Across California - Shasta, Redding, Bakersfield
Since we’re leaving about the same time of year, we’re bound to take the same route. I-84 and I-90 are too cold and snowy to be safe in December, so I-5 it is. We’re moving faster this year and sticking to the interstate, not US-101. So the destinations aren’t as grand as the coast, but we’ll get where we’re going on time.
The big destination for this season is the Xscapers Annual Bash, in Lake Havasu, AZ. We registered back in October on the off chance that we might still get to go even with my medical mystery, and thankfully things have worked out that we can actually make it! So we’re scooting across California to make it to Havasu by January 6th. This will be our third Xscapers event and by far their biggest, and I think we’re ready. We’re excited to connect with friends from previous events and get to know some new ones.
But for now, we’re enjoying the feeling of being on the road again and seeing new places. Our first stop outside Oregon was Mount Shasta, at a little park just outside the national forest boundary. We barely squeaked over the pass in time to avoid a nasty snowstorm that closed the pass the day after we arrived! Not a place to travel casually in the wintertime. It was cold most of our stay, of course, but we did manage to make it out to Shasta Dam on one of the sunny days.
Lake Shasta, while not at record lows, is still startlingly low. Unlike the dams further north like Grand Coulee and Bonneville, Shasta is more about water management than power generation. It only has 4 turbines. But the water powers the region's biggest resource, agriculture. The central valley of California grows fully 25% of all food in the US, using 1% of its arable land. Shasta Dam supplies about 20% of the water needed to grow that food, with most of the remainder supplied by pumping groundwater. Sadly, as drought years have increased in frequency, more of that water is needed from the ground. So the dam helps grow food, as designed.
Of course, where there is a dam, there is erasure. The Winnemem Wintu people have their ancestral home here, and lost much of their land to the lake. What sites remain are threatened by efforts to raise the level of the dam. (Though given the low lake levels, raising the dam at this point seems unnecessary.)
I had to resort to bushings. Close enough!
Our kitchen faucet stopped flowing well during this stay, so I spent several trips to the plumbing store trying to fit a new one. RV plumbing is a little quirky compared to residential, and I know very little about either, so it took a few tries. (The secret is the “3/8 in. Compression x 1/2 in. MIP” adapter, which lets you connect residential faucets to RV fittings.) Now that I’ve done it, I wouldn’t hesitate to replace the stupid cheap RV faucets next time I get one.
From Shasta we took a brief stay in the (strange) community of Manteca, then on to Bakersfield and one of our favorite parks, the Orange Grove. We’re spending Christmas here eating phenomenal oranges and enjoying the mild weather. It’s not as warm as last year here, but it’s still quite nice. Bakersfield itself is nothing special, like don’t go out of your way, but if you’re in the region in December or early January, it’s worth a stop for two things: the oranges, and the Living Museum Holiday Light display.
Yes, the light display. It’s a long tradition here apparently, and a super well-done drive-through light show. We really enjoyed it and think you would too. The Living Museum itself is also worth a visit during the daytime, they have some good animal displays and it’s affordably priced.
Christmas on the road is pretty fun and a bit less bittersweet than last year. I think we’re all getting more comfortable out on our own, but also we’ve got an end in sight for this kind of solitude. Family togetherness is coming back, if slowly. For now, holidays on our own feel… simpler.
