North to Alaska: On to California

Back roads through Oregon and we love it. Lots of countryside and small towns and not nearly as crowded as around the big cities and interstate highways. Driving is much more pleasurable and more relaxing. Although some of these roads are narrow with little if any shoulders, we like these back country roads with all the scenery and little towns. As we traveled through Oregon on our way to California, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit Crater Lake. We had heard so many stories about the uniqueness and beauty of Crater Lake we just had to check it out ourselves. You know what? Everything we heard and more is true. It is one of those places you have to see. Not only the lake; but, all the surrounding landscape and the drive up to the lake is breathtaking. After spending several hours enjoying Crater Lake we decided to go down towards California or at least get a good start. We made it as far as Bend, OR. where we spent the night in one of our favorite campgrounds, Walmart. After a good night’s rest, we were eager to get on the road for the last 525 miles to Campbell, CA. where our son and daughter-in-law live, or at least put a good dent into it. You have to realize that we have gotten used to traveling less than 300 miles a day and sometimes not even close to 300 miles in a day. However, we would give it a good shot and see how far we could get. All the scenery, stopping to eat, stretching breaks and another big mountain called Mount Shasta, made us begin to realize we may not make Campbell today. Not only did we not make Campbell, we didn’t even make 300 miles. We only made it to Redding, CA. where we, you guessed it, stayed at Walmart for the night. Coming into California on Interstate 5, the first thing you see is Mount Shasta. Another giant volcanic mountain covered with snow.

Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at 14,179 feet is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California. Mount Shasta has an estimated volume of 85 cubic miles which makes it the most voluminous stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. On past Mount Shasta and a good ways into California, we saw enough fruit trees, all kinds of vegetables, grapevines, almonds, pistachios, you name it and we saw it growing and being harvested. There was plenty to feed a large army, in fact, several large armies. There were miles and miles of beautiful farm lands that seemed to never end. Oh no!!! We are approaching San Francisco and San Jose, it’s around 5PM and the traffic is nothing like back home in Bolivia, NC. After negotiating our way in and out, fast and slow (sometimes stopped) we finally made it to Matt and Shannon’s house around 7PM.

Some other interesting places driving through Oregon.

Linda and Gypsy think we need a trailer to pull behind the "Fox"

The "Fox" is hooked up and ready

This is one of the little stores where we stopped to get some refreshment... We really like these little stores, you never know what you may find.

This little store had many beautiful flowers hanging everywhere

More pictures of Crater Lake. Crater Lake is located in Klamath County, approximately 60 miles northwest of the county seat of Klamath Falls, and about 80 miles northeast of the city of Medford. The lake is 5 by 6 miles across with an average depth of 1,148 feet. Its maximum depth has been measured at 1,949 feet, which fluctuates slightly as the weather changes. On the basis of maximum depth, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, the second deepest in North America, after Great Slave Lake in Canada, and the ninth deepest lake in the world (Lake Baikal is the deepest).