G.A.S.P.

On September 17, I visited Mecca. Well not the real one in the Middle East, but a "Mecca" for railroad buffs, of which I am one. Right along California Rt. 89 near the town of Keddie is the famous Keddie Wye (railroad) Bridge. The whole Keddie area is a tribute to great engineering work required to put a railroad through here – numerous tunnels, bridges, and carved-out ledges. The highlight is the Wye Bridge over Spanish Creek where the railroad tracks coming from the West turn both North and South along the creek. I waited a half-hour for a train to come along – no luck.

The day ended on a grand note, however. My route plan called for me to stay at a State Park near Blairsden, but since it was eight miles out of the way, I started checking for alternate spots when I got close to Blairsden. I stopped at a RV Park, but they didn’t take tenters. The owner, however, knew of another RV Park that did. He even offered to call them to check on availability of a site (and they told him they had plenty of room). This place was about four miles out of the way (off my route), but in this case four is better than eight. So off I went toward the Feather River Mobile Home RV Park, with the departing words that there would be one hill between Blairsden and the RV Park. Ten miles down the road I found out that the "one hill" was 2½ miles long. I got over it though, and found the RV Park on the down-slope. Owners Jerry and Leslie welcomed me, and surprised me (very pleasantly) by telling me that as bicyclists themselves they do not charge touring bicyclists to camp for the night. Besides the great price, the Campground is just beautifully maintained, has a swimming pool, kids play area, laundry, hot showers, teepee and camping tents with wooden floors and canvas tops. Besides the great price and great amenities, Jerry and Leslie are really, really nice people. So anyone out there, touring bicyclist or otherwise (i.e. paying customer), who happens to need a place to stay the night near Portola, California, go to the Feather River RV Mobile Home Park. I knew right from the start that this was one of those "good fate" things, but Jerry confirmed it in the morning when he introduced me to his dog named Nero (a real sweetheart who is half Golden Retriever and half Rhodesian Ridgeback).