow, from wherever we happen to end up.
Thought For The Day – If it costs too much to get new brakes, wouldn’t it just be cheaper to get a louder horn?
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Nick Russell
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Could we please have the recipe for Miss Terry’s Kringle–I have a recipe for Kringle but it does not have caramel or pecans. THANKS
PS: I started “Big Lake” yesterday on my Kindle and am loving it!!!
It has been awfully wet in Oregon this spring. I hope it dries out some for you. We haven’t seen much sun or blue sky lately.
If you decide to go to Lake Minden, you would be better off parking the other side of the lake, the main part of the park has full hookups, but the sites are very tight for a big rig. We use this park when we are in ‘California since it is only a few miles from Yuba City where our oldest son Robert lives. the area we park the sites are fine, they just do not have full hook ups. We inquired why only water and electric, it is because they would have to build their own waste management facility, it has to do with the high water table. Have safe travels.
If you go through Williams on hwy 20, stop at the large Italian Restaurant…the name starts with a G but I can’t remember how to spell it. They have every type of canned, in jars, olive for sale there. Garlic stuffed, almond stuffed etc. And it has a good deli and it looks like, every kind of beer in a cooler for sale. They have let me spend the night in their parking lot in my RV.
Nick, I am running high with envy right about now! We have been trying to get to the Port Orford area of Oregon for the past couple of years. From everything I have been able to find out without actually being there, it seems like the ideal summer alternate to Aransas Pass. Better sun, way less rain and better temps than even just a 100 miles up the coast and even in the winter only .2″ rain, avg.
Please give us some great details about Port Orford and the whole Oregon banana belt of Oregon from Brookings to Newport. I don’t think we will make it before next year but it is still very high on our to-go list.
Not sure where you stand on fish but I am a big seafood lover and from many sources The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish and Chips is a “gotta-do” in Port Orford…. Makes my mouth water just typing about it.
My husband and I stopped at The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish and Chips as we drove down the 101, not knowing Sunset Magazine had named it one of the top 10 “seafood spots by the sea” in the country. Absolutely great fish and chips. What a lucky find!