Chico, Ca

Thursday: The morning was spent on the final trip preparation. We are slow at getting on the road. We finally hit the road at 1:30. Traffic was bad most of the way until we got on Highway 99 North of Sacramento. We stopped in Gridley at the Black Bear Diner for dinner. We took a little walk and left Gridley about 7:30. It was dark when we arrived at the Almond Tree RV Park in Chico. It seems to be the closest and possibly the only RV park in Chico. It's very nice!.

Kenzie wanted to go to a history conference here at Chico State University. It's Friday evening and Saturday. Since we didn't have a specific itinerary other than "North", this fit into our itinerary perfectly, though it was a bit further than I would have preferred for a single days drive.


Friday: Well, the problem of not making reservations raised it's ugly head today. There is no space available in the Almond Tree RV Park this weekend so we had to move by noon. They provided a list of other RV parks nearby and we moved to a shady park about a block away, the Mountain View Mobile Acres. Unfortunately it has trees and is shady in other ways as well. It is fine while we're here for a couple of days though and is still close to where we want to be. It’s actually quite nice.
Lou and Kenzie are off at the University to see if she can find her History conference. I'm hanging around home doing what I do best, nothing. The weather is much warmer than I expected, in the 80's. I was worried we still might freeze at night. Forget that! It's HOT.

Lou had a problem with the car when she left the meeting at Chico State tonight. The headlights and tail lights were all out on the toad. All the parking lights worked when that was selected but no lights in the headlight mode.

Saturday: I dropped Lou and Kenzie off at the University early for breakfast at their conference. I returned to camp. I tried to find the problem with the cars headlights but couldn’t resolve it other than to determine the headlight relay is not being driven. The highbeam relay clicks nicely but the headlight relay doesn’t. Could be the headlight switch, the ignition switch, the headlight circuit breaker?, or wiring. Without a diagram, I’m through.

The package sent via the postal system a couple of weeks ago finally arrived at the house. Unfortunately, it’s insured and requires my signature for delivery. Cute. Wish it had arrived in a reasonable time period.


Sunday: We moved back to the Almond Tree RV Park again. The rally that was filling it departed and we moved back. It’s a lot nicer for the same price.

About 1:30 I hit the road home in the toad. I’ll pick up the wayward package and get the headlights fixed, then return Monday. Lou and Kenzie will be relaxing here while I am gone. There is no bus service on Sunday so they remained around the RV. They did go to a Basque restaurant about a half mile away for dinner.

Monday: I was up early at home and delivered the toad to our mechanic. I then went to the post office and picked up the package. it was fragile, about 200 vials of china paint. All arrived in good shape. I tinkered around the house fixing sticky doors, plucking weeds, and fixing sprinklers. The car wasn't finished today. I'm ready to leave when it is.
Lou and Dawn got a day pass for the bus in Chico and explored town.

Tuesday: A trip to the hardware store for parts. A stop at Whole Foods Market for breakfast. Part of a breakfast burrito and some home fries More tinkering at home. i fixed the fence gate latches. Due to fence board shrinkage the latches sometimes open in the wind. I had screwed the gates closed when we leave but now fixed the latches. More weed plucking. About 2:10 the garage called, the car is ready. I threw my stuff in the car and departed arriving back in Chico about 6:15pm.

Lou and Kenzie went over to Bidwell Park to take a hike.

About 7pm we went over to the Sierra Nevada Brewery Tap House for dinner. I had a pizza made with their grain and Lou and Kenzie had meat loaf. All was very good. Kenzie and I enjoyed some of their ale.

Wednesday: Lou and I are off to Bidwell Park again for a hike. It's a very big park, something like 11 miles long.