Getting Lucky, Finally Fishing, Family Time, and 100 POSTS!

Some days you just get lucky. We pulled into Indian Creek Reservoir campground, which was our Plan A, around lunchtime on Tuesday, 6/13. The campground is small, only 19 sites in the RV/Tent loop. Few available sites were large enough to accommodate the short bus, so we pulled over to discuss going further down the road to check out Plan B.  Then the occupant of the best spot in the whole campground pulled out. I made a bee-line for the site on foot, grabbed a traffic cone from an off-limits area, plunked it in the middle of the space and ran back to tell Rog we had our spot! Lol. Soooooo excited. 😊  It was one of only two sites with lake views AND no neighbors on our patio side. Total score.

Loved our spot at Indian Creek Reservoir!

We scored a lovely lake view!

We spent the evenings at our campfire watching through the pines as water birds cavorted across the lake, dusk turned the sky purple pink, and the coyotes invited us to join their nightly sing-along. Moments like this you just want to capture with perfect clarity to pull out and enjoy over and over again.

Can you hear the coyotes singing?

We got settled in and did the Summit Lake hike from the campground. Rog struck up a conversation with one of the campers about the fishing, which is apparently very good here. Rog has lugged his fishing gear and a trolling motor for the kayak all the way across the country and back again without using it. His first attempts at fishing at Diamond Lake, OR at the beginning of our trip were interrupted by Callie’s illness and death. Since then it seems we’ve either been on the move or there have been other priorities. 

Summit Lake.

View of Indian Creek Reservoir from the trail.

Finally, he made it back out onto the water, fishing license in hand, and pole at the ready. 😊 He caught four decent sized trout the first day, including one 3 pounder – or so the story goes, he forgot to take a camera. Wink. Wink. Lol. The second day he went out, he wasn’t quite as lucky, but did come home with photographic evidence.  I’m not a huge fan of trout, so generally it’s catch and release. He’s loved to fish since he was a kid, so I’m glad it finally worked out for him. Later in the afternoon, we went out for a paddle around the lake together.

Fishies Beware!!!

Success! And there are pics to prove it. Lol. 

Lovely on the lake and the fishies are safe as long as Rog has a paddle, not his pole. :)

Indian Creek Reservoir.

On Wednesday we made a pilgrimage to Walker, CA for BBQ. Now understand that I have been hearing about the incredible Walker BBQ for close to 20 years. Rog, his partner Bob from the Fire Department, and a bunch of guys used to do an annual motorcycle trip. On one of those trips, they stumbled on this BBQ place in Walker and have been singing its praises ever since. Bob befriended the owner and went back regularly, but we’d never managed to make it there. Hmmmmm… is it worth a 100-mile round trip for awesome BBQ?  Oh yeah. 😊  Gotta say the food was excellent, but I was kicking myself for not bringing along my own Stubbs BBQ sauce. I’m a purist when it comes to the sauce and just cannot abide a sweet sauce (talking to you, Tom – Sweet Baby Rays??! Yuck! Lol.)

It was a scenic 100 miles and good BBQ too! :)

Our buddy, Bob.
The owner's wife did this pastel portrait of him which hangs in the restaurant.
Hey, we know famous folks!  Lol.

It was hard to leave our lovely spot at Indian Creek, but we were eager to see the girls. We had reservations at Beals Point on Folsom Lake about 30 minutes from Rian’s house in Sacramento for 6/16-6/23. Randi is flying in Saturday night, 6/17, and hanging out until 6/21. It’s been about a year since we’ve all been together.

Unfortunately, by the time we had our dates finalized, there were no spots with hookups available. No worries we thought, but that was before they forecast a severe heat wave with temps over a 100°. Every. Single. Day. The average temp for the week was 106°!  Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

We pulled into Beals Point and were happy to find that our spot had decent shade. What it also had was some really low hanging branches, so we had to do some creative pruning just to get the rig in place. As Rog backed in, I scurried up the ladder with my hand pruners and whacked off the offending branches. When we ran into one that was too big for the pruners he wanted to hand up the chainsaw. Me. On a LADDER. With an implement of destruction. Hanging on with one hand and trying to cut limbs above and behind my head. Soooooo not a good idea. I decided it was safer to switch places with Rog and let him do it. Then he dropped the dang limb right on me – next time I’ll stay on the ladder and wield the chainsaw. Lol!

We finally got settled in and Rian showed up with Floyd, my grandpuppy, and Ralph, her roommate's furbaby and Floyd’s best buddy. We walked down to the lake and were treated to a lovely sunset.

Rian, Floyd, and Ralph.

Sunset over Beals Lake.

Saturday, Rian and I hit the garage sales while Rog did some maintenance on the coach. The biggest issue with the heat is our refrigerator. Rog installed a fan to help circulate the cold air and it’s helping, but it just can’t handle these extreme temps.

Randi got in late Saturday evening, so Sunday we hung out at the lake, took the girls to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (blessed air-conditioned theater!), and then out for sushi.   When we made it back to the coach the inside temp was about 96°. We thought that was bad, but worse was yet to come!

Log rolling champions at Beals Lake.

These guys were a menace! The first time he nibbled on me, I nearly levitated out of the water.
Amused the heck out of the kid fishing nearby. :)

Monday, we left early and went to visit Rog’s Grandma Ardys in Saint Helena, CA. Gr. Ardys is 93 and still lives on her own, drives, and is sharp as a tack. The gal is scary good at crossword puzzles too. Lol. We had a lovely visit, just catching up and telling stories and then went to Gillwoods Café for lunch, where Grandma is well-known and treated like family. 

When we made it back to the coach around 9pm, the interior temp was 101° and the refrigerator was struggling – ok, maybe it had given up the struggle - it was up to 66°! Rog went out for a block of dry ice to help the refrigerator, but we had to toss the milk and some other stuff. Rog looked at the owner’s manual and basically it said not to expect much if the temps were over 90°, which it most definitely is. Lol.  

We noticed that after the weekend a lot of the campsites were empty and there were plenty of no-shows too. Apparently smart folks know enough not to camp in this heat! Anyhow, we did a little recon and saw that there was a space in the RV loop with hookups that was now open until our departure date. We paid the difference, switched sites, and were thrilled to be able to run the air conditioners again. Yeah! It didn’t solve the problem with the fridge, but keeping the inside of the coach cooler is helping. We’ve probably spent more on ice than the food is worth, but it’s all part of the adventure right?? Lol.

Our game plan is to spend Friday night, 6/23, in Danville, CA with Rog’s sister, Nancy, and her family. Then we go back to St. Helena and moochdock with Gr. Ardys for a few days and then up to Redding to abuse his Mom’s hospitality. Hopefully we’ll come up with something blog-worthy to do during our family time. We certainly enjoy just hanging out, but it isn’t very interesting to read about. Lol.

That's a whole lot of trouble piled in one place! Lol.

Speaking of reading, raise your hand if you’ve managed to get through ALL 100 POSTS so far!  Smack!! Consider yourself high-fived!  Seeing as you are such a glutton for punishment, let me know in the comments and I’ll invite you over to see all 100,000 pictures I’ve taken. Just Joking!!!  We will have a BBQ, but I promise no mandatory vacation slide shows or home movies (dating myself here, I know). Lol.