2012 WILD WEST to California 7 - Red Hot Chico

Shady Cove OR to Chico CA

THE STATS:
Drove 249 miles from Shady Cove (Armstrongs) to Chico CA (Vidnics). Elevation high was 4,297 feet at top of Mt. Ashland. Low was 202 feet at "Vodnics" (Jon thinks it is lower). High temp was 104 degrees in Dunsmier, CA. It was 98 degrees at Jon's house. Four hours on the road.

THE HAPS:
Saw Joy off to work about 8am. I went back to bed while Don and Mike re-re-hashed old war stories. I got up at 10:30am. Comfy bed and it was a pleasure to sleep in for a change. Great visit with Don and Joy. 

PS - Bummed that we did not get a pix of Joy, but here are the two guys, Don and Mike.




Had a tasty lunch at Rogue River Lodge and Restaurant with Don. It was a lovely day and a lovely spot along the Rogue River for outdoor dining. The owners also have a little cottage along the river to rent. Great place to stay next time we visit this area. Said our good-byes and headed south.

Ooops! NOT SO FAST. Before we got too far we got a call from Don saying we had left sunglass (or was it a camera?) at their house. Anyway, something. Had to circle back and Don met us at the highway with the item. He had propelled down on his very cool Segway. He's had it for a while and we actually forgot to check it out while we were there. So in a round about way, we got to see it and him in action. Here he is headed back home as we head down the other road toward Chico.

Arrived at Jon and Lora's about 6pm. Lora working flight trips and will be home at midnight-ish. Jon entertained us in the meantime with the nickel new-house tour, our fave Meyer's rum and Coke Cuba libra cocktails poolside, and a hearty and delicious homemade meal of veggie (thanks for remembering) shepherds pie. Lots of catch-up and remember-when stories.

Lora strolled in at midnight on the button and the talk fest and cocktails accelerated. Many, many stories and laughs. We don't call their digs "The House of Excess" for nothing. Especially enjoyed the memories about their wedding on Lake Tahoe at the lodge where we all stayed, and the Hungarian bag-piper who played a few tunes on his bloated goat instrument. Talked about beer brewing, old airline friends and foes, and the Debbie-Lisa garage sales in HMB where we served home brew to our customers to get bigger sales and (really just to) have fun. 

Remembered a few pix I'd shot of Jon seated on a toidy that was for sale in the front yard and the plastic Halloween "armor" he tried on but we just could not get him to buy it even though he looked macho-ly "fabooolouso." I finally couldn't take any more. My ribs hurt from laughter, so I hit the hay about 2am, but was half listening from the bedroom as the memories continued. I think the others made it to 3:30am. J&L haven't changed a bit. Still relaxed, cool, quirky, fun, sincerely good peeps.

BEST OF:
Fish and chips on the road so far, at Rogue River Lodge and Resturant.

Armstrong's dog Chadwick, best behaved dog ever.

Best bed so far at Vidnics, but maybe it was because I was a little tipsy and could have been sleeping on a bed of nails and it would have felt great.

DANCE CARD:
Tuesday to DesNoyers. Will call when we leave Vidnics.
Wednesday to Kennedys. Will call when we leave DesNoyers.
Thursday to Mattuschs. Will call soon to see what is a good arrival time.
Then will take a couple of days to Yuma and then on up to Phoenix and Prescott Valley.