Red Bluff, California

Good afternoon, my friends. We're one day closer to our month-long destination in Escondido, California. This afternoon, we find ourselves in Red Bluff...about an hour south of Redding, if that helps. We had a nice day's drive today with relatively good weather. Mike is happy because he washed both the truck and the RV before we left home, and both are still clean.

As we left Wolf Creek this morning, I got my own photo of the Wolf Creek Inn mentioned in yesterday's post. It's the oldest continuously-operating hotel in Oregon, having begun operation in the late 1800's.

From there we headed south. We were over hill and dale for the beginning of our drive. It didn't take long before Mt. McLoughlin came into view.

Mount McLoughlin is a dormant steep-sided stratovolcano, or composite volcano. Located in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, it is one of the volcanic peaks in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, within the High Cascades sector. It was named around 1838 after John McLoughlin, a Chief Factor for the Hudson's Bay Company. Mount McLoughlin's prominence has made it a landmark to Native Americans and others for thousands of years.

McLoughlin consists largely of basaltic andesite. It underwent three major eruptive periods before its last activity took place between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago. It is not currently monitored for activity or deformation. Diverse species of flora and fauna inhabit the area, which is subject to frequent snowfall and temperature variation between seasons. The Pacific Crest Trail skirts the eastern and northern sides and also accesses the only trail to the summit via the 6-mile McLoughlin Trail. 

Moving on, we found ourselves above the clouds. I always like seeing a view like this with islands in the sky.

There were a few rustic barns along our route. I captured these two when we stopped for fuel in Grants Pass, Oregon. Grants Pass is named for Ulysses S. Grant, and was named as a celebration for his victory at the battle of Vicksburg, during the civil war.

I caught this next one through the back window of our truck.

As we approached the Siskiyou summit, we began seeing snow along the roadside, but none on the road. We encountered only dry pavement. That's always a relief, as this is the "iffiest" part of the trip.

Crossing the summit, we caught our first glimpse of Mt. Shasta.

Soon, we left Oregon...bye-bye, Oregon. We'll be back. Don't worry.

And then it was Hello, California!

We encountered the produce inspection station shortly thereafter. I'd loaded all our fresh produce into an insulated bag, but there was no inspection today. We just drove on through. Nothing to see here, folks.

On down the road, we could get a better view of the "complex" of the Mt. Shasta volcano.

Here's what Wikipedia tells us about Mt. Shasta. You might notice is has two visible peaks on the larger mountain, and then another cinder cone to its right. Actually there are four vents there. Mount Shasta has two visible peaks because it's a compound stratovolcano, built up over time by eruptions from multiple vents, not just a single cone, with the main summit (Eastern) and the large western satellite cone, Shastina, forming during different eruptive periods, making it a complex of four overlapping cones. 

On down the road, we got a very pretty view.

Stopping at a rest area, I noticed these pyracantha berries. 

Continuing on, we caught our first view of Lake Shasta.

The level of the lake is down, but not as much as we've seen it at other times. Much of California depends on Lake Shasta for its drinking water.

As I'm writing this, Mike is outside making an adjustment to one of our large room slides. Bummer. We spent thousands of dollars having the slide repaired after our last trip in this RV. Not sure what happened, but the gears got our of sync, and so he's making some adjustments. He seems confident he can fix it, but it was the last thing he wanted to be doing after driving most of the day. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.

I've made some progress on my Christmas Miracle embroidery piece. I mostly filled my hoop this morning.

Now, I've moved my hoop to the right, and I'll start there next time I work on it.

We'll spend the rest of the evening relaxing, and then take off again in the morning. Tomorrow's end point will be Tracy, California. I don't know anything about Tracy. It's a place we usually just drive past. We're driving fewer miles per day this trip, and so we're staying in some places we've not stayed before.

The drive will be just slightly shorter, but you'll still want to get a good night's sleep. Have a good evening, everyone. We'll chat again when we get to Tracy.