We’re getting closer to blast off time again. It’s been a busy time here in Redding, getting Jeanne’s mom’s house ready for the sale and her set up in an apartment in Chico. On top of all that we had our own equipment issues and still managed to get out and see “stuff”. Our black tank got a stress crack in the top corner near the rinse-out hose which leaked when I dumped tank and turned on the rinse. My brother-in-law Dwayne recommended we take it to Redding RV sales and repair. They ordered the new tank and did the repairs quickly (in at 8:00, done by 4:00) and were friendly, helpful folks. And it truly helped that we have an “Extra Ride” insurance policy that covered this problem (post warranty), tanks are not cheap!
We initially stayed at the Green Acres RV Park on the south side of Redding. It is a small park in the ghetto part of town, surrounded by “no-tell” motels and shares a driveway with a private car sales lot which should be named “Crankster Motors”. You can imagine the quality rides they had for sale there...Nevertheless, Green Acres RV Park is a clean, quiet, well kept park with active owners and camp hosts. However, the camp hosts were a little too active for our preference. The sites were nice, concrete pads with small strips of grass between them and there was a small dog area (non-fenced). Jeanne and I are EXTREMELY conscientious dog owners with a never ending supply of doggy bags. One day we were taking the “kids” on one of their multiple daily walks around the park and the camp host lady decided she needed to tell us that we were not to be letting the dogs walk on or near the small strips of lawn between sites. That struck a sour chord for us, so we relocated to the Redding RV Park, a park we had stayed at previously, for the remainder of our Redding stay.
It was sad to see the huge number of able-bodied homeless bums that have infested (and ruined) the Redding area. They were EVERYWHERE and were particularly irritating to have to wade through their masses at many of the shopping venues. After 30 years of dealing (firmly, fairly, compassionately) with the homeless of western Sonoma County (CA), I seem to have lost that compassion when I see able-bodied substance abusing bums setting upon the folks who actually work for a living and successfully contribute to society (go ahead, I’ll take all critical remarks now).
Redding does have some nice walk/bike/skate paths, particularly along the Sacramento River. We walked the areas near the Sundial Bridge and Turtle Bay, when the sun cooperated anyway. We also checked out Shasta Dam while we were here, however we ran out of time before we could try to take the free tour of the dam.
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| Jeanne & the Gladiator feeding pigeons and ducks at Turtle Bay. |
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| Jeanne, daughter Jennifer, and the Princess walking across the Sundial Bridge. |
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| The Sundial Bridge from afar... |
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| "Oh yeah, I'm baaaaaaaad!" |
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| Shasta Dam |
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| Jeanne and her Mom crossing the Sacramento River. |
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| The namesakes for Turtle Bay... |
While in Redding we also needed to find a solution to our ever changing wireless situation. We were paying for anywhere from 6 GB to 14 GB of data, through Verizon, on monthly basis, frequently “upping our data” at $10 per GB on an as-needed situation when we got close to hitting our ceiling. We fluctuated on our usage depending on the amount of photos taken/downloaded, videos watched, Facetime usage, etc. Jeanne found out about Millenicom, a private outfit tied into Verizon, where a flat fee of $69.99 gets us 20 GB data per month. So far, we have not gotten close to that ceiling and the fee is way better than our old one of some $120 per month just for data. If you are tired of paying overages or constantly upping your data limits, try checking out Millenicom. One blogger we found likens the company to Priceline.com where Millenicom buys blocks of data from Verizon and offers them at the cheapest rates.
Our days are nearing an end here in Redding. We are going to get Jeanne’s mom moved into Chico, then check out my mom’s new digs in Sacto, where she moved to from Santa Rosa, CA. And a visit with my cousin Darla and husband Ed should just about round out our time back here in California. Our plans keep changing nearly on a daily basis, but we are pretty set on heading to Yellowstone Nat’l Park from here. You never know, life on the road…
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