Northern California into Southern Oregon

Yesterday, after loading in Lathrop, CA (thats just south of Stockton and Sacremento) we drove north on I-5 heading to Oregon. Its a pretty drive and I always like driving in that part of California. Actually anything north of Bakersfield is nice. Its southern Cal that I'm not particularly fond of.

Anyway, its a peaceful drive past rice fields that give over to olive groves, that change into pastures and eventually you find yourself in the mountain passes as you approach Oregon. We get off the interstate at Weed, CA (just a side note here....I think this town's name is fitting for CA. Can't you just see some hippy all doped up starting their CA town? I'm not sure where the name actually originated or how old the town is, but the name fits that little scenario for me.) Ok, so we hit Hwy 97, which basically runs around the northern base of Mount Shasta, elevation 14,162ft. Its also a pretty drive, though we hadn't done it in the daylight since we drove for Covenant several years ago. This time it was mid-afternoon and the air was wonderfully clear. I was itching to take a few shots, but with the trees skimming by, I knew it wouldn't come out.

Then miraculously, as is prone to happen for me, one of the girls decided she had to go out....NOW! Luckily there was an old DOT check station that was closed and available for parking. And as I let my little angels run around in the bushes, I looked up and realized the opportunity had arrived. I had Malcolm scramble into the back to retrieve my camera from the back corners of the upper bunk (thats quite a stretch when your trying not to step in the back cause you still have your shoes on, bless his heart, and thank you sweet heart for saving me from climbing back in to do it) and snapped a few shots of the snow capped ruler of Northern California. This mountain is like Mt Hood in Oregon. You can see it across half the state.

Traveling on, we passed through the little town of Dorris, CA where I saw a little shop called "The Rusty Teapot" and really wanted to go in. Noted some truck parking availablility on the roadside down the way. I'll have to stop next time we pass through during the week, during the day....this has yet to happen so there's not a lot of hope in my heart for this one.

A mile before crossing into Oregon we turned off on CA-161, aka "state line road." This road, for the twenty miles we were on it, travels ON the state line of CA and OR. But more impressivly, and here is where I was really dying, it ran through the Klammath Falls Wildlife Refuge, which basically consisted of 20 miles of marsh and waterlands and had an absord assortment of waterfoul, and like I said I about died.

The reason I was dying is because:

a> I love ducks and geese, etc.

b> There was no way possible to stop and take shots because there was no shoulder and there was traffic behind us.

c> We almost ran over a little group of duckies waddling across the road.

d> I love ducks and geese, etc.

So there were at least three varieties of geese, an untold number of ducks I'd never seen, herons, and then there were pipers, plovers, and pelicans (say that three times fast!), all just sitting right there on the road side in the water. And there were a few places where the sky was just white with these particular geese that were circling and circling before landing in the water. There were millions of them.

We delivered up the road from the birds, about a mile into Oregon. We had 1620 Fertilizer (whatever that is but we've hauled it a couple of times now, so it must be common.

Then we drove along OR-140, up through the mountains to Lakeview, OR where we just finished loading after a long nights restful (parked) sleep. We're gonna grab some breakfast up the road here at a little cafe (if they are open on Sunday morning) and then we've got a 360 mile trip to Saint Helen, Or norht of Portland.

Hmmm....is there another volcanic mountain in our future? Check back to see if I got shots of Hood and St Helens.