The first two parts of this series are found at the following dates:
Part 1: Motoring to San Diego, enroute to Hawaii, 05.01.10 *****
Part 2: Washington and Oregon, Enroute to San Diego & Ship 05.01.11 ****
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Part 3: December 3, 2004. 9 am Klamath Lake.
A beautiful dawn and day so far, but just now clouds are flowing down from the mountains all along on the right side of our road. We saw many volcanic cones yesterday evening as we drove along They were mountain cones, darkly silhouettedagainst an orange sunset sky. There were so many that the land looked as if itwere made of gigantic frozen ocean waves. This morning we could see them all clearly and they all had snow caps on top.
Now we're in Southern Oregon and the weather is still distinctly crisp, with crackly ice at the edges of things.
I like trains. We're just passing a long, three engine train that is standing
on the tracks between us and Klamath Lake. Blue skies have returned.
I was distressed as we drove through a long stretch of high desert plateau yesterday to see all the European Mountain Pine Beetle depradations in massive standsof pine up there. This little insect has no natural enemies in North America and is causing a huge disaster in our pine forests. It can fly 35 km from an infected tree to another tree in an as yet uninfected area so it is very difficult
to control. It isn't affected by cold weather unless temperatures go down to
-40c and are sustained for about a month. I guess only forests in such temperatures will survive destruction.
The sun was in our eyes for a long while yesterday late afternoon and evening.
At Bend the roads have changed a lot in the past fourteen years since wewere last here. It took an extra half hour to find the motel and we were tiredand glad to get in.
Now it's next morning. We've just taken a road that will carry us to the strangely named little place called "Weed." We didn't want to stay there. I think there are feed-lots there and they really stink. Tonight we have a reservation in
Williams at another Motel 6. We have reservations in Motel 6's all the way to San Diego. Ben did good advance planning and booking and it's nice to come to know we have a place ready for us every evening. Sometimesall the rooms have been taken and people are being turned away, but there's always one waiting for us.
About 11 am this morning we arrived at the Grass Lake rest station. We took off our jackets. This taking off of our winter jackets is a big event that is eagerly anticipated. There was lovely warm sunshine.
At 1 pm we made it into the outskirts of the city of Redding and ate at
Nanettes. We had two excellent salads for a total of US$20.00 and there was enough left over to take along in restaurant supplied containers for our supper tonight.
The next day: The San Joachin Valley, California.
We had a second breakfast in Walnut Grove. We wanted to find a washroom, so wenleft the I-5 and travelled nine miles to a place called Walnut Grove. We discovered a lovely little place to stop whenever we come this way again. Now we're back on the road and are just 295 miles north of Los Angeles. The scenery here is just like the dry, velvety, folded hills of Kamloops. (Kamloops is a city north of where we live in Canada, so it was a surprise to find the same so far south in the United States Of course, it's because we live in Canada in the northernmost extension of the Great Sonoma Desert. This must be part of the same desert.
In this area there are live Kit Foxes the size of a cat. They are pretty, and
have *huge* leaflike ears that they use for heating and cooling themselves.
When it's cold they sit in the sunshine with their large ears spread to the sun
so the blood in them will warm and travel to all parts of their bodies. Nature
is pretty clever!
At Walnut Grove we found a little old 1950's type restaurant filled with lots of
happy, relaxed and chattering people. It was like travelling back in time because of the style of the place and the restaurant, and also because of the vivacity and inter-relating of the people. Most of them knew each other and would call out greetings to friends as they walked in. When we first entered I saw about
ten *huge,* very tall, broad men all sitting reading or eating. They were almost like a squadron of giants or another kind of mountain barrier. I was a little taken aback. That was about 9 am. The crowd began to change as some women, a
few children and more men came, until the place was full, and chattier than ever. We had toast, jam, two eggs and unending coffee from a very friendly waitress. (Unending coffee, or bottomless cup, means your cup is refilled as soon as you empty it, and the price remains the same.) The place had old posters and ads
on the walls, a soda bar with swivel stools upholstered in red plastic. It was
original, and I don't think it had changed much since it was
first built back then. It faces the Sacramento River, quite wide here. We will
be sure to visit this place next time we come this way.
