Day 8 - California the Beautiful

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Today was the first day on this trip that I truly considered making a B-line for home and skipping the remaining National Park on the agenda. I wondered how tired I would be if I just kept driving without any motel stop. And would it feel like I accomplished anything if we arrived in the wee hours of Thursday morning? Not really. My companions, who were irritating me this morning, would still be with me. I can't run away from them. Fortunately, I could get away from Nevada. What an awful place to drive through! Even the old mining towns that I thought would hold some appeal were junky and depressing. Some of the "communities" we passed through looked all but abandoned. If there hadn't been newer model cars parked next to some of the so-called homes I would have thought these places were deserted. What do people do who live there? Really - their homes are trashed, they have no water source, and there are no services to speak of in most of these places. Only the larger of these depressing towns had little casinos or saloons that claimed to have some slot machines. (No, I didn't stop. I feel stupid for being more excited about the casino than the Grand Canyon. I lost my $40 in less than 20 minutes.) It wasn't until we were about an hour from Reno when we started seeing some green and some places that might be acceptable for living.

Since my passengers weren't too interested in most of the scenery, they missed one thing that caught my eye on a remote stretch of Hwy 95. I'm 90% sure that I passed a body, wrapped in something like a mattress pad, on the side of the road. It was the right size and shape. I had a physiological reaction when I saw it. I almost wanted to stop, check it out, and then somehow alert the police. But I quickly realized that a) I could never expose Ethan to something like that and b) I probably wouldn't be able to handle it myself. So I hope someone else has come along since then and investigated.

Once we got to Reno, I was happy to spot a AAA store where I could get some maps. Since we changed our plans from Lassen National Park to Redwood National Park, I wasn't exactly sure of the best route. We got to Sacramento in good time and then I trusted Mom to read the map from the back seat to guide me. We decided that staying in Redding would be boring and we had time to get a little further. Mom thought Hwy 20 west of Williams, CA would lead us to Hwy 101 and some towns north of there would put us in a good position for continuing on that path to the park in the morning. I was a little nervous at first because it was all new territory and I hadn't seen any maps myself. But it turned out to be a great drive with varied scenery. Rolling hills and clean rivers eventually revealed several plots of grapes for our viewing pleasure. ("Hey, we're in wine country!") We stopped to eat at a deli in a town on the edge of Clear Lake and then discovered that the lake went on an on, reflecting the late afternoon sun on our path. By 8:00 or so we had arrived in Willits, about 3 hours south of Redwood National Park. The Super 8 amenities are probably the best of the budget motels we've been in. We even took a short dip in the spa after arriving! Best of all, Ethan actually fell asleep within 30 minutes of getting into his sleeping bag. That saves me the stress of reminding him to close his eyes and stop wiggling around.

I think we have the energy to really enjoy our 7th and final National Park of this trip tomorrow. But I will be happy to get home and back to a more normal routine too. I suppose this will be my final blog entry for this trip. As much as I've enjoyed typing each night, I know I'll want to hang out with Heather after I arrive.

So thanks for reading and for wishing us safe travels. It's been fun!

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