10-21-2010 Winter is Coming

Winter is coming to Rocky Point, and to the entire Northwest, maybe even this weekend according to the current weather forecast! We are in a La Nina year, and that portends a cold winter for the northern part of the country and a warm dry winter for the southern portion. Probably great for all the snowbirds heading south right now, and good as well for the Klamath Basin which has been struggling with drought this year. Hopefully a good snow pack will alleviate the situation a bit and our lakes and rivers will be full again in the coming season.

However, a cold winter in the northwest means deep snow at Rocky Point. The last few years I was working in California, with a convenient place to keep the MoHo during the winter. We didn’t have to winterize it and could take off on a spring time trip whenever the notion hit. Of course, I was working full time, so that often meant Mo took off without me. This year, since I am mostly retired, we now want to be sure that we can head for the beaches or the desert or southern mountains whenever we want.

I do love winter, though, especially when I know that I can escape when it drags on too long. Winter in late December in Rocky Point is gorgeous, with deep snows to sled with my grandkids, and a warm fire to accompany my knitting. It’s baking and soup time as well, my favorite kind of cooking. We spent the early part of last summer putting up 7 more cords of good dry firewood, so should be well equipped for whatever cold Old Man Winter sends our way.

After some looking around, we came up with a plan. We are taking the MoHo to Redding for the winter, about 2.5 hours south over I-5 and Mt Shasta, and out of snow country. I don’t really want to shovel a few feet of snow and put chains on that rig during a winter storm.

The enclosed storage facility is just at the northern edge of Redding, an easy jaunt even in a snow storm with the Tracker. We are excited about this plan, and the extra cost of winter rent seems a small price to pay for the delight of February wildflowers in California and the Oregon Coast during spring storms. Last year was an exception, but the photo below shows just what Rocky Point can look like sometimes in March! With La Nina waiting, I have a feeling this could be the case this year as well. Redding only gets very occasional snows and rarely has temperatures below 30 degrees F.

Of course, now that we have a plan, and the rent is paid on the storage facility, we have to go there! Yaay! Another trip is in the making, and we will head south during the first couple weeks of November. Right now we are planning to use our CampClub USA pass for a park in Crescent City, and then will amble down the coast for a few days before traveling inland. My lifetime friend and her husband live in Oroville, so we will visit there, and my once upon a time mom-in-law is in Red Bluff. It’s a perfect travel loop from here to the Redding storage facility, just a bit of meandering and a couple hundred extra miles along the way.