When we left the restaurant we missed the road back to the I-5. There was a confusing sign that read "two cities," with one arrow pointing both ways. We
wandered around quite lost for awhile. There were poldars and irrigation everywhere. The area is known as the Sacramento Delta. It was easy to get lost among
all the curving roads and the big waterways and squares of fields filled with water, (poldars.)
Here and there were old Victorian homes, big fancy ones occasionally, and also little tiny ones, just as there had been in the little hamlet of Walnut Grove. The post office was located in the tiniest house of all. We lost an hour because
we went to Walnut Grove. But it was "time well lost" as Ben said, because we saw things that interested us, and found a new gem of a place to enjoy.
It's a clear, blue skied day again, a bit on the crisp side, too. At the restaurant Ben had talked with a counterpart of Blair, David's son, a Fish and
Wildlife officer, who protects fish, animals and the environment. There was abig map of the Delta on a hall wall there and the officer showed Ben where we
were in the maze of roads and waterways but later it was still confusing.
There was a little excursion boat on the Sacramento River there. Its captain was offering rides. Some houses had stairs down to the river.
We regained the I-5. There were lots of big trucks travelling both ways. The trucks were no problem and were good to pace our driving because they kept to steady speeds which many cars don't. Across about 1/8 mile away we could seethe other highway crossing gullies on the level like us, suspended far above the
land that falls and rises. The road continued to climb toward the great Pass.
There are two passes. We took the busiest one. Next time we'll know better.
We got to the top of the pass. Then it began to descend again.
The eleven or twelve laned highway that heads to Los Angeles goes through steep
mountains with low desert bushes and deep, narrow valleys and arroyos spreading
off to both sides. Everybody seems to be racing along to get somewhere as fast
as possible. It's quite a a barren looking area.
We didn't like the motel 6 we stayed in last night in Williams because the toilet/shower room smelled like it hadn't been cleaned well. I guess we were
*really* spoiled by the truly excellent one we enjoyed the night before. It had
plenty of space, a good kitchenetter with refrigerator and microwave and so on,
dining area, everything we could possibly want. This chain buys up properties
and turns them into Motel 6's which is why they vary in quality. On the whole trip both ways we didn't find another ;unpleasant one like the one in Williams.
I marked Williams down so we'll remember never to stay there again.
Yesterday we heard there was a big snow storm coming to the area that we
were passing through, but for us it was warm and lovely. In fact there was a very bad storm in the north and it even affected our outward voyage on the ship.
Many years ago Ben's father used to receive little books from the German Farmer'
s Service because he was a government Agricultural Representative (in Canada called an Ag-Rep,) to advise farmers in his area. He used to give them to Ben to read. Ben still remembers one about sheep that read, "Where one cow starves, fivesheep can be fully nourished." The mountain sides were so barren that it reminded him of that advice.
There was a place called Fire Baugh on the highway. It was just a place to eat
and get a wash room or rest. There were a number of restaurants there but no homes. We stopped and went to a Taco Bell for lunch. I had two soft chicken Tacos Supreme, and a Pepsi. Ben had a half pound bean burrito and a steak taco. He
bought diesel fuel. This little 20 year old VW costs us about $22.00 per day for a full day of driving.
December 5, 2004 Sunday. The motel last night was fresh smelling. It was at
Simi Valley. We ate dinner at a good buffet restaurant, a sortof Uncle Willy's like the one in our town, but definitely a cut above ours. Itwas a very popular place to eat and we enjoyed the ambiance and the food. Next
morning we made a leisurely 9am start and are now in Los Angeles at 9:20. The
best to see so far today are the green trees and grass. Ben was smart to leave
the Los Angeles throughway driving until morning because there are many lanes of
fast traffic as mentioned before.
I managed to get him a birthday present last night. We checked at a Radio Shackstore near the buffet restaurant where we had dinner in hopes of buying new carspeakers for our car radio because the old ones were crackling. There were no
speakers, but I found a set of travelling tools made in China. They cost Am.$40
.00 and consisted of a compass, knife, and folding tool set, even binoculars, with a nice cases for each thing. Ben was as delighted as a boy with his early birthday gift. Everything turned out to be very useful on the trip except the binoculars which are low power, and will be more useful for bird-watching in our own yard.
End of Part 3. *********
