Casini Ranch Family C/G, Sun-Tues 7/25-7/27

 

A while back, and I can't recall exactly when, Jimmy and I were asked if we wanted to go ocean fishing by our farm friends, Cliff and Marlene, ostensibly for salmon.  Any time water is involved, we'll say, "sign us up!"  And so it was arranged for the four of us (in our campers) to head for the coast on Sunday, 7/25.  The fishing expedition out of Bodega Bay is on for tomorrow, Monday.

I can tell you it wasn't easy to find a place to park our rigs!  You can imagine that every campsite along the coast was booked long ago.  Finally, we found Casini Ranch Family C/G in tiny Duncan Mills had availability for our Tergel and their R-pod trailer.  But we'd pay through the nose for two nights!

I've lived in California most of my adult life and I've never seen a Yellow-billed Magpie, but here were two at the gas station where we tried to pump gas into Tergel in Sacramento.  Tried?  Yes.  We did not get an auspicious start on our trip, when Jimmy discovered that the gas he'd begun pumping was splashing onto the ground under Tergel!  Oh no!  And gas over four dollars a gallon?   Heck, we'd already paid for the fishing trip, so ... we kept going ... we had enough gas to get to the campground.  Hopefully, once there he could find the problem and jury rig a fix. 

 

Attractive ground cover at Casini Ranch.

Maybe an iceplant?

This is a large family campground, on the Russian River, complete with a pond, ducks and geese, horses, and lots of room for kids to play and ride their bikes.  It was nice and quiet at night.  Water activity on the river is a huge draw -- kayaks, SUP's and so forth, but with the drought, the water level is low and the river looked yucky.  The pond, above, didn't smell so sweet, either -- too many ducks fouling the water. 😁

After setting up, Jimmy crawled beneath Tergel for a look-see. That's when he saw the cracked hose at the hose/tank connection. He and Cliff thought a tight wrap of tinfoil followed by a wrap of duct tape around the hose might work, allowing gas to enter the tank till the hose could be replaced. Had to try it, 'cause we didn't have enough gas to get home. Fingers crossed.

Next, the four of us walked down to the river and milled about, Marlene and I admiring different plants, the guys looking around.  The egret above posed nicely.  A couple of Gadwalls were perched on a log, below.

Such a lovely afternoon; much cooler here than the inland foothills where we all live.  Clear skies, too.  We followed the river downstream. I suppose it's inevitable that we'd begin looking for flat stones to skip!  Had to hunt for them!

Jimmy gives it a try and does good.

Haha, I tried!  Same for Marlene.

Left-handed Cliff was a pro!

Marlene was serving fresh homemade veggie soup with cornbread muffins for dinner (at their picnic table).  Cliff's son, Keith, joined us.  He'd camp next to them in a tent he brought.  Tomorrow will be an early alarm.  The five of us had to be at the dock in Bodega Bay by 6:45 in the morning, and we were roughly a half hour away.  Early bedtime!