Fishing, Tequila and a CLUNK

fOrland, CA
Black Butte Reservoir


Black Butte is a COE run campground in Orland just off I-5 in Northern CA.  It was a nice 1/2 stop for a few days before crossing the border to Oregon.  Curt found this spot.  It's a shallow lake, the weather was warm and the fish were biting!

The campground is more set up for smaller rigs.  There were only a handful of sites that would hold a larger rig and the roads were a bit narrow to maneuver.  Our Placerville friends, John and Tina, arrived a few days earlier as did their friends, Kevin and Judy.  We had some low branches on that big oak so John climbed our ladder and trimmed a few so Steve could continue backing into our very un-level spot.

Made it!

Kris, Curt, Steve and Glenda

My sister joined us for a couple of days as she lives nearby. It was Cinco de Mayo so we all contributed to a festive dinner. 

Steve made some awesome Top Shelf Margaritas to go with the fish tacos (Red Fish given to me from my brother that he caught in Texas).  Of course there were all the side dishes to go with it.

Curt, Glenda and Tina

 Kris, Judy, Curt and John

John and Tina will be going full time in August after John retires.  Congrats John!!  I can't wait for them to get out on the road.  We hope to see them later in Oregon or Idaho.

My sister and I paddling out to do some fishing with Hurley.

Looking back at our rig above the lake.

We had a ball catching some bass.  Nothing big, but lots of them!

John, Curt, Glenda, Steve, Me, Tina Kevin & Judy.

A few days later John, Tina, Kevin and Judy left, Kris, Glenda and I went out for some evening fishing.

I love the look on Hurley's face.

 

The sun was starting to set, it was so calm and the colors were just gorgeous!

I didn't know Glenda had never fished before.  So I gave her my pole and Hurley looked on.

It didn't take her long!  Woo-hoo, Glenda caught a fish!  Plus when she brought it in, it spit out a tiny minnow.  So she got a two-fer!

Glenda's first fish!

 

And her second!  She's a natural!  GO GLENDA! 

We paddled back as it was getting dark and sat by the fire.  Kris spotted this huge toad nearby.  He was the size of your hand.  The next day with everyone gone we decided to spend the day in Chico.  Steve wanted to take Curt on the amazing tour that Sierra Nevada Brewery puts on.  Glenda and I took a hike instead at a pretty park.

The roses were in full bloom.  So was everything else.  With all the grasses at the campground and everything in bloom our allergies were going crazy.

Found a fun little geocache hidden here.

We met back up with Steve and Curt at the Brewery and had a little dinner before saying our goodbyes.  We will be meeting up with them in a week or so in Oregon.

Another pretty park. 

While we were closing up the trailer to head out we heard one of those CLUNKS that you don't want to hear.  You know it's not going to be good even without seeing it.  It turned out that a drive tracking gear on one of our large slides broke.   We had a long time friend that happens to be a mobile RV tech and lives nearby come look at it.  Ken found that the teeth were ground off the gear and that it would need to be replaced.  It would take him days to get the part so he gave us some names of nearby large shops that he worked with and we were able to schedule the work quicker.  The first place we called couldn't get us in for weeks.  WEEKS!  Oh no.  Luckily the second shop said to bring it on by and they could work on it the next day!  They also kept it plugged in so we didn't have to empty the fridge.  And again, lucky for us, my sister lives within a half hour.  We drove over to her place and spent a few days with her while our slide was being fixed.

She has a really nice place on a lake with her own dock in the backyard.  So we fished some more. 

   

 

We went to see a few movies besides fishing and stopped in a little meat shop to pick up something to BBQ.  The names of these sauces are usually funny.  Bull Shit, Special Shit, Aw Shit, Chicken Shit, Good Shit, No Shit, Hot Shit and Dip Shit!

$400 and 4 days later (we only paid $100 with our deductible) and we were on our way to Oregon.  Unfortunately we missed our visit at the coast with Curt and Glenda but we can still catch them in another week when we should cross again.  Thanks Kris for letting us stay with you and Ken for looking at our rig.  If you are near Red Bluff or Redding, right off I-5, and need a good mobile tech, call Ken at Keller-RV.  Also if you need a great RV Repair shop in the same area give Cousin Gary RV Repair a call.

 

Ok, we're finally on our way to Oregon.  Or are we?  Stay tuned to see what happens next.