Times of Refreshing ... NOT!

Question of the week: “What can you do that is refreshing when you’re in the middle of a heat wave that is registering over 105 degrees?”  We thought … maybe we should go to Lake Shasta and have a picnic and swim at one of their day use areas.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Unfortunately, it wasn’t so simple.  Here are some things I learned about Lake Shasta today:

1. The water level at the lake is very low right now.
2. The low water level greatly impacts the usability of the day use areas (which, by the way, are few and far between and were missing a key element for a hot day … shade!).
3. Since the lake was manmade from a dam, the shoreline is rocky and at a steep angle, making the opportunity to simply stop by the side of the road and take a dip virtually impossible.
4. Dogs are not allowed in the water (this is definitely not working for me).
5. The lakes in this area (Shasta, Trinity, and Whiskeytown) are all really about watercraft—boating, jet skiing, houseboating—not about taking a dip to cool off.

Oh yeah, I had one last “revelation” today:  Every day of our RVing life isn’t going to be filled with fun and adventure.  Some days are going to be a bust.  Some days will be filled with amazing scenery.  Some days may be downright boring.  And some days will be a blast.  I think somewhere in my head as I was looking at the map of all the lakes in this area I had this “fun times at the lake” dreamy notion with swimming, relaxing, the dogs cooling off, etc.  It just didn’t happen that way today, so get over it, Judy!

It was still somewhat of an adventure, though.  We were hot, road-weary, and hungry.  With no shady day use area, we decided to sneak into this campground (see campground sign below) and eat our picnic lunch at one of their open campsites.  We felt like poachers, stealing what didn’t belong to us.  We didn’t care.  We ate quickly, used their bathroom facilities, and then said, “Adios.”

With still time in the day, we drove to Whiskeytown Lake.  Yup, we drove a lot of miles with no cooling off!  Here’s a photo of the lake taken from the side of the road.  We thought there really was a town called Whiskeytown, but we sure didn’t see one.  Wikipedia has this to say about that “town”:  Although once a bustling mining town, there are very few people living in Whiskeytown as of today. The entire town of Whiskeytown was flooded to make way for Whiskeytown Lake in 1962. Hah! No wonder we didn’t see a town!    

Then, it was back to the air conditioned RV and their swimming pool to cool off and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, where the temperature is still 105 degrees at 4:30 p.m.

Today, Friday, we are getting everything cleaned up and put back together so we can escape the heat and travel to the coast early (i.e., 5:30 a.m.!!!) to explore the Northern California Redwoods.

Stay cool, my friends!