After a lovely day touring around Lassen Volcanic National Park with Robb (a fellow BMW rider from Long Beach, California), I headed to Redding where I would be staying in an AirBnB for the night. I really didn’t think my day could get any better until I was greeted at the door by two smiley faces that belonged to Ruth and 20 month old Isaac. Hubby Aaron arrived a little while later after doing some shopping.
I absolutely loved my stay with Ruth, Aaron and Isaac. What a wonderful, warm and happy family. It’s difficult not to feed off their amazing energy. To top it all they provided me with two of my favourite things, food and beer. Woohoo!! Thanks for everything guys!!
I discussed my route plans for the next day with the couple and on Aaron’s advice decided to visit Burney Falls. I’m so glad I did. The falls are amazing! I have included a photo below. There is a short video on my Facebook page is you’re interested to see that.
The ride from Burney Falls via McCloud to Mt Shasta, along Highway 89, was beautiful. I had lunch at Mt Shasta and then headed onto Klamath Falls on Highway 97, passing through a town called Weed. I could not resist stopping and taking a photo when I came across ‘The Weed Store’ in Weed. The photo is below.
I was so happy as I was driving towards Klamath Falls as I realised I was about to cross from California into Oregon. After 2 month, 2 days and 9,000 miles, Trinity and I (and Sam of course) had covered 11 western U.S. States and 2 Canadian provinces. I could not stop smiling! The next 3.5 weeks is thus like completing the home stretch of a race. A ‘race’ which it appears will end up being closer to 12,000 miles in total rather than the 10,000 miles I was expecting. I clearly got the bonus pack!
To top off the day I arrived at the AirBnB where I was staying and realised that this would be my view for two days. How amazing!
The view was complimented by spending the evening chatting to my host Jim, who was incredibly informative about a host of subjects, which left me with a lot to think about. I liked that!
I decided to take today really easy because, frankly, I’m pretty knackered. The physical impact of my trip is definitely kicking in and I still have a lot of mileage to go. This gave me time to enjoy a leisurely morning and Skype my sister and mom (dad – I hope I can catch you in the morning) before heading off to the Lava Bed National Monument.
This place is fascinating but sadly I was not prepared for it at all. The ‘park’ allows visitors to explore a series of caves, which are the lava tubes of extinct volcanos. Well, I certainly hope they are extinct.
There is only one cave that is paved and lit inside. All the other caves are in their ‘raw state’, with some providing steps to get you into the caves. This is not what I was expecting and certainly not what I was going to be able to do (or wanted to do) on my own in all my biking gear. I therefore explored the paved cave and the entrance to two more caves and then had to admit that I would be biting off more than I could chew (safely), so I went home. I did manage to get a few photos (most of which are on Facebook).
I guess the lesson in this is, “Fail to plan and you plan to fail”. Sometimes we just have to learn the hard way!
Mel & Trinity 