Day 3: Redding to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

I only got to post one entry while we were in California. I've returned home, but unfortunately Tom remains in Oxnard with the camera and all the photos. So... while I still have all the memories and can write some riveting text (wait 'til you read about the elk!), I think the pictures may not be posted for another week or so.

Day 3 started bright and early. We left the River Inn and headed for our truck in the parking lot, only to find a group of homeless people camped out next to it, carefully guarding its contents, or so I hoped. We stopped for breakfast and groceries in Mt. Shasta (the town, not the mountain). Breakfast at Lily's was Eggs Arnold for both of us. This is code for jazzed up eggs benedict with some avocado. Although not extraordinary, it was tasty. The patio dining was very popular as well. We got some groceries for camp dinners at Ray's Food Place. We decided they must have named it so obviously in case the potheads, in a rough bout with the munchies, were having any trouble figuring out where to go. Strong work, Ray's!

We then had an incredibly slow and winding drive first along the Klamath River and then through the forest. I was instructed, as it was my turn to drive, to take it slow and not go careening through the turns. I did as I was told, but when it began to sink in that at this rate we would have many hours to go, impatience won out and Tom took over, careening around turns at breakneck speeds. Alas, I grossly exaggerate, but it sounded more interesting, didn't it? Don't ever let the truth get in the way of a good story.

We arrived at Jedediah, set up camp and took Olive the dog down to the river beach for a swim. (Don't tell the rangers!) It was cold and cloudy but we were all having a great time. The Jedediah campground was fabulously gloomy in the way that dark forests can get: not much light came through the canopy, it was cool and damp and the tree branches dampened most of the sound made by screaming kids celebrating the end of summer. The place was a zoo with kids whizzing around on bikes and scooters, and generators running until after 10pm. Amazingly, when we got up between seven and eight the next morning, all those little peanuts had either cleared out or were sound asleep, because the place was blissfully quiet.

Stay tuned for pictures of Jedediah, and "big blue", our new monster tent (or is it an igloo?)

California Road Blog

Friday, September 1
Albuquerque to Flagstaff

Welcome to the California Road Trip Blog. Today is actually day #6 of the trip, and I am able to write these notes thanks to my husband's multitude of techno-gadgets that accompany us on the trip. I'll backtrack and start at day #1, but first a few announcements. To my friend Clay, I have only this to say: Ha! The blog is NOT dead! And I also want to say hello to Karla, Ivan, baby Gavin and cousins Marjorie, Cheryl and Virginia in San Francisco, who I deeply regret that we do not have time to see on this trip. We've been thinking about you and are very sad that we won't get to see you!!! Now to the blog...

Friday we left work at 5pm and made the long, straight, uneventful drive down I-40 to Flagstaff, Arizona. The highlight of the evening was dinner in Grants, New Mexico at a homey local place called what else but Grants Restaurant. From the moment we stepped in the door, we were marked as outsiders, especially while we waited awkwardly at the front until someone told us to seat ourselves at any empty, clean table. The tables were covered with plastic chili pepper-decked table cloths, and sketches of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe from someone's art class hung on the walls along with route 66 signs. Another hand painted sign warned us that the food might take awhile, but it would be worth it.The girl who took our drink order and brought us cans of diet coke along with big lime green plastic cups filled with ice and straws seemed to know everyone there. Grandpa was at one table and Aunt Edna was at another. It was a friendly crowd, for those who knew each other. And I guess that was pretty much everyone but us.When the food finally came, it did not disappoint, as promised. The specialty was good ol'New Mexican food. I had the enchilada plate with red chile and Tom had the combo plate (tamale, chile relleno, enchilada and taco with Christmas). For those of you not in the know, "Christmas" style is both red and green chile, not mixed together but side by side. The taco was the only thing that wasn't up to snuff. I've had better red chile, but this stuff wasn't bad. And you can't beat the price: less than $15 for two dinners and four diet cokes. I felt virtuous, as any good Scottish-blooded girl should.A few hours later we pulled into the Quality Inn on Lucky Lane in Flagstaff. There's nothing too exciting to say about the Quality Inn. The desk clerk was friendly, the room was clean and there was a hot breakfast including make-your-own waffles and scrambled eggs, definitely reconstituted from a powder. All for the mediocre price of $85 plus tax. And last but not least they had a pet area where our dog could do her thing, which interestingly enough appeared to be right in the front yard of the next door Howard Johnson. Hmm, does Ho Jo know about this?

Saturday, September 2
Flagstaff, Arizona to Redding, California

What a long strange day it's been.
In rare form, we were up by 6am and on the road by 7. I had never been on this route before, and was struck by the beauty of the area surrounding Flagstaff, which I couldn't appreciate in the darkness when we arrived the night before. Rolling hills and pine-covered mountains surrounded us, and yellow wildflowers of all kinds grew in vast fields in the roadside meadows. The air was cold and crisp with that hint of pine that always reminds me of summer vacations in the mountains. Gradually we descended, the pine trees fell away and we were entering the desert just below the Hoover Dam. First came the police with their road blocks and inspections. Then came the masses of tourists armed with digital cameras and small children dangling by their appendages. The tall, cold spires- towers built on the dam- had an eerie similarity to a backdrop from a Star Wars movie. We drove through the masses of people and cars without stopping.The rest of Nevada was equally bizarre. First came the oasis of Las Vegas, something of a sore thumb sticking out. Then was an amalgam of dry seemingly lifeless mountains with barren deserts spanning their vallies, dotted every now and then by a casino, a brothel, a military outpost, or a half-deserted mining town. To preface the high note of our day, I first need to explain our navigation system. "System?" you ask. Oh yes, this is not a simple map but a GPS receiver coupled to a small computer mounted on the dash that runs "Topo USA" software. Sounds fancy, right? Usually, yes. It would estimate how many hours and minutes until we would reach our final destination, it would beep and tell us where to turn. I was starting to think it was a flawless piece of ingenuity, until...You see, Topo USA had this quirky little habit of trying to find shortcuts. It would constantly reroute us when we were already on the major thoroughfare. It would tell us to take an exit, and immediately get back on the freeway at the same on-ramp because it saved maybe 50 feet. We hadn't quite noticed this little preference until it was far too late. We were in a small town in the middle of nowhere Nevada when it said to make a right turn onto a residential street. We were supposed to make another turn to reconnect, and it looked like it would save us two or three miles. This seemed reasonable, so we took the turn. About three blocks later, it turned to dirt. "Do you think we should turn around?" I said to Tom. "Where's your sense of adventure?" he replied. I shrugged, and since I was in no hurry, conceded to take this "shortcut". A few hundred feet later it turned from dirt road to rugged 4x4 trail. Still, we carried on. After about 20 minutes it turned into a cow path. "Should we turn around now?" "No, that will take a lot longer. We're almost to the end." We were no longer on any road that our GPS software recognized. We could only see where we were relative to where we were supposed to be. We continued on. After a sum total of about an hour, we finally returned to the road, having cut off, as promised, about two or three miles of paved road in exchange for our hour in the backcountry. We were dejected and irritable, and we had lost a lot of time on a day where we were supposed to cover more than 800 miles. We decided to forego dinner and hit the Wendy's drive through in Reno, eating our french fries and chicken sandwiches as we sped on down the road, finally cruising smoothly on a recognizable interstate once again. After a winding state highway through northern California, we finally reached the River Inn in Redding around 10:30pm.