On Our Way

We left town Wednesday at about 3pm.  The truck was loaded with clothes, camping gear, houseplants, and Daisy.  Heading south on I-5, we were making a good run until we came upon a burning semi truck at Josephine Pass.  Don't know what happened, but the entire cab of the truck was burnt away.  Hope the guy made it out OK.

We ran into spots of rain near Weed, CA.  The truck topper is "water-resistant", but not waterproof in hard rain, so we started to worry about the stuff inside.  But it kept everything dry anyway.  About 8pm we stopped to camp at Castle Craggs State Park.  The clouds covered Mt. Shasta, and barely touched the top of the Craggs, which made for a great view. 

It rained, thundered and lightninged a little that night.  The tent got a little wet.  We had Daisy tied to the picnic table and were gonna let her sleep under that, but she started barking at people so we brought her in to sleep at the foot of the tent.  Next morning we had to go back to the viewpoint because we had left her leash there, and the sky was clearer so we got a great view of Mt. Shasta:

... and another great view of the Craggs:

 

Left out of there around 9am and drove down to Sacramento.  Didn’t realize it’s only about 25 feet above sea level.  The chapparal landscape baffles me… definitely not conifer forest, but also not exactly high desert either.  I just don’t get it.  Saw lots of fields with lots of different plants.  Very easy to see how so much of America’s veggies come from California.  Also saw a few groups of migrant workers picking vegetables; something you don’t normally see in fields in the rest of the country.  It looked like a family reunion … about a dozen cars parked along a gravel road, with folks in straw hats strewn across a green field.  Everywhere else in America the most activity you typically see in a field is a white man driving a giant tractor. 

Stopped in Stockton for gas and supplies, then headed east to… YOSEMITE! (next post.  teaser:  we see a bear!)