Central Point to Lodi, California – 9 November 2022

We left Central Point, Oregon in sunshine surrounded by the beautiful red, yellow and orange colours of Fall. As we travelled South climbed the pass to California, the weather rapidly changed to snow. As we got to the others side of the pass and entered California, we were back to sunshine but this time surrounded by dry, brown fields and mountains. An hour later as we approached Weed, California we were back to snow again. 

We had reserved a spot at Mt Shasta Brewing Company a Harvest Host participant. They were situated at the foot of Black Butte mountain which is behind Mt Shasta. Weed was named after Abner Weed who originally founded the town and set up a Mill.

Mt Shasta Brewing Company is a lovely little pub with many craft beers on tap as well as a nice selection of food. We set up the RV in the parking lot with no one else in sight and made our way to the pub for lunch. I was still struggling with my sore eye which was becoming progressively worse. It was very swollen, red and sore. I had to keep my sunglasses on inside and out. We decided to go to the pharmacy in Weed and see what they could do. When we got there, the Pharmacist recommended going to urgent care. Luckily there was a walk in medical clinic close by but because it was already 4.30 pm they were no longer taking patients and recommended I go to Emergency which was in a building behind them. Emergency was fairly deserted luckily so we didnt have to wait too long. The doctor took a good look at the eye and said I had a cut and prescribed some antibiotic cream. On the way out, we found out that my little visit had cost us US$1200 and the doctor was still going to send his own bill to us. Ouch!!

The next day we left fairly early, keen to get back to sunshine again. Our next stop was Heritage RV Park in Corning. It was situated behind a bunch of shops near a busy intersection. It was neat and organized with a lot of permanent residents. The park was fine for a stopover and as there did not seem to be much in the area, we decided to just walk from the site along the main street to stretch our legs. We were hoping to stop in at the Olive Pit where you could do some sampling of different types of Olives. When we arrived we found out that COVID had stopped all the tastings, which was a great pity. However we were still able to buy whatever we wanted from their well stocked store.  It was hard to choose an Olive from their extensive collection, but we eventually settled on a jar of Olives stuffed with cream cheese, a jar stuffed stuffed with Bloody Mary pimentos, a fig based balsamic vinaigrette and a smooth olive oil. We couldn’t wait to try them out with our cheeses. We walked along the road for a while but the light was bothering my eye a lot so Derek stopped at the pharmacy and picked up an eye patch for me. It looked more like a pointy nipple cap  and I felt ridiculous wearing it under my glasses. Oh well, at least it did the job.

After a night at Heritage, we moved on to Flag City RV Park in Lodi.  This was Derek’s favourite park as it had nicely spaced, easy to get into level sites. Most important of all it had a hot tub! This park was also great for Jax as it had a dog park the size of a football stadium. Last time we were in Lodi we had seen very little of the city. So we decided to explore the historic downtown area. The suburbs around Lodi were beautifully kept and the town immaculate with red bricked streets. Lodi had a great vibe. It was full of both vintage shops and modern eateries.  We could have been in Paso Robles. There was a train station at the top of town and then a number of heritage buildings. While there were several wine tasting shops we decided to try one of the breweries instead. Luckily Lodi Beer Brewery was dog friendly so Jax was able to sit with us on the patio where there were several other couples with dogs as well. This is an area we definitely want to explore more of next time we are here. My eye was still bothering me. I was doing eye washes several times a day, hoping I wouldn’t have to see an eye specialist at our next stop. Can you imagine how much that would cost!