In early May, 2023, we took a week-long trip to Oroville, CA, about 40 miles north of Sacramento.  We stayed at the Berry Creek Rancheria RV Park on the edge of the city.  It is a Good Sam member park with a 10/10/10 rating.  Located at the Gold Country Casino Resort, the park has over 70 sites, with full hook ups, in various sizes for back in, pull through, and upgrades like an expanded patio area with table, chairs, umbrella, and a gas fire pit. Sites are on level concrete pads. A store with gasoline is on site, a drive thru coffee kiosk is also on site. A shuttle will take you to the casino for gambling, restaurants or to see a show.  Although we didn't attend, Larry the Cable Guy was the featured show the weekend we were there. The park provided discount cards for the restaurants and coffee kiosk.  Our total for the week stay with our GS discount was around $350.

Our intention for the trip was to visit nearby Table Mountain in search of super blooms.  Unfortunately, it rained off-and-on most of the time we were there.  Our quest for super blooms failed, as pictured in the series below.  The yellow and white flowers in the series are about 1/4" in size.

Our Saturday journey, however, was more successful.  Oroville was finishing their annual Feather Fiesta Days, so they were celebrating with a parade and faire booths.  Our trailer, Guthrie, is a Cherokee Wolf Pup, so when we saw this carving in one of the booths, we felt it was worth a purchase.

From Oroville, we headed north to Paradise to see how their rebuilding was going.  Paradise and its surrounding area was burned to the ground in 2018 in a devastating fire that killed 85 people. Very few structures survived, so most of the buildings are new.

​In nearby Durham is the Barry R Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary, which provides rehabilitation and long-term care for exotic and native species.  Each animal at the sanctuary has some kind of special need that would prevent them from survival in their natural habitat.

From the wildlife sanctuary, we headed to the Chico Air Museum where they were having a "fly-in and open house. The museum is currently housed in a WWII Army Air Corp hangar and ​spans nearly 100 years of aviation history. The planes featured below came to the "fly-in".

One of the displays at the open house was about the Tuskegee Airmen, also known as the Red Tails because they painted the tails of their planes with red paint. These airmen were the United States first African-American fighter pilots in WWII which escorted our bombers in Europe.  Though they endured bigotry and other hardships, they became some of our best pilots. Below is a picture of the Roberts sisters whose father, 2nd Lt. George S. Roberts, was among the first graduating class of pilots. (Roberts is in the middle of the second row in the photograph they are holding.)

The next day, we visited the Oroville Dam, part of the California Department of Water Resources.  ​Oroville Dam is the tallest earth-fill dam, at 770-feet, in the United States. Construction first began in 1957 on relocating what is now Highway 70 and the Western Pacific Railroad. Work on the dam site began in 1961. The embankment was topped out in 1967.

Due to record rainfall and snow this year, DWR is maintaining releases from Lake Oroville to the Feather River at 35,000 cfs. These releases are being made in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and downstream water operators for flood control protection. Oro Dam Blvd. E. between Rusty Dusty Road and Canyon Drive in Butte County remains closed. Higher releases from the main spillway cause excessive water spray across the road and reduce driver visibility, requiring a closure for public safety.

A few years back the Oroville Spillway sustained extensive damage and had to be reconstructed. The video below shows how it was done.

Although the super blooms were a disappointment, our week spent at Oroville and the surrounding area was a nice getaway. We have never explored that area of California, but we're glad we did.

Like you may have done, we've been making plans for a long trip to the midwestern states of South Dakota and Wyoming. Unfortunately, we've had to change those plans. With the winter storms that have been pummeling California, we've had to replace a roof on our garage and install a new driveway, so no long trip this year. We're not giving up on that trip, just pushing it back a year.

Washington Post Video

The winter storms that California has been seeing are affecting people living in the mountain regions all the way to the coastlines of the state. Saturation levels are high. We may have a late spring and summer this year, so stay safe during your travels.

For those of us who aren't full-time RVers, November - February is a time of the "winter blues" as we wait for the snow and rain to decrease so that we can get back to camping in our rigs. In order to alleviate our blues, we were planning a short trip this month to go and visit some of our friends in our old digs in the Central Valley of CA.

​Well, if you've been following the weather forecasts, you know that we've had a bit of a wet winter in the Golden State.  We've gotten so use to having hardly any snow and rain that we've forgotten what a regular winter is like.  Most of the state this winter has received an excessive amount of rain in a short period of time resulting in blizzards, flooding, fallen trees and mudslides virtually everywhere. 90% of the state's population has been affected. To top things off, parts of the North Coast received a few earthquakes as well. Needless to say, our trip is being postponed until (hopefully) sometime in early February.

If you're so inclined, please pray for California.  Safe travels!

We just made it back from our first official trip in Guthrie to Casini Ranch Family Campground in Duncan Mills, CA. Although we did an initial test trip to our "home base" campground when we purchased the trailer last year, if you've read our previous post about Guthrie you know we had a mishap that set us back 6-months due to supply issues.  Once we got Guthrie back, we scheduled a trip in July to visit Casini, but then we got COVID-19. BUT WE FINALLY MADE IT IN AUGUST!

Casini RFC is a large park with lots of activities for kids. You can read our review on RV LIFE Campgrounds by clicking the logo in the right column. But here are some pictures of our trip...

When we returned from Fort Ross we had discovered that it had ripped completely loose from the side of the trailer.  I contacted Lippert and was given a Case Number to begin replacement procedures.

Fortunately, a park person was able to assist us in getting the awning tied back into position so that we could drive home and address the issue. After two problems with our awnings, we've decided that it may be best to just have it removed, we can always use umbrellas to keep us in the shade.  Let us know what you would do in the comments section below.

I'm gonna tell you all a story about a man named.... Jed (Yeah, that's the ticket!), he bought a new trailer he dubbed "Guthrie" and then a month later on its second trip out of the driveway he took out its awning and, well, see below.

Jed should have had his wife outside the truck in order to make sure the trailer was lined up properly for clearance, but, alas, he did not.

​After making arrangements with the insurance company and a trip to Camping World for repairs, Guthrie returned as good as new and with a few enhancements (Think of them as a face lift.).  See the before and after pictures below.  Due to a backlog in the availability of materials, it took 6 months for the repairs to be completed.

However, now the Saga of Guthrie may continue, filled with adventures to come....  Once the price of gasoline comes down some. 😒

If you're ever traveling through Fort Bragg, CA, be sure to spend some time at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens off of Highway 1. You won't be disappointed.