Sept. 02 - Day 19

I never really thought about how much work this would be to keep up, but I am determined. Okay, so we got a decent night and were ready to head out from Chester headed for Lassen Volcanic park then the progressive ride toward Ashland Oregon - leaving California.

Leaving Chester, it was quite chilly. So much so we could almost see our breath. After a casual, woodland ride down hwy 30 with a right on the 89. $5 into the park and it was a restricted speed zone all the way through.

First stop was the Sulpher Stacks - as Jeff demonstrates, the stentch came from the gas escaping, honest. No, honest it wasn't me it was the mountain. The views were incredible and the roads were great, too bad it was a park.

From the park we headed West on the 44 passing through Redding - avoiding the city and interstates it was a direct pass through. I wanted to stop and get a picture by the sign, "Welcome to Whiskeytown" but with the road construction and heat building we just kept pushing through. From Whiskeytown to Weaverville the roads were awesome! Twisting back and forth and again with new paving construction slowng things a little, this will be a great little treak in the future.

A quick stop in Weaverville and we were off North on Hwy 3. Again, we were treated to a mix of twisting mountain roads and long, boring stretches past some dried up valleys as we headed to the state line out of Cali.

As we stopped for a break in Etna for fuel and a snack (ouch, brain freeze on the frappaccino slurpy) just a mile down the road was a great mural on a barn for a small snack / ice cream place. Passing throuh Fort Jones we saw the local road / forestry crew installing what looked like a wild life sensor, covering almost 1/5 mile with motion detectors and large indicators. Looks like it will cut down on the local road kill cafe selection.

We could tell we hit Oregon as the freeway speed went from 65 to 45 just like that. Spending 1/2 hour on the I-5 was more than we wanted to, but it brought us to Ashland and a bed for the night. This town reminds me of Nelson, only bigger. Lots of 'natural' residents and a 10 month long celebration of Shakespear. Our hotel, the "Bard Best Western" was overpriced and probably the worst room yet as the long black hairs on the bathroom floor was neith mine nor Jeff's. We strolled down the street to the Standing Stone Brewery for dinner. The food was mediocre but the beer was excellent! Now, feeling quite the buzz we realized that the % of alcohol is up from the usual 3% in Utah, Nevada & California.

Off to sleep (pass out) now with at least 260 miles tomorrow taking us through Crator Lake.

Don't mind the snorring. . . .