Corning, CA

Our drive over the Siskiyou Mountains was uneventful yesterday, in that there was no snow to be seen, except on Mount Shasta, but we couldn't see the top of the mountain.  We did have a lot of rain, with sun breaks mixed in, which made the drive somewhat interesting. 

Dark skies heading south on I-5:

A little while later, partly sunny skies at the Siskiyou summit in Oregon:

After a lunch stop at the Weed rest area, we drove past Shasta City (still no snow) and hit fog when we crossed the final Lake Shasta bridge.

Dave and I arrived in Corning, CA around 2:45 yesterday afternoon.  Corning is a town of about 7500 people, located right on I-5, south of Redding and Red Bluff and a few hours north of Sacramento.  The big draw here for us is the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park which offers full hookups with good, free WIFI for $25/night.  There are no restrooms in the park, however, and no cable TV.  But the sky is open for good satellite reception.  Another draw for us is the casino golf course which is highly rated. 

The food at the casino is notably good, but we haven't eaten at the buffet yet since we like a bargain, and the 2 for 1 senior bargain nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Since tonight is New Year's Eve, the casino is offering a  big party with lots of food and a comedy show, all for the (NOT) bargain price of $140 per couple.  No thanks.  Dave is usually asleep by midnight and neither one of us are party people.  I know, we're boring!

This morning, Dave and I drove around Corning and did a few errands.  I stopped at the Quilt'n Thyme store and bought a couple of items since everything was 20% off today.  The store has an interesting background--the owners are foster parents who have adopted seven of their special needs foster children.  She is a long-time quilter who has made many quilts to donate to hospitals, and he is a former teacher who is also a pastor of a church.  I was surprised and pleased that a town as small as Corning has a quilt store.

Another stop we made was at the famous Olive Pit store.  That store is always busy.  I tasted a few different olives, and then bought my old standby--almond stuffed olives.  It's a fun store to visit.  They also sold California oranges, but I didn't need a 15 pound bag, so I didn't buy any.

Dave stopped at Radio Shack but didn't have much luck there, so after lunch we decided to drive over to the "big" town of Chico which is about 35 minutes southeast of here.  He went to Best Buy and bought a product with the salesman touted, but didn't end up working for what he wanted (omni-directional digital antenna).  See his blog for more details on this "local channels" project.  We'll be returning this product at the Best Buy in San Luis Obispo. 

After Dave's errand at Best Buy, I visited Honey Run quilt store in Chico and finding some bargain fabrics that were 40% off.   I forgot to take a picture of the quilt store, but it was located in a cute, older craftsman-style house.  Different fabrics were displayed in different small rooms of the house.  The clearance fabrics were located in a closet.   After a successful visit to the quilt store, we headed back to the RV and took a walk around the RV park.  The park's RV spaces had filled in again, but there were still a few spots left at 4:30 pm.  This is a first-come, first-served park with about 70 spots plus a no- charge overnight area where RVs and trucks can park. 

We're going to hang around here until Tuesday or Wednesday since we don't have reservations to arrive at Pismo Beach until Thursday, January 5. 

Happy 2012!