Headed out Wednesday shortly before noon for the 5-6 hour dive.
Destination Hat Creek, CA for camping and hang gliding
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Wednesday evening was a simpler affair for dinner than is often the case for the 15 years my family and I have been camping here each August. You can click on images for the higher resolution versions.
Grilled fish tacos on corn tortillas
The camp kitchen, with two complete Camp Chef outfits
Thursday morning was a skip breakfast day, hitting the road about an hour north to the McCloud river falls, where we got in some jumps from the rocks and a bit of soaking in about 55 deg water (bet it was far colder in May).
Lower Falls
“Cold Therapy”
There are some folks who jump the much higher cliffs of the middle and upper falls.
Middle Falls
Upper Falls
Not quite in the shadow of Mt. Shasta, but pretty close.
Mt. Shasta
Dinner was courtesy of my other brother on site—Swiss Steak—but my photo turned out crappy, so no pic. Breakfast, however, turned out fine.
Hash browns, eggs & gluten free sausage gravy
So this afternoon will be about some flying. Took a trip up to the launch area last evening for some contemplation.
Perfect launch conditions last evening. Just like every evening.
So perhaps a post about flying hang gliders tomorrow. After this evening’s fun. As for food, I have about 6-8 pounds of beef roast in the crockpot.
Nice outdoor shots but I have to say I really love the camper. That camper needs its own blog post.
Here Sean:
http://www.roamingtimes.com/rvreports/3/tada-travel-trailer.aspx
Everything you always wanted to know about the [email protected] but were afraid to ask. We have the first of the floorplans outlined. Dutchmen stopped making them a few years back but I’ve heard that the [email protected] (the teardrop version) is being built again.
It uses the Euro method of frame and construction and as such, weighs a mere 2,000 lbs or so. My V-8 X5 doesn’t even hardly know it’s back there. I can pass other cars going up a 6% grade. The pop-up trailer I had before this weighed 3,500 lbs. The heat pup/AC unit is inside the body, so as to keep the height at an exact 8′. I uses to keep in in the rear of a tandem parking spot in a standard parking garage, saving lots on storage fees.
Check out the obvious quality of the cabinetry in those photos. Most RV cabinetry is total crap. This is quality materials and construction. It was a fucking expensive trailer, however, on the order of Airstream in terms of premium. I plan to keep it for a long wile. Everything I need, nothing I don’t.
Dutchmen (the manufacturer) says
I’m assuming this is an American company but it’s funny because most of the campers I see in Western Europe have Dutch plates.
Yeah, the quality is pretty obvious just from the outside. You really do get what you pay for. I despise RVs but I think these sorts of campers (or whatever you want to call them) are awesome.
Dutchmen is an American manufacturer.
http://www.dutchmen.com
Yes, I always wonder where they (the Dutch) put all those campers the rest of the year. It explains perhaps why the Netherlands are the densest populated country in Europe, ;-)
I commute on the A31(France)/A3(Luxembourg), you can not imagine how many of them there are actually. Petrol is more than 20 cents/l (that’s near 1$/gal) cheaper in Luxembourg than anywhere else. The cheap stake Dutch of course plan carefully their trips to profit from that.
Gallier2:
What always makes me laugh in Europe, at least France, is the phallic aspect to the trailer hitches. (I think I may have seen a video or two of women using them as such).
A little bit like that?
Ha ha. “deux, trois fois par an” -… seulement?! :)
What’s in the cup? :)
I have an aunt that lives in the Salinas area. She hikes, bikes, and cross-country skies all those gorgeous places around there. Puts living in the Midwest to shame. I need to get out there and hike with her in the remote places she goes before she’s too old to do it.
“What’s in the cup?”
Seagram’s 7, & water, with lots of ice. It was over 90 deg F and that was about 6:45 PM.
Come out and explore this area with your Aunt. The whole thing between Lassen and Shasta is just amazing beauty mixed up with pretty young geology. Most of the features here are less than 20,000 years old and some, only 2,000 years old.
How do you make the paleolithic gravy? I really miss biscuits and sausage gravy.
It’s not really Paleo gravy. My mom makes it. she spoons out the sausage, makes a roux with the fat & gluten free flour, then introduces back the sausage and heavy cream.
Jealous.
Especially when I look at my RV rotting in my driveway….
But then again, I decided a few years ago to keep the RV mostly as a reminder/monument to my own stupidity.
I can walk out back and jump in 55 degree water, and the scenery is as good as anything within a 5 hour drive of here.
Not as good as your scenery was, though!
Wow, totally reminds me of home, Wyoming! Also reminds me of when I was really young and used to love to go camping! RVs were always so fund to me! ha ha.
Doesn’t that water cold therapy shrink your “package” resulting in diminished looks and impaired functionality?
You mean his JUNK!(?)