May 28-30, 2016, Orland Buttes

This was the three day Memorial day holiday weekend.  This campground was full, about equal tents and RVs but was fairly quiet, very clean, and there were park rangers patrolling constantly.  If you are not out on the lake on a boat or fishing, the campground itself will be very quiet during the day.  This area of Northern California gets very hot for about 6 months out of the year.  I had to run my AC for several hours on Saturday and Sunday.

In the town of Orland, after you get off the freeway for the campground road, there is a very nice Pilot Truck Stop with groceries, hot and cold food, gas, propane, etc.  I discovered this weekend that I can get a discount with my Good Sam card.

We arrived on Saturday and spent the afternoon taking walks around the campground and down to the boat launch.  We were very close to the boat launch and Poppy likes to play in the water.  It was extremely hot in the late afternoon so we stayed in mostly after our walks.

On Sunday, we prepared for a long hike down to the people beach, which was way down another road, probably about 2 miles.  We left about 10:30 but I think it still got too hot for the dogs.  On the way, we spotted an Osprey nest with a huge baby peeking out but I left my phone in the RV.  Poppy had fun playing in the water and even Jorja and Dover got wet.  They started lagging a little on the walk back.  I think maybe Dover burned the bottoms of his feet.

Later that afternoon, Poppy didn't want to walk anywhere and didn't go potty or anything.  Jorja was limping even though she'd been carried most of the time.  And Dover was limping too.  So I didn't get to walk around as much as I wanted to.  We enjoyed some quiet time at the campsite.  I practiced lowering the dining room table, moved Kenya's cage, and cleaned a little.  I also worked on my reading log for my last class.

Monday morning, Poppy was a little better but still no walking.  We packed up early and left about 10:00.  Stopped at the Pilot Truck stop for gas, got some Wendy's food, and sat in the RV with the AC on for awhile.  Got home about 2:00 p.m.

The park ranger told me that this particular campground is super empty most of the time except for holiday weekends.

March 20-24, Bodega Bay Doran Beach

My first experience with a Class C motor home.  Rented a 26' from CruiseAmerica.  The dogs and the bird did great and it was very easy to drive.  I've been to Doran Beach before so I was familiar with where we were going.

May 14-15, 2016: Lake Minden, Thousand Trails

A quick overnight to check out the new motor home.  All went very well.  23 miles from home, the weather was breezy and sunny.  They don't have reserved spots so after we checked in, we drove  around.  The people in the front office were very friendly and helpful.  There's a little store with supplies at the check in place.  There's a restaurant next door but only open part of the time and there's an activity building but I didn't check it out because of the dogs.

It was already quite full, didn't realize there was an event that weekend, but we found a good spot and not sure I would have wanted any other.  So it was the weekend of the speed boat races. Who knew? However, other than the fact that Poppy couldn't play in the water, it didn't really impact us.  And it was fun to go walking and see what every one was up to.

I learned a few things over the weekend so thank goodness for the Facebook sites for RVs. I plugged the 30 amp in and the water.  But, trying to do stuff, and things still wouldn't work without the generator.  I didn't figure it out until the next morning but you have to turn the power on, not just hook it up.  After that, every thing was groovy.

In the afternoon I wanted to walk back to the little store but it was a long ways for the dogs so I put Jorja in her pack and we just took our time.  We visited the little dog park two times but no one else was using it.  There was a barn dance on Saturday evening but we could barely hear the music and it finished quite early.  It was weird because, although we were surrounded by RVs, we never saw or heard any other people.  I thought when they returned in the evening but it stayed eerily quiet all night, which I guess is a good thing.

Even though I have my own toilet and shower, the amenities were very nice.  Lots of available showers in each area.  I would definitely camp here again.