The beginning of the trip that is. On Sunday June first, I left on my most ambitious trailer trip ever. I was headed for British Columbia to visit friends, see the Canadian Rockies, and on the way home visit Yellowstone National Park.
I don’t like to drive more than four or five hours each day. It’s easier on my back, and it keeps the stress levels down. Towing a trailer is very stressful for me. The constant attention that’s required just wears me down and winds me up, at the same time. So the first night on my 4,300 mile, month-long trip was an RV Park just south of Redding, CA.
First Campsite of the Trip
I’ve driven through Redding on I-5 a zillion times, and have seen the Sacramento River RV Park with it’s white-painted fences and willow trees next to the river each time. So I thought “I’ll stay there on my way north.” The RV Park is very clean and park like. It’s also less than 100 yards from the interstate, on a grade. So the noise of diesel trucks continued into the wee hours of the morning.
It was here at Redding that I figured out how to unhitch, without really “dropping the trailer.” If I drop the trailer, as when I’m going to town for dinner or to look for brew pubs, I have to back the hitch ball on the pickup directly under the trailer hitch. Not difficult, but a PITA solo. At Redding, I just unlocked and opened the hitch and jacked the trailer enough to level it front to rear and didn’t move the pickup.
I cooked tacos in the trailer galley at Redding, the only time I would cook on the stove on the entire trip. Keeping meat fresh and safe in an icebox is challenging. Last year, on the “Tour of the Great Northwet,” I started the trip with ground beef and chicken breasts frozen in the icebox. It defrosts quickly, and once it’s defrosted, you have to use it quickly. That didn’t work out well last year, so I brought meat for only one meal, Tacos.
Driving up I-5 isn’t particularly stressful for me or the pickup. Tomorrow I cross the Anderson Grade and the Siskiyou Summit, both >5,000 ft grades. That will be good practice for me because I’ll be crossing the Canadian Rockies at ~6,000 ft, and the Continental Divide in Yellowstone at >8,000 ft.