Jan 6th through the 10th.

After a delayed start, due to young Pistol ingesting some of Kylie’s estrogen pills and having to return home to do 2 weeks worth of monitoring/bloodwork,  we are on the road again.

We drove over 400 miles to our first stop at Stanton State Park,  Canyonville, OR.   This state park is good for a stopover on I-5, there are full hookups for $28 (rates are due to rise this year), and bathrooms with showers.  There is a playground for kids, and river access for fishermen.  There are pull-through sites up near the front, the downside is you hear road noise.  Lots of back-in sites and if you drive down to the lower level of sites the road noise disappears.  I’ve only stopped here in the winter and spring, so minimal neighbors (none this last time), I imagine in the summer you might need reservations.

Your other option in the area is either a free parking lot at Seven Feathers Casino or their upscale RV park at  a night.  Their gas station is self-served (in OR!) and the prices have been very good every time I’ve stopped there.

I had a break in the weather and decided to hit the Siskiyous the next day.  Bare and dry and had to break out my sunglasses!  I stopped in Weed at the Hi-Lo cafe, a locally owned and operated restaurant that has been around since .   Homemade apple pie, delicious breakfasts served all day, and a huge menu with lots of comfort food.

Continuing on I decided to camp at the Win-River Casino.  Full hookups for  but basically a parking lot with neighbors very close. There is a tiny fenced pet area, or you can walk your dogs around the perimeter.  They give you a discount on breakfast, a coupon for 10% off a spa treatment and a $5 coupon with a $25 fuel purchase.   There prices at their gas station were good for the area, as well.

Feeling a little frustrated with the places I had to camp for the last two nights (not very conducive to traveling with 3 big dogs) I looked for something with a bit more elbow room.  Near Orland, CA, I found a place that definitely filled the bill!  Black Butte Lake and the COE (Corp of Engineers) Buckhorn Campground have no hookups, but offer bathrooms/showers and LOTS of elbow room (though, again, I imagine in the summer there will be LOTS of people here).  Each “campsite” has a fire pit, picnic table and bbq.

In the winter, however, I had 3 fellow travelers the first night and 2 the second.  Dogs must be on leash, but there are LOTS of areas to walk. The only warning I have is that many of the grassy, open areas have lots of nasty burrs that will embed in your dogs fur and feet.

This is a very peaceful location, expansive lake views, black basalt buttes and blue acorn oaks spread about the land.  There is a boat ramp, and the lake offers crappie, channel catfish and large and smallmouth bass.  Lots of bird watching, Acorn woodpeckers, Killdeer, doves and waterfowl of all kinds.   While out walking we kicked up a jackrabbit, and saw tracks of deer and coyote.  There was a sign posted that mountain lion had been observed in the area.