Into California

Time to move again; we departed Valley of the Rogue State Park in Gold Hill, Oregon, and headed down I-5 into northern California, to our next stop, at Heritage RV Park in Corning, California.

Here’s a map of our route to this point, via RV Trip Wizard; we bought our coach in Kennewick, WA, and took it back to our homestead in the Portland region, then up to Mom’s place and Poulsbo RV near Seattle, then headed south via Chehalis, McMinnville, Gold Hill, and into northern California:

Route map

A closer look at a map of this leg; a 4.5 hour drive in our coach. I’ll try to remember to include a map like this for all subsequent travel days:

Route map

This was Paladin’s second journey in the coach. He didn’t seem quite as freaked out this time, though still not entirely comfortable with the experience. He spent much of the trip on the kitchen counter, where he could see out the windows from a safe space:

Paladin on kitchen counter

We always like to see and identify other motorhomes, especially other Tiffin Allegro Bus models; this one in front of us is a few years newer than ours:

Allegro Bus buddy

Paladin:

Paladin

Watching out a window:

Paladin

Freeway views:

Freeway

Paladin:

Paladin

He ventured by my chair, experiencing the step cover:

Paladin

There were a bunch of hills on this journey; here’s the Siskiyou Mountain summit:

Siskiyou Mountain summit

Nice views:

Nice view

Scenic

Goodbye Oregon; the sign says “Oregon thanks you; come back soon”. Oregon is our domicile; we will be back, in a few months time:

Goodbye Oregon

Hello California; the sign says “Welcome to California”:

Hello California

Agricultural inspection station; no hassle, they just asked if we have any plants or fruits, which we didn’t:

Agricultural inspection station

Scenic:

Scenic

A stop at a Mount Shasta viewpoint for lunch:

Mount Shasta

Truck and coach at the viewpoint, with a glimpse of Shasta in the background:

Truck and coach

Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta

Low water level in Shasta Lake:

Low water level

Low water level

Paladin:

Paladin

Fuel stop; we love Love’s truck stops, even easier now that we have a discount fuel card (perhaps a topic for a future post?):

Fuel stop

Paladin’s first trip in the coach

After picking up Paladin and letting him get used to living in our coach for a few days, we rocked his world, literally, by starting up the coach, bringing in the slides, and driving to a new campsite, for the first time in his experience.

Paladin wasn’t at all sure about the changed room configuration and engine noise:

Paladin

Here you can see the slides in, and Paladin unsure about things as we drove down the road:

Paladin

Peeking from the bedroom:

Paladin

Driving down the road:

Road

I added a dash cam to record footage of our travels (something to look forward to in the future):

Dash cam

Paladin being brave, coming up towards the front while we’re driving:

Paladin

Looking a bit freaked out:

Paladin

Paladin

Looking out the window:

Paladin

Paladin

Heading down the I-5 freeway, south of Eugene, Oregon:

Freeway

Freeway

Slow for curves:

Freeway

More freeway scenes:

Freeway

Freeway

When we got to our campsite (more on that tomorrow), we auto-leveled as usual:

Auto-leveling

Paladin in the driver seat:

Paladin

He survived the ordeal, and was happy to curl up in his cardboard nest:

Paladin

Comfy cat:

Paladin

Paladin has never been a fan of car travel in a carrier, but he did quite well for his first trip in our coach. We didn’t lock him in a carrier, which may have helped, since he could hide under the bed, sit on the kitchen counter, or look out a window, as desired. I think in time he will become more used to it, though travel days may remain more stressful for him… which is fair, since they are for us, too.

Introducing Paladin

People who know us or follow my personal blog will know of our cat, Paladin.

During our stay at Mom’s place while the RV was being serviced, and initial travel, he was boarded at an excellent place in Portland, Cats in the City. They sent daily updates on how he was doing, and how much they loved him and his snuggles.

On Sunday we collected him. They were sad to see him go. He wasn’t overly thrilled about being in the carrier and truck:

Paladin in carrier

While stopped for groceries, I let Paladin loose in the truck:

Paladin loose in the truck

He wasn’t sure that was much of an improvement at first:

Paladin in the back seat

Though settled down by my feet:

Paladin by my feet

I put him back in the carrier before Jenn got back to the truck.

Once we got to our coach, we let him out again. Here’s Paladin under the desk:

Paladin under the desk

Looking for a place to hide:

Paladin finding a place to hide

He hid for a while, as is normal for cats in a new place, but came out before long, and enjoyed the heated tile floor:

Paladin enjoying the heated tile floor

We set up a new top-entry litter box, which he seemed to accept:

Paladin using the new litter box

It didn’t take too long to resume his normal snuggly ways:

Jenn and Paladin snuggling

Jenn and Paladin snuggling

We set up his food and water by our table; here he’s eating breakfast with us:

Paladin eating breakfast with us

I opened the windows when it got warmer, and Paladin was intrigued by the smellovision:

Paladin with an open window

Paladin looking out an RV window:

Paladin looking out RV window

We got a new water fountain for him:

Paladin drinking from new water fountain

We moved it a bit further from the power outlet; water and electricity isn’t an ideal mix:

Paladin drinking from water fountain

Paladin seems to have settled in quite quickly; he’s still concerned by some noises in the campground, but seems generally happy.

We planned things so he’d have several days to settle in. Of course, the real challenge will be when we move the coach tomorrow; bringing in the slides and driving down the road. No doubt he’ll freak out about that, but hopefully will get more comfortable with it in time. I’ll post an update on how that goes.