March 31, 2026 - Return to Fresno

 

 Title: March  31, 2026 - Return to Fresno

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type: Car

Description:

Not sure why, but I got up at 6:00 and took a shower-I know why I took a shower, just not sure about the time. When Sherri got up, we had the hotel’s breakfast. It was the usual fare for Quality Inn: eggs, cereal, waffle and a few other things. We got packed and left the hotel at 8:50.

Andrea had told us about a place she liked: When Pie Meets Bread. When I looked, it would have been within walking distance. Sherri bought a cup of coffee, a cinnamon roll and an apricot pie. The piece was for later. The coffee and roll we had as we traveled. At least part of the roll as it was gigantic. The temptation was to eat all of it. I had a couple of hunks. We both felt this could be something we could spend calories on.

We got onto I-5. The question is: should we go the faster way down I-5. There is another way out of Red Bluff, following old Highway 99 to Chico. We took the latter as we had the time. While the road is longer and only two lanes, we go through orchards of various tree types and fields of green. Occasionally we encounter water on the windshield.

After passing Chico, we changed to going down Highway 170. Unlike the section of 99 we traveled, 170 has a minimal amount of stoppage and we sail along pretty well. Then we hit I-80 until we turned off to go to our friend's house.

 

We got in pretty close to when we told Peter and Jamie, 11:45. We had not visited their house since they moved up here. So we get a tour of the house: Sherri with Jamie and I with Peter. Peter and I do more talking about things and do not move too much until we get prompted to get the show on the road.

Today is Jamie’s birthday. We take them out for lunch at Cantina Azteca in Rancho Cordova. It is a low-key time which we enjoy talking with each other before we get served. Then we continue on while we eat. Peter drives us back to their house and we leave about 1:45.

There is much more traffic going down Highway 99 than we had this morning. But for the most part, we keep moving. One of the debates was do we stop at the Turlock Costco and get the car washed. But with the off and on rain, we decided to forego that.

We do need to get gas as we have been using the same tank as when we filled up in Oregon. Modesto’s Costco is close by, so we stop there. It is 3:45 and we are making good time. Afterwards, Sherri notes that 99 shows red on Google Maps.

We used to live in Modesto, so we should know our way around. But that was over 45 years ago. Modesto has changed a lot since then. We let Google tell us where to go. It takes us to the west of 99, then has us go back on it a couple miles later. But we still see red. Sherri provides a tour of downtown Modesto and gets us back onto 99 in Ceres.

Traffic along 99 for the home stretch has some stoppages, but nothing bad. We got home at 5:45, pretty tired. Steven has already gone out as we expected. The car gets unloaded. Then we collapse onto our chairs and watch a round of Jeopardy. Life is good.

March 30, 2026 - Going to Redding

 

 

Title: March  30, 2026 - Going to Redding

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Lower McCloud Parking area

Trail:  McCloud River Trail

Destination: Middle McCloud Trail

Distance:  2.82 miles

Travel Time: 1:27  (1.9 mph)

Elevation Rise: 509'

Descent: 507‘

Maximum Elevation: 3,338'

Minimum Elevation: 3,271'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Today we leave Bonnie and Dennis. It has been enjoyable. I get up at 7:00. Once Sherri gets up, I pack the car. Bonnie had breakfast ready for us at 8:00, French toast was the main part of the meal with sausages and other goodies.

Yesterday, Dennis showed us a table he was working on. He wanted it brought up to the Barn where we slept. Since I am mostly an abled body, we bring it up. Not terribly heavy, just a good size table. The wood grain is beautiful. Dennis has topped it off with a coating which both protects and brings out the wood’s color.

We get it up to the Barn and talk some more. Sherri and I had talked about going all the way to Fresno today. But as we had a good time, we just talked with Dennis and Bonnie. It is 10:25 before we leave.

Shasta

I am driving. There is not much to write about, except that occasionally there would be some rain. But nothing which inhibits driving. When we get to Medford, we fill up with cheap Oregon Costco gas before leaving the state. Then we head over to the Harry&David Country Store. Even if there was no other fun on the trip, this would make the trip worth it for Sherri. Sherri buys her salsa and then tops it with jams and chocolates. Fortunately this store is a day away, else I think we would go broke fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower McCloud Falls

From Medford, it is a short drive to the California border, not that it's the end of the earth or anything. By the time we approach the town of Mt Shasta, it is close to 3:00. We have not had lunch yet. We debated if we wanted to go down to Dunsmuir at Yaks or try something in Mt Shasta. There is a Yak’s in Mt Shasta, the original one actually. But when we look for it, all we see only a place called Drizzle. Turns out the owner has recently renamed the place. The food is very similar, so we are content. As a note: the name is confusing, mostly because of the rain we had previously. We saw the word Drizzle on the map and thought it was alerting us to a weather condition.

