Peter's off for Burning Man

Interlude

Before the Burning Man preparations begin, we take an interlude to enjoy just being home together.

With walks on the beach

Marti visits Rossana in her garden.

Garden entrance

Rossana picking veggies

Beautiful Dalias

Bruce's grows a County Faire great pumkin

We enjoy an evening of jazz and wine at Bargetto's in Soquel.

Tasting Room

Jazz group

Thursdays on the Patio

Burning Man Preparations


Since Burning Man is in Nevada's Black Rock Desert with basically no services (other than water, ice, and coffe to purchase), all provisions have to be brought in and garbage hauled out by the individual festival goers.

Peter starts off by hooking up the new solar panel into Splinter's electrical system.

Peter rewiring batteries

Wired abstract

Ahhh YES - it's working!

Splinter is now ready for "boondocking," i.e. extended camping without any electrical hookups. Next -  time to collect and organize provisions for the week long trip. This festival takes more prep and forethought as there won't be a camp store anywhere close for a beer run.

Costco sized provisions

Coolers & chairs to load

Love you Sweets! Drive carefully - come home safely

The puppies and I stay home and hold down the fort. Nope - Marti does not do Burning Man... with asthma and blowing playa dust it would be a trip to the hospital.

Mary is happy to sit this trip out at home.

Homeward bound

The KOA campground in Mt. Shasta City is conveniently located and well maintained, but it is very noisy.  When I made our reservation, I did ask about noise from the freeway and they replied it wasn't bad.  They were right about freeway noise, but they failed to mention the train tracks close by.  All through the night the sound of trains huffing and puffing up the grade into town and then announcing their presence with a loud whistle blast kept us awake.  Next time wer'e in Mt. Shasta we'll take fellow campers' advice and stay at Lake Siskiyou.

We did get a kick out of the the follow campers at the Mt Shasta KOA.

Cute family Camper Trailer

Boat as RV

Anxious to get home we do a beeline straight home on the usual freeway system. Although there's not as much to see, we have some fun on route.

Marina @ Shasta Lake

Siskiyou Foothills

A sudden splattering of a bug swarm on our windshield gave both of us a start.  We were never able to determine what kind of bugs they were, but they were certainly big and juicy.  YUCK!
Of course there are always a few fun vehicles on the road.

Bus - Magic Bus

The Central Valley was surprisingly mild with temps in the mid 80's as we drove through. Farming is the main attraction. We were especially impressed by the many rice fields and big silos we saw.  According the the California Rice Growers, over 95% is grown in the Central Valley.

Farmer plowing fields

Orchards of Pistachio trees

Rice field with large silos

We soon found ourselves back in civilization and wishing we were both back in the boondocks.

Martinez refineries
Love it or hate it, we're stuck with oil & gas

Yes - the exit for home! It looks great, even through the bug splatter.

Exit to Hwy 1 South

Home never looked so good

That night we are treated to a glorious sunset.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

CLICK, CLICK,CLICK

Volcanos and Lava

The Road Less Traveled

Since the McKenzie Pass Hwy 242 is open for the summer we elect to take it and Hwy 97 to Klamath Falls rather than the faster but less scenic interstate 5. After winding through the forests we come to a vast lava field and stop at the Dee Wright Observatory.

Road through Lava

Dee Wright Observatory

The observatory offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains. The magnificent snow covered peaks stand out in stark contract to the black lava.

2 of the 3 Sisters

View out window towards Mt. Jefferson

The panorama before us is well worth the drive.

Road through lava with Belknap crater and Sisters

After passing the summit, the road descends into the Deschutes National Forest with large ponderosa pines reminiscent of TV cowboy westerns.

Ponderosa Pines

Sisters, OR

Hwy 242 ends just before Sisters, OR. This small town was always a favorite stop for sandwiches and gas on skiing trips to Mt. Bachelor during my college days ... but since then it has morphed into a chichi retirement community. I am shocked to see a gourmet kitchen store in Sisters - who would have ever thunk?

South on Hwy 97 to Shasta

If Sisters was a bit of a shock, Bend is even more so. It used to be a small town with a great funky old tavern, that was a regular stop after skiing. Now it's pushing 100k people including sprawling retirement communities. Bend even has it's own Trader Joe's! I am so stunned that I can't even take photos.

As we travel south on Hwy 97 we again enjoy wonderful views of the mountains.  This particular panorama is one often described by early explorers and settlers.

The Three Sisters with surrounding peaks

As we travel south we are treated to more interesting countryside.

Cinder Cone

Klamath Lake

After we pass Klamath Falls (*not* a chichi retirement destination), Mt. Shasta makes her appearance.

Old sawdust burner w Shasta

Mt Shasta

Glacier on Shasta

Mt. Shasta has it's share of large cinder cones.

Some for commercial use

Some not

We luck out on a major traffic hold up for a long construction project. We arrive at the stop just as the flagman releases traffic in our direction and avoid a wait of over an hour.

Our tax dollars @ work

Fresh asphalt

Self portrait

Before reaching our final campsite, I capture two photos for friends.

David - this town's for you

Jamie - a delivery for your hay burners

Back to Belknap

We all decide to return to Belknap Hot Springs again as we enjoyed it so much the first time. So we cross the Willamette River (one of many times) and head back up the McKenzie River.

Willamette River

Glimpse of Cascades

We stop at the beautiful Willamette National Forest Ranger Station. It was designed based on the old CCC WPA style. It's well worth the stop even if you don't pick up any maps.

Main Entrance

Inside

This time we choose to camp in the upper portion away from the hustle and bustle of the main lodge. We love our new spacious campsite.

Fountain across from campsite

Pond reflection

A carver is working on some bears not far from where we are camped.

Work in progress

Finished bears

As Phil and Sue pull into their campsite next to ours, they meet Gregory and Trudy who are also in a VW camper van. As they are California ex-pats from Sonoma now living in Oregon, we all hit it off immediately. They have a small organic farm and sell some of their veggies at a local farmers' market.

Gregory and Trudy
with prize onion they have raised

They tell us about a wonderful hike to the "Blue Pool" which is the source of the McKenzie River. Apparently the river is comes from a glacier high in the Cascades, but flows underground through lava tubes until it bubbles up into the Blue Pool. We all decide to hike there together.

Starting our hike to the Blue Pool

Over bridges

Following the McKenzie

The trail is listed as only two miles long (probably as the crow flies), but towards the top it twists and turns over the lava causing us to slow down. Gregory is an excellent trail guide pointing out various lava flows and interesting sights along the way.

Square homes of the Pileated (as in Woody) Woodpecker

Gregory @ Blue Pool

It is truly an amazing color and well worth the hike.

Blue Pool reflecting the sky

McKenzie River flowing out

1

I can barely watch as Peter climbs down the steep bank of lava rocks to take a closer look.

Peter climbing down

Peter's reflection in the pool

View from shoreline

We all return to camp in high spirits and relax in the hot springs.

Marti recommends Belknap Hot Springs