This post will have more pictures, I promise.  I don’t know why I have not taken more photos but I was more attentive today.

This was a day to do some Redding stuff.  I lived here from 1971-1980 and Roxie lived in some towns just south for about the same time.  Since it was Sunday Roxie went with her friend Gail to church.  I would have gone with them but my blog was having some issues.  REALLY!  I would have gone.  But I spent 2 hours in Burger King working on it.  Got it fixed and I will have a separate blog entry describing it.  After church we had a nice lunch at a local ‘hip’ sandwich shop, The Best Little Sandwich Shop.  It was very good!  Shortly after lunch we had to get Gail back to her home as she had a prior engagement.

Off to a bike ride!  Yes we are nuts to go on a bike ride in Redding during a summer day but it seemed a bit cooler than normal.  We started out on the Sacramento River Trail.  We biked a total time of 90 minutes.  We did the loop up the east side of the river from the park, over the concrete ribbon bridge by Keswick dam and back down the west side of the river.

Here is a shot of Keswick Dam from the ribbon bridge.  I remember Keswick Dam, actually the lake.  My dad used to like to take a cool boat ride on the lake in the evenings but he would make ME get in the water to launch and retrieve the boat.  It was COLD!!  The water for that lake came right out of the bottom of Shasta Lake.

Here is a picture of the concrete ribbon bridge.  It is the only one of its kind this continent.  Read more about it here.

And here is a picture of Roxie crossing the bridge in her neon outfit (not real clear, I had to zoom in).  I am sure she was terrified!

Once we did the loop the next natural thing was to ride on down to the Sundial bridge.  I guess this is a pretty famous bridge and you read about in that previous link about the concrete ribbon bridge.  It was only about 1 mile round trip down there.  The platform of the bridge is glass panels and they actually let you ride your bikes over it (5mph).  Pics:

After all that we were pretty beat.  We still did some needed shopping for groceries and fuel.  Went back to the trailer, had our leftover Indian food.  We then visited with Mike and we got a photo of the two of us:

I almost forgot!  Here is the requisite shot of our trailer in the campsite.  This is space 34:

Next stop: Canyonville, OR

Chico was great but it sure has grown!!  We took our time getting up and out of town.  Our next stop was Redding for 2 nights and it is only 75+ miles.  A short day!

We used to drive that route from Chico to Redding a LOT when in school.  Both of our families were in Redding when we were living in Chico.  And, being the poor college students, we would pack the truck of our B210 full of dirty clothes and head to the laundromat (err… parents houses).  We took it a bit slower with the trailer than we used to but it did bring back some memories.

On Facebook I reconnected with a couple of friends that I knew in high school.  We all have a common thread – RVing.  I asked them for a recommendation on where to stay in Redding.  During 1971 and 1980 my parents owned the KOA Kampground that was in Redding.  The last time we brought a trailer through, in 2005 for the WBCCI International rally in Salem OR, we stayed at the old KOA.  It was not a KOA anymore.  It was a Premier Resort.  It just wasn’t the same anymore.  Seems to be a recurring theme here.  Something about things not staying the same but changing all the time.

April and Michael both recommended the Mountain Gate RV Park north of Shasta Lake City.  Now, this brings up a different subject.  When I went to school in that town it was called Central Valley and the high school was Central Valley High School.  Someone in their infinite wisdom decided to change the town name to Shasta Lake City.  I think this is asinine and will continue to call it Central Valley as many locals still do.  </soapbox off>

We got to the RV park around 12:30 and they were closed for lunch.  Luckily Michael told them we were coming so it seemed like everyone knew who we were.  It appears this RV park is like Michael’s second home.  He has a specific spot he gets and they all know him.  Sounds like a good setup to me!

We got settled in and Roxie got in contact with one of her friends that she has known since grade school.  We picked up Gail in Redding and went to one of our favorite burger places, Bartel’s.  After visiting for a while we looked around Redding a bit for a place to ride bikes.  Roxie researched and found the Sacramento River Trail.  We would plan on that for the next day.

We headed back to the RV park and visited with our old friends and spouses.  It was a very enjoyable time and we even had some pizza.