After we ate, the perfect after meal activity would be to do a hike. Steven told Sherri about a hike outside of McCloud. We head east to it. The hike is to McCloud Falls. We understood that the trail was to the lower falls. But the lower falls are pretty much right off the overview at the parking lot. 

 

 

Gary

We did not come here just to gawk at the falls, so we took the trail heading towards the Middle Falls. The first thing we do is to go down a set of stairs which gets us close to the level of the McCloud River. The trail itself is pretty level for a while. Nothing really outstanding, just a good walk. After a while the trail rises up to a campground. We walked around the edge of it-I do not think anybody is staying here. There is an interesting sign about some early settlers, the Fowlers.

Sherri

At the end of the campground, our path turns to dirt. We are about halfway to the Middle Falls. I am playing tag with Sherri. I take a picture and catch up. After one of these, I noticed Sherri hopping over something. When I get closer, I see a line of ants crossing the trail. I fall further behind as I try to take some pictures.

The Middle McCloud Falls are duly impressive. We stayed around for 15 minutes, admiring the falls from different perspectives. The trail goes on to the Upper McCloud Falls. But we returned back to the car along the same route we came. As we get close to the parking lot, we meet a boy and his mother. Sherri finds out that they are locals and asks for some further local points of interest. She suggested:

 

• Bunny Flats
• Siskiyou Falls-I could not find a reference to Siskiyou Falls. Maybe Lake Siskiyou and I mis-heard her?
• Upper McCloud Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

Middle McCloud Falls

We get back to the car and leave at 5:20. Now the issue is where to sleep tonight? We are pretty sure in Redding, but where? We both agreed that the Travelodge where we have stayed before is acceptable but a bit lower on our priority list. We have had good success at Quality Inn lately. Sherri finds a place for $83 a night plus taxes. Sherri tries to book it, but is not too successful as it is rejecting my membership ID. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McCloud River

She has me stop at an off ramp and I confirm she has what I think it is. As we are about to start up, a man appears by the window. He explains that his car needs a jump. We are willing to oblige. The car gets started and the man is appreciative and offers some mushrooms he has gathered. I am not a fan of mushrooms, so we politely turn down the offer.

We got to the Quality Inn. I will say I am not impressed. First, hardly anybody appears to be in the three buildings. Second, where is the office? We finally found the office a bit away. The clerk has someone who is trying to pay in cash, but the hotel also wants a $200 cash deposit since there is no credit card to charge. After a while he leaves. The clerk seems pretty apathetic to serving anybody. But we got a room. Sherri has reserved a king room which turns out to be one for handicap. The clerk does not seem to be too interested in changing this, so we get that room, room 102 on the ground floor.

I am pretty tired, so I just lounge around for the rest of the evening until we get ready for bed a little before 10:00.

 

 

 

 

Extra Photo's

Lower McCloud Falls

Gary and Middle McCloud Falls

Dennis and Gary

Lower McCloud Falls

Ants go marching into their crack

McCloud River

Gary

Middle McCloud Falls

Middle McCloud Falls

Looking up to the Middle McCloud Falls Overlook

McCloud River

McCloud River

Lower McCloud Falls

Mt Shasta

March 29, 2026 - With Dennis and Bonnie

 

 Title: March  29, 2026 - With Dennis and Bonnie

 Description :   Animals : Flowers and Plants

Description:

Today is Palm Sunday and we will be going to church with Dennis and Bonnie. A long time ago, I went to the same church as them. I am looking forward to going again. They go to a Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Roseburg.

I got up at 6:30. The Barn, where we sleep, is a restful place. If you wait a bit longer than I did, you can watch the effect of the sun rising out of a large window-I think that same large window would drive Sherri nuts as she does not like light in her bedroom, particularly in the morning. Anyway, I showered and got myself ready for church. Sherri got up and was ready for Bonnie’s breakfast at 8:00. It was a light, but enjoyable breakfast of cinnamon rolls, sausage and fruit.

At 8:30, we left for church. During the Pandemic, Bonnie had sent a pretty wise letter to Sherri from her pastor on how the church would be dealing with the lock down. We got to meet him. He seems a pretty down to earth person. Also got to hear him preach. Only two main points, not the standard minimum requirement for preachers. Being Palm Sunday, there was the typical message about Jesus coming into Jerusalem. Whenever you hear a sermon, I try to figure out what applies to me. Nathan Goble made that pretty easy.

Walking a path

By 11:00, we were back at the house. We moseyed around a bit more-lots of talking and enjoying each other. Dennis needed to go back to church to deal with the offering for the morning. When he came back around 12:30, we had lunch: lamb gyro. Pretty good. Simple, nourishing and tasty.

