Corning, California

It was a much better day of driving yesterday, and we reached our stopping point earlier in the day. It turned out to be a good thing because after we were all set up, we realized there was a problem with our electrical connection. It kept popping a "ground fault," and we ended up moving to a different spot. 

Backing up to the beginning of the day, it was very nice to see the sun after so much rain the day before. We got kind of turned around leaving the campground. It seemed as if we were heading north. Somehow there's a big bend in the interstate at that point so that even though our destination was south, we drove north for a short distance. It meant crossing this bridge over the Rogue River to get back on track. 

You know we always get excited about bridges, so it was all good.

We drove toward moody skies for a while.

Just before crossing the California border, we caught our first glimpse of Mt. Shasta. You can see the Black Butte cinder cone to the right of the image below.

A truck was in my way as we crossed over the border, so I'm recycling this image from last year's trip. 

From there, Mt. Shasta dominated the skyline for many miles.

For as many times as I've seen it, I've never seen Black Butte enveloped in clouds like this. There's a small valley there where clouds had settled. To the east, Mt. Shasta was completely clear.

I took a few more barn pictures yesterday. I like this one at the foot of the mountain.

It's always heart-breaking to drive miles and miles through this scorched landscape. Fires seem to get worse in northern California every year, and so the scorched earth section extends farther each time we make the drive.

Also somewhat dispiriting, the level of Shasta Lake is as low as I've seen it in a long time. It's a little hard to get the shot over the guardrails of the bridge, but I think you get the idea.

After having to move the RV to a new spot, Smitty was ready for some TLC last night.

As I've mentioned before, he sometimes like to cross dress during these times of high stress.

It makes him feel so hot, he has to stand next to a fire extinguisher, just in case he bursts into flames.

As you might guess, Sadie is completely put off by his self-indulgence. She retired to the bedroom to do her imitation of a speeding bullet.

Smitty is helping me edit my pictures and write my post this morning.

We want to get on the road early because we have a longer-than-expected drive today. (We both kind of remember discussing this when we made our original plans, but we both forgot until this morning.) So, time's a'wastin' and I need to get into the shower and make myself presentable for the day...as far as it goes. We'll be in Bakersfield by day's end.