Skipping rocks and avoiding the great flood of Mount Shasta

Skipping rocks at the base of Mount Shasta

I was hoping to hear the sound of the river this morning as I woke up, but I guess but the rapids were not raging quite hard enough to hear it through the walls of Rolling Thunder.  Jasper was literally sleeping on my pillow, snuggled up next to my face, so perhaps it was his fur that muffled the sounds of the river.  The kids were both still sleeping, so I got up and took Jasper for a walk down to the mellow edge of the Trinity River.  There were only a few others out this morning.  It was very peaceful.

It had been in the upper 90s the day before, and it was already getting hot, so I quickly packed everything up to travel.  This being day 6, I'm now starting to get this down quicker.  I've also now started packing some stuff up the night before to make the mornings easier!  Did I mention that the kids were still sleeping...?

Today was not going to be a super long drive, but I did want to get to Mt. Shasta with enough time for
us to enjoy the day. The kids continued to sleep for at least the first hour of the winding drive through the Trinity Alps, which is the mountain range that Route 299 cuts through.

Ghost Town Pit Stop

Once we were out of the twisting mountain road, I found a cool old mining town, Shasta State Historic Park, to stop in front of for lunch.  It's actually a very well restored monument to the old West.  During the gold rush, I told the kids, people would strike gold in California, set up a town, and once the gold ran dry, they would move on, leaving a ghost town behind.  Sort of like when hipsters and Snapchat moved into Venice, and then bailed after they drove up the rent...

Stretching our legs

The road was pretty slanted in front of the ghost town, so I set the levelers on auto and leveled out our home so that I could cook up lunch as requested.  Seriously, one of the coolest features on Rolling Thunder are the automatic hydronic levelers.  If I was ever to become an RV guy, which I am not, this is a feature that you could never live without once you've had it!

Road to Mount Shasta

After lunch it was smooth sailing to Mount Shasta.  The only hiccup was that we did not have a reservation at the place I wanted to stay, which was at the base of Mount Shasta, on Lake Siskiyou.  I did have a backup spot, but I really wanted us to be on the lake, so I took a chance and went to my first choice to see if I could weasel us in!  Here's the thing.  It was Thursday.  On the weekends, it's difficult to find space in popular places.  Many campgrounds, even during Covid, have been booked up for months.  The other problem with weekends in popular places is that the campgrounds want a two-day minimum.  We did not have that much time, so I took a chance that there would be availability on a Thursday night.  My thought was that if they have an opening, even if it's available for only one night, they're going to want to rent it...  There was, and they did!

Checking out our new spot

We were able to get a space, with full hookups, that was a two minute walk from the lake!  And what was even cooler is that, for once, we had landed well before dark!  Ahhh.  Maybe I will actually be able to relax a bit!  The norm so far on this trip is that I'm usually making dinner immediately after setting up our camp sight.  

Everything was going well today!  Setup was done in a flash.  Water, electricity and the disgusting sewer hose.  Nope, I still have not gotten used to that.  A family rolled up on bikes next to us, so I stopped to chat with the dad briefly.  He was in the middle of telling where the best place to go on the lake, when he stopped mid sentence and said, "It looks like you're leaking water."  I looked back and saw some water leaking out of the side of the MoHo, and thought, maybe I left the water pump on?  Last time I did that, water did pour out of the side.  But not like this.  The dad said, "That does not look good."  I said you're right.  Excuse me while I go figure out what's going on.

So, it was a total amateur move.  I had hooked up the water hose, and turned in on.  But what I didn't know is that Jaden had left the faucet on in the bathroom, and the plug was in the sink... So, water was overflowing out of the sink.  It had already flooded the whole bathroom, and was now running into the living room.  And of course dumping out of the side.

I quickly shut off the bathroom sink.  Dropped an f-bomb or two, and asked the kids, "Didn't you guys hear water running in here, and the flood that was happening at your feet?  Both looked up at me with their headphones on, and a blank stare.  They checked their shoes, and went back to what they were doing.  I said forget it.  I got this...

By the time I got in and shut off the water, it had soaked some of the carpet.  Luckily I caught it when I did, otherwise this could have been a total disaster!  Note to self:  Always check all of the faucets in the the motorhome before turning on the city water connection.  By the way, they call the water connection at all RV campgrounds "city water connection."  I later saw our neighbor and thanked him for pointing out the water leak.  He said that he had the same thing happen to him the week before, so now I don't feel so bad!

Virtual volleyball practice

Skim boarding Lake Siskiyou

Mazzy had virtual volleyball practice this evening, so we decided to ride our bikes down to the sandy beach section of the lake that was on the other side of our campground.  She did her practice on the beach, while Jaden ripped on his skim board in the shallow water.  I myself sat and enjoyed our lake view of Mount Shasta and tended to our animal pet, Jasper.

Mount Shasta is (one of) the tallest mountains in the continental United States California (Thanks for the correction, Rick!).  You can see where the tree-line stops, as the air is too thin for trees to grow.  Even though it's hot down below, there is still some snow up on the mountain.

With all that has been going on in 2020, it sure was nice to find some sense of normalcy hanging out with my kids on Lake Siskiyou.  And there is absolutely nothing better than ending the day skipping rocks with my son.  Life is good.

Day 6 – July 30, 2020  

Start: Trinity River, Lewiston CA  

Destination: Lake Siskiyou CA 

Where we stayed: Lake Siskiyou Camp Resort

Mileage: 99.6 miles