Ruth's post - Redding, California

Ruth and Colin's day - Friday, December 7th

Woke up in yet another Wal-Mart parking lot as they are the easiest place to find for the drive down. This one is in Springfield, we had stopped at one, at the exit before, but it was smaller and didn't allow RV overnight parking.

We checked out a couple of garages in the area to see about getting the oil change done but they didn't have the facilities for it, so we again decided to move on rather than waste more time looking. There were at least three or four passes that we had to go through before getting into California and one of the passes, the Siskiyou Summit is the highest summit on the I-5 at 4310', and did I mention that it has still been raining on and off all day again!  We knew that it would be snowing on one or more of the passes.

A rest stop between Springfield and Grants Pass, Oregon

Tthe first mountain pass Stage Road Pass on Hwy I-5, Oregon

No problems going through the first three, saw a few white flakes mixed with the rain but that was all, now comes the biggie!  Colin is white knuckled (he doesn't do heights well!). There is definitely white stuff coming down mixed with the rain but the roads are great. We get to the top and it looks beautiful, the trees and ground are all covered with nice fresh snow. I wanted to stop at the brake testing area at the top, but Colin just wanted to get down, so down we went. As soon as we started coming down from the summit, the sky was much clearer, the sun was out and no more rain, we must be in California!!!

Siskiyou Summit (4310') on the border of Oregon and California

At the bottom there was a nice rest area and a tourist information center that was opened. Colin grabbed a map and I talked to the lady working there and she said it was still raining in Sacramento and that we still had two more passes to go through and that we should get through as soon as possible in case they close them due to snow. We made it through the next two passes with no problems even though it was dark and couldn't see a thing (scenery wise). The last pass of the two had sections that were up and down and very twisty and winding. Colin didn`t enjoy this very much at all. We stopped at the Wal-Mart in Redding, California. They had signs up saying "No RV overnight parking" by the municipality. I went to the customer service to ask them, they said its not them who enforce this law, it is up to the municipality, in other words they won't kick us out, and that RV's stay overnight all the time with out any problems, so we decided to stay put. It was an earlier night tonight, thank goodness.

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV... 55...

December Fuel $ 366.69

December Grocery $ 145.82

December Overnight Costs $ 0