Tag Archives: Chico

Recurring Dreams

04015419

Over the years I keep having the same recurring dreams. And these dreams aren’t very good ones, either.

The dream that I’ve consistently had my entire life is thus: I’m being chased. Something, and I don’t know what or who, is chasing me and I can’t get away from it. Sometimes I’m in the house I grew up in, running from room to room, rooftop, basement, in and out of doors and windows. Sometimes I’m outside, and it could be the forest or a town I’ve lived in from my past. No matter what I do, no matter what I try, whether on foot or in a car or flying somehow, I just can’t get away. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that it is bad, and I cannot let it catch me, so I have to keep running away trying to escape.

I got out of the Navy in January 1995. And since then I often have the dream that I’m back in the Navy. I’m back on the ship that I hated so much, trapped, unhappy, full of angst. Always in this dream I’m serving a life sentence, never to be discharged, forever serving aboard the USS Antietam. I can smell so vividly the JP5 fuel, and the PVC decks, and horrible BO of the dirtbag sailors in engineering. All the people that I hated are there, still making me miserable, taunting me, physically assaulting me, but I can’t speak and my punches are in slow motion and ineffective.

Ten years ago I graduated from college, in May 2004, from Chico State. And in my dream I’m back in college. It’s my last semester. It’s the final day of school. And I have to go take a final for a class, one that I obviously need to graduate, and I have not been to this class in weeks. I’m completely unprepared. I’m panicking. I have to take the final for this class and I know I’m going to fail, and not graduate.

And then I wake up from these dreams. I’m usually breathing heavily, sometimes in a cold sweat, and feeling…dread. Like something from my past is unresolved. I don’t know.

I don’t know why I keep having these dreams. But I do know that I wish they would stop.

Lovely Weather We’re Having

It’s been an unusually mild summer here in California. And don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining.

Usually we can count on 100 degree-plus temperatures every day in the central valley for a good six months straight–June through October. But this year we’ve only had a handful of days over 100. And that’s fantstic.

My beloved city of Chico has mostly seen days hovering around 90. Manteca is pretty much the same. And out in Livermore, where I work, daytime highs have been in the 80s. San Francisco has been rather cold, as usual.

This week I spent a couple of days in the mountains. I was surprised to see how much snow is left on the highest peaks. I mean, here it is almost September and there is still a lot of snow up high. As we drove up Tioga Road from the eastern side, a la highway 395, there was so much snow I had to remind myself that it was late August and not early Spring.

Hunting season is right around the corner, and this cool weather has got me and my hunting buddies really excited. Opening weekend in mid-September can be a bit miserable some years because it’s so hot. This year we’re hoping that the cool weather will continue, and we’ll get a nice comfortable opening weekend. And, I hope, the cool weather continues throughout the season into late October.

It’s supposed to be 75 in Manteca tomorrow. That’s perfect weather, if you ask me. Now all we need is some rain.

Lake Almanor and Deer Creek

Yum does this funny thing with her fingers, “air quotes”, every time the subject of “camping” comes up. She doesn’t think that I camp. Or rather, she doesn’t think that I’ll ever take her camping. So I decided to fix that.

Last Wednesday morning we loaded up the Yaris and left Vacaville along the road to fun.

We drove up 80 and 99 to highway 70. Then we drove all the way up the Feather River canyon on highway 70 to where it intersects with 89. Then we drove along 89, made a quick stop to hike down to Indian Falls, then drove through Indian Valley to the 147 junction, and then to Lake Almanor.

Ahhh, Lake Almanor. The best place in northern California to watch raptors swoop and hunt. Bald Eagles and Osprey can be seen snatching trout in their talons. Or so I’ve been told–didn’t see any this trip. Bald Eagles, that is.

We camped on the northern shore, just a few miles from the city of Chester. Our campsite was *right* on the shoreline. We angled the entrance of our tent to have a beautiful view of Mt Lassen in the morning. Thank you North Shore campground, your facilities are top-notch.

After setting up our tent and sleeping stuffs we drove into Chester for a snack. Chester is the land that time forgot. There are no corporate entities in this town, save for a Chevron and Union 76 gas station. No McDonalds, no WalMart. From all appearances this place hasn’t changed since the ’50s–and that’s a good thing. Chester is one of those quaint little mountain towns where little things like community and helping your neighbor are still important.

Yum and I had a burger and a shake at the Pine Shack Frosty on the main strip. Dee-lish. Then I took Yum to my favorite fishing spot near the intersection of highways 32 and 36.

Yum must have caught 20 fish–way more than I did. I fly fished the entire time. I knocked ’em dead with my dry flies. There was a nice hatch going on, and I was busy slapping my line down on the water and catching nice rainbows–whooping and hollering with every trout I caught. We kept a couple for dinner.

So, Yum decides that she’s just going to throw the fish on the coals to cook them. What? Are you crazy? You’re going to ruin the fish, Yum! I wanted to say that, anyway. I’ll just keep my mouth shut, and when she ruins the fish she’ll learn her lesson and I’ll get to smile and cook them in aluminum foil next time.

But a funny thing happened–the fish came out perfect. Yum lifted those trout off the coals and peeled the crispy skin/scales back off the meat and revealed perfectly cooked and seasoned trout. Crow, oops, I mean trout, never tasted so good.

And now I beg Yum to cook our fish her way. Good ol’ Yum =) But I digress…

After dinner we made S’mores. Yum has never had S’mores! Yum doesn’t know the goodness of S’mores! Poor Yum. All those wasted years…

In the morning we broke camp and headed into town. We had some coffee at a nice little place and checked our email on the free wifi. Then we headed over to the Kopper Kettle for some breakfast. Then we drove back to upper Deer Creek for some more fishing. Yum knocked ’em dead, catching a lot of fish. We kept 3 for dinner–3 big, beautiful rainbow trout.

We took 32 back to Chico. I felt a little homesick as we drove through my old stomping grounds. Ahhh, Chico… good times, good memories.

No trip through Chico is complete without a stop at Burger Hut. And then, sadly, we drove home.

And so here we are, the end of my post. And here are the pictures from our trip =)