Sundial Bridge
Always stop. That’s the theme of this last post from Spring Break. Anxious to see kitty, and excited to unwrap my e-bike birthday present, both waiting for us at home, we considered driving straight through. That would have been a mistake and I’m very glad we stopped. I used to drive from the Bay Area to Ashland in one day fairly frequently. Without towing, it takes about six hours to do 350 or so miles. It’s a full day, but doable. Towing a trailer means I am going a lot slower, and it’s just more tiring to tow. Add to that the fact that we were going to drop Dory2 off at Randy’s and pick up Lola. We would have been tired, hungry, exhausted, and irritable. Much better to call it a day in Redding, and save half for the next.
Pipevine Swallowtail
We had hoped to grab another e-bike rental for me from Pedego and do a little of the Sacramento River Trail, but they were closed for some kind of expo. Instead, we just went on a hike. Again, we commented on how surprisingly pleasant Redding is. There are spring flowers blooming and the fields are full of Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies.
Hard to see, but this field is chock full of butterflies. Sundial Bridge in the background.
Around the Sundial Bridge, there is a nice amount of open space. We walked the paved trail in a loop and got in about three miles. After that, we returned to that delicious Thai place, Janya’s Thai Cuisine, and got the drunken noodles and chicken satay again. I had so much curry and spicy food on this trip, I think I developed a chili blister on my lip! Either that, or Richard gave me herpes. Either way, that’s pretty spicy.
Nice overhead light addition – Thanks Randy!
We arrived at Randy’s uneventfully on Sunday afternoon and did the swap. It took about an hour and a half, with checklists. We noticed Randy added a cute little ceiling light in Lola which works great. There is a notable loss of overhead lighting up front in Altos with the BFW. His solution fixes that problem. He also left me birthday ice cream in the freezer. What other mechanic does this?!
Underside of the Sundial Bridge
Lola looks to be in great shape! We often question our crazy decision to hold onto a complete backup 1723. Until we need one. Then we are the smart party. We have super premium reservations for the next week, so having Lola means we don’t have to give them up, or rough it without a heater or water heater. Most of the time, I feel like we are stumbling our way through life, strange creatures living well outside the box of normal adult behavior. Then other times I think, maybe we’re doing something right here. After all, we just spent a week enjoying Ashland, saw our grown son looking happy and settled, and soon we’ll be heading out to the beach with a functioning spare Alto. We’re weird, but we have our moments.
Purrs purrs
P.S. Kitty seems to have forgiven us.
Total miles from Ashland: 135.4, 16.2 mpg, 2 hours 49 min. Site 52 full hookups. Didn’t use showers this time; preferred watering can.
