California - Days 28 through 30 - Mt. Shasta City

Mt. Shasta City KOA, Mt. Shasta

Monday, 28 through Wednesday, 30 March 2022

I kept fairly busy during these 3 days.  I finished 6 blog posts, catching me up to Day 13.  Woo-hoo!  Now only 2 weeks behind, instead of 3 weeks.  Doing this work was harder than you might think, because the internet connection was very slow.  When it takes several minutes to upload to the blog a photo that's already on the computer because I took it myself - well, it gets discouraging.

My water pump finally stopped working completely, so the only water I have in the RV is what comes in when the hose is hooked up to campground water (or what I've saved in jugs, just in case).  

Further, my heater stopped being reliable.  I could only get it to come on now and then, and I could detect no pattern to tell me when it would or wouldn't work.  Nighttime temps were getting down into the 30's, with a prediction for freezing on Wednesday night, so heat was imperative.  On Tuesday morning, I finally turned on the engine (not the generator but the truck's engine) so I could turn on the heater in the cab.  My poor puppies were huddled in front of the vents for the hour I ran it.

I was getting increasingly worried about the state of my tires - I'm sure at least 2 of them need to be replaced.  And I think it's past time for an oil change, but the last time I had one, they didn't have those little stickers they put in the windshield to remind you when the next one is due, so I really had no idea.  Of course, that just gave me something else to worry about.

And Extra Space Storage, where I have everything stored that I didn't want to cart around on this trip (like my mother's piano), told me I needed to get my annual payment to them by Friday because it's due on Monday.  (Don't understand that; the post office still delivers mail on Saturdays and Mondays, and neither is a holiday, but I didn't argue.)

I finally called my poor brother and asked if he'd mind if I whined for a while, and he very generously let me do it.  I felt much better after dumping this stuff out, and David had a brilliant suggestion, which was to buy another space heater to replace the one I've been using that died a month or 2 ago.  I felt like I was one of the Peterkin family getting advice from the Lady from Philadelphia, and very lucky to have it.

So on Tuesday we left the campground for a long list of errands.  First on the list was to stop at Shastice city park that was just a little over a mile from the campground.  I like to take the dogs new places because I think they must get really bored when we're in the same campground for days, sniffing the same places all the time.

We went next to the post office in Mt. Shasta and I paid an extra $9 to send the check to Extra Space Storage where it would likely (though not guaranteed) arrive on Friday.  (Spoiler alert: it got there on Thursday.  Let's hear it for the US Postal Service!)

Then we stopped at a hardware store where I did indeed find a space heater that I hoped would keep my kids warm.  The clerk who helped me said they'd never had that model returned, so I took a chance.

The hardware store was right next to a local grocery store, where I got some supplies.  And that was right next to a Chase bank, where I replenished my supply of $100 bills.  I use those to buy gasoline (sometimes getting a cash discount) and CA's high gas prices had thoroughly depleted my stock alarmingly fast.

From there I went down the street (Mt. Shasta has 3,223 residents (2020 census) so its business area is compact) to the CVS to get my blood pressure meds refilled.  That CVS was in a building that I'm sure was originally a gas station - maybe from the 1950s or 60s, from the look of it - and inside it was nothing more than a place to pick up prescriptions.  None of the sundries that take up most of the square footage of a usual CVS.  I found it refreshing.

I'd intended to stop at a garage to see about the oil change and tires and even/maybe the water pump.  But I'd already called the one the campground folks recommended and they'd said they didn't do any kind of work on an RV, though I was welcome to bring it by and they'd take a look at it.  But I decided why bother if the chances were nearly 100% they were just going to look and say yep, we can't do it.

Instead I went on to another park, this one called Mt. Shasta City Park.  Its claim to fame is that the headwaters of the Sacramento River are here and easily accessible, so I thought that'd be a good place for the dogs and me to go.  I still do think that but I changed my mind once we got there.  Even though it was a Tuesday, I saw quite a few people heading that direction from the parking area - almost all of them with dogs.  Not a situation I could trust my dogs with, so instead we walked around the area near the parking and the adjacent senior center.  Too bad but there it is.  If you're curious about this headwaters business, I found something online that does a good job with both pictures and description.   https://californiathroughmylens.com/headwaters-sacramento-river

One thing I saw there was a demonstration in the forest by local forestry experts showing folks how to reduce fire hazards around their homes.  You know, cutting back the brush and overhanging tree limbs and so forth.  They showed one area where nothing had been done and another area next to it that had been thinned out.  The thinned area wasn't bare or unsightly, but more like the difference before and after you've gotten a haircut.

One night I ordered a pizza from a local place - Say Cheese Pizza.  Actually, I think they might be the only pizza place in town.  They were really expensive - especially when I added in a tip for the delivery person - but that pizza had more pepperoni on it than I've ever seen on a pepperoni pizza.  It was great.  So I ordered the pizza and watched Soapdish, one of my favorite dumb movies, and had Halloween in March again.  I think I did this last year, and it was a good idea.

This campground was built on a hill so we had to climb almost everywhere we walked.  Not that that's a bad idea, but neither Gracie nor I has a strong set of lungs, or legs, or stamina.  In fact, we're both falling apart, but something like this is good for us.  It's in a large mixed grove of trees, mostly redwoods but also other species, and it's really very pleasant.  

The dog park was a decent size and one time we were joined by another dog & owner.  That other dog was bigger than mine but still very young, and Dexter had a great time playing with her.  Gracie tried but she just couldn't keep up.

The trees in this photo are planted inside the dog park and my guess is some kind of eucalyptus.  There was an unusual odor in their vicinity - and I'll confess I can't remember what eucalyptus smells like, but this smell made me think of them so maybe?  I looked eucalyptus up online and the best answer I got was a maybe.  Still, they smelled nice and Gracie liked to lie in their shade.

All in all, though I still have several major things to worry about that I couldn't take care of here, this was a restful stop for us.