Travels with Edna and Papi

October 20, 2016

Perry had in mind that I was to throw a line in the water to catch fish! We had gotten the fishing pole and all the necessary accessories at a sporting goods store, all at the expense of Perry throwing his back out. Thank God for a quick recovery because my thoughts were "If he is ill or gets injured, I couldn't drive that truck AND pull a fifth wheel". We woke up early this morning (after he spent the entire day yesterday fishing for salmon.....determined but unsuccessful, while I went to lunch with my son) ready to fish at Bucks Lake! I can cast a fishing line the way I can throw a ball or a roll of toilet paper upstairs to my kids, never successful at any of these. I never could call myself an athlete! As we drive out of Chico, we approach Butte County with hundreds of buttes everywhere! Okay, I do remember learning about buttes in my college days as I recall they are caused by erosion and are flat on top. The scenery changed very quickly as we once again started to climb and the pine trees grew more dense. OK, after Mount Lassen I thought we were DONE with sheer drop offs....boy was I wrong! Suddenly, our conversation became non-existent because Perry was concentrating on driving and I was leaning towards the driver side as if to prevent us from falling over the 1,000 ft. drop while trying not to look down. I quietly prayed that we would be safe! My thoughts were "there's no one around us on the road and if anything should happen, our kids would never find us"! Seriously Carol. have more faith! I started to relax and admire the amazing scenery of the rushing Feather River, the cut out tunnels and trellises along the way. The dogs needed us to stop and we found a spot that happened to be part of the Pacific Crest Trail. I was excited about this because I had read the book "Wild", the adventures of the author along her 2,600 mile journey.

As we continue to drive past the enormous pine trees and the Feather river, once again the dogs needed to be walked. We stopped at a beautiful park with many trails and could smell fresh cut lumber. We are now in the Sierra Nevada's and found ourselves in an amazing little logging town of Quincy, California at an elevation of 3,300 feet. It is a quintessential small town with white steeple churches just below the evergreen trees. Friendly townspeople are walking their dogs, everyone waves to us as we walk downtown. Small towns like this actually exist! We stopped to have lunch at a great little place called Morning Thunder. The staff was so friendly and catered to the dogs and informed us that Bucks Lake was 17 miles "up the road". It was a chilly, beautiful, clear day and seventeen miles didn't seem that long but as we drove towards the lake we noticed there were no cars in front or behind us only a sign that indicated there was a 15% incline. We've seen 6% or 7% but never 15%! Good thing we were in a powerful diesel truck and NOT pulling Edna! We found Bucks Lake but couldn't find an access because everything was closed up for the season. "I may not be able to cast that line after all" but my husband's determination to watch me fish found us on the other side of the lake and low and behold, a dock! He was SO excited he grabbed the fishing pole and tackle box while I grabbed the dogs and bear whistle. ( I know it's silly but I'm afraid of bears and this was bear territory. ) What a beautiful, quiet place, just us and the dogs. He showed me how to cast a line as he stood on the dock for no more than 5 minutes. It didn't take long before he determined there were no fish! I cast the line as well and gave it a good 5 minutes also. So there you have it, my first attempt after many years. Credits......Church-3, Fishing-1. We drove to another part of the lake to let the dogs run free and the lake was so beautiful casting reflections of the trees and as we stood there (just us), the silence was broken by the sound of three C130's which swooped down at about tree top level. All we could surmise was they were training for the fire season dropping fire retardant. Weird for being where we were but interesting nonetheless!
All in all, it was a great day with "no bears and no fish"!

Friday, 10-21-16 through Monday, 10-24-16

Perry wanted to try out the popular taco truck down the street and as we sat outside eating our lunch, a man drives up pulling his trailer, "Did you save any for me?". Our new neighbor Don is quite the character. Don pulls up next to us with his little dog "Pax" and Perry helps him as he struggles with one of his trailer connections. He told us his granddaughter is getting married the next day and needs to get ready for the rehearsal dinner but doesn't know what to wear. The red collared shirt wins as he asked Perry for his approval. We love our new neighbor!

There's the Honey Run Covered Bridge in Chico that's historical and that afternoon we though we'd check it out. The bridge was built in the 1800's and had to be rebuilt at least once for someone driving into it. As we drive up a man in his 40's is working near the bridge keeping the surrounding park clean. He strikes up a conversation with us and was full of history knowledge of the bridge. He points to the nearby trailer and said he gets cheap rent in exchange for keeping up the surrounding area. After walking the bridge, we decided to hike down to the running creek and according to our storyteller friend, has gold in it! Hmmmm, it was beautiful and cold and the dogs loved running through it, but we spotted no gold. We drove to a nearby town called Centerville and were awestruck at the terrain. It looked like the Butte creek and canyon were all cut right through the surrounding hills all as a result of water cutting through ever hundreds of thousands of years. Amazing! After getting back to the fifth-wheel and touching base with Brandon, a movie was in order for the next day!

During our stay in Chico, we would put Daisy and Gracie in a dog pen with their blankets and toys so we could go out for an hour or two and today was no different. The three of us wanted to go to a movie. We were back by 7:00 pm and were greeted by the neighbor on "the other side". Somewhat friendly but complained about our "hound dog" howling" and shortly after the landlady drove over in her golf cart to inform us people were complaining about our dogs. I love our 77 year old, chiseled mustached neighbor Don who the next day told us what we should tell them? It's okay, we have to come up with a solution or Daisy and Gracie will be going where we go. I"m sure they'd love that! The next day, we visited a different church in Chico and as I'm starting to lose count I believe we're at Church-3 fishing-1. Already enjoying conversations with Don, today he wore a "Portugal" tee shirt. I asked him if he had been there and replied "no" but is Portuguese. Since I am half Portuguese myself, we had so much to talk about. There were similar interests in Portuguese food and fiestas.

Household chores and packing are in order for the rest of the day and dinner with Brandon. He decides to join us for an early breakfast the next morning before we move on to Coarsegold, Ca. just outside Yosemite. I'm going to miss him!