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.

On many of our trips, notoriously the ones where we are hurrying up to get somewhere, we get to a town, look around a bit then bust out early the next day.  Not so on this trip.  We are staying a leisurely, for us, two nights in Chico!  That means we had the whole day to do some things.

Coincidentally this day in Chico is our 33rd wedding anniversary.  I know Roxie will be up for sainthood now!  Roxie said she had one request for her birthday.  That was to bike through Bidwell Park.  We lived in Chico from 1980-1983 as a newlywed couple and have many good memories.  One memory that Roxie had, and wanted to relive, were the rides she took through the park.  We have been doing a bit of bike riding each day at home so I could accommodate that.

We did bring our bikes but it was not easy, or fun.  I had been looking at ways to get the bikes along.  Airstream discourages any time of rack on the bumper of a trailer but have recently come out with a Fiamma bike rack.  I looked at those and they look OK on an International but on a Classic (which we have) the mounting brackets don’t look that great.  Also I would have a hard time accessing my rear storage.

The next thought was to put a Thule or Yakima rack system on the truck shell.  I really liked this idea but the cost was pretty high after you added it all up and Roxie reminded me that I was not getting younger and it would be harder and harder to get bikes up there.  OK.  Put that one on the back burner…

So the bikes are in the trailer as we are traveling.  We have to pull them out when we stop which is a pain.  The park bike trail is about 4 miles from the RV park in Chico.  That would add 8 miles to the entire ride.  Roxie said we should just take the bikes in the truck.  Good idea but where?  I thought about this the night before and had an answer.  We got a hitch mounted bike rack.  It fits in our hitch receiver and the bikes sit on a tray rather than held by the frame.  This gives us a chance to take the bikes where we need to with the fully loaded truck.  The next idea is to look for a front mounted hitch receiver so we can put the bike rack on the FRONT of the truck when traveling.  Have to do that when we get back.

After getting the bike rack we ate in downtown Chico at the recommendation of the bike shop employee.  We ate at Pluto’s.  A nice little sandwich shop that reminded us a bit of Bravo Farms down where we live.

We went back to the trailer, assembled the rack, put on the bikes and went to the park.  We rode through the park for about 6 miles round trip.  Oh wait a minute.  Roxie lost part of her water bottle rack so we backtracked another 2 miles.  All in all it was 8 miles.  And fun.

That evening we celebrated our 33 years at The Priya Indian restaurant.  We ordered so much food we took it home for another time.  All in all a good day.