Our families have been intertwined for over 50 years. We backpacked together and had kids around the same time. Moriah recently got married and we were hoping to see her and Alex. But as I told Dennis, if Moriah was available it would be a blessing on top of a blessing. Moriah and Alex did bless us with their presence. I got to have a bit more of a take on Alex than at their wedding. They look like they are a good fit. They have now been married for six months.

Alex has responsibilities with his church’s youth at 3:00, so he and Moriah leave. This leaves us the four of us to do what we seem to do a lot of on this trip: talk. Which we do for a while. It is suggested we walk Dennis and Bonnie’s property. We did this several years ago when they first got the property. Now to see the changes they have made

Dennis

First stop is a tree house which we all climb up into. It gives a good view of both their property and the valley beyond. I wonder, is this for the grandchildren or for Dennis? Down we go and start examining flowers, such as trillium and shooting stars. Dennis has cut paths around his property. We take on which ends in a bramble of blackberries. When we go the other way, we descend to the property bottom. Dennis talks about the boundaries and what they could do with the property, if they wanted to. You can tell that even though he is in his 70’s there is both pride and a vision. I am glad we can walk the property with him.

Dennis and Bonnie's Forest

By 6:00, we are back at the house and Bonnie has dinner ready within 15 minutes of us arriving. Interesting how a dinner can be simple, yet interesting visually and able to feed both the body and satisfy the taste buds.

By 7:45, we cleaned up from dinner and talked a bit. It is time for another round of Winspan. I thought last night I felt I competed reasonably. Tonight? I am last once again, but pretty pitifully. Bonnie won tonight with Dennis coming in second. We talked for another 45 minutes before retiring. After reading, I close my eyes by 11:30.

Animals

 
Flowers and Plants

March 28, 2026 - Go to Roseburg

 

Lawrence and Andrea

Title: March  28, 2026 - Go to Roseburg
Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

 

Description:

By the time I got up on Saturday morning, both Andrea and Lawrence were already gone to Silver Falls State Park for their March Madness walk. That is 20 miles with an elevation gain of 2700’. Ah, to be young again and do that kind of challenge.

I got up at 7:00 and had my normal breakfast of granola. I putz around a bit until Sherri gets up at 8:30. I finished packing. There was a discussion of how long to pack for. For an explanation of what really seems like a silly statement: we have found that when we are going for a shorter stay, it is easier to carry in only the essentials and minimize that baggage. I put my medicines together and some underwear, socks and shirts. We had decided to only pack enough for the next two nights. If we stayed a night on the road back to Fresno, I would deal with that later. 

The original plan was to spend 1-3 nights getting back to Fresno. But rain is forecasted starting Monday and with Sherri being banged up, we will probably take one night to get back. First we will spend a couple of nights at Dennis and Bonnie's house. Dennis was my best man and roommate many years ago. If we got there early enough, they had talked about taking us on a hike to Toketee Falls, just east of Roseburg.

 

When we leave Salem at 11:00, that dims the possibility of going to the Falls. We had talked about doing the “No Kings March” in Eugene, but we also started late for that. Also we wanted to avoid the crowd there and not eat in Eugene. About the time we were thinking of stopping at a rest stop and having a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, we saw an inviting sign for Creswell Bakery.

We get to the bakery about 12:30. Even for a small town, there is a nice line-not terribly long, just that there was one is an indicator that we will be in for a treat. There is a turkey provolone sandwich special today. We decided to take that and split it. Pretty tasty. By the time we finish, it is a little after 1:00.

 

 

We stopped at a rest stop for a few minutes and then we are off again. We get to Bonnie and Dennis’ at 2:20. They are waiting for us. It is good to see them and talk with them. We talked for over an hour. Bonnie had mentioned to Sherri earlier that they could take us to Wildlife Safari which is about ten miles away. They have season tickets to it with enough for guests. Sherri wants to go and I mention this to Dennis. They made it possible.

What is Wildlife Safari? It is a Jurassic Park type place, only thing instead of dinosaurs, it has all kinds of exotic animals: giraffes, antelope, elephants, rhinos and hippos, bears, lions, tigers and many other animals. You stay in your car and drive the premises on their roads. It is one way traffic. Today there is not much of a line in most places. The one place where the grizzlies are playing, people are trying to get good views of them and not moving. They are fun to watch. Another place is the tiger area.

When we get back, Bonnie gets dinner on the table and we have pot roast, carrots, potatoes and a salad. She has it all together within an half an hour of us returning. Wonder Woman she is. After dinner, Dennis serves us some soft-serve ice cream. Then there is more talking.

Dennis and Bonnie have a tradition to play a game each night. At 8:00, we started to play Wingspan. Sherri and I have played it before, but it has been awhile we have to get refreshed on the rules and strategy. This causes the game to be a bit slower than usual. We finish up about 10:45 and are back in the Barn to go to sleep by 11:00-a long day it is.

Extra Photo's